Should there be playable races in Shadowlands?

[Destinas]

I wouldn't mind more options, but I'm doubting they'll add any more races/Allied Races in the near future. They added quite a few in BfA (mostly upgraded reskins, granted). It's possible some of (if not all) the Covenant races could be playable someday, since they can write anything they want into the lore to make it make sense. But, I'm not really holding my breath for that, personally.

[Alanar]

I think making the Covenants playable at the end of the expansion makes sense.

while it does.. the story is moving forward quick, look at bfa.. if we would get those races at the end the hype for those races will be gone.
They would be smart if they let us have them midway like zandalari.. maybe even earlier. The zanda hype was long gone when we got them eventually.

They would be stupid if they only let us play at the end.

[shoc]

while it does.. the story is moving forward quick, look at bfa.. if we would get those races at the end the hype for those races will be gone.
They would be smart if they let us have them midway like zandalari.. maybe even earlier. The zanda hype was long gone when we got them eventually.

They would be stupid if they only let us play at the end.

The issue with that is it would be strange if some of the factions become overtly Alliance or Horde aligned before the story of the expansion wraps up. Like the Legion allied races.

[masticator]

Hopefully not. There's too many playable races already and it feels like nothing stands out anymore.

[arsoo]

As a regular allied race i would i agree, just making a new low lvl of this race would be a solid no for me aswel but actually having to change the character you are playing to that race trough in game rituals (quests) could work.

[Moonrage]

It wouldn't really make sense for races that are essentially spirits bound to the afterlife to join the Alliance or Horde...

But I'd lie if I said I don't want to play a vampire. Too bad they'd probably be Horde anyway...

[Nahrees]

It wouldn't really make sense for races that are essentially spirits bound to the afterlife to join the Alliance or Horde...

But I'd lie if I said I don't want to play a vampire. Too bad they'd probably be Horde anyway...

They can easily excuse the Covenant races going into the mortal realms the same way we are able to go to the death realms. It would be something about how Sylvanas linked the two together so much that we can now exist in either. It would almost make more sense then Void Elves.

[Kyphael]

Like blue humans? Eh, I'm over re-skinned allied races. Give me some Furbolgs, Mogu, and Jinyu!

[RangerDaz]

Venthyr and Kyrian look like allied race material.

This really.

Kyrian probably Alliance, Venthyr might go to horde.

[Nahrees]

Like blue humans? Eh, I'm over re-skinned allied races. Give me some Furbolgs, Mogu, and Jinyu!

Mogu and Jinyu would make sense, but they do require a lot of additional rigging in their skeletons and updating their textures to fix the current standards of the current races. Furbolgs would be interesting. I don't like them, but I wouldn't discount them being added if the community demand is high enough.

[RangerDaz]

I want my Alliance Kyrian Mage and Horde Venthyr Warlock

- - - Updated - - -

Mogu and Jinyu would make sense, but they do require a lot of additional rigging in their skeletons and updating their textures to fix the current standards of the current races. Furbolgs would be interesting. I don't like them, but I wouldn't discount them being added if the community demand is high enough.

Mogu are highly likely, Blizzard dev also once hinted how "cool" Mogu could be as an allied race.

[Eazy]

In regards to classes...

Dark Age of Camelot: 45 classes.
RIFT: 51 classes.
Ragnarok Online: 53 classes.
Uncharted Waters Online: 73 classes.
Tree of Savior: 80 classes.
City of Heroes: 82 classes.

Even outside MMOs, here are what other games are working with:

Super Smash Bros: 75-81 fighters
League of Legends: 148+ champions


"36" just isn't as big a number as what other games are offering nowadays.

comparing WoW mechanics with Smash Bros and LoL

wut

They're totally two different things. In WoW you have to make new abilities/talents/gear/balance etc every new patch/expansion. Your example is wrong.

[Claymore]

Part of me thinks yes since I feel like I've become accustomed to always getting a shiny new race in Warcraft but let's face it, it's getting overly saturated with races in this game.

In my opinion, I still feel like Alliance is lacking that something cool and none of the current allied races for me personally have added that.
I'd love to have some of the races from Shadowlands added to Warcraft but given all their lore ties it probably won't happen without a good retcon.

Piggybacking off this comment, the Alliance HAD one cool race -- the Worgen -- but Blizzard has completely wasted them, even walking them back. The idea of werewolves wearing tophats is indeed cool, but the core reason the Worgen were SUCH an amazing addition for the Alliance was that it gave them a truly savage, violent, badass race. They were wholly unique from anything else on the Alliance, and they felt like they evened the playing field.

Now, though, Blizzard has essentially pacified them. Genn Greymane is just as "noble" in his Worgen form now, and the whole concept of a race that risks "losing control" and becoming mindless animals has basically been thrown out the window, in favor us "another generally peaceful Alliance race".

I don't want that. I don't think anybody did. The Worgen's evolution should have been *embracing* the beast within, becoming much more rugged and wild than they were as Gilneans. That would actually speak to character-growth for an entire race, who no longer see their state as a curse, but just part of who they are now. Instead, they basically reject the werewolf "curse", except they use the additional strength when they can. To me, that just isn't very interesting, because they've essentially been reduced to "humans, again".

Now then...

Having said all that, I honestly do like the idea of the Covenants eventually becoming playable races. For some reason, the Kyrians (especially the males) look super cool to me. They actually look HUMAN, not roided-out, which is a a really cool spin on the usual Warcraft aesthetic (which I still love, btw, not hating on it; just saying, variety is nice).

[Mutineer]

I’d rather have more customisation for the current races like they’re doing.

Wow customisation has always been poor compared to other MMO games

I think there's room for two more allied races, but the ones I'd prefer are never going to happen. I really dislike the idea of people being able to play as someone who's literally from heaven, I don't think it jives very well with the other playable races. I know, draenei are pretty fantastical, but they're still from a material place. Everyone in the Shadowlands is, by its very nature, dead.

This game has really lagged behind in offering compelling customization choices, it's really about time they started to play catch-up. I don't expect sliders or anything wild like that, but I'm honestly surprised it's taken them this long to decide to actually give us new hairstyles, faces, and hopefully other customization options.

Also, I'd really like to see them start focusing on the races we already have playable. What would the covenant races really add to the greater story long-term? There's a lot of potential story unexplored, or poorly explored, with the existing races that I'd like to see them get back to sometime.

[Newname1234567890]

I could see new allied races towards the end of expasion with the covenant races. That said we know fuck all about them very possible they cant even exist outside the Shadowlands etc...

Nightkin look half decent

[Khaza-R]

I've seen "no new class/race" mentioned often as one of the reasons many players, hardcore and casual alike, think that Shadowlands is "filler".

Plenty of threads about the class, but do you think that they should add playable races sometime during the expansion to counteract this look? Keep in mind that Blizzard will add and/or change any lore that keeps Shadowlands races from walking with mortals, though that is a point of contention for many.

They already said more Allied Races are possible if the player base wants beyond 9.0.

My guess is that Kyrian (A) and Venthyr (H) will most likely become playable at some point. But it will be more telling once alpha rolls out and we see how they are rigged.

[Kithelle]

I've seen "no new class/race" mentioned often as one of the reasons many players, hardcore and casual alike, think that Shadowlands is "filler".

Plenty of threads about the class, but do you think that they should add playable races sometime during the expansion to counteract this look? Keep in mind that Blizzard will add and/or change any lore that keeps Shadowlands races from walking with mortals, though that is a point of contention for many.

I hope we get more races...but will we? I'm not sure...

Think they may be/hope they're concerned with fixing problems of the game and step up the writing a bit more.

[Tolfor]

In regards to classes...

Dark Age of Camelot: 45 classes.
RIFT: 51 classes.
Ragnarok Online: 53 classes.
Uncharted Waters Online: 73 classes.
Tree of Savior: 80 classes.
City of Heroes: 82 classes.

Even outside MMOs, here are what other games are working with:

Super Smash Bros: 75-81 fighters
League of Legends: 148+ champions


"36" just isn't as big a number as what other games are offering nowadays.

This is such a terrible, apples-to-oranges comparison. The MMOs you chose to reference are EXTREMELY cherry-picked - another poster already pointed out that there are many other MMOs with similar or even lower class/spec numbers to WoW. And most of them are much more successful than the ones you chose to reference, some of which I've never even heard of. Hmm... I wonder if there's any correlation?

Also, bringing up the number of playable characters in Smash Bros. and League of Legends... lol.

[matrix123mko]

This really.

Kyrian probably Alliance, Venthyr might go to horde.

Colours suggest that.

[Grazrug]

If they're neutral. And NOT faction restricted? Sure. Why not.