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I’ve not looked into it too heavily, but I saw a cinematic for the Diablo Immortal Blood Knight and it’s neat looking.
Quick glance gave me (WoW) Demon Hunter vibes but Vampires instead of Demons.
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I saw the trailer for the Blood Knight in Diablo Immortal as well. There are a lot of vampiric inspirations and themes.
Video of the official Blood Knight in Diablo Immortal trailer is below, however viewer discretion is advised since there is a bit of violence and well…blood in it:
Definitely some themes here that would fit San’layn very well. Maybe we could see some of it if they ever got expanded and fleshed out. 
-Still dreaming of playable Horde San’layn as a full race! 
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I wonder what happens with that blood elf magical addiction/hunger when raised by the curse of undeath.
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I think they have that replaced by their need to drink the blood/anima of others. Their bodies are supposedly sustained and empowered by it which is effectively what the Sunwell was doing for them anyways.
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This bat is not happy with the lack of San’layn options in the playable category, but you can help! A new month has come, and it’s a great time to submit some in-game feedback on playable Horde San’layn support!
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:
I can’t say the chances of seeing San’layn as a full race are high at present, but I still feel that it is important to keep up the support so they are not forgotten.
–Still dreaming of playable Horde San’layn as a full race!
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Randomly popping in to share some great news -
That means there’s hope for things like San’layn and the argument “They are ALL EVIL” is now completely destroyed since… that was the same argument against Eredar. On that note, I would probably make an Man’ari warlock to be honest. As I poke the game casually again, that just may happen.
The amount of customization there is great too. I hope we someday get our dream in this way too. And that there will be lore validating it. Felblood elves would also be SUPER neat. How about felblood orcs too?
It goes to show not all ‘monsters’ are evil. That’s the trope I love (showcased in an amazing movie I saw recently, Nimona). These people are not mindless. They can make their own decisions. Deciding to work with the factions is valid.
Also I love this artist, I follow them on twitter and they are phenomenal.
Also as a reminder “Dark Rangers” are not San’layn. We specifically want elven vampires on the Horde (and alliance, I wouldn’t care so long as Horde gets it). They are distinctly different.
Jet black eyes, red eyes, claws, fangs, and useable on Death Knights + all skin tones. That, and lore of them joining properly.
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Man’ari smashes open the door for san’layn, fel blood, fel orcs, blood trolls and maybe even K’thir(super long shot lol).
No more should we be bothered by the “morality” arguments.
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The job is already done, just blizzard put in the game.
Eredar being potentially the most evil and destructive “Subrace”, as well as being the most different from the current playable race opens all kind of doors.
San’layn/Felblood/Druids of the Flame ect.
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With Man’ari being a customization race, I feel like this opens doors for letting various NPC races becoming playable that were once thought to just be one note quest jobbers.
San’layn are one of the most commented races I’ve seen mentioned in different threads after the Man’ari announcement, along with Fel Orcs, so there is still some yearning for playable San’layn. Especially because of this:
If Man’ari are going to get a redemption face turn and get to prance around Stormwind without anyone questioning it, I don’t see why San’layn can’t do that with the Horde. Especially since San’layn have a lot of backstory to work with to have as quests, even if they’d become a customization race, which I will admit is more likely than a full race unfortunately.
It gives me some hope that the race request megathreads get viewed with an open mind, since races can be expanded and fleshed out as opposed to being one-note and static. If Mogu (Rajani) and Man’ari can do face turns, I don’t see why San’layn or other races would be an exception.
Granted, I’d still prefer San’layn as a full Horde race, but regardless, I’d hope that San’layn have a chance. After all, one skin locked to eyes and no access to Death Knights (and Demon Hunters when that class likely opens up for other races) does not a vampire make. Especially when no San’layn stood with the Undercity Council.
I feel a bit of renewed hope and think it’s important to keep sharing ideas and such to show what San’layn could be. Again, nothing is guaranteed, but hey, a Darkspear Troll can dream.
–Still dreaming of playable Horde San’layn as a full race!
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https://twitter.com/wowhead/status/1679980954520104960?s=46&t=P-saCrhTpuw_LtMbEaex-w
Looks like the predictions of druids of the flame are also coming to fruition. It’s good to talk about things still I guess. I’m not sure if Blizzard looks into megathreads. I’m not dipping back frequently but sharing things as they come up. Would be nice if we did indeed get what we requested via questline and customization.
I want to emphasize every time we post by the way that the ‘dark ranger’ stuff is not San’layn, was poorly done (eyes tied to skin, not allowed on DK), and we would like some thought put into our request. Dark Rangers = / = vampires.
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It has been awhile since the Darkfallen skin was released for Blood, Void, and Night Elves. I thought it would be a good time to ask everyone what they would want with regards to playable San’layn specifically, whether you’d want them as a full race or if as a customization option and what you would want to see from that.
As most of y’all know, I’m still a supporting for San’layn as a full playable Horde race. However, I do acknowledge that the chances of that over as a customization race is small and continues to dwindle as time goes on.
I’ve been fairly vocal about how I haven’t been too happy with how customization races have been treated. They often feel like they were slapped on with little care, and often feel like the parent race cosplaying. Identity and storyline presence is lost, and it feels off at times. Sure, customization races can work, like if various Troll tribes were integrated into regular Trolls, but having one skin locked to eyes and not being able to be DK’s and having the voice sound the exact same as if they were alive just makes the whole experience feel lesser. But I’ve talked at length at customization race treatment for a couple of thesis papers at least, so I’ll move on for now.
As a full race, San’layn would have more potential with the following:
-Much more customization options. Fangs, skin tones, and such.
-Likely have storyline presence as opposed to just being plopped onto Blood Elves without any fanfare, like how Wildhammers were treated. Even with something like Darkfallen were treated, it makes me wonder how much presence they would have in-game in the future. Especially since there still has yet to be anything shown in-game of the why the Alliance quickly accepted Void and Night Elf Darkfallen and let them roam Alliance cities without question.
-Would have their own racials that would be vampiric themed. Such things include a bat form and and other vampire features that would get expanded as a full race.
-Questline potential would go up more. I feel like as a customization race, they would quickly be forgotten, but as a full race, we could see the chances of seeing them offer quests. Some could include being asked to check on loved ones, for example.
-Questlines to deal with their blood curse and also coming to terms with what Kael’thas did would likely get addressed and implemented much more as a full race as opposed to a custonization race.
These are just a few examples of why I still want them as a full race instead of a customization race, and I’m sure I could go on and on in greater detail which I may as I think of more. Though as I said, I do feel like the chances of them becoming a customization race at best is more likely, in which I would still hope that customization races would get better treatment than before.
And if they want to add San’layn customization to Void and Night Elves in addition to Blood Elves, I’d be fine with that too. All I ask is that something gets shown to explain the Alliance accepting that as opposed to just it suddenly being a thing like with the Darkfallen skins. Otherwise, it makes them kinda hypocrites to accept hot Elven zombie waifu/husbando characters, but will happily smack ugly, smelly, rotting humans in the face with a spiked mace who could be a relative or best friend with no hesitation.
Thus I’d like to ask what people would like to see, whether it is as a full race or as a customization race. If you want to see them as a customization race, what do you want to see? I feel like ideas need to be floated out to help playable San’layn regardless of what direction they’d go.
And of course, having San’layn on the Undercity Council would also be good to have, as well as them patching things up with Silvermoon, among other things.
–Still dreaming of playable Horde San’layn as a full race!
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I am pretty curious about new hairstyles. Maybe they can use forsaken hairstyles fitted for elves?
Whatever they do I hope they can add white colored streaks and even floaty banshee hair.
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A full race would be nice because then we would get a racial mount. I still wish to see a cloud of bats mount. We also would get a lot more lore. While I would be satisfied with customization should we get a quest for it, a full on race would be best in my eyes. I did start this thread many years ago with that intent, after all. I just see the chances as really slim.
I’d ‘take what I can get’ but unfortunately people now use the ‘dark ranger customization is San’layn’ excuse which is mighty frustrating. I am not particularly moved by it much anymore given I play this game very casually and have quit roleplay here for good in favor of FFXIV, but figured speaking up here every so often now that Man’ari are a thing could be helpful for people with the spirit still.
Mine’s dead for the most part, but that doesn’t mean I won’t very much appreciate seeing this come to fruition in some way after all the hard work people here have put in.
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Also a bit of a bummer seeing another blizzard game getting the whole playable vampire theme added. Shame it couldn’t be this one as well.
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That is like saying we don’t need vampires in general because we have Forsaken playable. Sure, all San’layn are Darkfallen, but not all Darkfallen are San’layn. Not to mention the big differences between zombies and vampires, which Dark Rangers are the former.
San’layn have their own curse and lore that is much different from Dark Ranger Elves. It’s similar to how I feel like lumping Wildhammer Dwarves in with Bronzebeard Dwarves really diminishes that, moreso when it’s just the latter cosplaying as the former at best.
And there really isn’t much San’layn specific stuff with the whole thing. There isn’t really any San’layn specific customization gets really shown with the Darkfallen skin (one skin locked to red eyes, woo!), there is no San’layn presence with the Undercity Council or as friendly NPC’s anywhere, and at best, it seems like they get villain batted when talked about with disdain, so it seems kinda clear that they aren’t really part of the whole Darkfallen group currently.
Sure, I could dress my Blood Elf as a vampire with the Darkfallen skin, but it really doesn’t feel quite right. And honestly, headcanon, while fun to supplement a character’s backstory, should never be a requirement to explain how something is in the game.
One skin locked to one pair of eyes and nothing else does not a San’layn make, especially when it can’t be used for Death Knights, a class that would make a lot of sense for San’layn to have access to. Thus why we’re still wanting to support playable San’layn, whether it is as their own race (preferably) or some more customization options with SOMETHING shown in-game that San’layn are indeed part of the Horde and Undercity Council now.
As it stands right now, the Darkfallen skin is pretty much Dark Ranger Elves, though it feels more like Blood/Void/Night Elves cosplaying for a Halloween party or something. Maybe if San’layn customization was added, we could do a quest to get their free will back from the blood curse back or something. Not to mention the whole Kael’thas part of their storyline, which I’ve gone over many times in great detail throughout this megathread.
Until then, I’ll just continue to grumble grumble about customization races and their treatment in general. Maybe I’ll do a post to try to see what would be reasonable for San’layn as a customization race, much as I’d REALLY prefer them as their own race.
–Still dreaming of playable Horde San’layn as a full race!
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Yeah this is pretty important. It is a shame having been really interested in that lore, and how they even could have tied them to the Vry’kul given the curse is most likely snatched from them. A lot of people really enjoy specific bits of lore in the game but because ‘elves’, we need to shush. Been there done that, though. I hope in the end everyone gets what they want, including us with the San’layn.
Yeah… it’s for Immortal too. The Diablo game I don’t play as opposed to IV (which I do play.) A lot of people were asking for it in IV. The ‘monster form’ isn’t something I particularly like, but that’s just because I prefer a more bat-like monster form than ‘nosferatu’. All of that said, the lore for it is cool and it sucks that it’s for that game only.
Best of luck everyone.
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I’d love to find that the Curse originated from Revendreth, got acquired ages ago by some Vrykul and then the Lich King encountered it and used it to make his San’layn.
Would be a nice way to tie all that together.
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