So never then?
I agree, they did some work on them after they first came outâŚbut thereâs still more to do.
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I hope the race gets completed soon. Hopefully they will look more like the npcs and less like the withered.
I really was hoping they would have the withered effect when taking damage. Like the potion in Dalaran sewers.
Itâs so cool.
They said so a while back before BfA that they were still working on them, but I feel like it will be after theyâre done adding all the new allied races for this cycle. Maybe they are waiting on certain hairstyles for the newest races to be completed so they can modify them for Nightborne.
Maybe, thatâs a good point. Yeah I feel like we will likely need to wait a while tooâplus theyâre working on Worgen & Goblin models now as well, and we all know how long that takes (or rather, how long itâs being taken now anyway.)
Thin eyes, proud posture, regal stance, noble, charismatic, a little snooty, a slight but healthy gaunt, passionate.
While itâs mostly the narrow eyes that say so much about what the nightborn are and have been through (as well as what separates them from them from the rest of the elf models and allows them to have their own special appearance), they are only part of what the whole nightborn embody - as a race in the game and for player models.
Whether reintegrating from nightfallen or joining directly from high society suramar, they should all still posses most of the above listed qualities. With their technology and magic, architecture, story, style and snub-worthiness, I fell in love with the nightborn and their models while playing through the zone and reading their quests, listening to their music, learning of their magic and watching their cutscenes. They were so well-developed both lorewise and aesthetically, their story is solid, interesting and emotional - a very well done race and well crafted, heartfelt experience that really helps ground them in Azeroth, in the story of wow, and helped them to become fully realized - all which basically perfected them being part of our world, part of the horde and part of our playerbase.
While playing and questing through their immersive, tragic yet hopeful story I was always wondering to myself why they werenât a playable race, as they were all-around awesome and pretty perfectly written, fully realized, snooty-charming with an air of grandparent-like wisdom, and of course they are simply and not so simply - intriguing. I was hoping they would be playable someday, and secretly thought they might be, one day! I was so excited when it was revealed they would be playable and part of our Horde family!
Upon delivering them to the players, while excited about allied races in general and ecstatic about the full inclusion of the nightborn into the horde, it also originally pained me a bit. I was disheartened that the playable models werenât like the npc models. It was almost like they were not the same people I fell in love with. I looked passed the differences but wondered to myself why should I have to when they could have created the models I and others really connected with. Would more time and development achieve that? I donât know because I am not a game-maker but I couldnât help but feel this was a missed opportunity. I have loved pretty much everything blizzard makes for wow, whether that be art, music, writing, etc. So it really bothered me to have to be writing this, but I was also really looking forward to playing as the nightborn who I got to know throughout the story of legion. I wondered, is this a sort of trade off where we can have more similar races but they wonât be the same? If so, Iâll have to think about whether or not thatâs a good thing. Life is short so it could be a great thing to get our beloved races into our hands. Or perhaps more accurate player models could have been something blizzard could have just achieved with more time and resources but for some reason were unable to do so. I donât know how these things work. Please continue reading, as this has been a journey and is not currently where I stand on the subject.
Thoughts and observations and longings: Apon release, they didnât seem to have that fierce and proud posture that reflects their history, or share that sophisticated yet whimsical air of nobel, high society snootyness. They very clearly didnât share all the same ear and chin attachments that I absolutely loved and would have thought would at least be offered to us players as customization. The Nightborn as a culture reminded me of a really well written and awesomely modeled race similar to how a very well done, fully realized star trek race is. There was something about them with their technology and magic, architecture, telemancy, the arcandor tree, addiction and cure, history involving breaking off from their ancestors and having to live under a dome, exiling certain members and having three sets: nightborn, nightfallen and withered, their foods and drinks, tapping into leylines, floating tomes / quills, dusk-lit streets and evening-shade color scheme, patrolling constructs, elegant attire, hovering lamps, serene plant life and ornate weaponry and stylish street and river travel, haughty / dismissive at times yet passionate about important things, grumpy if things arenât quite right, and lastly what makes them even more compelling and fun to play in addition to all the well-written, clever and heartfelt build-up is knowing after everything, theyâre having the bravery to confront their own plight and not be reliant anymore and the knowledge things had to / should change for the betterment of everyone.
Their npc models reflect all of that, as hard as it may be to believe. A wonderful job from blizzardâs artists, animators, writers, musicians, and everyone.
I didnât get all those feelings from the player models. Maybe they will work on them some more, I hope so - I thought.
Today, after reading some posts on Nightborn (ranging from completely satisfied yet willing to see improvements to areas such as their animations, to completely unsatisfied due the lack of similarities between the npcâs/both hoping the models receive the attention of the other races created from the ground up), and becoming aware of a few improvements that have been made since their release including some additions/improvements recently, I was not only very happy and relieved that Blizzard does listen and take these longings into consideration, but implements fixes, changes, improvements when and where they can - and hasnât forgotten about their beautiful enigmatic race or their awesome fans. I logged on to reconsider my original stance (described above), which had been formed some time ago. I played around with the customization options, etc. I now believe that while we are hopefully getting tons of future customization opinions for a race identity themed expansion, with loads of accessories, transmogrification, goodies, race-specific spell and ability animations (please!), and more, I now think that while the nightborn may not have received the full wide breadth of other races, they are still pretty darn good and Iâll say stunning, actually. Despite their similarities to night elf models, they are still very unique in appearance. One thing I have always appreciated regarding their models is that we have the option to play as a wizened, older looking elf, instead of the numerous young/âbeautifulâ, neutral, polished and pretty âmodelâ-like models that most of the other races have. I love characters such as Occuleth and grumpy older wizards and scholars who have been through a lot - and as a nightborn I can definitely include those personalities and quirks into my character and gameplay. Going over the faces there are plenty of options but I do think more will come in time. The other thing I truly appreciate and Iâm not sure if people are aware (probably are) because I havenât seen it mentioned, is that the thinness of the nightborn which is defining signature aesthetic, in my opinion is so great and befitting. While there may be cures, I think there will always be recovery. Our nightnorn have been through a lot and their gaunt, slightly aged, slender physics are a stark reminder of where they come from, what theyâve been through, and although cured, there may always be a bit of recovering. While they indeed are healthy now, their past allows for a unique model/appearance that holds true to their past plight. And I am glad those details remain, such as a sleek stature, evidence of withered, or if you werenât as long gone as another, perhaps youâre simply older and wiser - which I also appreciate. If I have one criticism it would be that our nightborn, who I love that are French inspired, receive their own animations someday. Their animations are kind of rigid, and not befitting their culture and society as well as they could. I donât mind that they are night elf animations and I donât think the developers were lazy as some suggest, and I appreciate getting to have those animations on the horde side which we didnâtâ before, but their own animations are important to have due to them surviving and growing under their own special circumstances. I would imagine their animations having more flare and some additional style to them, in a sense, a bit fancier, perhaps with bits of 16th-17th century French dance inspiration. And possibly some fencing maneuvers or similarities.
Thank you for reading. This post has been about my love for this race, my excitement regarding their release as a playable race, my original thoughts on their similarities with their npcâs / how close they are as representations of their story, and my renewed confidence and excitement for future development reading their improvements as well as possibly additions/improve for all races. Please let those who are interested know if you learn anything about the Nightborn possibly being updated / added to. Thank you. It has helped me see that things are never set in stone and that Blizzard does listen and will implement fixes. It also helped me reconsider my original stances - or learned to not have stances at all to begin with, as everything changes, hopefully for the better, over time. But I believe our voices have helped to make things better for our playable nightborn. Perhaps in the future, all playable races will receive a wide sweeping breadth of additions, customization, outfits, animations, spells, etc. Wouldnât that just be a great exp pack hook?! Iâd pre-purchase if that was a sure-feature - even that feature was through crafting, collection and/or an entire system designed to unlock, add and change character customization. Would be a LOT of FUN!
I donât want this to discourage blizzard or anyone from thinking future allied races need to been fine-tooth combed versus getting them to us players. Just kind of wondering what happened and hope identity isnât overly lost along the way. I still love the nightborn, and look forward to improvements to every raceâs identity and additions to every raceâs customization. Thanks again!
P.s. I LOVE having an older, slightly grumpy, wizened gentleman/race to play as. Occuleth is one of my favorite characters in Wow and itâs great to be able to play as a scholarly, passionate, whimsical yet a little bothered at times, older character.
Thanks gain!
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I fully Agree with the OP. Itâs an issue if the player character doesnât match with the npc race. Itâs not a race united it looks like two different groups. I could post more but from what Iâve seen everyoneâs saying more or less the same. Player Nightborne were obvi rushed and are unpolished compared to their npc counterparts. Miss me with that rigging bs excuse with the amount of time they are taking to make the Zandalari and KulâTirans just so they should do so with the race we were heavy in tune with via Legion. Come on blizz we pay a subscription gold damnit! Do not give us this cheap looking watered down version of Nightborne. Itâs legit theft, robbery, misrepresentation. Get it together. Please thanks.
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sniff sniff Smells a bit rancid in here.
Hi thread itâs been a while. My nightborne still looks wonky like he partially withered away.
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I love the French inspiration for the Nightborn. It would be awesome to have some long curly hairstyles similar to how French hair styles were in the 16th-17th centuries. It would allow for a elven wow race to have hair thatâs different from the others, since there are already many elves with long, strait, wavy, spiky (all great) hair. I think theyâd benefit from this these styles as it would further enhance their uniqueness among the various types of elves and other races as well as speak to their culture and fancy / proud society. I think the wow art team could do a great job with long curly and/or wavy hair styles, and I think those options would look great on the French inspired Nightborn - for example long white twirls a against the dusky skin tones of the gaunt, scholarly Nightborn male would be very befitting indeed. At the moment many of the Nightborne malesâ hairstyles are very close in resemblance to Blood Elvesâ hair - I understand why, but considering separated cultures, heritages, traditions, societies and adaptations, I also donât see why not. Thatâs great but some long curls could be a signature style aesthetic and match their personalities and culture. Just some fun thoughts!
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This pretty much sums up how awful playable Nightborne are. I just wonder will Blizzard even try to fix them?
Also the fact that Nightborne females and males donât have the iron chin as a customization option yet is sacrilege.
Well bump and here is to hoping Blizzard takes another look at them sometime in the future.
Iâve wondered if what we have now could be a stand in until they get the NPC versions rigged up properly, but probably not.
I watched the developer Q&A. It seems they spent most of their budget on the Kul Tiran humans, so didnât put as much into the other Allied Races. They are basically reskins with minor modifications. Iâm assuming the Nightborne are either Night Elf or Blood Elf reskins with a few adjustments. So unlikely to get much more work. The Kul Tiran humans are the only allied race they completely invested resources in with a new body type, animations, and such.
I agree with you. After playing through the incredible Nightborne story, itâs disappointing they spent so little time and resources getting them game ready. Their looks are very limited and not particularly interesting. Iâm most disappointed by the hairstyles. Very limited and uninteresting. They could have at least spent some time giving the female Nightborne very different and interesting hair choices.
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Thatâs sad considering theyâre probably the most disliked allied race lol
If only they had put more work into Nightborne. I bet they woulda made lotsa more money with them since most people want to be beautiful elves and not fat guys
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I like the males and plan to play one.
If the females got a little make over like the examples posted over on MMO-champ, theyâd look a ton better.
A big problem is Blizzard keeps giving female races the stupid oversize disney eyes. this was complained about with the new Worgen models as well.
Seems like the nightborne just needed some tweaking and a facial rig to work with the NPC version and additional customization and theyâd be great. Itâs a shame they canât get a few more artists/animators specifically for this kind of work.
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Just a fun thought and possibility, maybe there will be an expansion where weâll get way more than we ever thought coming, such as updates to models, new customization options, accessories, transmogs, hair styles, and even new and improved race-specific casting and ability animations - all intertwined with an expansionâs underlying theme of racial identity.
Legion was awesome class-specific for each and every specialization of each and every class, Battle for Azeroth is supposedly and hopefully chock full of allied-race abundance, maybe the next expansion will offer this great opportunity for wide breath and sweeping wealth of race identity in an expansion. Maybe heritage armor is just the beginning of race-specifics to look forward to. This could be a grow-able feature as well, expandable into future expansions and content.
Perhaps blizzard will build further on our raceâs stories, explore our heritages and cultures and traditions, presenting a wealth of cosmetics, updates, aesthetics and heartwarming stories and/or tragic tales and over thoughtful travels. This could be an amazing theme and feature - enlightening new and older players alike and rekindling our passions for our beloved races. From the stout and spirited dwarves, the inquisitive gnomes, the brave, respectful tauren and the harmonious pandaren, the tragic yet hopeful undead, while we all band together to defend our home from those who would seek to do it harm, we each come from unique pasts that contribute to who we all are, where we come from and where weâre going. This could be a great exploratory feature or theme to an expansion or at least as an abundance of fulfilling, meaningful and satisfying content - which could opening the doors to many character additions and improvements. And as Blizzard mentions often, when and if it makes sense and the time is right, or when there is time to designate, theyâll often include these longed-for additions - as long as it makes sense. An expansion with a racial identity theme could be just that opportunity! it would also allow the newer playable races to continue establishing and enhancing their presence and identity as our wonderful story in wow progresses.
Taking this idea just a little further, (though in an expansion feature as full of possibilities, options and opportunity as Iâm dreaming up, this might be a bit too much to include) player housing could be a natural extension included in this overhaul, connecting the theme of race identity with; collecting, crafting items to aid in creating and personalizing our traditional homes with neat little accessories such as gardens, wind chimes for night elves and dream catchers for tauren, This is a great opportunity for professions AND race identity in an expansion. This could be a grow-able feature as well, expandable into future expansions and content.
At the end of the day if none of this comes to pass, I would at the very least be thankful for some long, curly nightborn hairstyles ![:slight_smile:](https://d38bqls1q93fod.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/slight_smile.png?v=6" ":slight_smile:")
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Iâll never understood why anyone even rolled, much less mained a nightbourne. They are easily the worst race of the new allied races that cam out.
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I wouldnât mind so much the lack of customization (though, I do wish they had the glowy bits) but I cannot stand the male casting animation.
Itâs terrible - it was terrible for Nightelves and remains as such for Nightborne.
Fear Me as I experience a migraine then reach for a hug!
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I hope the fixes and customisations come soon.