Playable Race Concept: The Drakonaar

[Halyon]

em... such BIG cd won't work. cause people will just bring as many of this race/class in raid as possible after some pulls, and just throw bodies at boss if needed. It's REALLY big advantage for top guilds and imagine not hardcore guilds who can't afford this? or "Guild looking for 5 more red draken for raids! if you not one - don't PM". I still re,emember times when Battle res wasn't on raid cd, and raids with many druids can afford to lose people more easily than those who not.
Remember when guilds race changed to trolls for Horridon, cause small bonus to DMG? Or when Forsaken skill was gamechanging PVP? Or when humans had 2 trinkets? and now imagine what will happen with VERY STRONG race skills. Top guilds will require each member to have a GARAGE level of same race/class chars so they can abuse that ability to fullest.
It was exactly reason why blizzard tunned down race skills exactly because they create such disbalance, that people who want raid/pvp simply FORCED to play exact race or they will be kurbstomped.

Hence why I would suggest doing utility, example being a mass res, on 1/day CD. It saves some time, but that's it, nothing gamebreaking there. A movement speed increasing one isn't bad either, warlocks have teleports and a portal everyone can take. Druid has stampede, hunter has aspect, disengage, etc. There are many of these things.

Zandalari loa aspect is a 5 day CD, so it's already something that is in-game, and that wasn't what people complained about with them. xD

Utility that we have;
-Cast spells on the move
-Mass res
-Mass movement
-Combat res
-Healthstones
-Removing staggered casting of spells on damage

As examples, at least when it comes to raiding. Utility outside of combat-related is a non-issue. Unless it's shit like what druid had in cata. Good god I hated druids as a miner of non-druid(and tauren) variety. Bunch of thieving crows.

These would not be OP for strong utility racials, and could always add the caveat that people hit by it can't benefit from it again for x minutes, if one is worried about overuse in raids. They don't per say need a long cd, but it is doable while not making it a spam-race issue.

[Sagenod]

well that's the problem with each race when you give it more than one combat trait. And yours can be very powerful in different situations. like:
Red breath - if it's really remove ALL effects (and all types of effects: bleeds, curses, magic, nondispelable) - it's almost cheat like raid cleanse. Yeah you can have cd like 10 minutes, so it won't be VERY abused, but depends on what exactly it can do... And radius increase. Problem with any range increase that it have VEEEERY big chances to be almost cheat. Like imagine if you place blizzard at max range and by radius increase it reach farther? Not as good as if it's just flat range increase (THAT one is real cheat, cause your kite potential become bullshit level where you can damage someone and he - can't), but can become... problematic. Need to test thing, cause it's all on paper

Blue one in comparsion not as good (if by "freeze" you meant root), but their passive that reduce magic damage taken, on top of scales passive... depends on % can be as good as KT passives, or cheat.

Green breath - totally depends on numbers and scaling. Probably won't be cheat level, but to just compare. we have 3 healing race traits. Draenei 3m cd 20% health single target, zandalari 100% self 2.5m cd interrupted by damage and mechagnomes 20% self heal when they drop to 20% of health 1.5m cd.

Bronze breath - slow on targets... well we have that, in Nightborne so no big deal. Speed boost for party... there... now there is question. Probably not big deal if it's somewhere around 10-20% speed bonus for 5 seconds. But as i said before their passive that increase duration... well maybe it can be balanced if it's 1-1,5 second increase, but it's totaly up to every class, cause i am not familiar with their CDs and sometimes 1 second can be top dps or "meh".

Black breath - well. Can be either cutting edge potential. If it's 5% damage reduction, probably NOT a very big deal (depends - need testing in raid enviroment) for most players. Probably most balanced from them, cause CC removal limited only to 2 types, even with immunity to them after (if this immunity not 10 seconds long).

Oh and also need to take into account - what range and radius each breath have.

small sad note: sad that no DK for them, but i guess it's because of story (LK not reached them to raise, if we not count any dragon from northrend), but it's me as DK player.

- - - Updated - - -



em... such BIG cd won't work. cause people will just bring as many of this race/class in raid as possible after some pulls, and just throw bodies at boss if needed. It's REALLY big advantage for top guilds and imagine not hardcore guilds who can't afford this? or "Guild looking for 5 more red draken for raids! if you not one - don't PM". I still re,emember times when Battle res wasn't on raid cd, and raids with many druids can afford to lose people more easily than those who not.
Remember when guilds race changed to trolls for Horridon, cause small bonus to DMG? Or when Forsaken skill was gamechanging PVP? Or when humans had 2 trinkets? and now imagine what will happen with VERY STRONG race skills. Top guilds will require each member to have a GARAGE level of same race/class chars so they can abuse that ability to fullest.
It was exactly reason why blizzard tunned down race skills exactly because they create such disbalance, that people who want raid/pvp simply FORCED to play exact race or they will be kurbstomped.

Let me know what you think of the updated racial traits! And if DK's for everyone as speculated is true, then I don't see why the Draken wouldn't take part, I mean they can die and be raised into undeath too! But I'll wait until blizzcon before making any changes as right now it's rather lore sensitive.

- - - Updated - - -

as for black dragonflight, i thought there is just a handfull alive right? as for the rest of dragonflights (well for black too) i see absolutely no reason why would they join alliance or horde...

Exactly right and each of the five Draken clans on the Dragon Isles are going to have their own plot. That of the Black Draken is going to be about rebuilding, since their kind is more easily influenced by the Old Gods, similar to the Black dragons.

Also, the Pandaren joining the Alliance or Horde didn't make much sense, right? Considering the difficulty of life on the Dragon Isles, it's more likely they would try to ally themselves with either faction.

- - - Updated - - -

Hence why I would suggest doing utility, example being a mass res, on 1/day CD. It saves some time, but that's it, nothing gamebreaking there. A movement speed increasing one isn't bad either, warlocks have teleports and a portal everyone can take. Druid has stampede, hunter has aspect, disengage, etc. There are many of these things.

Zandalari loa aspect is a 5 day CD, so it's already something that is in-game, and that wasn't what people complained about with them. xD

Utility that we have;
-Cast spells on the move
-Mass res
-Mass movement
-Combat res
-Healthstones
-Removing staggered casting of spells on damage

As examples, at least when it comes to raiding. Utility outside of combat-related is a non-issue. Unless it's shit like what druid had in cata. Good god I hated druids as a miner of non-druid(and tauren) variety. Bunch of thieving crows.

These would not be OP for strong utility racials, and could always add the caveat that people hit by it can't benefit from it again for x minutes, if one is worried about overuse in raids. They don't per say need a long cd, but it is doable while not making it a spam-race issue.

Only one use per raid, perhaps? So the powerful ability has a 1 day cooldown, and it can only be used by one person once per raid. So it would be quite punishing if it were to be used frivolously.

[Halyon]

Only one use per raid, perhaps? So the powerful ability has a 1 day cooldown, and it can only be used by one person once per raid. So it would be quite punishing if it were to be used frivolously.

Depending on the specifics, basically. If you go with a cone, it needs coordination, then a 1 day CD would be too much, but if it's raid-wide (say mass res for ease), then 1 day cd would be fine in my books, if something usable in combat, maybe something akin to BL, but with a longer CD/debuff that is raid-wide, to prevent spammage, and to make people properly use it, not just frivolous gimping of one or more boss mechanics followed by throw bodies at boss, as Zorish pointed out earlier.

It is hard to properly gauge how things look on paper vs how it actually performs when it's released to the general raiding public, people have been very known to find loopholes and abuse the everliving hell out of them.

[Sagenod]

Depending on the specifics, basically. If you go with a cone, it needs coordination, then a 1 day CD would be too much, but if it's raid-wide (say mass res for ease), then 1 day cd would be fine in my books, if something usable in combat, maybe something akin to BL, but with a longer CD/debuff that is raid-wide, to prevent spammage, and proper use, not just frivolous gimping of one or more boss mechanics followed by throw bodies at boss, as Zorish pointed out earlier.

It is hard to properly gauge how things look on paper vs how it actually performs when it's released to the general raiding public, people have been very known to find loopholes and abuse the everliving hell out of them.

As we've all seen throughout WoW's history, that's very correct. Let me know what you think about the updated racial traits, by the way.

[Zorish]

Hence why I would suggest doing utility, example being a mass res, on 1/day CD. It saves some time, but that's it, nothing gamebreaking there. A movement speed increasing one isn't bad either, warlocks have teleports and a portal everyone can take. Druid has stampede, hunter has aspect, disengage, etc. There are many of these things.

Zandalari loa aspect is a 5 day CD, so it's already something that is in-game, and that wasn't what people complained about with them. xD

Utility that we have;
-Cast spells on the move
-Mass res
-Mass movement
-Combat res
-Healthstones
-Removing staggered casting of spells on damage

As examples, at least when it comes to raiding. Utility outside of combat-related is a non-issue. Unless it's shit like what druid had in cata. Good god I hated druids as a miner of non-druid(and tauren) variety. Bunch of thieving crows.

These would not be OP for strong utility racials, and could always add the caveat that people hit by it can't benefit from it again for x minutes, if one is worried about overuse in raids. They don't per say need a long cd, but it is doable while not making it a spam-race issue.

you named CLASS abilities that used when needed. imagine that RACE now have them over class? that reduce class appeal to raid, especially if they not FotM class and don't do top DPS.
And zandalari CD is CD for CHANGING your PASSIVE skill. And those skills are equal to current ones like Touch of the graves for undead. They don't have 5 days CD for when this aibilities proc. Do you understand the difference?

And pls - before call them "utility" - say if they are INCOMBAT or out of combat use. Mass ress out of combat? nobody will give a damn. Mass ress in combat? CHEAT! If you shift CLASS utility (for combat) to race bonus it just destroy part of this class, especially when you can take such utility for TOTALLY different class (especially when it's FotM class and top dog in raids) on top of their utility. Remember how they removed raid cd that allowed casting when you move? BECAUSE RAIDS STACKED THEM!
like ZERO races have raid cd. ZERO. Guess why?
edit: and even if it's *1 time use per day per raid*. Imagine top guilds where it will be REAL gamechanger? or imagine that whole raid will just swap characters to utilize this? Top guilds known to have 4+ characters for race. And how blizzard must balance thing then? taking this CD in account or without it? If with - that mean "boss unkillable without this CD". and if not - "boss can be zerged with that CD"

- - - Updated - - -

Let me know what you think of the updated racial traits! And if DK's for everyone as speculated is true, then I don't see why the Draken wouldn't take part, I mean they can die and be raised into undeath too! But I'll wait until blizzcon before making any changes as right now it's rather lore sensitive.

hm... better i can say at least when compare to other races or what classes have. Also what range of their breath?

Red:
breath - remove ALL debuffs or 1 of each type? still have chances to be powerfull (cause noone can clear bleed effects - only dwarves with their self ability), but... i think passable (depends). At least not require immediate nerf and now more about testing.
Radiance - there we have big problem. 5y radius = 10y increase of area. example Imagine bladestorm that not hit target that moved out of it, now still can damage? maybe reduce to 2y increase? still have potential to be a problem. Or maybe % increase? need more thinking.

Blue:
2 actives quite big, but... okay will leave it like this. Or maybe make runeward passive and scale with current hp? so on low it will be more powerful? just an idea, 10% magic damage that require stacking and on high CD passable i think.
Breath - hm. 6 seconds. If this can be broken by damage i guess it's okay.

Green
Breath - 5 min cd. 300 seconds. 15 green dragons in raid can keep HoT on whole raid refreshed, but i think this can work. Maybe just not from caster HP, but from target hp (imagine bear breath power)?

Bronze
Breath - with that cd i think it's okay. Maybe reduce MS for allies to 10%, but that's need testing, cause it's not scream for me "OP".
Beat the Clock - that can be the problem. Imagine raid where boss place dot on someone that increase damage with each tick and last tick require saving? Have very nasty potential. Maybe shift this to % like mag'har? need testing.

Black
Breath - after they removed any kind of debuff that reduce target damage in any way, i am skeptical about this type. Depends on number that can act as raid save if mob/boss have physical nuke or something (if they still scale from their iternal AP). And aoe in Myth+ on very nasty phys packs can become not as burdening. Not immediately scream "OP AS F...", so need testing.

also suggestion to noncombat. Maybe throw some profession stuff for them? like skinning with claws or that Red/black need only anwil for Blacksmithing? or some other noncombat utility? just an idea.

[Sagenod]

you named CLASS abilities that used when needed. imagine that RACE now have them over class? that reduce class appeal to raid, especially if they not FotM class and don't do top DPS.
And zandalari CD is CD for CHANGING your PASSIVE skill. And those skills are equal to current ones like Touch of the graves for undead. They don't have 5 days CD for when this aibilities proc. Do you understand the difference?

And pls - before call them "utility" - say if they are INCOMBAT or out of combat use. Mass ress out of combat? nobody will give a damn. Mass ress in combat? CHEAT! If you shift CLASS utility (for combat) to race bonus it just destroy part of this class, especially when you can take such utility for TOTALLY different class (especially when it's FotM class and top dog in raids) on top of their utility. Remember how they removed raid cd that allowed casting when you move? BECAUSE RAIDS STACKED THEM!
like ZERO races have raid cd. ZERO. Guess why?
edit: and even if it's *1 time use per day per raid*. Imagine top guilds where it will be REAL gamechanger? or imagine that whole raid will just swap characters to utilize this? Top guilds known to have 4+ characters for race. And how blizzard must balance thing then? taking this CD in account or without it? If with - that mean "boss unkillable without this CD". and if not - "boss can be zerged with that CD"

- - - Updated - - -



hm... better i can say at least when compare to other races or what classes have. Also what range of their breath?

Red:
breath - remove ALL debuffs or 1 of each type? still have chances to be powerfull (cause noone can clear bleed effects - only dwarves with their self ability), but... i think passable (depends). At least not require immediate nerf and now more about testing.
Radiance - there we have big problem. 5y radius = 10y increase of area. example Imagine bladestorm that not hit target that moved out of it, now still can damage? maybe reduce to 2y increase? still have potential to be a problem. Or maybe % increase? need more thinking.

Blue:
2 actives quite big, but... okay will leave it like this. Or maybe make runeward passive and scale with current hp? so on low it will be more powerful? just an idea, 10% magic damage that require stacking and on high CD passable i think.
Breath - hm. 6 seconds. If this can be broken by damage i guess it's okay.

Green
Breath - 5 min cd. 300 seconds. 15 green dragons in raid can keep HoT on whole raid refreshed, but i think this can work. Maybe just not from caster HP, but from target hp (imagine bear breath power)?

Bronze
Breath - with that cd i think it's okay. Maybe reduce MS for allies to 10%, but that's need testing, cause it's not scream for me "OP".
Beat the Clock - that can be the problem. Imagine raid where boss place dot on someone that increase damage with each tick and last tick require saving? Have very nasty potential. Maybe shift this to % like mag'har? need testing.

Black
Breath - after they removed any kind of debuff that reduce target damage in any way, i am skeptical about this type. Depends on number that can act as raid save if mob/boss have physical nuke or something (if they still scale from their iternal AP). And aoe in Myth+ on very nasty phys packs can become not as burdening. Not immediately scream "OP AS F...", so need testing.

also suggestion to noncombat. Maybe throw some profession stuff for them? like skinning with claws or that Red/black need only anwil for Blacksmithing? or some other noncombat utility? just an idea.

Well it's certainly a step in the right direction then. I will continue working on them and probably rework Radiance and Beat the Clock entirely. Thank you very much for your analysis

[Halyon]

you named CLASS abilities that used when needed. imagine that RACE now have them over class? that reduce class appeal to raid, especially if they not FotM class and don't do top DPS.
And zandalari CD is CD for CHANGING your PASSIVE skill. And those skills are equal to current ones like Touch of the graves for undead. They don't have 5 days CD for when this aibilities proc. Do you understand the difference?

And pls - before call them "utility" - say if they are INCOMBAT or out of combat use. Mass ress out of combat? nobody will give a damn. Mass ress in combat? CHEAT! If you shift CLASS utility (for combat) to race bonus it just destroy part of this class, especially when you can take such utility for TOTALLY different class (especially when it's FotM class and top dog in raids) on top of their utility. Remember how they removed raid cd that allowed casting when you move? BECAUSE RAIDS STACKED THEM!
like ZERO races have raid cd. ZERO. Guess why?
edit: and even if it's *1 time use per day per raid*. Imagine top guilds where it will be REAL gamechanger? or imagine that whole raid will just swap characters to utilize this? Top guilds known to have 4+ characters for race. And how blizzard must balance thing then? taking this CD in account or without it? If with - that mean "boss unkillable without this CD". and if not - "boss can be zerged with that CD"

Yes mass res out of combat, otherwise I would've said mass battle-res, but fair, my bad. xD There's nothing wrong with a strong racial, but as I also said, it should not be something just used willy-nilly or prone to abuse. Besides, this is just a fun thread.

[Zorish]

Well it's certainly a step in the right direction then. I will continue working on them and probably rework Radiance and Beat the Clock entirely. Thank you very much for your analysis

well they are not "OP by default" but can be game changing in some situations. that's why i am not totaly sure if they are okay or not. Anyway NP.

- - - Updated - - -

Yes mass res out of combat, otherwise I would've said mass battle-res, but fair, my bad. xD There's nothing wrong with a strong racial, but as I also said, it should not be something just used willy-nilly or prone to abuse. Besides, this is just a fun thread.

well out of combat nobody will care. just another addition to situation like "rogue survived wipe and can save some time for raid".
and Strong race skill on one race = makes this race mandatory. so either skills must be given to all races... or we won't have any interesting mechanics in raids anymore. Or it must be situation that X class can be full potential only with Y race, others are crap (70% of effectiveness from right combination), but that will kill their efforts in balancing races totally. Again - remember. Blizzard removed aspect of the Fox because raids stacked it. People rerolled to troll race for 1% damage increase for Horridon. Forsaken were top pvp race till nerf. Then humans were top PVP race till nerf. And remember AoE silence/interrupt on Blood elves in Legion? they practically steamrolled some situations in Myth+.
People will find a way to abuse anything powerful. I just remember many such situations, and know what can be the result. I don't know about Raids or PVP in D&D online, maybe they somehow achieved WoW retail raid complex design and still have decent class balance, but in wow... well you get it i guess.

[Frozenbeef]

How about actual dragons, combine a race and class ie. melee dragon with claws/tails/ wings etc then a caster dragon with spells, give it flying where flying is allowed and give it the ability to transform into a humanoid form.

weapons/equipment can be the same as eg feral druid where it's not displayed/used but still benefit from the stats.

I think that would give something fresh and awesome to the game that's not really typical and would attract a lot of people to try it.

[Zorish]

How about actual dragons, combine a race and class ie. melee dragon with claws/tails/ wings etc then a caster dragon with spells, give it flying where flying is allowed and give it the ability to transform into a humanoid form.

weapons/equipment can be the same as eg feral druid where it's not displayed/used but still benefit from the stats.

I think that would give something fresh and awesome to the game that's not really typical and would attract a lot of people to try it.

why dragon must be a class similar to current one if you can either make it a class skin or make dragonlike race? like - what if someone want to play humanoid dragon and use weapons? or fist weapons and not enjoy walking on all 4?

[Jetstream]

It's neat I suppose, but you gotta, gotta change that name.

I just... I just can't see the name and not think of this guy

[Raugnaut]

Green would basically be mandatory for healers, as Breath of Vitality is essentially a powerful raid CD, which no other race has atm. I would personally suggest to make it to break CCs instead.

Beat the Clock can actually break some raid mechanics, making them a non-issue. Perhaps instead change it to where the player's DoTs are all shrunk by 2 seconds, ticking the same amount in that time frame? Though that would probably be OP for DoT-based specs

Radiance is very powerful as well as it affects the radius of an AoE. As was shown by Warlocks in MoP and Druids in Legion, even a very small increase to AoE radius results in a much, MUCH bigger boost to the area. Just a note, that 5 radius increase you have there more then doubles the area of virtually every AoE spell in the game.
Perhaps a 5 range increase to cast range would be much better, and not so OP.

Beyond that, I would suggest coming up with a 5th racial, perhaps related to professions. Heck, could be different for each - Herbalism bonus to green dragons, Enchanting bonus to blue dragons, mining to black, inscription to bronze, and perhaps alchemy to red?

[TheProphetLord]

It's neat I suppose, but you gotta, gotta change that name.

I just... I just can't see the name and not think of this guy

Completely agree. I was getting flash backs to Wildstar. I miss Wildstar.

[Zorish]

Perhaps a 5 range increase to cast range would be much better, and not so OP.

not in Pve, but imagine pvp against red?

[Sagenod]

It's neat I suppose, but you gotta, gotta change that name.

I just... I just can't see the name and not think of this guy

Thank you so much for this.

I'll think about it.

- - - Updated - - -

Green would basically be mandatory for healers, as Breath of Vitality is essentially a powerful raid CD, which no other race has atm. I would personally suggest to make it to break CCs instead.

Beat the Clock can actually break some raid mechanics, making them a non-issue. Perhaps instead change it to where the player's DoTs are all shrunk by 2 seconds, ticking the same amount in that time frame? Though that would probably be OP for DoT-based specs

Radiance is very powerful as well as it affects the radius of an AoE. As was shown by Warlocks in MoP and Druids in Legion, even a very small increase to AoE radius results in a much, MUCH bigger boost to the area. Just a note, that 5 radius increase you have there more then doubles the area of virtually every AoE spell in the game.
Perhaps a 5 range increase to cast range would be much better, and not so OP.

Beyond that, I would suggest coming up with a 5th racial, perhaps related to professions. Heck, could be different for each - Herbalism bonus to green dragons, Enchanting bonus to blue dragons, mining to black, inscription to bronze, and perhaps alchemy to red?

I agree and thank you for the advice. Will change when I get the chance.

[LilSaihah]

Why would the Undivided Dragonflights immediately divide themselves to join a faction?

Give the Horde black dragons, give the Alliance red dragons.
A faction of Black Drakonids join the Horde because Wrathion told them to and because the Alliance doesn't trust them.
A faction of Red Drakonids join the Alliance because they're pissed off at the Horde for... Any number of reasons, really.

Make Dragon Soul more important. Whoever your faction leader is infuses you with the Dragon Soul so you can suck up dragon power like the Dragonborn. Maybe that's why the Alliance and the Red Flight are pissed off at Wrathion?

Also I'd really far prefer they be a refinement of Drakonids, because Drakonids look cool and Maloriak looks lame. 100% Virgin Maloriak v Chad Drakonid.

[Raugnaut]

not in Pve, but imagine pvp against red?

We already have 50-60 yard ranges available in PvP among several specs. In Legion, Druids showed that a 5 yard extra range did not overtly affect PvP, though it was very strong in PvE for melee.

[Sagenod]

Why would the Undivided Dragonflights immediately divide themselves to join a faction?

Give the Horde black dragons, give the Alliance red dragons.
A faction of Black Drakonids join the Horde because Wrathion told them to and because the Alliance doesn't trust them.
A faction of Red Drakonids join the Alliance because they're pissed off at the Horde for... Any number of reasons, really.

Make Dragon Soul more important. Whoever your faction leader is infuses you with the Dragon Soul so you can suck up dragon power like the Dragonborn. Maybe that's why the Alliance and the Red Flight are pissed off at Wrathion?

Also I'd really far prefer they be a refinement of Drakonids, because Drakonids look cool and Maloriak looks lame. 100% Virgin Maloriak v Chad Drakonid.

Thank you for the critique! They choose factions for the same "reason" the Pandaren chose factions. Personal ideology and a misunderstanding of what they're getting themselves in to. Sure it's weak, but how the heck do I divide an uneven number of subraces amongst the factions? My idea is more exploratory of the lost culture on the Dragon Isles to begin with.

I should have clarified that the model would not look like Maloriak, it's an update of the model and it's textures would be remarkably different. Hence the "customization options geared towards a more elegant or fearsome appearance" not "everyone looks like the idiotic dragonman scientist from BWD" I'll fix that in the actual post to avoid any more confusion.

It's all about the lore, friend. Drakonids are massive shock troops employed by the dragonflights, and they aren't a species of their own rather humanoids empowered to the form they become. Draken were a byproduct of the experimentation that led to the magic of creating Drakonids. The Draken are capable of serving more subtle purposes than the Drakonid are meant for.

[Fahrenheit]

Wouldn't mind Alliance getting Dragonmen and Horde getting Ogres.

[Sagenod]

We already have 50-60 yard ranges available in PvP among several specs. In Legion, Druids showed that a 5 yard extra range did not overtly affect PvP, though it was very strong in PvE for melee.

I've done a little more work (and there's more to be done) on the racial traits. Let me know what you think. Still too powerful? Not powerful enough now?