So I thought some for awhile and decided to go ahead and make my San’layn character I had in mind if they were ever to be their own race using the Darkfallen skin.
By no means is this me conceding at all. I still think that San’layn have a chance, albeit a small one, of being their own race. In which case I’d happily reroll my character. Otherwise, I’d just change things up via barbershop should more stuff get added.
However, I don’t know what the chances are for that to happen or if we’d just see them as a customization race with more options added. There is always that rumored Dragonflight preorder race or races, though who knows if it is true and what they’d be? Not to mention the reclassification of Darkfallen to make San’layn a small part of it now.
At the same time, it still feels empty. No voice filters, feeling like it’s just a Blood Elf cosplaying, not really being referred to as Darkfallen, and not seeing anything involving San’layn actually joining the Horde. It’s a very conflicting thing.
At the very least, if San’layn were destined as a customization race, I’d like to see some join the Horde and be part of the Desolate Council. That would go a long way in making me feel better.
Something like the Mag’har Orc clans work just fine because we all see them joining the Horde, and they have their own flavor in culture with looks. And having the same voices can work well. It’s something I could see with customization races for Darkspear Trolls, so long as it is shown in-game of any Troll tribes officially joining the Horde.
Something like Wildhammer Dwarves felt flat since they just came out in a PowerPoint slide. Moreso since there wasn’t something shown in-game celebrating such a thing. Darkfallen have that needed in-game event, but the implementation seems like a quick job to do and it feels off in a lot of places.
Customization races can work very well, but they still need love and care. I give the example of Kelfin as a customization race for Goblins but not being able to breathe underwater because it is an important one. I also wouldn’t want Kelfin customization to appear on a PowerPoint slide, only to not see them officially inducted to the Horde in-game, not have any presence in-game for the most part, and of course the whole drowning thing that could come from them as a customization race.
If they were treated decently, I’d be more open to them. I understand actual full races take a lot of work and resources, even if you reuse assets in their creation. However, customization races really need some more care in general. Especially since they also open the door for some factions of parent races to becoming playable and working great.
Anyway, I’m still working on a transmog set for my San’layn character at the time of this post, as well as eventually getting items for some slots I can actually transmog like the shoes slot, but I’ll link him if anyone is interested:
The name comes from a character I briefly used in Everquest 1, a Dark Elf Shadow Knight (who was a second Shadow Knight after my Iksar Shadow Knight who was on my home server). The name itself is something I thought of, though it isn’t an original name as I’ve seen it used in some variations in other forms of media.
I’m treating his name as his Scourge name, which I do with a few other characters like some Death Knights. While not giving up or forgetting his identity in his previous life, he isn’t exactly who he was before and it’s a bit hard to do that in a vampiric state. There is also some sort of irony in taking something that was used by the Scourge to destroy and instead using it to do good and help protect the world (of Warcraft!).
I have a lot more fleshing out for his backstory, as well as working more on finding transmogs for him to play around with, so I’ll be looking at that when he levels up. I’ll definitely be going Venthyr for his covenant, of course.
As I said, I’m not giving up on San’layn. It’s just hard for me to know what direction Darkfallen customization will go and whether we’ll actually see San’layn join the Horde in the future. I still hope for them being their own race, but rerolling isn’t an issue if that ever becomes a reality.
Otherwise, at this point, if we see San’layn officially join the Horde and customization options expand, I might be content with that at least. We’ll see what happens I guess, but in the meantime, at least I can kinda give some life (or is that unlife?) to my San’layn character I’ve wanted to make ever since I came across this megathread.
That said, I’ll still continue to support playable San’layn for the Horde! 
