The Unofficial Saurok Playable Race Discussion Megathread! 🐊

Bagzak-rexxar · May 27, 2024, 11:12pm

Going through MoP’s campaign again in MoP Remix, I am reminded of how the Zandalari use to be antagonists while allied with the Mogu, only to have them written more in BfA to become a playable Horde Allied Race. I wanted to ramble a bit on this thought again for this post.

It’s an interesting thing to see, since Zandalari weren’t really seen as candidates for playable race status during MoP by most players. Then of course, they got fleshed out more and then became playable several expansions later. It’s not the first time we’ve seen something like this happen with some playable races and even some NPC races got some fleshing out as well.

One of the best examples of that are Gilgoblins, who use to be dumb male only mooks before they became fleshed out with the Kelfin, who are still a great Allied Race candidiate. Even the Mogu got a bit of a face turn with the Rajani Mogu being a thing. And from the sound of it, Kobolds are also getting a bit fleshed out in TWW, though I don’t know if they’ll be friendly or an enemy faction we need to beat up.

The point is that any race in-game at any time can always get fleshed out in some way and become friendly NPC factions or even playable races. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to see Saurok get that type of treatment as well, preferably of the playable race status part, especially given a lot of potential they have we’ve discussed many times. I feel like that could happen with just about any NPC race in the future.

As for the Zandalari, something I’ve said before is that it would be interesting to see them ally with Saurok within the Horde, given how big of an enemy the Mogu are to them and how Zandalari use to ally with the Mogu. It would be a bit of an amusing form of sticking it to the evil Mogu clans. And of course, Saurok could always give Zandalari a run for their money when it comes to taming beasts like devilsaurs with ease. Maybe belly rubs are the secret or something.

As for MoP in general, I’m still enjoying it a lot and working to unlock a bunch of rewards. I’ll continue to keep an eye out for things to discuss, whether it’s another look at something we’ve talked about before or maybe something new if we’re lucky!

6 days until our megathread’s 5th anniversary!

-Playable Saurok for the Horde please!

Bagzak-rexxar · May 29, 2024, 3:53pm

During the end of MoP, Garrosh had captured a lot of the denizens of Pandaria that were seen in the Siege of Orgrimmar raid, which included some of the Skumblade Tribe Saurok. While I do have some more things to say on that point, I’ll do that in a future post, I thought about the former Skumblade Tribe territory on the Isle of Thunder and figured it would make for a great racial hub for playable Saurok.

Now as I mentioned before, we don’t know how many of the Skumblade Tribe was taken and who knows what happened to them after the Siege of Orgrimmar event, which I’ll touch up on in another post. So that could leave their territory a bit barren.

So assuming that playable Saurok come from Pandaria, whether it’s one tribe or a unification of multiple tribes, that area would make for a good racial hub or starting area. Sure the area would cause health inspectors to go insane within seconds and it could use a lot of heavy duty industrial soap and sanitizer to clean up, but given it exists and has a lot of caves and such, I could see Saurok NPC’s populating it.

The question of course is why would they move in on that area to settle in. First, there could be some resentment towards the Skumblade Tribe, since a lot of the high priests in the tribe seemed opportunistic and oppressive, so taking over the area helps to ensure that the Skumblade Tribe doesn’t come back into power. This could be either from separate tribes or former members of the Skumblade Tribe that decided the health benefits and salary weren’t up to industry standards and wanted to change to a healthier lifestyle.

The other reason is to keep an eye on and help maintain the Throne of Thunder and keep it out of Mogu hands. According to Exploring Azeroth: Pandaria, the Throne of Thunder is being joint controlled by the Horde and Alliance, and given that the flesh shaping magic happened within there, it wouldn’t be good to see the Mogu ever get control of it again. So if say Saurok did become playable, in our case as a playable Horde race, they would be able to help protect the area as needed.

And given that it is the birthplace of a lot of Saurok, it would fit well in a playable tribe’s storyline. Maybe a “never again!” thing, maybe they’d want to destroy the stuff used in flesh shaping, or maybe Saurok historians would want to document it to teach newer Saurok generations about what happened and why the Mogu are stinky jerks. Many ways you could go with the storyline there.

And this is just one suggestion, as you can go in many directions with playable Saurok racial hubs. Isle of Thunder seems to work as it is its own isolated area, with some room for newbie Saurok to quest and level, and wouldn’t be as intrusive if the racial hub was directly on Pandaria’s main continent, though I’m sure there could be several places you could put playable Saurok on there.

So what do y’all think? Isle of Thunder as a playable Saurok racial hub? Something kinda fitting about Saurok taking over Mogu territory and making their own civilization on it seems very fitting to me. Something I’m sure I’ll continue to ponder on over and over again.

4 days until our megathread’s 5th anniversary!

-Playable Saurok for the Horde please!

Cruelmoon-nemesis · May 29, 2024, 7:58pm

That set looks good on Worgen ladies.

Bagzak-rexxar · May 30, 2024, 2:43pm

Next month’s Trading Post rewards have officially been revealed, and it is a Summer beach theme!

The reward for doing enough tasks is this neat water gun toy:

Didn’t see anything Saurok related this month, not that I normally expect to see anything, but I could imagine Saurok enjoying some relaxing time on the beach. Maybe like this lizard:

Those scale colors would make an excellent customization option too!

Anyway, I’ll continue to report on Trading Post rewards in case anything Saurok related or fitting for Saurok pops up.

3 days until our megathread’s 5th anniversary!

-Playable Saurok for the Horde please!

Fenelon-wyrmrest-accord · May 30, 2024, 2:58pm

That swimwear stuff is going to fit trolls so well even outside summer.

Mianyaue-moon-guard · May 30, 2024, 7:03pm

I remember we got 3 friendly Saurok in MoP.

Bagzak-rexxar · May 31, 2024, 1:40pm

Yes! They’re one of the earliest examples of seeing friendly-like Saurok and being able to hang out around other beings!

They’re a group you come across for this daily quest from Xuen, one of the August Celestials:

I realize they’re a joke on the typical MMORPG player of those class roles, but it’s still an important thing to note how they’re able to enter the temple grounds.

They somehow had to come across the temple and talk to someone to be allowed in, and Xuen must have been ok with it despite how most Saurok act in MoP. And of course, they would be on their best behavior as opposed to wanting to eat the faces of the denizens there, which would make them very sad and likely kick the Saurok out.

When you are battling them, they are annoyed with each other, but not with you. They actually want to train to fight you again in the future and there aren’t any hard feelings. So they aren’t just on RAWR mode like other Saurok could be.

It’s among several other pieces of evidence that not all Saurok are one-note biting RAWR machines with the intelligence level of some of Square-Enix’s business decisions. And given we’ve seen other NPC races get overhauls in their personalities and culture, some of which did become playable, it’s really not impossible to do something similar with Saurok and to see a friendly tribe someday.

If you want to read my original post on those three Saurok, where I go into a little more detail, you can see it here:

Funny how something mean to be a brief humorous encounter can work as one of the biggest pieces of evidence of how Saurok are much more than what people usually take for face value.

2 days until our megathread’s 5th anniversary!

-Playable Saurok for the Horde please!

Bagzak-rexxar · June 1, 2024, 1:00pm

Wowhead made an article about datamined crocolisks mounts, some of which sounds like will be put on the Trading Post in the future:

Crocolisk mounts have existed, though they were few and were tied to special events like the Brawler’s Guild. It’s worth noting these mounts, since crocolisks could be a potential racial mount for Saurok. I assume in that event, they would be more of the Pandaria variety unless the playable Saurok tribe resides on another continent.

Of course, crocolisks are just one of several racial mount options for them. Still, these mounts would go very well with Saurok characters, and if they’re going to be on the Trading Post someday, I’ll be sure to note when they are. I’ll definitely be getting them as a top priority, given that alligators/crocodiles are one of my favorite animals.

Also, tomorrow is the big day of our 5 year anniversary! Still don’t have anything special planned unfortunately, other than typing up the usual speech post. Should hopefully have it up sometime tomorrow, depending on time and RL obligations.

Still, it’s a good day to do some celebrating. So have a somewhat fitting video:

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll need to plan and get ready for tomorrow.

1 day until our megathread’s 5th anniversary!

-Playable Saurok for the Horde please!

Bagzak-rexxar · June 2, 2024, 1:42pm

Today marks our megathread’s 5 year anniversary! Huzzah!

And now for my annual speech post:

5 years on this day, I got the inspiration of making this megathread after seeing several other race request megathreads pop up thanks to BfA’s Allied Race system. I knew at the time that it was no guarantee of seeing playable Horde Saurok, but I felt that any support was better than silently hoping.

I was pretty nervous making this megathread. Would people be accepting of it? Would they like the idea? Would they see why kids love cinnamon toast crunch? All questions that swirled in my head before I gathered the courage to go on with my dream. And wouldn’t you know it? People have liked the idea even more than I expected!

I see Saurok mentioned among other races heavily requested and many playable race wishlists on here include them! I can’t say I’m directly responsible for that, but it makes me happy to see interest in playable Horde Saurok grow. Even Google searches have this megathread listed for Saurok related searches, including images posted in here, with people coming across it!

It’s pretty amazing that we’re still going strong to this day. Not even Shadowlands, with all the fun and excitement of a prostate exam, stopped our dreams. 5 years is quite the milestone, and would you believe that we still have things to discuss? I’m pretty surprised myself that we keep coming up with various things to post and discuss about!

It’s pretty great that we’ve been able to see the potential in Saurok. Seeing them when I first played MoP back in the day, I figured they weren’t likely to ever be a playable race candidate. Fast forward to BfA when I did a lot of research, I see they could be a lot more than what is usually taken at face value. After all, we got playable races like Zandalari Trolls and Dark Iron Dwarves who were enemy mooks that got fleshed out and written to become playable races. Even some big playable race candidates like the Kelfin came into being after Gilgoblins were more or less quest jobbers with all the depth of a rain drop on hot concrete. Even Mogu of all things got a face turn with the Rajani Mogu, so I figure if those races can become something more and have potential, why not Saurok? Thus why I set off to show off that potential for them.

And of course I couldn’t really continue without everyone’s support. Whether you post in here or just come to check out what we’re discussing, I’m greatly appreciative for your interest. It means a lot to me to see others come here and offer discussions, idea, and even post elsewhere on the forums adding Horde Saurok to your playable race wishlist. I’m very lucky that this megathread has been received as well as it has and that I’ve met some really cool people on here as a result. Thank you all!

Now for the future, I have no plans of stopping any time soon. As I said, we’re still going strong, and WoW still has a future of more and more expansions. Sure, the next few may have little to no Saurok activity, but I’m not discouraged. I mean, if I had no hope, I wouldn’t be here would I?

So we continue to march on, reporting any new Saurok findings in future expansions, discussing playable Horde Saurok ideas, and even post more cute lizard pictures. Theres plenty of space on the Horde side of that character creation screen and even room for a Saurok banner in the Horde embassy, and it is my dream to see Saurok getting a spot.

So as always, Saurok research and support continues! Huzzah!

Let’s just hope it doesn’t take another 5+ years to see playable Horde Saurok become a reality!

-Playable Saurok for the Horde please! Always!

Bagzak-rexxar · June 3, 2024, 2:27pm

Wowhead posted a couple of articles about the weapon transmog drops in MoP Remix and where to generally get them. A full list of weapon transmogs exclusive to MoP Remix is here:

And some tips on how to farm them are in this article:

Basically, the weapon transmogs are random drops in specific areas, some in open areas and some in dungeons or raids, and are not available to buy with bronze or any other currency anywhere. You have to get them either from mob drops, almost any mob in the area has a chance of dropping them if I understand correctly, or from chest items from quests in that area.

Luckily for us, the Saurok weapon transmogs are all in open areas! The thing to keep in mind is that you need to be on a character that can wield 1-handed maces and also be favored by the RNG gods so you can get the transmog items to drop and unlock.

I’ll copy the location info on the Saurok maces from the first Wowhead article below:

Saurok Scepter (silver/blue) - Townlong Steppes

Saurok Mace (silver/gold) - Dread Wastes

Saurok Breaker (silver/aqua) - Vale of Eternal Blossoms

Saurok Smasher (silver/red) - Isle of Thunder, Isle of Giants, Timeless Isle

So far, I’ve only gotten the first mace from Townlong Steppes. I got it from a chest from doing one of the campaign quests, but your mileage will be different as it can drop from different sources and quest chests thanks to RNG.

I’ll definitely be adding getting these maces to my to-do list and maybe I’ll take some screenshots if I can get them all. Hopefully luck will be on my side!

-Playable Saurok for the Horde please!

Bagzak-rexxar · June 4, 2024, 4:58pm

Howdy partner! Beardie the Kid here, and with it being a new month, ah reckon it’s time to send some in-game feedback of wanting to see those Saurok fellers on the Horde side of that there character creation screen, along with other folks we want to see get on there also.

If ya want to know how to go about doing that, don’t sweat it! I’ll walk ya through it!

With the beginning of each month, I make in-game suggestions for each race I want to see playable along with a mention of their respective megathreads on these forums. While it is far from a guarantee of seeing our dreams come true, I do think every little bit helps, and doing it monthly I feel is reasonable and not that intrusive or annoying.

If you’re interested in doing the same for races you want to see playable, I made a little guide on how to do so in-game here:

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to go rustle up some support for playable Horde Saurok where I can.

YEEHAW!

-Playable Saurok for the Horde please!

Fenelon-wyrmrest-accord · June 4, 2024, 9:10pm

Happy anniversary! (thought I’d made this post the other night but apparently I messed up on hitting reply)

You’ve done a lot for not only saurok but the visibility and acceptance of all the megathreads for Allied Races. This thread and your Ogre thread stand as examples that folk can support and build communities around the Allied Races they’re looking to get in game and I hope one day Blizzard finds it in themselves to provide the races people are requesting and putting so much work into!

Thank you for all you’ve done.

Bagzak-rexxar · June 5, 2024, 5:36pm

Blizzard has posted an article on the Earthen, including their unlock criteria and other various info about them:

Of particular interest is that for some reason, Death Knight isn’t checked on the list of available classes. This is a bit weird, given that they were originally announced to be able to be Death Knights.

Not sure if this is a mistake or if Blizzard changed their minds. I know that some changes would need to be made to the Pandaren/Allied Race DK starting area, so maybe Earthen DK’s were pushed back until they can make such changes.

I’m hoping we’ll still be able to see Death Knights for new playable races in the future. Especially since I’m wanting one of my Saurok characters, if they ever become playable, to be a Death Knight in the future. And I know a lot of people have wanted Death Knights of some races they want playable also, so it’d be disappointing to never see that class available to future playable races.

As far as I’m aware, there is still a way for new DK’s to get risen, and if anything, I’m sure something could be written to allow future playable races to become DK’s still. Especially since Blizzard is moving to all playable races eventually being almost all classes, so it’d be a bit frustrating to see DK’s not available as a result.

I’ll keep an eye on it and see if anything changes or if there is any official comment on it.

Oh I’m no hero. I’m just someone with passion for some races I want to see playable and maybe a bit too much time to showcase that.

If anything, it’s the combination of all the race request megathreads that helps with that. And I do hope Blizzard looks at them with an open mind, as they would make a lot of people happy by making a lot of those races playable.

Plenty of room on that character creation screen for them too!

-Playable Saurok for the Horde please!

Bagzak-rexxar · June 6, 2024, 5:22pm

The RNG gods must have been happy with me lately because I managed to get all four of the Saurok mace transmogs from MoP Remix!

I went ahead and got our Saurok ambassador to pose with each of them. I tried to get as close up to the maces as I could to show them off, so not the best of angles, but it works I suppose. Check them out below with info on what areas to get them:

Saurok Breaker (silver/aqua) - Vale of Eternal Blossoms

Saurok Mace (silver/gold) - Dread Wastes

Saurok Scepter (silver/blue) - Townlong Steppes

Saurok Smasher (silver/red) - Isle of Thunder, Isle of Giants, Timeless Isle

And of course, I had to pose with my favorite mace color:

I may take more screenshots with the maces in the future. Just happy I was able to get all four of them. Maybe if Saurok ever become playable, I’ll utilize the mace transmogs for a character or something.

I’m sure using these mace transmogs would be a SMASH hit with Saurok players!

-Playable Saurok for the Horde please!

Fenelon-wyrmrest-accord · June 6, 2024, 6:01pm

Tempted to grab the Saurok weapons for my eventual saurok hunter. I intend to make him a survival hunter… but eh.

Bagzak-rexxar · June 6, 2024, 6:09pm

Well, the only Saurok related weapons in MoP Remix I am aware of are only the four 1-Handed Maces above. To my knowledge, Hunters can’t wield those unfortunately. Survival Hunters, again from what I remember, can only wield polearms and staves.

But if you do want those four transmogs, you’ll need to be a class that can wield 1-handed maces. They won’t drop and unlock otherwise, since the “unlock all transmog types on any character” feature isn’t in yet.

Really curious what weapon transmog you would have for your Saurok Hunter. I’m sure Saurok in general would have all sorts of fancy weapons when hunting!

-Playable Saurok for the Horde please!

Fenelon-wyrmrest-accord · June 6, 2024, 6:18pm

Yeah. Wish there was a polearm.

Bagzak-rexxar · June 8, 2024, 4:45pm

Assuming we ever get playable Horde Saurok someday, Lorewalker Cho should at the very least make an appearance with them at some point.

If you recall, Lorewalker Cho is the one who tells Horde players that they keep trying to make peace with the Saurok on Pandaria, only choosing to fight as a last resort. Since he seems to be one of the major characters in wanting peace with Saurok, it only makes sense that he would play some sort of role.

After all, he was pretty excited in BfA to hear of the Rajani Mogu, who are a lot more friendly than the stinky evil Mogu clans. So imagine if we had a friendly tribe or tribes of Saurok finally. I assume he’d be pretty ecstatic and want to meet with them. Especially if they reside on Pandaria, since he would likely be one of the biggest peace mediators between the Saurok and the Pandaren. And even if the friendly tribe of Saurok resides on another continent, I’m sure Lorewalker Cho would still be very interested in visited them and learning from them.

It doesn’t have to be a big role in a playable Saurok tribe’s storyline. It’d be more of a world (of Warcraft!) building thing and just a neat thing to see. Having Lorewalker Cho involved in at least just meeting friendly Saurok just seems very fitting, especially in a mediation role.

As I said before, maybe we just need a big meat lovers pizza party to make some friends with the Saurok tribes. I’d certainly would be happy to invite Lorewalker Cho to it. You think he would be interested in our Saurok research? Maybe I could become an honorary Lorewalker!

Edit: Making a quick edit to post some Xbox news.

Tomorrow is the Xbox Showcase at 10 AM Pacific:

I know with Xbox, you think of console stuff, but they have PC stuff in there also. And with Microsoft officially owning Activision-Blizzard now, there could always be some WoW news.

I saw in another thread that people have gotten emails specifically mentioning Battle Net announcements, so there could be some WoW stuff there. Not that I expect anything big, nice as it would be to see Phil Spencer walk on stage and announce playable Horde Saurok for Retail WoW finally. Might be a bit soon for TWW’s release date also, so no idea what could be shown there if anything WoW related does pop up on there.

If anything of particular WoW interest gets announced, I’ll be sure to help report it, but otherwise, best to temper expectations and keep an open mind as you watch for fun.

-Playable Saurok for the Horde please!

Bagzak-rexxar · June 9, 2024, 6:34pm

The only WoW related news from the Xbox Showcase is a release date for TWW, which is August 26th (August 22nd for those with early access). Article here:

A roadmap from the article above:

And the TWW release date trailer:

At whatever point Earthen are available to unlock, I’ll be checking out the Horde and Alliance embassies to see where the banner is placed and how the inside of the buildings look. There will be some more space for future Allied Race banners, which I hope we’ll see filled someday.

While I don’t expect much if anything for Saurok, TWW’s continent is fairly close to Pandaria, so I’ll keep an eye out for any Saurok activity. It might be awhile and probably future expansions before we see anything of interest, but I’ll still keep an eye out.

In the meantime, we’ll keep at it with the playable Horde Saurok support!

-78 days (74 days with early access) until TWW releases!-

-Playable Saurok for the Horde please!

Bagzak-rexxar · June 11, 2024, 6:13pm

While not officially Summer time, a lot of people are on Summer vacation, including our Saurok ambassador here!

So whatever plans y’all have for the Summer, please have a fun, happy, and safe season! As for me? I’ll be going through MoP to get as many alts leveled and as many rewards as possible!

More Saurok related posts from MoP Remix inspiration coming!

-76 days (72 days with early access) until TWW releases!-

-Playable Saurok for the Horde please!