Improving Jinyu/Ankoan

[Swnem]

Saberon should definitely go on The Horde if they're ever introduced as playable, I wouldn't want them in The Alliance. What would be the point? Worgen fit the feral race niche perfectly already, I don't want budding Worgen/Saberon, I want to see them tearing each other apart in a future Alliance/Horde conflict if we're stuck with that endless hamster wheel of soap opera PVP lore.

I believe Saberon used to eat Orcs. Maybe they can join the horde for a quick snack. XD

[Kyphael]

I believe Saberon used to eat Orcs. Maybe they can join the horde for a quick snack. XD

Did they? Lol Man... Mag'har should forgive and forget. They could make some good jokes out of that.

Saberon to Orc: Rawr... how does Orc help a starving Saberon? Give him a helping hand.
Saberon to Orc: Rawr... Saberon dilemma is, if Orcs not meant to be eaten, why are they made out of flesh?
Saberon to Orc: Rawr... Saberon not like broccoli, because it looks like trees. Not like walnut because it looks like brains. Not like mushrooms because it looks like di--

[TEHPALLYTANK]

No, if we're getting fish people I want Naga. Jinyu/Ankoan were never interesting to me, between their awkward dialogue and them using the male night elf skeleton I found them creepy (in a bad way, not creepy in a fun way like the Old Gods).

[Kathranis]

I think the best option would be to double down on the ankoan being a divergent clan of jinyu and work towards introducing other lost jinyu clans that could be reemerging from the depths following the blows dealt to the naga empire and N'Zoth's forces in BFA. That opens up the floodgates for a wide variety of fishy customization options. From there, just build out higher fidelity models that are more visually appealing (IE more cool/pretty options).

Of all the potential allied races for the Alliance, I honestly think they're among the best poised to actually work, despite not really catching on. I also think they're the best bet the game has for getting an aquatic / scaley race, because I just don't see drakonid, sauroks, naga, or sethrakk ever being playable races.

The Alliance unfortunately just doesn't tend to partner up with minor races that often, so there aren't a ton of great options compared to the Horde.

I feel pretty confident in saying playable saberon and botani aren't in the cards, and their inclusion in the mag'har scenario was likely just there to set up potential new enemy groups for the Barrens, which at the time was likely being considered for a Warfront and max level zone revamp.

[Rhozul]

I think the jinyu work for the Alliance, but let's be real for a second. The reason the Alliance is so hard to place races for is that they are, in fact, SUPER racist. With the exception of the draenei (who are Light worshipers, therefore, same religion as humanity) and the pandaren, they've never let anyone into their faction who wasn't related to a race that was already Alliance.

Worgen = Humans
Void Elves = Elves
Dark Iron Dwarves = Dwarves
Kul'tirans = Humans
Mechagnomes = Gnomes

Since Shadowlands makes it seem like we're finally going to get an aggressive Alliance storyline in the future, I sincerely hope that this is a trend that gets brought up in the story. The Alliance always gets to take the morale high ground in most conflict-based storylines in WoW, but it would be great to see them get called out for the toxic shit they do fairly regularly.

[Razion]

I think the best option would be to double down on the ankoan being a divergent clan of jinyu and work towards introducing other lost jinyu clans that could be reemerging from the depths following the blows dealt to the naga empire and N'Zoth's forces in BFA. That opens up the floodgates for a wide variety of fishy customization options. From there, just build out higher fidelity models that are more visually appealing (IE more cool/pretty options).[...]

I think the Burdens of Shaohao has a pretty cool depiction. The barbels/tendrils are more like mustaches or beards here, and the head fins are exaggerated to be larger and shaped almost like other hairstyles (like mohawks). The style here I think is pretty cool in that it can reflect how even some of the existing options could be adjusted slightly to look like other features.

[Kathranis]

I think the Burdens of Shaohao has a pretty cool depiction. The barbels/tendrils are more like mustaches or beards here, and the head fins are exaggerated to be larger and shaped almost like other hairstyles (like mohawks). The style here I think is pretty cool in that it can reflect how even some of the existing options could be adjusted slightly to look like other features.

Yeah, that's a great example. It doesn't take a ton of work to push the designs in a more stylish and appealing direction. Make them more streamlined and angular, exaggerate the features, expand the customization options with teeth, gills, fins, spines, lures, whiskers, patterns, bioluminescence, etc.

Edit: With a pretty minimal amount of work you can get a ton of variation.

[Swnem]

I think the jinyu work for the Alliance, but let's be real for a second. The reason the Alliance is so hard to place races for is that they are, in fact, SUPER racist. With the exception of the draenei (who are Light worshipers, therefore, same religion as humanity) and the pandaren, they've never let anyone into their faction who wasn't related to a race that was already Alliance.

Worgen = Humans
Void Elves = Elves
Dark Iron Dwarves = Dwarves
Kul'tirans = Humans
Mechagnomes = Gnomes

Since Shadowlands makes it seem like we're finally going to get an aggressive Alliance storyline in the future, I sincerely hope that this is a trend that gets brought up in the story. The Alliance always gets to take the morale high ground in most conflict-based storylines in WoW, but it would be great to see them get called out for the toxic shit they do fairly regularly.

Uff... big assumptions there. Especially cause i never saw the alliance be racist to anyone in WoW, except for horde races (orcs and undead only really, but for good reason).
No, the alliance is simply honorable. But, now that Void elves and Dark irons are in the alliance, i don't think theres any barriers to other races. They just need to be honorable. Past transgrations can be forgiven.

[Skytotem]

I thought your point was you wanted a more feral race.

Nowhere did I say that.

Saberon should definitely go on The Horde if they're ever introduced as playable, I wouldn't want them in The Alliance. What would be the point? Worgen fit the feral race niche perfectly already, I don't want budding Worgen/Saberon, I want to see them tearing each other apart in a future Alliance/Horde conflict if we're stuck with that endless hamster wheel of soap opera PVP lore.

Eh, Saberon are redundant on the Horde too.

[Kyphael]

Eh, Saberon are redundant on the Horde too.

Aesthetically, they would be really cool to have and fill a niche not yet occupied. It would definitely give The Horde that fearsome feral Worgen-like race without it being Worgen.

[Swnem]

Nowhere did I say that.

Ok, Well, you said that the worgen weren't mounstrous enough and then you asked for ways to make the Jyniu and Ankoan "better". But, whatever. I guess the point is you really want Jinyu or Ankoan.

[Yarathir]

Ankoan are not happening so don't even bother thinking about those. They were specifically introduced as a race that had nearly been hunted to extinction by the naga and spending the remainder of their limited forces seeking revenge against Azshara. Blizzard specifically introduced them in this manner exactly because they don't want players to get their hopes up about Ankoan becoming an allied race. It's just not gonna happen.

Well shit, guess I'm not playing Gnomes, Mechagnomes, Darkspear Trolls, Draenei and Void Elves then.

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No. No Jyniu or Ankoan. There are better choices.

Sethrak and Saberon come to mind.

Saberon are pretty shit, lol.

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I don't even remember The Ankoan very well, considering I spent so little time in Nazjatar due to how disappointing that ended up being. That said...



Even for "monster race", they're really ugly, and not scary looking ugly cool, but just deep sea ugly. Can you imagine the customization options? "Um, do I want to look deep sea purple ugly, deep sea burgundy ugly, or like a Giant Spider Crab smacked me in the face with an anchor and I landed face first into a crack on the ocean floor where some lava seeped in from the Earth's core that melted my nose into my mouth?"

I like them. Also, they have an unironically more true to their word culture of honor that makes Orcs even more laughable.

I could really see good fin and bioluminescence options for them.

[Saltysquidoon]

I'm not really following why a race "needs" a "niche" to be added?

The Alliance in vanilla was just Tolkien knock off (well Games Workshop's knock off, knock off) gud bois with the high elves swapped out for hippy drow.
The Horde was literally the WCII horde with a different flavour of troll, ogre's swapped out for Tauren and undead instead of goblins/ogre-magi.

The only race that ever "needed" to be added was the Blood elves because of how important they are to the preceding games and because of the Asian player bases' girlfriends. Every other race is just gravy.

[Pakheth]

I think the Burdens of Shaohao has a pretty cool depiction. The barbels/tendrils are more like mustaches or beards here, and the head fins are exaggerated to be larger and shaped almost like other hairstyles (like mohawks). The style here I think is pretty cool in that it can reflect how even some of the existing options could be adjusted slightly to look like other features.

I agree on the Burdens version. I like the angular sleek design. Preferably a Jinyu race would get its own unique rig and animations.

[Skytotem]

Aesthetically, they would be really cool to have and fill a niche not yet occupied. It would definitely give The Horde that fearsome feral Worgen-like race without it being Worgen.

Saurok would be a better fit for that.

Saberon are just cat worgen with less going on.

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Ok, Well, you said that the worgen weren't mounstrous enough

No I didn't.

[Yarathir]

Saurok would be a better fit for that.

Saberon are just cat worgen with less going on.

Sethrak or Saurok would be fine for Horde, though I feel like if you give Horde Sethrak, the Alliance will loathe Jinyu/Ankoan even more, because they're "not as cool as snake people."

Imo Jinyu/Ankoan should've replaced Mechagnomes.

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I agree on the Burdens version. I like the angular sleek design. Preferably a Jinyu race would get its own unique rig and animations.

Could use a basic rig (like NE, or human, or BE, or w/e) but have custom animations where necessary. Like a unique stance, walk, run, some emotes. This is what Zandalari and Vulpera have.

[Swnem]

No I didn't.

Draenei and Worgen were both an attempt at a 'monstrous' race for the alliance but they've had mixed success and reception.

Go ahead then. Clear up what that means.

[Villager720]

I believe Saberon used to eat Orcs. Maybe they can join the horde for a quick snack. XD

To be fair, I got the distinct impression that everything ate everything on Draenor.

[Skytotem]

Go ahead then. Clear up what that means.

There's not any hidden meaning?

[Swnem]

There's not any hidden meaning?

Ok. Then i keep what i said.