Garrett Fuller from MMORPG.com interviewed J. Allen Brack, World of Warcraft’s Senior Designer, during the 2011 Game Developers Conference (GDC) to discuss his point of view about several features of the Cataclysm expansion including raid dungeons, zones, item quality, the leveling experience through 80 – 85, talent changes, raid loot changes, archaeology, and the two new playable races.
At first, J. Allen Brack reveals they had considered the Goblins as the Alliance race, and Worgen as the Horde race. However, they changed their mind.
MMORPG.com: The new races really add a lot of flavor to the game, are you seeing a lot of people switch their races to the Goblin or Worgen?
J. Allen Brack: The Goblins were actually an often requested race and so we decided to do it. We also really wanted to do a transforming race and that was how the Worgen came about. In the beginning the theory was to have Worgen on the Horde and Goblin on the Alliance. It was a significant idea to do it that way. It was like, if it is a warrior type race then it will be on the Horde. Yet we really wanted to add something a little darker to the Alliance, a race that has their own agenda, so it was a good departure for the Alliance. On the flip side we wanted something a little more light, a little more whimsical on the horde side so the Goblin was moved there. I am really happy with the ultimate decision to add the races where we did, but it was very difficult to get there.
