We know there are Dracthyr that don’t make the cut. Again, what does the Dracthyr do if an enemy gets next to them? Just flop over and die? Assume there are ONLY Dracthyr, by the way.
If the answer isn’t pick up a sword and start swinging, then they are functionally brain-dead and borderline suicidal.
They may be someone that bought into the whole 'dragon powers ain’t all they’re cracked up to be mindset. After all, we mortals have a 100% win rate against dragons.
Sounds good to me, maybe we’ll see them as an allied race as honestly they’re what I thought we were getting when I first imagined a playable dragon race. I mean okay the dracthyr are alright but I’m still sick of the visage form only being male elf or female human and I could see Draconids being implemented for those wanting to play a dragon of another class since I’ve got a feeling after Dracthyr being only evokers it’d be hard for people to see them as anything else
The problem with this is that Dracthyr racials are unique enough that they would be fundamentally better to play as for all classes. Having access to a glide is a strong mobility tool because it’s innate and not on a cool down.
Plus, y’know, two types of knockbacks.
Evoker needs more specs to cover the rest of the roles (tank melee)
Then tone the racials down. Instead of a full-throated glide, give them a 'flying wild deal, or even just a double jump. Make Soar an Evoker ability for races that get access to the class.
Accepting one-class races sets a terrible precedent.
that or better yet make it so the ones who can fly around are evokers and all other classes are done in drakonid style, no soar but you still get to be a dragon just with toned down racials and the tail attack knockback but you loose the wing gust. That and the females actually get boobs and don’t look identical to the men outside of visage form. Then for those that want it let female drakthyr be allowed to take male visage forms and male drakthyr allowed to take female visage forms if they so desire
I’d rather have Dracthyr get lumped in with a ‘Dragonkin’ race choice so that we could get Drakonids for the rest of the player classes. Besides you can’t really tone the racials down without entirely neutering or just reworking them overall.
If Dracthyr didn’t happen and we got Drakonoid instead, I wouldn’t be on the warpath like this. Unfortunately, they decided to try and be lazy and do the absolute minimum amount of work for a new race.
This is an example of Blizzard just completely shooting themselves in the foot. Had they just done Drakonoids instead, then Evoker could have been an interesting class to introduce across the races while also being easily fit for other classes as well. Now we have to either accept a one-class race (which is blisteringly stupid) or retrofit the race to be compatible with other classes.
Ah yes, self-loathing. What a strong foundation upon which to build a power fantasy video game character…
This would be akin to an Orc refusing to use his arms. The physiology of the race is baked into the class. There is no true distinction between “racial ability” and “class ability.” They are one and the same. A Dracthyr that refuses to act like a dragon is analogous to someone from another race volunteering to become paraplegic for no discernable reason. It’s never going to make sense.
Have you PLAYED a Death Knight my guy? By and large, they HATE what they’ve become and only in recent expansions has it been lightened up at all. DHs and DKs are literally the ‘crawling in my skin’ class.
This is a keen example of why you don’t make racials that paint a particular race into a corner design-wise. Your argument is ‘the racials are too strong and they’d be the best pick for any class they get outside of Evoker’. The solution is ‘tweak the racials or even outright replace them to bring them in line with the other races’. Unless that solution is done, Dracthyr never get another class, making the entire race one-note and one-dimensional. Got two Dracthyr? Congats, you’ve played the entirety of the race’s potential. Guess the 1 Dracthyr-per-realm rule makes sense in that regard; you won’t need more than one!
There are Orcs that refuse to rage, or Pandaren that refuse to get drunk. There can be Dracthyr that decide ‘playing dragon’ would only get them killed. To say otherwise is to infer that they are utterly unable to adapt to a world that will change.
What about the two body types being the larger draenei brute and then do a smaller bipedal caster maybe based off the male worgen/tarasek look but adjust the idle animations so it’d not always hunched over, and do the same for Worgen while they’re at it.
Could even put in the work at the same time for playable Saurok.
Sure, bulk up the Dracthyr body and offer those as BT3/4. A wide number of body type options should be added for every race in the game, now that we’ve got ahead and pushed for the BT system in general.
Fair enough. But Death Knights don’t express that hatred by refusing to use any Death Knight powers. Asking Dracthyr not to use their inherent draconic abilities is essentially playing as an auto-attacking Death Knight that refuses to use any of their ill-gained power following your logic.
Again, Evokers are a focus on draconic ability, but nothing about Dracthyr suggest they’re incapable of learning Warrior, Priest, etc. Just as Pandaren can be more than Monks, or Orcs more than Warriors, or Humans more than Paladins.
Once more, if the issue is the racial abilities, then scale back or redesign the racial abilities to bring Dracthyr more in-line with other characters. Otherwise, you’ll never need more than two Dracthyr ever, and that’s a massive problem.
As the race was designed from the outset to have access to a singular class, and its entire concept is integrally expressed by that class, I have no problem with this decision at all. Dracthyr only exist in the first place to make the draconic Evoker fantasy playable.
If they went an alternate route and just made a pre-existing draconic humanoid playable with access to a wide array of classes… again, that brings us back to Drakonid.
Why do you want to contort Dracthyr into a fantasy that they weren’t conceptually designed for? A fantasy that is already realized by the Drakonid?
For two major reasons, and a host of smaller ones.
Major the first: An entire race being locked to one class makes no sense. Evokers, while strong, are not the strongest in Azeroth. Dracthyr would notice that other mortals practice disciplines that cover gaps in their own armies. Any reasonable race would look at this and decide to copy or train in those disciplines, to cover the flaws of their own approach rather than continue to bet their entire future on a singular style which has already been shown to have cracks and be imperfect. Humans are not all Paladins. Orcs are not all Warriors. Draenei are not all Priests. These are the ‘best of the best’ of these races, exemplifying their outlook and potential, yet still other disciplines get practiced. Why? Because there are dangers Paladins cannot see that Rogues can, or threats Warriors struggle with that Mages do not, or tests of faith that tax Priests but do not trouble Shaman. Hedging your entire future on a single approach is a recipe for disaster, which is why every other race developed a variety of solutions to the problem of combat and utilize all of them when the time arises.
Major the second: Mechanically, the Dracthyr are pathetically boring. One whole class that, once explored terminates any interest in the race? That’s not how you develop longevity in a particular race. Plus, again, it puts all of the race’s eggs into a singular basket. If Evokers become bad due to balance adjustments or there’s content developed that they either can’t compete in or are ill-suited for, then players that enjoy Dracthyr as a whole suffer because they can’t create a new character to expolore and interact with that content; the Dracthyr can only be Evokers, and Evokers can only be Dracthyr. Expanding their options means the Dracthyr become better insulated against the rigors of the future, as does the Evoker class by being spread to other races.
Plus, I don’t want to set a precedent of singular-class races as being acceptable, because it just doesn’t make sense.
Let’s take account of your end goal, as I understand it. You want a playable draconic humanoid with the following:
No inherently dragon-themed racials (like flying or fire-breathing)
Access to a wide variety of classes
A physique that lends itself to physical classes
The word “Dracthyr” applied to them.
I think 1-3 are completely in the realm of possibility. You are functionally asking for playable Drakonids. But you’re so hung up on that fourth point that you’re willing to overlook an option that will give you everything else you could ask for.
Take a note from the High Elf crew - if you can functionally get everything you’re asking for, sacrificing the “ideal” racial mouseover note is well worth it.
