Wow is finally ready for minor races including High elves

[ravenmoon]

I suspect it will be a while before we see the introduction of another full race after MoP given the preparation they require, and unlikely we'll ever see 2 in one expansion now that Panderans are accessible to both horde and alliance. It would make sense to centre future expansions around 1 race and a theme and make that race accessible to both factions.

However both factions sharing a race opens possibilities for minor races to be usable and cross the faction divide. Minor races are tied to major races which a playable, races like Taunka, Mag'har orcs, wildhammer dwarves, ice trolls etc are just variations of main races. Furthermore they don't need brand new starting zones, heavy lore and unique models all the things that really limit the intorduction of more than one or at most 2 brand new player races. You can introduce several as they are far less work than introducing a new race

Minor races can simply be a slight re-skin, start in the major races starting area, and have an npc or two in an independent quest chain told in the starting area or alternatively over several areas to expound on them. With phasing technology availabe, some of the more prominent ones can even have a starting area, e.g. Mag'har can have a level 1 to 6 phased version of Nagrand before porting to Durotar. Furthermore thanks to the Panderan, there is nothing to prevent the minor race of High Elves appearing as an alliance minor race too.

My point? Well, with the new models for all the races being developed, including new animations which is the hardest and most time consuming part of introducing new races, minor races are ripe for introduction as they will simply share the model and animation of the major race but with some simple differences.

Here is an example of how it can look, when doing the re-skin. New models = the new look, including new movement, attacking, casting animations etc. Blizzard have confirmed the new models will not just look different, but also have new animations etc

Orcs: -

Mag'har orcs - new Orc model but with brown skin tones, tribal periperals like headbands/armbands with feathers
Dragonmaw Orcs - black and dark grey skin tones with blood coloured tatoos.

could have class restricitions too, e.g. Mag'har orcs can't be warlocks/DKs or mages, Dragonmaw orcs can't be mages

Trolls:
Ice Trolls (drakkari) - New troll model, dark blue shades
Forest Troll (Amani) - new troll model, moss skin, possibly heavier muscle bulk

New Troll feature - all trolls can grow into berserk trolls when using their racial. -Model same for male/female but keeps the colour of the player troll

Night Elves:
High Elf - New blood elf model without tatoos, non-glowy blue, green, purple, grey eye variations. Starts in phased Quel'thalas before heading to Redridge or starts in Teldrassil.
[or could use a new night elf model instead but blood elf height and skin tones]
Highbourne - New blood elf model with night elf height, skin tones, silver glowy eyes for males and females. Starts in Teldrassil

Blood Elves:
NEw blodoelf modles will finally incorporate tatoos and have more scar options to further distinguish them from high elves
Darkfallen or San'layan: New blood elf model, red eyes, pale death white tones and distinctive facial features, like one half of the face burnt [see SWTOR character creation scar options - San'layan by contrast would have the vampire like teeth and clawed hands , i'm imagining the scar the burn scar options]. Starts as a quel'dorei elf in phased Quel'thalas joining the forsaken at level 6 in Tirisfal glades.
Fel Elf or Wanted: Fel elf will be new blood elf model but with the greenish tinged skin. Starts as a blood elf with a handful of race specific quests, that tell how you turn fel.

Tauren:
Taunka - New tauren model but with Taunka faces. Start zone in phased Borean Tundra/East Dragonblight taunka place before joining Tauren in Mulgore at level 6.
-Edit 25/09- Maulgorian - Tauren model with small varaitions
Yaungol - Tauren from Pandera isle with Yaungol faces but Tauren animations etc

Dwarf:
Wild Hammer Dwarf: New Dwarf model: with tribal markings, if possible a slightly taller and leaner dwarf. Starting zone either phased Twilight Highlands for 1 -6 before heading to Dun Morogh or just start in Dun Morogh. Wild Hammers can't be warlocks
Dark Iron Dwarf : New dwarf model: dark skin tones, red eyes: 1-6 start zone in Thalrassian City aka BRD on Black rock mountain and rest in Dun Morogh or all Dun Morogh. Dark Irons won't be shaman

Draenei:
Broken: New orc model reduced, re-skinned with Broken/Draenei skin tones and Broken tentacles: Animations same as dwarf though. Zangarmarsh or Nagrand start zone for 1.6 then join Draenei at Azuremyst or just start on Azuremyst altogether.

Gnomes:
Leper Gnomes: New gnome model but with Leper skin tones: These are not necessarily green all over, these are half leper gnomes, so sometimes half the face is green or part of the body, and you can have variations. Startzone is same as Gnomes
Cyborg or Mechaflesh Gnome: New gnome model: however the name has been part mechanized: could be an arm or half a face or the legs, you can choose between the variations. Startzone 1-6 phased version of parts of Ulduar then join Gnomes after that.

Gnomes can have a fun new racial called Mechanize ! - i'm told they need an offensive racial anyway.

Forsaken:
New model would be probably the toughest of all the races: No minor race here, as you do get the Darkfallen

Forsaken get instead to choose a death model. A new racial that allows 6secs back to life with death knight ghoul like abilities. Undead you can become are:
Banshee: New model
Skeleton: New model
Ghoul: New model
Gargoyle
Abomination: an option you can become if you are killed close to another forsaken, the more forsaken there are the bigger and more powerful the abomination.

Human:
Like Forsaken, I think a different approach is called for here. There minor races can be:
Half-breeds: Half-elf: New human model but with Elven ears slightly smaller and high elf eyes, could also do a half-nelf which would have slightly longer ears at night elf level, but using the same human model but with night elf skin tones. Starts in Stormwind instead of Northshire Abbey or could start in Terokkar Forest Allerian Stronghold Phased 1-6
Vrykul: Hylanaar Vrykul: New human model but Vrykul height - not sure it's worth redoing the vrykul model just for this. Starter zone could be Stormpeaks phased 1-6 near Thor's peak, before joining the humans in stormwind.
Black Humans: Human models but with dark skin tones and affro hair styles. I know hairstyles aren't easy to do, but if they're doing new models they might as well. This could be a mystery when a large group of humans turn up in stormwind claiming old blood ties because there home ist destroyed, - or we could make Kul'tiras a pre-dominantly black nations that has a pseudo like feudal/democratic system, every dysnasty has 3 generations in charge before it is changed... well put it this way it can be something new and imaginative.
-Edit 25/09- cultist human - human model but with weird markings and scars

Goblin:
Spider eyed and Coal goblins: Goblins aren't getting a re-model, true, doesn't mean they can't create new skins though wtih different eyes for spider eyed goablins and skin for coal goblins.
Gilgoblins: starter zone Vashj'ir phased for 1 -6 before joining Goblins on Lost Isles.

No Worgen or Panderan minor races I can think off - they won't be getting new models and it doesn't make sense to create a minor race for them like I did for the Gnomes.

Disclaimer: I've just given the ares that would make the most interesting starting zones for the minor races, I would be fine with all of them simply starting with their major races. Class restrictions are really easy to implement. Racials could be unchanged or borrowed from other major classes and modified slightly.

[Korru]

That would be crazy but fun though xd.

[Liara]

I like the concept, however some of the "minor races" you mention are actually the same race, just different clans / tribes / families.
But the idea is solid.

[Zeerus]

I would back this 100%.

[Gweenz]

i'd reform it. Like this:
Adjust it to character customization.
You select a basic race, and it gives you acces to a few variants of what tribe/roots your race will be.
Like Troll -> Darkspear, Amani and probably Drakkari (they are very bad guys, why would they join horde?)
Tauren -> Maulgorian, Taunka, Yaungol;
Dwarf -> Dun Morogh, Drak Iron, Wildhammer (yeah, )
Orc -> Durotar, Dragonmaw (Fel Orcs are corrupted completely, and they can't join the horde by any meanings)
etc lalala

[Zoneseek]

Yeah I like it

[dokilar]

i wouldnt be surprised if we dont see the ability to make like a dragonmaw skinned orc, or wildhammer dwarf or something like you mentioned. they are working on character models now so i would find it foolish on their part to not try and incorporate these at some point soon after. that was the whole point of the twilight highlands wasnt it? to bring the dragonmaw orcs back into the horde and to repair the relationship between the bronzebeards and the wildhammer?

only makes sense that those would become playable at some point, more customization is always a good thing

[Deleted]

It's a cool idea, but I can see Blizz getting all kinds of complaints, mostly from people expecting all new content and epic story lines to come out of the starter zones, when in reality they'd be shared. That aside, I'd love to play a Vrykul, banshee and San'layan. I think at most they would introduce new skins.

[Deleted]

I support the idea. Something like this would add some great variety and give some depth to the existing races while still feeling fresh.

[Scummer]

I've always been very skeptical of how to implement this idea, I'm all for it but I feel a lot of people overdue the concept in their head.

If you ask me we should start off with:

Horde get Mag'har and Blackrock skins for Orcs (Mag'har cannot play mages or Warlocks) and Undead High Elves for Forsaken.
Alliance get Broken for Draenei (Only Male, and cannot play Paladins or Priests) and finally Wildhammer and Dark Iron skins for Dwarves (With Dark Irons being unable to play Shaman and Wildhammer being unable to play Mage or Warlock).

This way we aren't stretching the lore (eg.Taunka in Mulgore or Forest Troll at Darkspear Isle).
It also means that both factions get a race with access to two skins, and one race that can use a different model.
Limiting skins by class is nothing new. Death Knights have had unique undead skins for ages.

[Deleted]

Abomination: an option you can become if you are killed close to another forsaken, the more forsaken there are the bigger and more powerful the abomination.

If that happened I can just imagine that every player that can will roll Undead in the top raiding guilds to save a 5% wipe. Otherwise, that would be awesome.

[Agoonga]

Alliance should get High Elves and Horde should get Eredar.

[Tiarromba]

Not exactly what you said but sure. The option of what clan you are would be a good thing

[ravenmoon]

without a doubt doing this would be much easier than a full new race.. the hardest part of a new race is desinging a new model and doing all the animations. plus the level 1-12 or 1-20 zones, then integrating them all through the world/xpansions. it's quite a task they only do 2 and now only 1.

these minor races however are a fraction of the work, no need for new models or animaitons - a major MAJOR chunk of work, as you are doing them already with the major races.

you only need do some reskinning - how much depends on the race - Mag'har , dragonmaw are really easy a recolouring. dark irons too and High elves - Taunka are just a re-face. some are a little more work. Highbourne i propose involve using the new blood elf model but giving them night elf ears, height, skin tones and eyes - easy as you've already decided the night elf tones too, creating highbourne that behave and act differently. I'm not sure how much harder it is making a model taller like i propose for the Wildhammers, but i can'timagine that would be hard. Darkfallen would be easy too

interesting things might be the features - tattoos, tribal markings, scars, runes. The only hard part is determining how much of an introduction you give them. 1 Quest? a series of quests spread over level 1-80 or a little more extensive like certain zones phased from 1-6 for some of the minor races. This would be the most time consuming

[sixx]

That'll be crazy fun! You know I have always said that if I ever make a warlock I'll try to get a dark skin so I can be a black iron dwarf! And if I make a shaman to make it with tattoos and lil bit smaller so it is a Wildhammer Although there are perhaps a couple of things that you mentioned there that won't happen because of the lore, but when I say couple probably like 2 or 3, or because some minor races are restricted to just 1 class i.e. only Night Elf Highborne can be Mages, so make it that as soon as I select to be a mage, boom! I'm a Highborne so I get to choose skins just for that minor race . I always liked this ideas

[ravenmoon]

Alliance should get High Elves and Horde should get Eredar.

I forgot about the Eredar, they would be an awesome addition tho, but unlikely, they are legion aligned...and if you make a splinter group that can join the horde, it would require a bit more work then a minor race to introduce, they are not like cyborg gnomes that although newly made up, are not impossible to imagine and don't require serious explanations. You can expect cyborg gnomes, you do not expect Eredars joining the horde, especially when you know that Blizzard are planning Velen and the draenei to lead the factions against the legion.

Would he lead a charge with Man'ari Eredar around? Would be interesting though, but then I'd feel it was another lore hack to make more playble options, altho it could be a good one. Would they even let Velen lead both horde and alliance? or create another neutral figure all can rally round. Would Velen become another Thrall/Malfurion? or would they introduce someone differnet lieke they did Tirion? Most likely you'd problaby have velen leading the allinace and some one else ont eh horde side an orc most likely leading the horde, which would be very weak if youask me. and smacks of fixing the lore to provide game mechanics - [mechanics being that we must have one for allinace and one for horde all the time]
Which is boring cause it likely means again the orcs will be at the forefront altho unlike Worlk this time they have more justifiable cause they've been pawns of the legion.

in wotlk i strongly felt Forsaken & Blood elves should have led the horde charge, not orcs, who's interest was not as desperate as either. Humans ofc for the alliance and a much stronger high elf involvement as those were the two groups most heavily affected. I hated them fixing the lore for gameplay as i veiwed it. using orcs as the main focus when there were better suited candidates who needed the attention to get some serious closure.

[Justignoreme]

Why do you want purple-skinned blood elves masquerading as night elves and calling themselves highborne? They are fine looking like the Night Elves they actually are, caste system aside.

[Valort]

Too much developer work over a cosmetic difference.

Simply put: Not worth the resources. (I hate to be the one to say it tho, because it sounds like a crapload of fun!)

[Leare315]

Yeah, I dunno about high elves. They're not really night elves at all. Sure they're both elves, but abominations and ghouls are both "undead."

I'd like to be able to be able to choose between orc races, but honestly it'd require whole new starting zones for each variation. Mag'har would need to be recruited into the horde, so would fel orc, and Dragonmaw would need to start in the highlands or in some kind of flashback. It would be awesome but i dunno if they'd go through all this trouble to add subraces when they could make bigger contributions with the same races down the line.

[Rend Blackhand]

Too much developer work over a cosmetic difference.

Simply put: Not worth the resources. (I hate to be the one to say it tho, because it sounds like a crapload of fun!)

This is true, unfortunately.

However, Blackrock/Dragonmaw/Mag'Har, as well as Wildhammers/Dark Irons are perfectly viable options. Just add more skin tones to dwarves and orcs, job done.