When will Allied Races be unlocked without pre-quests and rep grind?

[Phlegethon]

Have Blizzard hinted at whether the new races will be unlocked in Shadowlands for all players? Or will there be long laborious quest chains and rep grinds long term?

Probably they will stay as they are.
"long and laborious", you're funny.

[bloodwulf]

Not a single one of the reps are a hard grind. Probably the most annoying unlock is the Robit Gnomes, and that is because it requires ONE run of Mechagon. Also this last week we literally add 75% rep increase so anyone who cared unlocked their stuff last week. I personally hope they leave them up indefinitely, it is one minor wall that encourages people to play content.....

Next people will ask when they can boost an allied race and get the Heritage Armor by default.

[ecospherez]

This is literally the position I'm in. I'm spending 95% of my time in Classic at the moment but I will obviously jump into the Shadowlands. The new allied races look cool but I'm not interested in grinding the rep or long quest chains if they will be unlocked and available for all anyway.

Well then, prepare to jump into Shadowlands on a normal character.

[Toxuvox]

When will old school legendaries be unlocked without having to build them for wait for them from horrible drop rates?

- - - Updated - - -

While I'd like to see the rep requirements removed from Allied Race aquisition once they're a couple of expansion old, I think it would be a mistake to meddle with the old school legendaries, especially since Blizz stated at Blizzcon that they're gonna be opening up Legendary t-mog soon(TM). There's a whole lot of of farming still being done just to have the associated achievement....when they become subject to t-mog, there'll be a marked increase in farming activity for them, which in turn will drive up player hours.

[wanax]

I think the best option would be at most to lower the rep threshold. Regardless of what they do you should still have to do the Recruitment questline for each one.

[msdos]

The allied races are something you get just playing through the expansion, there is no real extra grind involved unless you want them immediately, that's where Blizzard tries to snag you everytime. I have lightforged and void elf unlocked and I wasn't trying whatsoever, but I did play a buttload of Legion.

At first I wanted Dark Iron right away, then I just forgot about it. Then when I thought about it again I was exalted with 7th Legion. Almost have enough Proudmoore rep for the chubbies too, since the game throws that rep at you from day 1.

Your only vice will be patience, unfortunately, oh and actually playing the game. I'll never unlock flying because I simply can't stand Mechagon, but I heard you only need to do the main quest each day, so I might look at that.

[redfinale]

What ppl seem to forget is that for the most part, allied races are just variants of existing races. There are a couple of notable exceptions as far as appearance goes, such as male zndalari and kul tirans period, but for the most part, they're still the same as their base race. Highmountain tauren are just regular tauren with moose antlers, mechagnomes are just regular gnomes with robot arms/legs, dark iron dwarfs are just regular dwarfs with a firey aesthetic. If you're butthurt about the grind for the allied races, play their original. You play horde and want nightborne but hate the grind and don't want to do it? Either play alliance or stfu. You want want to be a brown skin orc? Same deal, either do the rep or quit complaining and go green.

[Marrilaife]

Well then, prepare to jump into Shadowlands on a normal character.

You mean character of race that will get 40 new options in barber shop in 9.0 while allied races will probably get next to none if any? Sure, sign me up.

P.S. If you're levelling for heritage armour, I found the anniversary bg (korrak's revenge) rly good, I levelled my dwarf from 114 or so all the way to 120 in 1 bg. Much better than grinding boring quests / islands that I've seen on 7+ characters and don't have to pay these pesky "freehold boosters".

[PenguinChan]

Unfortunately I don't think Blizzard will budge on this one, and at best will reduce the rep grind for it only. It's not difficult, of course, it still isn't - it's just tedious and annoying when you want to play the race and not the one you're currently on.

[chiddie]

It also sucks to know that 90% of the game is either handed free or made significantly easier so every time you play you ask yourself should I play now or wait cuz maybe they'll make it easier / free...

With gear and levelling you can kinda accept it that people need to "catch up" to play together with the old crew (it's an MMO after all), but with cosmetic / prestige rewards that's another story. Most of these races are cosmetic reskins anyway, only ones with unique model are Kul tirans, male Zandalari and Vulpera (if you ignore they use Goblin rig, but they do look different to the eye).

I don't like removing anything (like MOP CM transmogs), but tbh whatever stays it's already easier to do now by the sheer fact higher level character kills stuff faster.

Take Suramar when it was fresh, to complete the questline you had to go to elite side of the city that was brutal for majority of characters and also complete emerald nightmare raid. Now it's a walk in the park.

I am fine with unlocks Suramar style, as long as when the chain is over you unlock the race REGARDLESS the rep level you have. Or they should tune the rep you gain from the chain so that when you end it your rep is enough to unlock the race.

If you notice, 99 complaints on 100 are about rep grinding (hello pathfinder). It’s obviously an outdated mechanic and should be replaced with something less boring and more satisfactory. I fully understand that creating tons of huge and interesting chains is more difficult and time consuming than simply throw tons of world quests on the table, but we pay a monthly fee after all, I think we deserve better content.

[Drutt]

I just reactivated after almost a year away and I don't see what the complaints are about. Less than a week after resubbing my Rustbolt and Unshackled reps are both already into Revered, and I haven't exhausted rep gains from those zones on any given day by way of rare hunting.

Granted, I resubbed during a world quest week so I got some increased rep rewards, but it's really not that hard to catch up on missed content.

[TwoMana]

Have Blizzard hinted at whether the new races will be unlocked in Shadowlands for all players? Or will there be long laborious quest chains and rep grinds long term?

No and Yes

[Soon-TM]

Have Blizzard hinted at whether the new races will be unlocked in Shadowlands for all players? Or will there be long laborious quest chains and rep grinds long term?

*insert hooded Gul'dan gif*

Never.

(Didn't you get the fanbois' memo? These days, wanting to play new races right out of the box, such as Draenei/BEs in BC or pandas in MoP, means that you are an entitled PoS)

[Khrux]

Well for a new/returning player it kinda sucks to level and grind on a character your not wanting to play just to unlock the one you do want to play.

Then don't quit. They don't make allied races for people like you to come back, spend 5 mins leveling your new race before cancelling your sub and leaving again.

[Sagenod]

Well for a new/returning player it kinda sucks to level and grind on a character your not wanting to play just to unlock the one you do want to play.

You're telling me you don't want to play any of the original 13 races? That's unfortunate.

[Amaterasu65]

They shouldn't imo as I don't see any need. They were meant as something you grind for and they shall stay that way. Besides, it's not even hard at this point. You'd already be exalted with most if you weren't lurking in forums complaining.

[Sangfoudre]

I ressubed back in 8.1, and I completed prerequisites for every legion and bfa races available at the time from Alliance side without flying, just from questing in the zones and wq, and by myself. So not really an issue. For the other faction AR (zand, maghar and foxes) just burn one of your boost.

[CJT82]

You're telling me you don't want to play any of the original 13 races? That's unfortunate.

We played them......For 15 years. Now people want to try something new. I certainly don't remember blood elf, Draeni, Worgen, or goblins requiring a grind or anything except for purchasing the expansions.

[Azerate]

Hopefully never.

There is nothing wrong with "hero" races that have requirements to unlock.

And the argument "but I can't be asked to farm old content for a reward...." is completely BS. If you want a Netherwing Drake in 2020, you go to Outland and you farm that rep for it. Same here. It's a cosmetic reward.

[DemonDays]

Hopefully never.

There is nothing wrong with "hero" races that have requirements to unlock.

And the argument "but I can't be asked to farm old content for a reward...." is completely BS. If you want a Netherwing Drake in 2020, you go to Outland and you farm that rep for it. Same here. It's a cosmetic reward.

"Hero Races". HAHAHAHAHA.

90% of them are lazy reskins.

It would be cool if they were locked behind challenging content or a decent questline.

Nah grind thousands of shitty world quests. Literally the lowest effort content Blizzard has ever implemented into the game. Not only this - you can't do the grind in one day. You are time-gated daily by a limited number of these shitty quests.