The Unofficial Saurok Playable Race Discussion Megathread! šŸŠ

Just what I think!:ok_hand::+1:

2 Likes

I think for any race Blizzard would want playable, they will write whatever they need to in order to make it work. Weā€™ve seen this with Dark Iron Dwarves, who had a lot of lore created for them to have a good faction of them to join the Alliance, both before becoming an allied race and when they actually did become one, when they were originally all just evil dwarves that were causing problems and were there just for you to have as antagonists in certain areas and dungeons.

The Brinescale Saurok that joined the Bilge Rat pirates had to have been in some sort of situation that required them to join up as a form of survival, which is a pretty big incentive. If we were to take a theoretical faction of Saurok that would become playable, they would have the evil Mogu chasing them down as well as the Skumblade Tribe, who is likely growing in power and becoming zealots that are overpowering other Saurok against their will, to contend with. Either of these would give a good incentive of survival for Saurok to be more open with working with and even joining the Horde, and Saurok in general fit the Horde thematically.

Speaking of, I was thinking a lot of what the Horde can do for the Saurok, but I did overlook something important that, generally speaking, people mention when discussing new racesā€¦what can the Saurok do for the Horde? Itā€™s something I plan to type out in the near future and have had some fun thinking about.

At any rate, all I can do is present ideas and show support for the Saurok as best as I can, and Iā€™m very appreciative of others that post here and also show support. :smiley:

Hopefully, the Saurok will rise up and have their day, and we will see them as members of the Horde someday! :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

2 Likes

Thatā€™s why the only one making sauroks and other races as ā€˜impossible to useā€™ is Blizzard itself!

I hope everyone is having a good Halloween. Itā€™s a fun holiday, and itā€™s also exciting that Blizzcon is tomorrow.

Iā€™m not sure what to expect, other than weā€™ll likely see the next expansion announced. We may also get more 8.3 information, including more on what is going on in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. If anything Saurok related comes out of Blizzcon, Iā€™ll be sure to talk about and analyze it, for better or worse.

On another note, I was recalling my Everquest 1 days when I remembered something pretty cool regarding the Iksar. In Everquest 1, Monks had all sorts of melee attacks you could skill-up in. At the time I played, there were only Human and Iksar Monks, and there was a difference regarding this. Humans got a ā€œDragon Punchā€ skill while Iksar got ā€œTail Rakeā€ skill. They performed roughly the same, just with a different name and animation. Itā€™s a cool thing Iā€™d like to see in WoW in general with different races of the same class that adds some flavor with race selection and fantasy, in my opinion.

On the subject of a tail rake skill, I thought a pretty neat racial Saurok could get would be a tail sweep skill where the Saurok spins around, stretching out its tail and anything around them falls down stunned for a second or two. Obviously, this is something that would need to be tested and fine-tuned, and to be fair Iā€™m not the best at designing racials with PvP in mind, but itā€™s a neat skill idea. It would obviously need a decent cooldown, as the Saurok doing it might be prone to getting dizzy. :stuck_out_tongue:

Saurok strike me as a race that would make use of their entire body in combat. Imagine, if you will, a scenario where an Alliance human managed to knock a sword out of a Saurokā€™s hand. The human would think that they have the upper hand while the Saurok, thinking the sudden bravado would be cute, would quickly remind the human that they have teeth and claws still. This makes them quite the useful ally on the battlefield and they may not need to be fed much if they manage to win some battles. :v

Anyway, that is enough rambling from me. I hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween, and I should hopefully be around tomorrow for Blizzcon stuff. Hard to believe it has almost been a year since the last oneā€¦my how time flies.

More Saurok research to continue in the future! :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

2 Likes

If Blizz were smart they would be churning out every allied race they could think of.

Questions for the QnA tomorrow are being taken here:

Iā€™ve already asked a question regarding Ogres, but if anyone wants to ask any Saurok questions, please feel free to. To be honest, I am unsure what type of question to even suggest asking regarding Saurok. x- x

I donā€™t recommend people ask if theyā€™ll ever be playable. Obviously, that wonā€™t work. :stuck_out_tongue:

If I happen to think of some suggestions, Iā€™ll be sure to mention them.

Also not much info given on 8.3 at Blizzcon. Iā€™ll type up some thoughts later after I have time to digest the announcements.

Iā€™m surprised 8.3 didnā€™t get talked much about at Blizzcon, but we got ourselves a new expansion. No new races announced, sadly, but we do have more of BfA to continue with.

There is still currently room on the character creation screen for two more allied races, though Iā€™d be very surprised if Saurok happened to be the Worgen-related allied race. There hasnā€™t been much Saurok-related activity mentioned for our return to the Vale of Eternal Blossoms so far, and Iā€™ll be very surprised if I see any of the tribes helping the Rajani, considering the whole ā€œMogu being their blood sworn enemyā€ thing. As I stated before, Iā€™ll keep an eye out for any Saurok activity in 8.3 for better or worse, though Iā€™m not really expecting much.

As we start to move away from BfA, I still feel that weā€™ll see more core and allied races in the future. Core races still have their purpose in terms of marketing, and allied races still would be great to see and give a chance for some races to be playable that wouldnā€™t have a chance otherwise. I really find it hard to not see the allied race system utilized at all in future expansions, though I wouldnā€™t expect 10+ races to occur in one expansion again like with BfA. Blizzard can always add more slots on the character creation screen or every redesign it altogether to add more races.

As usual, even though it is a long shot, Iā€™ll continue to support Saurok as a playable Horde race. There are still some things to research, concepts to discuss, and even some ideas for me to write out. I honestly have fun doing these type of activities not just for here but also for other megathreads. Hopefully, weā€™ll see Horde Saurok having BBQ parties in Orgrimmar someday. :smiley:

Once again, more Saurok research to continue in the future! :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

1 Like

Well it looks like 8.3 is coming out early next year according to this blue post:

Not too surprised. as there are quite a few things to test, flesh out, and such for 8.3 as a whole.

Also, as I said before, even if weā€™re going back to the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, Iā€™m not expecting a lot of Saurok activityā€¦well, aside from them being potential world quest fodder there.

Iā€™m also not expecting an 8.3.5 patch, so considering the current theme of an allied race relating somehow to a core race, whatever the Undead and Worgen allied races are may come in the far futureā€¦though I would be surprised if Saurok were the Worgen allied race. If this happened, Iā€™d be worried that either they would be put on the Alliance to become Anduinā€™s boot lickers, which I personally hope never happens, or the Undead variant allied race gets put on Allianceā€¦which I personally have some issues with in general.

Iā€™m still of the opinion that if there is any chance of Saurok becoming playable, low as it could be, that a brand new tribe of them in a future expansion area is likely our best bet, likely as a core race instead of an allied race but either works. Regardless, Blizzard can always expend the character creation screen to put in more slots as they add in more playable races.

Whatever the case, Iā€™ll be sure to analyze whatever happens in 8.3, for better or worse, and will continue to post ideas hereā€¦well, assuming someone replies to this thread as I canā€™t post more than three times in a row. Otherwise, Iā€™ll have to just edit this post. ā† <;

As always, more Saurok research to continue in the future! :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

1 Like

So devs have a chance to do something that is most valuable to BfA before the end!

1 Like

So I found two articles of interest on WoWHead. To start with, there is an article going over an assault in Vale of the Eternal Blossoms, specifically the Black Empire assault:

Nothing really Saurok related in this one, though according to WoWHead, there are different types of assaults in the area. We know that the evil Mogu are up to no good, and it would be neat to see one of the assaults involve fighting them

As I stated before, if there is any Saurok presence, itā€™ll likely be just as mooks to kill for quests and such, but Iā€™ll keep an eye out for info on the area just to see if there is anything of interest.

The other thing of interest is regarding an interview that was posted on WoWHead:

Specfically this question at the very bottom:

"Any allied races planned for later in the Shadowlands?

Allied races should feel thematically appropriate. A lot of the races encountered at the end of Legion and BFA fit, as people we discovered become embroiled in the wars weā€™re fighting and both sides are looking for reinforcements, but Shadowlands doesnā€™t really have that feeling at the start. Itā€™s something theyā€™ll look at and see how players react to certain races, but nothing is planned for the launch of Shadowlands."

The main thing to note is the last sentence, involving how players react to certain races. Now, it isnā€™t a guarantee that said race would become playable, but it does show that Blizzard, to a certain extent, does look at feedback regarding some races, especially during expansions. This is apparent with Vulpera, which was one of my most wanted races, that were extremely popular and managed to get in.

Regardless of what is going on with the current expansion, it is important to show some support of some for a race people want playable in some fashion. Magā€™Har Orcs and Dark Iron Dwarves were asked for many years before they became allied races in BfA. Even things such as boneless Forsaken, asked occasionally for years, are an upcoming customization option for Forsaken in Shadowlands.

When I created this megathread, I did not view it as a guarantee that Saurok would eventually become playable. I considered it with a ā€œnothing ventured, nothing gainedā€ mindset. Showing some form of support, with different ideas and discussions, is better than just silently hoping that it will become a thing. Itā€™s a reason I type a lot for the Saurok, Ogre, and Sanā€™layn megathreads. I legitimately want to make characters of those races and see storylines with them being part of the Horde.

While I donā€™t expect to see Saurok appear in Shadowlands, if they do make an appearance in future expansions, I definitely will be showing support for them. I do think they would do best in an expansion theme where the evil Mogu, who are still around, are up to no good and causing problems with a new Saurok tribe in an expansion area, but regardless, some creativity would need to be implemented.

As Iā€™ve said before, no matter what, Iā€™ll always support Ogres, Saurok, and Sanā€™layn for the Horde. :smiley:

More Saurok research to continue in the future! :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

3 Likes

Make it happen BLIZZ!!!

2 Likes

Iā€™d be happy to see playable sauroks. Not that Iā€™d play as one, but having the option would be great.

2 Likes

So Wowhead put up an article with some Warcraft III Reforged models awhile ago:

Of note, they had a model of a lizard called a" Skink" shown here:

Looks a bit similar to Saurok that have the frill on their head, doesnā€™t it? I havenā€™t really played much of Warcraft III, so I donā€™t know where this lizard actually appears in the game, but I thought it was a neat thing to post about.

It does make me think a bit regarding Saurok design possibilities, though. The Mogu used a lot of lizards they gathered up from Pandaria, and possibly imported more from other areas, in order to create the Saurok. This would mean that there would, in theory, be a lot of scale patterns and other aspects, such as different horns and the like, that would be neat to see as customization options. Iā€™m also guessing most of the lizards used were a similar species. All the Saurok weā€™ve seen in-game are more or less similar looking, aside from frills of course, so it is possible that the Mogu used the same type of lizard in their creation. If the Mogu used things like crocolisks, we might have had 6 armed Saurok. :V

Something I want to do in the future is to look up some different scale patterns of different real life lizards and share them as customization ideas. There are already quite a few NPCā€™s with a variety of scale patterns, but having more options is always good!

There is also the female Saurok to consider still. Whether to give them a brighter color scales or even give them a bit of different designs from male Saurok, such as Iksar in Everquest 2, for example.

Plenty of ways to go about with lizardmen customization in general, and Saurok could be an interesting challenge to design if they ever happen to become playable.

On another note, the holidays are coming up, and Iā€™m looking forward to eating loads of turkey, likely unleashing my inner Saurok in the process. I hope everyone here has a great and safe holiday! :smiley:

More Saurok research to continue in the future! :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

2 Likes

I wanted to talk about a couple of things in this post. First, the smaller part involving an assault in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms:

Nothing Saurok related in here that I noticed, though there may be other assaults and possibly world quests for the area that have yet to be revealed. So far, it seems as if the Mantid are the main antagonists for the area, though the evil Mogu are suppose to be in the area causing trouble as well.

The Saurok tribe that was in the area before, during MoP, was mentioned to be not from the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, so they may have been able to free themselves from the evil Mogu mind control and dashed elsewhere. No Saurok presence is not a bad thing, as any Saurok that could appear here would most likely just be mooks to kill for world quest credit and such. Still, Iā€™ll keep an eye out for any Saurok activity, for better or worse.

The other thing I wanted to mention was this neat video that discusses playable Lizardfolk for 5th Edition D&D:

Now this was uploaded in 2016, but itā€™s still an interesting video to watch and listen to how playable Lizardfolk were designed at the time. It did get me to think a bit about playable Saurok personality in general.

Obviously if Saurok ever got to be playable, they would need to get along with the other Horde races. My personal preference is that if any Saurok did join the Horde, they should be all for the idea of being part of the Horde and would be happy to have found a home while being able to work with other members of the Horde.

There should be a form of savagery in their personality, which is a bit different from being RAWR and angry all the time. Imagine Worgen, where they work with the other races in a gruff manner and go RAWR when in a combat situation, but kicked up a few notches. Some I could see being a bit hot headed at times, especially in the middle of combat, but otherwise I could still see them being mellow and able to control themselves when just walking around in Orgimmar and getting food or looking for work.

Of course, with the idea that Saurok would be passionate about meat/fish and cooking them in various ways, they could show a happier side when hunting, cooking, and eating meat. This would likely lead to quite the epic BBQ in Orgimmar and make them popular in general. :cut_of_meat::crocodile:

Iā€™ll have to think a bit more on how playable Saurok personality should be, but I am curious what other people might think, so please feel free to post your thoughts. Iā€™ll reflect over it some more and type more in-depth when I get more time.

Also, this week is when Turkey Massacre Day occurs, where I mentioned earlier will be a day that I unleash my inner Saurok with the appetite of an Ogre. For those that are celebrating, please have a fun and safe holiday week! :turkey:

More Saurok research to occur in the future! :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

1 Like

Keep up the good work! And good holiday!

1 Like

It has been awhile, thanks to real life obligations taking my free time, but with it being near the end of the year, I thought it would be a good time to look back on the year some and also look at some plans going forward next year regarding Saurok support.

Letā€™s start with a look back at 2019.

This was the year that I personally started coming to the forums. Originally, I was a lurker, where I looked at the different race megathreads for support of different races. One of the neat things about the allied race system is that it did band people together to show support for races they wanted playable. Many of the megathreads inspired me to join the forums start supporting the Ogre megathread. Ogres and Saurok were my most wanted races and I felt that Ogres, at the very least, had a chance of becoming playable, so I focused on writing and coming up with ideas and scenarios for them.

Saurok have always been a pipe dream for me. Seeing them in Pandaria and how they were at that time was a reason I opted to silently hope for them, thinking they might not have much chance. However, as time went on, I became more inspired from the different megathreads here to seriously consider making a Saurok megathread. I knew that Saurok have an uphill battle in possibly becoming playable and while I did see people across different forms of media discuss wanting playable Saurok occasionally, it wasnā€™t a huge amount and they all ended with the notion that Saurok were too primitive and angry to likely ever be playable.

Even so, I managed to gather up some courage and took a ā€œnothing ventured, nothing gainedā€ stance. Saurok didnā€™t have a megathread and werenā€™t really talked about much, and I felt that showing support of some sort was important even if the chances of them being a playable race in BfA were slim as they could always be considered as a playable race in a future expansion.

So here we are today, and while not the biggest megathread, Iā€™m glad that most people generally regard this megathread positively. Iā€™ve enjoyed researching Saurok related stuff in-game and typing things up while reading ideas other people have posted in here. Iā€™m also happy that those that run the forums allow me to maintain and reply to this thread to keep adding to it. Whether or not Blizzard does get feedback from the megathreads is unclear, but I still think it is important to show support of some kind instead of silently hoping.

Now that I talked some of the past, lets talk about the future. I have some plans in mind to continue showing Saurok support over time.

First of all, Iā€™ve been debating making a discord for Saurok. Some of the other megathreads have their own discord servers and having one could have some practical purposes. Obviously I would still post in this megathread, and the discord could also be used for lizard man fans in general to talk about lizard man races in other games they happen to be playable in, either in MMOā€™s or single player games. Iā€™m still thinking on it and will go into more detail later, but if anyone is particularly interested, please let me know.

Second thing is that I do have some writings Iā€™m planning to do. On the list I have is writing about what Saurok can bring to the Horde if they become playable (I have a few things in mind and am currently still working on it). Iā€™ve also been thinking of a hypothetical expansion scenario where Saurok are introduced as a playable Horde race, which is mostly meant to share as an example of what could be done with Saurok. It has been fun to think of so far, and Iā€™ll likely share some of it as I try to fine-tune it. Obviously, I would not expect it to ever see it become a real thing. Itā€™s just meant as a concept and hopefully spark some inspiration.

Third, I am planning to look up scale patterns, colors, and features of different lizards in real life to suggest as possible Saurok customization options.

Lastly, there is the usual research of looking at Saurok mobs and lore in the game and seeing what we have to work with and to analyze. While Iā€™ve done a lot with it, Iā€™m still keeping an eye out for anything of interest.

Saurok are a race that have a lot of potential and can add a lot to the game, both gameplay and lore, especially since WoW is lacking a lizardman race. While they have a very uphill battle, Iā€™ll always support them as a playable race, be it allied or core.

To end off this post, I would like to thank everyone who has come here, shared ideas, and help to show support for playable Saurok. I realize that the thread has mostly been me posting ideas and such, but I wanted to be clear in that I do welcome other peopleā€™s ideas and really appreciate the support. I also want to thank the other megathreads for giving me inspiration and courage to make my own Saurok megathread. Thank you all very much!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season. As for me, I will continue to show support for Saurok as best as I can, real life permitting, and I will also continue to dream of the day that we see Saurok in Orgimmar as part of the Horde. :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

2 Likes

I feel like Sauroks would get along well with the different races of the horde namely the forsaken and trolls zandalari included. With some sauroks having a religious belief in Kros, the devilsaur in the sky it would have been very interesting to see their reaction to the Zandalariā€™s loa Rezan who maybe some of them would view as another aspect of Kros. This and their seemingly being shared practices among trolls and saurok (Saurok hexxers in the game if I recall) theyā€™d have a lot in common with trolls in general.

Overall pretty cool and lots of room for exploration that Iā€™d love to see in-game.

2 Likes

Orcs and Saurok would likely get along well, since there are quite a few similarities between the two races and what theyā€™ve had to go through (something I wrote a bit about in a previous post). Zandalari would take a little bit of explanation that it was the bad Zandalari that joined with the evil Mogu, and that should work out fine. Other than being great units that can be aquatic, Iā€™m sure theyā€™d be very popular with the other Horde races in general with all the meat dishes they would bring to share. :cut_of_meat::crocodile:

The thing about Kros is that, to my knowledge, itā€™s mostly the Skumblade tribe that worships him, and the Skumblade are full of zealots who think they come from him while other tribes know that the evil Mogu created them and tried to enslave them.

The idea of Saurok reaction to Rezan is a neat one, but we sadly wonā€™t know since Rezan is a bit busy being dead. The Skumblade would likely see Rezan as a lesser god and wouldnā€™t like him at all. As for other tribes, it really depends on each tribe and how they have grown as a race since then.

My own personal opinion is that if Saurok worship anything, it could be a wild god. There are several of them, and if a theoretical playable Saurok faction did occur and came from Pandaria, I could see one of them leading Saurok away to form their own civilization as they worship said wild god.

As much work as it could be, one of the neat things with Saurok is that you can do quite a lot with them in terms of lore and fitting them in an expansion, be it as an allied race or a core race on a new continent. It can lead to many interesting discussions! :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

1 Like

Yes! And weā€™ve seen sauroks working with other races without trying to kill them.

Just imagine some sauroks like this

Weā€™re going back to Pandaria.

It would be a good time to see these thick shells again and this time as a playable breed.

1 Like

If there is one thing that Saurok get out of BfA, it is this type of development of their race. Even if the intent was just tossing in a bunch of NPC races and Vulpera to fit a one-off theme and said theme is pirates, itā€™s still an important development to show that Saurok can work with and negotiate with other races, which is something the Pandarens on Pandaria have been trying to accomplish with the Saurok there and are still attempting to.

Another thing to note from BfA would be the Gilblins, who show that a race that originally were angry male mooks with the depth of a puddle can be redesigned, given purpose and lore, and female models to fit as a potential allied race in the future. Iā€™m sure something similar could be done with just about any NPC race, and Saurok would especially benefit from this.

While Shadowlands may not be the right place for them, there is always a chance theyā€™ll fit in a future expansion and work as either an allied or core race. Itā€™s not a guarantee, of course, but their chances have improved, in my opinion, and to continue to show support helps increase those chances further.

Iā€™m still keeping an eye out for 8.3 stuff to see what Saurok activity there is, but even if they show up as world quest fodder, there is always a chance in the future. After all, it seems like a few tribes left Pandaria to seek their own fortune, and who knows how many of them left and what theyā€™re up to?

Not to mention there are still evil Mogu around, and maybe the Saurok are the heroes we need and deserve to help with that. :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

Also that pirate image has caused me to reference this scene and song:

1 Like