Less than three weeks remain until the release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, and now’s the time that I’ve been starting to think about what my play priorities will be once the expansion hits. Certainly, rolling a goblin or worgen, maybe both, will be on my immediate to-do list, and I’m sure it’s something most players will look into at one point or another.
So what do you need to know before getting started? Well, there have been a few announcements in the past couple of weeks that definitely may change your options and play experience. Let’s take a look.
First off, there’s the recruit-a-friend bonus. You bring a friend on-board to play (or create a second account and dual-box it up), and score a 300% XP bonus along with grantable levels. This method will be available to worgen and goblin.
Lylirra on Recruit-a-Friend in Cataclysm
New goblin and worgen characters will indeed be eligible for Recruit-A-Friend benefits including increased experience gain and grantable levels. As we’ve no current plans to modify the Recruit-A-Friend program at this time or increase the level range for which the benefits apply, goblin and worgen characters (as with all other characters) will only be able to receive the in-game bonuses up to level 60.
…Please keep in mind, as well, that there will be no Realm First achievements associated with leveling characters of a specific race, so this will not place goblin or worgen characters at any sort of unique advantage.
That’ll speed up your questing experience considerably. But if you want to skip ahead to begin with, there’s also the paid race change, which also will be available from the start.
Click through for the detailed announcement and analysis.
Blizzard on Race Changes in Cataclysm
With two new playable races just on the horizon, many players have been asking when they’ll be able to convert their existing characters into goblins or worgen. Paid faction and race changes will be available immediately once Cataclysm is released. Realm First achievements for leveling any class to 85 will be available in Cataclysm. However there will be no Realm First achievements associated with leveling characters of a specific race.
There will be a slight change to the way paid services work for goblins and worgen. Goblin and worgen characters wishing to change race or faction cannot be in Kezan, Lost Isles or Gilneas; they must be elsewhere to initiate the process. There are no restrictions on race/faction change to goblin or worgen.
That means we’ll probably see plenty of level 80 goblins and worgens decked out in raiding gear (although it will be somewhat outdated with the new expansion) running around come the launch of Cataclysm. And also why the feats of strength for reaching level 85 as a race don’t exist this time around.
Now personally, I wouldn’t choose either of these options, at least not from the very start. With legions of new quests and revamped zones in Cataclysm, I would rather take my time leveling and enjoying the new play experience that Blizzard is providing with this expansion, instead of zooming through it or skipping it over entirely. But I also see the draw to playing the end-game with a newly available race from the very start of the Cataclysm — so I understand why someone would choose to take advantage of these offers.
I also understand that Blizzard is a business and could stand to make some good money off these race changes and extra dual-boxing accounts. But a part of me really wishes they could have held off on these options until a couple months into the new expansion — at least let players have a chance to get to know the lore behind these new characters before jumping into their shoes.
But regardless, the options are available, and you can actually start the race change process right now if you want — who’s going to take advantage of them from the get-go?
As a LoreHound, I’ll definitely be taking my time and wiggling slowly through all the delicious new content. I’ll be a bit behind though, because Cata comes out the week before finals! T_T But after that I’ll be done with school for good, and can play all the WoW I want =D
Doing a race change once you hit the level cap (or before, depnding on your preference) defeats the purpose of having that race in the first place. It would take you twice as long to learn the nuances of their skills and how they apply during a fight. A Goblin would be just as different to play straight from 80 or 85 as learning a new class when you’ve only played one.
It’s better to learn from scratch, get a feel for the character, before moving on. Besides, with all the new quests available in Cata for the lowbies, do you really want to try to experience them from 80 to 85 and be bored out of your skull? Or do you want to experience the challenge of them being fresh and new and actually having to think on how to complete them?
Personally, I prefer the latter to the former.
First month of Cataclysm is a bit different.
I’m getting the game at midnight (GameStop launch, FTW) and then going home, installing, and playing for the next 6 days straight. Mordil will hit 85 and be doing heroics before I do anything else.
After that it’ll be help level up my friend’s alts and work on my alts of my own as we wait for the rest of the guild to hit 85 and be raid worthy.
Worgen/Goblin alts probably won’t happen until mid/end-January and I’ll be taking my merry time through it all.
I’m with Mordil. My druid is getting to 85, gearing the best I can from heroics, and then worrying about alts.
Same here. Intending on getting my hunter main to 85 and reasonbly geared. then rolling a Worgen Druid. BUT if I start to get bored of my hunter, I’ll go level the Worgen for a bit, just for a change.
I’m gona be playing an undead mage, starting The Shattering patch and basicly not doing anything else for about a month after cata because I have had the last 3 releases(vanilla, tbc, and wrath) get me fustrated with people for killing mobs and getting items for quests and its terrible. So realease day I will not be going through that for Goblins, Worgen, or the new quest zones, it’s just not worth it for me anymore :(
I am likely to push my 80s up to 85 before I work on lower level characters. I plan to get ALL of my characters to at least 75-80 before creating a goblin/worgen. That way I allow plenty of time for the “OMG NEW RACES!!” hype to die down so I can actually quest at my own pace instead of racing around trying to find the spawn points for quest items/mobs so as to beat the crowds to them.
Xianghua has it right. For the die-hards, being the first to 80 or the first to max skill or snything like that is what drives them. Thank the makers Blizz removed the first race achievement in Cata.
The whole deal around the 2 new races is just that, they are new. In the first couple of weeks after Cata’s launch there will be hundreds or Worgen and Goblins roaming Azeroth and Outlands, questing and generally making questing and farming a difficult task.
Relax, it’s not like if you don’t play the toon right away you’ll lose the opportunity to ever play one. Get your other main toons established and leveled in the new world. When all is said and done there will be countless new guides online to help your eventual Worgen or Goblin quickly progress since someone else will have done the hard work for you. Sounds lazy, but it’s a cost effective method for your character in both time and gold.
Besides, with 1 or more level 85 toons at max skill to your name before starting a Worgen or Goblin, imagine the benefits to your new level 1 when he or she never has to worry about:
A) Gold
B) Gear (crafted or heirlooms
C) Materials (crafting, cooking)
D) Not knowing where to go (you 85 already paved the way)
Think about it.
Heh.. I already HAVE all the heirlooms I could possibly need and more. Soon as my main’s tank gear was up to snuff I spammed heroics to save up badges for heirlooms.
The only thing I dislike is that blizzard removed the pvp heirloom tokens (the ones that granted 1k honor). I used those a lot to help my pvp alts gear up just that much faster.
Since stone keeper shards have been removed, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.
@Mordil
Let me fix your comment:
“As soon as Mordil hits level 85, he will start running REGULAR dungeons so he can then be geared enough for Heroics.”
Transfer to Executus and I’ll heal!
@Kershocker
Psh, I’m not leaving mah server, Archimonde! The people there know and LOVE me :)
meh. I’ll be in heroics before you know it. I’m skilled like that
@Mordil
BLAH! Come on over to Executus. its a pretty damn good server.
Heh.
I love you guys enough to give away my BlizzCon SWAG
not enough to leave my server though :P
What is with everyone and their PvE/PvP servers? Where is the RP love?
@Xianghua
one would think with Lore junkies such as ourselves, would RP more.
I, however much love to RP, PvE is my main vice and draw to World of Warcraft. PvP is a close second.
Just can’t devote myself to most RP servers (bad experiences).
im with you on this one Mordil. i get my RP fix elsewhere. i have a group of friends whom we compose our owne WoW RP via forums and such. In game RP just isnt there anymore truely.
I have trouble with in-game RP as well, but the community on a lot of RP servers is far better than a Pve/PvP server most times.