Should Ethereals join the Horde or Alliance?

[Dellis0991]

They just seem more horde to me with the scheming and such but id be happy if the alliance got arrakoa or vice versa

I agree, I want the arrakoa, we need some questionable folks in our straight laced group.

[Irian]

I would sooner see them neutral, but if I had to choose I think Alliance.

Why? Because....well, let's be honest here. A big portion of Alliance races are boring as hell and they need a bit more moral ambiguity. Ethereals are relatively honorable businessmen but have a bit of a shady edge to them, they would likely bounce off of gnomes pretty well, and at least the Consortium has a fairly good relationship with the draenei and Naaru.

Don't get me wrong, as a somewhat Horde-leaning player I would rather see them on Horde, but sensibly I think they'd fit on Alliance much better.

[Mehrunes]

That alliance list sucks. You put all the good races on the Horde's side.

Horde gets Ogres and Arakkoa. Alliance gets Ethereals and Vrykul. I dont see joke races like troggs/kobolds/murlocs ever becoming playable.

Alliance would get High Elves they wanted for decades, so kobolds and troggs are there as a trade-off for the greatest race ever.

[Friendlyimmolation]

Alliance would get High Elves they wanted for decades, so kobolds and troggs are there as a trade-off for the greatest race ever.

But what about the high and very serious desire for alliance murlocs?

[steelballfc]

But what about the high and very serious desire for alliance murlocs?

Really, after all this wasted time about possible playable races, you choose Murlocs

[kencloudli]

Neutral in my opinion. They are neutral already as NPCs and if they are playable I'll say neutral is a high possibility.

[Azalar]

I'd say neutral. Ethereals could find profitable enough reasons to join either side.

[Beloren]

One of the forsaken quests had you sabotage the alliance taxes of hillsbarad

oh so the humans levy an alliance tax on their citizens? Gosh sounds like most western nations

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I would sooner see them neutral, but if I had to choose I think Alliance.

Why? Because....well, let's be honest here. A big portion of Alliance races are boring as hell and they need a bit more moral ambiguity. Ethereals are relatively honorable businessmen but have a bit of a shady edge to them, they would likely bounce off of gnomes pretty well, and at least the Consortium has a fairly good relationship with the draenei and Naaru.

Don't get me wrong, as a somewhat Horde-leaning player I would rather see them on Horde, but sensibly I think they'd fit on Alliance much better.

honourable? they seem very shifty shady.. but then when you think about it, they actually deliver the goods as prescribed, not so with the goblins or trolls. The orcs had to force the goblins on threat of death to actually deliver without the con or cutting corners for profit.. Ethereals remind me of the Hutt Cartel as a crime syndicate

[delus]

I don't know but as the last classic horde race, ogres need to join the horde.

[Irian]

honourable? they seem very shifty shady.. but then when you think about it, they actually deliver the goods as prescribed, not so with the goblins or trolls. The orcs had to force the goblins on threat of death to actually deliver without the con or cutting corners for profit.. Ethereals remind me of the Hutt Cartel as a crime syndicate

Based on at least the Consortium. Granted, the playable faction might not even be the Consortium, but if it is then the last we hear of them, their trade prince was inspired by your character's selflessness and calls off their lucrative deals with Kael'thas entirely.

It's honestly almost impossible to say, though. Chances are, if we obtained Ethereals as a playable race they would not be Consortium. The only thing we really know about their culture is that it seems somewhat inspired by a technological space mummy spin on a middle eastern sort of society, based around market. That's why I kinda think they'd be a perfect candidate for a neutral race, but if they don't want to do neutral again then I think Alliance would make the most sense given what little we know so far.

[ravenmoon]

I don't know but as the last classic horde race, ogres need to join the horde.

why? didn't the blood elves, an alliance classic race join the horde? why shouldn't the Ogres join the alliance? - doesn't feel right does it.

[KyrtF]

Ethereal should go Alliance.

First....because they need a race that has its own agenda and Ethereals could easily provide that.

Secondly...while the Ethereals are composed of several groups, each with their own values and way of doing things, and a player group could be given any flavour from militaristic to explorers to merchants and more as a result...the overall vibe amongst players is that of merchants, of wheeler dealers. And the Horde already has the Goblins.

Third...that means Naga go Horde.

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But what about the high and very serious desire for alliance murlocs?

That'd be the Jinyu.

[Friendlyimmolation]

why? didn't the blood elves, an alliance classic race join the horde? why shouldn't the Ogres join the alliance? - doesn't feel right does it.

Blood elves have been more dedicated to the horde more than they ever were to the alliance, things change so maybe

[Aquinan]

From the races mentioned in this thread, Ethereals, Vrykul, Arrakoa (cursed and normal ones) and Naga should go to the Horde. Alliance should get High Elves, Earthen, Ogres, Kobolds and Troggs. Oh, and also Jinyu to the Horde, Hozen to the Alliance. Perfect race distribution. Eventually Ogres could go to the Horde for nostalgia reasons, in which case Alliance should also get Snobolds.

Why the fuck would the Jinyu and the Hozen swap sides

[Mehrunes]

Why the fuck would the Jinyu and the Hozen swap sides

Going by the much better MoP beta distribution.

[Deleted]

They just seem more horde to me with the scheming and such but id be happy if the alliance got arrakoa or vice versa

Neither side can have the Arakkoa. The Outland Arakkoa are all hostile except for the few refugees in Shattrath and why would they join the Horde/Alliance leave their whole culture behind and move to Azeroth anyway?

The majority of uncorrupted Arakkoa of Draenor are also hostile towards both Horde and Alliance, arguably even a bit more towards Alliance (they were attacking Draenei towns in Talador, though there were cursed ones hiding in between). We don’t really know how many joined the Awakened, but considering that there are just a hand full in Stormshield, it’s questionable if they are enough to build a whole faction.

The cursed Arakkoa of Draenor are hostile, too. The Sethekk were from the very beginning loyal towards the legion and the Skettis (a.k.a. Arakkoa Outcasts – the rep faction) in majority joined the legion, too.

[FuxieDK]

My bet:
Vrykul (A) - Ogre (H)
Ethereal (A) - Naga (H)

but my choice:
Ethereal (A) - Vrykul (H)

I think that's would be accepted by everyone.

No, no, no...

Nagas would never ever be accepted by Horde... We have no contact with them, except as punching bags.
Nagas have a history with Illidan, which is the extremely small gateway into a playable race on Alliance side, but NEVER Horde.

Vrykul is human ancestors, and again, nothing Horde wants anything to do with.. Humans, however, would be a nice fit for BFF og Vrykuls

Ethereals would either be neutral (a la Pandaren) or Horde. The only thing that makes sense..

Ogre is a clear Horde candidate..

[Al Gorefiend]

Neutral sounds best to me. I don't think neutral race was a failure in design. But rather Pandaren were just not popular enough to give Blizzard actual data on if people were interested in neutral races.

Show of hands, who here sees more than one Pandaren player an hour during your normal play session?

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No, no, no...

Nagas would never ever be accepted by Horde... We have no contact with them, except as punching bags.
Nagas have a history with Illidan, which is the extremely small gateway into a playable race on Alliance side, but NEVER Horde.

Vrykul is human ancestors, and again, nothing Horde wants anything to do with.. Humans, however, would be a nice fit for BFF og Vrykuls

Ethereals would either be neutral (a la Pandaren) or Horde. The only thing that makes sense..

Ogre is a clear Horde candidate..

Vrykul ultimately seem like a better fit for Horde than Alliance.

- Ideals mesh perfectly (glory of war, death before dishonor, killing solves everything)
- lifestyle fits perfectly (nomadic, living off the land, government is stratocratic)
- who cares if they're a human ancestor? They (the majority of Vrykul) probably see them the way Humans see Forsaken - cursed descendants. They also spawned the Lich King which decimated and enslaved their people.
- Speaking of Forsaken and the Lich King. Undead and Vrykul have a ton in common. Both screwed over by Arthas and the Scourge, both utilize and service the Val'kyr.
- Possible allies with the Taunka who are full-fledged members of the Horde after a quest chain in Dragonblight.
- Horde are desperate for another human shaped race considering Blood Elf will soon be ~40% of all Horde characters.

The only race in the Alliance they'd hold a solid relationship with is Dwarves who share a near-identical history in ages past.

[Techno-Druid]

So either...

(N) Ethereal

(A) Arrakoa (H) Ogre

(A) Jinyu (H) Hozen

[ravenmoon]

Ethereal could be neutral in which case Consortium goes one faction, Protectorate another. But storywise both lean towards the alliance. Consortium and goblins will be trouble, they were already stealing from them in netherstorm even though it was another Cartel, and ofc, they don't like Blood elves at all - but that was Kael'thas' group. The protectorate sound like they have a story the night elves can relate too also leaning them that way.


I would like both Ethereal and Vrykul to be horde - Ethereal bring good hi-tech which the Draenei could be used to counter, and they are another pretty race or could be made to be when they design them properly which the horde could use to offset the blood elves. - their savvy business mind, a bit crooked too, has them with the sort of edge blizzard throws into the horde. Would be a good addition. Vrykul really are another pretty race, but barbaric, more savage fitting the horde better, this is a classic horde style race, with the looks to pul off, something the horde hasn't had in a while

but if ethereals and Vrykul go horde - what will you give the alliance? Naga/Ogres? Arrakoa?