Core race

Core races are a type of playable race in World of Warcraft. These races speak a number of languages, have different racial traits, and can pursue different classes.

Playable races in World of Warcraft belong to one of the game's two main factions: the Alliance or the Horde. The playable pandaren are the only exception being able to join either faction. For playable characters, choice of race is therefore restricted by faction.

Allied races are another type of playable race that need to be unlocked before being able to play them.

List of core races

 * Alliance
 * s
 * s
 * s
 * s


 * Horde
 * s
 * s
 * s
 * s
 * s
 * s


 * Both

Classes


Base stats vary depending on the class. The race's stat modifiers are applied on top of the class' base stats:
 * † Original death knight bonus stats represent a level 55 character.
 * ‡ Demon hunter bonus stats represent a level 98 character.

Expansion races
World of Warcraft's first expansion, The Burning Crusade, brought Blood Elves for the Horde, and Draenei for the Alliance into the game as playable races. The third expansion, Cataclysm, introduced Worgen for the Alliance and Goblins for the Horde. It also added a number of new race/class combinations. The fourth expansion, Mists of Pandaria, introduced Pandaren as the game's first Neutral race. Pandaren characters would choose between the Alliance and Horde after completing their starting zone at level 10.

Removal of expansion requirement
In August 2012, Blizzard Entertainment informed that patch 5.0.4 would remove the expansion requirement on all races so far requiring one. This gives all players, regardless of what version of World of Warcraft they have, the ability to create characters of all races.

Posts by Zarhym, on a player-created thread regarding this announcement, later clarified some details:

The thread with these comments contained some additional comments by Zarhym which are not included on this article.