Hogger's new model: What the FUCK?!?!

[Iain]

it looks cool to me really not seeing the issue

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Can someone link to an article or post or something where they even say they’re redoing old vanilla era models? was this ever announced? i’m shocked by this..

are they also updating the world like buildings and trees etc?

They started doing this since Cataclysm. Every expansion had a batch of models that replaced those through the rest of the world, not just in the recent expansion.

Everything else remains the same, however the old zones did benefit from other engine upgrades and denser foliage.

[Beefhammer]

He was like the biggest dude in elwin?he even had 666 hp lol,i think at one point in the past hogger was even in the top 10 npc that killed most players

And got jobbed like a jobber. Killed him solo as a level 9 Paladin in like week 3 of launch(started with my Tauren Warrior).

[Khaza-R]

The undead versions look fine to me so part of the issues have to be the more emotive and human looking eyes

[Triceron]

So sad to see him like that, I hope it's just a placeholder. Hogger is so memorable with his Black, ringed vest and yellow shoulder armor, how could they do this to him? They even represented his look in the Darkmoon Faire Whack-a-Gnoll minigame.

[vizzle]

HOTS stuff is Samwise stuff.

Samwise = The head artist that developed the art style all of Blizzards games (except Diablo 3 I believe, which shows)

He hasn't worked on WoW since maybe vanilla or BC, since he went to Titan (Overwatch MMO that got cancelled) then SC2, then HoTS, and now he's on the survival game.

Samwise defined Blizzard for so long. Can't imagine what he feels about the ridiculous Dracthyr bullshit and now this, lol.

[Athorha]

Fair point. However Hogger has become so iconic over the near 20 years that he deserves a decent, better (or at least more beefy) model, at least in my opinion.

Or one day he lives on to be the only untouched original model left ingame.

[vizzle]

There is a small change to Warcraft's character stylization over the last several years that in my opinion has had a very negative effect on many characters and creatures.

Since, at least, Warcraft 3, a part of Warcraft's anatomy stylization has relied a lot on portraying many different characters, and specially creatures, without iris and pupils.
This ranges from Warcraft3 3D models (such as orcs, trolls, naga...); WoW's earlier 3D models (such as (vanilla/wotlk) worgen, magnataurs, clefthoofs...); and even a lot of illustrations and concept art (Wei Wang's Rexxar, plenty of WoD concept art...).

This has slowly been lost over time. One example I can think of, which disappointed me at the time, was that the first time they showed the new ogres for WoD, they were portrayed with completely white eyes. On release, they had fully normal eyes, which made them look more disney-like, less menacing, and, in my view, less warcrafty.

I think these gnolls are a good example of a model that I think would look significantly better by simply returning to this anatomical stylization decision.
Changes like these, however, are probably a representation of deeper art direction decisions that are simply choosing to advance the style in a direction that is a bit less identifiable with some previously established style decisions that put some people off. The disneyfication comments I think are a result of this.

Long story short, they lost the original artist/s who actually had edge to them. Now they have artists who grew up Tweeting about social problems. And I hate to sound alt-right or anything, but the difference in personalities is obvious and manifests in the way they make their art.

[VinceVega]

For once i agree that this change is shit.... he looks like a puppy... he freaking EATS PEOPLE!

He looks like a golden retreiver...

[fatgunn]

It's obvious that right now Hogger is using a default gnoll model like he always has. However, with the update he's lost some of the menace that was once there. Blizz should give hogger a unique look. Personally it would be nice if they could just use his HotS model.

[Soikona]

If it’s one thing I have lesrnt over the past two expansion, and with this new one, this game is losing its “edge” with its less aggressive models. It seems to be targeted as an audience that plays fortnite.

[Cheezits]

If it’s one thing I have lesrnt over the past two expansion, and with this new one, this game is losing its “edge” with its less aggressive models. It seems to be targeted as an audience that plays fortnite.

You mean the biggest audience of gamers today? Who would have thought.

[Cierah]

They really need to revert Hogger to the early version of him. With the legend around this mob it needs to look utterly fearsome and intimidating... right now it looks like one of the hyenas from Lion King - you can barely hear him on the wind... "mufasa Mufasa MUFASA!!"

[Deneios]

The new art style is bit too much cal art.

[Kralljin]

You mean the biggest audience of gamers today? Who would have thought.

Well, question is whether that audience is willing to play WoW to begin with and whether they're able to keep their existing audience.

"bringing in new audiences" sounds always great on paper, but that doesn't mean you actually win over that many people or that your current audience sticks with you or fucks off.

[Shadowferal]

[Rad1um]

This is literally the Wish version of Hogger and nobody wants to wait several months for this to be shipped.

Please fix this Blizzard.

[mojusk]

i like the new gnoll models, but they missed the mark on HOGGER. the most well known gnoll (and one of the most well known NPCs) in the game.
i can only imagine that he will be redone to look more like the old model and more vicious!

[Master Factician]

I've been really positive about all the model reworks for years. Stuff like this prairie dog model:

but many of these Dragonflight models look like they were designed by furry fan artists. I thought BfA easily had the best looking zones/terrain and models that WoW has ever had. Shadowlands was okay but this, this is just a complete artstyle change I don't like at all. I think it's a lot to do with the eyes, they really tried to give many of these models "human" like eyes:



At least some of the Dragon models look cool.

[agli]

Must of had the sonic team working on it

[haediff]

his old model was menacing, now he looks special.