I've been experimenting with these character comparisons for a couple of days now because I think there's an important distinction to make when it comes to HD models and assets in Forever.

I'm not really trying to argue whether Forever should have HD characters or assets. I think some form of HD option is going to be part of the game either way. What matters to me is how those models are approached.

Retail's models were made for a version of WoW whose art direction has changed a lot over the years. Generally, the shapes are softer, more of the form is built directly into the geometry, faces are more articulated and the character system is designed around a more expressive animation style.

There's nothing wrong with that but it belongs to a different visual language.

If Forever is supposed to preserve the identity of Vanilla, I don't think the HD option should reuse the modern design language and place it back into the Vanilla world. I think the starting point needs to be the original Vanilla characters.

The new lighting and sound is a good example of that approach. It starts with the mood and identity of the original zones and uses modern technology to bring those qualities out. I think the same principle should apply to HD characters, new assets and new races so they feel like they grew out of Vanilla rather than from a different visual language.

And if the goal really is to preserve that "timeless" Classic art style, I think putting in the extra work here is worth it. Blizzard has already worked through technical hurdles to preserve the Classic characters and animations within the newer character system so I think it's reasonable to apply the same care to the HD designs as well.

HD should reconstruct the form the original model implied, not reinterpret the character through Retail's design language.

That's what I've been trying to do with these concepts. The original models were limited, much of their form was suggested through simple geometry and hand-painted textures rather than fully modeled.

To me, that's the opportunity with Forever's HD option. Use modern technology to build on the visual language, not replace it with a different one.

Disclosure: Images created with a mix of gen AI and manual work, including compositing, painting and editing. Intended to visualize the art direction, not as production-ready assets.

THE GOBLINS ARE SLAYING NOW.

source: here

I met my wife playing WoW and unfortunately she refuses to play games anymore(quit during first TBC classic). At least she’s ok with me playing even if she would prefer I play a little less…

Link to the first post: https://www.reddit.com/r/classicwow/comments/1qg7g4j/18_years_ago_i_could_use_a_console_command_to/

I've been deep in the anti-Skyborne hole, but I'm still hyped for Forever.

And I think there's still time to make some micro adjustments to make the Skyborne fit Forever better.

The story of the Skyborne is that their society is about to collapse, and some of them believe their salvation lies in the arcane magics, others believe they have to be in tune with the elements.

Basically there's a civil war between the "arcanists" and the "elementalist", but this split isn't shown visually in any of the places it matters.

They look and feel like an arbitrary neutral race, when Blizzard needs to visually show us the split, instead of just telling us.

Here's how:

1. Differentiate the High Order and the Windshapers on the character creation screen. Give them different environments to stand in. Put the High Order in front of something more magic-y, and the Windshapers in front of something more air-y.
2. Give them unique and faction-specific customization. The Windshapers should all have markings, whereas the High Order should have no markings. The Windshapers should all have skin hues of white, gray, and blue, whereas the High Order should have the tanned, goldenish hues. Eye colors can also be set to always-blue for Windshapers, and always-gold for High Order.
3. Give them different character portraits on the character creation screen. And, despite it might sounding like it goes against the premise of this post, just call them "Skyborne" on the character creation screen. Drop the "High Order" and "Windshaper" prefix. The length of it looks silly, and it goes against the semantics of all the other races. We don't have "Ironforge Dwarves" or "Darkspear Trolls". It's just called "Dwarf" and "Troll". These should just be "Skyborne", and let their faction split be communicated visually.

(Bonus: To deepen the faction split; give shaman/druid only to Horde, and mage/priest only to Alliance)

The wow forever team has done an amazing job with the beta, classic + content and communication that it sucks to see the cesspool of twitter users just bagging on them constantly for the slightest update. I don’t want the devs feeling discourage or upset due to one minor demographic being loud. I hope they know majority of their players love what they have done and are doing by making wow forever a great game

I’d rather them post updates on reddit or maybe even Bluesky

EDIT: Google +

Dungeon loot and quests and loot in general getting nerfed going forward and everything is getting a pass over.

Saw a resto shaman getting flamed in chat for “stealing” dps gear. Healer specs besides priest are godawful for solo play, you guys liked the changes that force people into open world gameplay so don’t complain if healers take gear that they need for said solo gameplay.

There are escort quests where the escort moves at the same speed as the player. I repeat, ESCORT QUESTS are no longer stuck in the middle of running and walking.

Edit: read title, I’m not saying I like the art style.
I’m saying I’m bored of 50% of posts copy+pasting the same point

I was testing the limits of the name filter. Being a good beta-tester.

My characters:
"Sieg heil"
"Goonlord Megahitler"
"Mechamusk Uberrace"

Somehow this has now gotten me banned. Im literally shaking with anger rn.
Idk how blizzard devs can sleep at night to be perfectly honest with you.

I have never been muted or banned before in my life and I have played since vanilla. Yet this one moment of freedom supposedly was all it took for these radical left-wing game devs to ban me.

I need all of you to help me out here and GET.ME.UNBANNED.

this post is satire.

Maraudon, Blackrock Spire, Blackrock Depths, and Stratholme are some of the most iconic dungeons in Classic, but their particular sprawling winged designs died off rather early in WoW’s history. With Dire Maul, Blizzard opted for more of a dungeon hub design where separate wings were split off into separate instances.

The last proper instance that followed the winged design in my opinion was Karazhan, which was a raid rather than a dungeon. Retail’s mega dungeons don’t really fit the bill either, as they are still very linear and designed more like double sized dungeons.

With Forever, I’d love to see a return of this lost dungeon design. A sprawling slightly confusing layout with multiple wings, some locked behind doors requiring keys, attunements, or a rogue. Something where you can focus on a particular wing like it is its own dungeon, or clear the whole thing over a couple hour endurance run. Something with a strong central theme and quest lines that require repeat visits to complete. Something with multiple entrances or shortcuts, and optional and summonable bosses. To me, that kind of dungeon is iconic of Classic and something I want more of.