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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsRevamped Night Elf Druid cat form revealed
by Lesley Smith 
Jun 4th 2009 at 1:35PM
My first thoughts are actually quite positive. I love the cat versions of the Night Elf tattoos and the shiny gem collars are a lovely touch, even if the leather bracelet/anklet/pawlet seem a little weird and out of place. When did Night Elves get a leather fetish exactly? The colours are nice, all a variation on Night Elf skin tone but I confess I prefer the colouration of the old cat design. Over all it's quite a nice selection of designs and I think players are going to be rather pleased come patch day to be able to stand out in a crowd of druids, even if not everyone is going to like the new look. My only question is: what's the deal with the different coloured eyes? It's nice but somewhat creepy looking. To learn more about all the new Druid forms, don't forget you can check out Blizzard's in development page.
Filed under: Druid, Patches, Blizzard, News items, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 9)
prudychick Jun 4th 2009 2:35PM
Hmmm. I like the old cat better.
Kayri Jun 4th 2009 2:38PM
i'm so gonna level my nelf druid now. PINK KITTEH OF DEATH FTW!
Matthew Jun 4th 2009 2:44PM
I'm a tauren druid, but I like these forms alot. They look like tigers!
And YAY, no more (only) black cat in the portrait that looked like a hunter pet when I'm being attacked.
I want to thank Blizzard for changing the forms. Regardless of how good a job we think they did (I think it rocks), its important to say thank you. If you don't know what I mean you probably don't get invited to raids after pugging.
I await my Moonkin / Tree glory!
Task Jun 4th 2009 2:40PM
Lesley, I play a Balance/Resto druid andit is awesome (Dancing Trees rock!). Now that the cat forms are shown, I don't mind the bracelets - I see them as our cloth/leather wrist bracers that we wear on as a caster form.
And the necklace is a nice touch too.
Kaaylia Jun 4th 2009 2:41PM
My initial reaction was "Wow, I love it! Much more dangerous-looking!" And still, I do think they're very nice. Good night elf color spread, love the facial marking analogue, and the slick, pointed ears.
However, they're smiling. Really, look at the purple guy...he's giggling! I also have to jump on the bandwagon of not loving the leather ankle straps. The necklace/gem things look a bit too much like collars, makes them look domesticated and tame, especially when sitting. And of course, the problem I've had with all the new forms persists: the paws are balls with nails on them.
But really, this is nitpicking, and overall the new design is really nice. Might even be enough to get me to drop boomkin as my offspec and take up feral DPS!
machoflaco Jun 4th 2009 2:41PM
Makes me wanna roll a Druid, but 80 levels...ugh....
Stormsinger Jun 4th 2009 5:32PM
You get bear at 10 and kitteh at 20, so it's not that long a walk ;-)
Selene Jun 4th 2009 2:41PM
I rather like the new night elf cat models, but it seems to me that there's a flaw in Blizzard's approach to the cat models of both races: instead of making the models gender-neutral, the Tauren cats look vary masculine, while the Night Elf cats look very feminine. (Note that I did NOT say "male" and "female"; an animal can be male and yet have a feminine appearance by human standards.)
The tauren cats are heavily built, with strongly-lined faces. The night elf cats are a little pink-intensive, and much more modestly built (in fact, there's only one model that doesn't have any pink at all). The pink seems really strange to me given that pink has never been a color the night elves are associated--purple or silver seems more appropriate. I love the new models for my female NE, but I'd feel pretty fru-fru for a male. (Seriously, picture your stoic white-haired male turning into a white cat with a cotton-candy pink ruff.) By the same token, if I were a female tauren, I'd feel like I was cross-dressing whenever I transformed.
I'm not saying we need different models for male and female characters; we just need models that are a little more gender-neutral. Some cats do have heavy ruffs in both genders, so a mane of sorts wouldn't be out of place on the tauren model, and a face that more closely resembles in-game lions would fit both genders. The old night elf cat model also looked pretty neutral, with a deep, silvery shade of purple that's common in night elf design, and an almost scruffy yet graceful lynx look that fits both genders.
alpha5099 Jun 4th 2009 3:01PM
I believe Allison pointed this out last time with the Nelf bears, and I totally agree: I wish these forms would have pupils. On the whole, I prefer the Tauren options. Go cows!
Finnegan Jun 4th 2009 3:05PM
To be fair, Night Elves (indeed, all elves) don't have visible pupils in their normal forms, thanks to their glowing eyes. It makes sense to me that their eyes would continue glowing in animal form.
Amaxe Jun 4th 2009 2:44PM
Personally I like the original Nelf cat form better than all except the black bottom left one. I guess I'll be stuck with the white one though unless I change my hair color. Problem is I'm happy with my hair style and color as it is.
Oh well. I know I am a minority here. I just hope they look better in game than they do here.
Draelan Jun 4th 2009 2:50PM
As for the forms: I think they're great! There wasn't anything wrong with the old form, so there was no need for a lot of changes, which they seemed to recognize. The necklace is only so ridiculously obvious and odd looking on the one that's sitting down. And even then, I don't generally have my camera at that angle when sitting, anyway. The leather bracers are... boring. Not terrible, just dull.
My only real complaint is, just like bear form, the colors! Tauren forms seem much more varied and lively, and have an easy-to-see connection with their fur colors. Nelf forms.... not so much. I've never been a fan of pastels, and that's pretty much what we've gotten. After hearing that form colors would be linked to our hair color, I expected something else... I can't really describe what, as I know making them bright purple or green would just be ridiculous looking, and so I had enough confidence Blizzard wouldn't hoist that on us. But still.... I expected the different colors to be a bit more obvious than they are.
Perhaps it is merely the lighting, though. Screenshots can be deceiving, afterall. I guess we'll see how it looks come patch 3.2. I may even have to go onto the PTR for once just to see how my druid looks with different colors for myself. Just so long as I don't get the one that's sitting... It's all dark and fierce and... wearing a pretty pink necklace... -_-
Blacknimbus Jun 4th 2009 2:51PM
Why are they squinting?
DoctorOnline Jun 4th 2009 2:55PM
Because night elves don't like going out in the sun.
Blacknimbus Jun 4th 2009 4:12PM
Ah...perhaps the "sun will come out tomorrow".
Bet your bottom dollar.
Murdax Jun 4th 2009 2:57PM
the horde druid forms are alot better and seem like alot of work went into them seeing that their forms were messed up to begin with. But blizz just went and screwed over the alliance our druid forms are just too plain and ugly, that article on how I hate the new tauran cat for should get revamped and state I hate the new night elf cat form cause compared to these the tauran ones look alot better would take a years supply of ghostcrawlers gin to actually map that crap grow on to me, and yes I said it I think it is crap alliance just got screwed over by blizzard again
Ger Jun 4th 2009 3:19PM
I LOVE how whiny Horde players are always saying "Horde got screwed over by BlizzardAGAIN!" and whiny Alliance players are always saying "Alliance got screwed over by Blizzard AGAIN!"
Nobody got screwed over. You say Alliance got screwed over but how many years have Horde had to deal with that horrible cat form and the only flight path mount not converted into a flying mount -because the bat is seriously one of the worst models in the game.
Your opinion on the appearance does not mean Blizzard screwed anyone over. IMO, all the new models look great. Some look better than others, IN MY OPINION, but they all represent a lot of work the Blizzard did NOT have to do. So thanks for NOT screwing anyone over Blizzard.
I'm not a fanboy, but the negative people in the WoW community sure make me want to express my positive opinions sometimes.
Agerath Jun 4th 2009 9:25PM
@Ger Jun:
I love the way you open your whine with an attack on whining.
Badaboom Jun 4th 2009 3:00PM
Nice new cat forms fellow NE druids. Congratulation.
The disparity between cat/bear tauren and NE forms is gone for the better and, as a tauren druid, I am please with all the new forms.
To comment specifically with the cat forms (tauren and NE) I would agree with a lot of comments regarding the ankle straps that are not that great. The claws are also not very cat-like and need to be either extended or have a concave base to look more aggressive... Check RL cat claws and you will see the problem there.
Overall the comments over the last 2 weeks on the 4 new forms are positive, which, I hope, will push blizz to invest even more resources to other new designs (lock pets, tree, moonkin, ...). There was more buzz about the new feral forms than I have seen for a while in the wow community. Such cosmetic character updates are easy and are refreshing while waiting for more substantial new content.
Thanks designers, I cant wait to try new forms...
JrSlacker Jun 4th 2009 3:09PM
Those are the female NE forms right.....Right?