For a long time I have argued with other fans that a Naga race might be a playable race. With the announcement of Allied Races that is even closer to reality than ever. These are several points that prove a Naga Allied Race is possible.
1. Allied Race Scalability: More coming!
During our interview with Jeremy Feasel he pointed out the Allied Race system was made with scalability in mind to add more in the future.
Jeremy: Yes. We will be increasing the Character Slots. We are not quitely ready to let you know what that number is yet, but we recognize that you don’t want to delete your characters in order to make all these new Allied Races. That’s for sure.
The system, now that we have it in place, is very expandable. We do plan to have an additional Allied Races in the future. We would absolutely love to hear from players what they would most like to play as. We have been hearing a lot of this from players for years. We are super happy to get this feature into their hands. I know everybody has got a different opinion about what they want to play as. Please, tell us what you like. We want to hear about what you are super jazzed about.
2. Friendly Factions
There are a couple of friendly factions that could potentially join the Horde: a band of Naga likely follows Neptulon the Tidehunter, who is an ally since Cataclysm. Most recently, Neptulon sent elemental minions to the Broken Shore calling the player by name to assist in the random world quest “By Water Be Purged.”
Archmage Khadgar: Neptulon has sent one of his greatest champions to aid our cause, and has asked for you by name. I look forward to seeing what damage the two of you can unleash.
Putting two and two together, if Neptulon is our ally in Legion too, and the naga following the pariah Skar’this the Heretic (Slave Pens) are worshipers of Neptulon, by association those Nagas are allies as well.
The second Naga faction out there is the Coliskar who are aligned with Illidan and the Demon Hunters. If you have played the Demon Hunter starting zone in Mordun, then you have met them. This naga can be found in the Demon Hunter class hall “The Fel Hammer.”
The problem with the Coliskar is that blood elf and Night elf demon hunters and the Coliskar are allies, which makes it a bit awkward for these Naga to join the Horde. Still we could have thought the same for the Nightborne, or the blood elves who joined Alleria to become Void Elves.
There could potentially be a third Naga faction, depending on what happens after our encounter with Queen Azshara.
3. But… Naga can’t wear leggings and boots…
This is where things get interesting. The argument that the Naga can’t be a playable race because they can’t wear pants or boots is easily solved with some lore fiction. Naga were formerly Highborne. N’zoth transformed them into Naga in Warcraft: War of the Ancients by Richard A. Knaak. Though, we didn’t know the N’zoth name back then, it was him.
We have seen Queen Azshara in Legion, making her presence before Prince Farondis — and she not only took the form of her former self as a Highborne, but also took the form of one of those priestesses that look like Lady Vashj, and we also know her octopus form from the Warcraft RPG books and most recently, from the Battle for Azeroth panel.
Who is to say a naga can’t have a switch button like the Worgen’s Two Form which allows them to switch between having two legs, and changing to their known serpent form? Or even as a racial for swim speed in water.
“No. Nagas can’t have legs!!!” Then you should explain the Naga Brutes they can’t have them legs. Just don’t blame me if they smash you.
#Seatail for life.
I agree with the followers of Neptulon being the most likely faction to join us and who would “us” be if not Horde. But while I would love to play Nagas though I`m not sure if they really need legs, even optional. Blizzard could go the extra mile and create a new set of animations and clothes for them, even if it was a lot of work.
Speaking of work: I wonder how long the introduction for the allied races will be. Especially for the big races like Naga I would wish for a more classic way consisting of at last two starting zones, not to mention a whole expansion with Azshara as the main villian. Allied races are great for Zandalari, Dark Iron Dwarfes and older popular races we came into contact with in the past which history is told, they shouldn’t be used as a sheap way introduce all races.
Who cares if they can’t wear legs. Taurens, and draneai can’t even wear boots. i want NAGA