The Unofficial Saurok Playable Race Discussion Megathread! šŸŠ

For this post, I thought Iā€™d look at skinks, which is a term used for some parts of Lizardmen society in different media, such as Warhammer.

Some videos on facts of them:

Mainly linking these videos because of the beautiful scale colors and patterns. There are a lot of good ones there.

Not too much in the way of Saurok idea inspiration, other than potentially dropping your tail which would regrow soon afterwards, but Iā€™m more interested in Saurok using their tails as whips to stun or attaching weapons and stuff to them.

Still, skinks are a neat reptile I wanted to share. You never know if it would inspire any Saurok ideas regardless. :lizard:

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

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Now that Pandaland is once again revisited, hopefully there will be side quests and more lore for expansion on that front. Like, how are they recovering from this old god nonsense once again? Have some tribes in Saurok shaped up? What of the Saurok farming Azerite on the Islands (I run into them on a regular basis). Heck, if we looked at all pirates, we could have more neutral races, all things considered.

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So while not a reptile, I came across a really neat amphibian that looks very lizard like and had a really awesome pattern on its body I wanted to share. Itā€™s called the fire salamander:

Something like that would look really cool as a Saurok scale color pattern, much like the gilla monster I shared several posts ago.

Iā€™m currently working on exams this week, so posts might slow down a bit. Iā€™m half-way done with exams, though, which will be a huge relief!..until my next class starts. x- x

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

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So aside from WoW, one of the biggest MMORPGā€™s on the market is Final Fantasy 14. Itā€™s a very popular game, though I personally donā€™t have a lot of interest in it for a couple of reasons.

The main reason for it is that Iā€™m not really into the playable race choices. The races are more or less either anime boys or waifu tropes. Not quite my cup of tea in terms of character customization.

The other reason for it is that the game, from my understanding, isnā€™t very alt friendly. Itā€™s more designed for you to focus on one character, again to my understanding.

You may have seen me mention before in a few other threads that Iā€™d consider trying it out if Bangaa, a race of lizard men, ever became playable. This isnā€™t specifically because it is a lizardmen race, though it is a reason I like them, but itā€™s a race that both exists in the game as well as in the Final Fantasy series in general. There is also the idea that if I only focus on one character in a MMORPG, Iā€™d want it to be a race I actually like.

While I canā€™t say what the chances are they would ever become playable in FF14, I figured Iā€™d show them off some since I look at lizardmen races from various sources of media for Saurok idea inspiration. If they ever did become playable, it then becomes more competition to WoW, who is sadly very lacking in the playable lizardmen department, let alone playable reptilian races in general.

Anyway, letā€™s check them out!

Bangaa are a lizardmen race that originated from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance on the Gameboy Advance, being among a few other races you can recruit as units for your army. In general, both male and female Bangaa exist, but theyā€™re hard to tell apart.

They also appeared in Final Fantasy 12, though as NPCā€™s in the game.

They do appear in FF14 as a NPC race, where they actually are a good race that works with others. There are a few specific NPCā€™s that act as antagonists in the gameā€™s story, from my understanding.

An example of how they look in FF14:

Itā€™s a shame they didnā€™t become playable with the Viera, the race of female bunny girls, since they both originated from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. While the Hrothgar, a race of cat men similar to the Rondo from Final Fantasy X, was a good start, Bangaa wouldā€™ve been a better choice to go with the Viera in my opinion given theyā€™re related in terms of game origination. It wouldā€™ve also brought a some much needed flavor to the playable race choices in the game. I do see people wanting them, so they do have a bit of popularity.

Funnily enough, the devs made an April Fools joke of a new playable race that was a combination of the Bangaa and Viera races before the Viera were officially made playable:

Do Bangaa have a chance to be playable in FF14? Itā€™s possible. Some cons I see about them involve the time it would take to work with their models to make them playable. A lot of armor would have to not show up at all on them, which is something that has been applied to some of the playable races in the game similar to how Mecha Gnomes donā€™t show armor on some pieces. Itā€™s up on the air what the actual chances are of playable Bangaa in the game, but Iā€™d like to think there is some chanceā€¦assuming they donā€™t just keep adding races of waifuā€™s instead. ā† <;

As I said before, if Bangaa ever become playable, Iā€™ll consider giving FF14 a tryā€¦of course, if I got playable Horde Saurok in WoW, Iā€™d be much more happier. :lizard:

If you want to see more on Bangaa in the Final Fantasy series in general, there is a wiki here that covers them:

I suppose now Iā€™ll have to time whether FF14 or WoW gets their playable Lizardman race first. Hopefully sooner than later. :lizard:

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

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Didnā€™t realize those creatures had a specific name!

Always seen them in various FF games and just kinda assumed they were a generic lizardmen.

Very neat!

Saurok for the Horde! :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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So the image I linked of the FF14 Bangaa example might have come from FF12 as well. Thereā€™s a Bangaa character in it named Baā€™Gamnan, who served as an antagonist in the game:

Turns out they brought him into FF14, though as a separate entity from his FF12 version:

Edit: I donā€™t know why, but youtube videos arenā€™t being embedded on any posts I make. Itā€™s weird, as it seems to work for others, but not for me suddenly. Until I figure it out, click on the video image to see the videos I link.

You can see him and some other Bangaa NPCā€™s in FF14 in this video (likely story spoilers for anyone wanting to go through the story of the game):

And this is a boss fight of him in FF12:

Something to note is that Bangaa arenā€™t all bad. There are plenty of good ones in any universe their race exists in. :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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AHAH. I remember that in this game, one of them is innocently called a lizard by the main char, which makes the bangaa angry.
Montblanc then warns that bangaas have hotbloods (:grin:) they do not consider themselves lizards but dragons. If you want to start a free fight with a bangaa, just call it a lizard. :skull_and_crossbones:

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So Iā€™m not sure what is going on, but youtube videos on the forums donā€™t appear to be embedded when you link them in posts anymore. This is happening for multiple people, both for older posts and newer ones you make. They appear as a still image that you have to click to load the youtube page on its own page. Oddly enough, some posts still have embedded youtube videos still working.

Iā€™m not sure if this is an intentional change or not, and Iā€™m hoping itā€™s just a bug that will get fixed. Until it is fixed, Iā€™ll have to remember to mention a link I post is a youtube video and to click the still image to see videos.

On another note, I finally was able to get some time to work on a new Ogre megathread, so if youā€™re interested in supporting playable Horde Ogres, specifically the Stonemaul Clan, you can see the thread here:

Now, on a Saurok related note, you may have noticed on the bottom of the first page of this post and the Ogre megathread post, at the time Iā€™m posting this, mentioning an official Ogre/Saurok Partnership coming in the near future.

Iā€™ve mentioned before that Iā€™ve been wanting to look into different avenues of showing off support for Ogres and Saurok on the Horde, and since Iā€™m spearheading support for both now, Iā€™m in the process of planning out something along those lines. It wonā€™t be anything grandiose or ground-breaking, but more like taking baby steps into the next direction and seeing how it goes. When I have something more concrete, Iā€™ll be sure to mention it in both megathreads.

So maintaining two megathreads is going to be a lot of work, but I intend to give it my all for both of them. Itā€™s something Iā€™d only do for my most wanted races, and for Ogres and Saurok, itā€™s something Iā€™m very much willing to do. Theyā€™ve been my most wanted playable races, and while my work wonā€™t guarantee theyā€™ll become playable, I think itā€™s worth a shot and also good to show off support of some kind instead of silently hoping.

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

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Very admirable the amount of work youā€™ve put in :slight_smile: I really hope your hard work comes to fruition, I feel youā€™re an extremely important part of the communities hoping for Allied Races, Customization, and lore. Something that hopefully Blizzard recognizes. Thereā€™s so much negativity and bickering on the forums, but Iā€™m glad in many megathreads that ideas can keep being kindled and shared. I know thereā€™s ups and downs with several communities, but you always remain positive and polite, and I think we all really appreciate that. I know I do.

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Well as most people know, the prepatch will be implemented on live servers tomorrow. Assuming the forums are still up during maintenance, I may look at doing some bit of revamping on a few sections of this megathread, since the downtime seems to be roughly 8 hours or so, assuming no extended maintenanceā€¦or extended maintenanceā€¦or extended extended maintenance.

Silliness aside, given the changes occurring, I know that it will be a huge endeavor to get the servers up and running with the prepatch, let alone seeing what sort of bugs pop up and working on getting that sorted out. Hopefully, it goes smoothly for everyone.

If all else fails, I have both my megathreads backed up , so I can always work on it there and put in changes when the forums are back up. I will admit, itā€™s going to be a bit odd seeing my character go from L120 back down to L50.

Oh Iā€™m no hero. Iā€™m just some guy that really wants playable Ogres and Saurok on the Horde. I try to respect others as best as I can and really like seeing the passion others have for their wanted races.

With all the space that new character creation screen has in Shadowlands, I feel that there is plenty of room for races people want playable, and new races are the most exciting feature of any MMORPG for me (new classes being a close second). I find it rewarding to support each other, as everyone has different passions and interests. Itā€™s also really cool to see the excitement and celebrations of people getting the races theyā€™ve been working hard to support actually playable as well.

Iā€™ll always dream of seeing Ogres, Saurok, and Sanā€™layn players running around Orgrimmar, and hopefully others will be able to create the characters of the races they want as well to run around Orgrimmar or Stormwind with too. :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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Thatā€™s why I support and wish all the best for your threads, good Mr. Troll Nice Guy.

May the Light so allow.

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Happy prepatch day everyone! Hoping the servers donā€™t catch fire when they go up.

So I was going through my older posts in this megathread, and discovered that my older posts where I linked videosā€¦no longer show videos at all. Not even the still image you have to click to see them, since embedded videos currently donā€™t seem to be functional on the forums.

I went to edit the posts to see if they were removed, and the video URLā€™s are still there. However, in order to get the videos to show up as that still image link, I have to edit the post with a new edit somehow, and then the videos will appear in the post.

As far as I can tell, this is a glitch and wasnā€™t an intentional removal of any sort. It seems to happen to all of my old posts past a certain date, and likely it has done it to me in other threads as well. I assume this is because of the recent embedded video change/glitch thing, and likely affects other posters as well.

This doesnā€™t appear to be for all videos, as several of my previous posts had the embedded videos converted to the still image link. I am unsure what the date cutoff is for when it does this glitch.

So what this means is that I need to go through all of my older posts in this megathread and edit the posts to get the videos to show up. This is annoying, as I was planning to start linking to some posts on the main post of the megathread for things like RL lizard and other Lizardmen race videos and such for easier Saurok inspiration navagation. I already fixed the two posts that I linked that talked about the dance suggestions.

So until I can actually fix it, or the forums manage to fix itself, youā€™ll likely see old posts where I talk about a videoā€¦and then ramble like a madman about a video not there.

For everyone else, if you reference any posts with a video link in it, such as a megathread or within a megathread, be sure to double check your posts and edit them as needed to get the video links working.

Anyway, time to keep busy until the servers come up. Going to take awhile for me to get use to being L50 again. :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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Iā€™ve also noticed that when Iā€™ve linked videos today after three or four links they stop showing up as anything more than the link.

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Iā€™m still wondering if anything going on, such as the embedded video changes, are intentional or some glitchā€¦or a glitch from an intentional change. I havenā€™t really seen anything officially stated about it.

On another note, our friends at the Sethrak megathread have created a brand new megathread, so if youā€™re interested in supporting our snake friends, check it out here:

And speaking of Sethrak, the Sethrak Rally event is coming up real soon for anyone interested. You can check the details in this post:

WoW could really use some playable reptilian races, and as I said before, the Saurok megathread stands with the Sethrak megathread, regardless of what faction Sethrak would end up on.

Letā€™s get some reptiles on that character creation screen! :snake: :crocodile: :turtle:

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Had a recent discussion in the Sanā€™layn megathread regarding two sides of a story for a playable Horde race, and it applies to Saurok as well.

Basically, the Horde in general is viewed as monsters by many members of the Alliance, usually of the heartless ā€œI am teh ebil savage RAWRā€ type. When questing as the Alliance, it usually is played up to be something where the player feels like theyā€™re doing good beating up the enemy Horde NPCā€™s. The same is done with the Horde towards Alliance NPCā€™s you fight.

On the other hand, playing as the Horde, you usually see a different side to these members. Often times, theyā€™re not the monsters you fought against as a member of the Alliance. Sure, some Horde NPCā€™s are of dubious morals, but you do see many of them in a better light. Some have morals and are trying to survive while others have personal vendettas against the Alliance, who may have wronged them in some fashion. This also apples in the opposite way, with Alliance members having vendettas against the Horde for being wrong by them in some fashion for example.

This can be applied with Saurok pretty well. On the Alliance point-of-view, they work as a ā€œmonsterā€ race that can be enemies you fight against, named NPC bosses that are interested in putting your head on a pike, and other similar roles. Likely being shown off as cruel monsters who would relish burning orphanages and causing chaos for fun.

On the Horde side, assuming they become a playable race, you would see that theyā€™re not quite the evil and angry creatures youā€™d see on the Alliance side. Youā€™d get things like storylines and backstory of seeing them trying to survive, possibly viewing the Alliance as beings who would want to end them because they see the Saurok as savage monsters. Players might even be able to sympathize with them if written very well.

Having two sides to a story is an interesting thought, and it makes for some potentially engaging gameplay. Saurok are a race that could work really well in this regard. People on the Alliance side would see them as fearsome beasts while on the Horde side, they could be shown as more than that as an ally. :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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Hero Forge had a recent update, where you can add color to your creations. I went and recreated my Lizardman Necromancer and looked at the preset colors. The result:

You can apply custom colors to many different parts of the figurine youā€™re designing. I went with a pre-set since Iā€™m not great artistically. I also couldnā€™t find the option to change the facial expression. Iā€™m sure itā€™s still there and I just overlooked. I need to explore more of it to see what else I can do in it.

With this new update, it makes me want to play around with it even more. Maybe when I finish college, I might look into buying a few of these custom figurines I make.

If youā€™re interested in checking it out and making your own creations, you can check it out at the official Hero Forge web site:

When you created a hero, move your mouse to the top right of the screen where it says ā€œHero*ā€ to see a drop down list. One of the options is ā€œscreenshot,ā€ which will take a screenshot (be sure to play with the zoom in/out option to get the whole figurine in frame first) you can download as an image file.

Also, since Iā€™m at three posts in a row again, if someone could post in here so I can continue to make more posts, I would greatly appreciate it!

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

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So Iā€™m going to see if I can indeed post more than three times in a row. If youā€™re seeing this post, it means I can, though I donā€™t know how many more times in a row people can post or if the cap was removed outright.

Edit: Well what do you know! Looks like the 3 posts in a row limit is gone!..at least for now. Not sure what the actual cap is now, or if there is one, but hopefully I donā€™t run into that problem.

A couple things for this post:

First, it appears that videos are embedded again! Even the old posts seem to have videos placed back in them. Hopefully this will last, and if I notice any older posts not having videos when they should, Iā€™ll try to fix it. Feel free to let me know if you happen to see any posts with busted video links.

Second, I took a screenshot of the new character creation screen. I had to play around with the resolution to take it, as everything was scrunched up in the window I normally play on when I play on my laptop. Hereā€™s the picture:

My guess is that there is room for 6 more races on both sides before a new column has to be made. The important thing is that there is plenty of room for new races, along with room for a class or two on the bottom.

Obviously the lack of reptilian races is a glaring problem, so hopefully weā€™ll get some reptiles on that new character creation screen! Not to mention that I know a few races that would love to help fill in the space on the Horde side. :crocodile: :japanese_ogre: :bat:

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Interestingā€¦

Excellent!

And thats all assuming they donā€™t change the sizes of anything. :stuck_out_tongue:

Got ideas for Alliance myselfā€¦
:snake::bear::fish::bird:

And Iā€™d add Kelfin to your list there.

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I approve of this model.

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Oh definitely! Theyā€™re very deserving of being their own race on the Horde side! Plenty of room for them too! :japanese_goblin::trident:

Iā€™ve actually been working on small lists of races Iā€™d like to see playable on both factions to make the Horde and Alliance feel complete and also have a variety of options. All based on my own preferences, of course. More options are great for players, and itā€™d be awesome to see all members of both factions playable in some fashion and having some some of presence in the game. Some races would add some much needed flavor to the game as a playable race, too.

Hopefully weā€™ll see some more playable races on both sides sooner than later. :meat_on_bone::crocodile:

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