How I Would Fix Drakthyr

[ercarp]

The current iteration of the Dracthyr dragon form looks more like a generic lizard or snake rather than an actual dragon. The slender build, tiny head, and long neck give them a Jar Jar Binks kind of feel. They look goofy. And goofy is okay for some races (like Pandaren), but I think there's a fairly large disconnect here between the body types of the Dracthyr and the "I'm a badass dragon" faces they're pulling in the preview images.

My Suggestions

To fix this, I would apply the following changes.

1. Separate the race into two body types: Slender and Bulky.
Note: Having a genderless race isn't inherently bad, but it means we lose out on additional body types. And more variety and options is always better when it comes to character customization!

2. Make their heads slightly larger and shorten their neck for the Slender build. This, in my opinion, makes them look a bit sturdier and more balanced.

3. For the Bulky build, widen their neck, chest, shoulders, and waist.

4. Let us equip armor in our draconic form! What's the point in adding a new race at all if the only genuinely new part—which is the dragon form—isn't able to equip any armor?



5. Finally, allow us to choose from more races than just Blood Elf Males and Human Females as our humanoid form! I think the new customization options have the potential to look amazing when applied to races like Orcs, Trolls, Gnomes, Night Elves, etc. Only Dracthyr can access the new Evoker race, so why limit our options to just the two you've chosen? Especially since as you said at the beginning of the presentation, dragons can transform into anything.



EDIT: Made a forum signature for those that want to support the cause of getting #BetterDracthyr.



Community Suggestions

More Races for Dracthyr Visage Form by Alissera on Twitter

Male Trolls



Female Trolls



Male Night Elves



Female Night Elves



Female Blood Elves



Male Human



Male Human (less jewelry)



Male Tauren




"The Swole'thyr" by LittleLittleG on Reddit

Personally, I think this one is a bit too swole for my tastes, but as an additional body type, I see no reason not to include it if that's what people want.




Body Edit by LochTessArt on Twitter




Dracthyr proportions feedback by ThunderBrush on Twitter

Some amazing suggestions for a sturdier-looking Dracthyr. I don't fully agree with the end result, but they make some good points.




Face edits by kazekatt on Reddit




More humanoid forms by Futhark

[Calfredd]

Pretty sure I'm in the minority but the armor bit isn't as make-or-break to me as it probably is for others however, everything else I agree with.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I don't understand why Blizzard didn't just give us Drakkonoids or Dragonspawn. They fit the WoW aesthetic.

I don't like the look of the Drakthyr at all. Tweaking their proportions won't salvage the race for me.

[gd8]

I think the armor change definitely needs to happen and bulkier models like that would be cool (they should definitely add warriors at the very least). As they are right now, it looks like playing an NPC or something. I would never really feel like it's "my" character

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Pretty sure I'm in the minority but the armor bit isn't as make-or-break to me as it probably is for others however, everything else I agree with.

Also this. We have two dozen humanoid playable races that can wear armor. We need stuff that looks more unique, and losing out on armor is an acceptable tradeoff (so long as there are some unique armors/appearances for that races you can customize).

[Wildberry]

Have to agree with Val here, Drakonids would have been much better & been less boxed in.

I get what you're trying to do here, your Drak'thyr model is better than theirs, but this race shouldn't even exist.

[Iain]

[bruxx]

That armor photoshop looks so good, I really hope we get to wear some armor with the finished product. That's really my only complaint so far with the classrace

[ercarp]

Have to agree with Val here, Drakonids would have been much better & been less boxed in.

I get what you're trying to do here, your Drak'thyr model is better than theirs, but this race shouldn't even exist.

I mean, I kind of agree with both of you. But I somehow doubt that Blizzard is just gonna go, "yeah, we hear you, we'll delete the race and replace it with Drakonids." So I think trying to approach the situation with level-headed feedback like this without attacking the race or the devs is probably the best way to get any kind of change to happen at all.

[flan1337]

Completely agree with your edit. Mainly with the head being way too small. They should consider having two body types, one slender and one bulky

[Fistfighter]

Honestly, yeah

They're way too twinky for a dragon race. They look like something you would find at the unpleasant side of DeviantArt.

The Bigger Head edit alone makes them way more aethetically pleasing, more menacing and serious.
As mentioned, Drakonids in WoW are bulky and massive. I guess they wanted a more agile race, for all the jumping and flying abilities? But it looks really unnerving to me.
Also, do they really come with default armor instead of your real gear? That's a bit off putting too.

[cocomen2]

I don't understand why Blizzard didn't just give us Drakkonoids or Dragonspawn. They fit the WoW aesthetic.

I don't like the look of the Drakthyr at all. Tweaking their proportions won't salvage the race for me.

Its same Pandarens curse, we expected a Monster looking cool shit, yet they throw at us some kind cartoonish phantasy fake dragons, while DRAGONOIDS and DRAGONMEN literally exist. They aiming at new playerbase, kids 12-14y old i feel it.

[SoundOfGuns]

Also this. We have two dozen humanoid playable races that can wear armor. We need stuff that looks more unique, and losing out on armor is an acceptable tradeoff (so long as there are some unique armors/appearances for that races you can customize).

I mean if there WERE unique looks, but lets face it; There might be two IF there are any at all. And if i play such a character i will vomit all over this look if i have to see the same shit for so long. That's just not enough and thats why stuff like transmoggs even exist. Or why people used to wear different armor outside of raids to look cool. Looking good... is a MASSIVE part of the MMO-Experience and just because blizzard is being lazy and skimming on the effort again, ...

Which is also why this no-armor-thing is a deal-breaker for me already. There is no reason to do this. It works on Worgen. Why is this an issue here? Same for the sexual demorphism. Yea, sure, it doesn't need to exist. Im also not asking for dragons with tits or whatever, but... the only reason that the model for the dragon form is lacking EVERY SINGLE BASELINE FEATURE OF CHARACTER CUSTOMIZATION is PURE lazynes. This stuff is not hard to model, or to texture, or to code. They just half ass things. As they tend to do for 4 years by now.

[HansOlo]

The current iteration of the Dracthyr dragon form looks more like a generic lizard rather than an actual dragon. The slender build, tiny head, and long neck give them a Jar Jar Binks kind of feel. They look goofy. And goofy is okay for some races (like Pandaren), but I think there's a fairly large disconnect here between the body types of the Dracthyr and the "I'm a badass dragon" faces they're pulling in the preview images.

To fix this, I would apply the following changes.

1. Separate the race into two body types: Slender and Bulky.
Note: Having a genderless race isn't inherently bad, but it means we lose out on additional body types. And more variety and options is always better when it comes to character customization!

2. Make their heads slightly larger and shorten their neck for the Slender build. This, in my opinion, makes them look a bit sturdier and more balanced.

3. For the Bulky build, widen their neck, chest, shoulders, and waist.

4. Let us equip armor in our draconic form! What's the point in adding a new race at all if the only genuinely new part—which is the dragon form—isn't able to equip any armor?

5. Finally, allow us to choose from more races than just Blood Elf Males and Human Females as our humanoid form! I think the new customization options have the potential to look amazing when applied to races like Orcs, Trolls, Gnomes, Night Elves, etc. Only Dracthyr can access the new Evoker race, so why limit our options to just the two you've chosen? Especially since as you said at the beginning of the presentation, dragons can transform into anything.

Good try.

None of the aspects are orcs or gnomes(even thou Chromie is a dragon). It clashes with the lore. It doesn't take that much to figure that out.

I personally would prefer the playable race to look like WOTLK dragonoids as suggested.

[Groundwalker]

In my opinion.......this class should be base line humanoid form. The "Dragon Form" should be a part of the class as a cool down perhaps, similar to how shadow priest used to work in that you try to stay in dragon form with unique abilities as long as you can. Having this form similar to Worgan just does not do it for me, and honestly the model they have for the dragon form is atrocious.

[SoundOfGuns]

Good try.

None of the aspects are orcs or gnomes(even thou Chromie is a dragon). It clashes with the lore. It doesn't take that much to figure that out.

I personally would prefer the playable race to look like WOTLK dragonoids as suggested.

Bad argument. They choose their form. There even is a Goblin.

[Nynax]

Has there been clarification that armor won't show? So far I've seen a few clips of heavily curated animations in racially themed outfits.

No context on available cosmetic features like faces, eyes, skin color, horns, wings, humanoid options, etc.
No context on other basic animations, like dancing.
No context on how armor and weapons are warn/wielded.
No context on flying/double jump ability.
No context on what the voice sounds like.

[HansOlo]

Bad argument. They choose their form. There even is a Goblin.

Dragon is not the same as dragonoid. 1-1.

[ercarp]

Good try.

None of the aspects are orcs or gnomes(even thou Chromie is a dragon). It clashes with the lore. It doesn't take that much to figure that out.

What's with the comparison to Aspects? Dracthyr aren't Aspects, so I'm not quite sure what point you're trying to make here. Dragons are free to choose whatever humanoid form they wish to be.

[Malorne the White Stag]

This is a lot better. Make the race have more classes and my opinion would change pretty quickly.