sport and news: Bringing fun to racials in World of Warcraft

Sunday, 9 March 2014

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?

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion