World of Warcraft: Dragonflight Missed a Perfect Opportunity for Night Elf Customization

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight and its predecessor, Shadowlands, added a myriad of new customization to the game’s playable races, including night elves. These tweaks have breathed new life into longtime favorites, and they often have important lore implications as well. However, sometimes there are some missed opportunities when a small change could have made a big difference.

The latest of World of Warcraft’s patches, called Guardians of the Dream, centered around the Emerald Dream and those who would do it harm. Players had to hand together to defeat Fyrakk, the Flame Incarnate, as well as his toasty followers, the Druids of the Flame. These druids are mostly made up of night elves, and although they’ve been in the game for some time, only now are they getting more in-depth interactions.

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Druids of the Flame Have an Intriguing Past in World of Warcraft

The Druids of the Flame had their debut in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, and since their sound defeat and the death of Ragnaros, they’ve been missing from the story. Their initial goal was to immolate all life on Azeroth, believing that the natural order revolves around destruction instead of new life. Originally, there might have been some wisdom to their dogma, as fire is often used by nature to make way for new life that’s nourished by the ashes left behind.

That being said, the Druids of the Flame spurned the natural order. Many of these wayward night elves were twisted by grief and rage, especially their original leader, Fandral Staghelm. Greater and more sinister powers took advantage of the night elves’ pain, and now it seems to have happened once more.

WoW: Dragonflight Introduced a New Generation of Fiery Druids

Despite a crushing setback for the Druids of the Flame in Cataclysm, their cause was reinvigorated following the events of Battle for Azeroth. When the night elves’ home, Teldrassil, was set ablaze by Sylvanas Windrunner, countless kal’dorei were left homeless, destitute, and having lost everything and everyone they ever cared about. Faith in their goddess Elune had been shattered, and a few began to embrace a different perspective.

This new generation of fiery druids allied themselves with Fyrakk, since they both wanted to see Azeroth set ablaze. They helped the Flame Incarnate break into the Emerald Dream, where they staged an invasion of the vulnerable new World Tree, Amirdrassil. However, as the devastation grew, some of the Druids of the Flame regretted their decision. They realized that perhaps they had been too rash, and they no longer wanted to watch the world burn.

Not All of Fyrakk’s Followers Want to Destroy WoW’s Azeroth

Following this revelation, a small family of these red-skinned night elves sought to change sides, offering their help to the dragons and their Wild God allies. This point in time would be the perfect moment to allow former Druids of the Flame to make their way into player customization. All that would be required is red skin, but truthfully, there are loads of ideas for extra fiery-themed jewelry, tattoos, and even flaming druid forms. Fiery druid forms already exist in the game in cat forms, flight forms, and the new Moonkin customizations, along with loads of flame-themed druid transmogs, so the precedent is already in place.

Similar Lore-Based Night Elf Customizations Already Exist in WoW

Night elf players can already make themselves look like undead kal’dorei who were once enslaved to Sylvanas Windrunner, but are now free to choose their own destiny. It would be a simple change to add former Druids of the Flame to the list and would highlight how versatile and remarkable the night elves really are given all the trauma they’ve suffered in recent years.

It’s possible this option may still be added in the future, but the perfect time would obviously have been one that coincided with Fyrakk’s invasion of the Emerald Dream. Regardless, World of Warcraft has begun to take the time and effort to add finer details to player customization that serve to further enrich lore and immersion, and having Druid of the Flame night elf appearances would certainly do the trick.

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight

Franchise

Warcraft

Platform(s)

PC

Released

November 28, 2022

Developer(s)

Blizzard, Activision

Publisher(s)

Blizzard, Activision

Genre(s)

MMORPG