5th and 6th race?

General Discussion
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Some of you may not know this, some of the vets will know this well, but originally Warcraft 3 was going to be released with 5 races. The 5th race was to be the Burning Legion, however Blizzard decided that the race would be “too powerful” to have as a playable race. I personally think it was a matter of time and resources. And with the release of The Frozen Throne expansion they had planned on bringing back naval battles and release another race: The Naga. If the game sells well, do you think it would be fun to actually have these races added just for funsies?

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The 6th race for Reign of Chaos would have actually been Goblins. The addition of the Naga as a 5th race for The Frozen Throne wasn’t confirmed but was speculated upon because it looked like they had an unfinished tech tree.

I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to introduce new races as part of melee maps because it would completely change how the game is played but I think it would be interesting to have them completed just for the World Editor.

It would also be pretty cool to add heroes that were cut such as the Orc Warlord and Human Crusader.

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That’s interesting. I never read any articles about the 6th race being goblins even when going back to the time that WC3 was a fixed camera RPG type game. It’s certainly possible because the alpha version went through about 20 different iterations before we got the WC3 we know of today.

I am positive about the Naga though as I remember specifically reading about that in an interview with a Blizzard developer at the time. It also explains why their buildings had unique building animations to them where as the other “races” from WC3 only had borrowed animations. Elves having human build animations, Legion having undead build animations (they decided on cutting them prior to doing any serious work on their race), etc. Just remember that The Frozen Throne was on a pretty tight timeline and they had to cut plenty of corners to deliver it before the hype train was too far gone. It’s why the fight between Arthas and Illidan was in game instead of a cinematic as it was supposed to be. It’s also why most people thought Illidan died at Icecrown because the animation showing him retreating through a portal wasn’t included in the final release.

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Frankly, costum skins are the way to go in this situation. Blizzard has crafted a gameplay balance that is praised (and scorned in equal measure, if you ask some) by the majority, and to introduce new races with new gameplay would only upset that balance. Instead, new playable races should and probably will be sold as DLC so people can enjoy playing as their favourites while not having to re-learn new muscle memory, or Blizzard having to tinker around with balance all over.

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DefGlitch, I could dig that too. But what races would skin best over other races? Obviously I think Legion would go best over Undead as their strats are similar. Maybe Naga over Nightelf? I dunno…

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Sounds like a great expansion if the reforging is a success…too risky to implement at the beginning IMO.

p.s. would be cool if they added the race to the Map Editor for testing through :slight_smile:

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My wild uneducated guesses are as follows:

Firstly, basically allow basic skins where you can play Alliance as human;elf;dwarf only but still access the whole roster (Elfish Mortar teams lol, maybe something similar but not so distinctly dwarfish blackpowder engineering), and Horde to play as Orc;Troll;Tauren only (TAUREN HEADHUNTERS THROWING TOTEMS EAT IT!)

Undead definitely would receive a Nerubian skin, or a Forsaken version

Night Elves deserve a Dryad/Keeper of the Grove skin, as well as a Satyr skin with corrupted ancients and treants like in the campaign.

The Burning Legion as an Undead skin is likely indeed, however when we keep Fel Orcs in mind, it really appears like the Burning Legion should be an Orc skin where you get Fel Orcs coupled with demons instead of Tauren. Naturally, “Old Horde” or “Blackrock Horde” for the Orcs where instead of Darkspear you get Forest Trolls and instead of Tauren you get Ogres, and instead of Wyverns you have Drake riders, should be a given.

I have not really any idea for a Human race costum skin. Perhaps a Pandaren skin, or what with Zandalari trolls coming up having “Prelates” as Paladin-standins, we might see more of them. A Gnome or Goblin based costum skin based simply on their insane machinery could be possible.

Naga, sadly, will always be a campaign/world editor only race. They are too far established and their skill set is too strongly developed around being amphibic.

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They should think about Nagas as 5th race :slight_smile: So Unique -they have to reforge their buidlings/unit models for campaign so… Maybe with some small campaign - when Illidan found Nagas betwen RoC / TFT :smiley: that will be awasome!

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Co-Op Commanders mode like they have in Starcraft II would probably be the best way to add playable Naga or Burning Legion. The team has stated that they want people with the original WC3 to be able to play competitively with people who have WC3R, and adding races would wreck the balance. Since you don’t have to worry as much about balance in vs Computer situations and wouldn’t need to match it with the original, Co Op is probably our best hope of seeing Blood Elves, Naga, the Burning Legion, and others playable outside of the campaign.

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It’s a fine idea, but the challenge would be balancing. I’m all for adding additional playable races over time, especially as it will keep the people interested and playing. However, the most races there are, the more difficult it will be the fine-tune the balances for fair game play.

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With Tides of Vengeance Coming it’s only natural to release the unfinished Naga from Frozen Throne.

I heard it was originally intended to be added but delayed and stopped before release.

4 races will get boring very fast matter of months and as dlc or not a 5th race is necessary for game to survive.

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The game is not really balanced might aswell add Naga and decently balance them to current races level. 4 races will get boring for old timers real fast. NEED NEW STRATS

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for custom games sure but competitive play! thats asking abit much

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new races to play!! if there will be no warcraft 4… it is a must! :slight_smile:

Imagine Illidan’s Illidari race of Demon hunters to be playable with his liutenants at hero altar to summon. That would be epic. And that’s just 1 race :stuck_out_tongue:

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No new races for ladder no new races at all. Keep warcraft 3 as it is, make warcraft 4 with those races if you really need to. Warcraft 3 fans dont like worgren and gnomes etc, nor tauren paladins… so keep it as it is

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How could they not like Gnomes, Gnomes were a race since Warcraft 2. If anything, I remember people asking why there weren’t any in Warcraft 3 (and during WoW they said it was because Gnomeregan was under attack by Troggs at the time).

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To be fair, Gnomes were a single unit in Warcraft 2, which was the gyrocopter, which in turn was nothing more than a scouting unit. And on top, Gnomes in Warcraft 2 appeared nearly indistinguishable from Dwarves and might as well have been a subrace. Every other unit in Warcraft 2 that had anything to do with technology or being short and hairy was a dwarf. In some regard, the Aerie Dwarves were even more prominent than Ironforge dwarves because Gryphonriders were such important units, while Ironforge dwarves were “just” a squad of sappers that died upon explosion.

In that manner, they lost absolutely nothing by removing Gnomes in Warcraft 3 at the time, and when they were reintroduced it was World of Warcraft that actually gave them the depth they have now.

Reforged could give them some more love by making a costum skin for the Human playable race, making all units gnomes.

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4 races seems perfect to me, more would make balancing really hard.

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and it is the warcraft 3 engine we are talking abut not starcraft 2 engine or a new one

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but they are thinking abut the skin thing so maby we get skin option gnome instead of a dwarf and stuff like that but cant say the chance are high

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