WoW Moviewatch: The Evolution of World of Warcraft
by Elizabeth Harper 
Aug 18th 2007 at 12:00PM
I think most of us are aware that World of Warcraft has undergone a great amount of tweaking since its initial conception -- and even more tweaking since its initial launch. This video just makes it easy to visualize the precise amount of change that's happened since it's been available for public scrutiny. So take a look and watch an unknown game turn into a game you love (that may or may not be gone now) turn into the game we're all playing today.
Previously on Moviewatch...
Filed under: Machinima, WoW Moviewatch
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
draeth Aug 18th 2007 12:12PM
Oh wow that movie was cool, WoW has changed so much over the years, that first gameplay looked so basic and choppy and it was cool to see how the gameplay got more complicated with all the bright and awe inspiring magic and spells they have added. Was their even a caster class in the first version of WoW? Because it looked like humans and orcs cutting each other up lol.
Balasan Aug 18th 2007 12:16PM
Interesting to note how the original version of wow (2001) had more realistic characters and less cartoony feel (which IMO is better). Also how cooler the trolls looked like then, much like what they did to the BEs in beta.
And it was funny to see frost nova looking exactly like shackle. And not breaking even with everyone hitting it, lol.
Ghen Aug 18th 2007 12:17PM
Err, the character models and game textures haven't changed at all. 99% of the game's azeroth graphics have not changed since 2001.
So they moved the chatbox? /clap.
oshin Aug 18th 2007 1:00PM
Em look harder, most of the character models changed
AMack Aug 18th 2007 1:03PM
@3, yeah that's what I thought. I've seen that first sequence from the vid before. It's, I believe, what Blizzard showed at E3 one year before they released WoW. That exact clip is posted on the official WoW website. That's probably where the majority of the clips came from.
Jess Aug 18th 2007 1:16PM
Interesting how the devs envisioned pvp as being a match of equals rather than the usual level 70's picking on level 15's in westfall.
vlad Aug 18th 2007 4:31PM
ya, it was a walk down memory lane to see this. i remember seeing the video when it frst came out 7 months ago. good stuff
Chris Gardner Aug 18th 2007 2:14PM
"Unknown game"? :P Honey, most Blizzard fans were looking forward to Wow the moment we first saw the alpha previews. Heck, most of us been looking forward to an RPG-style game within the Warcraft universe for some 13 years (when Orcs and Humans first debuted).
I know it may come off fanboyish, but I always hate it when people who've never played a Blizzard game before Wow make it sound like it's the only game that Blizzard has ever produced. Many of us were fans way before Wow and we'll continue to be fans way after. It bothers me when I get excited about StarCraft 2 and few other Wow fans really care. Blizzard ISN'T the Wow company -- Blizzard was successful of Wow because of past successes and the fervor of fandom.
/rant off
CVJ Aug 18th 2007 2:29PM
@3 Google WoW Alpha, the character models were way different, the UI was different, the towns were more realistic looking it was a much different looking game.
If you go to Old Hillsbrad through the caverns of time some of the models were from the alpha.
Argall Aug 18th 2007 2:29PM
Very cool video. The game was simple back then, but it was back in 2001. At the Blizzcon at the quest panel, the developers said technology was simpler back then when they were designing zones like Elynn and Westfall. Kill X number of these guys. Collect Y number of this. *shudder* Westfall is my least favorite zone.
The zones progressively get better as the game continues. When I see the old alpha battle clips, I immediately see WC3. That's how it started and over the years Blizzard has improved on that continuously.
fever Aug 18th 2007 2:53PM
It's too bad they couldn't have kept the more detailed models and environments, along with the blood. The reason I think they made it all cartoon-y and lame is because that stuff was created on developer gear, whereas the minimum requirements for Wow are, frankly, shockingly minimal. There's also the possibility they wanted all the money from the Alliance kids...
Balasan Aug 18th 2007 3:22PM
@3 and 5, look again.
The troll model is clearly different from the troll models now (well, it's not quite literally 'clear' in the video, but you get my point), as in they are much bulkier. They were sort of the beserker trolls we have in ZG type of bodies.
ANd models keep changing even after that. In beta the BE males were quite scrawny. Blizz bulked them up and they visibly look different.
The ogres too were very different then. They were fatter waaaay back, to the point that when they changed the models to a more muscular ones people speculated that ogres would be the new alliance race.
Don't get hooked up on the thought that models don't change. They do.
Zechs Aug 18th 2007 3:45PM
In the beginning, WOW should have been a graphic adventure in the likes of Monkey Island 3. Then after a development hiatus the project was scrapped, with worldcraft's fans howling at the decision. Years later, the title resurfaced as a mmporg.
0% of the wow fandom knows about this, ehe.
Caleb Archon Aug 21st 2007 6:03PM
@2
The character models were different, but in no way were they more realistic and less cartoonish. You can look at them in modelviewer or in Old Hillsbrad. They tended to have more polygons devoted to body armor, and it looks like at some point they thought they would do a different model for each class(!) as well as each race.
nailPuppy Aug 18th 2007 8:38PM
Look how nice and big orc shoulders were..
Birthmark Aug 18th 2007 9:13PM
Strangely enough, this helps me put Warhammer in perspective. This post will probably get deleted cuz it's WoW fanboy/girl but I'm really looking forward to switching over to that game. Only problem is that the videos I've seen from the gameplay looked pretty lame. Man, WoW came a long way in 4 years. If you looked at the preview clips you'd think the game is so slow and turn based or something. But played by a skilled player it's very fast paced and exciting. I hope Warhammer turns out the same.
Frank Adamczyk Aug 18th 2007 11:52PM
That video was amazing. I can't believe I was 12 when WoW first came out (I started playing only 2 years ago). I wish i woulda started then....this game would be so much more amazing at that age.
Arturis Aug 19th 2007 1:49AM
@Zechs
You are confusing two completely separate projects. Blizzard was working on an animated point and click adventure game tentatively entitled Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans. ( http://www.wowwiki.com/Warcraft_Adventures:_Lord_of_the_Clans ) It was canceled in favor of releasing a novel adaptation of the story. The project was canceled for the same reason they canceled Starcraft: Ghost - It was not turning out as well as the Dev Team had envisioned. Though canceling that project freed up the resources needed to begin World of Warcraft, it was not the original version of WoW.
Your 0% estimate may be a tad bit off as well, considering there is a wiki about it. ^_^
q3c Aug 20th 2007 6:10PM
Eh. Somebody just stuck together the videos from extras on the DVD that comes with WoW Collectors Edition.
euphorion Aug 19th 2007 11:03AM
The spell graphics were a lot more impressive in that video. I don't even recognize some of them, but I wish I had them in my spellbook. Also, I think that the ice shackle was a single-target version called Chains of Ice, which functioned just like Shackle Undead... only for anybody.
The thing that I'm saddest about, watching that, is how much smaller they made towns. If that human was running through Goldshire, I'd much prefer to have an actual town to having two houses and a few fences.
But that's just me.