Hey all,

The Goblin metropolis of Kezan. Goblins are the ultimate capitalists of Azeroth, so they have some money to throw around on infrastructure.

Yesterday I got home from work and felt like diving into a little bit of World of Warcraft. I know, it’s the same game that I’ve played for years and have blogged about on numerous occasions, but this time I decided to start a new character, a Goblin, and try out the new Goblin starting area, Kezan. I am not going to write about how I leveled up my paladin to 85 the day before. Nope, not talking about that at all!

Let me start with character creation and customization options. Cosmetically, the goblin race isn’t as varied as I would have liked. All of the skin tones are variations on their green-i-ness, which is fine, but for the male goblins the face selection seemed a little weak. I did like the wide range of ear options (yes, you can customize the floppiness of your ears as a goblin). The hair styles seemed fine, though there weren’t very many options that had lots of hair. Colors too, I felt a bit limited in my selection. I wanted to go with a big red hairdo to get the attention of my enemies, but sadly red isn’t an option and most of the hairstyles are conservative. Bummer.

The starting zone gives you a nice ride to help you get around Kezan. Be warned: the radio has only one setting: ELEVEN!

Once I got my appearance figured out, I decided to be a priest. I considered being a warrior for a while, and doing some roleplaying as a goblin bruiser, but decided that a healer would be more valuable to my friends if I decide to level him up passed the starting zones. Next came the impossible task of finding the perfect name for the little gobo. I wanted a name that would sound goblinish, ending in -og, -crank, -izzle, etc. I also wanted to make it somewhat meaningful and connect with my other characters. From these considerations I decided to go with the name Sizzlehog. It’s nice because it sounds gobliny while also being somewhat close to “Sunhawk” in sound. As long as I’m not confused with a fire mage, I should be fine.

I can see my house! It's on fire... but at least I'm insured. Hmm, I wonder who set it on fire? Well, make the check payable to Sizzlehog, please. 😀

I only played my goblin for an hour or so last night, but wow, was I impressed with the story telling and creativity in the questions. The goblins’ urban environment is creative as well: with a very haphazardly constructed city, teeming with smokestacks and Seussian inspired highways complete with overpasses and long, dangerous turns. My only complaint is that the colors in the zone were a bit on the drab side, but that is quite minor. Overall, a beautiful and memorable zone.

The quests are amazing and by far the most fun of any starting zone and probably the best of any zone in the game; Blizzard really pulled out all of the stops when it came to their design. The best part about the quests is how they stay true to the personality of the goblin race and their ideals: it’s all about bombs, parties, and money. Here’s a (minor spoilers!) list of quests that rock in the goblin starting zone:

The Cataclysm causes the Goblins to flee Kezan...

1. Entertain party guests by getting them drunk and dancing with them.
2. Run over looters in your car.
3. Play a sport involving shredders lobbing explosives.
4. Break into a bank vault.
5. Commit insurance fraud.

Yes, they’re that awesome. In addition to the great quest chains, there is also an amazing cinematic of the Goblins fleeing Kezan. It’s a bit heartbreaking to watch, but definitely one of, if not the best cinematic in the game. I’ve only just started the next zone, but I’ll try to do a write up about it soon as well.

... but they do not get as far as they

If you are out there reading and you have Cataclysm (or if you are thinking about picking it up), I highly recommend running through the revamped starting zones. So far I’ve done the Dwarf, Troll, and Goblin ones, and each one has been at the very least good and improved, and at best hilarious and fun. So, get out there, make a gobo, make some bombs, and start some fires!

As a side note, I have also been working on a mobile version of this site which I will hopefully have working soon. Then you can get your TMZ goodness on the go!

Cheers,
-S