The Unofficial Saurok Playable Race Discussion Megathread! šŸŠ

I love how the lizardmen in this anime are shown.
I could see the sauroks doing the same thing in battle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBFTEpViBNk

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Seeing that scene makes me think of the Saurok tribes banding together in order to fight the rampant scourge that is devastating the world (of Warcraft!). Itā€™s really awesome to see those lizard men in action! :lizard:

Thank you for sharing! Iā€™ll need to look into this anime some more. :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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It would be the perfect chance for sauroks to seek help from some of the horde shaman.

I thank you for the chance to show support for your thread.
Sauroks would be perfect for the horde.

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It would also be interesting to see the Saurok tribes on Pandaria band together and work with the Pandarens to fight off the undead threat that is likely happening on Pandaria. The Pandaren there have been trying to make peace with them, according to Lorewalker Cho, so it would be a neat thing to see if we ever go back to Pandariaā€¦then again, it wouldā€™ve been cool to see Saurok helping against Nā€™zoth in BfA. :lizard:

I do wonder if weā€™ll see any of what is going on back on Azeroth in general while weā€™re in the Shadowlands. I know there are snippits of it in some of the Covenant storylines, but it would be interesting to see what all is going on and how places are faring on a bigger scale. Guess weā€™ll see where the story goesā€¦

Iā€™m appreciative to see others post in here and share their ideas, findings, and such. The more we discuss and share ideas, the more we can offer for Saurok inspiration! :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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ā€œWhen Iā€™m through with you, I wonā€™t be the only cold-blooded one in the room. :crocodile:ā€

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if youā€™ve done Island Expeditions in BfA, you likely know that there are Saurok there. I wanted to take a brief look at them to see if there is anything of interest.

First of all, I donā€™t know if Iā€™ve shared this image before, but on one of the queue windows for Island Expeditions, there are some maps with doodles on them. One of them is a Saurok:

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/wowpedia/images/b/b6/Island_Expedition_Queue_Menu.jpg

Since linking images from wikiā€™s is a bit wonky, assuming the above image doesnā€™t show properly, the image in question is the first image on the right here:

https://wow.gamepedia.com/Island_Expedition

Itā€™s just a neat little doodle of a Saurok I wanted to share.

Now, for Island Expeditions in general, there are two Saurok clans/tribes you encounter: The Slitherblade and the Mirelurk. Both tribes are really just there as jobbers for players to kill without much thought, but there is an interesting thing to them both.

First of all, the Mirelurk have Priests as a character class, as listed here:

https://wow.gamepedia.com/Mirelurk

Which Iā€™m guessing refers to this guy, granted he doesnā€™t appear to have any priest skills:

https://wow.gamepedia.com/Mirelurk_Bog_Priest

As for the Slitherblade, something of interest does come from one of the members. First, a link to the clan in general:

https://wow.gamepedia.com/Slitherblade_clan

And the guy of interest is here:

https://wow.gamepedia.com/Slitherblade_Prophet

Specifically his attacks. He has three water attacks, which Saurok of other types and clans have, but he also has an artic orb attack, which is obviously a frost skill. Now, this guy isnā€™t a mage, but a prophet of some sort. I believe Iā€™ve seen other Saurok use frost attacks of sorts, likely meant to be an annoying mook as oppose to anything to be analyzed in a manner Iā€™m doing, but itā€™s still interesting to see. Itā€™s possible this guy is more meant as a Shaman, but I still wonder if the idea of Saurok being able to become mages, complete with water elementals and frost spells, isnā€™t too farfetched of an idea. I mean, if Orcs and Trolls can become mages, maybe Saurok could as well. Especially if we go with the idea of gaining intelligence and spell knowledge from looting Mogu artifacts.

The last part I wanted to ramble on would be the leaders of both clans. They say the same thing pretty much, but a couple of lines did catch my eye:

ā€œRetreatā€¦ to the waterā€¦ā€

ā€œI returnā€¦ to the wavesā€¦ā€

So why is this of interest? Well, first it seems like some Saurok may have an affinity to water, since the latter strikes me as a death quote for some of the leaders. It would be interesting to see if some Saurok worship the waters in some way, whether itā€™s the water as a whole or possibly a water-related wild god of some kind. It could explain how some tribes are able to swim long distances in the ocean to travel in some way.

Which leads me to the second point, where we know Saurok are seafaring of some kind. We know a tribe managed to get past the mists around Pandaria, and these two also have managed to travel to islands, either to plunder or to live on. Thus, it isnā€™t out of the realm of impossibility that we could run into other tribes of Saurok that migrated off Pandaria to live elsewhere we havenā€™t discovered yet (something Iā€™ve harped on a few times).

As I said before, these clans were put in for players to have something to beat up and likely werenā€™t meant for nerds like me to look at and type up paragraphs of text on. Still, there are some interesting aspects to them that I feel were worth noting for some Saurok culture ideas.

Also, regarding quotes from those two clans, I wouldnā€™t mind seeing a quote like this for a battle cry:

ā€œI will feast on your flesh and gnaw on your bones!ā€

Can you imagine a group of them rushing towards the Alliance shouting this? Iā€™m sure it would be terrifying for them. :bone::lizard:

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

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I came across a really cool art piece of a Saurok warrior wearing the armor that has the ring on the back on DeviantArt. I wanted to share it since it looked really cool.

It was done by a user named ā€œSK-8080,ā€ which appears to have been published on October 4, 2012, and you can find the artwork on the DeviantArt website here.

Whatā€™s interesting is some of the comments on there wishing that Saurok were playable. One of the comments in 2013 mentions how Saurok just needs support or a vote or something to get them playableā€¦makes me wish I had started this campaign for playable Horde Saurok years ago. :lizard:

Just a cool art piece I wanted to share. :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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I am in the slow process of working on a Necrolords character. Since weā€™ve seen a Saurok spirit in Maldraxxus, I figured it would be a good idea to have a character of that covenant to see if there are any other Saurok spirit sightings.

As far as I know, there isnā€™t really much else that would be Saurok-specific, with regards to the covenant and area, and certainly there is more to Maldraxxus than that one random spirit, but itā€™s worth an investigation and to see things for myself just in case. Plus, you never know what will happen in further patches in Shadowlands, so having a Necrolords character could come in handy for future events. Not to mention that Iā€™m here to report Saurok sightings in general and analyze them, so I will try to not leave any stone unturned. :lizard:

If I did find anything of interest, Iā€™ll be sure to report back on it here. Iā€™ll eventually have a a character for all four covenants, but Iā€™m both busy with college work and also trying not to burn myself out. It might take a bit to get my Necrolords character situated, but Iā€™ll get there at some point!

Potential Saurok research to commence in the Shadowlands in the near future. :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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One thing I noticed in Revendreth, is that some souls kept there are of pandaren, arakkoas, sabers, orcs, among others.

I havenā€™t seen any saurok yet, but for sure, it may be because I donā€™t do many missions on this map.
I landed on Bastion and Ardenweald.

It would be nice to see spirits of sauroks roaming the region.

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On one hand, it would be niceā€¦

On the other hand, I would much prefer to see several living Saurok on Azeroth. Preferably in Orgrimmar as they become members of the Horde. :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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Iā€™ve been noticing other forumer goers mentioning wanting Horde Saurok playable in different threads, which has made me very happy to see. I wouldnā€™t say that this megathread is the sole reason for it, far from it, but if it is having an impact on people interested in seeing playable Horde Saurok, I wanted to say thank you. :lizard:

Itā€™s also interesting to see older posts on different websites mentioning wanting to see Saurok playable. Often times, the posts were made during or shortly after MoP, where discussion usually ends with it being a pipedream, given that at the time Saurok were regarded as just mooks that go RAWR. Fast forward to present day and we see signs of them being much more than that and having a lot of potential as a playable race.

While it could be a bit of a longshot still, I just wanted to mention again how appreciative I am for those that support playable Horde Saurok. I do this not for fame, but for passion for my love of lizardmen in a fantasy setting, of which WoW could really use in the playable department.

As I said before, Iā€™ll keep marching for playable Horde Saurok as best as I can, and Iā€™ll keep dreaming of the day to see Saurok players running around Orgrimmar. Hopefully, that dream will be a reality someday, and I can be one of those players. :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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Still hoping for our scaly friends Saurok! As I said, Iā€™d roll one in an instant :slight_smile:

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A long while ago, I mentioned the Gorn, one of the lizardmen races in the Star Trek universe. I figured Iā€™d share information about them for Saurok inspiration, since Gorn are a playable race in Star Trek Online.

If you know Star Trek, then you likely remember the Gorn from an episode of the Original Star Trek with these totally awesome effects and stunts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ-ATwRq5KY

Fun fact: They had a reunion when a Star Trek video game was made on the PS3 and Xbox 360:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hnBp7x2QAE

Anyway, I did come across a neat video that goes a bit in-depth with the Gorn, including what we know about them and a bit of their history and culture, as well as showing off a bit of how they look in Star Trek Online:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9jN2eBCICw

And another interesting video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55C90nwGKik

Now for Star Trek Online, they are a playable race, although male only from my understanding and only on the Klingon faction. You can, however, get a Gorn crewman on the Federation faction. They look like this:

https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/sto_gamepedia/thumb/7/7b/Gorn_Raā€™wiq.png/300px-Gorn_Raā€™wiq.png?version=e39aeb90440c0261287801ca1a8c381e

I did find a video that showed off their creation features, granted this is a bit dated (uploaded in 2012 and a lot has changed since then). It does have commentary and is part of a series going through the game as a Gorn character (again, this was in 2012, and the game has had a lot of changes since then):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMSiCkjsmqk

And they have a lot of information in this Star Trek Online wiki:

https://sto.gamepedia.com/Gorn

Their racials are the following:

Cold-Blooded: Resistance to plasma and fire damage.

Reptilian Strength: Bonus to melee damage and a chance to knock down enemies.

Resilient: Resistance to physical and all energy attacks.

So what can we get out of the Gorn for Saurok? Well, I donā€™t really expect Saurok to be picking up and tossing people around (which sounds more like a job for Ogres), but the cold-blooded racial trait was interesting to see, granted Vulpera currently have a resistance to fire.

On the flip side, a suggestion presented before by another forumer goer, Saurok having a resistance to cold could work. Iā€™m personally use to games that usually have reptiles weak to cold attacks, but for Saurok, who do a lot of swimming in potentially cold waters use ice attacks, I suppose an argument could be made for Saurok to have a frost resistance with the whole cold-blooded thing going on.

Aside from that, there is of course the usual scale-patterns and customization features to look at for Saurok customization ideas, which are always welcomed.

And that is a look at the Gorn from Star Trek. Looking at lizardmen in other media, MMOā€™s in particular, is very useful in inspiring some playable Saurok ideas. You never know what youā€™ll find looking at different lizardmen races.

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

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As people have likely heard, we got some more information on Blizzconline, which is free to watch in all its entirety, begins on February 19th, and goes through the 20th. Wowhead has more info in a recent article:

"Day 1 will kick off at 2 p.m. PST on Friday, February 19, with an opening segment that includes a first look at some of the latest game content the development teams have been working on. Then for the next three-plus hours, youā€™ll have the option to tune in to one of the six different themed channels, so you can decide whether you want to sample a little bit of everything or dig deeper into the games youā€™re interested in most.

Day 2 will pick back up at 12 p.m. PST on Saturday, February 20, with multiple channels once again, until the fun wraps up at later that afternoon. Throughout this second day, weā€™ll be shining a spotlight on the global Blizzard community, including the winners and outstanding entries in the Community Showcase contests and exhibitions."

https://www.wowhead.com/news=320718/get-ready-for-blizzconline-on-february-19-20-blizzconline-event-trailer-key-art

In terms of Saurok, Iā€™d honestly be surprised if we saw anything involving them at all. However, if I see anything of interest, Iā€™ll be sure to report it here.

If there is a chance that we go back to Azeroth, itā€™s possible we could go somewhere being overrun with undead where Saurok reside. I assume Pandaria is getting overwhelmed, and it would be cool to go back there and seeing some of the Saurok tribes working with the Pandaren and other races on the continent to fight off the undead (maybe with some Mogu trying to take advantage of the situation). That or Saurok civilization elsewhere would be having to fend off undead in general. Of course, this is wishful thinking, since whatever is coming next in Shadowlands likely will be in the Shadowlands, but it would be nice to know what all is going on back on Azeroth while weā€™re away.

If anything, since we did see a Saurok spirit in Maldraxxus, keeping an eye on Necrolords news would be the best bet here. A shame I couldnā€™t have made a body for that Saurok spirit and made them a soulbind. Iā€™d like to hear more on their backstory and what they were like when alive. Guess weā€™ll see if any other Saurok spirits appear, though as I said before, Iā€™d prefer to be working with Horde-friendly living Saurok that would love to get a spot on that character creation screen. :lizard:

Speaking of which, I did get my Necrolords character to 60 and slowly am working on getting them situated with the covenant campaign. To be honest, I am liking the Necrolords covenant quite a bit and it is a close contender for my favorite covenant, with Venthyr edging slightly ahead of them.

Anyway, as I said, I donā€™t expect much in the way of Saurok stuff at Blizzconline, but I will keep an eye out for anything of interest. :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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One of the earlier covenant campaign quests for the Necrolords takes you to where that Saurok spirit in Maldraxxus is. Youā€™re gathering materials needed to build a body for Emeni, a Sethrak spirit, to take over. Itā€™s the same area where the other spirits of NPC races are.

The other spirits give a comment about Emeni coming back, likely meaning most of them have been in Maldraxxus long enough to know who Emeni is and how much she kicks butt. The Saurok spirit in particular doesnā€™t really comment on it at all. He just goes through that little event Iā€™ve covered before with the other nearby generic spirits.

As such, there isnā€™t much more to it, but I figured Iā€™d mention it since we learn a bit more of the context of the area. The souls there are green in text, meaning theyā€™re friendly, so it isnā€™t like theyā€™re siding with the bad guys of Maldraxxus. Not to mention if the majority of them know of Emeni and like her, theyā€™d want to be on her side. Maybe when the Necrolords get things situated in Maldraxxus, the NPC race souls there would be fine with it and work under them to defend the Shadowlands.

While not much else to that quest, I figured Iā€™d mention it to give some context to that area. I havenā€™t see much else Saurok-related in the Necrolords covenant campaign, but Iā€™ll still keep an eye out if anything of interest pops up as I slowly go through it.

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

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Iā€™m not sure if I shared this before, sorry if this is a repeat, but:

https://youtu.be/LWTITUgDcmU

Many underestimate reptile intelligence, and I recall watching this video years ago and just falling in love with it and monitors in general. Monitor lizards are so smartā€“as are crocodiles, as I learned recently. Thereā€™s the general perception that reptiles are rather stupid, which is very untrue.

Iā€™d love a group of Saurok scientists sometime, it would be out of the blue and super neat. Kinda like Mrrgleton. Honestly, I think there should be a scientific group consisting of the following in a lab coat: Gnoll, Saurok, Murloc (already covered by Mrrgleton), and furbolg. It seems silly to some, maybe, but I dunnoā€“I love out of the ordinary concepts. It would make these characters kinda special.

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A lot of reptiles are very intelligent. Iā€™ve read about how some monitors can even be trained to do things. They can also form a bit of a bond, which this video mentions how to start forming a relationship with them when first working with them (done by a professional):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlHjYi6YnnY

And also general tips on how to get monitors and some other types of lizards to trust you (again, done by a professional):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwvcJ8PensI

They generally have their own psychology and thought process you have to work with, but it shows they do have some form of intelligence.

On the subject of Saurok and intelligence, Iā€™ve mentioned some ideas on how to make some more intelligent. Primarily, the main thing would be to have them loot Mogu artifacts, tomes, and such which could give them more intelligence compared to being primitive. It also is a great way to explain how they would be able to become warlocks or even mages.

They donā€™t have to be extremely smart to the point they can do advanced theoretical calculus in their sleep, but it could give them a good way to become something more on the level of Orcs and Trolls, both of which can become mages. They retained some form of primitive culture while still being able to be things like warlocks and mages, so I donā€™t see why this couldnā€™t apply to Saurok also.

I imagine Saurok in general would have some form of cunning, which likely grows as the race procreates and evolves. Hopefully, weā€™ll see that shown more as the game continues, though preferably through Horde-friendly Saurok of course. :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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I cannot wait to have my Saurok foodie!

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My hope is that if weā€™re lucky enough to get playable Saurok, that they can at least be Warlocks, Death Knights. Priests would also be good to make a Shadow Priest, but I was thinking of saving that character for if Sethrak become playable. Character slots are getting very limited, and hopefully weā€™ll be able to get more per account somehow.

Warlocks are the closest thing to Necromancers, which I wanted to recreate an Iksar Necromancer character I had in Everquest 1 as a Demonology Saurok Warlock. Iā€™m unsure if Necromancers will become a class, but Iā€™d settle for a Necromancer skin for Warlocks.

As for Death Knights, I do worry about future races and the Death Knight class since they time locked both starting areas of Death Knights. I suppose a lot depends on what happens during Shadowlands, but I did want to make an Unholy Saurok Death Knight, recreating an Iksar Shadow Knight character I had in Everquest 1, as one of my characters. Iā€™m hoping weā€™ll see Death Knights as a class option for new races going forward, preferably when the races become playable as opposed to having to wait some time in the off chance theyā€™ll be able to.

In any case, Iā€™ll always keep some character slots in reserve for potential Saurok characters! :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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How are the newer ones timelocked? Curious.

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