Would it be possible to get a Blizzard endorsed version? We all know there are certain aspects of the game that Blizzard/Activision either have no interested in doing or not willing to apply the resources to do.
At the same time, look at a lot of the threads here. People wanting different sized Kultirans, more accurate racial appearances and just different options such as Blue eyes or enhanced body types. Things there is no incentive for Blizzard to add to the game. Meanwhile, they are updating character models but the affects of old armor on the new models arent that great (look at my own melted ice cream chest piece).
Now if there was a mod, Blizzard wouldnt have to update many models (this could be seen as a negative to the community) and leave it to the mod creators to worry about any patch required adjustments. Just like the people who make all those addons we use now. DBM, Bartender, Unit Frames etc.
Honestly it sucks to have to relegate this to an addon when you consider how many games have customizations built in. Not even newer games, but I remember City of Heroes had crazy amounts of customization. A scaled down version just to adjust height/weight/build and color pallet shouldnt be a big deal.
but, if only you can see it. Yes, there will be dudes with female characters who are smuggling beach balls in their chest armor and such. But I can see some good in it. I remember back in Vanilla there was a mod that changed the color of the Tier 2 armor. Instead of my hunter wearing purple and gold armor, the mod made the armor black/red/gold and looked darn good in that form.
And we know this is an option, as the Corgi toy that makes everyone look like a Corgi to the user of the toy
Non-addon related mods in a game like WoW are a slippery slope, since unless it’s visible on both ends it can lead to gameplay abuse, like making certain map geometry invisible, increasing the visibility/size of gathering nodes, and other potential ways that affect game balance.
For every Big Breasted Beilf wanting to get down in Goldshire theirs gonna be a Cheating Carl who hides terrain to gain a advantage in PvP or a Raiding Randy who retextures part of a raid to make it much easier then intended.
It’s less of a headache for them to just ban it outright as opposed to making exceptions for certain things.
Allowing mods to change appearances, on top of being super open to abuse, would invalidate Blizzard’s appearance and race change (and partially faction change) services as well as any new races or customizations they add in the future because mods could just do it all for free. That also applies to armor.
I have suggested for years since Trans Mogging began. To have a scale down option to weapon sizing. It has fallen on deaf years and most likely will never be seen in game…
I think they should update some aspects of old armor to incorporate these. I don’t think anybody’s really attached in any way to those old armor bras that don’t look like bras or armor.
If blizz won’t give players a worth while character creator and is gonna go out of thier way to ban model editors.
Blizz has only a few choices.
Ignore model edits so long as they are purely visual.
Ban players and loose millions of dollars.
Work wih the model editors and openly allow visual mods for a few more sub dollars.
As it stands blizz has decided to attack thier players and throw away money. Of the thousands/millions that had bans reverted plenty will quit wow forever. Since blizzard flat out threatend them in the very same emails.
Dig for the mods and you will find millions of downloads. Blizzard only looses by fighting their players.
Since visial mods are only visible to the individual no one should care in the least bit.
Model editing isn’t about the end result we frequently talk about in these threads, it’s about what the possibilities these types of tools open up and what sort of impact that may have on the game.
There was a guild that managed to edit game files to bypass content and defeat bosses in a way that was totally unfair. That’s the dangers of these tools. They make it way too easy to alter the game in ways that just aren’t good for them.
So it’s not about changing your underwear. It’s about what else these tools can do. And unless you can somehow guarantee that no one will ever use these things for evil intent, you’re just not going to move the dial.
Back in Vanilla (and I want to say up to at least TBC) it was possible to just put modified texture files into a correctly-named WoW sub-folder and the game would read them like it reads addons put into that folder.
People like to talk all the time about the dreaded slippery slope of people using a functionality like that to make wall-hacks, or whatever, but honestly…what are GMs good for if not punishing blatant violations like that? Let them do their jobs, and let everyone else have a little fun.
So, you’re saying that Blizzard should spend inordinate amounts of manhours monitoring everyone who uses this sort of “feature” and basically babysit them 24/7.
Considering that, until this most recent wave of bans, people already had access to these tools if they wanted to use them (and I doubt you can name a single instance of someone actually using them to gain an in-game advantage) I’m going to go out on a limb and say that it wouldn’t be as inordinate as you’d like us to believe.
And since texture and character files are stored in separate folders from objects and maps, I’m still not seeing any justification for the fearmongering. Besides, when Blizzard doesn’t like the functionality of any given addon, they’ll break it or change the way it works. Like they did with the name-plate/weakaura stuff back around the time of the Nighthold raid.
Rather than asking for Mods, we should be asking Blizzard for the customization we want so this way, if they do ever come, they come without having to deal with 3rd party software that not only break the ToS, but could give game play advantages.
I dunno, I mean couldn’t they make a subsection that wow reads from only touches the character textures? Like you can only futz with stuff in this folder. That way other textures in the game can’t be read/changed. Have it read any changes to say a terrain file = punishment. I mean I don’t know how to program this, I’m just thinking ideas here. I know textures all have different file identifiers and such so I feel like it could be limited in just what they let you change. I’d also probably limit it to just texture changes, model editing would probably have to stay a big no no. I’m sure just texture changes being endorsed would be a huge boon.
Have blizz and the communities sit down together to create said mods so they can’t be used to exploit. Then they can be coded as ok and everyone wins.
Blizz banning or threatening massive communitties of thousands/millions of players only results in constant losses. People will always hack and find work arounds it’s human nature.
Blizzard outright threatend players and as a result will loose countless subs forever.
Blizzard should be trying to create a solution. One that leaves players happy.
People have been pleading for better character creator options for years. And blizz did nothing. Thats why model edits exist. People took it upon themselves since blizz refused.
Ideally blizz should be taking this in and realizing they can’t ignore the flawed character creator. It needs to be advanced to the same level of other games.
By our very nature. Humans will do what they must to gain what they want. Blizzard will always have people making model edits and hacks to use them. Until blizz sits down and works together with the communitties there will always be a war.
Blizzard will only bleed money as people leave or adapt new hacking techniques.
![:confused:](https://d38bqls1q93fod.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/confused.png?v=6" ":confused:")