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[TheYanger]

The model on the right looks alright mainly because you can't see the eyes. The eyes really weird me out on the new human females. The transition from a 2D texture to 3D eyes just looks really bad in the case for human females in particular to me for some reason. It doesn't seem faithful to the original art.

They need more work. Badly. The artcraft blogpost about models not being done yet gives me hope, but my gut says I'm gonna be turning off the new models.

Same face, no DK eyes.
This still looks better than the current ones, and yes when you compare it to the other faces it is clearly still the 'right' face for the old version of it.

EDIT: New pic, you can change character models in real time, did not expect. Made that comparison easy.

Ultimately, if you want it to look EXACTLY the same, you're never going to be happy - it's not possible for them to look exactly the same without them just not updating the models.

 

[ampere]

There was also supposedly going to be an Uldum raid which I would have killed for, but that got cut. Flying PVP combat which THANK FUCKING GOD that got cut. I think they said the big ziggaurant in Zul'Drak was supposed to be a raid too but lolno to Troll raid.

GC said they also considered an Old Kingdom zone. Like the dungeon Ahn'kahet being a zone. Would be kinda cool, the Nerubians are creepy. It worked out just being a dungeon though.

I made a diagram of the various roles (RDPS, melee, tank, healer) primary stats (AGI, STR, INT) and armor class (cloth/leather/mail/plate) and discovered there's just enough room for a class that's either RDPS/Healer or RDPS/Tank hybrid that wears Strength Mail.

lol

lol, they could make strength mail a thing... but no reason to. Primary stats are just +AP/+SP and change based on spec now anyway.

 

[strafer]

GC said they also considered an Old Kingdom zone. Like the dungeon Ahn'kahet being a zone. Would be kinda cool, the Nerubians are creepy. It worked out just being a dungeon though.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/814949-Spider-Kingdom-fan-expansion-concept

 

[Anbokr]

We better get demon hunter next xpac. I need my orc with horns, wings, tattoos, and blades ez.

Damn that human female is ugly. Orc looks the best so far IMO, the human female really gives me pause for the upcoming human male. Still sad no blood elf model at launch . They keep delaying and delaying, I still remember when new models were promised in an MoP patch.

 

[TheYanger]

Holy crap, I had a friend show me through the whole Timeless Isle thing for the first time and... what the hell man? Free Epics? That's freaking craaaaaaaaaazy. That whole zone seems a hell of a lot more fun on a non-PvP server. When I tried it back on Emerald Dream forever ago I just kept getting killed over and over. It was decidedly not fun.

Now I'm starting to get this chest-hunt bug and I'm terrified to open some of these items since there is an upgrade coin or whatever. What a cool little zone! I also tried out some Scenarios and had a really good time. They're like little WoW episodes, but I can see them getting real boring once you do them for the 100th time. I got lucky and kept getting new ones each time. The

Spoiler

Theramore bombing

was freaking insanity.

Is anything on the Thunder Isle (or whatever) worth it other than the story? I was thinking of trying that place out but am afraid it's just a horrible grind kind of place with no payoffs. With an expansion coming so soon it seems almost silly to just grind rep for gear at this point.

Isle of Thunder has some fun mechanics there, it can be fun to farm the rare mobs or whatever. The most important part? Get some Keys to the Palace of Lei Shen (purple item, drops from rares really commonly). Then you can do the chest run which is super entertaining the first several times, and a solid way to make some cash. Can easily clear 400g in 5 minutes in there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvebNSrIyJo Just a random video to see what it's like.

 

[ampere]

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/814949-Spider-Kingdom-fan-expansion-concept

I've seen that before, but he added a lot more stuff. Cool.

I particularly like the 'updated' Dragonblight (note to others that this is a fan created image):

The most important part? Get some Keys to the Palace of Lei Shen (purple item, drops from rares really commonly).

Just to clarify, afaik you get 1 key almost guaranteed on your first or second rare kill/chest loot, but getting a second key that week is super rare.

 

[Data West]

I'm very happy with all my characters facial transitions

The female dwarf got a huge boost in looks in the newest build.

My Shaman got a little less pissed between builds, but my Hunter got REAL mad.

We better get demon hunter next xpac. I need my orc with horns, wings, tattoos, and blades ez.

Damn that human female is ugly. Orc looks the best so far IMO, the human female really gives me pause for the upcoming human male. Still sad no blood elf model at launch . They keep delaying and delaying, I still remember when new models were promised in an MoP patch.

They're not adding another melee class, and the Warlock CM set is pretty much Blizzard saying, 'there's no demon hunter class. it's not happening. It's a warlock.'

 

[TheYanger]

I'm very happy with all my characters facial transitions

The female dwarf got a huge boost in looks in the newest build.

My Shaman got a little less pissed between builds, but my Hunter got REAL mad.

I was actually about to post tht I thought my female dwarf looked awful haha. Their faces got much fatter.

Like, my old one was actually cute. Now she looks like a chubby little butterball.

 

[Data West]

And another surprise addition: The Fists of the Deity look much better on male Orcs in Beta. Less clipping, and they're better proportioned. I wasn't expecting that at all.

 

[Magnus]

Guys, any interest in doing the 4.3 dungeons (End Time etc) in order on alts at 85-86?

Or even the 4.1 ZG/ZA heroics

Likewise for the 3.3 dungeons with toons around 80. Bums me out that this content rarely gets playtime anymore.

I have a couple characters around 80 and 85 on both factions.

 

[lazygecko]

In the last comparison pics I saw, I think they missed out on some important details like certain eyeshadows or eyeliners.

I have yet to buy WoD and get my level 90 boost and I'd like to make a new character for that. Problem is I have no idea what they're really going to end up looking like after the overhauls. I want to have a female orc with one of the meaner face options for example but it looks like all of those are greatly diminished by the emotion-neutral idle faces.

Also I actually had a dream last night about the character overhauls... In it they had actually fixed them so you could still see the hair when wearing certain helms like hats... Fat chance of that really happening

 

[Sax Russel]

GC said they also considered an Old Kingdom zone. Like the dungeon Ahn'kahet being a zone. Would be kinda cool, the Nerubians are creepy. It worked out just being a dungeon though.

Some zone concept stuff from a dev playground map

(from here, also a video that covers more of the map)

And don't forget the Abyssal Maw raid that was largely unfinished in the game files for a while!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18kABauecpM&t=1m29s

This stuff is fun to look at

 

[Owensboro]

Isle of Thunder has some fun mechanics there, it can be fun to farm the rare mobs or whatever. The most important part? Get some Keys to the Palace of Lei Shen (purple item, drops from rares really commonly). Then you can do the chest run which is super entertaining the first several times, and a solid way to make some cash. Can easily clear 400g in 5 minutes in there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvebNSrIyJo Just a random video to see what it's like.

Dude, this looks like my kind of dumb! I'll have to give that a try.

Just to clarify, afaik you get 1 key almost guaranteed on your first or second rare kill/chest loot, but getting a second key that week is super rare.

So it's a once per week kind of thing? Fine by me. I don't want to have to grind endlessly for keys. Although, hopefully killing rares isn't impossibly long (I'm a Disp specced priest).

 

[mysteriousmage09]

Some zone concept stuff from a dev playground map



(from here, also a video that covers more of the map)

And don't forget the Abyssal Maw raid that was largely unfinished in the game files for a while!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18kABauecpM&t=1m29s

This stuff is fun to look at

Stop dammit, makes me sad...

 

[RoninChaos]

Should I take more screenshots? The humans look good, they just suffer from the fact that they have a LOT of faces in the old style and the differences are mostly emotive rather than structurally. So when they make new faces which are totally devoid of emotion by default, the differences tend to just be lipstick, eyebrow thickness/position, and wrinkles. Like, my DK when it was human had the 'mean' face.

I couldn't find a better screenshot of her, but that was her. When you look at the beta faces, you can tell that that's got the right eyebrows and lipstick ( I realize I made her skin a shade or two too light, so ignore the slight color difference) but no, she no longer looks 'mean' by default. That's just not gonna happen with the new animation system. But you're high if you don't think the model on the right looks really good.



What spec? At a basic level it's 3 energy bars and a rage bar of sorts. You spend runes to gain RP, you spend RP to gain runes (through your level 75 talent).

Dance Studio is the obvious cut content heh. Emerald Dream I suppose. The underwater raid.

I meant for high end shit. I'm really comfortable with the class, tank pretty regularly, but I feel like there might be some finer points I'm missing. I'm interested in eeking out more dps in unholy as well. Rune management feels like an issue for me to an extent. Know of any good add ons?

My main spec is unholy but I will be main tanking for my guild again in WoD.

 

[Valnen]

Look, you're never even going to see the face, unless you play with your camera looking behind you. You're going to drop the new smooth amazing animations because of a face you're dissatisfied with and can't even see 95% of the time?

If I didn't care about my face I wouldn't have picked one to begin with. I also have helmets off 90% of the time. The old animations are also fine, honestly. I think maybe the eyes on the new human female might be too big or something. Dunno, they just don't look right. At all.

A lot of the other race/gender combos look great, they just fucked up human females.

They're not adding another melee class, and the Warlock CM set is pretty much Blizzard saying, 'there's no demon hunter class. it's not happening. It's a warlock.'

Blizzard are fuck ups if they never add demon hunters. Seriously. It's like they want to lose subscribers or something.

 

[witness]

Can't decide on my WoD main still. I need to get focused on one character so I can get the legendary cloak in time. Is there enough time to even earn it?

Would like some opinions from the community here, which should I pick; Hunter, Shaman (enhance/elemental), DK, Paladin, or finish leveling my Druid who's at 50. I have a 90 warlock but he's just not as fun to me in comparison to the other classes.

 

[ampere]

Some zone concept stuff from a dev playground map

This stuff is fun to look at

Ya, very cool. The Nerubian stuff actually looks similar to an underwater zone.

So it's a once per week kind of thing? Fine by me. I don't want to have to grind endlessly for keys. Although, hopefully killing rares isn't impossibly long (I'm a Disp specced priest).

Pretty much. You can kill them as disc but some might take you a long time. Can always group up with people since everyone gets to loot the key.

Know of any good add ons?

My DK is only an alt and I play Blood exclusively, but I love the addon DDR for runes. I have trouble playing without it...

http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/docsdebugrunes

 

[Anoregon]

If I didn't care about my face I wouldn't have picked one to begin with.

>mfw i have no face

 

[LAUGHTREY]

This stuff is fun to look at

Unfinished zones/works in progress are so interesting to look at imo.

http://nogg-aholic.blogspot.com/2006/02/why-wow-is-bad-game-reason-8.html

This blog is funny, I can't tell if they're trolling with the "Why WoW is a bad game" theme, but all the stuff they have aggregated there is cool.

You see a lot of stuff in development and where they're going with stuff, you realize once a designer gets an idea in his head that he wants something in the game, it'll be in the game one way or another, sooner or later.

Caverns of Time, Hyjal, Black Morass, Karazhan, etc.

If you learn from the past you can see where we're going in the future.

 

[TheYanger]

I meant for high end shit. I'm really comfortable with the class, tank pretty regularly, but I feel like there might be some finer points I'm missing. I'm interested in eeking out more dps in unholy as well. Rune management feels like an issue for me to an extent. Know of any good add ons?

My main spec is unholy but I will be main tanking for my guild again in WoD.

DDR like Ciaossu posted is good. I personally use MagicRunes. Whatever works for you, it's one of those classes where your resources just need to inform your decisions more than anything else, so having them center and readable is most important. I haven't played Unholy in literally years so I'm not sure I'm the best for current info there (I hated festerblight).

http://www.twitch.tv/theyanger/c/2509699 My UI so you can see what I'm talking about but:
The finer points of DK UI and ekeing out performance are basically just resource management/awareness. You can see my runes are dead center with my RP right next to it. Important CDs I have weak auras for directly below that, and it's all in line with the blizz proc UI making a nice little square around my toon. You don't have to do it like that obviously, but the principles are the same - the information you need to react to quickly, needs to be in your direct vision, not your peripheral. Blood Tap charges are in numerical form directly above that too, top left of my Target of Target.

Aside from setting up your UI, it's just a matter of getting used to what is important and when. AMS soaking and stuff for instance, treat it like a dps cooldown. I've modified some of what I track a bit since then. Diseases are to the right, more important as Unholy than as Frost.

The real trick is once you know which aspects you're not as good at tracking, those are the things you can emphasize on your UI. Example: I'm AWFUL at blood plague when I'm frost (at least obliterate frost, masterfrost it's a lot simpler), so I have an extra aura that screams at me when it falls off.

Soul Reaper is usually another trouble point, I had to make 6 seperate weak auras to track it correctly for all specs, but it's worth it - it's a HUGE part of your dps (especially as unholy) and it's a pain in the dick to use it well if you don't have something like that.

 

[Data West]

I'm almost tempted to level my warrior instead of my Shaman for WoD. I hate the idea of healing as an off-spec, absolutely hate it. But I don't mind tanking off-spec. And if it's like MoP, once I get geared, I could 'tank' 5 mans as dps and sprint through it quicker. Warrior currently has more versatility in PVP than Enhancement as well in the sense that they can actually do stuff in RBGs as Arms where as Enhance and Ret are highly undesired in RBGs. And the Fury spec still has all that utility in Vig and Rallying Cry which can't be replicated by other classes.

Guess I'll have to see how it looks closer to launch.

 

[ampere]

I'm almost tempted to level my warrior instead of my Shaman for WoD. I hate the idea of healing as an off-spec, absolutely hate it. But I don't mind tanking off-spec. And if it's like MoP, once I get geared, I could 'tank' 5 mans as dps and sprint through it quicker. Warrior currently has more versatility in PVP than Enhancement as well in the sense that they can actually do stuff in RBGs as Arms where as Enhance and Ret are highly undesired in RBGs. And the Fury spec still has all that utility in Vig and Rallying Cry which can't be replicated by other classes.

Guess I'll have to see how it looks closer to launch.

I get so frustrated playing alts that can't tank, because I am really picky about tanks. This of course led to me maining a tank spec. I do Scarlet Halls in a few minutes, only thing I stop for is the first boss. On the other hand I queued on my ilevel 500 mage yesterday and it took 15 minutes because they tank would stop to kill cannoneers, not keep threat and I'd have to invis... etc

/rage

I get a bit burned out when I play too many alts anyway, so I might dial it back and have just one alt in Warlords, or maybe even none.

 

[RoninChaos]

DDR like Ciaossu posted is good. I personally use MagicRunes. Whatever works for you, it's one of those classes where your resources just need to inform your decisions more than anything else, so having them center and readable is most important. I haven't played Unholy in literally years so I'm not sure I'm the best for current info there (I hated festerblight).

http://www.twitch.tv/theyanger/c/2509699 My UI so you can see what I'm talking about but:
The finer points of DK UI and ekeing out performance are basically just resource management/awareness. You can see my runes are dead center with my RP right next to it. Important CDs I have weak auras for directly below that, and it's all in line with the blizz proc UI making a nice little square around my toon. You don't have to do it like that obviously, but the principles are the same - the information you need to react to quickly, needs to be in your direct vision, not your peripheral. Blood Tap charges are in numerical form directly above that too, top left of my Target of Target.

Aside from setting up your UI, it's just a matter of getting used to what is important and when. AMS soaking and stuff for instance, treat it like a dps cooldown. I've modified some of what I track a bit since then. Diseases are to the right, more important as Unholy than as Frost.

The real trick is once you know which aspects you're not as good at tracking, those are the things you can emphasize on your UI. Example: I'm AWFUL at blood plague when I'm frost (at least obliterate frost, masterfrost it's a lot simpler), so I have an extra aura that screams at me when it falls off.

Soul Reaper is usually another trouble point, I had to make 6 seperate weak auras to track it correctly for all specs, but it's worth it - it's a HUGE part of your dps (especially as unholy) and it's a pain in the dick to use it well if you don't have something like that.

Thanks, man. I think I'm at the point where the real trick is tracking the shit I'm not good at tracking and adjusting from there.

How did you get your UI setup like that? I use ICE HUD but it's not as practical as I need it to be. I'd prefer to have my hud setup similar to how you have them, so my energy is to the left of my character, enemy is to the right, runes in the middle, etc.

 

[TheYanger]

Thanks, man. I think I'm at the point where the real trick is tracking the shit I'm not good at tracking and adjusting from there.

How did you get your UI setup like that? I use ICE HUD but it's not as practical as I need it to be. I'd prefer to have my hud setup similar to how you have them, so my energy is to the left of my character, enemy is to the right, runes in the middle, etc.

For runes I use MagicRunes, they're modified to not have bars or anything - I just like the number. But whatever you're used to is optimal obviously. The unit frames are Shadowed Unit Frames, again you can use anything for that though. Literally everything else in the 'center' area of my screen is WeakAuras. It takes time to learn WA but it's pretty intuitive really, and it does everything. You could make almost your entire UI into weak auras if you wanted to.

Just for lulz, this is what it looks like when I open the menu and they all pop up at once.

 

[Magnus]

This is a blue comment from today:

Multiverse. The moment Garrosh went back an alternative timeline skewed off. Nothing in this alternate Draenor affects our timeline, except that Garrosh has opened a portal back to our universe to bring the Iron Horde through and murder us.

So, I'm afraid I don't buy the argument any longer that people are confused if they're looking at WoD as an alternate timeline story, or Draenor as an altered past.

Even if there are inconsistencies, like certain characters from the past being alive that shouldn't be, or terrain looking different, I'm going to be chalking that up to either minor fuckups, or creative license to change a few things, because all of Blizzard's messaging seems to clearly indicate this is about time travel; they're actively directing people to think about this as time travel and not trying to do an alternate reality thing.

My two cents. I respect all the articles and work going in to piecing together alternate theories, but just like most attempts to find canons and timelines for Nintendo games, I think a lot of it is fans trying to solve a mystery that doesn't actually exist. Haha.

--

Also, the new human female is off. It's the eyes. I don't see a trace of the original face in there like I do with the other races and genders. I'm of the opinion it's a good deal worse than all of the other new models, which I think all look fucking excellent. I mean, I think it's still good and an improvement, but I don't think it does anywhere near as good a job as the others do of espousing Blizzard's goal of being as faithful to the original models as possible.

 

[Artanisix]

Human females look REALLY nice imo. They're a lot cuter than the current ones. Probably my favorite model update next to Orcs and Undead.

 

[ampere]

My two cents. I respect all the articles and work going in to piecing together alternate theories, but just like most attempts to find canons and timelines for Nintendo games, I think a lot of it is fans trying to solve a mystery that doesn't actually exist. Haha.

Absolutely. It's as hopeless as the Zelda timeline. Blizzard creates amazing worlds, but you can't take em too too seriously. They aren't quite GRRM.

 

[CassSept]

You can actually turn the new models off? I didn't think that was even going to be an option

Makes sense, it's a huge polygon bump and multiply it by the amount of every player and majority of non-player characters around... PCs would melt.

And don't forget the Abyssal Maw raid that was largely unfinished in the game files for a while!

*dungeon

Sorry, I'm really picky about that one because I argued a lot about this with people who TOTALLY HEARD IT WAS A RAID DUDE. Baseless rumors and urban legends anger me for some weird reason :/

 

[CarbonatedFalcon]

Also - Path of the Titans.

Was really looking forward to that one.

 

[Salamando]

*dungeon

Sorry, I'm really picky about that one because I argued a lot about this with people who TOTALLY HEARD IT WAS A RAID DUDE. Baseless rumors and urban legends anger me for some weird reason :/

Raid or Dungeon, I just wanna know what happened to Neptulon. Giant kraken swallows him up for the Naga/Old Ones, and no one cares.

 

[Minion101]

Looks like I was deemed cool enough to be given Mists of pandas and I haven't even resubscribed. Just when I was thinking of coming back.

 

[Magnus]

I just realized my Warlock T5 cowl produces animated, fiery red eyes. Love it.

 

[Nokterian]

I just realized my Warlock T5 cowl produces animated, fiery red eyes. Love it.

You didn't know that with the corruptor set? I did a total transmorf to voidheart and still holds today. Also some awesome animation and next to my buddy voidlord we look handsome.

 

[Sax Russel]

*dungeon

Sorry, I'm really picky about that one because I argued a lot about this with people who TOTALLY HEARD IT WAS A RAID DUDE. Baseless rumors and urban legends anger me for some weird reason :/

Aight, ya got me.

But.

While yes, I know it was supposed to be 2 5mans for launch even before Firelands got delayed, that turned into 1 with the other pushed back to join the Firelands patch that still got scrapped, Cata gave us three raid tiers with the 2nd being delayed launch content and the third being unspeakable. I'd like to think an Abyssal Maw raid makes sense as something they'd originally planned for the middle tier, possibly tying into N'Zoth.

 

[Tacitus_]

You didn't know that with the corruptor set? I did a total transmorf to voidheart and still holds today. Also some awesome animation and next to my buddy voidlord we look handsome.

Warlocks TBC sets are awesome looking. Then again, the majority of lock sets are

 

[Magnus]

You didn't know that with the corruptor set? I did a total transmorf to voidheart and still holds today. Also some awesome animation and next to my buddy voidlord we look handsome.

Nope, learned today!

It looks great. Love it in my Priest T8, too.

Priests and Warlocks really have some of the greatest sets in this game, especially around TBC/Wrath.

Armor set design has taken such a fucking nosedive since then all around...

 

[Data West]

Nope, learned today!

It looks great. Love it in my Priest T8, too.

Priests and Warlocks really have some of the greatest sets in this game, especially around TBC/Wrath.

Armor set design has taken such a fucking nosedive since then all around...

Opinions. I think the Priest sets in TBC and WOTLK are pretty shtty, and I think a lot of my favorite sets came out during MoP and Cataclysm.

 

[Nokterian]

Warlocks TBC sets are awesome looking. Then again, the majority of lock sets are

Yup always love my Lock because of the sets. Gonna make a screenie and post it here. Now i want the whole malefic set also etc.

 

[SargerusBR]

Yet another beta key giveaway i failed to win... Truly the Beta Gods hate me.

 

[Tacitus_]

Yup always love my Lock because of the sets. Gonna make a screenie and post it here. Now i want the whole malefic set also etc.

I have.. lessee T2, T4,T5,T6, T8... T15 and T16 sets available for transmog. Should get the Firelands as well, I think it's the only cool one I'm missing.
(though T16 is kinda meh)

 

[strafer]

Stop rocking Voidheart, that's what I'm wearing. Me and Voidy.

 

[Magnus]

Inscription is seriously stupid money. Best decision I've made in this game, lol.

Opinions. I think the Priest sets in TBC and WOTLK are pretty shtty, and I think a lot of my favorite sets came out during MoP and Cataclysm.

I agree it's a mixed bag depending on class.

I can't see Priest T5, 6 or 8 being outclassed by anything since, though. Opinions indeed, haha! It's all been so bland and uninspired.

 

[Schryver]

Inscription is seriously stupid money. Best decision I've made in this game, lol.

I was always too lazy to level inscription but was still fairly serious about gold-making. Guess one of my projects between now and the xpac (just re-subbed this weekend!) will be using my free 90 to learn inscription. Do you still have to use the daily cooldown(s) to learn some of the glyph recipes or is that totally gone at this point?

 

[Man God]

Heh, I got upgraded for free. Pretty amusing as I went out this weekend (tax free in MA) and would have bought Mists if I had found it for the low price of 9.99. Glad I didn't.

 

[Ultratech]

Finally got my Throne of Thunder meta done last night:

As well as a nice little pic of my Hunter in Heroic T15 gear.

Had almost everything done yesterday except "Ritualist Who?" and found a group for that and managed to get everyone that achievement.

On the plus side, I now get to fly around on a goddamn Pterodactyl!

Last things to do now are Loremaster of Pandaria (almost done w/that; just have half a zone to finish) and getting CMs done (much harder).

Raid or Dungeon, I just wanna know what happened to Neptulon. Giant kraken swallows him up for the Naga/Old Ones, and no one cares.

Yeah, it's quite bothersome how that whole zone/dungeon basically ends on a cliffhanger.

Warlocks TBC sets are awesome looking. Then again, the majority of lock sets are

It's so true, it hurts. But yeah, they have a lot of good-looking sets.

 

[strafer]

login screen slighty updated

 

[Data West]

I actually like the current PVP warrior tier a lot. Probably one of my favorite tiers for Warriors, especially the Elite red version.

 

[Nokterian]

login screen slighty updated

We will get a new dark portal inlog screen and i am ok with that.

 

[Sax Russel]

login screen slighty updated

Login screen was cut, it was always supposed to be like this!