The biggest news of the day so far would have to be the Achievements system. Linked within Blizz's Achievements page is the screenshot you see above (click to embiggen), which contains some interesting new hints for the highly anticipated haircut system that we'll be getting access to in Wrath:

• You'll be able to change:
  • Hair Style
  • Hair Color
  • Facial Hair (and presumably the attributes in that slot for other races/genders, like jewelry)
    
• It looks to be pretty cheap - the example price here is a mere 2 silver. This is surprising to me because I was pretty sure it was going to be a big gold sink.
• The barber shop looks pretty cool; apparently, this one is run by goblins, although the engineering on the chairs looks more Gnomish to me.

Alright, there's not a lot there, and as the beta has not even begun yet any of this may well change (especially the price), but it's something. By the way, does anyone have a clue as to what the icon on the top-right of the minimap is? That's where the sun/moon icon usually goes. David hazarded a guess that it's a picture of a window, indicating that you're inside; my only theory is that it's the icon for the Achievements interface, though it's oddly big and in a strange place.

One of the trumpeted features of Wrath of the Lich King are new dances and hairstyles. The new dances, I can understand. They're visually distinctive, fun at parties, and you can never dance enough on top of the mailbox. On the other hand, is there really a point to new hairstyles? I know Daniel has big plans for his characters, and my wife is excited at the prospect of finally being able to change what she disdainfully calls her 80's look. Personally, I've got half a mind to get one hairstyle change on one of my toons, but does anyone actually remember how your character's hair looks?

I keep my helmet graphic off for PvP purposes, but most of the time, a lot characters have their heads all covered up. Even if they weren't, do you really remember if your Tauren buddy's horns are curved or straight? Or if your Troll guildie has green or orange hair? I'm willing to wager none of your friends remember what kind of haircut your Human Priest has, or what color it is. With few exceptions, even if players choose wacky, colorful hairstyles, most of us won't notice. I don't even really remember if my Rogue Arena teammate has a lower jaw. We simply don't pay enough attention to other people's characters for it to matter.

On the other hand, new hairstyles will probably make us happier with our toons. My wife's looking forward to playing her Priest again, after regretting a hair choice she'd made ages ago while Daniel is excited to get royal purple samurai hair. Even if other players won't really remember how you look, the important thing is being happy with the character you play. The paid name change, for example, is one character customization feature I'm still happy about, even though I have yet to take advantage of it (my customization budget tops off at $10). So while the dances will be something everyone can appreciate the next time someone plays a piccolo at the Auction House, new hairstyles will be something more personal. Even if you cover it up with a helmet, at least you know no one can mess with your new 'do.

So like I was saying the other day, one of the things I'm looking forward to the most out of WotLK is the character customization options, such as the dance studio and the barber shop. I've already got a few ideas in my head for how I'm going to change my characters.

For my Night Elf druid, I've been tired of his green hair for a while now. It's not bad, and it blends in well with most Druid tier armor, but I feel like I want to stand out, so I'm figuring royal purple, one of my favorite colors, should look awesome. I'm also figuring I'll give him the short beard (he's clean-shaven), and maybe restyle his hair to be the long topknot style, if only because the Samurai look would be pretty sweet. As far as dances, I'll have to see how the system works, like if it lets you pick any dance currently in game or just gives you access to a couple extra dances for each race, but If it's an option, I am totally switching him over to the Tunak Tun dance, if only because I absolutely love that dance.

You're likely already aware that one of the great new features to be unveiled in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion is the ability to change your character's hairstyle. A number of players (including myself) have actually stopped playing certain characters just because our original appearance choices didn't turn out as good in play as they seemed in the character creation screen. Some (including myself) have spent a long time thinking about what a new character should look like and trying out many variations, playing for a bit, deleting them and trying again until you get something you know you can live with for the rest of your character's life.

Soon, however, our characers' hairspray will no longer be stone-stiff, and a new era of creative exploration will open up to Azerothians. Existing characters with ugly hair may get a second chance at coolness -- but as many already satisfied players know, your characters' good looks often come from a desire to make them fit, as closely as possible, some image we already have in our mind.

So tell us of your dream for your character, how you envision him or her when you close your eyes. Do you want your Death Knight to look like Darth Vader, or -- heaven forbid -- Chuck Norris? If you like, you could link to a picture you like, or even draw your creative vision for us!

My own most vivid character visualization was for a night elf rogue I had in mind. I wanted her to have the look of an angel who used to live among the stars in the sky, but had somehow gotten lost on earth and forgotten her way home. In hindsight, I was probably very inspired by my favorite Neil Gaiman novel, Stardust, in which a star actually does fall to the earth... and breaks her leg.

I was talking with some friends of mine the other night about the new expansion and we were giggling to ourselves about how the expansion video presents us with the amazing new features to be revealed in Wrath of the Lich King. "New Continent: Northrend!" it announces, "Destructible Buildings! Siege Weapons! New Profession: Inscription! ....Changeable Hairstyles! New Dances!"

It does seem rather incongruous that in a game called about warcraft, changeable hairstyles and new dances would be a big deal, but it's true! This is something we've been wanting for a long time, but I never for the life of me imagined it would be an expansion feature. I always thought it would be like voice chat and guild banks, added in with some patch or another just like so many other things.

It begs some frightening questions: Are we going to have special hairstyles and dances only available to those who have bought the expansion? Will we have to quest for that really epic hairdo, or spend hours and hours grinding for the reputation to access that one faction haircut we want? After all, we do it for special mounts whose only claim to fame is looking cool, why not for hairdos too?

I suspect there won't be such thing as an epic hairdo quest, nor rep-grind barber shops, but really any which way Blizzard manages it will be fine with me. I do hope there will be new skin colors, faces and other characteristics be available too, though one could argue that should those be set in stone. Also, one would wonder if it's just new hair and dances which they have in store for us, or are there going to be a whole slew of new social features? Dare we hope for a proper /hug animation?

While I know that this subject has been touched on before, one can only hope that someday Blizzard implements a feature to change the appearance of your character. Many players have already voiced their opinions over the years, but it seems the cause has been reinforced yet again.

Cyn from the Lethon realm has caused a resurgence in this movement. His efforts include digging up more than 40 previous petition posts, many of which already have hundreds of signatures as well. This isn't even the tip of the iceberg for the outstanding demand of this feature, as his post already has 300 signatures as well.

The idea stands that people want to be able to change their facial expression, hair style, hair color, facial hair, and skin tone without having to reroll their character. Essentially, players want to have a tool in-game that performs like the character creation tool, but that doesn't require you to start over at level one, as it stands now.

There seems to be a real demand for this, and its a shame that Blizzard hasn't implemented or at least given a "coming in future patches" notice to all the fans requesting it. I for one wouldn't mind forking over the equivalent cost of a respec to fix my level 70's ugly mugs into something a tad more appealing, or more complimenting to the current gearset that I have equipped. I mean, hey, the neon pink and green gnome-fro's just don't always go with the orange-red Spellstrike Garb.

Does anyone else have a bad-haircut story to share? What do you think about this potential feature or lack thereof?