character-animations
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The Daily Grind: Which game has the best character animations?
Character animations seem to be only noticed when they don't come off right. It's often a matter of subjective opinion whether or not these animations are pleasing or jarring, of course, but the fact remains that animations that don't meet players' standards are the target of long, long-winded rants. I try to give credit where credit is due. MMOs that show off fluid, good-looking animations are deserving of praise. For me, the litmus test is whether or not a game can portray jumping in a natural way. That's harder than you'd think; I've seen so many titles that have characters jumping with stiff spines, awkward arm angles, or the grace of a boiled squash. So instead of lambasting games for bad animations, let's focus on those that pull off natural- and good-looking animations today. Seriously, it's going to be tough for some of you to put a lid on the negativity, but I believe in you. Which game has the best character animations? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Amazing player-animated and -rendered WoW avatar
Mother of sweet things! I saw this on Reddit's /r/wow community a few days ago and realized that I'm kind of a slacker when it comes to my own forum signatures (which is apparently the whole purpose of the project). Thovald, the player responsible for the video, wrote that he did it in 3D Studio Max and didn't actually change the female troll model itself. The big difference is an increased polygon count for the robes and (I would assume) the graphics of the fire spell being cast. It reminded me more than a bit of the perennial favorite Blind, and it's all the more amazing that Thovald is apparently self-taught. We know that Blizzard is working on an update for character models, but it's pretty cool to see what players can do with them in the meantime. They might be old, but as Thovald noted, they're still a surprisingly expressive bunch.
Breakfast Topic: My paladin turned out to be a ninja
This article has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com. Back around the time faction changes came out, my old guild decided en masse to change over to the Horde. I logged on one morning after a week's vacation, saw nobody in the guild, and when I popped into Vent, I found out where everyone had gone. I transferred over my main, we wrecked ToC and then later ICC and For the Horde, and all was good. A few weeks ago, I realized I was bored and wanted to transfer over my level 80 draenei pally for another alt to play and to farm frost badges with. My choices were obviously limited to blood elf. I didn't particularly like either character model or their animations, and after 15 minutes of staring at the character recustomization screen, I flipped a coin and it came down to blood elf female. I absolutely hated it at first. The animations were silly looking, and she ran funny. I was broke after that, so I decided to grin and bear it. A few days passed, and I tanked my way from one end of the dungeon finder to the other. It was in a heroic Drak'tharon Keep, after I had pulled the entirety of the room before Trollgore and was facing down 13 or 14 Scourge trying desperately to kill my overgeared self, that I watched my paladin dodge, parry and block at a rapid pace. She wasn't just mitigating damage; it honestly looked like she was dancing. I was reminded of gun-fu scenes like from The Matrix where characters duck, dodge and dash their way around dangers. My paladin was a ninja. From then on, I loved my blood elf female pally and all her silly animations (except for the casting ones ... still not too keen on them). What similar situations have you been in, when something you thought would be awful turned out to be absolutely amazing? Have you ever wanted to write for WoW.com? Your chance may be right around the corner. Watch for our next call for submissions for articles via Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com. The next byline you see here may be yours!
Female worgen models and animations datamined
Posters on MMO-Champion's boards have gotten into the Cataclysm alpha and started datamining female worgen models and animations. While the models don't have textures yet (i.e. you're only going to see a bunch of black and not their faces or anything) and some of the animations are placeholders borrowed from existing models (mostly female draenei), this is the first look we're getting at one of Cataclysm's most hotly anticipated features. WARNING: This post is stuffed full of spoilers. It is a spoiled piece of concentrated awesome wrapped in spoiled paper boxed and shipped to Spoilertopia courtesy of Spoiler Express. Don't click below if you don't want anything to do with unofficial information.
Tuskarr Animation movie
While 2.4 has been mostly concerned with the Sunwell and Kil'jaedan, there's still WoTLK to look for in the future, and still a few preliminary tidbits hidden away in the patch files. We've already showed you some shots of the Tuskarr that made it in, as well as the preview page for the race over on the official WoTLK site, and now it looks like someone's dug a bit deeper into the files and found the Tuskarr Animations. The animations are pretty straightfoward, mostly just running, fighting, and casting, but there is an animation in which the Tuskarr jumps up and slams his behind on the ground - perhaps a high powered War "Stomp" to make even Taurens envious? Enjoy this closer look at the gentle giants of the Borean Tundra!
