Worgen roleplaying advice

[Vesker]

Ok, so this is pretty self-explanatory. This isn't really a case of me lacking knowledge of the lore but I was just wondering how people choose to roleplay their worgen characters these days. I've played a gnome and an undead since I started with the game and it was fairly easy to come up with a backstory for both of them and yet my new worgen character is giving me some trouble. Your (realistic) options seem very limited. You're either a Gilnean citizen afflicted by the curse and stepping out of your kingdom into the world after years of isolation or possibly a Silverpine/Hillsbrad worgen who has likely been under the curse for a while. You could say my imagination is the problem here but its more that I'm trying to stay somewhat plausible instead of telling you how I escaped Gilneas as a child while it was still walled up and conquered the worgen curse by STRENGTH OF WILL ALONE without Night Elf assistance or something.

If your character is an older Gilnean then you have the option of them having done things before the nation's isolation during the Second War but if you're going for a younger character then what do we have to work with? The Northgate Rebellion? What else is there for your character to have done until the Cataclysm? They were born, they piddled about in Gilneas for a while and now they're ejected into an unfamiliar world wondering what they've missed. Have you ever met a home-schooled kid before? That's kind of what I'm getting at here.

I guess this thread is pretty much a standing invitation for people to tell me how terrible they think the introduction of the Gilneans has been or to share their opinions on worgen lore in general but lets try and keep it on topic. How do you deal with it? How do you make your character feel like a part of the world and it's troubles when they've been locked in a cupboard until recently? I have a couple of ideas in mind but I wanted to see how other worgen roleplayers are tackling the problem.

[Thage]

My worgen was a Northgate rebel who didn't participate in the Gilneas starting zone, per se, but caught the curse in Pyrewood Village before Classic, and was later caught by the Gilneas Liberation Front and given some of Krennan's potion, long enough to get her (and a good forty other worgen from Pyrewood) to the ceremony in Gilneas. After that, she took up adventuring and sort of drifted from place to place doing whatever before landing herself in night elf territories and figuring, fuck it, may as well fight for something.

[Azahel]

I think the introduction was incredible, although, c'mon, it is a story that happened with only one character.
So yeah, it's hard to say we were all friends with Liam and Graymane and all, but I think it was awesome.
For those who still need some advise, read Curse of the Worgen, it's awesome and does help a lot to create a story.
You can be one of Alfa Prime's Worgen, Bloog fang's, Pyrewood, Silverpine, Hillsbrad.
On that last one, I'd also advise doing the initial quests as forsaken just to check what's what.

[Vesker]

I think the introduction was incredible, although, c'mon, it is a story that happened with only one character.
So yeah, it's hard to say we were all friends with Liam and Graymane and all, but I think it was awesome.
For those who still need some advise, read Curse of the Worgen, it's awesome and does help a lot to create a story.
You can be one of Alfa Prime's Worgen, Bloog fang's, Pyrewood, Silverpine, Hillsbrad.
On that last one, I'd also advise doing the initial quests as forsaken just to check what's what.

I thought the Gilneas introduction was great too but I've seen a lot of negativity flying around the forums so I just thought I'd mention to leave it at the door for now. I read through Curse of the Worgen a little while back and thought it was by far the best of the WoW comic works (looking at the main WoW comic I guess that isn't really saying much but still, CotW was up to Ashbringer's standard) and I really liked the Halford Ramsey character, it was pretty useful to see a (sort of) regular Gilnean dude dealing with the curse and the appearance of the Night Elves. It was nice to see how Gilneas functioned before the big worgen attack too.

[Cuchulainn]

1. Don't be in Cat or Worgen form in SW or any "civilized" Capitol City, it's an insult to the King and you may terrify the children and women. Remember; good RPers always keep NPCs in mind, too.

2. There are more places to hang out than the Cathedral District. Paladins, Priests, and Warriors would like their RP spot back, please. GTFO.

3. You are not super-human. Worgen form does not make you more bad-ass than everyone else. Don't drink Elixirs of Giant Growth and /roar while standing atop the Cathedral. No one cares, and no one will ever RP with you.

4. Worgen Druids are always terrible RPers. Even rolling one is a blaspheme against the RP community. The same goes for much of the "new" Worgen lore.

5. It's difficult to RP a Worgen without getting carried away. Remember; you're the Blood Elf of the Alliance, why aren't you in Darnassus?

Well, that's all the advise I can give.

[The Madgod]

I would HIGHLY disagree with your advice for the portions that aren't obviously meant for people who don't know what RP is. Since the OP is, based on his or her post, is more likely than not already accustomed roleplaying in general, those aren't important.

1. Don't be in Cat or Worgen form in SW or any "civilized" Capitol City, it's an insult to the King and you may terrify the children and women. Remember; good RPers always keep NPCs in mind, too.

Perhaps I'm not up-to-date with Varian, but even if I'm not, the Worgen don't have to be in their human forms while in any city (all of the Alliance cities in the game are civilized), especially Darnassus. As for women and children, why do they have to care? There is more than one type of personality and therefore more than one way to play a character.

2. There are more places to hang out than the Cathedral District. Paladins, Priests, and Warriors would like their RP spot back, please. GTFO.

Why can't a Worgen hang out in the Cathedral District? Because they're Worgen? How come a Rogue or Warlock or Mage can't be religious? General blanket statements are what makes roleplaying stale and boring. Interesting combinations of personalities and professions (which is what classes are, basically), if done well, are actually refreshing to roleplay as and around.

4. Worgen Druids are always terrible RPers. Even rolling one is a blaspheme against the RP community. The same goes for much of the "new" Worgen lore.

Worgen Druids may be the new FOTM for RPing in-game, but that doesn't mean you can't roll one without insulting a great deal of people. An experienced roleplayer could roll one just fine if they understand the general lore of the Worgen being druids. As for your saying that the new Worgen lore is trash (which I'm pretty sure you are saying), that is a matter of opinion only.

5. It's difficult to RP a Worgen without getting carried away. Remember; you're the Blood Elf of the Alliance, why aren't you in Darnassus?

Because he or she has other places to be than Darnassus? Sin'dorei are in other cities than Silvermoon; they might be visiting dead relatives in Undercity, or working with the new order of Tauren Sunwalkers in Thunder Bluff.

[oathblade]

In the Horde quest line all the survivors of Southshore drink worgen blood to become instant worgen. No need for druids or anything mystical. The reasoning is explained that they can ether be worgen or forsaken after they die - better worgen that forsaken.

It shows that you can easily have other ways to be worgen even within the game lore.

---------- Post added 2011-09-05 at 04:25 PM ----------

"Worgen Druids may be the new FOTM for RPing in-game, but that doesn't mean you can't roll one without insulting a great deal of people. An experienced roleplayer could roll one just fine if they understand the general lore of the Worgen being druids. As for your saying that the new Worgen lore is trash (which I'm pretty sure you are saying), that is a matter of opinion only."

Worgen druid ore is horribly, horribly, weak. They could of done so much more to really make it a vibrant and excellent addition to the rage's feel but instead went with 'were harvest priests' as the only explanation in game. Its one of the things they have a habbit of doing. Orc/Draenei/Night Elf Mages, Human Hunters, and more. They could of woven the classes feel into the race and really made the game much cooler for it but Lore isn't their concern of late. At least not lore in game. I think that's why the poster made the comment about the Worgen Druids, that and they don't have a fondness for the revamped lore any more than people had for the Draeni.

[The Madgod]

Worgen druid ore is horribly, horribly, weak. They could of done so much more to really make it a vibrant and excellent addition to the rage's feel but instead went with 'were harvest priests' as the only explanation in game. Its one of the things they have a habbit of doing. Orc/Draenei/Night Elf Mages, Human Hunters, and more. They could of woven the classes feel into the race and really made the game much cooler for it but Lore isn't their concern of late. At least not lore in game. I think that's why the poster made the comment about the Worgen Druids, that and they don't have a fondness for the revamped lore any more than people had for the Draeni.

If lore is weak, it means there's more room for the player to make a unique character. Besides, I think the lore's enough. The issue comes in when people are unable to look at that class' niche in their race's culture. I could easily make an orc mage or a human hunter, simply because I know the lore of those races and the general lore of those classes, and I can tie them together in a way that makes sense. The lore's all there, you just have to dig to find it.

[Joshmaul]

I roleplay a worgen druid. The only reason he'd be a pariah in RP is not because he's a worgen druid and their lore sucks, but because he can't shut his fuckin' mouth. He's very opinionated. (Seriously. I've gotten into IC trouble plenty of times because he hasn't quite learned how to be tactful. Especially when referring to an order of paladins as "Light-blinded idiots"...in a room full of paladins.)

On my server, there's a priestess who runs a sermon every Wednesday in that gazebo outside the Cathedral in Stormwind. One week, she had to call in sick, and called in two druids to run it instead. One was a night elf. The other was me, as my worgen. Basically, we explained the nature of our respective callings. I admit I found it difficult because of the fact so little is known about worgen druids. I largely based it on what little I DID know - that they had been called "harvest mages" or "harvest witches", and went with the theory that Gilnean druidism stemmed from the fact that the original worgen had in fact been night elf druids before they became monsters. I improvised, and - for my audience, at least - it worked.

TL;DR: Yes, worgen druids are difficult to explain. But not impossible.