Mechagnomes: A Neutral Allied Race?

Community General Discussion
1

Hello there,

With patch 8.2 in full swing, a lot of people have expressed interest in Mechagnomes becoming an allied race. Of course the mainstream theory is that the Mechagnomes shall join their Gnomish brethren of the Alliance but there have also been some ideas bouncing around for how they could possibly take a different path.

I personally think it would actually make the most sense for the Mechagnomes to be a neutral Allied Race, getting the same choice between the factions in the way that Pandaren do at the end of their introductory zone!

First of all, why?

The Mechagnomes have been represented thus far as to be a rather reclusive variant of Gnomes who like to upgrade themselves and have more recently overthrown their king with the help of the Alliance and Horde. However there seems to be a few rifts between these Gnomes as well as the way in which Tinkmaster Overspark and Gazlowe conducted themselves during the events which took place in the zone and dungeon.

Whilst there seem to be many Mechagnomes who are just as reclusive and diplomatic as their kin from Gnomeragan, there are some Gnomes who are far rougher such as Bondo and his gang who behave much more like Goblins in souping up their rides, behaving in reckless ways, going out salvaging and stealing and everything coming at a price.

We’ve also seen that whilst Gazlowe and his Grease Monkeys, being a bunch of very slick Goblins arrived in Mechagon acting as if they’re ready to cooperate and help, Tinkmaster Overspark and his expedition treated the Mechagnomes as if they were archaeological discoveries and most of the Tinkmasters lines involve him boasting about himself and generally trying to soak up all of the glory.

This, combined with the fact that Prince Erazmins rebellion was built on the back of wanting his people to have the freedom to choose as to whether they wanted to be mechanized makes an interesting case for why Mechagnomes could be ‘neutral’.

So how would the Allied Race recruitment scenario work?

To me, the ideal Allied Race recruitment scenario for Mechagnomes would be to see the same events through the eyes of both factions. After earning exalted with Mechagon and whichever other requirements needed to be fulfilled, you would be called to your factions embassy where either Gazlowe or Tinkmaster Overspark will be waiting because Mekkatorque is, evidently, unable to do much being frozen and all and Gallywix claims he’s too busy profiteering off of the war.

They will claim that now that Prince Erazmin has consolidated his power over Mechagon and the city has been restored to its former tranquillity, that they have been invited to meet with the Prince within the city to be congratulated for their work, where they hope to make an attempt at inviting them to the Horde and Alliance. Of course upon arrival at the same time, things go sour pretty quickly, both sides getting into an argument, maybe even with some Mechagnomes getting involved vouching for both sides with the Prince in the middle of it all.

Eventually Erazmin has had enough and he orders both sides to stop. He states that both sides make strong arguments for why the Mechagnomes should join their faction, but he has just lead a rebellion and killed his own father in order to give his people free will and choice, and it would be hypocrisy to not let his people decide which faction they wish to provide aid to. Thus, it is decided that instead of Mechagon dedicating to a single faction, both are welcome within the city of wonders, and Mechagnomes may decide as to whether they wish to join the Alliance or the Horde.

So how would the Allied Race and their personal instance work?

The Mechagnome Allied Race would work much like the Pandaren currently do but with less radicalization as we saw with the Huo’jin and Tuishi philosophies.

Instead you start in an instanced version of Mechagon City which has been turned into an inventors paradise which see’s Mechagnomes, Gnomes and Goblins all working on various devices. You will start off with a quest to go and see Prince Erazmin in the throne room by taking one of the transports from the city proper. There you will find Prince Erazmin flanked by Gazlowe and Tinkmaster Overspark. You’d then be told to go out into the world and gather data for Mechagon, and it’s there that you would be given the option to join either the Alliance or the Horde and head through a portal to their respective faction embassies.

Then at level 110 you’d be called back to Mechagon by Prince Erazmin who would congratulate you on all of the data which you have collected, giving you your heritage armour.

I know that this is probably never going to happen, but I hope that this was an enjoyable, thought provoking read which suggests a way of the Mechagnomes being an allied race that does the justice!

3 Likes
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Love this. The Mechagnomes are so fleshed out (pun!) that neutrality is totally plausible.

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I’d certainly like to see them fill the “Steamwheedle Cartel” role in terms of interacting with both Horde and the Alliance, though I feel like at this point to make that possible the faction war needs to cool down, which is propably what will happen at the end of BfA.

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Fixed it for you… Oh Wait.

1 Like
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Looks like next expansion is any race any faction, so…

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While I enjoyed this little bit of speculative ”what if” I don’t think that’s very plausible considering the fact that Blizzard haven’t been very keen on the idea of neutral pandaren-like races joining the fray (see, Ghostcrawler’s tweet a while ago: https://twitter.com/Ghostcrawler/status/360765802590384129?s=20).

Nonetheless, I believe that the more ruthless gnomes joining the goblins and the more careful ones joining the Alliance would have made perfect sense. I’m just not sure how armors would work with augmented limbs like arms and legs.

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I’ve wanted to play as a mecha gnome for years ^^

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Could also be driving towards free for all factions.

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Thanks for the support!

I think armour wise you just go back to Mechagon at level 110 and you receive the armour from Prince Erazmin on the pretence that you’ve gathered all of the data he needs to help Mechagon adjust to the outside world.

In relation to Blizzards reluctance towards neutral races because of Pandaren- I feel that Pandaren were a botched first attempt. Instead of being a Pandaren who is simply recruited by the invading Horde or Alliance they did the whole Wandering Isle, Aysa and Ji, two entire philosophies forming over a lovers tiff thing and it all got a bit awkward. Honeydew Village joining the Horde and Paw’don Village joining the Alliance was a good example of Pandaren from Pandaria joining the Alliance and Horde for good reasons- that they helped them, but I think with an introduction to a neutral race like this, the concept is different, as there aren’t these weird philosophies and racial leaders dominating the race, you join the factions because you liked the style of the Gnomes or the Goblins, but your true King shall always be Prince Erazmin who is ultimately neutral.

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With that in mind, allied races would make no sense as who would they ally with exactly? And against whom?

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It actually works pretty well in all fairness. Take a look at them in the wowhead dressing room. They look really cool.

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Every chest piece turns into a sleeveless vest and every trouser piece turns into short shorts.

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I’d assume it would be like the Pandaren, in the sense that those that want to leave Mechagon to explore the world would need to pick a side to travel with thus cementing their allegiance to that particular side.

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You can trivialise it if you want, sure. But I mean what did you expect? Personally I’d want to see the robotic parts.

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No please, for the love of god, no. Besides hovering over a player you will not know they’re different races. Bad game design.

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That arguments already completely invalid with Pandaren, Void Elves and various toys which change your appearance and race classification. Let’s face it, we’ve always determined whether someone is Alliance or Horde by seeing if they’re marked as red and attackable or orange anyway.

2 Likes
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You do realise almost every other existing allied race suffers from this “problem” you speak of yeah?

1/10

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I don’t think it’s “any race, any faction”… But there’s been some information released, that might point to a loosening of the faction restrictions for at least a few races.

But it might just wind up to be a big bag of nothing and we were all wrong.

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Yup, and that why we don’t need any more allied races. They’re lazy, unfun to get and just waste developer resources.

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God forbid anyone should have a differing opinion to you eh?

I don’t even know why you play really, literally all you ever do is whine.