I don’t think I’d be satisfied having San’layn as a skin. They are too unique to not have their own allied race option. Just because they share the same rig as blood elves doesn’t mean they would function as them. Given all the abilities we’ve seen from the San’layn in the game thus far, it would be a huge slap in the face to not include them.
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Still hoping for San’layn! Lots of great ideas are still popping up here.
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As someone who’s run this show for over two years, I’m with you there. Allied Race would be the most ideal and satisfying option. I fully believe they’re unique enough to be their own allied race, and could be given such an interesting story, especially with the vampire expansion coming up.
Problem is, the WoW community will just berate us for saying that because “Elves are getting too much” and such like that, not to mention everything that comes with wanting noble/regal vampires playable as opposed to the Venthyr (something again, not a fan of and would never play.) I feel Blizzard would likely listen to them more, to be honest, because our community just isn’t big enough to make an impact, though we did try.
Edit: Although evidently after the ‘no’ in April, they talked about matters due to community response so says WoWhead.
Keeping our discussions going therefore is important even if we are small. I can only hope they’re at least considering what the smaller AR communities and ideas have to say.
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I feel like putting San’layn as a customization option for Blood Elves could be similar to putting Forsaken as a customization option for Humans. Yes, they’re technically the same race just dead, but they would have different mechanics, culture, philosophy, potentially different classes, and certainly different racials among other things.
Sure, you could give Blood Elves undead skin tones, fangs and red eyes, and even change the voices to just sound different in tone, but would they still be a San’layn at this point? Not to mention my whole worry about customization races not getting story or in-game presence at all, for that matter.
Until we see how Blizzard handles customization races, I have to worry about that if San’layn happen to become one, they wouldn’t get the care to detail they need to be a fully fleshed race. There is a lot more I can say, but I would likely type enough for a thesis paper or two at this rate.
Another reason that I hope people still continue on with the different megathreads and continue supporting the races they want playable. Having support of some kind is better than nothing, and you never know what will happen in future expansions.
As I said before, I’m in it for the long haul. 
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I’m really hopeful the June 8th interview will shed some light on lots of upcoming things in Shadowlands. I don’t want it to be limited to launch day stuff, but stuff they intend to rollout during the expansion. They’ve already said no allied races at launch, but .5 and 9.1 etc could bring those easily. From my understanding there’s no reason any of the races from the Shadowlands would ever be able to leave as they are bound to their duties and the magic that prevents them from leaving. So seems like the Azerothian races would be the ones to added to the list of playable options. I could see us as the “special” characters able to walk back and forth between life and death going back to Azeroth to a different “time,” as the story will progress in patches like the war campaign.
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Here’s to hoping we get some news on that next stream. I wonder if they’ll be going over things that haven’t been datamined, like more on Kael’thas. It’ll be interesting to see his expanded role. One thing I don’t think will happen is his return to Azeroth, but you never know!
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Hi, guys.
I want to say something for san’layn fans: don’t give up! Since BfA I had a feeling that your request was the most likely to come true. I still think so. Blood elf model remains unused for an allied race in the Horde and San’layn are a popular request, plus there’s something more to it.
I think we will get more allied race, probably 2, later in Shadowlands, in the last patches. I think Shadowlands will start in the realm of death, but the story will return to Azeroth before its end.
Lots of people have been hoping for playable venthyr, kyrian, night fae or necrolords, but I don’t think it will happen. They are immortal shepherds of souls from the afterlife, with no reason to serve mortal factions, meddle in mortal affairs or fight mortal wars. They do not have a civilization in the sense we are used to. They are cogs in the machinery of Death.
So, what I think will happen? When the war for the afterlife return to Azeroth, the denizens of the Shadowlands will seek out mortals to borrow their power and act in their interest. I think the allied races will be those touched by the powers of the beyond.
So… with Kael’thas as their patron or leader, we may see a new breed of San’layn, bound by a pact with the Venthyr and gifted with vampiric powers.
For Alliance, I have no idea, but maybe some kind of kyrian-blessed? Or fae-touched?
I don’t think we will see more than two allied races, but maybe we could even get four, who knows?
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I know it’s not the ideal (which is an actual allied race) but I am really keeping my fingers crossed for the June 9th interview to reveal more specifics about the new customizations forthcoming (hopefully they will hit the alpha at the same time and be datamined) and that Blood Elves, at the very least, get the red eyes and dark ranger skin options, if not also getting non-tentacle ports of the Void Elf hairstyles. My imagination says coupling some of those hair styles with dark ranger skin + red eyes would make an exquisite San’layn to RP with.
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I would advise to manage expectations on the upcoming event.
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Been really wanting to play something dark lately and I’m tired of zombies. Give me vampire elves or demon eredar. I have neeeeeds!
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To keep things upbeat and ideas flowing, I wanted to share some art I’ve collected over the past few months either through commissions I’ve gotten, or art I’ve actually done! (I’ve been trying to learn and get better!)
I’d appreciate if someone with the appropriate trust level could help me out 
The following pieces are by https://twitter.com/GaldersArt !
Reminder of this wonderful piece, Blood King Kael’thas!
https://imgur.com/8T1M0kD.jpg
This is Fallynn, the character I’m posting on Without her sunglasses:
https://imgur.com/Wy0l9TA.jpg
This is my character Salder, showcasing bat-like ears for San’layn This piece is by https://twitter.com/PrivateCoppery
https://imgur.com/PGkIyS6.jpg
The following pieces are by https://twitter.com/MizunoSuzuka !
Fallynn again! This time a fun concept of her having wings and a crown (which she doesn’t actually have)
https://imgur.com/4RGNyQS.jpg
<3
https://imgur.com/UwBLejz.jpg
This is my male San’layn, Elias, wearing bandages around his torso like the Blood Princes
https://imgur.com/0AU04Ck.jpg
This is my character Soul by https://twitter.com/jawbonesart He has shorter bat-like ears as well. And VERY importantly, FANGS!
https://imgur.com/tMpFjNe.jpg
One of my new characters, Set! This is by https://twitter.com/Kelandiir
https://imgur.com/NdWBhY2.jpg
Finally, this is Ares, who also has shorter ears. I like the half-mohawk style, can you tell? This is my https://twitter.com/dearHadrian who did a lovely job.
https://imgur.com/lSDFMen.jpg
Finally, some samples of my art! I’ve only been doing art for 33 days with no prior experience so go easy on me!
This is my guildie’s San’layn, Miira!
https://imgur.com/I4Dk5BD.jpg
Another one of my characters here, Apollo!
https://imgur.com/PESGstf.jpg
Anyone got any San’layn or vampire art they’d like to credit and share that could spark some ideas?
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yeah man give me vampire elves
i wanna suck some blood
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Trust level 3 powers are GO!
Remember to give Fallynn the likes for these images.
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Thanks so much as usual Bagzak, I appreciate it 
Figured prettying up the thread and sharing some creative ideas could bring a lot of fun. I love art so much!
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There is also the masked variant of Kael’thas:
Which looks really awesome to me.
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I always forget to share that one yet it’s my favorite version 
Oopsie. Thanks once again <3
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Considering Keleseth, Valanar, and Taladaram were all once dead before being resurrected by Lana’thel, I think the San’layn may be similar to our characters. In the sense that their spirits can move back and forth between Azeroth and the Shadowlands. Could this be potentially from the curse/gift of the Venthyr that Arthas used to create them?
The San’layn already seem to have the powers of the Venthyr. If Kael became their defacto leader, Blood King, he could represent the interests of the Venthyr on Azeroth in a servitude capacity to the lords in Revendreth. Kael and the San’layn hunting down those with large amounts of anima needing to be brought to justice and their souls sent to Revendreth.
Also I don’t see why the San’layn wouldn’t have druids as a class option. I’m sure they can shape shift already, it would just take blizzard slapping a string of text on to them to explain it. Similar to how the undead priests use shadow magic to heal instead of the “light.”
Something like:
The San’layn call upon the powers of Revendreth to contort their form into more sinister shapes and call upon the powers of ght blood anima to heal themselves and allies in battle.
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Love the art, Fallynn! I always enjoy seeing other peoples art. Especially if the art is of something i like, like vampires. 
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I hope Kael leads the San’layn sort of how Jaina lead the Kul Tirans.
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You know, the thought just occurred to me…if San’layn are a customization race for Blood Elves…how do we explain some classes they would be able to be?
There are only two classes that may need some explanation: Paladin and Demon Hunter.
How exactly would San’layn Paladins work? Would we consider them Blood Knights of some sort? Would they get their spell/skill effects changed to reflect that? Or would it just be the same game mechanics and effects with a few sentences of explanation of how they work? Would they even get their own charger mount for that one skill that lets Paladins ride indoors for a few seconds?
As for Demon Hunters, it’s doubtful they would get their own starting area, so it would then stand to reason that Illidan would have had San’layn among his ranks…which might be a bit hard to fully explain that. Unless they do open Demon Hunters to other races, have coding to detect you have San’layn customization on your Blood Elf, and plop them in a new area much like the new Death Knight starting area.
Some things to consider if San’layn were to become a customization race for Blood Elves. Not impossible to explain it, but it seems a bit…challenging, and I wouldn’t want it to just be there, suddenly a thing, and go unexplained.
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