The Unofficial Saurok Playable Race Discussion Megathread! 🐊

Bagzak-rexxar · November 29, 2020, 8:22pm

So I noticed something of potential interest regarding Ardenweald, which I read on Wowpedia:

“Ardenweald is where Wild Gods and other spirits of nature travel upon death.”

https://wow.gamepedia.com/Ardenweald

From the wording, it sounds like it applies to wild gods in general, and not specifically natured-related wild gods.

So how does this relate to Saurok? Well, recall that the Skumblade worship Kros, who is considered a potential wild god:

https://wow.gamepedia.com/Kros

In relation to them is Kroshik, who is thought to be an offspring or related to Kros somehow (likely being considered a wild god potentially) and keeps dying and getting reincarnated:

https://wow.gamepedia.com/Kroshik

Kroshik’s constant dying and rebirth could be related to Ardenweald, where he arrives and gets reborn as an egg this way. Not sure entirely if this is how it would work, but it was still an interesting thing I saw that could explain it.

We might not really see Kroshik in Ardenweald, since apparently he was tamed by Hemet Nesingwary and is still alive, but it would be a potential explanation to how he kept coming back as he did in the Skumblade area on Isle of Thunder.

Kros only really dies if we summon and kill him. It’s possible in terms of the storyline, Kros has never died at all. As such, I wouldn’t really expect to see him at all in the area.

A lot of this is speculation, of course, but I figured it was something of interest to ramble about some.

Bagzak-rexxar · December 1, 2020, 7:58pm

I’ve seen some mentions that there are some NPC race souls in the Maw. I haven’t gotten to explore it and I don’t know what you do with these souls if anything, other than rescue them in some fashion, but it is something of interest to explore. Obviously, if I saw any Saurok souls in there, I’d want to save them.

I’ve also gotten to pick my covenant finally (Venthyr), so I should be able to explore different areas of the Shadowlands as I work on unlocking flying. I’m also planning to work on a Necrolords character at some point, since we did see Saurok specifically in Maldraxxus, to see if anything comes of it. I don’t expect anything Saurok specifically in the Necrolords story or so, but seems like that area would be the best bet, even if it’s just a guest-star role without much thought.

I do recall back in Legion, there was discussion when it was discovered that there were Zandalari and Kul’Tiran NPC’s found in that area of Azshara with the naga enslaving shipwrecked beings there. They were among other NPC races, including Vrykul and Gnolls (which have yet to become playable), which really didn’t amount much to the plot other than just being in that area, but I recall a lot of interesting speculation that they might be involved in the next expansion or something similar to that. Of course, BfA happened as the next expansion, but I don’t remember a lot of the details about the speculation that occurred.

Now, to be clear, I don’t really see the enthusiastic soul NPC’s being much of a hint for new playable races coming up, but moreso I was remembering that bit from Legion. It’s likely they were put in there just for some variety to show different souls that arrived in Maldraxxus. Still, it would be cool if it was something of a hint of things to come, like with Legion.

It might be wishful thinking in that it could be a hint of sorts of things to come, but it’s still at least cool to see a Saurok sighting of some sort in Shadowlands. I know I’ll still dream of the day of seeing them on the Horde side of that character creation screen.

Anyway, I’ll be exploring Shadowlands some more overtime, so I’ll be keeping an eye out for any other Saurok sightings and reporting it here if I see anything of interest.

Bagzak-rexxar · December 3, 2020, 7:57pm

Soon, I will be able to finally work on my last chapter of the semester, where I will have some more free time to do stuff I’ve been meaning to for awhile!

Since it’s the season for holidays, I wanted to wish everyone a safe and happy December. I know I personally will be hoping for a few things under my Horde tree as usual for Winter’s Veil.

I’m sure Saurok would have some fun for Winter’s Veil also:

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

More Saurok research and support to come in the near future!

Bagzak-rexxar · December 4, 2020, 8:40pm

So not specifically Saurok related, but a sinstone of Shan Bu, one of the Thunder King’s minions, has been found in Revendreth:

https://www.wowhead.com/news=319581/sinstone-of-shan-bu-from-the-isle-of-thunder-found-in-revendreth

https://wow.gamepedia.com/Shan_Bu

Seeing this made me realize that Mogu might generally end up in Revendreth…before getting sent into the Maw, of course. So it is possible we could run into some of the Mogu in Shadowlands that created the Saurok or even the Thunder King again.

I do have to wonder if the Mogu Emperor that was likely ripped to shreds by the Saurok arrived in the Shadowlands in one piece or not…well, whatever the case, this was just something of potential interest I wanted to share in case we actually run into these Mogu responsible for trying to make the Saurok a slave army. I’ll be happy to beat them up and drop-kick them into the Maw, myself.

More Saurok research to continue in the future!

Fallynn-wyrmrest-accord · December 6, 2020, 3:51pm

Yeah these creatures were created for such a purpose, I’m sad they became villains for Pandaria instead of rising up and taking them down with the Pandaren. Ah well. Hopefully more development for their story will occur.

Bagzak-rexxar · December 6, 2020, 8:47pm

It took me a long time to show off support for Saurok because I felt like there wasn’t a whole lot to them, which is how a lot of mook NPC races get treated. First seeing them made me feel like they were just mindless, angry beings put there to act as quest jobbers that go RAWR! The more I looked into them and seeing how some interacted with other races during BfA, the more I saw potential in them as a playable race.

I do have hope that we’ll see more to them in the future. Given that they’ve had a presence of some sort in expansions lately has been an interesting sight, though I wouldn’t consider it a hint. As I said before, I still have hope that we’ll run into some Horde friendly Saurok in the near future, whether it’s a tribe that migrated off Pandaria or if we somehow return to Pandaria.

All we can really do is keep showing off support and sharing ideas and hope for the best. They can be so much more with all their potential, and give some really unique flavor to the game in terms of storylines and character customization.

Grayphus-nemesis · December 7, 2020, 10:54pm

Come on Blizzard.
Sauroks would be a great race for the horde.
A nice addition to the game, with a race that makes sense and was not extracted from nowhere.

Sauroks make sense in the lore, make sense to the horde and make sense to the world of warcraft.

Please?

Bagzak-rexxar · December 8, 2020, 7:37pm

I’ve been in a bit of a Star Wars mood as of late and was looking at the new Star Wars Squadrons game that came out awhile ago. Interesting thing to note is one of your wingmen in the single player campaign on the Rebel side is a Trandoshan:

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Feresk_Tssat

Which is a bit odd to see from what we generally know of Trandoshans, though not all Trandoshans are all RAWR and do bad things. I actually went over them in a post awhile ago in general and in Star Wars Galaxies:

https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/the-unofficial-saurok-playable-race-discussion-megathread/189709/233

So what does this have to do with Saurok? Well, if something can be written to have Trandoshans both join a faction that has one of their main enemies (Wookiees) and can mingle with other races, then I don’t see why Saurok, who again have shown to be able to work with and even be friendly to other races, would be an exception.

It’s something I’ll likely mention a lot like a broken record because it is a good point. Having Saurok in general that started off angry and attacking things and then become something more civilized shows a form of character growth and evolution, especially given how young their race is compared to other races. It’s also not out of the question, given members of the Horde and Alliance who started off as enemies eventually becoming playable.

Anyway, just something interesting I wanted to share for some potential Saurok inspiration.

Bagzak-rexxar · December 10, 2020, 7:29pm

Good news: I’ve finished my class for the semester! Huzzah! \ ^ o ^ /

This means I should be able to find some time to do a few things, including revamping some sections of the megathread while thinking of what to add to it. I’m also going to give some serious thought to the next step of Ogre/Saurok support and what to do next in that regard. I’m open to suggestions for both.

In the meantime, I did find a couple of videos of a monitor lizard swimming in bodies of water. You can see them here:

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

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

Mostly showing it to give some Saurok swimming animation inspiration. It kinda reminds me of the Everquest 1 original model Iksar swimming animation some.

Anyway, I should hopefully be able to get some work done. As always, more Saurok research and support to continue in the near future!

Zulizee-ysera · December 10, 2020, 7:58pm

Make this happen, we have foxes at this point. Lizardmen are a necessity at this point. You will please the Saurian Gods.

Bagzak-rexxar · December 10, 2020, 10:39pm

I very much agree! It’s a glaring missing aspect of WoW and would add in a lot of flavor for playable race customization options. With Saurok, there are plenty of possibilities you could do with them in terms of storylines and such.

We’ve been seeing them a few times in expansions since MoP, so hopefully they get some love and eventually get on the Horde side of that character creation screen!

Bagzak-rexxar · December 14, 2020, 12:50am

I finally did a bit of exploring to get to the Enthusiastic Soul in Maldraxxus. If you want a location, the Wowhead page is here for them:

I found where the Saurok spirit is, and found a few other Enthusiastic Souls in the area of NPC races (Saberon, Arakkoa, Quillboar). I didn’t see many others in the area, those according to Wowhead, it seems like there are a few others like Mantid and some playable race spirits.

So what does the Enthusiastic Soul look like? Something like this:

https://64.media.tumblr.com/d1f731df0de3cd2e9bd3cc4cf8ee8569/c0adfcee70b3de02-c2/s540x810/587b326d02ffb4cf8baab9ac5a11fae123e0f019.jpg

As you can see, they con friendly to me (green). The others in the area I saw were green as well. No faction appears tied to them when you mouse-over them.

The area also has some Curious Soul NPC’s, who look like a generic ghost-like form. They also were friendly (green) to me and had the Undying Army rep attached to them, which is the Maldraxxus covenant rep. Here is the Wowhead page for them:

https://www.wowhead.com/npc=172413/curious-soul

As it turns out, the Saurok spirit in particular had a friendly conversation with some nearby Curious Souls:

https://64.media.tumblr.com/d32b69ced96c7b91627f6bb5c3246672/3a440c510f405900-76/s540x810/c7e12b62115f39c30dc47da6bda40f99b06e3a8a.jpg

Enthusiastic Soul: I think they’re making a construct.

Curious Soul 1: Perhaps a construct for me…

Curious Soul 1: The greatest warrior Coldridge Valley had ever seen!

Curious Soul 1: Who single handedly repelled the trogg onslaught of the Anvilmar!

Curious Soul 2: There is no construct that could possibly hold all your incessant babbling!

It’s very possible that this Curious Soul in particular is a Dwarf or another Alliance race member who spent time in the Dwarf area. More than likely, a Dwarf spirit since that area, I believe, is the starting area for Dwarves (also Gnomes during Classic).

I also took one more image to try to get a better look at this Saurok spirit:

https://64.media.tumblr.com/d99fe9d37ebc64bdc01d8f045dd42bfe/b8cf3b3b23b3e0c2-d3/s540x810/b935c8238ee039b24cd6caadba030aa0d26d94b1.jpg

If you look closely, you’ll see me and my two pets in the background. The Saurok was in front of an elevated platform near the edge, so I had to be creative to take this screenshot.

There wasn’t much I could do with the Enthusiastic Soul. I couldn’t talk to them, they didn’t respond to any emotes I did, and they weren’t interactable in anyway that I could figure out. The area was surrounded by enemies wanting to beat me up, but these spirits don’t seem to be on their side.

Judging from the conversation text and the area they reside in, it sounds like that they’re there to get construct bodies to get into and serve the Necrolord covenant in some fashion.

If there is a regular quest, world quest, or covenant campaign quest involving them, I have yet to see it. I didn’t see anything involving them in the Necrolord covenant campaign storyline, unless I missed it somehow. I’ll leave it here in case anyone notices anything:

https://www.wowhead.com/guides/necrolords-covenant-campaign-story-rewards

It’s possible they’re there just for flavor and…hmm…I was going to say world building, but I guess afterlife building might be more fitting.

Still, the fact that a Saurok can have a friendly conversation with another being of a different race is something significant. Especially considering that, if I’m correct, they would be working together to protect the Shadowlands. It’s a great find to be sure, and while it may not be a hint of playable Horde Saurok in the near future, it’s still pretty cool to see them show up a few times in expansions recently. A part of me does hope we’ll see some Horde-friendly Saurok in the near future, of course.

Needless to say, I’ll keep an eye on this Enthusiastic Soul and see if anything else involves them. I’ve been thinking of working on a Necrolords character in case something of interest pops up for them, though I’ve been mostly wanting to do alts after I unlock flying.

If anyone discovers anything Saurok related in this expansion, please share! I’ll be sure to keep my eyes out for anything else of interest.

More Saurok research to continue in the future!

Fallynn-wyrmrest-accord · December 14, 2020, 12:52am

Super neat! I do love seeing them add in the races of Azeroth here, at least. And glad to see Saurok are not forgotten–and that an artificial creature (Mogu creates) still very much has a soul and can contribute to something like Maldraxxas. I wish the constructs looked like their original race though as opposed to abominations.

Bagzak-rexxar · December 14, 2020, 3:35am

As am I. Moreso because it seems like they’re being given some fleshing out as oppose to just being put in places as enemy mooks to inconvenience players or act as quest jobbers.

I don’t believe they were in Legion, to my knowledge, but seeing them get some love both in BfA and even in Shadowlands to an extent is pretty neat. Moreso because we’re seeing them get along with and working with other people (Pirates, other party-goers, other souls in an afterlife, etc). Just seems to show they would work great as a member of the Horde, whether it was intentional or not.

In terms of Maldraxxus, there is a greater goal of helping to protect the Shadowlands in general. So if they can fight for that, I don’t see why they couldn’t fight to protect the living world (of Warcraft!) with other races too. Just how I see things.

And if you really think about it, the idea of a race the Mogu created to become slaves for their own power and world domination plans possibly becoming much more than that and both saving the world (of Warcraft!) and the lives of other races just seems fitting to stick it to the Mogu in some ways.

Bagzak-rexxar · December 16, 2020, 10:57pm

Something I forgot to mention regarding that Saurok spirit in Maldraxxus, the only one I am aware of, is that it seems to be the only Enthusiastic Soul that has a triggered event of some kind, which is the conversation I posted above that occurs when you walk up to the spirit group where the Saurok is.

Unless I’m mistaken, the other Enthusiastic Souls don’t have any conversation event of any sort, and you also can’t interact with any of them like the Saurok spirit. Granted, I have yet to find the Mantid spirit or any of the spirits based on playable races, but so far, the Saurok is the only one that has an event of some sort.

I also visited the area a few times to see if the spirits changed location at all and were randomized, but each time they all were in the same spot. The Saurok spirit, as I mentioned above, was the only one to have a triggered event still.

Now, does this mean anything? Probably not, much as wishful thinking has me hoping it has meaning of some kind. It’s likely just there for flavor in the area, and it just so happens that the Saurok spirit is the only one that has an event of any sort.

Still, as I said, it shows Saurok are far from being brainless, angry lizards that go RAWR, and that they can interact with other races that isn’t an attempt to eat their face. With any luck, we’ll see Saurok continue to get some love and fleshing out in the future, preferably getting a spot on the Horde side of the character creation screen of course.

I’ll continue to keep an eye out for any more Saurok sightings in Shadowlands.

Bagzak-rexxar · December 19, 2020, 12:46am

So with Winter’s Veil stuff going on in-game, I figured I’d take some festive Saurok screenshots for fun!

First, I took this pose with the Winter’s Veil decoration in the background, and with some timing, I noticed the flying sleigh coming in the background that flew over me:

https://64.media.tumblr.com/2d962e86b88012a69830beced38e9e21/6e7c454cd317149d-66/s540x810/56386ab7c4eed462d9666431d6dc8b32577a4ea9.jpg

So of course, I went to go ride it. Wouldn’t you know it? Saurok can actually ride flying sleighs!

https://64.media.tumblr.com/2f2a3cc1cbdfe9432493ae1f88f57933/22249ec3e3c1872b-83/s540x810/01fdd48315143b883018d5a289b03666717fe97e.jpg

And a better angle:

https://64.media.tumblr.com/3e4cb9f1a3290052bbfc1f9d86396dd6/27c4c4c0b8f5b5a0-f5/s540x810/61fffc6b9a833a20b01a82715b81629b02739aed.jpg

He kept making the Worgen howling animation as I sat in it. I’m guessing he was enjoying the ride!

Nearby is the Smokywoods Pasture vendor with some delicious smelling food, so of course Saurok would be interested in the delicious meat dishes for sale!

https://64.media.tumblr.com/0ca1845213eb587dd04622e5a20199ac/6dd6a85265634515-ca/s540x810/224966f39ac6d9924c7e0c25b89904d30fbb11d9.jpg

Another pose in front of a decoration to try out:

https://64.media.tumblr.com/759627b15857076e416c80ec689b218d/7927b1c0fda0df6d-b7/s540x810/eb151695d15fe81e10cdabbd1485f1a7c1c8820d.jpg

And of course, you know I had to do something with the tree!

https://64.media.tumblr.com/52ebf9d7d61cd2c35ce22c47b19f95fc/5be3e0e81150fa54-da/s540x810/5938ce2f4f3db0b04009ebde5e3f05521e5005af.jpg

Happy Winter’s Veil from the Saurok megathread! May everyone have a fun, happy, and safe December. May we also hope to see the day that Saurok get to be a part of the Winter’s Veil festivities in Orgrimmar as playable members of the Horde, too!

Bagzak-rexxar · December 21, 2020, 1:43am

So as you can probably tell, I’ve been in a bit of a screenshot mood. I got some inspiration to take a Saurok through a few parts of Silvermoon to show off what they might look like as a player character leveling in Eversong Woods and Ghostlands. With the red and yellow theme, I used Glyph of Disguise on one of the orange/red Saurok from the Isle of Thunder. I have to admit, the scale color for this Saurok goes really well in the Blood Elf area.

So let’s see how a newbie Saurok Rogue would look like in the Blood Elf city!

First, at the entrance to Silvermoon, ready for questing!

https://64.media.tumblr.com/010693d73b0678b1b68fa1550fafb46b/78f043b4e25374c7-f8/s540x810/3d1b6cb9da1908976dca2d13daecd92f5201f029.jpg

Of course, a Saurok can’t just quest on an empty stomach! They’re going to want to munch on some delicious meat at the inn first!

https://64.media.tumblr.com/15e95e753dfe23396c843053720fe93f/35317985bb2bad53-fe/s540x810/0c704274d6b87c2335c9ca7daaf757bf5263e0ba.jpg

Then of course a quick swim to relax…hope the blood Elves don’t mind the fountains being used as a pool…

https://64.media.tumblr.com/319e30b87175e7073337dcd7ff9e7ab9/b8f7f52665566095-f9/s540x810/6b67909e3df4b21814962b416db67ec2daf2198b.jpg

After that, a nice walk through Murder Row to check out the sights:

https://64.media.tumblr.com/0e4a00654bdce97e1ec189e24d8b3de4/36841cfea4c221a9-fd/s540x810/bbc5123958427c60b47072b7f33470d1758bdc66.jpg

Checking the auction house for some newbie gear:

https://64.media.tumblr.com/f1da39525bf62f991b71e6e0d17cf503/9538ba3553eb6cea-71/s540x810/ea3e344a122771bccaee2c4583a243e41bb9d96b.jpg

Banking some shinies earned from questing while the bank teller is a bit nervous, but she’ll see that Saurok are more friendly than they seem soon enough!

https://64.media.tumblr.com/34e9e5bbf1169d0dd061ee0c10aff081/0ced5e31ec03fc94-f5/s540x810/03370a4e5171ffcb54b6770ea9e176b09f5b0511.jpg

Standing out in front of where the Blood Elf leader is:

https://64.media.tumblr.com/07c58e68da3cb76bcad5c529840a9528/afdab214e18070ff-1a/s540x810/538449da7650555fecd152f35e149df113b022fa.jpg

Meeting with the Blood Elf leader. Maybe he’ll have some quests to give for some shinies!

https://64.media.tumblr.com/17ccbad4a9d0db3c5b33152a41ac9962/224cdee48ed10da9-85/s540x810/82781aaaa388dca0db29815c289096ba02b574ba.jpg

Inspecting a Winter’s Veil tree. Maybe this Saurok’s tribe should look into enjoying the festivities some!

https://64.media.tumblr.com/474a8702d3a26ef7cdd9788b00fdf2a2/a78a337be1164eef-03/s540x810/4ad0f544416525113a562d0a8b9b4d44140a37ee.jpg

And that’s about the time I had with the 5 minute illusion buff, so I took a festive image:

https://64.media.tumblr.com/29c57050ad8c578e28edac57966c07de/4f8e9b6f2b1e2ee9-ac/s540x810/f84800a732b073fdd5df1f051974daae47fa1bd7.jpg

Happy Winter’s Veil!

I’ll be looking at different areas to take more Saurok screenshots. This was, of course, done for fun, but it also helps to be able to visualize how Saurok might look around different areas of the game to imagine them as a playable race. Hope everyone enjoyed!

More Saurok research, screenshots, and other fun posts to come in the near future!

Fezzy-draenor · December 21, 2020, 6:57pm

Every time you make these stories… I just want a Saurok so bad so I can make my own little diary style story. T-T

Blizzard please.

Bagzak-rexxar · December 21, 2020, 11:01pm

I actually thought about doing that for my Ogre character if they ever become playable. I may consider doing it for one of my Saurok characters if we get lucky enough for them to become playable as well. I wouldn’t mind showing their journey as I level them with humorous commentary.

We’re likely in for a long wait still, but I’ll always have hope of seeing them become playable members of the Horde someday!

Gøuged-moon-guard · December 22, 2020, 3:37am

Mate, this was soooo well typed. As someone who only plays Argonians in Skyrim and ESO. I’d love to see these become a race in WoW! I’d roll one in a heartbeat regardless of the factions! “Oh well they’re Horde.” well I guess all my alliance toons are forfeit! Bring me the lizard men! Please for the love of god Blizzard give us more allied races in Shadowlands! Preferably the Saurok.
Also this lad basically provided everything for you! Proceeds to beg Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease