I think presenting Dracthyr more like Druid-forms or as ACTUAL dragons would solve a lot of issues

Community General Discussion
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Right now, there are just a load of questions surrounding WHY the Dracthyr seems to have so many restrictions attached to them. Questions like:

  • Why can ONLY Dracthyr be Evokers?

  • Why can ONLY Evokers be Dracthyr?

  • Why can’t they wear armor, if they look just as “human” as Worgen or Tauren?

  • Why do they have to switch to Visage form when using mounts?

By fully embracing the “DRAGON” aspect, I think it solves literally every single one of those questions, with one simple answer:

  • “Because they’re dragons.”

Now, obviously they would have to be scaled to a REASONABLE size, so that a raid full of Dracthyr aren’t clogging up the whole screen. At least, no more than a raid full of Druids in their various forms.

And honestly, it solves what I fear will BECOME one of their greatest weaknesses over time, which is the simple fact that getting new Class Armor/Tier Sets is a MAJOR part of the game, and generates a TON of hype.

Well, if the Dracthyr are fully committed to being DRAGONS in their dragon form, then there’s really no justification needed. Of course, it would be great if they could still unlock the occasional new Cosmetic/Appearance option, like "when you complete Raid Set 1 for them, they get a new Scale color, Raid Set 2 gets new horns, and Raid Set 3 gets a new visual effect, so over the course of an expansion they still get new “new stuff”, but that’s neither here nor there.

Now, there’s the obvious question:

“What about all the work they’ve already done?”

Well, you’ve really got two options, in my perspective.

  1. Much like Orcs can now choose whether or not to be “hunched”, maybe Dracthyr get an option whether to stand upright, or on all fours.

Or…

  1. Make the hard call, and if scrapping what’s already there to start over is better for the game in the long run, then do so.

I don’t have much faith Blizzard would do the second, but I WOULD point out that Blizzard surprised a whole lot of people when Diablo III’s Reaper of Souls expansion launched, and they removed the Auction House. To this day, that’s one of the most bold decisions I’ve ever seen a developer make, but it was clearly the right call. And I think it would be better to have wasted some resources but ultimately have a race/class that’s going to feel really cool, than launch something that might not have legs long-term over a sunken cost fallacy.

This is, of course, all just my opinion. But I really do think, if the Dracthyr are presented as ACTUAL DRAGONS (albeit clearly smaller), I think it’s going to squash a lot of concerns and very obvious questions people have about them, and all the restrictions they seem to have that no other race does.

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Also, for the record, I don’t hate the idea of them being “humanoid” or anything like that. Rather, I just think leaning into the DRAGON aesthetic just sounds a lot more exciting, because as long as I’ve played RPG’s, I can’t personally recall a game that actually let you PLAY AS a real dragon. And even if they’re smaller than NPC’s, looking closer to a real dragon would still be incredibly cool.

That said, if they’re going to maintain the “scaley human” look, then they really don’t have a leg to stand on when it comes to wearing armor. As many have pointed out, if Worgen and Tauren can wear armor, then there’s no reason the models they showed couldn’t wear armor.

But if they’re truly dragon-looking, though, EVEN IF they stand upright on their hind legs when running about (would be cool as an option, though), I think it would just be far more understandable that they don’t wear armor.

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Dragons eat mounts…

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Honestly, if people don’t want to play a dragon then don’t… I don’t understand the mountain of normy normans that want to play a human in a fantasy game.

“Yeah I’m a dragon and all and my dragon form offers me claws, magical breath attacks and FLIGHT but nah… I’ll fight my enemies in my squishy useless human form where I am much more likely to be killed”

WAT???

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Because they were an experiment created by Neltharion over 10,000 years ago and then the Sundering happened and the Isles were closed down. Dracthyr didn’t meet anyone in that short amount of time and the race and class were a creation of Nel’s.

You can’t teach someone to be an Evoker, when it’s literally an amalgamation of the Aspect’s magic combined with the essence of mortals into a combo experiment.

They have their own armor and Blizz is too lazy to mess with clipping issues. Personally, I’m fine with that part, because unless we can hide pants, I don’t want my experiment in the craptastic mail we have.

Because Blizz is lazy.

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The problem, or rather the disconnect lies in the fact that the Dracthyr can only be a squishy ranged class, so the whole, “draconic vitality and durability” thing is kinda a moot point.

It’s hardly the first time we’ve had super-physical races with brittle bone disease classes, ie the Worgen, but here it’s not even a choice. The Dracthyr have one single class option, and it’s not one that can take a hit. So … why not allow them to run around in their human*elf skivvies? They’re tissue paper either way.

And for the record, I’m mostly in favor of opening up the class option list or giving the Evoker a physical spec (tank or melee, and yes we do have more than enough melee, but that argument became meaningless when the Demon Hunter became a class). I’d even be all for dropping the mortal form altogether if they put in the extra work to bring the draconic model up to par and loosened the transmog restrictions.

But… with the current paradigm being what it is? The Dracthyr are a physically weak race, dragon or no. Scales, no scales…? Physical presence doesn’t apply.

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I totally agree with the effort to make evoker available to other races, I think that’s a better fight to take to blizzard than “We should be dragons but not dragons”

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Okay I’m just putting it out there that a winged thing riding a different thing with wings would just be too much. I think that answers why they turn pseudo-humanoid before they ride. Also explains why DH’s don’t have perma-wings, just saying.

I like that they aren’t full human I already have this worgen with that issue. I like that you’re some weird draco-human hybrid, it’s sick, and I want more of it.

They are as humanoid as they are because they need to be mostly vertical for hitbox issues. If they were really long (ie not bipedal) it would be harder to make them work with characters not as large, which usually means something is underpowered or overpowered, never any better. Or why the druid bear is so damned fat.

So yeah I think what they’re doing makes sense from a game perspective. It’s (mostly) what makes the most sense to the game engine. I happen to be okay with it aesthetically as well, I’ve never seen this exact thing from another game but that’s not inherently a bad thing.

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I could go either way. I think the whole idea is that the Evoker is supposed to be 100% dragon dependent and built into the Dracthyr race, but… then why not call it something draconic?

“Evoker” is super generic - if a mage walked around with that as a title, no one would bat an eye. I’m 100% certain it’s been used in that context somewhere, and I can’t give you a single example because it’s so overwhelmingly normal there’s no real reason to commit it to memory.

Would calling it “Dracolyte” be too … gimmicky? Were they afraid of doubling down, overdosing on the dragon part? … I don’t get it.

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It’s cheaper.

That’s kind of it.

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It’s also so people don’t feel like they cheaped out on the dragon feature or that their new dragons aren’t unique enough. It’s like DHs, only those were more prevalent in early lore, but really they are fundamentally something other than the elf whose model they happen to share and are their own class with it’s own customizations.

Dracthyr is to me just an extension of that concept. A step further if you will, since it barely uses non-dragon models at all (where DH can look pretty much like a normal elf with glaives, if it wants).

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It’s virtually impossible. They’d have to completely scrap the class and start over.

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Well, my thinking is that, if the “class” truly is utilizing the physical attributes of “being a dragon” – which they SEEM to be, with all their Breaths, presumably some attacks using their claws or tail-swipes, and obviously some amount of flight – then why not just go ALL-IN in the idea, and make them LOOK like Dragons?

Because if they did that, I don’t think anyone would really be complaining about “why can’t I be a dual-wielding rogue” or whatever. Because if they LOOK like dragons, then they obviously carry totally different expectations, and I think a lot of folks would be fine with that.

I think the issue arises when you have what are effectively “scaley-humans”, which are what we’ve seen so far. They have bodies that should be wearing armor. They have hands that can carry weapons. There’s ALMOST NOTHING that separates them from any other race, therefore there’s almost nothing that would bar them from being other classes, or other races being an “Evoker”.

BUT…

If they’re more like ACTUAL dragons, then there are no longer direct comparisons to make. And I think it sets different expectations.

More than anything, I think it turns those restrictions from “obvious negatives” to OVERWHELMING positives, because really, who wouldn’t be excited to play as an ACTUAL FRIGGEN’ DRAGON?!? (again, just smaller than typical NPC dragons we run into)

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I’m with you here. I honestly hate the name “Dracthyr” as well, but “Evoker” seems awfully generic, as you say.

I honestly thought it would be cooler to just call the race “Dragon”, even if they’re smaller, it SEEMS accurate to what Blizzard is trying to do with them, both gameplay and lore-wise.

And really, I don’t know you necessarily NEED a “class name”, if they’re truly interlinked as they are. But perhaps something like “Adventurer” would be just as well, implying “most dragons function in political roles, like ambassidors and what have you, but YOU seem more interested in adventuring”.

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There is (was?) an MMO called Ishtaria where you could play as an actual full dragon and I have always wanted to play that in WoW’s universe…

Unfortunately the same complainers that got us “not scary enough” fem worgen resulting in “rabid chihuahua” fem worgen are trying to ruin dragons now too.

Leave the dragons out of your poo-ification campaign complainers! I would love to play a feral dragon.

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I am just gonna stat my opinion on this. The base dracthyr form needs to be able to use transmog. It is our base forms and other draconid races does indeed use armor in this game. It makes 0 sense we cannot transmog the base dracthyr form.

Also the race needs more classes, otherwise the class/race will feel like a lesser druid-like class to a point where some of us might ask “why is this a class and not another druid spec?”

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I swear man, at the very least pants should show on them, like seriously, the no pants thing I am sure will make a lot of Moonguard’s Goldshire folk happy but I just can’t take it seriously.

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This might seem petty, but not being able to transmog on dragon form is a deal breaker for me. Especially if we’re going to spend a lot of time in dragon form. IMO Drathyr already look kind of weak. They’d look better with cool looking armor.

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People were whining that the Female Worgen was too “cutesy” and “furry” the Blizzard panicked and result was the absolute abomination we were stuck with for years.

All these, “the Dracthyr aren’t SAVAGE and WARCRAFT enough!!!” complaints will see them devolve into lumpy, scaly, hunchback Orcs with weather balloon shoulders and an underbite and cow catcher chin to make Deathwing blush.

While I want to see it refined and, honestly the fact that they’re recycling skeletons for a premiere race is shameful… No. No, they absolutely should not deviate from the current design theme of the Dracthyr - that’s a history we absolutely don’t need to repeat.

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I actually like the model the dracthyr have now, I would however make it so combat form is a full out dragon and “visage” or whatever form is the two legged one you are when not fighting but that’s just me.

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