Customization of appearance is nice, but has nothing to do with WoW. I like the idea of custom appearances but it's an utter waste to do it when you're likely to be covered in armor in the end. Of course, there's likely a chunk of time where you won't be fully decked-out and will matter somewhat. The funny thing is, you have more control over your appearance before you have any armor (in WoW) than you do once you are 60. However, alot of the armor available is bright and very unique (easy to notice in a crowd), and that is very nice.

But the type of customization he (the author) seems to be referring to is talents and armor.

Talents in WoW are customizable within reason and class. Like He said, a warrior basically has only 2 choices. A priest typically has 3 and is more likely to switch between them than other classes. I play a rogue mostly, have never changed it (even after patch 1.12), but can propose between 5-10 very unique talent specs based on style and weapon choice. Sadly, most rogues still settle with 1 of 2 'popular' options, which is truly sad.

With the expansion, there does seem to be an attempt to encourage people to customize their talents more than in the past, but this is not entirely true. Priests, and especially rogues, are being pigeonholed into even more specific class roles than before (priests through new talents, rogues through new abilities). Thus, customization of play-style/talents is very debatable.

Armor, on the other hand (and in my opinion) offers next to no customization currently in WoW. As I already said, there's many pieces of armor that'll stick out and look very neat, but the customization is strictly in what pieces you have. There is no ability to change color, or add some spikes, or do anything to customize your armor from someone with the same piece. Furthermore, customization through the STATS on the armor is even more restricting, and plays back into talent customization. Upper level armor in WoW provides little opportunity for a class to choose strength over agility, or AP over crit, and so on. By the time you reach tier2 armor, the stats you will be optimizing has been chosen for you, all you can do is throw on some enchantments. This, in turn, controls how you are likely to spend your talent points, as to make the best use of your stats.

Thus, in the end, your only customization in WoW is your glowy effects, and how far up the armor ladder you've made it.

But then there's jewelmaking. Really, none of us know how it'll all end up. I don't mind the loss of some customization in appearance if it reduces latency, so long as I can still find my friends when I need to. What I don't like is losing customization in how I choose to play my character.

Wow. It was almost painful to read.

2 weeks ago Garrett Fuler decided to render a negative opinion on the Burning Crusade expansion. I posted in response to that piece indicating that everyone was entitled to their opinion and I won't recant that here. However, I will say that when a person continually has 'editorials' about the same subject, in this case WoW, and they consistently convey the same message, in this case Garrett Fuler has lost interest in WoW, it changes from being an opinion to a glorified whine. How many more articles can we expect on why Garrett Fuler has lost interest in playing WoW? Perhaps we are just fortunate enough to be getting his novella one chapter at a time - 'WoW, How I hate thee'.

So let's cut to the chase - you want to feel unique, you want to stick out from every other player, you want to create a visual statement that makes people remember you. Nothing wrong with that but that isn't what WoW offers and instead of trying to force what you want into WoW why not try one of the several other games that do let you do that? Simply put, if that visual statement is that important to you, then WoW isn't your game. Doesn't make WoW good, bad or anything else, it just means it isn't what you want. Would you buy car racing game on your X-Box if you wanted to play Basketball?

Ok, last point, you are totally off your rocker with your comparison of the haves and have nots when it comes to loot. First of all you are insinuating that players MUST compete against other players at the end game. This couldn't be farther from the truth. Second, you are also iimplying that when players do compete against other players, that it often happens in a 1 on 1 scenario. This is also not the norm. Yes, if your end game consists of standing outside the gates of Ogrimmar or on the streets of Goldshire dueling with other players then you are 100% spot on. Otherwise, this is nothing more than cleverly disguised statement of loot envy.

In closing, yes, you are welcome to have your opinions but perhaps you should broaden your horizon and speak of issues that span the MMOG genre as a whole instead of trying to appeal vocal minority that riddle the forums of MMOG games with their complaints about how no game is ever good enough.

If this is the kind of drivel that the MMORPG.com site wants to sponsor when it comes to 'fresh new content', I am going to have to seriously consider its removal from my list of sites to read.

Hero's Journey offers total customization and a deep gameplay experience.  Role-playing is going to be emphasized, just like it was in EQ's first days.  Here's to hoping it sticks!

WoW could revamp their system to allow for the customization of armor.  Heck, just having the ability to turn off shoulderpads would be an improvement.  Choosing which two colors your armor displays would be a massive improvement in the fight to stand out in a crowd.  Don't want fuschia warriors?  Don't include it in the palette!

Faces would be great if they just added ten more faces per race.  A bevy of new hairstyles would do wonders.  Height/weight sliders would be great!  An option to display a different type of armor than what you are wearing, Say there's a rogue who loves Defias armor.  If they obtain the whole set, let that be an unlocked suit that they can don whenever they like.  Even if they are running about in full Darkmantle, they will look like they want to.  They will also be easier to pick out in a raid, as they have more options for their level.  Disable this ability for PvP and dueling.

Meh.  I like two hundred and eighty different types of pie.  However, I don't seem to complain too loudly when only three kinds are offered at an event.  Seeing that someone thought to bring whipped cream, caramel sauce and/or ice cream for the pie certainly makes the limited choices of pumpkin, cherry and apple more livable though.

The Burning Crusade doesn't seem to be that thoughtful in this regard.  Having socketed items does not change the shape of this cookie cutter one bit.  Am I bad for still wanting a cookie?

This is the exact reason i left WOW, because the end game is all about instances, trying to get epic gear, and grinding faction. Its all gear driven, balance, what balance .. they worry about it through out the whole game untill you reach 60 then unbalance it at the end through the whole gear grind end game. It is a big turn off also that everyone looks the same.

Faction grind, instant grinds, and BG grinds .. They took the "play" out of the game at the end IMHO and made it one big grind.

I love the idea of epic stats being in diff area's other than DPS, and i play a rogue .. they could shorten cool downs etc, lots of areas to make them desirable for the diff class's.

The end game is so bad that i just found myself making new characters so i could enjoy "playing" the game again .. did find that i really liked warlock a lot though .. and i know a lot of people will read this and think, I just needed to get into a good guild, I belonged to a good guild, we ran instances 4 times a week, and sundays; all the way up to AQ20, and was working on AQ40 .. we owned Ony and others .. (was even on a PVP server) when we were not doing instances or grinding faction, almost everyone was doing an ALT .. why, because there is no other fun content for a level 60 to do !

I dont see or hear anything new with this expansion, shame, all I see is more of the same, lots of Instancing. What they have proposed wont bring me back; and I'll admit, its been the most fun game Ive playd to date, just the worst endgame Ive played to date.

Honestly after almost 2 years in WoW, I went to EQ2 because there's a lot more depth there. Not just with loot, but with housing etc. There's just more "ownership" there and that feeling of ownership is what I need...I loved it in UO. It seems UO got almost everything right from the start and now we just need a new game to incorporate all those elements.

---

Originally posted by Maltese
Well, is customization of your Avatar really that important? Those MMORPGs with the highest subscriber base are those with the least customization for your electronic alter ego (According to Mmogchart.com). It seems that the majority of players don't really mind the lack of options. At least not enough to affect their decision as to play which game.
Telling a good game from a bad game is pretty simple once it's out. A good game sells like the proverbial hotcakes while a bad one collects dust on the shelf. You may argue that there are examples of good companies going bust while others thrive on selling trash, but generally I see the market as a good indicator on how much merrit a product has.

Now let's imagine a game with a lot of sliders and colour bars to fiddle with during character creation. Assume you can adjust your size, morph your face to quite some extent, chose hairstyle, eye and skin color, various body adornments, etc.
For my argument I will further assume that, almost without exception, everyone in MMORPGs will wear their fighting gear at all times.

Let's start with eyecolour and face options. Practically no one except you will ever notice which one you chose. You will be the Lvl xx healer/tank/dps, not the guy/girl with the slanted blue eyes. Facial hair seems to make you stand out in some cases, though.

Now hairstyle and haircolour will usually be hidden by your helm. Unless, of course, the helm design is so sub-par that the gameprovider offers you an option to hide the helmet (This indeed has happened in at least one case). Further, if you want to display both your helmet/headdress and your hair, this raises polycount and of course there may be problems with the geometry of helm and hair clashing. If you stick to generics here, you run into less trouble.

Scaling options for tall and short. A very subtle distinguishing feature, but somewhat noticeable, granted. However, including this apparently excludes some interaction with world geometry today (i.e. sitting down in a chair at your friendly inn), also mo-capped animations don't seem to scale very well (see EQ2). There may be other ramifiactions which raise development costs/time too, I presume.

Body adornments and skin colour. Unless the armor worn is revealing, next to pointless.

Options for being either left- or righthanded. I am not aware of any game offering this option, so this may not belong here at all. Would probably be noticeable, you really do a lot of fighting in these type of games after all.

If we speak of options for your armor, that's a different kettle of fish, I suppose. Since your gear ist what others actually get to see of you. Adding custom colour and maybe eyecandy effect options to visible equipment pieces may go a long way, in fact the more a developer goes hog wild here, the better.
And if you as developer stuck to two or three standard avatars with maybe a handful options each which do not affect character geometry, I am considerably certain that development will have a much easier time coming up with new weapon and armor designs, since they will exactly know what they will be dealing with. There wont be any surprise graphic glitches with fat/thin tall/short avatars, or the brow not fitting under the helm, etc. No guesswork or extensive testing required on adding new outfits.

Thank you for bearing with me.

---

what about talent/skill/power/etc options for customization?  where there's too many choices for there TO be a cookie cutter build?

---

Originally posted by pabloex
Wow. It was almost painful to read.


So let's cut to the chase - you want to feel unique, you want to stick out from every other player, you want to create a visual statement that makes people remember you. Nothing wrong with that but that isn't what WoW offers and instead of trying to force what you want into WoW why not try one of the several other games that do let you do that?

customer complaints is what made them change up BG queues to include everyone everywhere.  people being content with garbage didn't make that change.  customer complaints (and account cancellations) made them rethink the kaplan-onlyraidcuzi'matalentlesshack concept and take him down from being their spokes-troll.  little babies taking it like babies didn't get BC changed from raid-only to pvp and smaller instances...

Simply put, if that visual statement is that important to you, then WoW isn't your game. Doesn't make WoW good, bad or anything else, it just means it isn't what you want. Would you buy car racing game on your X-Box if you wanted to play Basketball?

 maybe he wants the WoW that was hyped before they hired kaplan and his dark sith guildmaster from EQ....

Ok, last point, you are totally off your rocker with your comparison of the haves and have nots when it comes to loot. First of all you are insinuating that players MUST compete against other players at the end game.

yes, kaplan's own numbers show that a good 0.69% of the wow population engages in raiding.  that's about two-thirds of ONE percent, which means that 99.31% of the wow population (by kaplan's number) do NOT engage in raiding.  if they're not raiding, that means they don't like raiding right?

so if that 99+% of the population isn't raiding... what are they doing?  quilting?  oh wait, crafting is a joke in wow, no quilting here.

 Otherwise, this is nothing more than cleverly disguised statement of loot envy.

um, or it's talking about what 99.31% of the wow population does/doesn't do, which is something all these people that say "oh wow must be doing everything right, they've got millions of subs"... seems those people ALWAYS forget, that by KAPLAN's own numbers... less than one percent of the population raids.  if 99% of the subs DON'T raid... it's really not euclidean geometry to draw a straight line of logic here.

In closing, yes, you are welcome to have your opinions but perhaps you should broaden your horizon and speak of issues that span the MMOG genre as a whole instead of trying to appeal vocal minority that riddle the forums of MMOG games with their complaints about how no game is ever good enough.

vocal minority, yet 99% of the wow players by their ACTIONS agree that raiding is caca and pvp and non-raids need tons of work.

If this is the kind of drivel that the MMORPG.com site wants to sponsor when it comes to 'fresh new content', I am going to have to seriously consider its removal from my list of sites to read.

can i have your stuff?

---

WoW and other MMOs with limited customization features do it for a reason. Too bad none of the geniuses on this board has grasped that though. Pity.

WoW has very limited character and armor customization because it's meant to have upwards of 100 characters(players and/or NPCs) in close proximity. Now if you had all those fancy facial features like nose length, or chin width or 18 different types of ear hair it would bog down your computer like no tomorrow. Blizzard even vastly downgraded the graphics of nearly everything from the original closed beta so that older or less powerul computers would have few problems running it. You don't get 7 million subscribers by making it so your game can only be played by hardcore performance nuts. Limiting customiztion was just good busines sense.

The most idiotic thing about that editorial was the comparison to Guild Wars. Yikes.

Epic raid gear is meant for ::gasp:: epic raids and NOT and I repeat NOT PvP. You get epic raid gear so you can fight bosses than can hit for 20,000 damage and have 3 million hit points. PvP is just merely a side effect. When an editor says that epic raid gear is meant solely for PvP there is something wrong and I don't mean with WoW. Take your personal vendettas else where.

Hey, Fuller. Your editorials suck. I'd prefer it if you fondled Everquest II like the rest of the MMORPG.com writers and stop mentioning WoW in the same breath as the majority of the grindfest games on this site.

all this talk of wow customization has me seriously thinking ive been playing the wrong game for the past few years.

there ISNT any character real customization to speak of. sure they do a good job to make it look like theres customization, but besides the ui, there just isnt.

character appearance basically 5 different values to play with, with 5-10 choices for each value, if you can call them choices. skin color is a joke honestly, do you want to be this yellow green orc or this bluish green orc? the facial/head hair styles are nice looking i will admit, but then poor helmet clipping issues throws it out the window. either your hair clips thru the helm, or helms will make hair vanish all together, even if the helm isnt covering that part, ie my bearded dwarf loses his bead when he put on a foot-ball style helmet. the different facial ring placements on women arent noticable in the game, and to top it off, there not even a height/weight option of any sort. clonecraft ftw.

character build customization the talents in wow just arent deep enough to have any sort of individualism what so ever. sure it looks like a huge buffet of options to tailor your character just so, but after playing you realize that many of these talents arent that great, some are just plain pointless, while others are almost mandatory. whether you want to or not, almost every player is forced into one of a few "cookie cutter" builds for that class. since some builds are actually "better" than others, coupled with the changes bliz has made over the past couple years that have killed off certain builds, theres really only 3 choices max per class. more clonecraft.

phat lewtz loot is as bad as character builds. your build dictates the loot you go after, and then its just a constant grind to get that perfect set put together. heres the kicker tho, its the same damn set everyone else with your build is going for. when a new instance is added to the game then the "dream set" changes, and everyone goes after that set instead. the end result is the majority of the population look the same, as theyre wearing the same armor, carrying the same weapons. since you cant even change height/weight of your character, it just makes the whole 'everyone-looks-alike' syndrome that much worse. 

again, character customization doesnt exist in wow imo. hopefully this will change in bc, i can only hope.

yes it looks like nothing but me whining about wow, and yet i still play the stupid game.

I dont really dont get the drama about customisation of your character. Who really cares if some of us look the same in armor? Isn't the point that they have made items recognisable which makes more sense. The mention that all players of a certain class and in the same guild look the same makes me wonder what type of guild you are in. I would think most guilds are working on dungeons where most players haven't completed the set, if you are all in tier 1 gear and look the same perhaps its time for your guild to move on to BWL? :P

I read another post in this thread where the guy suggested this was a whine and tbh it does kind of read that way. The complaint about being beat by people in better gear makes little sense to me too. It is imperative that when we reach level 60 everyone is not on an equal par, otherwise why carry on? Full epic gear probably gives the same advantage as 2-3 levels over a blue geared player and so it should or we would all stop and get bored at level 60. Again if the grind to get that gear was not made difficult then everybody would have it and there would be little point in carrying on. 

It kinda seems that on the one hand you want to be unique (in the way u look) but on the other u want everybody the same (as far as gear goes)...hmnn is sounding like a whine for whine sake.

Talents, well you paint a pretty dim view, and i think some classes are limited to maybe only 1-2 routes and healing classes in particulalrly have certain specs demanded of them by guilds. For solo play though I think they are more than sufficient and can give 2-3 completely different playing styles, multuply that by the choice of 9 different classes and is enough in my opinion.

Now the above may sound like Im one of the 'stop having a go at wow, i love it brigade', im not, in fact im bored to death of it and desperately waiting for something new and good to come out. I've tried Eve (zzzzz) and a couple of others lately but it's nice to be starting a new game when everyone esle is rather than 2 years behind.

In my opinion whats is wrong with wow is the need to be in a guild to obtain them epics, the guilds become less about fun and collectively playing together and more about gaining items. The top end guilds on servers rape the average guilds for players as soon as them average guilds have given players a few tier 1 epics. Some players come in and guild jump and within 3/4 weeks of turning 60 are in Naxx guilds...whats so hard about that grind? Rewarding people with no loyalty and poor attitudes with quick epics.

And the pvp now is a joke, i guess i've been lucky as i ranked a warrior to 14 and mage to 13 in the good old days. Now almost every time i join a bg solos for a little fun theres a 'fixed' group opposite and absolutely no chance to win. I think that may be addressed in TBC. But why havent premade groups been paired against each other before? Why cant u join as a random and expect to play against randoms? I have no idea....it's just bad design. The only route to epics before as a semi-solo player was through the pvp system, and now that's been made impossible.

Personally i'm watching this space, as no doubt a lot of wow addicts are. New games due out soon should try bloody hard to be out before TBC finally hits the stores. There's a hell of a lot of people looking for something else to play since its pointless searching for better gear in wow until TBC, the trouble is if nothing new and inspiring comes out beforehand we will all end up giving TBC a chance. No doubt another few months of wow addiction followed by end game dissapointment will follow.

 

  

Damian7, I certainly have no issue with you doing a counterpoint to my post, however, when you take the points out of context, it simply shows a lack of depth in original thinking.

At nowhere in my original posting did I mention raiding. The editorial complains about an imbalance in gear at the end game. This complaint is further developed stating that some players will never have a chance to defeat other players. Thus this isolates the end game down to one on one PvP. I didn't say that, I simply pointed out that this was an overbroad generalization and completely ignored what could be done at end game. And quite frankly, it really doesn't matter what percentages you pull out of your hat about what activities players engage in at end game because again it is a discussion of what you can do versus how you choose to limit yourself.

You were obviously an individual that built up a lot pre-release expectations that were not satisfied. Welcome to the wonderful world of Artistic Creativity meets Business Funding Model. We all expect that MMOGs will continue to evolve as the games age, such as the changes you pointed out with the Battlegrounds. However, every game has some fundamental systems that are far too cost prohibitive to change. Completely changing the character creation system would have deep ramifications for the game. But rather than attempting to understand the far reaching effects such a change would have, you would rather express your dislike for 'Kaplan' and continue on in your naive perspective that developers can make any change at any time and don't have corporate mandates to which they must also answer.

Finally, I am not disputing that many WoW characters visually appear similar. I am not disputing that WoW's end game is focused on loot. And I am not saying that WoW is the best game on the market as I believe the 'best' game on the market is the one the individual enjoys playing thus this could be different for every individual you meet. What I am saying is that too much time is spent opining about why Title X stinks rather than accepting that it simply isn't the game for you. As long as several million people are paying to have an account, Blizzard will continue to see this as an endorsement that their product does meet the needs of a large enough customer base for them to continue to support what is already there.

Get over it and move on. 

Lack of graphic custumization is indeed a problem in WoW. It is annoying when I can't tell one NE druid from the other. And sure I would like to be able to look more unique. On the other hand, I have never seen any char that looked exactly like mine. Sometimes the gear is quite alike, but then the weapons are different. Some ppl have their helm and cape turned on, some don't. More personal options would be nice though. Nice to see two new races in TBC. (although the mmorpg podcast suggested that there was only ½ new race:P)

Talents seems a bit underrated in this editorial. As a paladin I can change between many builds, and they do change the game for me. I am not required to spec a certain way to join raids and if ppl are, then they can find a different guild. A friend of mine is playing rogue, warrior and mage. He changes talent-spec frequently, since for him the spec matters a whole lot. There is more than 1-2 great builds for every class!

---

Originally posted by Reinjin
Hey, Fuller. Your editorials suck. I'd prefer it if you fondled Everquest II like the rest of the MMORPG.com writers and stop mentioning WoW in the same breath as the majority of the grindfest games on this site.

---

are you the person that works for wow that has the murlock for your avatar on your forums?   the logic in your posting reminds me a lot of that *person*.

i'd really like to know what exactly you're trying to post, because it doesn't make a lot of sense... it's like you said, "jojo, your mama has a job and so does mine!"  and it's supposed to be an insult.


wow is the largest and most horrid example of a grindfest for a western game that's out atm.


l2r.

Damien7 needs a wowwy pop I'm thinking.

But seriously, these so called "editorials" are nothing more the glorified forum posts, which is to say a waste of bandwidth.

Seriously, marking them as a feature is insane and completly shafts the value of this zomg-new-screen-shot news site.

customization in WoW is alomost nil - you can choose your head's appearance, but who can see that when geared up?

About the gear being over the top, I strongly disagree. Gear is another form of levelling, it is good to have hard fought for gear that makes a real difference. Balance between high level gear and low level gear is just silly; why go through the effort to get the good stuff if it doesn't make a difference?

I say this hating the grind and not much liking the raiding, which, imo, is another form of grinding. The difference I would like to see is that WoW provides us solo-lovers with ways to get high level gear, ways that do not involve doing the same quest again and again.

Btw, I have 2 L60 characters neither of which has gone beyond having green gear with some blues, but I'm still glad to have epic-geared peoples able to kick my butt :)

---

Originally posted by unbelieveroz

But seriously, these so called "editorials" are nothing more the glorified forum posts, which is to say a waste of bandwidth.

Seriously, marking them as a feature is insane and completly shafts the value of this zomg-new-screen-shot news site.

---

editorial /??d??t?ri?l, -?to?r-/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ed-i-tawr-ee-uhl, -tohr-]
– noun

1.  An article in a newspaper or other periodical presenting the opinion of the publisher, editor, or editors.
2.  A statement broadcast on radio or television that presents the opinion of the owner, manager, or the like, of the station or channel.
3.  Something regarded as resembling such an article or statement, as a lengthy, dogmatic utterance.

You have to take them for what they are.  It's merely the opinion of someone who works at the site.  Not everyone will agree with them, but isn't that the beauty of it all?  These editorials stir up a lot of conversation with valid points on both sides and gets the community involved in debate.

The level of customization in WoW is pathetic, at the very minium i'd want to be able to add armor and weapon dyes. But there needs to be more ability to customize the look and build of a character. In addition whilst not directly related to character customization I view guild/personal housing as a must also, these buildings could be alternate hearth points, places were excess inventory can be stored (other than bank vaults), trophies displayed and personal vendors situated. None of which affect the characters abilities in Pve/PvP but which add more depth to the game. Whilst I enjoy Wow any game that offers better customization,housing and a useful crafting system (Much of wows is useless when some items can only be worn/used by the person who made them and the few good items that can be made are usually outclassed by world/set drops).

set pieces are the dumbest idea ever, we already have plate, mail, leather, and cloth why further restrict it by making it classes: Priest  It's lazy in my opinion they threw in the different types of armor and couldn't think of any way to balance that out other than further restricting it to classes.  Dumb and lazy in my opinion.  In eve you can put lasers on your scorpion if you want, or projectiles on your apocolypse probably not the smartest thing, but at least you have that option.

Blizzard says: "here is how you'll play [raids] and here is what you'll loot [class loot]"  dumb lazy and restrictive in my opinion.

*shrug*

I'll buy BC 'cause it's the only thing out there but when something remotely on par with WoW that doesn't require endless PvE grinding to be able to PvP on a remotely even playing playing field comes along me and wife will wave goodbye and not look back. (AoC, W.A.R., ???)

Btw, reading the headline I thought this would be about customizing appearance etc. and couldn't really wrap my head around the concept of WoW and actual choices but then I read the piece and of course it was WoW and gear which is really all it is about.