The game is too Elf-Centric

Community General Discussion
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Spoilers: Alleged Leaks will be mentioned: Spoilers

In the only known leak to accurately name the next expansion “Dragonflight,” one alleged feature will be “class skins” that thematically change classes while keeping gameplay the same. I.e. Warlocks can be Necromancers, with undead minions and diseases instead of curses.

Sounds like a great idea, but of the 4 class skins mentioned, one is Dark Ranger (Hunter) and the other is Warden (Demon Hunter.) It remains to be seen how many skins will be implemented, but of the currently leaked skins HALF are thematically appropriate for Elves, not other races. (Dark Rangers thematically are only appropriate for Undead Elves and Warden are only thematically appropriate for Night Elves.) The leak may be fake, but it does demonstrate an elf-centric design to WoW.

We have an entire class (Demon Hunter) restricted to just Elves. We have four races, that are really variations of the same race: Elf. Blood Elf Paladins are getting their own form of heritage armor while 6 races don’t even have heritage armor. Blizzard keeps expanding the visual customization options for Elves (recently Nightborne/Void Elf) while Female Tauren still have like four faces, and all races are more limited in customization than Elves.

Understandably, Elves are a popular icon of fantasy genre, but Blizzard needs to realize some people don’t play Elves and they are many missed opportunities to introduce awesome features to the game that don’t revolve around Elves.

I.e. Expand the playable Demon Hunter racial options (like they did Death Knights) with a next generation of Demon Hunters. (In lore, some Warlocks already know how to use Metamorphosis after raiding the Black Temple. Metamorphosis used to actually be a Demonology Warlock ability before Legion introduced Demon Hunters.)

Introduce a Shadow Hunter skin for Troll/Zandalari Demon Hunters if Night Elves are getting their own racially unique skin via Wardens.

Give Paladins racially-appropriate visuals. Tauren/Zandalari/Draenei shouldn’t be using human kingdom/angel imagery in their spells, they have their own culture. Ex. When using Avenging Wrath Tauren should get a massive Sun Totem instead of Angel Wings. Zandalari/Draenei would get their own crests. Lightforged would get Naaru Symbols.

Give Female Tauren more face options. Introduce alternate body types for more races, such as Upright Undead, Worgen tails, non-fat Kul Tirans, fat versions of other races, etc.

Like damn. Some of these have been a long time coming. Thank you.

26 Likes
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Story wise, Humans are hogging everything.

Would be nice if races like Dwarves or Tauren (Baine doesn’t count as he sucks) got more representation.

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Idk, seems like WoW races took a backseat in Shadowlands’ story, as this expansion was about exploring new realms rather than building on the societies of Azeroth. We only had a handful of established characters get any limelight in Shadowlands (which does include Sylvanas and Tyrande.)

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damn that Tolkien!!!

5 Likes
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This game keeps the boring Humans vs Orc centrism almost all the time, especially Humans.

Even when the Horde was against Sylvanas, the Horde side of the story was Saurfang and his problems. When the Horde was against Garrosh, it was Thrall this, Thrall that.

And while the Horde has a more varied story than the Alliance, this game is human vs Orc at heart, to the point where even faction related things is Orgrimmar and Stormwind designed.

Not to mention that the Alliance has 3 Human races. There are 4 Elf types in the entire game, and one faction has 3 Human races.

This game needs more Tauren, Troll, Draenei, etc. But needs wayt less Humans and Orcs. And while Elves appear a lot, I can’t think of a time where Elven content reached a climax sans this time where Tyrande judged Sylvanas. And this was after being the fodder to ignite wars for years (Nelves and Trolls have it very bad here).

High Elves are shown as Human cheerleaders and I don’t even know about Blood Elves. They are always looked as secondary, it is always Orcs or Humans in the end.

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I have to say, of all the Elvish iterations, Tolkien and by extension WoW’s are some of the most uninteresting, per original European lore Elves are a type of fairy like Goblins and sprites, and just as mischievous. Now the Goblins basically being Gremlins is pretty neat, but I think going from Puck to… gestures to all of a Blood Elf was kind of a downgrade.

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More pandas

Give pandas heritage armor, a new heritage mount, and a weapon arsenal

Update Pandaren models, they are officially the oldest playable character models

Buff monks

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You seem to have a beef with Baine?

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Thrall’s this, Thrall’s that, Vol’jin’s rebellion?

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Vol’jin’s rebellion was there, never denied it. But everyone looked up to Thrall. In the very end of hte cinematic, it is Thrall and Varian deciding who ends Garrosh, despite Tyrande and Voljin (aside the Pandaren) being the most affected by him.

In the end, it is even Thrall saying who’s Warchief, considering everyone in the Horde wanted him back. It is Varian going to talk to Thrall, etc.

There is always some Orc centrism in almost every part of the story of the Horde, as well as Human centrism in almost every part of the story of the Alliance. The only character whom I recall stepped out of this in one expansion was Velen and Illidan (but Illidan is not Alliance), and in the end, the leader of the Army of the Light was a Human.

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Thats why we had a BBQ with Sylvanas. It was lit.

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Yagarr! You should become active on discord again. Many things have happened since you’ve left that you would find very amusing. Message Doc or Borigrad to find out more.

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This is the first time I heard class skins mentioned.

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Me personally, I’d like an expansion where Forsaken are treated a bit better. We’ve always been the punching bag of WoW, alongside a lot of the Horde.

Let us finally get revenge on the living. The Elves were just a start!

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Warcraft: Orcs & Humans

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After having seen the shadowlands you’d think your goals would shift to “don’t die don’t die don’t die don’t die it sucks it really sucks don’t die” and keep that undead body going as long as you can.

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lots of ppl like elves, I agree
nothing wrong with that
differant strokes for differant folks
IMO blizzard has done the best they can to make a variety of races appealing and available

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I am too elf centric. It’s all I play. On this one character :stuck_out_tongue:

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Blizz only does things that are profitable and people play elves. Lots of people. It’s why both factions have the same elves and the red version is getting its SECOND set of heritage armor soon.

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If the Shadowlands have taught us anything, it’s that there are NO consequences to our actions, and we might as well get all the revenge we want. Souls won’t be going to the Maw anymore, and you’ll be used like a battery either way, so do what ever you want because it’s all downhill when you die.

3 Likes