Should Racials Be Removed?

[PenguinChan]

No, they should stay. I'd be very disappointed if they turned cosmetic only (Hah, no one uses these) just because the developer was too unimaginative or lacked some amount of direction. Racial abilities give incentive towards a class and race you pick, something that I don't know why is a bad thing. Usually it's a minor effect towards what you choose, and only starts becoming more powerful the more you understand the ability. I am just against removing even more iconic things to a race, let alone class choices. It's a tad stupid how much it's preferred to remove the problem out-right, instead of fixing it properly.

[Deleted]

GW2 model. Which would mean: no racials in arenas and rated battlegrounds.
Inb4 "this isn't gw2/this is wow/stfu/gtfo"

[dawawe]

GW2 model. Which would mean: no racials in arenas and rated battlegrounds.
Inb4 "this isn't gw2/this is wow/stfu/gtfo"

youre actually in after the "gw2 sucks" posts

[judgementofantonidas]

Yeah, unfortunately horde get all the decent PvE racials while all the PvPers out there whine about the human one... Personally I think we've come to a point in the game (with balance being such a big deal) where cosmetic racials would likely be a good idea.

and that is all it is, whining considering that every man for himself is on a long enough timer, and that every pvp weenie knows to through some form of weak cc on a human in order to get them to blow it so you can keep them stun locked or feared the rest of the entire 30 seconds it takes you to obliterate them.

[Revak]

I'd prefer them to be cosmetic and/or fun......and have no impact whatsoever on PvE/PvP. So yes, I think they should be removed.

[shimerra]

No, they should stay. I'd be very disappointed if they turned cosmetic only (Hah, no one uses these) just because the developer was too unimaginative or lacked some amount of direction. Racial abilities give incentive towards a class and race you pick, something that I don't know why is a bad thing. Usually it's a minor effect towards what you choose, and only starts becoming more powerful the more you understand the ability. I am just against removing even more iconic things to a race, let alone class choices. It's a tad stupid how much it's preferred to remove the problem out-right, instead of fixing it properly.

It's a tad stupid that after years of racial changes and adjustment we're still left with the exact problem that led to people not liking them and some people want them removed? I was fine with giving them time to change it. Four expansions later and we're still left with almost exactly the same problem, 1-2 races with amazing racial for PvE/PvP and the rest a steaming pile of mediocre or outright shit. I'd rather just see them gone especially given that additional races haven't indicated they have the slightest clue as to what needs to be done.

You know what I think is stupid? Not wanting to remove something just because it's iconic. Defend it on its own merits. What do racials do other than corrupt a cosmetic choice and how do they improve game play when for both factions there's for most of WoW's history been a single race that blows the rest out of the water for PvE or PvP or both? I like Undead(not really just an example). I lose dps if I pick undead instead of orc not because I'm a worse player but simply because of a cosmetic preference. What does that do to enhance gameplay? And if your argument is "it's only a small dps difference anyway" then I ask again what's the point of keeping them?

[judgementofantonidas]

So? He doesn't have hooves nor horns, he's not a cow. Holy or not.

as I said, mere cosmetics.

[chrisisvacant]

It's a tad stupid that after years of racial changes and adjustment we're still left with the exact problem that led to people not liking them and some people want them removed? I was fine with giving them time to change it. Four expansions later and we're still left with almost exactly the same problem, 1-2 races with amazing racial for PvE/PvP and the rest a steaming pile of mediocre or outright shit. I'd rather just see them gone especially given that additional races haven't indicated they have the slightest clue as to what needs to be done.

You know what I think is stupid? Not wanting remove something just because it's iconic. Defend it on its own merits. What do racials do other than corrupt a cosmetic choice and how do they improve game play when for both factions there's for most of WoW's history been a single race that blows the rest out of the water for PvE or PvP or both? I like Undead(not really just an example). I lose dps if I pick undead instead of orc not because I'm a worse player but simply because of a cosmetic preference. What does that do to enhance gameplay?

Stop pigeonholing undead. Plenty of other races have strong racials. I guess you weren't around when the strongest arena combo was human rogue/human rogue because Perception is OP.

Also, "Corrupt a cosmetic choice" makes no sense. It isn't a cosmetic choice so how could it be a corrupted one? Cosmetic choices can be added any day now, any time, with no effect on pve or pvp. Current racials do not augment combat enough to care as much as you do.

[PenguinChan]

And if your argument is "it's only a small dps difference anyway" then I ask again what's the point of keeping them?

Yes, it's quite dumb that Blizzard still has yet to put racial abilities in line with each-other. I really don't know what you want me to say, other than look at my post again.

[Deleted]

Cosmetic choices can be added any day now, any time, with no effect on pve or pvp.

This is why I think the racials should be made cosmetic. It just plain fixes balance issues - whilst annoying some people too I will admit.

[cityguy193]

Make them mirror each other. Trolls can keep their beserking, humans can keep their free pvp win button,
but
Give Dwarves a 30% speed increase racial, Give EMFH to Goblins or something.
They can do this, so the less popular races can become popular again.

[ThatCanadianGuy]

I don't have any issues with racial abilities. However, they shouldn't be powerful enough to make you have to pick one race over another.

[dawawe]

I lose dps if I pick undead instead of orc not because I'm a worse player but simply because of a cosmetic preference. What does that do to enhance gameplay? And if your argument is "it's only a small dps difference anyway" then I ask again what's the point of keeping them?

" I lose dps if I pick jewel crafting instead of engineering"

It goes both ways if its just a small increase why get rid of them? Choose the race you want to play it will have no effect on your abilities as a player. If you're good at the game you will be pulling good numbers. Racials creating imbalance is a crutch for people who are bad. If you're bad without the racial you're going to be bad with it.

Undead+humans make up 24%(17+7) of the arena community above 1800 rating(which is low by many standards) assuming everyone chose those to classes for the racial and everyone else is a class that cant be undead or human is just dumb.(which a few people have claimed that in this forum) excluding classes that humans and undead cant be they make up 11%. that means the remaining 65% chose a class without your "op" racials. Faction representation is Horde 51% alliance 49%

Although the database was last update like 7 days ago so it may be outdated and it only uses 26 million toons in its stats. (sarcasm)

[Deleted]

Give Dwarves a 30% speed increase racial, Give EMFH to Goblins or something.

This would probably just confuse things further. Now goblins get their rocket boost, damage CD and a free trinket? I assume you mean their other racials will be removed?

[cityguy193]

This would probably just confuse things further. Now goblins get their rocket boost, damage CD and a free trinket? I assume you mean their other racials will be removed?

I would prefer if Racials actually affect everything more. But make them mirror the opposite faction races so both factions can be proficient in both pvp and pve, without entire guilds transferring factions just to have a competitive edge.

I would rather see Dwarves gain all the abilities of trolls, trolls gain all the abilities of dwarves. Of course the effect and text would be changed to match the race, but the abilities would be the same.

[Deleted]

I would rather see Dwarves gain all the abilities of trolls, trolls gain all the abilities of dwarves. Of course the effect and text would be changed to match the race, but the abilities would be the same.

Okay I see what you mean here. It would balance things on both factions but the individual races on each faction would still be unbalanced.

[Prancing Minstrel]

Okay I see what you mean here. It would balance things on both factions but the individual races on each faction would still be unbalanced.

This. It's pressuring people to roll a race they don't really want to, which defeats the point of choices to begin with.

[juzalol]

Keep the racials, rename them to something else.

Allow players to pick and change them as they please. Limited to 1 active,
1 passive and 1 profession boost.

The only problem with this model is that Blizzard doesn't make money from
FOTM race changing.

[anabolicz]

Orcs can burst down players faster and humans can have a extra trinket for pvp...
Hmm.... Racial's shud be more cosmetic... All my PvP chars are humans.... And i play a fantasy game... But to be competitive i have to be a human,.... I do not approve of this.

[Lochton]

The topic of racials has been discussed over the years to a great extent and after some research I have compiled the main advantages and disadvantages of the removal of this core part of the game into one thread:



Advantages

• Creation of an even playing field in terms of PvE and PvP
• Makes race choice purely cosmetic
• Wider race representation - positive effect on RP

Disadvantages

• Race choice (GC apparently stated this on the official forums) may become uninteresting
• Could also have a negative impact on RP (removal of race defining abilities) i.e. Removal of stoneform takes part of the dwarves potential stone-skin origins away
• Removal of a long term, core, part of the game - may annoy some old timers or new players alike

My overall thoughts are that racials should be revamped to be purely cosmetic. This way race uniqueness is retained whilst ridding some of the current in-game (potentially unfair) advantages i.e. Humans EMFH in PvP.

Then again, Blizzard makes far too much cash from race changes based upon the players desire to min-max either their performance in PvE or PvP. Why would they ever remove or change the current racial situation?

What would you like to see done with racials? Would you completely revamp the system or leave them be?

No, they shouldn't be removed. We aren't the same and nor is our choices. There's ups and downs for all of them. Some racials already got removed, and so did a little of the flair they gave the race (Find Treasure for Dwarves (WTB back)).

I like that we aren't the same, else we might as well just revert down to Orcs Vs. Humans again. So all are one of two races.