Alt-Races

[Mace]

If they stood upright they would have to redo almost all of the animations because most of the Forsaken animations are done with a hunched back. Would be easier to just base them off an upright race's skeleton or something. Still, I think skeletons or undead elves (give the standard Forsaken model elf ears, access to some belf/nelf hairstyles, etc.) would be more appropriate choices.

That's why they would just do the idle stance. You stand upright when still , but moving or casting you go back to your normal animations.

that and the fact that you will have no bones showing, and proper hair/eyes, is different enough to look like sub-race while still being clearly identifiably forsaken.

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I think elves should be an alt-race for trolls.

that's like saying that for naga or satyr.

they are completely different races now. both biologically and culturally. Naga or Satyr may have once been Elves, but they are no longer. Night Elves may have once been Trolls, but they are no longer, New species entirely


Night Elf sub races are technically: Nightborne and High/Blood Elves,
- they are genetically the same, minor superficial variations, even less so with nightborne

- we consider high/blood elves different only because they're playable and they are culturally quite distinct. Having different themes, like day/sun theme. SKin colour is the opposite, also distinct enough.
- nightborne we accept as a full night elf sub-race because they are thematically and culturally the same, nightborne merely being the half of the night elves that continued practicing arcane magic fully, they are only altered slightly in appearance.

Nightborne changed only a little, high/blood elves changed alot but they are at least all still biolgoically elves, with nightborne more a subset of night elf with high/blood elf being like an opposite. However naga/satyr are completely different.

[RedGamer030]

Kinda like we all accpeted the Zandalari updated model

We ALL did??? You seem to know the community better than anyone else, even the other people within the community, huh?

[Rhlor]

lorthemar hate undead elf.

undead elf are forsaken

[Friendlyimmolation]

lorthemar hate undead elf.

undead elf are forsaken

Lore wise there are a ton of undead elves in the forsaken. He doesn't hate the undead elves, he would hate it if sylvanas made more from His people.

[Rhlor]

Lor'themar lived a zombie apocalypse, it is normal to be traumatic for everyone in quelthalas see elves undead

[Techno-Druid]

Some of these wouldn't make sense.

Leper Gnomes wouldn't make sense as the Gnomes have been killing them on site or trying to cure them. Mechagnomes would make more sense, but only barely.
Nightborne are a major enemy in the coming expansion and are going to be allied with the Legion in the coming expansion. Highborne would be more appropriate by miles.
The Forsaken one wouldn't quite work as if they were a skeleton, they would be lacking anything keeping them close to human. Also, would never be done due to China. It would be better to allow them to be another race besides undead humans, such as undead night elves.
Blood Elf would be Highborne, blood elves that are untainted. There's not really a good one for blood elves since they're such a cocky race.
Hobgoblins would never work. They live extremely short lives and are severely lacking mental capacity. Maybe Gilgoblins?
Furbolgs aren't even closely related to Pandaren. They're closer to Night Elves and even then that's a stretch. Furbolgs are really their own people.

Actually furbolgs and pandaren are actually related I think in some way. Even if they aren't that closely related, they're pretty anatomically similar (they're both humanoid bears, this is not counting on the pandaren and furbolg models in-game).

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My idea was for races that couldn't just be added skins.

Brown and gray orcs have been in the Horde for years now lore wise, so they don't need a seperate starting zone, they coukd easily be implemented as extra skins.

Same applies to highborne, wildhammer, dark iron and grimtotem.

[Hallowseve17]

Lor'themar lived a zombie apocalypse, it is normal to be traumatic for everyone in quelthalas see elves undead

Gonna have to agree with Friendlyimmolation on this one. Their are tons of undead elves within the Forsaken lorewise. And like he said, Lor'themar doesn't dislike undead elves.. It's just, when it comes down to his own people, he doesn't want Sylvanas to raise them into undeath.

And yes, he's probably a bit skeptical about the undead elves, but I personally believe he values them as allies, as well as everyone else in the Horde.

[Rhlor]

actually for a long time that relations between quel'thalas and lordaeron are very bad.
lor'themar greet kindly Vereesa and ignores Sylvanas

[Friendlyimmolation]

actually for a long time that relations between quel'thalas and lordaeron are very bad.
lor'themar greet kindly Vereesa and ignores Sylvanas

Not "very bad" Very bad implies they are at each others throats. Lor'themar dislikes Sylvanas. Doesn't mean he refuses to fight with her or the Horde. Legion proves my point.

[UnluckyAmateur]

half elf?
why not more like... well... vrykul?
.

They hate humans? I mean that has been cemented for a long time now.

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A Troll is a Troll - no visible difference between the two.

I mean you don't see the difference in size?

[RedGamer030]

I mean you don't see the difference in size?

I guess the buff and muscular Arnold Schwarzenegger is a different race from the skinny and lean Chris Rock?

[Avar ize]

I guess the buff and muscular Arnold Schwarzenegger is a different race from the skinny and lean Chris Rock?

actually yes, one is Caucasian, other is African American

[MeAjur]

Human- It's hard to imagine a human sub/alt race since as far as I'm concerned, both Worgens and Forsaken are technically sub-races of Humans. Vyrkul might work, except for that minor detail of being three times taller than the doors of Stormwind. So, for humans, I'd be content with additional skins and faces.
Dwarves- When Vanilla released, the Wildhammers were minding their own buisness in places players couldn't go, and the Dark Iron were enemies, so of course it made sence that players were limited to the Ironforge dwarves. But now we have contact with the Wildhammers and the Dark Iron are friendly-ish. The only reason to not let us play as them would be if Blizz has plans to split them up again. I hope not soon... not until Moria's kid is old enough to make trouble anyway. Earthen might be good, but they are quite a bit bigger than their flesh cursed brethern. Not quite big enough to stop them getting into Stormwind buildings, but big enough to make trouble.
Gnomes- I suppose Mechagnomes and Lepers would be okay, but additional skins and faces would be needed. I dunno, I don't play gnomes enough to care.
Night Elves- Nagas, Satyrs, and Harpies, please? Cataclysm gave us a good satyr (who became a Night Elf once again) and a good harpy, and some nagas are helping demon hunters in Legion, so obviously they must exist and thus are candidates for playerdom! My logic is flawless, do not argue with me!
Draenei- Broken would be the obvious choice, as Eredar are all bad and most Lost Ones have lost their sanity. But by the argument above for nagas, satyrs, and harpies, the fact that friendly Lost Ones do exist leaves them open to be used as a sub-race.
Worgen- As I said before, I already consider worgens to be a sub-race. Heck, you can even pick which side of the Gilnean Wall your monocle doggie originates on (DKs from the north side, all other classes from the south side).

Orc- Why do we not have playable brown orcs yet? Surely they can't have all fallen into the Twisting Nether!
Troll- According to lore, there IS more than one phenotype. I seem to remember that the ones who used to subjegate the goblins were quite a bit hunkier than the Darkspears.
Tauren- Taunka, Yaungol... it is only the males that would make a difference. Female Taunka look like Tauren, and for the life of me I can't recall a female Yaungol. But then again, male tauren are more popular than females anyway. But I want to see some water buffalo tauren! (Cuz I iz half Thai.)
Forsaken- Human sub-race already, but let's just go with the argument anyway. Anything undead would be great. Skeletons, ghosts, banshee... I would LOVE to play a geist!
Blood Elf- Since a rather huge chunk of the High Elves remain with the Alliance, I personally think the Wretched makes more sense as a Blood Elf sub/alt race. If we can have pet wretcheds, and Dark Iron dwarves can be Alliance friendly, then surely wretcheds can at least make the attempt to be Horde friendly since the reason they became wretched in the first placed was that they got a bit too mana-hungry when the Sunwell was ruined, and the Sunwell is all better now.
Goblin- Gilgoblins FTW!

Pandaran- Furbolgs??? No!!! Isn't the detail that female Pandaran can be red pandas good enough? No, I'm serious! Red pandas are closer to weasels, raccoons, and skunks than to pandas. They really do already have their own sub-race!

[RedGamer030]

actually yes, one is Caucasian, other is African American

^Troll is a Troll.^ Someone needs to take an Anthropology class...
So then Brown Orcs and Green Orcs are different races too, right?

[ravenmoon]

^Troll is a Troll.^ Someone needs to take an Anthropology class...
So then Brown Orcs and Green Orcs are different races too, right?

Same for those who think nightborne are like some new elf species, they are just a new sub-race of night elves. Night elves and nightborne are no different than thicker set forest trolls are from thinner jungle trolls, or green orcs are different from brown orcs, or blue eyed high elves are different from green eyed blood elves.
It's the same group, same culture, same customs, just one has a lot more arcane usage than the other at the start of Legion.

it's not like humans who are a polar opposite to forsaken or blood elf polar opposite to night elf

[RedGamer030]

Same for those who think nightborne are like some new elf species, they are just a new sub-race of night elves.

Exactly, you need to look at the lineage. Nightborne are Night Elves, they are a group of elves who built and maintained Suramar during Queen Azshara's rule and stayed there after the Sundering.

[Maxilian]

I honestly prefer the San layn, but to each his own

I agree, or undead elf, just for lore reasons, and for Blood Elf, i would give them Wretched (love their original art)

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actually for a long time that relations between quel'thalas and lordaeron are very bad.
lor'themar greet kindly Vereesa and ignores Sylvanas

Actually Quel'thalas and Lordaeron have good relationships, Sylvanas and Lor'themar don't have much love for each other, but that doesn't mean that there's a problem between the 2 nations.

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lorthemar hate undead elf.

undead elf are forsaken

Lorthemar doesn't hate undead elfs, he hates the scourge.

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Some of these wouldn't make sense.

Leper Gnomes wouldn't make sense as the Gnomes have been killing them on site or trying to cure them. Mechagnomes would make more sense, but only barely.

So it makes sense, they just need to say "We found a cure that makes them regain their sanity!" done, easier to explain than Mechagnomes

Nightborne are a major enemy in the coming expansion and are going to be allied with the Legion in the coming expansion. Highborne would be more appropriate by miles.

You know there's a full faction of revels that we are helping right?

The Forsaken one wouldn't quite work as if they were a skeleton, they would be lacking anything keeping them close to human. Also, would never be done due to China. It would be better to allow them to be another race besides undead humans, such as undead night elves.

I agree (Mostly cause.. China)

Blood Elf would be Highborne, blood elves that are untainted. There's not really a good one for blood elves since they're such a cocky race.

Highborne are in the Alliance already (Night Elfs) reason why they got mage in Cata, and... they still have Wretched, just like the Gnomes they need a way to make their people regain their sanity, and they look like they are not completely lost (having in mind how it works with Nightborne)

Hobgoblins would never work. They live extremely short lives and are severely lacking mental capacity. Maybe Gilgoblins?

Maybe

[Hallowseve17]

I don't know, I don't see Leper gnomes as a subrace aligned with the Alliance. They caused a lot of problems for the gnomes. I say each faction should get one "subrace/alt-race" that goes to the opposing faction. Leper gnomes should go Horde. Plus it'd balance the factions so Alliance have two small races and Horde have two small races.

I'm sorry, I know it's a copy/paste idea, but they would just seem so... out of place within the Alliance. Just my opinion though, and I can see the hate coming...

[UnluckyAmateur]

^Troll is a Troll.^ Someone needs to take an Anthropology class...
So then Brown Orcs and Green Orcs are different races too, right?

Brown orcs and green orcs don't have completely different builds like the forest trolls do.

[Seifross]

The animations are the biggest problem with this whole idea. People (who have no idea about game development) just say "stop being lazy Bliz", when it's a case of "Spend way more of your budget on this than on other parts of the next expansion". It's nowhere near impossible to add sub-races with new animations and skeletons, but it's going to take a big chunk out of development time and money from other areas. Animations aren't quick and easy, and IMO it's hard to justify the addition for something that adds so little to the game compared to other forms of content.

I think it's a lot more likely we'd just see things like Taunka, Brown Orcs, etc. that don't require a whole new rig and animation set but still add plenty of flavour. Size and builds can change, but their skeleton would have to remain the same. This is important for identification in PvP as well, since doubling the amount of races in the game would be a serious problem even IF their skeletons remained the same (though that would mitigate it a lot).

I don't really understand the idea of High Elves for Alliance - aren't they just Blood Elves without the green eyes (in terms of appearance)? That sounds awful on every level. Lorewise it makes sense, but in-game that's an atrocious idea.