Curse did an interview with Tom Chilton ( http://youtu.be/0KJDi622X1U ) where he says they are working on it and really want it to work out but none of them will be ready in time. At the very most they could have maybe finished one race (dwarves) but it looks like it just won't happen.

So yeah... sad day. No new character models yet :(

Oh well. Not a deal-breaker for me. Hopefully one day they'll get around to it, but it's okay that they save it for another expansion if that's the case. I certainly don't want these revamps to be too rushed.

They definitely did comment on new player models, I believe to the effect:

- If anything the most likely race to receive new models at launch would be dwarf. The rest would come at a later date.
- He also said that the Draenei and Blood Elves were at the bottom of the list for new models because they were created more recently.

On topic:
Interesting information but I didn't notice much if anything said about professions? Will it be more of the same, will we get sw:tor like gathering / crafting quality of life changes? etc.

I've put this in a couple of other places, but just in case people miss it, here you go:

Gamebreaker tv is reporting that new models are not likely to make it into the launch of Mists

http://www.gamebreaker.tv/mmorpg/world-of-warcraft-mmorpg/world-of-warcraft-news/poly-gone/

Mike B and Scott Hawkes talk for about 16 minutes about the model thing, and while they sympathize with blizz, they rightfully criticize them and talk about the ramifications of a lack of model updates in Mists.

/ultimatesadface :*(

Dwarves revamp has been taken out of context. Yes dwarves maybe finished in designing at launch, it DOES NOT mean dwarves revamp will be in the finished production.

No new character models is a huge, huge disappointment. Sorry Blizz but overall the information released here is a 5/10 at best. This is not going to be good enough Blizz, not by a longshot. better get crackin or those sub numbers are going to take a massive dip that will make 2011's losses look pale by comparison.

Also, I think the NDA week is backfiring. In particular since all the screen shots and videos made it out over the weekend anyway.

I hate to be That Guy... but I'm going to be That Guy.

Now as a long-time web developer I'm usually one to step up and defend Blizzard when it comes to server stability and uptime because I know just how complex things are. "You can't keep a few machines running?" people incredulously cry, but I just shake my head knowingly at the scale of the task Blizzard has in front of them. "You have no idea how difficult that is underneath it all," I say.

Having said that, really? *Really*? Blizzard, arguably the best funded and most talented game development outfit there is, can't make twenty models? Maybe some animator is out there reading this post, shaking his head knowingly and thinking "this guy has no idea how difficult that is underneath it all."

But until that animator explains it to me, this just seems like the equivalent of my developing an entire banking website but throwing up my hands in defeat when it comes to the "Contact Us" form.

I honestly find this absurd.

I suppose if you told me that they had to remodel every item of equipment in the game to make the new models work, then I might sort of understand. But even then...

The thing is, I used to work in the film effect business as a 3D guy and I get how long it can take to make a great model - but we are talking weeks of full time work by a talented artist, not months or years. There is going to be a number of weeks to get all the IK (the skeletal animations) just right. But again, we are not talking years of work here.

Also, there is no shortage of brilliant 3D modelers and animators out there. With Blizzard's massive gross income they could have hired a dedicated 3D artist for each race to model them. Something that should have been done last year too.

But hey - let's just get to the truth of the matter. Blizzard is a public corporation and their #1 goal (like all corps) is profit for their shareholders. Blizzard will only do what is necessary to sell copies and win back subscribers. If enough people bail WoW complaining about the graphics of their race, you bet it will be fixed. But it has to be a big enough problem for WoW to address it.

Just look at some of the features in Mists like AoE looting. They could have done that ages ago, but finally a game has managed to keep a million+ of their own subs which isn't great for WoW from a shareholder standpoint. I bet we will see any and every good idea of Bioware come over to WoW as long as SWTOR manages to keep over 1m subs going.

You guys make it sound so simple. Like it wouldn't upset a whole bunch of people if they logged in one day and all of the sudden their troll was standing up straight, or their dwarf female wasn't as curvy (or the belf/worgen WAS). If, suddenly, their character didn't look and feel and move like the same thing they've been playing for 7 years.

People who look up sites like these probably wouldn't mind it (I think I'd learn to adjust, at any rate). But, keep in mind, we are not the majority of players. Of the five people that play in my house, only 2 of us look at websites. Of my 20 friends that play, maybe six. In my guild of 200+ characters? 20, at most, look at these sites-- fewer still will do the research for raiding >.>. I could tell you the vast majority of them had no idea this event was even going on.

If their characters were suddenly vastly different from what they logged out as? That would be hugely upsetting to them. It isn't that its hard to do. Its that it is hard to do right.