In an inconspicuous aside, World of Warcraft Game Director Ion Hazzikostas confirmed what many players suspected: In Battle for Azeroth, the Kul’Tiran Humans come alongside the Mag’har Orcs as an allied race!
The next expansion for World of Warcraft, Battle for Azeroth, revolves around the allied races. They are the centerpiece of the expansion. How the new races join the factions is “the story of the expansion.”
In the last Q&A with Community Manager Josh Allen and Game Director Ion Hazzikostas, Hazzikostas made exactly this statement. In a somewhat easy-to-overlook aside, he confirmed the highly anticipated Kul’Tiran race for the Alliance alongside the Mag’har Orcs for the Horde!
Allied Races – so what?
Some might wonder what is so special about brown Orcs and Humans with sturdy bones. Ion Hazzikostas also answers this question with exactly the thought: nothing.
The allied races in Battle for Azeroth are not meant to be “better” or “cooler” than the main races of the game. They are simply meant to offer an alternative, be different, and give players the opportunity to customize their characters.
However, the new races play a much bigger role than just being “new”. The currently playable new races have their own racial bonuses and class combinations. And at least from the Kul’Tiran, it is already known and confirmed that they can become Druids.
The Allied Races are the core of the expansion
In many ways, the allied races are already more than just an extension of the choice. They are complete races with their own advantages and disadvantages. The fact that they bring alternation to character selection is a side effect.
However, much more important than their gameplay aspect is their story. Everything revolves around them in Battle for Azeroth. The story that the new expansion will tell leads the races to the corresponding factions.
Their background is the story we can experience in the new expansion. If it makes sense during the course of the narrative for a race to join a faction, that is exactly what will happen, according to Hazzikostas. They are the biggest new feature of Battle for Azeroth.
