Choose the next Alliance race.

[Deleted]

I doubt it would be any of them.

Arrakoa? These for me are the most "probable" since they are Outlandish, and its possible (even probably imo) that next exp will be Burning Legion based, and the arakkoa are outlandish. (While the next exp might be legion based, i doubt we will be going back to Outland though. Rather a new place than a revanped Outland imo.)

They would however imo be limited with class choices, and they are a bit too bestial and uncivilized to be a playable race, imho.

Etheals: Armor problems. Ethereals are what their name implies. ETHEREAL. Not really solid Hard to get armor on them.

High elves: Too similar to blood elves.

Naga: What? Naga are, unlike the arrakoa, ALL EVIL, no i just dont believe in a good naga faction. And of course the obvious armor and animation problems. Cmon, they are serpentine. NO LEGS. How would they even ride. Speaking of riding, arakkoa on mounts let alone flying mounts would be strange, strange sight.

So i think the options are quite flawed. If there is going to be a new race, it is more likely to be someting new and more humanoid than this, like the Pandaren were. Also, i have the same opinion on Ogres for Horde. Ugh. Just no.

[Redmage]

I think ethereals would make a good neutral race.

About naga, the no legs really does cause a lot of problems but I had an interesting idea:

The naga used to be elves, twisted into what they are now by the well of eternity exploding (its been implied that the old gods may have also been involved in their mutation).

So what if a group of naga were able to mostly reverse the mutation? Through some titan relic perhaps? Making them more 'human' but still retaining some of their serpentine qualities resulting in a race of "water elves".

I don't see the horde getting ogres as an "if" but a "when", blizzard recently admitted that ogres were almost the horde race in TBC, they even went so far as to internally design some concepts for female ogres before they ultimately went with blood elves. When the time is right they will dust off that idea again... especially since you hardly have to even write any lore for it, several tribes of ogres are already friendly to the horde.

[siegemaster]

Jinyu would trump them all

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

I doubt it would be any of them.

Arrakoa? These for me are the most "probable" since they are Outlandish, and its possible (even probably imo) that next exp will be Burning Legion based, and the arakkoa are outlandish. (While the next exp might be legion based, i doubt we will be going back to Outland though. Rather a new place than a revanped Outland imo.)

They would however imo be limited with class choices, and they are a bit too bestial and uncivilized to be a playable race, imho.

Etheals: Armor problems. Ethereals are what their name implies. ETHEREAL. Not really solid Hard to get armor on them.

High elves: Too similar to blood elves.

Naga: What? Naga are, unlike the arrakoa, ALL EVIL, no i just dont believe in a good naga faction. And of course the obvious armor and animation problems. Cmon, they are serpentine. NO LEGS. How would they even ride. Speaking of riding, arakkoa on mounts let alone flying mounts would be strange, strange sight.

So i think the options are quite flawed. If there is going to be a new race, it is more likely to be someting new and more humanoid than this, like the Pandaren were. Also, i have the same opinion on Ogres for Horde. Ugh. Just no.

I think Ogre is inevitable, as it's the last race that's part of the Horde in the RTSes that isn't playable.

The Alliance is in a stickier location. Really all their race options have been exhausted. They'd probably have to go with something from WoW, like the Jinyu.

[Redmage]

I think Ogre is inevitable, as it's the last race that's part of the Horde in the RTSes that isn't playable.

The Alliance is in a stickier location. Really all their race options have been exhausted. They'd probably have to go with something from WoW, like the Jinyu.

As long as Hozen are never spoken of again after MoP, they are the jar-jar binks of warcraft to me. The day they become playable is the day I burn all my blizzard merchandise.

[Deleted]

As long as Hozen are never spoken of again after MoP, they are the jar-jar binks of warcraft to me. The day they become playable is the day I burn all my blizzard merchandise.

You said the same about pandaren.

[Deleted]

They would however imo be limited with class choices, and they are a bit too bestial and uncivilized to be a playable race, imho.

Arakkoa? Uncivilized?! BLASPHEME! First of all they're actually quite intelligent. Second of all, having an ancient civilization (which fell apart though), hints of Old God worship, powerful magics and demigods (Anzu), they're almost like Outland equivalent of trolls (excluding the Old God worship). I like to speculate that they were Draenor's former dominant species, like trolls were on Azeroth.

On topic, I'd choose arakkoa for Alliance, as they almost certainly harbor hatred towards orcs because they most likely were killing their kind in their bloodlust like they did draenei.

Ethereals, in my opinion, would work waaay better as a neutral race, because their entire race is almost entirely neutral in the first place, so it sort of fits.

[Deleted]

I dearly want to be a High Elf. No, not a Blood Elf, but a true High Elf! They make the most sense lore-wise, though it would be challenging to make them seem interesting to play.

[Talen]

I think Ogre is inevitable, as it's the last race that's part of the Horde in the RTSes that isn't playable.

The Alliance is in a stickier location. Really all their race options have been exhausted. They'd probably have to go with something from WoW, like the Jinyu.

I disagree.

I do think the Ogres are almost inevitable. They are the last Horde holdout from the RTS games. There doesn't seem to be the same level of excitement about them as there would be for some other races, but some players will love them. And the two head gimmick could be fun.

There are other races that would suit the Horde so I wouldn't say they would be 100% guaranteed.

The other problem is that their Alliance counterpart are High Elves and there you run into the issue of the Blood Elfs. Can you finish off the Horde roster from the RTS games and still leave the Alliance with a gap? Plus, the HElfs already exist as BElfs so complaints about a recycled race would definitely be made, with some justification.


The Alliance is in sticker situation only so far as HElfs are concerned. HElfs would be a recycled race, and one whose story and lore progression has already been told. There is more to come, to be sure, but the fact is that the BElfs are already in game. One could redo the model so it is different from BElfs, but you'll then end up with players asking for the other model as they are the same race.....unless you went with an explannation such as the BElfs current skinny look is a result of their corruption while the Alliance HElfs who resisted it get the Nozdormu model.

Alternatively, you could do something way off base by incorporating BOTH a new race and a recycled race for each faction. With this scenario, you'd need a new race for the Alliance (Horde get Ogres) and a recycled Alliance race for the Horde (Alliance get HElfs). That way you would get the RTS races finalised and bring in a new race for each side. You would need to decide which races though; without twisting lore too much the only Alliance race that seems viable to give the Horde would be the Highborne Night Elfs - a faction who went to Silvermoon instead of Darnassus. Of course, other stories can be told for other races. For the Alliance, there would be several options - Drakonid, Ethereal, Vrykul, Arakkoa, Jinyu and Naga being most prominent.

Drakonid? Doable. Not great candidates for neutrality given the Horde history with the Dragonflights. Drakonid MIGHT, however, be an acceptable system for end game progression.
Ethereal? There are a number of Ethereal factions so finding one to turn Alliance won't be difficult. Ethereals would also work as a neutral race available to both or havign one joining the Horde. I do think that faction diversity SHOULD make such neutral races an exception. Players also tend to see Ethereal as very similar to goblins in outlook; shady and money grabbing. While that isn't universal, it is a very minor check mark against Horde Ethereal.
Vrykul? Detailed, liked by many. They are, however, "human".
Arakkoa? Doable. They've worked with the Alliance before and there is a batch turned to the light. The Apexis may also offer a pathway for Arakkoa membership of the Alliance. Or perhaps Horde.
The Jinyu, like the HElfs are already associated. They just aren't playable. They share a NElf skeleton so again, there would be issues of distinctiveness.
And the Naga. Distinctive. Worthy of a faction in and of themselves. Issues with mounting may preclude their adoption as a players race - and if it didn't, Keepers and Dryads may be better candidates for the Alliance

EJL

[logintime]

Furbolg. They're the last really plausible race in my view left out there (other than Ogres), and they're a perfect fit with the Alliance. And god knows Furbolgs could use a model update as well.

[Lynneiah]

As long as Hozen are never spoken of again after MoP, they are the jar-jar binks of warcraft to me. The day they become playable is the day I burn all my blizzard merchandise.

Goldtooth says you no take candle.