TYDKaWoW #001 | A Tiger-Human Race was leaked

With the release of Zul'Gurub in 2005, models of Tigons were added to the game. A Race half human half tiger/cougar/kitten, it was the model for two bosses in Zul'Gurub High Priest Thekal and High Priestess Arlokk and you could also get yourself transformed into it with a set of daggers that had a chance to proc on hit.

Comparison of the dagger transformation and Priestess Arlokk. (©Wowhead)

The Rumor about the new race started one month later, when Screenshots of unseen skins of it with equipment popped up. It got a lot of attention, because the first Expansion "The Burning Crusade" was announced, but nothing more was shared about it. There was a lot of info floating around the web of this new race however and you can still find a bunch of people talking about the "Frostscar Valley", which was the supposed starting zone for the Race.

One of the Tigon pictures, that have circulated online.

The official WoW-Forums also got flooded with it and Ex-Community Manager Caydiem stated the following: 

*** Quote 1 ***

To my knowledge, these supposed "Tigon" models are nothing more than the empowered forms of the Priests Thekal and Arlokk in Zul'Gurub. There is also an item that can grant the tiger form to players randomly. These models are in no way secret information that we're attempting to cover up -- why would we, when they're already patched in and being used by encounters that players see daily?

These models are already in the game, in use, and are not being used for a race at all. There is no record of "Tigons" in past lore -- come now, with a world of possibilities in what has already been written, particularly surrounding the subject of the expansion, do you really think we'd introduce a race of jungle cat-people that has absolutely no relation to Outland whatsoever? ;)

We're deleting them because the rash of posts on this has gotten positively ridiculous, that's all. The announcement for the new race is a long time in coming, and we're not so silly as to patch in expansion content at this point. :P

EDIT: Do not assume anything at this point. I've said nothing even remotely confirming what the race will be, here. Sit back, relax, and wait for it. :)

*** Quote 2 ***

Now now, people, you know what I counsel about assumptions. All I'm saying is there are a lot of possibilities already in the lore -- it's more likely that we'll use something already established in the storyline than introduce something entirely new. Not impossible, mind. Just improbable.

Tigons, though.. that's silly. :)

*** Quote 3 ***

Understand that I'm extremely limited in what I can say surrounding what the new race will be. To my knowledge, however, the very concept of "Tigon" has never once been spoken in the Blizzard offices when options for the new race were considered. The only time I've ever heard it mentioned is with light-hearted laughter when referring to the silly rumors floating around the 'net about them. ;)

Here we're 10 years later and the rumor started again with the new Saberon mobs. It seems though, that we'll never get a playable Tigon-race since the new lvl 100 Feral Talent looks like it and we even got the "Bloodmane Charm"-Toy to transform everyone into one. I know there are items like the "Orb of the Sin'dorei", but those were added after the playable race was ingame and not the other way around. Speculating about new races in WoW is still a fun thing to do though.

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