I was recently going back through and watching some of the streams that some of the original Vanilla WoW developers have done recently. Some of you may have seen the little bit of information that Mark Kern said on his stream ( https://www.twitch.tv/videos/432126733?t=35m36s ) talking about the fact that they originally had a bunch of other playable races planned for the game. The one he focuses on was the Naga race.
It's only a couple of minutes if you want to hear what he has to say, but I am wondering what any of your thoughts would be on what they would have done with the Naga race. I am not very versed in the Warcraft lore, but I would have to assume that they would have been a Horde race. But among other things, what classes would have been available to them? If I had to guess, I would say as least Warrior, Hunter, Mage.
One of the other things he mentions is that their homeworld would have been underwater. I can't really imagine what it would have been like to try to travel there for the other races in the faction.It certainly would have had a unique flair to it.
What do you think of the idea that Naga were planned as a playable race? Would you have played them if they were available originally?
I remember this, and yeah I’d like them!
I always wondered why we could never play them :(
Sneks unite!
I don't know, moving a character without legs, I know it sounds weird but having your character gliding around would looks odd...like your lagging...and feels weird.
I just like vanilla's setup, limited races and classes per race, I like the simplicity of the character selection screen.
Now with pandas, worgens, goblins, death nights, draeneis, blood elf's, demon hunters, monks and more classes to more races is such turn off to me.
I know this wasn't constructive but I would have disliked it and thats probably why they didn't implement it or ever...we still dont have nagas as a playable race after 15 years of them thinking of adding them.
I guess this is why i want to go back to classic
I don't know, moving a character without legs, I know it sounds weird but having your character gliding around would looks odd...like your lagging...and feels weird.
I just like vanilla's setup, limited races and classes per race, I like the simplicity of the character selection screen.
Now with pandas, worgens, goblins, death nights, draeneis, blood elf's, demon hunters, monks and more classes to more races is such turn off to me.
I know this wasn't constructive but I would have disliked it and thats probably why they didn't implement it or ever...we still dont have nagas as a playable race after 15 years of them thinking of adding them.
The reason we don’t have them is because they made the nagas evil AIs instead :((
Naga hunter would be so rad!
The Naga presented difficulties regarding boots and pants. The obvious solution, just having them equip them and have them look different, wouldn't have been bad but wouldn't have been the most elegant.
Mounts also would require a similar fix.
The Naga presented difficulties regarding boots and pants. The obvious solution, just having them equip them and have them look different, wouldn't have been bad but wouldn't have been the most elegant.
Mounts also would require a similar fix.
Ehhh, just make the pants and boots not show. Similar to how Tauren and Troll get modified versions of the boots or how players can opt to turn off helmet/cloak aesthetics. Just make those gear slots invisible as they do with other things in the game. Everything below the abdomen or belt slot would just be invisible.
I am not sure how you could work around mount riding. Nagas would look stupid slithering around at 100% speed. Worgens looked okay, but their animation was a bit different as they could be in a full sprint on all 4's. Worgen also had the benefit of being able to use mounts. Naga players would not be able to earn or ride any mount. I see this being really problematic.
I suppose their mount quest chains would be flavor quests gated behind a similar mount cost allowing them to slither at 60%/100% speeds? I can see why the devs abandoned this idea but it is pretty unfortunate because Naga look pretty cool.
I remember in the Warcaft 3 map editor you could actually make Naga a playable race which was awesome - buildings, unit production and all. I made a few custom maps with them.
In the campaign they were evil sons of fishes though and not sure how they’d fit into the adventurer role in WoW. Still, a great insight into the early development stage and thanks for sharing ML :smile:
The Naga presented difficulties regarding boots and pants. The obvious solution, just having them equip them and have them look different, wouldn't have been bad but wouldn't have been the most elegant.
Mounts also would require a similar fix.
Ehhh, just make the pants and boots not show. Similar to how Tauren and Troll get modified versions of the pants or how players can opt to turn off helmet/cloak aesthetics. Just make those gear slots invisible as they do with other things in the game. Everything below the abdomen or belt slot would just be invisible.
I am not sure how you could work around mount riding. Nagas would look stupid slithering around at 100% speed. Worgens looked okay, but their animation was a bit different as they could be in a full sprint on all 4's. Worgen also had the benefit of being able to use mounts. Naga players would not be able to earn or ride any mount. I see this being really problematic.
I suppose their mount quest chains would be flavor quests gated behind a similar mount cost allowing them to slither at 60%/100% speeds? I can see why the devs abandoned this idea but it is pretty unfortunate because Naga look pretty cool.
We've overlooked the most obvious solution, a naga with two tails: https://imgur.com/q1eXDXY
I didn't even think of the whole mount issue. I really disliked the Worgen "mount" running on all fours. Was just never a fan of the speed of the animation I guess. Maybe the Naga could have ridden along on a scooter. :lol:
Still, a great insight into the early development stage and thanks for sharing ML :smile:
No problem! I've really enjoyed listening to all of these ex-devs talk about their experiences with the game.
I wonder how much lore they already had planned out at that point though. They couldn't very well have Naga be playable when Naga are only Naga because Azshara made a deal with an Old God. I mean, maybe they could have, but that seems like it would be a hard plot point to reconcile.
Are the naga under some compulsion to Azshara/an old god or do they still have free will? If they still have free will they could always have just been defector Naga to whichever faction made more sense.
As far as mounts go they could sit "side saddle" and have their tail wrapped around something,kind of looped over the back of their mount. I can't think off the top of my head how big naga were.
I don't know, moving a character without legs, I know it sounds weird but having your character gliding around would looks odd...like your lagging...and feels weird.
Vanilla rogues glide around on the ground all the time when they're stealthing, and people love that animation!
https://youtu.be/OKCUxRCILks
We've overlooked the most obvious solution, a naga with two tails: https://imgur.com/q1eXDXY
Did you draw that picture? It is ridiculous.
Did you draw that picture? It is ridiculously awesome!.
FTFY
Did you draw that picture? It is ridiculously awesome!.
FTFY
haha yea I did!
The Naga presented difficulties regarding boots and pants. The obvious solution, just having them equip them and have them look different, wouldn't have been bad but wouldn't have been the most elegant.
Mounts also would require a similar fix.
I remember someone saying a long time ago that one of the ideas was not allowing them to wear boots, but instead they could equip an extra neck slot. This was of course long before they designed the tier sets, so tier boots would be a moot argument. Still interesting nonetheless.