Battle for Azeroth Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Zulazibah]

Bald Pandaren.

spit take irl

[Noraver]

As far as sub-races go..

Humans: Azotha (Unlocks Shaman)
Night Elves: Nightfallen, or High Elves (Community asks for High Elves every day, lol). Paladins could be unlocked for them.
Dwarves: Wildhammer/Dark Iron
Gnomes: Mechagnomes
Draenai: Lightforged
Worgen: Whatever the other kind of Worgen-ism is (I forget their name)

Orcs: Non-corrupted Orcs, obviously. Might be able to train for Druidism without corrupted blood now.
Tauren: Taunka/Highmountain Tauren
Forsaken: Undead of other races
Trolls: Forest (Or others, depending on how Blizzard goes about it). Troll Paladins (Haven't read Chronicles, but other people say it is possible)
Blood Elves: Again, I guess it could be Nightfallen/High Elves?
Goblins: I guess the underwater Goblins might make sense, or another kind could be introduced, having come up with a new kind of Kaja'Cola being invented.

Pandas: I mean, I don't think they could really get any. Furbolg? lol

People always seem to immediately jump to Vrykul for Humans, but the Azotha are a significantly better choice. Humans are the sub-race of Vrykul.
At this point, though, I'd like to see at least those classes open up for those races. I mean, we are learning that people can be Light-Forged (Even demons), so I wouldn't find it too crazy with this new information if other Paladins started popping up.

[Raetary]

Nightfallen

1) they are being cured
2) why on bloody earth would anyone want to have magic addicts that can at any moment turn into magical zombies in their ranks?

[Feali]

2) why on bloody earth would anyone want to have magic addicts that can at any moment turn into magical zombies in their ranks?

They look cool, duh...

[Deleted]

Seems the thing everyone wanted, pirates, is not the direction were going in. Instead, I fear we will get this light/void theme and possibly even more planet hopping.

[Raetary]

They look cool, duh...

They look like crackheads.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Seems the thing everyone wanted, pirates, is not the direction were going in. Instead, I fear we will get this light/void theme and possibly even more planet hopping.

No, I think we're staying on Azeroth for the time being. Not to mention I wouldn't mind going back to more.. *Fantasyesque* stuff then the Legion tech stuff.

[Noraver]

1) they are being cured
2) why on bloody earth would anyone want to have magic addicts that can at any moment turn into magical zombies in their ranks?

I went to go edit my post (I meant to say Nightborn instead of Nightfallen, got'm mixed up), but apparently the entire thing deleted in the process?
Bah.

[Feali]

They look like crackheads.

It's the 90s, Kimmy. Everybody looks like a crackhead.

[Nyel]

They look like crackheads.

They're awesome! I'd want to have them.

[Renley]

They look like crackheads.

I assume they meant Nightborne, not Nightfallen, AKA the cured Nightfallen(where they can't revert).

[Zulazibah]

They look like crackheads.

NightBORNE and nightfallen are technically different. There were still a bunch of nightborne that would join ranks on either side. Yes fallen come from borne but same goes for enemy blood elves and the sort

[In Ogres We Trust]

It all depends on how the lore pans out. No hero in Warcraft III had that many abilities and so some abilities got placed in slightly skewed places in World of Warcraft. A class like Demon Hunter, though, thematically didn't match anything playable, even if classes had borrowed abilities. People also said Demon Hunter could be a Hunter spec or was made redundant because of them, but they had nothing in common but a word.

Warlocks are a launch class that have always been in a weird place. Before World of Warcraft, warlocks tended to be just shamans who turned to the Burning Legion. Not only were there no good warlocks in lore (and there still barely is), they didn't have much of an identity. They were almost just evil mages with a demon pet and extra damage over times. The green fire thing didn't really become a thing until Burning Crusade, which is part of the reason warlocks didn't get the option until Mists of Pandaria. They ended up with Death Coil because Death Knights didn't exist yet (As a side note, I think warlocks should get a complete revamp using the lore from Warlords of Draenor and Legion which actually gives them unique abilities and a distinct look and feel).

Dark Ranger is a popular idea thanks to Sylvanas, and another thing Alleria's fate has led people to speculate on. Dark Ranger is one I feel like could work pretty well as a Hunter spec. They already have some of the abilities, and Dark Ranger is hard to make even two specs out of if it was its own class. It's largely an archer who uses shadow magic and can summon undead. That's distinct from the rest of hunter, but not necessarily more than the difference between a Holy priest and a Shadow one.

Shadow Hunters are more ambiguous. Their abilities have mostly been covered by shamans, but I think there's an important thematic distinction. Unfortunately, even when Vol'jin had a brief spotlight, I'm not really sure where he'd really fit in if it became directly playable.

I think Necromancers still have a potential place. It was once said they were taken apart to create Death Knight, but it was also said Runemaster was mixed in there, but the only thing Death Knights and Runemasters share is using the word rune in places. I think necromancers could fit in a minion-master caster niche where they sort of fill an analogous role to the Death Knight that warlocks do to Demon Hunters. Dark Ranger could possibly even fit as a necromancer specialization, since it can also be interpreted as a necromancer who wears slightly heavier armor and fights using a bow.

But anyway, my ultimate point is that, whatever Alleria has become could potentially fit in several places. It could end up just being represented through some sort of Dark Ranger, which might be able to be a Hunter spec. If we get access to it, it might end up as its own thing altogether. It could end up up as a necromancer thing, too. Keep in mind, in Warlords of Draenor the Shadowmoon Clan's necromancy was blatantly a Void thing and the death knights even saw a connection between it and the Frozen Throne. Maybe we'd get some general Void class with each of these shadow-wielding concepts as specializations.

The Necromancer toolkit from DIII should be rolled into the Undead toolkit for Death Knights. I don't see a point (nor the appropriate lore) for playable Necromancers.

[Deleted]

I'm just gonna dream a little:

• The Wound of the World turns Silithus into a bizarre jungle due to its titan blood.
• Beneath the Wound of the World, we discover a subterranean zone themed around Old gods.
• Sylvanas races to the Wound of the World and enters into the aforementioned zone, where she unleashes C'thun by sacrificing her life.
• Sylvanas becomes a dark harbinger of the Void, conquering the Eastern Kingdoms with armies of Faceless ones and a few Forsaken loyalists at her back.
• From the sea, Queen Azshara rises to lay waste to Kalimdor.
• The leaderless Horde flees out to sea and reaches Zandalar, where they manage to resurrect Vol'jin and free the Loa that were taken captive and forced into deceiving Vol'jin when he made Sylvanas Warchief. Rasthakhan is murdered and the Empire is overtaken by shadow-worshippers. The players manage to crown Vol'jin, and the troll empire joins the fray to push back the Naga.
• The Alliance is also forced to take to the seas as Stormwind is being overrun by Sylvanas and her army of the Faceless. The last few ships leave the harbour, some sinking as the invaders approach. They reach Kul Tiras, which has problems with cultists worshipping N'Zoth. There's lots of political drama, but eventually they are able to throw down the cultists and free Jaina Proudmoore. She offers the aid of the mighty Kul Tiras fleet, with which the Alliance begins to strike back at the coasts of the Eastern Kingdoms.
• Jaina Proudmoore reforms the Council of Tirisfal to fight back across Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, striking shadow with arcane.
• Khadgar becomes an unwilling Guardian of Tirisfal at last, and begins channelling a spell within the Wound of the World, protecting Azeroth from harm by keeping back the Old god corruption as best as he can.
• Alleria and Vereesa are on their personal quest to finish Sylvanas. Their hope is to be able to cleanse her from corruption and instead join them against the Void, but nothing is for certain. Alleria will use shadow against shadow.
• Turalyon rallies the armies of Azeroth against the Faceless ones. Together with heroes of the Horde and Alliance, he is the bulwark that keeps the cities from being overrun and its peoples from being slaughtered.
• The players will travel the seas, recruit allies, support the war effort, and eventually make their way back into the Wound of the World in order to fight the Old gods in their own domain and free Azeroth.
• In the expansion following, Azeroth has been awakened at last, and while shrunken to a more humanoid form she will take the fight to the Void Lords. We will follow in our ships, racing boldly into the Great Dark Beyond to end the threat forever. That's when Anduin ages rapidly in the comic.

[GoodUsername55]

There's a better chance of Khadgar having an orgy with thrall and the horde than sylvanas dying.

[AbalDarkwind]

At this point I do believe most people could assume that -- but not every race has a direct sub race that would work, every time i see a post the lists are incomplete. They need time to set up more races and i do believe they are doing that. But not for 8.0, This is becuase we have some really great variants for a few races.

I would say the well established ones that have had their time to shine in the gameplay are: Dwarves (wildhammer, dark iron), Orcs (Nagrand, dragonmaw), Draenei (lightforged [recent] and broken [recent updates as well], Tauren (taunka, highmountian), Trolls (forest / zandalar ), Undead (sylvanas nightelf)

With those said, there are 3 that i am skeptical about but are possible: Nightelf/Bloodelf? this seriously would give the factions no line of difference, nelf cant go horde, belf cant go ally, yes high elves are a thing, but the ones who remain that are just high elves are with the blood elves.. nightborne? POSSIBLY nightborne, their models look great.

High Elves are a thing, but they are not with the Blood Elves. The High Elves that remain are part of the Silver Covenant lead by Vereesa Windrunner and firmly part of the Alliance. Considering how important Veressa has been and likely will be with both of her sisters taking center stage, I'd say it's very likely that High Elves would be a Blood Elven subrace, but be exclusively Alliance. Furthermore, the Nightborne are being set up to be the Night Elf subrace, what with the Resistance taking back Suramar and Silgryn becoming chummy with Lady Liadrin aboard the Vindicaar. That friendship, specifically, could signify them going Horde. Therefore, the Alliance gets Blood Elves through High Elves, and the Horde gets Night Elves through Nightborne.

Humans: Vykrul..... meh... just feels like a whole separate race... but possible.

Possible, but I'm also more inclined to believe Vrykul will be their own race. However, considering the introduction of Kul'tiras being likely, I'd say now'd be the time to make each Human nation racially distinct. Kul'tiras Human, Stormwind Human, maybe even Lordaeron, Gilneas, and Stromgarde Human. There's a lot Blizzard could do with the Human nations and racial identity if they got creative.

Worgen? night elves, but there would be a huge Retcon about wolves being forbidden, hard to say if it would happen

Mages were forbidden, too, and yet, now Night Elves can be Mages. So, I'd say Night Elven Worgen are a strong possibility.

Goblins? nothing, giblin are basically murloc

There could be a more advanced civilization of Gilblins. I'd say they're a contender.

gnomes? nothing, no leper gnome is not a "sub race"

Mechagnomes. Sand Gnomes. Maybe there's a new type of Gnome on Tel'abim?

Pandarens? seriously fur color is not a race.

Probably the hardest to envision, as a new Pandaren subrace would have to be introduced separately from both Pandaria and the Wandering Isle. I see two possibilities: either they invent a true Red Pandaren that is physically different from standard Pandaren OR Pandaren simply don't get a subrace. Subraces likely won't be equal, as some races, like Dwarves and Tauren, have quite a few more subrace possibilities than other races, like the Elves.

Also, to add on to this, if "Wyrmskin" aka Drakkonids aka "Dragon People" really is the ONE new race, Blizzard could easily use it to showcase subraces by allowing you to chose which Dragonflight you pledge yourself to.

with that said, there are issues with the sub races that need time to resolve, and they could very well be setting up to do that with the recent addition to HD models AND HD models of certain sub races.

That's what I'm thinking. The art department, in general, has clearly become more productive since Warlords of Draenor. We already know Chris Roberson said additional customization and subraces were something they wanted to do. We're seeing some of that now in Argus.

[Grimfrost]

At this point I do believe most people could assume that -- but not every race has a direct sub race that would work, every time i see a post the lists are incomplete. They need time to set up more races and i do believe they are doing that. But not for 8.0, This is becuase we have some really great variants for a few races.

I would say the well established ones that have had their time to shine in the gameplay are: Dwarves (wildhammer, dark iron), Orcs (Nagrand, dragonmaw), Draenei (lightforged [recent] and broken [recent updates as well], Tauren (taunka, highmountian), Trolls (forest / zandalar ), Undead (sylvanas nightelf)

With those said, there are 3 that i am skeptical about but are possible: Nightelf/Bloodelf? this seriously would give the factions no line of difference, nelf cant go horde, belf cant go ally, yes high elves are a thing, but the ones who remain that are just high elves are with the blood elves.. nightborne? POSSIBLY nightborne, their models look great.

Humans: Vykrul..... meh... just feels like a whole separate race... but possible.

Worgen? night elves, but there would be a huge Retcon about wolves being forbidden, hard to say if it would happen
Goblins? nothing, giblin are basically murloc

gnomes? nothing, no leper gnome is not a "sub race"

Pandarens? seriously fur color is not a race.

with that said, there are issues with the sub races that need time to resolve, and they could very well be setting up to do that with the recent addition to HD models AND HD models of certain sub races.

*edit: forgot to finish my conclusion, it is that adding 1 new race or even 2 new races OR 1 race and 1 class seems light in comparision to adding in lore for not 1, not 2 but 3 minimum races with 3 others in a grey area and the others in a definent spot -- they need time to introduce others and having us explore more of azeroth can do just that.

Worgen = a kind of more fox like worgen?
Pandaren = hmmh no idea
Gnome = mecha gnome
Humans = no idea

[Lorianus]

Also, to add on to this, if "Wyrmskin" aka Drakkonids aka "Dragon People" really is the ONE new race, Blizzard could easily use it to showcase subraces by allowing you to chose which Dragonflight you pledge yourself to.

Oh god, imagine if we get a underground zone where the Silithus scar is the entrance and they introduce "lizard people" as a race, man that would be one huge meme for hollow earth/lizard theorists.

[GoodUsername55]

I didn't realize how much I missed your comments while you were banned.

Ty, i've been saving that thought in my head for a while now. I don't exactly know why.

[AbalDarkwind]

Oh god, imagine if we get a underground zone where the Silithus scar is the entrance and they introduce "lizard people" as a race, man that would be one huge meme for hollow earth/lizard theorists.

Haha, possible! I'm not sure we're getting an Underground expansion next, but I do think one is inevitable due to the allusions to the Blingtron War. I could see Blizzard going with that.