The Unofficial Saurok Playable Race Discussion Megathread! 🐊

Bagzak-rexxar · May 24, 2020, 8:45pm

I’m personally all for the Troll Tribes joining the Horde, as there are some neat customization options and story potential. Not to mention that it would be cool to see the Amani part of the Horde again, which I’ve seen some support for playable Forest Trolls. If they become customization options like the Wildhammer are, then I’d at least like to see something in-game showing that they officially are joining the Horde, even if it’s a brief cutscene.

Blood Trolls I do agree would be weird and I have a hard time finding them redeemable. If anything, having the San’layn come in and finish off the remnants of them would be cool in leading towards the San’layn as a Horde allied race.

Anyway, getting back to Saurok…

I’ve mentioned before the achievement “Between a Saurok and a Hard Place” in MoP, mostly with the short cinematic with Lorewalker Cho talking about the Saurok history. I wanted to share the Wowhead link and also a video that shows off the four locations you need to go in order to get the achievement:

Doing this gets you an item in your mail (I think), which takes you to Lorewalker Cho in Vale of Eternal Blossoms (The old one, not the current 8.3 one with the N’zoth stuff). You get Lorewalker rep and the cinematic I’ve linked before.

If you’re interested in the text of each item, I’ll copy and post them here:

"Manufactured as a race of warrior slaves for the mogu empire, the saurok have always been a violent and brutish race. For many centuries after the Purge, they remained hidden deep in the wilds of Krasarang or lurked in the treacherous swamps beyond the Serpent’s Spine.

In recent generations, the saurok have grown bold, assaulting towns and cities along the Pandaren coast, then disappearing to the sea with their plunder.

If you encounter a saurok in the wild, assume it is not alone and take immediate action to protect yourself."

"The saurok were originally dispatched to maintain order in the far edges of the mogu empire. A sauroken culture of superiority and hatred for weakness developed, fueled by the ego of their mogu masters.

Soon, saurok guards began to plunder the very people they were supposed to police. They grew disobedient, turning on their own mogu commanders whenever they were displeased with the spoils of war.

Emperor Dojan responded in the traditional mogu way: the souls were ripped from every living saurok in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, and he demanded the same fate for the legions still in the field. So began the great Purge."

“When the mogu declared the purging of the saurok, a number of legions were still deployed in the field. Word reached the saurok of their masters’ treachery, and so they turned on their officers, and vanished behind enemy lines in the mantid lands. Many legions of mogu and their slaves were dispatched to hunt down and destroy these deserters. None ever returned.”

"Defiant to the last, the saurok stood their ground against the mogu in the swamps of Krasarang. It was here they had a fighting chance, drawing the imperial forces deeper in to unfamiliar territory.

The mogu death toll began to climb as the rebels poisoned water supplies and sabotaged structures.

In his fury, the Emperor Dojan continued to send troops, slaves, and weapons to Krasarang in an effort to eradicate what remained of the saurok.

They were never successful."

There are other achievements for the other Pandaria races, which all give you Lorewalker rep. It’s a fun thing to do if you’re ever bored.

More Saurok research to continue in the future!

Zurogrusel-darrowmere · May 24, 2020, 9:01pm

I’m for us getting the major tribes in the Horde. The thing is, some troll tribes have always been hostile to the Horde, like the Witherbark, and some tribes wouldn’t join the Horde if there are rival tribes in it. Think Stranglethorn, the Skullsplitter would never join the Horde if the Bloodscalp joined it.

If we could get the Farraki and Amani, that’d be a start. I’d love Zul’farrak and especially Zul’aman as capital cities. They’d want to have their respective zones fleshed out more and have some other settlements besides their capital. Zul’farrak might get an expansion too, it’s a bit small.

Maybe one of the Gurubashi tribes could join the Horde and conquer the other two to unite Stranglethorn under Horde control, and we could get their settlements + Zul’gurub as a capital. Zul’gurub would be awesome too.

Then there’s Northrend. There’s two tribes in Zul’drak, the Winterax and the Drakkari. The Drakkari were confirmed to be wiped out in BfA. Maybe the Winterax could join the Horde and claim Zul’drak for the it. The Winterax tribe is small though, and savage, they’re known to practice cannibalism. But they and other troll tribes could get the Darkspear treatment with the Horde, where their savage and barbaric practices slowly fade away.

Plus, Gundrak would be an awesome city.

Alliance would need an equivelent though, and I could say giving them back four of the Kingdoms in the northern Eastern Kingdoms (Lordaeron, Stromgarde, Alterac and Gilneas). They could get several cities from Lordaeron and one from each of the other three. That’s not very spread out though and not as diverse and unique as the troll capitals Horde would get. However, Lordaeron is seriously wanted by Alliance. They could also make each human city have its own unique feel with architecture and stuff. Whether or not my Alliance suggestion compares to Horde, the people reading this can decide.

If we’re being realistic though none of that will ever happen. If we are to get playable Revantusk forest trolls though, they could give us Jintha’alor and say the Revantusk overthrew the Vilebranch.

I’m tired and wrote that fast, so that might not be as well thought out or fleshed out as it’d normally be, so if I decide it isn’t later when I’m not tired I’ll rewrite it. And again, we’re off topic.

Fluffybuns-zangarmarsh · May 24, 2020, 9:03pm

if saurok become playable im naming mine lizalfos

Bagzak-rexxar · May 25, 2020, 5:43pm

No worries. It was cool to see the information you linked to help clarify some things and as I said, seeing the possibilities of more troll tribes becoming part of the Horde is neat, assuming that we get some in-game representation of how they join in the first place.

Now, in terms of Saurok and referring to my previous post, there is another Saurok-related aspect to the Mogu version of that achievement I mentioned awhile ago, “The Dark Heart of the Mogu.”

First, I’ll link the Wowhead link and video to find all the parts:

As for the item of interest, I’ll link the item and the text associated with it:

"Even by mogu standards, the reign of Emperor Dojan II was short and brutish. His maniacal drive to finish his father’s work and complete the great purge against the rebellious saurok legions drove him to leave his court in disarray while he set out on a doomed military campaign.

From his perch high on the cliffs overlooking the Krasarang Wilds he oversaw the slow clear-cutting of the jungle, the establishment of Dojanni Dungeons, and the gradual genocide of the saurok race.

What he didn’t expect was for the remains of the saurok fifth and seventh legions to scale the enormity of the cliffs in the dead of night, ambushing his imperial pavilion from the Valley of Four Winds and forcing him over the edge. His body was never found, and the resulting disarray in the capitol left the empire in chaos for over two years while the saurok melted back into the wilds and disappeared…"

I can only imagine what chaos a horde of Saurok who managed to invade Stormwind could cause. A king fit for a meal, indeed!

More Saurok research to continue in the future!

Zurogrusel-darrowmere · May 25, 2020, 5:46pm

I’m going to make a thread regarding forest trolls today so I can keep myself from ranting in the future, or help prevent it at least. Might get into other trolls in that thread at some point.

^^, that’d be terrifying.

However, This here is interesting:

So they’re intelligent enough to organize themselves into large forces, they’re not just primitive wretches. That’s a big boost to the possibility of them being playable. Now, if there’s anything regarding the organzation of those legions, that I’d like to know about.

Bagzak-rexxar · May 25, 2020, 6:03pm

It’s a good point to look at.

The Mogu created the Saurok and got them to form armies and have them raid territory while bringing back spoils of war. Since the Saurok did get fed up and broke free, it’s very possible that they had free-will at the time. Generally speaking, Mogu have their own brand of enticing their slave armies to obeying them (and I don’t mean great health benefits and a 401k).

On the other hand, at least some of the Mogu had some mind controlling powers, as shown when they mind controlled the Paleblade tribe in the older Vale of Eternal Blossoms area. So far, that is the only evidence I’ve seen of Mogu using such tactics to subjugate others into being their slaves.

Saurok intelligence seems to be a bit over the place. From being part of an army, going feral-like when gaining freedom, still being organized to form raiding parties and some apparently having some form of honor and respect for each other (Glintrok Tribe), to being able to function in a society of sorts. At the very least, we’ve seen some that are intelligent enough to be able to work with and be friendly to others.

I will say that an army of Saurok running towards the enemy would likely be one of the scariest things the enemy would ever see. I’d be curious on the tactics of a Saurok army, though I’m sure they would never wage war on an empty stomach.

Zurogrusel-darrowmere · May 26, 2020, 11:32am

Heyo, could I ask how you do your research for saurok? I was going to make a forest troll thread yesterday but fell asleep, and I’ll be doing it later today, so some advice would be appreciated.

If I made the thread now it’d probably be fine but any advice on how to make it the slightest bit more factual would help.

also no trust level 3 so i can’t post images normally ;(

Bagzak-rexxar · May 26, 2020, 7:07pm

Usually my research is just typing stuff into google and looking at the results or looking at stuff on Wowpedia, Wowhead, Youtube, or any similar website when searching for Saurok specific stuff. Sometimes ideas of things to check on in-game come in my mind, such as “do Saurok have a fishing animation?” that I end up testing out as well.

Wowpedia will usually have links to their sources on things, though some things are put on there without any source. A good example is the Clearscale Tribe in BfA’s Vale of Eternal Blossoms, where they state their affiliation is the Black Empire, but there is nothing in game that I’m aware of that states the entire tribe joined the Black Empire other than their leader, Veskan the Fallen, whose title implies to me that the leader fell to the voices of N’zoth while the rest of the tribe went into chaos as a result and they fell victim to being slaves to the Mogu (whether they used their mind controlling powers like with the Paleblade tribe or not is unclear).

Depending on the topic, it can take a bit of reading to fully research a topic you want to post about, but it can be well worth it when you do that and offer opinions on it.

Zurogrusel-darrowmere · May 26, 2020, 7:25pm

It’s certainly looking like that for me at the moment, I really thought I knew everything there was to know about forest trolls but oh my that’s not true. WoWPedia so far has been a source goldmine.

I need a way to transform into a forest troll, or at least something of that bulky model. It’s a modified version of the old troll model, so most animations will be shared, but I’m not sure some newer animations like the Heart of Azeroth ones will be implemented.

I’m doing some last minute research, I’ll be making my thread over them within the next two hours or so.

Bagzak-rexxar · May 26, 2020, 7:57pm

The best way to do it is if you have a Rogue with a Glyph of Disguise. It allows you to turn into whatever you pickpocket for 5 minutes. It’s plenty of time to test out things, take screenshots if you hearth back to the location you want to do it, and you should have plenty of time for Heart of Azeroth if you hoof it to the area.

Usually if a model shares assets with a playable race or a form a playable race can turn into, such as Ogres sharing mookin models and animations, it will have most of their animations, though not all of them. Some, like the Sethrak, barely have animations despite sharing assets with female Worgen while Saurok have some male Worgen animations but there are a lot that they don’t have.

It can be fun to look at and test, though it won’t mean too much unless Blizzard ended up using those models as a base for making them playable. Still worth it to test and report back.

Zurogrusel-darrowmere · May 26, 2020, 9:57pm

Thanks for the advice.

Took two hours to write but I got it done.

Bagzak-rexxar · May 27, 2020, 5:07pm

There is apparently a Shadowlands livestream being planned on June 9th, at 9 AM PT:

""Blizzard Entertainment is gearing up to show off more of World of Warcraft’s next expansion, Shadowlands. The developer has confirmed it is hosting a livestream event on June 9 where executive producer John Hight and game director Ion Hazzikostas will provide a new look at the expansion.

Hight and Hazzikostas will give the presentation from their homes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The stream begins at 9 AM PT, and you can watch on the World of Warcraft Twitch and YouTube channels. GameSpot will also carry the stream as part of our Play For All campaign."

Note: The following link has autoplaying videos on it, so please keep that in mind if you click the link:

Not really expecting to see anything Saurok related, and frankly I’d be surprised if there was anything Saurok related in Shadowlands to begin with, but you never know. If there happens to be something that shows up, I’ll be sure to report it here.

More Saurok research to continue in the future!

Unian-lightbringer · May 27, 2020, 5:15pm

This board should have more fans. Poor lizzies.

Ulendur-moon-guard · May 27, 2020, 5:29pm

Some random speculation. With how we’ve seen saurok act in-game and their history as save survivors willing to do what needs to be done to ensure their own survival I could see most saurok finding their way to Maldraxxus in the afterlife. With what we currently know and have seen about the necrolords Saurok if they don’t already have or go to some other afterlife would be a pretty good fit with their rough and savage lifestyles and ideologies.

Bagzak-rexxar · May 27, 2020, 8:06pm

So far the only thing I’ve found regarding Saurok and the afterlife is from Wowpedia, regarding the Skumblade Tribe:

“The Saur-Priests of the Skumblade rule through their religious dogma, inciting their fellow Skumblade into conflict by promising them the paradise of an eternal hunt, should they serve the tribe. The weak, however, are condemned to be the hunted in Kros’ afterlife.”

Seems like some Saurok could be around in the Shadowlands, but as I mentioned before, they’d be dead, angry, and hungry Saurok.

If anything, maybe Saurok of any tribe would want an afterlife of eternal hunts and consuming meat. At least, that’s the Skumblade’s version of Heaven. Who knows what other tribes, especially a playable Saurok Tribe, would believe in.

Bagzak-rexxar · May 28, 2020, 7:08pm

I found a video showing off the forms your pet turns into in the Skin of the Saurok quest:

Oddly enough, one of the forms is a smaller Saurok. I’m not sure if this is still true today or not, though.

Anyway, I wanted to offer thoughts on Saurok Hunters’ starting pets.

So far, my main vote would be for the red basilisk I’ve linked before. It’s mostly the Skumblade Tribe’s weaker members that use them, but it seems very fitting for Saurok in general having something that looks ferocious and reptilian. Some even are capable of forming a bond with them, such as Siakann and his basilisk, named Farros:

Siakann: “They tell me that I can shed my shame. I only need to do one thing, and then I will not be a shortfang. But I cannot do that. I cannot take Farros’ strength for myself. Not after what he has done for me…”

However, the starting pet for Saurok Hunters would depend on whether the playable tribe of Saurok would be from Pandaria or from another continent. If it’s another continent, they may not have the red basilisks, unless they traveled with the Saurok tribe.

So what should be their starting pets then?

I lean towards something that is both reptilian and also ferocious. This would depend on the area playable Saurok would reside in, of course, but I find it fitting for Saurok to have a reptilian pet of sorts that matches how savage they look.

The only example I can really think of regarding lizardmen and pets in MMORPG’s are the Iksar in Everquest 1, where Iksar Beastlords gained a scaled wolf pet. It’s pretty much a reptilian looking wolf that resides in several newbie fields around their home city.

Here is what they look like:

Whatever the starting pet is, people can just tame whatever they want after making their Saurok Hunter. Still, having a cool starting pet does add some flavor and can make Saurok look even more awesome.

More Saurok research to continue in the future!

Bagzak-rexxar · May 29, 2020, 5:57pm

So looking at Wowpedia’s entry for the Skumblade Tribe, I noticed something interesting that occasionally gets brought up and assumed that all Saurok are like this: They wallow in filth and are unclean.

So far, it seems like that viewpoint just applies to the Skumblade Tribe. This is what Wowpedia has regarding it:

“With the aid of the Filthmongers, the Saur-Priests have promoted the idea that cultivating filth will keep enemies of the tribe away, for fear of sickness. To this end, they are protective of their roaches, rotting meat, and partially consumed corpses. A dead Skumblade is food for the tribe and filth to keep the enemy away. Flesh and the consumption of flesh denotes strength to them.”

"Seadragons are held in lower regard, for they keep the shores filthy and hunt in water, which the Saur-Priests regard as heretical. Regardless, the task of keeping the waters filthy must go to someone, so they are tolerated.

“The Skumblade view all outsiders as a threat, but enjoy reaping the rewards of their conflict, as the corpses left behind mean more meat and filth for the scavengers to collect”

…I mean, I guess this works in some ways, although I don’t know how the Saurok immune system works. Then again, we as player characters did go among them disguised as a Saurok and killed them and stuff, so I don’t quite know how effective this is.

As I mentioned and as far as I can tell, this practice seems to be exclusive to the Skumblade Tribe. I haven’t seen this really apply to other tribes, unless I’m missing something since the majority of Saurok tribes barely have anything to them. The closest things I can think of with Saurok tribes would be the Glintrok having some form of honor while the Brinescale work as pirates, in which I doubt the Bilge Rats would have kept them around if they were filthy like the Skumblade Tribe. Even Hozen seem to keep clean better than the Skumblade Tribe.

In terms of being filthy, I don’t see this applying to other Saurok tribes in general, and I certainly wouldn’t put this theme on playable Saurok. If anything, it could be worked into a /silly where they denounce the Skumblade Tribe giving Saurok a bad name while explaining that their tribe goes through a thorough cleaning process. Nothing like a nice bath followed by lounging on a heat rock at the end of a hunting session!

Just something I wanted to report, as it does give Saurok in general a bad rap for being dirty. Also, it appears I’m at three posts in a row again, so if someone could do a reply, I would really appreciate it so I can post more Saurok research and support.

More Saurok research to continue in the future!

Fezzy-draenor · May 29, 2020, 6:19pm

Sounds like a particular tribe issue to me. Not a entire race thing.

Bagzak-rexxar · May 31, 2020, 7:05pm

I’ve been thinking about adversaries for the Saurok and situations that would cause some of them to actually seek help from others. I wanted to go over both ideas I’ve had, which could work either as short allied race questlines or become more involved if they were the basis of an expansion.

The first one is the one I’ve talked about the most: The Mogu. They’re the arch enemy of the Saurok and evil Mogu should have something to do with playable Saurok.

While the Mogu are currently in different clans, they could always get dominated and united by a particular Mogu Clan who wants to reform their empire. This would give them some credibility in becoming a threat to the world (of Warcraft!) and a major power. As for Saurok, they could try again to subjugate them as slaves once more, hunting them down as they see them as a threat.

One idea I had is from the raids of Mogu vaults, the playable Saurok tribe could have looted some really important artifacts from there that the new evil Mogu faction desperately want back, which could give them quite the power boost. This gives reason for them hunting down the Saurok in order to get the artifacts back.

The other adversary I had in the mind was the Skumblade Tribe. This would particularly be used if we were to focus on the Pandaria Saurok tribes.

The Skumblade Tribe is the most developed of the Pandaria Saurok tribes. It has been awhile since we dealt with them, and they likely have gained power since. It is possible, after the whole thing with N’zoth in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms and likely after Shadowlands, Pandaria would have been weakened and exhausted after all that. I could see the Skumblade deciding to take advantage of the situation and possibly taking territory, fighting in the name of Kros, while forcing other Saurok tribes in the area into their fold or destroying them.

It gives the other Saurok tribes on Pandaria a reason to try diplomacy with the Pandarens, who have constantly tried to make peace with the Saurok, and can flesh out some of the tribes that have survived the onslaught of the Skumblade. They also could just form one tribe altogether for survival.

Another possibility out of this is a war between the Skumblade and the Mogu on Pandaria, which would have devastating results for the continent as a whole. It would lead another reason for other Saurok tribes to work with others. It’s a cool idea for an event with possibilities. I mentioned riding that giant mushan in Salyis’ Warband and shooting down enemies and barricades, for example.

It’s possible this could be a short allied race questline, though I do feel like friendly Saurok that join the Horde would need to be introduced first and work with the the Horde rather than just pop out of nowhere, get a questline, discover the true meaning of Winter’s Veil, and then be all “I WANT TO JOIN THE HORDE!” My opinion is that there should be some story before that becomes a reality, and it shouldn’t be too rushed.

Both Mogu and the Skumblade have neat possibilities at being enemies for playable Saurok. They both can work on a smaller scale, unlocking Saurok as an allied race, or if Saurok were more akin to a core race and had an expansion themed around them. Regardless, it’s a good thing that there can be possibilities to begin with, and playable Horde Saurok are very open to have things written for them as needed to lead them into being a playable race.

Anyway, these are just some possible ideas I’ve typed up. They’re not set in stone to actually happen, but are just meant to show things you can do to work towards playable Horde Saurok.

More Saurok research to continue in the future!

Bagzak-rexxar · June 2, 2020, 8:53pm

With the one year anniversary of this megathread coming up (June 19th) and with my summer class having started, I decided to go ahead and make an anniversary post now in case I get a bit swamped in the near future.

Hard to imagine that it is been one year since I made this megathread, isn’t it? Seems like yesterday, we were all waiting for allied race news of some sort during BfA. Say what you will about the expansion as a whole, but it did bring people together and brought out passion people have for many of the NPC races in WoW in wanting them to be playable in some fashion.

I had been a lurker to these forums for quite awhile when BfA was announced. I had quit WoW temporarily as I had a sour taste from WoD and I wasn’t too fond of Legion in general, and when BfA was announced with the allied race system, I started to follow many of the race megathreads that had popped up.

Ogres and Saurok for the Horde had always been my most wanted playable races, and seeing that there was an Ogre megathread helped in giving me courage to start posting on the forum in general. It took some time, but I began to get comfortable in showing my support for Ogres and also for other race megathreads.

Lizardmen have always been my favorite fantasy race. From first seeing Lizalfos from Zelda II on the NES to the Iksar in Everquest 1. I’ve loved the design, aesthetics, and culture of them in fantasy settings, and seeing Saurok introduced, I had always wanted them to be playable, but was hesitant at first for going through with the idea of a megathread. Seeing how they were in-game gave me the impression that their chances of becoming playable were low, so I had kept my support to silently hoping…at least until BfA arrived.

As time went on, I noticed that Saurok did not get a lot of support. They barely got spoken about, in which most people on different forums concluded that they would likely not be capable of working with other races, and for awhile, it seemed like the chances were very low of them ever becoming playable. I was really nervous, but after some planning and some determination, I went ahead with creating this megathread.

What was there to be nervous about? Well, reception of the megathread mainly. I was worried that people would’ve potentially looked down upon me for wanting Saurok playable, and since Saurok weren’t exactly going to win popularity contests, I was worried about the initial response.

Much to my surprise, the majority of people who have posted here have been very supportive, with some actually happy I created this megathread. It was cool to see others wanting Saurok playable as well, and it really meant a lot to me to meet others who came here and both liked what I posted and contributed to the megathread. It’s something I’m very thankful and appreciative for.

One of my regrets was taking so long to actually make this megathread and get things moving. Aside from my worry of reception, real life (college specifically) tended to make free time harder to find. Still, I’m hoping to continue to evolve my support for Saurok and also for Ogres in different ways. Whatever I come up with, I know that I’ll always continue to show off support as best as I can.

I’d like to end this anniversary post by saying thank you to everyone that has come here and shown support and also those who have inspired me to come onto the forums to voice support for Ogres and Saurok (you know who you are). It really means a lot to me, and I’m happy that there are those who want the same thing and also enjoy what I type. While the existence of this megathread is not a guarantee that we’ll ever see Saurok playable, showing support of some sort is better than silently hoping.

All I know is that I’ll keep on marching, for better or worse and as best as I can. Thank you all for helping me keep going.

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