With 8.3 bringing Mechagnomes and Vulpera into the fold, Blizzard has introduced two more into a total of 10 Allied races, a staggering 23 playable races in all. In the end do you think this was a success or an overall sou point for BFA?
The idea of bringing more factions into an already massive coalition thematically is cool. I enjoy the quests that introduced said factions into the Horde and Alliance respectively, even if I’m still grinding out Dark Irons and Kul Tiran on my blue side alts. And some of the allied races either fit the overall themes of their faction or added some diversity that helps broaden horizons a bit.
But yo, grinding out for new races, which in previous expansions had been always introduced as a prime feature has always left a bad taste in my mouth. The idea of certain racial/class combinations, especially for PvP, being gated behind by no small grind just makes the content artificial. Zan Troll mages dominated early arena’s before their racial was nerfed for being able to full heal in Iceblock and for developers constantly talking about balance and meaningful rewards—keeping racial options locked away is just lame.
As much as I think Void Elves have such as pull out of nowhere of a story, I think they’re ultimately much more interesting than High Elves—and I still think Blizzard should have just given Alliance High Elves. Take all those darker, edgy themes you stripped away from Blood Elves over several expansions back and nearly every camp is happy.
And while we’re at it, can Allied races get some flavor and lore treatment. I’m concerned after BFA that they’ll get forgotten, even in the briefest of mentions outside of the expansion, more so with the war coming to an end and the necessity of mustering numbers dying down a bit.
Thoughts?
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I liked the overall idea behind Allied Races. Not a huge fan of arbitrary rep grinds to unlock them - Void Elves and Lightforged Draenei are both locked behind rep from the end game content of the previous expansion and that’s only going to get worse as time marches on.
As for the future of Alliance Races…look to the Pandaren on how that’s going to play out. I don’t anticipate the bulk of Allied Races to really influence the narrative or get any meaningful lore going forward.
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I’m of the opinion that the requirements for Allied Races are way too high - barring the current two that are getting put into the game next, that doesn’t seem nearly as arduous. The fact that people couldn’t roll Zandalari and Dark Iron at the beginning of the expansion also left a bad taste in my mouth - that was one of their main advertising points prior to the expansion launching!
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Having to grind reputation for them is one of the biggest things that I will hold against Allied Races as a feature and BfA in general. If it had only been some kind of “early access” for them, I would’ve been a lot more willing to tolerate it: for example, the time between when they were first added during Legion and the release of the expansion, limiting them only to players with Exalted reputations and then unlocking them as a basic feature for everyone? That would’ve been mostly fine, I think. But it’s downright laughable that they STILL have it as a barrier for entry, forcing players to grind dead content for weeks just to enjoy a major feature that they’ve already paid for.
As for the future, I take a very dim view of them sticking around. Blizzard has an awful habit of leaving old features to rot, and they already have enough trouble remembering that the “core” races even exist, so I’m not holding my breath to ever see Lightforged Draenei actually matter beyond standing around as cannon fodder for Horde players to mow through.
Most of them are just bloat
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okay im in the extreme minority here and i fully admit that but i actually dont mind the idea of having to unlock ‘Prestige’ races, as that unlocking aspect provides, for me at least, an actual rock-solid reason and immersive aspect as to why theyve been convinced to join my side, anyway
like, i think it makes far more sense to have that scenario as to why the void elves joined the alliance, as opposed to just waking up one day and theyre just there
now, id also absolutely have the requirements reduced, especially for the legion races that require grinding obsolete content
but the allied races as a concept? best idea theyve ever had. more choice is never bad. ever. theyre subraces but better than they ever could have been. heritage armour, their own capitals, the lore of the unlock questline, the separate voicefiles; all of it is above and beyond what blizzard could have done by just letting you select a yellow draenei or gray orc on the character select screen and have it be only that.
moreover, whilst i might have that dreaded alliance bias 
with the reveal of the mechagnomes, three of the five alliance allied races arent just races unto themselves, but are evolutions of previous races, and thus, in my opinion, allows for a far greater potential storytelling aspect by having old characters become relevant and move on to the next part of their story arc
what i mean is i want kelsey steelspark to become a mechagnome, and asric and jadaar to become ren’dorei and lightforged
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To add to what I said before, I’m also not hugely keen on the amount of races still sitting on the table. The Void Elf/High Elf thing has been discussed to death and the only thing I’ll say on that front is if Blizzard is adamant the High Elves are a “dead” race, then they need to stop USING them. Our Windrunner needs to go full on Ren’dorei as well.
But the lack of Broken or Taunka in favor of new flavors of Humans and Orc (While the Elves get distinctive customization features just as a matter of course) just sit wrong with me.
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At the very least, Zandalari and Kul Tirans should have been available at launch. Being held back for so long was a colossal mistake. They were literally advertised a YEAR before the expansion was released, and both races were majorly important to each faction’s story.
As for the other races, I can see how being added gradually through the course of the expansion gives players something new and interesting to work for. Just not the two flagship races for the whole fecken expansion.
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Allied races haven’t really been a huge driving thing for me this expansion. Yet I know for folks that have long time RP’d as a Dark Iron or as a Mag’har this is pretty awesome and I’m glad they can finally play the race they’ve been RPing as for years.
I would prefer if Blizz introduced new customization options for core races, new skin tones or features or hair or something would get me excited.
Blizz: Grind rep for new playable race! 
Me: Naaahhh 
Blizz: Grind rep for a new hair cut! 
Me: HECK YAH 
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I think they’re cool, but I also agree the requirements are too high. I also think as a DK main I’m almost uniquely screwed out of them as a major selling feature alongside Demon Hunters.
While obviously a bit more engaged than the last round(s) of new races I’m also fascinated that a lot of public opinion went from “weren’t these guaranteed unlocks” to “I guess it’s okay but these grinds suck for returning players” to “I can’t wait to see what the new ones are” for the most part.
I think it’s ponderous that of the existing five, the ones for Alliance always seem to take more effort usually in the form of a later-in-the-expansion reputation, having to run dungeons, or do major accumulative achievements as opposed to just blop here it is, play the game normally and you’ll be close.
Yes I am still sore that Highmountain (existing from the start) and Nightborne (pretty much the sole endgame content for the majority of the expac) are a lot easier than Lightforged and Void Elves, thanks for noticing. Vulpera (in from the start again) vs. Rustbolt (late add, easy to grind but easy to ignore as well, have to run the Mechagon dungeon in order to finish it) is kind of an on-the-nose repeat so far.
Also as a huge fan of the pin up style, it offends me to my nerdy chewy center that I’ll never get these super cute Mechagnome hairstyles for any other race.
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Not a fan of any grind involved but the races themselves are great.
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I have the opposite problem, in that most of the female Lightforged Draenei hairstyles look like absolute trash, and I would trade anything just to use some of the normal Draenei styles instead. 
I think Blizz misses the boat by not making more of them, but I don’t like rep grinding in order to get them. I don’t like having to level to max in order to get their armor. I think it’s stupid that they have a separate allied race page on the character creation screen. I think Blizz picks and chooses based more on what they can toss onto another race model than what people want or ask for. I also think Blizz has dumb self-imposed rules to arbitrarily keep some allied races out of the game (high elves, anyone?).
All that being said, I’m fine with the races they’ve chosen so far, and am playing the ones I want. My personal opinion is that if someone doesn’t like one of the existing races, they don’t have to play it Uninstalling over Blizz giving us something extra seems a bit much, but to each their own.
The four that required Legion rep were Legion content though. Any rep grind is timegating bullcrap now, because of how they have dailies work. But to be fair I will say, you’re not grinding Legion rep to get BfA content. Those races came out months before BfA launched.
My feelings about the allied race system are sorta mixed. I like that they added so many new customization options, and I don’t even mind the customization options being rewards for reps and quest chains, but I would have greatly preferred if the new customizations were more… folded into older races.
I don’t really want to race change my main, nor do I care that much about my alts. But I would’ve been delighted to unlock tattoos or new hair styles or armor sets for my main–and these new assets exist, I’m just not allowed to use a Lightforged horn style or tattoos or heritage armor on my main… and the inverse is true too, where on my Allied race characters I often wish I could use parent-race customizations. I’d like to be a Lightforged without the doofy elf eyebrows, or a Nightborne Male who uses the plain old night elf skeleton/face but with new skins and hairs, or a non-giant human who can be a shaman and wear coats, or, of course, a void elf who just looks like a High Elf.
Overall I think the system was a success. I’m glad they added so many new options, and I’m glad for people whose particular character concept made it worth race-changing their main character to one of these new options. But really I just want to look cool on Miko, the only character I really play, not cultivate 10 dank looking alts
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Too many allied races that should be cosmetic options for other races. They’re losing their uniqueness with each release. Vulpera? That’s an entirely different race. We should have either gotten something else or release them as a new race in the new expansion.
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Right? Or why can’t mechagnomes have the bubblegum pink and mint green hair colors?
I think this just winds back around to Blizzard is always just off enough about character customization options in the spirit of “eVeRyOnE nEeDs To HaVe An IdEnTiFiAbLe PrOfIlE.”
I know people joke about High Elves and Ogres being the “In Case Of Hemorrhaging Subs Break Glass” case over in Irving California but I think they’ve got an Any Race, Any Haircut pack waiting for a quick cash infusion.
For the past few years, my main WoW interest has been collecting things. Allied races are a collectible that, with some added time investment, also comes with a pretty collectible outfit.
The grind’s a bummer when I really want something specific and don’t have it yet, but I haven’t coveted an allied race since Dark Irons so it doesn’t bother me much.
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The alliance got 1 allied race they really asked for that being dark iron and that’s it.
Alliance got so screwed over (what else is new) with the allied race thing I have been seriously contemplating unsubscribing…
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Racial armor is another complaint from me, even if I like the cosmetic themselves.
Seriously, some of the races got some really baller sets and I would love to race change some of my already existing characters into them. But having to go through and level all over again is primarily why I don’t have an Allied race character over lvl 60 right now in spite of all I’ve unlocked. Grinds are artificial content.
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