Originally Posted by
MasterOfKnees
No, the fact that they almost made it twice means that they're most definitely being seriously considered once again. It's the fact that they almost made it that counts, because that means Blizzard wants to make them playable, but they've simply been outprioritized. So yeah, Blizzard has tried to add them seriously before, this isn't a matter of history repeating itself, because by now Ogres are the only real suitable choice for this kind of expansion theme. They're also interesting in their own right, and they already have a culture of worshipping Gronns and what not, so they are "lorrific" as you put it. Of course they'd need to figure out a lot of different things in order to make them properly playable, but fact is that they'd need to figure out much more stuff for every other race choice. Goblins proved to be a feasible choice because they had already set so many things in stone beforehand, while Worgens and Draenei were the exact opposite, Ogres would be as easy to make playable as Goblins, except that they'd need to figure out how the females look, which they had to do with Pandarens, Worgens and Draeneis too.
And there were many Pandaren threads, always filled with half "yay" and half "fuck you" as you mention. But they were many, and Blizzard themselves have stated they added them due to sheer demand.
Akama and Maiev on the Outland loading screen means nothing, just like unfrozen Bolvar does, probably even less. It's just for show. Like Blizzard themselves say, sometimes they just add things because they're cool, not because of some hidden meaning. In the current Outland loading screen's case, it's probably just to summarize important characters at the time of TBC.
Btw, good luck getting your Murlocs in a Draenor expansion. Murlocs pose many more problems than Ogres in every feasible way. And if they're well deserving, then why aren't Ogres? Ogres are more deserving than any other race that can potentially be added and have been added, maybe with the exception of Goblins, because they were there right from the start, they were there along with Daemons (as Demons were called back in WC1), Orcs and Humans right in the beginning. I don't see why you can't see them being playable, because it's something a lot of people have seen as only logical for many years. If any race is long overdue, it's definitely Ogres.
But again, it depends on if we're even getting any new races at all.