New Character Models Discussion - Update! Fem Gnome Faces

[zedxrgal]

I have this sneaking suspicion that regardless of what players want that no more races will be added. I could be wrong but at this point there really isn't a race that could be added as playable. I'd so love Naga! But. I could see their posing a huge challenge to make playable. I am bias in a way in that lesser humanoids shouldn't be playable (ie Kobold, ogres etc) but think Naga would be very enjoyable.

[Kayb]

But when I saw them, I wished like crazy that they had kept them. I want to like female trolls, but I loathe their posture and their run. Slouchy female trolls would have been awesome IMO!

Yeah they were awesome! Shame the hand cramper army had to ruin them

[cowmuflage]

Ahhh the alpha female trolls were some of my favourite, I really wish they'd stuck with some of those features...

Same here. I didn't follow the game since alpha (didn't start playing 'til a few months after release), so I didn't see the alpha models until a couple years later. But when I saw them, I wished like crazy that they had kept them. I want to like female trolls, but I loathe their posture and their run. Slouchy female trolls would have been awesome IMO!

I've always liked the ones we have way more then the alpha ones XD To each their own.

[Danielfboone]

actually, even without the troll connection, you've got it backwards.

Night elves are the progenitor race and are not 'beefed out versions of high elves'. To the contrary, constant exposure to arcane energies made the regular (beefy) night elves grow more delicate and refined over time. High elves developed FROM the Highborne, through constant exposure/reliance on the Sunwell.

You have it wrong. The original Well was discovered by a tribe of nocturnal nomadic Elves (very likely just like the Blood Elves in appearance). They settled next to it and over time grew larger and stronger, also acquiring the bluish skin tones, due to the effects of the Well. Trolls played no part in that and the only reason the Night Elves look like they do is because of the Well. Nothing else. This is the well established and accepted lore since Vanilla. Also, that original Well was actually more like a lake and was not the same Well from which the Highborne later drew their Arcane energies and were once again transformed. That was actually the third Well, the Sunwell, created by the Highborne from the last remnants of the original. The original one, which had more cosmic energies, was destroyed and became the Maelstrom. The Highborne and the true Night Elves were also not the same.

The Elven origins are still somewhat shrouded in mystery but there is no doubt that the Night Elves came into being because of the effects of the first Well of Eternity. The theory of Troll ancestry is really only accepted by the Trolls themselves and may be the invented result of resentment caused by their defeat by the Night Elves in antiquity. The Elven races vehemently reject it.

So, the Elves have undergone two transformations. First into the Night Elves and later on, into the High Elves. Both caused by magical emanations. What the first Elves looked like noone knows except they were definitely smaller and weaker than the ensuing Night Elves. Therefore they easily could have been more similar to the Blood Elves we now know but without the glowing eyes caused by Arcane influence.

[Lupis]

From Wowwiki:

"The night elves are a reclusive and mystical race born during the waking of the world. Though they came from Ancient trolls, the Darkspear Trolls playable in the game have not been around nearly as long, thus, making the night elves the second-most ancient race playable in the game (the most ancient being the Draenei) and the first to appear on Azeroth."

So you're both right? They did come from trolls, just not the trolls we play.

[Nachtwulf]

I think the only reason you haven't read any lore that says that, Danielf, is because you haven't looked for it.

From WoWWiki, on high elves:
The high elves, or quel'dorei ("children of noble birth" in Darnassian and "high elves" in Thalassian), are a race descended from the Highborne night elves who left Kalimdor and settled in the Eastern Kingdoms, founding Quel'Thalas.

When the night elves adopted druidism, they outlawed the practice of arcane magic. The use of its dangerous powers was punishable by death. However, many Highborne loyalists of Queen Azshara survived the Sundering and grew restless. They suffered from magical withdrawal, and 7,300 years before the invasion of the Horde through the Dark Portal, they spoke against Malfurion Stormrage and the Druids.

Dath'Remar Sunstrider, the leader of this movement, declared the druids cowards for refusing to wield the arcane. Malfurion and the druids warned the Highborne that any use of magic would be punishable by death. Yet, in an attempt to protest the druid's law, Dath'Remar and his followers unleashed a terrible magical storm upon Ashenvale.

The druids could not bring themselves to put so many of their kin to death, so they decided to exile the reckless Highborne from their lands. Sunstrider and his followers boarded a number of specially crafted ships and set sail upon the seas. By now the Highborne were glad to be rid of their conservative cousins and free to practice the arcane with impunity.

None knew what lay beyond the Maelstrom, but they eventually found the Eastern Kingdoms and formed their own magical realm. They abandoned the concepts of Elune and nocturnal activity, embracing the sun instead. They would soon become known as the high elves.
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From WoWPedia:

At the beginning of the world, now known as Azeroth, the god-like titans created the Well of Eternity, source of all magic on the planet. In time, a tribe of dark trolls came to settle near the translucent waters of the well. These feral, nomadic humanoids built crude homes on the shore of the well, and named themselves Kaldorei, which meant "children of the stars" in their native tongue. The trolls believed that their moon goddess, Elune, slept within the Well’s shimmering depths during the daylight hours. Exposed to the potent power of the well, the trolls began to evolve, eventually becoming the first night elves.[1]

The WoW BNet entry doesn't go that far back, but both WoWPedia and WoWWiki have numerous references to bear up their entries, if you care to look them up. The 'from trolls' thing has been a source of 'we're not saying, wink wink, nudge nudge' from Blizzard over the years, but as time goes on, especially bearing in mind the uplifting of the Jinyu as an example, it seems increasingly to confirm the suggested canon. However, I'm sorry, all the wilful denials in the world aren't going to make high/blood elves the progenitor race. Big burly purple nelfs came first. Delicate pink high elves came second. Thousands of years second, to be technical.

[Danielfboone]

I never said the High/ Blood Elves came first. I just said that the first Elves probably looked a lot like them.

Also from Wowikki on Night Elves and apparently Blizzard's official stance is what I posted in my new topic in the WoW general section. This thread is about new character models and I felt it had gone far enough off the rails. The discussion can continue there.

http://forums.wow-petopia.com/viewtopic ... 10#p489810

[Lisaara]

Yeeeah I was about to say...I think the train fell off the tracks and ran off the cliff.

[Sylune]

The higher resolution on all the models are a definite improvement, but am I the only one who thinks that the re-vamped hair on most of the new female models appears wet, lank, and slovenly when compared to the originals? (At least the short cropped hair on the draenei female and the long and slightly curled on the female human). Just my 2 cents. I know they're still in progress, so I'm hopeful that they'll smooth out those details later.

That aside, I really can't wait to see what they can do with the male humans! That cleft lip has needed fixing since day 1! *LOL* I really is too bad they won't be fixing the female worgen as well. That model has some serious issues with it's proportions (especially in the face)! The male tauren re-vamp really blows me away though! On the edge of my seat to see what they can do with the female tauren as well! <3

[Vephriel]

I am much happier with the male tauren after getting to play around with the Wowhead model viewer. I can't tell if the one they're using has a different face from the Blizzard preview, or if the black fur just alters the appearance a bit, but either way I like this guy much more than the brown one we first saw. Warming up to them quite a bit now.

[Divixon]

old version dwarf: eyes
new version dwarf: no eyes

o.0

[Lisaara]

What an awesome tauren!

Dwarves have eyes, Ziroth. It probably just didn't load properly in the model viewer.

[Danielfboone]

I am much happier with the male tauren after getting to play around with the Wowhead model viewer. I can't tell if the one they're using has a different face from the Blizzard preview, or if the black fur just alters the appearance a bit, but either way I like this guy much more than the brown one we first saw. Warming up to them quite a bit now.

I also like that one a lot more than the first one we saw. However, I still think the hump on the back is too big.

[Danielfboone]

I am much happier with the male tauren after getting to play around with the Wowhead model viewer. I can't tell if the one they're using has a different face from the Blizzard preview, or if the black fur just alters the appearance a bit, but either way I like this guy much more than the brown one we first saw. Warming up to them quite a bit now.

I also like that one a lot more than the first one we saw. It shows more detail in the hair and looks a lot more menacing. However, I still think the hump on the back is too big.

[Nachtwulf]

Doesn't look any bigger than the old one to me... if anything, the hump seems less pronounced because the hair doesn't stick up as much as the old model.

[Lisaara]

Also cows and bovines in general naturally have that hump, even as ferals. So it's kinda supposed to be there. I personally agree with Nacht. Much less pronounced.

[Rawr]

Just be glad Tauren aren't modeled after this kind of cow

[Rower]

The tauren looks really cool, even more with gear on!
But: why are tauren the only ones that have legs under the robes? Dwarves and orcs still have that terrible "hole".

[Kayb]

But: why are tauren the only ones that have legs under the robes? Dwarves and orcs still have that terrible "hole".

That may yet be fixed by the time they're ready to launch

[Slickrock]

So.. on a related note...

I may spend this summer doing tmog runs after deciding on a tmog set or two on the WoWhead model viewer. Looking at Slickrock on the WoWhead viewer, I found that the goggles I normally use for tmog clip badly with the new models, and that the boots I was wearing look like slippers now. Umm.. gonna need to fix those.