All right, so I didn't really think much into this until it was mentioned in the player-chat last night with a few random people and was I just partially curious and left wondering why it is that goblins are considered to be "special characters" as opposed to the orcish race, where anybody completely new to the game has the opportunity to play an orc character, but not a goblin character. I myself have participated in a few notable MMORPGs with the same style / taste as to this one and it has always turned out, at least according to my own experience, that orcs were generally considered to be nothing more than NPC characters who'd sit out in the middle of the wilderness or hide out with their own little clans and wait around for anybody to intrude upon them, only to eventually attack them for their blood and bones (ex. similar to that of the gnolls/trolls in Illarion). Note that I'm completely aware that Illarion, "is not supposed to be like other MMORPGs" and understand that fully. As far as to the conversation that occurred went along, I've heard two pretty good key points in regards to this question...
1. Orcs are fairly simple-minded characters, they don't need to be considered "special". This is very true and is probably the best answer to this question, along with some backing details (see next point)...
2. There are some individual players who play orc characters rather well and that's just how the game is. Orcs have been involved as being playable since the beginnings of development when it comes to this game and, well...that's just the way things are.
That is not to say I'm making an attempt to exterminate all orcs entirely, or expect any change for that matter as I'm plainly aware there are many players who love their orc characters and again, ones who probably play them extremely well. That would just be flat-out ridiculous to expect anything like that and obviously, a task such as this couldn't possibly be handled in any light manner anyways, but again, I am only curious as to how orcs can be easily available for playing, as I almost see and compare it to that of players having the ability to choose to be something like -- for example, an undead creature or a gnoll -- with the possibility to log into and wander around the game client. In my eyes, orcs should almost fall into that same, little category of "monsters of Illarion" and goblins would probably lean the most toward being more 'player-friendly', if anything.
Again, I'm not implying to make them like the dinosaurs and *POOF* - be gone, but I will have to admit it was a little surprising, especially for my character, to see one particular orc sharing a drink with the local townsfolk at the tavern and appearing to speak very kindly and nice with strangers, when the entire time my char had in mind: "Wow, shouldn't that hideous being be somewhere in the woods, making a totem-pole out of human heads?"
Overall, I think they are a great race and great addition to the game (how can Illarion NOT have orcs?)...which obviously, contradicts most of everything already mentioned here, but again, am curious primarily to the good nature of the orcs V.S.that of goblins, playing-wise, and just wanted to toss my curiosity out there to anybody who may be interested into taking an approach in explaining their own reasoning and opinions behind this. Many thanks for your time. Hopefully, I didn't successfully manage to strain or cause any hazardous damage to any eyes out there.
