How far should the art team push the WoW aesthetic?

[Mestalis]

With each new expansion the art team has to come up with completely new aesthetics for this universe, to keep things fresh and new, but also retain enough common elements with the core mythos for it to reasonably fit in the game. It's a fine line to walk, that the team typically does exceptionally well, I don't see a lot of criticisms of the art direction around here, for good reason. Subjectively, for your own personal preference, how far outside of the "WoW zone" artistically speaking, would you like to see Blizz go?

While I genuinely love the aesthetics of WoW and think they do a great job of pushing boundaries, I sometimes wonder what it could be like if they went full tilt extreme in any which direction. Ridiculous cartoony stuffed animal mounts, and dark creepy old god Lovecraft inspired horror mounts. They've already got some pretty cutesy, and pretty creepy stuff going on; why not? Do you think it would be obtrusive to the experience of other players if your choices were totally out of place in a zone? Does that happen already?

[fatgunn]

I feel like they have been steadily pushing it, but it's gotta be done organically. Slow incremental steps allow it to kinda creep up on us. Just look at something like the original qiraji mounts compared to the one you get to raise in 8.3. The new one is bleeding and tentacly. Yogg was more horrifying than cthun and Nzoth is at least as strange if not more when you consider the carapace as well.

As for the cutesy stuff, we do get some but its pushed more to pets and one off things.

[Kaleredar]

A lot of the battle pets and the lunar new year mounts are all pretty cutesy.

As for "dark," a lot of the legion's stuff started to lapse over into Diablo 3's artstyle by quite a bit, for whatever that's worth. On the lovecraftian side, a lot of WoW's old god and burning legion stuff really does seem lifted from Lovecraft's literature, but adapted into WoW's style. (Hence why I've geekishly given my antoran charhound the nickname of "nightgaunt.") The problem with getting too "formless, unimaginable horror" is that it's pretty hard to actually render something formless and unimaginable in a video game. You could make some sort of giant, undulating blob (which WoW has no real lack of) but... that's not really all that interesting to look at while you DPS it for 10 minutes at the end of the day.

I'd say they've been pushing WoW's art style in a good direction, overall. It never doesn't "feel" like Warcraft.

[VinceVega]

I liked the classic and wotlk aesthetic.

No cutsie/comic stuff.

That being said i don't think wow has that so much tbh. BattlePets are a non concern or me and as long as i can't ride a plushi i am allright with mounts.
That is actually my concern with Tinkers. Too comic-y.

[Powerogue]

What is the "wow zone"? I'm being serious here.

WoW is a mishmash of every idea Blizzard could nick from other mythos or fiction they can find. From real world cultures like native american tauren to fictional ones like the Norse pantheon and Cthulhu.

They've kept a fairly cohesive art style amidst all that, only really upping the polygon count and expressiveness, unlike a game like RS3 which has went through at least 4 phases of different art styles and looks like a messy quilt after nearly the same number of years of updates.

[Toybox]

Place me firmly in the don't fix what's not broken crowd. BfA might be a shockingly poor expansion, but the art team has done a bloody spectacular job with it, with Nazmir & Drustvar ranking up there as two of my favourite zones of all time. Hell, for all the flaws Nya'lotha has, the art is definitely not one of them, as the place looks bloody spectacular!

[Eurhetemec]

I feel like they have been steadily pushing it, but it's gotta be done organically. Slow incremental steps allow it to kinda creep up on us.

Yeah that's what it looks like to me. The aesthetic in 2020 is not the same aesthetic as 2004, let alone 1994. It's been gradually and smoothly evolving, and hopefully it will continue to evolve. I think everyone who plays WoW has some complaints about things which have changed, or things which were better in Ye Olde Dayes, but visual design and aesthetic I don't think is one of them for many people.

I kind of hope the weapon/armour aesthetic evolves slightly more towards detail and well, not quite "realism", but a little bit more real-like looks on weapons/armour. I love weapons that actually look sharp, or armour that looks like it might stop something, not just be worn on a carnival float (nothing wrong with that but...). There has been a bit of both in BfA and looks like there's some in SL too so that's good.

[ymirsson]

I liked the classic and wotlk aesthetic.

No cutsie/comic stuff.

Do we play the same game?

[VinceVega]

Do we play the same game?

Well it is there and i don't like it. That is why i liked Classic and Wotlk more... less of that stuff.^^
IMHO

[Razion]

I prefer a more stylized and cartoony look to WoW. I really like the Warcraft 3 through Wrath look a lot. I didn't mind how much they pushed the visuals in say, Mists. Mists still kind of felt like it held some of those stylistic elements with like how they did the human and orc in the opening cinematic with Chen.

It feels like lately like with Old Soldier and such they're portraying things with a bit more realism and frankly while fidelity is impressive and all I don't enjoy it as much as the stylized proportions and exaggerated features. I'd much rather see an orc with the kind of build that we saw of the grunt in Mists than the kind of generic humanoid build what we got with Saurfang recently.

I do really want a more stylized and cartoony look to make more of a come back. I think it's important to the identity of the style of the series to help make it feel timeless and like it can be appreciated outside of temporary feats of fidelity. Tiny pores and hairs on faces may be temporary, but big box-jawed humans and triangle-chested orcs are forever.

[Zmagoslav]

cute and funny stuff should stay as toys/pets...
and they should also allow us to toggle whether we see that stuff or not.

The world design was great in BFA, but they really dropped the ball when it came to armor design. They should focus more on that part.

[Subrias]

Well it is there and i don't like it. That is why i liked Classic and Wotlk more... less of that stuff.^^
IMHO

Dude. What are you talking about!? Anub'arak, yoga, and marrowgar are like totally cute, you can just hug them all day! (Sarcasm if you couldn't tell :P)

[shise]

Currently that is the one department that is working flawless. Going around Shadowlands on the beta you can tell that there is a giant leap forward in the art department, yet again.

But it still feels like WoW, which is the most important note.

Currently, WoW has the best graphics of any game on this genre, by quite far. It has developed its unique style into a state of art. So I do not think that they need to keep pushing, just stay on this line of work to keep it honest. It is working.

North of Bastion is incredible. There is so much going on at the same time, so many particles interacting with the environment.. it is pure next level. Anderweald is... wow.

[Mestalis]

What is the "wow zone"? I'm being serious here.

WoW is a mishmash of every idea Blizzard could nick from other mythos or fiction they can find. From real world cultures like native american tauren to fictional ones like the Norse pantheon and Cthulhu.

They've kept a fairly cohesive art style amidst all that, only really upping the polygon count and expressiveness, unlike a game like RS3 which has went through at least 4 phases of different art styles and looks like a messy quilt after nearly the same number of years of updates.

I think you answered your own question. The "WoW Zone" is the fairly cohesive art style they've kept amidst the mishmash of references.

- - - Updated - - -

Currently that is the one department that is working flawless. Going around Shadowlands on the beta you can tell that there is a giant leap forward in the art department, yet again.

But it still feels like WoW, which is the most important note.

Currently, WoW has the best graphics of any game on this genre, by quite far. It has developed its unique style into a state of art. So I do not think that they need to keep pushing, just stay on this line of work to keep it honest. It is working.

North of Bastion is incredible. There is so much going on at the same time, so many particles interacting with the environment.. it is pure next level.

I nearly didn't make this post because I haven't seen much of SL yet, but you're getting me even more excited. Can't wait!

[shise]

I think you answered your own question. The "WoW Zone" is the fairly cohesive art style they've kept amidst the mishmash of references.

- - - Updated - - -



I nearly didn't make this post because I haven't seen much of SL yet, but you're getting me even more excited. Can't wait!

The art work is at its peak thus far I´d say. Pretty cool xpack coming up )

[kranur]

I think how they do it is more important than how much of it they do.

There's way too much flashiness in it right now. And some effects look incredibly bad .. take warlock fire spells effects .. that is just garbage.

[Nyel]

Don't know, they can keep going. I felt BfA to be pretty underwhelming from an art perspective, especially Kul'Tiras was mostly forgettable.

Shadowlands on the other hand... wow. It looks fantastic. Especially Revendreth. It might be the visually most impressive zone (next to Suramar) they've done yet.

[ymirsson]

Well it is there and i don't like it. That is why i liked Classic and Wotlk more... less of that stuff.^^
IMHO

WoW looked like a comic from the start.

[Soon-TM]

Visuals are never disappointing in WoW, except for rare instances such as Nazjatar, which was fairly mediocre. What I'd really like to see is more types of robes for casters, the 2004 design we have today is just... Eh.

[Deferionus]

What they do needs to fit the game and the universe. WoW has a art style associated with the game, so if you had a sudden departure from it to a ultra realistic or anime art style it would feel out of place and ruin the immersion. And to be honest the WoW art style is a big part of its success as it builds the worlds really well.