Horde Mogu Concept

[Skytotem]

Mogu are cool, I'd put them on the Horde.


When:
Mogu anima use could tie them into an SL patch, or a return to Azeroth... alternatively, their loyalty to the titans and opposition to the Old gods could see them take the fight to the void in a light vs. Void expac.


Why:
What the Mogu Bring to the Horde- Mogu have neat magic, a cool aesthetic, interesting history, and bring a connection to titan stuff to the Horde so we're not always using the Reliquary.

What the Horde bring to the Mogu- Change. A new path forward after being stomped on repeatedly since Lei Shen's ancient defeat in uldum. More practically? Support. Zul promised them a new homeland, but now TALANJI can be the one to deliver.

Most importantly the Mogu's story is more interesting with the Horde since their route as a 'mob' race has pretty much run its course with both Lei Shen AND Zul being dead.

Alliance races typically double down on their history... but for Mogu that'd just make them villains still.

Horde races CHANGE which is the angle for them that provides the most new opportunities for them to interact with Zandalari and Huojin pandaren.


Where:
Mogu would need a recruitment scenario area / starting town, whether keyed as an Allied race or a traditional one.

The first thought is obviously a phased Isle of Thunder, or Mogu'shan... but for ease of re-usability we could also go with any 'new' island remodeled after any of the Island Expedition skeletons or underground mogu vaults.

Alternatively, much like the Mag'har, the Mogu could hang out in another race's territory, claiming a new spot in the barrens or somewhere else in Kalimdor, or even bunking with them in the Underhold.


Who:
The Rajani are the easy choice, Blizz has had a few 'neutral, but then they pick a side' factions, but that's also been frustrating to folks, and Rajani don't like necromancy so that'd put them at odds with Forsaken, they also lack a lot of the interesting history the 'evil' mogu have and don't have the angle of changing and potentially redeeming themselves that the clans from Pandaria's past have.

Any one of the old clans could potentially work, or a coalition of them, but most likely Blizz would have us get a clan we'd never heard of... or a clan made up of remnants from a lot of the past ones that we wrecked during MoP

How:

Here's the tricky part, and the interesting one.

Whether it's to fight the Old Gods/Void, or ties into the spirits of the Shadowlands, I can see a few different ways for the Horde to consider approaching the Mogu.

-The Belfs do it, this ties best to the anima connection for Shadowlands. Belfs have ties to Sylv and the Forsaken, which also dovetails with the necromancy angle of the Mogu. Plus red anima ties to Revendreth which is all about breaking arrogance, which is precisely what the Mogu need.

-Zandalari approach, this works with SL's Bwom angle OR just Talanji wanting to reign them in. After all, if the Zandalari can change, can't the Mogu?

-Ji and the Huojin suggest it, fewest ties to Shadowlands, but I think this is the most interesting narrative, most Pandaren would hate the Mogu, but the wandering isles ones haven't had ties to their homeland in a long while and aren't as tied to that past, and the Huojin are the only order likely to be willing to approach the Mogu and try to get them to change.

[Biomega]

I'm all for prolific use of new races tbh, even sold for cash in the shop.

Despite historical problems, the racials lately have been pretty balanced for 99.999% of the playerbase, and even at the highest end there hasn't been a lot of growling about racial disparities lately (m-KJ was the last time I remember it being an actual big deal). Of course there's the Shadowmeld thing for the MDI but since that's tournament realm only and affects like 100 people on the planet or so it doesn't really matter.

Races are just a neat little piece of eye candy and roleplaying. I'm sure there will be people complaining that their immersion is now completely ruined, just like it was when we got Death Knights, and Pandas, and Night Elf mages, and Vulpera, and any of twelve dozen other changes that totally and completely destroyed their enjoyment of the game, which is why they're still playing and complaining.

[cocomen2]

Mogu are cool, I'd put them on the Horde.

So by "rule of cool" all edgy races belong to horde?...... i image face of Firepaw (lets be honest Pandarens legit Horde race) when he gonna find out that Horde wants mogu among their ranks.

Next warchief,evil mogu leader?




Meanwhile no one knows who is leader of Alliance pandas.

[Skytotem]

Mogu Class Analysis:

Warrior - Mogu have always been physically strong, this one's pretty universal.

Rogue - While I'm sure some mogu mobs have used stealth, it doesn't really fit their style of using BIG BULKY WEAPONS, which is why monks beat them down, I'd cut this one.

Mage - Possible, Mogu have always had strong magical talents but it's not usually associated with the arcane, and they dismiss skills outside their titan-imprinted ones as 'peasant sorcery'.

Shaman - A strong possibility. Mogu thematics trend towards lightning and shaman are the only class to use electric spells.

Hunter - Definitely, Mogu command Quilen and cloud serpents. They're all about the 'dominating nature' aspect of things.

Paladin - Mogu don't worship or wield the Light, they mostly honor their past emperors and the titans. While a titan-themed paladin would be neat, if we haven't seen spells for it for the Dwarves, I doubt we'll see it for mogu.

Priest - Mogu have used some magics with the Sha that could be seen as shadowpriest-ish, but given how the Void and Old gods are tied into it, and neither Holy nor Disc fit them.

Druid - Unlikely, Mogu don't really have a strong connection to plants or wildlife. While it's fun to imagine them flipping between different stone-beast forms, this

Warlock - This is an odd one, they had a beholder in the Isle of Thunder but it doesn't seem to have been a demonic one, and while they mess around with Shadow magic, demons are pretty strongly opposed to their orderly and titanic nature...

Death Knight - This words very nicely with their spirit based magics, with the way all races got added for SL, no reason not to include Mogu.

Monk - It's unlikely the Pandaren would've taught the mogu... but after fighting Monks for centuries there's no way they didn't pick up the techniques indirectly. so this is a strong possibility.

Demon Hunter - Sadly doubtful, for the same reasons as warlock, except adding in that Mogu aren't very acrobatic.

[matrix123mko]

So by "rule of cool" all edgy races belong to horde?...... i image face of Firepaw (lets be honest Pandarens legit Horde race) when he gonna find out that Horde wants mogu among their ranks.

Next warchief,evil mogu leader?




Meanwhile no one knows who is leader of Alliance pandas.

Skytotem already said that Wandering Isle pandas are not tied to Pandaria much so they can negociate with Mogu freely.

- - - Updated - - -

Mage - Possible, Mogu have always had strong magical talents but it's not usually associated with the arcane, and they dismiss skills outside their titan-imprinted ones as 'peasant sorcery'.

They were so great at arcane that Zandalari pledged their loyalty to Lei Shen for arcane knowledge of mogu.

[Alanar]

Mogu Class Analysis:

Warrior - Mogu have always been physically strong, this one's pretty universal.

Rogue - While I'm sure some mogu mobs have used stealth, it doesn't really fit their style of using BIG BULKY WEAPONS, which is why monks beat them down, I'd cut this one.

Mage - Possible, Mogu have always had strong magical talents but it's not usually associated with the arcane, and they dismiss skills outside their titan-imprinted ones as 'peasant sorcery'.

Shaman - A strong possibility. Mogu thematics trend towards lightning and shaman are the only class to use electric spells.

Hunter - Definitely, Mogu command Quilen and cloud serpents. They're all about the 'dominating nature' aspect of things.

Paladin - Mogu don't worship or wield the Light, they mostly honor their past emperors and the titans. While a titan-themed paladin would be neat, if we haven't seen spells for it for the Dwarves, I doubt we'll see it for mogu.

Priest - Mogu have used some magics with the Sha that could be seen as shadowpriest-ish, but given how the Void and Old gods are tied into it, and neither Holy nor Disc fit them.

Druid - Unlikely, Mogu don't really have a strong connection to plants or wildlife. While it's fun to imagine them flipping between different stone-beast forms, this

Warlock - This is an odd one, they had a beholder in the Isle of Thunder but it doesn't seem to have been a demonic one, and while they mess around with Shadow magic, demons are pretty strongly opposed to their orderly and titanic nature...

Death Knight - This words very nicely with their spirit based magics, with the way all races got added for SL, no reason not to include Mogu.

Monk - It's unlikely the Pandaren would've taught the mogu... but after fighting Monks for centuries there's no way they didn't pick up the techniques indirectly. so this is a strong possibility.

Demon Hunter - Sadly doubtful, for the same reasons as warlock, except adding in that Mogu aren't very acrobatic.

so most of the are ruled out no?
so: Warrior,shaman,hunter are the onnly good options?

[Skytotem]

so most of the are ruled out no?
so: Warrior,shaman,hunter are the onnly good options?

It's not really an "either or"

Warlock could easily still work because of their domineering nature, DK is definitely still in, monks are possible, etc

Warrior, hinter, shaman fit BEST but others that are "possible" aren't a no just cause they're not a perfect fit

[Vaedan]

I wish that instead of neutral pandaren concept we got, Blizz made Pandaren Alliance race and Mogu Horde race back then. Alliance would have monks as new class, Horde would have Spiritbinders. These two classes would be mechanicaly same, but have different visuals.

Offtopic, before anything else, add oggres to the Horde.

[Syegfryed]

im not a fan of mogu on the horde, it is a concept and fantasy that is already covered from many of our races, they look like orcs and act like pandaren/zandalari, we would be just doubling down something that would not bring much to us, and it feels like its just another race taking the Ogre spot, Gorian empire>>mogu empire.

To me, the mogu as an empire, would be better suited to the alliance, something different and unique for then, that can mix some cool themes, an empire with an kingdom, a sense of nobility and pride, etc. Their appearance would also bring something more than "just another variety of humans" in the alliance.

Yeah i know they were allied with the zandalari, but that would make even better, mogu break up with the zandalari, became enemy, so they join the alliance

- - - Updated - - -

I wish that instead of neutral pandaren concept we got, Blizz made Pandaren Alliance race and Mogu Horde race back then. Alliance would have monks as new class, Horde would have Spiritbinders. These two classes would be mechanicaly same, but have different visuals.

Offtopic, before anything else, add oggres to the Horde.

Chen being a horde character, in essence, and pandarens being a monster race, humanoid animals, would make more sense for then going to the horde

[Lahis]

Mage - Possible, Mogu have always had strong magical talents but it's not usually associated with the arcane, and they dismiss skills outside their titan-imprinted ones as 'peasant sorcery'.

Titan constructs are strongly Arcane affiliated beings by their nature, so wielding Arcane should come easily to Mogu, even if their current culture doesn't do that much.

[Varodoc]

Some mogu would prefer to join the Alliance. The mogu were originally created to fight the Void and their spawn, right? So they would welcome the chance to fight alongside the void elves, special mortals who have turned the Void's own power against them. Especially after the devastation that the Void brought on the Vale, and the corruption of their leader Ra'den.

[matrix123mko]

Some mogu would prefer to join the Alliance. The mogu were originally created to fight the Void and their spawn, right? So they would welcome the chance to fight alongside the void elves, special mortals who have turned the Void's own power against them. Especially after the devastation that the Void brought on the Vale, and the corruption of their leader Ra'den.

I think they would be disgusted by sight of Void corrupted trolls.

[Vaedan]

Chen being a horde character, in essence, and pandarens being a monster race, humanoid animals, would make more sense for then going to the horde

Chen is not by any means Horde character, he only maintained friendly relations with Thrall during founding of Durotar, but after that time, he did not meddle with Horde affairs. During Mists of Pandaria, Chen worked both with Horde and Alliance, so he is neutral character.

Don't forget that "monster" races are not Horde exclusive feature, Alliance has worgen, also monster race of humanoids twisted into animal form. Pandaren also were allies of night elves in ages past, so there are many ties which opens strong path for pandaren to the Alliance. I admit there are also path which leads them to the Horde, which is most likely case why Pandaren ended up being neutral race.

[DatToffer]

I think Zandalari and BE would be the best choices to go look for the mogu. Even though the Rajani despise the use of anima, BE golems didn't use Ra den's blood, which is a good point, at least. And even though the zandalari became hostile to the mogu (because they were allied to the traitor Zul), maybe Talanji would see the benefit of having allies among them, in order to prevent future attacks from other clans.

Zandalari and mogu share a common history, while BE and mogu had similar experience : Wielding powers some people would shy away from, in order to accomplish their objectives, but then learning about its limits and dangers.

Wandering pandaren never had to deal with the mogu, so Ji wouldn't be a good fit, imo. But I could very well see him and another char (Maybe Chen ?) trying to get us playable hozen.

[DatToffer]

I think they would be disgusted by sight of Void corrupted trolls.

So would the lightforged draenei, supposedly. But here we are.

[Varodoc]

The Alliance sided with the death knights, despite them wielding the same dark power that destroyed Lordaeron. The lightforged draenei sided with Illidan, a half-demon mongrel infused with Fel who killed their own goddess in front of their eyes. The mogu would 100% side with the void elves if they knew just how much effort they are putting into stopping the Void. There are patterns in Warcraft story that are not that hard to notice. This is truly what Ra'den would have wanted.

[Terongor]

The Alliance sided with the death knights, despite them wielding the same dark power that destroyed Lordaeron. The lightforged draenei sided with Illidan, a half-demon mongrel infused with Fel who killed their own goddess in front of their eyes. The mogu would 100% side with the void elves if they knew just how much effort they are putting into stopping the Void. There are patterns in Warcraft story that are not that hard to notice.

With mogu disgust from curse of flesh and void itself its unlikely as mogu has long shared history with zandalari trolls its more likely they would join up with their old allies.

Secondly how even Jaina sees allerias void influenced action in shadows rising and ready she is to cause mental damage with void the civilians..... jaina even proved her kindness got them to talk.. its more than likely race not fond of her and her powers would judge her and those that follow her harshly.... jaina even once admired her....

[Syegfryed]

Chen is not by any means Horde character, he only maintained friendly relations with Thrall during founding of Durotar, but after that time, he did not meddle with Horde affairs. During Mists of Pandaria, Chen worked both with Horde and Alliance, so he is neutral character.

thats why i said "in essence, not officil or anything, but he did helped the horde and could be considered a horde character as much as Rokhan since both were Rexxar companions

Don't forget that "monster" races are not Horde exclusive feature Alliance has worgen, also monster race of humanoids twisted into animal form.

monster races are more tied to the horde, all of their races besides blood elves were straight up common monsters in fantasy, thats just plain simple, worgens were created exactly change that perspective, but even worgens are more humans cursed than actually a "monster race"

Pandaren also were allies of night elves in ages past, so there are many ties which opens strong path for pandaren to the Alliance.

they were allies once but they literally break this tie because elves were becoming obssed by the well, so no, no ties at all and no strong paths here.

Besides many generations ago, pandarens today may not even know what a night was back in mop

it Chen as a bridge and pandarens appearance and thematic they indeed made more sense as a horde race

- - - Updated - - -

Some mogu would prefer to join the Alliance. The mogu were originally created to fight the Void and their spawn, right? So they would welcome the chance to fight alongside the void elves, special mortals who have turned the Void's own power against them. Especially after the devastation that the Void brought on the Vale, and the corruption of their leader Ra'den.

no, you have to understand that void elves are not some kind of especial race that will be protagonists of wow, drop a bit this ego thing.

[matrix123mko]

So would the lightforged draenei, supposedly. But here we are.

Void elves would really fit better into Horde.

- - - Updated - - -

Agreed, everyone knows what the Void does, I highly doubt the Mogu would side with a race that's been tainted by it, even if it's being used against it.

Unless they would want to use void elves for experiments. They reverted curse of flesh on themselves so they could try that on more void tainted creatures.

[StationaryHawk]

thats why i said "in essence, not officil or anything, but he did helped the horde and could be considered a horde character as much as Rokhan since both were Rexxar companions

Are you actually arguing that, by helping Rexxar deal with Proudmoore, Chen is as much a member of the Horde as the Chieftain of the Darkspear? Can't say I agree.