What’s something that you would’ve liked to see become a cosmetic rather than a race?
For instance –
Void Elves
I myself rather use to enjoy the prospect of roleplaying my priest as one who had harbored two Naaru essences — One of void and one of light — To which I would harness depending on my spec. 
I enjoyed it in the sense having been inspired from Alleria’s story in Legion, as she had taken the essence of the void-Naaru L’ura — and liked roleplaying the same or similar sense, ultimately wanting void-visuals to be given to Blood Elves one day …
So the whole lore ordeal of void elves & them being on the opposing faction, felt like a hard smack in the face to that ordeal – Especially since they went as far to state in the story that any who would so much as treat with the void are to be immediately exiled from the Blood Elves … Guess Blood Elf shadow-priests are no longer canon since the introduction of Void Elves & their lore, eh? 
{Sad Belf priest noises}
Lightforged Draenei
Honestly I gotta say I feel like Lightforged Draenei gives a similar dilemma to Draenei as Void Elves did to Blood Elves, but at least with the Lightforged Draenei they’re still on the same faction and didn’t retcon a spec or cosmic-aesthetic from the original Draenei race — Albeit ultimately, I still feel like LFD should had been cosmetic — And the Eredar (Man’ari) should had been a new race instead 
Anyway!
I thought this could be an interesting topic for people to talk about & allow the playerbase to get some of these kind of gripes off their chest, etc — So by all means, have at it:
What race would you have liked to see become a cosmetic, rather than a new race? 
…
2 Likes
None, I like that the Allied Races can have their own story, rather than just being a few drop downs in a customization menu.
6 Likes
Earthen. Most boring and pointless race ever.
7 Likes
Every allied race except Kul Tiran (if they gave us a skinny option), Void Elf (Because I want my ally second elf), Vulpera, Dark Iron (they are their own thing in game and lore), and Nightborne.
The rest are literally just cosmetic choices made into races. I may make an exception for the Zandalar Trolls as they hail different ancestry (I believe? Please correct me if I’m wrong).
Edit: I am also not including Dracthyr or Earthen as I view them as a neutral separate race like Pandaren.
Surprised no one mentioned Mechagnomes → Gnomes honestly, lol
When they first arrived I saw that heaps of people ranting about such 
Given the damage to lore they did to the Blood Elves, they should had just bit the bullet and made Blood Elves neutral to compensate & given the ‘Void Elf’ a cosmetic option to them.
The faction war in BFA would’ve been far more interesting on that part too, due to the schism of their people within Silvermoon. lol
I still think highmountain tauren should have been just cosmetics, apart from the horns and tattoos, there’s no real difference.
1 Like
I don’t really want a race in customization for the ones we already got but I would like these ones 
:
1 Like
Most of them frankly. Allied races are cooler when they do something new like Vulpera. The vast majority of allied races atm are just additional barber shop options which makes the whole idea kind of lame.
4 Likes
Every allied race except Vulpera.
2 Likes
I kind of agree to be honest
Zandalari you might be able to argue otherwise but eh they’re still cutting it close, lol
1 Like
Lightforged Draenei were a complete waste of resources.
I liked their concept, but yeah they should’ve been a cosmetic, same as Void Elves 
Especially since it rather takes light / void empowerment & ascension roleplay prospects away from Draenei + Blood Elf players.
… And rather odd that Lightforged Draenei are a different race but Eredar are not 
Yeah I kind of agree because Zandalari culturally are so different from Darkspear. Maybe Dark Iron would fit into that category as well.
That isn’t really the case for LFD or Highmountain Tauren, etc. And despite how much I would like to see HE’s on Alliance side I also don’t like they used it as an excuse to start swapping models to the different factions. Partly because aside from VE’s the swaps only go one direction.
Basically every allied race other than the elves who are actually bring a unique asthetic across faction lines.
Dishonorable mention to Lightforged for being about as low effort as possible. With the addition of yellow eyes and bleached white skin in DF a normal draenei can pull off a look very very close to a Lightforged.
Normal draenei have so much going on. They can basically dip into any eredar fantasy except Broken.
Zando Trolls are a completely different model than darkspear. VElfs should get tossed back into the void imo
Man’ari being an allied race makes way more sense (Even though I am against) I’m cool with void elves as they have different racials anyway.
I’m not saying it was done well, I’m just saying that I want to keep my second ally elf.
Mechagnomes are an abomination that shouldn’t exist as an allied race. They should 100% have been a cosmetic thing.
Fun fact: My friend (who doesn’t play anymore) is HIGHLY racist to mechagnomes, he despises them.
On paper that sounds great… in reality it literally is a copy paste and there’s no real unique model to either and it is just lackluster.
1 Like
I’d probably argue Nightborne too, honestly – Given they’re so drastically different from Night Elves in their culture, aesthetic and manners. lol
The ones I’d rank that could’ve been cosmetic rather than race would be:
- Mag’har Orc → Orc Customisation
- Void Elf → Blood Elf Customisation
- Lightforged → Draenei Customisation
- Mechagnome → Gnome Customisation
- HMT → Tauren
But I understand there’s those that would have it otherwise, and that’s fair … I guess 
lol
1 Like
