Tactial mentions on the forums that all of the Rogues (in fact, this is true about almost everyone) are still in Tier 4. When Burning Crusade first came out and we all reached 70, Tier 4 was where it was at -- some people were excited about being in Tier 4, even if they hadn't earned it yet. But nowadays, Tier 4 ain't that great, and yet all of our forum icons shows us in the (now old) armor.

Drysc does say that the Armory is a click away from the forum icons, but surely Blizzard could take an afternoon and code a little customization into the icons. It seems like everyone else can render icons out of game -- why can't they? There is some good news for those looking for a forum icon update, though: Drysc says that when we're all level 80, we'll probably have new icons yet again, with shiny T7 on our characters.

Which will be great -- until a few big content patches after Wrath, when T9 will be out and we'll all be whining that we're still dressed in T7. Thus goes the circle, the circle of life.

He Said , She Said is a new feature at WoW Insider, which looks at the game from masculine and feminine points of view. This week we discuss the difference between bearing among male and female characters.

David: What's the big idea with all the macho attitude in male characters? I wrote an article about this problem some time ago, and I'd like to see what you think about it. Many people don't even realize it's an issue though; they just assume: "This game is about killing things, therefore, as a male, I should look as violent and intimidating as possible." For those people that think this this way, that's fine; those people should have that option. But let's look at all the male avatars that are available to us in WoW and find out how many options there are for those of us who don't want to look like a football player on steroids. The answer is... one! Other than Gnomes, every single male avatar in the game is pumped full of that "I'm gonna kill you if you get in my way" attitude that I just don't want to play.

Where's the old wizard who spends all his time reading books rather than pumping iron? Where's the skinny rogue who kills things by knowing when and where to put his dagger rather than slashing it around with arms the size of some tree trunks? Where's the option for a male to actually look wise and eloquent instead of brutish and arrogant?

Of all the recurring topics Blizzard faces on the forums, player housing might be the most recurring-- since many other MMOs are more than happy to offer customizable spaces to their players in the game world, a lot of players continually ask Blizzard why they haven't. And the answer is only partially unclear: as you might expect, Blizzard isn't interested in doing something if they can't do it better than everyone else, and at this point they just haven't figured out exactly how to do it their own polished way.

But in its current iteration on the forums, there's a bit of a surprise: many players don't care about player housing in the first place. As Drysc says, "support is not widespread," and considering everything that Blizzard is working on, there's no way they're going to jump into something as big as player housing without having a large portion of the player base behind them.

Then again, players are always in favor of customizing their characters-- look at the hairstyles coming up in the next expansion. If Blizzard can figure out a way to give players a customizable space that was both great looking and easy to customize-- something players could show off to each other and store achievements in-- then there's no doubt that most players would probably jump at the chance.

Mr. T hacked the game and put in a Night Elf mohawk of his own, but will we be able to do the same with the next expansion? Could be-- Bornakk says that he hopes every class gets a mohawk to choose from when the new hairstyles come down in Wrath of the Lich King, but the actual model from the commercial was custom-made for Mr. T.

A mohawk might not be your first choice, but it will be nice to have some new customization choices out there-- I was showing off all of my alts to a friend the other day, and it occurred to me that I must have created an alt for almost every look out there. Not every combination of looks, surely (there's got to be tons of those), but at least every look that appealed to me. Just like many players, I'm definitely ready for new looks, whether they look like Mr. T or not-- if we've got the mohawk coming, does that mean we'll get a mullet for Blood Elves?

Character customization is on its way into Azeroth-- when Wrath of the Lich King comes around (whenever that is), we'll be able to change the way our characters look more than ever. But Blizzard still isn't interested in letting us change the most major functions of our characters-- Vaneras over on the EU forums makes it pretty clear that gender changes are never going to happen.

Gender changes are still a subject that inspires a little taboo in real-life, but actually, in World of Warcraft, it's something that a lot of players might want. Plus, while it's obvious that Blizzard wouldn't want people changing race or class (since there are actual abilities that go with both of those choices), there is no difference in the game between male and female, save for the cosmetic look. Sure, the story behind it would be a hard workaround (I'll let you imagine how that might play out, or, more likely, not), but allowing gender changes wouldn't upset the game, and would let those who feel they've made the wrong choice, err, "fix" things.

The fact is, however, that just like race and class, the gender you chose when you rolled a character have probably determined that character's existence. While changing the character's gender is just a cosmetic thing in terms of code, it's not in terms of identity, and that's what Blizzard has a problem with. The idea of a role playing game like WoW is that you choose a role to play. And if you have the option to change that role at a moment's notice, what's the point of asking you to choose in the first place?

Last night we ventured back into Zul'Gurub, mudskunks in hand, for another unsuccessful attempt at the fishing boss. Although Gahz'ranka didn't see fit to drop my book, again, I was grateful for the opportunity. I don't know why I am obsessed with getting the third polymorph spell, but I am. In fact, I think there should be more of these little gems. I have often found myself in a group with another mage, and having a pig and a sheep certainly makes knowing who's target is who's that much easier. So I have been thinking about the polymorphs I have seen used by NPCs in the game, and the ones I would like to use myself.

Yesterday, after the ganking discussion, I started a blood elf warlock on a pvp server. I didn't get far, but I managed to get some apprentice discipline in before I switched characters. There it was, another polymorph I hadn't even recognized, and although I don't really want to be able to turn people into boars, it's out there as a possibility. I've been turned into squirrels, frogs, rats, chickens, even flowers. All of these spells are in the game, albeit as NPC abilities, and I think should be available to the mages willing to slough through the difficult task of getting them. The way I see it, the more variety the more chance for personalization of the character, and it sure would be easy to distinguish one mage's poly from another in raids.

Another idea on customization goes along with the concept of beauty parlors. Instead of having a lot of different animals, mages could quest for the ability to colorize their sheep. I've done it in other games, and this would be another way to distinguish targets. Plus, it would just plain be fun.

What do you think? Which animals would you like to see added to the list of polymorphs? Personally, I'm voting for polymorph: panda.