Allied Race Customisation Parity in SL

Community General Discussion
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Greetings GD.

Firstly I’d like to extend a genuine “good for you” to those helf fans satisfied by the recent news regarding updated customisation for Belf and Velf, most prominently allowing alliance players whom have long requested the ability to play as a High Elf, a very good (albeit not full) compromise on this.

But I am not here to discuss that or Helf lore. I am here to discuss the original “ARs will get their customisation down the line” statement which appears to be cracked under this latest reveal, given Velf are an allied race and appear to be in line for customisation for SL release alongside core races.

Now I do not want this thread to appear as sour grapes. Rather I want to be seen as a realisation that if blizz can go back on a statement like this, presumebly in part due to community requests, then it would pay to remind them that there are other allied races players play, with requests of their own, and that in the interests of parity it would be fair to throw these players a similar bone. I understand the communities of these races may not be as vocal as the helf community, so let’s take this opportunity to be vocal about what we’d want to see for our ARs too. Can’t guarantee it will do anything, but awareness is awareness. Blizzard are showing with SL they are engaging in a much more wholesome form of listening to community feedback, so taking that imperative, I made this thread.

Keep posts to what you’d like to see for the AR (keep OG races out of it) you’re posting about. This is not a thread to derail with moaning or whinging about this customisation news, or into a helf/belf/velf lore-off. Keep it civil, keep it constructive. And if you agree with someone else’s suggestion, make this clear by repeating it, or ideally quoting it with a clear approval post.
Please keep posts serious in tone and don’t troll the suggestions of others or the races they’re advocating for. If there’s nothing you like here, move along kindly.

I will begin with a few (unsurprisingly) for Mechagnomes, some of which I’ve raised before in other threads.

Skin
It would be good to allow us the same skin tones our mainland brethren are receiving in SL. Exception to if they are due any leper akin tones.

Eyes
I think it would be great to allow us to pick our eye augment colour, blue, green, yellow, white, red, with options including one “eye bulb” gone out.
Additionally some options involving one eye augmented, one natural. Visors a la “Cyclops” of X men fame.

Hair
Some news styles that are punky would be nice to push the “junker” angle of MGs and keep us distinct from normal gnomes who look to be getting quite audacious/cutesy/eccentric hairstyles.
New colours too, but not like the crazy shades of regular gnomes, let them keep that. Stuff like greenish-brown, blueish-grey, a lighter grey, regular colours with flecks of white/black in them, keep the colours “metallic” as they are currently.

Arm Mods
If nothing else, allow us to choose the arms independent of each other, including an unmodded arm for one (I’m against having both arms unmodded as the distinction between normal gnome and MG would be lessened).
Possibly more options, three-four-five pinchered claws, bulkier fists.

Legs
Same as above regarding independent modding and option of one natural leg.
Add more options like robotic but much more humanoid feet, “running blades”, mechaonstrider like legs, even wheels (though this may require new running animation)

Metal Colour
Separate from skin colour, add a few new tones such as near-black, a greenish bronze, near-white chrome, platinum.

Ears
Options to choose independent of each other. Perhaps one or two new choices like radio antenna, or mini Tesla coils.

Facial Hair and Chins
Separate moustache from beard. A few more options for facial hair outside of moustaches like sideburns, chin beards and full beards. Allow the chin augment tied to one of the current eye mods to be chosen separate to this.

So guys, what would you like to see for your ARs? And thanks for reading and keeping it civil and again grats to the Helf fans for their partial win in this news release :+1:

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Surprising as it may seem, my wish for allied race (or well, not just allied) customisation will not be focused on Mechagnomes. I have much bigger fish in sight: Mechanization for everyone. We already have armor that has more metal than any reasonable person would deem sufficient, making that part of the body is just the logical next step.

This would also open up the path of the Upgrade to all races, and would not be restricted to gnomes alone. Why can’t a human, a veteran of war, who lost a limb or two in battle, opt to replace them with mechanical parts?

We have the technology. We’re eager to share it with the world. Let us.

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To be honest, now that the High Elf elephant (High Elefant? :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:) has left the room - why not just combine “related” races? Dwarves and Dark Iron Dwarves, High Mountain Tauren with Tauren, Mechagnomes with Gnomes, etc.? That would multiply the customization options with little effort (I presume).

Especially since the Allied Races will probably look a bit… pale, compared to the many options of their “relatives”. :thinking:

@Paximilian:
Sorry, I did read your post, but since my idea included the OG races, I couldn’t really exclude them from it :sweat_smile:

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I’ve been saying this for a while now! I don’t see how the allied “races” can be labeled as such. In the end all we are is just a different customization option with a new set of racials to play around with. The only new and true “race” that we’ve gotten is Vulpera.

That being said, I’m really hoping we get more stuff for Tauren. I feel like those guys have been getting the short end of the stick for years now.

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No worries, this paleness compared to OG races (and that velf will be faring better on this due to this news) is why this thread is being raised. I think the ship has sailed in blending races due to the fact of distinct racials etc.

It would have been a sensible option going in, but not so much now, which is why I’m focussed on asking what extra customisations would people like to see for ARs heading into SL to help them keep their lustre but keep them distinct from the OG?

Let us assume rolling ARs into OGs is not on the table (no reason to believe it is) and so keep the discussion focused on what ARs could have by way of customisation, assuming they remain distinct races in their own right. Whether making them distinct or rolling them into OGs is preferable is an entirely different topic for another thread. :slight_smile::+1:

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Its not what many wanted I myself on the fence about it, but have you have to admit it was odd that on alliance you had a Helf tabard, a mount, rep and more? themed around the Helfs but they themselves were not playable to you.

Well at least there is something to work with now.

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I hope it does not feel too much like thread-hijacking (I realize it is) but seen this issue has been voiced, I shall post a link:

So I am really hope you’d like my thread, also (link above).

Thanks, and apologies if this does not feel helpful.

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Honestly, Nightborne should’ve happened before the void elves, but I understand that it was because of the controversy.

Maybe if they get some of the night elf customisation options the horde would shut up about the twiggy elves.

Give Nightborne some love, they need more of everything, faces (!), skin color, hair color and fixed hairstyles, some new ones as well. And fix the shoulders! All my mogs look so dumb with those floating shoulders.

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It’s funny how a race that already had the most customization out of all four original allied races is now getting more, while the other three, which desperately are in need of more customization, are probably not going to get anything.

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