as it stands the general perception for gnomes is “so wacky XD random holds up spork” meme race and generally have no presence in the main story and are usually side npcs if they are even present at all
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I would do 5 major points:
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I would settle on an actual technological era for their stuff as opposed to ‘whatever is needed at the time’. Anywhere between the 1920s-1940s with a steampunk twist would be what I go with. I’d also merge their aesthetic with that of Mechagon’s, to a point, since that’s newer and can mesh decently well. A large portion of their lack of seriousness is because there’s no grit to their tech, and they can kind of waggle their fingers and conjure a solution instead of needing to use their existing tech to actually fight.
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Likely late for this, since it’s been decades, but lean into the actual horror of the Fall of Gnomeregan. Numbers wise it was basically as bad as the Scourging of Lordaeron, but while Lordaeron is constantly talked about and taken seriously, Gnomeregan, where over 90% of the gnomes died or were irradiated into lunatics, is not.
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Bring more serious gnome characters to the fore and revert/fix the formerly serious ones back to that. Kelsey Steelspark is an example of this, in her initial introduction in Cata, she put on a perky and cheery personality as a front to try and convince Noggenfogger to invest in the gnomes over Bilgewater Cartel, but dropped it and became serious when out of his sight. Then in BfA… the mask she had is just how she’s written, it’s her personality. The pilots we meet at the Fizzcrank Airstrip are also quite serious and dedicated, but we haven’t seen them since. And the team from the gnome heritage chain isn’t around often either, while being in part more serious. There are plenty of more competent and serious gnomes in Cataclysm, Vanilla, and even Wrath that just don’t come back.
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Fleshing out their culture by actually making Gnomeregan a hub, like they did with Gilneas. Show how gnome spellcasters differ from other races (in Vanilla, it was stated that Gnomeregan had been a major haven for warlocks, and had some of the best, before the fall). Show their technology in practical uses, like mini trams to get around the city, document tubes that whisk papers to where they need to go, and so on.
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Finally, and this honestly pairs with dwarves somewhat too, flesh out the underground. We’ve known most dwarf settlements are ones we can’t see, because they’re represented by towers sticking up out of the mountains, the same can apply to Gnomeregan, where there are frontier areas that are explored and protected against. This would give them a threat and an ongoing problem at home (dangers from the depths/expanding the city) that isn’t of their own making.
Edit: I don’t know why it’s posted all in one block like that, it won’t break up… sorry for the wall.
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I’m going to be extra hot saucy controvertial here and say… You cannot.
At this point, gnomes and goblins are so heavily relegated to being comic relief “blow up by accident” types that doing an about-face, serious turn for either of them will feel disingenuous and like an entirely different race, from an entirely different setting.
I mean, both can absolutely have serious stories, but usually for individual members or small groups. Mechagon and Mechatorque come to mind, but even both of those have their comedic meme race moments in the middle of serious stories.
Goblins have it the same. Goblin-themed areas are full of jokey quests and references to pop culture or old scifi. If it’s not that, it’s greed. Or its jokey explody crap with greed.
I mean, goblins have spilt oil and random explosives across zones they live in, and gnomes accidentally left their homes irradiated for decades.
To make either race more serious would require a ground-up rework of the race, at which point they effectively become a different race.
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I don’t think you can. No amount of serious story telling is going to make people take something that looks like a toddler with a grown man’s head glued to it seriously.
Beyond that, the unreliability and inconsistency of gnome(and goblin) technology is kind of necessary for the setting. If giant mech suits with gatling guns and massive bombs were reliable and consistent then there’d be no reason for swords or magic.
I think it depends on what you mean by improve.
As far as the “general perception” …. that likely will not change.
Gnomes are similar to Hobbits. People don’t take them seriously, they are goofy, they are tiny people.
For Futurama fans… it reminds me of Nibbler. He is a cute tiny pet for the most part… but there is that one episode where he has a serious mission with a deep voice. And a whole serious culture. When the floating brains attack:
Like, even if they are serious and grim, their relative size and cutesy antics are hard to ignore.
I would ask… do we mean to improve Gnomes for Gnome fans? Or for those who have no interest in Gnomes? There would be a difference I imagine.
That is where the lore doesn’t match in game. Goblin tech is consistent to the point they have mega cities all over the world. It is consistent enough that bombs and bullets are everywhere and used everywhere.
The only reason some still use magic and swords is because that is just the setting, like in Warhammer.
Why still uses axes when they have nukes in Warhammer? Because it is fun to see things best each other with sticks. Same with marvel and Captain America. Dude just uses a shield when there are magical power armor right there for him to use.
Shorted up their life span. Gnomes burn bright and burn fast. Their brilliant minds rushing to make an impact on the word. A legacy of invention that will long outlive them. Give a slightly tragic edge to a very silly race.
I’d also give them a focus on espionage and political manipulation. Their primary method of defense isn’t their mechanized cavalry, it’s preventing a battle from ever being fought. Friend and foe alike have gnomish ears listening in every court and council.
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Eh. Tech in WoW is clearly inferior to magic. The bomb that took out Theramore? Magic. Burning of Teldrassil? Catapults and magic. The most dangerous that tech gets is with chemical warfare in the Blight, and that’s as dangerous to use as it is to deploy. At no point has WoW technology been shown to be as effective as a single mage. Even guns are simply as effective as a bow, only louder.
Technology alone in WoW has never made a major difference in any conflict, but magic makes all the difference. Even the two conflicts that saw wide-spread use of technology (WoD and BfA) had it being used primarily by the sides that lost (Horde and Iron Horde respectively). Heck, even the Horde’s BfA-era tech used magic (Azerite) as a fuel source, and was limited to mostly small-scale use.
Technology is an after-thought in WoW. It’s not as efficient as the real world equivalent, and it lives in the shadow of magic that can make flying cities, instant travel, and all the things that would normally be future-tech in the real world, but Azerothian tech cannot yet reach. Everything tech can do, magic does better.
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To be fair, in most fantasy settings where tech and magic mix, it’s usually magic that remains the superior way to do things. Or the tech is powered by magic, either via a gods blessing or a powerful mage/lich.
Even in a setting like Warhammer and Warhammer Fantasy, magic is still used by gifted individuals
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I think that’s why technology can never match magic in WoW, because they invert that. Technology requires vast training and exceptional skill to use reliably. Magic is just everywhere, and pretty ever-present. From Suramar to Stormwind, Everlook to Eversong, Dalaran to Darkshore, we see magic in some flavor being used all the time. Whether arcane or nature, elemental or fel, void or light, magic is everywhere and does all the things.
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The reality of things is that :
In war1,2 and 3 you did not have much “jokes” and easter eggs IN THE MAIN CAMPAING and quests, these were hidden like the arthas playing guitar in the bakcground during credits.
What happenned in wow was that, when Vanilla came out, they needed to make a tons of quests, and to fill up all of these quests they often made funny, jokes, easter eggs things, problem is, unlike in war1,2,3 while the funny stuff had no impact on the lore, quests in wow have impact on the lore.
What is problem is also that, nowadays, people that play and dev the games see Vanilla as a kind of “best thing that happenned!” because of classic and all these, and instead of understanding that all the jokes and stuff like this were made by people who did not have the time to write a serious story and were in total burn out, they think it was great and so they willingly do the same…
So yeah, to make it more serious, my advice? Stop thinking that Vanilla dumpster quests were good, and take more example on war1,2 and 3. What would help is also to stop having anybody work on quests, because when you see some of the quests, you clearly see that some people dont care when they made them.
You asked for gnomes, but what i say is true for everything, when it comes specifically to the gnome, the problem is, the only way they write gnome is : hey i need your help to finish my great invention the chicken-o-something-2000 that will do a funny thing!
Writing gnome seriously would require them to stop writing them always like that.
If i can give an example that would work with the gnomes from another franchise : the salarians of mass effects, they are also very speedy and 'funny" like gnomes, but they do have a serious tone to them and even did serious messed up inventions and questionnable things.
They could do that with the gnomes too.
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The biggest problem with technology is that it has limits. It can only do what physics allow. Magic has near infinite ways to be used, which is why, even in WoW, it remains the go to means to deal with problems Azerothians routinely deal with
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I wouldn’t mind seeing more enemy gnome forces, like they could be followers of Mechagon or Magnus. 
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Wow technology has no limits though. Look at titan technology for one.
Also remember, not everyone can use magic in warcraft lore. So technology with teleporters that anyone can use is great compared to the exhausting casting of portals that only a select few will use.
When bullets and nukes with energy shields are given to everyone, that is how you beat things.
Let’s take the Warhammer analogy into account. A lasgun isn’t that powerful in the universe of Warhammer. But once you give a whole army one, now you have a problem.
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Titan technology is also magi-tech. It’s not pure tech, and relies on magical energies (Azeroth, arcane, whatnot). We see plenty of examples of this throughout the game.
In other settings you’d be right; tech is, in the end, superior. But Azeroth is a weird place, where tech alone does very little, and often requires a magical resource for power to be effective. And also too often, that magi-tech at most equals magic. We don’t even see tech making its way into the commoners’ hands beyond guns, which are as effective as bows and arrows, because Warcraft. I’m not even talking game mechanics; the BfA intro cinematic has dwarven riflemen doing very little, while elven archers at least pin cushion Saurfang and temporarily drop him. The most effective tech we see is a trebuchet, which one magic elf lady wrecks with a single shot.
Azeroth’s tech is not like Warhammer’s. It’s unreliable, treated as inferior to magic, and only works well when also being magical itself.
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You do know that is how most technology works, right? You use a world resource to generate power and use said power to use the tech.
The resource being magical in nature doesn’t change that.
Also for commoners, no a bow isn’t just as good as a gun, hence farmers use mostly guns. Now once you add magic to those arrows, which majority of the people do not do, it becomes something more powerful.
But there is a reason why the goblins, with tech only, overthrew their troll oppressors.
[quote=“Alynsa-wyrmrest-accord, post:15, topic:2047230”]
The most effective tech we see is a trebuchet, which one magic elf lady wrecks with a single shot.
[/quote]
What, no it is not. We literally see better technology throughout the game doing massive damage. Mekatorque alone in his power armor does more damage to demons that than Trebuchet, which was destroyed by an empowered Jailer Sylvanas.
Everything is magical in warcraft, even the technology. Hence why you literally had submarines and helicopters since Warcraft 2.
There is a reason people want a tinker class, because tinkers in Warcraft 3 where hero units that did real damage with just technology. We see goblins wrecking thigns with just technology, we see gnomes doing the same thing.
Mimron and titan technology also is technology. Everything is magical in warcraft, even the technology.
Now why the humans never go further? Because of game aesthetics. Same reason why people don’t like the Tao in Warhammer, because they are all more tech based at range and it is unfair in the game since they deal way too much damage at range, which your melee units will just get wrecked with.
Gundams in Warhammer with just guns is overkill to things that come up to you and try to smash you in the face.
technology being used to replicate magic would be an interesting way of doing it if there were races in azeroth that were just straight up less magically inclined or unable to perform magic
I mean, that is what it literally does in wow. You got energy shields, teleportation devices, wormhole generators.
You got guns shooting lightning. You have Tesla beams, just a big electric beam.
Flame throwers instead of fire spells. Technology that heals you. I mean, lore wise, gnomes and goblins priest combine their technology with some light magic.
Anti-grav is legit technology in the game as well. If they wanted to make a flying city, the gnomes and goblins can. They both like being underground though.
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I’d do such with titanforged lore & stuff with the titans honestly.
Ultimately?
Give them a villain arch, of siding with the titans in ‘The Last Titan’
- And I’m not talking about killer robots with no personalities who simply want to ‘upgrade’ living creatures to robots like the Cybermen from Dr.Who either.
It’d be cool to see the titanforged mechagnomes variants with personalities & free will, along with flesh gnomes and BFA mechagnomes side with the titans and do some horror-like inventions along with some alchemic inventions too.
Perhaps have ALL the gnomes, both mechagnome (titanforged + BFA version) and the flesh kind alike, be eligible for an ascension gift bestowed by the titans — Where akin to how an ant can carry 10x its weight, so too can these gnomes, making their warriors, death knights and other melee based forces tremendously powerful.
Have the mechanical-minded gnomes and the magic users of gnomes combine their strengths to create magical titan-tech inventions, with mechanical wonders that are death machines, like corn-harvesters but instead of corn, it’s their enemies.
In short?
Make people fear gnomes in the sense that they’re not to be underestimated.
That when they so much as SEE a gnome, they come to grasp that titan-tech murder-machines may not be too far — or that the gnome they see themselves may be one of the ascended beings that hold horrifying, monstrous strength that could crush skulls in their barehands and bend steel with ease.
Put a mere few of these super strong elite gnomes to ride on titan-tech mechano-hogs, that when they see a player they leap off and utterly destroy them — Make them akin to the Fel Reaver players encountered in early Burning Crusade:
- Horror
- Fear
- and nerve-wracking caution in their frequented areas
Make the mere sight of gnomes have players twitch with a dreaded sense of: “Are they ordinary gnomes … or are they … THEM!?”
enough with the chat gpt prompts!