Just wanted to let you know this guide has been updated as of March 24, 2026, to cover all the cool new customization stuff they added in patch 12.0.5. I originally put it together on March 17th, but I’ve been keeping it fresh!
The highly anticipated World of Warcraft: Midnight has arrived, continuing the fight against Xal’atath with new adventures in four zones, including updated versions of Eversong Woods and Zul’Aman. A major highlight of the expansion is the introduction of the Haranir, a new playable race. These elf-like people live in Harandar, a new area where they care for the World Trees. Players will be especially excited by the extensive and beautiful character customization options available for the Haranir in World of Warcraft.
Some players feel the Haranir race has too many customization options. They offer two to four times the level of detail compared to other races in World of Warcraft, letting players adjust everything from body hair to eyelashes. This extensive detail really highlights how much the game’s overall character customization system needs to be updated – it hasn’t had a major overhaul since 2020.
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 characters in World of Warcraft offer incredible customization options, with a total of 29 categories (28 for one body type). Players can personalize everything from the usual features like hair and faces to more unique details like spines, fur markings, foot shapes, and eyelashes. Many of these categories have a wide variety of choices—for example, 18 different hairstyles are available for each body type, featuring some of the best black hair textures in the game, and the option to add highlights. Plus, Haranir eyes have a uniquely captivating, reflective quality that no other race shares.
The latest update to World of Warcraft, patch 12.0.5, will offer more ways to customize your Demon Hunter and Evoker characters. Demon Hunters will have new eye options, while Evokers will gain new colors and a useful feature: they’ll be able to change their appearance even during battles.
The Haranir offer an incredible level of customization, surpassing almost all other races in the game. Only the Dracthyr from World of Warcraft: Dragonflight come close. In fact, over half the races have fewer customization options overall. While some races compensate with many choices within each category – like the 34 hairstyles or 45 faces available for one type of Human – most don’t have nearly as much variety. Several races, including classic options like Undead and Gnomes, and newer Allied Races such as Dark Iron Dwarves and Vulpera, have fewer than ten 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 | ❌ |
Loadout Logic
Tap on a weapon to rotate it or press R while dragging.
Results
Okay, so the Haranir are seriously cool. Not only are they a new race, but as a Druid player, I’m blown away! We can actually customize all our forms – like, really customize them. I can head to the Barber Shop and change things like fur color, ear shape, even the snout on my bear, bat, or axolotl form. And it’s not just visual – most of these forms have totally unique animations and even dance emotes! I know Dragonflight let everyone customize Moonkin form, but the Haranir are the only race where you can customize all your Druid forms this way. It’s a game changer!
When the Haranir update released, players noticed several problems with how character appearances (Transmog) looked, and the World of Warcraft team is working to resolve them.
Players have been having fun designing Haranir characters, but the amount of focus they’re getting feels unfair to other races. Blood Elves and Void Elves are central to this expansion, with Silvermoon City being a major location, yet they haven’t received any new customization options. They have very limited choices, fitting on just one page (except for female Blood Elves, who have a few extra). The extensive customization options given to the Haranir really emphasize how much Blood and Void Elves need a significant update to their character creation options.
The character customization options in World of Warcraft received a major update in 2020 with the Shadowlands expansion. This allowed players to customize features like faces and eye color independently, and added popular options like scars and the ability to play upright Orcs. While the Shadowlands expansion itself wasn’t a huge hit with players, this customization update was widely praised. Since then, a few smaller updates have added options like glowing hands for Nightborne, new skin tones for Draenei and Trolls, but none have been as comprehensive as the Shadowlands overhaul.
The newer races – Dracthyr, Earthen, and Haranir – look fantastic, but the older character models are beginning to feel outdated. It’s been a longer time since the models were updated in Warlords of Draenor (2014) than between the original World of Warcraft release (2004) and that update. It’s time Blizzard gave the same visual attention to all races that they’ve given to the newer ones.
New Customization Options Are Coming To World of Warcraft
But It Might Be a Long Time Until Blizzard Gets Around To It
There’s good news for fans hoping for more character customization options. In a recent interview with Windows Central, Blizzard’s World of Warcraft design director Maria Hamilton and principal artist Jay Hwang revealed that they are planning more customizations. Unlike the small updates they’ve done in the past, like with Heritage Armor, Blizzard is aiming for a much larger project – potentially an overhaul on the scale of the Shadowlands expansion.
Beyond just visual updates, World of Warcraft could allow players to personalize their spells and how their characters move. While limited customization options like Glyphs and the Green Fire quest have existed before, they’re currently fragmented and confusing. If Blizzard streamlines these systems, players could truly feel like they’re playing a unique character – a Night Elf Moon Priestess, a Tauren Sunwalker, or any of World of Warcraft‘s classic classes – and fully immerse themselves in the game’s fantasy.
However, players shouldn’t get too excited just yet. The developers, Hamilton and Hwang, have stressed that this project is still in its early stages and they don’t have a firm timeline for when it will be added to World of Warcraft. It might take several years, or even longer, before players can actually experience what they’re working on.
Looking ahead, exciting improvements are planned for character customization. The recent update to the Transmog system in WoW: Midnight has been very successful, and Blizzard intends to build on that. Eventually, players might be able to customize even more details about their characters, like how they move, the sounds they make, and visual effects. For now, fans are enjoying the current options and hoping future changes to World of Warcraft will allow for even greater diversity and personalization across all races.
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2026-03-25 03:07