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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Awesome Animations
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Mar 28th 2009 at 8:00AM
So hot on the heels of the best mob noise in game discussion, I thought I'd ask another question: What about the animations? We probably don't think about it too much, but the sounds and animations of PCs and NPCs alike probably end up making a lot of atmosphere we take for granted. It fills out the world and makes it feel more immersive, more real.With that in mind, the noise topic got me thinking of what animations I really like. There's a lot of them that at least deserve a mention, from the howling of Coyotes to the nervous skittering of the Silithid. In the new animations, we get stuff like Stinker's escapades and the wildlife of Grizzly Hills going on with their every day activities.
Beyond that, even PC animations can have their awesome looks, such as a Draenei twirling a Polearm to attack or a male Blood Elf dying with Shakespearean dramatics. Ethereals also have some pretty graceful moves overall, even in the way their bandages move and their energy pulses.
What animations and graphics have you encountered in WoW that have made you stop and say, "Hey, that's pretty neat?"
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 6 of 6)
Delecious Mar 30th 2009 12:06AM
I love my female Belf DK's animations.. I love when I use Obliterate, she ducks low and swings it around, makes me lol inside.
Or my low-level female undead alt.. with Krush's shield + the way they just randomly do a flip = flipping dead baby turtle. Cute.
Or the mustang herds in Grizzly Hills + the gazelle herds in Barrens... Or the way that flyers now perch on stuff.
Afterforever Apr 9th 2009 3:57AM
For me, the cut-scene at the end of the Wrathgate questline. Really made me go 'wow' when it finished. Also, COS was pretty cool. The first time....
Leonia Mar 30th 2009 9:06AM
In Crystalsong you can see what happens when NPC's get bored. At the ruins, around 77,67 (if i'm remembering correctly) look for humanoid mobs near clusters of benches. The mob jumps from one bench to another in a circle. Funniest damn thing I ever saw!
Irontoof Mar 30th 2009 9:33AM
Any shield slam animation. "BACK OFF YOU LITTLE SH**TS!"
Undead female DW
Belf 2hander. i hate belfs but using a 2h sword like a baseball bat is fun
Drakonid run + spin polearm. i wish charge looked like that
Male tauren buffing up. especially with lightning shield.
Ghoul crawling out of the ground when you summon him, (though it becomes annoying when you dismount and have to wait 3 seconds before he's ready), and ghoul leap.
Kodo jumping. LOL!!
troll male 2h weapon. looks like parrying would result in a 5 second stun and a head crack but i still like it.
and finally
male orc bladestorm. when i use it just for fun, like, boosting a friend, i quickly mouse spin in the direction its going and it turns into a freaking orc-copter :D
K Mar 30th 2009 5:47PM
Sorry to be a downer, but I'd love Blizzard to revisit some of the older animation cycles. Some of them aren't very strong. Of particular importance are the playable races where the physics is broken. People fully extend their legs in a run, when viewed in profile, Blizz!
Furthermore, I am surprised that even in LK the animation is often overlooked. The quests the require you to change into a murloc and that ice warrior in SP are woeful, to say the least. The ice dude doesn't even have a jump cycle!
BC and LK both feature some lovely character animation - Hawstriders, Dragons, Sea Vrykul, Stone Giants etc. Let's lavish the same attention on the characters we spend so much time playing!
Best,
K
bitsmart0 May 16th 2009 1:05PM
I love the gurloc animation where a fly buzzes around and the gurloc follows it with its eyes, then *nom* eats it.