It seems like an eternity ago when the original EverQuest developers asked players what race they’d like added as playable. The poll came out to say that faeries was what the players wanted and inevitably they showed up in EverQuest 2. I was never a faerie supporter, however. In fact I didn’t even think that race made that much of a difference in Norrath. They were not in many places and had little to no lore. No, the real money was in our fuzzy, canine friends. It is time that players be allowed the joy of being a gnoll!
I’ve been a gnoll advocate for a good many years now even if I haven’t talked about it since I started Epic Slant. It has always struck me as odd that one of the original EQ2 monster races has never made it into a prominent role in the franchise. What EQ player hasn’t heard of Fippy Darkpaw? Who hasn’t traveled to Blackburrow? Whose life hasn’t been enriched by the cute sniffles of a gnoll pup? Most veteran MMO players know a thing or two about gnolls!
It was my hope that with EverQuest 2 we might see the gnoll race come into its own. Unfortunately, though, that just doesn’t seem to be the case. For the most part the EQ2 races do make sense. Frogloks were always popular so that was a natural addition. Sarnaks had a rich history and story so I can even accept that with the return of Kunark. The faeries and evil-faeries is a bit of a stretch but I can understand the methodology. They won the poll. That does leave one race with a bit of confusion. Where on Norrath did Ratonga truly come from? They’re not one of the original EQ playable races. They’re not even really in EQ’s classical period. Someone on the development staff just thought, “Hey, lets create a race of adorable little cheese bandits and say they’re evil.” Don’t get me wrong, though. I love Ratonga!
The next logical step, however, is to create a canine race for the game. You have a mouse, a cat but no dog? Surely this can’t be true! Blizzard is already one step ahead by announcing the Worgan race. Does SOE really want its flagship MMO to fall behind in the canine-playable-race cold war? I think not! Now is the time for gnolls! Bring them to Norrath and let me play one!
All characters are © 2007 - 2012
Curse, Blackburrow! You were the bane of EQ, although you were slightly enjoyable in EQ2. You know, now that I think of it, the Blackburrow theme in EQ2 was kickin’. Perhaps gnolls wouldn’t be so bad. Wait, what?!
Not being a dog fan I’d not be a fan of playable Gnolls, although if it floats other people’s boats I’d be all for it (I always like to see a player who chooses a non-beautiful race since it shows a depth to the character rather then just being pretty
).
The only thing that would put me off them adding in playable Gnolls would be if its adding even more workload to the content designers to maintain? For this reason I’m fine with Frogloks (my favourite race) having limited armour types if it means the designers are putting more effort into areas that will attract more players.
Lore wise for races I do wonder though what an EQ3 would have, my guess would be
Humans (barbarians, Erudite etc)
Elves (all types)
Gnomes
Frogloks
Trolls
Ogres
Dwarves
Halflings
Sarnak
Iskar
Fae
Ratonga
I put that order in (and I’ve missed a few, sorry!) just by how often they appear in stories in Norrath, hence Frogloks are high up on the list, Ratonga’s likely will get higher up with this expansion I guess.
It would take a lot of art resources for sure but as I understand it with the changes they are making to character models in SF it will be easier to maintain art resources. I’d have to find that article again and read up on it. At any rate, gnolls probably won’t be playable until EQ3!
Wow! I totally agree!!! I could not believe that gnolls have not been added yet, I play my character with the gnoll illusion on (boring white without any chance of customization). I have always wondered why you get the ‘staple’ good guys… humans, elfs, dwarfs, gnomes, hobbits…etc, but not the ‘staple’ bad guys like GNOLLS, goblins, and orcs. They are just as lore important as the dwarfs and elfs but not a choice for a playable. But now WOW is startin to get the idea and is actually doing it! Come on EQ2 wake up. Next playable race- Gnoll!! Im all for it!