Luckily you don’t have to understand. Blizzard understands, hence their stated guiding principles for Classic WoW including specific reference to old models.
Article: Restoring History: Creating WoW Classic Panel Recap Source: Official Blizzard News Site Date: 2018-11-03
In restoring World of Warcraft Classic, our guiding principle has been to provide an authentic experience. Things might run a bit smoother and the hardware is better, but the game should still look and feel like you’re playing World of Warcraft from 2006. Things like combat equations, original models, and hunter skills are certainly part of that—but things like social dynamics are a part of that too.
It’s not just mechanics, it’s visuals – it’s producing a brand identity for their classic wow product. Ensuring all screenshots/streams reflect that. Etc.
Enjoy the truly authentic Classic WoW experience, old models and all.
Yet you’ve got grass which moves when someone walks on it, you’ve got new water textures, you’ve got SSAO ,you’ve got increased farclip, and some more I can’t remember from the top of my head, all of which weren’t present in the original game. All of which can be turned off/down to replicate something similar to the original experience, now how is that different from player models? I’ll give you a clue, IT’S NOT. Just like you have the old water textures turned on by default, you could just have the old models turned on by default, and only make the proper models an option.
Also… I see how Blizzard understands, when the Classic client doesn’t even have the old combat/blood animations and they refuse to add them back, most likely because of their ESRB ratings.
All things inadvertently gained by using the new Legion engine, which I hope they put in the effort to disable where time permits them to before Classic release. It’s not an argument for adding toggles/new models, it’s an argument for removing those non-classic things.
Same thing. The correct approach is to argue to bring them back, not argue to makes things even more non-classic.
It’s not an argument for adding toggles/new models, it’s an argument for removing those non-classic things.
It will be an argument for disabling them… the day someone comes forward and presents a proper reasoning on how it’s detrimental to players who want an original vanilla experience, because so far, all I’ve heard is mindless #nochanges talking birds.
Same thing. The correct approach is to argue to bring them back, not argue to makes things even more non-classic.
Luckily you don’t have to understand. Blizzard understands
You’re starting from a false premise. This is a game. The game is dictated by its creators on what that experience should be. Blizzard has literally stated:
the game should still look and feel like you’re playing World of Warcraft from 2006
Boom. Literally no other argument is valid. The creators get to dictate how you experience their game, regardless on whether you feel your changes are impactful.
You’re talking about their vision on how the game should be as if it were set in stone and it was utterly unchallengeable. Their reasons on this (just like in other matters) are flawed and they must be challenged, that’s what these forums are for, if you took the developers as divine figures who can’t get anything wrong then you’d still have loot trading and sharding on their original forms.
Most folks would simply play another game, as opposed to grand standing because a developer’s stated vision collides with their personal preference. This isn’t a call for comments. Blizzard stated what it is, and it makes sense to the majority of us. You know, Classic being… Classic (a radical suggestion). But by all means, shout into the void some more.
You might be right, it might be pointless to create noise on this, just like some people thought it would be pointless to create outcry about loot trading. We already know some battles are won, and others are lost, like old av and rp-pvp realms, that doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying, even if we’re shouting into deaf ears.
Do I like the new models. . For the most part yes. . Some look wonky to me,
Do I dislike the old models? Yes. . I have SINCE vanilla. They are. . not great. We can be honest right?
Do I want a toggle? I don’t know. I am hesitant to say yes because I understand the workload involved.
Now, to the new client and engine optimizations. . H e double hockey sticks YEA!!
I do think the noise over old client went away in a cloud of shame. . so we aren’t fighting that.
But it’s not worth fighting over right now. The game LOOKS and RUNS fantastic in its current iteration. Could it look better with higher texture count without changing authentic vanilla gameplay. . YEA… But the upscaling is working, the new lighting is fantastic and it’s buttery smooth
Would it really be that much? The game files are still there, with their animations and all, I’ve checked them myself. Hell they haven’t even removed the demon hunter customization files
PS: It’s a serious question, I don’t know anything about 3d animation and programming, but I have been crawling over the game files of the classic client, and as I said, you can see the HD textures and files there right next to the SD ones
It is speculation, but I have done 3d character animations (I suck at that) and it is a lot of work.
I know its anecdotal, but the amount of time between the calls for new models and when they got them to us was huge.
Not only do they have to make sure the textures and animations still work but they have to worry about itemization. And that is the biggest time sink.
Yes, there are still some old items in the current asset cache, but they won’t quite fit and will need to be updated.
So it is a lot of work. . And very tedious boring work at that.
Imagine sitting at your workstation, loading a helm into your editor, then flipping each race in and checking everything. . Not just the race, but each sex. . AND… it different animation loops. . It can become mind-numbing I am sure.
If things go very well and subs take off. . Then you might see a budget allocation for these man hours. But again, knowing corps it is more than likely any increase in budget is going to go toward the next phase or expansion(classic expansion)
I’m not sure what you mean here. The terrain tiles from Vanilla are still used in many Vanilla zones, and will continue to be in Classic.
Water has options, shadows have options, ground clutter has options. Modern terrain tiles are the same ones they used in 2004, for most of these zones.
It’s possible to have Modern Models in game for those players who want them, and the original models in game for those who want them.
The real problem is that it comes down to work; lots and lots of work because it’s not indeed a simply copy / paste mission they need to add in the modern models in the same way you add a new RACE to the character select screen.
Doing it this way allows the modern models to exist in game along side the old, while retaining all the animations instead of a stupid horrible toggle.
Problem is as I said above it’s not free, you need to pay some one to re-do all the animations for the modern models and pay some one to program in the modern models like a new race, and get all that working in an already bug filled game.
$$$$$$$$$$$ is the problem because artists and programmers are not cheap.
This idea that everything should just be a toggle is proof to me of the criminality of raising a community where everyone becomes accustomed to getting their way.
Your desire to have your character seen a certain way doesn’t override my right to see my character in the way I want. And, since we’ll never have both types on the same server, a toggle is the best option.
The new models can do the old animations, it was the old models that struggled with the new animations, so people using that as an excuse are lacking an actual good excuse.
The old models look like hot garbage, and a toggle, off by default, hurts no one except people like the person I’m responding to, who think their personal preference should override everyone else’s.