Allied Races for 8.2 and beyond

[Shuya1]

Maybe it's just not for you or your playstyle. Plenty of us like the system, leveling, rp, alts, etc. And I haven't personally bought race changes, it isn't mandatory or necessary, so I don't fault them for making money from those who do take the *option* of race changing.

Yup, and I'm one of those people! Bring on the allied races!

[Watchers]

Ethereals,none of above

[Weallscream]

Undead elves. San'layn or dark ranger with humans and night elves as the other races so far.

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Lol if we get one more trash allied race like vulpera and mechagnomes.

[Futhark]

Just follow the models. KulTirans delayed their own release months because developing new player models is so costly. If they had to reuse Night Elves for Nightborne, even when they had superior Nightborne models, you know dev time on niche Allied Races like Jinju and Hozen are not going to happen.

Based on existing player models and the storyline:

BFA:
Vulpera model > Vulpera for Horde
Gnome model > Mechagnomes for Alliance

Future:
KulTiran model > Ogres for Horde
Thin Human model > Redeemed Undead for Alliance

[wushootaki]

Mechagon is going to be day one content, which is a smart move as the Eternal Palace raid will be timegated to be a few weeks away.
Nazajatar is also going to be day one. There will be plenty to do the day 8.2 goes live.

Now it could work out that Mecha Gnomes, the most obvious allied race candidate by far, are part of the 8.3.5 pair rather than the 8.2.5 pair. The Ankora (who COULD be an allied race) are going to be introduced in the same patch after all, and unlike the Mecha Gnomes the Ankora are going to be on the side of the Alliance from the get go. Mecha Gnomes are, like Nightborne, going to start off neutral to both the Alliance and the Horde but if they become an Allied race for anyone it is going to be the Alliance, so there has to be an explanation of why they move from that neutral stance to a pro Alliance stance. I think it will be as simple an explanation that the Gnomes of Gnomeregan are a part of an Alliance, so it's a positive choice for the Alliance rather than a negative choice to reject the Horde. But it depends how quickly they wish us to make that transition with the Mecha-Gnomes, who will go from neutral to Alliance in half a patch cycle if they are an 8.2.5 addition. Ankora could, narratively, be an easier sell as 8.2 will see us end the Naga threat and 8.2.5 could see the Ankora joining up with the Alliance in a believable manner.

On the other hand, Blizzard may wish to pair the Vulpera and Mecha-Gnome Allied races together (Goblin and Gnomes are counterparts) whilst leaving the Ankora and the unknowable Horde equivalent for 8.3.5. The reason is, Vulpera and Mecha-Gnomes have their fans but both groups have serious detractors. That doesn't rule out their likely inevitable additions, it just means that there maybe a 'bad taste' in more people's mouths over their addition because no matter how you argue it, someone will hate them for 'stealing' slots that could have gone to 'cooler' races. The 8.3.5 pair will be the last Allied races we see for a while, Blizzard might want to do something 'awesome' to conclude the system with.

Ankora, who to my mind look like Jinyu/Naga Samurai, would fit the bill of being awesome. If they are introduced in 8.3.5, then they should find a very positive reception among players and end the Allied Race cycle on a very positive note for the Alliance. Ditto if the Horde equivalent is equally awesome.

There are lots of factors at play in the decision making process for the final four Allied races and seguing into 9.0 is definitely a consideration. 8.2 will give us some long awaited answers.

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Whilst only a guess, the concept art for the Ankora looks like it would be best expressed using the Worgen rig.

Except the story of the Ankora is that they can no longer reproduce and are on verge of extinction, so in their last dying act, they vow to destroy the Naga. At least, that's what they told us when they announced the patch.

[Mutineer]

Except the story of the Ankora is that they can no longer reproduce and are on verge of extinction, so in their last dying act, they vow to destroy the Naga. At least, that's what they told us when they announced the patch.

So, they told us the full story in the synopsis?

There's nothing stopping these deep jinyu from reproducing, they've just chosen to dedicate their every waking moment to killing as many naga as possible instead. I find it pretty interesting that, after meeting a race so near extinction, we're apparently going to learn how the naga reproduce and then attack their hatchery during the raid. What if that hatchery could somehow be cleansed and then taken by these jinyu?

I just think we're likely to get another four allied races before the expansion is over. I think vulpera and junker gnomes will be two of those, and I think these jinyu have a very good shot of being another considering the Alliance alone meets and befriends them. There's an awful lot of people salty over the prospect of vulpera and junker gnomes, maybe it'd help lessen the sting if the other two races are more "awesome" looking in concept?

[wushootaki]

So, they told us the full story in the synopsis?

There's nothing stopping these deep jinyu from reproducing, they've just chosen to dedicate their every waking moment to killing as many naga as possible instead. I find it pretty interesting that, after meeting a race so near extinction, we're apparently going to learn how the naga reproduce and then attack their hatchery during the raid. What if that hatchery could somehow be cleansed and then taken by these jinyu?

I just think we're likely to get another four allied races before the expansion is over. I think vulpera and junker gnomes will be two of those, and I think these jinyu have a very good shot of being another considering the Alliance alone meets and befriends them. There's an awful lot of people salty over the prospect of vulpera and junker gnomes, maybe it'd help lessen the sting if the other two races are more "awesome" looking in concept?

Or maybe the reason why they have dedicated their last existence, is because their means of reproduction are gone? All their women killed? They also aren't Jinyu, and seem more based on Anglerfish.

[Weallscream]

So, they told us the full story in the synopsis?

There's nothing stopping these deep jinyu from reproducing, they've just chosen to dedicate their every waking moment to killing as many naga as possible instead. I find it pretty interesting that, after meeting a race so near extinction, we're apparently going to learn how the naga reproduce and then attack their hatchery during the raid. What if that hatchery could somehow be cleansed and then taken by these jinyu?

I just think we're likely to get another four allied races before the expansion is over. I think vulpera and junker gnomes will be two of those, and I think these jinyu have a very good shot of being another considering the Alliance alone meets and befriends them. There's an awful lot of people salty over the prospect of vulpera and junker gnomes, maybe it'd help lessen the sting if the other two races are more "awesome" looking in concept?

Who would want to play a shitty samurai fish with armour barely fitting on the stiff wow models.

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I’d also really like to play Blood Trolls. They look awesome, especially their armor.

Yeah...feminist trolls are a little too much for me.

[matrix123mko]

Thin Human model > Redeemed Undead for Alliance

Undead female > Thin Human model

[Obelisk Kai]

Except the story of the Ankora is that they can no longer reproduce and are on verge of extinction, so in their last dying act, they vow to destroy the Naga. At least, that's what they told us when they announced the patch.

Indeed, they did mention that the Ankora or Ankoa or however you spell them are facing extinction, this is definitely a good argument against them as population has been cited before as a negative factor for certain other groups.

Yet are they beyond hope? Is it the Naga threat that has driven them so close to the edge? if they can recover once we kill Azshara and end the Naga threat then maybe they can have a future.

If they intend Ankora to be an Allied race and if they make a point that the Ankora are on the cusp of extinction, I expect they will deal with that over the course of the 8.2 storyline.

As for whether Ankora will be an Allied race candidate, my expectation remains based on the same point. Why create Ankora when it would have been a simple matter to have a group of Jinyu assist the Alliance? After all, the Horde counterparts to the Ankora are Makrura, Sea Giants and Gilblins, all existing races.

Thankfully, an answer to the question of whether they are possible (not confirmed, just possible) should be provided imminently, as soon as Ankora models are datamined from the PTR that could go live any day now. If they are Drogbar level, mono-gendered with few variations between individuals, it's an NPC race and we can treat them as the one zone storylines they are. If they have two distinct genders (this isn't FF14 after all) with plentiful variations and customization options, Vulpera level in other words, we have an Allied race candidate.