Posts from Discussion about the Sanctuary faction.

Hooray!!! I was even regretting that they didn't make them a separate faction in Warcraft, and now this is such a joy. I generally like the ocean, marine creatures, and I'm most fascinated by the monsters from the depths, so I think I'll play as Inferno as always, and of course, as Naga!

As far as I understand, the Nagas won’t be related to the ocean or the sea.

The Nagas are a water-based race from the Sanctuary faction. This is clearly reflected in the style of their units, and their patron dragon is Shalassa, the water dragon.

Well, they won't live underwater like in Atlantis, will they?

Why immediately underwater? A water-based faction could very well be called that if its members live near a lake (or sea) and worship Shalassa. Perhaps someday we will see their city and draw the appropriate conclusions :D.

It will be interesting to see what happens when the randomizer places their Castle in the middle of the forest.

Otherwise, there are no lakes in the forests...
In the fifth game, it was even worse; there was an Elven castle in the middle of the desert...

And in the fourth game, this was already implemented, just so you know.

Why immediately underwater? An aquatic faction could very well be called that if its members live near a lake (or sea) and worship Shalassa. Perhaps one day we will see their city and draw the appropriate conclusions.

Here's a small collection of images I put together: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Most likely, that's exactly how it will be.

I hope the Sanctuary faction will be included in the main version of the game, and not in an expansion pack. The game's release is scheduled for the second half of March, and the fifth race has not yet been officially revealed. It's time to announce this new feature, although, judging by everything, we will only be provided with screenshots from the game until the tenth of March, and only then, right before the release of the sixth installment, will they publish information about the water faction. However, sometimes it seems that the delay in revealing Sanctuary is only due to the New Year's leak, as they believe that, due to the data breach, many people have already become familiar with the fifth race, and, in principle, that's enough, they can wait. Of course, it is extremely interesting to see the implementation of the developers' new idea. :)

Actually, it sometimes seems that the release of Sanctuary is being delayed only because of the New Year's leak, assuming that due to the data breach, many people have already learned about the fifth faction, and in principle, it's okay, they'll wait.

Or they decided that there is still time before the release, and they can create some other faction, and discard this one out of spite for the fans and those who leaked it.

Or was the leak intentional, and were we all deceived? Although Ubisoft is certainly not Blizzard.

It's a bit worrying that in the provided video, the warriors, previously stated to be river (spring) spirits, are called water elementals. No, of course, for the sake of a demonstration video, the unit could have been simply renamed for one time to continue building intrigue, as this is not difficult at all.
However, the question arises: what does the information leaked in January actually represent? Personally, I have three possible answers.

1. There was no race initially. What was shown to players a month and a half ago is just a combination of approved artwork with unapproved (or fan-made) artwork, and people took what they saw as the fifth Faction.

2. Sanctuary was restructured into neutral units due to the data leak. But this is highly unlikely, because the leak of the artwork occurred in January, that is, three months before the official release of the sixth installment. I don't think the developers would have taken such a step just because of the leak, because then they would have had to abandon the already prepared material (and it was definitely ready in January, as by this time, as a rule, all key elements of any game being created have already been developed). There simply wouldn't have been enough time to form and, accordingly, implement a new race. And if there was, the Faction would have been noticeably underdeveloped. This leads to either the first or the third version.

3. The water race is still waiting for its official release, but the clever developers continue to carefully hide (mask) any data about the authenticity of the fifth Faction in order to generate interest in the game being developed. If Sanctuary is indeed included in the list of Factions in the sixth installment, then, perhaps, the race could have been calmly presented in February if it weren't for the art leak. Now, we are being punished for someone's indiscretion.

Of course, it is quite possible that the Faction exists. Perhaps, due to the leak, it will be moved from the main version of the game to an expansion. Or maybe the water elements simply look very similar to the river and spring spirits (because the color of the "headgear" has been changed)...
In general, there is no point in guessing, it is already impossible to change anything. We will get what we get this coming spring. But let's hope for the best. :)

previously stated as river (spring) spirits, they are now called water elementals.

After the "ghoul" incident, I wouldn't be surprised if these are completely different units, just too similar to each other.