Blizzcon 2013: Part 3 - New Character Models

New Character Models

·         The old Dwarf male has 1,160 polygons and was mirrored on both sides. The new model is 7,821 polygons and has higher texture resolutions. The face doesn't have to be symmetrical anymore.

·         They went 956 to 5,408 polygons on the Gnomes. 130 to 196 bones. Texture resolution was 2 to 5x higher depending on the area of the body.

·         Dwarf Female, Tauren Male, and Female Troll models are all being worked on right now.

·         All of the original races, Draenei, and Blood Elves will be getting new models for Warlords.

·         Worgen and Goblin won't be getting new models right away. The team will take a look at those models after all of the other ones are done.

·         Facial hair is animated using bones.

·         Capes are now animated using bones to flow more naturally.

·         Gnome female pigtails are now animated.

·         The team hasn’t decided how new character models will be released yet. It could have all of the completed race at launch, or they could be added every patch.

·         There will be no free re-customization for characters after new character models. (a final determination hasyet to be made.)

 Oh boy!  New faces!

I’m not really too sure how I feel about this, honestly.  I think that the game does a great job with what they have to work with.  I don’t think it is some kind of groundbreaking amazing graphical accomplishment, but the ambiance of the game has been excellent over the years.  The lighting has really helped WoW, along with the smaller details.  The first time I saw it rain in Wetlands after they added weather or the drastic change that real shadows made to the game world, just wow!  Those touches have helped the game age very, very well.

Obviously there are numbers and you can actually compare one to another in terms of how much of a graphical overhaul occurred.  I think that the new models look great and I really look forward to seeing how my characters made the transition.  I certainly hope that they give players a one-time, single-use makeover so that we can change the character if we don’t like how it was done. 

Things I would love to see:

Darker skin tones

All hairstyles potentially move

FINGERS AND TOES

More and better facial animations

I know some of these were covered and are coming, but these are the things that I really want to see in a recreation of the original models.  I’ve played this game for a very long time and some of my original characters have looked the same for nearly 10 years, it’s important that we keep that going.

While I would love to see a ton of time spent on better looking armor or a game world that is more alive, I don’t mind the new models, I just wonder how much longer this engine can really hold out with all of the modification that has been done to it.