World of Warcraft’s next patch, Chains of Domination, is full of exciting lore and a dangerous new raid. Some players are ignoring all the new information coming out from the test realms, however, because there are more important revelations afoot: players might finally getting eyeglasses of their own, according to a recent data mine of Patch 9.1.
It’s an odd omission from a game that’s been going on for over 15 years now, but players have been wanting eyeglasses for years. NPCs like the druid adventurer Elise Starseeker, a few Gilnean grandmothers, and a troll historian are all sporting some classy spectacles, but players only get access to gaudy goggles. They’re good items for engineers, tinkerers, and scientists, but these options are not subtle.
Wowhead has data mined a set of cosmetic glasses, and they’re all simple circle or half-moon frames. A long-running site, Wowhead has traditionally published data mined content from test servers, reliably letting players get a glimpse at upcoming twists. While some content can change between data mining and release, main story beats or character models tend to be consistently similar between discovery in the data and being launched in game.
The glasses in question are not visually exciting, especially compared to high level raid gear … but fans are still incredibly excited. This is a feature, no matter how minor, that many people have wanted for years. Fans have been trying to get sunglasses available to “transmog” — using the physical appearance of one item while equipping another for its stats — and that has felt like an uphill struggle. Having a whole variety of glasses to use is a pretty good step in the right direction.
At the start of Shadowlands and the end of Battle for Azeroth, Blizzard introduced tons of new customization options, including scars, tattoos, eyebrows, faces, and hairstyles. However, there will be no new updates along those lines in the rest of this expansion. The introduction of eyeglasses and some basic sets of armor suggest that Blizzard is still adding new items for transmog, including ones the fans have wanted for quite some time.
Polygon reached out for comment to Blizzard, but the company declined to comment. We do not know how players will earn or find these glasses, but it’s possible to test them out for yourself using a script on the test realm. Further details will come once we get closer to the release of Chains of Domination.
