Origins: The Gnome and Dwarf Story

So with the news that Patch 4.1 and Cataclysm are not too far off anymore, I figured I should get on with my little project to see all the newbie zones. My final remaining zone to review on the Alliance side was Coldridge Valley, starting area for both the Dwarves and the Gnomish diaspora. This was actually the only Alliance zone I had previously played, having toyed with a Dwarf Rogue once on another server whilst my beloved Argent Dawn was down. I had quite fond memories of the snow-drenched valley and its quirky people so I had decided to keep it for last. This time I decided to try something I never thought I would do and play as a member of that much-maligned (and much-punted) race: the Gnomes!

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Origins: The Draenei Story

Continuing my foray into exploring all of the starter zones in our beloved game, I next took the form of a species that have been vilified throughout the galaxy, including by me. I have never liked the Draenei. Perhaps it was because they exposed my beloved Shaman class to the filthy Alliance; or perhaps it was because, like the cursed Naaru they hold so dear, the Draenei are just so disgustingly warm and fuzzy. They are probably the race I have despised the most as a WoW player, and I have always paid extra attention to hunting them down in the battlegrounds. I have been known to have abandoned key objectives and lost the Horde a battle, purely because I saw a Draenei Shaman nearby and wanted to kill it in the face. So in rolling one of the hooved blueskins I was committing a kind of personal treason. I was also about to find out that I may have been wrong about the Draenei…

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Origins: The Night Elf Story

The pre-Cataclysm lull has made my beloved WoW start to drag a little of late. I’ve done pretty much done everything there is to do. So I have set myself a challenge to experience every starter zone in WoW, starting with the strange (and slightly smelly) Alliance races that as a Horde-fanatic are completely unfamiliar to me. Having been dismayed by the hypocrisy and flimsy morals displayed by Humans, I was really hoping for something more impressive from my next character: a Night Elf.

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Origins: The Human Story

One of my goals to achieve before Cataclysm hits is to make sure I’ve seen everything the World of Warcraft has to offer, because once it’s gone, it’s gone forever. Now I’m well on my way there, having always been a natural in-game explorer and lore-hunter. However, the areas I haven’t really seen much of are the low-level zones, especially for those races that I’ve never rolled a character on. So I have set myself a challenge: to roll a character of every single race and thoroughly explore their starting zones. Also, starting zones are an area Blizzard is strongly looking at with regard to the next expansion, so I thought it would be fun to review the experiences I had with each starter zone, and see how they currently compare. I’ll be reviewing each race’s zone in turn, but as a long-term dedicated Horde player I thought it would interesting to start with the complete unknown: the Alliance zones. First up – the Humans!

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