Draenei

The Draenei, despite the embarrassing lore snafu and ret-con by Blizzard, do fit in rather well with the Alliance. Just as the Blood Elves seem like the most evil of the Horde (and arguably, only evil), the Draenei appear to be the most noble of the Alliance races. Uncorrupted by the recent struggle, their morals are intact and their concern for the damage they caused to the land with their catastrophic arrival is the driving concern of the low-level Draenei player. Whether it’s cleaning up water supplies or making amends to the neighbors, a Draenei player has no shortage of goody-goody tasks to fulfill.

Draenei are the least human-looking of the Alliance races, with a tail, skin of blue, white or purple color, and satyr legs. Not physically attractive by any stretch of the imagination, they do bring a sense of greater variety to the Alliance in more ways than one, however. The Draenei are the only Alliance race able to be Shamans. Odd as that may seem, seeing as they’re not from Azeroth at all, you have to consider that Orcs aren’t either and were in fact the only race to have shamans in WarCraft III. The game also makes it a point to run the shaman player through a series of class quests designed to establish his bond to the world.

Draenei have some pretty sweet racial abilities too, highlighted by the Blessing of the Naaru, which is a healing spell that scales with level and has a 3 minute cooldown. The Draenei should be especially popular with rogues and warriors in parties, since they give a +1% to hit for all party members within 30 yards.

Azuremyst Isle, the primary newbie zone for the Draenei, is nicely developed and indisputably superior to most of the old zones and at least equal to Elwynn Forest, though it doesn’t seem to flow quite as well as Eversong Woods. As with the Blood Elf zone, there is an abundance of quests that tend to stack well, though the layout was a bit more confusing and there are a few instances of poor directions in the quest notes. Still, with about three months before release, there is plenty of times to fine-tune this and balance considerations aside, the beta feels like a really polished product. Based on at least the low-level experience, Blizzard could release the expansion in its current form to little critical commentary.

Of interest to Hunters should the increased prominence of crossbows. Draenei Hunters default to this weapon (and have very slick firing and reload animations, I might add). This likely spells the end of the crossbow drought in Azeroth.


The Draenei are capable of being Warriors, Shamans, Hunters, Paladins, Priests, and Mages. Not surprisingly, given their hatred towards the Burning Legion, they cannot be warlocks. Like Tauren, given their considerable size and conspicuousness, the Draenei don’t seem like a natural fit for the Rogue class. Of course, it’s somewhat harder to understand their knack for hunting, being not of this world. Draenei will also be mounted on Elekks, rather large elephant-like creatures.

The Exodar serves as the home city for the Draenei and is a stately and majestic piece of work, though much like their extraterrestrial origins, seems somewhat at odds with the fantasy nature of the WarCraft universe. Still, after a dozen levels as a Draenei on the beta server, the incongruities of the circumstances of their arrival don’t seem nearly as jarring as I’d expect. Star Trek Online this is not and never will be.