I think this is a conversation that’s long overdue, and I really hope Blizzard will actually weigh-in on this. The Evoker class has (in my opinion) been an excellent addition to the game. I still like the idea of a spec that embraces more of the physical aspect of being a dragon, but great class imo.
The Dracthyr as a race, on the other hand, feel quite limited in their cosmetic appearance options.
Unlike any other race in the game, they are restricted to only displaying shoulders, and occasionally belts. While their “Barbershop-armor” does indeed look quite nice, it is ultimately quite restrictive as well. After all, there’s no way Blizzard could possibly hope to add color-schemes to match every single shade of color for armor in the entire game. But the point ultimately still stands, that you are even more restricted by what colors this barbershop-armor even offers you.
Because the Dracthyr are also restricted to a single Visage-form for each gender (BE male or Human female, oddly enough), it again restricts them in the one aspect that actually might have circumvented this feeling of limitation.
Personally, I see three options that could all work, either in isolation or in concert with one another, requiring varying levels of investment from Blizzard’s artists. I’m sure they’re overworked already, but the Dracthyr are very obviously incomplete in their current iteration, so something clearly needs to be done.
- Offer other races for your Visage form
This seems like it would be the easiest to implement. Simply allow players to choose the Visage of any other race on their faction. I would also implement the option to disable your armor appearing in Dracthyr-form entirely, so you can really get the Visage you want, without needing the Dracthyr barbershop-armor to be a perfect match.
- Add a cosmetic “Dragon-form” purely for combat
The Dragonriding mounts offer an impressive suite of customizations already. Why not leverage those by allowing Dracthyr to use those as a sort of “Visage” to take on a truly draconic appearance? This allows players to fully lean into the “playable Dragon” fantasy, which was stated to be at the core of the Dracthyr Evoker anyways. And like Druids’ shapeshift forms, it would completely eliminate the question of “why can’t my guy wear the rest of his armor?”. And honestly, it just sounds awesome.
- Add full Transmog support for the Dracthyr
This is the most obvious solution, although I imagine it is also likely the most difficult. I’m not sure why, but I imagine if it was simple, Blizzard would have already done it. I think it would make sense for Dracthyr not to display cloaks, but otherwise run the full gambit.
Personally, I’m the most fond of the “Dragon-form” idea, because I just think it sounds super freaking cool. The Dragonriding mounts already have a ton of animations that I would imagine could be used for combat abilities, and just automatically switch to your Visage form for any missing animations (ie. crafting, riding other mounts, etc.).
Of course, simply having other options for your Visage form would go a long ways, and I would think relatively easy to implement. Particularly since I imagine a lot of older players haven’t had an opportunity to play newer races, I imagine players would really dig the likes of a Dark Iron or Nightborne form for their Evoker (I know I would!).
Oh, and I suppose I’ll end with one final suggestion:
- Add a “Gold” color-scheme that ACTUALLY matches the Evoker Legendary for those who unlock it
It’s absolutely bananas this wasn’t already added. To have an Evoker-specific Legendary, which is essentially an awesome-looking gauntlet, but doesn’t actually match ANY of the barbershop-armor color schemes? Madness. Sheer madness.
Either way, I would strongly urge the team to rectify this injustice right away.
