Meet and greet the Draenei and the Blood Elves
By opening up the Outlands with the Burning Crusade, Blizzard Entertainment is able to introduce back into the Warcraft story two of that land’s notable races: the ancient Draenei and the magic-addicted Blood Elves, both of whom we met in the Warcraft III Frozen Throne expansion. Today, courtesy of Gamespot’s exploration of the Outlands and the World of Warcraft (or talking to the devs – it’s the same thing), we get to see how Blizzard brought these two races up to speed for the MMORPG.
The Draenei of WoW will differ from the Draenei of Frozen Throne in that they don’t look alike, for starters. The Frozen Throne Draenei are a subspecies that were corrupted by the fel energies surrounding the broken Outland. But the uncorrupted (and playable) Alliance Draenei have retained their original, noble form, and have come to Kalimdor via – would you believe it? – a crystal-powered spaceship. That spaceship, the Exodar, is the central city of the Draenei.
Draenei specialize in jewel-crafting (blame the crystal-powered spaceship) and have a +5 bonus to that skill. They also possess a +10 resistance to shadow-based magic. Two abilities inherent to the Draenei are “the gift of Naruu,” mana-free healing, and “inspiring presence,” a passive aura granting +1% to hit bonus to party members within 30 yards.
Read about the Blood Elves at the full article!
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By opening up the Outlands with the Burning Crusade, Blizzard Entertainment is able to introduce back into the Warcraft story two of that land’s notable races: the ancient Draenei and the magic-addicted Blood Elves, both of whom we met in the Warcraft III Frozen Throne expansion. Today, courtesy of Gamespot’s exploration of the Outlands and the World of Warcraft (or talking to the devs – it’s the same thing), we get to see how Blizzard brought these two races up to speed for the MMORPG.
The Draenei of WoW will differ from the Draenei of Frozen Throne in that they don’t look alike, for starters. The Frozen Throne Draenei are a subspecies that were corrupted by the fel energies surrounding the broken Outland. But the uncorrupted (and playable) Alliance Draenei have retained their original, noble form, and have come to Kalimdor via – would you believe it? – a crystal-powered spaceship. That spaceship, the Exodar, is the central city of the Draenei.
Draenei specialize in jewel-crafting (blame the crystal-powered spaceship) and have a +5 bonus to that skill. They also possess a +10 resistance to shadow-based magic. Two abilities inherent to the Draenei are “the gift of Naruu,” mana-free healing, and “inspiring presence,” a passive aura granting +1% to hit bonus to party members within 30 yards.
And if you’ve followed Warcraft all this time, the Blood Elves (nee High Elves) need no introduction. Their home city of Silvermoon razed by Arthas, the Sunwell that is the source of their magical energies corrupted, the Blood Elves turned to demonic energies through Illidan’s influence to satisfy their hunger for sorcery. Demonic energies being taboo, they have since fallen in line with the Horde.
Since they specialize in sucking the mana out of the enemy (no magic rehab in WoW), all Blood Elves have the “mana tap” ability. They also have the “arcane torrent,” a devastating two-second silence spell. Like Frozen Throne, the WoW Blood Elves are built to be spellbreakers and anti-mages, with a +5 resistance to magic. They also possess a +15 enchanting trade skill. “I steal your precious?”
Gamespot also noticed one bonus of the Blood Elves. The Horde has, until now, no attractive female characters to speak of. With the Blood Elves, not anymore. Unless, of course, you’re a Tauren with an intense dislike for elves.
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