Tells me Ion still doesn’t know what the players want. No heritage armor still, wouldn’t have gotten new customization without outrage, and now no new allied races for 2 expansions.
I would’ve taken more allied races rather than Dracthyr with their design, to be quite honest.
As much as I love the Dracthyr and the entire concept behind playing a dragon… if I had to choose, I would choose to use the Allied Race system to make playable those races that are already technically allied.
You are saying exclusivity is the point though. Why not let any Dwarf use the Dark Iron Totems, heritage set, or Paladin mount? I understand that they are thematically Dark Iron by nature, but who says an Ironforge couldn’t become a champion of the Dark Iron people (Moira literally did)?
As it currently stands, the only legimiate reason you’ve brought up for why recolor AR’s (such as Dark Irons, Mag’har, Lightforged, and Highmountain) should exist is just so the game can discriminate between them and their core variants and deprive said core variants of certain customizations. I guess we just have to agree to disagree about whether that’s a positive thing or not.
My questions for you then would be: do you think giving default Dwarves wildhammer customizations was a mistake? If wildhammers were added to the game as an AR, would you request that those customizations would then be removed from regular Dwarves? Are you opposed to Blizzard adding more customization options within this vein in the future (i.e. corrupted blackrock and dragonmaw orc skins given to regular orcs, proper sand troll skin colors given to trolls, Grimtotem skins given to default Tauren, etc.). Because, to me, this is the easiest and quickest way for Blizz to pump out more identities; I don’t really care about having a Grimtotem heritage set so long as I can play as someone who looks like a Grimtotem.
You realize this has only been confirmed for LAUNCH, right?
If the only cultural distinction they have is represented cosmetically and not though thinfgs like racials then by all means, they should just be additional customizations to the base race.
Unless it’s a situation like the Nightfallen being Horde Aligned instead of Alliance Aligned.
As for the topic at hand-Allied Races are hit and miss. Some feel like the regular races with a few extra bits and bobs tacked on, where as some like the Kul-Tirans and the Vulpera actually feel distinct enough to be whole new races
Except SL didn’t have a lot.
disappointing
For specific cases.
Should that Dark Iron Dwarf have access to the existing Bronzebeard bun hairstyle? Sure. Why not? Exclusivity is meaningless here. Should the Wildhammer Dwarf have access to that same hairstyle? Perhaps not! Wildhammers are, well, wild! Ornately bounding their hair may not make sense, culturally.
Share where sharing makes sense. Restrict where restrictions make sense.
Absolutely, if a full Allied Race implementation is the alternative.
Absolutely, if a full Allied Race implementation is the alternative.
Furthermore, I’m not sure that all the examples you listed are equitable. The cultures of some are very much aligned with the “core” fantasy, whereas others have extremely divergent traits.
Not just to you, but I do think it is the quickest and easiest way to do it. But like anything in life, the quickest and easiest way is rarely the best way to do something.
so are the horde getting a new race but alliance is not?
What?
Both are getting Dracthyr.
No Allied Races are currently planned for either.
I think Heritage armor set is dead. We didn’t get any in SL and doesn’t look like it won’t be in DF.
so one neutral race. are the horde getting one for them only also??
I think they’re saying that Shadowlands was oversaturated with things that didn’t work. Rather than letting the content speak for itself, Blizzard drowned all of it in systems nobody cared to engage with.
Considering the leaks that came prior to the reveal have been consistent with what’s been confirmed so far, we can assume that Dragonflight will be somewhat of a Cataclysm-type expansion where they repurpose areas for new content. This was one of the leaks that came out. This would be a good thing since so much of WoW’s old world is nothing but dead zones.
I guess the problem here is that I just don’t like restrictions. I feel like your argument is very similar to that of people who argue that not every race should be able to be every class. I like it the most when race/class combos have lore explanations, but at the same time I really do think part of fantasy is being able to make a character and have them engage with the world on their own terms. If that means RP’ing that your Tauren from Thunderbluff became interested in magic during Wotlk at Dalaran and started to study becoming a mage, so be it. I myself made a orc mage the other day and had a lot of fun with it, even though I think the orc/mage pairing was one of the few new ones not given a new lore explanation in Cata when it was introduced. If class options were more restrictive by what makes sense in the lore, my character wouldn’t exist. I understand that some people don’t want to see “stupid” combinations running around, but I feel that most players tend to self-regulate in this game. It’s not too often you see orc mages, mostly because they have so little rep in the game you might not know they exist to begin with. The one exception to people playing these sorts of obscure combos will be with Tauren rogues explicitly for the joke.
I really dislike separating the Dwarven clans and giving them forced, built-in characteristics that wards off the potential for individual characterization. If you want to make something as wild as a Dark Iron who fled Ragnaros’ control and went to live among the Wildhammer clan, go right on ahead! After all, historically, the three clans have intermingled quite a bit anyways. Having Dwarves become shaman in Cata without the Wildhammer customizations borderline implies that the Ironforge were eager to learn something new from their Wildhammer cousins upon rejoining them at Ironforge. I don’t know why we’re suddenly acting as though the three clans have always been irreconcilably different.
The biggest problem here is that we both know Blizzard will never pursue this system as far as you and many others want it. It’s not easy creating what is essentially an entirely new race with new racials and completely new aesthetics for every possible identity. If people insist that the only way to add new identities is via the AR system, Blizzard simply will become less likely to give us new identities. I feel as though some of the new identity-based customization options in Shadowlands were the olive branch they were trying to extend to us. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a great olive branch (the singular sand troll customization stands out as particularly lazy), but I feel as though in rejecting it, you’re rejecting the main way in which new identities are delivered in the future.
I personally want to see the bulky option that forest trolls have added to the Darkspear in the future. I don’t care about a heritage set or any other fancy things–I think the various troll tribes (minus I guess the Zandalari) are similar enough to have many of the same aesthetics. I think this will be the easiest way for them to add the guys and make them varied and I think the AR system would put them in a bad spot (in the same way I think it hurt the Mag’har).
While neat, allied races are just a customization option. And I am not sure what you mean by small? The zones look vast, and full of interesting stuff to do. Dragon Riding looks like an amazing way to traverse the new zones and explore. All specs are getting talent trees (Some currently better than others) that allow them to spec around how they want to play. M+ is going to be more of a evergreen system than it is. Each season will have new loot tables and rotating dungeons to keep things fresh. The first raid looks like a solid 8 boss raid. And a new class that is race locked to the new race.
To me the expansion seems like it is bringing a lot to the table. And not like SL which was nothing but side dishes with a burnt main course. Not to mention the zones in Dragonflight are some of the largest zones ever made in WoW.
So, I would be happy to hear the counterpoints from you. Who knows they could let some copium out of my copium blimp before it ruptures.
That isn’t going to stop the daily threads on those topics
Good we have enough allied races now.
Why are additions to the game viewed as a bad thing?
Good question. When are more customization options a bad thing?
In a single-player game or tabletop RPG, I’m right there with you. In an MMO setting, though? When everyone is that special exception to the rule… the rule may as well not exist. And when the rules do not exist, world-building falls apart.
I am absolutely part of the crowd that believes rolling out all classes to all races is the wrong call. It should more a bit more flexible than it is, but it shouldn’t outright violate the rules of the world.
Highmountain Warlocks? Yeah, there’s a precedent there with the Feltotem.
Lightforged Demon Hunters? Nope - that’s antithetical to their nature.
Human Shamans? I don’t see why not.
Void Elf Paladins? That’s a nope - it violates their very biology.
Draenei Rogues? They’ve always made sense - add them in!
Mechagnome Druids? Again, a contradiction of the class’s core theme.
In short, if you can give a strong lore-based answer to the question, “Why not?” it should not be made available.
Absolutely agreed. But they’re also reluctant to do half-measures. I respect that about them as a developer, as much as I have been critical.