They Need Presets for the new Character Customisation.

[HateTrain]

So if THIS is your true argument about why templates should not exist, then sure, I can see your point there, and even agree it would create confusion.

Ok, I'll concede that point, IF they would acknowledge that you (the PC) are flagged as non-basic race/clan (Wildhammer, etc) then I will say that not only are templates a good idea, but they also really should be included. Anything less than that, is pointless. Completely pointless.

[Beloren]

LOL, I doubt the OP meant these presets should have been ENFORCED or limiting of the player options in any way. And he was not even listing an original idea, just quoting some stuff he read from the official EU forum!

But maybe a 'feature name change' is advisable to make things feel different... so how about OPTIONAL TEMPLATES instead?
.

Ah, templates is the word that should have been used.

Template for Wildhammer, highborne, farstrider, sand troll etc etc etc. I think using the word preset has confused many people. Thanks.

[Stardrift]

It'd be a nice immersive UI experience when first creating your character. New players could be like "oh wtf is an Amani troll" and go look them up.

Anyone arguing against this are just people that like to deny people for absolutely no reason other than feeling satisfied with themselves.

[Powerogue]

I don't even know how much of those details matter. You could just be a slightly darker skinned darkspear troll, or you could be RPing as a different troll race that joined from one of the emissary groups in Zandalar, or you could just be a random murder hobo that got picked up during an island expedition because you sung great sea shanties. The freedom of RPing is what makes it great.

[Monster Hunter]

Wow... easy now, no need for all that capital and bold stuff... we know, you know? :-) That's the whole point about them being customization, innit? Wildhammers are a just another clan of dwarves... but whether you care for their lore or not, I find it hard to believe you'd deny of them having specific looks and a different background.

My point being, where you apparently feel people are trying to shoehorn extra races into the game, I am supportive of another forum member in the belief that new players coming to wow could possibly benefit from being briefly explained why there are differences in the purely aesthetic options they are given when they create a character. :-)

Besides, in the dev interview with Taliesin & Evitel (from bout 7:22:55, if you want to check) Steve Danuser stated outright that the new customizations are something he was consulted about, to define if they were appropriate, and after discussing the matter they eventually decided that they wanted to give the players the freedom to play their characters as belonging other clans/tribes if they wanted to.

He literally explained their position bringing up the example "if we give Trolls different skin options that look like other troll tribes besides Darkspears, does that mean we need to make a new starting experiences for them as well...?" And the answer was no - since the drain on the resources to add new starting areas would be huge, they have rather decided to implement those options through the customization of the base races, so not to limit the players due to storyline and resource concerns.

So no, by Blizzard's own words, when they have decided to add these customization options they have made up their mind about not all Trolls being meant to necessarily be Darkspear, and not all Dwarves being meant to be Bronzebeard, despite of their racial starting area. On the contrary, the players are meant to roleplay their characters as they like them despite of baseline quest text.

And then there's also Exile's Reach - the new starting area unique to all races... so you do not even necessarily need to hit the original Troll or Dwarf starting zones if you do not want to. :-P

There's obviously a huge chance that since Blizzard does not wish to bother adding starting areas, they also do not wish to have to bother about defining character templates or writing brief descriptions for them, but to think of it, whether people read them or not, there are even short RP tales within the Dungeon Journal, next to the description of the bosses' mechanics, which explain who they are. :-)



To you as well... I am assuming you have not watched the interview I quoted above so I'd recommend you check out what Danuser said. The addition of the skins etc within base customization is EXACTLY about giving players a mean to play all those clans/tribes/subraces without creating redundant allies which would require specific questlines, racials, etc. He LITERALLY advised that people roleplay their characters disregarding the quest text on this matter, and not let anyone tell them who their character can or cannot be on that base. ;-)



They could obviously address it if they wanted, with just a simple 'flag' and text entry. There even was some hype about this in the twitter talks, although possibly wishful thinking.

https://twitter.com/keyboardturn/sta...281765376?s=20

first for literally RP concerns only they have added skin colours that are shared between the old races and other tribes, non of the new skin colours are colours darkspear cant be, as he basically said, they are there to facilitate some rando RP'ers but it isn't supported in game, you will still be a darkspear, still get darkspear specific quest text where it happens and as far as the game is concerned you will still be a dark spear. thats the point its a tiny quick bone throw not something there investing in like how you and the OP are advocating.

so the point of templates become a misleading redundancy, as the template would have 0 meaning on a non rp server and near 0 meaning on an actually rp server in game, in the code, in how your char is treated that dwarf or troll is a bronze beard / darkspear, it would be flat out lieing to the player that they can actualy make a wildhammer dwarf when in fact the game will not in anyway treat them as such, the basic flat reality is that you can only make a troll or dwarf that kind of resembles a different clan/tribe you still cant actually make a member of those clans/tribes as playable char's, so....on that...no the pro more races group dose not get a pat on the back, because they haven't achieved anything worth getting one.

[Astranea]

For those who may be interested...

Current discussion on the EU forum:

Sub-race names (demonyms) & templates tied to the new customization options

[voidox]

honestly I would really like to see this implemented. Having templates for different sub-races for each race would really be good to have. Especially for new players or people less aware of the lore, they could use the templates to see the different races in wow they can play

e.g the void elves: you can now use the templates to show that alliance have void elves and high elves as options. Trolls especially need this cause of the amount of different types of trolls you can create

and no, templates will not do anything for RPers who will still be able to create the char as they want. Templates can easily be implemented in a way that one can just choose a menu option to see them

it would also provide blizzard with a way to add in more races without having to make a whole new allied race. They can use templates to showcase a "new race".

[Astranea]

Current discussion on the EU forum:

Sub-race names (demonyms) & templates tied to the new customization options

A fan-made mock-up from the official EU forum, integrating the Dark Iron Dwarves as a template.

The assumption is that Blizzard could easily code in the game an alternate sub-race name and tie it to a specific/different racial traits when a character is rolled with a certain selection of visual parameters, the same way they make certain visual options available to only certain classes.

Or, an alternate demonym and/or racial skill could be picked as an option when having selected certain specific visuals (tattoos for Dwarves, skin colors for Trolls, etc)

There would be less clutter on the main character creation page, more options within the customization section, and the fans of specific subraces being added with the customization options would not feel treated any worse than those who got the Allied Races.

It is obviously very strongly felt that said template should be defaulted to NONE with all features available.

That would result in a win win situation for Blizzard and the players with a minimum amount of work, since with the introduction of Exile’s Reach adding a new 'allied' subrace like this would not require any new starting zones, and additional/alternate racial skills could be totally optional.

[Beloren]

honestly I would really like to see this implemented. Having templates for different sub-races for each race would really be good to have. Especially for new players or people less aware of the lore, they could use the templates to see the different races in wow they can play

e.g the void elves: you can now use the templates to show that alliance have void elves and high elves as options. Trolls especially need this cause of the amount of different types of trolls you can create

and no, templates will not do anything for RPers who will still be able to create the char as they want. Templates can easily be implemented in a way that one can just choose a menu option to see them

it would also provide blizzard with a way to add in more races without having to make a whole new allied race. They can use templates to showcase a "new race".

Yeh, agreed.


I would also hope they add for specific groups too. example, Blood elves - you can have Farstrider, Magister, Knight which while not a sub - race there are customisations for, as templates.

For elves, I like the post on the EU forum that suggests we get both horde and alliance having just "Elf" Option.

So if you click on Horde elf you get:

Blood Elf
Nightborne

Farstrider
Magister
San'layn/Darkfallen
Sun Order
Fel Elf


Click on Fel Elf - only the Demon Hunter and Warlock class are available. If class options are active on the template screen, then DH is greyed out until you select the Fel Elf template. Also if you select Sun Order - the DK option isn't available

[Lady Atia]

Yeh, agreed.


I would also hope they add for specific groups too. example, Blood elves - you can have Farstrider, Magister, Knight which while not a sub - race there are customisations for, as templates.

For elves, I like the post on the EU forum that suggests we get both horde and alliance having just "Elf" Option.

So if you click on Horde elf you get:

Blood Elf
Nightborne

Farstrider
Magister
San'layn/Darkfallen
Sun Order
Fel Elf


Click on Fel Elf - only the Demon Hunter and Warlock class are available. If class options are active on the template screen, then DH is greyed out until you select the Fel Elf template. Also if you select Sun Order - the DK option isn't available

Sorry, but this just reads like you are offended by people rolling a Wildhammer styled Mage or a Bloodelf Warlock with Golden Eyes. If they care, they will read up a bit and create their characters "lore conform", or change them via barber shop later. No need to create some kind of "elitistic" preset that tells players "your character is wrong! shame on you". Just my 2 Cents though ...

[Astranea]

Just thought I'd share the latest mockup by Moira from the EU Forum.

(LOL @ forum trolls!)

Took me a while, but I have managed to put together some kind of mockup for the Trolls as well.

Since I was afraid that people might go crazy about the specific types I listed despite of just making this just to show how the templates could work, I thought I’d add Jungle Trolls, Sand Trolls, Forest Trolls, and the ever-elusive Dark Forum Trolls. :grin:

Enjoy!

Also, the thread creator Sigfrieda has shared the following:

While I am very pleased by the Twitter response 20 (500+ likes and 100+ shares, woah!), I also can’t help noticing that the following issues have been brought up a few times:

• Customization should not be restricted to templates.

I said this before but I will repeat it again: I agree, and nobody intends to restrict a player’s freedom of choice. 'No template’ should be the default, with all options available as in the current character creation screen.

Templates should be totally optional, while at most connected to a specific alternate demonym. Truth be told, however, the standard generic racial flag would also perfectly work. It’s just that a template needs a name and explanation of some sort in order to exist. :wink:

• Including Allied Races may be awkward due to their racials.

Indeed, I can follow the reasoning that where Allied Races with alternate racial skills are involved, it would make little sense for the player to be allowed to revert to a different template (with base racials) from the barber shop. Since racial skills should be ‘definitive’, it makes sense that when an ‘Allied Race’ is selected the barber options would be limited to those specifics as now. The main suggestion here is just visual placement within the Templates section rather than on the main screen.

On the long term, however… sure, I would personally love the option of Blizzard reworking racials to make them selectable from a pool, but I do not see it happening at this time.

• Adding Allied Races as Templates would leave Alliance one short.

The way I see it this is the main argument against the Allied Races being relocated to the customization screen as a template. But I can easily leave it for Blizzard to address and solve if/when they feel they should, as the Templates concept can still stand by itself.

Templates are nothing but a suitable quality of life feature that would nicely fit the brand new character creation UI.

Indeed, some core races may have more than others at this stage, but I can’t see that being an issue, since they would not alter the number or quality of overall options the players are being offered.

So once again - Please, Blizzard, Please! <3

[HateTrain]

I've come around to these with the caveat that their coding needs to identify you as your proper race/tribe/clan. IF it can call me "Farraki" as opposed to Darkspear in text, bring it. If not, it seems to be for nothing.

[ihate2beapessimist]

Actually a decent idea, and the mockup is exactly what I would have imagined.

[dcc626]

Only if the Choose your faction: option included neutral.

or you could move sliders around until you find what you want instead of having blizzard spoonfeed you things so you dont have to think about it.