Summary
SomeWorld of Warcraftfans have pointed out that the Hero Talent trees coming inThe War Withindon’t give every playable race equal treatment. Though the new player power feature seems exciting at baseline, someWorld of Warcraftfans are worried the disparity of themes between Hero Talents like Elune’s Chosen and the Herald of the Sun could become problematic.
Hero Talents are a new progression feature coming inThe War Within. Acting as a third Talent tree that players unlock between levels 71 and 80, many Hero Talents are inspired by iconicWarcraftarchetypes, such as the Mountain Thane or Keeper of the Grove. So far,World of Warcrafthas revealed 16 of the 39 total Hero Talent trees.
However, someWorld of Warcraftfans have concerns that the Hero Talent trees aren’t giving every player race equal treatment. Portergauge, an influentialWoWfan, discussed this disparity on his personal Twitter, using the Druid’s Elune’s Chosen and the Paladin’s Herald of the Sun Hero Talents as an example. TheElune’s Chosen Hero Talent inWoWis heavily-themed after Elune, the moon goddess of the Night Elves. On the other hand, the Herald of the Sun makes no specific mention of An’she, the Tauren’s sun god, leading fans of the race to feel like they are being neglected.
WoW Hero Talents Don’t Represent Every Race Equally
The elvish favoritism among the Hero Talents goes deeper than that. Saphras, aWoWfan and elf enthusiast, pointed out that at least six of theHero Talents are inspired byWorld of Warcraftclass fantasiesof Night Elves or Blood Elves. While options like Totemic and Farseer are Horde-themed, no Hero Talents are specific to groups like the Tauren or Trolls in comparison. Even as a fan of elves, Saphras believes this imbalance is unfair.
Unfortunately, this disparity has more problematic implications as well. Tauren are inspired by Native American tribes, while Trolls take cues from Jamaican, South American, and African cultures – all of which face discrimination and erasure in real life. By not making Hero Talent trees themed after these playable races, while simultaneously forcing characters of every race to choose elf-themed ones,World of Warcraftis unwittingly falling into problematic stereotypes.
Luckily, this is far from an unfixable problem. Fans have suggestedWorld of Warcrafteither add direct references to some Hero Talent trees to represent races like the Tauren and Trolls, or make them all more generic like the Herald of the Sun, removing the race-specific flavor from trees like Elune’s Chosen.World of Warcraftis open to feedback on Hero Talents, so hopefully the developers and community can work together to ensure every fan is satisfied with the feature before it arrives.
World of Warcraft: Dragonflight
WHERE TO PLAY
World of Warcraft: Dragonflight was developed by Blizzard Entertainment and is the ninth expansion pack for the iconic massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft.Dragonflight features an overhauled user interface, raises the level cap to 70, and introduces a new race and class.
