Get insights from the World of Warcraft development team on refining the Skyborne visual style, revisiting High-Definition Druid forms, and expanding player choice with Standard-Definition character models.
9 Likes
Looks nice but now the bear form looks more retail than it already did!
2 Likes
We should’ve gotten High Elves for the Alliance and Ogres or Goblins for the Horde.
Not the druid forms but the character models seem to blend in better with Classic now. I hope the gear also upholds that art style in the future. Terrain in the new maps certainly did.
I am happy to see Blizz takes good feedback into consideration and act on it.
8 Likes
I don’t think you understand the problem fully. The problem isn’t glow, the problem is soft shading, round and cuddly. No sharp edges.
Basically, look at my character model - there’s your problem. In a nutshell.
Are these an improvement? Slightly. It’s better; because you got that high contrast ridges on the feathers. But it still has that rotund, big-headed shape with few sharp edges.
5 Likes
That isn’t an equal equivalent.
High Elves for the Alliance and Blood Elves for the Horde would have made sense.
Adding the most conventionally attractive, popular playable race model to only one faction would skew things too far in one direction.
8 Likes
I will never understand why some people prefer low quality models. 
9 Likes
This. Although I’m glad that the devs signalled that they’re not treating the Skyborne as a replacement for either.
2 Likes
Check Aggrend’s twitter.
Actual SD forms are there and aren’t shown in the blog yet. Those are adjustments to the HD version.
3 Likes
Coming early 2027?!
2 Likes
W elf models. Although I think the problem with druid forms was not texture contrast, it’s the 3d model. It doesn’t feel right to play with SD and have a bear form that has more polygons than entire era zone.
UPD: nevermind SD bear is coming too, so W overall
1 Like
Really heartening start but I still worry about the possibility of the dozens of extremely recent retail models (2018 all the way to as recently as 2023) remaining permanently unaffected by the SD toggle. Is anything being done about them beyond the one quillboar that was fixed? Or the raid sets/bosses that have been seen? Nobody using SD or HD on wants the actually WANTS visual inconsistency no matter how much the conversation may annoy them.
EDIT: Saying this considering couple hundred hours of beta play. As it stands now, as nice as this single thing is to see, it really isn’t enough, there are so many glaring issues that seem to have been made early in production. The decision to have HD models at all really has thrown a wrench into just about every aspect of the game. As unopposed to them existing as I am I can’t really think of a single reason for them, and neither can anybody I’ve talked to about it. It’s sad to a see a feature near-zero people in the community ever even considered seem to take precedent over preserving the identity of the game. Had a great time in Ruins of Lordaeron until one of the boss models was ripped unedited from shadowlands, looking as if it was literally photoshopped over my screen. This is an extremely frequent experience, and to what end? Who is actually asking for an experience where one in a few hundred things looks completely out of place, be it the texture the polygons or the overall artstyle? I went from being a little worried that Dalaran’s textures and assets weren’t reeled in a little on day one to having to question the entire design philosophy of the game because its not just the wrath assets I needed to get used to, but cataclysm and mists and legion and dragonflight. Why call it Classic+ if what was being developed seems to have initially been intended as a remaster?
I just want to enjoy the game, I don’t want to have to deal with all the discourse that stems from an odd decision to appease neither side of an argument that exists for seemingly no reason in the first place! I’ve been here for 22 years across two accounts and two regions! I was 9 years old standing at the gates of AQ with a group of strangers and my brother’s friends who thought it was ridiculous I was even there, and I’m still here sounding like someone’s grandma! This stuff matters to me!
It’s art consistency.
This is a bit of a no-changes sort of moment. The issue is that World of Warcraft’s original art style looks very different from the modern game’s, and due to the incidents with Warcraft 3 combined with the general vibe of retail there’s a lack of trust in Blizzard to be able to deliver on that look while also creating higher resolution models, and this has proven very justified.
Higher resolution models aren’t bad, but people would just rather not for the time being.
Maybe a remaster can happen at some point, I dunno. Not that important to me. But it definitely has to be consistent art style.
7 Likes
So, for those of us that prefer the look of SD models and want more choice, Skyborne player characters (and yes SD Druid forms) are in development and arriving early 2027
Early 2027 for some SD models… come on… “Don’t you guys have AI?”
- No one but delusional, lazy people prefers to work with AI in art.
- Blizzard worker unions actively pushed for a requires-union-approval clause to even use AI in anything regarding Blizzards teams
- People massively dislike AI by now. Almost no one wants to see hallucinated slop.
So, sit down and wait, like everyone has to. Patience is a skill. And you need to learn it apparently.
8 Likes
But even then… It’s ‘consistently bad’.
Old WoW models are ugly as sin. So I wouldn’t want any consistency with that.
Ah well. Thankfully they were smart enough to include HD model options. It’s something.
Now to fix the real issue of Forever: The combat.
1 Like
Now, if they make the druid forms alot more aggressive/angry in their faces, you’ll be damn close to a classic look. Cause right now the cat and bear look veeeeeery friendly compared to the tauren and nelf versions.
4 Likes
While beauty is the eye of the beholder, WoW was always pretty low quality pixelfest compared to other games
Around Pandaria it started to improve but still it is pathetic 
Probably because it runs on spaghetti code and an archaic engine that barely able to handle more than 2 pixel praire dogs
1 Like
For me too many details were lost in the new models, especially heads.
Fembelf probably being the more obvious example, heads used to be a bit more remove the hair make the skin grey and you have an 
and that was lost in translation. Differences in mouth/face/jaw/snout shapes in other races also, worgen losing some of the menacingness in their face.
I’d love it if they went to the old wow models and redesigned them in the same way they redesigned wc3’s definitive edition but its probably too early to have that conversation for Forever. Ultimately tho, regardless of what looks better, they advertised support for both old and new graphics and while I’m not going to sit here and claim its the only reason people bought it, I will say its definately a part of the equation of will I buy for a lot of people.
So the fact that they advertised both creates a responsability to then also actually give us both, or suffer potential reputational damage about broken promises in wow forever before its even launched.
2 Likes
I don’t really like the druid forms. But then I’ve always wanted a BE druid because their likely cat form would be the noble Eversong lynx. Alas, birdcats don’t appeal as much to me.
1 Like
Oh yeah. For me it’s definitely part of it. That and transmog.
The big issue for me now is the combat.
Yeah, but the style is what saves it. For me anyway.
But the old models just don’t have that. I could never play with those models.
1 Like