Breakfast Topic: To re-customize or not
by Mike Schramm 
Dec 11th 2008 at 10:30AM
Paid customization has come to the game, and with it, some big decisions for a lot of players. We've asked for a long time to be able to change our gender or look in the game, and now that we can, we have to decide if we will or not.Personally, I'm torn -- way back when I first started the game, I created a female Night Elf Hunter, thinking along the old classic lines of "if I'm going to stare at someone's backside for hours and hours, it might as well be a woman." But since then, I've gotten a lot of flak for being a dude playing a female character, and since I've played all male characters since then, I think I better identify with male characters anyway, even if the view isn't as good.
But on the other hand, I'm used to my Hunter now -- she's looked the same for almost 80 levels, and it would be weird to suddenly see a Night Elf guy on the screen in her place. So I'm torn -- change my character to a male and make being social in game much easier, or stay the same and keep my character familiar to me?
What do you all think? Are you facing the same situation or is the choice easier (or even harder) for you?
Filed under: Hunter, Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Cyanea Dec 11th 2008 10:50AM
The only things I would want to change is my own Nelf's face and skin color. She's got those big ugly pouty lips that I didn't notice at the time because there's no zoom feature on the character page. I didn't realize I was picking pink as my skin color because the lighting on the page screwed it up.
15$ is too steep for that, IMO. Thanks but no thanks, Blizz.
lawl Dec 11th 2008 11:41AM
The second I read this, my first thought was "oh god, let the QQ's pour down like rain about how $15 is toooo much money!!!".
People who complain about $15 make me lawl. If you are an adult and complaining about 15$ as an investment into something that gives you virtually unlimited hours of entertainment then you need to re-evaluate your life and seek more education and/or more income.
If you are a kid, then don't cry, it's not your money any ways.
Cyanea Dec 11th 2008 11:51AM
I'm sorry I don't meet your specifications of life. I'll go QQ in the corner now.
It's not a matter of money, or how much it is...it's a matter of how I don't feel changing a few graphics that I barely notice as it is is worth fifteen dollars ESPECIALLY when that's the same value of a month's worth of playtime in this game.
Stephen Dec 11th 2008 12:38PM
It's not QQ if you really don't see a good benefit for your $15. $15 is just for changing the face & gender. I have a female blood elf alt that I might someday want to change her gender. Although the blood elf men look like chicks anyway so it doesn't really matter. If we didn't have the in-game barbershop maybe I'd be more interested in this.
I would like the ability to change my race, so $15 would be fine if I could do that. Orc paladin. Undead Hunter. Troll Druid.
$50 would seem d0wnright cheap to me if I could change a character's class too.
Deadly. Off. Topic. Dec 11th 2008 1:05PM
@lawl
Why don't you go, since you seem to think you're so rich, give $15 dollars to 11 million players each so that they get a free custom change. I'm sure you wouldn't think it was so little then.
Honestly, it's a laugh at people who think "oh 15 bucks isn't so much" because they're probably working as a doctor, lawyer or some other over paid profession at the expense of other people.
Rosa Dec 11th 2008 7:28PM
@ Deadly
Seriously? SERIOUSLY? I'm on fixed income and I know that 15 dollars is absolute pennies.
Blizz put a MINOR price on this for two reasons:
1. To make some cash, which I certainly don't begrudge them, it's not like they're running a charity here; they're a business and they're in it to put food on the table.
2. So the feature isn't abusable or spammable.
The end.
Seriously, people who REALLY want a change will skip dinner out a few days next week and buy it, people who don't think it's worthwhile don't want it that bad. Seems to be working as intended to me.
Vendrill Dec 12th 2008 4:34AM
I'm going to leave my human male priest exactly the way he is.
Being able to change his hair cut was enough for me... and I even gave him another vanilla wow haircut.
That said... I am glad the Blizz is being liberal with this customization ability.
I think $15 is reasonable... yes Blizz wants to make $ on something like this, and they also need a way to keep it from being abused.
To all of those who feel that $15 is not worth it: that's fine, too.
HunterFromTheStart Dec 12th 2008 6:53AM
@rosa
Your on a fixed income....... And you talk about being able to eat out a few times next week???? Who's paying your bills? It takes mine and my wife's entire income to pay for the necessities. We try to set aside enough money for once a month to be able to go out and have a dinner between the two of us. Sadly that hasn't happened for almost 6 months now. Groceries, Gas, and house stuff. WoW is my one splurge, because if I didn't have WOW, I'd be crazy.
I'd be willing to pay no more then 5 dollars for one of these changes.
Personally, I don't want to change anything. Oh, my hunter's face kinda bothers me sometimes, it's kinda hard looking.... but that's ok. From the very beginning, I chose to roll men, because I knew I couldn't play a woman's character up to my standards. I just can't grasp the subtler effects of a woman, being a guy and all.....
Enwe Dec 11th 2008 10:51AM
Please don't change your NELF female to male. The males just look utterly goofy! My first toon I ever made was a NELF male hunter, and he's now 4 years old. I completely regret making him a male. They just look like goofballs. I think I'm going to use the re-custom feature to change him into a female.
Cyanea Dec 11th 2008 10:54AM
Agreed.
I got so much flack from friends of mine (I'm male) for creating a female character. I told them to look at the nearest Male Night elf and imagine looking at that for seventy levels.
They immediately saw my point.
Neodarkmatter Dec 11th 2008 11:06AM
Agreed, especially when you're a Druid and the only race you can be is a Night Elf (for the Alliance).
Zeeo Dec 11th 2008 6:37PM
Totally agreed. Started a male nelf druid and just couldn't stand looking at his goofball self. Finally gave up and deleted him at level 14 and rerolled female. I've enjoyed that character much more as I got her to 60 so far!
Trennon Dec 11th 2008 10:54AM
Ah, virtual gender reassignment ftw.
McG Dec 11th 2008 12:49PM
Hey, the way I see it, I've always wanted my male undead mage to be a blood elf. I guess being female is close enough, right?
crispy Dec 11th 2008 10:53AM
Hmm, not sure I get why socializing in game should be different based on the sex of your character. I'm actually thinking of changing my human mage to a female. After years of first, a human warlock and then the mage, I'm sick of the ugly human men...
My only complaint is I paid $10 just last month for a name change. :)
crispy Dec 11th 2008 10:55AM
Although, I should add my guild has multiple guys playing female characters, so we may have gotten over the issue a long time ago.
Gimmlette Dec 11th 2008 10:58AM
While some may bemoan the looks or gender of their toon, I am not one of them. I have enjoyed messing around with the hair cut and color. Just changing the color can make the character seem different. I've always been auburn but when I changed it to black, guild mates said my character looked really cute, cuter than how I originally designed her.
I'm very fond of all my toons and spent a good deal of time in the creation screen selecting just what I wanted them to look like. I wouldn't change anything but I know there are people who have come to dislike the toon they created although they love the class. For them, this is a boon.
It might also be a boon to gold farmers who steal identities. $15 isn't much to change your toon if they hack your account. Yet another reason to get an Authenticator and change your passwords often. I'm pretty sure, if my account were hacked and my gender changed, Blizz isn't going to restore it for free.
Gessilea Dec 11th 2008 11:18AM
I don't understand what possible benefit a gold farmer would find in paying money to change a character's gender. As the FAQ says, none of this affects ignore lists or anything like that.
Thander Dec 11th 2008 2:15PM
It still affects guild log and guild bank log info. There are "unknown" does this, "unknown" does that all over the place. I know this also happens when a character is deleted but people that have left the guild don't delete their mains. They change their names and the logs don't update.
superstone Dec 11th 2008 10:56AM
I'm considering changing my female UD warrior to a male, just because I'm considering making a female UD DK when I get LK. The name would have to be changed from something less flowery as well.
Overall, I would say: No. I'm not having too hard of a time with the decision. It's still a possibility, but it's not something high on the priority list.
I generally have a bad habit of getting a toon to 30-40 areas and then deciding that I don't like the look of it at all. Did it with 2 troll shamans, a BE rogue, and an UD male Mage.
I can see someone regretting a certain decision, but I've gotten used to my characters after a short period of time in the ones that I like. The hair bothers me more than the gender because I generally try out all the race/sex combinations and do as many different castings/attacks as I can before I commit. That's the one thing I've learned from putting work into toons that I'll later regret: If you're going to regret it, don't bother with it.
Still can't play a shaman. Everyone available except Draenei females are just fugly, but I'll stay Horde. Just one less toon I have to think about. :D