Anyone Else WTB Hyena Fix?

[Acherontia]

I miss the way the old hyenas used to stand: alert, perky and cute. Their heads used to be held up, and their run and attack animations were somewhat different. Later on, probably due to the graphical bug of their tails inside-outing into their torso when they attacked, their models were tacked onto the coyote-wolf skeleton. This fixed theh tail thing, but changed their pose and made them look pretty bad anatomically. The way they hold themselves juts the chest into a triangle, creates an extra fold on the back and lengthens the mane so that it's thick and glitchy.

I wish they'd give them back their old poses. In addition, although the entire model could use an update (I think it's probably the single worst pet model out there as far as age goes), I think there's a couple serious flaws that could use fixing. The massive white dot in each eye looks terrible, imo. Because of the new skeleton's pose, the shoulders and elbows are in the wrong places. The lower jaw curves inward at the back, too... I just think so much more could be done with them

Current Hyena:



Some Fixes (quick and VERY dirty, just to illustrate the point):



And for those who didn't know, they used to be posed like this when idle:

[Kalhoun]

I agree. I much prefer the way they looked before the Wrath expansion, with their heads held higher. I don't really mind the quality of their "paint job," I just think that if their posture/lumpiness were fixed, they would look a hundred times better.

[Lupis]

I actually like the big white dot, makes them look alive - but I totally agree on the posture thing. I really hate the new posture, it just broke them. Their triangle-imploded chest is horrible.

I like their skins, though. xD

[Vephriel]

I'll admit I'm one of the people that like the hunched down posture of the current Hyenas. It gives them this awesome predatory attitude, but I agree they really need an overhaul. I love them as pets, and can overlook a lot of their glitchyness, but some bother me still.

[Ryai]

Tbh I like the hunched look of the model, it makes them more vicious and vile, like how they commonly are viewed irl and well how they pretty much are irl. These aren't huggable lovable critters.

And while yes the model DOES need a workover like sadly all vanilla mobs really do, I am glad that one thing was fixed atleast.

No more ass being inhaled into the body and tail shooting out of mouth syndrome. Ok it wasn't that graphic but, Hyena's used to have their butts be sucked into the model when attacking. It turned me off hyenas until it was fixed >_<

[Ariamodasu]

Huh I never noticed it was over the Coyote model Oo But now that you mention it, it is noticable. Wierd.

[Acherontia]

Tbh I like the hunched look of the model, it makes them more vicious and vile, like how they commonly are viewed irl and well how they pretty much are irl.

To be fair, if we're comparing to real life, they do hold their heads higher than their bodies generally--but if you mean the way it affects their overall "theme" (lower head = more vicious looking) then I suppose.

I just much preferred the old pose; it fit their skeleton properly and this new one is bunched & hunched in all the wrong places. I still haven't been able to get used to it. I loved seeing my hyena's alert ears, so cute--instead of the weird pixelated mane

As far as the eye dot--I like the dot, but it's too big and one giant pixel, and it's VERY noticeable that it's a scaled-up art skin. Really abrupt on a couple of the colors.

[Akycha]

I agree the new pose doesn't match the model at all. Also, hyena's in the wild normally have their heads up. They have great hearing and they have fantastic noses; however, they don't run around with there noses down they have them up to catch the scents in the air and to be aware of their surroundings.

I'm not sure why so many cartoons and drawings depict them with their heads down and shoulders hunched. :/ Only thing I can think of is because of the way they bob their heads up and down during challenges?

At anyrate, put my vote in for return to the old posture or cleaning up the the model to fit new posture. I prefer going back to the old posture though.

[Ryai]

Yes I meant viciousness. Anyways googling images and I warn anyone to not do this as for some reason .. well .. porn is getting through image searches [atleast for me unfortunately] and no I like everyone else DONT WANT TO KNOW WHY.

*brainbleaches*

Anyways.

In most pictures that have Hyena's wuith their heads up, they are mostly standing still. Others moving about or even some standing up, have their heads/necks levelish with their body, or a bit hunched over. And even watching a quick clip, the hyenas rarely had their heads up like the old wow models, it seemed they were always atleast level with the body.

So I think the real problem isn't so much the hunch it's just, well look at a Hyena. The Hyena has a LONG neck. Longer than a dog. This is most likely WHAT is wrong, because of how poorly rendered the model is, especially the original and the new, any Hyena wow has will NOT be perfect because the proportioning is all wrong. All of it. Legs are to thick, the neck is to thick/short imo, the body isn't sloped enough yada yada.

[Akycha]

By up I meant sorta level, but I get what you are saying. I'm not expecting a realistic representation. I mean I love my ghostpaw wolf and that is anything but realistic. I mentioned the head posture in real life because it was mentioned they normally have their heads down and shoulders hunched.

I think the biggest issue as it is right not is the torso, neck and shoulders aren't moving correctly. Take a look at how they run now and you'll see what I mean. It looks like they have no spine and the rear and front don't move together correctly. I'm pretty sure(hoping) that this must be a bug, because it doesn't make sense to make the animation broken where before it worked ok.

[Acherontia]

In most pictures that have Hyena's wuith their heads up, they are mostly standing still. Others moving about or even some standing up, have their heads/necks levelish with their body, or a bit hunched over.

With the old model, they were up when the hyena stood still, and went down (as now) when the hyena moved. It was far more realistic

Edit--as far as the animation, yes; I'm pretty sure they used to have their own, but when they got slapped onto the coyote model, it... well, it doesn't look right

I found a pic online of how they used to look on the old skeleton, when idle:



Oh, and one from Wowwiki...



I really think it just looks a thousand times better, and that the fix for the inside-out-tail was a sloppy one

[Akycha]

yea, much much better. I'd take the tail problem over the new problems introduced. I can't help thinking that it being slapped on the coyote model instead of their old hyena skeleton is a mistake or bug. *fingers crossed*

Has anyone looked at them on PTR?

[Ryai]

Not had a Hyena in a while but was pretty sure they broke alot when they ran, idk it's been a while as I said and jumble it up but, then again even while the hyena does have that slight more natural look about it, it's still not really optimal. Mean the neck is still far to thick/short imo.

*pokes it*

It needs work overall tbh.

Edit: by broke alot pretty sure old model the neck was wonky when running, while new model breaks alot like foxes do when they run.

I DONT NEED A SPINE I HAVE A SLINKY!

[zedxrgal]

IRL Hyenas are a proud animal and in a standing position their heads are held very upright


But hyenas when walking or running hold their heads laterally to their bodies


The reason is it gets the strong neck and shoulder muscles in perfect alignment at their strongest points for a hunt and helps with eye sight, scent and hearing.

I think that's what Blizz was trying to use was that walking head position.

I love hyena and agree that they seriously need a touch up.

[7seti]

I'd like to have the old idling pose back. The "hunched" pose just looks painful, as well as causing the model to deform. They hold their heads level with their bodies when running, walking and attacking, and I think it looks much better:

[Ryai]

This kinda just proves how BADLY the hyena model is and even reverting it to the old won't really fix; the current one seems that Blizz tried to have it more lateral and etc like how most envision hyenas, and sadly or not, most do not see them as proud animals who keep their heads held high.

Pretty much the problems are, with or without a revert;

The neck as I said is to short and thick. The true neck. The chest seems to burst past the front legs, causing it to look even more deformed. It needs slimmer legs, softer muzzle and a thinner neck. If they would just get rid of all the chunkiness the current model has ateast for the neck, that deformity would go away.

Gief Hyena Upgrade >.<

[Lupis]

I still can't get over how adorable hyenas are in real life.
I've always loved them, they're really not that vile.
Anyway, yeah, the old posture was better, but a completely new model - if it's at least mostly like this one - would be welcome...

[Wain]

I'm not disagreeing with you that this model might have issues, but addressing a separate thread of discussion I wonder if the artists of the time deliberately avoided making them like real hyenas. The real life ones are fairly slender and their appearance isn't all that savage and terrifying. WoW's art style is deliberately somewhat cartoonish and if you want a tough beast you create something thicker and with an angled head to make it look like it has attitude. Maybe that's what they were aiming for. Much like worgs look a lot tougher than normal wolves, and look very little at all like real wolves (I actually personally prefer the old model to the worg one, just using this as a comparison). The docked tail seems an odd choice, though.

[Lupis]

That's a good point, in fact. Cats are like that too in WoW.
It still needs a bit of a revamp though. xD

[zedxrgal]

Like LupisDarkmoon said I agree that the model itself could be updated without looking so blocky and outdated. I hope that makes sense. Hyenas in game and IRL are a favorite animal of mine and while they don't have to look exactly like each other the in game one has started to look "old" compared to the new models and even some new unused skins.