Theming the login page
Toussaint is exactly right -- this took me back. Way back to the original login screen and music, when level 60 was the max and everyone was running UBRS and the Plaguelands instances, and "heroic" was just something us players were. Even the Burning Crusade login screen, right, brings back some memories, of wandering around Hellfire Peninsula and raiding in Netherstorm. The roar of the frost wyrm we have now is nice and all, but sometimes we long for earlier days.Which brought me to the question: what about a theme-switching system? There's no real reason the login screen has to be set to the current expansion -- while it's nice to have a new look to that interface every time we reinstall the program, there's nothing the new one really does that the old one couldn't. You'd think they'd be easy to change around, and if Blizzard just gave us a drop-down switcher in the options, we could choose whichever one we wanted.
Let's not forget, however, that their code is weird -- you wouldn't think that they'd hard-wire the new Battle.net login code to the newest login screen, but maybe they did something silly like that, which would probably mean we'll never see the "classic" login screen again. But still, if there's a way to do it, it would be nice to see that old portal and hear that rousing anthem yet again.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Odds and ends, Blizzard, The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
oppugno May 8th 2009 5:06PM
I honestly cant remember the first vanilla wow log in screen
Ezlo May 8th 2009 5:10PM
Neither can I but that's because I started playing after BC came out. Would love to be able to see it, some of my guildies were talking about it earlier today and it made me start thinking.
Shade May 8th 2009 5:40PM
http://blog.pauked.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/Xoriginal-wow-login-screen.jpg
I really miss the old screen.
Maxim May 8th 2009 6:09PM
I miss the music from the BC login screen... The one where it used to rise to a crescendo of sorts if you didn't login immediately and waited a bit...
Whenever I hear that in some random video, it just makes me wish I had a way to put that back. I sure as hell don't like that wing flap, landing and roar.
Lemons May 9th 2009 6:07AM
You can't remember...can't remember the!? what!?
It was a portal...the Azeroth of the dark portal methinks. God I miss those days when I was a huge nub and everything was still new and interesting.
Yvels May 8th 2009 5:06PM
yeah frost wyrm screen sux !!!
kidding ... :)
Moocakes May 8th 2009 5:36PM
HAHA YOU ALMOST GOT ME THERE. Thank heavens it was just a joke.
Tremelizzer May 8th 2009 7:03PM
It sucks indeed. I hate that frost wyrm sound effect.
Elmo May 8th 2009 5:07PM
I wouldn't mind getting rid of that Dragon, roaring my ears every time
Faar May 8th 2009 5:30PM
Aye, the dragon roaring is extremely irritating in the long run. I never really liked the LK login screen in the first place, now 6 months down the road I like it even less.
...MUCH less.
Gimme back WoW classic login screen please. It's been long enough since I last saw it for me to feel nostalgic about it... :P
Xanwryn May 8th 2009 11:37PM
I hate the new login personally, but the one for vanilla WoW looks fucken sweet.
havitech May 9th 2009 2:41AM
You can cut his vocal cords:
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info11123-SilentLoginScreen.html
Dan May 8th 2009 5:09PM
This has always been an idea going on through my head. And besides, I have to admit that after awhile, the frost wyrm flying down and roaring gets a bit on my nerves.
number9 May 8th 2009 5:14PM
I'd love, as a part of the next CE, to have a screensaver that features the various login screens, minus text/logos/login windows/ etc...still animated and running in D3D, but just the artwork.
Maybe give it an option to either display them randomly, or pick a certain one...
soatari May 8th 2009 5:54PM
I approve of this suggestion. Very much.
Arktic May 8th 2009 5:16PM
Way ahead of you...
I suggested this in the official suggestion forum back when WotLK Beta was still flying around. Doesn't seem like it's something Blizzard wants to implement.
Xtofer May 8th 2009 5:18PM
Maybe I'm not a tech-geek, but wouldn't it make sense that the background is separate from the code they use for the actual log-in/options fields? I'm not sure it would much make sense to essentially hardwire the battle-net code to the background since the login screen changes every time we get a new expansion anyway.
McRaider May 9th 2009 1:26AM
I think that's possible. It would be weird indeed to attach the login fields to the background. They don't even move.
AishaLove May 8th 2009 5:39PM
All the login music is very similar, if not the same just remixed and set to a slightly different tone, I clicked that link and I failed to be taken aback by how different it was.
Braundo May 8th 2009 5:24PM
The vanilla log-in screen was by far my favorite as well. :)