Draenei pre-retcon/Gnome replacement ideas. (Classic+)

[Cringecaller]

I'm developing an alt-Classic, alt-TBC thing and wanted to know what lore Draenei had pre-TBC, outside of the TFT outland missions. For example, was the Path of Glory mentioned pre-TBC?
Actually, were Draenei introduced at all before TFT?
[edit] I'm asking because my story wouldn't necessarily follow what Blizzard wrote TBC onward, and definitely wouldn't include the TBC Draenei lore.

I was gonna start another thread for the following but I'll just bring it up here to reduce spam:

If you had to replace Gnomes as a playable race in the context of Vanilla, what would you choose and why? Actually, more accurately, what would be a good replacement, and why?

Invalid options are: Draenei, Blood Elves, High Elves (same thing roflmao).
Wildhammer or Alteraci or something in that vein could possibly work if you gave them enough character, but I find that boring and redundant. I'm inclined to mix things up with Gnolls or Furbolgs, but it's probably impossible to make them fit or flesh them out enough. I'm not wedded to replacing Gnomes, but it's been really hard to flesh them out, give them a decent story or integrate them into the wider plot. Plus I've never been very fond of them so that doesn't help.

[Ielenia]

High elves, of course. They were a not-insignificant part of the 'human' roster back in Waecraft 3 (priest and sorceress, then later blood mage and spellbreaker).

Yes, I know you "banned" the high elves as a valid option in your OP, but considering you didn't give a single reason (much less a valid one) as to why they should not be allowed or even why we should abide by this exclusion, this just feels like arbitrary ruling which I am not feeling compelled to follow.

So, yeah, my vote goes for the high elves.

[Iheartnathanos]

I'm developing an alt-Classic, alt-TBC thing and wanted to know what lore Draenei had pre-TBC, outside of the TFT outland missions. For example, was the Path of Glory mentioned pre-TBC?
Actually, were Draenei introduced at all before TFT?

I was gonna start another thread for the following but I'll just bring it up here to reduce spam:

If you had to replace Gnomes as a playable race in the context of Vanilla, what would you choose and why? Actually, more accurately, what would be a good replacement, and why?

Invalid options are: Draenei, Blood Elves, High Elves (same thing roflmao).
Wildhammer or Alteraci or something in that vein could possibly work if you gave them enough character, but I find that boring and redundant. I'm inclined to mix things up with Gnolls or Furbolgs, but it's probably impossible to make them fit or flesh them out enough. I'm not wedded to replacing Gnomes, but it's been really hard to flesh them out, give them a decent story or integrate them into the wider plot. Plus I've never been very fond of them so that doesn't help.

Draenei are in both WC1 and 2 manuals, though in name only.

Personally, I think there should have only been six races: High Elves, Dwarves, Humans, Tauren, Orc and Troll. This was the Alliance and the Horde in WC3. Night Elves and Undead were a mistake and should have remained neutral. Gnomes and Goblins could have been patched in on a tinker-themed xpac. I would also have made Vanilla just Kalimdor - that is where the story ended, with Jaina and Thrall finding new homes on foreign shores. Focusing on the Wrynns and Stormwind took away the importance of Jaina and Theramore.

[Kokolums]

chens keg was in vanilla wow, so add pandaren.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Gnolls and Furbolgs don't really fit Alliance aesthetics. They'd easily fit the Horde, though.

For the Alliance, I'd retcon the Centaurs so that you have a chivalrous tribe of them (maybe have that tribe located in the EK if you want), with the cannibal tribe that hunted Cairne being the exception to the rule. Would fit right into the Alliance's classical aesthetics.

I'm developing an alt-Classic, alt-TBC thing and wanted to know what lore Draenei had pre-TBC, outside of the TFT outland missions. For example, was the Path of Glory mentioned pre-TBC?
Actually, were Draenei introduced at all before TFT?

There was the The Rise of the Horde novel. In that novel the Draenei were presented as farmer village folk who got easily slaughtered by the Horde, which lends an undertone of irony when Grom claims that they were glorious conquers, and explains why the Horde collapsed when they came into contact with the Alliance, as they had never actually fought someone actually strong before. Ofcourse, that makes no sense with TBC's retcons which made the Draenei a spacefaring race with shield generators and lasers who should have easily repelled the Horde.

The Rise of the Horde book details some atrocities the Orcs committed against the Draenei but I don't think the Path of Glory existed before TBC.

- - - Updated - - -

Night Elves and Undead were a mistake and should have remained neutral.

Also this. I've gone more indepth in the "how would you redo WoW's factions" thread. Either make the Night Elves their own faction, or don't make them playable at all. Forsaken have other complicating factors and weren't really planned out well.

- - - Updated - - -

I would also have made Vanilla just Kalimdor - that is where the story ended, with Jaina and Thrall finding new homes on foreign shores. Focusing on the Wrynns and Stormwind took away the importance of Jaina and Theramore.

The story ended in Northrend. The Alliance and Horde's story was completely finished by the end of WC3. The Alliance and Horde had rid themselves of each other and were at peace. The sequel to WC3 is TFT, which noticeably does not feature the Horde or the Alliance at all (they got a shoehorned in bonus campaign). The story of TFT was about Illidan's attempt to destroy the Frozen Throne. TFT ends on a "to be continued" with Illidan dead and Arthas donning the Lich King's armor. If you were to write a sequel continuing from TFT, then the very basic outline would be that Kael'thas takes control of Illidan's forces and makes a retreat, regroups, and plans his next move. Kil'jaeden finally shows up. Kael'thas and Arthas might make a temporary alliance to fight against him. The Legion is repelled, and then Kael and Arthas turn on each other. You could write the Alliance back into the story with them arriving to help Kael'thas kill Arthas, avenging Lordaeron and eliminating the Scourge menace. I don't see any way to write the Horde back into the story as they have no stake in the conflict.

[Iheartnathanos]

Gnolls and Furbolgs don't really fit Alliance aesthetics. They'd easily fit the Horde, though.

For the Alliance, I'd retcon the Centaurs so that you have a chivalrous tribe of them (maybe have that tribe located in the EK if you want), with the cannibal tribe that hunted Cairne being the exception to the rule. Would fit right into the Alliance's classical aesthetics.





There was the The Rise of the Horde novel. In that novel the Draenei were presented as farmer village folk who got easily slaughtered by the Horde, which lends an undertone of irony when Grom claims that they were glorious conquers, and explains why the Horde collapsed when they came into contact with the Alliance, as they had never actually fought someone actually strong before. Ofcourse, that makes no sense with TBC's retcons which made the Draenei a spacefaring race with shield generators and lasers who should have easily repelled the Horde.

The Rise of the Horde book details some atrocities the Orcs committed against the Draenei but I don't think the Path of Glory existed before TBC.

- - - Updated - - -



Also this. I've gone more indepth in the "how would you redo WoW's factions" thread. Either make the Night Elves their own faction, or don't make them playable at all. Forsaken have other complicating factors.

- - - Updated - - -



The story ended in Northrend. The Alliance and Horde's story was completely finished by the end of WC3. The Alliance and Horde had rid themselves of each other and were at peace. The sequel to WC3 is TFT, which noticeably does not feature the Horde or the Alliance at all (they got a shoehorned in bonus campaign). The story of TFT was about Illidan's attempt to destroy the Frozen Throne. TFT ends on a "to be continued" with Illidan dead and Arthas donning the Lich King's armor. If you were to write a sequel continuing from TFT, then the very basic outline would be that Kael'thas takes control of Illidan's forces and makes a retreat, regroups, and plans his next move. Kil'jaeden finally shows up. Kael'thas and Arthas might make a temporary alliance to fight against him. The Legion is repelled, and then Kael and Arthas turn on each other. You could write the Alliance back into the story with them arriving to help Kael'thas kill Arthas, avenging Lordaeron and eliminated the Scourge menace. I don't see any way to write the Horde back into the story as they have no stake in the conflict.

I was definitely thinking of the bonus campaign - unless my memory is fuzzy, I remember that being the final campaign after Arthas and Illidan's duel. That is the new status quo, and I believe that's where WoW should have picked up. But I also disagree that the founding of Durotar and Theramore was the 'end of the Alliance and Horde'.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I was definitely thinking of the bonus campaign - unless my memory is fuzzy, I remember that being the final campaign after Arthas and Illidan's duel. That is the new status quo, and I believe that's where WoW should have picked up. But I also disagree that the founding of Durotar and Theramore was the 'end of the Alliance and Horde'.

The bonus campaign has too many problems to write a coherent continuation around, namely Theramore. Why did Jaina decide to establish a human city within marching distance of Orgrimmar? If she had just survived the apocalypse at the end of WC3 and there was a period of calm after in which she was able to gather people and build a city, then wouldn't she return home to see her family? If the city, even with the assistance of Admiral Proudmoore's fleet (remember, Proudmoore was effectively the king of Kul'tiras and was Lothar's equal as being a military commander instrumental in vanquishing the Horde, so you're talking about the King's fleet with the most talented commanders), still somehow fell to the Horde, then why would anyone want to stay in Theramore? Any survivors would try to immigrate to literally any other human settlement if possible. The Alliance has no reason to protect this outpost across the ocean, as they're already using their resources trying to rebuild the EK and protect themselves from the undead menace. Furthermore, the Horde getting out of their hair was a blessing. They don't want to get caught up in Horde troubles again. It makes little sense for the Alliance to send forces to help protect Jaina's silly illfated town project and risk getting into fights with the Horde again, especially when Jaina has just proven she will fight against her own people.

The Alliance's only narrative lead is the undead.

The Horde likewise doesn't want anything to do with the EK or the Alliance. The Horde has no narrative leads, so you'd have to contrive reasons for them to leave Kalimdor and get caught up in the other plotlines (Scourge, Legion, etc).

[Cringecaller]

-Ielenia

I'm glad the first reply took the bait on the High Elf issue. That said, I'm just listing those three because there's practically zero chance I'd personally settle for any of them, and I was hoping to get some inspiration from other suggestions to work with, because I'm basically stumped.

Btw it's interesting you replied because I'm toying with developing a Bard class concept, and your posts were probably the main inspiration for that.

-Nathanos

I'll take a look at those old manuals then; I did a quick search of Wowpedia etc. for Draenei related stuff in the WC3 manual and just assumed the older games didn't mention them.

I personally couldn't cut the Night Elves or Forsaken, but the idea of restricting the game, or at least 'home turf' to Kalimdor is really interesting. Would the Eastern Kingdoms be a vast continent ripe for content and conflict harvesting? In my mind, that was one of the major issues in Vanilla that they opened up almost the entire world and left themselves without much room to add stuff, which contributes to the constant adding of new continents, planets, and general escalation in threats each expansion. And yeah I understand they didn't know how popular WoW would be, plus they had fears of lacking enough content to keep players busy.

-Val the Moofia Boss

I'd don't see an inherent issue with the Night Elves being in the Alliance, their portrayal is probably the main reason I started thinking about this. I think the main problem is the way the factions are presented as monolithic, hegemonic entities in the vein of the USSR or (to a much lesser extent) NATO/the Anglosphere. This homogenized the races and especially limited the Night Elf identity and sovereignty. The Undead got off a bit lighter in this regard. My vision is more of the alignments between powers leading up to WW1, or even less restrictive.
If the leash was loosened on the different races then conflict could happen more organically between different factions, or even within them, and it wouldn't have to inevitably end in the total destruction of Blue Team or Red Team. The Undead and Night Elves could really work well as sticking points on either side.
I'm not sure Theramore ever made much sense, in WoW or in TFT, but I'm also trying stray as little from the original as possible without good reason. Travel is presented as too easy in WoW, which makes sense from a gameplay perspective but it's detrimental to storytelling and diminishes the reasons for Jaina's Humans to stick around in Kalimdor.

p.s. to anyone reading this, I don't want to get into the specifics of the USSR, NATO, "AKSHUALLY the triple entente was like...", I'm just hoping those are illustrative and you get the gist of my meaning, but if they aren't then it doesn't need to end in argument or pedantics.

-------

The fact that people (I'm not immune to this) seem to have such difficulty with imagining any races in the Alliance outside of the Pick your Human: L, M, S, XS paradigm is the wall I'm running up against. Maybe the issue is people assuming: Ally = Good, Horde = Bad, whereas it might be better to view Ally = morally light grey, Horde = morally dark grey (with Forsaken being charcoal) and the alignments are out of convenience beyond Human+Dwarf, Orc+Troll. Even then I'd add some strain between them.

It feels like a waste to keep Alliance as a group of Star Trek aliens with minor differences, especially in a setting like Warcraft which thrives on exaggeration. It's like comparing contemporary Elder Scrolls races to the selection in Arena. The Centaur idea is out of left field and pretty interesting in that regard at least.

[Mungho]

Draenei are in both WC1 and 2 manuals, though in name only.

Personally, I think there should have only been six races: High Elves, Dwarves, Humans, Tauren, Orc and Troll. This was the Alliance and the Horde in WC3. Night Elves and Undead were a mistake and should have remained neutral. Gnomes and Goblins could have been patched in on a tinker-themed xpac. I would also have made Vanilla just Kalimdor - that is where the story ended, with Jaina and Thrall finding new homes on foreign shores. Focusing on the Wrynns and Stormwind took away the importance of Jaina and Theramore.

Yeah, I've long thought they should have focused just on Kalimdor for vanilla and went to the EK for the expansion. For races, the problem is, the horde needed a pretty race to attract players, so I thought they should have given satyrs to the horde. But I wonder if cute satyr girls would be enough. Alliance can have their freakin' high elves.

[Shadowtwili]

Don't replace the gnomes, yes their lore is a bit wonky but they've been part of the Warcraft franchise since Warcraft II!

[Cringecaller]

- Ielenia

I'm glad the first reply took the bait on the High Elf issue. That said, I'm just listing those three because there's practically zero chance I'd personally settle for any of them, and I was hoping to get some inspiration from other suggestions to work with, because I'm basically stumped.

Btw it's interesting you replied because I'm toying with developing a Bard class concept, and your posts were probably the main inspiration for that.

- Nathanos

I'll take a look at those old manuals then; I did a quick search of Wowpedia etc. for Draenei related stuff in the WC3 manual and just assumed the older games didn't mention them.

I personally couldn't cut the Night Elves or Forsaken, but the idea of restricting the game, or at least 'home turf' to Kalimdor is really interesting. Would the Eastern Kingdoms be a vast continent ripe for content and conflict harvesting? In my mind, that was one of the major issues in Vanilla that they opened up almost the entire world and left themselves without much room to add stuff, which contributes to the constant adding of new continents, planets, and general escalation in threats each expansion. And yeah I understand they didn't know how popular WoW would be, plus they had fears of lacking enough content to keep players busy.

- Val the Moofia Boss

I'd don't see an inherent issue with the Night Elves being in the Alliance, their portrayal is probably the main reason I started thinking about this. I think the main problem is the way the factions are presented as monolithic, hegemonic entities of the Cold War. This homogenized the races and especially limited the Night Elf identity and sovereignty. The Undead got off a bit lighter in this regard. My vision is more of an alignments similar powers.
If the leash was loosened on the different races then conflict could happen more organically between different factions, or even within them, and it wouldn't have to inevitably end in the total destruction of Blue Team or Red Team. The Undead and Night Elves could really work well as sticking points on either side.
I'm not sure Theramore ever made much sense, in WoW or in TFT, but I'm also trying stray as little from the original as possible without good reason. Travel is presented as too easy in WoW, which makes sense from a gameplay perspective but it's detrimental to storytelling and diminishes the reasons for Jaina's Humans to stick around in Kalimdor.


-------

The fact that people (I'm not immune to this) seem to have such difficulty with imagining any races in the Alliance outside of the Pick your Human: L, M, S, XS is the wall I'm running up against. Maybe the issue is people assuming: Ally = Good, Horde = Bad, whereas it might be better to view Ally = morally light grey, Horde = morally dark grey (with Forsaken being charcoal) and the alignments are out of convenience beyond Human+Dwarf, Orc+Troll. Even then I'd add some strain between them.

[Ardenaso]

If you're going to make a "Warcraft 3 purist" WoW, here are my ideas:

Alliance: Stormwindian, Bronzebeard, Gnome, High Elf[1]
Horde: Orc, Darkspear, Ogre, Tauren
Forsaken: Undead Human[2], Undead Elf[2], Alteraci[3], Blood Elf[4]
Sentinels: Night Elf, Dark Troll[5], Furbolg, Cenarius' Children

[1]High Elves based on Theramore led by Vereesa
[2]Undead Humans and Elves would have different racials but they have the same racial leader. Undead Elves would have Warcraft 3 Dark Ranger skills as racials and perhaps can turn into Banshees/Specter for a limited time
[3]The Alteraci here are the Blackthorn Bandits who helped Sylvanas, though Aliden taking a desperate alliance of convenience with Sylvanas doesn't really seem like a bad idea
[4]The Blood Elves are led by Lor'themar who is helped by Sylvanas and approached for an alliance of convenience, though they are wary of their allies
[5]The Dark Trolls can be made so they are recruited into the Sentinels and set aside their differences and strife after they worked together with the Night Elves in the Battle of Mount Hyjal, and considering that the Night Elves lost their immortality so they would take anyone they can get

generally, there is really not much any hatred within the four factions although the Forsaken has bad blood with the Alliance, and the Sentinels are very wary wit the Horde's intentions to intrude on Ashenvale for lumber

the difference between sub-races and differing races is that sub-races would still have the same racials on the same race category (though with differing visuals and effects) but can have differing classes while differential races (such as Undead Humans and Undead Elves, and Dark Iron Dwarves from the other Dwarf clans) have different racials from the other races.

the geography would be taken from the WC3 manual with a mix of the WC2 manual; Brill is on Alterac, Darkshore is on the North, Nendis exists, and the Vault of the Wardens would be in Ashenvale and not in the Broken Isles; Azeroth is the southern Eastern Kingdom continent and not the world, etc.

no such thing as demon resurrection: Mal'ganis, Tichondrius, Balnazzar, Detheroc, Anetheron, Dalvengyr, Mannoroth, etc. stay dead

the Argent Dawn is exclusive for Alliance and Forsaken (though orcs are friendly with them considering Eitrigg and Tirion's friendship)
the Cenarion Circle and the Earthen Ring is exclusive for Horde and Sentinels and this becomes a way for the Sentinels to teach the Horde about Druidism for their lumber problems (for Darkspears and Tauren)
Alterac Valley becomes a three-way battleground for the Alliance(Stormpikes), Horde(Frostwolves), and Forsaken(Alteraci)

on TBC:

• the Draenei becomes natives of DRAENor, no Eredar-Draenei connection and no such thing as Velen/Maraad, etc.
• Forsaken gets Draenei led by Akama, allowing the Forsaken to get a Shaman and Druid race
• the Alliance, Horde, and Sentinels fight the Illidari and the Illidari fight the Alliance/Horde/Sentinel champtions instead;
• Kael'thas doesn't turn evil, and the fight at the Black Citadel gets interrupted with fel orcs, blood elves, and demons loyal to the Burning Legion reopening the Dimensional portals in Outland allowing more demons to pour in towards Outland and freeing Magtheridon from his bondage; the four factions team up to defeat the Burning Legion, kill Magtheridon for good, and force Kil'jaeden to retreat although Illidan and his demon hunters escape at the end to a portal to another world
• the entire Sons of Lothar are dead, including Turalyon, Alleria, Danath, Kurdran, and Khadgar; no such thing as Mag'har orcs and especially Garrosh Hellscream nor Dranosh Saurfang, and Arakkoa either, the entire remains of Outland should have been fully occupied by the Burning Legion before Illidan's takeover
• the Horde renews their alliance with the Amani to gain another foothold at the Eastern Kingdoms, and the Darkspears get generalized to "Troll" with a new Amani "subrace"
• Tor'watha becomes a battleground for the Horde(Amani) and the Forsaken(Blood Elves)

on WotLK:

• the Night Elves take in Tuskarr and Polar Furbolg refugees from Northrend after the Scourge completely swallows the entirety of Northrend and the Sentinels get Tuskarrs and a new Polar Furbolg subrace for the Furbolgs
• the Horde takes in Ice Troll refugees and the Trolls get a new Ice Troll subrace
• Lor'themar steps down as the leader of the Blood Elves to pave the way for Kael'thas
• Rommath and Kael'thas begrudgingly reaccepts their friendship with the Kirin Tor for mana crystals needed for the Blood Elves
• The Kirin Tor is exclusive for Alliance and the Forsaken and the Horde and the Sentinels get their own small faction with the Darkspears and Dark Trolls as peacekeepers
• Stormwindians, Forsaken, High Elves, and Blood Elves get Dalarani customizations
• the Argent Crusade opens up for the Horde and Sentinels although the Sentinels do not really have any much involvement with the War Against The Lich King as they have almost no concerns about them and they focus on clearing the Scourge assaults in Kalimdor
• Nazgrel dies instead of Dranosh Saurfang at the Wrathgate
• Muradin stays dead lol
• Sylvanas, Kael'thas, Jaina, and Varian join with Tirion as they face Arthas in the Frozen Throne
• Bolvar still becomes the new Lich King

on Cataclysm:

• following Arthas' defeat, Sylvanas loses her purpose and motivation and decides to lay low, she steps down as the leader of the Forsaken and Kael'thas accepts the position as the new leader; Quel'thalas becomes the new main capital of the Forsaken
• following the Lich King's total defeat, Bolvar agrees to send some undead humans and elves to the Forsaken to be free-willed; the Undead Elves get a new subrace of the San'layn
• more Goblin cartels pledge allegiance to the Horde and the Horde gets Goblins
• the Westfall poverty gets significantly worse and the Defias seeks to join the Alteraci and the Forsaken gets a minor foothold in the Deadmines and the Westfall becomes a Battleground for the Alliance(Stormwind) and the Forsaken(Defias)
• the Alliance and Sentinels get a model swap with Highborne (Night Elves) and Gilneans (Humans)
• the Highborne decide to reconnect with the High Elves after being rejected off by the Night Elves and sent away with the threat of getting killed on the spot
• the Alliance and the Forsaken form a truce to invade Gilneas to hold them accountable for their inaction for the Scourge threat, the Night Elves sense the Worgen curse on Gilneas and long story short Genn Greymane pledges allegiance to the Sentinels for their aid, this gives the Sentinels a foothold on the Eastern Kingdoms and this gives Sentinels a Mage and Warlock race, although Gilnean Mages and Warlocks are looked down from Night Elves and Cenarius' Children and cannot buy goods from them
• Cairne Bloodhoof becomes the new Warchief of the Horde following Thralls departure for the Earthen Ring and Thunder Bluff becomes the new main capital of the Horde
• the Wildhammers formally repledge to the Grand Alliance, the Bronzebeards get generalized to "Dwarves" with Wildhammers as a new "subrace" (can be Druid or Shaman but cannot be Paladin)
• the Ogres teach the Orcs and Darkspears about arcane arts and soon after the Darkspears teach their Dark Troll brethren about mages; this allows the Horde to get Mage races; like the Gilnean Mages the Dark Troll mages would also be looked down by the Night Elves and Cenarius' Children
• the Earthen Ring and Cenarion Circle opens up to the Forsaken(Draenei) and the Alliance(Wildhammer Dwarves)

on Mists of Pandaria:

• following Ragnaros' defeat, a civil war breaks out within the Dark Iron Dwarves between the pro-Dwarf reunification and the anti-reunification; this causes a split where one faction led by Moira joins the Alliance and the other faction joins the Forsaken
• Aysa Cloudsinger and the Tushui Pandaren join the Sentinels, and Ji Firepaw and the Huojin Pandaren join the Horde
• although Pandarens are Horde and Sentinel exclusive, certain neutral Pandaren travelers would visit certain Alliance and Forsaken cities to teach about the ways of the monk: the Stormwindians, High Elves, Wildhammers, Highborne, Alteraci, Blood Elves, Draenei, and Dark Irons can become Monks
• the Twilight's Hammer survivors make an alliance with the Dark Horde and they also get many Orc, Amani, Goblin, and Ogre sympathizers from the Horde and then they do the thing with Y'shaarj and Mal'korok takes over Orgrimmar with the help of the conspirators within the Horde and here the Siege of Orgrimmar ensues

on Legion:

• while the four powers were distracted by the Twilight's Hammer and the Cataclysm, several Burning Legion cults and the Cult of the Damned survivors ally with each other and bring the Legion to the world on the other ley lines with the help of the Book of Medivh that was kept by the Cult of the Damned survivors
• Illidan returns to help the world against the Legion, the Forsaken gets a new race called Demon Hunter which has four sub-races: Night Elf, Blood Elf, Fel Orc, and Satyr where the signature Demon Hunter skills get turned into racials
• no such thing as Highmountain, Val'sharah, Stormheim, etc. and Suramar stay sunken and no such thing as Nightborne
• long story short after the adventurers help reclaim the Titan Artifacts from the Burning Legion and their loyalists, their power is also helped to restore the Sunwell, and the Blood Elves and High Elves are finally freed from their addiction and hungering
• following the cleansing of the Emerald Nightmare, the Cenarion Circle takes in the remaining Night Elven Worgen and helps them come back to their senses and thus the Gilneans get generalized into "Worgen" with a new Night Elf subrace
• the Horde helps Zandalar from the Legion threat and the Zandalari join the Horde
• the Alliance helps Kul Tiras from the Legion threat and the Kul Tirans join the Alliance
• after finally slaying Kil'jaeden, Illidan opens up a portal towards the Twisting Nether where the adventurers help him defeat Sargeras and Illidan becomes Sargeras' jailor
• the end

Races at the end:
Alliance: Stormwindian, Dwarf(Bronzebeard, Wildhammer), High Elf, Gnome, Highborne, Dark Iron, Kul Tiran
Horde: Orc, Troll(Amani, Darkspear, Ice Troll), Ogre(Stonemaul, Two-headed, Ogre Magi, Dire Ogre), Tauren, Goblin, Pandaren, Zandalari
Forsaken: Undead Human, Undead Elf(Dark Ranger, San'layn), Alteraci, Blood Elf, Draenei, Dark Iron, Demon Hunter(Night Elf, Blood Elf, Fel Orc, Satyr)
Sentinels: Night Elf, Furbolg(Ashenvale, Polar), Dark Troll, Cenarius' Children, Tuskarr, Worgen(Gilnean, Night Elf), Pandaren

the rest I'm too lazy to say are either would probably still apply the same, or not depending on the circumstances; feedback and criticism are appreciated

[Tealghara]

I don't really understand why you would remove gnomes from the Alliance.

Draenei pre-retcon were butchered by Orcs, so I don't think there's any way they join the Horde.

I think two factions is enough for this game. Gobelins are a great neutral race, the game needs neutral cities for gameplay reasons.
For the same reasons, I think Amani trolls should be part of the Horde. The Horde needs their own version of Theramore, the major Horde city on the other continent.
Night Elves should be in the Horde. NE don't make much sense in the Alliance, they are mainly friends with the Taurens. That would also make a great arc for Orcs and NE becoming pals cleansing northern Kalimdor woods from corruption. Tales of redemption and forgiveness are always great matter to tell stories.
Forsaken should be part of the Alliance. It makes sense rised from the dead would want to join their living families, not fight them by joining the Horde.
Of course High Elves in the Alliance and Ogres in the Horde (there are ogres everywhere but in the Horde wtf ?) for obvious reasons.

That would make Paladins the Alliance class and Druid the Horde class.

If Draenei were to join the Alliance, I can only think of Pandarens joining the Horde.

[Mungho]

Night Elves should be in the Horde. NE don't make much sense in the Alliance, they are mainly friends with the Taurens. That would also make a great arc for Orcs and NE becoming pals cleansing northern Kalimdor woods from corruption. Tales of redemption and forgiveness are always great matter to tell stories.

NE were added to the alliance so the factions would have at least one foothold on the two major continents, which is why I think it would've been better if they focused on Kalimdor first.

[The Stormbringer]

I'm gonna beat the dead horse, but why would High Elves not be available just because Blood Elves exist? We later got Pandaren, so unless you're also wanting to remove the potential of bi-factional playable races altogether... And hell, even in this case, the High Elves would still have some differences from the Pandaren, in that they would presumably have some different cosmetics. And while BEs would get Silvermoon, the HEs would probably just have a built-up super lodge of some variety.

That said, I will actually posit some alternatives, starting with Furbolgs. Furbolgs, I think, were being set up as a potential ally in Vanilla and TBC. It wouldn't be too difficult to expand that into making them a playable race.

On a personal level, I would've loved to see Dragonsworn of some variety. I'm not sure how that would've been done, but they could figure out something.

I'm not sure how much logical sense any other race would make (aside from sub-races/various flavors of pre-existing races) at that point in the timeline beyond those.

EDIT: Oh, and I don't think Gnomes need replacing. Can't really think of any race to replace them with either, aside from HEs.

[Myradin]

The fact that people (I'm not immune to this) seem to have such difficulty with imagining any races in the Alliance outside of the Pick your Human: L, M, S, XS is the wall I'm running up against. Maybe the issue is people assuming: Ally = Good, Horde = Bad, whereas it might be better to view Ally = morally light grey, Horde = morally dark grey (with Forsaken being charcoal) and the alignments are out of convenience beyond Human+Dwarf, Orc+Troll. Even then I'd add some strain between them.

This is a product largely of warcraft's storytelling. The alliance has traditionally been various sizes of human, and it has a generally poor track record getting along with anything that's not. Gnolls and trolls have been rather consistenty enemies, and Furbolgs are more of a night elf thing.

WoW lore suggests this is partially an extension of these human-like races, save elves, all being descendants of the titanforged.

Admittedly it also sort of comes to the strange nature of whats considered 'the right thing to do' in WoW. As apparently slaughtering gnolls, non-horde trolls, kobolds, murlocs, etc is fine, but one must be considerate and thoughtful towards the Horde races.

[Mic_128]

Gnolls and Furbolgs don't really fit Alliance aesthetics. They'd easily fit the Horde, though.

For the Alliance, I'd retcon the Centaurs so that you have a chivalrous tribe of them (maybe have that tribe located in the EK if you want), with the cannibal tribe that hunted Cairne being the exception to the rule. Would fit right into the Alliance's classical aesthetics.

Sorry, but what is that gif from?

[Tealghara]

NE were added to the alliance so the factions would have at least one foothold on the two major continents, which is why I think it would've been better if they focused on Kalimdor first.

That's the reason, I suggest adding Amani trolls in the Horde, so the Horde can have a footholds on The Eastern Kingdoms. Amani trolls + neutral Gobelins towns should be enough. Same as Theramore and neutral towns in Kalimdor for the Alliance

I'm not sure how to feel about a focus on Kalimdor in the first place. Most Alliance races have very little interests in Kalimdor. Sure there's the Theramore, but gnomes or dwarves doesn't share anything there.
If you consider building a story between the Night Elves and Theramore but it's weird, since the Humans are very little concerned with the forest corruption.

I fully agree, Alliance presence in Kalimdor is very poor and not well introduced. Theramore should be way more important. In my opinion, the Dwarves thirst for archeology should also be more important. Create links with the Gobelins. Dwarves trying to find the mysteries of UnGoro, Uldum, Feralas and maybe triggering some Silithids secrets.

I think that would be a nice way to put the Alliance in Kalimdor, without forcing the NE in the Alliance. Those buggers messing with the lands, would also be a nice way to introduce frictions between the Alliance and the Horde.

[Yooginava182]

High elves, of course. They were a not-insignificant part of the 'human' roster back in Waecraft 3 (priest and sorceress, then later blood mage and spellbreaker).

Yes, I know you "banned" the high elves as a valid option in your OP, but considering you didn't give a single reason (much less a valid one) as to why they should not be allowed or even why we should abide by this exclusion, this just feels like arbitrary ruling which I am not feeling compelled to follow.

So, yeah, my vote goes for the high elves.

Imagine re-joining the forces that spit on you when you asked for and needed the most help. Especially after being ordered around to help that same force, just to be thrown into jail, set for execution simply for allying with the naga ( which were a huge reason why kael was able to complete his mission in the first place ).

[Ielenia]

Imagine re-joining the forces that spit on you when you asked for and needed the most help.

Except that isn't exactly what happened? Garithos was never "the Alliance". The Alliance in itself was in shambles and scattered.