Hey Folks
So lately I’ve been thinking of different ways World of Warcraft could be improved now that it has meaningful competition in the MMO Marketplace. But, as I got working on my original list, I noticed it was getting pretty long to the point that it was starting to lose focus. So, instead of trying to tackle every little thing in one swing, I figured I would break it down into (hopefully) shorter, and more focused posts. Before I get really deep into my first suggestion post, I want to cover a few quick things of note.
Quick things to note
- As I basically said above; I will TRY to keep this post as short as possible, but no promises it will be.
- I’m speaking only for myself in this post as a Roleplayer while also taking feedback from Players.
- This is a post of suggestions for things I’d like to see added to the game, NOT demands for things I’d like to see in game. I do NOT expect Blizzard to add any these suggestions to the game, much less demand them to do so just because I posted them.
- While my focus is primarily on expanding options for Roleplay & Roleplayers within World of Warcraft, I am still keeping non-Roleplayers in mind. That said however, I cannot please everyone and I do not intend to try.
- I do NOT know WoW’s Engine limitations or other Technical limitations the game has. But, I am going to TRY to avoid suggesting anything really, really over the top (IE: No 100 Man Raids, Bosses the size of a city, and etc etc…)
- Yes, I know this will all take time to do. Do I expect it all in one go? No. Do I expect it at some point? It would be nice.
- And finally I will NOT be focusing on individual race customization or classes largely in this post, I may make some small mentions but nothing really more than that. Individual Race customization stuff is better for dedicated topics, and classes I want to cover in a another topic.
Post update
- Just did a overhaul on the Roleplay Sheet, added a whole new section with #4, and got the revised version of my Racial Traits suggestion finally up. I pretty much almost re-made the entire post from scratch except for where I obviously didn’t need to. Pretty sure I covered everything, but with the post having so much, I may have overlooked stuff also. Will fix whatever I need to later on - if I need to fix anything at all.
And with those quick notes out of the way, lets get started.
The reason I think Character Creation needs to be improved
As the years have come and gone with new MMOs cementing their places in the market. World of Warcraft’s Character Creation system, while never being the deepest or most rich Character Creation system around, has really been showing it’s age since Mists of Pandaria in my opinion (though some may argue differ one way or another.) Currently the following MMORPGs (that I have either looked at or actually played) that do Character Creation better than World of Warcraft are-
- Black Desert Online - Recommended by Xelphina
- Blade and Soul - Recommended by Xelphina
- Final Fantasy 14 - Widely suggested by the WoW Community
- Elder Scrolls Online - Widely suggested by the WoW Community & myself
- Neverwinter - Suggested by myself, not sure if widely by the Community as well
- Age of Conan - Suggested by myself, not sure if widely by the Community as well
Of these different MMOs, the ones I actually played are Elder Scrolls Online, Neverwinter, & Age of Conan. Of those particular three, if I had to pick one for Blizzard to look at, it would be Neverwinter for sure as it offers just a little more compared to Elder Scrolls online, and a lot more compared to Age of Conan. That said however…After watching a Character Creation video regarding Black Desert Online, I would say Xelphina’s Black Desert Online suggestion would be the superior competitor to draw inspiration from should Blizzard look into any of these other MMORPGs.
Now, lets move on to the real suggestions-
#1. Loreful preset Height options for all Races
Starting off rather easy (sort of speak), All Races in WoW should have access to AT LEAST 2 different LOREFUL, PRESET (Not Body Slider), Height options. (IE: No Gnomes standing as tall as a Tauren and no Tauren standing as short as a Gnome.) The options should simply be for the start-
- Tall
- Average (Default size)
- Short
Then if Blizzard later down the road desires to add options like…Very Tall & Very Short, then they have that path if they desire to take it.
Why should this be added?
Simply for further Player expression through their Character and to add a dash of that authentic fact of; not everyone is the same size.. Very simple, nothing super special.
#2. Loreful Preset Physique options for all Races
Pretty much the same thing as above. But, this time we’re talking about the general fitness of all the Races this time. Every Race should have at least 2 loreful & tasteful preset options for them such as-
- Muscular
- Average (Default)
- Small
- Large
Why should this be added?
Again, pretty much like above for the most part. Simply for further Player expression through their Character and to add a dash of that authentic fact of; not everyone is the same size. Very simple, nothing super special, and of course they can look into wider options later down the road if they like.
#3. Optional Roleplay Sheet in Character Creation & Roleplayer UI Elements
Quick Note before getting deep into this
Blizzard should take the time to carefully create a set of very clear, unmistakable, & refined guidelines for those Players choosing to use this Roleplay Sheet to follow BEFORE implementing ANYTHING in this section of the topic. Guidelines that should be befitting of the Company’s rules & the general universe of Warcraft. Where both Reported & Reporting Players can be given fair chances & treatment to correct a problem on their end, or be punished for refusing to correct said problem.
The next feature I would like to see added to Character Creation (and this is primarily aimed at Roleplayers) is a Roleplay Sheet that we can either fill out when creating our Characters before jumping into the game, or we can fill out later in game via the Character panel in a “Roleplay” tab (or just leave it all blank forever if you’re not interested in Roleplay at all.) On this “Roleplay” sheet we should have two sections to work in; Character Information & Player Information.
In the Character Information section we should have the following categories to fill out-
- Surname
- Nickname
- Birthplace
- Residence
- Age
- Hobbies - Suggested by Silverleigh
- Loyalties - Suggested by Silverleigh
- Physical Description
- Personality Description
- Character Biography
ALL OF THIS INFORMATION SHOULD BE PRIVATE TO THE INDIVIDUAL PLAYER OF THE CHARACTER and thus be hidden to all other Players outside of them. However, the Player SHOULD have the ABILITY TO SHARE ALL OR INDIVIDUAL PARTS of their Character Information sheet with other Player Character(s) that are online & choose to accept that permission. By doing things this way will provide disincentives, countermeasures, & stalling efforts against certain problematic behaviors that can take place in game or in Roleplay, such as-
- Metagaming - when a player uses real-life knowledge that their character wouldn’t realistically have.
- Improper usage of the Roleplay Sheet - When Players improperly use their Character Sheet to fill it with real life derogatory words & phrases, violent sexual content, giving out People’s personal information, and etc etc…
When a Player permits another Player’s Character the ability to see their Character’s Surname & Nickname (and if the two areas have been filled out in the Character Information section), the permitted & accepting Player should see the following information in this order when moving their cursor over the original Player’s Character.
Character Title - Character Name - Character Nickname - Character Surname - Server the Character is on if it’s not the local server
Report Roleplay Sheet Button
And finally for the Character Information section, there should be a button that allows players to report another Player’s Roleplay sheet for reviewing in the event that the reported Player’s Roleplay sheet has some rather glaring, questionable content placed inside of it.
Next the Player Information section-
In the Player Information section I would like to see the following options
- Roleplay Experience Level check boxes
- Non-Roleplayer - (Default) Simply means the Player of the Character isn’t a Roleplayer and thus probably has no experience in any shape or form.
- Beginner - Means the Player is a beginner level Roleplayer in some shape or form.
- Experienced - Means the Player has experience Roleplaying in some shape or form.
- Advanced - Means the Player has been Roleplaying for a very long time and is very experienced in it.
- Mentor - Pretty much the same as Advance, but you’re willing to teach newer Players that are interested in learning how to Roleplay.
When moving your cursor over Players that have filled out this information, one of these selected options should appear in the bottom middle of the pop up box that is usually displayed, preferably behind whatever is selected for Character Status.
- Roleplay Style Options
- Give plenty of different check box options to allow Players to show what their favorite styles of Roleplay are. Such as Random Roleplay, Storied Roleplay, Casual Roleplay, Combat Roleplay, and etc etc…(And of course speak with the greater World of Warcraft Roleplay Community to ensure as many bases as possible are covered.)
Players should only see this information when they Inspect another Player’s Character and look inside the “Roleplay” tab.
- Character Status Toggle
- Out of Character - Should appear in Bright Red Text
- In Character - Should appear in Bright Green Text
- When the Character has the Non-Roleplayer Roleplay Experienced check marked, then neither of the above status should show in the example below.
When moving your cursor over Players, one of these two options should show up on the bottom right of the pop up box that is usually displayed, ahead of the Player’s Roleplay Experience Level selection.
- Roleplay Preferences slide bar
Free Form - Free Form Lite - Balanced - By the Book Lite - By the Book
All this generally means is; do you like to stick to the Lore of World of Warcraft as much as possible (By the Book), do you like to get creative with the Lore or absolutely use your own substitutes for it (Free Form), or are you somewhere in the middle (Balanced and etc)?
Players should only see this information when they Inspect another Player’s Character and look inside the “Roleplay” tab.
While there is more I can think of that would be neat to have for the Roleplay sheet, I think it would be better to start with something basic, then gradually build up to something more complex if there is enough interest to justify expanding the Roleplay sheet further. Overall this concept used a mixture of features from the likes of Total RP3 & MyRolePlay, so this can be seen as a light integration request of both Addons into World of Warcraft.
Why is this all needed if Roleplayers can use addons like Total RP3 & MyRolePlay?
The objective of this suggested feature IS NOT TO REPLACE OR OUTLAW THE USAGE OF ANY ROLEPLAY ADDDONS. The objective of the Roleplay Sheet should be to provide Players an alternative option to using Roleplay Addons and that is COMPLETELY VOLUNTARY to engage in the usage of should they choose to do so.
As an individual who uses Total RP3 myself, the Roleplay Sheet would simply be a backup for the likes of me should Total RP3 or some other Roleplay addon some how no longer be an option for me to use. But, for a Roleplayer that does not like to use Roleplay Addons, they would have something they can use in game if they CHOOSE to do so.
#4. Reorganizing the Races into Base Races with expansive subrace customization support.
This was a concept put forward by Rreifren that I rather liked and added my own little additions to it while maintaining their idea. What I basically see in this suggestion is-
- The ability to further reduce clutter on the Character Creation screen and should more offshoot/subraces be added as playable options. The offshoot/subrace can be placed within the Base Race’s option to keep the screen clutter down still.
- It’s acts as a light Lore Teaching tool to show the basic roots of all the races.
If you would like to see Rreifren’s idea without my additions to it, click the Summary button below, otherwise proceed as you see fit.
Summary
So, how would this work exactly?
- When Players are looking to pick their desired playable race, they would first head to the very top of their screen to see all the Base Races within their respective Icons (IE: Humans, Dwarves, Orcs, Tauren, etc…)
- Then upon clicking one of those Base Race Icons, they would then get a drop down Box that shows all of the subraces belonging to that Base Race.
Example
- Dwarves ← Base Race Category
- Dwarf Subrace option 1: Bronzebeard Dwarfs
- Dwarf Subrace option 2: Wildhammer Dwarfs
- Dwarf Subrace option 3: Dark Iron Dwarfs
Inside of the drop down box they would see a button that has the name of the subrace in it, a Icon that represents that subrace, a Faction Icon to show which Faction that subrace is affiliated with, and a small lore snippet about them. Upon clicking on the button to choose their Subrace, they would then have a Character model of that subrace appear in the center of their screen like we do currently.
- Upon selecting their Character’s race, they would get a list of Racial traits on the Left side of the screen, what Class options they have access to at the bottom of the screen, and then the Customization button on the right side of the screen to begin visually customizing their Character from Gender to Hairstyle, Color, and all the other stuff we currently do that is befitting of that Subrace. (IE: Bronzebeard Dwarves would NOT have Wildhammer Dwarf visual customization options or visa versa.)
Why should this all be done?
Right now I would not consider it critical to make such a large change to the Character Creation menu. HOWEVER, should Blizzard choose to add a considerable amount more Races for Players to choose from, the Character Creation screen will begin to start getting cluttered up. If Blizzard then chooses to add more races that the playerbase wants, then the clutter will only get even more noticeable, and eventually something would have to be done to solve that clutter problem without taking anything away from players. The way to solve that would be to implament a system like Rreifren has suggested.
#5. Changes to Racial Traits & Selectable Background Traits
This is the revised version of my old Racial Trait suggestion that I had on here previously.
Currently I’m not entirely a big fan of how Racial Traits work in World of Warcraft (not talking about in terms of Balance, just speaking in general.) Some Racial Traits make perfect sense as to why those Races would have those options over other races. But, some I don’t really consider to be truly special to those races. So, what I would like to see Blizzard do is the following-
- Re-balance Racial Traits for EVERY Individual Race and give each Race at least 3-5 Racial Traits in Total across the board (personally, I think 4 would be the sweet spot.) As for what those Racial Traits would be, I leave that up to the Developers ultimately, and I DO NOT think Players should be able to change them.
- Note: Racial Traits like the Worgen’s Two Forms, Vulpera’s Return to Camp, and other such traits. Should obviously not count towards this concept of 3-5 Racial Traits per-Race. They either do not offer any meaningful benefits or are mechanically vital to the usage of another racial trait and would factually break that other Racial Trait should they be removed.
- Offer Players at least 4 Background Trait slots that allows Players more choices to better tailor their Character to their particular desires.
- Background Traits should be seen as a reflection of the Character’s past before starting their adventure into Azeroth & Beyond.
- Background Traits should be broken up into different categories such as Crafting, Gathering, Utility, Trading, Training, & etc… with Players only being able to choose one Background Trait from each Category.
- Players should also be able to choose upgradeable versions of their desired Background Traits at the cost of using up an additional Background Trait slot to do so. (IE: Instead of that Profession Background Trait costing you 1 Background Trait slot originally, it will now cost you 2 Background Trait slots because you upgraded it, thus leaving you with 2 free Background Trait Slots in total instead of 3.)
What about Characters that have already been created prior to this change?
- Characters that have already been created prior to this change (should Blizzard implament such a change.) Should get a 1 time free usage item that allows them to change their Background Racial Traits and requires them to type in “Confirm” to finalize their choice to ensure the wrong Background Traits have not been accidentally selected.
Should Players be able to change their Background Traits whenever they want?
- The Roleplayer in me says no, they should not be able to (excluding the obvious scenario above.) But, the General WoW player in me suspects Blizzard would let Players do it anyways. So, should Players be allowed to change their Background Traits generally whenever they want, it should be at a very steep Gold cost to dissade constantly changing one’s Background Traits.
When would Players choose these Background Traits?
- Ouside of the one exception, Players should do this AFTER finishing the visual Customizations of their Characters and (if Blizzard adds the above Roleplay Sheet I suggested) BEFORE Players have the option to fill out their Roleplay sheet on the Character Creation screen.
Why is all of this needed?
- If Blizzard wants to maximize the amount of Player expression they can offer Players. This would be a very nice way of doing it as it would allow Roleplayers to come up with background stories to reflect their Character’s Background Traits or visa versa, it would allow Raiders to plan around their needs, create more variety among the Player picked Characters because, ideally, largely nobody would have the exact same Background Traits.
And with that out of the way, I think I have taken Character Creation as far as I can without getting into stuff that would be better covered in dedicated topics.
Special Thanks Section
This section of the post is dedicated to those whom contributed suggestions to help improve this list as a whole be it intentionally or unintentionally.
With all that out of the way, I think this post can finally come to an end. I know this is nothing super original, but I did not want to necro any old topics even if the general discussion is as old as WoW itself is. I did what I could to keep the post as short as possible, but sometimes needing to explain things in some what greater details are required. Like I said at almost the start of the post; these are just suggestions, not demands ultimately. I do not expect Blizzard to add any of this at all, much less before or after Shadowlands just because I posted it. Till the next update to this post or the next topic I plan to cover~
Have a good one folks!
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