Shared Topic: Your Favorite WoW Race

This week’s Blog Azeroth shared topic comes to us from Garona at PvE Rogues:

“What is your favourite race in wow?”

Perhaps your favourite race is the one that yields the best DPS or raid utility? Perhaps you’d rather have a certain race because it seems to suit your class best or your characters back story. Maybe you like PVP beneficial racial traits or just like the look of those sexy draeneis or blood elfs.
If questing and alts are more to your liking which race has the best questing racial traits or the most interesting starting quest zones/chains?”

Usually I have to put quite a bit of thought into these Blog Azeroth questions.  I muse over it for a day or two before I begin to draft out a few thoughts.  Not so in this case. My choice was obvious.

Gnomes.  I just can’t get enough of them.

It’s hard to explain exactly why I like this race so much, but I’ll give it a shot.  A lot of my preference from gnomes probably begins from RPing them in the past.  There’s something cheerfully infectious about them, even when they’re being played in a serious way or situation.  When I RPed as other races, I usually spent a few moments thinking out what I wanted my character to say next before typing it.  When I was on a gnome, though, it seemed like the words flew out of my head and through my keyboard almost faster than I could think.  Playing a gnome means that you can’t help but get into that chaotic, creative, and curious psyche.

What’s always amazed me, however, is that the gnomish personality doesn’t just infect the person playing them – it also seems to spread to the other players around them.  A little over a year ago, the Pink Kitty and I decided to level our gnomes (a warlock and mage team) through PvP when the changes were first made that allowed players to gain XP that way.  I was shocked at how often our silly antics as we defended the flags in Arathi Basin were often appreciated and sometimes reciprocated by the other players on our team.  Sometimes we would /dance or /cower (depending on the situation), and other times we would just say goofy gnome-type things in the /say channel.  More often than not, players would join in with us.  I hesitated when the Pink Kitty first started doing this on his mage, thinking that we’d just end up being griefed by the hardcore PvPers in the battleground.  After I realized that people almost always responded positively, I started to join in the fun.

Sure, there are still plenty of gnome-haters out there and lots of gnome punting jokes to be found.  If I had to guess, I’d say that the rest of the population is just jealous that they can’t have such a positive outlook about life on Azeroth.  Let’s face it: gnomes have had a pretty hard time of it.  Between losing their racial home, losing the majority of their population along with it, and recently learning that they’re descended from a race of Titan-made machines, gnomes have had it rough in the last few decades.  You’d never know it to talk to one, though.  Gnomes remain resolutely upbeat in the face of just about anything … even punting.

Thanks to Cataclysm changes, gnomes are finally able to actually heal themselves now that they can become priests.  Being able to race change my human priest to a gnome is still probably my favorite thing I’ve done in this expansion.  And while I find the night elves’ story interesting, I can’t lie – if my druid could be a gnome, she probably would be.  Kitten / bear cub / moonkin hatchling / shrub form activate!  I’m personally still a little annoyed that goblins got to be shaman and gnomes still can’t.  Imagine the gear-rific totems!  Gnome tanks (including my own warrior) are really my favorite tanks; just try not cracking a smile as you watch a tiny little gnome get beat up by some of the biggest bosses in the game.

There’s just something about logging on to a gnome character.  I feel a little bouncier, a little happier, a little goofier.  It makes my time in WoW just a little bit more fun.

**While the timing of this post happens to coincide with April Fools Day, I assure you that I’m completely serious.  My love for gnomes is no joke!**