1. #66661
    I guess Blizz is looking rather exactly which race to turn into an AR this time and maybe even if. Frankly, with the new leveling system having more races to play with is really an even bigger bonus, though the lack of more classes is felt(I leveled all classes so far except druids).

    I guess that it is seemingly obvious which covenant is leaning to which faction due to important NPCs Venthyr/Necrolords => Horde, Kyrian/Night Fae => Alliance. Another nice split between the covenants is that the former have lost their ancient leader, while the latter not. If there is a big secret to be revealed, or a new order to be etablished it would be the Kyrians and Night Fae who would thus stand for the old, while Venthyr and Necrolords could be more open for change.

    Still my view is that the Necrolords simply aren't likely to become an AR. Not just is the leadership split(Draka/Mograine), they don't have the aesthetic to become an AR. This is in the eye of the beholder, but it goes deeper. There are by my count three possible "races" to come from them Gladiators, Normalos(Ossein) and Lichs(Necromancers), all who lack customization options so far in comparision to other models. Even more, they lack a counterpart.

    So far, the ARs have been rather symmetrical in theme or size.

    Void Elves/Nightborne(elves)
    Lightforged/Highmountain(religious bruisers)
    Dark Iron/Mag'har(steamtech and shamanism)
    Kul Tiran/Zandalari(interesting culture, ships)
    Mechagnomes/Vulpera(short/cute)

    The lack of real counterpart might be one reason why the alliance didn't get the Sethrak, despite them being aesthetically fresher than Mechagnomes. This makes sense to prevent one faction feeling left out and can be seen by the way Void and Blood Elves are treated. Neither Kyrian nor Sylvar make a good counterpart to the Necrolord Races, not in the way Venthyr and Sylvar do, as they stand for Death and Life aesthetically.

    My suggestion:

    Stoneborn(Gargoyles) for the Horde and Winged Kyrians for the Alliance.

    The normal Kyrians are a bit boring(for me at last), so getting the winged ones from day one would be the better options. Stoneborn armor would be hard to create, true, and they share their style with the Venthyr, but they look amazing. Getting winged ARs would be a nice change from "just" getting another pair and leveling to 30 until you can use these wings doesn't sound so long ... you could even start being able to use them as a special feature.

  2. #66662
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    I started to really like Oribos. It doesn't have look of Dazar'Alor/Boralus, but is very easy to navigate, even more than Dalaran.

  3. #66663
    Quote Originally Posted by Hardwing View Post
    (On Allied Races)
    Every Allied Race so far has been a genetic or thematic counterpart to one of the standard races. Vulpera are a thematic counterpart to goblins, and Void Elves could be either; you could argue they're a Night Elf counterpart (because elf) as much as you can say they're a worgen counterpart (mastering a corruptive external force).

    We likely won't get the Covenant races themselves, but the Night Fae could be used to give the Alliance satyr (that one satyr in Ashenvale who ripped his own heart out to save an elf's life proves they're not Always Chaotic Evil), and the Necrolords (or maybe even the kyrian for a twist) will probably give the Horde undead that look more like Calia.

    That would just leave the pandaren, but they're a special case anyway, so they might just not get an Allied Race counterpart.
    It became clear that it wasn’t realistic to try to get the audience back to being more hardcore, as it had been in the past. -- Tom Chilton

  4. #66664
    Quote Originally Posted by Blayze View Post
    Every Allied Race so far has been a genetic or thematic counterpart to one of the standard races. Vulpera are a thematic counterpart to goblins, and Void Elves could be either; you could argue they're a Night Elf counterpart (because elf) as much as you can say they're a worgen counterpart (mastering a corruptive external force).

    We likely won't get the Covenant races themselves, but the Night Fae could be used to give the Alliance satyr (that one satyr in Ashenvale who ripped his own heart out to save an elf's life proves they're not Always Chaotic Evil), and the Necrolords (or maybe even the kyrian for a twist) will probably give the Horde undead that look more like Calia.

    That would just leave the pandaren, but they're a special case anyway, so they might just not get an Allied Race counterpart.
    Maldraxxians would be the Undead counterpart and Night Fae Sylvar would be the Worgen counterpart, it works very neatly.

    Kyrian and Venthyr are kind of on their own but the Uther/Kael'thas connection is pretty clear.

  5. #66665
    Quote Originally Posted by Dracullus View Post
    I started to really like Oribos. It doesn't have look of Dazar'Alor/Boralus, but is very easy to navigate, even more than Dalaran.
    I'd be there more often if the Engineering AH was close to a mailbox. As it stands, it makes a lot more sense to be in Dalaran, a faction city, or even my Garrison I've done my two weekly dungeons & maxed all professions, so I only really go there now to get to The Maw.

  6. #66666
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    Quote Originally Posted by Toybox View Post
    I'd be there more often if the Engineering AH was close to a mailbox. As it stands, it makes a lot more sense to be in Dalaran, a faction city, or even my Garrison I've done my two weekly dungeons & maxed all professions, so I only really go there now to get to The Maw.
    That's why late BfA I was focused on Brutosaur mount more than everything else. Cost is huge, but it gives freedom where to part char. There is always mailbox toy form 7.3.5, although 4 hour cooldown sometimes is too long on main.

  7. #66667
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nagawithlegs View Post
    Not to bring up a taboo subject, but (not from lore perspective) do we still think the covenant races are likely ARs? I noticed there are quite a lot of Venthyr that are player height (around Zandalari/Nightborne).

    The biggest thing I think is that there are so many Maldraxxus races, but it would likely be the "Chosen" race if anything (the only one with distinct men and women).
    As much as I like the Covenant races, I really can't wrap my head around them being playable. The idea of shoving these races back into the mortal world, when their forms in the afterlife are meant to be the final reward for deeds already committed in that mortal world is... I don't know, it's too weird. I mean, there's a perfectly good race of vampire elves just sitting there without any of that baggage if that's a niche we need to fill.

  8. #66668
    Quote Originally Posted by Dracullus View Post
    That's why late BfA I was focused on Brutosaur mount more than everything else. Cost is huge, but it gives freedom where to part char. There is always mailbox toy form 7.3.5, although 4 hour cooldown sometimes is too long on main.
    I considered it, but decided against it because I just didn't like how the mount looked. I dropped 2m on the spider as soon as the vendor was up the first time, but the dino never really did it for me. Can't deny the convenience, though!

    I do have double mailboxes of course, but sometimes it's not enough

  9. #66669
    Quote Originally Posted by Toybox View Post
    ICan't deny the convenience, though!
    A lot of awesome people AFK on a Brutosaur in Oribos to give others AH access, so at least there's that

  10. #66670
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sarethion View Post
    A lot of awesome people AFK on a Brutosaur in Oribos to give others AH access, so at least there's that
    Real heroes right there.
    #TeamLegion #UnderEarthofAzerothexpansion plz #Arathor4Alliance #TeamNoBlueHorde

    Warrior-Magi

  11. #66671
    Here's the previous video just not bugged, looks a lot cooler now.

    Goodbye-Forever-MMO-Champ
    Quote Originally Posted by HighlordJohnstone View Post
    Alleria's whispers start climaxing

  12. #66672
    Has anyone written a crawler for statistical data on class-covenant choice yet? Because I have to say I have yet to see some combinations at all (besides myself ).

    Edit: Also yes, the video looks more sensible now, though I have to admit the jailer as a disembodied part of torghast seemed way more threatening than Blizzard's canned animations helplessly flapping across your screen.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Zaelsino View Post
    As much as I like the Covenant races, I really can't wrap my head around them being playable. The idea of shoving these races back into the mortal world, when their forms in the afterlife are meant to be the final reward for deeds already committed in that mortal world is... I don't know, it's too weird. I mean, there's a perfectly good race of vampire elves just sitting there without any of that baggage if that's a niche we need to fill.
    You can pretty much bet your behind on us witnessing the end of the shadowlands as they knew it while we are there. After that the shadowlands are pretty much just another dimensional plane of existance, as their bodies are clearly only formed once they reach the shadowlands in the first place (unlike the disembodied souls of new arrivals as seen in bastion). We've also seen that they can leave the shadowlands from Drakka's video or the first part of the Kyrian campaign. The shadowlands are also hardly a reward, they are just another life with all the dangers and perills of the mortal one, maybe a bit more specialized but that's about it.

    Most of the pieces are already in place, now we just need a flimsy lore excuse and we have our allied races, for our convenience already neatly prepackaged to fit the 2 factions.
    Last edited by Cosmic Janitor; 2020-12-04 at 08:19 AM.
    You are welcome, Metzen. I hope you won't fuck up my underground expansion idea.

  13. #66673
    Quote Originally Posted by shoc View Post
    Maldraxxians would be the Undead counterpart and Night Fae Sylvar would be the Worgen counterpart, it works very neatly.

    Kyrian and Venthyr are kind of on their own but the Uther/Kael'thas connection is pretty clear.
    If they give us the races themselves, the kyrian and venthyr colour schemes scream Alliance and Horde respectively; I'd suspect misdirection if this were anyone other than Blizzard.

    What I really want is for all the forces of death to unite against us at the end of the expansion in a third playable faction, determined to bring an end to their anima drought by means of murdering their way across much of the galaxy. The most we'd get would likely be them joining us to stoke the fires of war and get us to keep the anima flowing, though.
    It became clear that it wasn’t realistic to try to get the audience back to being more hardcore, as it had been in the past. -- Tom Chilton

  14. #66674
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    The jailers face looks realy off in these ingame cinematics.

  15. #66675
    Quote Originally Posted by Blayze View Post
    If they give us the races themselves, the kyrian and venthyr colour schemes scream Alliance and Horde respectively; I'd suspect misdirection if this were anyone other than Blizzard.

    What I really want is for all the forces of death to unite against us at the end of the expansion in a third playable faction, determined to bring an end to their anima drought by means of murdering their way across much of the galaxy. The most we'd get would likely be them joining us to stoke the fires of war and get us to keep the anima flowing, though.
    That really wouldn't make any sense, though. Their problem isn't lack of incoming souls, it's that all of those souls go to the Maw. Murdering across the cosmos wouldn't help in the slightest since the souls would still go to the Maw. Once they fix that, the Drought is no longer an issue.

    I'd also argue that the whole faction conflict never did anything good for the game and should just be abandoned. Blizzard is good enough at coming up with outside threats that we don't need some barely believable inter-faction conflicts that never go anywhere anyway.

  16. #66676
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    Quote Originally Posted by Blayze View Post
    If they give us the races themselves, the kyrian and venthyr colour schemes scream Alliance and Horde respectively; I'd suspect misdirection if this were anyone other than Blizzard.
    All covenants feels like another iteration of 4 W3 factions: Kyrians for Humans, Night Fae for Nelfs, Venthyr for Undead and paradoxically Necrolords for Orcs (I know they look just like Undead faction, I'm just telling how their style feels like).

  17. #66677
    Over 9000! Lahis's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Alanar View Post
    The jailers face looks realy off in these ingame cinematics.

  18. #66678
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lahis View Post
    Yea trur.
    Altho the runecarver memory thing he looks like a bald, blue, chinese black man. Its weird..

    No racicm card needed here.. just an observation.

  19. #66679
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    Quote Originally Posted by Haidaes View Post
    Most of the pieces are already in place, now we just need a flimsy lore excuse and we have our allied races, for our convenience already neatly prepackaged to fit the 2 factions.
    Nah, the biggest piece remains missing - models which can wear armour.

    None of these models can. They have limited, pre-determined options that Blizzard has set up (again, AFAIK, but no-one has suggested otherwise). That means they simply are not player models, nor could they be made into player models.

    The Nightborne remain the key example - they had these fixed/limited models like the Covenant races. To make them playable, they had to take the Night Elf model, and crudely alter the basic stance and tweak the features/size a bit, and we ended up with doesn't really look like a Nightborne, especially if you stand next to them. The only reason they're even seen as okay if because the NE models are basically pretty okay.

    So if you wanted some/all of the Covenant races as playable, Blizzard would need to do the same. I mean, they could go further, but that's going to be even more work. Essentially what they have right now is useless except as concept art. It might as well be that, for the purposes of an Allied Races. So to do them, they'd either need to take an existing race model and tweak it - or they'd need to create an entirely new model, which might look somewhat more like current models, but would essentially need to be created from scratch.

    That's huge work and would be a major feature. There's no way that's just some secret squirrel deal that's just going to arrive.

    Now, I could see new races in this expansion, but if so they're probably yet to be introduced, and they'll likely be variants of existing races, rather than something wholly new. It could also turn out that I'm wrong and these races are rigged for conventional armour, but I'm pretty much 100% certain that's not the case with Kyrians and Chosen, and like 90% on the others.
    "A youtuber said so."

    "... some wow experts being interviewed..."

    "According to researchers from Wowhead..."

  20. #66680
    Quote Originally Posted by Dracullus View Post
    All covenants feels like another iteration of 4 W3 factions: Kyrians for Humans, Night Fae for Nelfs, Venthyr for Undead and paradoxically Necrolords for Orcs (I know they look just like Undead faction, I'm just telling how their style feels like).
    I don't know. Venthyr don't really fit into that whole thing, Night Fae are only visually similar and Kyrian aren't very similar to (WC)Humans, either. Necrolords and Orcs are probably the closest thing with their cultural similarities.

    Quote Originally Posted by Eurhetemec View Post
    None of these models can. They have limited, pre-determined options that Blizzard has set up (again, AFAIK, but no-one has suggested otherwise). That means they simply are not player models, nor could they be made into player models.
    I see other problems, too. Many Venthyr are shown to fly and teleport with casual ease, and the kind of Kyrian that would leave Bastion has flight-capable wings by default.
    Last edited by huth; 2020-12-04 at 03:01 PM.

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