With six new allied races incoming for World of Warcraft, I see a lot of players debating the whole rerolling/alt question. It’s a bit more tricky this time around, because while these races are *technically* new, they’re more or less reskins or variants of what we already have. You’ll basically be choosing them for the look, the exclusive cosmetic armor, the small extra visual customizations, and perhaps the racials. You also get a slight start on the whole leveling process, jumping ahead to level 20 (which is actually kind of nice, considering how slow and boring the first dozen levels are). And there might be a handful of interesting class/race combos.
I’m thinking about them, aye, but I can’t say that any of them are “must have, must play” for me right now. I’m pretty happy with what I have, but that’s not stopped me from at least thinking about possibilities for the future. I suspect that there will be a lot of bored players this summer who will have extra time to level up an alt, and if not that, then there’s always the included 110 level boost with the expansion that could be used on one of these new races.
So I’m going to quickly rank the six races we know from the least most interesting to the… most most interesting? I write professionally, folks. Here we go!
#6: Void Elves
You shouldn’t be surprised to see the Elves so far down here, because, hey, it’s me. Elves are the pits, and we really don’t need TWO more of these races. I have plenty of targets already for my scorn, thank you. That said, the Void Elves get the absolute bottom spot because their visuals make me want to smack them more than the Nightborne. It’s like Dracula got… wussy.
#5: Nightborne
Night Elves version 2.0? Probably a good idea to have an opposite visual shift from the WASPy Blood Elves, plus the Horde get another “pretty” race that brings their total up to two. Truly, great days are ahead and I look forward to seeing more skimpy Elf girls making me take the Horde seriously.
#4: Zandalari Trolls
You either are a troll person or you are not, and I am not. I appreciate the option and understand their inclusion, but they’re just not my style at all. The raptor druid form sounds pretty cool, though, but yeah, it’s not like trolls are that popular in the game already. We’ll see if this changes things in that department.
#3: Lightforged Draenei
Listen, I like the Draenei — I even main one as a Death Knight. They look cool and attractive while also distinctly not-human. But I do not see the appeal of the Lightforged. It’s like a slightly lighter-skinned Draenei with some glowy bits. Their racials are pretty bad too — I mean, one of them can only be used when you die. That’s not going to get me that excited.
#2: Dark Iron Dwarves
The more I think about it, the more I really like this racial inclusion. Dwarves are a bit of an underdog race and could use some love, and the Dark Iron variant definitely pop out, visually, with greyscale skin and bright hair and eyes.
#1: Highmountain Tauren
I see a lot of excitement for this race and I can totally understand it. The Legion Tauren models are simply fantastic — inspired from moose rather than cows — and getting them won’t be that hard. They have a great batch of racials (damage reduction! bull rush! more loot! faster mining!) and have a decent roundup of classes. I’m mulling over a Shaman or Druid, myself (the druid forms are sick-looking).
How would you rank them?
Bio Break 
1. Being Canadian, I love the Highmountain Tauren, will be making a Druid. Who doesn’t want to be a moose riding a moose?
2. Lightforged Space Goats are cool looking, ultimate Paladin race-class combo.
3. Void Elves, the emo elves of the void. I like their twinkle sparkles.
4. Nightborne, because I love purple and kitty cats. They get a big purple kitty cat.
5. Dark Iron, never thought we’d seem them in the Alliance. I’ve killed so many of them in the past, so might as well kill more of them being played by actual players.
6. Trolls. Meh, whatever.
Syp, are there any elves you do like? 😉 Santa elves? Keebler elves? I find it hard to dislike anyone who want to sell me cookies…
Nightborne are the only one I actually meet the unlock requirements for, so they’re kind of top of my list for that reason alone. I’m a bit underwhelmed by their datamined models, though. I can’t put my finger on what it is, but they just don’t seem to have the same dignity as the NPC Nightborne.
I’m mixed on Void Elves. They’re a total ass-pull lorewise, which is a little off-putting, but their models are amazing. I could not disagree with you more about their looks. They’re this perfect combination of regal and beautiful, yet sinister and unnerving. They’re probably my new favourite race from a purely aesthetic perspective.
Don’t really care about any of the others. Zandalari are the only one that really justifies an allied race; the others could have just been new customization options for the existing races.
I don’t really need more WoW characters anyway.
“…considering how slow and boring the first dozen levels are”
That is ironic, isn’t it?
Dark Iron Dwarfs for me is the best, then Highmountain Tauren, i like the Zandalari for one reason: their travel form as druid will be a raptor … i can’t say no to that!
Other races i don’t care much about, but i want to level each one eventually, just for the transmog reward.
It would be great if they had a race for alliance who can be a shaman. Would be nice to move away from a Draenei for once. Pandaren and Dwarves just aren’t for me 😛 Although I’m pretty stoked to change my Worgen hunter and Human lock into Void Elves! I suppose I’ll have to play horde a bit more for Zandalari Trolls and Nightborne ^^
Where should I send them.