Potential Furbolg playable race

[Dredged]

Many players talk about Ogres as an obvious playable race for the Horde, I think a great fit for the Alliance would be Furbolgs particularly in Turtle wow lore.


Lore for playable Furbolgs for Alliance

Furbolgs have been close allies of the Night Elves for thousands of years and have long held the Tauren in high respect. After the Third War, both the Alliance and Horde invited them to join, but the Furbolgs declined so they would not have to choose sides between their two oldest friends. In Turtle WoW this becomes an opportunity. Some tribes finally decide that isolation is no longer enough. A playable Furbolg race shows one of these uncorrupted groups, a Timbermaw related tribe, or newly revealed clan that chooses to have ties with the Alliance.

The strongest reason Furbolgs would choose the Alliance is their deepest and oldest relationship with the Night Elves. The Tauren friendship remains welcome,but second to the longer, deeper bond with the High Elves.

Because Turtle already increased Furbolg lore and with the Timbermaw Hold raid and Moonwhisper Coast, adding them as a choosable race feels like a natural next step rather than a forced one. Their strong existing ties to both factions make it clean and natural lore wise.


Why Alliance Furbolgs do not get Shaman and keeping Shaman a Horde identity?

Furbolgs have always been deeply connected to nature and the spirits, which is why many players expect them to be Shamans. However, in this version of the lore their spiritual path developed differently from the Horde races. While Furbolgs revere the wild gods ( Ursoc and Ursol) and the spirits of the forest, their traditions stayed closer to druids and direct with nature rather than the elemental shaman by the orcs. Their bond with the Night Elves over thousands of years further supported this path.
There the balance of nature in a way that’s more with Cenarius and the druids than with the elemental totems of the Horde. When some Furbolg tribes finally chose to join the Alliance, those who went Alliance continued their traditional nature focused practices (Druid, Hunter, Warrior, etc.). The core racial identity of the Furbolgs themselves remains non shaman on the Alliance side.

Passive ideas
Wild Instincts - increased dodge or critical strike chance in outdoor areas Ancestral Endurance - health regeneration out of combat
Barkskin - chance to reduce physical damage taken
Nature Resistance
Claw Mastery - unarmed or fist weapon skill
Spirit of the Bear - strength and armor

Racial skills ideas
Regenerative Roar - party health regeneration
Earthbind Roots - root nearby enemies with roots
Spirit of Ursoc - increase strength and size
Feral Leap - jump to target and short bleed or snare
Ancestor’s Call - summon a temporary spirit bear pet
Forest Camouflage - temporary stealth or threat drop

Furbolgs Classes: Warrior, Hunter, Druid, Mage, Rogue and possibly Priest. No paladins because the race focuses on the spirits of the forest, the land, and their ancestral bear Identity. There nothing in the lore connects them to the holy light or holy tradition.

Mount: Moonhoof Stag (Elk) image
https://ibb.co/qYmqHdWm

Zone location image
https://ibb.co/SXSGkq2n

Possible Female Model
https://ibb.co/hRgvJBth

I also think Ogres potential start zone would be better behind the Burning Steppes. Keeping both Furbolgs and Ogres on Kalimdor would overload one side of the world.

Just some ideas I had and wanted to share.

<3

[Octosaur]

I don't like to rain on an idea that you've clearly got a lot of heart and thought in but a big problem with playable Furbolg is rigging the model in such a way where they won't look stupid wearing player armour. Even if we set aside how their odd shape would stretch textures over their big humpback a major issue remains that the appeal of the Furbolg is in their feral savagery and having them running around wearing robes and plate armour and tier sets and legendary items... it's really contrary to their strengths, as is having them traversing into mines and deserts and jungles. They are a really cool race of territorial bear men who reflect the scars of the land and I'm not confident they will retain their flavour outside of that paradigm.

There also already exists a good 6th option for the Alliance in the Draenei. They, like the Furbolg, would need new models but they have the benefit that they will look a lot better in the various armours as well as also opening up Shamans to the Alliance if that's a direction we wanna go.

Akama's model in reforged presents a good idea of what an updated Draenei model that keeps the good design elements from both the WC3 and the BC iterations could look like and giving the alliance a race of shady, dangerous, vengeful aliens definitely hits my preferences more than the far more limited furbolgs. That is my preference but I do think in terms of cool factor potential the Draenei have more to work with than the Furbolg.

(Also, hot-take, if we're talking about playable race wishlists I would eventually say Pandaren for the Horde (again would need new models that don't make them look like jokes) and two playable bear races might have too much conceptual crossover.)

(Also also, we do gotta bear in mind how much time and effort goes into actually designing and rigging a playable race and giving them unique and interesting animations for all of their required interactions so new playable races is a really far-off dream even by Turtle WoW standards. For OctoWoW it may as well be beyond consideration atm. Crying shame, too.)

[Zvyrhol]

Furbolg could belong to Night Elves faction if such existed. Alliance vs Horde was a simplification and controversial decision made by Blizzard when they released WoW. I don't see how could they join Alliance if we assume Humans and Dwarves are a core part of its identity.

Looking at this aesthetically, Alliance consists of pretty, noble and civilized races, they all share human skin but some are shorter or higher and have different ears. Horde is a contradiction to these characteristics. Horde unites races that look barbarian, savage and primitive. And aesthetically, Furbolgs belong to the second category.

Ogre for Horde is a must because it fits both lore and aesthetics. I don't see as many reasons for Furbolgs to join Alliance as I do for Ogres in Horde.