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.
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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?
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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?