Comments on: The Art Style of WoW

By: Chad

Chad — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 18:50:28 +0000

I have nothing against the art style of WoW, in fact, I quite enjoy it. Its unique in the genre and, of course, the big plus you mentioned is it looks good and runs well on lower end machines.

However, that doesn’t mean that other games’ art style is horrid if they’re focusing on more realistic art. LotRO, I played for about a month, just to try it out and all. I really enjoyed the look and feel of that game (I decided not to continue because the questing and mechanics didn’t really suit me). In that case, it matches the look and feel of Middle Earth. How many of us, when we read through the books, picture Middle Earth in the WoW-style art? Most likely, not many. LotRO is a bad comparison to WoW.

The best “realism” I’ve seen to date in character models is in Guild Wars. Usually when games go for “ultra-realistic” graphics, the character models are where things suffer, as you mentioned. But still, to each his own. One person may like what another does not, one game may want something that another does not.

Still, I stand by my statement that comparing WoW art to LotRO art isn’t entirely the right way to go because of what I said above.

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 03:45:02 +0000

@soul – i googled that lotro image so I don’t doubt that it probably didn’t have the settings maxed out. Wow’s graphics aren’t top of the line but neither are the specs on the huge casual player-base’s PC.

By: Soul

Soul — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 09:44:05 +0000

The picture of lotro you have posted is with very reduced quality and features.

I like both the graphics of wow and lotro, having played both and specially wow for a very long time, since release, and lotro since a month and a couple of weeks.

while both game’s graphics are amusing, i found lotro environment to be more eye catching, the reasons varry from one person to another, but to me, wow graphic’s engine is not that great btw, wow graphics use too much shading to cover up for the big blocks, even though it’s still nice, but in my opinion, lotro exceeds it by alot, considering that both games are held by lore when making environment and graphics.

also lotro is kinda new, and their graphics engine is enhanced yet, unlike wow which went through various model redesigns.

but if you’re talking about graphicswise? well dark age of camelot and warhammer online exceeds both by far.

By: World of Warcraft Gold, WoW Gold, Accounts & Powerleveling » The Art Design of WoW

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 08:14:17 +0000

[...] dynamic plays out on this site, it’s getting bookmarked) makes an interesting post about how World of Warcraft’s art direction works for him when other MMO’s [...]

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 04:27:47 +0000

@The Game Dame – The shot on the left is actually from LOTRO. I agree that I probably should have used a human or elven pic for a more apples-to-apples comparison.

@zhagog – tf2 and pixar both come to mind when I think of cartoony art style triumphing over “realism”.

@foxfier – we did notice a definite increase in our traffic. It was no digg-effect nor slashdotting so my 5-yr old server handled it like a champ.

thank you all for the comments. =)

By: Foxfier

Foxfier — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 00:03:13 +0000

Finally! Someone else that thinks Blizz was being smart, not lazy!

(Btw, hope you’ve got a good provider– wowinsider linked you.)

By: daveyp

daveyp — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 22:24:00 +0000

I agree with this 100%, I’ve been saying this to people for a while now. Vanguard for example may be technically better looking, but to me it’s quite bland and lacks in style. WoW on the otherhand is very stylised due to it’s semi-catoony look.

By: zhagog

zhagog — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 21:21:07 +0000

I entirely agree. Across the board I am disappointed by the trend in games towards “realism.” All too often, what is hailed as “amazingly lifelike” I find to be horrifying manikin-zombies. I know it’s part of why I enjoy WoW so much. Team Fortress 2, which recently came out, also chose that direction with their art, and I must say it is fabulous. The models seem to have so much life/charm/etc. to them. I had a hard time empathizing with the humans in Half Life 2 mostly because they looked so… creepy. I liked the aliens better.

You’d think that it would be obvious by now how effective it is to sidestep the uncanny valley. As blizzard has shown (and Pixar for crying out loud), it is a lucrative tool.

By: The Game Dame

The Game Dame — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 20:43:05 +0000

Is the screenshot on the left from LOTRO or Hellgate London? I have played neither, but you are right about the creepiness of the non-WoW image. (Of course, you chose a hot Draenai female to compete with so you may have stacked the deck. Er, as it were.) I’ve read about the uncanny valley before as well as heard criticisms of the simplistic art style of WoW. Like you, I’ve always liked WoW’s graphics, as you have, and the patterned-copied trees never bothered me because, let’s face it, the trees have nothing to do with the game. (Geez, it’s already so immersive that people claim addictions to it so we know that the art style does not pull the gamer OUT of the world.) However, it never occurred to me, as you surmise, that Blizzard may have made a conscious choice to stay as far away from the uncanny valley as possible — and not just for the sake of graphics load. I had always assumed it was a happy accident but maybe they really are as smart as you credit them.

By: Anca

Anca — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 20:12:47 +0000

I agree with you there – I really enjoyed Ultima Online and Puzzle Pirates, but Everquest, City of Heroes and other games just never did it for me – they tried to create a world that was too realistic to allow me to fill in my own fantasy elements.

Nice article!