New character models..

[Unholyground]

http://i.imgur.com/iJuRy.jpg

Thanks, that's kind of eye opening to see how much more effort that is put into the new stuff while keeping it under 10,000 ply count.

[Phalanx]

Honestly, I may be one of the few that enjoy the character models right now. Yes, they are old, but they are just part of that "cartoon" feeling of WOW. I also agree that graphics in WOW are the least of my worries, because the game is all about gameplay!

[Deleth]

Honestly, I may be one of the few that enjoy the character models right now. Yes, they are old, but they are just part of that "cartoon" feeling of WOW. I also agree that graphics in WOW are the least of my worries, because the game is all about gameplay!

They're old, wooden, plain bad and pretty much just textures pasted upon a stiff doll. The old models completly suck, Troll females do not even BLINK!

[Psychotrip]

Honestly, I may be one of the few that enjoy the character models right now. Yes, they are old, but they are just part of that "cartoon" feeling of WOW. I also agree that graphics in WOW are the least of my worries, because the game is all about gameplay!

The newer models exemplify the cartoon feeling of WoW far morethan the ugly wooden dolls of the vanilla races. Cartoon =\= outdated. Also, I'm in the roleplaying minority that feels like WoW isn't ALL about the gameplay, but about the world, the people in it, immersing yourself in it, creating your own avatar that fits into the world. Things like transmog and new character models help us accomplish that.

[Yig]

Honestly, I may be one of the few that enjoy the character models right now. Yes, they are old, but they are just part of that "cartoon" feeling of WOW. I also agree that graphics in WOW are the least of my worries, because the game is all about gameplay!

I loved the original models too, a long time ago. And I still find charm in them, but just imagine how cool they would look with WOTLK, CATA, or MOP era quality. If you liked the originals you should be blown away by the new ones, unless you get hung up over superficial details that may be altered.

---------- Post added 2013-01-17 at 02:10 PM ----------

I haven't read half of the thread, so I don't know if this has been noted or not.

The problem with new models is that you have to also make EVERY. SINGLE. ITEM. in game to work with the models, just imagine how deformed something like t6 would look on a new dwarf, they need to change those models slightly to accompany the new race models too. And that is another thing that makes new models hard to make.

Probably not true. The skeletons for the new models will have more movable parts, but they probably will stack on top of each other and look exactly the same. This means the exact same universal points are all they have to model around. This is how they do armor models for all of the races, every race shares points they reposition and probably have a universal sort of collection of points they keep in mind when creating anything new. But this wont' even require them to move those points around on the new models, unlike a new race model for a brand new concept.

They aren't going to double their work load just to let people keep their old models if they want to, which Ghostcrawler said might happen as it would make the most sense to keep complaining to a minimum.

The armor models for the new player models should look exactly the same and fit the same.

[velde046]

I think one area where new models would help is with with recruiting new players to the game.

Having 10 year old low resolution textures on a very low poly count frame, together with extremely crude character animations and with a laughable amount of character customization is not the way to convince new players to join the game. New customers are the life blood of an mmo, without them the population can only get smaller as long time players leave.

Then again the suprior responsiveness of WoW is still something most games fail to come even close to.... maybe they should have put more emphasis on that instead of character models and animations...

[Maleficia]

If they make Orcs look like Thrall I'm race changing all my Orcs, I can't stand his little prissy run.

[Vashi]

I hope they change GRID character model also. Its all I see 90% of time

[Ryngo Blackratchet]

If they make Orcs look like Thrall I'm race changing all my Orcs, I can't stand his little prissy run.

Don't worry. Thrall's new model isn't the baseline for anything but Thrall. Most of his skeleton is his robe. That's not armor, that's part of the character design. He's got shrimpy turkey legs under the robe.

[tehdef]

Could give a F about models, I care about gameplay and nothing more and yes I do agree they are slow as hell for a billionaire dollar company don't get me wrong on that.

Not how it works. If you check their hiring page, you'll see Basic, Lead, and Senior 3D Character Artists are all needed for WoW. These are the people who help design new skins and characters.

[Darillyn]

I don't understand the new model qq every time blizz releases a new model. Yes they are updating them but current content takes priority (because then you would all qq about lack of content). They have to make all new skeletons for each race as well (the new trolls look good but still use the old troll skeleton) in order for them to be as detailed as the newer races. Also, do you all really think blizz won't release them all at once? If they released each one as it was finished the amount of qq would be ridiculous. I think its safe to assume we won't see the new models until patch 6.0. It'll be a good way to bring back subs and to create hype for the next expansion. Expecting anything different will just lead to disappointment.

[Ryngo Blackratchet]

I don't understand the new model qq every time blizz releases a new model. Yes they are updating them but current content takes priority (because then you would all qq about lack of content). They have to make all new skeletons for each race as well (the new trolls look good but still use the old troll skeleton) in order for them to be as detailed as the newer races. Also, do you all really think blizz won't release them all at once? If they released each one as it was finished the amount of qq would be ridiculous. I think its safe to assume we won't see the new models until patch 6.0. It'll be a good way to bring back subs and to create hype for the next expansion. Expecting anything different will just lead to disappointment.

Actually they use the current night elf male skeleton which is even worse >.<

But yeah, I'm pretty sure they're not going to touch the skeletons. If that were the case, they've have to retweek and refit every single piece of armor in the game and that's just not going to happen. I expect an extreme texture update, some new animations and a new set of facial polygons, similar to the panda/goblin/thrall speak emotes.

At this point we're all guessing anyway.

[Darillyn]

Actually they use the current night elf male skeleton which is even worse >.<

But yeah, I'm pretty sure they're not going to touch the skeletons. If that were the case, they've have to retweek and refit every single piece of armor in the game and that's just not going to happen. I expect an extreme texture update, some new animations and a new set of facial polygons, similar to the panda/goblin/thrall speak emotes.

At this point we're all guessing anyway.

Hmm ya it might be too much to remake the entire skeletons. Adding more facial polygons should look perfectly fine. And I was talking more about the Council of Elders fight. The "night elf" trolls just look stupid to me because that skeleton/animations are so recognizable

[Augh]

Kinda funny to have that brought up immediately after new Thrall's male Draenei run/prance.

[Yig]

Actually they use the current night elf male skeleton which is even worse >.<

But yeah, I'm pretty sure they're not going to touch the skeletons. If that were the case, they've have to retweek and refit every single piece of armor in the game and that's just not going to happen. I expect an extreme texture update, some new animations and a new set of facial polygons, similar to the panda/goblin/thrall speak emotes.

At this point we're all guessing anyway.

What is worse about using a night elf skeleton? That is more variety, not less, which should be a good thing. They said when they announced the new trolls they wanted them to stand more upright because they are the Zandalari Troll tribe, which was always said to have an alien look to them going back years. This is the first time they've finally gotten a custom model rather than a custom skin.

And no, they said combat animations are being updated as well as facial expressions. They will have new skeletons. This doesn't mean they have to retweek or refit anything.

Lined up on top of each other, the skeletons will probably look exactly the same, but they will have much more points for animating while still preserving the shape of the original model. We know for a fact they are making combat animations updated and we were given undead heroic strike as an example, the undead will still do their flip maneuver, it will just look as if they did the model and the animation in 2013 instead of 2004, with more detail and expression and the cartoon physics you see in the modern models that make all of their movements more bouncy and animated.

---------- Post added 2013-01-21 at 02:37 PM ----------

Kinda funny to have that brought up immediately after new Thrall's male Draenei run/prance.

That has been completely dis-proven as a rehash, with images of both models and their rigs and their animations compared side by side. I don't have the images saved, but someone on here has them. The similarities are superficial.

[Ryngo Blackratchet]

What is worse about using a night elf skeleton? That is more variety, not less, which should be a good thing.

It was more of a personal remark. Night elf male animations make me throw up a little in my mouth.

Also, I must have missed the bit about the Forsaken heroic strike update. I'd like to see that one.

[Psychotrip]

What is worse about using a night elf skeleton? That is more variety, not less, which should be a good thing. They said when they announced the new trolls they wanted them to stand more upright because they are the Zandalari Troll tribe, which was always said to have an alien look to them going back years. This is the first time they've finally gotten a custom model rather than a custom skin.

And no, they said combat animations are being updated as well as facial expressions. They will have new skeletons. This doesn't mean they have to retweek or refit anything.

Lined up on top of each other, the skeletons will probably look exactly the same, but they will have much more points for animating while still preserving the shape of the original model. We know for a fact they are making combat animations updated and we were given undead heroic strike as an example, the undead will still do their flip maneuver, it will just look as if they did the model and the animation in 2013 instead of 2004, with more detail and expression and the cartoon physics you see in the modern models that make all of their movements more bouncy and animated.

---------- Post added 2013-01-21 at 02:37 PM ----------


That has been completely dis-proven as a rehash, with images of both models and their rigs and their animations compared side by side. I don't have the images saved, but someone on here has them. The similarities are superficial.

Please people, listen to this man and dont make him have to repeat the exact same thing every few posts.

[Vaucent]

I stopped playing WoW until they update the models which are a decade old by now. And my bet is that we won't even see them in MoP, rather in the next expansion as something "new" which should be out by now if they weren't scratching their ...

Anyone else that shares my opinion? Are Blizzard really that slow or a company which makes billions can't afford to get this needed change out for so long?

I got to level 90 twice then put WoW away for awhile. I just can't get into it anymore for this very reason. Can't stand looking at the old models (couldn't stand looking at them at launch either to be honest). Then again I don't really have anything to hook me with WoW, cause I hate raiding/gear grind and the PvP is less like a battlefield and more like Unreal Tournament. Will play again when/if they update the pre-Cataclysm models, despite the Gameplay Unlove.

[Augh]

That has been completely dis-proven as a rehash, with images of both models and their rigs and their animations compared side by side. I don't have the images saved, but someone on here has them. The similarities are superficial.

That isn't quite how capture data works sir.

Honestly, the source animation is difficult to dismiss as identical, it would make sense as the quickest and simplest way to make the man move. It's just odd that they chose such a distinctive run cycle, but they do a lot of things in this manner these days.

[Ryngo Blackratchet]

That isn't quite how capture data works sir.

Honestly, the source animation is difficult to dismiss as identical, it would make sense as the quickest and simplest way to make the man move. It's just odd that they chose such a distinctive run cycle, but they do a lot of things in this manner these days.

Most of what Yig says is long winded, over glorified opinion, but in this case, what you're saying makes absolutely no sense. The draenei run animation doubles the distance covered in one of thrall's strides. Thralls is shorter, faster, and his legs move and bend normally, as opposed to the reverse-hinge run of the draenei. All you have to do is pull both models up in two different WoWhead windows and have them run side by side. They're not even remotely similar.

However, if you want to get technical, feel free to download Model Viewer and display the two in their raw wire forms and realize for yourself how amazingly dissimilar they are. I'd do it, but we had this discussion years ago. It's a little tired now. We had the same one before that with Garrosh supposedly using a tauren skeleton. The baseless assumptions get old after a while.