This is my confusion as well, NPCs refers to you as “Troll” not “Darkspear Troll”, so in the case of an Amani Hunter and a Darkspear Hunter, referring to both as “Troll Hunter” is correct, as is the name plate. I don’t really get the issue?
Now if they were giving skins like this for Zandalari I’d get it, as their label of “Zandalari Troll” wouldn’t work in a character who clearly looks like a Forest Troll. But that’s not the case, these options as being given to races with very broad labels already.
Stressing the point that it would be a totally optional choice, one could select a template to pick out a specific sub-set of customization options, aye.
So, say, you click the randomize button on default, then it would pick whatever options from the full set as things are now.
However say, like, that you want a real quick way to look like a Wildhammer?
Then you select the Wildhammer template in the left, and some non-fitting options are greyed out.
If you hit randomize afterwards, the options picked automatically will belong to that specific sub-set.
And as a bonus, since all of your features fall within that specific selection, you could be offered the choice to be defined Wildhammer Dwarf in game tooltip as well.
The template idea just came up as a ‘solution’ to be able to prove people that Blizzard is endorsing RP of the subclans despite of not adding them as proper Allied Races.
I did not think it was necessary until I started being slapped around by the community stating that if the game tooltip and NPCs do not refer to me as Wildhammer, I can only always ever be a Bronzebeard.
What they say is that since the Dark Iron Dwarves and Zandalari Troll etc get a specific UI tag, then the generic Troll/Dwarf etc tags are still assumed to belong to the original clan. They furthermore support this pointing out that when you enter areas that belong to those races, the NPCs treat you as if you belonged to their kin. (Which to me personally is really not an issue: clearly ANY dwarf whichever the clan still belongs to their kind, as opposed to a Human?)
I know I should not care about what other people say. I know Danuser hence Blizzard stated that the starting areas text can be dismissed to (role)play our character in whichever way we want. Shadowlands will even have Exile’s Reach as a generic starting area so those quests can be skipped altogether!
However, if Danuser’s statement is discarded as ‘his own’ and is rejected by the game community ‘because tooltip says otherwise and the quests in the base/start racial area aknowlege you as their contryman’ then it all very much kills the mood for me.
What sense does it have to use tattoos if everybody thinks I am a Bronzebeard and treats me as such, even on RP servers and within RP communities?
I think the addition of new customization options was a BRILLIANT idea by Blizzard, as the creation of too many Allied races with only limited customization features would have been redundant, draining development resources and cluttering the character creation screen and altogether feeling somewhat lacking due to the very limited options available. I fully support that having a single race with 40 options is much better than having 4 races with 10 options each, despite of the assets being exactly the same.
So when I saw the upcoming customization options I was TOTALLY thrilled. It’s my favorite feature from Shadowlands! But then people started telling me that no, I can never be a Wildhammer because it does not say so in the UI and the NPCs just refer to a generic dwarf who they treat as a Bronzebeard, so the hype was totally killed off and I started sulking and wishing we could have gotten a proper Wildhammer Allied Race like the Dark Iron fans did despite of a few greyish skins already belonging to the range of customization of generic dwarves.
It’s not Blizzard’s fault here… they are doing it totally right IMHO… but since people are terrible, and often seem to have a kick in denying someone else something they care for even though they can easily just skip it for themselves, I am here to beg Blizzard to visibly acknowledge the different clans and tribes as a template in order to shut up the griefers once and forever.
Apologies for the wall of text… but I really hope I made myself clear.
Yeah you did, that sucks tbh that people can be that caught up on tags? I mean on RP servers we’ll do stuff like write in TRP were missing a hand, or have one eye, that’s kosher. But suddenly the game presentation is to be abided by 100% in case of a freaking tag that can be circumnavigated by TRP itself? Sounds like these people have consistency issues.
For the record in not opposed to the idea, I just see the “generic” option as being more likely as it involves less work. If blizz throw an effort bone to us RPers I’ll be chuffed. I’ve learned not to expect it though.
Some of it does demand something though. Having farraki hang out with the horde without acknowledgment is a bit iffy as they’re a hostile faction generally speaking. Also the dark troll speaker is alleged to be the last of their kind of any significance so to just let them loose with nothing is a bit oooer. The other explanation is that they’re simply variations for jungle trolls we haven’t seen yet I suppose. It’s plausible, if odd (and kills troll subspecies variation) but for dwarves, feathers and such are very much a WH thing so I don’t think they can get away with saying “oh didn’t you hear this is a general Bronzebeard thing.” Because if it is, what’s different about wildhammers other than where they live?
But then again… do we really need the Dark Irons to be listed separately once the unlocking mechanism to play them is lifted?
I don’t think so, and would be totally fine if their specific tooltip tag and racial traits came with the choice of a Dark Iron template from the customization menu itself.
Blizzard can easily make some templates only available for specific classes. That’s what they are doing with the specific Illidari Demon Hunter customizations for the Night Elves anyway.
And then this. Less clutter is always a good thing.
Besides, even when unlocking requirements are still in place, the options could still be listed as a sub-set… just greyed out as a constant reminder to be unlocked, as it is now.
Less clutter please. Lightforged Draenei as a template subset of the regular Draenei. Highmountain Tauren as a template subset of the regular Tauren. Mechagnome as a template subset of the regular Gnome.
And just have all ‘foreign’ NPCs refer to them (besides, you really think a random peasant will know the difference between a Wildhammer, a Bronzebeard, or even a Dark Iron?) with generic racial adjectives.
All smelly hairy dwarves I tell ya. ^^
p.s. are we not getting female beard customizations?!?
Said that… I do think it is a good time for a bump of this thread, seeing what has been happening. Some people will likely want their High Elves to be called such…
I think this would be a great way to do customisations for the different sub-race types and allows for much more expansion of races than crowding the character creation screen with more allied races over time.
Perhaps even different racials (or racial flavours) could be tied to these templates? So if you choose the Lightforged variant of Draenei, you get the LFD racials etc. Maybe some templates could have mostly the same racials as the base race with one or two differences appropriate to that sub-race? I’m struggling to think of any examples as I’m not familiar enough with lore, but I am sure others would have some excellent ideas!
That was exactly my point… if they add templates, why would we need the Dark Irons to be listed separately at all?
If their specific name and traits come tied within the choice of a Dark Iron template from the customization menu, they can be just listed under your regular Dwarf on the main character creation page.
Less clutter on that one page, more options within the customization section, and the fans of specific subraces being added with the customization options won’t feel treated any worse than those who got the Allied Races.
Win win for Blizzard and the players with a minimum amount of work, as with the introduction of Exile’s Reach this would not require any new starting zones and racial quest areas.
100% agree! I hope our friendly forum Blues will see and pass on your excellent idea! Either that or please do apply to work at Blizzard! I’d love to see the scope of each race expanded to include other variants, without having to go through the whole process of creating everything from scratch as Allied Races with associated rep grinds.
Oh, I really would not know! I picked the list from somewhere in this forum. Not an expert of Trolls, and will very gladly edit the first post if you can point to better options.
I really hope more people support this concept. I think it would make quite a difference if they implemented such a feature - and yet, it is such a simple one, especially when they are already revamping the whole character creation UI!
