Alright, this is going to be a long one, so sorry in advance and buckle up for a deep huff of copium. I’d like to start off by saying that this is meant to be an open discussion, so please use this rant as a springboard to actually talk and not just argue - with any hope, a Dev or two will see this and recognize it for what it is: Community interest in their game. I haven’t felt compelled to post on the forums in ages, and this is one of the only things I honestly care about in the game anymore, so here goes.
Playable races are a sticking point, it feels like; particularly in the RP community, but not only in the RP community. People have certainly wanted XYZ races to be playable since the birth of the game (i.e Ogres, Naga, Furbolgs, Tuskarr, Vrykul, etc), and while they used to be a sort of selling point for an expansion at launch, I think it’s fair to say they’ve evolved into something a little less vital to the sale of an expansion in the last few years.
Allied races, while generally received with mixed emotions, I posit, are sort of genius for exactly that reason; they trivialize the actual effort it takes to add “playable races”, and makes them more of a garnish and less of a main course, so to speak. When they were introduced as a staple of the game in Legion, notably at the end of the expansion, and equally as notably, without advertisement until their reveal, it’s safe to say there had been some interest generated in the races that were chosen to be additions to the roster because of their relevance.
Lightforged Draenei, Highmountain Tauren, Void Elves, and Nightborne all had one thing generally in common; immediate relevance to the ongoing plot. Meaning, they had been more recently introduced to players conceptually, through actual gameplay. We got to know Highmountain and Nightborne while leveling up, and we got to know Lightforged and Void Elves through end game story progression.
They were, at the time, presently important to the story, so a lot could be immediately forgiven in terms of lacking starting zones, skipping the first 10 levels of the starting experience, etc. They were also unlocked content. In my view, this is not a negative - but a positive for two reasons; It necessitates engaging with the story of the game and the game -itself- to engage with the races as a playable option. It makes people who want them have to play the game - which I see as a net positive. That is the first reason. The second, is it makes adding new races virtually trivial. Cutting the first 10-15 levels of a questing experience means dozens, or hundreds of quests no longer need to be written or coded, a zone no longer needs to be designed and modeled and swept for bugs, voice acting is cut down on drastically; all in all, it makes a bite-sized workload, compared to what is now currently imposed on developers.
What does this have to do with the title of this post? Well, let’s look at the trend of how races have been handled, on a historical basis. First of all, Draenei and Blood Elves. The initial precedent set by the addition of new races was, in essence, a mechanical one. For those of you who don’t know, Blood Elves were the introduction to Paladins to the Horde, and Draenei were the introduction to shamans to the Alliance. This, during a time when the mechanics of those classes operated in such a way, that content was approached wildly differently by both factions. It was fairly revolutionary. Two races, classes now open to both factions, and player identity expands.
Secondly, Worgen and Goblins. Now, there may have been some interest in Draenei before being introduced - after all, they were mentioned in WC3, and even seen through Akama and what would eventually be the Broken/Lost Ones. But I think it’s fairly safe to say, no one expected Worgen as a playable option. Frankly, I don’t think it was initially a highly popular addition, or at least - it wasn’t a highly requested one. Goblins, on the other hand, certainly had some pull in terms of popularity. Goblin stuff is fun, and funny, and people like that element. If nothing else, Worgen set a precedent that a playable race didn’t need to adhere to having only one form/silhouette. Player identity is further expanded.
Thirdly, Pandaren. The first time we see a faction neutral race. Only one addition in MoP, and at the time, plenty of people were shocked and somewhat outraged by the content of the expansion - particularly due to its proximity to Kung Fu Panda. Personally, I remember this expansion very fondly, due to its intense lean toward world building, and the expansion also introduced a fully functional class - one that started at level 1, as opposed to DKs starting at level 58. So, the single addition to the roster could be forgiven.
The next time playable races were added after that, was with the advent of Allied Races. And ever since then, it seems as though the impetus to add player races has only diminished, on Blizzard’s end. Despite Allied Races cutting back on the actual workload, as previously mentioned, the pattern of slowly parsing playable options has only continued to spiral downward. Dracthyr may have been a fully new race, and one that added its own class, but it is a class that, as of posting this, is only available to that race.
Earthen, in my opinion, have further exacerbated the issue. In all my time engaging with this game, and the RP community, and the forums surrounding those two things, I can honestly say I don’t recall ever seeing Earthen as a requested addition. Zandalari Trolls? Mag’har orcs? Sure. Though, I think people expected options like those to be customization choices, rather than separate entities - but Earthen? I genuinely don’t ever remember seeing a call for them. Granted, the questing experience in Dornogal and Khaz Algar softened me to them, on a cultural level, that made them much more endearing than I would have previously expected, the fact remains: They are an Allied Race. Capital A, Capital R. They are the same skeletal rig as Dwarves, just slightly upscaled and repainted with different textures. Visually, from behind (which is how most players interact with their characters, if we’re being honest) they are almost indistinguishable from Dwarves.
And not only are they on the end of Allied Races that is much more “Subrace” than say, Vulpera (which is its own species, and culture, and identity, and personality in the Warcraft setting, just reusing a skeletal rig from Goblins), and they are the ONLY addition to the expansion? Unless you count pointy ears for humans, which, let’s be honest, you don’t. I don’t. No one counts that as another added race. A nice addition, sure, but it still leaves the third reskin of Dwarves as the only real addition to the game this expansion. One that has incredibly low player percentages, and had a low population of advocates to be added in the first place.
Obviously, none of this really matters. It’s pixels in a video game. The Devs will do what they want when they want, and there’s no real stopping that - but I would just like to point out, while plenty of people would much prefer ‘More customization options, fewer new races’, or to the crowd of people who roll their eyes every time a race is sidestepped after being positively received and raved over (i.e sethrak, tuskarr, ethereals, etc), new races A) ARE more customization; they represent player agency and choice in a way that very little else in an MMO does, or can represent, and B) The fact people WANT a playable race shows the investment into the setting people had, and have had, for decades now. It is not a bad thing people get excited when they see a carrot. It’s a bad thing when the carrot is waved in front of their face, and then pulled away.
And here, we come to the point of this post. Ethereals, in Ghosts of K’aresh. Now, I’ve been “playing” this game since early TBC, late Classic (if you can call what a 7 year old does in an MMO ‘playing the game’) and I have been enamored with Ethereals since day 1. As have many other people. The developers have acknowledged as much in recent interviews, repeatedly reiterating how “Ethereals are fan favorites” and “how much they want to get them right for the fans”, while in the same breath saying “No, we have no plans on making them playable”.
I have two issues with this. The first, is that it shows an understanding that Blizzard recognizes the parts of the game people do tend to latch onto; races and their aesthetics, Ethereals and K’aresh, the like. Find any “ethereal patch/expansion” leak from over the years and come back to me with how many of them include playable Ethereals.
Now compare that with the first answer in one of the earliest interviews on GoK, in regards to playable Ethereals. “No playable Ethereals, but there will be plenty of cosmetics that let you RP as one if you want!” This is irritating, and frankly, somewhat insulting on principle to me. That is a non-solution. Putting aside the fact that THAT particular answer is basically anathema to Allied Races in general (considering how many are literally reskins), but it misses the point of excitement for an ‘Ethereal’ patch altogether.
People get excited for these themed patches because, like it or not, people like me get the itch for a new race. It’s exciting. It’s fun. Maybe not for everyone, but for a LOT of people. So to say “We know how much you guys want playable Ethereals, so instead of giving them to you, we’re going to make some mogs that almost let you live out that fantasy” is a slap in the face.
Now, in one of the more recent (as of this post) interviews, the answer given is somewhat more diffusive, but no less definitively “No”. Something along the lines of “No plans right now, but we look forward to hearing what people think after they play the patch”.
Blizzard. People are letting you know -now-. We’ve been letting you know -since TBC-, over a decade and a half ago. In the last week alone, since the patch was revealed, there have been an influx of reddit posts, forum posts (both here and on MMOchamp and the like) of people, much like myself, huffing hard on copium. Because we -really- want this one. This would be such a tremendous win for so many people, that not doing it where it makes the most sense, feels like an intentional subversion for no other reason than wanting to avoid fan service.
This post is meant to be a discussion, but it is also meant to be “Nothing happens if you don’t put it out there”, in so far as, I really hope Devs see this, and posts like it, in no uncertain terms asking for something we have been requesting for years now. This is the last great opportunity to show players you really are listening to what we want. The fanbase is speaking. We want this.
That said, to further discussion to everyone else, I welcome any and all input. Personally, I doubt we’ll get playable Ethereals, if for no other reason than because of how -rare- it is actually that Blizzard has ever delivered a player race based on fan requests. Like I said, Naga, Ogres, Furbolgs, etc, have much higher request rates than Ethereals. Though, none of them are as relevant as of Ghosts of K’aresh.
What does everyone else think? Do we foresee any other Allied/Player races in the World Soul Saga? If so, what do you think is likely, and what do you think is unlikely?
Personally, I’d also like to see Furbolgs and Ogres added as faction specific races, or Broken Draenei/Forest Trolls added as faction specific Allied Races. The latter pair, I think, is much more likely - at least, during the WWS. Thoughts?
