Yeah it really does seem like those four covenants might be setting up for Allied Races. The fact that they looked heavily into setting up customization gets me pretty excited. What if we get a lore reason behind the blood curse and get vampire customization for our current characters? Like seeing just what they showed for character customization got me thinking. I’d be satisfied with just a lore explanation as to why San’layn joined, maybe with the vampires we saw in the zone, and call it a day.
I do hope we get fangs + claws for the elves rather than just dark ranger red eyes though. The true vampire feel, you know? Anyway, my hopes have gone pretty high now. That raid is vampire themed too. Can you imagine the gear that could drop from it? Super excited to see what they have planned.
And, of course, the wings. I squealed happily upon seeing those wings, not going to lie. Bat wings most likely for the vampire zone. How awesome is that? Augh it’s so exciting. That’s pretty much just as good if not better than a cloud of bats mount of sorts, you know?
Can’t wait to see the stuff for the other covenants. I hope my alts will be able to transmog into all of them : / would be sad if I wanted to go for a look and regret joining a covenant. So I guess I gotta pick them before hand just incase the transmogs are limited to your choices. Hopefully they aren’t. Gotta plan a covenant for each character now!
I think we’d be safe, because with class halls we were able to mogrify stuff as long as it was the same class on an alt. Surely they know how we as players work, and cosmetic rewards tend to be account bound.
They haven’t mentioned transmog restrictions being lifted. So it is a worry. But we got time to send feedback if this is the case. Hoping more is said tomorrow in the q and a. And deep dive panels.
Hm… the new customization options for the base races are looking great, but I can’t help but wonder if that’ll outright stifle allied races (if they’re even still a thing) going forward.
On the upside, it’d be great if the allied race system was reserved for races that were “different” enough from the core races. Vulpera and Kul Tirans, for instance, definitely fit the bill. But stuff like Lightforged Draenei and Highmountain tauren could easily have been customization options, especially since the Wildhammer Dwarves are effectively being consigned to the new customization option system.
I guess the question is, are San’layn different enough from Blood Elves that they’re still viable as an allied race, or should their features just be baked into the barbershop?
They said original races though. So I have to wonder if that means the 8 classic races. Or that including blood elves, dranei, worgen, goblin, pandaren. Cause that could mean a lot of new options.
I would take that to at least include the BC races. That’s exactly how it worked the last time they did an expansion that focused on character appearance over new races or classes; WoD.
The fact that the draenei and blood elves are among the most played couldn’t hurt either.
I do hope we get an eredar skin or something. But I wanted to play it on horde O.o but wildhammer dwarves/farraki trolls may make that a possibility. Can’t wait for tomorrow. I am really hoping the customization includes San’layn. But then it would sort of kill my hope for a Vampire druid : / But if demonhunter’s got it then I could do a whole vincent valentine look!
Actually come to think of it, this is all Blizzard has to say to explain these new customization additions that would add a new ‘race’ persay.
Blizzard: “Formally yes, these were your enemies. San’layn, Sand Trolls, Fel Totem, Yangol, etc etc (depending on what they add, this is wishful thinking) but at this point, everyone is fighting for their life on Azeroth. YOUR character has their free will. YOUR character can break away from the typicality of their tribe/race in general. Therefore, your character can fight as a hero or whatever you wish. They are fighting for Azeroth.”
Also, the new vampire race seems to have more info on it. There’s not a connection to the blood curse from what I’ve seen quite yet, but I’m hoping it’s touched at least ^^ Maybe some of the magic here is the origin.
I believe there was an Anima golem in MoP. The blood elves use Anima I think in the warcampaign. They are the original mana vampire race. So it would be fitting for them to get a blood vampire skin xD.
The mogu will be in the next patch too. They had it in lei shins palace and he was pretty into necromancy.
Perhaps the San’layn and blood moon in WoD are connected with Anima.
Demontune, technically, when Visions of N’zoth hits Live servers, there will only be TWO spots open, in total for TWO new Allied Races. When Patch 8.3 hits Live, Mechagnomes and Vulpera will be jumping into the fray.
I am dying to know the mount for this faction! And the transmogs we get from the first raid! I’ve not liked the transmogs for a long while but I have really good feelings about this Dracula-esque raid. There’s so much I wanna know more for and I’m so happy we’re relevant again.
Guess my cautious optimism helped me this time Looks like I’ll also be hopping back into game.
One question remains on my mind–faction restrictions. I wonder if those are going away? I can see Blizzard keeping faction stuff for wargames in warmode or something. Could you guys imagine visiting or roleplaying in the opposite faction’s city or something? I think it’d be very interesting. It’d open up so much new roleplay opportunities.
However, I haven’t heard anything about Horde and Alliance specifically having faction-based presences in the Shadowlands. While visiting the other faction’s capital won’t be a thing, you’ll probably have a lot of interaction with players of the opposite faction who chose your covenant.
Of course, we’re all choosing Revendreth here, right?
Might not get answered but it was worth a shot!
Looks like I’ll also be hopping back into game.