Cataclysm

[LK]

The female Goblin lost a lot of charm in their pursuit of "realistic but cartoony" art design that seems to be influencing new content. Or is it because of the darker tone of the world that they moved away from brighter, silly (but appreciable) style?

[Simond]

No, it's because Blizzard realised that hardly anyone wants to play an ugly female PC.

[Ingmar]

We probably shouldn't immediately assume that the more traditional goblin female face won't be one of the options you can pick - after all this screenshot is just one of probably 5 or 6 choices.

[Lantyssa]

Hopefully they'll make more than one decent troll face in the process.

[Ingmar]

Someone is buying into the troll beauty myth! 

[Merusk]

You can transfer heirlooms across factions.

Eh ?

Since everyone ignored you...

Anything with that light gold title "account bound" toggle can be mailed to ANY of your characters on the same server, Horde or Alliance.  They changed it from "same side only" in 3.2 IIRC.

[Lantyssa]

Someone is buying into the troll beauty myth! 

My Horde characters are predominately Trolls.

[Lakov_Sanite]

My female friend who plays and loves trolls "Hates" the stoned troll face with a passion, she says they just look vacant and that is people wanted to look like elves they should have rolled elves.

That said I agree trolls don't get many decent options but I agree, stoned face isnt great.

[Selby]

Anything with that light gold title "account bound" toggle can be mailed to ANY of your characters on the same server, Horde or Alliance.  They changed it from "same side only" in 3.2 IIRC.

Can we... transfer servers with them too?  Since I've got a bunch of alts on another server and having the heirlooms once I have my 9 80's would sure make things easier...

[Ingmar]

Anything with that light gold title "account bound" toggle can be mailed to ANY of your characters on the same server, Horde or Alliance.  They changed it from "same side only" in 3.2 IIRC.

Can we... transfer servers with them too?  Since I've got a bunch of alts on another server and having the heirlooms once I have my 9 80's would sure make things easier...

Your gear should server transfer with you, yes.

[Ingmar]

Another guy with a batch of alpha screenshots and images of models:

http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l69/leviathonlx2/
http://s108.photobucket.com/albums/n28/leviathonlx/?start=0

[Mattemeo]

Taurens are minotaurs in nearly the classical sense and Worgens are werewolves in the way Edward Cullen is a Vampire.  It's not bias, there's a distinct difference here that I'm surprised you can't see.

No, I can't see it. You're ramming in a trashy after-the-fact pop-cultural reference when there isn't a reasonable equivalent on the other side. I might as well compare Tauren to umpteen cheese or yoghurt commercials and their cartoon cow characters.

Worgen have been a part of the WoW universe long before the Twilight series became part of the national conscience. Worgen culture is total anathema to that portrayed in that woeful franchise.

I should also point out that the Minotaur was a man with the head of a bull, and the Tauren are bipedal cows (with yiffy womens, omg - check out those peculiar udders!). Worgen have far greater stock in mythology.

[Sheepherder]

Dranei are like a Tiefling, except not hardcore.

[Sjofn]

My female friend who plays and loves trolls "Hates" the stoned troll face with a passion, she says they just look vacant and that is people wanted to look like elves they should have rolled elves.

That said I agree trolls don't get many decent options but I agree, stoned face isnt great.

I also loathe that face, I never ever use it. I love the lady troll voice though. Especially her laugh. 

Also, squeeeee at the lady goblin hair.

Also also, I hate tieflings.

Also, also, also, it isn't just Twilight that's made werewolves lame. Twilight, generally speaking, does not enter my mind. There's just been a lot more pop shit throughout our lives that has zomg werewolves. They've been defanged (har!) and kept "modern." So they're familiar in a way minotaurs aren't. Anyway, tauren, like I mentioned before, may have their furry followers but there is a much much much much much MUCH MUCH MUCH higher percentage of wolf/fox FURSONAS (that word makes me laugh) than cow ones. Furries are what make worgens so goddamn furry, not anything else.

[WindupAtheist]

Female worgen, at least, are going to be yiffy as fuck and we all know it. Just look at the female goblin. "Oh shit it's playable now, quick remove all the character in order to make it cute!"

[Lantyssa]

That's because of an increased... appreciation of canines.  Wolf shirts and statues are popular amongst the general populace because of a false serenity and majesty associated with them.  People love dogs and think of wolves as one step removed.  Cows not so much.  That simply carries over to furry personalities.

I love tieflings, too.  (Original concept, not the 4th Ed stuff as much.)  Demons, gargoyles, dragons,... anything supernatural really.  Draenei package a lot of that together and add in the fake gypsy/Russian/whatever accent I like so much.  And it's not a human, elf, dwarf, orc, or other tired fantasy race re-imagined for the hundredth time.

[Malakili]

Worgen culture is...

No sentence ever needs to start with these words in any conversation ever.

[Rasix]

That's because of an increased... appreciation of canines.  Wolf shirts and statues are popular amongst the general populace because of a false serenity and majesty associated with them.  People love dogs and think of wolves as one step removed.  

... and want to hump them.

Guys, gals, please. The yiff rationalizations are just killing me. 

[Lakov_Sanite]

I am eagerly awaiting all the "bitch" jokes that will ensue alliance side.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Worgen females in game, no textures yet.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/general-discussions/first-look-at-wogen-famale/

[Sjofn]

So we can stop pretending they'll be anything but yiffy little foxes now, right.


EDIT: In an effort to be somewhat positive, the hairstyles don't fill me with rage and I don't mind how they look in platemail.

[Sjofn]

So I'm looking at the actual female worgen animations and they're a lot better than I had expected. They're not super girly horrible like night elves, and that does please me.

[Ingmar]

They're not as hyper-sexualized as the draenei, but are way more than the tauren. (see: walk animation)

Verdict: moderate yiff

[Sjofn]

You're right, they are not nearly as bad as the draenei ladies. If I peer at them through that lens, they actually did a pretty good job with them.

One thing I have noticed watching the BOY worgen animations is that the boys sort of look more like lions than wolves to me. I guess it's because they have hair and it makes me think of manes?

[Ingmar]

http://img208.imageshack.us/i/goblinhotrod.jpg/

[WindupAtheist]

Anyway yeah, everytime I go into Stormwind for the next 5 years (or whatever) it's going to be a giant freshly stepped-on wreck? Bleh. That plus furries plus the whole "five strangers who don't talk and will never see each other again silently farming heroics" state of the game aren't encouraging me.

[caladein]

Anyway yeah, everytime I go into Stormwind for the next 5 years (or whatever) it's going to be a giant freshly stepped-on wreck? Bleh.

Eh, Shattrath and Light's Hope Chapel still have their Sunwell and old-Naxxramas stuff going on.  Post-Cataclysm Dalaran is probably still going to have that stupid statue in the middle and have the Argent Tournament folks flying in every once in a while.

Cataclysm is in essence about the war coming home and the capitals (at least a few of them) being proper hubs instead of places with Auction Houses.

[SurfD]

These are not the droids you are looking for.....

[Tarami]

Anyway yeah, everytime I go into Stormwind for the next 5 years (or whatever) it's going to be a giant freshly stepped-on wreck? Bleh. That plus furries plus the whole "five strangers who don't talk and will never see each other again silently farming heroics" state of the game aren't encouraging me.

I only just started instancing again after like four years of absence and I hate what the dungeon finder has done to PUGs, especially in combination with the turbo-paced loot piñatas that are modern dungeons. When you have to spend more than an hour together, it's kind of important to be civil with eachother. When the instance takes 20 minutes, who cares? Occasionally meeting some nice motherfuckers in PUGs was the only redeeming part of them, really.

[Sjofn]

I am the complete opposite. Most of my experience with PUGs before the dungeon finder were unpleasant. Having to be together for an hour certainly did not make people more civil, because the giant pain in the ass it was to form a PUG in the first place kept people in said PUG, even with douchebags. I've done far more PUGs since the dungeon finder change, and had a vastly better experience with them. Yes, doing instances in complete silence is a little odd, but I find if I feel like chatting (which honestly is not that often), people will chat back. I like the all-business let's-do-this-quick PUG, I find it to be a VAST improvement over the old way.

I do realise part of why I have the freedom to feel this way is because I have a guild, and if I want to be a slowpoke that is more interested in chatting and doing something fun with some people rather than LET US DO THIS FAST TALKING SLOWS US DOWN, I will do it with them.

[ezrast]

Anyway yeah, everytime I go into Stormwind for the next 5 years (or whatever) it's going to be a giant freshly stepped-on wreck? Bleh. That plus furries plus the whole "five strangers who don't talk and will never see each other again silently farming heroics" state of the game aren't encouraging me.

I only just started instancing again after like four years of absence and I hate what the dungeon finder has done to PUGs, especially in combination with the turbo-paced loot piñatas that are modern dungeons. When you have to spend more than an hour together, it's kind of important to be civil with eachother. When the instance takes 20 minutes, who cares? Occasionally meeting some nice motherfuckers in PUGs was the only redeeming part of them, really.

I've had great groups come together and stay together for hours through LFD. At cap when 3/4 of the players are just running one instance to get their frosties it never happens, but when leveling up people are incentivized to stick with a group they know is decent, and asocial people are more likely to drop the group after one run and be replaced, so quick instances are a good thing in this regard. Of course, there are no tools to make the odds of me seeing any of those people again better than slim to none (yet! global friends lists are finally incoming, though they're not quite suited for this sort of casual contact).

[Simond]

We probably shouldn't immediately assume that the more traditional goblin female face won't be one of the options you can pick - after all this screenshot is just one of probably 5 or 6 choices.

From the same place as before:

NB: Apparently, customisation is still a WIP for the ladies (i.e. jewellery and the like isn't fully implemented yet).

Male goblins to follow.

[Simond]

And the blokes:

According to people who are actually in the alpha, the various nose/ear changes actually change the geometry of the model rather than just being texture changes.

[Mattemeo]

I don't think anyone complaining that Worgen females are going to be 'sexy' has a leg to stand on now I've seen those Goblin femaless. That's some pretty heavy 'player friendly' remodelling, right there.

[Mattemeo]

Also should add: fantastic looking hairstyles. Not a pixelated, scraggly end in sight. Blizzard better be goddamn fixing all the hideously crayon drawn old-style hairstyles half the original races are blighted with.