female-dwarf
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Female dwarf 3D character model appears on Warlords of Draenor site
We've seen several character models appear lately with just still shots to appreciate them by, while the Warlords of Draenor official site remains forlorn with only the male orc, dwarf and gnome models visible. But now the female dwarf has been added, in all her three-dimensional glory, as Senior Art Director Chris Robinson tweeted. Fans of Burning Crusade races the draenei and the blood elf will also no doubt be really thrilled to note that there have been sections added to the site to include the updated models for all of those. There are also several new stills for the female dwarf, showing off her emotes. I think she looks fantastic, if a little manic! You can see all the model images released so far in the gallery below.
What race needs new character models the most?
Over the weekend at Gamescom, Game Director Tom Chilton and Lead Content Designer Cory Stockton revealed that new character models for the older races are currently in development and are about 25% done. Chilton also added that he wasn't sure if all the new models would be launched at the same time, or if Blizzard would opt to release them over several patches as they are completed. I'm in favor of the latter myself, though I can see that resulting in an unbearable amount of QQ from players whose characters didn't initially receive model updates. The whole thing makes me wonder which races are likely to get updated first. It's possible the developers will go after the most popular races first (humans and blood elves) since that will appease the largest number of people. It's also just as possible they'll work in order of which races need new models the most. That raises the question though, which race is in the most dire need of a character model update? If I had to pick one I'd probably go with dwarf, specifically the female dwarf because so few people play it. Granted, I don't think female dwarves necessarily suffer from the worst looking model, but they're somehow still one of the least popular choices among players. That alone makes me feel like the model needs some time and attention to not only update it, but to broaden its appeal somewhat. Mind you, female dwarves don't need to have the same appeal as blood elves or humans, but they certainly should have more than they currently do. Which race do you think needs a character model update the most? Tell us why.
The Road to Mordor: Off to the races
A long time ago in this column, back in an age of sweet innocence that I like to call "April 2010," I spent a bit of time commenting on the nine classes in Lord of the Rings Online and how they appeal to different playstyles. Today, as I sit here swaddled in a blanket, drinking tea and desperately trying to wish this cold away, I want to write the companion piece to that article, dealing with races. LotRO is somewhat unique in the MMO landscape in that it is pretty confined to four and only four playable races outside of PvMP. As much as we love the Pale Folk, I highly doubt we'll ever be given another racial choice for the lifespan of the game -- at least, not without some fiddly logic on Turbine's part. Besides, the four races we're given -- Dwarf, Man, Hobbit and Elf -- are the iconic grouping of the books, and trying to add a gnome or giant or well-intentioned half-orc to the Quest would just come off as silly. Anyway, if you're starting out in LotRO or mulling over an alt, there's a lot more to consider when picking a race than just "what looks good" (although I'm not going to tell you looks aren't important, no I am not). Races influence your starter zone, traits, special skills and class picks. Join us as we jump down the rabbit hole and emerge in a magical land full of words and screenshots!
Death Knights receive unique voices
The fine folk over at DeathKnight.info have posted a video of the unique Death Knight voices we've all been promised. They don't have an entirely new set of voice emotes (at least not yet), they took a slightly different route. There's actually a sound filter over the voices, making them sound echoey and spooky. The females have been described as sounding like banshees, which is pretty accurate I think. If you're not a fan of the voice effects, you're allowed to turn them off in your Sound control panel so you won't have to hear it. Other people still will, unless they do the same.I'm definitely a fan of this for most of the race/gender combos. Some of them are lackluster (in my opinion) such as the Female Dwarves. The best? Male Blood Elf by far. That laugh? Awesome. Just awesome. I'm sure we'll see a couple of tweaks to this before the end of the beta period, but they're definitely on the right track, I think.%Poll-18836%
Exodus to the Virtual World review from the other virtual world
As we've previously covered on Massively.com before, virtual worlds researcher Edward Castronova's new book is entitled Exodus to the Virtual World: How Online Fun is Changing Reality -- but if you want to know if it's actually worth reading, there's a review over at Rik Santos's personal blog.I'm almost tempted to pick up a copy, but to me, serious real world influence from virtual worlds feels a long way off. When governments can't even accept gaming, the idea of them trying to learn from MMOs doesn't seem likely any time soon.And yes, the author is the same man who recently demanded a female dwarf. Comments from that post show he isn't the only one!
Ted Castronova needs a female dwarf, stat!
The inestimable Caleb Booker brings to our attention that economist Ted Castronova, author of Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games, will be speaking at the Monday, November 19th Metanomics session in Second Life. What's more, Mr. Castronova has requested "make me a dwarf female, high fantasy style."While we're sure he means 'create for me a high fantasy-style dwarf female', rather than making a dwarf female utilizing a high fantasy method, we know you guys are up to the challenge. If you can do this quickly, go ahead and send your creation to Onder Skall in SL, and if yours is chosen, you'll get special thanks during the event and on the Metaversed.com site. And we'll put up a photo of your dwarf right here on Massively! Get crackin', troops, time's a-wastin'![Thanks, Caleb!]
