Making the Racial traits more individual
by Mike Schramm 
Sep 8th 2008 at 4:00PM
Hot on the heels of word about all the new changes to racial abilities in Wrath, reader Mike sent us a suggestion he thought up to give a little twist to racial abilities in game: Blizzard could unlock some of them from a few races, and instead give players the ability to choose a few on a peronal basis -- they could pick and choose certain abilities for their characters to have from the beginning. As in, each ability would get put into a budget, and instead of merely choosing a race, players could then choose one or two skills from the budget to give to their characters. You could end up having a Troll with Escape Artist and Diplomacy, or a Human with Hardiness and Magic resistance.Of course, some abilities are pretty strictly defined by the races themselves, so not everything could be pick and choose -- Gift of the Naaru and Will of the Forsaken would have to stick with Draenei and Undead, respectively (they'd have to stay Racial traits, not personal ones). But abilities like Endurance and Quickness are so insignificant in the bigger picture of things that it would be nice to customize your character a little bit more -- match it up to your style of play rather than just want race you'd like to be. Character creation is quickly becoming the one thing in the game that's stayed exactly the same since launch, and for many reasons, from RP to theorycrafting, players would really get a kick out of customizing their characters that little bit more.
As Mike told us, each character has their own personal background and insights, so why shouldn't each individual character have their own personal traits to shine in? It's a little late for Wrath, of course, but it's something to think about in the future -- if Pets get their own choices about their strengths, why shouldn't the different ingame races?
Filed under: Human, Buffs, Expansions, Odds and ends, Virtual selves, Analysis / Opinion, Patches, Trolls, Gnomes, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Cowy Sep 8th 2008 4:07PM
I like the idea in theory... but this is WOW.
An individuals choice could quickly turn into a forced mandatory requirement from those around you.
What?? You didn't pick ____? What a nub!
Harmun Sep 8th 2008 4:24PM
It's true- arena players who have escape artist and raiders with arcane torrent would do better than those with diplomacy... and it can be really competitive in the end game to get into a top tier group (guild or team).
Unless there were a way to "respec", I would not like this. As long as the traits are balanced, there's no reason to encourage min-maxing...
Adamanthis Sep 8th 2008 7:35PM
I think the solution would be to separate combat from non-combat picks.
I think offering a degree of choice ultimately keeps things more balanced: if a talent is clearly mandatory, nerf it. If it's ignored, buff or replace it.
Like talents, racials would need some form of permanency, but also the ability to be reset. Resetting them with talents probably makes the most sense.
Doffencrag Sep 8th 2008 4:08PM
Maybe it's just me, but if players can select their racial abilities and thus be different from other players of their race, wouldn't it stop being racial, by definition?
/shrug
AlexW573 Sep 8th 2008 4:12PM
Also, it means another step in character generation.
Customization is nice, but it gets boring fast for most people.
Gil Sep 8th 2008 4:12PM
theres a reason why the choose character hasnt changed, cos then everyone whos allready made a character wont be able to choose, and if you make some sort of in game window for choosing chances are people would want re-speccing, its just easier to keep it plain and simple. Also why should drae's and undead get theirs kept to themselves, the gnomes would complain theyre small enough to escape from stuff, taurens with shadowmeld seems kinda silly
somms Sep 8th 2008 4:14PM
Doesn't that basically eliminate the uniqueness of each race? At least on a substance level? For the most part, I think Blizzard has done a good job of giving racials that make sense within the lore and mechanics of the game.
Being able to create a Tauren warrior with Escape Artist and Perception seems goofy and breaks from the in game reality.
Sirg Sep 8th 2008 4:14PM
No, each race having unique abilities is a good thing. To much customization would ruin everything. From a roleplaying point of view, and WoW still is a roleplaying game (not only pvp or raids), having an orc or troll with diplomacy is outrageous.
boshekpb Sep 8th 2008 4:16PM
Only to a member of the Alliance. Thrall didn't win over the trolls and the tauren with his good looks.
NekoDaimyo Sep 8th 2008 4:18PM
That is true. Though Thrall is one sexy Orc.
Verymad Sep 8th 2008 4:20PM
ok, so i choose a big package from a black guy and the smartness of a Asian guy.
jbodar Sep 9th 2008 5:40AM
Did you not get enough hugs, or something?
silverwolf761 Sep 9th 2008 9:22AM
@jbodar
Maybe he's tired of being a dumbass with a small dick?
Doug Sep 8th 2008 4:23PM
The concept is good, but I don't like the idea of making racials available to anyone. That is part of the act of choosing a race. I think a better solution, if they were going to try and do something like this, would be a feat system, similar to what is in D&D. Small abilities that you can pick and choose from as you gain levels. They would not be class or race specific, but instead available to everyone. You might get one every 20 levels or something, and each would provide something similar to a racial ability. That would be a cool system and allow for a lot more character customization.
Harmun Sep 8th 2008 4:27PM
Too much, if you ask me. WOW is already very customizable- in fact, I think it's gotten just about as complex as Blizzard would be willing to go. Any more and they start losing too many newbies after a month.
Raze Sep 9th 2008 7:33AM
@Harmun: what's really customizable about your characters in this game at all? If by customization you mean "cookie-cutter itemized gear that you wear exclusively for stats and snatch up when it's even a remote stat boost", than sorry, that's not customization.
I think the idea of certain "racials" that have no actual racial implication (who's to say a Troll can't be charming and diplomatic or a human incapable of being tenacious?) /should be selectable. War Stomp, Voodoo Shuffle, and Will of the Forsaken, on the other hand, can stay to keep some form of racial uniqueness.
arrogance Sep 8th 2008 4:33PM
id go with racial trait level ups rather than choosing racial traits. like undead could level up until they didnt have to breath at all and had unlimited underwater time. or trolls could get a cannibalism skill later on. orcs could choose to pursue axe mastery or put points in pet damage instead.
keep the lore of each race but let the characters racials progress as you level. you can even use the old pet point system to keep this limited. racial customization but at higher levels only, and still tailored to your race.
thats my take on it at least. might work.
Eddy Sep 8th 2008 4:34PM
I have always wanted Diplomacy, as a compulsive rep grinder, but I like to roleplay males and human males are silly.
boshekpb Sep 8th 2008 4:36PM
I don't think the original person's idea was to make all of the racial abilities available to all other races, just the ones that any member of any race could have picked up in their life. Any orc or draenei could have picked up a proficiency with swords, not just humans. And honestly, not all humans would pick up extra skill with a sword. Priests can't even use swords so how would he pick up extra skill with one??
bean.delphiki Sep 8th 2008 4:38PM
Personally, I think there can be a compromise. Each race has at least 1 active and 1 passive racial. The Active racials should stay race specific (i.e. Warstomp, WOTF, Stoneform, Berserking, etc.) but make the passives (Diplomacy, increased skill, increased skill, % stat increase (int, stam, spirit), Underwater Breathing, etc.) selectable, or even re-speccable, depending on what class and spec you are leveling up, or even what weapon you are deciding to use ( Dwarf Hunter with a bow).
Of course there are the few odd one's out like Cannabalism and Wisp Spirit, that are Lore-centric that would have to be looked deeper into to make them fit in that type of situation.
In my opinion though, I would love if my Undead casters could use "The Human Spirit" and my Blood Elf Pally tank could use "Quickness".