I speak for no one other than myself.
Right now, the new race has a number of red flags that are keeping me from feeling any actual interest in them. In no particular order, I wish to share them, providing feedback on what they are, and what can be done to correct them.
I acknowledge that as of this moment we know so little about the Dracthyr that any or even all of my concerns may be warrantless, but that in and of itself is a red flag as well; more should have been explained.
The Worgen Concern
Like Worgen, Dracthyr appear to have two separate forms to customize. In their race, one of these forms is more draconic, and the other is more humanoid. The red flag that’s been raised here is the concern that one is forced to fight in their draconic form in battle. While there is some logic in this, there is a simple truth I wish to impart to Blizzard right now.
Giving your players as much creative freedom as possible with their game avatars will always be a big win for you.
The solution here is simple: state that the Dracthyr can choose which form to fight in. If you really want them to use that draconic form, link a bonus to damage/healing to it, to incentivize players to do so, but do not force them to do something they do not want to do.
Meeting Expectations with Existing Examples
Right now, we have no images of Dracthyr with minimal draconic options on their humanoid forms. As this is the dragon race players have been waiting ages for, it is of vital importance to think of how your players have been perceiving dragons for years and years. When we think of dragons and a humanoid form, our examples are Alexstraza, Ysera, Nozdormu, Kalecgos, Chromie, Wrathion, Deathwing, etc… in these cases, we see a few with some draconic features, but for most, they can look virtually indistinguishable from mortal races. It is important to let players know they can blend in as much or as little with other races as possible.
Giving your players as much creative freedom as possible with their game avatars will always be a big win for you.
The solution to this is simple: let your players know that you intend to respect what you have given us for years, while expanding in new directions and giving us the opportunity to embrace that as well. Letting players know they’re not locked to looking like rip-off Au Ra from FFXIV, would go a long way to alleviating this concern.
Class Restrictions
You’re introducing a new class, and the Dracthyr alone can be that class. Well, there is a lore reason why, so while this may be an unpopular choice, its understandable. What isn’t understandable, is why you’re releasing the Dracthyr with ONLY this class. There is absolutely no reason Dracthyr could not be other classes, particularly some classes which have heavy ties to dragons as is (Druids, Mages, and Shamans). Restricting this new race to one class, is going to be disastrous, because that class is either going to be OP, or underwhelming, and there WON’T be another other classes for players to use on that race.
Giving your players as much creative freedom as possible with their game avatars will always be a big win for you.
The solution is simple: walk back the decision to limit them to just Evokers. Release a statement to the effect of, after having gathered feedback from the community, while the ideal should be a Dracthyr Evoker, that alone does not make for a proper selection of possibilities, and you’ll be expanding it to other classes as make sense for the race.
Their Lore
The Dracthyr were created by Neltharion, AKA Deathwing, and seem to have been sealed on the Dragon Isles all this time. This is some INCREDIBLY limiting lore for your RP’ers. If you’re adding a race that could not have feasibly been a part of ANY of the game’s content, then you should be rethinking that race’s background and story. This race would have been sealed away for the events of Vanilla, BC, Wrath, Cata, MoP, WoD, Legion, BFA, and Shadowlands. MOST of your game does not make sense for this race to play through. Playing this race through MOST of your game will be immersion breaking, and your players will never feel as if their Dracthyr characters could have had a legitimate part in any of the events that they’ve played up to that point.
Giving your players as much creative freedom as possible with their game avatars will always be a big win for you.
Completely overhaul the lore on this race, immediately. Just throw what you’ve got out entirely, and write the lore in a way that makes it feasible for them to have been around and active in every major modern event. Let the players know that when they’re a Dracthyr going through Outland, they actually BELONG there, and aren’t some kind of temporal anomaly that should be shredding the space-time continuum.
To summarize, I wish state once again the one thing I personally feel is paramount here.
Giving your players as much creative freedom as possible with their game avatars will always be a big win for you.
Change the Dracthyr, now, and let the players know. Thank you, and good night.
