I like mechagnomes. I think they’re cute and their zone/lore is interesting, but even then I find myself resenting them for one reason. They were paired with the wrong race. It just feels so uneven when comparing them to vulpera. This has also led to an overall negative sentiment towards them by Alliance players.
Had they been paired with gilgoblins then I don’t think the antagonism would be there. They’d be in a similar boat as Dark Iron Dwarves. Not the most popular race, but also one that is generally not hated and also seen as an acceptable allied race.
The issue is mechagnomes aren’t mechanical gnomes they are just cyborgs not as cool. If we got the something similar to uldar mechagnomes that would’ve been sweet
Not just that they aren’t mechanical gnomes they are just gnomes with a robot arm if they were fully robots that gained free will that would’ve been so much cooler. But blizzard doesn’t like that because it would require effort in a story telling
I’d say the few biggest issues were their lack of pants, which does not improve things, and that gnomes are a pretty hit or miss race. So a gnome sub-race comes across as a wasted option to a certain crowd.
And when people heard the term “Mechagnomes” they imagined the titan ones from Northrend, not half-regular half-android gnomes. So that was another black mark. Even though the Northrend ones are artificial robots and not actual people.
But also back then, and honestly still now, people are very hung up on wanting things like sethrak or ankoan and such, which are deemed as cooler. It’s not that the vulpera pairing is bad, it’s just mechagnomes were not really on the radar, despite being half of a major patch of development. So inevitably players disappointed themselves by having other expectations.
Oh for sure. But they were still more well received of an idea playing the actual robot versions. They do look really cool, the Ulduar ones. That was just one of the silly arguments back then asking for those instead.
I agree with this. I was really hoping that’s what they were going to be. The ones we did get could have been cool, but they just missed the mark with the design.
Instead of being cyborgs we got amputee gnomes. It doesn’t feel like they “upgraded” themselves so much as patched themselves up with scraps after being seriously injured.
If you’re going to make cyborgs, you gotta lean into it.
I would have much preferred robot/android instead.
Look I don’t have a problem with them being cyborgs but this AR felt like it was not thought out and was rushed I really hope customization for them in future makes them more robotic.
Maybe this is an unpopular opinion but I prefer these mechagnomes to Ulduar ones. Might be because I started playing WoW during Legion and the mechagnomes I got to know are these guys.
I think expectations were different because of vulpera tho. Like why does Horde get a unique race and Alliance not? Ya know what I mean?
And that is completely fine just really wish we got more robotic feel to them but if they want to keep cyborg asethetic that’s fine too maybe have a half human half robot face options or maybe scars reveal some inner wiring. Showing they really melded with technology
Personally I would had loved if the Alliance got the Titanforged Mechagnomes as an Allied race, or at the very least – the option to choose to be so.
The lore could be they found a titan artifact to undo the curse of flesh (Much like the Mogu did) and instead of replacing & removing pieces of themselves til there’s nothing left - that removes the essence of their minds & the core of who they are like the way King Mechagon did; the method is instead is genuine and keeps their minds, personalities and core beings intact.
The notion is fine but we should of received a fully mechanical gnome option from the day they were released if they can make demonic skin tones for demon hunters they can do the same for mechagnomes
Technically the vulpera use the goblin rigs so they’re more of a goblin sub-race as far as models go.
Vulpera are more unique, but it’s not a competition. Not everything one side gets has to be completely equal to the other. The real fact is there were no other options. Mechagnomes were designed from the start to be playable and easily fit all criteria for an allied race. No other race we had seen around there was ever meant to be from lore and/or models. Blizz just picked their path.
I don’t think it’s a big deal though. There’s 22 other races in game. Even if some people hate mechagnomes it’s not like there aren’t other things to play.
