So while not a reptile, I came across a really neat amphibian that looks very lizard like and had a really awesome pattern on its body I wanted to share. Itās called the fire salamander:
Something like that would look really cool as a Saurok scale color pattern, much like the gilla monster I shared several posts ago.
Iām currently working on exams this week, so posts might slow down a bit. Iām half-way done with exams, though, which will be a huge relief!..until my next class starts. x- x
So aside from WoW, one of the biggest MMORPGās on the market is Final Fantasy 14. Itās a very popular game, though I personally donāt have a lot of interest in it for a couple of reasons.
The main reason for it is that Iām not really into the playable race choices. The races are more or less either anime boys or waifu tropes. Not quite my cup of tea in terms of character customization.
The other reason for it is that the game, from my understanding, isnāt very alt friendly. Itās more designed for you to focus on one character, again to my understanding.
You may have seen me mention before in a few other threads that Iād consider trying it out if Bangaa, a race of lizard men, ever became playable. This isnāt specifically because it is a lizardmen race, though it is a reason I like them, but itās a race that both exists in the game as well as in the Final Fantasy series in general. There is also the idea that if I only focus on one character in a MMORPG, Iād want it to be a race I actually like.
While I canāt say what the chances are they would ever become playable in FF14, I figured Iād show them off some since I look at lizardmen races from various sources of media for Saurok idea inspiration. If they ever did become playable, it then becomes more competition to WoW, who is sadly very lacking in the playable lizardmen department, let alone playable reptilian races in general.
Anyway, letās check them out!
Bangaa are a lizardmen race that originated from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance on the Gameboy Advance, being among a few other races you can recruit as units for your army. In general, both male and female Bangaa exist, but theyāre hard to tell apart.
They also appeared in Final Fantasy 12, though as NPCās in the game.
They do appear in FF14 as a NPC race, where they actually are a good race that works with others. There are a few specific NPCās that act as antagonists in the gameās story, from my understanding.
An example of how they look in FF14:
Itās a shame they didnāt become playable with the Viera, the race of female bunny girls, since they both originated from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. While the Hrothgar, a race of cat men similar to the Rondo from Final Fantasy X, was a good start, Bangaa wouldāve been a better choice to go with the Viera in my opinion given theyāre related in terms of game origination. It wouldāve also brought a some much needed flavor to the playable race choices in the game. I do see people wanting them, so they do have a bit of popularity.
Funnily enough, the devs made an April Fools joke of a new playable race that was a combination of the Bangaa and Viera races before the Viera were officially made playable:
Do Bangaa have a chance to be playable in FF14? Itās possible. Some cons I see about them involve the time it would take to work with their models to make them playable. A lot of armor would have to not show up at all on them, which is something that has been applied to some of the playable races in the game similar to how Mecha Gnomes donāt show armor on some pieces. Itās up on the air what the actual chances are of playable Bangaa in the game, but Iād like to think there is some chanceā¦assuming they donāt just keep adding races of waifuās instead. ā <;
As I said before, if Bangaa ever become playable, Iāll consider giving FF14 a tryā¦of course, if I got playable Horde Saurok in WoW, Iād be much more happier.
If you want to see more on Bangaa in the Final Fantasy series in general, there is a wiki here that covers them:
I suppose now Iāll have to time whether FF14 or WoW gets their playable Lizardman race first. Hopefully sooner than later.
So the image I linked of the FF14 Bangaa example might have come from FF12 as well. Thereās a Bangaa character in it named BaāGamnan, who served as an antagonist in the game:
Turns out they brought him into FF14, though as a separate entity from his FF12 version:
Edit: I donāt know why, but youtube videos arenāt being embedded on any posts I make. Itās weird, as it seems to work for others, but not for me suddenly. Until I figure it out, click on the video image to see the videos I link.
You can see him and some other Bangaa NPCās in FF14 in this video (likely story spoilers for anyone wanting to go through the story of the game):
And this is a boss fight of him in FF12:
Something to note is that Bangaa arenāt all bad. There are plenty of good ones in any universe their race exists in.
AHAH. I remember that in this game, one of them is innocently called a lizard by the main char, which makes the bangaa angry.
Montblanc then warns that bangaas have hotbloods () they do not consider themselves lizards but dragons. If you want to start a free fight with a bangaa, just call it a lizard.
So Iām not sure what is going on, but youtube videos on the forums donāt appear to be embedded when you link them in posts anymore. This is happening for multiple people, both for older posts and newer ones you make. They appear as a still image that you have to click to load the youtube page on its own page. Oddly enough, some posts still have embedded youtube videos still working.
Iām not sure if this is an intentional change or not, and Iām hoping itās just a bug that will get fixed. Until it is fixed, Iāll have to remember to mention a link I post is a youtube video and to click the still image to see videos.
On another note, I finally was able to get some time to work on a new Ogre megathread, so if youāre interested in supporting playable Horde Ogres, specifically the Stonemaul Clan, you can see the thread here:
Now, on a Saurok related note, you may have noticed on the bottom of the first page of this post and the Ogre megathread post, at the time Iām posting this, mentioning an official Ogre/Saurok Partnership coming in the near future.
Iāve mentioned before that Iāve been wanting to look into different avenues of showing off support for Ogres and Saurok on the Horde, and since Iām spearheading support for both now, Iām in the process of planning out something along those lines. It wonāt be anything grandiose or ground-breaking, but more like taking baby steps into the next direction and seeing how it goes. When I have something more concrete, Iāll be sure to mention it in both megathreads.
So maintaining two megathreads is going to be a lot of work, but I intend to give it my all for both of them. Itās something Iād only do for my most wanted races, and for Ogres and Saurok, itās something Iām very much willing to do. Theyāve been my most wanted playable races, and while my work wonāt guarantee theyāll become playable, I think itās worth a shot and also good to show off support of some kind instead of silently hoping.
As always, more Saurok research and support to continue in the future!
Very admirable the amount of work youāve put in I really hope your hard work comes to fruition, I feel youāre an extremely important part of the communities hoping for Allied Races, Customization, and lore. Something that hopefully Blizzard recognizes. Thereās so much negativity and bickering on the forums, but Iām glad in many megathreads that ideas can keep being kindled and shared. I know thereās ups and downs with several communities, but you always remain positive and polite, and I think we all really appreciate that. I know I do.
Well as most people know, the prepatch will be implemented on live servers tomorrow. Assuming the forums are still up during maintenance, I may look at doing some bit of revamping on a few sections of this megathread, since the downtime seems to be roughly 8 hours or so, assuming no extended maintenanceā¦or extended maintenanceā¦or extended extended maintenance.
Silliness aside, given the changes occurring, I know that it will be a huge endeavor to get the servers up and running with the prepatch, let alone seeing what sort of bugs pop up and working on getting that sorted out. Hopefully, it goes smoothly for everyone.
If all else fails, I have both my megathreads backed up , so I can always work on it there and put in changes when the forums are back up. I will admit, itās going to be a bit odd seeing my character go from L120 back down to L50.
Oh Iām no hero. Iām just some guy that really wants playable Ogres and Saurok on the Horde. I try to respect others as best as I can and really like seeing the passion others have for their wanted races.
With all the space that new character creation screen has in Shadowlands, I feel that there is plenty of room for races people want playable, and new races are the most exciting feature of any MMORPG for me (new classes being a close second). I find it rewarding to support each other, as everyone has different passions and interests. Itās also really cool to see the excitement and celebrations of people getting the races theyāve been working hard to support actually playable as well.
Iāll always dream of seeing Ogres, Saurok, and Sanālayn players running around Orgrimmar, and hopefully others will be able to create the characters of the races they want as well to run around Orgrimmar or Stormwind with too.
Happy prepatch day everyone! Hoping the servers donāt catch fire when they go up.
So I was going through my older posts in this megathread, and discovered that my older posts where I linked videosā¦no longer show videos at all. Not even the still image you have to click to see them, since embedded videos currently donāt seem to be functional on the forums.
I went to edit the posts to see if they were removed, and the video URLās are still there. However, in order to get the videos to show up as that still image link, I have to edit the post with a new edit somehow, and then the videos will appear in the post.
As far as I can tell, this is a glitch and wasnāt an intentional removal of any sort. It seems to happen to all of my old posts past a certain date, and likely it has done it to me in other threads as well. I assume this is because of the recent embedded video change/glitch thing, and likely affects other posters as well.
This doesnāt appear to be for all videos, as several of my previous posts had the embedded videos converted to the still image link. I am unsure what the date cutoff is for when it does this glitch.
So what this means is that I need to go through all of my older posts in this megathread and edit the posts to get the videos to show up. This is annoying, as I was planning to start linking to some posts on the main post of the megathread for things like RL lizard and other Lizardmen race videos and such for easier Saurok inspiration navagation. I already fixed the two posts that I linked that talked about the dance suggestions.
So until I can actually fix it, or the forums manage to fix itself, youāll likely see old posts where I talk about a videoā¦and then ramble like a madman about a video not there.
For everyone else, if you reference any posts with a video link in it, such as a megathread or within a megathread, be sure to double check your posts and edit them as needed to get the video links working.
Anyway, time to keep busy until the servers come up. Going to take awhile for me to get use to being L50 again.
Iām still wondering if anything going on, such as the embedded video changes, are intentional or some glitchā¦or a glitch from an intentional change. I havenāt really seen anything officially stated about it.
On another note, our friends at the Sethrak megathread have created a brand new megathread, so if youāre interested in supporting our snake friends, check it out here:
And speaking of Sethrak, the Sethrak Rally event is coming up real soon for anyone interested. You can check the details in this post:
WoW could really use some playable reptilian races, and as I said before, the Saurok megathread stands with the Sethrak megathread, regardless of what faction Sethrak would end up on.
Letās get some reptiles on that character creation screen!
Had a recent discussion in the Sanālayn megathread regarding two sides of a story for a playable Horde race, and it applies to Saurok as well.
Basically, the Horde in general is viewed as monsters by many members of the Alliance, usually of the heartless āI am teh ebil savage RAWRā type. When questing as the Alliance, it usually is played up to be something where the player feels like theyāre doing good beating up the enemy Horde NPCās. The same is done with the Horde towards Alliance NPCās you fight.
On the other hand, playing as the Horde, you usually see a different side to these members. Often times, theyāre not the monsters you fought against as a member of the Alliance. Sure, some Horde NPCās are of dubious morals, but you do see many of them in a better light. Some have morals and are trying to survive while others have personal vendettas against the Alliance, who may have wronged them in some fashion. This also apples in the opposite way, with Alliance members having vendettas against the Horde for being wrong by them in some fashion for example.
This can be applied with Saurok pretty well. On the Alliance point-of-view, they work as a āmonsterā race that can be enemies you fight against, named NPC bosses that are interested in putting your head on a pike, and other similar roles. Likely being shown off as cruel monsters who would relish burning orphanages and causing chaos for fun.
On the Horde side, assuming they become a playable race, you would see that theyāre not quite the evil and angry creatures youād see on the Alliance side. Youād get things like storylines and backstory of seeing them trying to survive, possibly viewing the Alliance as beings who would want to end them because they see the Saurok as savage monsters. Players might even be able to sympathize with them if written very well.
Having two sides to a story is an interesting thought, and it makes for some potentially engaging gameplay. Saurok are a race that could work really well in this regard. People on the Alliance side would see them as fearsome beasts while on the Horde side, they could be shown as more than that as an ally.
Hero Forge had a recent update, where you can add color to your creations. I went and recreated my Lizardman Necromancer and looked at the preset colors. The result:
You can apply custom colors to many different parts of the figurine youāre designing. I went with a pre-set since Iām not great artistically. I also couldnāt find the option to change the facial expression. Iām sure itās still there and I just overlooked. I need to explore more of it to see what else I can do in it.
With this new update, it makes me want to play around with it even more. Maybe when I finish college, I might look into buying a few of these custom figurines I make.
If youāre interested in checking it out and making your own creations, you can check it out at the official Hero Forge web site:
When you created a hero, move your mouse to the top right of the screen where it says āHero*ā to see a drop down list. One of the options is āscreenshot,ā which will take a screenshot (be sure to play with the zoom in/out option to get the whole figurine in frame first) you can download as an image file.
Also, since Iām at three posts in a row again, if someone could post in here so I can continue to make more posts, I would greatly appreciate it!
More Saurok research and support to continue in the future!
So Iām going to see if I can indeed post more than three times in a row. If youāre seeing this post, it means I can, though I donāt know how many more times in a row people can post or if the cap was removed outright.
Edit: Well what do you know! Looks like the 3 posts in a row limit is gone!..at least for now. Not sure what the actual cap is now, or if there is one, but hopefully I donāt run into that problem.
A couple things for this post:
First, it appears that videos are embedded again! Even the old posts seem to have videos placed back in them. Hopefully this will last, and if I notice any older posts not having videos when they should, Iāll try to fix it. Feel free to let me know if you happen to see any posts with busted video links.
Second, I took a screenshot of the new character creation screen. I had to play around with the resolution to take it, as everything was scrunched up in the window I normally play on when I play on my laptop. Hereās the picture:
My guess is that there is room for 6 more races on both sides before a new column has to be made. The important thing is that there is plenty of room for new races, along with room for a class or two on the bottom.
Obviously the lack of reptilian races is a glaring problem, so hopefully weāll get some reptiles on that new character creation screen! Not to mention that I know a few races that would love to help fill in the space on the Horde side.
Oh definitely! Theyāre very deserving of being their own race on the Horde side! Plenty of room for them too!
Iāve actually been working on small lists of races Iād like to see playable on both factions to make the Horde and Alliance feel complete and also have a variety of options. All based on my own preferences, of course. More options are great for players, and itād be awesome to see all members of both factions playable in some fashion and having some some of presence in the game. Some races would add some much needed flavor to the game as a playable race, too.
Hopefully weāll see some more playable races on both sides sooner than later.
I added a section showing off a potential tabard and allied race banner for playable Saurok in the first post. I linked it several posts ago, but Iāll link it again here:
This is the Skumblade banner that is put up in their area of Isle of Thunder.
As I said before, the Skumblade likely wouldnāt be the playable Saurok faction, but given that we have a design, all that would need to really be changed is the colors on it, and it would function both as a tabard and allied race banner design, in my opinion. It would definitely save some time and resources on Blizzardās end, too.
On another note, my next class opened early, so Iāve been working on getting a head start on it. Iāll still be around and posting, though my posts may slow down a bit as a result. Iāll always find some time to show off my Ogre and Saurok support, of course!
Iāve shared a few videos of Lizardman in a few Soul Calibur games, though I donāt think Iāve shared it for Soul Calibur III on the Playstation 2. I share things like this to show off Saurok idea inspiration (animations and the like in this case).
This is a playthrough of the arcade mode using him:
If youāre wondering why it plays twice, there is an ending A and an ending B.
The best part of it is right at the end, at the 1:15 mark, with the different Lizardmen jumping for joy and celebrating. Imagine that but with Saurok getting to become a playable Horde race. I know Iād have a celebration part of some sort in Orgrimmar if it happened!
Mroe Saurok research and support to continue in the future!
) they do not consider themselves lizards but dragons. If you want to start a free fight with a bangaa, just call it a lizard. 
I really hope your hard work comes to fruition, I feel youāre an extremely important part of the communities hoping for Allied Races, Customization, and lore. Something that hopefully Blizzard recognizes. Thereās so much negativity and bickering on the forums, but Iām glad in many megathreads that ideas can keep being kindled and shared. I know thereās ups and downs with several communities, but you always remain positive and polite, and I think we all really appreciate that. I know I do.
