mendax.org

While politically incorrect as far as real-world politics are concerned, racism in massively multiplayer online roleplaying games (MMORPGs) is a reasonable course of action when one considers the benefits developers give their game’s respective races. Looking at World of Warcraft (WoW), we have ten races, each with different, inherent abilities, which can compliment the different classes available to them. While most players choose the race for the class they want to play based on looks, a savvy few will consider the racial abilities available, and make a decision based around maximum efficiency for the class they want to play. Obviously, Blizzard developers want to be sure that the racial abilities available are not horribly overpowered, but anyone who does more than glance at what’s available will quickly see that not all races in WoW’s land of Azeroth are created equal.

While much has been written about racial abilities in WoW in the past, I decided to take a better look at the issue and summarize the results of my findings, especially since much of the documentation on WoW racial abilities is missing information because it predates the WoW expansion, Burning Crusade. Compiling my findings, I disregarded, or at least minimized, the racial benefits of resistances and bonuses to weapons, since these are fairly negligible advantages that give little practical gain overall. Additionally, I dismissed bonuses to professions, since no recipes are available in WoW that actually make use of such bonuses. If they did, Tauren, for example, would give Horde alchemists a huge bonus, since they would be the only ones capable of picking extremely rare plants. Instead, these profession bonuses do little more than make starting out with these professions a bit easier. Note that these arguments are not entirely scientific, and that weighing some abilities over others is both situational, and in some cases, based on user preference and play-style. Nonetheless, what follows are racial arguments for different classes.

• Druid: As a shifter, there are only two racial choices, and if one is already resigned to playing a particular faction, then the choice is already made for the player. Otherwise, the choice should immediately be clear; Druids can already stealth, and a minor dodge chance increase is nothing compared to a Tauren’s bonus health and war stomp, which makes getting heals off much easier. Sadly, aesthetics plays a major role in most player’s decisions, which is why we see twice as many Night Elf Druids in Azeroth compared to their clearly superior Tauren counterparts.
• Hunter: As the gimmicky class in WoW, a Hunter’s wide appeal is recognized by the number of races capable of fathering Hunter characters. For the Alliance, the Draenei’s increased hit chance aura doesn’t win out over Dwarven Stoneform, unless the Hunters being compared are not toting guns (+5 to guns roughly equates to a 2% hit chance increase). The Alliance decision then comes down to whether one wants a HoT to compliment Mend Pet, or if a bleed/disease/poison-removal talent is preferred. With this in mind, expect the HoT to be more useful in PvE, whereas the increase in armor and defense against Rogues via Stoneform is better for PvP. For Horde, even though the other choices are tempting compared to Alliance racial abilities, Orcs win out considering their blanket pet damage increase, resistance to stun for PvP, and ability to increase attack power at will. Orcs are so much better, in fact, that they make Draenei Hunters meager in comparison.
• Mage: For the Alliance, the decision to roll a Mage comes down to whether one wants an Intelligence or Spirit boost, or if one is so desperate as to need a HoT for better survivability. Since Mages shouldn’t be taking shots in groups anyway, it ends up being Intelligence that helps Mages the most in doing what they’re best at: flambéing the opposition. In this respect, Gnomes take home the gold, and their added ability to escape roots and snares when Blink isn’t available make them the clear Alliance choice. Horde-side, the ability to steal and gain mana is nice, but so is the Undead’s ability to resist Fear/Sleep/Charm effects in PvP. Since Mages can summon food at will, Cannibalize and health regeneration aren’t as spectacular as they would be for other classes, so in the end, Blood Elves win out, since their abilities to steal mana and Silence enemies also have PvP uses. Comparing Gnomes to Blood Elves, a blanket intelligence bonus is just too nice, so Gnomes net a win.
• Paladin: This time around, there’s only one Horde choice, for obvious reasons. Looking at the two Alliance choices, we can either take a blanket Spirit increase or Stoneform for even greater survivability when mana is low. Since the Paladin is the epitome of a survivor, and mana gains from casting downtime isn’t that common for Paladins in combat, Dwarves win this race. Played properly, Blood Elf Paladins have a nice bonus ability to pull mana-using mobs at a distance with their racial, and having a backup source of mana for one extra heal is a solid advantage. In this sense, both Dwarves and Blood Elves have racials that bolster the Paladin’s survivability, but I’m giving this one to the Horde since the mana bonus, used to heal, can help others just as much as it can help the Paladin.
• Priest: This class is complicated by the fact that there are Priest-specific racials involved. Much has been spoken of these in the past, and pre-Burning Crusade, the common thinking has always been that Dwarves are superior for PvE content because of Fear Ward, and Undead win out for PvP thanks to Devouring Plague. With Draenei in the mix, who also have Fear Ward, Dwarves are trumped for end-game PvE content given the extra HoT, though Dwarves still have better solo survivability given their instant heal and Stoneform. In this sense, especially after factoring in the Draenei hit aura, the Alliance Priest decision comes down to group or solo play, compounded by the fact that the Draenei hit aura isn’t as attractive if there will be other Draenei in the group. In the end, both Draenei and Dwarf Priests are superior choices, despite the population of Night Elf versions running around looking pretty. While the Undead still make the best solo or PvP Priests given their ability to Cannibalize (thusly saving precious mana in-between fights), and their sick Damage over Time (DoT) that also heals themselves, I’ll give the race award to the Alliance this time around for overall usefulness. With two solid choices, if I had to pick one, I’d say Draenei have a slight advantage in group-play, which is where Holy Priests shine the most anyway.
• Rogue: The pretty race actually has some nice racial abilities this time around, with Night Elves bringing increased dodge and stealth to the table. Still, Stoneform makes things easier for the Rogue, and the gnomish ability to escape roots and snares is nice for PvP, as it reduces the need to blow a Vanish just to escape and get back into combat range. Gnomes also have the advantage of being small, which makes detecting them a bit more difficult visually. Looking at Horde Rogues, we have similarly nice racial abilities throughout, with Blood Elves able to store energy for emergency use, and Orcs and Trolls having increased attack power and speed, with stun resistances and health regeneration mixed in, respectively. For PvP, the Undead’s ability to escape fear/charm/sleep effects is almost as useful as the Gnome’s Escape Artist ability, and the added advantage of eating the corpse of one’s enemy to gain health in-between fights is hardly negligible. For Horde, Undead win out by a nose, if only because Orc and Troll Rogues make for better damage dealers, but in the end, Gnomes win out as the sneakiest brigands of all.
• Shaman: Obviously, the Alliance choice is Draenei. With nice racials among the Orcs and Trolls, Horde Shamans have good choices, but in the end, the Tauren win out, with a blanket health bonus, and the ability to stun nearby enemies to get off a quick, uninterrupted heal. While a Draenei’s HoT gives space-shamans a maintenance healing ability that other shamans desperately lack, as a hybrid/survivor class, the Tauren are still shaman-kings.
• Warlock: As a ranged class, escaping roots/snares isn’t that necessary for a Warlock, but a blanket intelligence bonus is great, especially given how mana efficient Warlocks are. As such, a Human’s increased Spirit can’t compete, earning Gnomes a race victory as far as demonic casters are concerned. Since most Warlocks are regarded as very mana efficient, the Blood Elf mana-tapping racial isn’t that phenomenal, while Orcish stun resistance and pet damage bonuses are much nicer in comparison, not to mention the Orcish attack power bonus. While the Undead have the ability to escape fear/charm/sleep effects, this is arguably no better than Orcish stun resistance for PvP, so Orcs win out given their small, but useful, pet damage bonuses. Head-to-head, Between Gnomes and Orcs, I’ll give this one to the green-skins.
• Warrior: As the class that nine out of ten races can represent, there is great flexibility in choices. Draenei and Dwarves both offer increased survivability thanks to a HoT and Stoneform, respectively, while Gnomish Escape Artist allows for similar survivability in PvP. All three of these options are useful, and the Draenei hit aura makes for a tougher decision, considering that other melee classes will assist the Warrior in end-game PvE. Still, the bane of Warriors is being stuck in place, so Gnomes get the battle-trophy for Alliance. For the Horde, Orcs and Trolls offer nice offensive bonuses thanks to Blood Fury and Berserking, respectively, while the Tauren health bonus and spell interrupt thanks to War Stomp offer survivability akin to the Undead’s Cannibalize and PvP-worthy escape from fear/charm/sleep effects. In the end, Undead Warriors may very well offer the best grinding experience thanks to an ability to heal in-between fights, and compounded with an ability to prevent fear effects from pesky casters, the Undead offer a slight advantage over their Horde cousins, even though Orcs and Trolls can outdamage them. Between Gnomes and Undead, it comes down to what the more common crowd-control abilities used against Warriors are, and by number of abilities alone, the Gnomish Escape Artist ability lets Warriors close the gap between them and more classes, giving Gnomes another thing to cheer about.

Interestingly enough, the Gnomes represent heavily for Alliance, considering that they’re not commonly rolled. Behind them are the Draenei, who, as a new race, seem to have been created with utility in mind. Unsurprisingly, the conventional pretty race of Night Elves does not offer considerable advantages, and is only represented because they offer sole access to the Druid class for Alliance players.

The Horde’s races seem much better balanced, with each offering at least two solid class choices. Without surprise is the Undead’s superiority, which is reflected in the Undead’s population among Horde players. As one would have expected Blizzard to make human racials more appealing, one would also have expected Blizzard to make Orcs more appealing, since the Human/Orc matchup has been present in all Warcraft games to date. Sadly, the player-driven population of Azeroth does not match the one we’ve seen in Warcraft lore.

Comparing races of both factions, Gnomes still make out very well, with Tauren following up. Both new races have great class choices, but in the end, Horde racials come out ahead overall. Considering that Horde players have long been considered better PvP players on average, and that Horde racials are very PvP-centric, it is unsurprising that Alliance loses out, although the results as tallied still have the factions at a close 5-4, with Horde winning by a nose. With PvP in mind, it’s worth noting that Gnomish excellence is established in great part due to their Escape Artist ability, which has its core effectiveness defined by its PvP uses.

06/13/2007: Alliance Hunter argument modified to present Dwarf Stoneform and +5 to guns advantages.

Popularity: 2% [?]