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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-11-2010 @ 12:18AM
JAREDO said...
Okay so these forms and character models in general aren't getting updated because they're 'expensive'?
Then why are we -- collectively as a playerbase -- paying them more than a 100 million dollars a month for? That doesn't even include income generated from various other IP related merchandise.
Granted that MMOs are the most expensive genre to develop, and they have to spend a lot of money elsewhere -- its still ridiculous to think that the work needed to conceive, design and implement these models could ever break the bank.
What I mean is an EXTREMELY badass single-player game for any platform can be developed for not even half their monthly income from WoW. Apparently 60% of WoWs world can be completely redesigned, new content can be added and an unprecedented scale of phasing can be implemented, but 12 models couldn't fit the budget? The logic behind his statement just doesn't make sense.
Some of you will argue that the box sales is the integral part of the budget, but I argue why redesign leveling and not the character models if you're partially trying to drawn more people to the game, as well as aid in continuing subscription numbers for the next two years. Its really unappealing to run around some beautiful zones as a character model from 2005.
I love Blizzard and all, but how about they tone down Blizzcon or something so they can 'afford' to give everyone something nice as well as long overdue.
Reply
4-11-2010 @ 3:32AM
Tooay said...
It's much more a question of time than it is a question of money. Whether you want it or not, there's only so many people that can work on character models together. Integrity in sizes, styles, demeanor is just too important to have too many different artists working on separate models. It also means that it's very hard to hire new artists when trying to keep that level of integrity.
Which means that only a handful of people would have to redesign the models, the animations, the item and spell interactions, the special effects, every armor model will need tweaking, some small, some major. What sounds like a minor polygon upgrade basically amounts to making whole new models from scratch, for the most used models in the game. As is often mentioned, it's akin to creating a new boss model. Probably even more work.
There's no question that Blizzard has the money to get new models. It's just too expensive in terms of manpower and time The people that could do those models are already working on much more exciting things, like new zones, weapons, armors, enemies and bosses. Which appeal to me and a lot others much more than a facelift.
It's not money, it's time. Even the bear and cat models, they finally had their upgrade because they have very few animations and item interaction, and because Call of the Crusade was a relatively small patch, content-wise, leaving the artists with enough time to work on them.