World of Warcraft Fans Point Out Disparity Between Certain Hero Talent Trees

gamerant.com:

Some World of Warcraft fans have pointed out that the Hero Talent trees coming in The War Within don’t give every playable race equal treatment. Though the new player power feature seems exciting at baseline, some World of Warcraft fans 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 in The War Within. Acting as a third Talent tree that players unlock between levels 71 and 80, many Hero Talents are inspired by iconic Warcraft archetypes, such as the Mountain Thane or Keeper of the Grove. So far, World of Warcraft has revealed 16 of the 39 total Hero Talent trees.

However, some World of Warcraft fans have concerns that the Hero Talent trees aren’t giving every player race equal treatment. Portergauge, an influential WoW fan, 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. The Elune's Chosen Hero Talent in WoW is 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.

The elvish favoritism among the Hero Talents goes deeper than that. Saphras, a WoW fan and elf enthusiast, pointed out that at least six of the Hero Talents are inspired by World of Warcraft class fantasies of 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