The reason behind the so far non-reveal of Alliances next allied race...

[Evangeliste]

Neutrality solves a lot of the issues with popular races... the Pandaren are neutral, the Blood Elves should have been neutral, the Nightborne should have been neutral, etc.

Human and Blood Elf have been popular before Pandaren were neutral. Not sure how it solves it, popularity comes regardless of faction.

[EbaumsTipster]

It does because im talking X you were talking Y.
In-Depth customization =Shades of black.
Mag'har orcs are basically 4 alied races for the price of one.

Only if you think race culture is more important than customization. While some people like Mag'har Orcs and High Elves for their culture and lore significance, others think they are stupid for being color swapped orcs and Blood Elves with blue eyes.

Unfortunately, lore significance fans are not as profitable as "they look cool" fans.

[Immitis]

This is easily the dumbest reply I have ever received on these forums. Wow.

kul'tiran - unique model, bodytype, animations, hair styles and facial geometry etc

lightforged - some beards and tattoos

OH MY FUCKIN GAD THEYRE JUST FAT HUMANS.

[Evangeliste]

Yeah, I'm familiar with the TBC stuff related to them. Can't rmember the Ratchet stuff, but oh well.

They simply feel out of place as a playable race in a Warcraft universe. I have a hard time imagining a Pandaren fighting for the Horde or the Alliance, but then again I know that many(which is still a few on the global scale and when compared to other races) will play them and that many can.

Here's a video I dug up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=028qkDLiyp4

It's kinda funny to see it there but, he mentions Pandaria in them at 0.28, specifically saying "For Pandaria". This dude appeared in Reign of Chaos/Frozen Throne which is back in 2002. So you may feel it's hard to place, it really isn't.

Also.
"Pandaren wanderers are very rare, but the deeds of a few are recorded in recent times. One brave soul that spirited his way into the annals of Azerothian history was the brewmaster Chen Stormstout. After a chance meeting with the half-ogre Rexxar, Chen helped Rexxar, Rokhan and Thrall found the new orcish homeland of Durotar. Never one to stay put for long, Chen moved on, always seeking new ingredients for the perfect brew."
This is from Blizzcon when they revealed Pandaria. Again a place mentioned back in Reign of Chaos, this Blizzcon must have been about 2012?

With the actual canon snippet mentioned above, it makes sense with the Orc being a Brewmaster as the quest giver, Ratchet is pretty close to a travelling sight and Barrens so being in Durotan and such, it's really a no-brainer. It's on WoWhead, http://www.wowhead.com/quest=819/chens-empty-keg and it got removed during the Cataclysm quest overhaul. And really his aid to the Horde would if anything make him an asset to the Horde with his help to it. I mean after all, you had the Mogu as well which was shown to ally with Zandalari Trolls, more references to the Horde.
And really, this secret Empire was always hinted at, never expanded so they had free game on who and what this Empire was. Whether Pandaren's or someone elses.

Alternaitvely though, there was some lore within the RPG as well, though not canon per say, the lore itself provides insight and sBlizzard at least expanding further on things lightly touched on (which they always tend to do), at least, they had actual plans for the race unlike others that have appeared before such as potentially Highmountain.
"The pandaren are an independent race and any encountered outside the Barrens are wanderers and travelers, belonging to no affiliation. Their outlook meshes well with the Alliance, and most pandaren in Kalimdor are found in the company of Alliance races."
That said, that works well with their agenda with being an Alliance race...

And if you wanna get even more radical. If you go to Elven areas especially in places like Feralas you can see those pyramid things that with really bad textures have references to Pandas. They sorta remind me of Pagodas... And really if you look at the Elven archways and generally their roofing, it's very much like the Eastern. Pandaren influence perhaps? ^_^.





All in all, they really actually had a lot to play with and to choose a side which is probably ultimately why they went for neutrality because the reality is, Pandaren never chose a side and aided them both in the long run. It also explains why Monk can be pretty ANY race, that neutrality extends to everyone even if they relatively players believe they shouldn't be. Logically, they would never turn someone away.

[cfStatic]

Lightforged Draenei: They're just glowy goats
Void Elves: They're just shadowy hentai elves
Dark Iron: They're just dorfs.
Mag'har Orcs: They're just brown orcs
Nightborne: They're just arcane night elves
Kul'tiran:

OH MY FUCKIN GAD THEYRE JUST FAT HUMANS.

Now you're getting it!

I had entirely too much fun typing this up.

[Sting]

It's obviously the Kul Tiras humans. "Main races" Orc and Human getting allied races at the same time makes sense too.

[In Ogres We Trust]

Alliance doesn't need a draenor race, and imo Saberon are fairly boring. Let alone the fact that their model is not very interesting to begin with, and that it does not include one for female characters. And why would they join the Alliance to begin with? I guess Blizzard could make up a reason, but why? Way too many obstacles for a fairly uninteresting race, imo.

Arakkoa on the other hand are very interesting, but it's not 'on par with Zandalari'. Arakkoa do not have gender specific models -- which they would certainly have before becoming a playable race -- and unlike Zandalari who use male night elf and troll animations mixed together, Arakkoa use unique animations. It would be an extremely sloppy job trying to make Arakkoa shoehorned into some other random races' animations.

I really would like to see Arakkoa as a playable race, but it's just not realistic. It's not even remotely 'on par' with Zandalari.

Since they have two options, the Arakkoa would be a good option as a neutral Allied Race.

- - - Updated - - -

The reason that we are getting Kul Tirans over a mashup of the Alliance kingdoms is because Blizzard is, one by one, making each Human kingdom visually and culturally distinctive. Call it Flanderization, but in Vanilla and the Warcraft games the human kingdoms were all fairly bogstandard medieval kingdoms with some color variations. Loradaeron citizens and Stormwind citizens were nigh-identical, Kul Tirans were just green themed soldiers with ships.

Flash forward to today. The Lordaeron people, now identified as Forsaken, have Tim Burton gothic architecture that has only grown in theming over the years. More casual players know them and their connection to Lordaeron than regular humans. Gilneans have morphed from strangely exotic looking soldiers to a completely separate overhaul, with stained glass and heavy british themeing.

Kul Tiras now is less "those guys with ships" to straight up ridiculous naval theming. They wear anchors on their clothing, sleep in beds made out of steering wheels and live in houses made of boats. They are clearly visually distinctive from how they used to be. They still have the green color but their culture is now very very different looking from how it used to be. Blizzard is slowly going through the human kingdoms and, one by one, making them culturally colorful for different players. If you want to be a swashbuckling brute you now don't have to just be a Stormwind human with a pirate hat.

The other kingdoms like Alterac and Arathor are not nearly as known by the casual playerbase and haven't really been touched on by Blizzard in a while but as soon as they become extremely prominent again I assure you they will look VERY different from how they have in the past. When that happens you can expect to see them as a possible playable race.

I can't see them giving the humans another Allied Race. The option has some logic behind it, but I would prefer the amalgamation approach that mirrors the Draenor clans.

[Letdown]

Dark Iron Dwarves are the answer to the Mag'har. "yay more humans" is just more stupid alliance entitlement. Yay more orcs, yay more tauren, yay more trolls for the Horde? Like wut?

C'mon alliance.

[Mirishka]

Jinyu or bust. Wanted them for Alliance since Pandaria.

Agreed, I'd love Jinyu. Also hoping for Vrykul (or the KT humans, they look pretty wild) and mechagnomes.

[Zigrifid]

May i say something crazy?? what if the next allied race for alliance has something to do with dragonkins?
In Battle for Azeroth Wrathlion is a part of the alliance council. Just saying !

[ZazuuPriest]

wildhammer dwarves

/thread

[Lex Icon]

i just find it funny that from what we know allied races are nothing more than "fancy" skins for existing models. but somehow we got people talking about ogres,vulpera,sethrak and the likes as potential new ones.

[Drewbacca]

I like how the OP includes a lot of assumptions as facts. First of all, a “meh” attitude on these forums for Kul’Tirans does not imply a lukewarm reception overall. This forum is far from an accurate representation of the greater WoW community. Second, there’s nothing to imply that Void Elves were done solely to avoid introducing High Elves. A couple players may think that, but Blizzard hasn’t said that at all. Third, nowhere does it say that released Allied Races need to be paired. Just because you have one with a certain theme, it doesn’t mean that the other one will be similar on the opposing faction. Fourth, Allied Races do not have to be based off of a current race. That was subraces, something similar but very different. Yes, most of the current Allied Races are set up like that, but that doesn’t mean this will be permanent.

In the end, the only Allied Races we know 100% are the original six. Mag’har orcs are quickly approaching that number though. There’s been nothing to indicate Vulpera, Sethrak, and Kul’tirans are ever going to be allied races. You might have suspicions, but they are merely guesses until something is datamined... and even then it’s not confirmed. Personally, I’d like to see some of the older races get added before we add in more races that will be new this expansion. Furbolgs, Forest Trolls, Broken, Mok’nathal, Frostborne, Taunka, Wildhammer, Dragonmaw, Jinyu, Hozen, Arrakoa, and Ogres, to name a few, are all higher on my priority list than fox/snake people. Let’s add in some Ethereals as a neutral race just for giggles too.

[slime]

Whatever it is will be so ridiculously awesome that all the horde players would bitch and bitch until release. So, Blizz waiting until release to tell us and the horde will be too busy playing the new xpac to really bitch.. then about 1/2 way through they will start with .. hey, why'd the alliance get such an awesome new race and horde go another kinda orc?!

[Heladys]

Dark Iron Dwarves are the answer to the Mag'har. "yay more humans" is just more stupid alliance entitlement. Yay more orcs, yay more tauren, yay more trolls for the Horde? Like wut?

C'mon alliance.

Slight difference: Horde have been crying for upright orcs forever. Alliance hasn't ever asked for fat or skinny humans.

[Vonazak]

Its just easier for Blizzard to add new races for the Horde, as this faction its less racist and welcoming to foreign races.

But for the alliance i can see them getting, the Jinyu, the Vykrul, and the Forstborn, yeah, they are just reskins but hey!, thats what you can get.

[Queen of Hamsters]

I will never understand the boner people have for High Elves. We have some purple voidy ones. They're the same elves that were high elves.

And I for one think they're way more interesting from a visual standpoint than what the High Elves would've been. :3
In fact, Void Elves makes me jealous, seeing the new hairstyles...

[vertigo12]

THe last alliance allied race would probably Blizz's Wild card to complete the final packaging of BfA.

Timbermaw Hold is nearby and is just as old reputable group which is up par to Zandalari back in Vanilla.

[Deleted]

This topic was mainly meant to spark discussion on why Blizzard is taking its sweet time in announcing the fourth Allied race for Alliance, I mean Horde was announced on the day of the pre-order with the Q&A.

Now with the Kul'tiran humans I literally have no problem with the male design. They have the classic 'carnival strongman' build that you see on Olympic weight lifters and high level competition strength contest participants (seriously go look at an episode of Worlds Strongest Man and you'll see most of them with that build).

It is the female I have a problem with. Currently (I know, I know, bring on the accusations of body shaming and the like) it just looks...well...fat. Having seen the Male first I was sort of hoping we'd get a similar style build for the women, Muscular with a bit of a chunk to them, something closer to a female weightlifter (while most are nowhere near as bulky as the guys, they still have very well defined muscles and are clearly have a lot of core strength).

So far that has been the thing that turns me off them. I think the people calling the males fat need to take a look at Strongmen but I can't really dispute that for the female model. I think thinning out the face, upping the muscle definition on the arms and legs while keeping the stomach would go a long way to making the female Kul'tiran as an equal to the male.

While the reception hasn't been as 'meh' as I made it out to be originally, there hasn't been the massive buzz of excitement that followed the announcement of the AU Orc clans being a playable option. Heck the Kul'tirans haven't even been confirmed as playable yet, which does make me kind of wonder whether Blizzard are considering fan reaction to various races or whether it is just that a lot of the Horde stuff seemed to be much easier to finish.

I will agree with the poster who mentions how it is much easier to add races to the horde than the Alliance. The Horde have wanted Maghar Orcs since at least TBC and Zandalari since they were introduced with Zul'gurub. Meanwhile the only big want on the alliance side was High Elves which they didn't get, instead they got Void Elves who sort of appeared out of nowhere instead of having the long history that the High Elves had. Infact all but the Dark Iron were introduced in Legion. I never saw people asking specifically for Lightforged Draenei as their own entity, just that the horns and hair/facial hair options be made available as baseline customisation for their race, the same with High Mountain Tauren and their antlers/war paint.

That is what I mean by having very limited choices when it comes to obvious picks when it comes to the Alliance. The recent addition of Void Elves means they're not going to be adding High Elves any time soon, the same for the Wildhammer Dwarves since they bought in Dark Iron (though with the news that Dark Iron are getting Shaman as an option...surely it would have made more sense to have done like the AU Orcs and simply label the option as 'Dwarf Clans' allowing players to pick from either Wildhammer or Dark Iron? More work from a story and intro scenario prospective yes admittedly).

[Deleted]

Its just easier for Blizzard to add new races for the Horde, as this faction its less racist and welcoming to foreign races.

But for the alliance i can see them getting, the Jinyu, the Vykrul, and the Forstborn, yeah, they are just reskins but hey!, thats what you can get.

I tire of the BS on these boards all the time. The horde is by far more racist than the alliance. Just cause they don't care if you are a junkie, it doesn't mean they respect you. Goblins are rats. Forsaken just use the other races. Orcs and tauren find the others beneath them.

In the aliance you got night elves being pissy sometimes, but that is all.


Besides, what you said is obviously not true. Theres countless races that can join the Alliance. Even Orcs themselves could have joined given the respect between Anduin and Saurfang. It was a high possibility for quite a bit. The only barrier were the countless crying horde fans.