Please note that as of June, 2008 Blizzard has expressed renewed interest in the detection of applications such as “Model Edit.” Use these beautiful modifications at your own risk.
It has long been a topic of much chagrin among Druids that our forms remain static and, in the opinions of some, ugly. The Bear Form model first seen at level 10 is the same model seen at level 70. One community member identified as Andrige has done more than complain about this issue. He’s gone through the extraordinary effort to create several beautiful new skins for each race’s forms, basing them upon the existing models (a limitation he hopes to circumvent in the future) and created a video of them being used in game.
While the use of these models would be a violation of the Terms of Service (and thus, I wouldn’t recommend it), it is still an amazing showcase of talent and dedication. I have to say that the award for "most improved" goes to his version of Tauren Cat Form, whose newly closed mouth and darker fur make it appear far more majestic than before. A close second would go to his alternative version of the Tauren Lynx model. I also like his Tree of Life models. I’ve never understood why the models for other combat-based forms are differentiated between Alliance and Horde, but we both look like rotten broccoli in Tree of Life.
Let’s hope that Blizzard takes notice of this community contribution and, rather than diverting resources to preventing it from being used or punishing its creator, instead appreciates the sentiment behind its creation: a love for the game, love for our characters, and a genuine desire to be improved upon aesthetically. In the author’s own words:
My hope is that this will make your Druid more enjoyable to play as well as giving the Developers a hint on that they’re in everyone’s eyes by now… slacking. I hope they’ll get this and perhaps give us some professional models that we all know they’re capable of, it just seemed they forgot us in the hurry of making cool tier sets and new content…
Tauren "Lynx" Form by Andriges
- View Andriges’ work
- Download higher quality video of Andrige’s models
- More about static Druid forms: Too Sexy for my Bark
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@Graylo: Oh, my mistake!! I’ve adjusted the description to be more clear.
March 11th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Wow, they are awesome =^-^=
Not sure about the worgen type form, i like my normal kitty
But the updated skins are amazing, I want that new bear look, but keep my kitty … not going to register on a forum that advertises character and gold trading though, I’ll stick to the original until maybe, someday, Blizz will get some updated skins in there.
March 11th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Nice. Especially because the collars/armbands give the opportunity to have visible armor on each form. We’ll tackle glowy paws from enchants in another patch.
I’ll throw my two cents in with the “not sure about the worgen form” crowd. The form looks cool (We need more worgen. Open up the wall into Gilneas) and certainly would allow for visible armor and weapons, but the worgen are unnatural abominations from another dimension. There’s always Tigon form if you want stay rooted in Azeroth.
Now give ‘locks the ability to summon Shivans, Beholders or those two-headed Eyeball Doggies from DM and we’re getting somewhere. But that’s hilariously off-topic.
March 11th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
I love all the forms, especially the worgen form, I’ve always wanted a werewolf type form, perhaps it was the music, but it brought tears to my eyes…I know, emo..thanks for sharing this.
March 11th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
That’s some impressive work. I am absolutely on board with the great detail he put in the forms, and I love those ‘ornamental accessories’ on the collar and ankles of the NE cat form. The NE tree form in green and purple is especially appropriate, too. Thanks so much for pointing this out! Where do I sign?
Sometimes a Druid,
~Rhoelyn
March 11th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
If Blizzard can make an armored bear mount, they can clearly reskin a druid to look similar. I really enjoy the glowing detail on all the reskins, although I’m definitely not a fan of the worgen form; the cat looks pretty badass all on her own. Additionally, the NE ToL looks a lot more interesting overall and would definitely encourage more playtime in that form. I’d be more excited about it, anyway (although that’s not saying much).
I’m reminded of the old panda skins you used to be able to use for bears.
March 11th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
I think Andriges’ work is really beautiful. I’ve often wished for a different leaf color for my Tree of Life form, and I would really love either purple or orange or just a prettier, fresher green. Of course, ideally, I could pick the color myself in the beauty parlor once the expansion comes out. Hot pink leaves anyone?
March 11th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I just want to say thanks for adding it to your blog, I’ve been reading this site ever since someone recommended my wallpapers (it’s in the archive somewhere with the Ursoc wallpaper in orange and the Nightelf Moonkin), and I haven’t stopped reading it since.
So many thanks and I’m glad people appreciate my shapeshift skins, I just hope for the love of god that Blizzard themselves will make their money’s worth and make it professional and customizable.
//Andrige
P.S Don’t get too stuck up on the Worgen, of course it’s corrupted, but it’s a good model with strafe, jump and several other flavour emotes, and it’s bipedal for those who want to PvP. Why bother complaining since it’s only alternative?
The more the merrier is how I see it.
Also, there should be a apostrophe in the “Andriges” on that headline in the movie-clip… it’s just Andrige :p
March 11th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
“the worgen are unnatural abominations from another dimension.”
I thought their dimension was the Emerald Dream, or rather, the Nightmare?
March 11th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Thank you so much for showcasing Andriges’s work. It truly is beautiful. We can only hope, right?
March 11th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Thanks for posting these Phae. Some really impressive work. I remember reading some suggestions a while back (I think on your blog) concerning the ToL and how it could change to become more and more impressive looking as one gathered more and more end-game gear, so a brand new 70 would be less adorned than a Karazan-geared one and a BT-geared druid in ToL would be very impressive to look at, just like all the other classes that have cool-looking gear.
Elk
March 11th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Shiny! Pretty! GIEF!
March 11th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Those skins look really good, I am going to install them and give it a try.
March 11th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
man I would love that! MUCH nicer than what we have at the moment.
March 11th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Wow, just wanted to add my vote, these are all amazing! Nice work. I can’t lie, I’m also pretty tired with the current druid skins as many of us are.
March 11th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
I could list everything I loved about the video and his designs.
But I will instead simply say how *perfect* all of it is. Stag form, such beautiful colorings for the different faction forms, etc.
LOVELY work, I wish there was a way to send this to someone who would actually.. do it.
March 11th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
If there’s one thing I want changed for the druid, it’s this. I hope, hope, hope this is one of the changes for WotLK
March 11th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
very hot stuff. it’s nice to see some real visual differentiation between horde and alliance druids (freakin’ nightmare trying to tell druids apart in a bg sometimes). I also really dig Ninjasuperspy’s idea of having weapon enchant glows pass through the models. I think one of the things really lacking for druids is any way to customize their appearance like every other class can. staring at the same furry butt for 60 levels gets old
March 12th, 2008 at 4:16 am
I’ve always thought that having a cheetah for travel form was somewhat boring, since we already have a cat. I’d rather travel in Elek, Talbuk, or Zevra form - something exciting and different.
March 12th, 2008 at 8:00 am
hi, i have only one question. is this leagle?
or will be blizz ban my ACC couse i have news models?
lg blumi (austria)
March 12th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Love them.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:56 am
It isn’t legal. The author Andrige even states it. What this is doing is modifing your client side modules ( graphic modules). It has not impact on the server nor does it give you a unfair advantage. But, Blizzard in thier EULA (license) state that modifications to thier modules or additions to them is considered illegal. I don’t have the exact quote from Andrige’s site, but I’ll paraphrase it the best I can.
Very few, almost none, have been caught and banned when using this approach. As this is only modifing modules and not actual game engine functionality. Thus is it harder to detect and act upon by Blizzard. Think of it this way. Blizzard draws characters using a given set of colors. What this is doing is substituting, the colors from which blizzard uses to draw. IE We are replacing the crayon for druid forms with Andrige’s crayons. :-p
March 12th, 2008 at 11:10 am
[...] don’t want to spend a lot of time on it, as Phaelia already summed it up, but since I’m feral again, I couldn’t help getting ridiculously excited. In my first [...]
March 12th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Had my druid since 2004. Same forms since then. (Especially bear.)
Someone has taken the time, effort, resources and love of the druid class and created very beautiful skins (what druid forms SHOULD look like.) I have seen Andriges work from a long time ago using my WoW Model Viewer. Smooth animations and no flaws. And the sad thing is, Blizz will not even notice them. Even though they have millions of people paying them $14.99 (bloated price for almost 4 years now), and druids have been talking and asking about some new, fresh changes to the forms and what did Blizzard do? “Lets pretty up the eyes in Tauren cat form! That will make them shut up!” The more I see WoW and how its dying into a mainstream, PvP crap game, the sadder it makes me. I guess thats why many of the original Blizzard people are gone and the company now is nothing like its beginning.
March 12th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
@Sindarina: I think the Worgen form is pretty awesome, especially for players who PvP. It must be much easier to navigate your hitbox as a humanoid! Like you, I’d stick to the regular cat shape if not for PvP, though. =)
@Runycat: There were PANDA skins for bears?! GIEF!
@Sydera: I’d be on board with going to the botanist to get my leaves done!!
@Andrige: Thank you very much for these. They’re really amazing. And I’m so happy to have you as a reader here! Also, amazing video editing and great selection of music. So often I have to mute WoW-based videos because they opt for speed metal. >.< And TY for the apostrophe correction!
@Running Elk: Yep! I did write about that. The article to which you’re referring is linked from the bottom of this post, actually. =)
@Dru: I’d kill to have Zhevra form. And then in WotLK, they could give us a winged Zhevra flight form. Pegazhevra! ^_^
March 12th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Haha, yeah no problem, just keep the good blogs rollin’ I’d say Phaelia
Glad you liked the music too, the background themes from movies or Disney movies aren’t to be misjudged, they’re many times well done and pompous. Also the Nightelf theme my brother actually sent it to me through MSN about the same day I edited it ^^ I’d say win.
Also I’m currently bored as HELL, since you’re basically in my opinion the definition of “Tree” in my eyes, you got any ideas on another one of those wallpapers with ToL or whatever you think would be suitable?
I’m gonna take a rest from the skinning for a while, now that it has somewhat of a “stable” release to the public, and well I’ve been doing it for quite a while now (also probably the reason I’m bored, not raiding since my last guild was a bunch of asshats)
P.S I’m not done with the pack yet really, I think I’m gonna entertain myself with making concept-arts with my tablet til’ when I’m able to modify the 3D-model rather than just the skin.
And to reply “Sad Druid”: I’m only responsible for the reskin, don’t give me credit for the smooth animation, since that’s Blizzards default model.
//Andrige
March 12th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
March 13th, 2008 at 11:03 am
@Andrige: I have given it some thought (because this is too awesome of an opportunity to pass up) and come with an idea for a wallpaper. What about a Tree of Life (in the gorgeous skin you created) standing in the middle of a semi-circle of the Ancients (the big trees that wander around Darnassus and Cenarion Expedition). So it would be like the ToL had been accepted among her peers, despite her diminuitive size. And maybe they’d have come to her for advice on these “short-lived humans” or something like that. Surely we’d have a useful perspective on something they would want to solicit. =) The background could be a forest like the one in Teldrassil or Ashenvale. Maybe they could be meeting in a clearing or at one of those stone shrines like the “Grove of the Ancients” that’s south of Ashenvale. Too much detail? ^_^
@Zal: That’s really odd! Have you tried downloading them through Internet Explorer or by right clicking on the link and selecting an option like “Save As”?
March 13th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Nice. But there is something you might find even cooler!
Look at these pictures:
http://img391.imageshack.us/img391/9003/10lynxuy3.jpg
http://img391.imageshack.us/img391/54/10oursov4.jpg
More in this post:
http://sister–madly.livejournal.com/468236.html
March 13th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Yarr here there be wallpapers:
http://triggerman.deviantart.com/art/Tree-of-Life-form-79923042
Hope you’ll like it.
//Andrige
March 14th, 2008 at 10:45 am
@Shava: Those would make a really cool interpretation of what Druid forms represent! Are they promotional pieces for a ballet or something?
@Andrige: I LOVE it! Thank you, thank you! =) The mood it captures is just perfect, and I love the scowl on my… I mean… the ToL Druid’s face. =D
March 14th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Thanks a lot Phaelia for introducing me to these: it’s really nice having a bear form that doesn’t look like a turd! Thanks also especially to Andridge for your hard work on them! I tried another cat form to worgen model change a while ago, but these are much nicer looking
March 15th, 2008 at 5:32 am
@Phaelia It`s an window advertising for some trade network in France, Galeries Lafayette.
March 16th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
I love it! My friend showed me this in an H Slabs run and it is trully magnificent. Blizzard needs to take some notes from you Andrige.
March 17th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
[...] I really don’t like the 80% movement snare. If Andriges’ skins (thanks to Phaelia for showcasing these on Resto4Life) were in the game, this would be a different matter, but they [...]
March 21st, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Andrige,
I’ve been aware of your skins for some time but haven’t tried em yet. Will they work with 2.4 or will there be an update?
Thanks Phaelia for giving Andrige some spotlight.
March 23rd, 2008 at 12:31 pm
@Axeshift: In case Andrige doesn’t happen to catch your comment, from what I understand they should work just fine with 2.4. Just be sure you follow the instructions and remove those files from your data directory before you patch or they’ll get merged into the main files, and you’ll be forced to reinstall.
April 13th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
[...] WinterDevil • April 13, 2008 Pasandome por resto4life hace tiempo leia un post sobre un re-skining de Druids. El Skinning es una modificacion a los archivos originales del juego para lograr un efecto deseado, [...]
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:45 am
Can anyone list the music used for the video? So good!
May 4th, 2008 at 10:33 am
It should be at the end of the video but I’ll give it here anyway;
Music:
Brother Bear OST - Three Brothers
Star Ocean ‘Til the End of Time OST - The Desolate Smell of Earth
Gedo Senki OST - Mayoi ~ Owareru Sha
May 26th, 2008 at 10:07 am
[...] completely agree with Phaelia, and although I don’t really care about my character looks, I have to admit I’m a bit [...]
May 28th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Love these skins and sincerely hope that the devs take notice. The wargen form needs a little work to make it more catlike. A little change to the head should suffice. I like the idea there tho. Stag form for ally travel had me chuckling
May 28th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
@Rapploin: I think the shapes are pretty much a limitation imposed by the game. There’s only so much that can be done with the existing mesh (which is one of the reasons that the change to the Tauren Cat Form is so impressive). Thanks for commenting!
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:28 am
I realize I’m a bit late on this, but wanted to say that the skins look really nice, and if I weren’t worried about that tiny 0.001% chance that I’d get banned I’d use em.
The one thing I was wondering about was if Andrige had approached Blizzard with this? I mean, lots of game companies hire people who mod their game online because the modders have already proved that they can do the job that is required. If Andrige can come up with this cool stuff on his own time, perhaps Blizzard would pay him to be a druid skinner/modeller as a real job (assuming such a job even exists). Think of the possibilities! New pretty forms for each tier of gear, or other model/texture enhancements due to enchants and such.
Now, I’m NOT affiliated with Blizzard in any way, I just hear a lot about good internet modders getting hired by studios and wondered if that was a possibility here.
Fae
June 5th, 2008 at 11:25 am
I’m going to have to be the one naysayer and say I’m disappointed with the Nelf Tree - it just doesn’t look very cheery as trees usually do. I like to be the comic relief on my runs
June 5th, 2008 at 11:56 am
@Saxifrage: Yeah, it’s not too good looking.
But to be honest, ToL wasn’t exactly something I had in mind (the pack was originally titled “Druids of Azeroth - New Feral Skins!”) when I started this, and I kind of had to make the Nightelf ToL fit in with the rest of the Nightelf-themed gang… since you lot have a purple Cat, gray/beige Bear, yellow Travel, orange Tree, I’ve heard quite a lot from people that think the original ones are better, mostly I think it’s because of habit.
Although not to say you are one of those, I think NE ToL is also a bit trippy in colours and not really fitting with the colourscheme (Tree of Life, and gray bark?), but I just can’t be bothered making more separate skins
June 25th, 2008 at 12:14 am
Absolutely stunning! I was nearly brought to tears by the beauty of that video. I would LOVE to see a Tree of Life form for the Night Elves like the one in that video. I definitely agree that Tauren and Nelf trees need to be differentiated. Too bad it’ll probably never happen. *sigh*
June 30th, 2008 at 1:07 am
I loved all the forms but the one that looked like a werewolf i know it was in good intention but that was your only bad skin.(i loves normal kitty that u made)
Ty for taking the time to make this skin
July 27th, 2008 at 9:08 am
What pack comes with Tauren’s new Flight Form I can’t seem to find it
July 31st, 2008 at 8:40 pm
[...] images were created and submitted by community figure Andrige, best known for his modified shapeshift skins and a host of other Druid-related art [...]
August 1st, 2008 at 12:08 pm
How about male and female forms? I love my kitty form, but heck, I’d prefer a lioness to a lion. Gender is different for all the races, but not for our critters?
August 1st, 2008 at 8:21 pm
I would like to see a panda dire bear skin
August 16th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Signed! In fact, when is the rally where we line up outside the Blizzard buildings with signs and BBQ? I’m so there!
Sweetheaart, you have done an amazing job here! While I’m with the folks a little skeptical of a worgen type form since lore-wise it’s not native to Azeroth and not something I see all-natural Druids embracing as a form - the rest are amazing! A-frickin’-mazing! You’ve done such a fantastic job here and I really, REALLY hope Blizz will listen up and hop on this band wagon!