Which Race deserves love in EXP 5?

[LocNess]

Draenei most definitely. As much as I would LOVE Forsaken to get more, Draenei have gotten zilch since their conception so I have to hope they get some love.

[RedFenix]

Draenei, hands down. They have gotten little to no lore since BC. Their counterparts, the Blood Elves, have gotten lore development over the course of the other expansions. WotLK with the San'layn and Quel'delar. Cata with the Reliquary setting up their bases all around Azeroth. MoP with patches 5.1 and 5.2. Draenei have gotten NOTHING. Absolutely nothing. Their NPC's have been some quest givers and soldiers, but that's it!

Same issue with Worgen and Goblins. You see the Goblin's influence everywhere in the Old World/Cata and in the full duration of MoP's life cycle (especially with their relations to Garrosh). Worgen had no lore development outside of their starting zone and a single questline in the Blasted Lands. Their lore was seen in Silverpine Forest to further the Forsaken's story, and Worgen players didn't get to see any of it. Forsaken had their lore development in WotLK (for obvious reasons) and the whole upper half of the Eastern Kingdoms is driven by their lore. Alliance players are there for the ride. We'll see more Forsaken development (and obviously Worgen) when Blizz has us return to Gilneas and finish that story. When we revisit Kezan/Undermine, we'll get some more Goblin lore as well.

Humans and Orcs have had plenty of development over the course of every single expansion, which is to be expected since the game started out with them. Tauren and Night Elves have only had a tiny bit of lore. The Tauren when in relation to the stories of the Taunka, Yaungol, and the Grimtotem. The Night Elves in relation to... Vash'jir? (mostly just Naga). Both races were involved in Hyjal, but that was just the neutral Cenarion Circle with a different name again. They got some more face time in MoP in Krasarang, which was nice. Bane and Tyrande got involved with things in 5.1. I'd like to see more of these races, ESPECIALLY the leaders. We need to see Tyrande being a well developed strong female character different from Jaina. I'd like to see her wisdom as the military and spiritual leader of the Night Elves for thousands of years. 5.1 scenario just made her look bad to make Varian look better. I like Varian's character growth, but it's time to see her character shine some more. Bane also needs to have a unique identity to him as a racial leader. As of right now, nothing about him stands out.

Vol'jin and the Darkspear aren't done, especially with him being Warchief now and the Zandalari Alliance still being very much a threat. We've also had Troll lore every expansion.

Dwarves had their lore in WotLK with the Iron races/Earthen. They also had the political struggle with the Council of the Three Hammers, which we saw fleshed out and get somewhat resolved in 5.3. It'd be good to see their relationship in-game develop some more (more heads bashing and/or cooperation) when introducing more Titan lore.

Finally, Gnomes had their time in the light with the retaking of Gnomer... But that was it. And they didn't fully retake it (which is understandable as I'm sure Blizz isn't going to take out the iconic dungeon all together). They did have a small story with the Mechagnomes in Borean Tundra, but didn't see anything past that. I'd like to see their story develop some more alongside the Goblins and their sparked technological rivalry/competition.

[chezwickcheese]

Draenei, Dwarfs and Tauren. If the next expansion isn't focused around either of those three races ill be very surprised. I just hope it's not Human and Orc relayed. Bored of those races.

[TheDangerZone]

If I had to rank I'd go like this:

Draenei
Night Elf
Worgen
Tauren
Gnome
Forsaken
Dwarf
Goblin
Pandaren
Blood Elf
Troll
Human
Orc

Rather interesting who the top 3 are. The Alliance Kalimdor races. Are they too good for the Lore? Or does being shat on by Orcs for 4 years do that to a race's lore?

How are night elves third? they are arguably the second most developed alliance race. Tho that's not really saying much. But still, they had the most autonomy in MoP beyond humans, and relatively to all races they have gotten more development than taurens and gnomes. I would rank them 5th or 6th in your scale.

Also, blood elves and trolls would swap

[chezwickcheese]

i knew everyone would vote daenei. i for one, hope we never see any draenei lore(or its at least confined to the alliance story lines), as its by far and away my least favorite race and theme in the game.

Because Talgath returning with the Burning Legion under the influence of Sargeras to finally bring Kil'jaeden through the Twister Nether to finish what he started doesn't sound like an awesome expansion.... Or you know we could find another sea turtle floating around.

[TheDangerZone]

Draenei, hands down. They have gotten little to no lore since BC. Their counterparts, the Blood Elves, have gotten lore development over the course of the other expansions. WotLK with the San'layn and Quel'delar. Cata with the Reliquary setting up their bases all around Azeroth. MoP with patches 5.2 and 5.2. Draenei have gotten NOTHING. Absolutely nothing. Their NPC's have been some quest givers and soldiers, but that's it!

Same issue with Worgen and Goblins. You see the Goblin's influence everywhere in the Old World/Cata and in the full duration of MoP's life cycle (especially with their relations to Garrosh). Worgen had no lore development outside of their questing zone and a single questline in the Blasted Lands. Their lore was seen in Silverpine Forest to further the Forsaken's story, and Worgen players didn't get to see any of it. Forsaken had their lore development in WotLK (for obvious reasons) and the whole upper half of the Eastern Kingdoms is driven by their lore. Alliance players are there for the ride. We'll see more Forsaken development (and obviously Worgen) when Blizz has us return to Gilneas and finish that story. When we revisit Kezan/Undermine, we'll get some more Goblin lore as well.

Humans and Orcs have had plenty of development over the course of every single expansion, which is to be expected since the game started out with them. Tauren and Night Elves have only had a tiny bit of lore. The Tauren when in relation to the stories of the Taunka, Yaungol, and the Grimtotem. The Night Elves in relation to... Vash'jir? (mostly just Naga). Both races were involved in Hyjal, but that was just the neutral Cenarion Circle with a different name again. They got some more face time in MoP in Krasarang, which was nice. Bane and Tyrande got involved with things in 5.1. I'd like to see more of these races, ESPECIALLY the leaders. We need to see Tyrande being a well developed strong female character different from Jaina. I'd like to see her wisdom as the military and spiritual leader of the Night Elves for thousands of years. 5.1 scenario just made her look bad to make Varian look better. I like Varian's character growth, but it's time to see her character shine some more. Bane also needs to have a unique identity to him as a racial leader. As of right now, nothing about him stands out.

Vol'jin and the Darkspear aren't done, especially with him being Warchief now and the Zandalari Alliance still being very much a threat. We've also had Troll lore every expansion.

Dwarves had their lore in WotLK with the Iron races/Earthen. They also had the political struggle with the Council of the Three Hammers, which we saw fleshed out and get somewhat resolved in 5.3. It'd be good to see their relationship in-game develop some more (more heads bashing and/or cooperation) when introducing more Titan lore.

Finally, Gnomes had their time in the light with the retaking of Gnomer... But that was it. And they didn't fully retake it (which is understandable as I'm sure Blizz isn't going to take out the iconic dungeon all together). They did have a small story with the Mechagnomes in Borean Tundra, but didn't see anything past that. I'd like to see their story develop some more alongside the Goblins and their sparked technological rivalry/competition.

I think that the worgen/goblin and draenei/blood elf situations are direct result of both alliance races not being really part of the story previously.

This is true for gameplay and lore interconected reasons:

-By not having an already set plot, these races require extra effort to be focused on.

-By not being part of the historical alliance, it's hard to insert them in their conflict when they have their own thing to do.

-With the alliance being the alliance, inner conflict doesn't go beyond a few disagreements. Thus they can't hope to have similar relevance to blood elves or trolls.

-Without important holdings, it's harder to bring conflict to them. (this is not as true for Gilneas, there's conflict there, but the reasons aren't as ripe the Ashenvale conflict; and even beyond that, as the forsaken continue to be the main horde force in Lordaeron, the worgen get phased by other alliance races in the adjacent zones)

-They don't support anything that the alliance doesn't have. Blood elves brought mastery over the arcane and Goblins brought complex engineering to the horde, but neither worgen nor draenei brought anything the alliance was lacking. Sure, draenei have mastery over the Light, but that matters little on a faction war by the sheer nature of this power. Even the high elves brought something the alliance was lacking: uncompromising batshit extremism.

Both new alliance races are superfluous one way or the other. Worgen at their core are nothing but cursed humans, specially since blizzard didn't developed them beyond that. Draenei are too righteous to immerse themselves into petty squabbles as a race.

And I think blizzard has lost major opportunities with this two races.

-Why not make the Worgen the forsaken adversaries through the whole of the Cata plotline? We could have seen them in WPL, Arathi and the Hinterlands instead BL. The spread of the worgen curse as a response to the forsaken curse would have kept Sylvanas on her toes the whole way.

-Adding the draenei to the Kirin Tor. Draenei are a peaceful loving people, but they do love their magic and hate them belves. If there was any organization that was interesting enough to the draenei was the kirin tor. It would have been so much cooler if the Silver Covenant had been replaced in MoP for a draenei/high elf faction. They would have been the official "we hate blood elves" group within the alliance.

[Talen]

No votes for goblins? Is this madness?!

No....the Goblin story is essentially done. It told of their survival and escape from Kezan and how they joined the Horde. They've gotten a place in the the faction, a role to play and they've gotten occasional time in the spotlight, even if in a minor role.

They don't have any outstanding plot hooks or major storylines either to progress, save (possibly) one. The return to Kezan.

Sure, Blizzard can create new stories, new lore for them....but with no outstanding stories, and enough presence to ensure they don't feel neglected, there isn't a major need to showcase them. Yet. All I want for the Goblins is Gallywix and his floating city.

EJL

[Pandragon]

Goblins. they got no love AT ALL in their expac. Deathwing blew up Kezan. Then we beat them senseless and made them join the horde. Since then Garrosh has used them as servants.

Unless by love you mean some story focus. Then pretty much anyone but most of the horde.

[drake741]

Forsaken for Horde and DRAENEI FOR ALLIANCE

[Deleted]

Personally every race needs to have a good amount of lore in the next expansion. We can anticipate 7 or 8 zones, 10 levels and a couple thousand new quests going by previous expansions, and that's discounting the patch cycle. Plenty of time for everyone to get their spotlight. Assuming we get an Azshara expansion next, my thoughts for the Alliance:

Humans: SW humans have had more than enough lore, but there are other human nations besides SW. Varian should take a back seat in the next expansion, focused more on the administrative side of things. Meanwhile we need to finally see Kul'tiras with Jaina taking up the mantle of leadership at last and bringing it's navvy around to fight the Naga. As I don't really want Jaina to go completely crazy it'd be nice to see her less of a douchebag when up against a non-horde threat, whilst also maintaining antagonism towards the Horde. I think we need to see a bit of fracturing in the Alliance, and Jaina could head up a subfaction of Alliance (including Tyrande and Genn) who are opposed to the new peace. In addition Alleria and Turalyon are coming back next xpac or so it seems so I expect they'll take a big role.

Night Elves: As said above, the Night Elves are best poised as a race to be against a peace with the Horde. We need to get some Shandris love this expansion, with her leading armies and stuff. And of course with Azshara as the main villain, Tyrande and Malfurion (And Illidan if he's back) have a lot of story potential there. I do think that Tyrande will die (at Maeiv's hand most like), uniting Illidan and Malfurion. Hopefully she gets to be badass again before hand.

Draenei: They definitely need a lot of love, and as my favourite race I sure hope so. If the Legion has any role in the next expansion the Draenei are bound to be at the forefront. I'd like to see the Draenei team up with Wrathion as well, as their goals (looking at the big picture concerning the Legion) are somewhat aligned. That would give some more moral ambiguity to the Draenei. Additionally I'd like to see them taking a major role in forging a peace between Alliance and Horde, alongside Anduin.

Gnomes: They have an omnipresence that personally I'm quite happy with, as they're there pretty much any time technology is needed in the Alliance. With Gnomeregan implicitly reclaimed now, there's really no more story left there so new story has to be made for the Gnomes. Perhaps Gelbin could help design a huge steam-ship for use in the Kul'tiras fleet, using some of the Goblin tech stolen from Orgrimmar? What we really need is more gnome characters. I'd like to see a bit of expansion on the Gnomes and the Holy Light so maybe a Gnome Priest character?

Dwarves: Logically Dwarves should be one of the most powerful races on Azeroth at the moment. They're technologically advanced, they have a huge power-block of land stretching from Dun'morogh to Aerie Peak (presumably with Shadowforge and Grim Batol in their control now) and the 3 big clans have been more united than they have in centuries. So I want to see Dwarves making up the fighting core of the Alliance. All three leaders need to get equal spotlight, facing the Naga, the Legion, the Old Gods and whatever else together and growing steadily more trustworthy of one another. Magni's a chekov's gun waiting to go off, but I feel that should be left for a little while longer.

Worgen: I don't think it's time just yet for Gilneas to spark off. The Forsaken don't hold it at the moment, so all the really needs to happen for now is for the cleansing process to begin. But the Worgen still need some screen time. Genn needs to become one of the more aggressive Alliance members, going against the ceasefire. The Worgen can also tag along with the Night Elf lore with Azshara, maybe teaching the Night Elves how to transform into worgen again?

[Deleted]

Considering Trolls and Orcs got so much shit in MoP, I'd say those. Trolls will probably get love though, considering Vol'jin.

[melzas]

Worgen, draenei, gnomes and goblins.

Agreed, drenaei have been neglected since the end of TBC, worgens and gnomes since they came into the game, goblins are plenty but bligewater cartel is also forgotten...

[Benomatic]

gnomes, dwarves, tauren, blood elves

[Zantera]

I don't know how it would fit in, but I've always felt like the Taurens are a bit less featured than the other Horde-races.

[Draknalor186]

draenei forever! all tho i'm horde.. why does alliance get all the cool races?

[Doomaz]

alliance side - draenei, gnomes are non-existant
horde side - tauren and forsaken, a little bit for trolls, voljin has to be appropriately introduced to the throne

[Achaman]

female tauren could use some work

but thats just me

[Scummer]

How are night elves third? they are arguably the second most developed alliance race. Tho that's not really saying much. But still, they had the most autonomy in MoP beyond humans, and relatively to all races they have gotten more development than taurens and gnomes. I would rank them 5th or 6th in your scale.

I think it has more to do with the quality of their lore as opposed to how much. They need to be made respectable and independent rather than just their current treatment of "purple humans who like nature and always need the Humans to save them".

Granted Tyrande during SoO was ok as she got to be in your face without looking like an idiot like she normally does.

[Ahlstrom]

I'm not Alliance but I have to agree Draenei