This is literally the entire reason we’re getting rock dwarves instead of something cool and new. They’re just a reskin. They’re cheaper to make, as in almost nill.
Vulpera are just reskinned goblins.
Void elves are just reskinned blood elves.
Maghar orc, High mtn tauren. Reskinned.
Nightborne are slightly less lazy versions of reskinned night elves.
The Zandalari - reskinned night elves.
The Harronir, if we get them even lol, are just reskinned night elves.
Just about the only original and new race we’ve ever gotten in recent years, besides the Drac’thyr, is the Kul’tirans. And I’m fairly certain that even they use the night elf skeleton because the men have the same idle animation of looking side to side.
Those last two I mentioned, the KTs and the Dracthry, are very unappealing and very few people play them. Apparently blizzard looks at this and goes “Well I guess nobody likes it when we add things that are actually new and unique to the game, so we won’t do it anymore!” When… no. It’s just that those races aren’t very popular because of how they look/feel/animate - and that’s on you, Blizzard, not the players. Players still want better and more unique options.
I’m keeping an open mind in regards to the Earthen. I actually really do like their theming. They’ve grown on my quite a bit. But that doesn’t mean they’re not extraordinarily lazy, or at least seen that way… and people are starting to get really, really sick of that.
We want the cool ones. The ones we’ve all been asking for for years. Stuff like the Ethereals, the Tuskarr, the Broken from Outland, etc etc I’m not gonna list them all. You know what I mean.
At least Vulpera are their own new race and not just Goblins, but with new customization options. They are also obviously mainstream af for everyone, who like overly cute stuff.
If it doesn’t say “Level 70 High Elf” on the tooltip when another player hovers over my character… if it’s just a customization option… it doesn’t count. Not in my book. How often is another player going to zoom in on my characters face and say to themselves wow they’re a high elf that’s really cool? Never.
I think we are getting earthen because we are going to khaz algar and meeting them.
I dont think they decided in advance that earthen are to be playable.
I think they made the expansion as they intended, and then realised they had a super cool race on their hands that was basically already able to be made playable.
And so gave it to us.
I’d say it’s a little much to call a rounder taller human original or new.
Agree with the rest though.
Blizz has a problem honestly though. They’re afraid to add anything really wild to the Alliance. Worgen is as wild as they will go. It’s only half wild at that.
Then for the Horde, they’re afraid to do anything too Human or non-beast. BE is the closest the Horde will see to a real humanoid, barring the Earthen.
This might be the case if there weren’t already 4 flavors of elves in the game (6, if you count the undead and helf customization that’s available). It’s less about spite and more about not wanting neglected races continue to be neglected.
(aggressively points to the Tuskarr) - Why didn’t do it here, then, when Dragonflight released? I remember the discussions at the end of Shadowlands. People were all like “wow so they’re really working on the Tuskarr I bet they’re gonna be playable in DF”
And they shouldve been. They are fully fleshed out just like the Earthen are.
Started with Padaren, that seems fine. Then with Nightborne and Void Elves, that is fine too? Then Dracthyr, that is also fine. But Dwarves crosses the line?
I would say it is because of the model.
But not in the pessimistic way
I believe they made earthen, realised they made a cool unique race with a rich culture, and because it used the dwarf model, it was already able to be played without much extra effort needed.
Whereas with tuskarr they would have had to try and get the model set up to functuon as a playable race.
So basically i do think its because of the model.
But i dont think they went in to it looking to make an allied race. They just made a race that could be allied.
Yeah pretty much.
They could do or make anything if they really wanted to.
But theres always going to be a cut off point on what theyre willing to do.
And thats fair imo.
I mean, in some sense, yes, you are right on somethings, but factions have been irrelevant since TBC. From everyone to fighting a common enemy to fighting each other to fighting a common enemy to fighting each other. Making races neutral isn’t what is destroying the faction identity, it is the story that Blizzard keeps implementing within WoW to make it factions are only factions inbetween expansions.
Basically, all this video summarized into 1. Neutral races has nothing to do with destroying the factional identity, it is the stories.
