Since I’ve seen others for the Ogres, Kelpfin, and other races, I thought about doing one for the Broken Draenei.
I tried to include a link to Arthur Lorenz’s art station, as he has provided a good concept, but the forum would not allow me. So, if you want to see what I’m saying, look up Arthur Lorenz and Broken allied race in Artstation
Introduction The Broken are the Eredar that refused to serve the Legion and were left on either Argus or Draenor while the rest of their kind either fell to the Legion or fled offworld. Their exposure to the fel has caused their bodies to mutate into monstrous forms and has made them lose their connection to the Light. However, they have proven vicious opponents against the Legion and others, and are ready to join the rest of their people in the Alliance!
Why Broken? Aren’t the regular Draenei and Lightforged enough? The Broken are indeed in essence the same people as the Eredar, the Draenei, and the LF, but each one has had different mutations over time due to outside sources. In the case of the Broken, they have become mutated enough to look and play differently from their Light-based kin. And their lore gives them room to have classes the other two do not have. Finally, it would give the Alliance a more “savage/monstrous” type race to play as.
Their Joining of the Alliance Its already obvious they would choose the Alliance over the Horde due to their past with the orcs (they don’t forget cruelty like turning their people’s bones into a road). Not to mention that their kin are already members of the alliance. Plus many Broken have already joined the Alliance such as Farseer Nobundo. This would just make them playable. An allied race questline would likely have you traveling with Nobundo to Outlands to help recruit the remaining neutral Broken into the ranks of the Alliance.
Faction Leader I would suggest Farseer Nobundo as he’s already a lore prominent character, thought maybe a model update to show his newfound role would be fitting. Hatun from Argus could also work, but most Broken would probably be from the Outlands and not Argus. If Hatun did become the leader, I would suggest he’d get a model update. Akama could also be a leader, but he’s been more of a neutral character than other Broken, plus his open-ended fate during the Legion DH questline does make it trickier to continue his story in such a role. (He’s not dead either way, fyi)
Classes
Definite Warrior, Hunter, Death Knight, Shaman, rogue, and warlock. The first three have basically become standard for all races now. There’s no reason the Broken would not know how to fight with melee weapons, bows/guns, and know how to fight alongside pets. And Bolvar can easily raise a dead Broken as a Death Knight. A broken hunter could start with either a sporebat pet or one of those crystaline cats from Argus.
Shaman is a definite since many Broken like Nobundo turned to the elements after losing their connection to the light.
Since neither Draenei nor LF have rogues, it can be given to Broken to be one of their unique classes among the three races. Akama has shown rogue-like elements, and its very likely some Broken learned how to sneak around the dangers of the Legion and Outlands.
With their hatred towards the Legion, its likely some Broken would have learned fel magic to fight fel fire with fel fire and enslave demons to their will. This also gives another choice the other two Draenei do not have.
*Maybe or Maybe Not Mage, Druid, monk, demon hunter
Mage is likely a choice Broken would have learned to fight the Legion with. Since many Draenei have shown to be profiecent spellcasters, its likely their Broken counterparts would have retained this.
Druid is a bit of a stretch, but we have seen Broken in Zangarmarsh using druid-like magic. And Mr. Lorenz has shown a cool concept of Broken druids; it could explained they knew how to use nature magic like Gilnean harvest witches and they learned how to further their powers to include shapeshifting after meeting the druids of the Alliance.
Monk is one we could do or do without. Some races have it and others don’t.
Demon hunter would only happen if Blizzard decided to add new choices to the Demon hunter races. IMO, the first two make sense are Broken and orcs, since both have aided the Illidari before and the Illidari would likely look to them first if they wanted to add more than just elf demon hunters. Not to mention the Broken hate the Legion enough that it could be said some decided to undergo the process of becoming a Demon Hunter.
Definitely Not Priest and Paladin
The Broken have no connection to the Light. Their exposure to the fel have cut them off. So its unlikely they could use light-based classes like the other two (it’d be a trade off for them be warlocks, rogues, and maybe demon hunters and druids). Yes, technically, a Broken could use void magic of the shadow spec, but that would also mean they have access to the light specs which goes against the lore. Void elves can be priests simply because they still have a connection to the Light, even though they have been transformed by the void.
Heritage Armor See the link above. Mr. Lorenz’s concept is awesome.
Customization Mr. Lorenz’s arts tation. has shown some good ones. I would just add the idea of possible fangs for Broken characters, like Akama has. Broken could have a choice of regular teeth or visible fangs such as vampire like fangs, one extended fang, a mouth of tiny shark-like teeth, or ridiciously oversized fangs.
Racials I thought a passive Broken should have should be a resistance to fel-based damage since their lore based exposure. They could also have a bonus for killing demons and/or a bonus to save some meat/fish when cooking (Like sometimes when you cook, you make scraps that you can combine into regular food items) to show off their long hardened lifestyle. An cd racial I thought of is “Unbroken Will,” where the Broken spawns a temporary absorb shield that will take damage for them for a few seconds or until its broken, as a testament to their long endurance against hardship.
Flirts and Jokes I thought of a few funny ones. Feel free to add though
Male
(Jokes)
“The problem with meeting normal Draenei is they’re all about the Light this and the Light that. Heck, they show it off on their bodies! We get it! You can still sense it!”
“I keep getting asked what happened to my tail. Look, sometimes when you’re exposed to something evil for so long, some things fall off…and some things grow out of nowhere,”
“One thing I’m glad about moving from Outland is I don’t have to worry about accidentally walking off the land and falling into deep space. Trust me…it happens more often than you think,”
(Flirts)
“Hey baby…I know how to use these tentacles…if you know what I mean…”
“Don’t worry…I have plenty of experience not tiring out in the middle,”
Female
(jokes)
“I’m always nervous going to the barber. I have to remain him that these are tentacles…not my hair!”
“I never understood you Azerothians and your obession with footwear,”
“My mother always asks why I haven’t gotten married yet like my sister. I tell her maybe one of us got mutated and most guys aren’t into that!”
(Flirts)
“I must break you…” (sounding like a Russian dominitrix. Parody of Ivan Drago"
“Hey baby…want to come back to my place? We could have some drinks…a little dinner…I could massage your back horns and…wait…you don’t have those?”
When they could be added? This is a tricky one. If there was something related to traveling through portals or fighting the Legion, there could be a reason for the Broken to come back into the story. Another idea is to have an “inbetween” interval between expansions, where it can be related or unrelated to the end of an expansion. You could just say as the Alliance senses new threats, they decide to find new allies and Nobundo goes forth and suggests adding the Broken to their ranks.
Conclusion The Broken definitely have potential as a playable Allied race. Whether they’re added next expansion or around that time or somewhere further in the future, I think many players would love the idea of playing the vicious survivalists of Outlands.