In WoW Classic you have access to four player races per faction. In our brief overview of Humans and Orcs, Night Elves and Tauren, Dwarves and Trolls, Gnomes and Forsaken, we explain what advantages and disadvantages they sometimes bring.

In World of Warcraft Classic you’ll face one of the most important decisions at the beginning of your adventure: Which race should it be? On both the Horde and Alliance sides, four races were available at the time. The Horde is looking forward to new blood among the Orcs, Tauren, Trolls and Forsaken (aka Undead), while Alliance fans can romp around Azeroth as a Human, Night Elf, Gnome or Dwarf. There are some individual differences between the races, which we will briefly discuss below.

Orcs

Warchief Thrall is an orc and practically the father of the new Horde. Accordingly, the faction identifies most strongly with the orcish members. The starting area for the green-skinned fighting machines is the region of Durotar, south of the capital Orgrimmar. If your hero is an orc, you can choose between the warrior, shaman, rogue, hunter and wizard classes. The most powerful warriors of the Horde strap their saddles on the backs of wolves as soon as they can afford to ride.

The racial abilities of orcs are adapted to the harsh conditions of their homeland. Tenacity, for example, ensures that the duration of all stun effects that hit you is reduced by an additional 20 percent. Boiling Blood, on the other hand, puts you in a raging state that temporarily increases either your attack power or your spell power, depending on the class you choose. Warlock and Hunter companions get a small damage boost from the Command racial ability. Finally, the Axe specialization ensures that you already have a weapon skill of 5 with one and two-handed axes at the start of your adventure. That’s not much. But in Classic, you still have to level up each weapon type individually.

Tauren

The shamanistic race of Tauren lives a bit off the beaten path, and their warriors have to travel a long way to get from the starting area of Mulgore to the Horde capital. The Tauren’s closeness to nature is also reflected in their choice of classes: you can have a warrior, a hunter, a shaman or a druid roaming the expanses of the grasslands – making the Tauren the only druids in Classic on the Horde side! The WoW developers have deviated from the original plan to not give the Tauren a mount and instead give them the Plainsrunning ability. Massive Kodos are available as mounts to followers of the Tauren chieftain Cairne Bloodhoof.

The passive folk skill “Stamina” simplifies the choice of the main tank, since Tauren have a bonus to their stamina. Since Tauren also like to pick flowers, they have a bonus to Herb Lore and also increased resistance to Nature damage – yes, resistances are back in play with Classic! The only active ability, War Thunder, is fantastic, especially in PvP, after all, you can use it to stun enemies. However, it sometimes takes an excruciatingly long time for the ability to trigger when you activate it!

Trolls

he tragic history of the Darkspear trolls means that they basically don’t have their own starting area; they share about 80 percent with the Orcs. Accordingly, they have their first adventures in Durotar. A small note beforehand: The Echo Islands do not exist in Classic in their current form, as you find them on the live servers. That’s why you start in the small harbor village Sen’jin, which doesn’t have much more to offer than a few huts and where you only briefly meet the boss of the trolls, Vol’jin. The classes to choose from are warrior, mage, hunter, priest, rogue and shaman. And if you have the money for a mount, you take a seat on a wild mounted raptor.

With the speed Berserker, Trolls have one of the strongest races in Classic WoW – you’ll benefit especially if you don’t have full health, because then the effect of Berserker is even stronger! Due to the bow and throwing weapon specialization, the hunter class is suitable for the trolls, especially since you also generally deal increased damage against wild animals as a troll. Of course, rogues are also popular, because after all, they can also use throwing weapons. Also, the health regeneration rate of trolls is increased by default – nice, Mon!

The Forsaken, subjects of Sylvanas Windrunner, who was far less aggressive at the time, are cooking their own soup far from the Horde capital of Orgrimmar. The only race of the Horde, the undead dwell on the continent of Eastern Kingdoms and roam the ruins of Lordaeron in the region of Tirisfal Glades, which they now call the Undercity. Don’t worry: You can get to Durotar via a zeppelin that takes off in front of the city gates. The playable classes you can choose from warrior, mage, priest, rogue and warlock. As soon as you can afford a rideable vehicle, you take a seat on the backs of rickety skeleton steeds.

The Forsaken are pretty badass, as you can see from their racial abilities. Because with cannibalism they can attack any corpse that lies at their feet. Whether enemy or friend, the skill provides healing if the meal is successful. While the passive bonuses of shadow resistance and underwater breathing (you can hold your breath longer) don’t sound that exciting, Will of the Forsaken is extremely strong in PvP. Activating it makes you immune to charm, fear, and sleep effects. You can use the skill even if you have already been checkmated by such an effect.

people

The Alliance is led by the humans, although the kingdom of Anduin Wrynn and his handler, Bolvar Fordragon, is not necessarily the largest of the four allied races. It is likely that this arose from a fading memory of the great human kingdom of Arathor. The fact is, however, that the people of Stormwind have found a new home after fleeing Lordaeron. People start their journey through Azeroth in the immediate vicinity of the magnificent city, namely in the forest of Elwynn. You roam the country as a warrior, paladin, rogue, magician, sorcerer or priest and let a noble steed carry you from one adventure to the next.

The ultimate racial bonus that has historically condemned people to buying expensive mounts for other guild members is diplomacy. It reduces purchase prices by a whopping ten percent. Also appealing to human wizards is stubbornness, as it gives you more willpower. This is especially useful for the healing priests. Humans also have either very sharp ears or very keen eyesight, making it easier to spot characters in stealth. To do this, you should preferably put swords or maces in the hands of your characters, because they cause more damage! Therefore, especially warriors and rogues of humans were very popular among the players.

dwarves

Dwarfs to power! Because the stocky, bearded fellows – and less bearded fellows – are still the true leaders of the alliance in Classic-WoW. After all, they own the most popular hub for goods of all kinds: Ironforge in snowy Dun Morogh. One of the Alliance’s most popular leaders, Magni Bronzebeard has met a difficult fate. His daughter Moira has been kidnapped! The history of this Bronzebeard branch was still tragic back then, but today the situation looks a bit different thanks to the story developments of the WoW designers. As a dwarf you can become a warrior, hunter, paladin, priest or rogue. You ride on the back of a ram if you have saved your mount from the mouth.

Because dwarves with the stone form have a fairly strong racial ability, the stocky warriors were often assigned as tanks. The skill not only grants immunity to bleeding, poisoning, and disease for the duration, but also increases the warrior’s armor. Those who did not become a dwarven warrior chose the hunter as their vocation in most cases, because the firearms specialization granted five points more damage with rifles. Dwarves’ frost resistance, on the other hand, only played a role late in Classic’s raids, as most of the bosses before Naxxramas were fire breathers. That leaves the Treasure Hunter skill, which in its old form displayed nearby treasures on the minimap and is pretty much useless.

night elves

What the Forsaken are to the Horde, the night elves are to the Alliance, namely the only representatives of their respective factions on a continent that actually “belongs” to the others. The descendants of the high elves live on Kalimdor in the branches of the world tree Teldrassil, where they explore their starting area relatively isolated from the events around them. Sealed off because a natural obstacle keeps too many Hordlers from slaying young night elves. To get to the youngsters, eager – or suicidal – members of the Horde must first get through the well-secured capital city of Darnassus. With the night elves you have the choice between warrior, hunter, priest, rogue and druid. If you can afford a mount, you can ride a fancy saber tooth.

While shadow mimic doesn’t directly affect combat performance or anything like that, Night Elf players rely on the skill to quickly retreat from a fight or to wait invisibly in the shadows for unsuspecting enemies. The natural resistance of the elves helps especially in dungeons like Maraudon, in the Ahn’Qiraj raid or even with the emerald green dragons. Tanks among the night elves are happy about an increased chance of dodging thanks to speed. Also beneficial is the wisp spirit form, which lets you run back to your corpse faster.

gnomes

They may not be particularly big, but they are particularly clever! That didn’t save the gnomes under High Tinker Gelbin Mekkatorque from being kicked out of their own realm, Gnomeregan, either. The city is already a dungeon in Classic WoW, which you can visit in groups of five. Luckily, the dwarves of Ironforge took pity and took in the homeless; that’s why dwarves and gnomes share the same starting area called Dun Morogh. The gnomes among the heroes can choose from the classes warrior, mage, rogue and warlock. Particularly clever – or simply well-heeled – gnomes are allowed to ride through world history on so-called mechano striders; they are like robotic bouquets.

Gnomes have a bonus to the intelligence attribute, which is why in the past they were mainly active as magicians or sorcerers. The bonus to arcane resistance, on the other hand, was secondary, while the gnomes often learned the profession of engineer – 15 bonus points to this profession is a real treat! There is also the Escape Artist skill, which is extremely useful when removing immobilisation effects or slows – for example in PvP.

What is WoW Classic?

World of Warcraft Classic is a true recreation of the original WoW as you know it from 2006. All parts of the game – from combat mechanics and talent trees to character models and zones – have been recreated, contributing to the authentic experience.

Getting Started

All players with an active World of Warcraft subscription or game time on their accounts have access toWoW Classic at no additional cost.

1. Open the Blizzard Battle.net Desktop App and select World of Warcraft from the menu.
2. Select World of Warcraft Classic from the Version menu. If you have more than one World of Warcraft account, you’ll see a second Account drop-down list. In this column, select the active account you want to play with.
3. Click the Install button. The progress bar will tell you when your game is ready to play.
4. Click the Play button when the installation is complete.

You will need to select the realm you want to play on from several different realm types. Make sure you choose the same realm as your friends – in World of Warcraft Classic, you can only group with characters that are on the same realm as you!

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