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  1. #1

    Developer Interviews, New Character Models, Blue Tweets, Blizzard Holiday Art

    Focused Feedback - Act V Difficulty @ Sub-70, Meet Lewt, the Papercraft Treasure Goblin

    Weekly News Recap, Weekend Tournament Decklists

    Developer Interviews
    We are catching up on a few more Blizzcon interviews that we didn't get in our first round, this time from The Sundering and LazyGamer.

    • Garrisons might bring in other players by allowing you to share a crafting skill or loaning another player some followers.
    • There is a dungeon, prop, character, and environment team working on the art for Warlords of Draenor, so art for Garrison upgrades didn't delay the new character models.
    • The team started working on the Warlords of Draenor art and story right after Mists of Pandaria shipped, with concepts being worked on before that.
    • Buffs to class abilities will be given out in a somewhat random order as you level, but by the time you get to level 100 you will have them all.
    • You will get your garrison soon after arriving in Draenor, making it useful as you level and progress through the story.
    • Garrisons will be heavily integrated into the game, making it something that will be hard to skip.
    • The Goblin and Worgen were the first demo of new character models, but the team felt like they could take that even further and created the Pandaren. The Goblin and Worgen aren't planned to have any update right now, but they could be updated after all of the other models are done.


    New Character Models Update
    Chris Robinson mentioned that we will see some more new character model previews early next year!



    Blue Tweets
    Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
    New Character Models
    A little question: will/could we get great and glorious beards for humans and nightelves? (Think of Antonidas or Malfurion)
    Agree that would be cool - good thing to think about now while we're adding bones. (Source)

    The worgen males 2h animation has bothered me for a long time. Mostly looks bad when used repeatedly
    haha, that's funny - I get the translation issue. We typically avoid adjusting established content but I'll bring it up with anim (Source)

    When the human models get updated will this also update the human side of the worgen player models
    yes, it effects the transform animation/fx as well - all will be updated to match. (Source)

    WC3 Dwarf Mountain King had skulls on his moustache. Can we expect that as a possible option for the new male Dwarf beards?
    not without breaking the game with pure unfiltered awesome New facial hair combos are on the wishlist - no eta (Source)

    Could you imagine some NPC armors being upgraded to keep up with the new models? Some are terribly outdated and yet reused
    yes,would love to update a LOT of older armor,race specific armor to replace level up stuff has been discussed. It's give and take (Source)
    I loved seeing racial armor in the Draenei and Blood Elf starting area. In Cataclysm I expected to see it for all
    yeh, we're all pretty fired up about the vision of racial specific armor (Source)

    Will it be possible to have an Orc model like Thrall's? I love the new model, but I'd prefer a straight back rather (cont)
    It just need happen - just talk to lore guys, they would be so happy to have real orcs instead that peons...
    feel like we took a step away from peon with model update, but realize that upright pose option is desired (Source)

    Hey, there! Quick question: Will my orcs finally be able to have full heads of hair like Grom and Thrall do in WoD?
    We see Huge RP value in hero hairstyles, ongoing discussions on which to include/how to roll them out. (Source)

    We will see, someday, brown orcs for players?
    We love the idea of "alt" skins to unlock - Mag'har orcs, dark iron dwarves, etc. - but not a high-priority feature. (Source)
    Lot of questions about this - would be a cool option but no concrete plans. It's on the wishlist now. (Source)

    Will we be getting more faces for any races in Warlords? Tauren females have only 4 options, human females have 16.
    Noted! no promises but I would like to even those counts out. (Source)

    Will Draenei have a longer tail (as more often shown in art than not), or will they be stuck with the small ones?
    That's a cool idea, no promises but I'll add it to my list. Hard to pull off with current skeleton, but possible with new version. (Source)

    Have you guys looked into making collars anchored if tech allows?
    Indeed - this isn't my favorite limitation, still working on a solve but it's on the radar. (Source)

    Any chance Off-hands could hang at characters' hip? Right now they're not visible unless you unsheathe.
    I'll look into this (Source)

    Tabards... will they work with robes on the great new character models?
    Torn on this, hard to ensure tabard design works well with robe design - like the layering effect though. (Source)

    Here's hoping for better feet for my monk with the new models
    New player models have feet fully modeled when not wearing boots - trolls will benefit greatly (Source)

    Love your work so far. I hope you dont forget to make distinct faces for each race. Unfortunately all pandas look the same
    Working hard to find solution for distinct facial variants with new anim system. Tricky but we have top people on it! (Source)

    With models and skeletons being updated are actual skeletons being upgraded? Like the ones after death.
    I agree, could use update (Source)

    Will the new models fix problems with old armour, specifically hands? Dwarven hands in armour need help
    A few potential solutions for this, exploring attachments on hands to help with detail in that area, still in development (Source)

    New Ghost Wolf model happening any time soon?
    Agree that it needs a face/body lift. No solid eta but on the radar. Lots of new wolf stuff for Warsong clan might be headstart (Source)

    Have you and the team ever given some thought to creating female and/or racial metamorphosis forms?
    We've talked about gender specific, but we do have racial-like Troll/Worgen/Tauren, cat form. (Source)

    Meet Lewt, the Papercraft Treasure Goblin
    Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
    To help celebrate the holidays and ring in the new year, we've put together a fun little papercraft project for our creative community. In true Diablo fashion, this particular papercraft is of a Treasure Goblin, complete with his very own papercraft Treasure Bag.


    We call him Lewt.

    For the printable designs, assembly instructions, festive photos and more, read on!

    Creating your own Lewt is easy. To begin, you'll want to decide how big of a goblin you want. We've offered two sizes for printing: one standard (fits an 8 ½ by 11 sheet) and one large (fits an 11 by 17 sheet). Pick your poison and then proceed to the assembly instructions.

    #WHERESMYLEWT:

    Lewt is already busy helping us here at Blizzard prepare for and celebrate the holidays.


    But what about you?

    After you've trimmed, folded, and adhered your way to sweet goblin victory, be sure to send us a photo of your Lewt in action. To do so, tweet us at @Diablo using the #WHERESMYLEWT hashtag. We'll be retweeting and sharing our favorite Lewt adventures on Twitter and Facebook as well as posting more photos of our own throughout the holidays.

    Happy crafting!

    Happy Holidays!
    Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
    From everyone at Blizzard to you and yours, have a safe and happy holiday season!

    To help celebrate, we prepared a Holiday Card Gallery, and we’ve also made this year’s holiday card and five images from the children's book, Snow Fight A Warcraft Tale, available as new wallpapers. Enjoy!


  2. #2
    Deleted
    I just wanna know if Garrisons are going to be account bound // server bound or character bound !!!

    Bound bound bound

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Mkgego View Post
    I just wanna know if Garrisons are going to be account bound // server bound or character bound !!!

    Bound bound bound
    They are per character, with possible faster leveling of them for alts.

  4. #4
    Hope they show some Troll models when they start showing more models early next year.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by DragonsBeard View Post
    Hope they show some Troll models when they start showing more models early next year.
    Agreed. Good to hear that news are on the way soon after new year. =D

  6. #6
    you know for this being one of the big new features coming out with this expansion it feels like they're doing the most minimal of changes. I don't mean because they're lazy or anything like that, i mean i think they're being too conservative about it. like the alternate skins for races like brown orcs, adding distinct faces, more hairstlyes. instead of "working on it" or "trying to do that" type of answers they're all, "its on the wish list" "good idea, it's noted". i guess all i'm saying is since this is a big update to something many people have wanted maybe they should be more open minded about it. after all their main concern is making the player like the new models and it seems like many are telling them these ideas that they want.

    like the distinct faces option, i remember hearing people say that they were concerned about all the new models having just one face and i thought no way they'd do that but, it looks like that it might happen. oh well all and all i really do like the new models and and happy they are doing this when they could just not do it.

  7. #7
    "Buffs to class abilities will be given out in a somewhat random order as you level, but by the time you get to level 100 you will have them all."

    I don't get that! What does it mean?

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Xjev View Post
    "Buffs to class abilities will be given out in a somewhat random order as you level, but by the time you get to level 100 you will have them all."

    I don't get that! What does it mean?
    Instead of new spells, you get perks/buffs to your existing spells as you level from 90 to 100.

  9. #9
    Merely a Setback Kaleredar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by demonik View Post

    like the distinct faces option, i remember hearing people say that they were concerned about all the new models having just one face and i thought no way they'd do that but, it looks like that it might happen. oh well all and all i really do like the new models and and happy they are doing this when they could just not do it.
    The singular faces aren't so much an effect of laziness as they are of more complex facial animations requiring less mutable facial rigging to support them.

    Old WoW faces were like muppets with a loose position of where the eyes, nose, mouths, and so forth would go. So you could change things up quite a bit with how big the noses were, how wide the lips were, how far apart the eyes were... but when you link those things to ACTUAL geometric points on the models that move... you can't make the eyes appear far apart, because then they'd be off of where the eyes actually are. You can't really draw the nose differently, because then it wont be on the actual modeled nose anymore.

    It'd be in Blizzard's best interest, methinks, to actually design each different face with different facial geometries altered to match that look, instead of trying to draw the faces onto the new facial geometry. But, of course, that would take a great deal of time.
    “Do not lose time on daily trivialities. Do not dwell on petty detail. For all of these things melt away and drift apart within the obscure traffic of time. Live well and live broadly. You are alive and living now. Now is the envy of all of the dead.” ~ Emily3, World of Tomorrow
    Quote Originally Posted by Wells View Post
    Kaleredar is right...
    Words to live by.

  10. #10
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by demonik View Post
    you know for this being one of the big new features coming out with this expansion it feels like they're doing the most minimal of changes. I don't mean because they're lazy or anything like that, i mean i think they're being too conservative about it. like the alternate skins for races like brown orcs, adding distinct faces, more hairstlyes. instead of "working on it" or "trying to do that" type of answers they're all, "its on the wish list" "good idea, it's noted". i guess all i'm saying is since this is a big update to something many people have wanted maybe they should be more open minded about it. after all their main concern is making the player like the new models and it seems like many are telling them these ideas that they want.

    like the distinct faces option, i remember hearing people say that they were concerned about all the new models having just one face and i thought no way they'd do that but, it looks like that it might happen. oh well all and all i really do like the new models and and happy they are doing this when they could just not do it.
    Agreed 100%. It sounds like so far the bare minimum is being done (literally just updating the current faces/hairstyles etc) and nothing more. Which is a shame as so much more should go through this re-design, which people seem to have thought of, and Blizzard are only reacting to this. Like youre working on new player skeletons but hadn't thought to update the 8 year old dead player skeleton, really?

  11. #11
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by chaud View Post
    Instead of new spells, you get perks/buffs to your existing spells as you level from 90 to 100.
    As much as a new Spell would be nice I'm glad they're going this route, way too much clutter,

  12. #12
    Merely a Setback Kaleredar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Deusfox View Post
    Agreed 100%. It sounds like so far the bare minimum is being done (literally just updating the current faces/hairstyles etc) and nothing more. Which is a shame as so much more should go through this re-design, which people seem to have thought of, and Blizzard are only reacting to this. Like youre working on new player skeletons but hadn't thought to update the 8 year old dead player skeleton, really?
    Yeah I'd rather have... anything... other than resources spent on updating dead player skeletons.

    They're SUPPOSED to be low rez, so they can pile up without affecting framerates. Even these crappy low rez ones, however, can have a dramatic effect... back when people zerged Oondasta before the nerfs, those crappy old skeletons were STILL able to pile up so much that they crashed servers.
    “Do not lose time on daily trivialities. Do not dwell on petty detail. For all of these things melt away and drift apart within the obscure traffic of time. Live well and live broadly. You are alive and living now. Now is the envy of all of the dead.” ~ Emily3, World of Tomorrow
    Quote Originally Posted by Wells View Post
    Kaleredar is right...
    Words to live by.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Kaleredar View Post
    Yeah I'd rather have... anything... other than resources spent on updating dead player skeletons.

    They're SUPPOSED to be low rez, so they can pile up without affecting framerates. Even these crappy low rez ones, however, can have a dramatic effect... back when people zerged Oondasta before the nerfs, those crappy old skeletons were STILL able to pile up so much that they crashed servers.
    It wasn't the skeletons that crashed the server it was the thousands of players with all their equipment and other graphics and stats on one spot. When they left and the island looked like this

    the framerate was smooth as silk.
    Last edited by Kryos; 2013-12-24 at 10:23 AM.
    Atoms are liars, they make up everything!

  14. #14
    Garrisons are going to be heavily integrated? Well, damn, here I was hoping they'd be a replacement for dailies and we could use them to get gold, but now it seems like it might be more mandatory...though it could simply be something you need to use to a point, but if you spend more time in it you get more stuff than is necessary.

  15. #15
    Legendary! snuzzle's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kaleredar View Post
    The singular faces aren't so much an effect of laziness as they are of more complex facial animations requiring less mutable facial rigging to support them.

    Old WoW faces were like muppets with a loose position of where the eyes, nose, mouths, and so forth would go. So you could change things up quite a bit with how big the noses were, how wide the lips were, how far apart the eyes were... but when you link those things to ACTUAL geometric points on the models that move... you can't make the eyes appear far apart, because then they'd be off of where the eyes actually are. You can't really draw the nose differently, because then it wont be on the actual modeled nose anymore.

    It'd be in Blizzard's best interest, methinks, to actually design each different face with different facial geometries altered to match that look, instead of trying to draw the faces onto the new facial geometry. But, of course, that would take a great deal of time.
    Problem is we're already seeing the "one face" on the new models (pandaren female, worgen female, and gnome female). I saw a lot more distinction in pandaren male, gnome male and dwarf male. The problem seems to be not one of JUST geometry but the fact that Blizzard seems afraid to add too much detail to female faces atm, because they don't want to make them "ugly" or unpopular.

    While you cannot draw a different nose, make the eyes further apart or larger, etc, you can do a LOT with shading. Think like what women in real life do with stage makeup. They seem free and fine with doing this on male faces, but not the female faces. For example, male pandaren were given a variety of nose shapes and lip shapes/sizes on their faces, but females only got one nose and one lip. This plays a HUGE role in the oneface feel of female pandaren.

    We'll see how it looks when everything is rolled out in Beta and pray they listen to feedback.

    Will we be getting more faces for any races in Warlords? Tauren females have only 4 options, human females have 16.
    Noted! no promises but I would like to even those counts out. (Source)
    This makes me so happy I can't even.
    Last edited by snuzzle; 2013-12-24 at 10:35 AM.

    Sig by Isilrien

  16. #16
    Why make the garrisons so integrated that you NEED to do them?
    When we sat here at my place me and my friends we were totaly hyped for the expansion except for the garrison part. Not a single one was especially impressed and just felt like Blizz added something just because they wanted to add more content.
    What is so fun with it really? Another money-sink is all I can see in it...
    I surely hope Im wrong thou cause if its mandatory its better be REALLY fun and in no way feel as a grind, cause if they make something mandatory that is a grind... well poo...

  17. #17
    The Lightbringer Zathrendar's Avatar
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    Are they going to give the blood elf males a less stupid pose, which is largely what messes up their model, esp. compared to TFT/the concept art, and night elf males a less awkward walk and less embarrassing casting animations? Casting animations like the Blood Mage's from TFT would also be awesome for BE males. I hope they increase muscle definition for both models. Maybe go back to this artistic direction for BE.

    Whilst they're at it, draenei males could also do with a bit more sleekness, their model just looks clumsy. They should revert to the original Eredar concept art. Human males will probably get much love with their update, but I am hoping this includes fixing their run/walk animations a little, which look stiff.

    The new models are the selling point of this expansion for me, and I don't really accept any excuses from Blizzard in regard to "lack of resources" or "It'll take time" and whatnot. They are doing this because they have to remain competitive with other, flashier, smoother MMOs, so I hope they put considerable effort into it. So they can take all the time they need, and do a proper job of it.

    Also, surely they will be introducing any new spells through the talent system? I wouldn't expect a new spell to be auto-added to your spellbook this time round, maybe next expansion. Better they focus on re-working existing content, and balancing it better. My view on this is the same with the character models, I am more than happy for them to get out of introducing a new race or class or much in the way of a new zone if they commit to giving a good renovation to the existing stuff, including the lore, like they did for Cata but this time focused on the classes, races and their lore.
    Last edited by Zathrendar; 2013-12-24 at 11:40 AM.

  18. #18
    I am Murloc! DrMcNinja's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by exeetor View Post
    Why make the garrisons so integrated that you NEED to do them?
    When we sat here at my place me and my friends we were totaly hyped for the expansion except for the garrison part. Not a single one was especially impressed and just felt like Blizz added something just because they wanted to add more content.
    What is so fun with it really? Another money-sink is all I can see in it...
    I surely hope Im wrong thou cause if its mandatory its better be REALLY fun and in no way feel as a grind, cause if they make something mandatory that is a grind... well poo...
    I don't think it will be a requirement to raid/PvP, but mandatory if you want to get the most out of your character.

    And I don't mind that. A lot of the added content in MoP (Pets, CMs) were pretty much optional which left me bored from time to time.

  19. #19
    so we have moved on from mandatory dailies to mandatory garrisons

    havent they learned anything yet? gating stuff behind tedious tasks is not what players want.

  20. #20
    When you wear robes, you tuck the tabard in, you don't let it hang. People need to stop asking for such an ugly looking thing.

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