bilgewater-cartel
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Breakfast Topic: What are the telling details you love in the game?
I wasn't sold on the Bilgewater Goblins initially. When they and the worgen were announced in the run-up to Cataclysm, I had to wonder if there was any compelling reason to play what felt like a green gnome over a badass werewolf. (Yes, I was young and foolish in those days.) That changed quickly when I hit the beta and found them to be a hopelessly endearing race despite (or perhaps because of) their fairly amoral approach to life. I loved the little details in their towns, from the empty Chinese take-out boxes scattered around their inns to the little dinghies that fly underpants in place of flags. Credit where credit's due -- most of this is the work of the Blizzard props team. These folks are also the reasons that Gilneas is so magnificently creepy, with its creaky windows, flapping sheets, and papers drifting across lonely towns. What little details do you particularly enjoy about the race you play as a main?
Gallywix: Trade Secrets of a Trade Prince live at Blizzard's community site
Trade Prince Gallywix represents the worst of the goblin race. Irrepressibly greedy and always scheming, the conniving racial leader of the Bilgewater Cartel is a sore spot for most goblins out there. This could have something to do with the bit where he tried to sell everyone into slavery when the island of Kezan was destroyed. But hey, when the opportunity arises to make a buck, Gallywix is there to take advantage of it. Live on Blizzard's community site, Gavin Jurgen's Gallywix: Trade Secrets of a Trade Prince is the story of just how Gallywix rose to power, containing a few tips to aspiring Trade Princes out there. Did we say a few? Yeah, right -- as if a Trade Prince is going to give away his secrets that easily. Gallywix is the third installment of the Leaders of the Horde and Alliance series. Unlike the prior two entries, Gallywix offers a more humorous look at what it takes to become a leader -- and a grim glimpse into the seedy underbelly of Kezan. From the slums to the heights of his own Pleasure Palace, Gallywix's rise to power is something that's often bickered about by those that play Horde who feel that Gallywix's time ought to be coming to an end. Judging from this story, that's only going to happen over Gallywix's dead body -- and the bodies of those he takes down with him. Check out the whole story on Blizzard's community site (and while you're there, you can take a peek at the other stories currently available). World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.
All the World's a Stage: So you want to roleplay a goblin
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. In World of Warcraft, that player is you! Each week, Anne Stickney brings you All the World's a Stage with helpful hints, tips and tricks on the art of roleplay in WoW. Cataclysm introduced two new races for roleplayers, the feisty goblins for the Horde and the enigmatic worgen for the Alliance. Last week, we touched on the basics of what makes a worgen a worgen, and what to look for when creating a worgen for RP. Today, we're going to look at the goblin half of the equation and shed a little light on the new and decidedly wacky members of the Horde. Unlike the entire population of Gilneas, the goblin race has been alive, well and present since day one of World of Warcraft's launch. However, the goblins we've been dealing with are part of the Steamwheedle Cartel, a neutral cartel that does business with both Alliance and Horde, wheeling and dealing with both sides of the conflict in an effort to make the largest profit possible. The goblins have many of these cartels, which are essentially giant trade organizations overseen by one leader, a Trade Prince; but the Steamwheedle Cartel is arguably the largest, having established ports and small towns all over Azeroth, rather than just restricting itself to one location.
15 Minutes of Fame: Player RP campaign inspires goblin NPC
From Hollywood celebrities to the guy next door, millions of people have made World of Warcraft a part of their lives. How do you play WoW? We're giving each approach its own 15 Minutes of Fame. This is a story about a goblin named Mida -- Boss Mida <Her Tallness>, to be precise. Boss Mida is no ordinary NPC. Mida was born from a full-throttle player campaign of epic roleplaying enthusiasm -- a rally to bring a female Trade Princess to the Bilgewater goblins for Cataclysm. The idea of a female Trade Princess sprang from the imagination of Sarpa of Moon Guard (US) early this year. The concept centered around the idea of a non-elven female leader who was "a wheelin' and dealin' woman who would put the 'B' of 'business' back into Bilgewater and whose character was not a foil to a more famous male character (Jaina and Arthas, Tyrande and Malfurion, Sylvanas and Arthas)," according to fellow Mida campaigner Dziewanna of Wyrmrest Accord (US). "The thread reached 391 pages before the old forums closed, spawned a community of players who come up with ideas like exploding robot squirrels and shredders in tuxedos," she continues, "and Blizzard was awesome enough to put the character our minds came up with in game: Boss Mida, <Her Tallness>. You might have seen her in the goblin slums already." The Mida for Trade Princess story rolls onward with a brand new roleplaying guild on Wyrmrest Accord dedicated to overthrowing Gallywix and bringing Mida to power. "Explosives and engineers will be involved," warns Dziewanna (now Snuffit the goblin). Sound fun? We thought so, too -- so we got in touch with Sarpa (now Roulette, the goblin warlock), the player who made a forums post that ignited the Trade Princess fire among the many other players who helped build this roleplaying story.
Know Your Lore: Goblins and the Bilgewater Cartel
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Crafty, cunning, ambitious and sometimes completely insane, the goblin race was first introduced to Warcraft players back in Warcraft II as an ally for the Horde. Sometime between Warcraft II and World of Warcraft, the goblins made an about-face and declared themselves completely neutral, siding with neither side in the ongoing Alliance/Horde conflict. With the announcement of Cataclysm's release and the inclusion of goblins as the new Horde race, one of the questions that has consistently popped up time and time again is why a supposedly neutral race would choose to break that stance and ally with one side over another? It's a good question. Why would a race suddenly rescind on an agreement that by all appearances seems to be profitable? For that matter, why are the goblins so obsessed with profit, anyway? The goblins of Warcraft have a history that goes back much farther than any player simply paying a visit to Booty Bay realizes, and that history has a lot to say about why the goblins are the way they are -- ruthless little mercenaries constantly on the lookout for an easy way to make some gold. Please note: The following post contains all kinds of spoilers for the Kezan and Lost Isles portions of the Cataclysm expansion, as well as The Shattering by Christie Golden. If you wish to remain unspoiled, turn back, before it's too late!
All the World's a Stage: Starting roleplay as a goblin in Cataclysm
The nice thing about roleplaying in Cataclysm is that the starting experiences for goblin and worgen really guide you to the roleplay. This week, we're going to be focused on the dozen or so character hooks presented in the goblin starting area. and next week we'll examine the worgen starting area. Obviously, since this information is based on the beta, things could change at any time. Additionally, if you don't want spoilers, you might want to skip this article. Lastly, this is based on a surface reading of the events in the starting area. Later lore will lead to different interpretations of events, I'm sure. You begin life as a goblin searching out your own fame and fortune. You've recently been granted a promotion in the Bilgewater Cartel, and now work with an executive assistant named Sassy Hardwrench. There's even a pair of hardbodied "assistants" who're eager to help out named Candy Cane and Chip Endale. Considering how Candy and Chip are dressed, though, I suspect they're mostly lingering around as decoration. With three characters inimately involved with your character from the word "go," your goblin will have dozens of valuable conflicts available for regular roleplay. What was your experience with Sassy really like? (Obviously, there's as in-game answer to that question, but you should take liberties to represent your unique character.) Were you a bigger fan of Candy or Chip? We can presume the average goblin at your middle-management level all have similar assistants, so it's not like you're building a Mary Sue empire by writing out your own tea of assistants.
BlizzCon 2009: Goblin backstory and zone info
The DirecTV stream cut out for me after the opening ceremony, so it's possible there are a few things I'm missing; drop a comment if it looks like I've omitted anything. Anyway, here's what we know about the Goblins (the new Horde race) so far:BACKSTORYThe playable race is a group of Goblins based on the Isle of Kezan, a new zone between the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. While Goblins and the neutral Goblin trade organizations as a whole originate here, the official site and trailer both hint that the playable group has had (or is that, will have?) a recent and deeply unpleasant encounter with the Alliance that makes the Horde a logical choice when the time comes to pick sides. From the trailer, it would appear that much of the Goblins' starting zone is taken up by the eponymous cataclysm, the need to get away from the destruction, and their induction into the Horde, but we don't have too many details on it yet.The playable Goblins won't be formally associated with any of the neutral Goblin trading organizations we already know and love (figuratively speaking, of course; the Steamwheedle Cartel's been bilking us for years). There's also no mention so far of the other Goblins going anywhere, so I'm assuming that the game's preexisting Goblins will remain in the game in whatever capacity they can post-cataclysm, and the Horde Goblins are a faction unto themselves named the Bilgewater Cartel.
