Blizzard has been rolling out plenty of changes to World of Warcraft in preparation for its latest expansion, The War Within, set for release in August. Many of these changes include quality-of-life improvements and features, like the account-wide Warband system. Players with a fear of arachnids will be happy to learn that a major accessibility feature for them has also been added to the game: Arachnophobia Mode.
Arachnophobia, a fear of spiders and other arachnids, is one of the most common phobias in the world, reportedly affecting around 3.5 to 6.1 percent of the population. Due to World of Warcraft's fantasy setting, arachnids can be found in many forms throughout the game, including enemies, mounts, and Battle Pets. The new Arachnophobia Mode setting, which came with the expansion Pre-Patch (Patch 11.0), allows players to replace most of the arachnid-like models in the game.
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How to Enable Arachnophobia Mode in WoW
Players can find Arachnophobia Mode in the Game Menu Options under the General tab of the Accessibility section. By toggling on Arachnophobia Mode, players can replace spider models such as enemies, mounts, and Battle Pets with crustaceans. Arachnophobia Mode appears to happen dynamically, instantly changing models when toggled, without the need to reload or restart the game.
This setting can be a game-changer for many players heading into The War Within, an expansion looking to heavily feature the Nerubians, an intelligent race of arachnoids and insectoids. Fortunately, this setting also extends to the rest of Azeroth, including older raids like Naxxramas, which was famous for its Arachnid Quarter.
While Arachnophobia Mode is certainly a very useful option, Blizzard warns that the setting does not extend to every aspect of the game currently. Features such as cinematics, loading screen art, icons, and Dungeon Journal entries will still retain spiders and other arachnids. Furthermore, some models that contain spider-like or bug-like features won't be covered by this mode. Some examples include Nerubian Priests, Nerubian Swarmers, Cryptlords, Queen Ansurek, and Flightmaster Roost. Although this is unfortunate, Blizzard does state that this is a work in progress and may continue adjusting additional models in the future. Hopefully, Blizzard has more in store for the players, including further improvements to player experience and accessibility.
World of Warcraft
- 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)
- Developer(s)
- Blizzard
- Publisher(s)
- Blizzard
- Engine
- Unreal Engine
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- pc, ps
- Cross Save
- yes
