Do not forget! (IMG heavy)

[Qraljar]

Cataclysm had some awesome concept art of creatures. Quite a few that never made it in. Sprites made it into Pandaria somehow, but many still did not. This thread is to remember them.





This one I find very, very cool indeed. An air-breathing fish that can get on land to chase adventurers with a head based off the extinct Dunkleosteus? THAT IS SO AWESOME. Why the hell did THAT not make it in? :O


Also, it could be the land-fish many have wanted for some time! Shame shame! Wasted potential.





There are more, like..


this creepy and cool one:



Shapeless. The Faceless of Cataclysm. Or at least, they were intended to be.

[Lupis]

Alas, 'tis the fate of most concept art! They wade through tons of concepts, and budget, mechanics and flat out time often end up weeding out most of them. It's a shame, because those are some really great concepts - props to the artists!

[cowmuflage]

Alas, 'tis the fate of most concept art! They wade through tons of concepts, and budget, mechanics and flat out time often end up weeding out most of them. It's a shame, because those are some really great concepts - props to the artists!

Eyup that is the point! I good rule of thumb to have (tho It's really hard to follow imo XD) is never to get your hopes up over concept art. I know a lot of times they take the best bits of a lot of concepts and combine them into one!

This is why I love art books so much <3 The Borderlands 2 one has so many cool ideas and you can see what parts they took from what drawing.

[Castile]

I love the concept art of wow. Pretty much the one of the reasons i fork out for the CE of the expansions is for the art books The only one i don't have is vanilla.

I also really like the TCG art, I have the first volume of that art book too.

I think the turtle looks similuar to the dragon turtles we have now though so atleast they use concepts down the track.

[Wain]

This one I find very, very cool indeed. An air-breathing fish that can get on land to chase adventurers with a head based off the extinct Dunkleosteus? THAT IS SO AWESOME. Why the hell did THAT not make it in? :O

Imagine if Frenzies could chase you out of the water and keep attacking!

Oh wait, they already do

[Lupis]

This one I find very, very cool indeed. An air-breathing fish that can get on land to chase adventurers with a head based off the extinct Dunkleosteus? THAT IS SO AWESOME. Why the hell did THAT not make it in? :O

Imagine if Frenzies could chase you out of the water and keep attacking!

Oh wait, they already do

Oh, Frenzies are even better. It's not that they chase you out of the water, they don't need to. They sit at the bank and stare with such intense hatred that the pure force of their hate turns into invisible jaws that chase you painfully off of any bridge, rock, bank, or nearby continent.

[SpiritBinder]

I really LOVE that little Raptoryx, he's so dam cute, even if just made into a mini pet some day? /dream
(If it somehow scuttled along the ground but then could also fly like the Wind Rifer Cub or Gryphon Hatchling do, OMG, that would just be so awesome I would squeal... a manly squeal though <.<)

Here is a link to Scrolls of Lore that have a few others too ~ Missing or Not Yet Implemented Creature Concept Art (Lots of Pictures)

[Wassa]

Two of those are in game, but with very different models than seen in the concept art. The fire turtle Volcanoth uses Terrorpene's model. Not too far off from the concept art but it would have been awesome to see the two-headed version in game! For the spiny raptors Blizzard ended up just reusing the Outland raptor model instead of making a new model for them.

[SpiritBinder]

Yeah, They just "recycled" the outland raptors for the lost isle, colours and all. When compared to Vocanoth, who was a new model for that Expansion. (even though blizzard said that they actually really wanted a turtle boss and hoping to add one in Firelands (I think that’s why the model got a lot of work and love in the 1st place) but they just could not fit it in right way in the end. Tis also why we have Tortos, they still really wanted a dam turtle boss )

Back on track…. I get it though, I know model and development takes a lot of time, but the outland raptor always felt a little "out of place" in the lost isles for me. Especially when you see what they would have liked/envisaged to start with as per the concept art. That spiny style looked fresh and much more primordial compared to the “Stony/Chunky/Bladed” outland style (which I still like as a design/style though)

[Wain]

The thorn sprite from SB's link also made it in but for MoP. It's a bit different to the final but not too much.

[Wain]

but the outland raptor always felt a little "out of place" in the lost isles for me. Especially when you see what they would have liked/envisaged to start with as per the concept art. That spiny style looked fresh and much more primordial compared to the “Stony/Chunky/Bladed” outland style (which I still like as a design/style though)

I wonder if they'd have been better off using the raven model as a starting point and narrowing the feathers down to spines.

[cowmuflage]

but the outland raptor always felt a little "out of place" in the lost isles for me. Especially when you see what they would have liked/envisaged to start with as per the concept art. That spiny style looked fresh and much more primordial compared to the “Stony/Chunky/Bladed” outland style (which I still like as a design/style though)

I wonder if they'd have been better off using the raven model as a starting point and narrowing the feathers down to spines.

Maybe they did some test builds and it did not work? I don't think we will ever know.

[Qraljar]

I made this thread mostly because I hoped that those designs would still make it into a game.


For instance, a N'Zoth/Azshara expansion could be a good way to sea hag, barramunda and Shapeless (old god minions) their model and implementation.


A troll patch to deal with the Zandalari for once and for all would be a way to get the Spiny Raptors, the other Lost Isle dinosaur on the same image, and the Raptoryx.



A burning Legion expansion could make use of the Volcanoth design. Introduce it in a fel coloration and then make other colors of it, like with the Firelands spiders.