Has WoW gotten "too" family friendly?

[erifwodahs]

So you found some edgy quests sure but you've forgotten about poop quests, mechanical chickens, zapping apprentices, rolling sad pandas, etc.

first quest you ever do in WoW as an orc since vanilla is bonk peons in the head so they start working - doesn't get much more cartoony than that - and that is one of WoW strengths. Runescape is another great game with a lot of goofiness and it has the best quests in any RPG game I have ever played.

[NineSpine]

They were not side facing... they are forward facing...
do you even know how eyes work?

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Lol what?

All you are saying is that they have the same facial expression in these screenshots. None of those proportions are similar. If we wanted to make the old wow model look like the Disney image, we would have to:

Make the eyes larger
Make the nose more prominent and darker
More fluff around the ears
Fewer teeth


And if we do all that, we might get something like this:


This is such a joke. Which two of these three images are most similar?





Can you just be honest?

[Kralljin]

Can you just be honest?

No, they can't.

This argument has popped up a few times over the past year(s) and you have the same people denying that anything has changed and argue that the people who notice anything different are just seeing things, it's the usual song and dance that gets very close to gaslighting akin of "If you don't enjoy X in WoW, you're the problem, not X".

But just to throw another image into this dump:

Top are new WoW models.
Bottom are HotS models, which was under the (art) direction of Samwise.

[NineSpine]

No, they can't.

This argument has popped up a few times over the past year(s) and you have the same people denying that anything has changed and argue that the people who notice anything different are just seeing things, it's the usual song and dance that gets very close to gaslighting akin of "If you don't enjoy X in WoW, you're the problem, not X".

But just to throw another image into this dump:

Top are new WoW models.
Bottom are HotS models, which was under the (art) direction of Samwise.

It's doubly frustrating because there is nothing wrong with saying "Yeah, it's different, but I like the newer style." But being so defensive that even acknowledging the stylistic shift is just ridiculous.

And it is pretty obvious what happened: The original inspirations faded away as new artists were brought in that grew up inspired by American-style cartoons. This isn't some crazy conspiracy or even a quality criticism. I love tons of American-style cartoon art. But to pretend it is the same as the Warhammer-inspired art style the series came from is wild.

[FelPlague]

Clearly side facing, common in lots of animals. Why do you insist on coming up with shit takes?

Mate... They are front facing... Again you don't know how eyes work do ya? Predators like hyena have forward facing eyes.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Gnoll concept art from classic for reference.

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/oycQfhnpEn...ZmFyaS82MDQuMQ


They were always suppose to be silly expressive cartoon freaks.

[NineSpine]

Gnoll concept art from classic for reference.

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/oycQfhnpEn...ZmFyaS82MDQuMQ


They were always suppose to be silly expressive cartoon freaks.

Of course they were always supposed to be silly and expressive. Nobody is saying that they were supposed to be some grim dark freak show. But the style, even in that art, is much closer to the original model than it is to the newer model. See the flat face? The newer model has a long wolflike snout, big bright eyes, long fingers, straight teeth, etc..

"Cartoon" is not a style. It's a broad classification that encompasses a thousand styles. All of it cartoony in the broadest sense. But the older art was reflective of influences such as 80s indie comic books and British sword and sorcery art. The newer art is very much in the mold of American-style cartoons, mainly indicating a 90s influence.

A great point of reference that shows a similar change is to look at the original TMNT comic book art, and then compare it to the later cartoons. That is a very similar change to what we see in WoW. Of course it's all a bit silly and goofy and unrealistic, but not everything that has those qualities is the same thing or has them in equal amounts.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

"Cartoon" is not a style. It's a broad classification that encompasses a thousand styles. All of it cartoony in the broadest sense. But the older art was reflective of influences such as 80s indie comic books and British sword and sorcery art. The newer art is very much in the mold of American-style cartoons, mainly indicating a 90s influence.

I’d say the concept art is far more in line with say old Tom and jerry or an old loony toons character then any sword and sorcery book personally.

What comes to mind most actually is the snickering dog from that old racing cartoon though I can’t say I remember the name of it or the show in question.

[NineSpine]

I’d say the concept art is far more in line with say old Tom and jerry or an old loony toons character then any sword and sorcery book personally.

What comes to mind most actually is the snickering dog from that old racing cartoon though I can’t say I remember the name of it or the show in question.

You aren't wrong, because it is sort of the mashup of that vintage cartoon style with the Robert E Howard art that resulted in the warhammer style, which then was the chief inspiration for the warcraft style. But the newer style in wow has almost completely replaced those influences with 90s-00s American cartoon style.

[Shadowferal]

What comes to mind most actually is the snickering dog from that old racing cartoon though I can’t say I remember the name of it or the show in question.

The "Wacky Races" from the late '60s.


I thought Penelope Pitstop looked "interesting"

[Lorgar Aurelian]

The "Wacky Races" from the late '60s.
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/AptElderlyGoose.went

I thought Penelope Pitstop looked "interesting"

Ah wacky race that’s what it was. The silly dog isn’t quite how I remember it but it’s been so long I shouldn’t be surprised by that.

[Clone]

Mate... They are front facing... Again you don't know how eyes work do ya? Predators like hyena have forward facing eyes.

We've already established that gnolls and WoW hyenas don't follow real life hyena anatomy. Maybe you should question your own sight if you haven't caught on.

[Zodiark]

The point is that you're putting a metric fuckton of effort writing this gigantic post that 1) most people won't read, 2) is so long it's damn near disrespectful to whatever conversation you're trying to have. It's not an argument in good faith if you can't learn to make more effective use of language.

This really isn't much effort. These are just errant thoughts I have floating around. For people like you, who feel the need to comment on these points I can hardly even remember making at the time, because for all the importance you put on logging in to say these things to me, for me it was just another Tuesday tossing out some words on a forum to exercise my mind a bit.

[chrisisvacant]

This really isn't much effort. These are just errant thoughts I have floating around. For people like you, who feel the need to comment on these points I can hardly even remember making at the time, because for all the importance you put on logging in to say these things to me, for me it was just another Tuesday tossing out some words on a forum to exercise my mind a bit.

Clever. Saying you don't care after a display of intense caring.

[FelPlague]

We've already established that gnolls and WoW hyenas don't follow real life hyena anatomy. Maybe you should question your own sight if you haven't caught on.

Mate really gunna keep fucking saying gnolls have sideway facing eyes...

bro, they front facing...

[Zodiark]

Clever. Saying you don't care after a display of intense caring.

Like I said was just a little exercise. Like a day on the debate team or something like that. Sometimes I don't even have a dog in the fight but I'll argue a point anyhow just to see how it plays out.

[Clone]

Mate really gunna keep fucking saying gnolls have sideway facing eyes...

bro, they front facing...

Just because you can see them from a fontal view doesn't mean they are front facing. Do you know how eyes work mate.

See horses.



It's also funny how of all the things listed about the old model you can only argue about eye positioning, or how so far you've avoided talking about the comparison picture posted by @Kralljin.

[FelPlague]

Just because you can see them from a fontal view doesn't mean they are front facing. Do you know how eyes work mate.

See horses.



It's also funny how of all the things listed about the old model you can only argue about eye positioning, or how so far you've avoided talking about the comparison picture posted by @Kralljin.

Oh I see you just don't know what front facing versus side facing eyes means good to know.
also I am not "only able to argue about eye position" it is just the most stupid thing to say, so I am laughing at it.

[Clone]

Oh I see you just don't know what front facing versus side facing eyes means good to know.
also I am not "only able to argue about eye position" it is just the most stupid thing to say, so I am laughing at it.

Nah, sounds like you just don't have an argument. It's not the first time I've seen you do this.

[FelPlague]

Nah, sounds like you just don't have an argument. It's not the first time I've seen you do this.

I do you don't know how eyes work. Hyena have forward facing eyes, as do the gnolls. Our eyes are also front facing, but you can see them from the side, does that mean they are side facing? No.

Predators have forward facing eyes, as do the gnolls. Prey have side facing eyes. Like horses. Horses eyes can also be seen from the front. And the side, but the difference is how wide their cone of vision is, and if they have peripheral vision or not.

As humans, we have forward facing eyes ,meaning we can only see about 180 degrees, however we have a very good peripheral vision, letting us gage distance well, something super important when hunting. Which is why hyena also have such. And why they like any other canine, has forward facing eyes.

And again, there is much more to talk about, but the fact you compare gnolls to horses and say ",gnolls have side eyes like many animals" proves you don't know how eye placement works or why it's important.