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Does WoW need new animations?
When I was writing this column on warrior attacks, I noticed that a lot of players who don't play warriors came in to comment on their animations. I specifically noticed druids (especially feral/guardian druids), and rogues commenting. This got me to thinking if part of the problem is that the monk class really exposed a vulnerability. It's easier to see that your character model isn't keeping up with new racial choices like the goblins, worgen and pandaren - you can just see one standing next to you in Org/SW or a raid/dungeon/scenario. But to notice that your animations aren't keeping up with the new hotness, you have to see the new hotness. And it can be hard to notice what someone's attacks are like when you're focusing on your own. Now, of course, the argument could be made that WoW's animations are pretty good. Making a change simply for change's sake would be a diversion of resources. But it seems to me that, with all the talk about updating character models, there's at least some room to discuss updating our attacks as well. Most classes use the chosen race's special attacks (you can see what they are by using a model viewer program, or Wowhead's model viewer) with specific ones like Dragon Stomp, Special1h, Special2h, and so on.
Breakfast topic: What will you set your armory pose as?
I am having way too much fun with the new armory features. My favorite part? Getting to set the pose my character takes when players start looking me up. There are so many to choose from. There are the dance poses, the wave, the bow, the salute and so forth. I figure the top left one demonstrates my athletic ability. We dwarves are known for our jumping prowess after all! I suppose I could just moon the viewer with the top right one. That wouldn't be appropriate though, would it? Ah ha! What about the thoughtful dwarf in the bottom left? He's stroking his beard while thinking about a potentially life changing decision such as chocolate chip or oatmeal. I suppose the classic option would be to go for the traditional wave in the bottom right. Yeah, I suppose that will do. What about you? What are you setting your armory pose as?
Armory gets updated with a model viewer
The World of Warcraft armory page has just been updated with new features and tools! As stated on their updates page: Every character profile now has a 3D model viewer that displays the character in his or her currently equipped gear, and accurately displays the character's physical features, hairstyle, and helm/cloak display as they appear in-game. Mousing over the character model window brings up a control panel with the following controls Camera controls: To rotate the camera around a character, click and hold the left mouse button while moving the mouse left and right, or click the arrow buttons in the top left of the window. To zoom in and out, use the mouse wheel while hovering over the character window, or click the zoom buttons in the top left of the window. To move the character within the frame, right-click and drag the character in the window (or on the small square in the bottom left corner of the window). Animations: Each character has a selection of animations that they can perform. Use the arrows next to the animation's name to cycle through them. The available animations are determined by the character's class and currently equipped weapons. Capture pose: If you are logged in, you can set the default pose of any character on your account. Use the camera and animation controls to create a pose, then click the save icon to set it as the default. All visitors to the character's profile will then see the character in that pose. Play controls: The rewind, pause, and fast forward buttons allow you to fine-tune a pose for a character. Fullscreen mode: You can view the character in a fullscreen display against a selection of backgrounds. All controls will continue to function in fullscreen mode. Embed: You can embed a standalone, interactive version of the character's model viewer in a compatible website, such as a social networking site, guild website, or forum. Options: Extra options include selecting a background in fullscreen mode and toggling the display of a character's helm, cloak, or tabard. That's freakin' cool! I like the ability to embed the model viewer and the ability to stick a preset pose for people looking up your character is a plus.
Armory updates with model viewer, character and calendar feeds
Blizzard has added some nice new features to the World of Warcraft Armory, including a few players have been asking for in the past. The most exciting change is something that doesn't seem to be working quite correctly yet -- they're including a Flash-based model viewer for characters that will let you see what a toon looks like without ever logging into the game. So says their updates page, but as of this writing, the whole system is going up and down, and we couldn't get it to work correctly on any of our PCs. Should be done soon, though. Other updates include character activity feeds -- there are now RSS buttons all over your profile that will let you track achievements, items, and other specific character information via RSS. And Blizzard has also built in calendar feeds that will let you output guild and player calendars to Outlook, Google Calendar, or other calendar applications. That means your out-of-game calendars will update automatically if your raidleader happens to change up the raiding schedule. And finally, character profiles have been redesigned and streamlined -- they look a little different with all of these new features. The date on all of these changes actually says January 1, 2010, so Blizzard may have implemented them a little early, but sooner or later we'll see these welcome changes all active on the Armory. Thanks to everyone who sent this in! Update: The Armory is offline for maintenance now. These changes were seen in action, so they're real, but as we say above, they're officially dated for January 1st. So they may not be in effect just yet.
Warhammer gets its own web-based 3D model viewer
Ever wonder what that piece of loot is really going to look like? Is that shield really going to go with your helmet? Wanted to get a better look at the detail work on that axe? The folks at wardata.buffed.de has a cool tool for your Warhammer Online loot that we'd like to see a lot more of. Not only can you get all the usual data and stats on the items, but you can pop up a Flash-driven browser window and view the model, as it actually looks in-game, rotate it, zoom in and out, and study it from any angle. That's very nifty. Way nifty. Granted, our finely honed Berne Convention senses are all a-tingle at it possibly being construed as a breach of copyright, but that's not our call to make. Golly, some of these are sweet. Right now, it's German only -- but that's not really a barrier for you, the dedicated Warhammer Online gamer, now is it? Not every item is represented yet. More of them are coming, but you're welcome to try your luck with weapons and shields, and see what is there so far. Just click on the big orange 3D-Ansicht button, if it is there (if you don't see it, the 3D view isn't supported for that particular item yet). We'd love to see this sort of thing for other MMOGs. What about you? Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out our Warhammer guides: Massively's Character Creation Guide and our WoW Player's Guide to Warhammer. Plus, don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!
WoW Moviewatch: Destination Unknown
Sometimes you have a little extra time, some nice footage, and the desire to make a movie. With no plot to speak of, Legs did just that. Viewers may remember his her previous movie, Black Angel.His Her latest movie, Destination Unknown, involves a pimped out lady singing her song. Along the way, there are dance scenes, strange occurrences, and ... eyes? It's difficult to explain, so you'll just have to watch it yourself! I enjoyed the video, but those that aren't fans of Model Viewer footage may not like it.[Via Warcraftmovies.com]Previously on Moviewatch ...
WotLK gets crabby
Reader Zedlav sent us these two shots of crabs that were supposedly found by the WoW Model Viewer by his friend, and apparently are in the PTR client in advance of Wrath of the Lich King. The names "Forgotten Crab" and "Icecrown Crab," we're told, were made up by his friend, but that font on the pictures looks familiar to me-- if you know where these pics came from, let us know and we'll credit them further.At any rate, they look convincing enough to us. We know there are all kinds of new wildlife in Northrend (we saw a few of them at BlizzCon, including a killer whale-type of creature swimming in the waters off the Howling Fjord. So big crabs, icy or "forgotten," aren't too much of a surprise. Check the concept art gallery below to see what else we'll see up North.%Gallery-5526%
Rocket Mount animation
We covered the Rocket Mount announcement a earlier last month. However with the 2.4 patch notes released last night, and the test client now downloadable, we've been able to do some digging around. The mpq files have been kind to us and have given us this great animation of my warrior ridding the newest addition to the loot available from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game, the Rocket Mount.I'm sure everyone will want one of these. My guess is that it'll be even more in demand than the Spectral Tiger Mount. After all, who just can't resist going "yeehaw!" when you see this?
Brunch Topic: What's the most beautiful weapon?
Now that we have 3D renditions of items on Wowhead.com, I've been playing with them a bit, and it really does give a completely different sense of what a particular item looks like. Since I'm on a Mac, I've never had a chance to play with the WoW Model Viewer before, and I imagine such a web-based version is pretty fresh and interesting for many other players as well.Since there are so very many new 3D models to choose from, let's narrow the choices a little bit and just talk about weapons. Have a look at all the different weapon models, copy your favorite link into a comment, and then tell us why you think it looks the best so that we can go check it out for ourselves!
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WoW Insider interviews Ed Fries, founder of FigurePrints
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/WoW_Insider_gets_the_skinny_on_FigurePrints'; After a quick announcement last week, the FigurePrints site opened yesterday, offering Warcraft players an easy (if not necessarily cheap-- each figure runs about $115) way to recreate their ingame characters in real-life figurine form.But we still had lots of questions. How did these figures get made? What kind of material were they made of, and where did FigurePrints get the models and information to turn ingame characters into real sculptures? For the answers, we went straight to the source. Ed Fries has been in and around gaming for a long time, and after playing WoW for years (and creating games for years before that), he had the idea to create a way to bring Warcraft characters to life with a 3D printer. WoW Insider got a chance to talk to Ed on the day that his company's site went live, and all the answers to your questions about FigurePrints are right after the jump.
2.3 PTR screenshots rolling in
2.3 is up on the PTR, and both MMO Champion and World of Raids have broken out the Model Viewer and are ripping the new patch to pieces. Man, that bear mount looks awesome. And the engineering mount! And Zul'jin!Spoilers ahead, as well-- these guys are pulling out all the weapons from Zul'Aman, so if you don't want to see what all the new drops look like yet, don't look now. If you want to know what I think, I'd rather see this stuff in-game rather than diving in with the Model Viewer-- it's like reading the last page of a brand new novel, in that you might not know exactly how you get there, but you'll already know just what it looks like. The bear mount above isn't that big of a spoiler-- we already know it drops from. But the weapons and armor-- a big part of me wants to wait and see them in Zul'Aman itself.Still, if seeing the patch laid out in screenshots is your thing, both MMO Champion and World of Raids are going at it, and I'm told we'll be diving in later this evening. 2.3 ahoy! Go test those bugs on the PTR so those of us on the live realms can get it quick!Thanks, Atryd!
