A long list of crude and suggestive emotes will be reworked or removed entirely from World of Warcraft in the game's upcoming Shadowlands patch 9.1.5.
As noted by Wowhead, the game's latest public test realm build reveals emotes like kick, stink, shake, and moan have been removed completely, while other crude emotes like drool, cough, burp, fart, whistle, spit, and moon can no longer be directed at other players. The pounce and groan emotes have been adjusted while directed at another player, but have not been removed.
Patch 9.1.5 will add four new, generally more positive emotes as well. Players will be able to perform huzzah, magnificent, impressed, and wince emotes when the patch eventually arrives.
The emote changes come as Blizzard continues to make in-game efforts to remove inappropriate content following multiple lawsuits and investigations regarding workplace discrimination and harassment towards women at Activision Blizzard. A state of California lawsuit's allegations led to the departure of numerous Blizzard veterans, including former Blizzard president J. Allen Brack. Activision Blizzard recently agreed to pay $18 million in a settlement after being sued by US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in regards to harassment and discrimination allegations. The federal Securities and Exchange Commission is also investigating the company.
Other changes coming to the game with patch 9.1.5 include the renaming of certain problematic achievements, less-suggestive names for a pair of old raid bosses, and the removal of references to former employees. It will also bring with it a huge number of changes long requested by fans, including making the game more alt-friendly and the removal of widely unpopular mechanics like the area-of-effect cap and Conduit Energy. Shadowlands patch 9.1.5 does not currently have a release date, but is expected to release sometime this fall.