Whenever a new World of Warcraft expansion is revealed, players immediately wonder if it will include a new playable race. Throughout the game’s history, additions like the Draenei and Blood Elves (in The Burning Crusade), Worgen and Goblins (Cataclysm), Pandaren (Mists of Pandaria), and Dracthyr (Dragonflight) have all been popular choices. The Legion expansion introduced “allied races,” and this tradition continued with Battle for Azeroth, The War Within, and now Midnight, which will feature the Haranir.
As more allied races are added to the game, problems with the system are becoming clearer. A lack of customization options is holding these races back, preventing players from fully enjoying them. Hopefully, Blizzard will improve the allied race system in *World of Warcraft* after the Haranir are released with *World of Warcraft: Midnight*.
The Problem With Allied Races in World of Warcraft
And Why the System Should Be Retired After WoW: Midnight
Blizzard was able to quickly add several new playable races by building upon existing character models and resources. These races joined either the Alliance or the Horde as part of the game’s evolving storyline. Initially, many of these additions felt like variations of characters players already had, rather than entirely unique groups.
Previously, unlocking allied races in *Legion* and *Battle for Azeroth* was a lengthy process, demanding players reach Exalted reputation with specific factions and finish multiple questlines. With *World of Warcraft: Dragonflight Patch* 10.1.5, it’s now much easier – any character of the correct faction just needs to reach level 40.
As a huge fan, I’ve noticed something interesting about the allied races. Most of them share skeletons with existing races, which makes sense. But a few are really different! The Kul Tirans, for example, have a totally unique skeleton – it’s all their own. And the Zandalari? They’ve heavily modified the Night Elf/Troll skeleton to make it their own. Then there are the Vulpera, which is just wild – they don’t really *connect* to any other race, even though they use the Goblin skeleton as a base and have unique animations to make them stand out.
Allied races in the game fall into three main types: those who switched factions, like the Void Elves and Nightborne; customized versions of existing races, such as the Lightforged Draenei and Highmountain Tauren; and entirely new races, like the Vulpera. Grouping these different types together makes it difficult to clearly define what actually *makes* a race an ‘allied race,’ and this issue becomes more complicated with each new expansion.
All Allied Races in World of Warcraft
| Allied Race | Expansion Introduced | Faction | Unique Skeleton | Unique Animations | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Void Elves | Legion | Alliance | X | X | Faction Swap |
| Lightforged Draenei | Legion | Alliance | X | X | Alt Skin |
| Nightborne | Legion | Horde | X | ✔ | Faction Swap |
| Highmountain Tauren | Legion | Horde | X | X | Alt Skin |
| Dark Iron Dwarves | Battle for Azeroth | Alliance | X | X | Alt Skin |
| Kul Tirans | Battle for Azeroth | Alliance | ✔ | ✔ | Alt Skin/New |
| Mechagnomes | Battle for Azeroth | Alliance | X | ✔ | Alt Skin |
| Mag’har Orcs | Battle for Azeroth | Horde | X | X | Alt Skin |
| Zandalari Trolls | Battle for Azeroth | Horde | X | ✔ | Alt Skin/New |
| Vulpera | Battle for Azeroth | Horde | X | ✔ | New |
| Earthen | The War Within | Both | X | ✔ | New/Faction Swap |
| Haranir | Midnight | Both | X | ? | New |
The new Darkfallen skin tone for Blood, Void, and Night Elves, and the Eredar colors for Draenei in *World of Warcraft*, feel as significant as adding a whole new playable race, even though they’re just customization options earned through quests. It’s confusing that becoming a demonic Draenei or undead Elf doesn’t count as an allied race, while Lightforged or Void-touched versions do – it makes the definition of what an allied race actually is even less clear.
A better solution would be to fully integrate these three groups. Alternate races like Dark Iron Dwarves and Mag’har Orcs could become part of their original races, sharing customization options and letting players choose their racial abilities. Unlocking these options could be tied to short quests, like the Heritage Armor quests, or required before customization is available – similar to how it works for the Eredar and Darkfallen Elves in World of Warcraft.
This approach would let players customize their characters more freely through the Barber shop, instead of requiring a purchase to change race or creating a brand new character. It would also expand the limited customization choices currently available for allied races.
Races that were originally unlocked by switching factions, such as Void Elves, and those created more recently, like the Haranir, would eventually become fully available to all players. While there might still be some requirements to unlock them for a short time-perhaps a couple of expansions-these would ideally be eased over time as the story evolves and the races become more integrated into the main factions.
One of the best parts of the *Shadowlands* expansion for *World of Warcraft* was the improved character customization. If Blizzard is willing to be bold, replacing most allied races with more extensive customization options could be a successful move, similar to how well-received *Shadowlands’* changes were.
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2025-09-24 01:37