Today I finally unlocked the scenario for the Nightfallen and successfully tamed a mana wyrm from it with the intention of replacing my current one with it. However when I went to get my original wyrm out they displayed the same model. Summoning them both they were the same as well. So out of curiosity I went on a trek to check the wyrms in old Karazhan and what do you know - they've got the updated greater black-and-magenta model.
Because of this discovery I headed out to Halls of Origination to check the Void Wyrms around and summoned by Setesh. Lo and behold they also have the new model
While this is amazing for people who want the greater black-and-magenta but missed it in the scenario/have yet to get there can get it elsewhere it also means the original violet-black skin is no longer available on tamable mobs. I'm yet to check said untamables however. Possibly something for later unless someone else beats me to it.
I *was* going to say it's possibly a step towards eliminating the old low-poly models and replacing them with the new ones of the same color, but upon inspection on the site, it seems that these two wyrms have very different colors, and there are currently some old-model skins that don't have a new-model equivalent, so I'm concerned for people using the old models due to color specifics. :/
Sig made by the Wonderful Serenith!
"You cannot judge me, I am Justice itself! We were meant for more than this, to protect the innocent. But, if our precious laws bind you all to inaction, then I will no longer stand as your brother." - Tyrael
Ahhh! This is kind of exciting because I really do love the new model, it's a very faithful update. I do hope they make a silver colour to match the original, but otherwise I think the colours look pretty good.
Oh wow! Thanks for finding this. So I wonder what's happening with that one colour that wasn't replicated with a new model skin. Maybe they did add one and I missed it. Gonna have to go investigate!
This is the colour that wasn't replicated, the silvery one with the peachy coloured belly and a yellow gem in its forehead (the other silvery one has a blue gem):
I'm just in Outland now and the mana wyrms there have switched to the new model/skins too, except for that silver one.
In fact if you look at the Nether Beast (untameable) in Netherstorm, it comes in four colours. Three of them seem to have switched to the new model (you can see they have dark spines) while the silvery-peach variant seems to retain the original (white spines and minor tears in the fins) :
Vephriel wrote:Odd that they wouldn't make an update of all of the colours! D: Maybe it wouldn't be too difficult to go back and edit one at some point.
I suspect they ran out of time (and may have forgotten it beforehand). The same with them leaving out the purple kodo mount. That one was never in the game and I think it shows some need to save time that they updated every colour but that one.
As you can see, the mana wyrm model is only a tiny update. It's really not much different to the original, and even side-by-side it can be hard to spot the model differences. But it still would be nice if they were all updated.
I've now checked every mana wyrm in the game aside from the one that is an add in the Heroic Megera fight in ToT (and isn't tameable anyway), and it appears ALL have been updated except for the two (and part of an untameable third) that use the peachy-silver model. I'll update the database accordingly.
Woo! That means I still have my chance for this beauty! Thanks, Blizz!
I wish they'd have left at least one NPC in the world of old model+color, like it was done with the bears, though, for the sake of people who preferred old model / colors.
P.S. Crossing fingers for a way to tame Jandvik Ripfang after finishing questline. Somehow I ended up skipping all the special pets this expack
My Lion Den!
