The Unofficial Saurok Playable Race Discussion Megathread! šŸŠ

WoW: Dragonflight is now officially a thing. You can see the official website here (my computerā€™s CPU percentage goes up going to this website, so please keep that in mind before you click the link that it could do that to yours as well and slow it down):

Of note is the new Dracthyr race which can only be the new Evoker class:

Dracthyr are a race of dragon people that have a humanoid form, which seems to be just one type of form as opposed to being able to choose your own race from my understanding. So a combination of some of the ā€œleaksā€ weā€™ve seen before.

Itā€™s pretty cool to see a reptilian-like race in WoW finally, and I can understand from a marketing perspective why dragons were considered as playable in some fashion. Iā€™ve seen people interested in it since all the ā€œleaksā€ began, and some of the concepts seem neat.

Of course, as I mentioned before, dragons and lizardmen are completely different species. Especially since Dracthyr have a dragonkin and a humanoid form. As such, Iā€™m still going forward with playable Horde Saurok support.

I know that we may likely get comments akin to ā€œwe have playable lizards already!ā€ because of this, which Iā€™ll need to make a post on in more detail to share my general thoughts on the matter. I still say that Saurok and Sethrak are quite possible and would give some unique flavor to the game in many ways, and I do not see Dracthyr killing the chances of seeing either playable.

I mean, Night Elves didnā€™t stop Blood Elves from being playable, and both are completely different in many ways. Iā€™d expect the same with Saurok and Sethrak. Besides, Iā€™ve advocated having multiple reptiles on that character creation screen, and I still stand by it. After all, we have multiple flavors of elf, dwarf, human, and such. I see no reason why lizard and snake people would be completely barred as a result.

Iā€™ll likely be sharing more info on the Dracthyr as we see them in action to showcase anything that could be applied to Saurok (and no, I donā€™t expect to see fire breathing Saurok, cool as thatā€™d be). Iā€™m of course planning a couple alts based on the Evoker classā€™s two specs, so that is pretty exciting.

So to be clear, Iā€™m not discouraged at all. I knew making this megathread that the support for playable Horde Saurok could be a long and arduous march, but Iā€™m in it for the long haul. Iā€™ll continue to keep at it as long as I continue playing WoW, and I donā€™t see myself quitting anytime soon.

Anyway, we got one reptile on that character creation screen. Letā€™s see if we can get more on there! :snake: :crocodile: :turtle:

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Sad but not surprised to see no Saurok, but I wonā€™t stop asking for em.

Waited this long. Whatā€™s another two years?

Saurok for the Horde!
:meat_on_bone: :crocodile:

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Wowhead posted a customization preview for the Dracthyr, including animations like a dance:

I do really like the blue-green scale pattern. Itā€™s a color I hope would be available for Saurok as an option, since one of the NPC models uses that color.

I also wonder if any of the animations or the model could be edited to implement playable Saurok or if the Worgen models and animations would be utilized in some fashion. Seems like it could open some doors if playable Saurok could be a thing.

Anyway, just me speculating, of course. Not a guarantee weā€™d see playable Saurok, but Iā€™ll always keep hope! :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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Something pointed out in the Sethrak megathread is that female Dracthyr in their dragonkin form donā€™t appear to have breasts on them, which is an interesting observation (And no, not like THAT. Stop laughing you perverts. < - <;).

One of the worries of seeing playable reptilian races in general is that we might see mammalries put on the female members of said race. It is something that others and myself personally feel isnā€™t fitting for them, and seeing the female Saurok in Hearthstone kinda having them was a little worrying. There are ways to have differences between male and female members of races that donā€™t involve the chest area.

But seeing the Dracthyr apparently not having breasts gives me a bit of hope that weā€™d see similar treatment to female Sethrak and Saurok, should they become playable races. Granted, we have some time between now and when Dragonflight comes out, and the Dracthyr models can always change, so weā€™ll see how they look when it gets closer to their release.

Itā€™ll be something to keep an eye on (again, NOT like that < - <;). In the long run, I hope that female Sethrak and Saurok would be able to get treated with some respect and have some really cool and unique customization options. As I said before, there is plenty you could do with them that would be really neat to see! :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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Some more info regarding the Dracthry has been released regarding customization and also their dragonkin form being their main form from Associate Art Director, Tina Wang on Wowhead:

"Greg Burke: So regardless of how the new race looks, will we be able to play our mage-like abilities in and out of human and Draco form, or are we going to be permanently stuck in Draco form when weā€™re in combat?

Tina Wang: You are all going to be in Dracthyr form when you are in combat. Yes. But let me talk about the Dracthyr and their customizations. There is more customization than what you saw in the video. thereā€™s actually so many ways that you can customize that Dracthyr. Even the shape of the face. You can have, like these snouts that can look more ancient, or more sleek, or like a more blunt.

You can even slightly change your torso to be like slightly more slender or slightly bulkier; and the armor that you wear is a type of armor that you will be able to customize at the Barbershop, too. So Dracthyr, I think theyā€™ll also be able to wear shoulders, tabards, belts across their visage and Dracthyr form. While the visage form is able to wear all-armor."

It sounds interesting to see how much customization options there could be.

It also seems like theyā€™re using the female Worgen skeleton to make Dracthyr, which is interesting as I feel like both Sethrak and Saurok would use Worgen skeletons if they ever became playable.

It seems like it could open some doors for playable Sethrak and Saurok in some ways. Especially since Dracthyr are limited in class selection. Not to mention that Dracthyr, Sehtrak, and Saurok are all unique in their own ways (something Iā€™ll likely be heavily stressing many times, Iā€™m sure).

Since I do look at reptilian races from other games and media for Saurok idea inspiration, I will be looking and sharing more info with the Dracthyr as it is shared. As I said, I donā€™t expect to see flying Saurok that spits fireballs at people, cool as thatā€™d be, but to see how Dracthyr are designed and their customization options would be important to share for Saurok and Sethrak customization ideas.

And of course Iā€™ll be clear again and say that Iā€™m exited for playable Dracthyr (I have my two characters for each spec names reserved and will be planning out customization as we see more of it.) However, Lizardmen are my true love when it comes to fantasy races and I still consider Dragon races to be very different from Lizardmen, with both being awesome in their own ways. I still think playable Saurok and Sethrak would be amazing playable races and be unique experiences while adding some neat variety. :lizard: :snake:

Iā€™ll be keeping an eye out on more Dracthyr info to share, and of course playable Horde Saurok support will march on. Always! :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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Going to post this in both my Saurok and Stonemaul Ogre megatheads, since it is relevant to both.

I came across a post on the Community Council supporting an increase in character slots, which currently is 50. Myself and others have been in support of it, since many of us are very close to or have hit the character cap. When it comes to new races and classes, it becomes harder to sort our characters and what to reroll or, in the worst case scenario, who to delete to be new races and classes.

You can see the post here:

I wanted to share this post in order to get more people to see it. If you like the idea, please throw a like to give support. You can do that to Community Council posts even if you arenā€™t part of it.

Iā€™m hoping that we will be able to get more character slots for our account someday. I personally would prefer to not have to pay for and manage multiple accounts, but speaking for myself, Iā€™d happily pay to get more slots for my account.

Characters are important to MMOā€™s, and many of us like having alts for various reasons. Hopefully, this will be considered since I imagine weā€™ll get more playable races and possibly classes in the future, and that way people donā€™t have to delete anyone if theyā€™ve hit the cap already.

Iā€™ll always keep a few slots reserved for if we get playable Horde Saurok someday, though! :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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It looks like when Dragonflight comes out, weā€™ll be able to use Chromie Time to level in any expansion to L60 (aside from Dragonflight, thatā€™ll be 60-70 content) for alts while new players still start in Exileā€™s Reach and have to do BfA, but not Shadowlands, so they can go from BfA to Dragonflight:

Itā€™s a very interesting change to see. I assume as we go to future expansions, we could see new players go from Exileā€™s Reach to another expansion. It might not make a lot of sense if we get new races and they have to start in BfA when they werenā€™t part of their respective faction yet.

I guess it does depend if new races get the allied race treatment, since they would need to be unlocked, so new players would get to where they can level in any expansion for their alts. A lot depends if any new races get treated like Core Races and are available at the start.

Where would I level any Saurok alts, you might be wondering? Probably Pandaria. Just seems fitting and would let me reflect on how long weā€™ve come if Saurok became playable. It would just make me like my characters that much more if they ever came to be! :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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An interview with Steve Danuser mentions weā€™ll see some of what has been happening with Azeroth in 9.2.5, including some prepatch events:

"A lot has been happening in Azeroth while weā€™ve been absent in the Shadowlands. Are we going to see that story move ahead?

In Shadowlands Patch 9.2.5 weā€™ll see some things happening back in Azeroth and learn of some events that have transpired. Weā€™ll have pre-patch events where we find out whatā€™s going on in Stormwind and Orgrimmar, how the Horde has been faring with their new counsel, how the Alliance has been faring with Turalyon at the helm, and whatā€™s been different about that since then."

To be honest, Iā€™d be very surprised if we saw anything Saurok related in 9.2.5. It would be good to know Pandaria is ok, as well as seeing some of the Saurok tribes band together with the other denizens to fight off undead there, but I donā€™t know what the chances of that being.

I know there has been a rumor of at least one allied race as part of Dragonflightā€™s preorder incentive. I also remember there were four allied race slots datamined when Shadowlands was launching as well. At the time, speculation was that itā€™d be the covenant races, but who knows if those slots will lead into into anything?

I think the reasonable thing for me to hope would be that any playable races we get, assuming we get any in 9.2.5, would be ones people have requested for a long time. One of the top contenders for rumors is Darkfallen, which would be exciting. Moreso if it includes playable Horde Sanā€™layn finally.

While my expectations are tempered, especially given this is a rumor, Iā€™ll always keep some hope of seeing playable Horde Saurok someday. Who knows? Maybe if theyā€™re desiging the Dracthyr, working on playable Saurok could help give them some practice in designing customizations and such, or maybe vice versa could apply. Wishful thinking, sure, but you never know.

Once we know 9.2.5 stuff and preorders for Dragonflight open up, Iā€™ll be sure to report back anything of interest. As I said, expectations are tempered, but hope never dies! :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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Still hoping for more allied races. They are any easy win for blizz and the community.

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Iā€™m certain weā€™ll be seeing more playable races as time goes on. Theyā€™re a really big marketing opportunity, a great expansion feature that is a long term investment in the game, and adds so much to the world building of the game. Not to mention that Blizzard revamped the character creation screen, so there is a lot of room for more playable races.

My main hope is that any races that do become playable, weā€™ll see ones people have been requesting for quite a long time. I feel like it would be quite a positive impact to see some requests become a reality, and itā€™ll be fun to be able to see a race request megathread celebrate and share their new characters and such. :smiley:

Whether new races are treated like core races or unlockable like allied races, I hope we continue to see more. And as always, Iā€™ll keep supporting seeing Ogres and Saurok on the Horde side of that character creation screen, among other races I want to see playable! :cut_of_meat::japanese_ogre: :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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And sneks :snake::snake::snake::snake:

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Saurok for the Horde!

:meat_on_bone: :crocodile:

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Yep! Sethrak as well! Hopefully they and Saurok will appear on that character creation screen someday. The reptilian races in WoW all have unique things and good variety to them that would add a lot to the game! :lizard: :snake: :turtle: :dragon:

:meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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It was recently discovered that an Exploring Azeroth: Northrend book is in the works and is available for preorder on Amazon US. It is currently scheduled to come out October 18th, 2022. Wowpedia has a page for it here:

Obviously, little would involve Saurok there (a bit too cold for them), but with this book being a third in the series, Iā€™m beginning to feel like we could see Exploring Azeroth: Pandaria someday! Iā€™ve talked about such a possibility before, but I figured I would again. :panda_face:

Pandaria is a continent rich with lore and stories in general. It feels like something that would work really well with the format of the Exploring Azeroth books. There are also a number of denizens that would be great to see how theyā€™ve been doing since we left Pandaria as well.

Obviously, this would be of great Saurok interest, since there are a number of tribes on Pandaria. Not to mention that many of the Pandaren have tried to make peace with some of the tribes, so it would be cool to see that happen with at least one tribe. There could also be other things on Saurok, such as different tribe cultures and so on.

Since weā€™d see an Isle of Thunder section, Iā€™m curious if weā€™d get an update on the Skumblade Tribe. Theyā€™re more of an antagonist tribe, but they were growing and becoming a threat at one point. Then again, Nesingwary tamed the son of Kros and several of the Skumblade were transported in cages to Orgrimmar thanks to Garroshā€¦I wonder what ever happened to them? Ah well, there are other tribes of Saurok that would get better treatment in Orgrimmar if the chance ever occurred.

Iā€™d also be curious to see what is said of the Mogu, since we kinda left the three clans warring among each other. I feel like they could still become a pretty big antagonist someday, which would be great to see implemented in playable Saurok storylines. I canā€™t imagine much good coming from leaving the Mogu unchecked.

As you can see, there are a lot of possibilities. If such a book ever gets planned, we might not see it until next year at the earliest. However, I feel like itā€™d be the most likely of the next Exploring Azeroth books, which would be exciting for me.

Granted, at least with Exploring Azeroth: Kalimdor, there were a lot of lore inconsistencies, which wouldnā€™t surprise me with future books. Hopefully, they wouldnā€™t just be all ā€œAnd then the Saurok went RAWR cause they are teh angries!ā€ with them, but who knows? Itā€™d still be worth investigating.

If Exploring Azeroth: Pandaria becomes a thing, Iā€™ll be sure to get it ASAP and report my findings on it. Always an exciting time to add to my Saurok research! :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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Furbolg furbolg furbolg!

Their city it there!

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Indeed! Exploring Azeroth: Northrend could be of interest for several race request megathreads. Taunka, Sanā€™layn, and Furbolg come to mind, and itā€™ll be interesting to read up on how other denizens of Northrend are doing. Moreso with the continent having been infested with undead thanks to the Helm of Domination shattering.

Iā€™m definitely looking forward to getting it and helping report stuff of interest with each respective megathread! :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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Something I forgot to mention regarding Dracthyr is regarding armor appearances. While their humanoid form will wear all types of mail armor, the dragonkin form will only have armor showing from the shoulder, tabard, and belts currently:

ā€œYou can even slightly change your torso to be like slightly more slender or slightly bulkier; and the armor that you wear is a type of armor that you will be able to customize at the Barbershop, too. So Dracthyr, I think theyā€™ll also be able to wear shoulders, tabards, belts across their visage and Dracthyr form. While the visage form is able to wear all-armor.ā€

Bit of a disappointment. I imagine if Dracthyr did eventually get more classes, the limitations would likely still be there. It sounds like the armor that shows for the dragonkin form might be specific to Dracthyr, based on the barbershop comment, as opposed to transmogs you find that other races can transmog. Iā€™ll have to keep an eye out for clarification.

In a way, it does make them a bit more unique I suppose. With Saurok, theyā€™re something that all armor slots should be able to show. If anything, maybe the feet slot would be wrappings similar to how most boots look on Trolls, Tauren, and Worgen. And while I think it has been shown that Sethrak can wear helms, I wonder if theyā€™d have a helm graphic in playable form or not. Ideally, all equipment slots with appearances would show up on both Saurok and Sethrak.

As we go through alphas and betas of Dragonflight, Iā€™ll be sure to share anything regarding Dracthyr customization options and such when Blizzard allows it. We might find some things that could give some Saurok customization idea inspiration! :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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I hope they pay proper attention to how bad the Scourge is supposed to be.

Not just in that book but by the end of SLs.

Honestly they could maybe assuage some of that if they say Zovaals actions and death affected the Scourge keeping them from totally going nuts.

But it should still be bad, and there should be stories.

In my own rp/fanfic most of my toons remained on Azeroth to defend it and only a few with reason actually go to the SLs.

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A lot depends on when the book is suppose to take place. I think the Eastern Kingdoms book takes place near the end of BfA while Kalimdor takes place right after BfA. I imagine if Northrend took place during Shadowlands or even slightly afterwards, there would be quite a bit of undead swarming around, preventing exploration.

I would guess Exploring Azeroth: Pandaria could take place during Dragonflight onward. Really depends on what all is going on and if there is some big world (of Warcraft!) ending event going on.

Generally speaking, we may see how bad the Scourge is in 9.2.5 to a smaller extent. Likely, itā€™ll be focused on smaller areas. Kinda surprised that Ghostlands wasnā€™t infested with them, let alone the Blood Elves not doing much of anything with Deatholme, seeing as Scourge could easily move in and cause problems. Go figure.

I can still imagine the denizens banding together on Pandaria to fight off the undead. Some Saurok tribes could as well, and if so, maybe it could finally open negotiations between them and the Pandarens. Maybe weā€™ll see that someday, if rumors of eventually returning to Pandaria in some fashion come true.

Hopefully whatever happens, weā€™ll see Saurok on the Horde side of that character creation screen in the near future! :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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A little bit of story info of Dracthyr has come out, along with a couple of WoWpedia pages of a general info and a playable version of them.

"The dracthyr were created in the ancient past by the black Dragon Aspect Neltharion, who combined the essence of dragons with the adaptability of the mortal races to create a race of ideal soldiers.

Neltharion crafted the Forbidden Reach off the coast of the Dragon Isles to serve as the dracthyr soldiersā€™ training ground, but after a terrible battle, the island laid dormant and abandoned for ages. Recently, however, the return of an ancient enemy caused the dracthyr to stir, and they now seek to forge their own path in Azeroth by joining both the Alliance and the Horde."

Bit of an interesting parallel between them and Saurok in a way. Dracthyr were created from dragon essences and mortals (in some fashion) while Saurok were given form thanks to the fleshshaping magic the Mogu used. I doubt Netharion would have used the Dracthyr for benevolent and altruistic purposes, so both he and the Mogu were more or less creating slave soldiers to be used for nefarious purposes.

Iā€™ve mentioned before that several themes of reptilian races seem to have them been used as slaves. Iksar (Everquest) and Argonians (Elder Scrolls) are big examples, and now we have Saurok and Dracthyr to also add to that list. At least all of them have gotten their freedom in a way.

I would guess Saurok would likely be good friends with the Dracthyr, since they have similar backstories. I could see them forming quite the bond over it and sharing stories. I can also imagine Dracthyr using their fire breath in order to cook meat, likely making Saurok pretty happy and jealous.

Maybe we could see a big BBQ party in Orgrimmar someday! :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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