If the concept of Allied Races existed when Cataclysm was current, Dragonmaw Orcs and Wildhammer Dwarves would have been no-brainers for playable additions. Alas, they’re victims of chronology, I suppose.
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I honestly feel like cataclysm was ahead of it’s time. It was almost to ambitious to be honest.
But yah, development and cronology. They just had not thought up the idea of allied races yet by this point in time.
Interestingly though, ogres were initially going to be the new playable race for a while, but then changed to goblins.
I honestly wish we had gotten a new playable race in warlords. I would be rocking an ogre.
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Cataclysm was refreshing because it shook up a game that was already becoming formulaic. Legion did much the same. Regardless of how much you actually liked either of them, you do need to respect the risk and ambition that both of those releases had.
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I honestly remember being so hyped for cataclysm, and legion. Chris metzen has such contagious enthusiasm for the projects he was working on, the content he was creating.
Cataclysm was awesome if you ask me. There were things i did not like to, but every expansion post wrath of the lich king, seems to get a lot of hate. Wrath wasn’t perfect either. But i did miss the old overworld, which was removed in cataclysm.
I honestly think every version of wow has it’s merits. But none of them are perfect either. With dragonflight coming up soon, it is nice to see them trying to bring hybridity of the talent trees of old back.
I think with shadowlands, chromie time had a missed opportunity. It would have been nice to see the old classic overworld come back as an option for chromie time leveling. But that is just me. New class in dragonflight is also legit. Just like how legion, pandaria, and wrath of the lich king added a new class. Wow still has it’s magic.
I also feel like mists of pandaria got alot of unwarranted hate. It was different, but it was still pretty legit and cool.
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If anything, cataclysm kind of proved, to me at least, how negatively receptive everyone seems to get when a game takes risks. Cataclysm was a huge risk. And just like other games, majora’s mask and wind waker, for example, made by nintendo, all become these hated games and experiences initially, only to be heralded as the greatest games of their kind later, which is so stupid to me. So much hatred being spread about anything and everything these days.
I honestly loved cataclysm. Some things were bad, but it was actually a fun ride. The reality is, world of warcraft has changed a whole heck of alot these days. At the very least, at least we have the option of playing classic wrath officially now if we aren’t as keen on retail anymore. Some like to play both, such as myself. There is alot of stuff you simply cannot experience in retail anymore.
As far as the topic at hand here goes, i would say i could potentially happen, if say, we needed help on a future threat, and so we recruited the dragonmaw orcs and wildhammer dwarves to defeat the new threat. As well as others. We haven’t been to the other side of azeroth yet, and i feel there is something insidious and dangerous back there. But allied races were a cool feature in BFA, they were just a pain to unlock.
I think this was the biggest flaw with BFA was that we were going at war with the alliance again. Like why not use the excuse that we hired all these races to battle this new threat to azeroth or something like that. I mean, keep us fighting the alliance and horde, that is always going to be a thing. But why was it the focus of the entire expansion.
It also ended up being content no one saw, in regards to unlocking the allied races. They were a pain to unlock at the time. Like a huge pain. And like with original naxxramas or sunwell in classic wow or burning crusade when they were relevant in 2005 and so forth. No one really saw them when they were implemented initially. So i feel like the allied races became wasted content in the beginning. We all wanted to play them, but i remember not being able to.
I do hope blizzard explores allied races again, but they need to be done right. Just like how i feel a classic wow version for cataclysm could be an amazing second shot, i don’t feel like it honestly failed. Just had alot of oversights. But an expansion that pulls several new races in again for a large threat could be pretty sweet.
Cataclysm was probably peak WarCraft for me. Was the game at its peak? Not quite. But it was the rare occasion where the planets aligned and all my WoW friends were able to play and raid together for a couple tiers. That was priceless. But again, it would be very interesting to see how a modern Cataclysm would play out.
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This, I don’t have too much of an issue with. I like the reputation gates. The quest requirements. It gives players a goal outside of chasing bigger numbers, and allows Blizzard to explore concepts that might not make sense if you’re able to choose the Allied Races as you would a core race.
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Still would really like to see both the Wildhammer and Dragonmaw as ARs.
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Wowhead posted an article about a Dragonmaw Clan member that appears in Dragonflight:
Not sure if there are any other Dragonmaw members in the expansion so far. If I see anything of interest, I’ll be sure to help report it here.
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Whoa, that’s really good and quite moving just reading the synopsis. I’m sure it will be even more impactful when I get to experience it in game. I love these sorts of things in games. Show the effects the horrors so many face, and do, along with the repercussions and recovery.
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This is absolutely fantastic stuff! I do have to say that I’m surprised that they added even a small nod to the Dragonmaw, but this is far and away much better than I could have hoped for (outside of getting them playable, of course)! This actually capitalizes on the dramatic potential that the Dragonmaw Clan obviously possesses in an expansion like this.
Bravo, Blizzard!
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I am so excited to see whats up with that I refuse to look at the spoilers for it. That one I’m going to experience in game.
Let’s not forget the original allied races, either; the Taunka (we even made them swear an oath to the Horde) and the Earthen Frostborn.
They were both introduced in Northrend.
Frostborn. They were the ones that joined the Alliance during Wrath not the earthen. (Though they do appear eartheny. Blizzard has actually kinda said they were and weren’t though.)
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Fixed it. Thank you!
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If only the Allied Race system existed from the outset… every expansion has a couple notable potentials.
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I think Dragonmaw lends itself better to customization for Orcs/Mag’har.
However, I think the fel Orcs and Mok’nathal are good candidates for the Allied Races.
I don’t really have much to add to this thread.
I DO want to clarify that I understand OP, I’m sure too many people in this thread have said “with the current customization you can pretty much get Wildhammer Dwarves & Dragonmaw Orcs etc etc.” But that is not the same.
It is not as fulfilling nor satisfying to just look like the character you want to play than actually BE the character you want to play.
To put it in perspective, the allied races, if Zandalari appearances were just an option to Troll appearances, or Lightforged Draenei or Highmountain Tauren were just Tauren customization options, it wouldn’t be as good right? No in game capital that has received some attention, no racials to stand apart from the rest of your species and so on.
With the customization updates I’m pretty sure a lot of the desired full fledge races are dead in the water which is a shame. I support your dreams OP but I fear they will never be realized.
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Likewise. Although, as noted a few posts up, we do know that Blizzard has Dragonmaw on the mind. It would be foolish to take something like this as a “confirmation,” but it’s a lot more than most other suggestions have going for them. Most races, Blizzard leaves in the past once the next relevant patch hits. Dragonmaw, though? I think that SL was the only expansion without a passing reference.
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Typically in Blizzard speak that would mean something related to the Dragonmaw will pop up. It is Dragonflight so that makes sense, with the new Chromie scenarios coming up maybe that means some Grim Batol action. Or since there are just Dragons & they used the Demon Soul/Chain to subdue Alexstraza perhaps some lore/interaction there.
It’s not normally what you would hope for, but the Dragonmaw are cool so it will still be nice.
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