I have returned from my quest victorious with information!
My earlier statement was in error - while I was unaware of the change, this was because it wasn’t something that was intended for our usual communication channels (yet), but it was intended to go live.
This is part of an A/B test we’re conducting with the character creator. We didn’t announce it or publish anything in the patch notes since for this type of testing we run the risk of corrupted results if curious veteran players start rolling new characters just to check out the feature.
We routinely conduct A/B testing in this way and it usually goes unnoticed but this obviously touches on a particularly significant system and has caught everyone’s attention anyway.
The test started several days ago and will be running over the next few weeks. The things we learn during the test will inform future iteration on the character creator feature, so what you’re seeing right doesn’t fully reflect the finished product. The character creator is one of the key parts in improving the early experience for our new players, a key initiative which we have been focusing on - and talking about - for quite some time.
So for now the test will run it’s course and we’ll have more to say about the character creator after the holidays!