NPCs can now do more than players in World of Warcraft – as they keep spitting happily when they don’t like something. Players cannot do that.
Patch 9.1.5 not only brought many reasonable changes to World of Warcraft but also a whole bunch of controversial adjustments to game content. Representations of women were changed, problematic lines of text were removed, and emotes were deleted. Additionally, the /spit emote no longer functions as it used to. However, a few characters seem to have missed the memo – especially the city guards of the capitals.
What’s going on in WoW? With Patch 9.1.5, many emotes were deleted or modified that might have made players uncomfortable or harassed. Most notably, the /spit emote can no longer have a player as a target.
However, these new rules seem to apply only to players – and not to NPCs. Because they keep spitting joyfully, as much as they can. At least during the introductory quest of the Death Knights.
Why are the guards even spitting? This is due to the introductory quest of the Death Knights. After completing the Death Knight starting area, the undead “heroes” are sent to Orgrimmar or Stormwind to meet with the respective faction leader. Timing-wise, this takes place at the start of Wrath of the Lich King, where the inhabitants remember very well the suffering that Death Knights and the Scourge brought upon the races.
Accordingly, the city guards and various NPCs react hostile when visited. They throw food, scream for help, call the player a monster – and spit on him indeed. The questline is meant to make it clear: You are not welcome here.
This only changes after the respective leader has given a small speech and officially welcomes the Death Knights into the Horde and Alliance. Only then do the humiliations from the NPCs stop.
Community reacts cynically: As expected, the WoW community immediately jumps on this topic and mocks it on the game’s subreddit.
- ‘Next up: The Stormwind guards will release an apology video on YouTube, vow to improve, and swear to listen to the community, as always.’
- ‘Blizzard has been spitting on players for years. They won’t stop just because they’ve taken away the ability for players to spit on each other.’
- ‘They’re throwing fruits, right? Maybe from a fruit bowl? They’re really ahead of their time.’
Whether Blizzard overlooked the spitting in this quest line or simply thinks that it is acceptable in the context of the quest, we do not know. We will find out soon enough, however, in the next WoW Patch with version 9.2, if the emote is still present.
