Vulpera are fine, but I’d sacrifice them in a heartbeat if Cyborg Goblins were somehow on offer.
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You really shouldn’t. It’s such a lame reskin of your base race.
Looks at the immense custom assets put into the Junkers…
The limbs with whole custom animations. They have more animations in general than EVERY AR. They actually have an interesting culture built around a disturbing level of cultural self mutliation. Hell, they bring outright CYBERNETICS and an ENTIRE new Kingdom to the Alliance for goodness sake. There is some genuinely amazing and dark stories you could tell with these little Borg, yet people undervalue them … largely because they are GNOMES.
On the other hand we have tons of Alliance fixating on the Furry Romani Goblins, despite the fact that they bring very little to the Horde beyond a few choice Reps and some killer VA work. Hell, their entire reason for joining the Horde seems really haphazard (first built around the Alliance attacking them … now the Old Gods are harassing them … almost as if their motives changed at a moments notice to fit the story). But … I guess they’re cute?
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When you get down to it they’re still just gnomes. They don’t have something interesting going for them like custom limbs. It’s just slightly robotic gnomes. Vulpera are an actual new race. We got the boring option.
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The Horde PC does something very similar to how the Warcraft 3 Horde came together- the Horde helps strangers deal with “neutral” threats (murlocs, centaur, snakemen in this case) and later the Alliance. They are a people struggling against the tyranny of greater powers but are determined to fight, the classic Horde theme. Them helping the Horde after the bulk of the Horde helping them (dealing with the Sethrak problem), and this being during the Fourth War made them a target for Alliance activities.
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How EXACTLY are the Vulpera interesting? What stories do they bring to the table that we haven’t already seen in Vol’dun? What makes them so intriguing for so many BEYOND their pure aesthetics? Yes, they are a new race … but their narrative potential going forward is as shaky and inconclusive as their reasons for even joining the red team in the first place.
And yeah, they’re Gnomes. But considering Gnomes are THE single most neglected PC race in this game, there are PLENTY of stories left to be told about them (and for them). But … I guess how much you value Gnome stories depends on how much you value Gnomes themselves (and since Gnome hate has LONG since evolved from a simple meme … I can see why people dont value them).
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Nothing. They’re just aesthetically a better looking and less lazy race. I don’t really factor story possibilities into my decisions about ARs because the odds are they’re all going to be sitting in a corner doing nothing after they get introduced.
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After way BFA handled the Horde the Vulpera come off as a nice return to the Warcraft 3 feeling of saving the downtrodden and what not. So I consider nostalgia at work for some. At the same time I personally liked the dynamic between Kiro and Nisha. The two of them and Meerah really helped make the Vulpera feel like a real group that I could connect with and made me want to be their pals over just another rep to grind.
Now personally foxes are among my favorite animals and the idea of a fox riding a fox mount is just hilarious to me. So for me there is an element of bias at play.
Though I do understand that story wise there’s no clear path forward which can create uncertainly but at the same it’s an opportunity to develop them further. Thus the Vulpera aren’t just a race tied to an expansion like the Sporeling from Burning Crusade, but are a race that can be developed further. We could see them interact with the other races of the Horde. For example Kiro vowed to stand with the Zandalari after King Rastakhan’s death and in two different world quests we discover that while Kiro knows how useful goblin weapons are, he has a rather low tolerance for the race.
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Yes, Blizzard has chosen to write quite a cult of personality around Mekkatorque. For instance, that his followers believe he is an unsurpassed genius…in spite of the fact that he was duped into nuking their home and killing most of their race.
These things do not make sense. Imagine a real world corollary: is there any circumstance in which you can imagine a real life leader screwing up to the magnitude that Mekkatorque did and yet his people just let it go? Actually, more than let it go, they act like it never happened and still hold him up as a shining example of perfection.
Actually, I can think of a few examples. And all of them involve despots who created personality cults. But gnomes are supposed to be brilliant and their society is supposed to have been a democracy.
One of those quotes is literally “he keeps us safe.”
Does not compute.
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I’d say the Vulpera bring plenty of cool potential, not as much as the Mechagnomes, but there are a few aspects I’d like to see expanded on.
This is their first time out of Vol’dun, the first time they’ve been in a larger group and not had the need to hide from danger, their first time living in real towns and cities. How they adjust to this larger family and shift in lifestyle would be kinda neat to explore.
I’d also like to look at their desire to join in the first place, their natural creativity, impact on the Horde’s economy and transportation of goods, and their military viability as guerrilla fighters.
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They aren’t tainted by BfA’s trash Horde storyline, so they’re the best Horde race by default.
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Sounds like the Horde are interacting with Boss Mida, since her personal assisstant is named a lot, and Nomi. Nomi could easily be cross faction though. Lot of goblin characters this patch, curtusy of the heritage quest.
Returning to Crushblow too. I wonder if we’ll get an update on Dragonmaw’s status with the Horde.
Vulpera might make good trade line runners. Sounds like they are helping transporting stuff between Horde outposts. Also interesting to hear that they actually have already asked to join the Horde but were initially rejected, that’s a new one.
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I dunno, burning everything he touches makes him seem like a good fit for the Horde.
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So … the thing you don’t like is automatically lazy? Despite the fact that at least on a functional level the JunkerGnomes seem to have more work put into them than almost any other AR (save for Kul Tirans, which the Alliance ALSO hate). The Vulpera are just Goblin rigs with snouts and tails. They barely have much in the way of custom animations, beyond their sleep and dance emotes. They are also conceptually no more interesting story-wize than 90 percent of the NPC ZONE races we’ve allied with (and left in the dust) for the last 15 years.
Whenever I see these sort of arguments its always people trying to justify their personal taste with lack of effort on Blizz’s part to make it seem like they’re the victims of Blizz’s “Bias”. And when it comes to Alliance Players (no matter HOW much they scream for the contrary), what they don’t want is diversity in their Racial Choices (they want pretty and cute first and foremost). It also comes from an Alliance fanbase that OVERvalues Elves and holds nothing but contempt for Gnomes.
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Hey I don’t care about pretty and cute. Hell the only race I ever wanted put in on the Alliance side was Harpies.
OK, see now THAT is an interesting race (though they are just sort of Elves with Wings).
But at the end of the day, there is nothing FUNCTIONALLY wrong with the JunkerGnomes. They have an interesting twist on GnomeCulture (a largely previously unexploited section of the content). They clearly have a TON of effort put into their models, with so many moving parts put into their prosthetics (and more custom animations than nearly every other AR combined). Hell, their jokes and flirts actually seem to be creative and geekily charming (rather than the Vulpera’s that are just a bunch of SUPER uninspired furry jokes and fox puns).
The Junkers are in no way “Lazy”. They clearly have a lot of passion and work put into them, and they DO provide Gnomes and Gnome Players something nice after nearly 15 years of being neglected in every way imaginable (as a Gob player, I’m sort of jealous). What they seem to infringe on is simply your personal taste, and that’s about it.
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Wait, seriously?
Internal conflict is a Horde theme I guess.
Question does anyone know besides Mekkatorque that he was duped or do the gnomes think that it all Sicco Thermaplugg’s doing? If it’s the later it would help explain why they view Mekkatorque in such a positive light because as far as they know he’s the reason they survived, he’s the one who kept them going after they lost their home, friends, and family.
Gnomes are written as extremely optimistic and friendly. Blaming a guy who was tricked is probably against their culture.
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It’s not like Gelbin made some screwup. His top advisor lied and showed him false data. That’s like blaming a doctor for a misdiagnosis when the patient lied and told him false symptoms. I think the gnomes are smart enough to realize that Gelbin made the best decision he could with the available information. His only fault was that he wasn’t psychic and couldn’t see that Sicco was lying to him.
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