This article was updated by Andrea Trama on March 24, 2026, with reference to patch 12.0.5’s new customization options. It was first published on March 17.
World of Warcraft: Midnight is finally here, escalating the battle against Xal’atath as it unfolds across four new zones, including revamps of Eversong Woods and Zul’Aman. Among the many features added in the expansion, one of the most exciting is the Haranir, a new allied race. These wild elf-like beings reside in Harandar, one of the expansion’s new areas, where they tend to the roots of the World Trees. Of course, one of the biggest draws to the Haranir in World of Warcraft is their breadth of gorgeous character customization options.
In fact, some might say the Haranir have been given too much love in terms of customization. From body hair and foot shape to eyelashes and quills, the Haranir have two, three, or even four times as many ways to customize characters compared to most core and allied races. The attention to detail World of Warcraft gave the Haranir has made it painfully obvious that character customization needs another overhaul, the likes of which it has not seen since 2020.
World of Warcraft Reveals Midnight Patch 12.0.5
Following the release of World of Warcraft: Midnight, Blizzard is already pulling back the curtain on what’s coming in the next update.
Haranir Customization Options Put Other WoW Races To Shame
Two to Four Times As Many Customization Categories As Most Other Races in World of Warcraft
Haranir in World of Warcraft have a massive number of ways they can be customized, with 29 different categories (28 for body type 2) in total. These range from customization staples like hairstyles and faces to unique options, including spines, fur patterns, foot shape, and even eyelashes. What’s more, most of these categories have tons of choices; for instance, they have 18 different hairstyles for each body type, including some of the best black hair textures in the game, and optional highlights. What’s more, their eyes have a mesmerizing reflective quality that no one race has.
Interestingly, it has been revealed that World of Warcraft’s 12.0.5 patch will introduce new customization options for Demon Hunters and Evokers. While Demon Hunters are mostly getting new options for the eyes, Evokers are getting new colors and the ability to change their Visage mid-combat.
This new race has more customization options than almost every other race in the game, the Dracthyr from WoW: Dragonflight being the one exception. Indeed, over half the races have half as many customization categories as the Haranir alone. While some make up for this by having a lot of different options in their individual categories, such as the 34 hairstyles or 45 faces for body type 2 Humans, most are not so lucky. Some, including core classic races like Undead and Gnomes as well as Allied Races in World of Warcraft like Dark Iron Dwarves and Vulpera, don’t even break into the double digits of customization categories.
|
Playable Race |
Customization Categories (M) |
Customization Categories (F) |
Allied Race? |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Dracthyr (Dragon) |
42 |
42 |
❌ |
|
Haranir |
29 |
28 |
✔ |
|
Dracthyr (Humanoid) |
26 |
26 |
❌ |
|
Highmountain Tauren |
19 |
21 |
✔ |
|
Nightborne |
18 |
18 |
✔ |
|
Night Elf |
17 |
19 |
❌ |
|
Orc |
17 |
13 |
❌ |
|
Tauren |
16 |
16 |
❌ |
|
Earthen |
16 |
16 |
✔ |
|
Troll |
13 |
13 |
❌ |
|
Human |
12 |
12 |
❌ |
|
Goblin |
12 |
12 |
❌ |
|
Dwarf |
12 |
10 |
❌ |
|
Mag’har Orc |
12 |
9 |
✔ |
|
Lightforged Draenei |
11 |
16 |
✔ |
|
Mechagnome |
11 |
10 |
✔ |
|
Zandalari Troll |
10 |
12 |
✔ |
|
Draenei |
10 |
10 |
❌ |
|
Kul Tiran |
9 |
9 |
✔ |
|
Undead |
9 |
9 |
❌ |
|
Gnome |
9 |
8 |
❌ |
|
Blood Elf |
8 |
12 |
❌ |
|
Void Elf |
8 |
9 |
✔ |
|
Pandaren |
8 |
8 |
❌ |
|
Vulpera |
8 |
8 |
✔ |
|
Dark Iron Dwarf |
8 |
7 |
✔ |
|
Worgen |
7 |
6 |
❌ |
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Were this not egregious enough, Haranir also have unique, customizable Druid forms. At the Barber Shop, Haranir Druids can mix and match details, including fur color or ear and snout shape, on their wolverine-like bear form, bat flying form, axolotl aquatic form, and others. Most Haranir Druid forms even have unique animations and dance emotes. While every Druid in World of Warcraft can customize their Moonkin form as of Dragonflight Patch 10.2, no other race can customize their other druid forms like the Haranir can.
While fans have been thoroughly enjoying creating Haranir characters, the sheer amount of attention they have received has felt more than a little unfair. The Blood Elves and Void Elves are some of the most prominent races in this expansion, with Sin’dorei capital of Silvermoon as the main hub of the WoW expansion. Despite this, neither race received any new customizations – they are both stuck with a narrow number of categories that fit on a single page, save female Blood Elves, which barely spill onto a second. The breadth of options the Haranir received in the “Elf Expansion” pours more salt in the wound and highlights the need for a massive customization revamp.
The last World of Warcraft customization overhaul was in Shadowlands back in 2020. This update gave players much more control, as they could now decouple faces, eye colors, and more. New options for scars, blind eyes, and even upright Orcs brought tons of praise to the game, despite the World of Warcraft expansion’s otherwise lukewarm reception. There have been a few extra customization options for existing races since then, such as glowing hands for Nightborne, Man’ari skin tones for Draenei, and Amani skin tones for Trolls, but nothing nearly as large-scale as in Shadowlands.
While the Dracthyr, Earthen, and Haranir all look great, older race models are starting to show their age again. Indeed, more time has passed between Warlords of Draenor’s model revamp in 2014 and now than between it and the release of World of Warcraft in 2004. Needless to say, it is time for World of Warcraft to give its other races the same care it has given the Haranir, and the Dracthyr before them.
New Customization Options Are Coming To World of Warcraft
But It Might Be a Long Time Until Blizzard Gets Around To It
Luckily, fans are not completely without hope in this regard. During a recent interview with Windows Central, World of Warcraft design director Maria Hamilton and principal artist Jay Hwang confirmed more customizations are on Blizzard’s radar. What’s more, rather than small batches here and there like World of Warcraft did with its Heritage Armor sets, Blizzard hopes to implement these changes in a large project, meaning players could see another overhaul on the level of Shadowlands eventually.
However, World of Warcraft could go deeper than that; Hamilton teased the idea of customizing spells and animations, too. There have been examples of this in the past through Glyphs, toys, or the beloved Green Fire quest from Mists of Pandaria, but these options don’t play well together and aren’t intuitive. If Blizzard can untangle all of these systems and fuse them together, fans might eventually be able to fully embody the fantasy of a Night Elf Priestess of the Moon, Tauren Sunwalker, or any other iconic World of Warcraft class archetypes.
That said, players should temper their expectations for the time being. Hamilton and Hwang emphasized this project is still in early development and does not have an exact roadmap for when it will arrive in World of Warcraft. It could be several years or more before fans see the fruits of these labors.
Either way, there is a promise of big things on the horizon. The updated Transmog system from WoW: Midnight has been a major boon, and Blizzard plans to continue iterating on it in the future. Someday, players may be able to use this system to control all sorts of aspects of their characters, including animations, sound, and particle effects. Until then, fans will have to enjoy the Haranir’s moment in the sun and hope that World of Warcraft’s eventual changes can start to bridge the gap between the playable races.
- Released
-
March 2, 2026
- ESRB
-
Teen / Blood and Gore, Crude Humor, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence, Users Interact, In-Game Purchases
