WoW players slam ‘unbelievably lackluster’ upcoming Earthen Dwarf race

During BlizzCon 2023, Blizzard revealed a new playable allied race called Earthern Dwarves will be coming to World of Warcraft’s The War Within expansion. WoW players slammed the new race on Blizzard’s forums and Reddit, calling it “unbelievably lackluster.”

Blizzard revealed WoW would be getting three new expansions. The first of the three expansions, The War Within, will feature new dungeons, zones, and game mechanics. Additionally, Blizzard also revealed a new playable allied race. Instead of praise, however, players were disappointed the first new playable race would be another Dwarf variation. 

One player posted on the forums and took aim at Earthen Dwarves.

“After having a few days now for the new announcements to sink in… our next upcoming expansion has completely missed the mark with Earthen Dwarves,” they said. “To begin, announcing 3 expansions in a saga is a bold move and one I can respect. However, the upcoming expansion, The War Within, is clearly the weakest of the 3. Earthen Dwarves… Who on Earth thought this was a good idea? No one has ever asked for this race. It will now be the 3rd Dwarf skin in game. Unbelievably lackluster. Dwarves for the Horde as well? Hard pass Blizzard.”

WoW has had Dwarves as a playable race since the game’s initial launch in 2004. In 2018, Dark Iron Dwarves were also added as an allied playable race. Since there are already two playable dwarven races, players were hoping for an entirely different race.

The last new playable race added to WoW was the Dracthyr, a race of humanoid dragons that became available in the Dragonflight expansion. Unlike most other races, the Dracthyr starts at level 60 and can only play as one class, the Evoker. They can join either of the game’s two factions, the Horde or the Alliance.

Since Legion in 2016, Blizzard has been adding playable allied races to WoW. Apart from the Vulpera race, all other allied races are different variations of races that were already in the game. WoW players often post which new races they’d love to see in the game, and Blizzard has addressed some of those wishes. Goblins, for example, were added in Cataclysm in 2010.

The new WoW expansion, The War Within, will be released before Dec. 31, 2024. Blizzard has already revealed a lot about the first upcoming expansion. We’ll have to wait until WoW Midnight to see if we will get another playable race that’s a little more interesting than Earthern Dwarves.