Hello everyone. It’s been a while and I am sorry for that!
I will write a short list in the beginning, for those that would rather see a short summary of what’s written and so on!
Small summary:
- Shared Customization options over all races; blood elf hair on void elves (and vise versa), humans etc.
- Equal numbers of options for each character customization trait; aka everyone shares the same number of faces, hair colour, skin tones(?), hair styles etc.
- Tattoos/war paint, blind eyes, scars, piercings, accessories (Jewelry etc) for all races; Tauren cannot have blind eyes, humans can’t have tattoos, night elf females can’t have tattoos, but night elf males can etc.
- Class specific customization options; fel traits for warlocks, runic tattoos for mages, light glow to paladin eyes, druids with antlers and druidic properties etc. (EDIT: these also being available for all races as well; blood elves, void elves, draenei, humans, nighborne, dark iron dwarf etc. the list goes on. Wherever lore may support such customization!)
- Kul Tiran body options; skinny human model, regular human and kul tiran human, to be able to choose between these 3, maybe adding more?
- Upright backs for trolls, undead and worgen males, (Tauren? More info below). Orc Males can choose between upright option in Battle For Azeroth.
This here is a subject I know many have anticapated for a while, this is a subject every single RolePlayer I have spoken to have mentioned. Character Customization; with the release of Shadowlands, every single standard race (excluding allied races) were given new customization options. Things that make each race feel more unique with bases strongly put into their culture, history (Aka Teldrassil Scar for Night Elves) and more possibilities to make your character feel like your own.
In the following patches after, many left out allied races received more options for customization; Lightforged Draenei, Void Elf, Nightborne and Highmountain Tauren. It can be obvious, but Tauren is my favorite race in the Warcraft universe, and I personally was a bit let down with how much more detailed and creative options the Highmountain Tauren got, compared to regular Tauren. And I know this is something that goes between all the allied races.
On RP servers, void elves are commonly used as the base race for people that want to RP a High Elf, and with the non-void hair and skin colours, this became easier for most. But as many people still point out; Why can’t they just give us the Blood Elf customizations for Void Elves as well? And this is something I see everywhere after discussing this with fellow RPers.
With many new great additions to the customizations of characters, there is still a lot that could be added and a lot that could be shared across races. Why couldn’t Kul Tirans be smaller like a regular Human, not every single Kul Tiran is by lore, a vrykul hybrid that stands with 3 heads above a regular human, there are also the most commonly referred to as “skinny-human” from Kul Tiras. The model of the vagabond NPCs that you can see on the streets of Boralus.
A huge part of RPGs is making your character feel unique to you, and customization is just that. But there is still a lot missing; Night Elf females should also be able to choose between tattoos, tauren should also be able to be blind, Worgen should have more fur colour options, and humans should have every single face able to go with every single skin colour. I was surprised to see that some of the newly added hairstyles; dreadlocks, cornrows, pixie etc. could only have certain of the new hair colors. It is more about the freedom to choose what hair colour you want your character to have, than to make it only available for certain hairstyles. As well as the type of face you have, combined with every single skin tone.
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Straightbacks; Male Orcs finally got the option to be upright in Battle for Azeroth, but we still have hunched over undead males, troll males and worgen males (Please forgive me if I forgot anyone). It is weird that male humans turn into hunched over worgen, but the back does not affect females in any way, at all. Trolls are all different, depending on whether you are a jungle troll, a frost troll, zandalari etc. But I am sure there are varieties here too that could benefit those wanting their trolls to have an upright back. It would not be that far of a stretch. Finally, Undead males, they used to be human, I get the need for them to be a little bit broken over and weak in their posture, but I think with a change in these things, it would really create unique customization and open up for many new stories for this game. (There has also been a discussion about tauren’s posture, and I do not know what could be done here as it seems there are no other way tauren seem to function or be biologically, but it could be a possibe subject to look at as well?)
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Tattoos, as I mentioned above, should not be limited to a few races. With tattoos I also mean war and tribal paint. This should be accessable for every single race. Different patterns, artwork, from different cultures and also their own. Historical events, remembering war and battles. I know my RP character would use it, and I know many others would as well.
Number of different options, mainly faces. Some races have fewer faces, depending on whether its female and male as well. I will make a list to show. (HM tauren share the same amount of face options as regular Tauren)
Tauren Male: 5 options
Tauren Female: 4 options
Goblin Male: 5 options
Goblin Female: 10 options
Troll Male: 5 options (Zandalari has 6)
Troll Female: 6 options
Vulpera Male: 6 options
Vulpera Female: 6 options
Worgen Male: 7 options
Worgen Female: 16
These are some of the races with very few face options, though if we take a note of the goblins and worgens. THere is a lot more oppertunity with a female than there is with a male character. I also do understand that allied races came with little customization, and is slowly being updated. But I also want to note the big differences.
Human Male: 36 faces (Some only available for certain skin tones)
Human Female: 45 faces (Some only available for certain skin tones)
Void Elf Male: 18 options (Some only available for certain skin tones)
Void Elf Female: 18 options (Some only available for certain skin tones)
Pandaren Male: 21 options
Pandaren Female: 20 options
These are clear differences in amount of customization you can do with one character. Orcs still have the most customization, but very few faces as well. So every race lacks something. I think evening the numbers up would make things a great deal better, and I doubt anyone will complain about more options being added for their characters.
There is one final point I would like to point out too; class based customization.
We recently got nightborne with ‘Luminous Hands’, which is a great trait if your character is a mage. Also adding vines to Night Elf hair was a good addition if your Night Elf is a druid for example. But these things could be added for so many more as well. With their class being a lot of their identity. This is not a new thing, as Death Knights received their own hair colours, even mottling skin. Demon hunters of course having the horns, the fel glowing eyes and the illidari tattoos with the bright menacing colours. This could also be implemented to paladins; glowy, more yellow/lightish hue to their eye colour, mages having runic tattoos, druids with antlers, warlocks with certain fel traits. There are many things one could explore. This also being implemented for suitable races; blood elves, void elves, nightborne, draenei (runic tattoos etc.)
I was planning on putting transmog and cosmetic items in here as well, but this grew into a bigger forum post than I anticipated and had thought.
Please reach out to me on the forums, make threads and I will do my best to get back to you people. I know I missed many points, but these are the main points every single RPer have mentioned and are the most common wishes as far as I can see.
I also hope those that arent within the RP community would like to give me their say on this, as most players spend some time to customize their characters.
Thank you!