Breakfast Topic: Which in-game art would you update?

There have been a lot of new models and textures datamined out of the current Cataclysm beta. Cities are getting face-lifts, bridges are being finished, and entire zones are getting made-over. Even the water in the game is getting overhauled.
The problem is sometimes things appear to get missed. Let's take the druid forms as an example. The old druid cat and bear forms were around long past their prime before finally being updated. The aquatic and regular flight forms for both night elves and tauren have the long, elvish ears instead of each race getting something more unique like the art above. The land travel form itself is nothing more than the cheetah monster model without any tweaks for either current druid race.
Another example is our old enemies, the murlocs. In Wrath we got cousins to the murlocs know as the gorlocs which have a newer and shinier model than their non-arctic brethren. We've even seen a few glimpses of deep-sea murlocs coming in the expansion which are also up to the modern modeling standards which put the old murlocs to shame.
Hopefully, all of the old art will be brought up to what we're come to expect for new content. It would be a shame for something to get left behind. Which things do you hope they'll update the art for?
Filed under: Druid, Breakfast Topics, Cataclysm






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 10)
tristanjvr Jul 13th 2010 8:04AM
The human male faces... Please, the human male faces...
Oh lord, the sheer horror!!!
Namy Jul 13th 2010 8:08AM
Yes I was thinking the same thing for the female human faces and their awful Lego hair ; )
Tomatketchup Jul 13th 2010 8:13AM
Try it out, make a human male, zoom in on his face, scream "DURRRRRRR" and see how well it fits. Then notice that half those faces actually fit. Then cry.
Josin Jul 13th 2010 8:25AM
Humans, definitely. Also, gnomes should be brought up to competitive polygon counts with their goblin rivals.
Mike Jul 13th 2010 8:33AM
I say every pre-BC character model. I could live with every other model in the game remaining the way, and fewer new creatures if that's the kind of time crunch it took. We're more concerned with how our player-characters look than the stuff we're killing. Once it's dead we just move on and leave the corpse to disappear...we've been staring at our faces (which, due to age, can now be classified as "derpy derp") for years, and will likely continue to do so. They are in DESPERATE need of an upgrade.
Mike Jul 13th 2010 8:35AM
*remaining the way [it is]
Pat Jul 13th 2010 9:29AM
Most definatly! Female Dwarf faces PLEASE! It is hell playing one until you can loot yourself a full helmet that covers the face. Having to stay off the main road and not levelling during peak server hours, constantly strafing through high traffic areas so no one can see it.
Consumables can only get you so far and grouping up is out of the question, God forbid someone see's that portrait.
Fierna Jul 13th 2010 12:11PM
While we are changing the faces could we maybe make it so that not every single NPC is white? That always bugged me.
Marcosius Jul 13th 2010 3:24PM
Mike: Every PRE-WRATH character model you mean? The TBC races aren't that shiny looking anymore either, of course they're somewhat more defined than the vanilla races but all playable character models should be brought up to snuff to the level of Worgen/druid forms.
I'm secretly hoping the last surprise we'll get before cata hits is that all races WILL get a facelift either by the time Cata launches or during the run of Cata. Because after seeing Varian and the Vrykul models, It'd be criminal not to do that in due time - moreover it'd be pretty criminal to leave the human model the same with the Gilneans, seeing as the human model is just... Just.. And the Worgen model is goddamn sexy in comparison with detail and roundness.
And considering we've gotten Lady Sylvanas a new, proper look after years of being a smelly Nelf placeholder, It's sweetly whispering to me that TBC races will get some love too.
Maybe I'm just naive though. But I'll keep my fingers crossed that Blizzard will drop the hammer on these news upon Cataclysm release.
skula Jul 13th 2010 4:45PM
I'd like to put in my vote for this as well.
Humans by far need an upgrade, they are so ugly. Their faces are horrible and their body builds are bad and over exaggerated. The vrykul are so great looking, humans should look more like them.
All the other characters need to be smoothed out as well. I'm tired of my Night elf having blocks in her hair. I wish she looked more like Lurielle, the elf/deer frost nymph in Howling Fjord.
Druljin Jul 13th 2010 8:35AM
Horde wyvern flyers...
I love the horde, but every time i take air taxi its horrible...
Luci Jul 13th 2010 9:11AM
The ones that sit in the nests at the flight master always trip me out with their robotic movements.
pancakes Jul 13th 2010 9:23AM
Little known fact: Orcs invented animatronics.
Kaeri Jul 13th 2010 10:07AM
"Remember, Thrall? He was at the Hall of Warchiefs!"
"What did he say, Garrosh?"
*pose* "Welcome to the Hall of Warchiefs!"
Murdertime Jul 13th 2010 10:20AM
These.
For the love of god these.
They are the single most primitive model in the damn game. There are critters with more polygons.
Felix_NZ Jul 13th 2010 4:34PM
But will they still have SUPER SQUISHY CONTORTING LEG ACTION?
Crimson Jul 14th 2010 1:45AM
I think that not just Thrall, but all Faction Leaders could use a model upgrade.
Out of all of them only Varian, Jaina and Sylvanas got new models in Wrath, and Jaina isn't even a Faction Leader.
I mean seriously, Thrall and his level 30 greens make me want to punch kittens. Hes is the warchief of the Horde (not anymore in cata but still) an iconic character, so why does he look like the other bajillion orc NPCs in WoW >_<
And don't even get me started on Cairne -_-
if you have seen him in WC3 and then looked at him in WoW, you would be like /facepalm
Rajinnu Jul 13th 2010 8:09AM
For player races as a minimum...
Trolls
Humans
Nelfs
Orcs
I would have said some of the druid forms but that has been covered
The default horde flyers are still awful, I don't even remember the last time I saw someone other than a leveling toon on one, and even now they tend to use the sparkle pony if they have it, its just hideous.
I doubt they will redo all the models from the old world, but most of the vanilla stuff needs redone really.
cj Jul 13th 2010 8:11AM
/agreed
start with everything we see alot of and work from that. character models are a must.
CaryEverett Jul 13th 2010 8:16AM
I still have my Swift Purple Wind Rider in my mount summoning rotation.
I didn't like them at first in Burning Crusade, especially considering if you didn't have a Netherdrake, you simply weren't one of the cool kids. But they grew on me with time, and actually are one of my favorite flying mounts now, probably second only to A'lar.