Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting druids and those who group with them, brought to you by Dan O'Halloran and David Bowers.Some people say that Blizzard is lazy. Players tend to start voicing this sort of opinion when it seems like Blizzard hasn't done something they think should have been done a long time earlier, such as adding new dungeons they won't visit, or new features they won't use. Sometimes there's just one particular thing that grates and grates on the players' nerves so much that they simply cannot understand why Blizzard hasn't done anything about it yet.
Even I have been guilty of this sort of thinking now and then. But ultimately, it becomes apparent that, whatever the status of Blizzard's list of flaws -- laziness is not one of them. Indeed, we simply do not realize the massive extent of work that is required to achieve some things, especially the things we don't personally desire, and therefore fail to give credit for hard work done where we don't realize such credit is due.
The topic at hand today is a prime example of such a problem, a druid pet peeve which has gone on for a long long time. Exhibit A, above, is the Tauren Cat Form, or rather, what some of us might wish the Tauren Cat Form looked like -- a player's own suggestion submitted in Blizzard's own art contest of 2007. The Tauren Cat Form that Horde druids have been seeing since 2004 is pictured to the left here in Exhibit B [Update: Tauren cat form has been slightly updated in patch 2.3]. Whether or not Exhibit A is the perfect replacement for Exhibit B can be left up to the good judgment of the reader, but for the purposes of this article, it is sufficient for us if we all agree that something must eventually be done about the feral druid's monotonous appearance problem. That's to say -- we tire of staring at the Same Old Animal Posterior (or SOAP).
Certainly, when we received an animal form for the first time at level 10 (see Exhibit C, the Night Elf and Tauren "Bear Form" respectively), we thought that it was quite impressive. We may have even played through 10 more levels without wishing for any variety to spice up our druidic lives. Indeed, upon arrival at level 20, we were granted another animal form (see Exhibit D, the Night Elf "Cat Form") which seemed much cooler even than the previous one. The "Travel Form" (Exhibit E) at level 30 may not have thrilled the aesthetic eye to such an extent, but many of us had heard that the great and powerful "Dire Bear Form" was on its way at level 40, and we hoped that this indeed would be a dire sight
to behold!Alas, such hopes were in vain. The "Dire Bear Form" (pictured below in Exhibit F) was exactly the same as the previous "Bear Form" except for significant statistical improvements in the way of armor and health. The statistically inclined among us were greatly pleased, while the aesthetically inclined were rather disappointed. This is when the SOAP problem first reared its ugly rear end.
We patiently played on for 30 more levels. Some of us opted to largely forego the animal forms and opt to shapeshift into moonkins or trees instead -- these talented abilities were not available to all druids, and therefore provided some added amusement. However, for feral druids still in either Cat or Dire Bear form much of the time, we found ourselves staring at the SOAP for most of our gaming experience. Now, we know that Blizzard is good at art. We have seen their varied designs on countless armor sets, as well as modifications for each set to make them look good on any player, regardless of their character's race and size. We have also seen Blizzard transform the pleasant but comparatively ho-hum Flight Forms (Exhibit G, below) into the slightly armored and infinitely more stylish Swift Flight Forms (Exhibit H, farther below). Could not something be done for the feral forms as well?
Art, in his /silly comic, had a funny idea a few weeks ago -- a true bear tank, you might say -- but the question of what our feral forms should look like is actually a rather complex and problematic one. Should the armor we wear somehow morph from humanoid to animal shape when we shapeshift? Should only certain armor such as shoulders and chestpieces, helmets and cloaks be adapted for feral forms (as well as moonkins and trees, perhaps), or would this just leave them looking absurd and rather stupid? Would it not be better to have an upgrade similar to the Swift Flight Form, which could be tailored to each form and made to look especially cool? Or would this just lead to more and more monotony as we gradually got used to it and wanted something even better-looking? What, after all, is the true purpose behind the way our character looks? Do we want our character to look cool simply for the sake of aesthetic beauty? Or do we want to look cool to distinguish ourselves from other players? Should changes to feral druids' appearance merely make them look better than they do now, or should our feral forms showcase the quality of our gear the same way that our caster forms do? How much work do we have a right to expect from blizzard when it comes to designing how our feral forms look, especially at the cost of features and content that may be more important to a larger percentage of the player base?
After considering the question in some depth, it is clear that answers that satisfy all around are not easy to come by. It makes sense that Blizzard would put this off for as long as it takes to come up with a satisfactory solution.... But will there ever be a solution, or will Blizzard just keep developing other things instead? If a solution is underway, what form should it take? In the meantime, feral druids will undoubtedly continue to stare at their SOAPs, enjoying the gameplay, and possibly rotating their camera around to the front of their character whenever possible.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-09-2007 @ 5:14PM
Deadmac said...
I don't even know why Tauren turn into bears and cats... aren't you already 1/2 cow? They should turn into biggers cows, and.. I don't know.. veal or something.
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10-09-2007 @ 5:15PM
Mainstay said...
I want a My Little Pony flank tattoo for my big bear butt. Like maybe a Sherman tank running over Onyxia *nods*
The real problem is that it's obvious from the Swift Flight form that the models could look better and more interesting then they do, but Blizzard has just decided to overlook it and leave as is.
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10-09-2007 @ 5:17PM
Tekkub said...
I ain't complainin' about bear asses :)
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10-09-2007 @ 5:17PM
Drew said...
Why not let druids pick what they look like in their forms? For instance, you hit lvl 10 and are ready for your "tank" form. Why not be able to pick between say 3 different tank forms. Have the traditional bear, maybe a gorilla, or even a kodo. Players could pick from these three looks but all still have the same stats on them. The same could be done for every form.
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10-09-2007 @ 5:19PM
Green Armadillo said...
My first WoW character in the beta was a druid, and my girlfriend remarked that bear form meant a lot of staring at a bear's rear end. Sad, but true. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, cosmetic changes that affect a subset of players of one class aren't that high on Blizzard's totem pole.
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10-09-2007 @ 5:19PM
Freehugz said...
hehe SOAP
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10-09-2007 @ 5:20PM
h8rain said...
When I first got to forty, I was expecting something different :(. I would like some new forms (even if they are just for fun, like the Furblog quest).
What would be really cool is druid can "learn" forms. Like hunters can train pets, druid can learn forms. Basically every mob that is trainable to a hunter, a druid can learn to become. I think that would be cool, and not be that terribly complicated to program. It obliviously would take some work, but how cool would that be :)
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10-09-2007 @ 5:21PM
native said...
this is the reason i spend 50G about once a week to respec.
i get sick of looking at a bears azz.
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10-09-2007 @ 5:24PM
Milktub said...
And there's part of the reason I'm leveling my druid as a healer. I'd rather look at him in sweet caster gear than as a cat or a bear.
What I'd like is for the forms to "update" as you level. Level 10 bear form is a scrawny bear cub, but a level 70 bear form is a frickin' Kodiak with war wounds and a cloak made of dead salmon.
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10-09-2007 @ 5:34PM
John said...
What I don't understand is why the tauren flight form and swimming form have long elf ears. It seems like Blizzard hit a hard deadline and opted to keep the ears, forgoing horns to save time.
Also, it would be nice to see seperate travel forms for the two factions.
A different model for dire bear would also be cool, but I think the animal form showing your equipped armor is a bit too much.
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10-09-2007 @ 5:36PM
draeth said...
Druids animal forms should have different colors, kinda like the tabard creator, you should be able to pick your hair/eye/claw colors and maybe your guild symbol could be on your shoulder instead of the night elf symbol
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10-09-2007 @ 5:52PM
Ben said...
Speaking of SOAP, can blizzard PLEASE move the shapeshift form camera up a few degrees? One of the biggest irritations with my druid characters is the camera position. Just move the pivot point up. It's been said that when tanking:
-A warrior or paladin only sees boss crotch
-A druid only sees their own bum.
PLEASE, Blizzard. I'm tired of every shapeshift turning into an hours-long hygeine check.
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10-09-2007 @ 5:57PM
Nick said...
I think it should be something that pops up when you first create a druid, so you can choose what you want to look like as a bear, cat, etc, and should be changeable in-game...new haircuts are coming in WoTLK, why not more aesthetic changes? As well, dire bear should definitely look bigger and meaner than regular bear.
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10-09-2007 @ 6:13PM
Anon said...
Anyone see previews for "The Golden Compass?" Look at the (polar) bears there! They look decent (and intimidating) in armor...why can't we get some? Maybe have specific sets affect our appearence...and I agree with above...I might have subconcously chosen Balance because I didn't like looking at my rear all the time (that and I couldn't figure out how to be a good bear...)
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10-09-2007 @ 6:41PM
Billy Pham said...
You don't think the new Tauren Cat form from the art competition looks ALOT like Red XIII from FFVII?
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10-09-2007 @ 6:51PM
baudkarma said...
I'd like to see the feral forms look different for male and female druids. My gf is a druid too, and when we quest together she's distressed that we look like twins.
And how is it that noones mentioned the aquatic form? The thing is an abomination!!! It looks like.. I dunno... something that hasn't been *born* yet. Surely we can do better then that.
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10-09-2007 @ 6:58PM
Jamesisgreat said...
I agree we need to be able to personalise our forms, at least a bit. Hair colour, tatoos or something. In AV the other day there was me an 4 other kitty druid tearing away at Drek - in all the chaos I couldn't tell which one was me as we all looked identical! Seemes kinda dumb to me.
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10-09-2007 @ 7:01PM
Tyler said...
why doesn't anyone ever mention tree form? it's hideous, it looks just like the treents that balance druids summon three at a time! We need an ancient protector character model, shrunken down of course! gimme gimme! please add figures I and J with the tree-form and treents; also, why aren't the horde and alliance trees forms different? this is a huge pet peeve of mine (if you couldn't tell).
finally, how awesome would and ooc epic travel form be? discuss.
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10-09-2007 @ 7:05PM
Tangible said...
Here's a bit that has been thrown around forever. I would like to modify it a bit to make it feasible on the game development tip:
1.) Replace specific forms, Bear, Cat, Dire bear with new form types. "Protection Form", "Violence Form", or the like.
2.) Make all form specific skills and art into effects that can be played alongside any animal attack animations.
3.) Give every wild animal a Form Type statistic which puts them into a category similar to the above forms.
4.) Give druids a new skill: "Emulate" which functions like the hunter taming skill. When an animal is emulated, the druid now turns into that animal during a form change.
Just scale up or down a given animal model and now you have a whole bunch of working alternate druid forms. Everybody wins.
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10-09-2007 @ 7:59PM
Coherent said...
I abandoned a level 67 Druid because of this problem - got sick of looking at the same dorky-looking lion and bear ass after 67 levels of it.
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