World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

Rasputin · 2010-09-27T12:36:07.000Z

Anaxagoras:

I agree with you that the original model looks better, but honestly, the whole idea of Worgens give me the willies. No matter how good they look, they inexorably remind me of furries. Granted, the Disney-esque models remind me much stronger of furries, but either way, I have a sinking feeling that playing a Worgen involves yiffing.

Shut up, you. Don’t sully awesome werewolves with your filthy sexual perversions.

Tankero · 2010-09-27T12:39:03.000Z

What, you really thought all those druids hanging around in the Tram were just protesting the pollution and technology? If that’s the reason why Worgen freak you out, you should’ve been having willie-induced seizures since release, twice so when female nightelf druids /danced on mailboxes.

While I agree that Worgen (as an expression of the lycanthropy mythos) shouldn’t really distinguish between males and females, and the males should be far more monstrous than they are, Blizzard’s art style just doesn’t allow for anything other than “disney-esque” models.

Royal_Fool · 2010-09-27T12:40:05.000Z

Furries are a big market, y’know.

mouselock · 2010-09-27T12:42:59.000Z

Ranulf:

Well, a December release date makes me happy. That much more time to get my silly Uld drake achievement. Its been hell getting a stable group together to get it done. Which is sad because you can breeze through half of them in a 2-3 hours if folks aren’t total idiots.

Based on our fun with Freya last night, I must raid with idiots. Or perhaps they raid with me. (Finding oneself tanking on one’s DK for the first time, more or less, ever, in a raid situation while trying to do “Knock, Knock, Knock on Wood” and having never seen the fight before was… interesting… )

Jag · 2010-09-27T12:59:04.000Z

Tankero:

While I agree that Worgen (as an expression of the lycanthropy mythos) shouldn’t really distinguish between males and females, and the males should be far more monstrous than they are, Blizzard’s art style just doesn’t allow for anything other than “disney-esque” models.

I have visions of a Worgen rolling a meatball with his nose.

Ultrazen · 2010-09-27T14:06:25.000Z

Rasputin:

So a thread on MMO-Champion has a new Worgen female model from the euro Cata forums:

Aaaand I hate it. It’s all furry/Disney. Personally I’m of the opinion that females should look like women when human, and then turn into the same lycanthropic engine of destruction that the men do. But I am willing to compromise for something like the following where the head is the same, but the body is feminine:

While I welcome the Worgen with open arms, I think the female model for them is the biggest clusterfuck I’ve seen in WoW design. For those who have been around since the beginning, has there ever been a race that had this much redesign?

Given how butt ugly all of wow is, and how horribly 12 year old cartoony, this is the thing that finally gets to you?

lol. Just being goofy, but WoW isn’t exactly a hallmark of awesome graphic work. Some of the world areas look pretty good, but the characters have always been horrible in my book.

Anaxagoras · 2010-09-27T14:15:36.000Z

Ultrazen:

lol. Just being goofy, but WoW isn’t exactly a hallmark of awesome graphic work. Some of the world areas look pretty good, but the characters have always been horrible in my book.

That’s fine, but you do have to realize that at a certain point “horrible in your book” isn’t relevant to the conversation. WoW’s stylized graphics are widely praised for their inventiveness & unique style. Sure, some people (such as yourself) take issue with them, but it’s fairly well established that their graphics fulfill several roles:

Allow the game to run on low end machines
Are surprisingly distinctive
Are aesthetically pleasing to most people
Avoid the gritty “realistic” look of games like War, instead deliberately opting for a happier, more cartoony look. This, by the way, has consistently been part of Warcraft’s visual style.
Give the game a unified feel no matter which zone you’re in, and yet allow the artists enough freedom to create radically different zones & dungeons.

charmtrap · 2010-09-27T14:28:20.000Z

Ultrazen:

lol. Just being goofy, but WoW isn’t exactly a hallmark of awesome graphic work.

Actually, WoW is a hallmark of awesome graphic work within certain constraints imposed by trying to run on the widest capability of machines. Given those constraints and it’s age, WoW looks absolutely phenomenal. You may not personally like the design, but I love it and I’m hardly alone in that opinion.

EDIT, which is exactly what Anaxagoras said…so there. :-p

Rasputin · 2010-09-27T14:33:25.000Z

Ultrazen:

Given how butt ugly all of wow is, and how horribly 12 year old cartoony, this is the thing that finally gets to you?

lol. Just being goofy, but WoW isn’t exactly a hallmark of awesome graphic work. Some of the world areas look pretty good, but the characters have always been horrible in my book.

There’s a vast gap between cartoony and the bizarre sexifying that’s occurring on the worgen. Orc, tauren and troll women are all ugly (but probably hot to orcs, tauren and trolls I suppose).

Oh, and you’re dumb.

Anaxagoras · 2010-09-27T14:50:52.000Z

charmtrap:

EDIT, which is exactly what Anaxagoras said…so there. :-p

It’s the Concord spiritual link. Those of us from Concord share a bond.

Ygnacio Valley in the house! Whoop Whoop!

(Alright. I’ll stop that.)

Gunmetal · 2010-09-29T11:39:36.000Z

Conversion of Frosts to Justice Points has been increased 4x to 11.58 Justice Points per emblem from 2.75. That sounds like stockpiling emblems at this point is a good way to go, as it’ll convert almost directly into the same amount you get from dungeons at 85?

I also just read that some of the guild perks are 5-10% more Justice Points per boss. I’ve gotta get my alts into guilds now!

Rasputin · 2010-09-29T13:44:24.000Z

Also looks like the likely 4.0.1 patch date is the 12th, since that’s when the current PvP season ends.

Given that it’s probably dropping at least a month before Cat, maybe the delay rumors are true, since they still have to run us through 4.0.3 (according to the In Development page on worldofwarcraft.com) “shortly before Cataclysm.”

markv · 2010-09-29T15:02:08.000Z

I just went through some quick number crunching and posted the following on my guilds website so people have an understanding of what the badge needs are to hit your 4k cap and what will probably net you the most cash leading in to Cata.

other forum post:

Incase you guys are wanting to min/max your badge situation and squeeze the most money out of it as you can before Cata hits there was a change that came out today in the conversion rate. This change has drastically decreased the badges you need to hit 4000 points. It was previously 1455 badges to get to your 4000 points, it’s now 346 badges to hit the 4000 points. Also the gold rate for the conversion after that is .475g per point or 5.5g per badge if you want to look at it that way.

What that means? If you’ve been hoarding frost emblems you’re better off unloading them for saronites while there is still a market for it and ideally run heroics over the next couple of weeks to rummage up the 346 badges you need to hit the 4k. 4k is going to be the hard cap come Cata, and although you will be able to exceed that cap pre-cata every point above that after cata is released will be converted to gold via the rate stated above.

Just to add in there so you get an understanding 1 saronite = 23 badges = 126.5g after conversion. Also I believe you will be able to buy saronites with justice points come the patch which is when the market will really hit the shitter in my books. So take advantage of it now.

Marcus · 2010-09-29T20:48:12.000Z

We now have delivery date(s) for the order you placed on September 14 2010 (Order# 104-2727104-5513865):

“World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Collector’s Edition”
Estimated arrival date: January 05 2011

What?

Athryn · 2010-09-29T20:51:20.000Z

I got an email too that says Jan 4. Crap!

RobotPants · 2010-09-29T21:00:13.000Z

Yeah, Amazon lists the CE release date as Dec 31st, but not for the regular game.

Marcus · 2010-09-29T21:00:15.000Z

WTF YOU GET IT A DAY BEFORE ME? FUCK YOU AMAZON!

Athryn · 2010-09-29T21:03:40.000Z

I ordered mine a month before you! :P

markv · 2010-09-29T22:36:34.000Z

The only good CE was the original because pandas and diablos rule.

pyrhic · 2010-09-29T23:17:08.000Z

Hmmm…that would be very interesting…iirc, bc shipped mid january. For most companies, missing the xmas season would not be done and i thought there’d be no way an activision led blizzard would miss xmas. Maybe this means blizzard still runs its own show…