[:1]When I first heard about troll druids, I really got pumped up about the idea. Trolls are one of the coolest races in the game (IMHO, of course), and druids are a really funny class to play. Adding to that, the writing department came up with some really nice and appealing lore and background story for them and everything was bound to be perfect.
Until I got to level 8 and saw the Cat Form.
I insisted a little bit more, and went up to level 15.
And then I saw the bear form.
Already a bit disappointed, I roamed around Orgrimmar and wandered around a bit, looking for some flying troll druids around. And the bats also didn't strike me as I first expected.
The thing is: I'm not complaining about concept and design. At that, I really think that the forms really have a troll feeling in its entirety, very good ideas for all of them (some of the color combinations are extremely cool, in my opinion). What I don't like is the technical quality of the art assets for them in the game. I believe that the troll forms weren't as well worked on as ALL the other druid races - night elves, tauren and, NOTABLY, worgen. Put all forms side by side, and it's sad to see how the troll form models and textures lack details, quality, and definition, compared to the other races. MAINLY the Cat Form, with its uneven stripes and the poor decoration (which, I know how 3D models and textures work - they don't 'fool' us visually as much as the details on the other models do - not to mention the back of their ears in the same color as the mane).
Are those really the final assets for them? Or was it that the time limit strangled the art team, which had more pressing matters to devote themselves to? Whatever it was, I really hope that is not final, Blizzers. Da trolls be deservin' more dan dat, mon (and I really want to heat up and level mine).
Thanks! o/
Just so you know, this seems silly because worgen and troll forms are the highest poly count druid forms due to them being the most recent.
It could be more a personal opinion because I think the cat form looks amazing(though not thrilled about the bear form).
I agree with you, Tagartou. But in concept, the cat form is really wild, I just would like to see it close without getting sad. (my favourite is the one with green fur and blue hair, btw XD).
I suppose the highest poly count comes from pieces of hair throughout the body then. But then, a texture graduating into transparency for the hair could already make a huge difference. And also, a softer transition from the body to these hairy parts - because it gets really lame in models like the white one with purple hair.
And I'm still thinking in a good solution for the stripes...
My feeling at the issue is that the models (all three of them, cat, bear and flight forms), people just got things they already had (even some old textures), put some wicked colouring, took a piece from here and there ('we take this bear here, put these fangs here...') and voilá. A feeling that doesn't happen with the other three races, in my opinion.
At least troll forms look better than worgen forms.... the whole "wolf-cat wolf-bear" thing just looks silly IMO.
Maybe it's just my caffeine addled brain, but worg druids just seem like a bad meme to me.. yo dawg, i heard you like shifting, so we put a shifter on your shifter, so you can shift while you're shifted.
On topic.. i guess i've never spent enough time in feral spec to notice the lack of quality in the designs, but i think they look pretty darn cool.. especially swift flight form.. love my pimped bat.
Troll cat form is just a modified night elf cat form. Open up a model viewer, place them side by side, and just look at all the similarities. Same ears, same eyebrows, same facial structure, same weird issue with the vertexes in the right hind leg. All Blizzard did was change the texture, slap on tusks/earrings, and change the mane.
Looking at them side by side, I'm also fairly certain that worgen cat form is just a modified tauren cat form, though it's less obvious.
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