Though one of their main passive abilities, [Battlerage], is definitely not that useful in raids and generally more PvP focused, orcs are one of the most famous playable races in Zurefgar regardless of the player’s intention.

They were originally a race whose tribes were spread all across the Grand Savannah, each with their own specialities. Under demonic influences, they banded together and swept across the continent, even towards the place now known as the ‘Plagued Continents’. It was there, with the help of the rakhs that they broke free from demonic influences and retreated back to the Grand Continent with humans and elves hot on the chase. Thus Grandar was built to hide and defend themselves.

As far as I am concerned, the honourable nature of the orcs with enough ‘oonga boonga’ feel to them really drew in the interest of many, including female players. Not to mention, their race and class related abilities also played a major role in it. To be honest, most are simple and straightforward enough, yet might open up some surprisingly effective playstyle. [Battlerage] itself was abused once in a while in raid by purposely letting one or two members of the raid die and resurrected several times throughout the fight to empower orcish DPS and tanks.

Remember Grok’s miraculous feat against a raid boss that I mentioned before? Yes, that was also possible due to the effects of [Battlerage].

Their strength focused starting stats, [Brute Strength], and [Honouring Valrosh] inflated the orcish race popularity to those who wanted to play a melee based class. Yes, I was also tempted due to this bonus and I used two handed mace during my time as a warrior. [Deadly Calm], the passive ability of an orcish warrior, also played a role in my interest as well as many other people. This ability reduces the damage taken by the warrior if the source came from a character that suffers bleeding status caused by the warrior. Talk about convenience in whatever role you take as a warrior. Less damage taken will always be useful.

The hunter’s passive ability, [Alpha Presence], simply increases the attack power of their companion beast. As you can guess, this causes Hawkeye focused hunters to be rather nonexistent. [Savage Intent] increases the bleed damage caused by, of course, rogues. Combine that with the surge of damage from using two handed axes or maces when doing stealth attacks, you would find yourself in huge trouble instantly.

I had my fair share of being cornered by an orcish rogue, it really drove my nerves.

[Simplicity], as the name implied, is a very straightforward ability for orc mages. They reduce the effectiveness of secondary effects but increase the damage done by their spell. Let me tell you one thing, some players would double down on this, removing the secondary effect entirely just for a huge boost in damage. Also, [Honouring Valrosh] is actually very helpful for orcish spellcasters because there are many two handed maces which have great bonuses on INT.

Similar to the hunters, orcish warlock got a boost for their summoned demon damage due to [Honour in Darkness] ability. And finally, their shamans receive [Ancestral Guidance] that increases the secondary effect of their spell.

If you haven’t noticed, [Ancestral Guidance] is one of the factors that made Lyra and Macepaw incredibly dangerous. Yes, you heard that right, Macepaw is incredibly dangerous.

~AVK~