A week and a half after Blizzcon and we all have Cataclysm on our minds. There’s a lot of anticipation and questions about the new expansion, but we still have patch 3.3 to get through and it’s only been 5 weeks since 3.2 was released. I’ve heard a lot of guesses as to when Cataclysm will be released but my hope is to see it on shelves in Spring of 2010.

Since this is a Hunter blog, let’s talk Hunters. More specifically WORGEN Hunters. I had the chance to play one while at Blizzcon and they look so freakin awesome. Their jumps, idol animation, skins and hair options are amazing. The only downside is they kept the female Worgen under wraps. So while this expansion is still months (maybe a year) away people have asked me, “Are you going to change to a Worgen?” since Blizzard announced they will allow us to change races.

Good question. My answer is, ” I don’t know.” Can I look at myself and still see the same Hunter that ran UBRS in a 4 hour pug, downed Ony back when it took 40 people and spent days on the Winterspring Mob learning the art of the Jumpshot Kite? To some people a toon is just a toon, but to me I see them as a persona. Perhaps it’s the artist in  me that when I create something, whether it’s on paper, clay or even a pixilated avatar, it becomes a part of myself.

With a name like Wulf, some may think the choice is obvious. “Yes go Worgen!!” Then there are others who tell me no, you are Wulf the Night Elf Hunter. The name itself came from my love of animals. More so, it was inspired by a wolf poster which hung in one of the rooms of my boyfriend, now husband’s, house.

I always knew that Wulf’s first pet would be a wolf too. “Back in my day…” when pets were not normalized I started off with a Prairie Wolf Alpha outside of Thunderbluff, for it’s attack speed. Though my goal was to reach level 22 so I could tame the Mist Howler rare wolf spawn of Ashenvale. It’s attack speed was average but his pursuit speed is what made him popular. Able to chase down horde riding away on their mounts with ease made him ideal for PvP. However, after I tamed him all pets were nerfed. It was too late, I bonded with my Mist Howler and I had no intentions to release him even after the pet changes.

Secretly it has been my Warcraft dream to have my very own wolf pack. To run around with Kiba and a non-combat wolf pet (not a worg) and if Beastmasters were allowed to have 2 pets I can guarantee there would be a second wolf at my side. If I decided to go Worgen, I know my pack would look even more bad-arse.

Other than the physical aspects of Worgen the racials (as of now) would make also make for a very good Hunter:

• Viciousness (Passive): Increase damage by 1%. – who wouldn’t want more damage?
• Abberation (Passive): Reduced duration on Curses and Diseases used against you by 15%. – good for pvp
• Flayer (Passive): Skinning skill +15, skinning speed increase, no knife required. – a lot of hunters are skinning/leather working
• Darkflight – instant – 3 min cooldown: Activate your true form, increasing movement speed by 70% for 6 sec. – many uses in pve and pvp
• Two Forms – instant – 1.5 sec cooldown: Transform into your currently inactive form. – just sweet looking!!

As for Night Elves here’s a look at our current racials:

• Elusiveness (Passive): Reduces the chance enemies have to detect you while Shadowmelded or Stealthed – great for Rogues/Druids and can be handy in PvP for other classes.
• Nature Resistance (Passive): Reduces the chance you will be hit by Nature spells by 2% – um, okay… thanks?
• Quickness (Passive): Reduces the chance that melee and ranged attackers will hit you by 2% – not a shabby pvp skill
• Shadowmeld: Activate to slip into the shadows, reducing the chance for enemies to detect your presence. Lasts until canceled or upon moving. Any threat is restored versus enemies still in combat upon cancellation of this effect – back in Vanilla/BC this racial was awesome in PvP. It was “updated” in Lich and can still be pretty useful. I think of this as a light Feign for Hunters.
• Wisp Spirit: Transform into a wisp upon death, increasing speed by 75% – yawn

As of now, I think the Worgen win in the racials department, however, Ghostcrawler did mention that the other old class racials will be looked at and adjusted to be “as cool” as the new classes.

Now there are other things to consider too, such as starting attributes. As a Night Elf hunter my base Agility is 28 which is the highest Agility one race can start with. We have yet to see what the Worgens starter attributes are, but I can imagine they’ll have decent Agility.  Will it be as high or even higher? Only time will tell.

Finally, I don’t see race changes available to players right off the bat. A blue post actually announced today:

Race changes and leveling in Cataclysm
Just like any restrictions that may or may not be imposed on the goblin/worgen changes, it is a possibility that we won’t want the first night elf mage to level 85 to be one that started at level 80. This is strictly speculation at this point as we will need to wait until we are closer to launching the next expansion to have these types of things hammered out. (Source)

If I do decide to make the race change, a Worgen Hunter Wulf may not happen for a few patches.

However, delay or not, I plan on two things with the Worgen class:

1. Starting a new level 1 Worgen toon so I can go through the storyline and the new zone
2. Foxx will be a Worgen Druid. Especially since I read Worgen Druids will have their own kitty/bear/travel/swim form.