World of Warcraft Races

If you're gonna play with the big boys in Azeroth, you'd better know the World of Warcraft Races.

Horde 

Orcs, Trolls, Taurens, Undeads

Alliance  

Humans, Night Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes

World of Warcraft Races - Orc

Available Classes: Hunter, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior Start Location: Durotar Home City: Orgrimmar

Orc Abilities 

Orc Abilities

All Orcs share the following characteristics:

# Blood Fury: Activate to increase strength. Always a good thing for warriors, but being forced to activate it will take up one of your precious quick slots.

# Hardiness: Increase resistance to stun and knockout effects -- this isn't as useful as it sounds since slowing and paralyzation is a much more common problem.

# Command: Pet melee damage increased -- awesome for hunters, possibly for warlocks, useless for everyone else.

# Axe Specialization: Increase to axe skill -- nice, but it will tend to make all Orcs look alike because everyone will be wielding an axe.

 World of Warcraft Races - Troll 

Available Classes: Hunter, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warrior. Start Location: Durotar Home City: Orgrimmar

Troll Abilities 

All Trolls share the following characteristics:

# Berserking: Activate when "wounded" to increase melee and spellcasting speed.

# Regeneration: Increase health regeneration bonus -- probably the best racial bonus in the game, this drastically cuts down on "downtime" while sitting around waiting to heal as well as the money players spend on food.

# Beast Slaying: Increase damage bonus to beasts -- wseless for PvP players, but if you spend much time questing or killing animals for skinning and leatherworking, this is a great bonus.

# Throwing Weapon Specialization: Increase throwing weapon skill. Nearly useless in World of Warcraft, but the rest of the Troll racial characteristics more than make up for it. 

World of Warcraft Races - Tauren 

Available Classes: Druid, Hunter, Shaman, Warrior Start Location: Redrock Mesa, Mulgore Home City: Thunder Bluff

Tauren Abilities 

All Tauren share the following characteristics:

# War Stomp: Activate to stun opponents - a good stunning power that, along with Endurance, make Tauren frighteningly good Warriors - especially for PvP.

# Endurance: Max health increased.

# Cultivation: Increase skill bonus to herbalism -- fits in well with the "theme" of the race, but may feel restrictive to players who want to try other skill sets.

# Nature Resistance: Increase nature resistance -- good stuff in most Tauren lands and should help when facing Night Elves in PvP.

World of Warcraft Races - Undead 

Available Classes: Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior Start Location: Tirisfal Glades Home City: The Undercity

Undead Abilities 

All Undead share the following characteristics:

# Will of the Forsaken: Activate to become immune to fear, sleep, and charm effects. This is an insanely useful trait, especially for PvP, so expect it to be "nerfed" soon after launch.

# Cannibalize: Increase health regeneration while consuming a corpse. Again, a very useful characteristic, although probably not as good as the Troll's Regeneration.

# Underwater Breathing: Underwater breath increased. There only a few places where this will come in handy -- mostly on quests, but is nice nonetheless.

# Shadow Resistance: Increase Shadow Resistance. Not as useful as it appears because of the comparative lack of Shadow-wielding monsters. Great for facing quests that take you against the Scourge or warlocks in PvP, though.

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World of Warcraft Races - Humans 

Available Classes: Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior Start Location: Northshire, Elwynn Home City: Stormwind

Human Abilities 

All Humans share the following characteristics:

# Perception: This increases stealth detection radius.

# The Human Spirit: Offers an increase in spirit.

# Diplomacy: Bonus to faction point gain, though it's difficult to see how useful this will be at the moment.

# Weapon Specialization: Increased sword and mace skill -- which doesn't really help spell- casters, but is a nice bonus nonetheless.

World of Warcraft Races - Night Elf

Available Classes: Druid, Hunter, Priest, Rogue. Warrior Start Location: Teldrassil Home City: Darnassus

 Night Elf Abilities 

All Night Elves share the following characteristics:

# Shadowmeld: Rogues will love this and it may prove useful in PvP. It'd be great if there were "recon" quests built around this ability.

# Quickness: Dodge chance increased.

# Wisp Spirit: Become a much faster wisp when dead -- again, great for solo players.

# Nature Resistance: Increase Nature Resistance -- good in high-level jungle zones, especially Elven areas, where many creatures inflict this kind of damage.

World of Warcraft Races - Dwarf 

Available Classes: Hunter, Mage, Paladin,Priest, Rogue, Warrior Start Location: Anvil Marr, Dun Morogh Home City: Ironforge

Dwarf Abilities 

All Dwarves share the following characteristics:

# Stoneform: Activate to gain immunity to poison, disease, and bleed. This could be an incredibly useful talent for fighting classes.

# Gun Specialization: Useless for some classes, but could make Dwarf hunters a big factor in PvP.

# Frost Resistance: Increase Cold Resistance.

# Treasure Finding: Activate to see treasure chests on mini map -- nice, but since most treasure chests are both guarded and pretty obvious, not fabulous.

World of Warcraft Races - Gnomes 

Available Classes: Mage, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior Start Location: Anvil Marr, Dun Morogh Home City: Ironforge

 Gnome Abilities 

All Gnomes share the following characteristics:

# Escape Artist: A chance to escape from speed-altering effects. This is a really nice bonus when fighting against monsters, but may be a killer edge in PvP against mages.

# Expansive Mind: Increased intelligence -- again, a boon to mages and warlocks.

# Arcane Resistance: Increase arcane resistance.

# Engineering Specialist: Increase skill bonus to engineering -- a good bonus if you take the engineering tradeskill, but may feel a bit restrictive if players want to explore another tradeskill path.