Racial Characteristics

[ravenmoon]

So what are the main feautres and characteristics of each race?

e.g.
Gnomes - megalomania and engineering
elves - magic and nobility
Humans - potential and jack of all trades
Trolls - mysticism and spirituality
Orcs - war and ..?

[Stelio Kontos]

I haven't seen a lot of nobility from elves, to be honest.

Arrogance and hubris? Loads of that, though. From all the flavors of elf.

[CrawlFromThePit]

So what are the main feautres and characteristics of each race?

e.g.
Gnomes - megalomania and engineering
elves - magic and nobility
Humans - potential and jack of all trades
Trolls - mysticism and spirituality
Orcs - BLOOD AND THUNDER

Fixed that for you.

Also those:
Draenei: eating blue grass
Worgen: grandma impersonation
Dwarf: beer

[MechaCThun]

Orcs - war and ..?

You really don't do a good job masking your disdain and contempt for orcs. Not surprised given your unhealthy obsession with night elves.

Funny enough, I could argue orcs have much more "racial characteristics" as compared to any other major race in the Warcraft universe.

High sense of honor, sense of value on tradition, emphasis on family and the line you came from... and this is just a few.

[Raetary]

elves - magic and nobility

Night elves say hi.

[Stelio Kontos]

High sense of honor,

Considering their penchant for mass slaughter, pillaging, and genocide, their definition of "honor" is a little wonky. Probably depends on how one defines a nebulous concept like "muh honor".

[Arrashi]

You really don't do a good job masking your disdain and contempt for orcs. Not surprised given your unhealthy obsession with night elves.

Funny enough, I could argue orcs have much more "racial characteristics" as compared to any other major race in the Warcraft universe.

High sense of honor, sense of value on tradition, emphasis on family and the line you came from... and this is just a few.

You forgot their tendency to get lost on crossroads.

[MechaCThun]

Considering their penchant for mass slaughter, pillaging, and genocide, their definition of "honor" is a little wonky. Probably depends on how one defines a nebulous concept like "muh honor".

If you choose to generalize it like that, then sure I suppose.

[Aucald]

Gnomes - ingenuity and engineering
Humans - community building and adaptability
Worgen - personal strength and endurance
Draenei - wisdom and belief
Night Elves - nature and essential balance
Tushui Pandaren - philosophy and mediation
Dwarves - tradition and discovery

Orcs - martial prowess and honor
Forsaken - resolve and willfulness
Blood Elves - magic and tradition
Goblins - engineering and mercantilism
Trolls - mysticism and spirituality
Tauren - nature and steadfastness
Houjin Pandaren - resolve and mediation

The Allied races generally share the basic characteristics of their parent races, with perhaps subtle differences in accentuation.

[ravenmoon]

Night elves say hi.

night elves are both very magical (nature and arcane, as well as divine) and quite noble - or have you never heard of the highborne, the ngiht elf empire? the nightborne, the resto and balance druids? Great civilziaiton, growing a magical world tree the size of an island, waking up trees, guiding the evolution of the world in the emerald dream, teleportation, the mage class, the druid class, the goddess Elune?

I mean these are all a part of the night elf race and very magical, even their Warcraft 3 description. From the start.. guess how many times magic is stated there?

[Feanoro]

High sense of honor, sense of value on tradition, emphasis on family and the line you came from... and this is just a few.

Honor, so long as it doesn't get in the way of bloodthirsty massacres. The minute it's inconvenient, out the window, but the orc will feel sad about it while the bodies are cooling, right Saurfang? Don't forget unmatched ability to play the victim as well as most susceptible to mind control and deception.

Traditions like...? Slaughter everything that moves, burn down everything that doesn't? Other than Mak'gora and Horde = Warchief, exactly what traditions do the orcs actually adhere to?

Emphasis on family, oh man. "OK, Thogdar Jr. today is Take Your Son to the Massacre Day! Take your ax and go with your father. Come back soaked in blood or dead." The only concern for family seems to be that everyone upholds the dying in battle idea, which is why you don't see many old orcs.

[MechaCThun]

Other than Mak'gora and Horde = Warchief, exactly what traditions do the orcs actually adhere to?

Those are perfect examples of traditions they adhere to, and they put a very big emphasis on. But to answer your question, a big tradition that was practiced on Draenor pre-corruption and made a return during and post-Thrall's reign would be practicing shamanism. Orcs are a spiritual people after all.

And I'm sorry, but I can't really take you and the other guy seriously when you guys just say "orcs bloodthirsty, orcs kill, orcs bad" when Warcraft orcs have largely the most lore behind them. Lore that isn't 100% "orcs only commit bloodthirsty massacres" and "slaughter everything that moves" and what not.

The only concern for family seems to be that everyone upholds the dying in battle idea, which is why you don't see many old orcs

And yet, that doesn't change the fact they have a strong emphasis on family. Just proves it more.

As well as it shows that orcs generally aren't as intelligent as other races, which I personally don't think they are.

[Varodoc]

What defines the Ren'dorei the most is:

- The Void, of course, this should be obvious;
- Idealism, because they have always believed in the Alliance's noble ideals;
- Secrecy, because they act from the shadows of a wrecked World Soul;
- Desperation, because they were almost turned into monsters and do not want to make the same mistake again, no matter the cost;
- Patience/Calm, which they need in their demanding training to keep the whispers of the darkness at bay.

[Feanoro]

Those are perfect examples of traditions they adhere to, and they put a very big emphasis on. But to answer your question, a big tradition that was practiced on Draenor pre-corruption and made a return during and post-Thrall's reign would be practicing shamanism.

Too bad all that was tossed with Garrosh onwards.

And I'm sorry, but I can't really take you and the other guy seriously when you guys just say "orcs bloodthirsty, orcs kill, orcs bad" when Warcraft orcs have largely the most lore behind them. Lore that isn't 100% "orcs only commit bloodthirsty massacres" and "slaughter everything that moves" and what not.

I can't really take orc apologists seriously, so we're even.

So where are all these traditions? Besides the two I provided for you? Where's proof of this supposed spirituality? They are continually portrayed as bloodthirsty monsters, to the point the current dumpster fire involves the Warchief saying they'll get bored and want blood.

[Cyanu]

i'd say more like:

humans: organized, social/cooperative, efficient
dwarves: industrial,conservative,tough
night elves: mystical, primal, attuned to nature, nimble
gnomes: innovative, engineering
draenei: religious
worgen: feral,violent, aggressive
void elves: curious,power hungry, corrupt
kul'tirans: isolationists,rugged, marine

orcs: brutish, traditional, militant, honor bound
tauren: natural,noble, peaceful, harmonious
trolls: violent,primitive
forsaken: cynical,nihilst,cunning,ruthless
blood elves: arrogant, reckless, elitists
goblins: greedy,devious, selfish, sly
nightborne: noble, arrogant, isolationists, inquisitive, elitist, entirely reliant on magic/physically weakened
zandalari: maintains the savage traits of the trolls, but with more structure and hierarchy

pandaren: peacefull, wise, kind, lively, respectful, playful

[MatthiasVonTzeskagrad]

i'd say more like:

humans: organized, social/cooperative, efficient
dwarves: industrial,conservative,tough
night elves: mystical, primal, attuned to nature, nimble
gnomes: innovative, engineering
draenei: religious
worgen: feral,violent, aggressive
void elves: curious,power hungry, corrupt
kul'tirans: isolationists,rugged, marine

orcs: brutish, traditional, militant, honor bound
tauren: natural,noble, peaceful, harmonious
trolls: violent,primitive
forsaken: cynical,nihilst,cunning,ruthless
blood elves: arrogant, reckless, elitists
goblins: greedy,devious, selfish, sly
nightborne: noble, arrogant, isolationists, inquisitive, elitist, entirely reliant on magic/physically weakened
zandalari: maintains the savage traits of the trolls, but with more structure and hierarchy

pandaren: peacefull, wise, kind, lively, respectful, playful

Nightborne aren't physically weak, they just perfectioned their arcane so much they barely need to use raw strength unless they are spellblades or something.
Also, human ruled lands are de facto incredibly inefficient to the point of constantly being saved by plot twists, ignoring logistics and so.

[Mehrunes]

Night Elves are very experienced in dying.

[Tharivor]

Too bad all that was tossed with Garrosh onwards.

I can't really take orc apologists seriously, so we're even.

So where are all these traditions? Besides the two I provided for you? Where's proof of this supposed spirituality? They are continually portrayed as bloodthirsty monsters, to the point the current dumpster fire involves the Warchief saying they'll get bored and want blood.

Err.. Rise of the Horde? Lord of the Clans? The entire WoD expansion? As the poster you quoted pointed out Orcs have received some of the most in depth attention of any race in Warcraft lore and their shamanic and tribal traditions have been present throughout: the shamanic traditions of the Frostwolves, the martial traditions of the Burning Blade, the dark mysticism of the Bleeding Hollow, the assassins of the Shattered Hand- all of these are examples of the traditional beliefs, practices, or organisations that have survived through both the Old and New Horde.

Orcs aren't my favourite race (apart from the Shadowmoon they don't even make the shortlist), but you would have to be downright ignorant of Warcraft lore to claim that they have solely been depicted as mindless monsters- their perspective even forms the basis of several novels, which I can assure you are not simply hundreds of pages of "orckillorckillorckill"

[Feanoro]

Err.. Rise of the Horde? Lord of the Clans?

Read 'em both, and they banged on about shamanic traditions, but there was precious little specifics. RotH was more interested in Durotan, mighty orc warrior, who was afraid to speak up until it was too late (whee, teen drama writing). LotC had Thrall hearing about "our people weren't always bloodthirsty monsters" from Drek'Thar, but very little specifics on their people, far more on the shaman training. What are their exact principles? What are their exact beliefs? A vague bit of ancestor worship and typical fantasy chest beating, but that's for all orcs.

the shamanic traditions of the Frostwolves, the martial traditions of the Burning Blade, the dark mysticism of the Bleeding Hollow, the assassins of the Shattered Hand

And there should more than just "here's this guy's job". Bleeding Hollow pulls out an eye to see the future. OK, and? Let's see, Bleeding Hollow pulls out an eye to see their death, and that's it. Burning Blade is a slightly refined "strongest guy leads". Shattered Hand are masochists and assassins. There's details, but precious little depth or breadth.

all of these are examples of the traditional beliefs, practices, or organisations that have survived through both the Old and New Horde.

Not until the Mag'har. The WoW orcs aren't even assigned tribes, barring a recent development my Horde tourist didn't see yet.

Orcs aren't my favourite race (apart from the Shadowmoon they don't even make the shortlist), but you would have to be downright ignorant of Warcraft lore to claim that they have solely been depicted as mindless monsters- their perspective even forms the basis of several novels, which I can assure you are not simply hundreds of pages of "orckillorckillorckill"

Good thing I made no such claim. The problem is we HEAR and READ about these things, and what we're SHOWN violates the hell out of them. We aren't shown a spiritual people who deeply respect life, we're shown brutes that love to kill anything that's not orc, and if no others are available, kill each other.

Edit: Hmmm, I compose posts in an editor and paste to avoid the annoyance of MMO-C timeouts. Don't know how the BH part got messed up like that.

[Tharivor]

Read 'em both, and they banged on about shamanic traditions, but there was precious little specifics. RotH was more interested in Durotan, mighty orc warrior, who was afraid to speak up until it was too late (whee, teen drama writing). LotC had Thrall hearing about "our people weren't always bloodthirsty monsters" from Drek'Thar, but very little specifics on their people, far more on the shaman training. What are their exact principles? What are their exact beliefs? A vague bit of ancestor worship and typical fantasy chest beating, but that's for all orcs.

And there should more than just "here's this guy's job". Bleeding Hollow pulls out an eye to see the future. OK, and? Let's see, Bleeding Hollow pulls out an eye to see their death, and that's it. Burning Blade is a slightly refined "strongest guy leads". Shattered Hand are masochists and assassins. There's details, but precious little depth or breadth.

Not until the Mag'har. The WoW orcs aren't even assigned tribes, barring a recent development my Horde tourist didn't see yet.

Good thing I made no such claim. The problem is we HEAR and READ about these things, and what we're SHOWN violates the hell out of them. We aren't shown a spiritual people who deeply respect life, we're shown brutes that love to kill anything that's not orc, and if no others are available, kill each other.

You'll get no argument from me about the general poor writing and constant telling rather than showing, however I'm not sure Blizzard's characteristic lack of depth and details is something specific to Orc lore.