Darkspear Posture (And Options...)

Community General Discussion
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Hey all. I’ve spent a lot of time reading former posts on this, but I feel like there’s a few more points that were never brought up, and a couple worth highlighting again.

I’m not going to argue that Zandalari will completely kill the Darkspear because that’s ridiculous, but let’s be realistic here. Blizzard has argued that the “hunch” is part of the Darkspear identity. If that were true, the Darkspear females would hunch as well. They’re Darkspears too, aren’t they? Or do females not share in cultural identity? Arguing that if you want to play a straight backed Troll, you should roll a Zandalari is not a fair thing to say, because there is no gender equality. Only the males are forced to pick another Race to stand upright.

Then, let’s talk about the Darkspear identity. They were literally a bunch of jungle Trolls that joined up with Thrall. Sen’jin and Vol’jin were their identities, so much so that the Trolls are now leaderless. The Darkspear identity died with Vol’jin. As per Blizzard, they’re trying to “figure things out” now. Part of that could be looking to their new allies, the Zandalari, and standing up to look them in the eye as equals.

And half of these posts are people replying to say blah blah blah Darkspear shouldn’t be able to stand upright because reasons… But no one is advocating to take away the option to be hunched. But it should be an option that players get to make the choice. The developers won’t make it an option because they know you’ll only see 1 out of every 10 (or less) Darkspear males running around hunched. (Food for thought: Maybe Blizzard wouldn’t lose 3 million active users in a quarter, if they would quit dictating to players how they must play every single aspect of their game with a “take it or leave it” attitude.)

This would, in fact, add racial diversity back into the Horde. I’ve personally tried playing a Darkspear, but I can’t do it. It’s too off-putting walking around with my knuckles dragging the ground behind me. And I’m not alone. Just do a web search, you’ll see all the threads on these very forums.

Because of the Zandalari, the development time has already been invested into making a Troll skeleton that walks upright and performs normally. And I’ve stood next to Darkspear Trolls on my Zandalari. They’re roughly the same height for males. This shouldn’t require an extreme effort to implement, and it definitely should be implemented.

It’s been framed that hunching is the “Darkspear thing” and it won’t be implemented because that’s what makes the Zandalari special. Well, standing up straight was also supposed to be the “Mag’har thing” but was given to normal Orcs as an option.

The fact of the matter is, letting Darkspear Trolls stand upright would not impact their “identity” at all. It would give the players a choice, increase the overall Darkspear player population, and anyone who wanted to live in a bell tower in Orgrimmar could still have a hunchback if they wanted to. If you like the hunch, this wouldn’t effect you at all. Letting those of us who want to stand upright as a Darkspear Troll do so wouldn’t impact your gameplay at all.

TLDR: Darkspear should be able to walk upright. The option doesn’t hurt anyone who still wants to hunch. It wouldn’t make Darkspear vs Zandalari any different than Orcs vs Mag’har Orcs, Tauren vs Highmountain Tauren, and Draenei vs Lightforged Draenei. They’re similar Races, but they’d still have their differences.

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I like the hunch of Darkspear. Could give an option to straighten them I guess but I would leave mine hunched. I miss their old run though. The new run is a cartoon looking mess. Option for old run please.

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That’s what I’d like to see. An option. If they could stand upright, I’d prefer the Darkspear over the Zandalari. I’m not a fan of the glowy eyes and scales. Plus, it would be cool to continue Vol’jin’s legacy.

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I have both trolls, though way more Zandalari then Darkspear unfortunately but it’s not because of the hunch. Darkspear are a little too spindly for me. I like the height and bulk of Zandalari.

Can’t you continue his legacy while hunched over? I think he is hunched over also.

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Normally I’m not a fan of the hunched postures (I would love to see upright undead), but in the case of darkspears I actually like it. It’s just a key feature of jungle trolls. They creep and they skulk. It’s like it’s a part of how they’ve adapted to living in their environment. Plus it just looks awesome;
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C53wRHuWUAIgmLA.jpg

They need some heritage armor, stat!

As to the why of the female trolls, and why they stand up straight. That’s just some straight up, cynical game design. Gotta make the ladies pretty.

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That’s way less hunch than in-game, though. I didn’t care about it much before transmog was a thing, but having two 90-degree bends in your posture and legs splayed out like you’re giving birth really murders your transmog options. Usually I end up going for ironically ugly sets because I feel like I can’t make anything look good. :frowning:

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I disagree here. I don’t see the Darkspear wanting to lose their identity by making themselves look more like someone else.

Yes. They lost 3 million users across 6 titles because Darkspears can’t stand up straight. It couldn’t be because one of the games is being put in maintenance mode. We are between content cycles. There hasnt been a new game in a while. And others, like Overwatch, have been out quite a while now.

But its because of the made up philosophy that Blizzard absolutely never listens to any feedback. At all. And micromanages every single aspect of the game.

It would add racial diversity back into the Horde by making the Darkspear look like the Zandalari? That sounds the opposite of true. Less diversity because everyone looks the same.

I never remember this ever once being stated.

How would it not effect their identity at all, when literally one of your points is that the Darkspear would go out of their way to look like the Zandalari? I can’t think of a single way that does not fit under “losing their identity”.

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Basically your entire post was just trying to rip apart and twisting my original thread just for the sake of doing so. The only thing worth directly responding to, is… I believe I said Blizzard was losing users because they don’t listen to fan feedback. I didn’t make it entirely about Darkspear posture; you did in your cynical comment. And the reasons why they’re losing users can’t be confirmed by either of us, my statement was a matter of opinion. And, if I were to dig deeper, I’d say the issue is more about Blizzard keeping quiet about everything and having no transparency until something is completely confirmed or dead in the water.

But, back on topic… If you’re in favor of hunched Darkspear Trolls, great. No one would force you to make them stand upright. But there’s enough players who have been repeatedly asking for this, and the only “reasons” provided for not adding it are lore based and lacking.

Game play should trump lore in this case, and it has in the past.

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I kinda want to stand up straight, if only to prevent my transmogs from looking weirdly stretched.

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To be clear, if the in-game Darkspear Trolls looked like that image, I’d be in favor of having them hunch. Notice how, in that image, the legs and torso are only slightly curved and the majority of the hunch is from the neck area.

In that image, it looks like the Troll is built that way and it looks natural.

In the case of the in-game Darkspear, it looks like they’re all built just like the Zandalari, but they choose to constantly walk and stand around in a funky bent over position. Their body doesn’t justify them looking like that.

I’d rather Blizzard either implement a player model like that image, or just let the Darkspear stand up… They look fully capable of it. lol

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Where is that statue from…I must have it!:dizzy_face:

I would like the option of standing up straight. I’ve seen size charts that show the upright back would still leave them slightly shorter than Tauren, so I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t get the option.

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I think the argument is to have an OPTION to have straight back as male darkspear troll, not to force everyone to have one.