Note: I’ve stated parts of this in other forum topics, but I thought this would be a good way to bring it all together.
It seems like there is a split between people who prefer cartoony graphics and those who prefer the darker and possibly more mature graphics. It’s going to be really hard for the classic team to please both people, so it’s important that we provide as much specific feedback as possible.
My take:
I’m on the side of the darker stuff as I feel it matches better with the story. I felt like the flaws of the current direction were shown best in the Stratholme starting cinematic. The massive jewels, robes and armour is very modern WoW and Warcraft movie, but overpowered the emotion that would usually have been carried throughout the scene. The recent Arthas model shown in Jaina’s flash back in BfA was awesome, and I think the wc3 reforged model would be better if it was closer to it. This would also make the WoW players more familiar with him, pleasing both the old and new players.
In the original, the clothes they are wearing fit pretty tightly on their bodies and the colour separation between the main characters (blue arthas, purple jaina, grey uther) had an impact. Also the facial animations and voice acting in the reforged Stratholme scene wasn’t as strong as it could have been. The scene lost a lot of strength when they were standing so close together and Arthas wasn’t standing alone on the hill. Just because the hand gestures and extra animations can be done, doesn’t mean they should be done. It will be awesome to see some scenes with more motion in them, but I don’t think the Stratholme scene is one of them. The spacing between each of the main characters in that scene is important.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere doesn’t look like it’s developed too much yet (the rain in the original scene is really effective), but I think an important distinction needs to be made in the development process between what heroes of the storm is, and what the warcraft world is. Whilst warcraft is knights, kingdoms and castles, it’s also wastelands, plagues and decay. The stone cities are grand, but very old. Look to the fall of Lordaeron cinematic to see what the cities should look like. What I’m trying to say is that the areas we explore in Warcraft 3 (especially Stratholme) can be better than models or theme parks. Stratholme for example, is a city that is low on supplies and even lower on moral, but this doesn’t come through very strongly when it looks like Dragon Shire.
Stratholme being reduced in size takes away another important part of that chapter. The sense of hopelessness that came when you entered the city and realized how big it was and impossible it was to truly save anyone (let alone everyone) or even stop the plague from leaving the city had an impact on the player and seemed to have one on Arthas too.
He had just lost his closest friends and mentor to his ambition for righteousness, spent the last half an hour (at least) killing innocent people in an attempt to do what’s right and even though you beat Mal’Ganis, Arthas hasn’t really won much. The scale of this event is taken down significantly when it is so simplified.
It’s important to be approachable, but it does seem like a loss of potential to take these aspects away from a powerful moment.
Units
Footmen and Peasants looked a bit too buff to me. Like am I the only one who sees human shrek from shrek 2 in the new peasants? The footmen had way too much grandiosity in their armour and weapons. Bit too WoW and Warcraft Movie. They aren’t knights who don’t have horses, they’re scrappy. I think the tight fit to the models would work better here as well.
The Orc peon looked a bit too Warhammer orcish. In the original, they might have been dumb, but were cute. Cuter than murlocs imo. @THUNKDAPEON on twitter is the perfect specimen.
The trolls don’t really look Darkspear and their original hunch is important. In the reforge they run too upright and look more clash of clansy if that makes sense.
The kodos are an instance where I think it might actually be better if they did get more WoW based, especially in regard to their mouth and gait. They don’t have sharp teeth and they are stompy, not stridy. This might just be me though.
Maps
Needs a lot more atmosphere. Mist, rain, mud, dirt, dust, fog, shading, lighting, storms, lightning, whatever. We have the tech to make weather play bigger roles visually. I mean night and day is a part of the gameplay, so make it a visual strength. If the models are going to be mature, the world needs to be as well.
My Concerns:
It’s clear that they have a lot of people who have a competitive background with the game, but the Stratholme mission made me concerned about the direction they are taking with the campaign. Are there any guests that they are talking to who are campaign buffs?
I’m also concerned about the WoW lore additions to the campaign, the wc3 story is a lot stronger than the WoW story (especially recently) and it would be terrible if it was dumbed down or put in a different context in an attempt to be approachable.
Overall awesome stuff and I’m super happy this is happening, but the best Warcraft story ever told and one of the best fantasy stories ever told needs to be told with the strength it deserves.
Thanks for reading this far.