The moderator recruitment is progressing well and we'll probably do a first batch of replies before the end of the week.
Diablo III: Stay Awhile and Listen
Blizzard just released the new community site for Diablo 3, which explains why the community team has been on and off on WoW for a while while they were finishing it up I guess! It looks pretty nice and is based on the battle.net format of the existing community sites.
Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Our new Diablo III community site has gone live! This will be your sanctuary for all the latest developments from New Tristram and beyond, featuring community forums and regular blog updates. Just like this site, you can post comments and share Diablo III news items via Twitter, Facebook, and other popular social media outlets. You'll want to check out the new Diablo III news feed regularly. We’ll use it to share everything about Diablo III and to highlight recent community activity, including your most entertaining videos, art, comics, fansites, and much more.
We hope you head over and get acquainted with the new site, and return often. We've got a lot in store leading up to the release of Diablo III, including the launch of the Game Guide section featuring lore, characters, classes, maps, and more. Additionally, you’ll see us on the new Diablo III forums. We look forward to sharing and discussing all the latest Diablo III news, content, and updates with you for a long time to come.
Blog comments, forum posting, and profile management are only available to those with an active StarCraft II, World of Warcraft, or Diablo III beta license.
Also, something interesting turned up on the DiabloFans forums today. When the site went live it seems that Blizzard also included features related to the open beta testing phase. Last time we heard from it, the beta was still supposed to be "soon".
Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Character Models Update
We often see people request for model updates. This is something we'd definitely like to do at some point in time, but time is a very limited commodity for our art team. We also have to be very careful about what it means to "update" a model. We've made changes in the past to various characters and had some people be a bit upset that it was changed on them as they had made very specific choices about the look of their character. We try to be as sensitive as possible about these types of things.
I can't give you more information than that, but the idea isn't far from our minds. We just have a lot of things we still want to on multiple levels that we hope enhance the experience of the game for everyone.
There is a lot of new art that was introduced in Cataclysm along with upgrades in things such as water (as a very small example). We have some pretty high standards for ourselves as well and while we can always up the poly count, that only goes so far. We're talking about models that have existed since the beginning of the game and thus, aren't all as advanced as some of the newer models that have been introduced to the game. We've been upping more than the poly counts. We're doing more in the way of animation and the way models are articulated and move within the world.
Now, as for hiring more people, we are always looking for talented people as you can see from our jobs page.We're even currently looking for a 3D character artist among other things.
Again, I think people are taking what I said to mean that there is a lack of desire on our end, and this is far from the truth. We absolutely agree that we could make improvements and would like to do so. It's just a matter of figuring out the "when" that this could be accomplished. There's a whole world (of warcraft) of things that are being worked on and we want to get to everything we can and make it count. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Raid Finder destroys communities
With the current design philosophy of the upcoming Raid Finder, it's not at all intended to serve as a replacement for organized raiding. In fact, it isn't at all being designed to be used as a direct substitute for forming raids the way people do today. The goal is to give people who enjoy the more casual PuG raid environment, or just don't have the schedule to keep up with organized raids, a better way to experience raid content.
We're still solidifying a lot of the details for this feature and look forward to sharing more with you soon. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Mobile Armory App Updated
Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker)
Automatic price undercutting: Set the default buyout price of your auctions to match or undercut the current lowest buyout price for an item.
Aggregated buyout search results: Multiple auctions posted at the same buyout price can now be viewed as a single group.
Support for the following Guild features: Level, Perks, Rewards, Achievements, News, Events, and MotD.
Links to items and achievements received in Remote Guild Chat now link to those sections in the app.
Links to enchants, quests, abilities, talents, and professions received in Remote Guild Chat now display tool tips.
Improved search technology.
Search now suggests terms based on previous searches.
Updated calendar events presentation.
A character’s talents & glyphs now display on the same page.
Leaderboard has been removed.
Realm firsts will no longer appear in the activity feed.
Bookmarks are now saved locally instead of on the server. All old bookmarks will be lost.
Blizz was pretty adamant about not wanting to do an old world remake right up until Cata was announced, even though they were obviously working on it for most of WotLK.
Not saying next expansion's going to be new models, but I wouldn't say it's never going to happen, either.
I have to agree. I've been pleasantly surprised a couple of times by Blizzard in the past year or so when I thought they weren't listening or would never implement something they actually did.
Were does it say "no we arent going to do new models?" They have been hinting at it for a couple years now, and they dont reveal new feature until theres something to show.
Hoping they stop with the new races and go ahead and use the remodeling of original models as an xpac feature. I think they will finally touch on this at this years Blizzcon.
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
This is something we'd definitely like to do at some point in time, but time is a very limited commodity for our art team.
It sounds like 'Maybe someday, but not now, not soon'. Can't see model updates coming soon or with the next expansion.
Would I like new player models? Sure. I can deal with them though, if they fix the female-orc-sitting-down-in-a-dress-gets-a-boner graphical error from classic. (For those not in the know: get a female orc in any robe, either in-game or in the model viewer, and sit using the x key. The robe texture bends awkwardly at the groin, making her look like she's pitching a tent - and trust me, after vigorous examination, I can safely say that penises are not standard for lady-type orcs, no matter what you might think about their appearance from the waist up). There's also the channeling animation broken and never fixed in the Wrath beta (the right arm of a female orc "bounces" when channeling ever since Wrath). Little minor graphical tweaks like that (such as troll females having eyelids BEHIND their eyes) would go a long way to helping the old models age more gracefully. They need a complete overhaul, sure, but I'd be happy with just the niggling problems and overlooked errors getting sorted first.
Ohhhh and now I see they're hiring 3D character artists and get to spend a lovely evening of self-chastisement for stuffily insisting on the superiority of traditional concept art and turning my nose up at learning Maya or 3DS Max or even goddamn Poser when I had the chance. Good job meeeeeee.
I dont like automatic undercut, I would prefer if they get warned when undercut, but automatic? That shit will fuck the market, go away stupid shit! ):
what the mobile armory STILL does not have a Ipad version? come on blizzard!
Can't you just use the app in the iPad w/o it being optimized? A very small portion of people have iPads compared to iPhones and Androids and I'm sure they'd rather spend their time improving the app's features and squashing bugs then improving the graphics for the least popular device of the 3.
I liked the "How to Win at PvP 2" vid. All nice and true facts. My 2 favorites are the people who tell you to look at their killing blow's and damage know that has nothing to do with objective based pvp and of course my favorite "its just a game". I swear its some 10 yr old behind the computer telling me that its just a game or someone who is much older but fails so all they can do is same "its just a game" so they do not feel so bad they suck at it.
Why does it matter? The current models fit the art style perfectly, what are you expecting? Something out of Crysis 2 as your human female model? Also, why would you EVER want to change the moonkin models? They're perfect they way they are.
Now, as for hiring more people, we are always looking for talented people as you can see from our jobs page.We're even currently looking for a 3D character artist among other things.
one! One 3d artist, not five or ten - but one. A company this size who say their only restriction is time and could afford to hire a hundred 3D artists.
one! One 3d artist, not five or ten - but one. A company this size who say their only restriction is time and could afford to hire a hundred 3D artists.
Yeah must admit I did roll my eyes too when they talked about time limitations. Seems to be with the way with Blizzard, every suggestion or wish seems so out of reach for them.. it's either too time consuming or their servers aren't good enough or yadda yadda and then you see a game like Rift do all those things and suddenly Blizzard can do cool things again. It's not like Blizzard are a small company still finding their feet and working on a shoestring budget.
Build of the Month
Recent Blue Posts
Realm Restarts Scheduled — Wednesday May 1
The Cataclysm Classic Pre-Expansion Patch is Now Live
Recent Forum Posts
Do you consider the Horde to be "the bad guys" or is it more complex?
Rank the Dragonflight Dungeons (beyond knee-jerk reactions)
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