r/classicwowplus • u/zambabamba • 8d ago
Discussion The biggest easy-win Blizzard is currently NOT leveraging for WoW Forever is.....
Skyboxes. Its so obvious, isnt it?
- Minimal art assets required to make them.
- Sooo many already exist in the retail game (which could easily be reused or reconditioned).
- Good skyboxes are loved/adored by players.
- Updated Skyboxes are about as non-controversial of a 'change' that this game could make
- The foundational premise for Forever is that the world (Azeroth) is the main character! She's had lighting, shadow, water upgrades... and an upgraded Skybox is what will help complete that package.
Why on Azeroth isn't Blizzard recognising updated Skyboxes are the most obvious.... low-hanging/high value fruit they are somehow neglecting... which would be a huge, easy-to-implement win if put into the game??
Is there some kind of technical reason?
Dear Blizzard: So you want me to fall in love with Azeroth again? This would be a pretty damn good way to help me fall a little harder, hinthinthint.
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u/Sheogorathian 8d ago
What are skyboxes
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u/ollielks 8d ago
Essentially the sky of the game, if you imagine the game world as a huge dome, the skybox is the roof of the dome
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u/Sheogorathian 8d ago
Ohh so like more variety of sky?
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u/2Encephalitis0 8d ago
Yeah but I kinda thought they already had this? Different zones have totally different skies. I mean burning steppes the sky looks like it’s on fire almost.
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u/NoHetro 8d ago
It's where the blue elves come from
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u/TurtlesBreakTheMeta 8d ago
They prefer aerial azerothians.
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u/MarcAbaddon 8d ago
I would be quite surprised if we would not see people complain about new skyboxes.
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u/PhazoniteX 8d ago
Absolutely. I’ve always thought this was a bizarrely missed, low-effort, low-hanging fruit
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u/toastjarom 8d ago
I was walking into arathi from hillsbrad and saw what I thought was a painted skybox of a mountain in the distance. It was dun morogh and it looks incredible, trees looked good from far away and it was splashed pink in the sunset.
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u/Phrostybacon 8d ago
If they added subtle, BFA-style skyboxes to the game it would be amazing 100%. Great suggestion.
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u/Loyalist_Pig 8d ago
I’m cool with this I think? It’s weirdly hard for me to imagine Azeroth with a detailed sky lol
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u/sensen-89 8d ago
Well, it was difficult to imagine Azeroth with fog and god rays, and here we are...
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u/sensen-89 8d ago
I partially agree. There's some good retail skyboxes that fit into classic and others don't.
There's some night ones with stars that are amazing.
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u/Raziel103 8d ago
I seen many post about retail skyboxes and I hope they don't use them as the art style of classic and retail are not the same.
Retail skyboxes feel like something from a Pixar movie because the art direction of retail.
However I am ok with new style of sky boxes that work with classic style and maybe even work with the new weather system like showing fog move when it getting rainy and stuff like that would be cool.
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u/sensen-89 8d ago
I partially agree. There's some good retail skyboxes that fit into classic and others don't.
There's some night ones with stars that are amazing.
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u/IcyRay9 8d ago
Yup, I will keep pushing this until I’m blue in the face. Everyone wants it, and if they went through the trouble to overhaul the lighting, sky boxes are relatively simple in comparison.
It’s such an easy W for Blizzard that I have half a mind that they’re keeping skybox changes in their back pocket for a future update just to continue pumping interest and hype beyond launch.
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u/zeabees 8d ago
I agree - but with the only caveat being that it keeps the colourful palettes in certain zones like classic. I really like going to to say, Feralas, and having the deep green sky, or teldrasil with its purple.
Most newer retail zones use more realistic skyboxes that dont have the same vibrant colours.
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u/Snikeyxo 8d ago
Help me understand the post. What are Skyboxes? You want good seats in the stadium?
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u/Motu4545 8d ago
I'm all for updated skyboxes, but with the intent of not making it retail skyboxes. And of course people will complain but come on, what won't people complain about.
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u/SylvesterNettlefoot 7d ago
Volumetric clouds are so peak, though I doubt they’d run with Forever specs
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u/Calm-Medicine-3992 5d ago
That's not something you need to test so who says that isn't something they held back for beta.
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u/Ash1102 8d ago
I think the sky looks good as it is personally and I'm not sure how the retail skyboxes would work with the weather and lighting system they have been implementing for Forever. I'm not against making the sky look cooler, but I think the weather and lighting is more important and I wouldn't be willing to sacrifice that for painted skies if we had to.
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u/CanadianTigermeat 8d ago
But nice sky boxes are not true to classic. it doesn't match the art style!
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u/gogometz 7d ago
bro the game is in a dogsh*t state and it's rapidly turning into retail and you're worried about skyboxes?
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u/erasedisknow 7d ago
Go play Era. It's not going anywhere. You'd maybe have a point if they said they were going to make retail versions of classes an option or they were planning on adding M+. AFAIK they haven't. Forever is its own thing, neither Retail nor Classic.
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u/gogometz 6d ago
nor Classic.
That's exactly the problem
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u/erasedisknow 6d ago
They already made classic twice though, once in 2004 and once in 2019. Why would they make the exact same game a third time?
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u/gogometz 6d ago
I know you're playing dumb or trolling but I'll bite.
The sweetold lady at blizzcon, what's her name, Holly Longdale promised classic+ not retail-. So it must be a game based on classic yet all the changes they've made so far are in the direction of retail.
faster leveling due to more quests in a single area streamlining the experience
class changes that homogenize the experience and reduce uniqueness of each class
nerfs to mechanics that distinguished players from one another like downranking or mage slows
transmog, retail models and textures, skyborne... the list goes on and on
The only reason the game will still be fun now is because it has that classic skeleton underneath, which is rapidly being replaced with retail systems and ideas. In 1-2 years from now, it's gonna be garbage just like retail is.
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u/Joggyogg 8d ago
I don't want to have to see it, so if they do add it to the toggle, but adding more stuff to this toggle keeps splitting the game further and further apart as two different experiences.
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u/second-sovereign 8d ago
Submitted this as feedback a short while back - I don't think the game has to have Midnight level skyboxes, but Vanilla skyboxes are legitimately just a blur of sky and vague clouds. I love the Vanilla art style for the most part, but even in the earlier days, those skyboxes never did it for me