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As World of Warcraft moves further into a new era with the launch of Midnight, the second act of the Worldsoul Saga, this year, there's a growing desire for more options to make your characters feel unique. On the back of housing, Blizzard's keen to up the level of customization across all the races, though it's not a going concern at present.
Chatting to Windows Central, Maria Hamilton, the design director of World of Warcraft, reveals it's something the team discusses, but no concrete plan has been decided.
"We don't have a roadmap just yet," she says. "We've taken runs at it from time to time, and we know players love it. But now we're looking at it as a sort of larger project, rather than drops here and there like we did with Heritage Armor."
She doubles down by adding, "it's not soon," and Jay Hwang, principal artist on the MMORPG, points to the transmog system – whereby equipment can be visually altered – as an example of the studio inching in this direction.
"That's why we've been investing in things like housing, which aren't player power related, and focused more on avenues of expression," he states. "So, in the future, maybe goblins will get more ears and noses for you. These are things we're definitely interested in for ourselves, too."
But it's always important to remember, World of Warcraft is now 20 years old, and that means the inner-workings of Azeroth are a deeply knotted structure. Implementing more of, well, anything, involves a lot of testing and massaging to make sure it all sits right.
"We have abilities and toys in the game that can change the way something looks; we can attach audio and visual effects," Hamilton comments. "There's, over the years, been an astonishing bunch of different things overlapping, and none of it is part of a consolidated system."
Staring down the release of one major expansion, with the big third act, The Lost Titan, due after, forces prioritization, and customizable bits and bobs don't enter the equation just now.
"Adding and improving animations have come up more than you might imagine," she says. "People want animations that are appropriate to the role they're playing. How could we integrate that? It's all part of a larger project for the future."
