Future Allied Races

[KrakHed]

I'm going to go by a mix of what I'd like to see, and what wouldn't require too much independent focus. In short, races that could either piggyback off of this expansion and its themes for lore, or could be partnered with another race and effectively share bases and lore with it. For example, Draenei/Lightforged Draenei can be paired together quite easily, sharing bases, story, and so on. I doubt anyone would complain if those two usually showed up together. Same with Dwarves and Dark Irons, who are now allied. Or Tauren and Highmountain. Nightborne and Blood Elves have a similar enough magic focused culture that no one would waste a second glance if they were almost always working together. Zandalari are probably going to tie into Troll lore in general and will probably get more development than the Darkspear ever did.

Main point here, partnering races up makes it easier to make lore for them, rather than splitting the focus a thousand different ways. The more allied races you add, the more you're going to want them partnered into shared chunks for more convenient lore and story development. Nightborne and Blood Elves, and their story, are likely going to be deeply involved with one another in the future.

That way, it's less likely for them to be completely forgotten expansions later and less effort would need to go into giving them development specific only to them, which would save a hell of a lot of time in the long run. Void Elves are the only exception, but we look to be headed towards lots of Void development in general. So that fits into piggybacking off the expansion.

Horde:
Non-green Orcs: Exactly what it says. Whether they be brown or some shade of grey, or even red, the basic culture would still be an excellent fit with their Azerothian brothers. Even if we got some former Iron Horde Orcs working alongside us, bringing their more distinctive technological aesthetic as well, I feel that'd only enhance and broaden their shared Orcishness rather than conflict with it. If they were all working together, I doubt anyone would complain that their favorite color of Orc wasn't getting enough independent attention.

Other Trolls: Pretty much the same deal, though admittedly trickier, an option opened up by the inclusion of the Zandalari. While different Troll cultures are indeed different, they wouldn't exactly look out of place working side by side if the Zandalari approved it. The Horde already has the Revantusk Tribe. Troll fans would likely appreciate Troll lore from any tribe, and relish a chance to not have to slaughter them all. I doubt even the most hardcore Darkspear fan would mind it too much if Troll bases and towns got a little more diverse. Hell, I think they'd mostly just love Trolls getting continued attention and lore. However, this will likely be the end of any truly independent Darkspear development. As if there had ever truly been much to begin with.

Taunka/Yaungol(Other Tauren): Taunka already joined the Horde. While culturally and physically more distinct from standard Tauren the Highmountain seem to be, they could still easily be lumped together in many cases or fill a similar role to what Tauren generally fill. Maybe not so gentle, bu they'd still fit as a variant. Yaungol would be harder, and they'd likely have to play up how different they and their culture are, but perhaps that could be part of the "Tauren" story in general. This would definitely broaden the themes and attitudes associated with Tauren, meaning more distinct character archetypes available for Horde bull-people, but likely also open up rifts and internal conflicts. It'd be something comparable to the cultural incongruities between the different Dwarven Clans.

Undead Elves: Humans aren't the only race the Scourge raised in mass, and I'm pretty sure a significant portion of Forsaken are already supposed to be Elves. Not just the Dark Rangers, either. There are references to Sylvanas's Royal Guard being predominately Elvish in origin. They're theoretically already part of the population. Including them would mostly just broaden the Forsaken, rather than distract.

Leper Gnome: Maybe you could also shove in Leper Gnomes, since a lot of them like to hang out with the Forsaken and they could get along without stepping on the other's toes. I don't think it'd be too troubling to make them a more regular feature in Forsaken outposts, whereas Goblins would be more associated with the Western Horde.

Alliance:
Wildhammer: Already technically part of the Alliance. Wildhammer Dwarves pretty much are already part of the main Dwarf storyline and development, and have been for awhile now. In a sense, they represent something I've already mentioned above. While culturally distinct from other Dwarves they're compatible enough that it really just broadens and adds onto the Dwarven race as a whole. As such, they're an ideal candidate for a fairly low effort Allied race. Already got plenty of lore ingame and are already fairly well partnered up with regular Dwarves and the Alliance as a whole.

Frostborn: I honestly don't know much about them, but nothing I see shows them as being incompatible with Dwarves in general. They're already part of the Alliance and led by a Bronzebeard. Including them would not be much of a challenge, even if they didn't have as long a history with the other Dwarven races or are biologically a little more unique. They even have decent candidates for racial mounts. They're an easier inclusion than Nightborne, if they ever feel like revisiting Northrend.

Broken Draenei: A better option than Lightforged Draenei if you ask me. Lighforged seem to me to just be regular Draenei, but moreso. However, that works if they're mostly going to be sharing lore and development. However, Broken Draenei are also already a part of Draenei culture these days. Maybe they have a different attitude than most handsome Draenei, actually having Rogues and such, but they could be included in the same settlements. Whether they be from Argus, Outland, or both, they're an excellent candidate for an allied race that broadens the themes of its host race. That's already part of the themes of its host race and already has its main Shaman characters. It'd be nice to have them as the somewhat shadier underbelly of Draenei culture, especially since they're masters of stealth while regular Draenei can't even be Rogues.

Vrykul: No. These would work better as an independent race. They don't tie in especially well with the focus points of this expansion, and they don't work too well as partners for another race. I already consider the Yaungol a stretch. Vrykul are also a bit too big. A somewhat smaller Vrykul-like race could work, but they'd have to give them a lot of attention this expansion. If Kul Tiras humans/Drust end up having some more primal/Vrykul-esque traits in their culture and physiology, that's probably the closest we'll get to Vrykul. And it will probably be done in a way that allows them to connect to general human culture. Hopefully without erasing their identity entirely. Something that might give us more insight into how Humans lived before they became generic Medieval Light-worshipers, and so expand our understanding of standard Human history as well.

Elf Worgen: Human Worgen also developed something of a relationship with Night Elves, and Night Elf Worgen already exist. It honestly would not be difficult to make a story for recruiting some ancient Druids of the Pack from the old days, and they could easily fit with both Worgen and Night Elf stories. If you wanted to put real effort into it, you could make their Worgen forms more slender and tall, give them longer ears, and maybe colors more reminiscent of Night Elf skin and hair colors. Not too difficult to implement.

Furbolg: Honestly, these should probably be their own race. They aren't even culturally similar to Pandaren, and would likely be more aligned with Night Elves. So really, they shouldn't be on this list at all, except for the vague idea that Allied Races are likely to be variants of pre-existing ones. But I think Furbolg should be added anyhow, if only to help give Night Elves some allies more traditional allies to associate with independent of the Eastern Alliance or the Tauren. Night Elf fans always seem to complain that the Alliance has been consuming their identity, and the only thing I can think of to reverse that is to have Night Elves associate more with races that could balance out the Human influence. Something to help keep them grounded to their more savage, in-tune with nature, Kalimdor side. Something to give them a set of allies and partners with an identity separate from the mainstream Alliance.

Other than that? Who knows. That's all I feel like I can asspull at the moment. All of which I think could potentially fit in as a sort of partner to a preexisting race, something that could complement or expand their lore even if it creates some cultural conflicts. Furbolg thrown in as more of a reach, just because I really feel the Night Elves need allies that help them look like something other than a purple twist of generic fantasy human-ally-elves. That kind of reduction will keep happening so long as developers don't feel Night Elves are even a little out of place standing side by side with humans.

[Maxilian]

@Steampunkette and @Hallowseve17

In general, i don't think the Amani will want to work with the Alliance, even if the want to work with the humans, they mainly want their lands back, and Alleria wants Silvermoon in the Alliance (As it is, she don't want to hand that to the trolls), and the HE and VE in general, are enemies of the Amani. (I could see the VE giving up on Silvermoon, in the end, they mentioned that "Silvermoon abandoned them long ago, that's not their home" -paraphrase-, but with Alleria as their head, ehhh...)

Though the Amany as slaves would work, but i thinks that's unlikely, even more having in mind how the Alliance have been portrayed lately. Not impossible but unlikely, and depending how it is portrayed, it could be quite interesting, it may undermine the horde... because of Trolls in the Alliance, but some people may say the same of the BE in the Horde instead of the Alliance -Though giving a darker side to the Alliance may be interesting (not necessarily cool for most people)

[AngerFork]

I've been thinking a lot more about what an Allied Race truly is as well as the building we are using to bring them in, the Embassy. The embassy story-wise as far as I can tell is sort of the new meeting place for each of the faction leaders to come hang out and bring new recruits into the fold. Thus far, these seem to be largely based on larger faction based figures in the Alliance and Horde bringing them in rather than leaders themselves, with Baine (and perhaps Moira) being the exception that proves the rule. You can see this in who is present in the embassies currently: The Alliance has each of the current faction leaders alongside Alleria & Turalyon, whereas the Horde has a main representative from each faction (all leaders save for Liadrin) along side Nathanos and Eitrigg, two main advisors for their leaders.

With that in mind, I think the true question as to what future Allied Races we might see comes down more to who would bring them in to our respective factions, having both a link to our faction as well as to the Allied Race to come.

Alliance: Moira being in the Embassy is almost certainly who will bring in the Dark Iron. Beyond that, Jaina seems likely to join the Alliance in the embassy. She would almost certainly bring Kul'Tiras Humans alongside her if she did. Some other possibilities I see are Falstad Wildhammer (Wildhammer Dwarves), Veressa (High Elves or perhaps a race from Northrend like the Tuskarr) and Yrel (maybe Alliance Orcs or something like the Broken). I could also see a few leaders opting to bring their own allies in: Aysa may meet up with the Jinyu, Tyrande could pull a sect of Naga away from Azshara, Velen could talk with the Krokul or Broken, Anduin could even reach far down and meet up with Wrathion (maybe Dragonkin?) or Uther (ghost-like Alliance Undead), who might each bring very interesting races.

Horde: Zandalar could go a few ways. I see Vol'jin and the Loa being the ones to help persuade the Zandalar to join the Horde, but they likely won't be there themselves. Instead, Rastakhan or his daughter might be the one to represent them. Having Nathanos and Eitrigg there is curious, they could definitely bring in some interesting allies (Undead humans, other types of orcs)? Beyond that, Thrall seems like a good fit to join the embassy as well. He could bring in a plethora of races, perhaps one of the other Orc flavors (Frostwolf, Mag'har, etc). Another interesting possibility is Rexxar (Ogre or Mok'nathal). I could also see a few leaders opting to bring their own Allies in: Gallywix may well do some sort of hired mercenary thing to bring in other Goblins or Ogres, Ji could perhaps look towards the Mogu or Hozen, Sylvanas could dig into the Lich King's old army and pull out the San'layn or something like.

[Saverem]

The most obvious race choices would be:

Ogres, Grom'gar Orcs, and Hozen for Horde

Jinyu for Alliance (can't think of any more OBVIOUS choices for them TBH)

Tonkas and Furblogs can go either way or be a neutral race like Pandas.


Races that ~may~ be added, but are unlikely due to GAMEPLAY/LORE COMPLICATIONS:

Vry'Kul - They are basically giants. If they add them, they'd have to scale them down so they can fit through doors and not take up half the dungeon/raids when they are fighting. Scaling them down to like Tauren size or so. They can also give them Dwarf-levels of full beards which Humans lack. Would be cool, but it would ultimately mess with lore because there really hasn't been any small Vry'kuls running around anywhere.... They'd need to find a midget Vry'kul faction that are "only" 8 feet tall for it to work.

Naga - Pretty obvious as a possible race. People have been asking for them since Vanilla. HOWEVER, their lower snake halves would definitely require how armor works to be reworked. They also don't share any skeletal models with ANY existing races, so they will need to be made from scratch. This pretty much REMOVES THEM for the running of any Allied Race. They will need to be a full blown race in a new expansion because of the amount of work and effort that Blizz will need to put into them in order to make them into a playable race.

- - - Updated - - -

Alliance:
Wildhammer: Already technically part of the Alliance. Wildhammer Dwarves pretty much are already part of the main Dwarf storyline and development, and have been for awhile now. In a sense, they represent something I've already mentioned above. While culturally distinct from other Dwarves they're compatible enough that it really just broadens and adds onto the Dwarven race as a whole. As such, they're an ideal candidate for a fairly low effort Allied race. Already got plenty of lore ingame and are already fairly well partnered up with regular Dwarves and the Alliance as a whole.

Don't get why people keep constantly mentioning them as a possible new Allied Race. There is no fucking way Blizz will add a THIRD Dwarf race to the Alliance. Wildhammer look like just normal Dwarves but with tattoos... If they add them, they'll just add their tattoos to normal Dwarf creation tab and BOOM, there you go, Wildhammers. They don't warrant another Allied Race spot UNLESS they are going to the Horde (which is impossible due to lore)

[Steampunkette]

I can't see them ever making a player race a slave or conquered race. The player character becomes too much of a hero and is made a commander of the armies. I think you could only have willing members be player characters.

Slaves have often risen to positions of "Presented" power through history. Often as a way to inspire loyalty and obedience in other slaves. Essentially "If you're good, you might get more Freedoms like X did!" It's a pretty disgusting power dynamic throughout history, no doubt, but it did exist and could be used to explain away PC Amani issues. Well. That and the idea that you're serving while your people are held hostage and if you screw up they'll get slaughtered or something.

And it's not like the Alliance hasn't done it, already, with the Orcs. That was the whole impetus for WC3.

[KrakHed]

Don't get why people keep constantly mentioning them as a possible new Allied Race. There is no fucking way Blizz will add a THIRD Dwarf race to the Alliance. Wildhammer look like just normal Dwarves but with tattoos... If they add them, they'll just add their tattoos to normal Dwarf creation tab and BOOM, there you go, Wildhammers. They don't warrant another Allied Race spot UNLESS they are going to the Horde (which is impossible due to lore)

These aren't normal races. They're allied races. They get special armor or something. I'm just suggesting Wildhammers because they'd be absurdly low effort. Dark Irons could have been satisfactorily added with some red eye/charcoal skin options, but they didn't. Call it a "THIRD Dwarf race" if you will, but it's not like they're going to distract from the preexisting Dwarves or turn the game into world of Dwarfcraft. They're already there in the lore. If you want to complete the basic Dwarf set, they're an easy addition.

It's not like adding them steals a precious spot from some other race. If that were the case, then fuck the Lightforged and Highmountain from stealing spots from the much more unique Broken and Taunka. I'd rather have three Dwarf or Draenei races than worry about nonsense like limited spots. But if they add some as skin or tattoo options, then I'm all for it. I don't mind if they add brown or grey Orcs that way either.

[Saverem]

These aren't normal races. They're allied races. They get special armor or something. I'm just suggesting Wildhammers because they'd be absurdly low effort. Dark Irons could have been satisfactorily added with some red eye/charcoal skin options, but they didn't. Call it a "THIRD Dwarf race" if you will, but it's not like they're going to distract from the preexisting Dwarves or turn the game into world of Dwarfcraft. They're already there in the lore. If you want to complete the basic Dwarf set, they're an easy addition.

It's not like adding them steals a precious spot from some other race. If that were the case, then fuck the Lightforged and Highmountain from stealing spots from the much more unique Broken and Taunka. I'd rather have three Dwarf or Draenei races than worry about nonsense like limited spots. But if they add some as skin or tattoo options, then I'm all for it. I don't mind if they add brown or grey Orcs that way either.

They have to look sufficiently different enough to warrant them an Allied Race spot. Void Elves look NOTHING like Blood Elves, you can tell one apart from miles away. Same with the others with the exception of maybe the LF Draenei. They are the same but with tats from what I saw. Which is just retarded.

Wildhammers look EXACTLY like the IF Dwarves. Same skin color, height, looks, etc. Only thing they have are tats. They're just not an interesting new race. Dwarves as a race are one of the least popular in WoW as it is, they don't need THREE different races. That's like 1 race for every person on that server playing a Dwarf...

[KrakHed]

They have to look sufficiently different enough to warrant them an Allied Race spot. Void Elves look NOTHING like Blood Elves, you can tell one apart from miles away. Same with the others with the exception of maybe the LF Draenei. They are the same but with tats from what I saw. Which is just retarded.

Wildhammers look EXACTLY like the IF Dwarves. Same skin color, height, looks, etc. Only thing they have are tats. They're just not an interesting new race. Dwarves as a race are one of the least popular in WoW as it is, they don't need THREE different races. That's like 1 race for every person on that server playing a Dwarf...

The Highmountain are pretty similar to standard Tauren. They just have different horns for the most part. I see Allied races as an excuse not to worry about how many variants a race "needs" or whether the difference is enough to justify a different race.

Lightforged are literally just Draenei restricted to lighter skin tones, given different hair/horn options. And tattoos. Highmountain are just different horns. And tattoos. Void Elves are mostly just different hairstyles and skin color. Same likely goes for Dark Irons. With some glowing effects for their eyes and possibly beards.

By that standard, it's not like it'd be too hard to crap out a Wildhammer Dwarf. Honestly, brown or grey Orcs probably don't justify an Allied race either, since it'd maybe take a few minutes in photoshop to fix up or add a few varieties to the brown and grey skins they already have, and a few additional minutes of coding to grant access to them all. Then boom. We'd have them.

The point is, it's not like you'd be taking much time from other more complex races to implement them. Wildhammers at least have a more unique culture than Lightforged, so their armor set would be nice.

[Ogren]

While the whole "Amani for Alliance" idea in interesting, I have to respectfully disagree. Yes, it would add an interesting dynamic to the Alliance if forest trolls joined them, and it makes sense to some capacity, but the forest trolls were once members of the Horde...the Revantusk tribe were formerly part of the Amani Empire. It would be a punch in the face to the Horde, if all of a sudden the Alliance got forest trolls, especially since the Revantusk have made brief appearances in a few Horde campaigns ever since Cataclysm.

We also must remember that forest trolls are hateful people. They hate humans, high elves and dwarves due to their involvement with conquering Quel'Thalas way back when. When it comes to Horde interaction, they really only hate the blood elves. However, it seems the Revantusk tribe has no ill feelings towards the blood elves, or they just tolerate them. They also seemingly get along with orcs and ogres.

Pretty much all of the this^

That said, if the Amani were to join the Alliance, which would be a very cool turn of events, it would have to happen through some very -strong- circumstances. They've good reason to fight against the humans and elves not just because of Quel'thalas, but also because of Stromgarde. The sword of that ancient kingdom still strikes terror into trolls, to this day, because of how many it destroyed, after all.

I could see them joining as slaves, bound and broken and forced to serve. It would play on both the Alliance's past history with Orcish Slavery, which would piss off the Hordies fairly strongly, and it would give the Alliance a chance to play out the Shackled archetype from fantasy and myth. The bound warrior who longs for the day that he will be free to fight against his former masters...

I could see them playing on the idea of the Amani being trapped between the Horde and Alliance and choosing to side with the more powerful force (The Alliance does own most of the EK after all) as part of a push to destroy Quel'thalas (Which could happen if/when Silvermoon gets added to the main map instead of the BC map and be a good reason to both add it in -and- update it significantly). They'd be able to, at least to some degree, undermine the "The alliance is basically just humans and human-analogues!" issue many people see.

But outside of those kinds of circumstances I just don't see it as likely, or worthwhile...

Any Player Race should tell a story, or give us the opportunity to tell new stories. Adding generic recolors of existing races is ultimately self-defeating because it doesn't give us anything new beyond skin tones. It's why I think the Void Elves are a good idea: It's a new story that will go forward.

... that said I'd love to see Enslaved Amani as an Alliance PC Race, now that I've considered it a little.

Meh, a lot of the desire seems to come from Alliance players wanting a Horde-themed race and make it work, like how Horde took the Blood Elves (former Alliance allies) and made them work.

But the thing is, Worgen are supposed to be the inverse of Blood Elves and by proxy the most Horde-themed race for Alliance. They're savage, they're monstrous, they have belligerent characters, and they're basically the Orcish mascot animal in humanoid form. Even in very early Cata previews, they affirmed that Worgen were the inverse of Blood Elves when asked about it. They might not have quite the same kind of tribal, shamanistic culture like the Horde races do but do they really need that? It's kind of refreshing to see a savage race with some level of a sophisticated and foppish culture.

Only other race I think should be Horde-like are Night Elves, whom I think are a huge missed opportunity and would have been more interesting to see more warlike elves that have a savage nature that rivals the Orcs and maintaining that theme as an Alliance race to give the faction more diversity in themes.

It's become the newest thing to say the Alliance got shortchanged on allied races, but I think people completely miss the absolute potential Void Elves and Dark Iron Dwarves can bring the Alliance. I'll admit, I understand High Elf grievances and think that Blizzard really shit the bed by not making Void Elves a thing before making them playable, essentially going back on their word that they would not do this again after the Draenei fiasco, but I do look forward to how they'll use such a shadow-themed race in a faction of overall Light-followers.

[KrakHed]

Meh, a lot of the desire seems to come from Alliance players wanting a Horde-themed race and make it work, like how Horde took the Blood Elves (former Alliance allies) and made them work.

But the thing is, Worgen are supposed to be the inverse of Blood Elves and by proxy the most Horde-themed race for Alliance. They're savage, they're monstrous, they have belligerent characters, and they're basically the Orcish mascot animal in humanoid form. Even in very early Cata previews, they affirmed that Worgen were the inverse of Blood Elves when asked about it. They might not have quite the same kind of tribal, shamanistic culture like the Horde races do but do they really need that? It's kind of refreshing to see a savage race with some level of a sophisticated and foppish culture.

Well, Worgen technically do have a more savage side to their culture with the feral Packs some have. I'd honestly love to see the Bloodfangs get more development, and more Worgen living like that.

But yeah, I don't think there's much use giving a Horde-like race to the Alliance. They gave the Alliance Worgen, but the Worgen are only rarely allowed to show their fangs. I think the Forsaken starting zones have better Worgen development than anything the Alliance ever plays through. The Alliance got the savage Night Elves right at release, and the Night Elf fans have been complaining ever since. Because their savage Night Elves don't feel so savage anymore now that they're in the Alliance as the "humans' pets".

Add any other Horde-like race to the Alliance, and I'm sure the result is going to turn out the same. They're going to be buried under Human themes, because the Alliance isn't designed to accommodate Horde-like races. Why ruin Forest Trolls by putting them in the Alliance?

You want Horde-like themes? You need to start building around the more savage side of both the Night Elves and Worgen. Give them allies which favor those more savage tactics, who they wouldn't look out of place among. In short, the Night Elves need savage allies if they're going to be savage. Perhaps partner them with Worgen more often, and have them do savage moon things/guerrilla warfare together. Maybe add more races that fit well with Night Elves. Draenei aren't really a good match for that side of them, but maybe Furbolg would be.

Make a natural alliance of races which mutually support the themes you want, and you'll get the savage/Horde-like themes you want.

[Saverem]

The Highmountain are pretty similar to standard Tauren. They just have different horns for the most part. I see Allied races as an excuse not to worry about how many variants a race "needs" or whether the difference is enough to justify a different race.

Lightforged are literally just Draenei restricted to lighter skin tones, given different hair/horn options. And tattoos. Highmountain are just different horns. And tattoos. Void Elves are mostly just different hairstyles and skin color. Same likely goes for Dark Irons. With some glowing effects for their eyes and possibly beards.

By that standard, it's not like it'd be too hard to crap out a Wildhammer Dwarf. Honestly, brown or grey Orcs probably don't justify an Allied race either, since it'd maybe take a few minutes in photoshop to fix up or add a few varieties to the brown and grey skins they already have, and a few additional minutes of coding to grant access to them all. Then boom. We'd have them.

The point is, it's not like you'd be taking much time from other more complex races to implement them. Wildhammers at least have a more unique culture than Lightforged, so their armor set would be nice.

I get it, but who are they marketing that race for? Dwarves aren't a popular race, they don't need to take up THREE race slots in one faction. I could understand Elves since they are very popular, but Dwarves?

They are wasting everyone's time making more Dwarf races when they can using their time making sub races of actually played races like Humans/Undead/Orcs

[Ogren]

Well, Worgen technically do have a more savage side to their culture with the feral Packs some have. I'd honestly love to see the Bloodfangs get more development, and more Worgen living like that.

But yeah, I don't think there's much use giving a Horde-like race to the Alliance. They gave the Alliance Worgen, but the Worgen are only rarely allowed to show their fangs. I think the Forsaken starting zones have better Worgen development than anything the Alliance ever plays through. The Alliance got the savage Night Elves right at release, and the Night Elf fans have been complaining ever since. Because their savage Night Elves don't feel so savage anymore now that they're in the Alliance as the "humans' pets".

Add any other Horde-like race to the Alliance, and I'm sure the result is going to turn out the same. They're going to be buried under Human themes, because the Alliance isn't designed to accommodate Horde-like races. Why ruin Forest Trolls by putting them in the Alliance?

You want Horde-like themes? You need to start building around the more savage side of both the Night Elves and Worgen. Give them allies which favor those more savage tactics, who they wouldn't look out of place among. In short, the Night Elves need savage allies if they're going to be savage. Perhaps partner them with Worgen more often, and have them do savage moon things/guerrilla warfare together. Maybe add more races that fit well with Night Elves. Draenei aren't really a good match for that side of them, but maybe Furbolg would be.

Make a natural alliance of races which mutually support the themes you want, and you'll get the savage/Horde-like themes you want.

Hell, you could even have the Wildhammer go that route along with them as well. I do recall in the Alliance Player's Guide RPG the Wildhammer were once actually described as being closer to the Horde in their culture and temperament.

Speaking of Lightforged and Highmountain, I do think they almost balance each other out in terms of what they bring. Lightforged are better Draenei, Highmountain are better Tauren. The real discrepancy is that Highmountain just look plain better in the little details being put in their antlers and their tattoos, and it really helps a lot that they have the option to pick different colors for tattoos. Lightforged really need a little bit more detail and variety in their options, otherwise I'm just not fascinated with them.

[KrakHed]

I get it, but who are they marketing that race for? Dwarves aren't a popular race, they don't need to take up THREE race slots in one faction. I could understand Elves since they are very popular, but Dwarves?

They are wasting everyone's time making more Dwarf races when they can using their time making sub races of actually played races like Humans/Undead/Orcs

Are there limited race slots? Honestly, who are the Highmountain for? Wildhammer are easy. That's all. If there was ever a lore reason to add them, they could do it without problem. With how little effort it'd be, it's really more of a "Why not?" and a shrug. Then they'd design some armor and put it on a Gryphon or Ram.

The amount of time they'd be wasting would be minimal. Like with brown or grey Orcs, there's really not a lot to do there which would take an appreciable amount of time. The racial mount and armor is seriously the main issue there. Maybe the voice acting or designing racials would take some time, but that's really not going to be wasting the art team's time. Maybe they'd take some time to make unique beards, hairstyles, or totems.

Orc variants are basically the same thing. The art team could literally just crap those out unless they decided to put special effort into it. It's harder to make an Orc that stands up straight than it is to make a brown or grey one. Glowing eyes isn't hard either. A Fel Orc would be the most challenging variant, but that's mostly just putting spikes in places. A lot of potential Allied races aren't anything too special.

Trolls and Tauren have the most unique variants. Humans would need to have some invented, and are already getting some invented for just that reason. Undead? Undead could have an Elven variant made. A more lifelike variant could also work, but that'd probably wind up being a minor edit of preexisting models. I suppose they could take a similar amount of attention as Nightborne. For both Elven/Life-like models.

If they had some of their B-team working on easy Allied Races while the rest focused on more complex models, we could probably get a steadier stream of them.

Would it be all too bad to get Draenor Orcs at the same time as Broken Draenei, with most of the effort going into the Broken? And if we got some Dwarf variants alongside some more difficult races like Taunka or Forest/Frost Trolls, who would mind? What are they getting in the way of?

Maybe at some point the Alliance could get something really unique like Dark Trolls, while the Horde gets something plainer that takes less effort. The incomplete Dark Troll models in the game files actually have four fingers on each hand, y'know. That'd be something.

Hell, you could even have the Wildhammer go that route along with them as well. I do recall in the Alliance Player's Guide RPG the Wildhammer were once actually described as being closer to the Horde in their culture and temperament.

Speaking of Lightforged and Highmountain, I do think they almost balance each other out in terms of what they bring. Lightforged are better Draenei, Highmountain are better Tauren. The real discrepancy is that Highmountain just look plain better in the little details being put in their antlers and their tattoos, and it really helps a lot that they have the option to pick different colors for tattoos. Lightforged really need a little bit more detail and variety in their options, otherwise I'm just not fascinated with them.

Well, yes. Wildhammer are a more "savage" culture of Dwarves with Shamanic focus and everything. I'd be fine with them getting an Allied Race just for hairstyles and heritage armor. Them becoming closer friends with Night Elves, compared to other Dwarves, could be nice too.

As for Highmountain and Lightforged, I actually bring them up together because they're really very comparable. I'm not going to say the art team didn't put any effort into them, but they're no Zandalari or Nightborne. They aren't even on the level of Kul Tiras Humans, who are very much physically unique. They're basically hairstyles, armor sets, and tattoos. Barely any different from what Wildhammer would get. They set a very low bar for Allied Races.

[Steampunkette]

Meh, a lot of the desire seems to come from Alliance players wanting a Horde-themed race and make it work, like how Horde took the Blood Elves (former Alliance allies) and made them work.

But the thing is, Worgen are supposed to be the inverse of Blood Elves and by proxy the most Horde-themed race for Alliance. They're savage, they're monstrous, they have belligerent characters, and they're basically the Orcish mascot animal in humanoid form. Even in very early Cata previews, they affirmed that Worgen were the inverse of Blood Elves when asked about it. They might not have quite the same kind of tribal, shamanistic culture like the Horde races do but do they really need that? It's kind of refreshing to see a savage race with some level of a sophisticated and foppish culture.

Only other race I think should be Horde-like are Night Elves, whom I think are a huge missed opportunity and would have been more interesting to see more warlike elves that have a savage nature that rivals the Orcs and maintaining that theme as an Alliance race to give the faction more diversity in themes.

It's become the newest thing to say the Alliance got shortchanged on allied races, but I think people completely miss the absolute potential Void Elves and Dark Iron Dwarves can bring the Alliance. I'll admit, I understand High Elf grievances and think that Blizzard really shit the bed by not making Void Elves a thing before making them playable, essentially going back on their word that they would not do this again after the Draenei fiasco, but I do look forward to how they'll use such a shadow-themed race in a faction of overall Light-followers.

Oh! You misunderstand. I don't want the Alliance to have "More Horde-ish Races" nor do I think they lost out on the new races for the Allied Races, at all. I plan to main a Velflock as soon as BfA launches. Hell, as soon as they allow us to play those races (Hopefully as a Pre-order Bonus) I'll be rolling one up and running to max level to start gearing up for the expansion.

I earnestly believe that any race added to the game must be something that tells a story, or allows -us- to tell new stories to each other. My hopes for the Enslaved Amani have very little to do with them being Amani so much as them being enslaved. Enslaved Vrykul would be similarly effective, or Tuskarr. Any shackled PC race would open up a -massive- number of stories for the Developers and the Players to tell.

1) The Uncle Tom, a Slave who loves and serves his masters to the detriment of his people.
2) The Slavemaster, who believes he is in the right to control other people's lives.
3) The Uprising, Slaves turning against their masters in revolts. (Thrall)
4) The Shackled Prince, a person of noble birth and bearing trapped in chains (Like Varian!)
5) The Emancipator, a person or group of people who oppose the enslavement on moral grounds.
6) The Eradicator, a person or group of people who oppose the enslavement because they'd prefer the slaves wiped out (Greymane, Proudmoore)


And so many more different stories. And it can also go a long way to highlight the negative aspects of a given society as well, or show tension between different societies that do or do not own slaves. How would the Night Elves react, for example, to the Amani or Vrykul being enslaved? Would the freedom-loving elves argue against the human practice? What about the Forsaken? I imagine Sylvanas who values free will over all things would scream bloody murder if the Trolls started Mind-Thralling Vrykul with Voodoo Potions to control and enslave them...

There's just so many stories that can be told, on both sides, from all kinds of perspectives. And it would be -very- polarizing in the playerbase, as well, with Alliance members aghast that the Devs would have them enslave people, or the Hordies complaining about the alliance enslaving Trolls or however it goes.

That's all I'm really thinking of.

[Atalai]

Can't see any race more fitting into the Horde than yaungol. Just check this out:

http://www.wowhead.com/object=214423/we-were-warriors

http://www.wowhead.com/object=214426/we-are-yaungol

So,
1) previously oppressed - check
2) warlike and hardy - check
3) shamanistic vibes - check
4) honorable at heart but can slip into 'might makes right' when threatened by extinction - check

Finally, we already have Highmountain who obviously have less of a distinct image than yaungol when compared to tauren. They are like a perfect blend between orcs and taurens. Warlike Mongol tauren with spikes and fire magic. I honestly can't find any other race on Azeroth, Outland or AU Draenor to be closer to orcs culturally and mentally. Of course one can say Horde is not just about orcs for a long time already, but with the latest additions we got - Nightborne, Zandalari learned and developed nations - we need to add some good old barbarism for the perfect mix.

[KrakHed]

Can't see any race more fitting into the Horde than yaungol. Just check this out:

http://www.wowhead.com/object=214423/we-were-warriors

http://www.wowhead.com/object=214426/we-are-yaungol

So,
1) previously oppressed - check
2) warlike and hardy - check
3) shamanistic vibes - check
4) honorable at heart but can slip into 'might makes right' when threatened by extinction - check

Finally, we already have Highmountain who obviously have less of a distinct image than yaungol when compared to tauren. They are like a perfect blend between orcs and taurens. Warlike Mongol tauren with spikes and fire magic. I honestly can't find any other race on Azeroth, Outland or AU Draenor to be closer to orcs culturally and mentally. Of course one can say Horde is not just about orcs for a long time already, but with the latest additions we got - Nightborne, Zandalari learned and developed nations - we need to add some good old barbarism for the perfect mix.

Well, diplomatic efforts haven't currently been extended to them if I recall, so they aren't already technically Horde like the Taunka would be, but they're definitely one race I'd like to see the Tauren try to recruit. It'd be interesting to see how Baine would approach them or respond to their unique culture. Or how they'd respond to him and the Tauren, an how they'd think he measured up to their values or if he could convince them the Horde was worth joining. And if it took another race like Orcs to do the final bit of convincing in the end, that'd also be an interesting twist.

[Steampunkette]

Well, diplomatic efforts haven't currently been extended to them if I recall, so they aren't already technically Horde like the Taunka would be, but they're definitely one race I'd like to see the Tauren try to recruit. It'd be interesting to see how Baine would approach them or respond to their unique culture. Or how they'd respond to him and the Tauren, an how they'd think he measured up to their values or if he could convince them the Horde was worth joining. And if it took another race like Orcs to do the final bit of convincing in the end, that'd also be an interesting twist.

^Pretty much this.

That said, there is one distinct thing to note about the Horde: They're not joined together because of cultural impetus (Otherwise the Belves and Forsaken wouldn't fit at all). They're joined together out of desire to -survive- against a larger more organized threat in the form of the Alliance. The Yaungol fit thematically, culturally, but they're not under Alliance attack.

[Atalai]

It's kind of refreshing to see a savage race with some level of a sophisticated and foppish culture.

That's why I am totally excited for Zandalari. They are a perfect balance between nobility and savagery. Folks that research and document all of Azeroth's history in gilded ziggurat temple-city but go to the jungle to tame a damn direhorn as part of initiation rite. Someone Horde needed decades ago. Can't stop saying how cool they are so I'd better stop here.

- - - Updated - - -

Well, diplomatic efforts haven't currently been extended to them if I recall, so they aren't already technically Horde like the Taunka would be, but they're definitely one race I'd like to see the Tauren try to recruit. It'd be interesting to see how Baine would approach them or respond to their unique culture. Or how they'd respond to him and the Tauren, an how they'd think he measured up to their values or if he could convince them the Horde was worth joining. And if it took another race like Orcs to do the final bit of convincing in the end, that'd also be an interesting twist.

Indeed, I believe Baine better be accompanied by an orc like Saurfang from the very start of Horde-yaungol negotiations.
For the love of Loa, how could I forget about Big G? His sole appearance aside Baine would command immediate yaungol respect.

[KrakHed]

^Pretty much this.

That said, there is one distinct thing to note about the Horde: They're not joined together because of cultural impetus (Otherwise the Belves and Forsaken wouldn't fit at all). They're joined together out of desire to -survive- against a larger more organized threat in the form of the Alliance. The Yaungol fit thematically, culturally, but they're not under Alliance attack.

It's not all about the Alliance. Sometimes its about what they stood to gain at the time. The Blood Elves originally mostly wanted the Horde's assistance in reaching Outland, if I recall. It'd be interesting if the Horde actually had to do some convincing about what the Yaungol stood to gain from an Alliance. The Taunka would just have to be reminded that they're already sworn to the Horde, even if it's gone through a few Warchiefs since then.

For the Yaungol? They'd have to be offered something they wanted. Cultural kinship could smooth things over, but you're right that it'd take more than that. Nightborne are desperate to get involved in the world again, so they're rushing into the open arms of the first allies willing to embrace them wholeheartedly. Highmountain Tauren don't have much reason to join the Horde, but I can see how they'd be sold with the cultural unity angle. The Yaungol seem more pragmatic than that. They need a pragmatic reason.

[Atalai]

^Pretty much this.

That said, there is one distinct thing to note about the Horde: They're not joined together because of cultural impetus (Otherwise the Belves and Forsaken wouldn't fit at all). They're joined together out of desire to -survive- against a larger more organized threat in the form of the Alliance. The Yaungol fit thematically, culturally, but they're not under Alliance attack.

Well, I agree. Their isolation, or rather oblivion from the point of actual in-game events, is what remains a preventing factor. Still, it's hard to believe that Pandaria or Northrend would stay untouched by the world war. Folks like yaungol and taunka could even become primary Alliance targets as most obvious to further join the Horde. (With folks like Vrykul and Jinyu as similar Horde targets). Blizzcon statements about future allied race (6 at start of BFA, more to come) are likely about those races forced by the worldwide conflict to choose sides, and choose faster.

- - - Updated - - -

For the Yaungol? They'd have to be offered something they wanted. Cultural kinship could smooth things over, but you're right that it'd take more than that. Nightborne are desperate to get involved in the world again, so they're rushing into the open arms of the first allies willing to embrace them wholeheartedly. Highmountain Tauren don't have much reason to join the Horde, but I can see how they'd be sold with the cultural unity angle. The Yaungol seem more pragmatic than that. They need a pragmatic reason.

Lands, primarily. New or those in Townlong steppes.
Protection from Mantid (a questchain to significantly dwindle mantid numbers and secure the Steppes for the Yaungol - it's unlikely they could do it alone even with Shekzir dead and mantid race in turmoil after the events of MoP).
Another way, the mantid themselves are on the rise with all that Old God stuff happening lately. Who's the first to suffer from mantid invasion? We know who. So, in any way we as Horde arrive to deal with mantids and eventually bring the Yaungol in, showing them how cool we've dealt with a threat that shadowed their existence for thousands of years.