I want to have a max level of every class. Right now I have eight out of ten classes maxed out, leaving three still to go come Mists. I also want a horde, and I’m currently levelling on RaF experiment Mark II, so that makes five. However, even if I wasn’t planning on leveling anything else it does intrigue me about how people pick their combo. How I pick mine and how someone picks there’s will be different. What factors come into play?

Do I like the race?
I’m not a roleplayer in that I’ve never done roleplay. However, I don’t like certain races because of how they behave which is a decidedly roleplay type reason. I would never roll a Foresaken because I can’t stand Sylvanas. Sure, I could think to myself that I wasn’t really serving the banshee queen but I would be questing for her, I would be getting rep with her and the last thing I’d want is her approval. I’m not too crazy about the Orcs for similar reasons. I’ve been an Alliance player for the whole of the time I’ve played Warcraft, I’ll be crossing the fence as I’m a completionist, not because I agree with the Horde. However, they’ve changed and whatever they are now they still pillaged and burned innocent people. They came to Azeroth and attacked first. I’m not saying the Alliance is lily white because they’re not, and I’m not saying the Horde is all bad. However, everything they have they basically stole as they took it by force. It takes a long time for a society to evolve past such a beginning and you can’t blame the Alliance for being mad.

Do I like the race aesthetically?
This is probably a more relevant question for most people when the character creation screen comes up. When I created my first character I chose Human as I couldn’t imagine being anything else. I guess I was sorely lacking in imagination but I was just drawn to the familiar I suppose. I rolled a male as the name I’d chosen was male though I’ve since grown to realise how ugly he looks. Over the time I’ve played I’ve grown to appreciate the other fantasy races but I’d never play some of them.

I find Night Elf society and history fascinating but I hate both the female and male models, so I’ll never play a Night Elf. I’ll also never play a male Dwarf or Draenei for the same reason. Up until recently I would have said that about female Draenei but they’ve grown on me a little. A lot of people bash the female Worgen model, I’ll admit I like the male one better, but if you customise it right it’s not that bad. A lot of the faces for the Dwarf female don’t look right either but with the right setting I can play one.

For the Horde races we’ve covered why I’d never play a Foresaken or Orc but I don’t much like their models either. Now Tauren’s are tricky as I love them as a race. I might find Night Elves interesting but I think Tauren’s are awesome. However, how they look is a bit of a turn off. I’d never play a male Tauren but I think I’m going to make a female Tauren work. Like I’ve said before with the right customization settings you can achieve an ok result. Female Trolls are just ugly, males are ok and I do like Trolls as a race as well. I could never play a Blood Elf, mostly due to the ‘pretty boy’ remarks that I’ve heard so much, I just couldn’t take it seriously. The Goblin models are pretty fantastic and their mercenary attitude is fun too.

Pandaren can be either race. I heard that some people didn’t like the female model which I can’t understand. I think female Pandaren look fantastic! However, I don’t like the males, maybe their faces or just something about them. If I roll a Pandaren it would have to be female. So due to flat out refusal to play 3/12 races that cuts down the options a little bit.

What class am I rolling?
There are race/class restrictions so for my new warlock in Mists (Alliance of course) I can’t be a Night Elf, Draenei or Pandaren. For the new shaman I can’t be a Human, Night Elf, Gnome or Worgen and the monk can’t be a Worgen. So there’s that restriction. In terms of the Horde character I had thought I’d maybe be a druid which would mean Tauren or Troll. However, druids as a class aren’t looking so great in Mists so I suspect I’ll be rolling a paladin which means Tauren or Blood Elf. As I won’t play a Blood Elf that reduces the choice there to Tauren.

What do I already have?
I already have a fair few Human characters (6 to be precise) and so I don’t want any more. That means for my warlock I’m picking between Dwarf, Gnome and Worgen. There’s also going to be a shaman which has to be a Dwarf, Draenei or Pandaren. Now female Draenei’s haven’t grown on me that much so I’m predisposed to the other two options. The female Pandarens look amazing but I think I have to make a Dwarf because of the other consideration.

Does the class fit the race?
I have to be comfortable playing the class/race combo. For example Goblin warriors make no sense to me, or Goblin tanks anyway. Goblin’s as a race are very mercenary and self serving. Why would they get hurt to protect others? It just doesn’t fit. Now Dwarves can be any of the classes that I’m going to be rolling but the only one that fits is shaman. King Magni lost himself to the elements, Dwarves were born from the earth.

Now Dwarves gained the ability to be Mages and Warlocks in cata and I don’t really agree with that. Them gaining shaman capabilities makes so much sense I wonder why they weren’t shamans before. However, magic and the arcane and twisted magical powers? I don’t know it just doesn’t fit them. I think of Dwarves as being good with their hands, very practical and in your face, magic just doesn’t jive with that. So I can’t roll a Dwarf warlock it doesn’t make sense. Gnome warlocks don’t make sense for similar reasons. I can see why a Gnome could be a mage as they like to experiment and they’re not grounded the same way the Dwarves are. However, I think of warlock’s as having powers from hell, it’s twisted, it’s evil, and it’s only accepted because it can be used for good. This means though that you need to have a bit of evil in your soul, that you’re tainted because of the powers that you channel. For that Worgen’s make the most sense as they’re already tainted, already cursed.

So’s that a Dwarf shaman, Worgen warlock and Tauren paladin leaving just the new monk class. Now, I decided early on that Pandarens were out as everyone and their pet dog will roll one of those. I really want a Gnome though, I nearly had a Gnome priest but T13 didn’t look right on it so I had to have a Human. I can also picture a Gnome full of enthusiasm learning the new monk skills. Therefore I’m going to roll a Gnome monk.

Tallying up the considerations
When I create a new character I don’t just hit randomize and hope for the best. I look at what races I can be for the class I want to roll and then I apply the conditions. Do I approve of this race? No if it’s Foresaken or Orcs. Do I like the character models? No if it’s male Dwarf, Night Elf, male Draenei, male Tauren, female Troll or Blood Elf. Do I already have one of this race? Do I want to roll a race I don’t already have? Does the class fit the race? Everything has to make sense before I’ll create that character and then I have to think of the name and make sure it fits the race. I’m a bit of a name snob and I don’t like silly names or names based on the class. If I could get away with it I’d refuse to group with people when I hate their names as nonsensically I think less of them as a person. How do pick your race class/combo? How do you pick your names?