Roleplaying: Going Against the Racial Stereotypes of Gnomes, Tauren, and Orcs

While the jokes, /flirt emotes, and dances each race has are fun to use, and often add a bit of fun to an hour or two of play, they are often an odd, if not contradictory addition to roleplaying sessions. This is because roleplaying focuses so intently on building your character’s own unique personality, their likes, dislikes, history, and raison d’etre. Often, the stylized, predictable and sometimes downright weird canned phrases that each character comes with seem false and generic.

But, perhaps even more important in a roleplaying environment, the basic character emotes provided by /silly or /flirt embody Blizzard’s stereotype of what each character race is. And in the vastly diverse realm of roleplaying, where your only limitations should be your own imagination, stereotypes are the last thing your character needs.

Not every Gnome is happy-go-lucky, and not every Troll says “ya, mon.” This multi-part roleplaying guide will cover some of the more pervasive racial stereotypes in the game and points players towards some NPC characters who contradict that stereotype and should therefore be good for researching and preparing to play a character who goes against the grain. Today, we focus on Tauren, Gnomes, and Orcs.

Stereotype: The Back-to-Basics Tauren. When your only class choices are druid, hunter, warrior, or shaman, it’s to be expected that you’re the earthy type. Perhaps more than any other race, Tauren are depicted as being at one with nature, and living within the cycle of what they call the Great Hunt. Even the infamous Grimtotem clan fall into this stereotype – they are corrupt but use the forces of nature to achieve their ends. And the racial attributes of the Tauren further reinforce that point:

1. Tauren receive +15 to their Herbalism skill. That’s right – they’re naturally better at picking flowers than any other race.
2. Tauren receive a 2% hit resistance against all Nature damage spells.

But what if you want to play a Tauren who is more technological than spiritual? What if you’re more mercenary than the average cow, and would rather use your skills for profit than feel your place in the great continuum of nature? If you’re looking to play a Tauren who goes against the granola, take a look at some interesting NPCs Blizzard has introduced to the game:

• Fleet Master Seahorn: This loyal second to Baron Revilgaz not only looks good in a pirate hat, he leads the navy of the Blackwater Raiders, a position which suggests more cunning than spirituality.
• Mr. Smite: First mate under Captain Greenskin, this evil Tauren patrols the docks of the hidden Defias Brotherhood fleet in the Deadmines. Clearly, he is not in his position to commune with the Earth Mother.
• Magatha Grimtotem: Inscrutable and irascible, Magatha is the Elder Crone and leader of the nefarious Grimtotem clan, despite which she makes her home in Thunder Bluff and is an advisor to Cairne Bloodhoof. There’s a huge can of worms right there for any aspiring Tauren looking to distinguish themselves.

Stereotype: The Goofy Gnome. Let’s face it: on the surface, it looks like most gnomes are in the game for comic relief. Until patch 3.0.x they were the only race with pigtails (sorry, but the shaved-head Orc boar tails don’t count). They have shrill, tinny voices, and jokes which talk about chicken nuggets. Even though they have a level 80+ boss leading their civilization, they still haven’t been able to take back their home city of Gnomeregan, which was overrun by level 30 mobs. It’s no secret that for many, Gnomes are the laughing stock of WoW. But the things most people forget about Gnomes are right there in the starting racial characteristics:

1. Gnomes are incredibly intelligent. They get a 5% racial bonus to intelligence, making them the smartest playable race in the game.
2. Gnomes have natural mechanical aptitude. Engineering is one of the hardest professions in the game, and Gnomes are the best of the best at it. They receive +15 to their engineering skill.

The picture these two attributes paint is one of a highly aware, technological culture, and one far more advanced than the weirdly-colored hairstyles on the character creation screen, or the goofy jokes /silly would have us believe. If you want to play a Gnome who is more cunning than cute and more discerning than delicate, you might start by taking a look at some of these less-well-known Gnome NPCs:

• Sicco Thermaplug: Mad inventor, devious politico, self-proclaimed High Tinker of Gnomeregan, Sicco Thermaplug is anything but endearing. His shrewd mechanical mind was responsible for the downfall of the Gnomes’ home city by flooding Gnomeregan with radiation, and, some say, letting the Troggs in in the first place. Try patting this Gnome on the head and telling him he’s cute.
• Chromie: It is probably no coincidence that when this particular member of the Bronze Dragonflight chose to manifest in humanoid form, she picked the intelligence and understanding of a Gnome. Short for Chronormu, Chromie the Gnome/dragon is sworn to preserve the timeline of Azeroth and keep it safe from the Scourge. She can be found in the Ruins of Andorhal, Western Plaguelands.
• Silas Darkmoon: Founder of the Darkmoon Faire, Silas is more cunning businessman than obsessed tinkerer, and more slick entertainer than goofy joker. And he seems to be successful – after all, the Darkmoon Faire is called the Greatest Show on Azeroth.

Stereotype: The Bloodthirsty Orc. There is a huge difference between the blood-crazed, furious Orcs who were goaded by the Burning Legion into destroying Draenor, and the face of the New Horde today. Thrall himself is a perfect example of an intelligent, spiritual Orc, whose thoughtfulness is so pervasive that it is regarded as a fault by some of his companions, like Garrosh Hellscream. In roleplaying a modern Orc, players have a difficult balancing act to perform. How can you balance the obvious bloody heritage which is reflected in your racial abilities...

1. Blood Fury, which sends the Orc into a rage, increasing all attack power and spell power for 15 seconds.
2. Axe specialization, which increases Axe weapon skill by 5, probably left over from the days the Orcs spent chopping down elvish forests in the second and third wars.

...with the spiritual grace and noble bearing employed by Thrall and his fellow shaman, spiritual leaders, and chief warriors in the New Horde? For a look at Orc NPCs who embody the old Horde ideals of savage blood fury, look here:

• Garrosh Hellscream: Headstrong, even foolhardy, Garrosh challenged Thrall to a fight when the Warchief refused to enact a more aggressive plan and immediately make war against the Scourge in Northrend. He believes in quick and immediate action, despite warnings from Thrall and High Overlord Saurfang that strategy is just as important to the New Horde as strength in winning a war.
• Gul’Dan: Once-apprentice to Ner’Zhul, who went on to become the Lich King, Gul’Dan is credited with being the very first Orc warlock, and responsible for introducing the Blood of Mannoroth to the Horde and opening the Dark Portal to Azeroth. Players can see Gul’Dan’s shade in Shadowmoon Valey at the Altar of Damnation.

And for a closer peek at one of the more spiritual, and perhaps lesser-known Orcs of the New Horde, look here:

• Greatmother Geyah: Thrall’s grandmother Geyah is the spiritual leader of the Mag’har, the last uncorrupted Orcs remaining on Draenor.

Stay tuned as we debunk other racial and class stereotypes next week!

PvP Analysis: Tips for Arathi Basin Weekend

While Wrath of the Lich King brought us the shiny new battleground of Strand of the Ancients, firing cannons and driving siege engines shouldn’t take up all your battleground time. The original battlegrounds offer a quick way to gain some honor, especially if you play them during their holiday weekend. If it’s been awhile since your last Arathi Basin game, take a look at these tips before entering the battleground.

Guard! One player minimum per flag, preferably more. Really, there should never be a reason to break this rule, even at the starting flags of Farm or Stables. Not only does having a guard at every flag help to keep you informed of incoming enemy attacks, having a lookout often deters wandering flag ninjas from taking over your base. All it takes to lose a flag is one enemy – don’t give your opponents the chance.

Call It Out! Don’t let an enemy steal your flag in silence – if someone’s attacking, tell your team! The more information your team has, including the number of players attacking and their levels and classes, the more likely they are to be able to mount a quick defense. But at the very least, a quick “inc LM” can at least let your team know you need help.

Relief! Let’s face it: no one really likes guard duty. Guarding the flag is usually boring compared to the high combat that offensive players get to enjoy. Guards also get very little in the way of honor for protecting rarely-attacked flags. But they have a very important job. Sometimes numbers alone will deter an enemy from attacking a flag. Guards can therefore help your team not so much by seeking out enemy players to kill in the field, but by being pro-active in their flag defense. Nevertheless, guarding is often a thankless occupation, and even the most committed guard has days when they’d rather be out bonking heads than doing stealth detection at the Gold Mine. It’s often a very nice present for a player on offense to relieve a player stuck guarding a flag.

Take a Look. Often defenders are in a unique position to see the battleground at large. Blacksmith and Lumber Mill guards especially should use their vantage points to keep tabs on the battle and to call out incoming enemy parties not only at their own flag, but at other key strategic points. Reports on enemy numbers, on poorly-defended flag-points, and on changes in enemy strategy can give your team the information they need to win. Don’t be afraid to use abilities and items which give you a better perspective on the battle. Hunters have Eyes of the Beast, Tracking, and Eagle Eye. Druids and Rogues have Stealth. Engineers can make an Ornate Spyglass – a remarkable telescopic device which players of any profession can use.

Knockback in the Basin. It seems like everyone’s got a knockback ability these days. From Typhooning druids to mages with Blast Wave to shaman summoning Thunderstorm to hunters and their pets, battleground players should expect to be on the receiving end of knockback abilities on a regular basis from here on out. Anyone who has ever been Mind Controlled by a priest knows that in PvP one of the primary functions of knockback or any ability that allows one player to take control of another is to send one’s opponents careening over the edge of a very tall cliff, thus removing them from combat. In Arathi Basin, the Lumber Mill cliff is a prime spot for just this sort of maneuver. Just be careful not to get too close to the edge, or you might wind up getting knocked off yourself.

Have a happy, safe, and successful Arathi Basin weekend!

Why the Return of Naxxramas is a Good Thing

When the great floating citadel of Naxxramas retreated to Northrend, there was a general outcry among experienced raiders used to seeing it in the Plaguelands. “We’ve already been to Naxx,” they cried, “and now you’re going to make us do it again?” Old-school raid purists were even more miffed when they discovered that unlike its previous 40-man raid incarnation, Naxxramas was now tweaked to allow 25- and even 10-man raids to plumb its darkest corners and discover its best-kept secrets. “Stop! You’re running it!” they screamed, “Give us back old Naxx! Send it back to the Plaguelands, where it belongs!”

But amidst these screams of frustration and howls of rage was another sound, from a different demographic of the Blizzard community. It was the sound of satisfaction, and it was a sound being emanated from every single person who had never had a chance to set foot in Naxxramas before. I was one of those satisfied denizens of WoW, and I’m here to tell you why the return of Naxxramas is a very good thing indeed.

Casuals never saw it. People who didn’t want to invest the time required to get the necessary gear, make the masses upon masses of friends, and spend hours coordinating strategies and developing theories and setting their noses to the grindstone for hours on end to get attuned with Argent Dawn to even enter the instance have never seen Naxxramas. Now, they can.

People who joined post-BC never saw it. After Burning Crusade launched it was nearly impossible to get a 40-man raid together to run old-world instances, people were so busy exploring the wonders of Outland. As a post-BC WoW convert, to me, Naxxramas was something which always sounded cool, but which was unattainable. Now, my guild, which is composed mainly of people who started playing post-BC have a chance to see this legendary content.

Encounters have been rebalanced. Naxxramas has been rebalanced to consider the plethora of new level 80 abilities, and the new game class of Death Knight. This means that the Naxxramas we’re seeing at level 80 has been modernized. While some would call this a bad thing, I can only call attention to other old-world dungeons and raid encounters, like Dire Maul, Maraudon, Molten Core or Ahn'Qiraj. On my server, these instances are ghost-towns, because the mobs, bosses and loot therein have not been updated to keep pace with all the new character abilities. But Naxxramas has been saved a long, slow demise from lack of use by its new retune.

Is it a bad thing that what has been called one of the greatest instances in the game should see a new coat of paint and a location change? Is it bad that Blizzard is “reusing” content? In my book, not at all. See you soon, Patchwerk!

Roleplaying an Engineer

It’s par for the course to take the race and class of your character into consideration when you’re roleplaying. After all, playing a troll shaman should be different than playing a human rogue. All races have their own unique history, and each class approaches combat differently. But while race and class are obvious influences on character development, other factors can also contribute to your choices.

Perhaps more than any other profession, engineering helps define who a character is, from the gear they wear to the items they use to the mounts they choose to ride. And unlike most professions, the items created through engineering are flashy, loud, and designed to attract attention, even when they’re working properly. And when your creations explode in your face, it’s a sure bet that everyone around you is going to notice. Given the rich variety of items you can create while engineering, why not use some of them to further develop your roleplaying character?

The Basics: Engineering 101 Everyone knows engineers create things like mechano-hogs, dynamite, and guns, but what most don’t realize is that engineering is a complex and multi-faceted profession ripe for plunder when it comes to roleplaying. So the first questions you should ask yourself when bellying up to your first RP session are:

• Why is your character an engineer?
• What type of engineer are you?

Certain races have a cultural inclination toward engineering. In the technocratic society of modern Gnomes nearly every family has an engineer or two, and most Gnomes have a passing understanding of mechanics. Among the Tauren, however, engineers are a rarity. Take one look around Mulgore and you’ll see a society which thrives on keeping in touch with the earth. There aren’t any whirring gears or steam engines hidden somewhere among all of the natural hide buildings and wind-powered grain mills in Thunder Bluff, and most Tauren you meet are more likely to have taken up skinning or herbalism than engineering. It might be easy to work engineering into your character’s magical upbringing as a Blood Elf, but harder to incorporate into the reclusive, naturalistic, druidic life you’ve probably led as a Night Elf.

Whatever your race, the very fact that you’re an engineer can help add spice and flavor to your back story. Are you a hunter who took up engineering for the excellent firearms and ranged weapon scopes? Are you a mage, shadow priest or warlock tinkerer who wanted to make the perfect spell-casting goggles? Are you a non-healing class who wanted a chance to resurrect your allies? Does your character dream of exploring the skyways of Outland and Northrend in her very own flying machine? How do your relatives/friends/significant others view your character’s profession? Do they accept you as an engineer, label you a black sheep, or actively disagree with your choices? Whatever your approach, as a profession engineering can have a significant impact on your character’s identity, her goals and plans, and where she’s headed.

Gnomish Engineering or Goblin Engineering? Most non-engineers don’t know the difference between Gnomish and Goblin engineering, so at some point in your roleplaying career you’ll have to explain the difference between the two, and why your character chose the specialization they did. The shorthand differences are: Gnomish engineering modifies the engineer or and manipulates the reality around her, and Goblin engineering blows stuff up.

Extra points if you’re a Gnome specializing in Goblin engineering – the cultural wars between Goblins and Gnomes are intense, deeply-rooted, sometimes bloody affairs, and most Gnomes wouldn’t be caught dead learning Goblin engineering. You could open up a rich furrow for character development by making such an unusual choice.

Creating Your Technical Vocabulary. If you like inventing weird terms and creating unusual-sounding inventions on the fly, take the plunge and try augmenting your roleplaying with descriptions of being an engineer. What happens when you place that Exploding Sheep down on the battlefield? What strange mechanical objects linger in the recesses of your character’s backpack? What obscure tomes does she read during her off hours? Nearly everyone who roleplays uses custom-made emotes to describe the actions their character is taking, and as an engineer, you can certainly do the same.

If you’re less comfortable creating plausible-sounding explanations for your engineering abilities on the fly, try watching an episode or two of any sci-fi TV show. How do the characters describe what happens to their time machine/stargate/spaceship when it gets damaged? What passes for standard technology on the show? Get a sense of how these shows use techno-babble, and then create a list of terms you like. Keep the list near your computer, and add to it as you continue exploring your character.

Inventing Your Own Projects. Even if you never have an in-game item to show for it, creating your own unique projects for your character to work on is a great way to define who they are. Is your engineer working on a super cannon? A time machine? A better mousetrap? As time passes, determine what progress your character is making on their project. What mishaps have they had? How have they redefined their goals?

Since traditional WoW roleplaying avoids discussion of character levels, at some point everyone has to find some way of explaining to their friends that they are now more powerful at level 71 than they were at level 67. Personalized engineering projects are a great way to do this. The more levels your character gains, the more progress they make on their special machine. You may have just completed the basic motor on your Noggenfogger Elixir Vending Machine and Personal Hairdresser when you were level 10, but now, at level 50 you’ve finished the Automatic Hair Curlers and fine-tuned the motors on the Beverage Shaking System.

Roleplaying Through Technical Difficulties. Perhaps one of the greatest things about role-playing an engineer is that your character can even come up with a reason behind lag and getting disconnected from your server. For the Scribe down the street or the Tailor next door, technical problems can’t be explained in RP terms. But for you – that rolling restart was your engineer resetting the button to her Quantum Mega Flux Cannon. And that nasty bout of lag right before Prince Keleseth in Utgarde Keep was the unfortunate result of your Tranquil Mechanical Yeti chewing on the wires of your Automatic Evil-Detecting Capacitor Engine with built-in Planar Rendering Machine.

Been away for awhile and have to explain an absence to your guild mates? No problem! Your engineer was testing the Multiple-Phase Portal on her Inter-Realm Gyroscopic Transportation Device, but the Transverse Ethereal Cobalt Couplings fell off, leaving her stuck in the Twisting Nether for a few days. Fortunately, she remembered to pack an extra Arclight Spanner and some spare Fel Iron Bolts, so she was able to patch up the Turbo-Powered Arcane Battery Pack and make her way back home.

A "Good" Feat of Strength

Feats of Strength come in many sizes and flavors. Some, like the Yellow Brewfest Stein achievement correspond to how long a player has had their character. Some, like the Big Blizzard Bear require a player to have either gone to BlizzCon or watched it via Direct TV. Still others require sheer luck, like The Horseman’s Reins. And others, like the realm first level 80 achievements, require massive amounts of sleep deprivation.

Last weekend a new Feat of Strength was introduced, and in many ways this particular breed has become my favorite. It doesn’t require a wild stroke of luck, or that you miss work to level your fishing to 450, or that you’ve had your character for years (my oldest character is a year old this month, so that certainly wouldn’t work for me). All you needed to claim the WoW’s 4^th Anniversary Feat of Strength was to log your character(s) in on November 23^rd, 2008. That’s it.

Now, I know that Feats of Strength raise the hackles of some players. They are the one category of achievement which does not confer any points to the bearer, making their very existence questionable in and of itself – if the whole goal of achievements is to rack up points and compare your total with others, how does having any Feat help? And if you’re comparing line-by-line achievements, what exactly do Feats of Strength say about a character? Have they just been around since WoW’s inception? Did they pay to go to BlizzCon? Were they incredibly lucky in obtaining an obscure mount or item? Feats of Strength are also the only category whose achievements are almost entirely retroactive, meaning new players will never see most of them.

And many Feats seem completely arbitrary. Sure, I’m thrilled that my mage got her Horseman’s Reins, but is that really a “feat” of any kind? As I remember it, she just got wildly lucky on a loot roll and spent the next five minutes doing a happy dance on the Horseman’s corpse to celebrate. As someone who loves achievements, and feels a real sense of accomplishment from even the most basic achievement out there, I have to admit that Feats of Strength seem to be the very odd, twisted little black sheep of the family.

But truth be told, I really like this Feat, not because it’s flashy or denotes anything special about your character, but because for once, it was an achievement made available to absolutely everyone, no matter how long they’d been around, how successful they had been at looting or what titles they had. And because it was obtainable by everyone (or at least everyone who logged in that day), this achievement represents a new breed – a communal Feat of Strength. For one day everyone could celebrate WoW’s birthday together. Then we could all pull out our Baby Blizzard Bears and enjoy the fruits of just doing something basic in the game – logging in.

Getting Ready for Winter Veil

The feast of Winter Veil is almost upon us, filled with fun things for players of any level to do - egg nog to drink, reindeer to save, snowballs to throw, and, most importantly, presents to open. Like Hallow's End, Winter Veil comes with its own list of achievements to complete, and also has a number of quests which will keep players busy for awhile. Ready to get in the holiday spirit early? The following are tips for preparing your character for Winter Veil.

Small Egg farming – A number of holiday-specific recipes require the Small Eggs harvested from the birds and wildkin of low-level areas, including:

• Azuremyst Isle
• Elwynn
• Eversong Woods
• Loch Modan
• Mulgore
• Redridge Mountains
• Teldrassil
• Westfall

Getting started on collecting eggs before the main rush on December 15th may save you time and a headache in the long run.

Get ready for Hot Apple Cider - Ringing in with a cooking requirement of 325, Hot Apple Cider is a bind on pickup recipe available during Winter Veil. If your cooking isn't quite up to snuff, either head to the auction house to buy some meat, or grab your fishing pole and fish up some grub!

Get ready to bomb for Ogri’la - if you haven't saved up for your flying mount, you've got three weeks to get it in order to be eligible for the Fa-la-la-la-Ogri'la achievement (complete the Bomb Them Again! quest while your flying mount is transformed into a reindeer). Save that gold!

Make sure you can get those kills for the With a Little Helper From My Friends achievement (gain 50 honorable kills while transformed as the Little Helper from the Winter Wondervolt Machine). After level 10, anyone can join a PvP battleground, but players stand the best chance of getting kills when they are in the topmost level for their battleground (19, 29, 39, and so on). Still worried about staying alive? Level your First Aid skill to produce good bandages, or invest in some of the PvP trinkets available from the Hall of Legends in Orgrimmar or the Champions' Hall in Stormwind.

Get to level 40 to save Metzen the Reindeer. Not only does this quest give you the much-coveted Preserved Holly (which you can then use for the Ogri'la bombing achievement), it also gives its own achievement, which is necessary for the Winter Veil holiday title - The Merrymaker.

Arcane Advice: A Mage’s Perspective on Dungeon Running, Part Four

Part Four – Loot!

For some, loot is the single greatest reason to run a dungeon. Unlike the more intangible rewards of downing a boss or “unlocking” content, loot is the single component of a dungeon which your character gets to take away with them after the instance is over. Loot is a permanent reminder of where your character has been and how far they’ve come. In some cases, the loot a character wears is a better indication of their accomplishments than their level, professions, or spec.

However, perhaps because of these factors, loot can be a major source of disagreement among party members. What follows are some tips to help keep dividing the plunder a civil and successful occasion for your party.

Determine your rules before any loot drops. Check with all party members before you’ve even downed a mob, and make sure everyone’s on the same page. If you’re using Need before Greed, determine when Need rolls are acceptable. If you’re employing the services of a master looter, make sure they are trustworthy and capable of carrying out their duties. If you’re on a guild run using specific loot rules, make sure everyone is familiar with your policies. Whatever loot system you’re using, make sure all group members agree to abide by it.

Bind-on-Equip Items. Make sure you establish ground rules regarding BoE items. Are players allowed to roll on them for alts? What if they're going to sell the item on the auction house? If you're doing a guild run, will the item go to the guild bank, or will it be sold, with the profits going into the guild coffers?

Check your quest rewards. Sometimes, the quest reward gives better loot than what drops in the dungeon itself. Before you make your loot roll, take a quick look at your quest rewards, and make sure there’s nothing better waiting for you when you get out of the dungeon. It makes little sense to make a Need roll, for instance, on the Attuned Crystalline Boots which drop from the boss Keristrasza when my mage can pick up the far superior Sandals of Mystical Evolution for completing one of the quests inside the Nexus.

Off-spec Looting. There’s a fair amount of controversy surrounding this subject. These days, what with the new consolidation of spell power stats, as well as critical strike, chances are at some point during your dungeon run you’ll encounter an item which is a “must-have” for multiple classes within your party. Here’s where communication is of utmost importance. Some questions to ask when considering hitting that Need button:

• Is this item something I will equip and use right away? If not, is there anyone else in the party who could use it right now?
• Is this a main-spec or an off-spec item? If it’s an off-spec item for me, is there anyone who might need it more than I do?
• If the item is main-spec for me, what armor class is it – cloth, leather, mail, plate? Is there anyone in the group who is restricted to a particular armor type for whom this might be a better fit?
• How well do I know my group members? If I am new to the guild I’m running with, what are their loot policies?

These questions are not designed to force anyone into being a loot martyr, but they are included here to facilitate a group discussion about loot. Usually there is no reason to be rushed or arbitrary in your Greed or Need selection – loot timers are long for a reason. Even if you’re the only person in the party who appears to have a claim on a particular item, it never hurts to ask before hitting that Need button.

Regardless of your party's approach to pulling, combat, wiping, or loot, remember that above all else, good communication is the best way to facilitate smooth dungeon runs. Whether you're a seasoned guild farming Illidan, or a new PUG just gearing up for Wailing Caverns, talking with your party members, determining strategies, and setting ground rules can save time, energy, and help to improve group performance.

Good luck in your dungeon runs! May your wipes be few, your kills be many, and all your loot be epic.