The next Alliance races need some focus grouping

Community General Discussion
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I’m trying to make a rogue, currently, but I can’t due to race-selection paralysis. The problem is that I’m alliance, and we’re guilty of having everything be a human or a nelf (and velf is catching up quickly). It’s becoming a trope if it’s not there already, but part of the problem is the alternative options, imo.

You could sum up the remaining alliance choices as short, fat, or goofy. In many ways, this accounts for a lot of the backlash with Mechagnomes. There isn’t an inherent problem with the dumpster gnomes, it’s just that:

  1. The Horde got a great new race that appears to have some real thought and effort put into it
  2. MGs are now more of the same - another tick on the short box when we’re desperately looking for a non-human or elf.
  3. While a minor point, the transmog aspect of MGs is just really bad. If this had been the case because, e.g., the MGs were completely robotic, you might be able to look past it. This is sadly not the case.

If the Pandas and Kultiran weren’t both overweight, if the worgen didn’t run, put on helms, and stealth weirdly, if the Dreanei could be rogues (it wouldn’t make sense admittedly) I believe MGs would be less of a problem, and we’d have less human/elves running around.

On a personal note, I don’t hate KTs as much as most folks, but they look best in plate, and both KTs and Pandas make less sense as rogues than they do most other classes. Mobility isn’t really the issue, it’s stealth. Neither seem cardiovascularly well, and between the weight and the breathing its hard to believe.

All this is to say, the next race Blizzard puts into the game should be openly and shamelessly focus grouped. To me, it’s fairly straightforward that Humanoid>Anthropomorphized is best. But what that is, and more importantly what provides a welcome degree of flavor to the Alliance should be confirmed as much as that’s possible.

It’s a faction that has always suffered from what we called in Vanilla “Elf or various sized humans.” The core races aren’t nearly as diverse as the Hordes are. The problem made worse by the latest release of a brand new race for them, and a copy paste with (somehow) less effort for us. It’s not just a different sized human now, it’s a budget human. Add to this the high potential for the MGs that seems to have been squandered.

Again, I’m not going to complain about the state of affairs currently, there’s enough of that going around that one more isn’t going to help. But I’m attempting to illustrate why the problem exists and suggest ways to avoid this in the future.

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You’re not wrong. Outside of the Dark Iron, who I think are pretty awesome, the Alliance got shafted when it comes to AR’s, both in appearance and recruitment.
Really crossing my fingers you guys get something neat for the final AR, if there is one. The faction conflict isn’t as fun without some back-and-forth.

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While Sethrak for Horde makes a little more sense, Sethrak for Alliance would make for some really nice balance.

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Last time I looked at the numbers (which is a couple of months old now), alliance had more level 120 ARs than horde did, with alliance having a clear lead on percentage of ARs 120s (17% versus 14%). The delta was really driven by a large lead for velf vs highborne. For all the complaints about velves being a heiney pull, they are the most popular AR by far.

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I rarely look at faction v. faction numbers so I’ll have to check WorldofWargraphs but I take from the large drive to the Velf race as more proof that we’re lacking for anything people think fits the mold. Velfs are really the only wizard-like frame we have, maybe the Nelfs, but the Nelfs can’t be all classes. And things like Shaman are still without a thin model.

The velf spike to me represents pent up demand.

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I REALLY don’t think the allied races are too biased in one way or the other. Both sides get:

-A preexisting skeleton of the opposite faction (Void Elves, Nightborne)
-A pretty weak reskin with some minor adjustments (Lightforged Draenei, Highmountain Tauren)
-A race with different skin colors than another race (Dark Iron Dwarves, Mag’har Orcs)
-An actual race with some new options and work put into them (Zandalari, Kul Tirans)

Vulpera and Mechagnomes I won’t lie are a little one-sided in quality, but still.

Heck Alliance got two brand new skeletons (male and female Kul Tirans), and the Horde got none.

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High Elves or Arrakoa or Tuskarr would be an instant win. No focus group necessary.

I feel like a focus group is how we got Void Elves.

Dev1: Everyone’s been asking for High Elves
Dev2: Yeah everyone loves them
EdgyDev: You know what would be cooler? Emo Edgelord Elves

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I’d agree, but that’s also in a vacuum. What I was trying to draw attention to is that the Alliance, in terms of body type, started behind the 8 ball, so to speak. Again, many thought Vanilla was Nelfs or 3 sizes of humans. And that can’t be measured (e.g. who thought that v. who didn’t) but it factors into some of the discontent in general, but also in terms of the MGs. If we’d have had the existing diversity the Horde had, MGs wouldn’t be as big of a problem.

I also assume the KT skeleton will be used for a future Horde race (Ogres)

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I think it’s ‘ok’ to have some niche Allied races.

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While i do think currently Sethrak for Horde makes a lot more sense, it all depends on what blizzard does with their story and how they interact with alliance

like ZTroll paladins, who thought a troll race could be a paladin? it was justified when blizzard showed they were extremely zealous in their worship under the golden light of rezan.

we could see a sethrak on the alliance side if blizzard wants to (though i highly doubt it)

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Broken Dranei and High elves should have been playable.

But whatever.

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I would argue the exact same thing for Vulpera. The only short race the horde has is goblins and the goblin model is not very popular. There are 40% more gnome 120s than goblin 120s even with horde having more 120s overall. If you count dwarves in the short category (models below 5 feet tall), alliance has around 14% of the population playing a shorter character and horde (pre-vulpera) around 3.5%. To me that represents pent up demand horde side for a short model.

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We need a proper new race.

Allied races for the most part feel dull. Vulpera was pretty good, more like that.

I’d settle for more neutral races like Pandaren.

If next set we just get blue or purple humans or orcs, that’s going to feel pretty uninspired (kind of like the current ones).

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I think the vulpera should have gone to the alliance. They do not make a lot of sense in the horde, in terms of what they bring. They are basically moral goblins without their penchant for making stuff.

The alliance could use a mercantile-focused race. Also vulpera vs goblin commercialism would be funny.

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Yeah but you’re missing the point. MGs would not be problematic if the original 4 races appeared to be three humans. You can’t look at MGs alone and determine if they’re good or not, it’s a relativity issue.

Maybe, but you should also consider that gnomes were in-game from 2004 and Goblins were, what, 2010? On an expansion people hated?

I’m not trying to dismiss your argument, but major factors play into a race being more or less positive.

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I understood the point. I just made my own contribution.

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Which is fine, but given the point of the thread it seems slightly offtopic.

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Give the Alliance the Mogu clan of this patch. They’d be another awesome Shaman, Warrior, Mage the Alliance can use.

Not sure how they could be Rogues, but hey, Mogu would be a blast and might even win the best AR of BFA.

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Topic is allied races.

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Yeah I don’t know the rogue is integral. I mention it only because while making one it highlighted the problem.

That’s the Cliffs Notes version if I’m being generous. This is about ARs in the scheme of the larger faction.