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Warlords of Draenor Beta: New character models incoming
One of the things about the beta is, it can still surprise you. CM Zorbrix just posted to the forums about something we've all been wondering about - several of the new character models will be making their appearance in the beta. Both male and female trolls, human males, tauren females and night elf males will all be playable. Zorbrix - Beta Realm Maintenance - 8/21/14 I just wanted to confirm that this build will have 5 new Player Character Models. Troll Male and Female, Human Male, Tauren Female, and Night Elf Male. We've mentioned this before when models are first shown to you folks in beta, but I wanted to stress this point again: These models are a Work-In Progress. Things will not be perfect, and our QA testing of these models (and the subsequent bug fixes) are not yet complete. I do hope you enjoy the models and give constructive feedback as appropriate, but please keep this is mind when looking at the models today. source It's important to note that the night elf male hasn't even had an Artcraft yet. This is definitely a work in progress, as was the case when the draenei male appeared on servers before it was previewed. But I find this amazingly exciting - finally we'll get to see how these models look in action. We've added a slideshow of the new night elf male model below for players to look at.
Extended canines confirmed for new night elf model
Night elf players concerned with the new model released earlier this week can breathe a sigh of relief -- your canines will be pointy as they should be. A tweet from Senior Art Director Chris G. Robinson confirmed that the models released for the latest round of Artcraft were an earlier iteration, and later versions of the model have the pronounced canines usually found on kaldorei. Final version of the NE Female will have canine teeth like this. Artcraft was just an iteration w/o canine geometry. pic.twitter.com/2tW9o83WBJ- Chris G. Robinson (@artofcgrobinson) May 13, 2014 Lest anyone get too panicky about the models being shown in each edition of Artcraft, Community Manager Bashiok hopped on the forums to further clarify what's going on with the new models being shown.
World of Warcraft finally integrates Night Elf ears
Lest you forget, with World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor, the older character models in the game will receive a huge visual update. Today Blizzard posted a preview of what the Night Elf female will look like come this fall, and it appears that she's due for more than her first change of underwear since 2004. "Overall, we've made her new model a little more defined, made some of her proportions a bit more realistic, and added a bit more muscle tone," the studio wrote. "We wanted to visually communicate that she is a fully capable warrior huntress, and small details like muscle definition help highlight that." One interesting fact about this makeover is that the Night Elf ears will finally be "fully integrated" into the model itself instead of being separate pieces that were tacked on to the head.
New Night Elf female model revealed
The Artcraft posts over at the official World of Warcraft site have helped give us preview looks at the new character models as they've come to light. Now, we have our look at the updated night elf female model. So far I have to say that it's a vast improvement. She stands a lot better, she has a wider range of expressions and we can see at least two relatively different faces in this pictures. My wife plays night elf, so I'm partial to them, and I think they did a good job preserving their feel here while updating them. I especially want to point out those hands, which are a lot better than the original model. This gives me hope that when night elf males show up, they'll actually have reasonable looking hands. Head on over to the Artcraft blog to read about the process they went through to design this model.
Kaldorei guild brings Darnassus to the fore
Since the typical WoW Insider reader has been around the block in Azeroth more than a few times, when we hear about a guild that's been going strong for many years, we tend to intuitively grok the associated ramifications. We understand the strength and adaptability it takes to weather entire gaming eras of personalities, patches, and expansions. It's the strength of the willow that bends in the wind yet does not break -- or, say, the steady strength and focus of the night elves as they traverse the centuries in harmony with their environment. Gazing into the legacy of Nature's Grasp, a kaldorei-exclusive guild on Defias Brotherhood (EU-RP-PvP), we see a guild that has seen many different shapes and leaders over the years. "On our server there have been a number of night elf guilds that have been established," notes GM Arkil, "but all have been absorbed into Nature's Grasp at some point, making us the go-to guild for any night elf involvement in events, and we're frequently considered as 'the' guild that represents Darnassus." As we've seen from our interviews with race- and class-specific guilds such as wry blood elves, adventurous rogues, and fiercely opinionated orcs, the personalities of specialized guilds can become quite narrowly focused. One has to wonder if the players behind Nature's Grasp might be as reclusive as the kaldorei they play. Apparently not. "We've been active a lot during Mists, we have a hefty constant playerbase, and we have weekly events most weeknights and retro raid runs during the weekends," Arkil says. "There's a great sense of community in the guild with a number of artists and musicians who share their work on our forums at natures-grasp.net, and we have an annual RL guild meet in some European location, which is a lot of fun."
Know Your Lore: Of Elune, naaru, and night elves
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how, but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Before we begin, I feel I should point out that the screenshot above is one that I created for the purposes of an article I wrote detailing the possible wind-chime origins of everyone's favorite kaldorei deity. It was not real then, and it is no more real now, over two years later. That article pointed out the possible correlations between the goddess Elune, the holy Light, An'she, and what might have been naaru intervention instead of divine, as the night elves would have everyone believe. And while it connected a lot of dots, it was not true. It was simple theory and speculation. However, recent Ask a Cdev answers have once again brought the question of Elune's origins into play, and player reaction has been less than enthusiastic about the supposed confirmation. Most complain that making Elune a mere naaru is basically homogenizing night elf culture and history, something that plenty of players are apparently really passionate about. To which I say two words: don't panic.
How to assemble coordinating transmog gear sets for your hunter or shaman
In fashion, coordinates are matching pieces of clothing that are meant to be worn together. Think of a matching suit jacket and pants, or a prom dress and shawl sold together in the same color. Typically, coordinates are for people who work in offices and need to look professional or people who can't dress themselves. In WoW, there are coordinates too, and they can be used strategically to pull together seemingly unrelated pieces of gear into different looks. This week, I'll be showing you three different looks for your mail-wearing hunter or shaman, all oriented around three easy-to-obtain mail coordinates.
Tyrande Whisperwind leader story up on official site
The night elves have taken a beating in Cataclysm, even with their role in adding the worgen of Gilneas to the Alliance. The Horde has attacked them in Ashenvale, disasters have wiped out their settlements in Darkshore, Azshara is lost and Feralas in danger of being lost as well. What is Tyrande Whisperwind, high priestess of Elune and leader of the kaldorei, doing about all of this? Well, in Seeds of Faith, you'll get your chance to find out. Disaster after disaster besets the night elves. With news from all over their ancient lands coming back and the tides of war turning against them, can Tyrande afford to let her personal feelings overwhelm her leadership? And what of the fate of Shandris Feathermoon? These questions are answered in the short story by Valerie Waltrous, available now on the official site.
Spiritual Guidance: What Alliance race is the best for shadow priests?
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. On Wednesdays, shadow priesting expert Fox Van Allen regularly insults normal people, so you should never take his writing seriously. Fox encourages you to follow him on Twitter. Rejoice, brethren! Since the Cataclysm, the shadow priesthood is more accepted than ever before. A full 11 of the 12 races can now be priests. (Orcs are the holdout, which is a shame -- they have a terrific plus-spellpower racial.) We have a wealth of options when starting a new shadow priest or when dropping some coin on a faction or race change. I was thinking about starting this particular column with some kind of bold statement such as "Fox Van Allen is a racist," but that could hurt my future political career. (Van Allen for Vice President! Call me, Mitt.) Still, there's no escaping the fact that in WoW, some races are just plain better than others. And some -- gnomes -- are clearly inferior. Eventually, our analysis will take a look at all the Horde and Alliance races. For now, though, we'll focus on Team Blue. Which Alliance race is best? Which gnome recipe is the tastiest? Can I manufacture a reason to reuse that picture of Taylor Lautner staring with lust at John McCain? All questions will be answered ... after the jump.
Lichborne: Racial abilities for death knights
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. With all the upheaval regarding death knight abilities and DPS happening right now, it's sometimes a good idea to go back to the basics and figure out some of the stuff that underlies a good, solid death knight. One of the most basic cornerstones of choosing a death knight is choosing your race. Since every single race can be a death knight, you have your pick, and since there's a race change service, you don't even have to stay the same race forever. Personally, I tend to say that you choose whatever race feels right for you -- but for those who want to pick a race (or change your current race) based on what racials are "best," this guide is for you.
WoW player makes her way to 85 without quest or kill experience
Tired of the same old same old in your favorite MMO? Looking for something else to do? Well, if you're one of a particular breed of players, you might try out setting some self-imposed limitations on your leveling. In World of Warcraft, several players have tried their hands at different methods. Gutrot from the EU leveled to 70 wearing only a loincloth. Gweryc decided to run his hunter as a melee-only character. Noor the Pacifist then decided to level his character to 70 by not killing any mobs at all, and he only did quests that involved non-violent criteria (like FedEx quests). Now we hear that another player has upped the alternative-leveling ante by not questing at all. Everbloom, level 85 Night Elf Restoration Druid from the Feathermoon server, leveled all the way to 85 by grinding exploration and gathering experience! While Everbloom's armory profile shows that the character entered one five-man dungeon at some point, there is only one completed quest -- and Everbloom explained that one was a fluke. Apparently Blizzard blindsided her by granting a quest completion for simply reading an Argent Tournament invitation letter -- even without having a quest for it. Everbloom additionally managed to level to 85 while only dying 25 times in total (once to falling), making this crazy stunt an even more impressive feat. If you'd like to read more about it directly from the source, head over to the World of Warcraft forums and check out Feathermoon's leveling thread. It's certainly worth a look if you've ever thought about trying some form of self-imposed limitation leveling in your MMO of choice.
Shifting Perspectives: Why (or why not) to play a night elf druid
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. This week, we repair to Teldrassil. I owe you guys a cheat sheet for patch 4.0.3a and probably something on the recent tank cooldown announcements, but with raids still being tested on the beta, I'm afraid that Blizzard will make whatever I write obsolete within days. My informal sense of class balance as things stand now is that bears needed to be nerfed, cats might be nerfed a little bit (though perhaps not at all) and restoration is definitely going to get nerfed. I was wrong to predict that Blizzard would shy away from encounters with massive raid damage, though not as wrong as Blizzard was in reinstituting it. Rejuvenation spam, hoooooooo! Anyway. In addition to updating our 101 and leveling guides when Cataclysm settles down, I've wanted to write a more lore-centric series on the new worgen and troll druids. While drafting those, I realized that what I really wanted to do was write a series on each druidic race now that the choice is more complicated than, "Are you playing Alliance or Horde?" While there are folks out there who can and will spend time on a character rolled purely for utility, most of us need to care about a toon in order to play it extensively. It's not really about roleplaying, it's about ... personality, for lack of a better word? As an example, I wound up deleting my first night elf because she bore a terrifying resemblance to Cher. I mean no offense to anyone who's a fan of her music, but the idea of Cher being able to Berserk is, at best, disturbing. We'll start today with the original druids, the night elves. The full series is available here: Shifting Perspectives: Why (or why not) to play a night elf druid Shifting Perspectives: Why (or why not) to play a tauren druid Shifting Perspectives: Why (or why not) to play a worgen druid Shifting Perspectives: Why (or why not) to play a troll druid
Cataclysm Preview: Darkshore
Wryxian (European community manager) just released a question-and-answer session done with Blizzard game designers Luis Barriga and Craig Amai about the changes Darkshore has in store in Cataclysm, as well as complications that come with redesigning an existing zone. While the full quote is behind the break, I figured I'd give you a few highlights: Darkshore is designed for Alliance players, primarily night elves and worgen, from level 11 through 20. Lor'danel is a new night elven town just to the north of current Auberdine. This was one of the first zones Blizzard tackled that centered on the effects of the Cataclysm.
One Shots: When worlds collide
One of the fun things in playing just about any Cryptic Studios game is the crazy things you can do in the character generator. While this is obviously more the case in Champions Online, there is apparently still fun to be had in Star Trek Online's character generator as well, as we see from today's MMO mashup sent in to us by Miqe I. He writes in to tell us more about this odd melding of worlds: "I was thinking... Is it possible to create a Night Elf in Star Trek Online? I only spent maybe a half an hour and came pretty close." We admit, a Night Elf Mohawk vs. Klingon cage match could be fun too. Have you managed to do something strange in the character creator in your favorite game? We love to see silly screenshots of all the fun things out there in the MMOgscape, and readers help us find so many of them! All you have to do to take part in One Shots is to email your screenshot to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a brief description of the image. We'll post it out here and give you the credit. %Gallery-85937%
Night Elf mohawk returns, new commercial
According to the official World of Warcraft website, the Night Elf mohawk is returning in-game. Frost Jackalopes and the moon landing might be myths – but the Night Elf Mohawk is real, suckas! For a limited time, Mr. T's Night Elf Mohawk returns to Azeroth to hand out his signature grenades while a new nationally televised commercial takes over the airwaves. Watch the new spot at Blizzard's YouTube Channel or click to learn more about the mohawk grenade and how you can claim your own in-game. source The video above is a new nationally televised commercial. Players can get the Mohawk Grenades from characters positioned outside the starting zone. We're checking now to see if the grenades are active in the game yet (again). They were originally in Azeroth as part of WoW's five year anniversary celebration. %Gallery-78301%
Night elf mohawk: Gone!
Thank goodness! Anyone else relieved that this funky device is removed from the game? I have to admit, I wasn't a big fan of the big head look. I've been "pitied" many times by random players (and even those in my own guild). Dwarves and mohawks just don't seem to mix. In any case, Crygil has confirmed that the mohawk grenade will not be around any longer. Ever since the grenade became active on servers back in November, I couldn't walk around Dalaran without seeing large heads everywhere. Is this the last time we'll ever see Mr. T plant these grenades in game for players to use? Somehow, I have a hunch that this won't be the last time we'll see mohawks in game.
Ask a Faction Leader: Fandral Staghelm
WoW.com's prestige in the community has afforded us the opportunity to speak to major Azerothian leadership figures on any subject, and we're letting you, the reader, Ask A Faction Leader! We recently spoke to Nexus-Prince Haramad, leader of the ethereal Consortium, and he shed light on several key issues, including goblin rearrangement, investment opportunities, bad business practices, proprietary bandage technology, and static cling. In this installment of Ask a Faction Leader, we'll be sitting with Archdruid Fandral Staghelm of the Cenarion Circle. Our first reader question: Dear Fandral Staghelm, Over the years, I have many times assisted your morrowgrain research. I have found many weird plants in my quest for that elusive herb. I have been awarded many (useless but, I am sure, heartfelt) scrolls and pieces of food by your research team. My question is: Where is all this effort ending up? What end does all this morrowgrain research lead to? Sincerely, Bowjób-Lightbringer EU Staghelm responds: Look, pal, when I send you on an errand, you say "how high." You don't ask "what exactly do you need all of this eldritch herb for." I need it, you need to get it for me. You know the saying? Yours is not to question why, etc? Oh, wonderful. See her, over there? My handler is signaling me. I guess that means "answer the poorly-named hunter's (yes, I know you're a hunter) question, you magnificent king among kaldorei." I guess it's just as well, I got a dozen emails about what I was doing with morrowgrain. Fine. The big reveal. What am I doing with morrowgrain?
WoW latex Elf ears on Amazon
It's that time of year again -- I just saw a seasonal costume store opening up near my apartment here in Chicago, and that means that we're almost to October, when all kinds of official and unofficial Halloween costumes from all of the year's biggest brands appear. Last year we had some Orc masks and old-school armor and gear (and we may see some of that stuff again this year), but so far the only new thing we've seen is these latex ears, in Night Elf and Blood Elf style, over on Amazon. For just $12, you too can have inordinately large pointy ears, signifying that you're a magical creature from Azeroth.Cheesy? Maybe so, but then again, that's pretty much what dressing up on Halloween is all about these days. If you happen to see any other Warcraft-related costumes during the season (either officially licensed by Blizzard or knocked-off by some shady costume designer), make sure to take a picture and send us a tip. And of course if you enjoy seeing real people dress up as fictional Warcraft characters, you'll love our pictures from BlizzCon. Enjoy.%Gallery-70668%
Night Elf in Guitar Hero 5
This is one of the many reasons why I really enjoy this job: one day, you're talking turkey with a psychologist who's dealing with serious addiction issues, and the next, you're writing about Night Elves in Guitar Hero 5. Personally, I prefer Harmonix's new Beatles game, but there's no denying that the character customization system in our very own Activision-Blizzard's Guitar Hero 5 is extremely complex. So much so that Artair on Doomhammer was actually able to make a pretty respectable-looking Night Elf male with the system.Which really just makes it much more ridiculous that this thing could be playing onstage with none other than Kurt Cobain. But we'll let that one go -- if you've found a way to get any other Warcraft characters jamming in Guitar Hero (or any other game with an in-depth character creator), be sure to send us a tip and some pics.
All the World's a Stage: Cataclysm's new race/class combinations
All the World's a Stage, and all the orcs and humans merely players. They have their stories and their characters; and one player in his time plays many roles.As you know, the new race and class combinations coming up in the Cataclysm will open a whole new set of doors to people who want an alternative character choice that goes against the grain of their typical racial customs, to one degree or another. With the exception of a couple combinations that feel as though they should have been there from the beginning (such as blood elf warriors, which need no discussion here), each new possibility presents roleplayers with an opportunity to play an outcast of sorts, a character who has made a significant break from the traditions his or her race usually represent.The lore behind each combination is not yet fully clear. We know tauren paladins will probably worship the sun and call themselves "Sunwalkers" for instance, but not much more than that. Some things are clear, though, and there's a lot to get the imagination going for those roleplayers who yearn to play something a little different.
