wow The Future of Allied Races

[Stan 5,239]

The news image above is fan art created by Dogslug. You can find more of his work here.

Blizzard mentioned multiple times that they would add Allied Races whenever they fit the story. The Horde's hottest candidates are currently the Vulpera of Vol'dun, even though their story doesn't make a whole lot of sense right now. Recent rumors suggest that Gilgoblins could be in the final pair of Horde Allied Races too.

The Vulpera currently have too many unique animations, and they are a community-favorite. Pretty much every Horde player wants them to become playable. They're coming, and it's just a matter of when. We think the first set of Allied Races will be introduced in Patch 8.2.5 with the second one coming in Patch 8.3.5. Based on datamining, the Vulpera should be live on or before September 20th. You can find all their customization options here.

On the other side of the spectrum, the Alliance will get Mechagnomes led by Prince Erazmin of Mechagon, but it's still not clear what the second race will be.

Lightforged Forsaken led by Calia Menethil are a possibility based on the Before the Storm novel and Calia also received a new model in the initial Patch 8.2.5 build.

Next up are Gilgoblins! We encounter them in zones like Vashj'ir and Nazjatar in Patch 8.2. They are a species of aquatic goblins created by Hobart Grapplehammer. Gilgoblins are very similar to traditional Goblins. They have various tattoos and fins on their arms to help them swim.

Gilgoblins are currently not included in the game files as playable races as opposed to Mechagnomes and the Vulpera. They only exist as creatures.

The female model has more customization options compared to the male model. Would you like to see them become playable in the future?

We know that Blizzard wants to add more customization options to World of Warcraft, and a recent leak suggests that all Allied Races will become customization options in Patch 9.0 except for the Nightborne and the Vulpera. Let's see what the first set of Allied Races is going to be now that Patch 8.2 should hit Public Test Realms reasonably soon!

TL;DR

• The first set of Allied Races (Mechagnomes/Vulpera) coming in Patch 8.2.5 on or before September 20th.
• The final set of Allied Races will include Gilgoblins and Lightforged Forsaken (based on the Before the Storm novel) in Patch 8.3.5.

We know that Mechagnomes and the Vulpera are coming, but what about the second set of Allied Races?

[Arcling 898]

Vulpera don't fit allied races concept, as they are a new race, not a different faction, nation and/or magical variation of existing race (like Void Elves and Nightborne). They are their own species, so Gilgoblins are the only fitting counterpart to Mechagnomes. Both options sound rather boring in my opinion, it's also possible we might not get any new allied races this expansion. There is also the fact, that these Gilgoblins are still using older models, with upcoming updates for Goblin and Worgen, this makes them even less likely to become playable, as they would have to update some assets for them as well.

Another issue is the faction imbalance, giving something as different as Vulpera to Horde, while Alliance gets Mechagnomes, could skew balance even further. Alliance is already losing players, so that's a bad idea, unless they are planning to remove faction restrictions (or factions as a whole). 

Edited July 28, 2019 by Arcling

[Aernath 173]

Ally side sounds reasonable but I'd prefer Mechagnomes to be a skin choice for Gnomes instead. Vulpera also sounds quite reasonable, also Lightbound / Lightforged Undead / Forsaken, but Gilgoblins... I really don't think so. Because if that happens Horde would have three different races with Goblin rigs. Not a very wise choice for the least popular race of Horde.

If I was at Blizzard, I'd go for the rumored Allied Races - Racial Skins conversion too and I'd include the long awaited High Elves with Void Elf skins as their skin choices, also Wildhammer Dwarves are now a weak choice as an Allied Race but it would be a perfect Dwarf skin choice with tattoos and more tribal look. Considering the Blood Elf popularity, I'd also go for the Dark Ranger and San'layn skins, again not very viable as Allied Races but would be very fitting as skin choices. 

[Balor 13]

Most horde i know don't want another small race like goblins to join the horde.

[Pandabuffel 184]

I don't like the fact that as soon we're fighting along a new kind of people, everyone wants them to become an allied race. Really hope they aren't going to make that a baseline, but rather like Blizzard said 'Only when they fit the story'.

[Frogspoison 63]

1 hour ago, Pandabuffel said:

I don't like the fact that as soon we're fighting along a new kind of people, everyone wants them to become an allied race. Really hope they aren't going to make that a baseline, but rather like Blizzard said 'Only when they fit the story'.

Every time we see a new, humanoid, looks like it vaguely could be playable, ppl want it as a new race. We saw this in BC, with Arrakoa, in Wrath with Tuskar, Taunka, Frost Dwaves, Iron Dwarves, and the various types of Vrykul, again in Cata with the Tol'Vir, MoP with Mogu, Saurok, Mantid, Hozen, AND Jinyu...

 

Basically, whenever an expansion comes out with a new NPC race, there will be at LEAST one thread somewhere on the forums asking for a playable version of it. Things like Arrakoa, Ogres, Naga, ect are wanted mainly because there hasn't been an expansion in which they didn't have SOME kind of presence.

[Ghash 7]

I'm not sure I agree with the "Allied Races become customization options" guess.  Why would they create all of the jokes, flirts, racial traits, etc. only to scrap all of that and just make them a customization of the base race?  And from a lore standpoint, it doesn't make sense to be like "oh, well you've worked with us for half an expansion, so it only makes sense that we just make all of our people able to look just like you".

It also makes zero sense for Vulpera to become an Allied race (I think they may be a playable race in the future, but not an Allied race).  Every other allied race is a different version of an existing race, which is what they were always intended to be.  Vulpera are a completely new race. 

[HugeMurloc 43]

4 hours ago, Balor said:

Most horde i know don't want another small race like goblins to join the horde.

So I am not the only one that do NOT want Vulpera as a playable race

[Valhalen 1,484]

Man, I just want playable Tuskarr.

[Dejo93 1,023]

33 minutes ago, Valhalen said:

Man, I just want playable Tuskarr.

I want the new Arrakoa :)

[Aegrotat 80]

51 minutes ago, Dejo93 said:

I want the new Arrakoa ?

Honestly the non-broken Arrakoa would be hype. The broken? ehhh, not so much.

[Mcdermott 3]

I hate the idea of vulpera as a playable race with the fury of ten thousand suns. 

[SlowboLaggins 0]

11 hours ago, Arcling said:

Vulpera don't fit allied races concept, as they are a new race, not a different faction, nation and/or magical variation of existing race (like Void Elves and Nightborne). They are their own species, so Gilgoblins are the only fitting counterpart to Mechagnomes. Both options sound rather boring in my opinion, it's also possible we might not get any new allied races this expansion. There is also the fact, that these Gilgoblins are still using older models, with upcoming updates for Goblin and Worgen, this makes them even less likely to become playable, as they would have to update some assets for them as well.

Another issue is the faction imbalance, giving something as different as Vulpera to Horde, while Alliance gets Mechagnomes, could skew balance even further. Alliance is already losing players, so that's a bad idea, unless they are planning to remove faction restrictions (or factions as a whole). 

Except Ion himself has said in the past during a dev QA that an allied race doesn't need to be a variation of an existing race to be added which renders that whole stance moot. I would be totally happy with Alliance getting Ankoan and Horde getting Vulpera which would balance things out pretty well, just try and tell me even the most diehard Horde player wouldn't roll an Ankoan (even though "cooler" races isn't why there is an imbalance overall). Vulpera and Mechagnomes first, then Ankoan and *insert boring Horde Gilgoblins here or equivalent boring race*.

I don't think its such a big thing or unreasonable for them to have improved Gilgoblins at the same time they were updating normal goblins btw and just waiting to roll it out, there are very little differences between the two after all. 

[Frogspoison 63]

Personally, I feel that GilGoblins would be a much better addition then, say, most of the allied races we have now, especially in terms of how they are represented in game.

Highmountain Tauren are, imo, 100% a joke/meme race - Highmountain was full of cheesy pun and memes, and Blizz continued that with the allied race. They do NOT feel like a unique culture, like they offer anything besides Blizz telling *filtered*-tons of cheesy jokes with em. Void Elves are kinda the same thing, except more edgelord then anything else. Draenor Orcs and Lightforged Draenei are essentially the same as existing Orcs and Draenei in terms of feels.

The only allied races that feel like they have their own unique culture are the Dark Iron, Zandalari, Nightbourne, and Kul Tirans.

Gilgoblins definetly don't feel like Goblins - Rather then being completely obsessed with explosives, money, and screwing people over like Goblins, Gilgoblins give the feeling of being content with the little things, helping one another, and, of course, screwing Naga over.

Vulpera, on the other hand, feel just like cuttthroat desert traders - Similar to Goblins, except with their whole nomadic/desert theme going on.

[MZLICH 43]

I don't care about being small or big but bruh What The Exactly F they are making !!! Sounds like they just make orginal races uglier and release them as allied races! 

[Tri 138]

remember when everyone thought in wod horde were getting ogre and ally arrakoa? pepperidge farms remembers

[solitha 84]

18 hours ago, Ghash said:

I'm not sure I agree with the "Allied Races become customization options" guess.  Why would they create all of the jokes, flirts, racial traits, etc. only to scrap all of that and just make them a customization of the base race?  And from a lore standpoint, it doesn't make sense to be like "oh, well you've worked with us for half an expansion, so it only makes sense that we just make all of our people able to look just like you".

It also makes zero sense for Vulpera to become an Allied race (I think they may be a playable race in the future, but not an Allied race).  Every other allied race is a different version of an existing race, which is what they were always intended to be.  Vulpera are a completely new race. 

It could so easily be done. Choose your race, then your "tribe" or background. Like, you choose Human, then Stormwind or Kul Tiras. Or choose Draenei, then Exodar or Lightforged. All the things that make the new race distinct from the old stay intact. It's more a reorganization of the character creation screens than anything. Of course, by current standards, all the newer variations would be locked for new players.

[knight85 7]

So long as the lightforged forsaken arent ugly and can be paladins i'll take it.

[Valhalen 1,484]

19 hours ago, Ghash said:

Every other allied race is a different version of an existing race, which is what they were always intended to be.  Vulpera are a completely new race. 

Vulpera still uses the Goblin rigging, though.

[Arcling 898]

12 hours ago, SlowboLaggins said:

Except Ion himself has said in the past during a dev QA that an allied race doesn't need to be a variation of an existing race to be added which renders that whole stance moot.

They can always change their mind, like they did in the past. Altered model needs much more work, so the armor can fit somehow properly. Sounds like too much work for something to release mid-expansion. Ankoan, while using existing skeleton of a night elf, have weird heads and are genderless in their appearance. Actually, it's hard to tell which of them is male or female (not a fan of those low pitch voices). ?

Edited July 29, 2019 by Arcling

[Lampanelli 75]

Vulpera fits the Horde far more than the low effort, barely different Gilblins. Also, the massive amount of things in the game file, as well as live (The Flame Keeper being a Vulpera giving Horde specific text just as a recent example)points far more towards them than Gilblins.

Also, I don't get where people listen in to find more Gilblin that Vulpera support on the Horde side. I frequent quite a few places, including seeing how the Discord channels are doing, and the Vulpera have a far higher number of supporters. And those that I talk with and meet on the Horde side, have almost no interest in the Gilblins, but would throw their physical wallet at their PC over and over again whilst pressing the *Race change* button repeatedly.

And before the *It's just furries* argument comes up. We have Worgen, Tauren, and Pandarens. People can't keep using that tired excuse every time they see something about as hairy as a Dwarf, as it's complete nonsense.

[Migol 433]

Don't really care for the Vulpera lore at all though, it's a great example about how bad the writing is lately.

Basically the Vulpera are nomads and traders living in a desert.    They have no capital city, no centralized government or any land/buildings of strategic value, they basically exist as tribes/clans of a few dozen or so.    Recently a small number of them helped a few horde and zandalari that got lost in the desert.

That act of charity ENRAGED high fuhrer Anduin Wrynn of the 3rd Reich, who decided that in the middle of wartime it would be a good idea to divert troops into Purge Squads to exterminate the Vulpera, whether they were part of the group helping the small horde group or whatnot, they ALL MUST BE PURGED.

This is driving them to joining the Horde for safety. 

I wish I was making this up.

Edited July 29, 2019 by Migol

[lChronosl 182]

33 minutes ago, Migol said:

That act of charity ENRAGED high fuhrer Anduin Wrynn of the 3rd Reich, who decided that in the middle of wartime it would be a good idea to divert troops into Purge Squads to exterminate the Vulpera, whether they were part of the group helping the small horde group or whatnot, they ALL MUST BE PURGED.

This is driving them to joining the Horde for safety. 

I wish I was making this up.

This makes me laugh.

Sad laughs.

[Pandabuffel 184]

1 hour ago, Lampanelli said:

Vulpera fits the Horde far more than the low effort, barely different Gilblins. Also, the massive amount of things in the game file, as well as live (The Flame Keeper being a Vulpera giving Horde specific text just as a recent example)points far more towards them than Gilblins.

Also, I don't get where people listen in to find more Gilblin that Vulpera support on the Horde side. I frequent quite a few places, including seeing how the Discord channels are doing, and the Vulpera have a far higher number of supporters. And those that I talk with and meet on the Horde side, have almost no interest in the Gilblins, but would throw their physical wallet at their PC over and over again whilst pressing the *Race change* button repeatedly.

And before the *It's just furries* argument comes up. We have Worgen, Tauren, and Pandarens. People can't keep using that tired excuse every time they see something about as hairy as a Dwarf, as it's complete nonsense.

How about none of those two? The only reason Vulpera stands out is because they might feel better than Gilbins, but at the end of the day BOTH of them don't really feel like Horde candidates. There are other races who definitely fit the Horde better and haven't joined either, making Vulpera suddenly join now would be a real huge mistake imo. Reading this topic it feels like people almost demand a new allied race for the Horde and that Gilblins and Vulpera are the only 2 candidates. Usually the new allied races already have a big affinity to the current races and share the same goal.

The next step for our adventure is almost certainly Ny'alotha. Now I personally see no reason for the Vulpera to be like 'Yeah, let us tag along too. We'd love to see N'Zoth and find shiny stuff in Ny'alotha.', they would be extreme misfits for that location. Almost all other Horde races have been around long enough on this adventure and at important events to share a goal there. So releasing Vulpera during that patch would be weird, people will probably already have forgotten about Vulpera afterwards.

[Winsolo 1]

Why this small chars.. rly blizz ?