You and I must have played different versions of BC, because I remember people running around like they fell out of bags of Skittles with their armor, silly transformations (Noggenfogger, anyone?), and other goofy things. WoW has always had a healthy dose whimsy (both intentional and not) mixed in.
Pandas looking badass and Dracthyr not is purely subjective.
And we’re saying it’s always looked that way. It’s always looked like a cartoon, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s helped it stay relevant for 20+ years.
The funny thing is that they’ve actually improved the graphics of the game a lot over the years. Not just things like water animation, but in improving the resolution of bitmaps for characters, landscapes, etc. they’ve even totally overhauled the graphics for some races (e.g. gnomes, which for a while in beta led to nightmarish animations of their eyes bulging through their eyelids when they blinked).
But to your point: yes, they’ve deliberately left the characters having a goofy, disproportionate cartoonist feel. Because it’s such an integral signature of the game, always has been, and always will be.
Yeah, I’m not sure my reaction to them adding Pandas as a playable race (in the Warcraft III expansion) was that they were “really badass” as OP seemed to think.
Yeah, it has always had a cartoonish, exaggerated art style, almost every character has limbs, hands and feet that are far more voluminous than a more realistic character, color schemes are usually quite bold and highly contrasting, and all weapons and armor also have comically accentuated proportions and excess to them.
Its a shame Blizzard seems to have just decided that all its IPs now basically follow the WoW style conventions, abandoning the earlier, distinct styles of their other IPs.
It is especially weird because their concept art for much of their stuff… often doesn’t have the weird cartoony proportions … but by the time it ends as an ingame asset, it does.
I remember when World of Warcraft was a pretty serious looking game
I think you’re seeing it through rose-tinted nostalgia because the aesthetic style has never changed. Only actual tech used to render the graphics, which has made it look less plastic.
Giant, hulking, musclebound men that are wider than belief wearing pauldrons three times bigger than their barrel-chested selves… So serious.
Spyro the Dragon here wouldn’t look out of place even back before Burning Crusades came out.
I came to comment on the same thing. I remember when World Warcraft was yet to be released, most weren’t expecting it to succeed due to its silly look compared to Ultimate Online 2 and Everquest 2 coming out near the same time, and I want to say there was another big name that was expected to run the same time but it eludes me. WoW was often criticized as looking to cartoony and potentially made just for young children. Of course this was before the beta was out, and you had at most screen captures in gaming magazines.
You are suggesting that the pandas looked badass and that this Dracthyr looks goofy. I’m not a WoW player, but it really sounds to me like you just have a very strong, but subjective ideal about what is “badass” and what is “goofy”. You are treating that ideal as objective, but I promise you that others have a different opinion.
Also it’s a game that let’s you roleplay fantasy races and factions with a bunch of other nerds around the world (using the term “nerds” lovingly here). Why is it unusual that some things in that style of game gets a bit silly sometimes?
It hasn’t been a serious franchise since Wacraft 2 Tides of Darkness, it’s always had a goofy art-style alongside lots of silly gags and pop culture references.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: [email protected]
Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.
Rules
1. Submissions have to be related to games
Video games, tabletop, or otherwise. Posts not related to games will be deleted.
This community is focused on games, of all kinds. Any news item or discussion should be related to gaming in some way.
2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil
No bigotry, hardline stance. Try not to get too heated when entering into a discussion or debate.
We are here to talk and discuss about one of our passions, not fight or be exposed to hate. Posts or responses that are hateful will be deleted to keep the atmosphere good. If repeatedly violated, not only will the comment be deleted but a ban will be handed out as well. We judge each case individually.
3. No excessive self-promotion
Try to keep it to 10% self-promotion / 90% other stuff in your post history.
This is to prevent people from posting for the sole purpose of promoting their own website or social media account.
4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts
This community is mostly for discussion and news. Remember to search for the thing you’re submitting before posting to see if it’s already been posted.
We want to keep the quality of posts high. Therefore, memes, funny videos, low-effort posts and reposts are not allowed. We prohibit giveaways because we cannot be sure that the person holding the giveaway will actually do what they promise.
5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW
Make sure to mark your stuff or it may be removed.
No one wants to be spoiled. Therefore, always mark spoilers. Similarly mark NSFW, in case anyone is browsing in a public space or at work.
6. No linking to piracy
Don’t share it here, there are other places to find it. Discussion of piracy is fine.
We don’t want us moderators or the admins of lemmy.world to get in trouble for linking to piracy. Therefore, any link to piracy will be removed. Discussion of it is of course allowed.
For what it’s worth, non evoker dragon people can use visage form to be humanoid/normal armor/weapon models.
It also works as an HP regen+ aura out of combat.
I’ve never played World of Warcraft and even I know it was a cartoony art style from day one. Go look up some old screenshots for comparison.
deleted by creator
You and I must have played different versions of BC, because I remember people running around like they fell out of bags of Skittles with their armor, silly transformations (Noggenfogger, anyone?), and other goofy things. WoW has always had a healthy dose whimsy (both intentional and not) mixed in.
Pandas looking badass and Dracthyr not is purely subjective.
I think you have rose-tinted glasses on, friend.
And we’re saying it’s always looked that way. It’s always looked like a cartoon, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s helped it stay relevant for 20+ years.
deleted by creator
It’s not about what they can afford. They could afford to change it, but they prefer to keep the same style they’ve been using.
Whether it looks stupid is your subjective opinion.
The funny thing is that they’ve actually improved the graphics of the game a lot over the years. Not just things like water animation, but in improving the resolution of bitmaps for characters, landscapes, etc. they’ve even totally overhauled the graphics for some races (e.g. gnomes, which for a while in beta led to nightmarish animations of their eyes bulging through their eyelids when they blinked).
But to your point: yes, they’ve deliberately left the characters having a goofy, disproportionate cartoonist feel. Because it’s such an integral signature of the game, always has been, and always will be.
Yeah, I’m not sure my reaction to them adding Pandas as a playable race (in the Warcraft III expansion) was that they were “really badass” as OP seemed to think.
deleted by creator
It was the mid-2000s. Graphics were held to different standards back then.
There are so many things that look goofy yet you choose to post a perfectly fine dragonish character. This one looks good to me.
Go watch South Park’s “Make Love, Not Warcraft.”
It was ugly and goofy looking in 2006 as well.
Your mind just remembers it prettier than it actually was.
Yeah, it has always had a cartoonish, exaggerated art style, almost every character has limbs, hands and feet that are far more voluminous than a more realistic character, color schemes are usually quite bold and highly contrasting, and all weapons and armor also have comically accentuated proportions and excess to them.
Its a shame Blizzard seems to have just decided that all its IPs now basically follow the WoW style conventions, abandoning the earlier, distinct styles of their other IPs.
It is especially weird because their concept art for much of their stuff… often doesn’t have the weird cartoony proportions … but by the time it ends as an ingame asset, it does.
I don’t recall any wow toons having feet bigger then their heads
Being cartoonish reduces your hit box size.
The only people left are furries. Let them have this
yo I’d fuck that dragon silly
I think you’re seeing it through rose-tinted nostalgia because the aesthetic style has never changed. Only actual tech used to render the graphics, which has made it look less plastic.
Giant, hulking, musclebound men that are wider than belief wearing pauldrons three times bigger than their barrel-chested selves… So serious.
Spyro the Dragon here wouldn’t look out of place even back before Burning Crusades came out.
I came to comment on the same thing. I remember when World Warcraft was yet to be released, most weren’t expecting it to succeed due to its silly look compared to Ultimate Online 2 and Everquest 2 coming out near the same time, and I want to say there was another big name that was expected to run the same time but it eludes me. WoW was often criticized as looking to cartoony and potentially made just for young children. Of course this was before the beta was out, and you had at most screen captures in gaming magazines.
You are suggesting that the pandas looked badass and that this Dracthyr looks goofy. I’m not a WoW player, but it really sounds to me like you just have a very strong, but subjective ideal about what is “badass” and what is “goofy”. You are treating that ideal as objective, but I promise you that others have a different opinion.
Also it’s a game that let’s you roleplay fantasy races and factions with a bunch of other nerds around the world (using the term “nerds” lovingly here). Why is it unusual that some things in that style of game gets a bit silly sometimes?
It hasn’t been a serious franchise since Wacraft 2 Tides of Darkness, it’s always had a goofy art-style alongside lots of silly gags and pop culture references.
Why do people like things that I don’t like? I don’t understand
This is not OP’s first post in this genre, either.
As someone who hasn’t played wow in almost a decade, it looks exactly like I remember it.
Warcraft was always pretty goofy, I mean have you played wc3?
Maybe it looks goofy because you’re looking at a picture you took of your monitor instead of taking a screenshot like a rational adult.