The Unofficial Saurok Playable Race Discussion Megathread! 🐊

[Bagzak-rexxar]

@Fallynn-wyrmrest-accord

There should be more focus on races already in the game that people have been wanting for Allied Races like this as opposed to the random undead out-of-nowhere races popping up.

I agree. There are a lot of races on Azeroth that people have asked to be playable for years that would work very well and also create some hype. A lot of them either are open enough to be able to write lore to fit a situation or could use some more lore that just fleshes them out.

There are some fantasy niches that WoW still has yet to have any of, and I don’t really mind when a new race comes out to fill that void. For example, we never had any lizardmen races before Saurok in Warcraft, and creating something new like Halflings or Kender to fill that particular fantasy void when none existed before doesn’t bother me either.

Generally speaking for any MMORPG, I’m not fond of any race becoming playable being a replacement for an existing race that would work perfectly fine as a playable race. An example I use would be a race of derpy looking geckos or burly alligator men becoming playable in an expansion out of nowhere instead of getting Saurok. Sure, they would technically be lizardmen, but it wouldn’t quite be the same. If they came in place of Saurok in MoP, would I support either as I do with Saurok currently? Possibly, at least in the case of the burly alligator people, but I personally support Saurok for being…well, Saurok.

Saurok do fit the theme of what I imagine lizardmen to be. They have an interesting backstory and are awesome in general. I’d be disappointed if some other lizardmen race was created for a specific expansion that got to be playable over them. There are exceptions, of course. Something like Sethrak that are reptilian but a different species works great as a playable race and would be a great contrast to Saurok, especially if they were put on Alliance and Saurok on the Horde but would still complement Saurok if they were both on the Horde. In this case, I don’t see one ever being a replacement for the other since they offer different things.

With regards to the four covenant factions, I’m still not entirely convinced they would end up as allied races, even with the datamined discovery. Even though we don’t know them well, I feel like they’re stuck in the afterlife world and would remain there storyline-wise after we move on to the expansion after Shadowlands. I have a hard time seeing them just being able to enter the living world of Azeroth at all. That said, I have no issue with those that want them (we all have races we want playable). I just need to see something more concrete before I can give more of an opinion.

Anyway, in terms of playable lizardmen, it’s Saurok or bust for me. Their backstory would fit them as members of the Horde just fine, and if given some love in the storyline department, I’m sure there would be some awesome gameplay moments if they were given the chance.

[Vorawsoul-moon-guard (Vorawsoul)]

I’d totally be ok with playing saurok if we don’t get sethrak.

[Bagzak-rexxar]

So I’ve found an image of the character creation screen in Shadowlands and wanted to talk about it. I do want to thanks Gnomest for posting this image in a few megathreads, as that is how I became aware of it.

Taken from here:

Shadowlands Alpha Build 34081 - Revamped Character Creation Menus

The new character creation image:

One thing to note is that for some reason, Worgen and Kul Tirans aren’t shown here. Whether a cure was discovered for Worgen, Kul Tirans did some major RingFit Adventure gameplay sessions, or likely a bug, they aren’t showing up at present.

There are a few things of note about this particular image.

First, allied and core races are not separated by different screens. They’re both shown on the same screen, currently in separate columns. I’m not sure if races will still be considered core or allied, or if they all just form playable races in general now regardless if they come with expansions or need to be unlocked. I would guess that it would help from a programming and design point-of-view to have one screen to add new races to. Speaking of which…

The second and most important part is that we now have room for all kinds of new races. You’ll notice there is room to add more races below and also for another column or two. While it may take awhile to fill up that screen, I have hopes that we’ll still see new races added gradually in the future. I can already think of a few in particular that would love to help fill that space out!

Third and last, if you look where the classes are, it does look like there is room for more down there. I’d guess you could fit about 4 more classes, though the character creation screen could always be revamped again.

So far, this has been the most exciting thing for me I’ve seen in Shadowlands. It’s very likely we’ll see new races in the future, and there seems to be room for several that people have been asking for. As I said, i know a few that would fit just fine on the Horde side.

More Saurok research to continue in the future!

[Fezzy-draenor (Fezzy)]

I agree. This screen opens up so many more possibilities.

AR’s aren’t separate, “slots” are gone, lots of room, room for classes. Everything about this is a positive.

Lets hope that AR’s going forward are not rep based and are just story unlocks. The doors open so wide if that is the case.

Saurok for the Horde!

[Bagzak-rexxar]

@Fezzy-draenor

AR’s aren’t separate, “slots” are gone, lots of room, room for classes. Everything about this is a positive.

I agree. It also gets rid of the idea that they’re only adding allied races when they have a parent core race (be it a variant race or just sharing a skeleton and animations) and even then just one and only one of each type.

I always thought it was arbitrary to just add in races based on that aspect. “Oh we have to add in a variant for (insert core race here) as we don’t have any yet! We also can’t add in (insert allied race here) because we already have one based on (insert core race here).” It felt silly and I did notice some animosity occur on the forums because of it.

As it stands now, there is plenty of room now, and they can add races as they see fit instead of needing to add in something just to have a link to a core race. Hopefully we’ll see more new playable races as time goes on.

On another note, I took a break from college work today to spruce up the first post of this megathread. I edited a few sections while adding in some new ones.

I added a small section talking about Saurok mingling and working with other races, got the female Saurok image working, added some racial ideas, dance ideas, jokes, and flirts. It still needs some work, so if anyone has any suggestions, I’m open to them. Also, I need to go through the thread and look at more racial ideas people have suggested and make sure they are credited to them when I add them.

I’m not sure if I’ll be able to edit the thread past the one year anniversary of its creation (something that occurs because of the way the forums are coded), so I want to make sure it is in good shape when June comes.

Speaking of, it’s getting close to the one-year anniversary of this megathread’s creation! Time sure has flown by, hasn’t it? I’ll have to think of something to post during that time. I’m also open to any ideas if anyone has any.

As always, more Saurok research and support to continue in the future!

[Xilaphon-stormrage]

I always thought it was arbitrary to just add in races based on that aspect. “Oh we have to add in a variant for (insert core race here) as we don’t have any yet! We also can’t add in (insert allied race here) because we already have one based on (insert core race here).” It felt silly and I did notice some animosity occur on the forums because of it.

To be fair, none of the developers ever said they were doing it that way. It was an assumption a lot of the fans made in the course of trying to figure out what allied races might be coming next.

[Bagzak-rexxar]

This is true. It was not outright stated that this was the devs’ intent, and it ended up being a rule that the fans created. Granted, the general theme of allied race additions seemed to lean towards it and I was hoping we’d see something that would buck that trend. It reminds me a lot of Smash Bros. and all the “rules” fans have made for new characters coming out as DLC in the game, which funnily enough the next character has a good chance of breaking at least one of those rules.

To be clear, I do like the majority of allied races that were added, and as I mentioned before, the new character creation screen helps a lot in making room and opening possibilities. I look forward to seeing more new races in the future.

[Bagzak-rexxar]

Got some artwork I wanted to share from Hearthstone and, oddly enough, some concept art from the Sonic the Hedgehog movie.

For the Hearthstone artwork, I’m sure I may be missing some, but I wanted to show these off as the Saurok in here look pretty awesome:

Cruel Dinomancer:

Cloakscale Chemist (couldn’t find just the artwork):

Terroscale Stalker:

Dinomancy:

Envenom Weapon (Female Saurok):

These following ones are apparently artwork that became unpublished:

As I said before, I’m likely missing some, but I’ll keep an eye out for any more of them. A few of these are really great at imagining Saurok as a caster class or giving them personality.

For the Sonic the Hedgehog concept artwork, they were considering some lizardmen as villains, which didn’t make the cut. This video shows off a few lizardmen artwork, which looks really neat. I wanted to share it for Saurok armor design inspiration:

- YouTube

It’s a surprising place to find lizardmen stuff, but I’ll take it!

More Saurok research to continue in the future!

[Grayphus-nemesis (Grayphus)]

Oh really! I really love the illustration of envenon!

Now I’ve been thinking, if sauroks can be a playable race, who could be the racial leader?

I thought and didn’t remember any relevant figure that could be a unifier, except maybe that Saurok (Chief Salyis) that we see in the Valley of the Four Winds.

Would he be a good option?

[Kyoho-silvermoon]

Something I noticed during BFA is that most of the Saurok pirates we fight are casters who use water magic. I wonder if they serve as the pirates Tide Priest equivalent.

[Telar-stormreaver]

Signed, would play.

[Bagzak-rexxar]

@Grayphus-nemesis

Now I’ve been thinking, if sauroks can be a playable race, who could be the racial leader?

The most likely outcome, in my opinion, is that it would be a brand new NPC, especially if a new tribe was created to become the playable Saurok faction.

If we deal with any of the existing factions, such as just one tribe in particular becoming playable, it’s possible that any NPC’s within could be expanded upon to become a racial leader.

I feel like if they did use any of the current tribes, it might end up being a band of several from different tribes that joined together based on events.

Such events could be the Skumblade Tribe gaining power and influence to where they can force other tribes to join them or seek to destroy them, which in turn would be a threat to Pandaria in general and cause surviving Saurok tribes to actually work with the Pandarens and other natives on Pandaria to stop the Skumblade. This scenario could also work with any Mogu in the area who gain power somehow and try to take over Pandaria and the world (of Warcraft!). In either scenario, a new racial leader over the group of Saurok could be created or they could use someone from one of the tribes to lead them against their enemies. Mogu being the main enemy of the playable Saurok faction makes the most sense to me.

Regardless of how they were implemented, I do feel that a new NPC is the most likely to occur for a racial leader, be it a male or female Saurok.

@Grayphus-nemesis

I thought and didn’t remember any relevant figure that could be a unifier, except maybe that Saurok (Chief Salyis) that we see in the Valley of the Four Winds.

I think I may have talked about him some before, but I’ll look at him again.

Chief Salyis is part of the Salyin tribe. He’s actually part of the Salys’ Warband world boss in the Valley of the Four Winds, standing on top of a giant mushan. His wowhead webpage is here:

Chief Salyis

He leads a warband to loot pillage the local area, taking pleasure in doing so, so he isn’t exactly a nice person. He runs away when you kill his mushan also, so he isn’t dead, but it would likely take a lot of writing and something serious happening, such as the scenario I wrote earlier in the post, for him to really be viewed as a racial leader of any sort. As he is right now, I don’t really see it.

If a scenario occurs where Saurok have to defend against a threat and team up with others, I could imagine a quest where you ride his giant mushan with him to attack opposing forces, shooting at enemy mobs with other Saurok riding with you to get to a location or cause some general havoc. However, it really depends how they would implement playable Saurok to see if they use current tribes or a brand new one.

All in all, it’s possible they could expand current tribes and NPC’s within, but it really depends if they go with a current tribe, a mix of current tribes, or just make a brand new tribe altogether.

@Kyoho-silvermoon

Something I noticed during BFA is that most of the Saurok pirates we fight are casters who use water magic. I wonder if they serve as the pirates Tide Priest equivalent.

It’s possible they could operate as a form of tide sages. We don’t really know the extend of their magic, such as if they know how to utilize it other than attack player characters, but it could be possible.

It does make me feel like Saurok may have the capability to become mages, depending on how they get access to magical artifacts (raiding from Mogu) and possibly have the intelligence to utilize them, as seen with the Brinescale.

Interesting things to consider and think about!

[Bagzak-rexxar]

College semester is almost over, so I’ll have more free time soon. Huzzah! \ ^ o ^ /

Recently, an interview with Ion regarding Shadowlands occurred a few days ago. There was a mention of allied races during Shadowlands as a whole.

Taken from: https://www.mmo-champion.com/content/9120-Shadowlands-Developer-Interview-Ion-Hazzikostas

“The team is open to more Allied Races, but there are no plans for any in Shadowlands.”

I also wanted to quote what was exactly said during the interview, which was typed up by Rorrand in the San’layn Megathread so I’d like to credit them for doing the work:

“It’s something we remain open to doing. It wasn’t just a Battle for Azeroth feature. But there are no planned allied races right now in Shadowlands. I think one of the challenges with the setting of Shadowlands, the idea, is that these aren’t traditional races. These are magical ethereal beings from another plane of existence. But maybe there’s a world where it makes sense for some of them to join the Alliance or the Horde someday. We’ll see. But definitely not at the start of Shadowlands. ”

It’s not too surprising that there aren’t any allied races currently being planned during Shadowlands, given the nature of the expansion taking place in some form of the afterlife, though things can always change during the development.

I also wasn’t expecting Saurok to have a presence of any sort during Shadowlands, unless they’re dead in which case they’d likely just be dead, angry, and hungry lizards, so I can’t say I’m disappointed in that regard.

It’s likely we’ll have about two years or so with Shadowlands before we get the next expansion, but despite that, I’m still planning to go forward with support of the races I want playable, and I hope others continue to do so also for their wanted races. There will be more expansions in the future and we now have even more space for new races, so I’m sure we’ll eventually see more in the future. Call it wishful thinking, but part of me does hope that Blizzard saw all the fan feedback and speculation that allied races created during BfA, so I’m hoping they’re taking a lot of that into consideration.

Besides, I’ve been wanting Ogres since I first started playing during Burning Crusade, so I pretty much am a patient person when it also comes to Saurok. I’m in it for the long haul with showing my support for the races I want playable, and I’ll continue to do so as best as I can. I think it’s important to continue to show support and share ideas, artwork, and such in that regard. It isn’t a guarantee to get specific races playable, but it is better than showing no support, in my opinion.

Anyway, I wanted to share the recent general allied race news. I’m planning to do some more things while I have some free time semesters, like type up some posts I’ve been meaning to, editing the beginning post of this megathread some more, and some other things. We’re also approaching the one-year anniversary of this megathread, so I’m going think of what to do for that (suggestions are appreciated). For better or worse, I’ll continue to show support for Saurok and other races I want playable as best as I can.

As always, more Saurok support and research to continue in the future!

[Neoyoshi-zuljin]

I love this thread so darn much.

[Bagzak-rexxar]

I have another RL lizard I wanted to share for Saurok idea inspiration, though it’s moreso for its scale pattern as opposed to its defining feature.

The Gila Monster!

So the main feature of the gila monster is that they’re really venomous. It’s a very painful type of venom that, if you get bitten, feels like lava flowing through your veins.

The other main feature is that they have an ability to track animals and follow them, usually to their den. This is done with their forked tongues, which they use to smell just like a snake does.

So what can Saurok get out of this? Well, aside from a form of tracking that has been discussed before, Saurok aren’t venomous to my knowledge. It’s possible some Saurok may be able to have some venom in them, since the Mogu used a lot of lizards when creating the Saurok, but something like a venom skill would fit Sethrak better in my opinion, as it would be a unique and defining aspect of them.

So why bring up the gila monster? It’s mainly the scale pattern I wanted to show off. Most images I can find of the gila monster have them mostly orange as the dominating color, but the idea of having a black scaled Saurok with some orange patterns on them just sounds amazing to me. I could see it being a very popular choice for Saurok Death Knights.

If Saurok were to ever become playable, in terms of scale patterns, I could see them having a variety to choose from that come from various RL lizards. I’m sure many of them would look beautiful and fit different classes.

I’ll be keeping an eye out for more cool looking scale patterns. If anything, an orange and black scaled Saurok would be great to have for Hallow’s End events.

More Saurok research to continue in the future!

[Peppermint-eldrethalas (Peppermint)]

I’d play a female lizard person for sure, especially if they can be tinkers.

[Bagzak-rexxar]

Good news! I’m finally done with college work! I’m finally free!..until June 1st when my summer class starts. x- x

I should have some time to get some posts I’ve been meaning to get done, which I will try to get done in-between some RL obligations. In the meantime, a few things for this particular post:

First, I am planning to go through the initial post of the megathread and see what needs to be revamped or added. I’m unsure if I’ll be able to edit it once it hits the one-year mark, so I want to make sure things look good when it does happen. Speaking of which, next month, June 19th 2020 to be specific, will mark the one year anniversary of this megathread. I got a few ideas in mind for what I’ll do and am open to suggestions if anyone has any.

Second, I found a video of someone playing Soul Calibur IV’s Lizardman through the arcade mode. I figured I would link it, as the fighting style is different from Soul Calibur V’s, using a sword and shield this time, and having different lizardmen animations helps with the potential inspiration process of designing animations for Saurok:

Lizardman also gets an ending in the arcade mode:

Lastly, as usual, I just wanted to say that I’m thankful for those that post in here to support Saurok as a playable race. Please be safe out there and take care when you need to head outdoors for groceries and other necessities.

More Saurok research to continue in the future!

[Grayphus-nemesis (Grayphus)]

I demand Moar saurok!

[Zurogrusel-darrowmere]

Would be cool and I’d like it but it’d be hard to implement, saurok were described as pure evil because they’re an artificial race created by the mogu. They’d make a good counter race to jinyu/ankoan though.

[Gnomest-sargeras (Gnomest)]

Now if only they had been willing to put in the effort. Personally I think the 8.3 pairing should have been Vulpera/gilblin for a same faction survivalist faction group and Sethrak/ankoan paired together on alliance with a tinker class in 9.0 that has cyborg options for several races including gnomes.