Custom engine they’ve had since WC3.
How would that optional setting work? Would it affect how my character looks to you? Or only how your character looks in general? Personally I don’t want either, since the new models looks like garbage in my opinion. That is especially true for my own character.
People often talk about what characters look like. It is therefore important that they look the same to everyone. I certainly don’t want people to see my main character’s face looking like a gnarled old root whose eyebrows disappears if they zoom in close enough instead of a refined wise mage. That was what happened in retail when the new character model was forced upon me. I have no interest in being reminded of that forced retail change every time I play classic.
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I think that should this be implemented, then people who have toggled this on would see all characters (and preferrably NPCs and monsters and beasts too) with new models while those who don’t will see them as old models. I don’t think it’s important for characters to look the same for everyone. I think that people should have options when it comes to how the game looks. Just like the game world can look different for people who play at lowest settings compared to those who play on highest. Not a big deal.
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Yes please!
There is absolutely no valid reason why this shouldn’t be in the game.
It would affect only his view. That’s what “optional” means. It’s basically a graphics setting he turns on/off for his client.
If I set textures to lowest quality, turn off some shaders, and play the game at a lower-definition, my character looks a lot different from now.
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Can you explain why tbc/wotlk private servers have the updated models ?
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You’re wrong, there are a bunch of private servers out there right now running on the new models. Not that I agree they should be added, but this is already a thing in the private server world, and that’s running on the original client and not having the benefit of running on Legion.
OK 
Well what do you want me to say, you made a whole song and dance about how you’re a programmer and it can’t work. You can literally go play Classic/TBC/WOTLK right now on private servers with new models.
And that’s on the old clients, Classic runs on Legion. It’s ok to be wrong every now and then, we all are.
Oh did I? I’ve just said that I work on unity engine and it might cause issues with colliders. Keep dancing though.
You can also change models on classic right now as well by changing some data files with modified ones. You can make your character model look like a binbag, its definitely possible.
Making it an official thing is different though. Especially if you think of how character models can work differently with colliders. For instance, your character model look small to you but since game physics are different than models, your character won’t fit through a door even if it is small enough when you look at it.
And another complication comes if they try to do what OP suggested (make it an option in the game options menu). This means that they will have to have a whole second folder of textures in the game folder and need to change the battle.net launcher entirely to have the option to switch between different models.
Now, this is all possible, but it needs time and effort, which has absolutely no incentives for Blizzard whatsoever, it has no financial benefits, not many players care for it and blizzard is a corporation which has a lot of bureaucracy- they work really slow internally.
But obviously you understood this all as me saying it is impossible to do.
You impressed the entire world with your great intelligence, I was just wrong. It’s ok, I am wrong then.
I don’t think the time/effort is significant for a large company like Blizzard, a passionate intern could bang it out in a week. And of course there is demand for it, not all players want it but plenty do.
I’m not saying they should, I think there is an argument against it to remain true, but TBC is hardly the “no changes” example that Classic was, they are changing everything. Retail existed for a time with toggled on/off new models too, before the new animations were put in (and they aren’t a problem here).
It took them many months to fix very basic things like falling through the world when you get feared/AV que system etc. back in the day, I don’t think they want to spend all that time in.
Another issue is NPC models. If they change the client side character textures, they also need to add in new textures for NPCs because it makes absolutely no sense if your night elf looks super polished and new when other night elf NPCs look totally different and archaic, as it happens in some pservers.
But if they do, its fine with me. I just say that I don’t think they will spend that much time on anything that can’t buy a new yacht for Bobby. That is how I evaluate things with blizzard nowadays 
New yacht for Bobby = it is happening. Not enough financial earnings for a new yacht for Bobby = its not happening.
Whether they will is another matter, the point is they can. They often take really long to change things that are very simple fixes, that’s probably due to too many levels of authority and too many steps for a process within their structure, but when they do want things done quickly you see that can happen.
I dont think new models will come to TBC, wouldn’t have any opinion either way if they did.
When I logged in for the first time (after 10years) in Retail, I was impressed with the new graphics/models. My first thought was “wow I wish Classic had same models and animations”. But then I started playing Classic again, and I was not so sure anymore.
Do the majority of Classic players, like older models better? That would be an interesting poll.
Although I am very sceptical about changes (no DS, no Transmog, no boost), I think I wouldn’t mind optional graphic/model change. Classic needs something new.
I wasn’t saying they were bad merely that you don’t really understand the gravity of what you’re asking for.
No. Optional simply means you can choose to do something. Being able to choose to show your own character as a new model would still be optional.
That’s a strawman argument. The difference between lowest and highest quality settings are nowhere near as big, or noticable as the difference between the character models. When blizzard introduced the new character models the character that was my main in retail looked less alike its old character model than the 1994 version of Michael Jackson looked like the 1984 version of Michael Jackson. It’s nowhere near the same look.
I know a lot of people who are bothered with the low res/poly characters. This would make the game look better, and people wouldn’t stay away from it just because they see low graphics models.
The old vs new models was used as a toggle for years, it wasn’t an issue then it doesn’t have to be an issue now!
Graphic improvement that has nothing to do with gameplay, why are you against this… It’s not like anyone is commenting how your character looks anyway? Whats the deal with this I don’t get it.
Both the MMO element and the RPG element was long gone from the game by the time the new models were introduced. There was no more social interaction. In TBC they were still present. Also, Blizzard disagreed. That’s why they removed the toggle, because having both was an issue for them.
Like I have said earlier in this thread, people talk about how characters look all the time. Both the character models themselves and how gear looks on them. Even gear doesn’t fit the new models in the same way as the old ones. For gnomes specifically Blizzard somehow managed to make hair/beard clipping be significantly worse in some cases with the new models.
Just because you don’t talk about it doesn’t mean noone else does.
That something is difficult to do doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing. As much as I love Classic (and will keep playing it in foreseeable future), modern graphics would be a breath of fresh and yet classic air.
What does it matter to you how my character looks on MY screen?
If implemented as outlined, it doesn’t influence what you see on YOUR screen.
And as to: “people often talk about what their characters look like” … in the 17 years I have been playing this game, I have maybe had 3 conversations longer than 10sec about what the characters look like. And even if someone actually talks about that on a regular basis, they can just klick a button to see what the other guy sees.
There is no reason whatsoever why this shouldn’t be implemented.