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

It’s weird to see the emphasis on getting feedback from the forums, since usually they ignore the forums in favor of other places like reddit. Especially with the whole “we need to be better at communication” talk for the past several years while not doing a lot to actually get better in that regard.

As such, it’s hard for me to see it as anything other than PR speak. I need to see actual effort in getting feedback and communication going forward for me to believe it completely.

To be fair, the forums can be a rather colorful minefield, full of angry sharks who got woken up early and haven’t had breakfast yet…and are also on fire, but at the same time, there is currently and has been decent feedback in the form of diamonds in the rough. A lot of which seems to go ignored at times.

If I believed that the forums were completely ignored and useless for feedback, I wouldn’t be here posting. At the same time, something needs to be shown that they are listening. It doesn’t mean to bow down to everyone’s suggestions and demands, but there needs to be something done and for it to be meaningful, in my opinion. Also for the long-term, too.

Anyway, sorry for being sorta negative and nyarr yesterday. Venting out some disappointment has me feeling better, granted I wish I had something to look forward to other than whatever the next expansion is.

I will say as a positive that I really like the Blizzard Arcade Collection. Diablo 4 and Diablo 2 Resurrection also look neat and I will likely check both of them out. I never really got to play Diablo 2 much back in the day, and as a video game nerd, it’ll be neat to see a game that inspired a genre of games.

On another note, the QnA is soon. While I don’t expect a whole lot out of it, and I would be surprised if my questions got answered, I still hope there will be some interesting questions answered somehow.

If anything else of interest pops up, I’ll be sure to help report it. :bat:

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Another “What allied races would you like to see?” kinda thing huh?

Accurate description.

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Yeah. I’m taking a break from the forums, and from the game.

“No customization for Shadowlands”.

What’s the point of playing this expansion when I hate the lore they’re adding, wish they would add customization that people are actually asking for (and won’t be for a couple years now apparently), and just…want content related to Azeroth that they definitely aren’t going to add for several months minimum?

“We’ll take player feedback” is a flat out lie, straight up, since they’ve decided they’re finished for a few years. I’m done giving suggestions, and I’m done trying my hardest to be seen.

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And that’s just freaken ridiculous.

It was the one thing keeping a lot of people subscribed.

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Only reason I was…

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I don’t blame you. I feel like they flat out lied to us about the focus of the expansion. And it really demotivated me hearing that response. /sigh Sort of conflicted whether to stay subbed

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I want to thank everyone who contributed to this thread, and who shared their ideas with hopes for this feedback to be taken. Sadly, it looks like it’s pointless to continue giving feedback. I’m not going to continue sharing and hoping for another 2 years.

Blizzard said they were going to expand upon customization this expansion. They flat out lied. They tried to tell us to give feedback here, on the forums, and on Twitter, for it. Now, there is no plans for it in Shadowlands. People aren’t going to be baited to continue for that long. I have very little interest in the new content. If I stay, it’s to keep my guild running, despite how I really don’t derive joy from the game and its story any longer.

But as for contributing here, and visiting the forums… I just see no point to it. They’re not going to take the feedback given here for customization at all, earliest would be after Shadowlands, and again–I’m not keeping this running for 2 more years. I would be willing to wholeheartedly even if our ideas weren’t implemented, but rather they at least tossed in feedback from others, which would at least show that there is a point to this. They flat out said no for Shadowlands on anything customization related, though, so I’m not waiting years to see content I’m interested in added to the game.

I’m sure there’s a number of folks who will be happy to see me leave. With that in mind, I just wish some people were far less rude than they were here in this thread. If you don’t like our ideas, fine, but there was no need to antagonize, especially since, I anyway, tried to keep things civil.

So yeah. The last bit of feedback I’ll give is that I am extremely disappointed to hear about there being nothing new added for Shadowlands in terms of customization. It means all of these ideas are out the window, and even if they add allied races, it will likely not be for those requested here, rather the new ‘flavor of the month’. And it’s cool that some like them. I personally am not a fan of the new stuff. I’d rather see Azeroth/Outlands races be playable, but it just… at this point seems down the drain for at least 2 years.

Anyway, my rambling is done. Thanks all. I need a break from this place, I don’t know if/when I’m coming back. I appreciate all that everyone has done for this community with all of my heart. But sometimes I need to take a step back.

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After my sub lapses I’m out of here too. I’m tired of being lied to.

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I’m sad to see you go but I 100% understand.

They literally lied this time.

All the work folk have put into AR’s and Customizations is for nothing.

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For those who haven’t seen

3 hours ago it was said there were no immediate plans

Q: Any plans for more Customizations?
­
A: Nothing in the short term but we’re always looking for ideas from players, so please continue to submit your ideas for things that you’d like to see.

But 2 hours ago it was said that

We’re not going to add more character customizations to Shadowlands.

0 Dragonmaw/10

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Well, I wouldn’t like that. I would really regret it.
It would be good if you left on good terms and not because you were disappointed with the neglect of your expectations.
That would be another negative remake of Blizzard’s euphemistically talented talent in captivating and stimulating its audience.
Another brick in the Acti-blizzard wall of shame.

Blizzard must have left San’layn, sethraks, ogres, customizations for nightbornes, worgen and other themes aside because they were desperate to save the titanic 2 that Shadowlands is becoming, when Blizzard wanted to do something that was more meaningful to players than was BfA.

Have Mercy

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While I am sorry to hear about the current status of this megathread, I completely understand and respect the decision.

I did want to thank you for being one of the people here that gave me the creative inspiration to be able to be vocal about my support for playable Ogres and Saurok on the Horde, as well as inspiring me to get into writing and such. I’m happy I was able to contribute what I could to this megathread.

I feel that a break is a good thing, since it seems like we’ll be stuck with Shadowlands for quite a bit still. If you ever decide to come back, I will happily hop back in and support the playable San’layn cause. They are still one of my most wanted playable races, and I’ll continue to keep hope for them.

Enjoy your break and take care! Thank you again for all that you have done! :bat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTz3fuQn2JM

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Going to be honest, I feel kind of bad for abandoning this thread. I don’t want our ideas to die. Other communities are still going and trying to keep the hype up despite the news. Do I really want San’layn? …Yes. Obviously, I do.

Do I feel really down after their customization answer, and feel like we won’t get lore for this race either? Also yes, but giving up never really got anyone anywhere.

I guess until they flat out say ‘no San’layn ever’, we should keep suggesting.

For those who are vampire fans and like Hellsing, take a look at this news:
https://twitter.com/getFANDOM/status/1367598056481251328

It seems like vampire popularity might be on the rise again. I don’t want to give up on playable vampyr the way they made them in Wrath.

Now, I really am not playing much at all. Heck, I’m watching forums more than actually participating in game at this point. Chances are very low I’ll touch content when it’s current in 9.1.

We can still keep sharing art & ideas in here though. Other communities haven’t given up, so I shouldn’t let this one die either. (though I am still taking a big break from gameplay, as again, it just isn’t very fun right now.)

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I think getting away from the game for awhile was a good idea. That “no more customizations during Shadowlands” portion of Blizzconline was not fun to hear, and I can understand the frustration of many players looking forward to that. Let alone that this expansion has been so mergh and detached from what makes Warcraft feel like Warcraft, lore and all.

On the other hand, if I thought that Blizzard completely ignored the forums and didn’t get feedback of any sort from any medium, and if I thought posting here was completely pointless, I wouldn’t be here posting and finding ways of supporting the races I want playable.

Call me insane, but so long as I continue to play WoW, I still plan to keep going with my megathreads and helping other megathreads, as well as looking into other ways of showing support for the races I want playable. I want to believe that Blizzard touting getting feedback from the forums and wanting people to post there was true, though they really have a lot to prove by that statement long term before I’d fully believe them that way.

In all honesty, I still like the game and have little interest in other MMO games. ESO doesn’t particularly interest me for various reasons and FF14’s abysmal race selection, in my opinion, turns me off from really wanting to ever play the game. Thus the frustration of the current expansion and seeing the whole backtracking on customization promises during this expansion. There isn’t really much else that interests me in terms of a MMORPG at present, though I would be open to trying some if WoW’s direction continues to wane my interest.

For me personally, a lot will depend on what direction the game goes for future expansions. The last thing I want is to see the game become how Everquest 1 and 2 are currently. Run by a skeletal crew, no hope of new races and classes, lackluster expansions being plopped out without a whole lot to them, and a dwindling population to where having to get NPC party members and multibox to make any progress is both expected and a requirement. It’s a worry when I see corners being cut, the development cycle of Shadowlands in general and the content it puts out, and so on.

Regardless, so long as I keep playing the game, I’ll continue to keep hope for my wanted races to become playable. I still feel like showing off support for my wanted is better than no support being shown at all. It’s something that may not happen at all, but I have to try. It’s a dream worth striving for.

In the meantime, I’ll keep marching for support. :crocodile: :japanese_ogre: :bat:

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Since the San’layn are back in business, I wanted to share something I found awhile ago regarding Kael’thas.

Awhile back, Wowhead had an interview with Steve Danuser about the Shadowlands story. Of note was a mention of Kael’thas:

“Kael’thas’ story will also continue in Chains of Domination. His pride and arrogance were a natural fit for Revendreth, and the time spent with him during the Venthyr campaign make it seem like the process of redemption is working.”

https://www.wowhead.com/news=321152/shadowlands-narrative-designer-talks-story-with-shacknews

It’s currently unclear what direction Kael’thas’ story will take him. If they’re going for redemption while still in the Shadowlands, it seems like either he’d become a Venthyr or…possibly be sent to Oribos to be judged on where to send him next after we fix the Shadowlands.

It’s also possible he could find a way back to the living, which we’ve suggested him becoming a San’layn as a sense of humility and also to redeem him by leading his fallen followers who also became San’layn.

Regardless of what happens, it isn’t like Kael’thas is specifically needed for playable San’layn to happen. There could be nothing of note with him and San’layn, and his story could always end with a damp squib, but it wouldn’t mean the chances of playable San’layn becoming 0% suddenly. Still, if they did go that direction, there would be some interesting opportunities for storylines and such.

If not Kael’thas, I’ll mention again that there are several Blood Princes still, most still missing, that could work as a playable San’layn faction leader. New NPC’s could also appear and become that as well. When it comes to playable San’layn, I feel like there are several windows of opportunity to work with them into becoming playable. Let’s hope Blizzard doesn’t pull the blinds down on all those windows.

I’ll continue to keep an eye out for anything of San’layn interest. :bat:

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Sounds interesting, though I am a little bit of a pessimist when it comes to that, not going to lie. I will hold hope that his story will mention San’layn or something. I mean, it only makes sense, and it’s frustrating that he has such a big connection to San’layn that’s been entirely ignored (so far). I feel like they’re just going to twist him into a venthyr or something. Even if they keep him the way he looks, it’ll still be a big letdown in my opinion.

Yeah, seeing him come back as an undead on Azeroth to help the blood elves and fight the scourge seems like the logical decision since, as we saw with the horsemen, people can be brought back at variant times. Whether or not they do that, who knows, because they definitely haven’t been taking the logical approach lately. I’m just so tired of shadowlands stuff. I want Azeroth story. I don’t care about these afterlife races that we won’t ever see again when this expansion is over. And if we do see them again after it’s over… it’ll feel too off and surreal. That’s just my personal opinion. It just doesn’t feel right lorewise. The only ones that make sense would be the brokers, because they aren’t technically afterlife races.

Yeah. I hope they haven’t forgotten Prince Atherann and Theraldis. Really banking on that being something interesting eventually. Also… again, the vampyr curse came up out of nowhere again in Legion for the humans & Vry’kul, and again in Battle for Azeroth. We still have absolutely no idea where Dreven came from, and more of his followers could still be lurking about in Nazmir. There was never any specification otherwise.

Yeah exactly, they pulled that in BfA (and got me so excited. :frowning: ) so maybe will again someday. I’m bitter about the forums making a difference, but they did when it came to a couple things in the past, so who knows.


Anyway, since we’ve spoken last, I’ve got other vampire commentary.

That lady vampire from Resident Evil 8 is still trending and people are still obsessing over her. Which I encourage. I adore that design and it’s exactly what I’m talking about. Those vampire ladies are gorgeous and extremely dangerous. That’s the point I’m trying to make with the thread.

Now, there’s two music videos I can’t link because of blood warning, and I’m not sure if I’ll get snapped at, but here’s something to look up on youtube:
-Falling In Reverse - “I’m Not A Vampire (Revamped)”
-PALAYE ROYALE - Tonight Is The Night I Die (Official Music Video)

Which are some excellent examples of male vampires being depicted in a very haunting, gothic light. And ripping the throats out of victims. Classic monster. They look nice and actually have a bite. (Plus I love the music, so.)

Finally, here is a commission I got of one of my characters recently, from https://twitter.com/gynesisx
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/419589093593317377/817857329735008276/Ares2-croptext_2.png

(It’s for a book promo, but also appropriate to share here, because duh.)
Once more, I’d like to point out the jet-black eyes. I think this eerie option would look very creepy on San’layn and be perfect for capturing their predatory look.

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hugs

My thought process, and I admit this is heavily biased with hope, is due to the way the announcement was handled* and the backlash they’re facing over it I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some form of customizations or Heritage quests added in 1.5 or something.

*It would have been one thing had the announcement been trying to coddle us in the let down or try to string us along but since it just amounted to outright “lol nope” it kinda felt outta left field, like the right hand and the left hand not knowing what the pinky on the right hand was doing.


Also love seeing your art, commissioned or otherwise ^w^

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Yeah that’d be nice. The heritage is eh, though I understand people really wanting it. The blood elf stuff I really don’t use, I will admit, and at first I was enthused. Now, I look at the gear and just am like “yeah I’ll never use that”. Granted, that’s likely just me, and how blood elves at this point are growing more and more unappealing/boring. Although, no one should be surprised that this is coming from me, a Death Knight player advocating for San’layn, an elf with a much darker nature that doesn’t have time to sit around and look pretty all day.

Maybe the pushback will let them realize people want more customization. I certainly hope so. I really doubt they’re working on allied races at all if they’re not going to add a few more eye colors, hair styles, scars, and such like that. It did feel really out of left field, we’re so used to being strung along as opposed to outright ‘nope’. And the weirdest part was, they said it was a big success. They are so behind other games in customization, it’s unreal. I’m really having fun with FFXIV and the customization there is so well done (though I do wish there was more variety in hair there too :stuck_out_tongue: ). Inb4 people say "OH SHE IS JUST ADVERTISING, but no, I’m giving my outlook. I didn’t want to join that game. I didn’t want to virtually stop playing WoW. But I do other things in the game aside from M+ and raid, I mostly RP and collect, which people don’t understand. I’d brought up in another thread I was disappointed, and people are utterly balking at the fact that some are playing less/leaving because of this. But it comes down to, they don’t get to decide how others have fun in the game.

And hopefully, Blizzard will realize that too. It seems like they’re pushing away a large part of the community. And with my utter dislike for the story, I’m not engaged in current content, either. Which is why I did more in legion-- I enjoyed the story a lot, and felt like I was doing something. It’s why I ended up dipping into heroic raiding.

I’m glad! I do that a LOT, and it works to be extremely helpful in trying to express the ideas I’d like to provide here, particularly eye colors or modifications to the ears in San’layn’s case. And just generalized stuff. Likely more stuff as we go soon too.

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Blizzard is having a hard time splitting the difference between “Pretty, Vane, beautiful elf” and “Gritty, Power hungry, survivalist Elf” and failing to realize they can do both.

Here’s hoping.

Not just for the different flavors of Elf, but all the other races/concepts that go left in the dust.

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The backpedaling on the customization promise was really baffling. With a new player starting zone, you’d think there would be a focus of some sort on customization options to go with it. It really says a lot when Wowhead of all places was miffed at this as well, and of course they lose out on revenue from people canceling because of it. I’m hoping they change their mind and continue to gradually add in customization options as promised as opposed to potentially making it an expansion feature in a future expansion.

I also am not expecting any new races during Shadowlands, unless ones added for the next expansion (assuming we get any next expansion) become preorder bonuses. I still hope that covenant races stay in the Shadowlands and off that character creation screen for many reasons I’ve stated before. At present, I still have hope that we’ll see new playable races in the future at some point.

But on the subject of race customization and new playable races, the thing is that player characters are one of the most important parts of a MMORPG. A lot of us get attached to them, and things like customization options and new races shouldn’t be pushed to the wayside and be neglected, especially if you’re trying to attract new players with a new starting zone.

In fact, WoW is one of the few MMORPG’s that has the opportunity to have a wide variety of playable races, all of which would add so much to the game and interest fans of several types of races in general. Lots of potential for customization options also.

I’ve complained a lot about FF14’s races, and for a game that wants you to make and focus on only one character, race selection is rather abysmal. They’re all mainly anime boys or waifu’s, and it seems like that is all they want to add. Hrothgar are a good start, but it says a lot when they avoid adding in Bangaa but proceed to add in anime doods with very slight reptilian features or bunny girls that came from the same series as Bangaa. FF14’s race selection is one of the reasons I have no desire to ever play that game.

Something like Elder Scrolls Online has a few good races for diversity (Lizardmen!!), but it kinda has a lot of human variants and a few elf ones that take the majority. Doesn’t seem like there is a lot of hope for other new races to be added to that game.

Not many other MMORPG’s have much in the way of variety in playable races, but WoW can. It’s a reason why new races are an exciting feature, and it’s also why customization should be a continuous and evolving process. Nightborne were a highly requested playable race, and if they had the right customization options, it would’ve caused a really positive marketing boost. To just completely ignore things like that, especially for long periods of time, just paints a bad image, in my opinion.

I’m hoping that whatever reason for the backpedaling is just temporary for this expansion, and that we’ll see new customizations and races in the future. I do think the next expansion is going to make or break it for a lot of people, and if it is just the status quo with more corners being cut, I feel like it’s going to cause them to lose more customers.

I’ll still hope for the best, but we’ll have to see what happens in the future I guess. Honestly, the sooner Shadowlands ends, the better I hope things get.

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