The new animations of the races of World of Warcraft are progressing well. Only the Blood Elves probably won’t make it by the launch of the expansion “Warlords of Draenor.”
So, the Blood Elves will catch the brunt: they will wake up at the launch of Warlords of Draenor still with the old face, while the world, enemies, and friends around them will look different. The remodelling process is proving to be incredibly labor-intensive for Blizzard. In numerous Artcraft blog posts, it is pointed out how much effort it costs, how many hours it requires, and how much more challenging it is now to bring the faces to life.
As if one had to recreate all races anew
If one had relied on some tricks ten years ago and basically just painted facial expressions, because there was no better way to do it, today everything must look organic and be made “legit.” The new models will no longer forgive tricks like glued teeth or a forced smile; the face has to move. The result can be appealing, but it also involves a hell of a lot of effort.
From a design perspective, it’s as if one is working on an expansion and already designing a lot of new “art,” thus heavily burdening the design department, and in addition, instead of creating only two new races as in the past, one now has to redo all of them. Originally, the plan was to start the expansion with just a few “refurbished” races and gradually update more via patches. However, they actually deviated from that because it would have been “not ideal.” It is still mentioned in a blog post from July 30, which gives the impression that everyone will make the beauty treatment by the time of the expansion.
However, a day later, it was already stated on Twitter that it was becoming clearer that the Blood Elves would not meet Blizzard’s standards by the launch of the expansion.
Industry press shows understanding
The industry press expresses understanding for Blizzard’s decision. WoW Insider comments: Although the Blood Elves are one of the most popular player races and therefore many players are waiting for the new models, the Blood Elves are also one of those races that have always looked relatively aesthetic, and if cuts must be made somewhere, it makes sense to delay them.
The announcement also means that the trolls will soon become the focus of the next Artcraft. Their remodelling is still pending.
