So has Blizzard given up on introducing new Allied Races? Where are the 4 covenants?

[Richardbro]

It has been a few years since we have gotten a new Allied Race (Darkfallen/Dark Ranger is a cool skin but not an Allied Race).

Many were convinced we would get the 4 covenants races as Allied Races but we did not. Any chance of getting them is practically slim now.

Many were again convinced based on a rumor leak that Dragonflight would launch with a new one (Taunka), but again we did not get one.

At this point is it fair to assume they are gone for good or discontinued for now?

[KOUNTERPARTS]

It has been a few years since we have gotten a new Allied Race (Darkfallen/Dark Ranger is a cool skin but not an Allied Race).

Many were convinced we would get the 4 covenants races as Allied Races but we did not. Any chance of getting them is practically slim now.

Many were again convinced based on a rumor leak that Dragonflight would launch with a new one (Taunka), but again we did not get one.

At this point is it fair to assume they are gone for good or discontinued for now?

Too early to tell.

[Claymore]

It certainly seems that way. I suspect Blizzard realizes that Allied Races were actually pretty messy in execution, and it's clear that some got FAR more attention than others. Mechagnomes and Lightforged Draenei are essentially "customization options" for their core races, whereas the Vulpera are a TOTALLY new race. And then you've got the Void Elves and Nightborne, who are essentially cross-faction races.

It's pretty clear the term "Allied Race" has a pretty broad definition, and unfortunately nobody -- not even Blizzard -- knows what that is.

I have a feeling they're just going to say "that was just a feature for BFA" and try to leave that behind them. Because the whole system is currently a mess.

[A Chozo]

1 - they never promised covenant allied races. Idiotic streamers promising it don't count.
2 - it seems poor blizzard has the staff of a very small indie studio so they can't allocate resources into reskinning some races.

Chances are someday in the future they'll introduce more allied races. Or maybe not. Either way we don't know, don't expect anything.

[Cheezits]

I think people pissing and moaning every single day about the lore and setting of SL may have deterred the races from being made playable. However they aren't exactly Azeroth races and they also often shared animations between the men and women, which points to them never being intended on being playable.

To answer your question, I think that the feature may be discontinued as we are returning to new races. However as has been mentioned, Vulpera were essentially a new race in every way afteir initial rehaul (and kul tirans in terms of animations), but the majority of ARs are skin colors and tattoos.

As the SL customizations like wildhammer, helf, sand troll and darkfallen show, we probably are never going to get a skin color/tattoo subrace ever again.

So things like Jinyu, Ogre, Tuskarr and Moknathal still could happen. But it will just be a new race like Dracthyr instead of being labeled an AR.

[KOUNTERPARTS]

Also, I think Blizzard attempting to do Shadowlands Covenant races as Allied Races is a can of worms... unless they do all 4 of them.


Now with cross faction, it won't be that much of a problem if you want to play a specific Allied Race on the faction of your choice... so putting 2 Covenant races on 1 faction and the other 2 on the other faction won't be that much of a big deal.


Those on MMO-C who are vocal about playing Covenant races usually fall back on Night Fae, Venthyr and Kyrian. My poor green, boney brothers...

- - - Updated - - -

Moknathal still could happen.

Yes please. Inject playable Mok'Nathal straight into my fucking veins.

[Lochton]

It has been a few years since we have gotten a new Allied Race (Darkfallen/Dark Ranger is a cool skin but not an Allied Race).

Many were convinced we would get the 4 covenants races as Allied Races but we did not. Any chance of getting them is practically slim now.

Many were again convinced based on a rumor leak that Dragonflight would launch with a new one (Taunka), but again we did not get one.

At this point is it fair to assume they are gone for good or discontinued for now?

Most likely more allied races coming. There were no new covenants on the table, nor would I believe a new allied race for DF (yet, maybe later) as they are getting a new race and class.

[Selah]

Many were convinced we would get the 4 covenants races as Allied Races but we did not.

So, this is kind of the key to this whole thread though. This was an assumption that was spread amongst the community by members of the community, not Blizzard. It'd be fun to get the covenant races as allied races, but we have no reason to think that this is going to happen.

Getting frustrated with this is similar to getting frustrated with your spouse because you assumed they were going to do something for you and then they didn't do the thing you assumed that they were going to do.

[cocomen2]

Yes please. Inject playable Mok'Nathal straight into my fucking veins.

Bruh, its pure copium, they can't move a finger to add basic ogres.... while making furry lizards.

[Ielenia]

It has been a few years since we have gotten a new Allied Race (Darkfallen/Dark Ranger is a cool skin but not an Allied Race).

Many were convinced we would get the 4 covenants races as Allied Races but we did not. Any chance of getting them is practically slim now.

Many were again convinced based on a rumor leak that Dragonflight would launch with a new one (Taunka), but again we did not get one.

At this point is it fair to assume they are gone for good or discontinued for now?

Okay. Addressing line by line:
• "Allied race" was a BfA feature. An "allied race" is a race that you can't play with from the get-go of an expansion, and need to work on unlocking said "allied race" through a pre-requisite rep/achievement gathering, to unlock a quest chain that would unlock the race for you. Not to mention allied races don't have their own starting zones. So, technically, they're lesser than normal playable races, that not only are available from the moment you log into the expansion for the first time, but also have their own starting level experience.
• "Many were convinced" is meaningless, because Blizzard never said we'd get those races in playable form. So technically you could say that those who believed we would get the covenant races as playable races just lied to themselves.
• Again, "many were convinced" is meaningless, but also that "rumor leak" had spelling mistake and translation errors, with the information about a "new allied race" easily debunked by the fact we didn't get any "allied race" showcased in the expansion reveal, and we were told that we could play as dracthyr evokers in the pre-patch if we pre-ordered.
• Again, "allied race" was a BfA feature.

[DatToffer]

I think they might return someday when it's convenient.

But I also think they realized that what was supposed to be a quicker way to make new content by introducing rebaked original races with a few unique customization options was actually higher maintenance than they'd think, since people started demanding more and more customization options and would not let them just call it a day.

I mean, what's the point of making those special subraces if you end up having to trade base options and allied options to keep your promise of bringing more customization ?

[kammo]

Allied Races was a BFA thing. That's why Drak'thyr is just a new race

Edit:

Okay. Addressing line by line:
• "Allied race" was a BfA feature. An "allied race" is a race that you can't play with from the get-go of an expansion, and need to work on unlocking said "allied race" through a pre-requisite rep/achievement gathering, to unlock a quest chain that would unlock the race for you. Not to mention allied races don't have their own starting zones. So, technically, they're lesser than normal playable races, that not only are available from the moment you log into the expansion for the first time, but also have their own starting level experience.
• "Many were convinced" is meaningless, because Blizzard never said we'd get those races in playable form. So technically you could say that those who believed we would get the covenant races as playable races just lied to themselves.
• Again, "many were convinced" is meaningless, but also that "rumor leak" had spelling mistake and translation errors, with the information about a "new allied race" easily debunked by the fact we didn't get any "allied race" showcased in the expansion reveal, and we were told that we could play as dracthyr evokers in the pre-patch if we pre-ordered.
• Again, "allied race" was a BfA feature.

Basically this

[rayvio]

it was many expansions until we got a second hero class
it also wouldn't make a lot of sense for the covenant races to leave shadowlands and get involved in mortal affairs, especially considering they've a lot of work to help the shadowlands recover

[Elfezen]

there are 2 allied races missing, the equivalent to undead and worgen, all other main races have got their allied race equivalent

[Soimu]

whereas the Vulpera are a TOTALLY new race.

Sort of. They are reskinned goblins.

[Iain]

It's a mystery why the allied races and heritage armour quests are some of the coolest little adventures this game has to offer. Amazing quests that force the player to travel across the world. Scenarios, and entirely new instanced zones as well as deep and pivotal lore exposition.

Either Blizzard is trying to figure out how to scale up this content or they decided that not enough people played the content to warrant having so much pure quality sitting hidden behind optional quests.

[VinceVega]

Covenant races would have been so incredibly lore bending.... i hope that will never happen.

Also i hope they are done with the half baked allied races... they are missing lore and are basically a way for Blizzard to placate players but they don't have to develop nearly as much or basically anything. No new city. No real story. No integration into any other stories....
Allied races are a copout.

Drakthyr (while stupid implementation of a new race with no trnsmog and only one class option) are 1 Million times better than any allied race

[Woggmer]

First off... Covenant races will likely never happen due to lore reasons, and also because gameplay races as well. They don't mesh well with the "Mortal Realm" (as in, we don't see them, we only see them in-between where the Spirit Healers/Bwonsamdi are) Not to mention that the fan reception for Shadowlands is so low that even Blizz feels personally ashamed of it (Which they should be) that they want you to skip it to get to DF.

Allied Races, as some pointed out, are a BFA feature since the Alliance and Horde recruited them so that they could have more people in the War Effort. If we see a 5th War (which I doubt will happen again for a long long time) then it might be possible. Though the bigger issue is that some of the allied races are just reskins of the baseline races.. which is why they feel like subraces (except for Vulpera who are original but only share the model rigging of a goblin...everything else about them is unique). At that point, you may as well put some of them in the same starting zone as others... like Mag'har in the Orc Starting zone.. or Kul'tirans in the Human Starting zone.

That being said, new races can still work, but it comes down to which race Blizz decides that fits best with the expansion's themes. Allied Races work because they fit with the theme of a 4th War going down and they need new recruits. We may not see Mok'nathal Orcs as their own separate thing, but something as a reskin for orcs. It'd be easier than to craft a new starting zone, and new racial abilities (which is their own can of worms that I don't want open.)

However, there is one important point I want to make that people seem to neglect about new races... If a new race is being added, people are going to expect the same level of customization as all the other races. Which would take a long time for them to make that many customizations to fit into one or even two races (for both factions). If say Ogres get added into the game, then the ogres would need up to 10+ different skin tones, 7-9 faces, 6-10+ eye colors (including heterochromatic options), 6 tattoo options (because why not), 7+ body scar options, and about 15+ jewelry options...and including a two-headed ogre option.. and not to mention making a female model with the same amount of customization options.

[MrLachyG]

It has been a few years since we have gotten a new Allied Race (Darkfallen/Dark Ranger is a cool skin but not an Allied Race).

Many were convinced we would get the 4 covenants races as Allied Races but we did not. Any chance of getting them is practically slim now.

Many were again convinced based on a rumor leak that Dragonflight would launch with a new one (Taunka), but again we did not get one.

At this point is it fair to assume they are gone for good or discontinued for now?

they were a BfA feature. they should be introducing Races (which they have done in the form of Dracthyr) instead of Allied Races - you know, the ones we don't have to unlock during an expansion? remember Pandaren? Goblins? Worgen? Blood Elves? Draenei?

[terminaltrip421]

when it comes to this game I feel like it's better to give up and just be surprised if they ever do something you actually want.