Blizzard is removing all races starting gear and replacing it with basic human gear

[TheTaurenChieftain]

To be honest, I don't think this is a pointless thread. Honestly I hold no grudge, because they updated the starter gear. But I especially hold a grudge, because the new starting gear all looks catered to humans.

In my opinion this also shows a trend from blizzard. Most sets they added in Shadowlands are all sets which look pretty cool on humans, elves, maybe also undead races.

But they didn't add anything cool-looking for any of the tribal races like Tauren, Trolls, Orcs, Pandaren, Draenei etc.
Most of the sets that Blizzard has added this expansion are all more human-looking than ever before.

And I always liked all the Horde starting sets. I sometime wore them much longer, because I simply liked the look of them, even though they were weaker than the new gear I got.

For me this wouldn't be that bad. But it seems to me like these changes are part of a trend in creating more and more generic armor, which most of the time looks cool on human characters. It started by removing unique-looking tier sets for every class and adding designs for each armor type instead.
It seems like the gear variety gets reduced more and more.

Maybe most of you all play elves, humans or undead. But for most players who play more tribal races these changes are often somewhat frustrating.
I mean... I am not against updating the starting gear. But... at least make it race-appropriate. Or at least make different versions for Horde and Alliance.
I feel like old Blizzard would have cared about such small things. They might be small things, but in the end they add so much to the immersion of the world.

[Kathranis]

Meh, you get a full set of recolored Horde/Alliance themed warfront gear within your first hour of playing anyway.

This stuff mostly looks like updated versions of a lot of the gear you used to get in the level 5-15 range. It's not like the gear you got in the Barrens looked orcish or Silverpine looked Forsakeny.

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For me this wouldn't be that bad. But it seems to me like these changes are part of a trend in creating more and more generic armor, which most of the time looks cool on human characters. It started by removing unique-looking tier sets for every class and adding designs for each armor type instead.

This expansion the gear has been explicitly themed around the different Covenants, so far, which is completely understandable.

Nevermind that last expansion we got the orc and Forsaken warfront sets, plus Heritage armor for Mag'har orcs, tauren, blood elves, goblins, and Zandalari trolls. Plus all the tribal Zandalari quest, dungeon, and raid gear.

It's not like those races have been underserved lately.

[Uncia Amethice]

You might see it as waste, but an MMO has multiple stages of a journey, and therefore, multiple stages of developments that need to be retouched now and then, and finally, it was the starting gear's turn. A sorely needed thing, as well as, most likely not much design time gone into them compared to normal armor design.

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Most sadly missed the part where they say the old pieces will be available by different means at some point.

Or, they might remember that Blizzard, at the start of BFA, removed the WoD crafted upgraded items (which had unique appearances), and said they'd add a way for those appearances to become available... and it's been what, three years and change without a single word on the topic since then?

[Mace]

What the fuck, why are they doing this? This looks like mobile tier generic trash.
One step closer to making the game as bland as possible. They really are removing more than they add.

Here's the entire list

https://ptr.wowhead.com/news/new-sta...tarting-324044

Bruh... why are they doing this? Why?

Piece by piece removing everything that set their game apart... the irony.


When you pick up a blood elf, and have different types of gear based on your class but that fit the blood elf theme.. that was cool.. that counts. That's different, other MMOs don't do that.. that makes wow feel that bit more special

[Hitei]

Piece by piece removing everything that set their game apart... the irony.


When you pick up a blood elf, and have different types of gear based on your class but that fit the blood elf theme.. that was cool.. that counts. That's different, other MMOs don't do that.. that makes wow feel that bit more special

This thread is such a case of "I heard something was changing so now I have to pretend it was special even though I don't actually remember it" it's astonishing. Vanilla launched with, besides a couple of exceptions, every single race using basically just basic, generic human gear. It continued that way until Cata where some of the races were given slightly different sets, but where the majority of classes for the base races are still just using the same human gear.

Until Cata, Forsaken didn't get Forsaken starting gear, they had the exact same generic'd starting gear as Orcs, despite those being two completely different cultures that should dress nothing alike (it's especially hilarious that Forsaken had the same exact gear as Orcs when they are supposed to be freshly raised corpses from a tomb). Orcs, Tauren and Trolls had/have the same starting gear despite those three cultures being absolutely NOTHING alike, and not dressing alike. Orc, Tauren and Troll warriors have, since Vanilla and to this day, started off in literal lederhosen a clothing type that makes no fucking sense for any race besides Dwarves and doesn't look anything like any of the other Horde starting gear. Orc warriors start with dwarven axes, Troll warriors start with human shields,

Until Cata Humans, Dwarves, Night elves and Gnomes all had the exact same human starting gear outside of Night elf Priests getting a different robe. Today they still continue to share many sets, despite making zero sense that Night Elf rogues, Human rogues and gnome rogues all wear the exact same style of clothing, which is also just recolored for Night Elf warriors. Human hunters wear a patched up version of the same armor Orcs, Trolls, Tauren and Forsaken wear, which just makes absolutely no sense at all.

This was never something that "set the game apart". Please stop.

[Mace]

This thread is such a case of "I heard something was changing so now I have to pretend it was special even though I don't actually remember it" it's astonishing. Vanilla launched with, besides a couple of exceptions, every single race using basically just basic, generic human gear. It continued that way until Cata where some of the races were given slightly different sets, but where the majority of classes for the base races are still just using the same human gear.

Until Cata, Forsaken didn't get Forsaken starting gear, they had the exact same generic'd starting gear as Orcs, despite those being two completely different cultures that should dress nothing alike (it's especially hilarious that Forsaken had the same exact gear as Orcs when they are supposed to be freshly raised corpses from a tomb). Orcs, Tauren and Trolls had/have the same starting gear despite those three cultures being absolutely NOTHING alike, and not dressing alike. Orc, Tauren and Troll warriors have, since Vanilla and to this day, started off in literal lederhosen a clothing type that makes no fucking sense for any race besides Dwarves and doesn't look anything like any of the other Horde starting gear. Orc warriors start with dwarven axes, Troll warriors start with human shields,

Until Cata Humans, Dwarves, Night elves and Gnomes all had the exact same human starting gear outside of Night elf Priests getting a different robe. Today they still continue to share many sets, despite making zero sense that Night Elf rogues, Human rogues and gnome rogues all wear the exact same style of clothing, which is also just recolored for Night Elf warriors. Human hunters wear a patched up version of the same armor Orcs, Trolls, Tauren and Forsaken wear, which just makes absolutely no sense at all.

This was never something that "set the game apart". Please stop.

But they got it, and that was cool.. Sure something were re-coloured versions, but notice the trend.. they got more interesting, they got more diverse, it's like the devs cared more and depth was going up.. THis signifies the reverse, and this is what is alarming people, .. quality is getting less..

Legion had a massive jump in quality and attention to detail despite its small size, yet when we expected this to go up a notch in BFA, it instead dropped and has been dropping since.

This is what is being lamented, an idol is falling and it's worshippers are lamenting.

[Shoggoth]

You people thought the name Red Alliance was a meme? hehe

[Lazy Gecko]

Not the first time they've done this either. Before Cata, you started with a unique shirt based on your race and class. IIRC some of those shirts were later added back to the game as items you could buy from a vendor.

I haven't heard anything about the vanilla shirts coming back. The only source I know of is the wandering merchant in Caverns of Time Durnholde which sells the vanilla Alliance starting gear (and only the human variants at that), which was added in TBC and pre-dates any changes. For Horde gear you're out of luck AFAIK and can only be found on the AH as an ever shrinking commodity. I think I bought a Brawler's Harness (warrior starting shirt) for around 20k gold a few years ago. Can't imagine how much they go for nowadays. It's one of my favorite transmog shirts with all the straps and complements things like sleeveless or midriff exposing armors well.

[panda040]

The gear it self looks alright, an improvement even. What confuses me is that its the same for every race? Your telling me an orc mage where the same clothes as an elf or a human? that seems lazy and not though out at all.

[TheTaurenChieftain]

This expansion the gear has been explicitly themed around the different Covenants, so far, which is completely understandable.

Nevermind that last expansion we got the orc and Forsaken warfront sets, plus Heritage armor for Mag'har orcs, tauren, blood elves, goblins, and Zandalari trolls. Plus all the tribal Zandalari quest, dungeon, and raid gear.

It's not like those races have been underserved lately.

And people LOVED the Warfront sets. They maybe didn't like warfronts, but they certainly liked the sets. I heard only good about those warfront sets. The only bad thing I heard about them is that they are kinda difficult to obtain. People also LOVED heritage armor.

And Horde and Alliance BOTH got sets which were thematically appropriate. Not only one side.

Now, in Shadowlands with the Covenants we only got flavors which only fit certain races, with a huge bias towards Alliance-looking armor.

We got Nightelf-Druid flavour, Alliance Paladin flavour, Bloodelf/Voidelf-Warlock flavour and Undead/Deathknight flavour.

But all the other races and classes did get nothing thematic, which for me personally is not enough.

[The Stormbringer]

Oh look, this thread is no longer an issue: https://www.mmo-champion.com/content...ctober-22-2021

[Koward]

Oh look, this thread is no longer an issue: https://www.mmo-champion.com/content...ctober-22-2021

If I read properly this post, they envision to make the old starter gear available somewhere in the game. It is not the same as having different starting outfits based on the race and starting area. That said, character immersion in World of Warcraft is not a thing since a long time anyway.

[TheTaurenChieftain]

Oh look, this thread is no longer an issue: https://www.mmo-champion.com/content...ctober-22-2021

If you want to be precise the main topic is still relevant.
The title is "Blizzard is removing all races starting gear and replacing it with basic human gear". Even if they make the old gear available, they are still replacing the original starter sets with basic human gear, which literally does not fit any of the tribal races.

My issue is more about why they also didn't design different racial sets and settled for basic human sets instead.

[Lambskin]

Why do they bother wasting time and resources on this when SL has only had 1 patch in a year and a .5 patch is being treated as a full content patch? Yea they look good, they look bad, it literally doesn't matter because they shouldn't be made, even putting that same gear in as a new quest would be better

[Mardux]

This reads like someone who would still play WoW if everything was replaced with red squares and green dots. "Battle from red square to red square with your amazing green dot paladin!!!"

Why have any gear at all? Why have races or zones? Just buttons and numbers and little circles you can move out of the bad circles and boom, you're playing WoW. Right?

It reads more like someone who isn't searching for every meaningless reason they can find to be outraged. But hey, you do you.

[tromage2]

Devs at blizzard are now woke lefties.
No talent, passion or creative mindsets that is why these sets look boring as hell.

[Niwes]

I swear this is the 3rd "outrage" thread from this OP that I've seen today. WoW players truly are a special brand of pathetic.


Can't tell if serious or not...

If you can't see that he very obviously wearing clothes that cover his whole body from the neck down, I'm not sure you can be helped.

yeah ofc… but THIS color ??? i mean look at his face color and look at the color of his overal/underwear/pants/whatever. it really looks like he has a naked ass. at least to me.

its like that skin colored fullbody clothes, ice skating women wear. i mean, there are a million colors. do we really need pants looking like naked skin? it just looks so stupid. foremost his ass.

i just find it crazy and funny, in Blizzards actual situation, to use THAT color for pants.

[Postmasters]

Isn't it just vendor trash? I get some of the old shirts are seen as throphy items to show age but even for rp players I cant see those looks getting used.

[GreenJesus]

Just another example of Blizzard homogenizing the world to all fall under the banner of human.

Kotaku should write an article about blizzard erasing the cultures of tribal and minority groups and forcing them to wear cis-white human clothes. Maybe that will make blizzard change their minds.

[MrLachyG]

I swear this is the 3rd "outrage" thread from this OP that I've seen today. WoW players truly are a special brand of pathetic.

I don't think he even plays WoW anymore...