Wow. That didn’t take long at all. What appears to be the first leaked screenshot from the Cataclysm Friends & Family Alpha has appeared on internet, and comes from none other than the infamous bastion of anonymity itself, 4chan. Tucked away in the video games section of the site, the following image appeared this morning and immediately caused a stir:
This is likely the first known picture of Deathwing’s in-game model. Now, to note a few things:
- The source of the image (4chan) is known for its propensity to fool people and play internet pranks. The model looks pretty authentic and well-detailed, though.
- Likewise, this appears to be the result of a model swap, which explains why Deathwing is hanging out on the bridge leading into Stormwind. It would also account for the tiny, blue name hovering above the dragon, which indicates that this is likely a player and not an NPC of some sort.
- The model, while currently looking awesome, may not be finished. The head looks ace, but textures on other areas of the body seem to be of a lower resolution.
Essentially, while there’s a small chance of shenanigans, this model is most likely the real deal. Just like everything else that gets data-mined, it’s probably somewhere in the Alpha’s client files, which the player then modified to appear as his character (and from what I know of the technique, they would not appear as Deathwing to other players, as a result). I would also bargain that, unless it’s some graphic pulled from the login screen or otherwise, that it appears in an area of the game unable to be accessed at the current time. Not that I wouldn’t like to see him laying waste to Stormwind (For The Horde!).
Just to reiterate, this has not been confirmed, and nobody on the Lore Hound staff has access to the Friends and Family Alpha. This may not be our screenshot, but that doesn’t rule out the possibility of getting a C&D to take it down later. I guess that’s up to Blizzard.
Until (and if) that happens, enjoy your first look at Deathwing stampeding around Azeroth.
I’d just like to point out that if this is real, it’s dissapointing. Not that he’s on the bridge to Stormwind, forget that bit. But if Deathwing is just… Nefarion with a bit more pixels, that’s a terrible letdown.
I would personally prefer if Deathwing were presented more like Kil’Jaeden, or Kologarn. Only half of him fitting, because he’s just so friggin’ huge. Maybe even (and everyone will hate me for this), maybe once you defeat his head sticking out of a wall, he then takes off and you go off in a vehicle fight to blast him out of the air. Shoot his wings off, then phase 3 back on the ground or something. Just a thought, but seriously, epic enemies? Epic fights, please.
It’ll be interesting to see just where this model fits in the game. Deathwing *is* supposed to be mega-huge (hell, the promo shot shows him perching on top of a mountain), but sometimes the size of enemies and NPCs can be inconsistent across the game. Several times in Lich King, Arthas appeared much larger than he does when you actually fight him.
This is done for several reasons: to make him look more imposing, to fit the nature of a cutscene, or perhaps just to make him more visible during an encounter.
I’m not sure if making Deathwing so large inside the game would be practical for gameplay, even if it sounds like it would be really cool.
For the record, I’m all for him being as large as possible, just playing a little devil’s advocate. ;)
You’d want Deathwing to be bigger-than-the-screen Ragnaros huge?
@Koopa short answer: yes. Long answer: why does he need to be ENTIRELY shown? My main suggestion of ‘head only’, or torso, or a claw, would be awesome, I think. They really could take a page from the Usual Suspects. ‘The greatest trick the devil ever pulled, was convincing the world he didn’t exist’.
I would think that the model is used for the log in screen how else could be used for it?
But i totally agree that he needs to be bigger. That size couldn’t have made a cataclysm so BIGGER!! please?
I agree he needs to be bigger, but I don’t think as much as Arthoul is suggesting.
If I point you to http://cde.cerosmedia.com/1K4ba774d664cbb012.cde/page/8 A full page spread picture of Deathwing next to a human silhouette from the official WoW magazine preview. He just need to be sized up a little more, because a human goes up to his ankle in the drawing, and in the screen shot a human wouldn’t go much further past that. I’d say 20-40% bigger maybe, especially since he looks about the size of Onyxia there and he should be bigger than her.
Looks pretty awesome, and if it is real will hopefully look much better when more rendered. I have a slight problem with how similar to other dragons his model looks (Compared to how certain lesser bosses get models made from scratch e.g Prof. Putricide I think), but as long as he has some new movement animations I’ll be fine with it.
@Arthoul:
So basically what you’re suggesting is.
Phase 1: Kill a Claw.
Phase 2: Kill a Head.
Phase 3: Kill a Torso.
I’m sorry, but if I were Deathwing… I’d just like to kill the 25 players (Or 10 thanks to the new shared lockout period) as soon as they start attacking me.
@ Phanttas There are a lot of model extemely (if not the same) close to Professor Putricide. Take Doctor Kohler for instance. http://www.wowwiki.com/Doctor_Kohler
If I am not fighting on a dragon whose pinkie toe is bigger than Ragnaros, I will not be very happy.
@Reavinjinoo I meant his transformed state where he goes abomination-esque.
@ Phanttas Well, that clears things up a bit :)
And I made an effort to spell your name, least you can do is spell mine :D
I actually kind of like Deathwing’s graphics. I mean, I don’t know if it’s finished, but it DOES look like they said it would. You can see the metal plates that are holding him together, and he’s pretty damn big just in that picture.
I don’t believe it’s a real screenshot, but I looked at it as a way to see what Deathwing might be like in the expansion. personally, I was not disappointed.
MMO-Champ confirmed it is authentic.
@Reavijinoo Whoops, sorry about that. =P
@Carlos well, the ‘kill a claw’ part was mostly silliness. I envision:
phase 1: wake him up. (attack his head while he throws waves of mobs at you while trying to go back to sleep)
phase 2: now he’s pissed. he flies up and gets ready to unleash hell. you hop on the *shudder* airship? must be something else other than Malygos-fight or airship-battle, yes? Anyway, ground him. kill his wings off?
phase 3: now he’s REALLY pissed. some kind of zomgpwnu regular nefarion/onyxia fight on the ground.
possible phase 4 or such.
And really, if you look at the magazine that Phanttas linked, a human only comes up to his knuckle. So really, if this fight ends up just being Sartharion run-up-and-whacka-dragon… I’ll be dissapointed.
I’ll still kill him for loot, but I’ll be dissapointed.
I’m with Arthoul on this one – DW needs to be so big it boggles imagination. The model looks cool but I want it to be able to blot out the sun.
Blizz please embiggen!
There’s another Screen shot where he looks much more impressive. I think it’s just because of the angle.
http://static.mmo-champion.com/mmoc/images/news/2010/may/cataclysm_models_npc/big/deathwing2.jpg
I don’t think he really needs much resizing when you look at that, otherwise it’s just getting a bit silly.
Fine, Deathwing is big. Fine, you want him to be big In-Game. And yes, probably that would be cool.
But, do I want to face a Boss so big that can’t fit in my screen? Not really.
Plus, my main is a Dwarf. Things are already big enough for me.
This hardly looks like a dragon who can destroy the globe of azeroth