Remodelling of Races

[Roosky]

I was just wondering, as ive seen a few threads awhile back about blizzard maybe remodelling races as they've needed one for quite a while.

Is this true/false/not sure?

[Feralia]

From my understanding they do intend to remodel the old races, but it won't be until well after cata has been launched. As yes I do agree the older races desperately need a facelift!

[tinybike]

I hope this is true, although I haven't seen an official confirmation. The pre-BC races REALLY need it. Comparing the human models to (for example) the vrykul models really demonstrates just how badly this is true.

[K7Sniper]

Meh, I actually don't mind the human models, though it would be nice to someday be able to change the physiques around.

However, I doubt that will happen due to the numerous weapon and armor designs and how they are implemented.

[Tokas]

they said something at blizzcon that they have it on their "to do" list but it's nowhere near the top

[Babysteps]

Humans would be easy. just scale the vrykul down to human size.

[tinybike]

Humans would be easy. just scale the vrykul down to human size.

And seriously, I bet 90% of human players would be thrilled about this...

[HammondQ]

And seriously, I bet 90% of human players would be thrilled about this...

I know I would....just tweek the Vrykul posture a bit

[Kikitiki]

If they wouldn't remodel the races, then I hope they would retexture them. The sheer amount of detail they put into the worgen and even the goblins shows what a difference there is between their design team then and now. It's very noticeable, and when there's a difference that obvious, I'd almost call that a problem with game quality control.
Of course, Blizz has been busy with several things all at once, but updating textures wouldn't be too strenuous. Who knows? Maybe we could even get specular shading on hair someday.

[Scottgoldstein10]

However, I doubt that will happen due to the numerous weapon and armor designs and how they are implemented.

I thought the weapon and armor models were molded around the wire frames for the character models and not the models them selves?

[Roosky]

If they wouldn't remodel the races, then I hope they would retexture them. The sheer amount of detail they put into the worgen and even the goblins shows what a difference there is between their design team then and now. It's very noticeable, and when there's a difference that obvious, I'd almost call that a problem with game quality control.
Of course, Blizz has been busy with several things all at once, but updating textures wouldn't be too strenuous. Who knows? Maybe we could even get specular shading on hair someday.

I guess, to see 2 new races walking around with far more detail then old races would be slightly odd.

Imo they need to add different sub-classes, for example Dragonmaw orcs (red skin spikey arms etc) or atleast give us better faces and more customizable stuff, so not everyone looks the same.

[eflow]

I was just wondering, as ive seen a few threads awhile back about blizzard maybe remodelling races as they've needed one for quite a while.

Is this true/false/not sure?

if they remodel female humans to look like Sarah i'd faction change my dk on the spot =o

And no, they are not remodelling old races. Its one of those "we want but most likely never will do" changes.

[Roosky]

if they remodel female humans to look like Sarah i'd faction change my dk on the spot =o

And no, they are not remodelling old races. Its one of those "we want but most likely never will do" changes.

I would change to alliance despite my hate for them if they made them look like her too.

and where is your proof on it being a total "No" on the situation.

[Airlick]

Humans would be easy. just scale the vrykul down to human size.

That would be terrible, Vrykul is a completely different race, or well, humans are gimped Vrykul, anyway, they look completely different.

And no, they are not remodelling old races. Its one of those "we want but most likely never will do" changes.

False, I cba looking for blue posts, they said they have it on the list but it's not their priority or even close to it. And anyway, are you working for Blizzard? Only they can say if they are doing it or not >.<

[eflow]

lol .. its not i work for them .. its simply one of those things like the "dance system" or whatever it was called .. or the tabard wardrobe. They'll never say "WE WONT DO THIS". They'll simply say "its on our list but its not a priority" ... aka "we dont plan on doing it anytime soon". Thats why i said "most likely".

Its incredibly easy, like .. unbelievable easy to edit the textures (which is 90% of the work, save for some low poligon issues in one or another model). Unless they have a completely different process to create characters .. its something like this: http://www.tincow.net/pictures/BoyScout_TEXTURES.jpg (i just googled and got the 1st descent img i found) .. its basically the stretched texture of the character in some files, that the game code simply points something like "human_skin1 = human_skin1.tga" for example ... and likely a couple of different files for the different faces etc. This can be re-done by 1-2 people within a week.

Like many things in the game, the texture is the hard work (since wow is a relatively low-poly game) and they are using HQ-textures already (check new org and new SW) .... so yeh, in 1-2 weeks, 1-2 employees could easily remake all the old races textures. That alone would solve 90% of the problems .. Sure theres the creative process around it, since race looks are a bit more important thant the stone walls on SW ... but its relatively easy to do.

Theres nothing complex about doing that. So if they didnt do that, given the manpower they have available .. its really not remotely a priority. Maybe when things settle for a long time on cataclysm, they might take a look on it ... any time soon? i doubt.

[Alliari]

They've stated that they would like to do it, so I'd suspect that it's sneaking around the corner eventually. Might even bee the next expansion's selling point.

[Pitchkart]

lol .. its not i work for them .. its simply one of those things like the "dance system" or whatever it was called .. or the tabard wardrobe. They'll never say "WE WONT DO THIS". They'll simply say "its on our list but its not a priority" ... aka "we dont plan on doing it anytime soon". Thats why i said "most likely".

Its incredibly easy, like .. unbelievable easy to edit the textures (which is 90% of the work, save for some low poligon issues in one or another model). Unless they have a completely different process to create characters .. its something like this: http://www.tincow.net/pictures/BoyScout_TEXTURES.jpg (i just googled and got the 1st descent img i found) .. its basically the stretched texture of the character in some files, that the game code simply points something like "human_skin1 = human_skin1.tga" for example ... and likely a couple of different files for the different faces etc. This can be re-done by 1-2 people within a week.

Like many things in the game, the texture is the hard work (since wow is a relatively low-poly game) and they are using HQ-textures already (check new org and new SW) .... so yeh, in 1-2 weeks, 1-2 employees could easily remake all the old races textures. That alone would solve 90% of the problems .. Sure theres the creative process around it, since race looks are a bit more important thant the stone walls on SW ... but its relatively easy to do.

Theres nothing complex about doing that. So if they didnt do that, given the manpower they have available .. its really not remotely a priority. Maybe when things settle for a long time on cataclysm, they might take a look on it ... any time soon? i doubt.

Yes and no.

If they decided to simply re-texture the models, then yeah... Ideally, it'd take only a couple of weeks, maybe a few weeks depending, since all the actually hard stuff is out of the way (Skeletons, UV mapping, the mesh itself ... this stuff isn't 'hard' per se, it's just time consuming). But you have to take into account that the post-BC characters have more fluid animations (jump with a female Blood Elf for a good example of this), while pre-BC animations tend to be a lot more stiff. You could update the textures, and they'd 'look' better, but once they start moving around, it'd be obvious again. So they'd have to update the skeletons and the animations, too.

The animations take a long time to do properly all on their own. It takes more time than a texture, actually, by a long shot.

But if you're going to update the skeletons, you may as well update the mesh, too. Not to mention all the bureaucracy that goes on in a big company. It takes a few weeks to properly construct, texture, and animate a model. One model. Now, eight old world races (I think?) and two genders each, that's sixteen models to redo. That, added with several layers of quality control, directors, and other kinds of overhead and hangups... it could take quite some time to get the older races up to the level of the newer races.

I'd say if they decided to redo the old races, they'd probably decide to do it right and make them from scratch.

(I apologize ahead of time if this post comes out kind of wonky, allergy medications are kicking my ass today)

[surrounded]

I hope they do, most people agree that human models test to be one of the uglier of race's

[xenapistia]

iF this does happen, it'd be nice to have a better distinction between female and male, especially in Orcs & Taurens.

[angael]

They may be planning on some remodelling of races, but because it probably is not blizzards main priority we have not heard anything about it. Anyway the only really terrible race model is the human one.