World of Warcraft Still Has a Gold Mine of Potential Playable Races

The moment any new race is introduced to World of Warcraft, so too is the tantalizing possibility of it becoming playable. With the exception of Battle for Azeroth’s flood of allied races, new playable races are few and far between. They tend to alternate with or accompany new classes, and integrating them well within the game’s established lore is no simple feat.

Given its momentousness, the event of a new playable race needs to be nailed on the head, providing an engaging and unique experience for players to jive with. Any new playable has to fulfill several criteria, that being their reason to join the fight for Azeroth, their physical animations, and the fantasy immersion they bring. Luckily for World of Warcraft, there are already longtime races in the game who fit all these criteria.

The Wily Sethrak of Zandalar

The Sethrak are a serpentine race native to the rolling desert sands of Vol’dun, on the island of Zandalar. While only banished and desperate trolls manage to live here, the Sethrak thrive. These cobra-like people are excellent spellcasters and shamans, having a particular affinity towards lightning magic. They are skilled warriors and rogues too, coating their blades with venom from their own fangs. The long-lived and proud Sethrak could convincingly live up to most classes, save perhaps for paladins and druids.

Several Sethrak enlisted the aid of outsiders during Battle for Azeroth’s campaign to help them in a civil war. The opposing side sought to unleash an eldritch monstrosity known as Mythrax, so both the Alliance and Horde helped the noble Sethrak protect their home and rescue their patron Wild God, Sethraliss. This means that these reptilians could join either faction, and clearly have a vested interest in helping to save the world.

Draenor’s Lost Race of Humanoids

The Botani are a race of humanoid plant lifeforms, fully sapient and capable of both fighting and magical prowess. They hail from the orc homeworld of Draenor, but have a predominantly hostile outlook towards orcs and other mortal races. They seem to operate within the aims of the planet’s Primal hivemind, but possess their own agency nonetheless. If ever there was a darkness that threatened all life in the universe, like the Void, they might feasibly be willing to help Azeroth’s heroes.

Botani warriors have a powerful hold over all kinds of nature magic, and this could have fascinating aesthetic applications. The customization options for a creature made of plants would be limitless, including any druid forms it could shapeshift into. The Botani are utterly alien to those on Azeroth, but the sheer uniqueness and potential they would provide as a new playable race would be well worth the effort.

The Honorable Warriors of Azeroth’s Waters

The Ankoan, or their freshwater cousins, the Jinyu, are a race of semi-aquatic fish-like people. They have had close dealings with the Alliance in Mists of Pandaria and Battle for Azeroth, and are skilled warriors who value honour and courage. They are versatile too, able to fight in and out of the water with swords, tridents, and various kinds of magic. If the game ever took a turn towards more nautical or marine prospects in a future expansion, the Ankoan would make for an excellent choice.

These amphibious artisans would make valuable allies to anyone, and given their keen sense of justice, would jump at the opportunity to help Azeroth in the Worldsoul Saga. They are wary of strangers, however. so the stakes would have to be high for them to happily integrate. Naturally, their innate racial abilities could include water breathing and enhanced swimming speed, and their customizations could mimic the parts of real creatures, from lionfish spines to stingray harpoons and all the colors of an angelfish.

World of Warcraft’s Sole Survivors of the Void

No other playable race would be as prescient for World of Warcraft’s future as Ethereals. These mysterious people have been in the game since The Burning Crusade, yet little is known about them. But as the Worldsoul Saga of expansions progresses, they will serve a vital purpose. While acting predominantly as self-serving merchants or collectors, the Ethereals actually have a tragic story. The reason they appear as corporeal beings of magic loosely bound by bandages is because that’s exactly what they are.

A scant millennium ago, the Ethereal were a people like all others, thriving on their desert world of K’aresh. But when the Void Lord known as Dimensius sought to consume the planet, its people found a way to hang on to life. Dimensius flooded the world with such powerful storms of void and arcane that it effectively transmuted its people into pure energy. The Ethereal were forced to bind their fragile essences to scraps of clothing to remain alive, and fled to the Twisting Nether. They would make excellent allies in the fight against the Void, as they know all too well the consequences of its hunger.

There’s Still Room For More Anthro Races

World of Warcraft already has a bursting roster of “beastfolk” or races that are essentially anthropomorphic versions of animals. Worgen, tauren, vulpera, pandaren and dracthyr have set a precedent for these kinds of races, so one or two more likely wouldn’t go amiss. The furbolg are an ursine race of shamans who inhabit a wide range of Azeroth’s continents. These bear-like people could make for a fascinating addition, allowing players to explore their complex cultures and values.

Tuskarr have long been an aching desire for many WoW players since their debut in Wrath of the Lich King. These anthropomorphic walruses are part of a shamanic culture of storytelling fisherfolk who deeply value family and nature. Their jovial, plump demeanor would make them similar to pandaren, but instead paying homage to real-life Inuit, Iñupiat, and similar cultures. World of Warcraft has long used fictional races inspired by real cultures, and making them playable offers more intimate opportunities to appreciate them.

Game

My Favorite Games
My Played Games
My Games Wishlist

Advertisement

In this opening chapter of The Worldsoul Saga, you’ll journey through never-before-seen subterranean worlds filled with hidden wonders and lurking perils, down to the dark depths of the Nerubian empire, where the inscrutable Harbinger of the Void has gathered her arachnid forces to bring Azeroth to its knees.

Expand

Advertisement