Allied Race: Hozen & Jinyu

Hello, forums!

It’s yah boi, the insufferable suggester in hopes that Blizzard actually takes note of these things! (Spoilers: They don’t.) Back with another suggestion which has been brought up a lot on these forums; Making Hozen and Jinyu allied races. Admittedly, I am mostly interested in Hozen and as such shall be focusing my argument on this race, but I know many people would also enjoy playing Jinyu.

I will try and keep this structured, but forgive me if I rant every now and then. I’m a passionate advocate for our little monkey dudes and would main one in a heartbeat.

The Case For Hozen Joining The Horde

During the events of Mists of Pandaria, anyone who played through this story on the Horde side will remember their first encounter with the Hozen (even earlier if you rolled a Pandaren). I believe it was the questline in Grookin Hill, where you work to gain the trust of a Hozen tribe to assist you throughout the Jade Forest storyline, and Pandaria as a whole. They even trusted their new Horde allies enough to partake in the fateful Battle for the Forest cutscene.

Since these events, as shown in their continued presence at Domination Point, I have felt that not bringing these cheeky chaps into the Horde officially is a big missed opportunity, but at the time thought “Well, the race roster IS a bit full!”. But then, allied races happened and the uproar started again. I refuse to believe that the Horde would just forget these allies that proved themselves useful, or vice versa, and am left wondering like many other players as to when Blizzard will allow them to claim their rightful place, ookin’ the Alliance in their collective dookers.

The Case Against Hozen Joining The Horde

Naturally, this isn’t the main point of my post, but I understand balance. As such, I’ve dug around and found a couple of reasons why not to add them (and their fishy counterparts). I cannot stress enough how much I reckon these issues could be overcome if Blizzard devoted a little bit of time to these fan favourites.

  1. Model issues: Granted, the Hozen don’t follow the same skeletons that we’ve seen on many of the racial reskins-… Uh… Allied races. If I recall, the Jinyu are a slightly altered Night Elf model, in essence?

  2. Time has passed: Let’s pretend that the main factions of Azeroth have suffered sudden memory loss at the end of each expansion, forgetting these two races.

… That’s it, as far as I could tell. Feel free to contribute, but please keep it polite!

NOW! The following is all theorycraft of things that could work if Blizzard were to eventually introduce the Hozen the to Horde. Never know, if we do half their job for them, maybe it’ll help?

Racial Leader: The Monkey King, legendary companion of Shaohao and (as of January 2020’s WoWHead article) very much still alive. A wise leader to an otherwise unruly race, providing both rationale and guidance to the Hozen under his leadership. His lore is literally all there. Granted, he’d need some reason to join the Horde, but it wouldn’t be the first time that Blizzard have given lore some creative stretching.

^ Alternatively Chief Kah Kah, the chief of Grookin Hill, is a viable candidate.

Classes: Warrior, Hunter, Rogue, Monk, Shaman, Druid (maybe? Could you imagine?!), Death Knight (given how every Allied Race is getting the DK treatment)

Capital City: Unga Ingoo & Nayeli Lagoon. Following a questline that unites all the Hozen tribes, they settle and tame the greater lagoon area. Imagine a treetop city, connected by rickety bridges, and shacks built out in the lagoon, propped up by stilts. That kinda vibe.

Heritage Armour: These forums won’t allow me to post the link, but if you google “CT Centeno - Hozen Assassin”, you’ll see exactly what I’m thinking. All credit to the artist!

Racial Mount: Mushan, or kite. Really, it’s that easy.

So… I think that’s about it? Cmon, you wikkets! Add da Hozen to the Horde before I ook you in the dooker!

Whaddya think, forums? :monkey_face:

12 Likes

Only if Hozen females will be as cute as Vulpera (that could be the reason why they are hiding them!). Also as racial ability I want aoe debuff where Hozen will call everyone ooking dookers - with fully professional dubbed voice.

1 Like

I don’t want Hozen just because the noises they do make me want to kill myself.

Jinyu I’m fine with. I’d replace Hozen with the Saurok if I were you, they look cooler.

Im sorry I didn’t read.
Neither will happen.
The fish would be horrible for customisation and the monkies are just idiots.

I don’t want Hozen just because the noises they make me want to kill myself.
Jinyu I’m fine with. I’d replace Hozen with the Saurok if I were you, they look cooler.

That’s a fair opinion to hold! It might be possible to update the voice files, though I personally adore the voices.

Im sorry I didn’t read.
Neither will happen.
The fish would be horrible for customisation and the monkies are just idiots.

Tad bit rude, but okay. I’m curious as to what you mean, as I said previously if Blizzard’s team would put in a little effort, I’m sure they could make it work? (ie. helmet skins and glove skins that cater to fins.)

2 Likes

im sure model wise they would work.
But fish are fish so I feel they would all look the same. I could be wrong though as Vulpera worked around it very well.

Lore wise the Hozen are as stupid as ogres and could be convinced the sand was a rice dinner for them. Should never happen.

I daresay there are ways around that (ie. Goblins and Kajamite); they agree to help their Horde friends, they get a free dose of the ol’ Kaja. It worked for the Goblins, after all!

I’m not convinced, however, that intellect is a barring criteria. Hozen are, after all, sentient. They have enough smarts to develop (if primitive) armour and dwellings, as well as their wisemen on the Wandering Isle. Not as smart as Pandaren, maybe, but I wouldn’t call them a lost cause.

Kinda fits with the view that many Alliance take at the majority of the Horde races. Savages.

1 Like

Saurok would be cool if i could play as one without faction i like the lore behind them and as they turned against their creators i doubt they would be really reliable ally to anybody.

Well if developers would use their imagination and skills they could do wonders with both races. Sadly only races they are really interest are anything elf or humans.

1 Like

Same could be said for the Forsaken.

Besides, Blizzard already told us they don’t care about the lore. Only the rule of cool matters, that’s why we have Void Elves, a complete ass-pull.
Might as well add Sauroks to the mix.

Just want to add that there are Hozen in the Honorbound. If you go to the area the soldiers train in Zuldazar and wait around long enough, one of the NPC soldiers that appear may be a Hozen.

1 Like

I like the Saurok how they are if they would be added to any faction it just would not be the same.

The Saurok that i love are the ones with no loyalty you give them sword they stab you in the back immediately when you walk away.

You could totally have them as a purely interested allied race.
“We don’t like you but we need you” kind of thing, with a lingering hostility/despise.

With that lore anyone could join anything :rofl:

I want Saberon Feral Druid~ why they joined Alliance? They dont want to but have no choice! Why they picked Alliance over Horde? Because of all those golden lions.

I accept Saurok as allied race only if their racial would be “backstab” where everyone is yellow to you and you can attack anybody you want no matter what faction they are.

Remember Claws of Shirvallah in WoD? Now that was retarded talent.
I’d still take that class design over BFA any day though. :sob:

Saberon with Claws of Shirvallah :ok_hand:
Imagine all this jealous Worgens :rofl:

Dont need more gnome type race pls…

Well at least this time Horde would be getting the joke race.

So my prediction would rather be:

Horde: Dragonkin

Alliance: Mushroom people

Didn’t they remove him? I remember him being in the beta but haven’t seen him since…

No monkey or fish people, before Saberon!