Blizzcon 2013 Recap - New Character Models

A much needed update of the character models has been on the cards from Blizzard for a long long time. Blizzard said they didn't want to lose the original feel, but just wanted them to look better in the process and to refine them where necessary. People have been really impatient with these, and this years Blizzcon has finally given us a glimpse into some of the races they have updated and they were well worth the wait!

The Warlords of Draenor panel gave us the first look, and featured the male dwarf, male orc and male gnome. We had seen the orc through the Garrosh model in SoO, so that wasn't a huge surprise but the dwarves and gnomes are so so good! I never really thought that they were needed so much on these two races especially, but how wrong I was. It's always the before and after shots they show that really highlight how much we need these models.

I continued on to watch the Art of World of Warcraft panel and they featured so many more, I was so pleased they had more to show than just the three on the WoD panel.

Undead male:

Current undead male model

New undead male model!!!

New undead model - some of the face options

Oh.. my...god! It's incredible. I always hated the look of undeads bones sticking out, especially the elbows and the strange spines. Now they look so bad ass and rightly so they are meant to look like undead people. Unfortunately they didn't show the female undead, but we'll just have to be patient, they will no doubt look great too.

Gnome male:

The comparison between the old and new gnome models and some expressions!

 What a difference! Male gnomes looking so good now!

Gnome female:

before...

and after!

I have never played a gnome female and to be honest probably never will, just never felt the need to play as one, but I 100% agree with the update of the gnome females, the eyes being bigger gives them that cute 'I wouldn't hurt a fly' vibe, when really they give as good as any!

Dwarf male:

Love the detail to the dwarf males, especially the beard decorations! The fact they have body hair also, you would expect them to have it, but it wasn't there on the old models, nice detail indeed.

Dwarf female:

I am so so blown away with the dwarf female, just WOW! I love it and I am definately going to make one when WoD hits. I can sense a significant rise in dwarf female players from then on for sure.

Orc male:

Great to see this model on an orc who isn't Garrosh. Can't wait to see the Orc females!

Tauren male:

before...

and after.

I can't get used to this new model, I have to be honest. I like how fluffy/hairy it looks compared to before, but the face just doesn't look right to me personally, can't pin point what it is but I'm not keen. Maybes I'm just too used to the original look.

Overall a magnificent job on the models that have been shown so far. The fact that they have teeth and tongues to help with the facial expressions is brilliant and of course the models have proper fingers, toes and proper finger and toe nails! That was one of the things that bugged me alot on the old models, especially the humans, so I'm excited to see those when they get them ready.

Kaitz~