Many races in World of Warcraft are massively disadvantaged when it comes to selecting their customizations. Blizzard wants to change that – but it takes time. A lot of time.
The new WoW expansion Midnight is launching in a few days and with it comes a new race in the game – the Haranir. They are particularly interesting because they offer more customizations than any other race in the game. However, this is exactly what bothers some veterans who would also like many options for existing characters. A point of criticism that Blizzard hears and wants to address in the future.
What is the problem with the races? Even though many celebrate the upcoming new race of the Haranir and are looking forward to playing it, there is also a large number of WoW fans who are grinding their teeth in dissatisfaction. While new races like the Haranir or the Dracthyr are being showered with customization options, many older races are left in the lurch. Particularly gnomes, but also void elves would appreciate more options.
Therefore, an increasingly vocal part of the community wishes: There should be no new races, instead Blizzard should first bring all old races up to date.
Major revisions – but we shouldn’t expect them soon
What does Blizzard want to do? In an interview with Windows Central, Maria Hamilton from the WoW team spoke about the customization options for existing races. This has been a recurring topic in the team. In the past, there were “small drops” with new customizations, such as for completing the questline for heritage armor.
However, this should be different in the future, as Hamilton states in response to the question of whether there will be further customizations for old races:
I would say: Yes. But we don’t have a fixed roadmap for that yet. We have had small attempts from time to time, and we know that the player base loves it. But now we see this more as a larger project instead of small additions, like with the heritage armor. We are even discussing whether we can improve character animations and such things, and what improvements are possible. That will come, but not soon.
In general, however, Blizzard seems to have received the message that many players simply desire more options to represent and express themselves in Azeroth. Because Jay Hwang from Blizzard added in response to the question:
Especially with the overhaul of the transmog system, it becomes clear that we see the demand. We are starting to go down this path. That’s why we are currently investing in things like housing that have nothing to do with character power and focus more on options for personal expression. In the future, we will probably have more ears and noses for your goblins. Those are things we are definitely also personally interested in.
This is how the community sees it: Even on social media, like the WoW subreddit, there is ongoing discussion about it. Some of the voices from the community regarding this are:
- „Stop … just stop bringing new races until all are at the same level. Please.” – LadyTalah
- „They just need to release more customizations until every race has as many options as the Haranir and the Dracthyr. Start with the most played race and then work through the entire list.” – Tristalien
- „Blizzard is really good at announcing plans. Unfortunately, they are not so good at executing those plans.” – DaveMoTron
What do you think of Blizzard’s plans to drastically equip the races with new options – but only in the distant future? Would you rather have small and more frequent new customizations? Or do you think it’s good that Blizzard takes its time to tackle this as a large project?
Another issue the community might work on in the meantime: The tank shortage, which players have created themselves.
