Well, the orc units look great. The undead look good too. I think most people’s concerns are with the humans, especially the armour. It’s like a sea of metallic grey.
The buildings and terrain look perfectly fine as they are now, for me at least.
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I personally don’t like the buildings. Just like WTii said in one of his latest videos if i’m not wrong : “They seem like they are made from clay”
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I wholeheartedly agree with you. Orc and undead look really great, all the issues I find are with the human units. Perhaps they are the ones that need a bit more focus.
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Yes! This is exactly how I feel as well. I’d be really happy if they fixed that.
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PLEASE please stop generalizing some people’s opinions by saying things like “EVERYONE” and “WE”. Individuals don’t represent the majority or a whole community.
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I think the team color identifier on some units aren’t as bold as they should be. These need to really stand out so you know who owns what.
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I really do enjoy the higher polygon models, but I also see the point that is brought forth about clarity in recognisability, and after some consideration I have to agree that Warcraft’s style is iconic in its comic book flavour. Their argument that they changed it because so many other titles do it is fair, I guess, however they are that way precisely because Warcraft 3 made it so popular. I can only assume they were afraid of being accused of copying their successors on the market, which is a shame but is probably an undeniable truth.
On the other hand, they made that decision to go into a more cartoony style back in Warcraft 2 due to technical limitations, so they made their weakness a strength. Now, the technical limitations are non existant, and they can finally give this franchise the lick of paint they believe it deserves.
And “paint” is probably the keyword that a lot of people are looking for here. Whether it’s cartoony or stylised or what you want to call it, Warcraft has always had an illustrated look to it. They did make a great job re-building the iconic units into this new look, however they went away from illustration and paintings, towards a true plastic replication of these characters. I do not want them to completely abandon their high polygon models, because I always thought it was a bit of a shame how many sweet details were straight irrecognisable due to being mashed into the textures, however I believe applying textures that invoke the painted/illustrated feel more or to apply a filter over the existing textures as to make them appear more like a drawing will be a large step to appeasing the traditionalists while allowing the team to really make use of their new powerful tools.
On that note, I just watched wtii’s reaction video on the panel, and one point he brought up really struck a chord with me. He talked about how there’s not enough of the actual player colour on some of the models, which is especially notable from the zoomed-out isometric view. This is, most likely, due to the fact that they did try to be more faithful to the equipment and materials. In my oppinion, this would also be solved by more illustrated textures, working to use colours that imply materials rather than realistically visualising them.
I would also like to state the obvious and say this: The game has been worked on for a long time, but they did release the Culling mission as well as those panel screenshots and videos with the clear intent of putting together the earliest presentable version to the audience to spark interest. I expect a lot of polishing and work to come even if they stay the course with their current visual direction, which could very well optimise the current look with barely any actual changes.
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All is wrong.
They should just take the old models and remake it using more polygons (and some modern graphical effects) without changing any art style in order to save the original look. Also they should not change the old unit animations (except for some of them). For example, look at those peasants taking gold, they move like in slo-motion, but they used to be looking like they are in some really hard work. All the new animations look so stupid. Pay attention to the palette (now it is kinda washed out) and effects. The mood of the original Stratholme mission was spoiled, no rain and no darkened colors. And the last thing is HUD, it should be more like the one in SC2 and with the old-styled portraits that show only a head on the colored background.
The original game is very stylish, the reforged looks rather cheap and dull.
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For me it feels like they are graphics from 2008 rather than 2018. In the back of my mind I understand why, however its hard to accept such low quality haha. More importantly being such a huge WC3 fan, I really want this to inspire a new generation to help grow the community…rather than only cater to the few loyal fans who remain.
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I like the new graphics. Do not see any problems neither negative feedback.
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First of: it’s fantastic that W3 is being remastered! One of the best games ever! I respect the bold change of the style. Brian showed some balls with that decision! Obviously, it’s hard to tinker with something that people love.
Now, I know it’s still work in progress, not final, to be polished. After few days I re-watched the gameplay by Grubby and here are my thoughts:
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Noise - I feel that the amount of detail (as my predecessors said) on the models makes it look like noise rather than clear indication of what is what and where.
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Proportions and animations - On the screenshots, orc grunts are bulky and closer to their original form than the footman is and therefore more relatable. Footman was short and kind of fat and he had this nice, cocky attitude to him thanks to the animations mostly. Now he’s just a guy. I feel there is some character taken away from all the characters by their basic animations and different proportions of the models. WarCraft III was always a game of smaller armies, so more character in the units was something that fit the game direction.
Also, when it comes to the animation, since Mists of Pandaria cinematic was the main source of inspiration, I feel like the weight of heroes was totally different. Just take a look at the alliance (spits on the ground) sailor in 1:43 of the cinematic and how he moved. It wasn’t real human movement. Amazing render, photoreal but still - stylized animation.
- Different styles of environment, characters and UI - IMHO the art style is inconsistent across the content. Environment is somewhere between old graphics and photoreal. Characters are hyperreal (more than photoreal
) and UI is super simplistic. I feel like deciding on one would elevate the look of the game to a new level!
Still, I’m really holding my fingers crossed for the success of this project! Thanks Blizz!
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from my side i like warcraft to become more realistic , so i will choose the 1st way, which need to update the Environment / Buildings… its so fine the new units model …![:+1:](https://dou48tnq0ocoa.cloudfront.net/en/warcraft3/images/emoji/twitter/+1.png?v=6" ":+1:")
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Defensive Towers:
I really hope they add “mini units” on the watchtowers instead of just having the arrow spawn from the middle of the unit like in WC3. -
Human Swords:
The swords for the humans look wonky. I’m not a big fan of swords that get thicker towards the top of the blade and thinner at the hilt. Speaking of the hilt; I also don’t like the upward cross guard, it doesn’t look very “regal” which is what the humans in the alliance go for. -
Kill/Death Animations
I know it’s a lot of work but one thing I really wish they could include is specific unit vs unit death animations and finishers. It doesn’t have to be for every type of unit but just enough to make battles a little more interesting visually. -
Unit damage/hits
It would also be great with the revamped graphics if they added damaged looks for all units in the game as well as animations for when a unit is hit. Like a head getting knocked back or a wince would look good. As for the damage it could be a simple skin overlay but enough to show a damaged unit is definitely damaged. -
Unit variation
It would also be cool if there were variants of each unit. Some that are taller, or shorter. Some units may have beards, no beards, or maybe some have extra bits of armor that the others don’t. Not so much change that it makes them look completely different but also enough change to not make it look like clone wars.
This really turned into more of a wish list than a gripe but whatever.
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Towers shooting without anyone being inside is a very common thing in a lot of games.
I don’t like the human swords but its not a very big problem.
I prefer death animations to be improved versions of the old ones.
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Just because it is common or was common doesn’t mean that it can’t be improved upon. This is a new generation of graphics so why not push the envelope and get people excited? If you limit all the changes to either industry standard or just extra polys on the models then all we have is WC3 HD not Reforged.
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From what i can gather, more than not seem to like new style, or at least a 50/50.
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I like the new realistic and wow models style.
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The problem with realistic units is that they aren’t pleasing to look at when there are 40 of them on the screen, some are getting pummeled by Abominations that are covering other units by their size, some are caught in the middle of a Blizzard, and then on top of that we throw in a Starfall just to have a good time…
I do love most of the models and realism there (the Grunt in the demo is gorgeous), but the textures need to be laid back, they need to relax a bit, smoothen down. Like that we strike the lovely balance between darker, realistic theme and smooth and polished texture that W3 is known for.
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I love the artwork as it is. Can’t complain cos I have nothing to complain about.
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The direction they are going with is fine, but they need to change color pallet IMO, make more vibrant colors, maybe just adjust the texture of the environment (units feel alright)
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