What if we could choose racial traits from a racial pool? (Character Creation UI edit)

Is it just me thinking that it would be awesome if we could pick our toon’s base traits from a small race-specific pool?

This would make even more sense if some of the allied races were merged as templates within the customization screen of the base race.

Since images often work better than text to convey ideas, I have made this mockup of the character creation UI to show how it could work for the Draenei having two template sets of choices for ‘Regular’ and ‘Lightforged’.

When selecting one of the two templates, the customization options would change and the player would also be able to select the racials from a pool including a few “base draenei traits” plus some “flavour traits”:

Lastly, I’d like to mention that this idea has occurred to me while hanging out in the Sub-race templates thread, and that the mockup has been built from a template kindly provided by Moira-TheVentureCo. :yellow_heart:


Racial Choice Q&A

(Editing on the go, based on the conversation running in the thread)

1. But the Racials need to be Lore-appropriate!

Nobody is saying that all races should get to choose from all options. It is obvious that the pools would be Lore-appropriate, and while some base traits might be shared between flavors of the same race, a number of others should always be unique to the specific race flavor.

2. But it would not be fair to the races with less options!

That’s why more racials could/should be invented, so that every race (or racial flavor in case of former allied races) has an equally-sized pool to choose from.

In the example case of the Lightforged Draenei shown above, it is assumed that some of the current Draenei traits have become part of the base set shared between the two flavors. That would mean that new ones would need to be created for the Non-Lightforged.

The required amount of work would not be unthinkable if the feature comes at the beginning of a new expansion (after Shadowlands ofc).

3. So what about racial uniqueness?

It doesn’t need be renounced, as there could still be enough traits unique to each racial flavor to fill all of the available slots.

Or, (suggested by Geisl on MMO-C) there could be a combined system where a number of traits are fixed for the race as they are now, while a few others can be chosen.

In the first case, each race might have a pool of 9 traits of which they can choose 4 or 5. 4 of them would be base racial traits shared between flavors of the same race while the other 5 would be unique to the racial flavor.

In the second case, each race would have 3-4 fixed racial traits (as now!) and be able to choose 1-2 from a pool of 3-4. Again, these would have to be Race Specific so no sort of Goblin racial appearing on Night Elves etc.

This would be a way to keep ‘iconic racials’ for each race, while still moving towards broadening character customization for racials.

4. So what - people will always pick the same “best” ones anyway!

As the game is now, with some racials handy for PvP, others best for PvE, and others being mere profession utilities, the “best” race a player can pick depends both on the class they are choosing and what they want to do with their toon.

If anything, being able to select your toon’s racials from a pool would be an improvement because the player would get a chance to adapt the character based on what kind of gameplay they are most interested in.

Sure, there might always be a top build for specific activities, but compared to now, there would still be less pressured to pick a specific race/class combo.

5. If it is a choice then it should be changeable like talents!

Not true. Right now, you have to choose your race, but still cannot switch to another unless you reroll.

Furthermore, you also cannot switch from a Bronzebeard to a Dark Iron Dwarf mid-game based on activity despite of them being flavors of the same race.

The same way, getting a chance to switch the Blacksmithing boost for a more useful trait when first creating a toon that is not meant to pick the profession is hardly a valid argument for being able to switch racials later on.

The extra choice in the very beginning would be a perk, but from that moment forward, everything would work exactly the same way as now.

In order to void this argument, however, the system could be made so that racials that are throughput-based (1% extra crit chance/vers increased by 1%) cannot be changed and only utility racials are changed - e.g. if a Lightforged isn’t into blacksmithing they could maybe instead summon another profession apparatus with an associated skill increase into it instead.

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We can choose racials, you do it by choosing a race and they are by definition, restricted to a single race.

Also, this isn’t the place for this thread.

Note: This was originally posted in the CS forums.

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Wooops. Unsure how it happened. Sorry, fixed now!

I actually like it,
To an extend. And it creates issues aswell.

Say you have 5 Racials to choose from.
Either everyone picks the strongest ones. So it doesnt matter in the end.
Or people complain that they cant change their racials.

In the end, racials are completely trivial and give no major bonus at all.
I like the idea but in the end it wouldnt matter much

I’m not really a fan of the idea.
The racials abilities may be gameplay mechanics but they are based around the lore of the race. Like the Lightforged racials would make no sense being on a regular draenai

And when it comes to pairing races up, worgen and undead have nothing.
Vulpera are based off goblins but look nothing like them.
And Void Elf/ Nightborne swapped factions with their counterpart. I dont think Nightborne makes much sense being shared with a blood elf.

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Demolish the limits
Lets us choose freely!
Tho’ I think everyone would be Vulpera with Shadowmeld :smirk:

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I would only give up my fire resistance for that
I’m keeping my camp and my bag space

I’d love to have canibalism on a Lightforged Draenei.

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I honestly find it hard to argue that a Lightforged draenei should not be able to cast a Gift of the Naaru?

It might require taking a good look at the list of all of the available racials, and some may have to be tweaked, added, or removed, but that’s not unthinkable for a new expansion… after Shadowlands ofc…

Also, nobody ever said all races should get all options. And even between flavors of the same race, some traits should be restricted to the allied race template just the same way some customization options are tied to one another or even to the selected class.

Cannibalism on Worgen… ?

doing it that way though would just make racials unfair though wouldn’t it?
If some races have multiple options while others have less or even no options.

Blizzard could very well invent more racials so that every race has an equally-sized pool to choose from… some good for PvP, some good for PvE, some others as profession utilities or even just for fun.

As the game is now, some races have 4 and other races have 5 skills, and they are all different from each other… but the “best” race you can pick still depends on what you want to do with your toon.

This way you would simply get a chance to slightly adapt your racials based on what kind of gameplay you are interested in.

I’m not a fan of racial sharing.
But I wouldn’t be against them creating new racial options for people to chose from. But like 1 from each category so you couldn’t pick all the best ones. (such as replacing nature resistance on night elves with something on par with their shadowmeld)

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New racials can be added so that every race has an equally-sized pool.

And which ones are the strongest ones depends on what the toon is used for.

Don’t you think that being able to select racials based on your favored activity (PvP, PvE, crafting alt) would be an improvement?

There is always going be a super-top build, but having more flexibility within the races would still diminish the pressure to pick a specific race/class combo.

I honestly can’t see an issue when it happens exclusively for some Lore-consistend options shared between flavors of the same race.

E.g. no reasons why a Dark Iron dwarf should not be able to be a proficient archeologist… while sure, Fireblood should be rightfully limited to the Dark Iron flavor.

it takes away from the uniqueness of the playable race.

That would be set by the traits that remain unique to each flavor. I am sure that could be worked around making it possible for you to select all unique ones. :wink:

just not something we are going to see eye to eye on

Edit: did you seriously just edit counter points to my arguments into your main post without saying they were an edit based on the conversation in the thread?

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The Thing is,
Yes i kinda, sort off , agree with you.
But each race should still have their own set of racials to choose from, as unique as possible. If not everyone, Dranaei, human Orc would all pick the same racials. Wich would make it trivial and pointless again

THe Next issue is Expansions,

Imagine a 1% Versa Racial that is BIS voor guardian druids
NExt Expansion Guardian Druids no longer use Versa to be OP but focus on Agi( just an example)
The 1% versa bonus would be pointless, people would get angry, demand free race changes. Or you would have to buy/craft/create an item to change racials, Making them pointless yet again :slight_smile:

I get why you want to do it, but i dont see it working. Its like the Covenants, giving a buff to a player who is of a specific covenant in a specific dungeon. I like the idea. But people are already complaining, bring the Covenant not the class, not the player/

Bring the Racial, not the Race, not the player, not the class, :slight_smile:

Thats actually a very well thought out argument.
Either they would have to be changeable like talents or you would need to reroll.
But if they can be changed like talents then that would be a drastic rework of the racial system.

I have edited the first post with Q&A to make sure this is clear: nobody is talking about sharing all racials between all races… because indeed, that would void the whole point of having racials.

Racials would still be Lore-Appropriate, at most shared among flavors of the same race.

The way I envision it, each race would have some “base” traits and some “flavor” traits unique to the specific subset.

So for example, the pool for “Dark Irons” could have 9 traits,
4 “base” Dwarf traits (to be defined, not necessarily the ones we have now) + 5 “Dark Iron” traits (could be the current ones)

Then, the pool for “Bronzebeard” could have 9 of which 5 of them different:
4 “base” dwarf traits (to be defined, not necessarily the ones we have now) + 5 “Bronzebeard” traits (to be defined depending on which of the current may become base race traits)

If this is not a problem now, because people are OK with races having different skills, then there is no reason why it should become one when these skills can be picked from a slightly broader pool.

While if it is already a problem and people ARE currently already only bringing the Race/Class combo, then it won’t add to the problem but ease it a little, because people will be able to adjust their character slightly to optimize it based on their favored activities.