Old character models look cooler

Community General Discussion
82

Humans males are always gonna be cringe to me regardless how many pixels it is.

Night Elf Males on the other hand are still cool regardless the pixel count to me. Okay their a bit more cartoony now… (Which isn’t the worst thing ever, i mean, theirs the legion animations for goodness)

Ehh, i have a bit of love/hate relationship with the new models, but i also have a bit of love/hate relationship with the old models. If i could list them out, i think i would give you a much better idea on what i’m talking about in my opinions.

Old Models:
Decent art style imo :+1:
The Animations they have are cool. :+1:
Stiff animations sometimes :-1:

New Models:
Decent HD rendition imo :+1:
More Expressive Animations, especially in faces. :+1:
Legion Animations. Too cartoony for my taste. :-1:
The Textures are a touch desaturated. Most noticeably with the Undead. :-1:

Both:
I like Cartoons. :+1:
Sometimes your character will mangle up into a monster. (new models do that sometimes too) :-1:
Little Customization Options throughout 15 years. :-1:

83

So I’m curious. Why? What is it about the game that makes the old models so part of the gameplay experience?

84

You still do.

85

Everything. Those models, animations, style, etc. are all part of the experience. I remember my old character the way she used to look. And I miss her. I miss how she walked, ran, looked. This new version is now part of new WoW. The old one is part of that old WoW.

86

Can’t agree with that, the main thing that keeps going through my head on the classic stress test is how bad the old models really were compared to the models we have now

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87

I loved my old Hunter’s look, but I think she looks stunning now. (Recreated the vanilla screenie as best as I could.)

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88

I think both models are good. :man_shrugging:

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89

Stopped reading here, haha.

Let’s see, even just going from memory we have:

Alliance

  • Human male - LOL!
  • Night Elf - forearms bigger than upper arms, 3 foot long eyebrows.
  • Gnome - autonomous ambulant football meets fun size snickers (not sure whether to eat or punt).
  • Dwarf - OK, they’re legit.

Horde

  • Orc - is it The Incredible Hulk, or the bottom tier of WWE?
  • Troll - the original Blueberry! Don’t forget to sharpen your elephant tusks after you groom your sherbet pink mohawk.
  • Undead - What do you so when you have Marge Simpson hair, or half of your face missing? Bust out some killer AIR GUITAR!
  • Tauren - OK, they’re legit.

Nope, no cringe at all, you’re totally right.

91

Classic graphics are oudated and hideous. They are one of the reasons I’m not all that interested in playing classic.

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92

Except that is a ground hog, not a squirrel. I can’t say i fault you though, the old squirrel probably looks very close to the same.

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93

Jokes aside, for some races the old ones are actually better. Female undead lost the “bone face” with the update.

94

And on this day, the world decided as a whole to never play Ocarina of Time again.

95

“Grimy, dirty, gangster” are rather vague terms.

Fidelity is a factor in computer games which does not make any sense in the context of other artforms. The severe lack of polygons, poor textures and stiff animations in the old models were not intended, but forced on the creators due to limitations in technology.

It isn’t an opinion that World of Warcraft is not a realistic looking game, and was never meant to be. It is cartoony, and that fact is demonstrated in the original concept art. It is most certainly the case that the new models conform to that art.

I’d just forward this fact. How can kobolds or murlocs not make people cringe if they find the new models so? How are the new models more ‘pretty’. I’d say the new models are neither more no less than the old ones.

Furthermore, the new models only look ‘pretty’ because they are actually able to show emotions. I rather suspect it’s a matter of selective convenience here, because you only remember or use things like /laugh as evidence.

Oh and I think you’ll find in regards to locomotion, most animals bounce, because they aren’t on wheels.

96

Yep, that sounds like an entirely sentimental argument.

Oh, there is value in that-- but honestly I find it weak if it’s going to be used to justify an argument that the old models are better, and certainly superior.

I am quite sure the new models are exactly what they would’ve made if they had the technology available at the time.

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97

I disagree.

The old models… they frighten me

100

I never once used that as an argument for them being better or superior. My conversation in this thread was with someone else about why the old models are in Classic. That’s it.

101

I intentionally didn’t single you out in that statement, because it wasn’t aimed at you specifically, but the thread in general.

102

How dare you

103

Completely agree with this. While I really want to see more customization for all the races (especially the original ones), the new models are leaps and bounds ahead of where the old ones were.

Then again, I never had much of a sentimental attachment to how my characters look in game, because they’ve always looked different in my head and in my artwork.

104

My first impression was how terrible the older models look.

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