 |
| Epic Art Warlords of Draenor |
One particular feature that caught my attention was this 'Instant level 90' feature which was announced towards the end of the preview. With your purchase of Warlords of Draenor, you can boost a character to level 90 instantly. This goes for a friend who has never had a level 90 character, or a existing player. This will make getting into the game for both a new players, and veteran players an more immediate experience.
Draenor
Draenor is the new continent being introduced into the expansion, although there is some speculation as to how 'new' this continent will actually be, (due to its striking resemblance and relation to 'Outlands' from the first expansion for WoW, Burning Crusade) the Blizzard team has done well in emphasising it's differences from the old shattered Outlands that we know.- Homeworld of the Orcs before it was shattered into Outland.
- Also the heart of the Draenei civilisation
- A world of 'Primal Giants'
- Contains 7 'new' zones.
- The new 'Clans' of the Draenor continent are filled with history and create the opportunity for much gameplay.
 |
| New Draenor Continent in Warlords of Draenor. |
The Draenor Continent and its Content is fresh and detailed, the Dark Portal is being recreated, with a introductory mission for the players to experience the new content, by crashing through the Dark Portal in what the Lead Content Designer 'Cory Stockton' calls a 'Suicide Mission' into this new world. Some exciting announcements include the new capital cities, with 'Bladespire Fortress' being made the 'Horde Capital' and the Alliance capital will be the 'Black Temple', Illidan's fortress of evil in 'The Burning Crusade' expansion, (in this world this city will be known as 'Karabor - The Draenei Holy Temple). It sounds like the content designers have done a really good job in recreating this world as it was before it became shattered in the 'Burning Crusade'.
Graphical Improvements - Character Models
New player models is essentially a graphical update for the World of Warcraft game, something that has not been done many times throughout it's history. Blizzard will be updating their player character models across the races of the game, it is an overdue and welcomed update for the game. World of Warcraft has never really been a game of amazing graphical detail, it's aged graphics are definitely showing in this day and age so graphical updates are more important than their face value. Speaking of faces, below are some images of a few of the improvements announced at Blizzcon, with the Orcs, Gnomes, Undead, Taurens and Dwarfs.Now there are a lot of pictures here because I simply got a bit overexcited with how awesome it all was, and let me say, if you haven't seen the actual animation tweaks along side all of this, you really have only seen half of it, the level of detail and improvements made on the animation, particularly in facial expressions, is incredible.
 |
| Old and New, Dwarf Male models |
 |
| Old and New, Gnome Male models |
 |
| Old and New, Orc Male models |
 |
| Current Undead models |
 |
| Updated Undead models. |
 |
| Updated Undead Male heads |
 |
| Gnome Female,new models along side some facial animations. |
 |
| New Tauren Male models |
The content creation team has done a good job on these updates, it is important to remember that the game needs to be kept at a fairly basic graphical level as to not upset the large number of players that enjoy the game on a lower powered machine. Improvements:
- Improved visual fidelity
- Facial details improved
- Drastically updated animations/emotes
Key Added/New Features
There is a menagerie of new features being added. Some have got me very excited, particularly the addition of the new 'WoW Houseing' (as Game Director Tom Chilton calls it), 'Garrisons'. I have always wanted some form of 'Base Building' or 'Guild Hall' style feature in the World of Warcraft game since experiencing a similar feature back in the ArenaNet MMORPG 'Guild Wars', and that was back in 2005! I am not particularly 'impressed' with Blizzard introducing this 'been there done that' feature, but it is certainly an exciting addition to the game. Features Include:
- Customisable Bases
- Collect Followers
- Run missions (with your followers)
- Offline Progression
- Sending followers off on missions may take time that progresses whilst you are offline.
- Garrison Progression can also get your gear.
- Garrison progresses over 3 tiers.
- Pick what buildings you put into your base.
- Interaction with followers and buildings
- Monuments and Trophies
- Building Bonuses
- Buffs for your character
- Improve your followers
- Specialise buildings with upgrades
So this was all the updates that caught my eye about the new expansion for World of Warcraft. I am definitely keen to get my hands on this game as soon as it is released and get the most of it.
Below is the Warlords of Draenor preview video that was aired at Blizzcon in the Opening ceremony. Have a quick look and get keen for the latest World of Warcraft expansion!
Warlords of Draenor - Preview Video (YouTube)
CookeRS
No comments:
Post a Comment