How to make Taurens playable. My suggestions

General Discussion
1

Guys, we all know taurens are bad. It is not relevant whether they are available on T2 or T3. It’s just a bad unit. Here’s why:
It costs the same gold as a gryphon rider and requires more supplies. She is a T3 melee unit in a game with a huge dominance of ranged units. Taurens current movement speed is 270. His armor type is Heavy. Heavy armor takes 200% damage from magic damage. Every wizard, chimera, gryphon rider, frost wyrm, or destroyer destroys tauren. For the same reason no one plays Grunts after T1.

Ways to meaningfully integrate Tauren into the game:

Clear the Tauren Totem. Nobody builds a building just for one Unit. Since patch 1.30.0, the Sprit Walker has been transferred to the totem. I think this was an attempt to make the tauren more attractive. But the opposite happened. For six years no one plays Taurens, no one plays the Totem and no one plays the Spirit Walker!!! The patch simply ensured that Sprit Walker was no longer played. So Orc has lost his best spellcaster and his best weapon against Mass Druid of the Talon. It’s a wonder this didn’t impact the matchup Orc vs. NE. The Sprit Walker was an excellent, relevant and very often played unit that simply disappeared because no one wanted to build an extra building just for one good unit. Orc was forced to play the shaman, who is really good but can’t do anything against mass magic. Orc is the only race that hasn’t had a mass dispel for 6 years. And that’s just because of this small change. Please bring the spirit walker back to the Spirit Lodge.
Or better: Delete the tauren totem, move the tauren to the barracks and move the spirit walkers back to the spirit lodge. This makes Tauren cheaper and more flexible because the orcs don’t have to build a special building for this units. This makes it easier to add a tauren or two to the army and see what they can do. Mass tauren is never an good option in combat. Mass Air counters them very quickly. But they could be very effective as flex slots. If you want to build massive Tauren Walkers you can build them with 2 barracks and two spirit lodge but Orc would be more flexible if the strategy fails, because he have acseess of the other Units in Barracks and Spirit Lodge
The last six years have clearly shown that no one plays Totem on T2. Simply because the Beastiary and the Spirit Loudge are more important and flexible. So get rid of it. The barracks has enough space for another unit and another upgrade.

Ways to make taurens seriously playable and meta- relevant.

The only way to make Taures really good is to change their movement speed.
A tauren’s job is to quickly stand in the casters and cause a lot of damage or to stand at the front and absorb damage.
Taurens current movement speed is 270. That is the movement speed of a Grunt. Raiders have a movement speed of 350. Why is this relevant? Because movement speed is everything in Warcraft 3 !!!
Why is DH so strong? Because he’s damn fast. Why didn’t anyone play Far Seer in the 2000s? Because he was damn slow and every death knight caught up with him and killed him. Why is Boots of Speed metarelevant? It makes heros faster !! It makes no sense to play Taurens when he are the slowest units in the intire Army (ecept Kodos). With these units, any hit-and-run is a mess and Taurens need to be at the front to be effective. No one plays it if they are the last unit in battle and the unit is too slow to run away from the enemy. A Gripon has a movement speed of 320 and can easily chase him across the entire map. Each race has a big melee unit. Nightelf have Druid of the Claws. Druid of the Claw have the same movment speed as a Tauren. To play bears and Dryads is a desaster. The dryads are always in front and the bears are behind because the dryads are much faster (350 movement speed). But we play Druid of the Claw because they can Heal and Buff other units. Abominations are slightly cheaper, can heal themselves with Cannibalize (not really relevant) and can spread a powerful cloud of disease. Knights have no abilitys but 350 movement speed. What do tauren have? Pulverise… ability only occurs if the unit can attack more frequently. That doesn’t matter in a game where hit and run is normal. Not if you’re as slow as a Turtle and the Opponent have the Spells Slow or Cruple.

So Blizzard, if you want to see tauren in the game, delete the totem, move the units to the right buildings and give the tauren more movement speed. Then your wishes will finally come true. Tauren need to become cheaper more flexible and faster to be truly playable. And by deleting the totem you would lower the price for tauren and finally bring the spirit walker back into the game.
thank you for reading
and Sorry for the harsh tone but there has a lot build up over the past 6 years. And sorry for the bad English.

2

well I can tell you the solution is not to make them t2 which is currently being evaluated on the PTR.

3

Moving Taurens to tier 2 is a sensible and strategic enhancement.

Specifically in matchups against Human and Night Elf players, this change could be highly beneficial. It would allow Orc players to utilize Taurens more effectively, integrating them into various strategies that currently rely on faster, more agile units. By lowering Taurens to tier 2, they would be on par with other impactful tier 2 units like Abominations, Druids of the Claw, and Mountain Giants, offering a versatile and robust option that complements the existing Orc arsenal.

Consider a scenario where an Orc player faces a Human opponent using a lot of spellcasters and ranged units. Currently, the Orc player might struggle to effectively engage without a strong front line capable of sustaining heavy damage while closing in. Taurens, with their natural durability and the potential for early integration into the army, could disrupt these common strategies, providing a much-needed balance to the power dynamics of early to mid-game skirmishes.

Regarding their movement speed, I see it as a lesser issue. The recent adjustments noted in the Public Test Realm patch notes are promising and suggest a shift towards a more balanced and strategic gameplay. By slightly increasing the movement speed or adjusting other aspects of their utility, Taurens could indeed find a new viability within the current meta without overpowering other units or strategies.

4

I also think Tauren should be able to be used more flexibly. But I am of the opinion that in the totem they are not. A Tauren from the barracks can surprise. Abos and Knights always come as a surprise because they come from a building that also produces other unit types. The opponent knows exactly what is coming and can prepare. Tauren are still slow, expensive and give a lot of experience. In my opinion, that doesn’t make them the fast and agile units that orc needs.

I’m not sure if tauren would improve the matchup. The only effective weapon against Rifle Casters is the Spirit Walker. Tauren are likely to have less impact and they are still very expensive at 280 gold and 5 supply. If the tauren are lost through focus, it’s a big blow. And 5 out of 50 supply is huge.

I think a little bit more movement speed would help. Tauren could play a similar role to Knights and act as a quick reaction force. It would also help to be able to run away from his couterparts.