Blizzard recently hosted a Community Council chat where one Community Council member asked about the Warden appearance and potential future appearance themes, and Associate Game Director Jeremy Feasel talked a bunch about how the team just wanted to make something cool with the Swashbuckling and Warden appearances.
And then he goes on to ask for feedback about where the line should be drawn.
What should be commonly available to everyone and what should be restricted based on lore, class, or race concerns? And he gives the example of Ashbringer as something Blizzard probably wouldn’t just hand out to everyone.
You can hear his answer here:
And here’s the overly simplified transcript that Wowhead wrote:
The
Ensemble: Burden of Unrelenting Justice wasn’t meant to be a class or sub-class stylized reward so much as an attempt to create something cool, but class based rewards are something that the team would love to do in the future. Ashbringer probably won’t show up in the Trading Post, because it has major lore implications, but sets like the Swashbuckler ensemble are a great way to add new themes into the game.
So based on Associate Game Director Jeremy Feasel’s request for feedback on where the line should be drawn with regards to the availability of appearances based on lore, class, or race concerns, here is my humble feedback:
This has to be the dumbest and most tone-deaf decision by Blizzard in a long time.
What are you even thinking over there in California?! Are you out of your mind?! Is it a complete disregard for the integrity of Warcraft as a fantasy world that drives this kind of decision-making, or is it your complete lack of understanding of what Warcraft is about and what it means to people?! Or is it just money greed??
The fact that you feel that Ashbringer should be an appearance restricted to Paladins alone, yet at the same time believe that the Warden appearance is just something cool that everyone should be able to wear, is totally braindead stupid. Where the hell is the logic in that and what kind of line are you trying to draw here at all?! It makes no sense.
Allow me to explain what seemingly is so difficult to understand over there in sunny California.
Not only is the nightsaber mount heavily inspired by Elune and An’she, it is also wearing Night Elf armor and saddle. That all-together makes it a mount heavy on Night Elf lore, fantasy, and looks.
Combined with the classic Warden appearance or the silver Tyrande variation, it has got to be the ultimate Night Elf fantasy appearance.
This is everything any Night Elf player could ever dream of as a Heritage armor. And the fact that the Warden appearance is not being used for that purpose is shameless in and of itself.
Instead you’re making it available to everyone at all levels.
Also Horde players.
That is completely disrespectful to Night Elf players.
Imagine in 12 months from now, on February 2024, some Orc player is going to be decked out in the Warden armor sitting on an Elune-inspired Nightsaber and sporting the most iconic appearance any Night Elf could ever want.
And at the same time there can be a Night Elf player who happened to not play WoW during February 2023 and therefore doesn’t have the nightsaber mount – and will likely never get it – or the Warden armor appearance.
That’s so wrong on so many levels and this is where the line is drawn.
This has to be reverted.
YOU DON’T GIVE ICONIC RACIAL APPEARANCES TO ANYONE OTHER THAN THE PARTICULAR RACE!
That’s the damn line!! That’s always been the damn line!! Why are you even trying to move this line at all?!
The damage is already done with the mount, but there is no way that armor appearance should be usable by any other race than Night Elves. It is completely unacceptable and betrays any remnant of integrity that World of Warcraft might have as a fantasy Warcraft game to hand it out to Orcs and Undead, let alone all the other races.
In 12 months people will get upset and angry about this when they see Undead, Orcs, Gnomes, Kul Tirans, and other races run around in something that should obviously not be handed out so carelessly to everyone.
Change the reward now and spare yourself the imminent outrage.
Keep it as it is and expect Night Elf players to throw a hissy fit.
Plus, not drawing the line here and making this a precedent puts WoW on a slippery slope. Like what’s next? Everyone gets to wear Doomhammer’s legendary black armor because it’s cool and gets people to log in for 12 months? We all get to run around in Jaina’s sexy corset? Where’s the integrity of the fantasy world by haphazardly throwing everything out to everyone with no care in the world?!
What kind of fantasy game do we want?
This:
Or this:
I know what I want.
So dear Blizzard developers, would you please be so kind to at least try and preserve what little there is left of World of Warcraft’s overall appearance as a fantasy game that’s true to the Warcraft universe and its iconic look? Please? Pretty please with sugar on top? 
Don’t make the Warden appearance available to characters who aren’t Night Elves.
Most other games throw caution to the wind and allow players all kinds of random skins and appearances with no regard for the overall look of the game as they shamelessly seek to make an easy buck on their online stores, because they figure that they can copy Fortnite’s formula of success.
WoW has begun going down that path as well with the Wendigo set and all the other weird Online Store transmogs. But it betrays the fantasy of the game to see a player run around in a Wendigo pajamas. To see everyone – Horde and Alliance alike – run around in a Warden set would betray the integrity of Warcraft itself.
Draw the line here before what little integrity there is left in WoW is ruined.
there is like 20 night elves players
