Before we delve deeper into the suggestion we have to take a step back and have a brief overview of the Naga race. The naga race appeared in Warcraft3 as un unplayable race, they had pretty much everything a playable race had : from workers and basic buildings to high tier units and even upgrades. The Naga were the loyal followers of Queen Azshara, twisted and mutated into their current form when Queen Azshara quickly made a pact with the old god Nzoth, when her capital sank deep beneath the ocean. The naga were brooding under the ocean for 10k years now, and have only resurfaced after the third war in alarming numbers.
Each warcraft playable race has their own theme and backstory, some were well-established like Blood Elves and some were heavily retconned to their current state (Draenei, Worgen) and some just appeared out of nowhere (Pandaren, though they were a hero-race in W3 they looked more like an easter-egg/extra flavor rather than a serious thing)
Now, the Naga have a lot of potential to become a playable race. and if you delve into their lore you realize that Blizzard can easily make them playable without having to do a lot of brainstorming. They have unique, untapped theme that is not used by any other race and it makes them a great candidate for a future playable race.
Racial mount? Check.
Racial flying mount? Check.
Unique Theme and racial language? Check and Check.
Well established lore and place in warcraft universe? Check.
WHAT CAN THEY BRING TO THE TABLE :
No-one knows the sea better than a Naga, if a sea-based expansion ever comes out the Naga can be valuable assets. Alliance and Horde both made few underwater adventures, take Vash'jir for example, and lore-wise they ended in disaster because surface dwellers are just not built for the challenges of the world below. The Naga are very formidable in their natural habitat and bear in mind that it's gonna take more than just Gnomish technology and Earthen Ring's elemental magic to beat them in their capital city of Nazjatar.
ISSUES SORROUNDING PLAYABLE NAGA AND HOW TO FIX IT :
But the Naga face one serious issue : They're not bipedal. It's gonna cause a few problems most notable of them is mounting, now many players threw around suggestions and while the issue of armor can be easily solved none of the suggestions regarding mounting appears to be a viable fix. (atleast none that I've seen)
So...why not make the playable Naga bipedal? The idea may sound far fetched to some people and many consider Naga's lack of legs as their iconic trait to the point that they may not feel comfortable playing just another bipedal race. but consider this : the playable Naga are clearly not aligned with Azshara and old gods right? So, the very same hand that gave them their power can take it away when it wills it.
But... should we turn them into 100% bipedal creatures? no, if anyone has seen a few mermaid movies/stories they're familiar with the concept of mermaids developing legs on land...and shapeshift into their true form either at will or when exposed to water. it can be integrated into the Naga race as a racial shapeshift ability similar to Worgen, except it won't be "purely cosmetic", more detail in the racial section.
HOW CAN THAT BE INTEGRATED INTO WOW?
The Naga on this suggestion are renegades of the Naga faction, banded together and under the leadership of a Naga "King" who was a major military commander of Azshara's armies (still have to come up with a good name, as for appearance imagine a cross between posseidon and Pirates of Carribeans' davy jones). Azshara, furious over their betrayal, devises a plan to get rid of the renegades for good : she unearths an ancient titan artifact deep beneath the ocean, and combines her knowledge of their curse and the titan technology to devise a plan to revert the Naga transformation of the renegades.
The capital of the renegades is besieged and in the heat of battle the renegades send a desperate strike force to destroy the device before it can fully power up, while the battle is still commencing the device is activated prematurely as the result of the sabotage. The device causes "partial" transformation of all the nagas who were within the range of the device, Azshara herself gets only weakened by the blast but half of her strike force, along with most of the renegades, turn into a cross between night elves and Naga.
The renegades, still outnumbered by Azshara's naga, escape to surface and attempt to make contact with surface factions.
Azshara then realizes that she's been given a serendipity : by sabotaging her device the renegades have accidentally created a very formidable army for Azshara, an army of Naga crossbreeds that can perform well both underwater and on the surface. Thus, Azshara sends in the mutated section of her army to the surface to try to hunt the renegades down and establish strong outposts on surface. This action, along with a couple of other provoking behaviours, gives both Alliance and Horde enough reason to invade the south seas.
RACE DESCRIPTION :
FACTION : ALLIANCE.
Racial Mount : Snap Dragons, these beasts were part of the Naga units in Warcraft 3 but are surprisingly absent in WoW.
Spoken Language : Common, Nazja
Appearance :
The bipedal Naga are not very different than normal Naga except that they are well...bipedal, plus their females only have ONE pair of hands as result of their transformation. I'm still looking to find a good name for them but for now I'll just refer to them as renegades.
Females : Standing straight, naga females are slim, tall and appear very feminine, female naga in Warcraft have kept a lot of their "elven" features... so it shouldn't be much different when they've turned bipedal.
As for head, the current female naga have... problematic heads especially if they want to become playable. The fin is just too big and it stretches from the back of their head to their lower body. It makes it clip with many gear pieces. So it would make sense if, for the sake of gameplay, female renegades lose most of this fin and only have it in place of ears or other parts of their head.
Naga females, as is customary with all WoW races, should also have have some sort of hair, in shape of "spikes" like SC2's Kerrigan.
This image was posted in MMO-Champ by professor mathias a while back.Males : Now naga males are more muscular and have more reptilian features similar to the saurok, I don't know why but Blizzard has taken this approach and playable naga also should stay true to this formula. Male renegades are muscular, serpentish, haunched and appear more savage and rough looking as opposed to the graceful appearance of females.
CLASS SECTION :
Nagas should be quite flexible in their choice of class, they're strong, sneaky, and clever at the same time and have shown to have good knowledge of taming beasts, enslaving elementals and using their natural habitat to their advantage. they're also descendants of highborne which makes them formidable mages.
Classes : Warrior, Death Knight, Shaman, Hunter, Monk, Druid, Rogue, Priest, Mage
* Death Knight : Renegade Death Knights are a possibility, These renegades were origionally Naga who were captured and turned into Death Knights by the scourge, the Lich King managed to remove some of the old god's influence from the Naga to make them more obedient and useful, which resulted in a partial reversion into their original Night Elf form. They're not exactly renegades and they may even look slightly different in lore, But they share the same model with the renegades in game for gameplay purposes.
* Shaman : Now we know that Azshara hates Neptulon's guts and her Naga are trying to enslave the elementals to their will. As creatures of the sea it would be very important to them to be able to communicate and take control of the elements that dwell under the sea. Renegade shamans are a sect of Azshara's shamans who saw the error of their ways and instead of trying to enslave the elements they have tried to communicate with them and have to come to respect them. They broke away from Azshara and use the elements to aid the renegades in their fight against Azshara.
RENEGADE SHAMANS USE TOTEMS MADE OUT OF CORALS AND SEASHELLS.
* Monk: Renegade monks are not exactly an old class but rather a new one. Renegade monks have no martial art background prior to their life on the surface but are taught the ways of monks when they start the game. Just like how other non-pandaren races become monks : from traveling monks who have agreed to teach others the powers of chi.
* Druid: A rather cool class to have especially for Naga, Naga druids can be unique and exotic because unlike previous Druids their art can be unique and underwater themed, an aqua-themed druid is a fresh change from the traditional druid theme imo. Naga druids are those naga who have chosen to live in harmony with the wildlife of the underwater world.
Bear Form : a giant bear with visual characteristics of sea creatures. (eel head, scales, etc.)
Cat Form : a cat with visual characteristics of sea creatures, they can be a cross between lions and komodo dragons.
Moonkin form : a creature with similar stature to moonkin but with fins on legs, arms and around the head instead of feathers. Their head resembles a saurok more than a bird, as a result the creature lacks the iconic moonkin beak and instead possesses a serpentish mouth.
Travel Form : Same with NE Travel Form.
Flight Form : a small Cauatl, These beasts served as Naga flying units in W3 but just like Snap Dragons they are absent in WoW. Their appearance is a cross between sea serpents and nether rays.
Sea form : Leatherback Sea Turtle.
Tree form : A giant treant made of different corals.
*Priest : The renegades have gone back to the worship of elune, believing that even in the depths of the underwater world elune can still hear their plea.
*Mage : These renegades are viewed with negativity by their kin because of their background, they are sorcerers who had a difference of opinion with Azshara and were imprisoned by her as punishment. During the rebellion these prisoners were set free when their prison was raided by the renegades. the renegades are vary that these sorcerers might be easily manipulated by the naga to sell their brethren out, to buy their own pardon.
STARTING ZONE LAYOUT : The starting zone is a rocky coastline stretching from north of Stormwind to the west of dun morogh, there used to be an area on the pre-cataclysm maps, after the cataclysm blizzard intended this area to be the entrance to deepholme but the idea got scrapped.
The appearance of the zone is somewhat similar to the storm coast of DA:I, a rocky coastline with thunderstorms and rains and a dense fog. The area is covered by a dense forest in the middle, east and north east and there's a pirate bay in the remote north of the zone.
RACIALS :
Shapeshift : The renegades can shapeshift into their origional Naga form after doing a series of quests in the starting zones.
Shapeshift removes the movement penalty of swimming and allows the PC to swim accross water with the same speed as running. it also removes the breath penalty and allows underwater breathing. Shapeshift slows movement by 30% on surface. Players cannot mount while in shapeshift form and have to return to their bipedal form to do so. But unlike the worgen shapeshift, renegades CAN fight while in Naga form.
This way players who prefer to play as leg-less Naga will also be satisfied.
*more racials will be posted in the future.
QUEST FLOW AND PROGRESSION : WIP
The story of your PC is quite different compared to other races: while PCs of other races are considered "zeroes" and inexperienced characters who are rising to becoming a great hero, you character WAS a Naga champion and among the elite soldiers who participated in the sabotage of Azshara's device. But your character still starts the game as a level 1.
Your PC is washed ashore somewhere along the coastline, with no memory of who they are or how they got there. Struck with amnesia, you befriend the local humans of that area and, upon finding more of your kin you aid them against the Naga forces that are pursuing them. During the 1-10 quest zone you recover artifacts that cause some of the memory to return, and you get to visit youou r past life as a level 100 elite Naga. You witness how you fought and saved a lot of your kin, and what led to your memory loss.
the theme of these "memory flash backs" are similar to the battlemaiden questline in Vash'jir where you experience the world as a kickass naga battlemaiden. you possess power abilities that lets you overcome challenges with ease and throughout the quest zone you realize that the renegades regard you highly despite you having no memory of who you were.
In the end your kin warn humans of a Naga invasion and help the humans lift a Naga siege on Stormwind. And you're accepted into the alliance when you've proven yourself as a valuable ally.
I'm still working on the details of the quests + the zone map.
