Fewer than thought Allied Races

[The Anax]

I understand that the expansion is still new, and I would ask that everyone understand in return that this is not an angry or negative post. I recall a year ago at Blizzcon on a YouTube channel, someone asked one of the dev's how many allied races we would get in BfA, and his response was something like- "Think of all the humanoid races that exist in all of WoW. Now divide by 5, and that should be around the number." Now, hearing that, I thought, Revantusk forest trolls, ogres, Mok'nathol's, the other orc races of Mag'har, and so forth. However, after this Blizzcon I am beginning to wonder if, instead of a large swath of races, if we are only getting very few- some of which were not exactly at the forefront of our minds (Vulpera, I'm looking at you).

Has anyone seen anything ANYWHERE that talks about adding pre-BFA races into the factions at all (excluding the 4 from legion)? That is, things like Bloodmaul ogres or Revantusk trolls that are already in the Horde, but not playable? Even though I don't play Alliance, I saw that they will be getting some sort of fish person- yet not the Jin'yu. And Mechagnomes instead of something already in the Alliance like Wildhammer Dwarves. I am beginning to think that the other Allied Races might be a parade of new and unknown races rather than the traditional ones we have often asked to play but been able to. That's all, just expressing a bit of concern and seeing if others either feel the same way or can give me some hope towards the more traditional races already in our factions but unplayable.

[FelPlague]

do you have a source for this?
cause literally all we have knowingly had to work on is that there would be ATLEAST 10
4 prepatch
2 from launch
2 after (zand and kultiran) and atleast 1 more set after that.

[Lightforged]

I understand that the expansion is still new, and I would ask that everyone understand in return that this is not an angry or negative post. I recall a year ago at Blizzcon on a YouTube channel, someone asked one of the dev's how many allied races we would get in BfA, and his response was something like- "Think of all the humanoid races that exist in all of WoW. Now divide by 5, and that should be around the number." Now, hearing that, I thought, Revantusk forest trolls, ogres, Mok'nathol's, the other orc races of Mag'har, and so forth. However, after this Blizzcon I am beginning to wonder if, instead of a large swath of races, if we are only getting very few- some of which were not exactly at the forefront of our minds (Vulpera, I'm looking at you).

Has anyone seen anything ANYWHERE that talks about adding pre-BFA races into the factions at all (excluding the 4 from legion)? That is, things like Bloodmaul ogres or Revantusk trolls that are already in the Horde, but not playable? Even though I don't play Alliance, I saw that they will be getting some sort of fish person- yet not the Jin'yu. And Mechagnomes instead of something already in the Alliance like Wildhammer Dwarves. I am beginning to think that the other Allied Races might be a parade of new and unknown races rather than the traditional ones we have often asked to play but been able to. That's all, just expressing a bit of concern and seeing if others either feel the same way or can give me some hope towards the more traditional races already in our factions but unplayable.

I think it just comes down to too many similar things. Do we really need two new allied races that are just variations of a previously included race?

We do not need 3 Dwarf races.

This is the same reason were are unlikely to get High Elves, as we already have blood and Void.

Getting other trolls is likely not going to happen since we have Darkspear and Zandalari.

Jinyu are cool but they are just Night Elves with a Koi Head. Unlike Sethrak, they really do not look visually distinct (I suppose that could change some when updating the race).

Ogres are an easy add but they are probably not going to be added because they would be unpopular (unless they coupled the race with some unique or powerful racials). I also kind of don't see it since the obvious go to skeleton would be the Panda skeleton, which the Kul'Tirans are already using.

[The Anax]

I think it just comes down to too many similar things. Do we really need two new allied races that are just variations of a previously included race?

We do not need 3 Dwarf races.

This is the same reason were are unlikely to get High Elves, as we already have blood and Void.

Getting other trolls is likely not going to happen since we have Darkspear and Zandalari.

Jinyu are cool but they are just Night Elves with a Koi Head. Unlike Sethrak, they really do not look visually distinct (I suppose that could change some when updating the race).

Ogres are an easy add but they are probably not going to be added because they would be unpopular (unless they coupled the race with some unique or powerful racials). I also kind of don't see it since the obvious go to skeleton would be the Panda skeleton, which the Kul'Tirans are already using.

We did not and do not "need" any allied race at all.

[Hallowseve17]

How I view it, allied races is the equivalent feature to the famous subrace topic from years ago. Does no one remember that? We should get the pre-Legion/BfA allied races in the future. If they're in that faction, they should be added. Who cares how many "variants" there are of dwarves or trolls? It enhances the world and the game. The more options the less carbon copies we see walking around. People want Wildhammer dwarves, people want Revantusk forest trolls. This goes for a variety of other "subraces" as well. They should happen.

[Nightheart]

We got 4 before launch, 2 at launch, and 2 more in 8.1.5. However I feel like they are gonna do 2 more. Maybe 4 more.. We will see.

[gushDH]

Well so far they have released 2 allied races per main patch. How many do you want, 10 per patch?

[Deleted]

Although they always denied allied races being subraces the pattern of allied races being somehow connected with the main races seems quite obvious (although these connecteion can be cross faction, ie Nightborne/Night Elves and Blood Elves/Void Elves). So the most likely scenario is 4 allied races after Zandalari/Kultiran: one for gnomes, one for goblins, one for worgen and one for undead. Guesses are Mechagnomes (A), Vulpera (H), Forsaken Elves(H) and no idea for a Worgen counterpart.

I was under the impression they are called Allied Races precisely because then they don't have to feel obliged to do sub-races for all existing races which would neccesarily mean jumping through some stupid hoops to get that to line up.

I think the pace of Allied Races is fine, I wouldn't want them to be pumping them out every week poorly thought through and poorly implemented. I'd also make the assumption they see Allied Races as more than just a BfA feature.

I do think it's important Allied Races maintain their own identity. Highmountain Tauren are bad for this and I think Wildhammer Dwarves would be even worse.

[Geckoo]

The problem is the format they decided to use.

By treating allied races as a different new race with their own racials they also automatically limited the amount of allied races we can have. We'll probably end up having one allied race per race and that means that things life different dwarf clans or troll tribes are not likely to happen.

There should be two different ways to deal with allied races, one that adds a new race to the faction and one that adds a new culture to an existing race.

The first one is great for things like vulpera, void elves or nightborne. We all know what their parent race are, but they are either adding that option to the oposite faction or they are really a new race despite the fact that they use the same model.

The second one is for those obvious situations that we all know that could work just fine as more customization options for an existing race in the same faction (lightforged, highmountain) or for adding different cultures within the same race (dwarves, orcs).

You choose to be a dwarf, great, your next choice is about what clan you belong to and that choice will open up different customization options. You don't need a new dwarf for this, just head to the barbershop, pay some gold and change your clan just as any mag'har orc does.

Now of course this second option also means that racial abilities are basically the same, although i think is about time that the game is able to change ability names, icons and spell effects based on the race, to reflect somehow that a tauren paladin is not exactly the same as a human paladin even if they work the same way, or in this case to make a difference between different orc or dwarf clans.

Everything else can work the same way, you still need to unlock them, you still need to meet certain criteria to earn their heritage armor and i'm sure they'll be able to just add a flag to make sure that you can only unlock and use it while you are the apropiate kind of dwarf, but if we really want to have multiple clans, tribes, nations... then the allied race format and they way they handle sub-races needs to change.

[Cosmic Janitor]

With the exception of the elf swap and now soon the troll and fat humans, allied races are kind of unneeded. They could have just added more customization to existing races and a "background" slider to the character creation and it would have worked just as well. Most of them are barely more than a couple skin tones and slighly modified hair styles. Flooding the character creation with them won't help anyone, it's just the community that now thinks every new model will be an allied race.

Edit: The guy above me put it better in more detail.

[Naked Snake]

It's too much for me to be honest. Just in terms of keeping up with it. It's smart to pace it out a little.

[Yossarian]

Ogres are an easy add but they are probably not going to be added because they would be unpopular (unless they coupled the race with some unique or powerful racials). I also kind of don't see it since the obvious go to skeleton would be the Panda skeleton, which the Kul'Tirans are already using.

let the ogres be worked around two heads/personalities and you'll see how popular they'll become

do you remember april fools back around 2006?

I understand it would be a nightmare for gear design though...

[PaladinBash]

There's honestly already too much of it already. I love that they have them, I really do. Dark Irons and Zandalari are both really cool additions to the game and I'm impressed Blizzard is even writing in some of them to the story a bit. That's not gonna last though, of course, but it's fine while it's relevant and they're new and shiny. It's really just a matter of what's the difference between a NEW race and an ALLIED race? I see people asking for Ogres and shit which would obviously be a new race rather than just an allied one. If you let people just have Wildhammer customisations for Dwarfs, I don't think anyone would bitch. If you let Void Elves have High Elf models or customisation, just like you let Blood Elves get golden eyes, you'd appease a lot of naggers without really adding anything.

Again, got nothing against them adding more customisation but it feels like they've already added heaps. I've never felt that there's not enough, I'd say there's too much if anything but I'm not going to complain since most of it is shit I like. If they added 4 races that all sucked to me, I'd groan but so far every release has had at least one race I liked in it so that's good enough for me.

[Banard]

We do not need 3 Dwarf races.

Nope we need more. Incoming Wildhammer & Frostborn. Frostborn be amazing with frosty beards like dark iron. Wildhammer with those tattoos!

Wait ...then there is Void dwarves! Lightforge dwarves! Undead Dwarves! Then that race of dwarves that Cenrious took under his wing and made into druids with long green beards!

More dwarves! MORE MORE MORE!

[Deleted]

Basically you went wild with a joke statement.

This question was asked to Ion and he said the objective of BfA were the Zandalari and Kul'tirans. That means the initial plan ends there but they reserve the right to add more later if they feel it fits the story they want to tell.
They also left the room to add 4 more in the interface, but it doesn't mean we will get them in BfA.

So, quite simply, i don't think we will get any more in BfA. But given how well it worked as a pre-order tool, it is likely they will give us 2 more with expansion pre-orders.
Also, don't go expecting them to be completely new models like Zandalari and Kul'tiran, but something already existing like an NPC or a reskin. I'm holding my breath for Vulpera and Sethrak, as they are arguably the most popular this expansion, but something like Gilgoblins and Mechagnomes fits more with what Blizzard have been doing.

[owbu]

All I remember is ion saying: These races have been confirmed: [races we know of]. We might make more, but that depends on the players reaction to them.

Which seems more in line with reality and the way Blizzard usually does things.

[Voltsmasher]

I think of these races you speak of many would likely be put in as customization options. Raventusk for instance likely wouldn't get it's open race, taunka are likely in the same boat though I believe they have enough distinction to be there in.

It's just that I think many allied races are going to be something new and shiny with a new model so I think for older races hoping for increased character customization is about what we get

[Deleted]

I think it just comes down to too many similar things. Do we really need two new allied races that are just variations of a previously included race?

We do not need 3 Dwarf races.

This is the same reason were are unlikely to get High Elves, as we already have blood and Void.

Getting other trolls is likely not going to happen since we have Darkspear and Zandalari.

Jinyu are cool but they are just Night Elves with a Koi Head. Unlike Sethrak, they really do not look visually distinct (I suppose that could change some when updating the race).

Ogres are an easy add but they are probably not going to be added because they would be unpopular (unless they coupled the race with some unique or powerful racials). I also kind of don't see it since the obvious go to skeleton would be the Panda skeleton, which the Kul'Tirans are already using.

About the wildhammer, while they have a defined identity, there is a huge problem. Wildhammer are already included in the current dwarf race. They just need to add a tatoo option to the character creation. Why? Because the Dwarf Shaman is a wildhammer already. If you look at their totems, they have the griffon feather. Shaman was added to the dwarf race because of the wildhammer and it would make little sense to pull it out now.

[Voltsmasher]

About the wildhammer, while they have a defined identity, there is a huge problem. Wildhammer are already included in the current dwarf race. They just need to add a tatoo option to the character creation. Why? Because the Dwarf Shaman is a wildhammer already. If you look at their totems, they have the griffon feather. Shaman was added to the dwarf race because of the wildhammer and it would make little sense to pull it out now.

Agreed also screw anyone who makes an argument against other allied races because they are similar to existing.

Nightborn
Voidelves

Taunka are less similar than those two I mean even Forest troll has better variation than WoWs army of elves

[Trumpcat]

I expected on Blizzcon to hear about future Allied Races, instead Kultiran and Zandalari that everyone knew about were "announced".
Next Blizzcon the next expansion will be announced so I'm not sure if there will be any more races at all.