The AR myth debunking Megathread. Why your favorite allied race won't become an AR

Community General Discussion
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This is an unusual megathread since we aren’t asking for anything, but rather it is a discussion about why we shouldn’t jump to conclusions when it comes to suspecting something will be an allied race.

A common thing I see among AR groups is to point to specific pieces of perceived evidence in game and conclude that they mean that such and such allied race will happen. I am of the mentality that we should never be so quick to assume what may be an allied or not even if it seems like there is sure fire evidence that a race will be an AR. Especially so early in the expansion. Here are some common things people point to as evidence for ARS becoming playable and I will show you why they really aren’t guaranteed proof of anything:

1. Work done on models as an indicator/geosets.

During legion, many people assumed we would get Vykrul as an allied race for alliance because they had lore that might support them becoming an allied race for the alliance and goesets to use armor. We ended up getting Kul’tirans instead. There could be new races, content models added that we haven’t seen before.

2. Exist lore connecting races to factions.

As before. New races and lore is bound to happen. Especially since we don’t know what is in store for the next expansion. Plus often time faction loyalty is shared pretty commonly between a number of existing unplayable races.

3. Popularity/lack of popularity.

We’ve seen commonly requested races like Eredar, naga, Jinyu. We’ve also seen pandas and goblins become a race as well as fat humans. Popularity is one of those things that should never be used as an argument for why a race will or will not happen.

4. Datamined patch info on specified races.

This goes for any race. Seen it happening most with Vulpera, Gilgoblin and Mechagnome fan groups. Unless it is happening prepatch to an announced group of races, then it most likely isn’t solid proof that the race will become playable.

5. So called leaks and predictions about allied races prior to next expansion.

Most of these “leaks” I’ve found were usually just pieces of information found about an unplayable race framed as surefire or high evidence it will become likely. Most likely if there was going to be an allied race for something like 8.2.5 right now, it would already be in the PTR. Zandalari and Kul’tirans were announced about 10 months in advance before they happened. Never in one expansion has blizzard released new races mid expansion that weren’t announced prior to it.

6. Statements made at Blizzard.

Often when these questions are asked to devs at blizzard con, they may not necessarily reflect the entire body blizzard cooperates with. They can often also be easily taken out of context or they may be subject to change. Plus. It isn’t far from the truth that blizzard could stretch the truth. I wouldn’t take these are hard evidence and be very wary about statements like these. They can also often be framed out of context.

7. Work done on a race.

Vulpera and Mechagnomes supporters commonly argue this one. However this often disregards the fact that another expansion can and most likely will have entirely new races of content that may be viable candidates. Along with the possibility that other races may one day be given updated content. It is short sighted to look at this race right now and think"Wow. Because it has all this work done in it then it surely must eventually be planned as an AR right?"

The whole point here is to basically show that there is a great deal of uncertainty and we cannot be sure that a race will become an allied race based on anything right now. We can support it, but so many things are subject to change.

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So if I’m hearing you right, what you’re saying is that Blizzard will for sure add in Ogres next :thinking:

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Allied race megathreads aren’t made to guess which race(s) might be in the pipeline. They are made to demonstrate community interest in particular concepts.

“Oh, I had no idea so many people wanted to play as an Arakkoa. Well, they won’t be in this expansion, but maybe we can get started working on them so they’d be ready for the next one.”

That sorta thing.

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So if I’m hearing you right, what you’re saying is that Blizzard will for sure add in Ogres next :thinking:

Heh. Funny one you are.

Allied race megathreads aren’t made to guess which race(s) might be in the pipeline. They are made to demonstrate community interest in particular concepts.

“Oh, I had no idea so many people wanted to play as an Arakkoa. Well, they won’t be in this expansion, but maybe we can started working on them so they’d be ready for the next one.”

That sorta thing.

This is a good point. It is nice to see all kinds of AR threads up pop up and see how people feel about them.

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About time someone actually made a Megathread with some common sense. This sums up exactly how I feel. We cannot know for sure what the next allied race will be. What Vulpera fans are doing is looking for something sort of to reinforce their want for Vulpera rather than being practical.

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I am my own favorite allied race.

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Me too. Aint nobody telling me gnomes can’t be demon hunters.

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You know, most demon hunters I just want to eat. The fel… it’s warming in my dead belly when I swallow their still squirming flesh.

That said, I like you. There’s something about gnome demon hunters that makes me smile.

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It does get kind of old when people constantly act like they have insider info on what will become on AR.

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Especially when its just hype over small bits of stuff, like what was discussed in the OP about models. People with emotional investment in something will look at any confirmation of their beliefs, even if the evidence is actually rather small. For all we know, Blizzard just wants females Gilblins because it makes sense to finally make them in a Naga-based patch that features them and it was likely not hard to make.

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This can also go for Vulpera and mechagnome models. Blizzard has said in the past that they want to improve the quality of npc models. Vulpera and mechagnomes could easily remain npcs forever.

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You are very right. When people have an emotional attachment to something, their brain often tries to find reasons to confirm their hope it will happen. This is why I generally try not to get to attached to a specific race or npc I like in hopes it will happen since there is too little we know to really be sure.

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Having some decent variants for NPC visual variety would be one thing, but Mechagnomes do seem to have a particular amount of effort put into them.

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This is true, but it is important to remember that there is an entire expansion ahead of us as well as the next one to keep in mind and there without a shadow of a doubt be new races and factions with dedicated content. If we look at this right now as an indication that this is most likely going to be an AR, we simply won’t be seeing the full picture. It is also good to remember that blizzard has mention that they wanted to put more effort into making npcs with a wider amount of variety. Things like this are always important to remember.

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This thread should be renamed"Be practical and have common sense". This is exactly how I feel about the matter.

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Lucindianna. You are asking way too much from millennials with short attention spans these days.

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Common sense is exactly what I am talking about. Jumping to conclusions is foolhardy and irrational.

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Tl;dr, mechano-gnomes and vulpera will be next ARs and alliance is gonna rage because vulpera look way cooler than mechano-gnomes.

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Sources proving this?

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Guys guys come on. It is not a competition. Whatever the allied races are, you can bet that they are already determined by blizzard. The point basically is to know that there is a great deal uncertainty and a lot could happen and change that won’t don’t know about yet.