Dumb Thoughts : The War Within could lead to the return of Allied Races?

[Zitga-wyrmrest-accord]

I have a million and one thoughts regarding Allied Races and could discuss them all day. So this may be a lengthy post…I will start with sharing my opinions on your ideas!

I will preface this with saying that I would absolutely love pretty much all these races, but I am looking at it from not only a story perspective but does it make sense asset-wise. By assets, I mean like the Earthen- we are getting them because they make sense asset and story wise- they were going to be a large part of TWW regardless, so why not go that extra step and add them?

Anywho, let us begin.

@Gentarn-wyrmrest-accord

Mok'nathal were invited in as members of the extended Orc ‘family’, so we might be seeing the Clan migrating to Azeroth in its entirety, given what we’ve seen of Outland becoming more and more inhospitable and incapable of sustaining life. Mok’nathal could also become the key for the Horde to complete subjugating the various Ogre Clans in Horde territory and either ending their predation on Horde merchants, or bringing more Ogre Clans directly into the Horde’s army.

Story-wise, It is inevitable they become more integrated into the Horde in my opinion. I feel like over the next few sagas we will see the end of Outland as it crumbles apart and people migrate to Azeroth.

Mok’nathal happen to be among the races on the top of my list of “NEEDS TO BE PLAYABLE”, which includes any race part of/involved with the factions in the story but not playable. While I truly hope they get story spotlight, and therefore updated models (thus hopefully leading them to be playable), I don’t think it is going to happen in the saga.

@Gentarn-wyrmrest-accord

Broken and Krokul also seem like they’d be likely to be included as Allied Races, given that the Broken have been a part of the Draenei experience since the Burning Crusade, and during the Manari recruitment/mini-quest thing, Velen stated that he’d been trying to reach out and help the Krokul, despite their leader having a furious mad-on at the Prophet. With Outland dying and Argus a Fel-blasted wasteland still crawling with Legion demons, now leaderless, bringing all the various branches of the Eredar home to Azeroth only makes sense.

Broken/Krokul are another one in a very similar situation to the Mok’nathal. They are involved in one of the factions, even moreso than Mok’nathal. In the upcoming Heritage quest we will likely see them integrate even more into the Exodar- but again, the issue is having no female model. I could easily see Krokul and Mok’nathal as a pair of ARs added in an outland-focused story in the future, but I do not know if that will be in the upcoming saga.

@Gentarn-wyrmrest-accord

Ethereals could easily tie into the Ren’dorei given the bond between their two racial leaders that was explored in the last patch(s) of Legion, and wouldn’t be too graphically hard to pull off, with ethereals using the male human model as gender 1, and the male ren’dorei model as gender 2, given that as beings of mostly energy now, they are more defined by their allegiances and their skills than if they dimple or dangle.

Ethereals are a race I am more hesitant about. I am not opposed to them, and they even could work storywise. We know that Locus-walker is coming back again in the 10.2.7 patch- but my main concern would be how to make them playable. They are humanoid, yes, but people already complain about the lack of customization in current races. How many variations of bandaids can you do to allow players to make the Ethereal of their dream?

That being said, Ren’dorei gives them an easy “in” for the Alliance, on top of the heavy void/light storyline of this entire saga. Maybe I just lack the creativity for this one, haha.

@Gentarn-wyrmrest-accord

Sethrakk and Tortollan would work well as Neutral Allied Races, given that they have reasons to join both factions and either have a loose social structure (the Tortollans) or have suffered repeated civil wars and conflicts (the Sethrakk) and may not be entirely welcome in their own homeland anymore. Being reptilian like the Drac’thyr, they’d have few external secondary sexual characteristics and thus could share models between the genders. Tortollans might be a more hilarious version of the Mecha-Gnome issue, armor-wise, with their shells meaning they can’t display cloaks, chest or leg armors, except for what would show up on the limbs, but everything else shows up, while Sethrakk would be a horror-show for most helmets, but could share armor-models with Worgen or Vulpera, given their body-shapes.

These two I have quite a different opinion on than you. I know it may seem crazy, but I think they both lean more Horde than anything.

For Tortollan, I think it just is due to their association with the Zandalari that I feel this way. We see them co-habitating a lot with the trolls- and we functionally have them in the Horde now too with the addition of Lashk on the Zanchuli Council. That being said, they are by far not a unified government or anything as such, so I could easily see them being a neutral race, with the Horde’s version being from Zuldazar and the Alliance ones from elsewhere.

For Sethrak, I truly can’t see them going neutral. Yes, the Alliance did help them; albeit minimally. The Horde did extraordinary measures for them, helping them solve their civil war, save their loa and open relations with Vulpera and Zandalari; we can even see them in Zuldazar now. And with the story development of the Zandalari and Vulpera both joining the Horde, I think it would not make much sense for any sect of Sethrak to join the Alliance. They are on an Island surrounded by Horde, so it would be a poor tactical decision with the unpredictable nature of the faction wars.

@Gentarn-wyrmrest-accord

Hozen and Jinyu would tie in well to the Pandaria mode coming in, and we’ve been clamouring for them for years, and we’ve seen the Monkey King following us with interest in the War of Thorns, and the Jinyu would no doubt be incredibly interested in their Ankoan cousins. Jinyu use Kaldorei models, which is an easy fix for Blizzard, and Hozen might be a struggle to fit weapons to, but God dammit, let me go Ape.

These two I absolutely would love and support, we have seen them fighting in faction ranks even in BfA. The ONLY issue is again, like the Broken and Mok’nathal. They’d both need completely revamped models which is unlikely unless we visit Pandaria for a new storyline, or find a new populace.

Jinyu/Ankoan could intermingle and become one tribe since we know Ankoan are so low population. Hozen themselves are a bit trickier due to their design, and honestly that may inhibit them becoming playable completely.

@Gentarn-wyrmrest-accord

Mogu and Naga would make for some spicy Neutral Allied Races, with the Neptulon-worshipping Naga seeking aid against a resurgent Azshara-aligned army of Naga and Mutants pushing them out of the deep, and sacred, depths of the ocean to mine for more Azerite that is beyond our ability to reach, and the Rajani Mogu, now with their beloved Titan Watcher dead, seek new allies, and new context, in what it means to ‘defend’ Azeroth. Neuptulon Naga might have a Visage-like form, of a form that blends Kaldorei and serpent/fish features, but shift back into their Naga form in battle, meaning Blizzard doesn’t need to code new weapons and armor models, they can just use normal Kaldorei for their Humanoid forms and Naga have their own armor models ala the Dracthyr, while the Rajani Mogu, and those Mogu Clans who have submitted to their rule, and their teachings, can use Draenei armor models with almost no alterations.

I would love Naga, but if I get naga I want them to be NAGA, not just elves with a serpent form. I know that is tricky, but I hope it works. I will say, storywise, they could work in midnight- many theories revolving around them appearing during that story.

Mogu I have always secretly wanted, though I do not announce it as much as others. I think it would be cool if they sort of have a more agreeable relationship with the Talanji-led Zandalari.

@Gentarn-wyrmrest-accord

Tuskarr would be a stupidly simple inclusion, with Tuskarr seeking new hunts and new lands to explore and to fish joining the Alliance or the Horde as Neutral Allied Races, and given they basically use the Pandaren male rig, even their women, this would be hilariously simple for Blizzard to implement.

Tuskarr are the one race that would be such an easy neutral race to add, though they’d need some model work still. They would be a good option for the Last Titan when we revisit Northrend.

My personal hopes:
My main hope revolves around the “NPC” races of each faction becoming fully playable. Those being Ogre, Mok’nathal, Forest Trolls, Kelfin Gilgoblin, Taunka, and Hozen for Horde, and Broken/Krokul, Ankoan/Jinyu, Furbolg, Frostborne Dwarf, Wildhammer Dwarf, and High Elf for Alliance.

It gets a bit tricky since some could be argued as being customization already(High Elves and Wildhammer), but in my opinion they should all be their full own race. Own story, characters, heritage and so on. At the very least a questline and some spotlight like the Darkfallen and Man’ari got. But once we get these races, then the entirety of the factions would be playable and represented.

WHAT I THINK IS LIKELY GIVEN KNOWN STORY DETAILS

Nerubians - Those humanoid Nerubians seem almost too perfect; I have no evidence or theories other than that, and the story seeming to be very similar to the Nightborne. Aiding a small rebellion overthrow a Queen who partnered with an evil cosmic being, and potentially becoming playable after?

Dark Trolls - Also one with little evidence, we do have an image of Talanji seemingly being in TWW- which means it likely deals with loa or some sort of troll tribe. Finding a long lost dark troll tribe and them joining the Horde would be really cool imo.

Forest Trolls - Jumping to the midnight expansion here, it would make perfect sense for Horde to finally get the Forest Trolls as an allied race; the Revantusk Tribe has been fighting for them for years, and the story almost certainly will involve the Amani.

High Elves - I know, crazy idea. Why not just merge them with void elves, blah blahh. But they could work for the midnight expansion if Blizz really wanted, as a counterpart to Forest Trolls even.

Taunka - Jumping forward to the Last Titan, this is probably my most wanted allied race. I cannot explain why I love Taunka so much, but I would absolutely love them being playable- and since we are revisiting their homeland, makes it even more possible and plausible.

Frostborne Dwarves - Alliance counterpart to the Taunka, when we revisit northrend they could fit right in with the Taunka in becoming playable.

Tuskarr - Could be a neutral race added at a later point in the TLT; assuming Frostborne and Taunka would be added near launch. They again are one of the prime races of Northrend and would make sense.