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MMO ecognomics: Warlords of Draenor trailer flaunts new character model and animations

This gnome is not a Warlord of Draenor. Not yet, at any rate.

Here’s a trailer designed to exclaim three things we already knew: a new Warcraft expansion is happening! It’s called Warlords of Draenor! You’ll suddenly be level 90! 

The main draw for us is a new gnome character model. We’ve already seen the updated female dwarf and modernised female orc – here we get to see how the men are shaping up.

Watch as a level 61 pipsqueak is transformed into, ah, Wario? Yeah, facial records confirm that’s Wario:

It’s a bit odd to see Blizzard sell that level 90 boost as the primary feature of Warlords of Draenor. Odd partly because that’s an arbitrary number switch, not a feature; but mostly because Draenor has so much else going on.

Besides the all-updated player models, animations, and emotes, there’s a full new planet in Draenor players will travel to via portal. Once there, they’ll build private, player-owned bases called Garrisons using RTS-like systems, and expand them with new buildings across three tiers.

It’s going to be unlike anything else in WoW – Pandaria’s farm taken to its logical conclusion. Is that the reason you’re going to buy into Warlords of Draenor? Or perhaps you’re not?