Are Zandalari TOO cool?

[RedNein]

So hear me out.

A lot of the Allied Races that we know about right now are essentially a race that we already have, but fresh and new.

Highmountain Tauren are essentially regular tauren with more prominent moosey antlers and face paint and whatnot; they're featured in a prominent and relatively recent story that's still in the minds of much of the playerbase with definitive themes and a coolness factor. The argument between having more health or a built in damage reduction can be had, but really they just seem like a slightly cooler version of regular tauren.

Dark Iron Dwarves are in a similar boat with regular dwarves. They're not quite so fresh and we don't know their full story in BfA yet, but they're still basically dwarves with some neat aesthetics and themes to set them apart from and in my opinion slightly above regular dwarves. I know when BfA hits I'm going to make one as soon as I unlock them.

Mag'har orcs are again similar with regular orcs. More customization options and whatnot, not quite enough to totally eclipse regular orcs but enough to be really tempting for any new alts I might have.

But Zandalari kind of seem to blow Darkspear trolls right out of the water. Visually they're stunning by comparison, especially when comparing the male models - between the gold tattoos and the posture and the glowing eyes they simply look more impressive in almost every way. They have many of the same themes as the Darkspear including things like being island dwelling jungle inhabiting trolls that raise dinosaurs and worship strange voodoo gods ala the Loa, but one is from a tiny island off a desert coast and raises raptors while the other dwells in a golden city on a jungle island subcontinent with dinosaurs galore and a pantheon of prominent primordial loa gods. It's like when someone's older and way cooler brother shows up to a party with booze.

Other than the haste buff racial and maybe a few very specific class options, I genuinely cannot see myself rolling a Darkspear ever again.

Is there a way to spice up the Darkspear a bit? Give them a little more character so they don't fade into the background or something. Or am I over thinking this.

[Baracuda]

Give Darkspear boots maybe?

[The Anax]

Trolls have always been the coolest race. It's why I have 30 lvl 110 darkspear toons. Zandalari are the coolest trolls. So... Everything seems right to me. I even managed to get them to be taller . We're set.

[The Anax]

Yeah I'm the opposite. My main has been a druid for years and I cannot wait to be calling on new Loa instead of the Darkspear ones. Dinosaurs are awesome!

[Deleted]

Of course Zandalari are more to the tastes of most human beings, especially the males because of the upright posture. But to me, Darkspear have a much much stronger troll vibe. Trolls were always depicted like Djungle and Forest trolls in WoW ingame. Not like Zandalari. The Darkspear and Forest trolls could certainly need a bunch of updates to their models and customization, but i don't see that coming as long as Zandalari are the fresh, cool and new trolls in the house. I mean, Blizzard wants that money from race and faction changes. They won't shoot themselves in the foot by updating Darkspear, making them more awesome, having to invest more money by getting less out of it. I expect updates to the older race models and their customization as soon as most of the Allied Race hype is over. Of course the question is, how long that hype will last. Blizzard has certainly enough subfaction to bring allied races in more than one addon.

Aside from that, its all subjective and personal preference. So far, i think the faces of the male Zandalari look so stupid and their head posture when walking too, that i seriously doubt at the moment, that i will create my Zandalari Enhancement Shaman.

[RedNein]

At least nightborne, kul turas humans and upright orcs are different

What? I agree on the first two, but upright orcs are for both old and new.

Also I realize now that titling the thread after the observation and not the question was a mistake.

[Deleted]

As a warlock main, the only thing that would make me reroll zandalari from void elf, is the height and shoulder pad size. I am still hoping Alliance will get a "tall" allied race at some point, eredar or vyrkrul, to match the looks of zandalari and upright orc warlocks.

[Exystredofar]

As a warlock main, the only thing that would make me reroll zandalari from void elf, is the height and shoulder pad size. I am still hoping Alliance will get a "tall" allied race at some point, eredar or vyrkrul, to match the looks of zandalari and upright orc warlocks.

Draenei are eredar though...

[Broken Fox]

Yeah, the Darkspear always looked like ass so it’s no surprise

[Deleted]

They're still fucking trolls. They still have huge ugly feet and invisible boots. Most helms look like crap on them.

[Deleted]

Draenei are eredar though...

True, but current Draenei can't be warlocks, and I would love to have a "cleansed" Eredar allied race, now that the Legion is defeated.

[GeronTorefiend]

If only Nightborne actually looked like they were supposed to, then we'd have something else on the same cool level.

[Ithekro]

The female Darkspear troll model might be better looking than the Zandalari troll model due to skin complexion. The Zandalari trolls got those skin patches everywhere while the Darkspear got nice smooth skin.

[Azahel]

I think they're pretty retarded honestly. I'm glad people like them, but you couldn't pay me to play one, and sure as hell not a druid one.

You are not alone, but it seems like the rest of us are quieter.

[Tiwack]

True, but current Draenei can't be warlocks, and I would love to have a "cleansed" Eredar allied race, now that the Legion is defeated.

We've got brown orcs, purple elves etc. etc. Bring on the red draenei!

I think the problem is the opposite, op. Most of the allied races are just too bland in comparison to the old counterparts. Lightforged, void elves, dark iron and highmountain really don't bring anything new. At least nightborne, kul tiras humans and upright orcs are different apart from skin color, as well as zandalari of course.

QFT

Imo all is well with a new type of playable gnomes!

[Wries]

To each their own. They haven't necessarily peaked my interest more than maybe their dino druid forms. But I don't view finding an incentive to play a race as a necessarily bad thing. There will be people sticking to darkspear and all other races.

[goof]

The female Darkspear troll model might be better looking than the Zandalari troll model due to skin complexion. The Zandalari trolls got those skin patches everywhere while the Darkspear got nice smooth skin.

I will admit, I am a little sad that the smooth skin options from the MoP Zandalari weren't also added. I found them to suit casters a bit more while the scales were perfect for warrior types and so on.

No matter, I've loved trolls for the past 18 years and Zandalari even more so for the past 13, I'm going to fill my character lists with Zandalari of every available class. And I will expect many duplicate classes as well. xd

But yes, would've been super nice to have both scales and smooth, as MoP depicted their skins.

[tyrlaan]

Definitely not too cool. There's no upper limit on that scale

[Nihilan]

The one thing they will never take from Darkspears is their dominance at being a caster.

Darkspears:

A) Have the haste buff.
B) Look amazing in most cloth gear/caster leather.

OfC now watch blizzard turn around and give Zandalari some rediculously OP caster racial or something. Dont get me wrong, i had already planned on playing Zandalari. Mainly for the druid. But it would be nice if there was at least some reason to play Darkspear.

[RangerDaz]

It's why I have 30 lvl 110 darkspear toons. Zandalari are the coolest trolls.

WoW... that's what I call dedication to the Loa Gods' worshippers...