Some of the new and improved character models can be viewed on our website.
WoD Beta Notes
I hate that phrase. I despise it with every fiber of my being. It is a learned response, because every single time that I’ve heard that phrase there is no noticeable improvement. Case in point, the new character models for classic characters in World of Warcraft.
I’m in the beta group, so let me just illustrate the changes for you. This is my Dwarf female Keslingra as she currently looks. Notice the shape of the face. The set and shape of the eyes. The hair has highlights of gold. There is a youthful hopefulness in this face, possibly joyful amusement somewhere behind those eyes.
Can you see what I’m talking about? Do you have that mental image in your head, even if it’s not all there on the screen? Here is the next image.
This is the beta model of the exact same character ported over to Warlords of Draenor. Please note the shape of the face. The set of the eyes. This woman has been washing a bearded bastard’s clothes for 30 years, and she’s about to visit his snoring ass in the middle of the night and bury his war axe in his head, so that she can get her first good night of sleep in longer than she can remember.
She’s seated in the exact same chair in the exact same city in the game. Granted, the POV has been lowered, we are now looking dead on at the face, rather than from slightly above; but still, what the hell? They have added a face button to the barbershop interface, but what about skin color? What about being able to change eye color separate from the face? (important now that the graphic resolution is finer) what if none of the faces emote anything other than bone weary boredom, tired resignation, or at best, fiery hatred?
Someone please explain to me how this face is an improvement over the face she had before? I will be unable to play any of the characters I’ve ported over and checked, because every single one of them has been altered in a fashion similar to this, where the designers have taken liberty to alter shapes as they see fit, without having an understanding of what we the players were looking for when we selected the faces we had previously.
I started a thread over on the beta forums on this subject (the lifespan of my threads on WoW forums is generally charted in days, not weeks, just FYI) I understand that it’s too late to alter character models now. We’re stuck with the improvements that aren’t improving anything at this point, I get that. Can we please, please, please for the love of the light, get a free Appearance Change for our characters? So that I can justify at least purchasing the expansion pack this time around?
I mean, if I wanted to play tired, dirty, ugly characters, I’d still be playing Skyrim.
Just wanted to add a plug for this thread on the forums as well;
Draenei are still screaming over face 7’s honker and short tails, trolls don’t understand why they all look so freaking angry, gnomes are frightened their eyeballs are going to pop out of their sockets, female humans and dwarves are violently applying regenerous cream from Olay to their faces to get rid of all these lines, the human men are trying to shave their beards off, the male night elves aren’t sure how their upper body is supported with their crazy small waist and wet noodle-like run. Orc women are looking for mascara and stealing the Olay cream from the human and dwarves, and the blood elves are all standing back cackling at the rest of the races with the goblins, pandas, and male worgens while the female worgens mourn the sorrows with the female tauren.
Guys, when there’s a ton of people saying ‘THAT’S NOT MY CHARACTER!’ or numbers and numbers of topics on the same tweaks you can make to the models, it’s time to respond to us. We’re getting frustrated and worried at this point that you haven’t listened to one snippet of our data on the models, and wasn’t that the big selling point for this xpac?
He had me rolling with just those two paragraphs. There is a serious problem with the models in Warlords of Draenor. The author is also correct that this was Blizzard’s big selling point, the model updates were going to be unbelievable (as in good) and what I’ve found is that they are indeed unbelievable. As in unbelievably bad. Bad enough that I have a hard time telling the April Fool’s joke female Draenei from the one that is in the beta.
In a weird way, this sort of makes up for the insult of changing my beloved characters, and explains it in a properly creepy-assed way;
I have found a face for Keslingra that I find acceptable, and I’m learning to deal with the rest of the changes. Really had hoped for something more than acceptable and closer to the improvement I was promised.
Editor’s note. I’ve had to re-route most links on this post. Blizzard has a habit of killing access to out-of-date content. They’ve relocated the forums with nearly every xpac added to the game.
Okay, I'd be furious. Rant on!