Breakfast Topic: How would you redesign the old character models?
by Olivia Grace 
Mar 29th 2012 at 8:00AM
But I started to wonder what I'd like to see in character model redesigns, and of course, what you would. I'm not going to go through it race by race; that would be tiresome and also take forever. Also, one of the races I actually think looks worst, the worgen, isn't up for a redesign yet. Ugh, that perpetually snarling face ... It's so awful, I can't even ... and the sniffing ... Stop it, Olivia. Back on topic.
So one of my first changes would be to have the undead elbows show as an option, rather than by default on every character. I understand that some people may like them, but I don't. I'd also like to have long-sleeved clothes cover them up! Are the undead so proud of their skeletal elbows that they have all their clothes adjusted to show them off? I mean, shout it out, undead -- be proud of who you are, but some must be more modest, surely?
I'd like more hair animation. I really like that in the pandaren models, how their pigtails and bangs move as they do. I'd love to see better hands and fewer Popeye forearms, but the biggest culprit for the Popeye arms (goblin) also isn't getting updated. And more facial animation -- as Anne mentions, the pandaren lady has a fantastically expressive face, and I'd love that to be taken to the other models.
What about you? What would you like to see? And what wouldn't you like to see removed? Leave the draenei ladies alone! They're hawt ...
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
zinckiwi Mar 29th 2012 8:05AM
Better textures across the board, a few more options for every face and hair slider, and the human male run animation revised to no longer give the impression that have have a 5' long steel rod inserted into their person.
Puntable Mar 29th 2012 10:45AM
I don't really care about the faces. I'm always looking at my character from behind. My camera is pulled so far back that I don't see other character's faces either. I would rather have better body movement, and more attack animations.
VSUReaper Mar 29th 2012 1:39PM
Better run animations, smoother textures (Orc muscles are blocky), more detailed textures (are Tauren hairless or covered in hair? Can't tell currently), and better attack animations - my Tauren is ok, but slam looks like ms looks like overpower looks like heroic strike...
And more customization: do I want a nosering or no? Horns? Swept forward or to the side? And that it...? What about scars, or tattoos, facial expressions, anything that will make me want to turn my helm off.
Jadvya Mar 29th 2012 3:12PM
Female trolls also have that awful stiff-backed run. I want to make a female but their run just makes me so dizzy. They need proportional or at least slimmer feet, too, and maybe a non-vapid-looking "pretty" face.
Marcosius Mar 29th 2012 3:58PM
@Puntable: Agreed in the sense that when we play the game, fluid movement and "realistic" (read: nice looking) animations are more important than pretty faces most of the time. However, obviously, once they're done upgrading character models they're most likely more prominently featured in promotional material.
Luotian Mar 29th 2012 8:08AM
Facial and hair animations, for sure. The long braid on my dwarf blows, which is why most of them have it, but otherwise....also, necks for my dwarves.
Otherwise, though, I actually don't mind the models. I'm no judge for this kind of thing, and barely notice my character on the screen, so the current ones don't bother me at all.
Revnah Mar 29th 2012 8:09AM
I'd like more details added to the face as well. Not a fundamental change - my Rev is a pretty troll, thank you very much - so much as a face that looks like it belongs to a live person, with changing expressions and all that.
I'd also like more options for male trolls. They look like caricatures of themselves, they are *that* bent over and their faces are ridiculous. Noses almost touch chins and tusks are so impossibly huge that the poor guys couldn't possibly eat, let alone kiss.
I'd like actual hairstyle choices for Tauren males too.
But mostly it's the addition of details I'm after. If they manage that, I'll love them for it.
vocenoctum Mar 29th 2012 12:43PM
While I can understand the limitations imposed by the engine at one point, it still amazes me that Blizzard had such BAD options for so many hair/face combos. Some of the faces are just horrible looking, and I'm sure at least half the races are not "one of 8 options" for a face, but more like "everyone picks this one or this one, as the others are all so horrible, even as a joke no one can do it".
So yeah, there might be limits to what they could have done, but some of them were just bad artwork.
Matt P Mar 29th 2012 8:12AM
I don't envy the team working on the new character models. Having to come up with something fresh that retains what made people want to play the race in the first place is near impossible. What you have to shoot for is a model that's sharper but doesn't stray too far from the original.
Well, except for male humans. Change ALL the things!
L_fetcu Mar 29th 2012 9:12AM
This! I can't see the big male human as a caster even if you pay me :). not to mention Orc Warlocks. They are HUGE... casters should be slim imho. Warriors are big.. I can only dream for a toggle between big/slimmer characters depending on what i want to play (caster warrior).
Also hide the knees of the undead. I like the elbows, but u can't dress them with any piece of armor for the legs that looks good... except dresses.. lol
Simpsons Rule Mar 29th 2012 8:13AM
I'd love for Blizzard to remove the spine showing through cloaks on Undead models. Maybe make it optional somehow. It just never made any sense to me. I guess you could argue why the spine shows through a chest, but a cloak should absolutely cover it up. It's one of the reasons I never show a cloak on my undead characters. The feet and hands are far too spiky too. Fingers and toes come to an exaggerated point and it looks like I have claws instead.
As a general thing I'd like to see for character models, it would be for mail and plate to look like it is on top of characters and not part of their skin. I'm not sure how to articulate this, but shoulder pieces sit on top of a character whereas a chest piece will merge with them and expand and contract as they breath. I've always found that to be irritating. One could make the argument that cloth and leather would do that, but mail and plate shouldn't.
Strawder Mar 29th 2012 8:52AM
I'd play an Undead if they fixed that. I'm sure it's a consequence of the model (at the time) and it wasn't intentional, they just didn't know how to fix it until China forced them to.
Mail and Plate do indeed need to lose the "painted-on" look alot of it has. It's very noticable on larger player models, like the Tauren, or player models with oddly-shaped limbs (like the worgen or draenei).
knightsamoyed Mar 29th 2012 8:15AM
trolls being able to blink would be good too. The only trolls that can are death knights
Nina Katarina Mar 29th 2012 8:16AM
I just want my troll to blink. And have a facial option that's not vacuous or snarly.
Dementron Mar 29th 2012 5:40PM
I know. Right now I feel like the only options for female trolls are "stoner" or "angry cat" :(
Bakzhar Mar 29th 2012 8:19AM
I want the option to choose! Different kind of dwarves (Wildhammer, Bronzebeards, Dark Iron) with tattoes and all. Different kind of Orcs (Green fel ones, and those red Garroshy types)
Forsaken that are human, and dead elvies!
They had added all this, I would give blizzard all my money.
Killik Mar 29th 2012 9:09AM
Now, being able to play dead elvis would guarantee my subscription for some considerable time.
Joe Mar 29th 2012 9:51AM
Yes. Sub-races was my early prediction for Mists (that is, before it was announced). I was wrong; Blizzard went with pandas, but I still think it's a great idea.
Sub-races give people lots of new and interesting choices. But Blizzard could still keep their development costs down by making all sub-races use the same skeleton and animations.
I predict it (again) for the next expansion after Mists.
Elmo Mar 29th 2012 4:13PM
While I would like it I think it would unbalance the racial representatives a lot.
take Dwarves for instance, they are mostly Bronzebeards in lore, the other 2 races only recently returned to Ironforge.
yet I feel a lot of players would prefer the tatooed Wildhammer or the Red eyed Dark Iron over the more bland Bronzebeards.
This especially goes for sub-races that really look different like Taunka, Broken Draenei, Undead Elves or Forest Trolls.
And what about races that don't have visually different subraces like Humans, Night Elves or Worgen?
Synchronizor Mar 29th 2012 8:20AM
I really like the appearance and body proportions of my female Night Elf, but like others here, I would appreciate higher-resolution textures and more detail. Namely, an actual mouth cavity and teeth would be nice.
And of course more hairstyles and extra options, like earrings and the ability to choose tattoo color independently of the hair color would be cool to have.
Overall, I think female Night Elves are by far one of the better-off Vanilla race models. I'd really like to see just extra detail and options for them, instead of a ground-up rework with a different body shape (please, please, PLEASE don't turn my beloved character into a purple Blood Elf, Blizzard).