World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic’s next patch is now live on the game’s Public Test Realm, allowing players to test out two new raids in the form of Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep, as well as features like guild banks and a group browser tool.
The test version of the game’s patch 2.5.2 also seems to be curiously missing an emote, specifically the /spit emote directed at other players. Since the launch of Blizzard’s MMO, players have been able to spit at other players or characters by targeting them and typing /spit. That no longer works in the latest PTR build, though players can still use the emote on the ground.
Blizzard has not commented on the change, and the emote can still be used in the current version of Burning Crusade Classic as well as the latest Shadowlands expansion, leading players to wonder why exactly the change is happening. According to WoWhead, some are speculating it may be related to players using the emote to harass players who purchased the digital deluxe edition for Burning Crusade Classic, a bundle of microtransactions that include a level boost and a brand-new mount that never existed in the original version of Burning Crusade.
A recent statement from Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, released in the wake of a state of California lawsuit documenting a history of sexual harassment and discrimination at the studio, states content deemed “inappropriate” would be removed from Activision Blizzard games, but didn’t expand on what that might mean. A separate statement from the WoW development team states it would be taking action to “remove references that are not appropriate for our world.”
That statement seemed to refer to the removal of NPCs and items named after former WoW game director Alex Afrasiabi, named in the California lawsuit as allegedly having a pattern of sexual harassment. Activision Blizzard has since confirmed that Afrasiabi was fired from the company in the summer of 2020 for misconduct, and items and NPCs related to him have since been removed from the most current version of Shadowlands, though are currently still present in WoW Classic.
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