The Unofficial Saurok Playable Race Discussion Megathread! 🐊

Bagzak-rexxar · July 19, 2022, 6:25pm

I think it depends on the racial for the most part.

Something like underwater breathing should be something on multiple races. It’d be silly if only Forsaken had the ability to not breathe underwater, but races like Kelfin or Ankoan/Jinyu would be able to drown.

When it comes to racials where it does something in combat, it’s something that could be shared, but a lot really depends on how Blizzard would look at it from a PvE and PvP perspective. I don’t see why it would prevent a race from having the same racial ability at all, but you never know what the thought process is.

It’s like with passive regeneration. Darkspear Trolls have it, but for Zandalari, it’s a skill you have to activate that lasts only a small amount of time. Hard to know what the reason for that is, which in fairness, there could’ve been a reason for it other than to be different. Hopefully, passive regeneration would be something given to playable Saurok.

So it’s entirely possible Saurok could have a tail swipe racial that knocks people down in the air. It’s also possible they could have something else to be different from Dracthyr. The good news is that there are plenty of ways to go about Saurok racials, including those involving tails.

Part of me feels like a tail whip racial might be more likely, given that several RL reptiles do that in order to get away from danger. It might be more fitting for them, since Saurok come from various lizards the Mogu found, and for Dracthyr, it is fitting since dragons are large beings that would have the strength to knock people in the air from it.

Also, I meant to link this, but MrGM did a video that shows off Dracthyr racials. Please note that this is from alpha, so things can always change:

Getting more and more excited the more I see of this expansion!

Playable Saurok for the Horde please!

Bagzak-rexxar · July 20, 2022, 3:59pm

An interesting development is coming to the Dragonflight alpha. Before, Dracthyr would have had to turn back into their visage form when riding a mount. That appears to be changing, along with a neat little skill that will allow you to stay in dragonkin form or go back to humanoid form after certain actions in game:

“In the next build, Dracthyr will no longer switch to Visage when getting on a mount, flight path, etc. Additionally, they will have a new racial ability called “Chosen Identity” that you can “Activate to automatically assume your Visage when you leave combat or after Soaring.” Chosen Identity will stay toggled on until manually deactivated. As a note, existing Alpha characters may not have Chosen Identity learned.”

It’s pretty good news in general, since for at least one of my Dracthyr characters, I’d prefer to remain in dragonkin form as much as possible. Only being able to mount in visage form was a limitation I wasn’t personally fond of, aside from some other limitations.

And in terms of Saurok, it could help design them riding mounts as well. While it wouldn’t be too much of an issue for them riding mounts, especially if they use the Worgen skeletons, their tails would need some adjusting when on a mount. With Dracthyr, it helps designing them to ride mounts since whatever is done with their tails could be applied to Saurok.

I’ll keep looking at Dracthyr for more Saurok idea inspiration as we get more information. A lot of good can come out of Dracthyr becoming playable that could be applied to playable Saurok.

Playable Saurok for the Horde please!

Vaelian-silver-hand · July 20, 2022, 10:01pm

Sounds like what worgen players have been asking for ages for.
It’d also be nice to see it applied to shadowform for priests. An auto on/off based on combat.

Bagzak-rexxar · July 21, 2022, 5:47pm

I’ve come across a video going over how transmogs work on Dracthyr, along with seeing the Dracthyr mugshot on the character creation screen (with something of interest to note on there). Please note that this is still in alpha, so anything can change between now and release.

Video is here:

I’ll talk some about transmogs first.

To be honest, the limited transmogs on the dragonkin form is a very disappointing limitation. Moreso since you would be in your dragonkin form a lot with combat and so on. Sure, the barbershop armor options can look good, but in a game where collecting armor looks is a big thing, it seems disappointing that Dracthyr are mostly locked out of almost every transmog option on their dragonkin form, aside from shoulders and belts.

As I said before, I don’t see Saurok having this issue. Especially since they are shown wearing armor already. Saurok also wouldn’t have multiple forms, so designing them would have a focus entirely on the male and female models. I suppose some good comes out of the limitations of Dracthyr, since that would help Saurok stand out from them, and being able to wear sets of armor in-game with having multiple classes would be a big difference, aside from culture and personality among other aspects.

And now that I babbled on about transmogs, I wanted to point something out on the video.

At roughly the 1:00 mark, we see the character creation screen on the alpha. You’ll notice the Dracthyr mugshot has been currently added to the columns that had the most races as opposed to the other column with the smaller amount of races. If that stays at release, then there is room on the smaller column for three more races, unless more get added to each column, before a new column would need to be added.

I’m not sure if the placement of the Dracthyr mugshot will stay in the same place at release, but part of me is hoping there are plans for more races to be added to that character creation screen in the future. Hopefully ones we’ve been requesting for quite some time. I can definitely think of a few races I want to see added on there. Especially on the Horde side of that character creation screen!

Playable Saurok for the Horde please!

Fenelon-wyrmrest-accord · July 21, 2022, 7:23pm

I keep hoping they’ll see that giving players what they want to play as isn’t a bad thing.

Here’s hoping we see the likes of the Saurok and Ogres (and furbolg and Sethrak) added in time as well…

Among many others.

Bagzak-rexxar · July 22, 2022, 4:06pm

I hope so as well. Moreso as Blizzard has been looking at feedback and even implementing some of the most wanted features to the game that have been requested for years.

I also hope that playable race requests would be part of it, including the megathreads here. I feel that a lot of good would occur to make some races people have been wanting for a long time playable. Not only will it cause excitement, but as pointed out by others before, it would really earn some good will to show how feedback is being listened to.

It’ll be awhile before we see any new playable races after Dracthyr, but I’ll always hope for the best!

Playable Saurok for the Horde please!

Fenelon-wyrmrest-accord · July 22, 2022, 4:26pm

Aye.

I’d bet no new ARs during DF (cause they said so.) but after I think they’re at least on the list of possibilities…

The Tuskarr I actually wouldn’t be surprised to see as next expansions pre-order.

They’re setup almost like Vulpera were…

I also think we need Microsoft in charge before we’ll see blizzard get the funding to do more again.

Bagzak-rexxar · July 22, 2022, 11:03pm

I’d be happy with playable Tuskarr. I know they have been a requested race for awhile, so they wouldn’t be too out there as becoming a playable race. They also seem to have quite a bit going for them given:

-Female Tuskarr

-Tuskarr children

-Racial mount

-Shaman totems designed specifically for them.

-Another rep specific to them in Dragonflight

-New models in general

A lot seems suspect, though we likely won’t know until after Dragonflight with preorder incentives of the expansion afterwards.

If they did become playable, hopefully they’ll be able to be in the Horde, likely neutral I’d assume. Think I’d create a male survival hunter if so with a giant spear. In any case, the Tuskarr rep will likely be one of my top priorities when doing stuff next expansion, as well as any Furbolg rep we come across if the Furbolgs there have rep you can work towards.

I’m imagining Tuskarr would have some friendly competition with Saurok in spear fishing competitions. Not to mention trading recipes, as I’m sure Tuskarr would have a lot of delicious fish related recipes.

Playable Saurok for the Horde please!

Bagzak-rexxar · July 23, 2022, 5:17pm

Some information and also videos have come out of the Dracthyr starting area. Again, please note this is in alpha, so some things are still in the works and things can always change:

This will be something I’ll look at again after it gets fleshed out and when we’re able to make our Dracthyr characters.

In the meantime, it does get me to think that if Saurok were to be a core race, they would likely have their own starting area and questline. I assume in such a scenario, that Mogu would be very likely to be involved. They would need to be a big enough threat to send whatever playable faction of Saurok would be to seek assistance from the Horde.

Of course, they would need to meet the Horde sometime during said scenario, since they would need someone to vouch for them as opposed to just showing up at the gates of Orgrimmar. I would guess something mutually beneficial to both parties would be part of the questline, such as the Goblins saving Thrall in their starting scenario.

Saurok also work very well being treated like an allied race. Assuming we meet with a faction of Saurok with a rep attached, it could be something we work with them in the area that is mutually beneficial. A bond between the Horde and Saurok could then form, leading to Saurok realizing that they need others to survive, get interested in the Horde, and could lead to them becoming members afterwards in a storyline.

Either way, there is plenty you can do with Saurok joining the Horde as either a core or allied race. I just hope we get to see them on that Horde side of that character creation screen someday!

Playable Saurok for the Horde please!

Bagzak-rexxar · July 24, 2022, 4:58pm

I came across a really neat lizard called the “rainbow whiptail.” It has a really beautiful scale pattern, which you can see in the following videos:

The different scale patterns are really beautiful and interesting. They would make for really neat Saurok scale pattern options for scale customization!

There are all kinds of whiptail lizards, which I’ll likely gradually look at for Saurok idea inspiration. I wanted to focus on this particular whiptail since it’s a really neat color pattern.

Playable Saurok for the Horde please!

Bagzak-rexxar · July 26, 2022, 3:24pm

Wowhead has updated their dressing room to allow you to play with the Dracthyr customization options from the Dragonflight alpha. Link and instructions are within this article:

I’m waiting until Dracthyr go live to look at and determine how I’ll want my Dracthyr characters to look, but if anyone is interested in playing around with it currently and plan ahead, this will be helpful!

There are a few things from Dracthyr that could apply to Saurok, but there are several customization options that would be unique to Saurok. Still, it’s handy to be able to look at customization options that will exist for WoW in the near future. It helps a lot should we be lucky to see playable Saurok in the future!

Playable Saurok for the Horde please!

Fenelon-wyrmrest-accord · July 26, 2022, 4:27pm

I tried to use the model viewer but its kinda busy and hard to use for me…

I’ll probably wait until I have access to Dracthyr to fiddle with mine.

Bagzak-rexxar · July 26, 2022, 8:01pm

I imagine it has been really popular since it was recently announced. I personally want to wait until I’m able to create my own character to play around with the customization options, as it’s more fun and meaningful to me doing it that way for making characters of new races and/or classes in general. Not to mention that things can change from now to actual release of Dragonflight.

I think the only exception I’d make to that would be if Ogres and Saurok were ever announced as playable races. It’d be one of the rare times I’d try to get into the beta if possible to design my characters and report on stuff about them when allowed to and NDA’s lift. I don’t know what the chances are that I could get in on those betas if they became a reality, but regardless, I’d report on stuff as best as I could.

Playable Saurok for the Horde please!

Keldar-sargeras · July 26, 2022, 8:06pm

Likewise, but I couldn’t help myself with Dracthyr. Other races, you can glance over the available options and know with 100% certainty what your character will look like. There’s just so much with Dracthyr, though… I needed the tool to visualize it.

Bagzak-rexxar · July 26, 2022, 11:38pm

Very understandable. Dracthyr have quite a bit of customization options, as well as their visage form in addition to their dragonkin form. I can see how it would be something people would want to play around with ahead of time to get a good idea of how they want to make their Dracthyr.

I imagine a lot of people will be spending a lot of time in the character creation screen when Dracthyr are available to make. I’m sure I’ll be there for awhile, myself. Likely enjoying designing my two Dracthyr characters and having fun at the same time. I always like making new characters in a MMO.

Playable Saurok for the Horde please!

Bagzak-rexxar · July 27, 2022, 7:51pm

Came across another neat Lizardfolk art piece on DeviantArt. It was created by the user named CindyAvelino and uploaded to the website on August 26th, 2018. It shows a Lizardfolk in battle using a lightning attack!

“Lightning attack” by CindyAvelino on DeviantArt

It’s good to see an art piece that shows a perception of battle movement. It’s something pretty handy to see in general for imagining Saurok in combat.

It also makes me imagine Saurok Elemental Shaman characters who would be using such attacks while questing. Very fitting class for them!

And lastly, notice the skull helm on the Lizardfolk. Another example of bone armor that I think would be a pretty awesome theme for Saurok to have in general. Likely crafting them from bones of prey from their hunts.

I’ll continue to look for other art pieces of various Lizardmen races in media to share for playable Saurok idea inspiration!

Playable Saurok for the Horde please!

Bagzak-rexxar · July 28, 2022, 6:45pm

Got another art piece to share from DeviantArt! This time, it is a Lizardfolk Reaver. It was created by YamaOrce and uploaded to the website on April 19th, 2020.

“Lizardfolk Reaver comm” by YamaOrce on DeviantArt

It makes me imagine a Saurok on a hunt, triumphantly posing on a pile of bones and ready for more. It’s a really neat pose I could imagine fitting Saurok very well with hunting as part of their culture. Certainly someone you don’t want to mess with!

Will continue to share more art pieces of Lizardman related races I find for more Saurok idea inspiration!

Playable Saurok for the Horde please!

Bagzak-rexxar · July 31, 2022, 6:23pm

Another post involving an art piece on DeviantArt. This time, it’s an image of a Lizardfolk Grave Cleric. It was created by CindyAvelino and uploaded to the website on November 22nd, 2019.

“Lizardfolk Grave Cleric Illustration” by CindyAvelino on DeviantArt

This image makes me imagine Saurok Warlocks. The bone shoulder armor is something very fitting for the imagery. You can also kinda see some wrappings on the tail, which could inspire ideas for Saurok tail customization and armor that is just for looks or part of that racial idea I’ve talked about before.

As usual, I’ll continue to share more art pieces I find of Lizardmen races to inspire more playable Saurok idea inspiration!

Playable Saurok for the Horde please!

Krutz-bleeding-hollow · July 31, 2022, 6:46pm

I was hoping for a, “hide wings,” toggle for the drakthyr so you could RP as a saurok but I’d really love for the saurok to be playable or a race like the saurok. (Lizardmen)

Bagzak-rexxar · July 31, 2022, 8:18pm

I’ve seen some people mention that they’ll use Dracthyr to RP as Saurok. It does tell me that there is interest in seeing them as a playable race if people are wanting to RP as them, which is a good thing.

Not to mention that Saurok are different in many ways to Dracthyr. Especially when it comes to adding in Lizardmen fantasy, which is much different than dragon fantasy. It is why I hope they’ll still have a chance as a playable Horde race, since Dracthyr, while still cool, don’t really satisfy the yearning for a Lizardman race since dragons are much different in many ways.

But hopefully someday, we’ll be able to have actual Saurok characters so people can fully RP as them!

Playable Saurok for the Horde please!