Racials

[Arcanist]

So I currently have an alliance rogue and I'm planning on doing a faction change to horde. I really want to play a blood elf in 5.2 because I like the lore and I want to see some of the horde side of the story, but I feel like hurting myself by not picking a race with a dps racial. Do they really make that big of a difference in PvE/PvP? I can see how arcane torrent would be useful in PvP, but that's about it. I mostly do PvE content with a bit of PvP on the side (just random BGs for now). I mean, if a racial is worth, for example, 1k DPS then I'll pick that race. But if it's worth something like 100 DPS, then I'm willing to sacrifice that so I can play what I want.

[Sesshou]

The panda racial is probably close to that. The troll racial on the new beast bosses will exceed that.

Personally, I'm a blood elf. I can't stand orcs, trolls, or pandas and while I was originally undead, when I came back to horde after being alliance, WotF has been nerfed badly from its BC version so I opted for female BE. If you are looking to get into something like Blood Legion, your race might matter.

Also torrent can be incredibly good in pve when its actually useful (i.e. Chogall).

[Squirl]

Use ShadowC to compare racials. They're a 1-2% DPS gain at best with Trolls being a 5%+ gain on beasts. Racials are really not a big deal outside of world first guilds and very select boss fights.

EDIT: I just realized percentages are probably not the best way to represent these gains. I'm getting 1.5k DPS from the panda racial with everything else falling below that to varying degrees. The troll racial would give me ~6.5k against a beast (of which there are several next tier). Check for yourself in ShadowC by going to the settings tab and altering your race. You have to calculate the +5% from the troll racial on your own.

[Mersynd]

I don't believe Shadowcraft is doing racials correctly. It puts Troll almost last. Undead and Panda are the two best racials but you wont always have a food buff, especially if you're battle rezzed. I would say go Undead or Orc, if not Troll, but Troll has the best designed racial for Rogues and with the new raid it will be even better.

[Arcanist]

Well, thanks for the replies all. Shadowcraft is telling me that I can gain 1200 dps by switching from a NE to a panda! 310 from going troll (not counting beastslaying), 850 from orc, 380 from a goblin, 915 from undead, and 280 from a BE. Damn, a few of these are compelling! Honestly didn't think a racial had the ability to give me around 1k dps as I was just throwing out what I thought was a hypothetical choice in the OP. Sadly, I don't really care for the look of those races that would net me the highest gains.

I wish Blizzard would redesign racials already so I could play what I want.

[apepi]

I don't believe Shadowcraft is doing racials correctly. It puts Troll almost last. Undead and Panda are the two best racials but you wont always have a food buff, especially if you're battle rezzed. I would say go Undead or Orc, if not Troll, but Troll has the best designed racial for Rogues and with the new raid it will be even better.

I always thought trolls suited as rogues so well. It is a perfect character model for a rogue.

[Verain]

I wish Blizzard would redesign racials already so I could play what I want.

Night elf is perfect for sub rogue already!

[Spyware]

The best pvp racial is stoneform.

Vanish after a bleed? Yes thank you.

You are sooooo right! Stoneform is a beast in pvp. That is exactly why I rolled a dwarf rogue. Stoneform, cloak of shadows, vanish. Damn near certain get-away/escape/life-saver.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what blizz does with the new char models. Seeing as dwarfs are on the top of the list for an update, hopefully we maintain the shorter stature, but get an improvement in appearance and all the nice goodies associated with an update!

[jtstormrage]

Most good pve (e.g. Berserking, Orc, Goblin, Worgen and Panda) racials are worth about 1% overall damage which is about 1k dps. Berserking seems to be me to be strongest because you can line it up with Vendetta/SD/AR/Heroism/Pot and Shadow Blades which makes it slightly better. However, they are all quite close overall.

EP values are here: http://elitistjerks.com/f78/t130892-...n_mists/#Races

[Ryme]

Come 5.2, troll will be far and away the best racial. If you don't care about that, go undead or pandaren.

The general ordering if all things go patchwerkingly fine:
Pandaren > Undead > Goblin > Troll > Orc > Belf

If you consider things won't go perfectly patchwerkingly well:
Undead > Pandaren > Troll > Goblin > Orc > Belf

[Sealed]

I wish Blizzard would redesign racials already so I could play what I want.

You can already play what you want. It's simply a matter of finding what factors are the most important for you. I can relate to the perfectionist approach, but trust me, when you also value lore or character appearance, it's not worth it in the long run.

Also, while the Blood Elf racial does not confer any DPS increase, the utility is certainly there. I play a warrior on the side and an AoE interrupt is great to have, if a bit situational.

[Verain]

The blood elf racial does confer a dps increase- it's merely a small one. The tauren racial is no dps increase :P

[Meejum]

Are you male or female?

Female belf rogues have awesome animations, imo. Male trolls have the best stealth walk. Maybe take a look at the wowhead model viewer and put your possible combinations through some animations.

[Ryme]

On the subject of animations, female undead have the best imo. We be doing be flips 'n' shit on finishers.

[SpaceJam]

The blood elf racial does confer a dps increase- it's merely a small one. The tauren racial is no dps increase :P

Taurens can be Rogues?

[mongoose6]

Taurens can be Rogues?

I think he meant for dps in general.

Also I think its worth mentioning that while some racials may not be a direct increase to dps, they can max your uptime on the boss (rocket jump). Same goes with a few of the alliance racials.

[Norvak]

I still love my BE rogue in pvp. AOE silence is golden against casters.

[RemJay24]

Just stick to what you enjoy most. I was getting a 500 dps increase going from orc to panda. That is not even 1%. If you are not in the top whatever guilds in the world; don't worry about it. Its very minor.