By Mekgineer Davvi Dolittle
Hello everyone! How are you? I hope you're doing well! If you're reading this article, then, you must have an interest in building all sorts of super neat machines and gadgets to make the lives of you, your friends and family much easier and more fun! Unless, you don't like engineering and are reading it by mistake. Either way, welcome! We hope you like what you read! I'm excited!
Gnomish Engineering versus Goblin Engineering: Following Your Heart!
When you're a new engineer, once you have a good grasp of the basics of engineering and have learned some of the more common schematics and designs, there are so many new techniques to master, and so many new schematics to learn, and so many new and wonderful devices to build that it feels like the whole wide world has opened up for you! However, as silly as this sounds, for some new engineers this feeling can sometimes be not so fun, but even a little intimidating or overwhelming! You don't have to be worried though, because this is completely normal! “Davvi,” you might say, “there are SOOO many amazing schematics and plans, and so many skills to learn, and so many machines I haven't built yet! How can I possibly learn it all?” to which I would have to tell you that, not everyone can learn everything there is to know about engineering, at least, not all at once!
Though this may SEEM like super sad news, it really isn't, because learning to specialize can be super rewarding, and can help you focus on building what you really want to build most in your heart!
Two Different Engineering Philosophies:
It seems like the two groups of people on Azeroth who have, historically, been most interested in engineering have been the Gnomes and the Goblins. This is something that most people seem to know!Gnomish culture and Goblin culture are very different, and because of this, after a long, long time of trial and error over many many years, they developed two distinct engineering philosophies. A lot of times, when someone starts to become a real engineer, they might not know what their personal engineering philosophy is, or what type of engineering they might want to specialize in. That's okay though, because if you are confused, I might be able to help out by giving some illustrative examples!
Some engineers for example, like to make sure that all their schematics and blueprints are drawn up neatly, and like to think their projects through super carefully, from beginning to end, so that when the time comes to actually build their wonderful and amazing machines, everything fits together neatly, and it works just how they wanted it to. Not that they don't like to be surprised, but, they like everything to be organized, and they like the circumstances of their experiments to be controlled. What many engineers find most interesting, is trying to bend and control the natural and unnatural laws of the universe with their machines and devices in order to make life easier, or to solve specific problems they face, or even just to create fun and amazing effects all by themselves! These are the sorts of people who, above all else, when they see a rainbow cross the sky or, see an animal running really fast, or see a Mage conjure up a portal to someplace far away, wonder, “how can I do the same thing with my machines?” This curiosity about how the universe works, wanting to use this knowledge to create amazing new machines, is in my experience, the trait that is most super important for a Gnomish engineer to have. Does this sound like you?
However, other people can have very different ideas about what they think is fun and interesting in the world of engineering. These people can sometimes like to be more spontaneous, and to just invent whatever they feel like, whenever they feel like it, right off the tops of their heads! They might not think plans and schematics are a important a others. These sorts of engineers might also think that chemical reactions, especially explosive reactions, are especially neat and thrilling. To them, the disassembly and demolition or different targets are fun and profitable pastimes, they get excited thinking about volatile reagents and ignition sources, and when faced with an obstacle or even an enemy, would rather blow it up than go around it or fight it conventionally. These engineers, a lot of the time, are less concerned with wondering how and why a particular invention works, but are more than happy to know that it does when they use it. This spirit of improvisation, and love of explosive demolitions are to my knowledge, the heart of Goblin Engineering, and although I am a Gnomish Engineer, I can appreciate all the breakthroughs that Goblin Engineering has made where a Gnomish Engineer might have been too cautious!
Rivalries and Cooperation:
Although most master mekgineers acknowledge that a new engineer has to follow their interests and their talents into one school of engineering or the other, there is actually a very big rivalry that exists as a sort of tradition between Gnomish and Goblin engineers, from the time when these engineers were almost all Gnomes and Goblins fighting on opposite sides of the war. Because Gnome and Goblin engineers sometimes have very different ideas about what the best solutions are to different problems, and because engineers can sometimes be very stubborn, friendly debates can turn to arguments, and arguments can turn into fights! Because of some very big fights that have taken place in the past between Gnomish and Goblin engineering guilds like the Mechanical Engineering Guild, Associated (M.E.G.A.) and the Goblin Experimental Engineering Korporation (G.E.E.K.), I'm sorry to say that both schools of engineering tend to be rather mean, and keep their most special, secret schematics and designs to themselves.
However, all this isn't to say that Gnome and Goblin engineers cant work together! In fact, lots and lots of Goblin schematics require components that Gnomish engineers specialize in, and the same goes for Gnomish engineers requiring Goblin fuels and combustibles! Also, even though an engineer might not share their most secret and special schematics with a rival tinker, many many of them have no problem at all with selling their machines and devices to anyone who know enough to use them! Before the Shattering broke through the mountains and flooded the Shimmering Flats, Gnomish and Goblin engineers had a longstanding competition there at the Mirage Raceway where they would race rocket cars against each other, and participate in low-level sabotage. However, because of the cataclysmic events that took place, the rivals have had to work together, and have built together a huge, technologically AMAZING speed-barge, from which, I hear, they're going to resume their races over the water! They were able to put aside their differences and build something so much better than they could have along, saving lots of people!
When it comes to choosing which school of engineering to specialize in, Gnomish or Goblin, you should really only be concerned about what makes you happiest. Are you a gadgeteer, or, do you prefer to make things blow up? Both can be super fun, as long a you're careful! Next time, I hope to go through some of the further specializations within each school, so that you can further specialize of you'd like to the area of your greatest skills and interest! Be well, and, enjoy the rest of this fine publication!
