character-model-revamps
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Warlords of Draenor: New blood elf models delayed
In a quick announcement over Twitter, Blizzard Senior Art Director Chris Robinson has confirmed that updated blood elf models will not be ready in time for the launch of Warlords of Draenor. Blood elves are indeed scheduled for an update just like all the player character models, but they will now be scheduled for addition into Warlords post-launch; perhaps along side another content patch. Robinson did quickly add that the new troll models are still scheduled to be in place at Warlord's launch, and we can expect to see an Artcraft preview of them as early as next week. As we near the end of development, it's become apparent that the new Blood Elf models won't be finished to meet our standards before launch. - Chris G. Robinson (@artofcgrobinson) July 30, 2014 As unfortunate as it is that the blood elves are being delayed, I think it's understandable. As far as the older models go, the blood elves have held up rather well. There are other player character models in far more need of updating, so if something had to be pushed back, it's no surprise that it's the blood elves. Then again, blood elves are one of the most popular choices for player characters, so I'm sure there will be at least a bit of disappointment surrounding the decision. Never fear, though, we will get new versions of our favorite mana addicts soon enough, and until then, I'm on pins and needles to see the new trolls. Will my hunter finally be able to blink? I certainly hope so!
World of Warcraft dev blog details character model revamps
World of Warcraft players have long been clamoring for updated character models, as many of the Vanilla races lacked the level of detail (and wrists, in the case of Humans and Orcs) seen in more recent races such as the Pandaren. In light of that, World of Warcraft's senior art director, Chris Robinson, has posted a new dev blog on the game's official site that gives players an inside look at the process behind the model redesigns, which are planned to hit the game alongside Warlords of Draenor or sometime thereafter. Robinson notes that the team is looking at the model revamps as "a sort of 'spiritual update' to the art content that currently exists in-game." So while the team is rebuilding everything from scratch, the goal is "to do so while retaining the core look and feel that has always made them your character." To give an idea of the scale of these updates, Robinson states that the team is increasing polygon count (sometimes going from "less than 1,000 to over 5,000"), "more than doubling" texture resolution, "increasing bone count significantly to support updated animation and facial expression," and even "retouching nearly every animation for all of the characters." If you want every last detail about the process (and some preview shots of the finished product), just click on over to the official post below.
