World of Warcraft Might Be Making Big Changes to Some Racial Traits Soon

World of Warcraft is making some massive changes to Alliance racial traits in the Chinese-only Titan Reforged Classic realms. While there is no evidence that these adjustments are going to be introduced globally quite yet, fans could possibly see these amazing buffs show up in Classic or modern World of Warcraft somewhere in the future.

Titan Reforged is a new Classic format specific to China that combines vanilla, The Burning Crusade, and Wrath of the Lich King in a limited-time, raid-rush format. Featuring special currencies, upgradable Legendary weapons, and raids scaled up to level 80, this unique game mode has been curated for the Chinese audience in lieu of Season of Discovery, which took place in the time when World of Warcraft was unavailable to them due to the temporary dissolution of the partnership between Blizzard and NetEase.

World of Warcraft Titan Reforged Alliance Racial Trait Adjustments

However, Blizzard and NetEase recently announced some new changes in the Titan Reforged servers that could have big implications for global WoW players in the future. All the core Alliance races, as well as the Draenei added in The Burning Crusade, are getting huge facelifts to their racial traits in the Titan Reforged Classic WoW servers. Dwarves, Gnomes, and Draenei have their respective Stoneform, Open Mindset, and Heroic Aura traits buffed, while Humans get a new ability called Heart of the Lion in exchange for Diplomacy – which itself was replaced in World of Warcraft: The War Within – and Night Elves trade out Swiftness for a modified version of modern WoW’s Touch of Elune.

• Human
  • Replace 【Diplomacy】 with 【Heart of the Lion】.
    • Heart of the Lion: Increases your critical strike chance by 15% for 15 seconds. (3-minute cooldown) (New)
• Dwarf
  • [Stoneform] Upgrade: Adds damage and healing bonuses, and extends the duration.
    • Stoneform: Removes all poison, disease, and bleeding effects; increases armor by 10% (unchanged); and increases damage and healing dealt by 5% for 10 seconds. (2-minute cooldown) (New)
• Night Elf
  • Replace 【Swiftness】 with 【Elune’s Touch】.
    • Elune’s Touch: Reduces the chance to be hit by melee and ranged attacks by 2% (unchanged); increases attack and casting speed by 3% at night; increases critical strike chance by 2% during the day. (New)
• Gnome
  • [Open Mindset] Upgrade: Intelligence bonus greatly increased.
    • Broaden your mind: Intelligence increased by 10% (previously 5%), Armor penetration increased by 3%. (New)
• Draenei
  • [Heroic Aura] Adjustment: No longer provides hit rate bonus to party members, but instead grants the character himself higher hit rate.
    • Heroic Aura: Increases your spell and attack hit chance by 2%. (Original party buff removed)

This was primarily done because of the gulf between racial traits between the Alliance and Horde, especially in Classic WoW. Though modern World of Warcraft has buffed some racial traits to even these odds, powerful options like the Orc’s Blood Fury, Troll’s Berserking, and Tauren’s War Stomp drastically outperform many of their Classic Alliance counterparts.

It is important to emphasize that these changes are currently specific to the China-only Titan Reforged Classic realms, and there is no evidence to suggest they might be implemented in other places. That said, if these traits land well with both gameplay and community in China, it is technically possible World of Warcraft could field some or all of these changes globally, either in modern WoW, Classic, or possibly even a theoretical Classic+ format.

Either way, the Titan Reforged servers go live in China on November 18, so Blizzard will be able to see how these changes compare to the best racial traits in Classic WoW soon. Meanwhile, Mists of Pandaria Classic is gearing up for its third phase on December 9, and the Classic anniversary realms will likely transition to The Burning Crusade shortly after the new year. There has been no official word on what the next big thing will be for Classic outside of China yet, but fans will probably hear something before long.

Systems

Released

November 23, 2004

ESRB

T for Teen: Blood and Gore, Crude Humor, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence (online interactions not rated)

Engine

Unreal Engine

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Source: Wowhead