---
title: 'Playable Amani Trolls & The Warcraft Identity CRISIS'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=k9S-ooK-_Rw'
video_id: 'k9S-ooK-_Rw'
date: 2026-08-03
duration_sec: 1096
---

# Playable Amani Trolls & The Warcraft Identity CRISIS

> Source: [Playable Amani Trolls & The Warcraft Identity CRISIS](https://youtube.com/watch?v=k9S-ooK-_Rw)

## Summary

The video is a passionate critique of World of Warcraft's recent direction, focusing on the decision not to make Amani trolls a playable allied race in the upcoming Midnight expansion. The creator argues that this choice reflects a broader identity crisis in the game, where new races and world-building feel disconnected from Warcraft's roots, and expresses frustration with the lack of community-driven content decisions.

### Key Points

- **Aranear as Ancestors** [00:05] — Blizzard introduces Aranear, creatures living in world tree roots, retroactively made ancestors of all Azeroth races, sparking criticism for rewriting history.
- **No Amani Allied Race** [02:40] — Blizzard confirms no Amani allied race in Midnight, instead offering a housing tree and a small Dark Spear campaign package, disappointing fans.
- **Official Confirmation** [04:08] — A developer states clearly: 'There won't be an Amani allied race in Midnight,' though 'never say never' for the future.
- **Creator's Frustration** [05:04] — The creator expresses frustration with Blizzard's decisions, questioning what 'people are smoking' and citing a Reddit comment that Amani were never confirmed.
- **Three Fair Sides** [06:47] — The creator outlines three fair perspectives on the Amani discussion, but admits being jaded with each expansion's hype fading into sameness.
- **Creative Process Analogy** [07:13] — The creator compares Blizzard's choices to his own content creation, noting that creators must blend personal vision with audience appeal.
- **Game Not for Me Since BFA** [08:41] — The creator states the game hasn't been for him since Battle for Azeroth, citing new races like vulperas and dracthyr feeling like a JRPG.
- **Sylvanas Was Right** [09:23] — A sarcastic remark that Sylvanas was right to want to burn the modern world-building, highlighting the disconnect.
- **Amani Were Here First** [10:09] — Quoting Amani lore: 'Amani was here before anyone. This is our land,' emphasizing their deep history.
- **Retroactive Insertion** [10:23] — The creator criticizes the 'they were here first' trope used to insert new races, feeling it undermines existing lore.
- **World Building Consistency** [11:28] — The biggest pet peeve: anachronisms and modern philosophies inserted into the fantasy world, like winter earmuffs and pajama parties.
- **Modern WoW as Concord** [12:09] — The creator compares modern WoW to the failed game Concord, saying it's 'shoved down our throats like bitter medicine.'
- **Amani vs Haranir** [12:51] — The creator argues it makes no sense for Haranir to be playable while Amani, with rich history and diplomacy, are left out.
- **Need Devs Who Love WoW** [13:18] — The creator calls for Blizzard to hire developers who love WoW and want to make WoW, not those who'd rather make Final Fantasy.
- **Amani as a Layup** [13:45] — The Amani trolls are described as a 'god damn layup'—an easy win that Blizzard missed, with story and models ready.
- **Ethereals Example** [14:15] — The creator cites the Ethereals as another missed opportunity, with incredible backstory but not made playable.
- **Missed Class Opportunities** [15:13] — The creator questions why tinker, necromancer, or spellbreaker classes aren't added, calling them 'easy Ws' for Blizzard.
- **Tired of Making Videos** [16:09] — The creator expresses fatigue with making critique videos, but remains a Warcraft fan, having played since Warcraft II.
- **Sad Nerd Crying** [17:04] — The creator admits the video is 'a sad nerd crying over spilled milk,' but still enjoys playing his orc warrior and human mage.
- **Board Meeting Bafflement** [17:32] — The creator is baffled that no one at Blizzard's board meeting thought playable Amani would be a major addition for Midnight.

### Conclusion

The video concludes that Blizzard's decision to skip playable Amani trolls reflects a deeper identity crisis in WoW, where new content feels disconnected from the game's roots. The creator remains a fan but is jaded, hoping for a change in creative direction.

## Transcript

Where are my trolls, Blizzard? >> We hear you. Instead, how about we give you Aranear? These guys are amazing. They live in the roots of the world trees and they have always been there. And they look so
funky. And we will make them be the actual ancestors of all Azeroth races. flesh? No, no, no. Aranear. They can hear
Azeroth's voice. >> Okay, but where are my trolls, Blizzard? Warcraft II. The Amani have been the first trolls you introduced in the universe. >> Actually, we, the modern Blizzard,
>> Actually, we, the modern Blizzard, >> For Azeroth! right?
>> You no longer need to sacrifice for your people. You no longer need to bear the weight of your crown. I've taken care of everything.
are you doing, my son? >> Succeeding you, >> Succeeding you, father. [groaning]
>> [groaning] >> FOR THE HORDE!
good? Who made WoW the biggest game in the world? Where Chuck Norris and the Prince of Darkness collabed? >> There are 10 million people in the world of Warcraft because Chuck Norris allows
them to live. >> I'm Ozzy Osbourne and I'm the PRINCE OF DARKNESS. >> [screaming]
UH instead of us working on bringing you the Amani trolls, a race beloved by your most oldest and loyal of players, um how about instead we dedicate our creative
processes and funds to give you this awesome housing tree? For free, right? For free, right?
We saved a seat for you right here in the Argent Tournament. This is a empty table ready for you. All the tables are empty? No, no, no. All the tables are empty? No, no, no. You're not seeing the glass half full.
All glasses are full cuz there's nobody here. Okay, Casey, now now you're just being in denial. The Argent Tournament's in denial of the world building and past story feeds you say?
baby, and the Amani trolls campaign left you with a cliffhanger for big troll zone right over there in the horizon and they will surely give us the Amani, right? Is there any chance that the Amani might
become an allied race down the road? He asked >> fully expecting the answer. >> Eyes open, hands out. Um, so there will not be an Amani allied race in Midnight. I could sit here and say, you know,
never say never, right? Warcraft is long-standing. On a long enough timeline, anything is possible. But for Midnight, I would like to clear sort of the air. There won't be an Amani allied race. However, we will still have,
right, the Earthenir, which are so dope. Please don't count them out. Just wait. god, have you seen those druid forms? They are sort of jaw-droppingly awesome. As far as the Amani go, we will be our
players will unlock a small package of Dark Spear campaign. Um, so enjoy that. able to use it. And it'll give players the chance to
sort of roleplay as, you know, half Amani or Amani heritage Dark Spear trolls. But yes, for now, no Amani allied race, just Amani friends. >> All right, I just don't know anymore
what the [ __ ] is going on with the game. I'm about to likely roast the [ __ ] out of the wild dev team. And I will try to be as fair as I can by starting with a disclaimer. The devs are incredibly passionate people. And the ones we have
met so far are amazing wild lovers and give us hope that the game is in really good hands. I legit mean this. We went to two gamescoms and two wild events in London and Switzerland. And we can honestly say at least the devs that we
have met and interviewed, that they gave us big hopes for the future of wild. us big hopes for the future of wild. Now, with that being said, what the [ __ ] are people smoking in the Blizzard HQ, bro? Okay, I know what a
Basically, what this comment on the Reddit post said. Amani were never confirmed or if anything, they were confirmed not to come. Maybe. I don't remember a dev ever saying anything other than maybe, which
is a fair stance to have. You don't want it to turn into a J Allen Brack moment. have you ever thought about adding servers for previous expansions as they servers for previous expansions as they were then?
that to do that, either. You think you do, but you don't. Remember when you had to like spam cities and say need a tank, need a tank, need a tank during the Burning Crusade days? You don't remember that because
to the dungeon. You don't want to do that. >> Whether that is true or not, I will talk about the three fair sides of the Amani troll discussion with saying that at this point,
I I just don't care anymore. I love WoW and love to play it, but as far as the world in the World of Warcraft is concerned, I'm consistently jaded with each new time I get hyped for the first few weeks of an expansion and then
realize that the world is just the same [ __ ] just wrapped in a different paper. [ __ ] just wrapped in a different paper. So, should Amani trolls be in the game?
we consider ourselves creative people. It's kind of impossible to do videos and cool stuff in general if you don't have at least a little bit of creativity. We thought at one point that it would be cool to make a video about all of the
expansions summarized in less than a minute and we are proud of it. It also flopped. As far as videos go, for something almost a year old, it garnered a third of a tier list in terms of views in 1 year and tier lists
usually do that in like a week. So, do you think we kept doing those types of videos? Nope. We paid attention to what people like and used our creativity to make cool stuff that people can enjoy. Am I saying we are better than Blizzard?
What I am saying is that as a creative entertainer, whether you make funny videos or video games, you can make what you want. Sure, and if that's cool, great. But really, you have to make something that people like to an extent.
Blending the two things is the real creative process and an ongoing struggle for any type of artist. I understand the game developer is not the same kind of artist as Michael Jackson. Praise the king. But creating worlds, soundtracks,
stories, characters has to be some kind of an art if done right. We can debate all we want, and this conversation of the game not being the game we want is so god damn old. I'm so bored of having it. Mostly
because it clearly falls on deaf ears, and I I just can't anymore. Personally, the game hasn't been for me since BFA. I fell in love with Warcraft because of the stories and the races being cool. Adding vulperas, dracthyr, and herenir
feels like I'm playing a JRPG where the devs are trying really hard to humanize and otherize every type of animal possible by giving it a cute face, six-packs, or boobs. Side note, as long as you do that tastefully and it fits in
the world building, sure. But slapping us in a desert and telling us that between sand snakes and sand monsters, there live little cutie foxes that sing while riding alpacas, I'm going to ask you if you are really playing Warcraft.
And I won't go into that story anymore. Honestly, I think Sylvanas was right. We should take all of this modern world building and >> The game stopped being Warcraft since then, and every now and again, I have
little moments of hope, little moments of Arator exploding with immense rage and vengeance as a red paladin, like what I would expect from a power-driven fantasy world like Warcraft. But then, we get porcupine and
otter haraniers that I am supposed to think are cooler or deserve a place in the pantheon of peoples of Azeroth more so than Amani trolls while said trolls have been here first. >> Amani was here before anyone.
This [music] is our land. is our land. You want to stay, you stay here forever. We're going to bury you here. >> I would love to have haranier as a race
in the game. I wouldn't mind even if they keep retroactively inserting Warcraft history into the game with the incredibly creative process of they were here first. They were the first ones. We just didn't know about it. I don't mind
all of that because I I can't I cannot care about the world building anymore. But, when you are a wild developer and are writing a whole zone and race in Zul'Aman and Amani trolls with more history, culture, and emotional
background than spiky-nosed unshaven blue proto-trolls elves furry whatever, I can only surmise that the decision was made by someone who really doesn't get wow, doesn't get the community, and doesn't honestly care. That's
how I see it. Why do these have to come at the expense of what made Warcraft Warcraft? And why call it Warcraft anyway? The haranier are kind of cool. I'm not denying that, but they are not Warcraft. Sorry.
biggest pet peeve with the game and something I honestly cannot see changing. World building consistency. We can unpack this 100 ways from now until the World Soul Saga ends, but let me tell you only one thing.
What in the burning hells is this piece of [ __ ] Clearly, WoW right now is a platform for anachronisms and modern philosophies self-inserted into a fantasy world. If the fantasy world was built on this from
the start, then that would have been fine. It would have made sense why orcs and gnomes walk around with winter earmuffs and have pajama parties in the Arcanetina. But, it wasn't built on that, because if
it was, it would have been a Concord story. Oh my god. Oh my god. I think I have it now. Oh my god. I think I have it now. Modern WoW is Concord, but shoved down
our throats like bitter medicine. WoW is the little sugar or jam you stick on the pill so that the dog can swallow it and be duped. We are all dogs. We are being force-fed [ __ ] game design wrapped around in a beloved paper called
Warcraft. We are just Visa card-wielding animals. animals. No. Sylvanas was right. WE ARE NOTHING! IN WHAT GODDAMN world does it make more sense for Harrenheer to be a playable
barely understand what the Horde and the Alliance are in the fight against Zaladane, but the Amani, who actually fought in multiple wars against both the Alliance and the Horde, the Amani that have had an actual growth and actual
[ __ ] diplomacy developed between them and the blood elves, the Amani, a race dating back before the Harrenheer craters were even born, were just left to the wayside. This is why it's hard to care. We've
been having this type of discussion since BFA, and it won't change until Blizzard hires developers that like WoW and want to make WoW, and not developers that like wow but want to make Final Fantasy but have to make wow instead
Fantasy but have to make wow instead because that's just their job. Flame YouTube channel, formerly Marceline Online for returning viewers.
The best we can do is put our voices out there. The Amani trolls are a god damn layup. They are the freest W that the wild team could have taken. It was literally on a silver platter. Make them a playable race. Their story makes it
work. Their new models make it work. People absolutely love them. What else? What else do you need? The right people to call it, I suppose, because these aren't the first failed
layup. We recently have had K'aresh introduce us to the Ethereals, formerly the K'aresh, a race in the game since TBC. >> Or were they Warcraft 3 as well? Can't remember. Their backstory is emotional
as all hell and the audio story that went into Locus Walker, Venari, and Kai'Viza and their struggle with Salhadar was absolutely incredible. I actually fell in love with them. They are a video game race yet somehow felt
factions introduced in modern wow combined. And of course we didn't get What is this? A modern triple A game developer with the resources to make the biggest decisions in the industry as far as the genre is concerned? Lol. Let's
leave that to Final Fantasy 14 and insert your year and wow killer MMO that is about to come out here. How have we not gone the tinker class after the spellbreakers with the blood elves revamped, Silvermoon revamped,
Magister's Terrace revamped? How are we not getting necromancers after Shadowlands with the engine of death being all funky and all over the place and Sylvanas being a glorified jailer. How is there not enough juice there to
cook up a class that has been in every RPG, Warcraft included, for god damn RPG, Warcraft included, for god damn decades? How are these that easy Ws for Blizzard? You literally are sitting on a god damn golden goose right there.
But instead, we get surveys asking people if they would want an astrologian or a gunner in WoW. What the [ __ ] is all of that? Final Fantasy again? I swear to god, Blizzard, you need to write a letter of
recommendation to these developers and send them to Square Enix, man. They are suffering in your offices. They don't want to make WoW, bro. They just want to make other stuff. I remember playing Aion and there was a gunner class. That
Aion and there was a gunner class. That was dope. It was also not WoW. We had a period in Dragonflight where we made a lot of the game is broken, fix it, please, type of videos. In Shadowlands as well. And I don't know
about Marceline, but I for one am so tired of making these videos. I guess there isn't much to talk about right now and I'm still a Warcraft fan. copes about it is like the [ __ ] world building. It just won't die.
I don't care anymore. And I am a Warcraft fan enough of it to make talking about the game my job. I mean, how much more can you love something than just making it your everyday? I started my Warcraft
journey in 2000 playing Warcraft II and discovering RTS games. I have dreamt of being an orc warrior or human mage and playing a part in the Warcraft stories for decades. Now, all I can enjoy about the game is
that I am playing my orc warrior and human mage in dungeons and raids. Those are still cool. I guess this video is just a sad nerd crying over spilled milk. The decision has been made and it doesn't seem like
the creative power in the wild team has what it takes to say, "Oh, stop everything. Players really want a money. Let's delay the next patch by a month and put the money in the game for our players." Or something like that. It
baffles me that there was a board meeting at some point at Blizzard to decide the content for Midnight, and nobody there actually thought that playable Amani was one of the biggest additions they can do for Midnight, or
at least something that the players would crave more than a lot of the other stuff that they did. Are we off? Are we weird for thinking the allied race Amani trolls would have been almost a sure thing when deciding the content
for Midnight? Speaking of things that grind our gears, are you buying wild tokens yet? Does your repair bill cost more than selling the epic loot of a void dragon filled with magic and power?
Check our video out, because this is the week of the rands, and we started early.