People have argued for decades that racial abilities are unbalanced. And they forever will be.
If you give unique spells to each race, then obviously some would be better or worse in certain situations. And when you have 20 races with 4-5 abilities? It's a balancing nightmare with no end. Every content patch, devs must consider every racial and re-balanced accordingly. And what about when more races are added? And more?
So my radical solution is to eliminate unique racial abilities entirely, and replace them with 3-4 core spells that are universal to ALL races, however make the visual animation unique so that the person feels just a little bit "cool" whenever they see it.
But what spells would that be?
1. HEARTHSTONE
Everyone has a hearthstone, and it serves a fundamental purpose. Take it away and the game becomes inconvenient, but not unplayable. You can literally play the game in it's entirety without a hearthstone, but having one gives you substantial quality-of-life improvement.
But as the game progressed, we now have several hearthstones in our bags: Hearthstone, Dalaran Hearthstone, Garrison Hearthstone... not counting all the necklaces, cloaks, tabards, rings and other items that teleport us around, plus perks like MoP Challenge Mode portals. But the original hearthstone item is unique because it can be binded anywhere. So why lock that ability to an item taking up bagspace for another 15 years?
Turn "Hearth" into a racial ability, but give it a unique animation for each race. It has no game balance issues, is a core spell that people use numerous time every day but can also never be used without game-breaking impact, and you can make the animation "cool" so that it reflects the racial identity. Make players feel awesome every time they hearth! And the spell would have one of those little arrows, so you can click on it and a menu would appear, with all the other hearthing options you've unlocked (ie. MoP Challenge modes, toys, items-that-became-toys, etc).
There's already numerous animations ingame when you teleport to various locations, and recently a plethora of toys have been added ingame that share your hearthstone's cooldown, but instead have a seasonal holiday or expansion-thematic flavor. So what would the racial hearthing animation be? Races have numerous classes, and some races cannot be certain classes... but they might be one day, so you have to be careful. The animation has to be symbolic of the race's culture, but not incompatible with whatever class they chose.
ALLIANCE:
Race Hearthing Animation Unlockable Options Already In-Game Human Waves Alliance banner.
Gryphon picks up player, flies awayWar-torn banner / armored gryphon YES Night Elf "Praise" pose as Elune moonbeam envelopes them Starfall effects / dark moon YES Dwarf Talks into remote.
Ironforge tank picks up player, speeds awaySiege Engine NO Gnome Channels Ultrasafe Transporter Summons toys that wave goodbye YES Draenei Summons Vindicaar teleport pad Purple/Gold YES Worgen Goes savage, does furious attacking animations, dashes away/vanishes Kills critters, makes bloody mess YES Pandaren Blue zen meditation Cloud serpents / Alementals YES Kul Tiran Tide-sage spellcasting Kraken tentacles YES Dark Iron Talks into remote.
Dark Iron Mole Machine eruptsFire elemental NO Lightforged "Praise" pose as a beam of Holy Light envelopes them Vision of Naaru YES Void Elf Struggles as Void Portal slowly consumes them Tentacles YES Mechagnome Summons Mechagon Model W. Revs up, then speeds away Mechaspider YES
HORDE:
Race Animation Unlockable Options Already In-Game Orc Waves Horde banner.
Wyvern picks up player, flies awayWar-torn banner / armored wyvern YES Tauren Creates fire/smoke signals.
Kodo picks up player, speeds awayArmored Kodo YES Undead Blows horn. Banshees pick up player, flies away Val'kyr YES Troll Voodoo dancing amidst Loa Spirits Totems/snakes YES Blood Elf Caresses critter.
Drains mana from it and teleports awayCritter lives YES Goblin Equips jetpack.
Countdown... then launches into the skyExplosions YES Pandaren Red zen meditation Cloud serpents / Alementals YES Zandalari "Worship" spellcasting, then Loa spirit appears and carries them off Loa YES Nightborne Drinks Mana wine.
Laughs as vision of Oculeth appears above them and teleports them awayPast vision of Elisande YES Mag'har Waves torch.
Iron Horde vehicle picks up player, speeds awayIron Horde vehicle YES HighMountain Plants giant Totem pole. Eagle appears and carries them off Drogbar Fist YES Vulpera ? ? ?
Recently the game has introduced whistles and other items where a mount appears and "carries you away" (even when underwater), so some of the ideas above already have the technology implemented. Both you and players around you see your character perform a spellcasting animation, then at the last second get on a mount and flap away. Your screen fades to black, while other players just see the flying mount moving away and slowly vanishes. The same would be for various hearthing animations listed above. The ones where vehicles or mounts appear and take your character away would still be visible to other players, but they would just see it vanish, while you would just see a loading screen.
This also deals with a pet peave of mine regarding hearthstones: depending on your PC/Internet, you never see the final "poof" as you leave. Currently your character performs a generic spellcasting, but only sometimes is there lag enough that you see the final animation. Most times, the Loading Screen appears too fast and you never see the climactic vanishing. I just think it would be nice to actually see your character perform an exit animation start to finish, rather than just wave their shining hands and then suddenly a loading screen pops up. I see other people's full hearth animation, but almost never my own.
Anyway, that's just my idea for one possible racial that could act as a replacement for the numerous problematic +10 Versatility style racials that are plaguing the game and causing grief for the developers and the player base. Just REPLACE THEM ALL with core spells and abilities that all players have, but make them flavorful for each race to give them a "moment of cool" they can do every now and then. Making hearthing a racial ability is one example, with the added benefit of also freeing up a bag slot that has never been free since your first day of playing. Plus the little arrow on the Hearth icon means you could remove some bloat from the Toy Box panel (563 and counting, with no signs of stopping).
What do you think?
Also, what animations do you think would be more suitable/cool? The ones listed above were just ideas I came up with now, but there are other possibilities (for Dwarfs, I thought maybe they would start drinking while other dwarfs appeared around you and danced and clapped, and it would end with you collapsing. You would "wake up" in your assigned hearth spot. But then I thought... nah. Too on the nose. Having an Ironforge tank suddenly speed in and out, not stopping as it grabbed you and disappears in a puff of smoke seemed much cooler).
Some of the spellcasting animation ideas listed above I like, while others are obviously lazy, albeit appropriate. Do you have a better, "cooler" idea?
And what other racials besides Hearthing? What core spells/abilities are there ingame that (1). everyone does/should have, (2). doesn't affect gameplay unfairly, and (3). could be given a unique racial flavor?
Another idea I had was a "leap" ability. Warriors have one (Heroic Leap), Outlaw rogues have one (Grappling Hook). I'm sure there are others. Wouldn't it be nice if everyone had some form of leap ability, but with a racial theme? Maybe, maybe not... but I'm just throwing ideas out there.