Let's escape from this nonsense topics - Let's talk about Allied Races!

Community General Discussion
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I saw the interview with Metzen, and I noticed that they are way ahead of their time in terms of story and planning.

Like, he already mentioned 17.0. That’s incredible, and one of the things that frustrates me the most when I think about it is the fact that it will take many, many years to see the world grow, change, and for new stories and ideas to come…

Apparently, the team has grown and/or now has teams focused on many tasks to bring patches, content, and stories sooner.

He said that when he returned to Blizzard, they had already developed 10 months of TWW, meaning they were really far ahead in the development of everything, and that’s wonderful…

…However, Blizzard, here’s my…‘frustration’ about this.

Even though the pace is more fast now, and the development and progress have accelerated significantly, Metzen himself acknowledged this (he said this in the interview), and of course, it’s a very good thing… but there are so many things that just don’t “move forward” right?

Things like Allied Races, player housing, garrison updates, character panel HUD, guilds, group finder…

Well, about the Allied Races… We have so much potential to bring new things… and even with the WoW team being focused on delivering more content in less time, will that content be just story + transmogs?

Don’t get me wrong, that’s great, but we definitely need new and different races, not just alternative versions of existing ones.

Looking at it, there are at least a few races that are basically ‘there,’ ready to be used—Gnolls, Sethraks, Mok’Nathal, Vry’kul, Tuskarr… these races are humanoid and fit the concept Blizzard is aiming for, although I don’t agree with sticking solely to that.

The Dracthyr showed that lacking one or two transmog slots wouldn’t be a big deal for everyone… So… Nagas? Centaurs???

I believe Blizzard can pull this off. I even came up with a premise, an amateur story with some missing details, but one that could easily justify why there would be new heroes in the ranks of the factions:

Additionally, it would be cool to have more customization options for current races, like height, body posture, etc… even if it’s just a few presets, things need to evolve…

another topic talking about some aspect about this :

In any case, what makes me somewhat thoughtful is that Blizzard seems to be SO ahead in story planning, yet we end up with a strange impression in other areas… and honestly?

While it’s very good to have new stories, locations, maps… we create characters because we like the races that WoW have… we enjoy changing equipment, exploring the world with the race we chose… that needs to evolve too, and to levels never seen before.

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You will take your lazy af third dwarf recolor and like it.
If we’re really generous, you might even get a fourth Night Elf reskin, where we give them more weight and stick on some Quilboar features (Harrornir).
You’re welcome. -Blizzard.

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I think that’s specifically one of the things they talked about with Dragonflight is that moving forward, they want to produce more “evergreen” content (that is, features that aren’t immediately redundant after an expansion ends).

I personally have mixed views on Allied Races. Namely because they themselves are horribly inconsistent. “Mechagnomes” are virtually and culturally identical to regular Gnomes, while “Vulpera” are quite literally a brand new race. These two things are not really comparable.

I think they need to take ALL of the Allied Races back to the drawing board, figure out which ones to keep as separate options, and which should really just be rolled into the core races as new cosmetic options (Lightforged Draenei and Highmountain Tauren come to mind).

In my opinion, “Allied Races” should be used to explore cultures that are SIGNIFICANTLY different from their core race counterparts – and include completely different race-class combinations.

For example, Lightforged Draenei are literally just “normal Draenei who worship the Light”. Which… normal Draenei already worship the Light. While I dig the cosmetics of the Lightforged, they don’t bring anything new to the table. Thus, they should be removed, and those cosmetic options unlocked for the regular Draenei to use as they please.

Conversely, the “Man’ari Eredar” actually DO feel like a totally distinct culture. I would LOVE to see them presented as an “Allied Race”, because they could sport totally new voice lines, and where the Draenei are very peaceful and loving, the Eredar could be a bit more sinister. They also make EXCELLENT candidates for Warlocks and Rogues, classes that don’t really align with who the Draenei are as a culture.

Or the Tauren, I would add the Grimtotem Tribe (Clan?) as an “Allied Race”, perhaps their antlers having more broken or “spooky” options.

That way, “Allied Races” provide something genuinely meaningful to the game. They can be used to introduce new class combos, and also showcase noticeably different cultures among races.

Also, in regards to the earlier “Mechagnome vs. Vulpera” comparison; merge Mechagnome options into regular Gnomes. As the new Alliance counterpart to Vulpera, add “Gnolls” who got a massive facelift in Dragonflight, using the Worgen model as a basis. I would maybe have them a bit chunkier (and also much, much shorter), but I think they would be a lot of fun to play around with, and also make a much more comparable counterpart to what the Vulpera are.

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I completely agree that races of the same type should just be skins, and entirely different races, never before seen, should be the true allied races.

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I would respectfully disagree. I think the Draenei and the (Man’ari) Eredar are a perfect example of what I would say is a good “Allied Race” concept. They are physically similar, but culturally the difference is night and day. I don’t believe in this idea that “every race needs to be every class”, but Allied Races would serve as a perfect way to find a middle-ground on that.

Dark Iron Dwarves, I’m a little on the fence. I actually do think the Dark Irons are pretty cool, but they’re culturally preeeetty similar. But there’s also enough difference, you could maybe heighten those distinctions somehow. Like maybe the Dwarves of Ironforge can be presented in a more “serious” light, being deeply concerned with preserving their heritage and the history of the world, whereas Dark Irons are a bit more self-serving and aggressive, even war-mongering towards other races.

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My obligatory “Give us Fel Elves” comment I always post in ally race thread.

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If I wasn’t still waiting on ogres I’d be content in never getting a new race ever again. The roster has gotten too bloated. Honestly they could have stopped at 13 forever and I’d have been perfectly happy.