Classic WoW is timeless. Some of us knew that in 2014, others learned it with the re-release. As an arch-boomer, I’ve witnessed all the height’s and low’s of the original and the new Versions of the 3 most awesome WoW experiences and i just got renewed hope for Era with the new 14.4 Patch.
You may or may not like the changes, but one thing is for certain - Era is here to stay. Blizzard wouldn’t make such radical and impactful changes if they’d drop it again soon and come up with the new “Big” thing. Hardcore servers are also re-fueling Era by sending over dead Characters - This is gonna be our Permanent Vanilla haven.
As an Arch-Boomer and Freelance Dev/Modder, ive also come to customize classic in the “legal” boundaries alot. I constantly find myself looking to improve the Visual quality of Classic via Injectors, artificial Upscaling and Filters. The engine has come a long way and it really shows its beauty in things like Lighting and Reflections - but without access to Texture editing it’s always gonna look just Old.
So i know that there are security issues with changing Gamedata itself, but would it be technically possible to build it so specifically Textures for Characters and the Environment become editable without bearing the risks in the Classic Client? Having this in place would make Classic timeless forever - With classic’s popularity and dedicated community, we would certainly see the most beautiful Texturepacks. Imagine ClassicWoW with Witcher3 texture detail and you’d not be even close to what would be achievable with so many people rooting for this Franchise. Casting far sight on this, shows me some people abusing it competitively by dragging/adding textures up in the air for e.g. easily spotting Inc’s in Battlegrounds - but those are issues that can be worked around by only having Trusted/Approved texturepacks being allowed. The community would produce - Blizzard review keeps it fair.
What are your thoughts about this? Would you like to start seeing Classic getting a graphic overhaul each Month?
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Modding you game folder beyong what API allows with addon is a punishable offence. You could modify textures in a way that is giving you advantage over other players in PvP or PvP encounters, like instead of patch of fire there would be huge red circle with “Do not step here” sign on it.
In original Wrath there was an addon called Augmented Virtual Reality (AVR), that did exactly that, very similary to WA level of tips, but replaced almost all boss AoE spell textures with overlays. Not only that but it also served as advanced DBM drawing safe zones where players should run to in advance, making raiding a complete no brainier. Blizzard quickly broke it’s functionality with patch 3.3.5. as it was gaining insane popularity boosting casual guilds progress.
I would like to be able to switch between classic and modern textures thought, however I belive that even 2014 Draenor models are outdated and Blizzard should redraw all races again, especially humans who are all of the same face in retail.
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Obviously, i specified that there are security issues with enabling Texture editing and i also talked about a possible soloution for it - let Texture packs be reviewed/approved by blizzard before being able to load them up.
Blizzard won’t “pre-approve” these things as they may be changed afterwards just like addons. As the official game gets updated so will addons eventually need to be patched. They don’t have time for this.
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Another quickly solvable issue - Approve by Version, not by Author.
Addons are Scripts and need to be set up for newer game versions, this isnt the case for texture files since they just replace a “static” file in a folder.
That will never happen.
How about making horde characters appears with huge spikes, so you can see them through walls? (famous cheat example from Counter Strike)
How is everyone ripping textparts out of context? Youre not going to be able to cheese textures if they get reviewed/approved before being able to load them up, read the full post. :o
No thanks. One of reasons I like Classic is precisely old graphix.
No one forces high quality visuals upon you. You can enjoy pixels forever.
Its about them being editable, not being replaced.
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Ah sorry misunderstood. I thougth you say: I fix Classic graphix for all, not only for you 
In that case fine. IF this is not force fed us down the line like now all Minimap-“improvements” with new patch 
No way! That would be a terrible idea. Its about making graphics modular and auto-progressing with whats possible technically, not forcing anything upon anyone.
Besides killing the old nostalgia invoking graphics, youd also exclude tons of people which dont have the Hardware/Vram to load up high quality textures. That would do more harm then help.
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Super, go for it!
And can you make an addon removing Carets, Fligth Master Markers and the incoming Trainer Books from MiniMap?
Would make me SUPERhappy!
Im not sure if sarcastic, but im no freelance dev/modder for WoW.
In case of sarcasm and you pointing to it being unrealistic, changing textures is nothing more than switching out an image in a folder - theres nothing unrealistic about it and lots of games allow for it.
I mean what I say. I think game should be fun for all.
And CAN such an addon be made? I am not tech savy beyond basic skills - can install & modify simple addons;)
Who should review them? Blizzard? They don’t even have time to review tickets about cheaters, so how would they have time to review shady modifications?
Beside that: I love the cartoon style in Classic. Players wanting top HD graphics can always play Retail.
For all i know everything which doesnt result in direct competative advantage can be made as an Addon for WoW. It should be possible, but im the wrong person to ask that, sorry. =(
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But altering textures can result in direct comperative advantages. There’s a reason Blizzard are checking the files for modifications via Warren.
I weirdly agree and disagree with you on all these things. For one, i consider Retail graphics VERY far from “top HD”.
However i also love the cartoon style and im not arguing that they should get rid of that, its super nostalgic for me and they did an excellent job nuancing its strength’s with their Legion engine port in 2019. I definately love it visually.
Ive come to realize that were misunderstanding each other here - are you aware that dedicated Players (which are also often devs) have graphically remastered their favourite games hundreds of times over the past 10 years already? E.g. the Bed upstairs in the Goldshire Inn is made of a Texture, thats what your looking at, switching out the underlying image that “lays” over the created shape of the Bed is all thats needed to have either a 2004 looking Bed or a 2023 looking Bed. There isnt much to it.
Look at what people have done with Skyrim, the Dev team at Bethesda didnt do s**t to upgrade the game visually, the Community did. Probably some lonely dude with too much time Transformed a whole game from This to This.
Im asking for Blizzard letting their community work for them to remaster wow. No one will have different graphics than the original ones - except if you specifically want to have a newer look and download such a texture pack.
And no, it cannot lead to competative advantages IF blizzard reviews them before approving and allowing.
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Sigh. I’m sorry too. I try for so long. Since patch 1.14.