racial-abilities
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Readers' ideas for cosmetic racials
Last night, we posted reddit user Clatterbot's ideas for fun, cosmetic racial abilities in Warlords of Draenor. Some of you had ideas of your own to contribute, my personal favorites coming from reader SiccoThermaplugg: Buns of Steel: Dwarves can be used as Anvils. Tauren: Hoof'n It! 2% run speed bonus. Haunting: Undead have a 20% of appearing right above their corpse when they release Spirit. Sons/Daughters of Steel: Lets gnomes transform in to Mechagnomes. Follow along as we explore other ideas. Disclaimer, by the way: we don't claim all (or any) of these ideas are balanced. They're just for fun!
Bringing fun to racials in World of Warcraft
Racial traits don't need to be strictly business. Earlier this week, reddit user Clatterbot proposed his own ideas for racial abilities focused on fun and flavor rather than stats and combat. More Pack Hobgoblin, less Endurance. Clatterbot's ideas include: Dwarf - Keg of Thunderbrew Lager: 3 minute cooldown. Sets up a keg of ale. Raid members can click the keg to acquire refreshments that regenerate 5% of total health and mana ever second for 20 seconds. Cannot be used in combat. Forsaken - Death to the Scourge (And the Living): Increases experience earned from killing undead and humanoids by 20%. Human - Summon Peasant: Requires Herbalism or Mining. 5 minute cooldown. Command your peasant to harvest materials from a node nearby within 40 yards. It would be unfair to say the developers don't ever make racials like these. That's not true at all. The aforementioned Pack Hobgoblin is one example. Another example is one of the troll racials being updated in Warlords of Draenor, which gives 20% additional experience when killing beasts, much like Clatterbot's proposed racial for the Forsaken. Still, when it comes to racials, I'm the sort of person that puts fun and flavor on a pedestal above stats. An added 1% haste or 1% crit doesn't interest me very much, but having an ability unique to my race is far more engaging, even when it has no combat purpose. Others in the /r/wow thread are kicking around ideas for racials in this vein. I'm curious: what sort of racial would you propose for your characters?
WoW Archivist: What has never changed?
WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? With WoW's tenth anniversary fast approaching, one thing is clear: virtually everything in this game has been changed, updated, or replaced at one time or another. The UI, the stats, character creation, raid systems, class abilities, questing -- all have undergone necessary overhauls to keep the game relevant and modern. A question for the Queue last month asked a very interesting question: What in WoW has never, ever changed? You might think so, but no Many aspects of the game seem like they have never changed, but they have. The act of gathering: Sure, Blizzard added bonuses to the professions in Wrath such as the crit bonus for skinning or the HoT from herbalism. And as of Cataclysm, you can now earn XP by gathering. Gathering no longer requires tools. Yet the fundamental mechanics have always been the same: you right click stuff, get the stuff, and skill up so you can click on better stuff. Right? Back in classic, gathering actually had a chance to fail. Orange difficulty nodes would not cough up their resources to anyone who wandered past with the minimum required skill. Failing three or four times on a node before a successful gathering attempt was not unheard of. This led to some interesting "PvP" gathering scenarios, even on PvE realms. If two players converged on the node, the first to click it didn't necessarily get the goods. This situation sometimes led to a hilarious "duel" in which both players failed at gathering over and over again. It became a matter of luck, persistence, and rapid clicking. Mining was especially bad, because it used to take multiple strikes to clear out a node. Two players could spend minutes trying to outmine each other on a single rock. Racial bonuses, enchantments, and items that boosted gathering skills all mattered much more, not just to save time from the failed attempts, but to beat other players to the punch.
The Elder Scrolls Online answers a variety of questions (and the CE question)
If you've read about The Elder Scrolls Online lately, you surely heard about the whole collector's edition thing. The latest batch of answers for community questions tackles that head-on, stressing that the only exclusive for Imperials which other races won't have is a single skill line. That line will be balanced along with all other racial skill lines, so players who decide to go the Imperial route will just have a bit of extra visual flair, not a gameplay advantage. No mention is made of the cross-faction races for pre-orders, however. Aside from the obvious question and a few corresponding bits of confusion, the array of questions cover topics from open PvP in Cyrodiil to death gates to skill resources. If you're eagerly anticipating the game or just want to see more clarification on the whole function of the Imperial option, take a look at the full set of answers for a clearer picture of the CE bonuses and the game as a whole.
Tamriel Infinium: Fleecing Elder Scrolls Online fans with preorders
Are you as excited as I am about the Imperial Edition of the Elder Scrolls Online? When I introduced the announcement to my friends, I said something closer to, "Welp, this is a thing." Don't get me wrong; I am looking forward to the launch, and I will likely get the Imperial Edition because I want to play an Imperial. I played one in Skyrim and Oblivion; I want to play one in ESO, too. Some players are upset that if you get this collector's edition, the Imperial race is open to any faction. Even some of my friends are annoyed. Another issue that struck them hard -- probably harder than the Imperial race addition -- was the preorder bonuses. And I'm not talking about the five-day early access. No, the hate swelled over the preorder ability to play any race in any faction. I'm sure that some of them would say that I am being obtuse, but I really can't wrap my head around why they seemed more upset about this bonus more than previous bonuses given for MMORPG preorders.
The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Racial abilities and warriors
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Care and Feeding of Warriors, the column dedicated to arms, fury and protection warriors. Despite repeated blows to the head from dragons, demons, Old Gods and whatever that thing over there was, Matthew Rossi will be your host. The game's history shows us that racial abilities have always been a subject of contention. Since warriors are at present the only class that all 13 races can play (pandaren can't be DK's, worgen and goblins can't be monks) we're the only class that has to consider all racials. Some racials are stronger in PvE than PvP, and the inverse is also true. Still others (Arcane Torrent, Stoneform) are fairly good for both. I have over the years race changed between various options, usually for purely aesthetic reasons, but at least twice I became a night elf entirely for the night elf racial Quickness, which is astonishingly good for a tanking warrior. Now, does that mean you can't tank on anything but a night elf? No, not at all. For one thing, in our active mitigation system, hit and expertise racials are also fairly solid, but more to the point, no racial ability is so good that it must be chosen for any role. This isn't to say that some racials aren't fairly dominant in PvE or PvP, especially the latter - Every Man For Himself is always going to have a high representation among PvPing warriors. It would be foolishness to argue otherwise. My point is don't treat racials as must haves and force yourself to play a human if you'd rather play a gnome, or a forsaken when you want to play a troll. Let's take a look at all the racials and see where we end up.
Breakfast Topic: Which race has the best racial ability in the game?
The clue, as ever, is in the name! I often read forums and see people asking what the best racial ability is in the game. Now of course, the answer is situational, or we'd all play one race. For PvE and PvP, answers will be different. Depending on your style of play, you might prefer different racials over others. Furthermore, different classes will benefit more from different racials than others. Tanks might prefer a dwarf's Stoneform, where DPS may favor a troll's Berserking. Would you prefer War Stomp or Every Man for Himself? Someone who does a lot of work on gathering professions would probably absolutely love a goblin's Pack Hobgoblin, and some races have bonuses to specific professions, like gnomes do with engineering. (It's strange that despite their parallel engineering heritage, the goblin profession specialization is alchemy.) So which race overall, do you think has the best racial? And as ever, why? And if you don't remember quite who has what, you can check all the racials here: Alliance Horde Draenei Blood elf Dwarf Goblin Gnome Orc Human Tauren Night elf Troll Worgen Undead %Poll-72582%
Lichborne: Racial abilities for death knights
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. With all the upheaval regarding death knight abilities and DPS happening right now, it's sometimes a good idea to go back to the basics and figure out some of the stuff that underlies a good, solid death knight. One of the most basic cornerstones of choosing a death knight is choosing your race. Since every single race can be a death knight, you have your pick, and since there's a race change service, you don't even have to stay the same race forever. Personally, I tend to say that you choose whatever race feels right for you -- but for those who want to pick a race (or change your current race) based on what racials are "best," this guide is for you.
RIFT beta 5 introduces public grouping, will be "twice as big" as beta 4
Ready for their fifth taste of RIFT this week, beta testers will find a host of changes and improvements waiting their assessment. Chief among these is a much-requested feature: public grouping. Because so much of RIFT's dynamic content revolves around spontaneous zone events, players have clamored for a way to quickly group up instead of spending precious time spamming the chat channels. Two UI additions now allow players to connect with public groups as efficiently and quickly as possible. This news comes from Scott Hartsman, who posted a lengthy preview of RIFT's beta 5 event on the official forums today. Announcing that beta 5 will be "twice as big" as the previous beta event, Hartsman revealed that the team is increasing the number of servers from 18 to 32, which should allow for up to double the amount of players. Other changes in store for players this week include a better organization of planar currencies, Rogue energy fixes, ranged sound improvements and "significant love" for invasion mechanics. Hartsman also revealed a few items that the team is working on for future updates, such as better racial abilities and master looting. You can read his full announcement here. %Gallery-111840%
Ten levels of RIFT: A guide to your first day in Telara
With two RIFT beta events under my belt, I was given the supreme honor of creating a guide to the first 10 levels of the game. Naturally, I fell apart under the stress, assumed the fetal position for a couple days while whimpering about "frame rates," and then was prodded into action by our editors. That's quite literally "prodded," mind you -- Massively purchased a pair of cattle prods last year at a police auction. It's going to be years until the scorch marks fade from my spine. The purpose of this guide is two-fold. First, we want to give anyone who's interested in RIFT but couldn't get into the beta a chance to vicariously experience RIFT's newbie path. Second, while RIFT is careful to hold your hand during your first steps into Telara, there are always a lot of things that can be easily missed while one is partaking in the wonders of a new virtual world. So this guide is here to share a few tips and pointers that beta testers may have missed. What are you waiting for? Roll up a new character by hitting the jump!
Newest Guild Wars 2 interview talks dungeons, racial abilities, and more
A new interview with the Guild Wars 2 team has popped up at Jeux Online, posing questions sent in by the site's community. While many questions were met with versions of the traditional "we're not ready to talk about that yet," the interview contained a few new bits of information. Jeux Online asked specifically about group size -- will we be able to go in with groups of 8 or 12 like we do now? The answer was a slightly surprising "no." Group sizes will be limited to five: "We believe that this is an appropriate size for the dungeon difficulty that we established." Racial abilities were clarified a bit as well, and the clarification seems to be in line with the diverse system of skills and abilities that we have been learning about: "Race has no effect on the skills provided by a profession. The racial abilities, however, have similar functions to certain occupations, while being profoundly influenced by this race." The full interview (in English or the original French) can be found at Jeux Online.
Officers' Quarters: From the mail bag
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.Hello, fellow officers! This week I'm going to try something a little bit different than usual. I tend to focus on one topic that requires a detailed analysis. However, I do receive many more questions that I never feature in the column because they have a more straightforward solution (or, at least, because I believe they have a straightforward solution). So I would write a private reply to the e-mail but never showcase the question here. I've decided to try an experiment this week and feature several of these e-mails with shorter answers. Even though they may not be the most complex situations, I think the answers will be helpful to other officers. Let me know what you think! Here's the first question. Too Many Cooks I was wondering if you could do an article on having too many cooks in the kitchen during raids. My guild is brand new, 3-4 weeks old, and we run Ulduar 10 and ToC 10 as well as Naxx 25 and Naxx 10 for the new 80s. As of right now, I am my guild's GM as well as raid leader. I have plans in the future to add an official "Raid Leader" to create events and lead some raids although I plan on still leading a few because I really enjoy it. Right now though, I have a few natural born leaders that attend my raids and it causes some problems.
BlizzCon 2009 Insider Trader: Cataclysmic professions part two
A week has passed since BlizzCon 2009 and we're still digging up more news, getting clarification from the blues, and analyzing all of the panels. Last week, Insider Trader discussed some of the major professions-related features coming up in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, the next expansion pack. Pass through the break to learn all about: Profession racial abilities and how they will be changing. The new direction for Alchemy. A totally revamped Fishing system! Archaeology details and speculation about the leveling process. The evolution of Inscription. Then, continue on to part three of this discussion to learn more about: Reforging and (not) repairing our own gear. Woodworking. Profession specializations and the new direction for differentiation.
Blizzard tosses Priest racials out the window
In an effort to further balance the game, Koraa levitated over to the Priest Beta forums to drop the bomb that Blizzard was canning all Priest racial abilities in an upcoming Beta build. This comes long after Fear Ward, formerly a Dwarf racial ability for Priests, was made baseline and trainable at Level 20. However, Koraa makes a few important points, the most notable being that Desperate Prayer, the Human and Dwarf Priest racial ability, will become the 11-point talent for Holy. Holy Nova, on the other hand, will become baseline. Desperate Prayer will likely be retuned to better fit an 11-point talent (it currently has a 10 minute cooldown).Koraa adds that the formerly Undead Priest racial Devouring Plague will also become a baseline spell, with a reduced cooldown of 30 seconds (down from 3 minutes) and "greatly reduced" mana cost. The Draenei racial ability Symbol of Hope will be renamed Hymn of Hope and also become a baseline ability, now restoring 5% of total mana every 2 seconds for 8 seconds to the priest's party members. All other racial abilities, from Starshards to Shadowguard, will be removed from the game. Enjoy them now before Patch 3.0 hits!
Spiritual Guidance: Level 5 to 20
Every Sunday (usually), Spiritual Guidance will offer practical insight for priests of the holy profession. Your host is now Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of PlusHeal, a new healing community for all restorative classes. For the next few weeks (unless it's something game breaking), Matt will do his best to guide you through the Priest leveling process! Wrath is almost upon us. As a result, you may have decided that you have nothing better to do then to roll a Priest! A quick glance at the WI leveling guides shows completed class guides for every almost every other class but Priests! This must be changed. The countdown has begun.
WoW Insider Show live this afternoon on WoW Radio
Yes, our weekly podcast will be live in a few hours on WoW Radio (starting up at 3:30pm Eastern), and it'll be a doozy -- Zach Yonzon will join us from his home in the Philippines to talk about PvP to PvE transfers, what's up with the nerfs in the latest beta build, and what other updates Blizzard has for racial abilities. Duncor will be back on (Turpster is, unfortunately, still in Florida), so we'll talk to him to see what he thinks about Mirror Image, Heirloom items, and whether he has any good insights about the AH.Plus, we'll have your emails and insights from the IRC chat -- you can join us in IRC at irc.mmoirc.com in the #wowradio channel during the show, or just click "chat" on the top of the WoW Radio site. And even if you can't make it, you can definitely email us -- just drop a note to theshow@wow.com, and you might even hear it on the air.Should be a good time as always, and I'm very curious to hear how the PvE to PvP transfers discussion goes -- while I'm sure Zach is a big fan, not everyone is, so we'll see what can be said about that. See you at 3:30 this afternoon on WoW Radio!
Human racials revised again
Racials received a significant revamp recently in the LK beta. But it looks like they're already dissatisfied with "The Fall of Humanity," a new human racial that basically mimics Hunter Feign Death (but without the threat drop), and will be mostly giving it to Night Elves in the form of a Shadowmeld rework instead. The racial that will be replacing it is called Every Man for Himself, and reads as follows: Removes all movement impairing effects and all effects which cause loss of control of your character. This effect shares a cooldown with other similar effects, such as the PvP trinket. As Vaneras notes, this now gives you the chance to not equip your PvP trinket, essentially giving you an extra trinket slot in PvP. But isn't this basically an amped-up Escape Artist? Doesn't seem very fair to the poor gnomes. I guess Escape Artist doesn't share a cooldown with the trinket, though. Even as a PvE player, this will come in handy quite often, I expect. I certainly make liberal use of shapeshifting breaking movement impairing effects on my Druid. And hey, as long as they're not removing Diplomacy like I originally thought, they can do whatever they want with the other human racials as far as I'm concerned. Just let me stay diplomatic. Edit: Shadowmeld now works as follows: Activate to slip into the shadows, reducing the chance for enemies to detect your presence. Lasts until cancelled or upon moving. Any threat is restored versus enemies still in combat upon cancellation of this effect.
Breakfast Topic: If you could choose your racials
If you haven't already checked out the list of updated racial abilities, you should. Some have been nerfed, others were buffed, and new ones, like the "Voodoo Shuffle" were added. While racials are a nice bonus, they can weigh heavily on your racial decision when rolling a given class. For example, many Horde warriors roll Tauren because of the 5% health increase. This conflicts with rolling the race that you'd prefer combined with the class you desire. There has been much speculation about what it would be like to be able to choose your own racials, and reader Mike even came up with a talent tree method for doing just that. If you were given the power to choose, which three or four would you choose, and why? Keep in mind the overall balance which generally includes a passive ability, an active one, and one or two minor buffs to stats such as resistances, health, or professions.
New racial abilities for Wrath
It looks like Blizzard isn't done tinkering with everything for Wrath of the Lich King. This time, they've turned their attention to racial abilities, which many have pointed out to be imbalanced. Kalgan dropped by the forums to answer a good question regarding the Orc racial Hardiness, which grants a passive 15% resistance to stuns. It's been nerfed a long way from its original 25% resistance, but the poster made a good point about the game's direction towards reduced durations instead of resistances.Kalgan responds by saying that Hardiness was being changed into exactly that -- an effect duration reduction of 15%. He also goes over all the other racials, some of which were changed, others of which were buffed, and yet a few others of which were inevitably nerfed. The changes should make it into the next Beta push. Check after the break to see the complete list. [CLARIFICATION: This isn't the complete list of racial abilities. Abilities not listed here are unchanged or, if they will be changed, will be mentioned in the future.]
Ask A Beta Tester: Death Knights, bears, and buckets
Welcome back to another edition of Ask A Beta Tester! I've stolen the reins from Elizabeth and Alex for a day, so let's get into last week's comments and get some questions answered. Death Knights: Multiple people had lots of questions about Death Knights, so I'm just going to list a bunch of them and then delve into what's going on: How Customizable are Death Knights? Do they get unique skintones, or unique racials? As to Death Knight Customization, the big difference they have right now are glowing blue eyes for every race. You can see that in action in our Death Knight racial gallery. Unfortunately, I think the Blue Eyes look sort of pasted on for most races, so I'm hoping they keep tweaking that to make them look more natural. We've also been promised different sounding emotes -- every Death Knight will have a deeper, sepulchral voice.
