After that pessimistic last article of mine, I feel it would be a good idea to discuss something more positive. So let’s take a look at one of Battle for Azeroth‘s most interesting features, the Allied Race system. Essentially a way to add playable races that would otherwise be too similar to existing ones opens the door to many potential races I would never have thought to be made playable. Then there is the fact that Blizzard said the six allied races coming are just the beginning. It’s unclear, at least to me, whether they meant additional allied races will be added during Battle for Azeroth‘s patch cycle, or if allied races will be something we can expect as a core feature of any future expansion like new regular races or classes. Either way, there are a tons of potential candidates worth speculating on.
So read on past the jump to see my predictions for what allied races we could see in the future.
Based on the six announced allied races, Blizzard appears to have settled on the following “categories” for what can be qualified as an allied race. They are not simply new skin options for existing races, so more work would need to go into them than something like mag’har orcs or wildhammer dwarves.
-Category One: A variant of an existing race, but with unique customization options beyond different skins. (Highmountain tauren with their antlers, dark iron dwarves with their fire-beards, lightforged draenei with their unique horn styles, runes and tattoos)
-Category Two: A race with a very similar appearance to an existing race, but requiring a heavily reworked model. (Nightborne and Zandalari trolls)
-Category Three: A variant of an existing race, nearly identical to its parent other than skin color, but is available to the opposite faction. (Void elves)
Divided into those categories, I’ll list some of the potential allied races I feel could be added in the future. I’ll provide a brief explanation of why I think they would fit, what their customization options would be, and their available classes.
Category One
Earthen:
I like idea of a fully non-flesh race, and unlike mechagnomes, earthen would look alright wearing armor. Stone hair and beard styles would give the earthen a completely unique look compared to any existing race while still being close enough to base dwarves. Being made entirely of stone could also grant some interesting racial abilities. In terms of lore, we could finally see what became of the Frostborn. As they’re already allied with the Alliance, they would make a perfect inroads towards recruiting the earthen in larger numbers, especially given their proximity to Ulduar.
Potential classes: Warrior, Hunter, Shaman, Rogue, Paladin, Priest, Monk
Draenor Orcs:
When thinking about allied races, brown-skinned or mag’har orcs are one of the first things that come to mind. However there is a problem, they’re not unique enough from regular orcs based on what Blizzard has shown so far. Even the dark iron dwarves had to be retconned to have beards that are always on fire. So I looked for other customization options that would set brown-skinned orcs apart from the primary race and hit upon the perfect solution: the Iron Horde. Instead of just the remnant mag’har from Outland, the orcs of alternate Draenor show the clans at their height of power and diversity. With Draenor orcs you could fold in Blackrock or Shattered Hand skin tones on top of brown, have unique customization options like Warsong and Bleeding Hollow tattoos, perhaps even new hairstyles themed around the Warlords.
Potential classes: Warrior, Hunter, Shaman, Mage, Rogue, Priest (from the Shadowmoon clan), Monk
San’layn:
When trying to think on an allied race for the undead, I first considered something akin the dark rangers or Nathanos, intact undead elves or humans. These didn’t seem unique enough to me, but then I remembered the darkfallen. They still seem a bit more of a stretch than the others, given we already have two elven allied races coming, but the idea of having playable vampires is an idea that seems perfectly suited for an allied race. To help them stand out, they could be given features like vampire fangs or vestigial versions of Blood-Queen Lana’thel’s wings. Where they could really shine are racial abilities, perhaps being able to feed on enemies (similar to an in-combat version of the Forsaken’s cannibalize ability) or maybe a slow-fall with their wings.
Potential classes: Warrior, Mage, Warlock, Rogue, Hunter, Priest, Death Knight
Category Two
Furbolgs:
Furbolgs are one of those races that have been requested since WoW launched but never seemed flashy enough to be a realistic choice. That changes with allied races, especially given that they have a perfect parent race to serve as a variant of: the pandaren. As you can see in the mock-up I’ve made at the top of the article, taking a pandaren model and giving it a more grizzly-like head would make a perfectly serviceable furbolg without any more design work than say nightborne or Zandalari. There would be the question of how to treat an allied race derived from a neutral one, especially since I can’t see furbolgs joining the Horde.
Potential classes: Warrior, Druid, Shaman, Hunter, Priest, Monk
Kul Tiran Humans:
In a rather bizarre detail shown at BlizzCon, while most humans living in Kul Tiras use the same model as current playable humans, there are some who use an entirely new “bulky” model. Stranger still, from the BlizzCon demo and available screenshots, these Kul Tirans are all around three feet taller than the regular ones. They seem like a perfect allied race, as their resemblance to vrykul makes them stand out while also being (presumably) smaller so as to avoid the issue of them fitting through doors. A thread on MMO-Champion pointed out the possibility that the “Kul” in Kul Tiras could even derive from Vrykul, which seems like the kind of unintentional, retconned in “foreshadowing” that Blizzard loves to implement from fans (see Tirisfal/Tyr’s Fall or Genn Greymane becoming a worgen). The starkly different culture we’ve seen of Kul Tiras would also open up some interesting class options, for example Kul Tirans seem to have druids and shaman (the Sea Priests, who are described as using water and storm magic).
Potential classes: Warrior, Priest, Shaman, Druid, Hunter, Rogue, Mage, Monk
Mok’nathal:
Ogres are something I’ve seen people suggest as a potential allied race, but I disagree. They’re unique and known enough that should ogres be made playable, I think they would work better as a traditional race. Also, there’s the problem I mentioned with the vrykul of their size. Mok’nathal, the clan of orc/ogre hybrids living in Outland, on the other hand seem a great fit. While in-game they’re just orcs with orange skin, look at Rexxar’s Heroes of the Storm artwork. Using that a base, Mok’nathal would be bulkier, upright orcs with more ogre-ish faces. Their being midway between an orc and an ogre would also make them a good counterpart to the vrykul-ish Kul Tirans.
Potential classes: Warrior, Hunter, Mage, Shaman, Monk
Category Three
Eredar:
When considering a Horde equivalent to the void elves my first thought was the man’ari eredar. There are eredar that have sided against the Burning Legion, and with the defeat of Sargeras many more disenfranchised eredar could seek out a new purpose and new allies. It would also provide more support to Battle for Azeroth‘s theme of faction conflict, as the draenei, especially the lightforged, would be wary of the Horde accepting their corrupted brethren.
Potential classes: Warrior, Rogue, Mage, Warlock, Hunter, Paladin (in the style of Tyrant Velhari)
| WORLD OF WARCRAFT PATCH 7.3.5 ALLIED RACES UPDATES | ||
| Stormwind & Orgrimmar Embassy | Nighthold: Nightborne NPCs | Highmountain Monks |
| Future Allied Races Speculation | Turalyon & Alleria Homecoming | Zone & Dungeon Scaling |
| Allied Races Mounts | ||
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World of Warcraft Writer and columnist for Blizzplanet. I am also known as The Red Shirt Guy (BlizzCon).
no more elves
No Vrykul? That’s my #1 wish for an Allied Race!
But.. I want Vulpera >=(
Since the first batch of allied races are mostly “new” races instead of classic ones, I think most allied races from now on will have something to do with whatever expansion they come in. Which means those seeking something more traditional, like broken or furbolgs may need to wait a long time before they see their favorite “sub race” added.
I can’t fully agree. Nightborne, Lightborne Draenei and Highmountain Tauren are technically of the old expansion. Void-Elves and especially Dark Iron Dwarfes and have little to do with this one, leaving Zandalari. Of course it would be better for all allied races to have a connection to the current expansion, but this is really too limiting.
My guess/hope is that Blizzard goes on like this: Starting an expansion with full races which have a connection to it for example Nagas/Etherals(2 level starting zones) and a few allied races like Hozen/Jinyu only to add maybe another pair of allied races with a mid-expansion patch as reward for completing some special questline/achievement concerning them.
Some one Will be trigger for
#WhenMurlocplayable
#WhenNagaplayable
and lastly #WhenGnollplayable as well #Hogger4life
All in all good choices so far.
Eredar and San’layn? Hell yeah! Furbolgs? Nice. The
other races? I think there are problems.
Let’s take the large
family of Dwarves. With the Dark Iron clan playable, I agree Earthen
would be nice, but so would be Frostborn and Iron Dwarves. Their
unique skin tone could set them apart to be recognizable under armor,
but already the Wildhammers are except for the tattoos and hairs
quite similar to the Ironforge Dwarves. Would this be enough to level
through what looks like just another dwarf for the most time until
maybe their prestige clothing shows them in full glory? Let’s say
Blizzard used them all. This would mean six sub-races of dwarves
running around!
With orcs it is the same. Except for Fel Orcs
with their bony spikes(my favorites), there is(yet if Blizzard
doesn’t add something) little to give the different clans identity
during leveling. Worse, their traditional armor was already
obtainable in WoD, though there could be a HD version. To make this
clear. I would love to have them playable, but is Blizzard willing to
make the effort for the few who do?
Mok’`nathal are another kind of problem. If Blizzard
introduced them first, would Ogres be unique enough to be playable as
traditional race(except for the two-head-variant)? Or one at all?
Would Naga, especially one with two legs(no attack against you) if we
get Jinyu first?
I want to conclude with the Eredar to show which kind
of braces have the best chances to be introduced in my eyes. While
technically a slight variation of Draenei, with only their different
horns and skincolour setting them aside, the fact that they probably
wouldn’t play at the same side as their brethren would give them
uniqueness enough to make them much more worth introducing than the
Lightforged Draenei on the side of the Alliance. To them Broken or
Void-touched would have been a much more reasonable addition since
they add a true variation of an existing race for this faction.
Last but not least, all of my points are of little
importance compared to how Blizzard handles it in the end. Especially
since allied races hardly get any large starting zones I guess they
will get a strongly scripted starting experience, explaining their
background. If Blizzards handles this right, justifying a start with
level 20 and gives us some new/polished animations I’m happy
enough.