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We've all interacted with goblins throughout our time playing World of Warcraft. You've no doubt wondered what the crafty race has been up to in their home of Undermine and how exactly they manage to always crash those zeppelins in the most inconvenient locales. With World of Warcraft: Cataclysm you'll finally learn all of this and more. Well okay, so you probably won't get to see Undermine or learn why they can't seem to manage keeping a zeppeling afloat, but you will get to play a goblin. Being the staunch business men we are, we jumped on this faster than Baron Revilgaz on a money-making scheme. I had the chance to play through part* of the goblin starting experience at BlizzCon. While I played a mage, goblins can be any class except paladins and druids.
Blizzard drew upon the lore of the goblins to deliver quite possibly the most humorous and interesting set of racials to date. Best Deals Anywhere reflect the goblins’ robber-baron trading heritage, allowing them to receive the best possible gold discount regardless of faction. Every half hour they can summon a Pack Hobgoblin who gives you bank access for a minute. They gain an inherent bonus to alchemy with Better Living Through Chemistry, and Time is Money provides a nice haste bonus. Their most unique racial, however, has to be their rocket belt, allowing them to Rocket Barrage an enemy with fire damage or Rocket Jump to escape from enemies or get across obstacles. Both abilities should be extremely interesting when utilized by a creative player.
The Bread Winner
In general, the goblin starting experience is incredibly fun. The atmosphere is far more light-hearted than other races, and it provides an effective contrast to the worgen’ dark, gloomy style. You wake up on a piece of debris floating off of Shipwreck Shore. Your ship was just attacked and is currently littered in the water and on the beach. The first task at hand is to help rescue your fellow goblins by freeing them from the escape pods that are scattered around you in the water. We immediately see how Blizzard is trying to improve the starting experience with this quest. In previous starting experiences, you’d swim at an excruciatingly slow pace around the area. Now, you’re equipped with flippers that dramatically increase your swim speed after just a few seconds. After saving several of your fellow goblins, you’re directed to drive back the immediate threats – by throwing explosive-laden bananas at bomb-throwing monkeys!
After your initial round of quests, you are walked through a series of quests that introduce the goblins to the Horde, who are also battling the Alliance on the island. You come across an orc journal in a nearby mine and track down the Horde camp. From there, you assist them in regrouping their forces that have been scattered across the island, and make a push against the Alliance. The whimsical design of the overall quest chain is best displayed when you are tasked with saving several orc scouts from marauding plants. Using goblin ingenuity, you transform yourself into a living Goblin Weedwhacker – spinning around mowing the vicious greenery down!
Ultimately, you come across the Horde battling the Alliance on the opposite end of the island – you’re told that the Alliance have stolen some precious cargo from the Horde, and are asked to retrieve it. You assist in driving back the Alliance beachhead, steal the keys to the nearby gyrocopter and fly to attack the Alliance fleet. Little do you know that the precious cargo you rescue is actually Thrall! He empowers you with shamanistic lightning, and you get to fly around the ships, zapping Alliance sailors with magical lightning. After returning and speaking with Thrall, you travel to the next island to continue your questing in the only way goblins can – by being strapped to a rocket and crash landing on the beach.
Final Thoughts
Again, while the “more epic than the death knight starting experience” advertisement fails here, playing through this portion of the goblin starting zone was incredibly fun. The style of the area is fun, colorful and incredibly witty. The quest design team avoids the standard “kill X bears and give me their pelts” trap and manages to deliver a varied experience that is worth playing through, regardless of what faction you end up playing.
* This write-up covers the level 6-9 experience. Per comments from the developers at BlizzCon, goblins will start at level 1 but they weren't finished with those levels yet.
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