There’s a problem with this kind of argument: it assumes that an entire playable race is a monolith. That simply isn’t true. It’s especially not true about our player characters, who by definition are supposed to be exceptional people in the world of Azeroth. There are dozens of potential backstories that, to use your example, could justify how an orc could find themselves so deeply devoted to nature that they choose to follow the druidic path.
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I agree on everything but Demon hunters. They should stay night elf and blood elf only.
That is only as recently as WoD that our characters became anything more than “adventurer” there used to be nothing exceptional about us. We were just dudes being guys going on crazy adventures, doing quests and learning about the world. This game has gone so far beyond that that it’s tapdancing well past the line of absurdity. We by all accounts should be the most legendary lore figures in the history of azeroth. Even Malfurion inarguably the strongest single being walking the face of Azeroth has less feats than us now. It’s stupid.
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That honestly doesn’t really matter, because even if we weren’t overpowered-special, it’s less believable that every single member of a playable race follows an identical, narrow path than it would be if individuals were able to have their own stories and walk their own paths.
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It’s more unbelievable that thousands of Tauren Rogues or Orc Priests will suddenly pop up out of nowhere.
That’s… not how the player character works.
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But they exist. That’s all that’s needed. Whether it’s one, or one thousand, they exist. There’s no logical reason why the player cannot be one of those outliers.
There is no infrastructure in thunder bluff to accommodate a cadre of tauren rogues.
There doesn’t need to be. An Orc Rogue from Orgrimmar can set up shop in Thunderbluff to train those few outliers who do decide to become sneaky cows.
Thuggery does not fit their culture to any degree.
Thuggery is a very narrow definition of a Rogue. Rogues can be scouts, assassins, spies, pirates, etc. Scouts in particular seem perfectly normal in a tribal society like Tauren. And even if they didn’t it doesn’t matter. You acknowledge that outliers exist, and weather they fit in their society or not, any civilized community is not going to exile their brethren for “not fitting in”.
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It doesn’t matter how many players make Tauren Rogues. We don’t count. All that matters is how many NPC Tauren Rogues Blizzard decides to add to the game, because we the players are not canon.
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an immersive world,
I would have thought they would have introduced a racial betrayal quest by now that results in you riding into the enemy capital city like the DK’s with people throwing stuff at you before you swear your new allegiance to the faction that would let you keep your current race.
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Everquest 2 did this when they released back in 2004. The city of Freeport (evil classes & races) and the City of Qeynos (good classes & races) where all that was left after the cataclysm from the destruction of one of the moons and the planet was flooded.
When a person that was an Ogre wanted to play a Paladin, he would start out as a Death Knight in the city of Freeport and through quests and faction grind becoming a neutral faction and then would swear allegiance to Qeynos and then would become an Ogre Paladin after more questing and faction grind.
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Counterpoint: We fought the soul of a planet, and we keep going toe to toe with gods.
WoW isn’t about the world anymore, it hasn’t been for a long time. It’s about its main characters, and we finally started joining their roster.
World of Warcraft is the Dragon Ball Z of MMOs as far as story goes. Expecting anything deeper than that will just lead to disappointment.
Then let us join the roster in a meaningful way, like SW:TOR, ESO, or FFXIV. Here? We’re glorified walking MacGuffins, at best. We’re not characters. We’re tools. And observers of the actual actors in this story.
I don’t see a problem. The racial characteristics make the difference. I also do like the idea of some races being dual-faction. Forsaken or Tauren (maybe even Trolls) joining the alliance for instance. Both races have a back story that would lend itself to this kind of thing. Humans or Worgen could easily be members of the Horde. This is a non-issue as far as I’m concerned.
No, it’s not.
Get in this decade, its not 2004 anymore. The ‘Well ac-chewally the lore is important’ crowd is long in the minority.
The majority of players these days just want the game to be fun, the grinds to be not too intrusive, and to have the freedom to make their characters look how they want.
World destroying lol, get a grip. Nothing about playing the game will change because a tauren sneaky stabs you.
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There are so many people who claim the lore isn’t worth anything. How far are you willing to take that? Can we all be playing potatoes trying to avoid being smashed by a chef as long as the mechanics are fun?
I would think even the lore doesn’t matter people have some limits…
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Fine. But the problem for me tends to be that some of the limitations are absurd. I have never wanted a Human Shaman so I’m fine with this. But Worgen and Night Elves…no one in that society can be a shaman? Neither race can be Shaman but somehow the Draenei can? There’s no race less suited for Shamanism than the Draenei and they were the Alliances’s first shaman race.
Also, I’m less up in arms about Kul Tirans, but honestly…that’s the third race? You could have made LFD Shaman given that normal Draenei are, and LFD can be DKs, but we’ll choose to focus on their religiosity for Shaman and Monk, but other classes?
I feel like it’s all too much.
I disagree vehemently. Thanks for coming to my ted talk.
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NPCs can follow lore.
Player characters shouldn’t have to.
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We out here slaying literal Gods and y’all think a Draenei can’t be a rogue.
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Your point on the Gnome Priest is PRECISELY what I’m talking about. THAT’S the sacrifice that comes with this decision.
Gnome “Priests” DO NOT EXIST in Warcraft. But they’re willing to butcher the class down to simple game mechanics, and justify it by saying “oh, it’s a Medic, not a Priest”.
If we continue down this path, then your “class” literally will mean NOTHING. You’ll have Undead Paladins that “oh they’re not REALLY Paladins, they’re actually just warriors but they carry potions and supplies, pay no mind to them casting spells or using the Light”.
Games live and die by their rules.
Here’s an analogy;
When I was a kid, my friends and kids around the neighorhood would go outside and play, sometimes pretending we’re super heroes, or that we’re knights and dragons. There was this one kid who always wanted to be Spider-Man. Spidey is actually my favorite superhero, too. But when we’re playing knights and dragons, trying to fight off an imaginary dragon, you can’t just “be Spider-Man”.
This kid INSISTED on being Spider-Man, but it was no use. He wanted to be Spider-Man. And it ruined the game, because we weren’t really pretending to be knights and wizards anymore. So we stopped letting that kid come play with us.
This feels like that same sort of mentality. Where people who DON’T care about the WoW lore and its history, are insisting there shouldn’t be any rules, when it actually DOES affect the game for everyone, because this is a community game. Seeing a Draenei Warlock running around is going to be just as immersion-breaking as if you just had Spider-Man running around.
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