Dumb Thoughts : Non=Playable Races, unavailable Race/Class combinations, and you?

What Non-Playable Races do you want to be playable? And what Classes would you make them? Or what Race/Class combinations do you secretly long for?

For me, there’s several cases from the stories I write, but the ones best suited to a PG Forum post?


Chog’magg, the Ogre Mage Sorcerer : A canny and profoundly untrustworthy sort, Chog’magg needs no company, for their two heads are more than enough company … when they aren’t bickering their next plot for more knowledge and magical artifacts, of course.

A regular supplier of knowledge and enchantments to the characters I write, the Ogre Mage recently acquired an abandoned ship and has enchanted the sails and riggings to obey their commands, and now fancies themselves a dashing pirate captain. Their crew is animated mops and cannons, and a handful of ensorcelled murlocs and makura have been press-ganged into service to handle the more complicated tasks limbless items might not be able to handle.


Gogg, the Ogre Barbarian : Sadly, Gogg died in the … third book? I think? I’ll have to double check my notes, but a big, simple, happy-go-lucky Ogre who just wanted friends who didn’t bully him or beat him and chase him away from his favourite pet rocks. Despite that simpleness and friendly outlook, Gogg had a hair-trigger temper and a willingness to engage in overwhelming violence against anyone or anything that made him sad, or hurt his ‘little squishy friends’, up to and including flipping a Dwarven Steam Tank off a cliff when it shot his Kodo mount. More than a few friends needed healing after getting bear-hugs that could crack bone and dent plate-armor, however …


Mhen’thith, the Draenei Warlock : In the aftermath of the rise of the Horde, Mhen’thith grew disgusted with his peoples’ refusal to fight the Legion on equal footing, and saw their destruction at the hands of the Orcs as proof that their fixation on the Light and the Naaru had led them astray.

Despite despising the Legion for what they had done to his people, the Draenei Mage captured and tortured several Orc Warlocks, tore the secret names of their Demons from their lips and sacrificed the Warlocks in turn to bind the Demons to his will. He’s something of a rogue agent who means well but plays dirty, and sees no sacrifice too great or too bloody to see the end of the Legion and the chance for the Draenei to finally stop running from their great enemy … I think the last time I had him in play, the Warlock had a lair in a series of caverns beneath the Redridge mountains?


June Half-Tusk, Half-Orc Paladin : Not officially a Paladin, but has sort of fumbled her way through half-burnt texts and some guidance from her companions, this Half-Orc was an on-and-off character who was more focused on fighting the small threats, brigands, thieves, smugglers and Demon Cultists within the territories of Stormwind, and as such was mostly uninvolved with the larger conflicts.

Had a lot of issues with the local guards refusing to give her assistance because of her dual heritage, but had earned a small amount of renown with the local farmers and crafters for her steadfast devotion to keeping them safe.


Ghibbet Phasebolt, Gnome(ish) Steam-Warrior : Apparently his father had been half-dwarven, for Ghibbet possessed a most luxurious beard, a rather heavy-set form, and an eagerness for drinking and fighting beyond the Gnomish norm. In a world full of Orcs, Ogres and Trolls, the Gnome simply decided if flesh would not suffice, then steel and gunpowder would. Rarely encountered outside of his steam-powered battle-frame, the Gnome was always considered odd at best, suicidal at worst, always laughing hysterically as he plunged into the thickest part of the fight, his battle-frame lashing out with a horrible-looking circular saw on one arm, and alchemically-fuelled flame-thrower on the other, always barrelling towards the biggest, meanest looking enemy to prove the mettle of his invention.

I remember he died in a heroic, noble and profoundly stupid way by overloading his engines, putting all power to thrusters and flying up into the lens of a Legion Ship as it was about to bombard his team and detonated his battle-frame, causing a chain-reaction that made the ship blow up as the torrent of fel-flame it was about to unleash got sent back into its systems, ala that crop farmer pilot from the Independence Day film.


Slouch, the Broken Rogue : A Draenei Broken who was forever slouched, hence the name, and possessed a laconic and lazy attitude until something roused her focus, at which point she’d become almost obsessive until that ‘something’ was either hers, or was destroyed.

An on-and-off character who dwelled in Shattrath and could provide information to the other characters, and who sometimes had to be rescued when her obsessive tendencies got her into situations her stealth and guile couldn’t overcome alone.


Heckle Nine-Fangs, Gnoll Hunter : A villainous character whom ended up a foil for several of my Alliance characters, a powerful and insidious Gnoll who had focused her skill on hunting Men, Dwarves and Gnomes to the exclusion of all other prey, in vengeance for the constant assault on her people by the ‘good folk’ of the Alliance.

Used a massive longbow and a pair of vultures, and would command her vultures to find and circle over her preferred prey, then she’d attack from range with poisoned arrows. Either the prey would run and fall victim to her poisons, or they’d attempt to chase her down and attack from close range, at which point her traps and Gnoll minions would tear them apart, or if they did somehow fight their way through, Heckle would lay into them with two jagged meat-cleavers and her disease-ridden fangs.


Horrace Murkin, aka Murkfang, Druid of the Fang : Sometimes, adventurers bite off more than they can chew. Horrace was one such adventurer, a Human Priest who got into trouble in the Wailing Caverns and found something new to believe in … something cold, something old, something scaly, something cunning.

Reborn as a Druid of the Fang, Horrace became an apostle of a thing that claims it is a Serpent Loa but may or may not be something else, either an aspect of Hakkar the Blood God, whatever the insidious presence was within the Wailing Caverns, or perhaps a disembodied spirit of a slain Kaldorei Druid trapped in that awful place. Turns into all manner of serpents and has, through various means, tried to establish a Serpent Cult within Human territories, posing as a wise healer in public and a secretive cult-master to the faithful, preaching poison both spiritual and physical as the solution to whatever stood in the way of your ascension, and that the cold wisdom and patience of the serpent was to be emulated at all times, that hot passion was the antithesis of what the Cult should strive for. Was sometimes an ally, sometimes an enemy, but had lost all faith in the Light after witnessing something within the Emerald Dream that bordered around the Wailing Caverns, and disappeared sometime after the events of Legion and I haven’t brought him back yet to the stories. Think Thulsa Doom for personality and appearance these days…


Do you have any, from your own writing or stories, or do you have any character concepts you desperately want to make but are restricted by the limitations of Blizzard’s toys and playable races?

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Slams fist on the table

PANDAREN
WARLOCK

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Goblin & Pandaren druids and Draenei warlocks.

And I don’t care whether it makes any sense or how the logistics would work, I just want playable Abominations and Nerubians.

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I’ve been RPing a Tauren rogue since like… Burning crusade. They exist in WoW. Plus, you know… Rogue stealth is actually magic. Also I never said she was a GOOD rogue. So there’s that too ;D

I’d like Gnolls though. I feel like they’d work out really well. We see Gnolls getting hired as cannon fodder all the time by different groups. Venture Co, etc… They could join either side under the sole reason of “Give shiny and I fight for you.”

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I had a thread about Allied Races/New Races and the Gnolls joining the Horde because it was the one place where their more noble Packs could sign on and not get treated like cannon-fodder or second-tier citizens.

And somehow Blizzard has either nuked it or it was on a character that I race changed and now I can’t find it again … bah!

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Is this what you were looking for? Allied Races: who comes next?

One of them, but the one I was after had the Gnolls swearing allegiance to Sylvanas and it being a matriarchal society involving a lot of trial-by-combat to attain higher social rank. I think a lot of my stuff got pruned without my knowledge …

I prefer less race/class combinations. There’s something to be said about race and class mythos. I know that is a very unpopular opinion. I don’t want to see Draenei Warlocks or Human Shamans or Orc Paladins. Something about those irks the back of my brain where they somewhat lessen or tarnish the lore about those races or classes.

As for races, the next ones should be Ogres for Horde and Broken Draenei for Alliance. There really are no second choices.

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I dig these character concepts! (I especially have a soft spot in my heart for ogres. I would love for them to be playable so that I may be surrounded by them in RP.)

As an Ethereal RPer that is currently just using mogs to come across as one in-character, although it wouldn’t be the end of my world if we never had them as playable, I really, really wish they could be. (Or Brokers. I could go for that, too. They are awesome as well!)

While having the proper model for my roleplay would help a lot with immersion, the even better outcome of them being an officially playable race would be getting to see a lot more of them in RP. Kahleem is lonely.

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I want only one class per race.

And gender, so we can really get Korean MMO vibes. NE men can only be druids, NE women can only be hunters, etc.

And for non-playable race I want, uh… something that looks a lot like a Draenei for Horde so I can have a Miko on both factions like Pandaren and Belf players can. It can be a race of Lantresor of the Blade’s kids or redeemed Eredar or whatever, I just want the option to Krono Kai Kristor for the Horde.

Thank you for the violent flashbacks of the 2004 Beta, where people were legit up in digital arms about the fact Night Elf Druids could be Female and Night Elf Priests could be Male.

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Draenei warlock with red skin.

Murloc anything.

Gnome druid with tiny animal shapes like guinea pig, ocealot cat form, guppy aqautic form, humming bird flight form…

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Though I’ve become disillusioned with their current portrayal, I suppose I’d like Naga to be playable. Mage, Warrior, Hunter and Priest would be obvious class picks for them, along with perhaps Shaman, depending on certain factors. The idea of one whipping their tail around for kicks as Monk is also mildly appealing. Fal’dorei would also be a somewhat interesting choice, though I admit I include this largely because I’m desperate to see them characterized as something more than just crazy obsessive monsters. Much the same goes for the Naga as well, to an extent. Also, there are few Naga characters I have written that’d be nice to a proper representative of physical portrayal.

As far as race/class combos are concerned, as I mentioned in an older thread, I would love to have Worgen Monks and Night Elf Paladins. The latter arguably should’ve been done long ago and former should’ve been done from the beginning.

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As weird as it sounds, I still want High Elves. I want Night Elf style facial tattoos to really get that WarCraft 2 Ranger vibe, and also a racial proc that doesn’t cause me to go all midnight colored.

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A lot of these “exotic” races wouldn’t be a problem if Blizzard just got rid of cosmetic toy cooldowns. If they’re concerned about it affecting PvP just have it break during combat, then reapply it when combat is over. There is genuinely no good reason for cosmetic buffs to be as draconian as they are. Let me at least pretend to be an Arakkoa or a Murloc or a Naga or an Ogre if you won’t give us the races officially, Blizzard.

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Goblin Monk!

Prior to the discovery of Pandaria, goblins had an active community around basically dramatic WWE fake wrestling. When the pandaren joined the Horde they took an interest in the goblins antics and began training individuals to amp up their performances. Resulting in an explosion of kung fu performances which would inspire a whole generation of goblin fans to take up their own training and becoming skilled martial artists.

Basically I just want a goblin monk that shoots spring loaded boxing gloves at people.

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I would trade half of my max level characters for the ability to play as a dryad. I could easily see them being warriors or hunters, maybe even with a race-specific version of druid that is limited to just restoration and balance specs.

Or, failing that, a Night Fae even though it would make no sense. That ship has long since sailed, and I just really loved the design they had for the two-legged sylvar like Niya.

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The “I don’t care about lore or the logistics of wearing armor” dream playable race:

  • Mantid

Rogue
Warrior
Mage
Hunter
Shaman
Priest
Death Knight

Give them a hover or glide ability with their wings. Maybe a “swarm” bonus of some sort when near other Mantids and a bonus to Jewelcrafting.

The “they should have given them to us in Legion” race

  • Ethereal

Rogue
Warrior
Mage
Warlock
Monk
Hunter
Priest

Give them a minor phase ability or maybe a blink and a bonus to Engineering.

On top of those give us Elunadins and Forsakadins already. Blizzard really owes it to Nelves given what they have gone through these past several years.

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Imagine if Elunadins was introduced in BfA with all the Night Warrior stuff. Just reskin existing paladin abilities to be moon theme and it’s basically the blah blah Elune’s righteous fury class. That’d be pretty cool tbh!!

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