How can Blizzard mitigate the potential Alliance backlash at Blizzcon? (Spoilers?)

[McFrotton]

Junker gnomes will be dope as fuck though, plus mekkatorque will be one as well IMO that's how junkers get introduced, they save mekkatorque by turning him into robocop

this, and it will have an incredible scenario to go with it, I am all for junker gnome.

[The Stormbringer]

The Alliance? I am more pondering about the Horde. 8.1 looks to have another price on the Horde. Haha.

Nah, the Horde gets some new (nonsensical) Dark Rangers from the dead Kal'dorei they themselves slaughtered and killed, and gets to laugh as Tyrande's new Night Warrior transformation does jack shit to prevent it.

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Junker gnomes will be dope as fuck though, plus mekkatorque will be one as well IMO that's how junkers get introduced, they save mekkatorque by turning him into robocop

Holy shit, I didn't even consider the Robocop references. Now I know this is going to be a thing, Blizzard can't resist pop culture references.

[Obelisk Kai]

Wowhead made a nice page about the Vulpera, if you want to see it.
https://www.wowhead.com/vulpera-race-in-voldun

I would love the Sethrak to be playable, but im not sure they will solve the Snake head + helm/shoulder issue.
Night Elf Worgen seem a very redundant race for me, but they might be an option for sure.

That page is what sold me on the possibility. Before, my main objection to Vulpera was that they were clearly based on the Goblin rig but as far as I knew the Goblin rig was one of the old fashioned, pre WOD versions.

Why, I thought, would they make Vulpera a playable race using the old Goblin rig when the Goblins will only get updated during BFA.

When I read that page and it was revealed the Vulpera rig was an updated version of the Goblin rig, meaning they were player character level, did I grasp what that meant. A full read through of it and I was utterly convinced of their inevitability. I think most other people do too, I believe that nobody is seriously debating what the next Horde Allied race is going to be if a pair is announced at Blizzcon.

Sethrak would be awesome, and for the Sethrak community I hope it happens, but I just can't shake my inner critic pointing out why it probably won't happen. I hope I am utterly wrong though.

And while Night Elf Worgen could be seen as redundant, in a world with Highmountain Tauren and Lightforged Draenei I don't think it's much of a barrier. I don't find the concept particularly exciting myself.

I figure I expect Junker Gnomes and Nelf Worgen, but I really hope for Sethrak.

[andrewjoy]

Has anyone considered the idea of half races.

elf/human
orc/troll
gnome/tauren

and so on.

I think that would be interesting and cool.

[tikcol]

I'm not making a claim though. Your touche is as potent as a wet noodle.



Since this has turned into a "what allied races do you want to see" thread, I'll say tortollans would be awesome, as long as they're implemented as a neutral race like the pandaren. I haven't finished everything alliance in BfA yet, but tortollans seem to be the WoW equivalent of Switzerland.

Your bias is showing. At least the OP was reasonable and understood that saying most people dislike or like Vulpera is flawed. But what did I expect, trying to reason with furries. You guys want fur because you want fur, nothing else.

[Orby]

this, and it will have an incredible scenario to go with it, I am all for junker gnome.

Can someone explain this Junker Gnome theroy? ITs plastered all over the forums lately? Is it a spoilers thing? Personally I am still awaiting a new Tinker class :P

[Obelisk Kai]

this, and it will have an incredible scenario to go with it, I am all for junker gnome.

I have no doubt Junkers will be a great race with lots of cool customizations, but don't you worry reaction to them will not be overwhelmingly negative from other Alliance players? I mean, for some they commit the cardinal sin of not being High Elves (and I have no doubt there are probably members of the High Elf community who are utterly convinced High Elves are being announced and who will have another unfortunate meltdown when it's not them).

The Sethrak community is bound to be heavily disappointed, particularly as their counterpart Vulpera community probably gets what they want.

You know the more I talk this topic through the more I realise I'm really pre-emptively sad for the Sethrak community. Those guys deserve it and in the pit of my stomach I know it's not going to be their year

I'll be esctatic if it is their year though. Especially if they do go Alliance.

[Rakshata]

Actually, I'd be delighted to see the junker gnomes.

I've recently come to a revelation as to why we all want these allied races, especially the stranger ones. Look at Pathfinder: Kingmaker and the races it has available. Human, dwarf, elf, orc, and some combination therein. All just some version of human, not breaking new ground there... Meanwhile, World of Warcraft started with those, plus cow people, undead, and trolls. Later adding 4-5 flavors of elf, moose people, aliens, a different flavor of orc, dwarves on fire (which is actually pretty unique), werewolves, goblins, and Pandas. 21 different races. You'll only find that kind of race diversity in a tabletop RPG these days, the only rival in video game racial diversity is The Elder Scrolls, and the closest you get to WoW's diversity is in games heavilly influenced by WoW (SWtoR, Wildstar...).

Junkergnomes, though not as hype as something like the sethrak (which severely depend on whether or not Blizzard wants to be arsed with fitting helmet son them), would be a welcome addition in my eyes, and I can see the potential in their racial abilities (probably engineering boost like other gnomes, but maybe reduced costs as well or something). Additionally, it might move the gnomes forward in their story, being able to send the junker gnomes in to clean the rest of Gnomeregan and turn it into an actual city.

Though storywise, I think it'll go more like this: (8.1 RAID SPOILER WARNING)

Since Mekatorque is frozen post horde battle, they are trying to find a way to safely revive him... but he suddenly disappears. This disappearance occurs in 8.2, and the gnomes are trying to figure out how to find him; probably include the gnome heritage armor quest in this update. Then, in 8.3, they come up with a tracker and follow it to the junker gnome base, where Mekatorque has become a Junkergnome as well, to save him from his injuries. After some rep quests in the 8.3 zone, you recruit the junker gnomes.

(SPOILERS END)

I don't know what the Alliance would get in 8.2. But it feels too soon for the Junker gnomes; they've only just started the foreshadowing with an optional quest, and what happens in the raid. It is a bit more likely we'll pick up those bread crumbs a bit further in.


Also, just to give Blizzard the benefit of the doubt, they have to know how Alliance fans would react to the horde getting Vulpera while we got another reskin. It would be foolish to go onstage and show that much disparity. But, then again, if they finally show the Worgen rework, we probably wouldn't care as much.

[Obelisk Kai]

Can someone explain this Junker Gnome theroy? ITs plastered all over the forums lately? Is it a spoilers thing? Personally I am still awaiting a new Tinker class :P

Ok, basically it's this.

We suspect at Blizzcon Blizzard will announce the next set of Allied races due for release in 8.2. For Horde, it's probably Vulpera. But Junkers are doing the rounds now because they are the only group with some supporting evidence to join the Alliance. There are spoilers.

1.Mekkatorque is horribly injured during the 8.1 raid and is frozen in a block of ice to keep him alive.
2. There is an abandoned Gnome settlement outside Boralus, complete with fallout style vault door and automated security systems. What happened to the locals?
3. A Junker Gnome island was datamined during beta during a build.
4. Most Allied races are variants of existing races. A gnome variant is not impossible.
5. The Gnome follower for the Alliance wishes she could be a robot, potential foreshadowing.

The theory I think is The missing Gnomes have managed to upgrade themselves into gnome-machine hybrids. Somehow, this technology will be used to rebuild Mekkatorque and then the Junkers will join the Alliance.

[Deleted]

Alliance & Horde have 0 identity, how the races banded together makes no sense since BC, so who gives a shit.

[Tortuga234]

They worked on a model, therefore, its an allied race argument is dumb on so many levels.
Where are my allied Drogbar then? New Broken? Podlings? Both Arakkoa? Botani? Pygmei from Uldum? Hozen? Mantid? Saurok? Mogu? Grummle? TUSKARR???!?!?!!!

Vulpera can equip stuff we can just cuz they use the same skeleton goblins do.

[Lumineus]

It's moreso that the art team are spending so much time adding stuff to Vulpera because "uguu Tem such a CUTE--!" that Kul Tirans are still not ready. The male only has two faces and can't wear helmets.

[FlubberPuddy]

DISCLAIMER: Not sure if Obelisk still has me on ignore or not, so this post may or may not be read by him. It does address the topic though.

Personally I think it's pretty dumb to treat communities as if they're all a hivemind, even if you acknowledge they're individuals and not all, but then continue to talk about these communities as they are a hivemind with one way of thinking/reacting.

With that said, I think the majority of players have expressed their wishes on which Allied Races they want to see and I also think the majority of players understand that Allied Races come out in rounds. Therefore majority of players I'm assuming are more along the thoughts of, "hope they do add my race, but if not maybe next time".

The players that Obelisk seem to refer to are really extreme cases, and these types of players I doubt make up the majority of any community.

[Mixxy]

"Speaking of which, that Bee is pretty wonderful, isn't it?"

That is to say, they'll probably just give some vague, noncommittal blanket statement that doesn't actually say anything or address the issues brought up at all, but because it mentions something people kind of want it'll placate everyone there juuuust long enough for Blizzcon to end before folks start to realise that Blizzard never actually ANSWERED any of the questions brought up.

[FlubberPuddy]

I'm actually just very interested in the Q/As, last year's was very informative and had interesting questions

[Oswen]

I'll accept that as fact if Blizzard add tattoos to the Ironforge dwarfs :P



I know why they wont add Wildhammer because they are very similar to Ironforge dwarfs but I would prefer they just add some customisation features (like tattoos) if thats the case. It shouldn't be too hard to add that.

While this could be seen as an easy way out I really hope that Blizzard doesn't follow this idea and takes their time.
Imagine a "Wildhammer" Dwarf, with Bronzebeard voiceover, racials and heritage armor? That would pretty horrible.

And to be honest a Wildhammer "allied race" can be as different from an Ironforge dwarf as a Dark Iron is, on one side we have what? Dark skin and flaming beard? The other can have mohawks, tribal jewelry, warpaints etc and differ as much, heck they could even make them taller and that would make them even more recognizable when under a set of armor.

[Weeps]

There are still many races for Alliance and Horde who are actually allied with the Horde and Alliance lorewise

Horde

Taunka
Ogre
Hozen
Raventusk Trolls
Leper Gnome
Mok'Nathal

Alliance

Frostborn
Wildhammer Dwarf
Jinyu
Furbolg
Broken
Ethereal

Blizzard keep coming up with new races when we still have existing races not introduced yet.

I will SCREAM if Ethereals become available. I want to play as one so badly. Been coveting them since BC.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Allen: Hello fans, welcome to the wow panel, let's see what the future holds, shall we?
Crowd: *cheer*
Allen: Are there any alliance players here tonight?!
Crowd: *silent*
Ally-Dude: *shyly raises hand"
Allen: Sorry mate! That was a rhetoric question, I hope you enjoyed the jaina stuff though! Avast ye maty and all that!
Nearby horde player comforts the poor lost soul.

[Doffen]

I will SCREAM if Ethereals become available. I want to play as one so badly. Been coveting them since BC.

Would be a dream come true. Sadly it seems it will be available for only one faction with the direction they going with races, if they don't make it Ethereal: Space-class.

But yeah, in 2-4 years, we might see them.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Tortollan...

You know when people said this game will kill WoW, or this will kill WoW year after year? Everyone was wrong. But this..

Tortollans will kill WoW.

Won't happen, too many issues with armor.