San’layn/vampyr Elf ALLIED RACE Coagulated Megathread of Ideas{Re-VAMPed} (Part 1)

[Bagzak-rexxar]

The Forsaken could act as a mediator between the San’layn and the Blood Elves in order to get them to learn the true meaning of Winter Veil and accept them.

Right now, popular opinion of the San’layn by the Blood Elves is being very dubious torwards them. Moreso with the recent Blood Prince that caused problems in the Blood Elf heritage questline that we had to beat up and blow up. So they would be generally wary of accepting them again. Of course, this is a bit hypocritical of them since they allow Darkfallen and Death Knight Blood Elves just fine and even allow Human zombies walk around their city without much of a thought. Makes me wonder what their thoughts were when some San’layn tried to join the Horde in BfA.

I don’t see why the Forsaken wouldn’t be sympathetic to the plight of the San’layn. Especially when they have Darkfallen within their ranks now. It wasn’t really their fault they became San’layn and they’re obviously not in the best situation at present. Besides, if the San’layn can take control of the vampyr curse, much like how the Worgen took some control over their curse, it would mean that they wouldn’t continue to grow in numbers and be a potential threat in the future. Plus they would make for some really awesome allies.

The San’layn that are able to gain some control over themselves again have an uphill battle in proving themselves as they fight off the vampyr curse they have. And frankly, that part of the curse should be weakening enough (Lich King’s Death, Crown of Wills, etc) for them to become more like themselves, which would play into their storyline quite well.

Finding themselves undead suddenly with a curse and possibly addiction they’re trying to fend off isn’t exactly the ideal fun vacation time. There is also the matter of several of them being followers of Kael’thas at one point, which of course they became San’layn because of him and Kael’thas would’ve likely betrayed them as he did later on anyway. Both of which can work well in their storyline.

We don’t know what is going to happen in Midnight, but there has been hints of void stuff and it has been brought up that San’layn could have some power over the void to help give an advantage. So in terms of “uniting the Elf Tribes,” Horde characters could work on getting the San’layn in control of their vampyr curse while helping the Forsaken mediate between them and Silvermoon, eventually letting those San’layn accepted back into Silvermoon and becoming full members of the Horde.

And of course Ghostlands is getting something of a revamp, at least to allow flying, so you may as well design Deatholme to be the racial hub for Horde San’layn. But as I said many times before, I don’t want to count my chickens before they’ve hatched seeing as missed opportunities tends to be a trend sadly.

Still, it’s worth bringing these ideas up in my opinion.

–Still dreaming of playable Horde San’layn as a full race!

[Xoroth-crushridge (Xoroth)]

When we get the san’layn hero spec icon we can get an idea what would be on san’layn banners or tabards.

[Bagzak-rexxar]

Icons for the Hero Specs coming out have been revealed. The icon that is in the first colum, second row looks like the San’layn Death Knight talent:

Portergauge 🏳️‍🌈

Looks like it would make for a great icon to put on a San’layn racial banner and tabard.

And no, as I said before, I don’t see the San’layn hero talent lowering playable San’layn chances in general. The Priest San’layn talent wouldn’t either, and there is more to a San’layn than the Death Knight or Priest class, which ironically, you can’t even use Darkfallen customization for Death Knights still last I checked.

Saying that some fancy text on a UI for one class on a feature that may not be evergreen would affect playable chances is just silly. I keep going until we either get San’layn as a Customization Race officially or we preferably get them as a full playable Horde race!

Also, I’ll be thinking some more on the Thal’ena scenario I’ve been talking about. Might type up some general stuff when I can, though I need to type a couple scenarios for a few other race request megathreads I promised before, so hopefully I can find the time to do all that soon.

–Still dreaming of playable Horde San’layn as a full race!

[Naughtymoon-proudmoore (Naughtymoon)]

Falls said other day she thinks first one in second row is San’layn which makes sense honestly.

@Bagzak-rexxar

–Still dreaming of playable Horde San’layn as a full race!

Also yes to this forever and ever until it becomes a reality for us.

[Bagzak-rexxar]

Wowhead had an article regarding Dracthyr being able to have regular flying, which the new name for it will be Steady Flying:

Dracthyr Able to Steady Flight Soar in The War Within - Regular Flight...

There is a restriction with it:

“The only restriction this addition has is that it ends the moment you touch the ground, so it can’t be used like Druid’s Flight Form to Herb or interact with objects.”

For San’layn, I could see this being applied to a bat form facial that we’ve discussed before.

I imagine there being a cast time to turn into a bat and having similar restrictions, though maybe not losing bat form when you land. I can also see Dragon Flying mechanics also being applied to the bat form and being able to switch between both types of flying for it.

And of course, having the bat form being customizable in the barber shop would be a really cool unique feature. Different types of bat forms and even having different types of clouds of bats would be pretty awesome to see. I assume some customization options could be drops or quest rewards as well.

Assuming we ever do get San’layn as a full race, this does help chances of them having bat forms as a racial, as it is very workable now in my opinion. Hopefully we’ll see that happen someday!

–Still dreaming of playable Horde San’layn as a full race!

[Zimos-dark-iron (Zimos)]

Or you could just let the San’layn have their big wings and just fly around with those.

[Bagzak-rexxar]

It could be an option, but the only San’layn I’ve seen with wings are the Blood-Queen and Blood-Princess. It’s possible I’m forgetting someone, but it seems like only female blood royalty have those wings. Maybe it’s the way the curse works or maybe both of them just really like drinking Red Bull energy drinks. Who knows?

My own personal preference would be bat forms. It’s very fitting not just with the whole vampire theme, but it works well with how San’layn would need a way to traverse and not bring much attention to themselves…which sure, seeing a bat in bright sunlight in some places like beaches or the local blood bank would be suspect, but it can work to be blend in other areas. Plus there is a decent opportunity for a bunch of bat form customizations.

If anything, throw wing customization options with its own flight animations in the barbershop so people can design their San’layn the way they want. Bat form, cloud of bats form, and wings would make for a nice variety for however people want to role-play their San’layn.

–Still dreaming of playable Horde San’layn as a full race!

[Bagzak-rexxar]

In thinking about Dalaran and how they’re really into researching stuff, I was pondering the opportunities they would have at studying the vampyr curse while having Thal’ena captive. Moreso when there are many Blood Elves that are part of the Dalaran staff.

With Dalaran having a major presence in Northrend during WotLK, they would’ve known about the San’layn. I can see several of the Blood Elves there, upon seeing how the Forsaken and the Death Knights broke free in general, having interest in studying their vampyr curse. Moreso since a lot of San’layn haven’t really been able to break free of the curse and have caused problems, like with Vorath in the Blood Elf questline during Shadowlands.

It’s hard for me to imagine no study happening period, and I can see Blood Elves pleading their case to higher ups like with Aethas Sunreaver. Do they really want undead knocking on their gates trying to sell door to door death insurance again? And with the San’layn almost joining the Horde during BfA (a huge missed opportunity…sigh…), wouldn’t it have been good to help them keep the vampyr curse under control?

This can play into the idea of Thal’ena getting more of a control over her blood curse, albeit not perfectly. Then upon escaping Dalaran, maybe with some other San’layn that were captured with her, and finding all the research on the vampyr curse at the same time, that could be used to research even further and likely be able to get it under control. And then when the storyline permits it, having the Blood Elves of Dalaran and people like Aethas sticking up for them and getting Silvermoon to learn the true meaning of Winter Veil afterwards would work pretty well in their joining the Horde officially.

Obviously, such ideas need a lot of fleshing out, but it’s something I wanted to point out as it’s pretty important to keep in mind. I don’t know if Aethas in particular would be all for it, but given that San’layn were originally followers of Kael’thas not knowing he would betray his people should at least give more sympathy in general.

But I fail to see why nothing would be done with Thal’ena captive, and I don’t see why none of the Blood Elves in Dalaran wouldn’t be interested in seeing if there was a way to either cure the curse or at least get it under control since a lot of their people did become San’layn against their will. It wasn’t the San’layn’s fault they became what they are, and if some success was found, that would be shown with Thal’ena becoming more of herself, just suffering a need to feed still.

Just some thoughts I wanted to share. If anyone has any opinions, I’d like to hear them, as I think this is pretty important to discuss. Maybe it could lead to something, maybe not, but still worth noting and having some brainstorming on the subject!

–Still dreaming of playable Horde San’layn as a full race!

[Bagzak-rexxar]

Just your friendly neighborhood bat here to remind everyone that it is a new month, which means you should do another round of in-game playable race request suggestions!

With the beginning of each month, I make in-game suggestions for each race I want to see playable along with a mention of their respective megathreads on these forums. While it is far from a guarantee of seeing our dreams come true, I do think every little bit helps, and doing it monthly I feel is reasonable and not that intrusive or annoying.

If you’re interested in doing the same for races you want to see playable, I made a little guide on how to do so in-game here:

San’layn/vampyr Elf ALLIED RACE Coagulated Megathread of Ideas{Re-VAMPed}

I posted this in both my megathreads, but felt it was important to post it in other ones. I made a step by step guide on how to submit in-game feedback to suggest races to become playable while also referring to their respective megathreads on here. It’s something I think is important to do as part of a way to show support for races to become playable and bring attention to our megathreads for them. Once a month on only one character, I send an in-game suggestion for the races I want playable. …

By the way, I’m at three posts in a row again. So if someone could make a post so I can keep posting some San’layn ideas I’ve had lately, I’d greatly appreciate it!

–Still dreaming of playable Horde San’layn as a full race!

[Peppermint-eldrethalas (Peppermint)]

They should not have used “San’layn” as a name for a “Hero Talent” tree. People have wanted to play a proper San’layn for years and Blizz throws the name away on a stupid gimmick feature that won’t last past the next expansion.

See also: Dark Ranger, etc.

[Anadisong-moon-guard]

@Peppermint-eldrethalas

See also: Dark Ranger, etc.

That’s the thing… You can’t really see the Dark Ranger spells… I was hoping for more shadowy magic… It’s not really noticeable. So much for that class fantasy.

[Terranox-stonemaul (Terranox)]

It was a whole wing in ICC. I don’t think it detracts from them being a playable option. Midnight is the best chance for playable san’layn hopefully earlier though.

[Zimos-dark-iron (Zimos)]

The best chance, but given Northrend focus in the one after not the only one.

Though Midnight Sun would be great cause then they’d have a reason to still be relevant for 2 expansions in a row.

[Bagzak-rexxar]

I was thinking about how hard it is to kill a San’layn, at least one of Blood Royalty, and wanted to comment on it some.

I see no reason why Thal’ena wouldn’t still be in the Dalaran prison. Even if adventurers killed her during the Legion version of the Violet Hold, I don’t see why she would’ve just come back. We’ve seen this before with the Blood Royalty in WotLK, Dreven in BfA, and recently Vorath in Shadowlands. The latter two needed special things in order to make them more dead than NFT market profitability.

Granted, the Blood Princes and Blood Queen in WotLK are a bit of a different story, as I don’t recall any special things needed to make them permanently killed, but the Vampyr Curse seems to have evolved to be as resilient to permanent death. So I don’t see why this couldn’t be applied to Thal’ena.

Of course, being able to die and come back is only good for us players and very specific storylines, so how would this be handled? The way I would do it is by the San’layn getting more incontrol of their Vampyr Curse, it removes their ability to die and come back. A bit of a trade-off, if you will. It makes for a greater weight and higher risks in storylines as opposed to sending a bunch of San’layn to effectively do an infinite Zerg rush against big baddies of expansions until they fall over and go “BLEH!” and we celebrate with the blood wine.

I also am remembering the missing Blood Princes, which I’m pondering over a bit as well. Assuming Thal’ena escapes from Dalaran, she would need some help. Maybe as the potential new Blood-Queen, she could have some way to communicate to other San’layn, including the other missing Blood Princes, to gather together and go find a place to settle and evaluate their situation. I’ll be pondering that for a future post.

Anyway, death should be nothing more than a minor setback for Thal’ena, so I don’t see that being much of an issue if she was to be reintroduced in a bigger role.

–Still dreaming of playable Horde San’layn as a full race!

[Mianyaue-moon-guard]

With the fall of Dalaran, it could be interesting to know what happened to Blood-Princess Thal’ena in the Violet Hold. Is she free or something else?

[Phaeliea-nathrezim]

I think since she was a boss able to be killed, she’s canonically dead

[Bagzak-rexxar]

I don’t know if there is some sort of canon with the dungeon Thal’ena debuted in. Especially since in-game, it’s random which three prisoners get released.

It’s something that could easily be written around. Either she never broke out during that time or if she did, she died and came back or got subdued.

This would be more in line with how we couldn’t kill the Blood Princes (Dreven and Vorath) without special means of doing so. I know that originally, Lana’thel died fairly easily during WotLK, but all I can guess is that the Vampyr Curse has strengthen since then, giving San’layn the ability to not be killed easily while the curse has a full grip on them.

Also thinking on it, I’m curious if there might have been other San’layn captive in Dalaran somewhere. It would play into the idea of the Dalaran Mages studying them and the Blood Elves wanting to see if they can cure them of their curse. Escaping from there with Thal’ena before the events in TWW happen and making your way to the Ghostlands would make for a fun questline for San’layn newbies.

Anyway, there is a lot to think about with this scenario and a lot of uncertainties. Still lots to discuss!

–Still dreaming of playable Horde San’layn as a full race!

[Vaelian-silver-hand (Vaelian)]

@Peppermint-eldrethalas

They should not have used “San’layn” as a name for a “Hero Talent” tree.

Could easily rename it Vampire and save San’layn for a proper race. It also makes more sense as San’layn are elven…Vampire is more generic just like the hero talents. Not ever Death Knight is elven.

[Direclaw-aerie-peak]

Can we get some customizations for all races?