Is there anyway to get races to have unique cultures again?

[Celement]

It's hard to see past the first few expansions anymore it kind of feels like every race became the same renaissance village as of late though.

Every defining attribute of the races like trolls being savage, draenai religious zealots, forsaken broken and evil and orcs blood thirsty has slowly been worked out of the game.

Is there anyway to get any of that back at this point?

[Derpules]

If so many people didn't skip quest text I'd say do custom texts for whatever race the player is. It's a minor thing, but flavor and backstory helps.

[Varodoc]

The Forsaken and Orcs were evil monsters for the vast majority of WoW, that's true. But why would you want to return to that? Now that they are led by a Council of peace, they can begin their journey of atonement for their countless crimes. It seems like a devolution to want to return to the dark times (Classic-8.2.5) when Forsaken and Orcs were unhinged murderers.

If anything, it's the Alliance that needs far more work and attention. As it stands now, the Horde is pretty much in the best spot it's ever been. United and on the path to redemption. Meanwhile, the Alliance still has this "High King" position that doesn't really make a lot of sense, for an... alliance. Furthermore, Alliance races like the Draenei and Night elves never had a traditional concept of "King" like humans do (especially since the Alliance NEs are those who OPPOSED Queen Azshara), so it's strange that they acknowledge this position.

[DatToffer]

The heritage armor quests are a good step, since they dive into what makes each race unique and sometimes bring progress to their story.

But yeah, if we want to go back to a Horde of unapologetic monsters or a Horde with good reasons to fight, all we need is to stop having characters ready to compromise. Anduin was written to be the ultimate likeable goody two shoes, so it's hard with him to not break the cycle of hatred that brings the extreme in each race involved.

But we don't really need those extremes (bloodthirsty orcs, evil forsaken and draenei zealot) to make cultures unique. What we need is depth and variety, not just one impactful archetype. A whole cultural spectrum of what defines the race, wrapped around that impactful archetype, with friction points where this archetype is questioned.

[Pakheth]

It's a minor thing but I want the different races to have unique cast animations and such again. All races now move and animate the same and I loathe it. Removed the little flavor the different animations had.

[b1gh3x]

There are just too many races now and the distinctions are harder to manage.

[username993720]

Bring back Life Quests:

"During the development of World of Warcraft, each playable race was originally planned to have an epic life quest which told the story of that race. As they started implementing these life quests, however, the designers increasingly found that they felt canned rather than cool and individual since they gave the same backstory to every player character of a particular race. The designers ultimately steered in the direction of simply making epic high-level questlines with stories based around the NPCs, rather than trying to tell players what their character's life story is. A similar idea was eventually implemented with the introduction of heritage armor quests in Battle for Azeroth."

"Life quests were a type of epic race-specific questlines which were planned to be included in the original World of Warcraft. Each life quest told the story of its respective race and what their purpose in the world is, often continuing the story set up in the "smaller" regular quests. For example, the undead life quest revolved around their effort to develop a new plague and would have involved rescuing the undead player character's father from captivity, while the orc life quest would give players a taste of the demonic influence from their past and force them to combat it.

Blizzard planned to implement life quests after they had finished adding all of the game's regular quests. However, while life quests were intended to feel cool and individual, the developers increasingly found that they instead started feeling overly canned since they gave the same backstory to every player character of a particular race. The designers ended up steering in the direction of simply making epic high-level questlines with stories based around the NPCs (such as the Darrowshire questline or the Horde Onyxia's Lair attunement) rather than trying to tell players what their character's life story is."

[Houle]

The Forsaken and Orcs were evil monsters for the vast majority of WoW, that's true. But why would you want to return to that? Now that they are led by a Council of peace, they can begin their journey of atonement for their countless crimes. It seems like a devolution to want to return to the dark times (Classic-8.2.5) when Forsaken and Orcs were unhinged murderers.

If anything, it's the Alliance that needs far more work and attention. As it stands now, the Horde is pretty much in the best spot it's ever been. United and on the path to redemption. Meanwhile, the Alliance still has this "High King" position that doesn't really make a lot of sense, for an... alliance. Furthermore, Alliance races like the Draenei and Night elves never had a traditional concept of "King" like humans do (especially since the Alliance NEs are those who OPPOSED Queen Azshara), so it's strange that they acknowledge this position.

so, in other words, you completely missed OPs point.
when youre playing an orc, youre playing an ORC. they are not supposed to act like humans, they are not supposed to have the same values or morales as humans, and they are sure af not supposed to have the same culture as humans.
making everyone a goody two-shoes (by human standards) is the most boring thing that can happen in a fantasy story like WoW.
in other words, the horde is in the absolute worst spot its ever been currently, cause its not the horde anymore. its the red alliance.

[cparle87]

The Forsaken and Orcs were evil monsters for the vast majority of WoW, that's true. But why would you want to return to that? Now that they are led by a Council of peace, they can begin their journey of atonement for their countless crimes. It seems like a devolution to want to return to the dark times (Classic-8.2.5) when Forsaken and Orcs were unhinged murderers.

If anything, it's the Alliance that needs far more work and attention. As it stands now, the Horde is pretty much in the best spot it's ever been. United and on the path to redemption. Meanwhile, the Alliance still has this "High King" position that doesn't really make a lot of sense, for an... alliance. Furthermore, Alliance races like the Draenei and Night elves never had a traditional concept of "King" like humans do (especially since the Alliance NEs are those who OPPOSED Queen Azshara), so it's strange that they acknowledge this position.

WC1 and 2 were the vast majority of WoW?

[Woggmer]

so, in other words, you completely missed OPs point.
when youre playing an orc, youre playing an ORC. they are not supposed to act like humans, they are not supposed to have the same values or morales as humans, and they are sure af not supposed to have the same culture as humans.
making everyone a goody two-shoes (by human standards) is the most boring thing that can happen in a fantasy story like WoW.
in other words, the horde is in the absolute worst spot its ever been currently, cause its not the horde anymore. its the red alliance.

The Horde is showing signs of progress because they at least are showing they're trying to survive... The whole point of Thrall's story and the Horde was that they're trying to survive in a world that pretty much hates them or shown no compassion to them but their own. They don't have anyone to start a conflict with the Alliance anymore aside from maybe the Mag'har leader and Talanji for the Alliance killing Rastakhan.

The Alliance on the other hand has been the same, there hasn't been any sign of corruption. Heck, even the Nobility of Stormwind (the actual corrupt part about the Humans) is never mentioned. The Dark Irons have a splinter group of radicals wanting to oppose Moira and denounce her as the Queen of the Dark Irons.. The Night Elves don't have anyone corrupt in their faction aside from maybe the Night Warriors and Satyrs.. but nobody cares about them anymore. Gnomes don't have anything aside from Leper Gnomes, but even then that story is over and done with. Worgen don't have anyone aside from maybe their own curse starting to affect their minds now.

If the Horde is gonna be Goody-Two-Shoes... then do the reverse on the Alliance and show signs of conflict and distrust in their own ranks. Have the Alliance be the one to start the next major conflict.. It's always been the Horde who does it, Garrosh did it, Sylvanas did it. Players want to see the Alliance be the Aggressor not the Victim.

And they can do just that since Anduin isn't King anymore. Turalyon can be the one to sow discourse in the Alliance.

[Feanoro]

The Forsaken and Orcs were evil monsters for the vast majority of WoW, that's true.

It's particularly a shame for Orcs, because WC was the one franchise that tried to make them something beyond evil killing machines.


To get the races to have unique cultures, you need writers that aren't lazy, taking the easy way out with "Humans and Pals" and "Orcs and Pals".

[Varodoc]

It's particularly a shame for Orcs, because WC was the one franchise that tried to make them something beyond evil killing machines.


To get the races to have unique cultures, you need writers that aren't lazy, taking the easy way out with "Humans and Pals" and "Orcs and Pals".

Well, when you think about it, WoD gave us the ultimate confirmation that orcs are inherently evil.

WoD reveals that orcs DID NOT NEED Demon blood to become conquering genocidal maniacs.

Orcs are inherently evil. I am sure that there are some exceptions (Thrall was raised by a human btw, the most noble and pure orc in the franchise was raised by a human btw), but in the end we have seen what the vast majority of their race is capable of, without any meddling from the Legion.

[Feanoro]

Well, when you think about it, WoD gave us the ultimate confirmation that orcs are inherently evil.

WoD reveals that orcs DID NOT NEED Demon blood to become conquering genocidal maniacs.

Orcs are inherently evil. I am sure that there are some exceptions (Thrall was raised by a human btw, the most noble and pure orc in the franchise was raised by a human btw), but in the end we have seen what the vast majority of their race is capable of, without any meddling from the Legion.

Exactly. The justification in WC3 of demonic possession was a retcon from WC1 and 2, and rather weakly done, but at least the Orcs weren't simply the now cliched evil killing machines, but something a bit original. Later, especially in WoD, that was thrown out the window, largely from fans of the Old Horde demanding it. The irony is that the writers suffer from "if I write evil characters and don't virtue signal, I'm a bad person" so those fans got to watch the big names of the Old Horde get slaughtered.

[username993720]

so, in other words, you completely missed OPs point.
when youre playing an orc, youre playing an ORC. they are not supposed to act like humans, they are not supposed to have the same values or morales as humans, and they are sure af not supposed to have the same culture as humans.
making everyone a goody two-shoes (by human standards) is the most boring thing that can happen in a fantasy story like WoW.
in other words, the horde is in the absolute worst spot its ever been currently, cause its not the horde anymore. its the red alliance.

Couldn't have said it any better.
They are going in the direction of disney-fying the Horde.

[druchii5]

As an Orc player who really enjoyed their story and "redemption" arc in Warcraft 3 back in the day, I would just really like to play out the character fantasy of the "noble savage", which is the vibe I got from that campaign. I'm fine having the race commit questionable acts (most races have at this point), but I would also just like to explore their non-human code of honor and how it shapes their current culture through a somewhat relatable lens. I don't want to play a character whose race is constantly pigeon-holed into being bloodthirsty evil.

*Shrug* I'm just a Warcraft 3 fanboy who loved the worldbuilding it provided for Orcs/Tauren/Trolls.

[Tarba]

In the grand plan, there is only Anduin.
Blue Anduin, green Anduin, dead Anduin, cow Anduin...

All things different than Anduin shall be made Anduin.

And do not forget, writers are retards.

[Nymrohd]

Give us a revamp and use it for world building instead of as a soap opera background. Reading that somechanges announcement for Wrath, "The World is the Protagonist" was just painful to see. Because it used to be true. From Cata on when the Thrall soap opera started to then move to Garrosh, Jaina, Anduin, Sylvanas, Saurfang and Tyrande, the game is no longer about the World but about a small roster of characters.
Do a revamp that focuses on the world and builds upon it, telling stories of the land and of the people in it instead of stories for specific characters. Use these to build back the cultures of the races in WoW.

[Leodok]

Is there anyway to get any of that back at this point?

It's actually incredibly easy! A single zone or longer questline, or alternatively a simple pattern of showing X or Y aspects of a race when they show up, can easily define of redefine a race or other groups and organizations in wow. Think of how Legion treated the Death Knights, or how Spires of Arak reinvented the Arakkoa.

Will we get that in the near future? Less likely, as the whole loss of identity of some races happened with the same team that's writing the lore now.

I do dislike some of the descriptions you've given, though. Forsaken shouldn't be full evil, or orcs these "kill everything" machines. I think the way Blizzard has races like them as the first choice for the "Oh no! Some of our allies have gone evil and must be put down!" storyline is one of the bigger problems with wow lore in general.

What would work best for me would be if they allowed each race to be morally complex (is the wording "morally grey" acceptable yet?) in their own unique ways, their actions often being something you can criticize, but also most often something you can get behind. The Anduin-led humans of Stormwind can have a desire for world peace that leads them to military interventions which would be unnecessary, and can sometimes be manipulated by other people in the Alliance or even third parties. The orcs may have clearly just reasons for war, but dismiss reasonable compromises in favor of glorious conquest. Forsaken can commit war crimes in their desperate attempt to survive after all their losses, in the face of a vengeful world. Tauren can give their enemies ten opportunities of stopping hostilities, but will crush them at the eleventh and show only as much mercy as they had been shown.

And all of these would be easy to do with those simple measures I mentioned before.
A new race will get into the Horde? Have an Alliance intervention be the main reason.
An orcish village is threatened by some mobs in the 11.0 expansion? They retaliate so hard that a neutral faction has to come in to stop them.
Something's going on in Lordaeron? Show a single fort of Forsaken break a powerful Alliance siege through blight, necromancy and shadow demons or something of that sort.
The Barrens are relevant again? Have Baine actually do something major once in his life.

And once it is established, it's not hard to just have a quick reminder here and there, maybe one, two expansions after.

[Loreth88]

Sad thing is they shrink Azeroth to two faction hub mainly, just like Garrossh want red kalimdor blue EK. Why we need that, why not let the world of many races outside of the to faction rule some of it and be a threat to the playable races. They killed the kentaurs the main enemy of the taurens etc. delete everything instant not let them exist someway, give to much immortal power to the playable races so everything else become grey mobs etc. So nothing matter now just the huge main enemy, the normal rpg elements are killed with that. Let the factions be mortal again not fight with everything and everyone and a main villain to in every expansion. Show the every day struggle of the races to build and maintain armys for defense and attack, to not just fight the big enemy but defend the borders of your home and faction borders to. The struggle to keep feed your ppl etc. so many way to show the races unique throuth the struggle of the every day life, you are play as an adventurer of your race and your faction not a superhero of the univers.

[Super Dickmann]

No, for two reasons. Firstly because many of the writing staff have no theory of mind and are afraid that if they depict any perspective outside their own even for the purposes of fantasy writing based solely on conflict they're bad people. Hence all races must be the same in all regards except the cosmetic. Secondly because even when they're able to do it and go through with it, they will be cannibalized by the beast they fed like with Exploring Kalimdor's asides on Memeboi's literacy and his dislike of goblins and their effect on the environment.