User:Nagrand/Pacifist

This Pacifist guide is for players who want to try levelling a character in the World of Warcraft without killing anything. It also includes a further, optional, constraint for vegans who don’t want to kill any animals (including critters and fish) or use animal products.

Choosing a Class
Useful abilities for a pacifist:
 * A way to drop out of a fight (such as a Mage’s Invisibility, or a Hunter’s Feign Death).
 * Stealth, to sneak by mobs.
 * Speed boosts to help run away from mobs, or generally get around quicker.
 * Instant-cast self-heals for when trying to run away.
 * Protection for when taking long falls (such as Mage’s Soft Fall or Paladin’s bubble).
 * Crowd-control to help bypass or escape mobs (stuns, polymorph, hex, …).
 * Self-resurrection.

Death Knight
It is impossible to play a pacifist death knight because of the mandatory starting quest line.

Druid
…
 * Prowl (when in Cat Form)

Hunter

 * Feign Death

Mage
…
 * Invisibility

Paladin
…
 * Crusader Aura: Get around faster.

Rogue

 * See main article: Pacifist Rogue.

Warrior
Warrior would be a very odd choice as a pacifist given that the vary definition of it is one who makes war.

Choosing a Race
The races that offer the most value to pacifists are Night Elves on the Alliance side, and Tauren on the Horde side.

Blood Elf

 * Arcane Torrent: Damage reduction/escape.
 * Arcane Resistance (blood elf racial): Damage reduction.

Draenei

 * Gift of the Naaru: Extra healing is often useful.
 * Gemcutting: Only useful if you plan to eventually take on the Jewelcrafting profession.
 * Shadow Resistance (racial): Damage reduction.

Dwarf

 * Stoneform: Damage reduction.
 * Frost Resistance: Damage reduction.
 * Explorer: Given the experience value Archaeology has for pacifists (as well as being one of the few non-violent sources of nice gear), speeding it up can be useful.

Gnome

 * Escape Artist: Escape.
 * Arcane Resistance (gnome racial): Damage reduction.
 * Engineering Specialization: Only useful if you plan to eventually take on the Engineering profession.

Goblin
It is impossible to play a pacifist goblin because of the mandatory starting quest line.

Human

 * The Human Spirit: Faster health recovery.
 * Diplomacy: Given how few opportunities pacifists have for increasing reputation, this boost could be particularly useful.
 * Every Man for Himself: Escape.

Night Elf
All of the night elf racial traits can be useful to pacifists:
 * Elusiveness (night elf racial): Hiding.
 * Quickness: Damage reduction.
 * Nature Resistance (racial): Damage reduction.
 * Shadowmeld: Hiding.
 * Wisp Spirit: Pacifists die a lot, since they don’t fight back. Faster recovery from death is definitely useful.

Orc

 * Hardiness: Escape.

Tauren
All of the tauren racial traits can be useful to pacifists:
 * War Stomp: Escape.
 * Endurance: Survivability.
 * Cultivation: Access higher-level herbs more quickly for more experience.
 * Nature Resistance (racial): Damage reduction.

Troll

 * Berserking: Faster casting speed is useful when casting escape, healing, or other useful abilities.
 * Regeneration (racial): Faster health regeneration, plus regeneration when being attacked.
 * Da Voodoo Shuffle: Escape.

Undead

 * Will of the Forsaken: Escape.
 * Underwater Breathing: Survivability.
 * Shadow Resistance (racial): Damage reduction.

Worgen
It is impossible to play a pacifist worgen because of the mandatory starting quest line.

Primary Professions
Mining and Herbalism are the only primary professions that should be considered while levelling a pacifist. Both give experience (unlike any other of the primary professions).

If you make it to end-game level, then you can consider switching one or both of your professions.

Leatherworking is obviously out for vegans, and won’t be of use to non-vegan pacifists because of the Skinning materials needed. Tailoring and Enchanting are also out since the mats required come almost exclusively from killing and looting mobs.

Alchemy and Inscription work with Herbalism. Alchemy is the more useful of the two given the usefulness of the potions crafted for avoiding mobs (such as Invisibility Potion), or surviving when trying to escape.

Blacksmithing, Jewelcrafting and Engineering all work with Mining. Of these three, Engineering is probably the most useful for pacifists because of the special abilities given by the trinkets and other items crafted. Those abilities can be beneficial for avoiding mobs, or surviving when running away.

Secondary Professions
Pacifists will definitely want to take up Archaeology, since digging up artifacts grants experience.

Cooking
Most Cooking recipes, and many of the daily quests, involve meat, so vegans will want to steer clear of those. There is still a path to maximum cooking level that is vegan safe.

Pacifist cooking recipes

 * Recipe: Runn Tum Tuber Surprise would be vegan, except the only way to get the bind on pickup recipe is to kill Pusillin.
 * Recipe: Slow-Roasted Turkey requires killing critters, not mobs. So, if you’re a half-measure pacifist, it can take you from cooking skill 280 to 355.

Fishing
Vegans will mostly want to pass on Fishing, although there are various fishing pools which don’t contain any fish — just other items. Vegans will want to be sure never to fish in open water, though.

Vegan fishing pools

 * Classic zones:
 * Bloodsail Wreckage
 * Floating Wreckage
 * Floating Debris
 * Oil Spill
 * Patch of Elemental Water
 * Schooner Wreckage
 * Waterlogged Wreckage
 * Outland:
 * Pure Water
 * Steam Pump Flotsam
 * Cataclysm zones:
 * Pool of Fire
 * Shipwreck Debris

Holidays
Many of the in-game holidays offer a bunch of useful things such as experience, reputation, profession levelling, and useful items.

Pacifist guilds
The most common name for guilds forming specifically for pacifist players is “The Pacifist”.