Zel_eo: Old WoW design had a certain human feel to it IMO. Every zone was more of a "this would be cool" idea instead of a "what would function best to progress the player" design. A lot of newer games designs use colors and themes in a way to guide the player by highlighting important things. Old WoW was still in the era of "play your own way" gaming when exploration itself was the reward. As such, it seems that most of their design was centered around a more imaginative fun feel instead of a paint by the numbers design...at least, that's my take on it.

Great video btw!

marsspacex6065: That’s why the look will never age like other games.

losophy4588: Early Bill's paintings of Thousands Needles are ingame in human housings around the world, for example Elwynn Forest & Duskwood single houses

StubbyQ0302: Rest in peace Bill. You’ve made a beautiful in game world that will live in our hearts forever <3

moon-and-star: For me personally, the painting of the dwarven griffon rider with the setting sun behind is my personal Mona Lisa/Vitruvian Man. It perfectly illustrates the world of Warcraft and what the game is about and has a feeling of unending freedom. Whenever I feel down I look at it and feel immediately better. Honest to God, to me it is one of the greatest and most iconic paintings ever made.

Hege321: Reminding me again that I have to get that WoW Diaries book haha

pastew: This book is great, especially the opening, where John tells how he joined the team and describes Blizzard’s old work culture, when they focused on making cool games rather than profitable products.

aarononeil9832: The more stylised look was absolutely the right way to go, it makes ot so much more timeless and also just feels more in keeping with the exaggerated feel of the Warcraft RTS games, Bill and Brandon's work assured WoW remained not too far from that Samwise Didier vibe that drew so many to the world

pflasterstrips7254: it never felt "cartoony", like not childish and goofy.

Modern games trying to be "cartoony" always look like Pixar.

WoW gets away with being low poly, modern games either hide it behind shaders or emphatize it to look "retro".

JN-hs5xl: I mean, obviously they were also trying to copy Warcraft 3 style

Hostobi: After you play the game long enough, you think art and graphics looks awesome even in todays standards

flashrogue4376: I would pay ALL THE MONEY for that thousand needles painting

EarthstarAndy: The vanilla WoW art was what originally motivated me on a half decade long journey into concept art. Ultimately that didn't pan out and I ended up with another career I love, but the art for this game has stayed with me my whole life.

If you want to truly see how well the vanilla graphics/art holds up, compare it to EverQuest II which came out around the same time

Iamtidal: have a great weekend jeff

platty7047: Warcraft sah doch schon so aus bevor sie daraus World of Warcraft gemacht haben

BeefNButtah: I love WoW's graphics both classic and retail. Going for the ultra realism in a game is always a mistake. No matter how realistic something looks in like 2 years it'll look bad plus it'll probably run badly too.

DIEGhostfish: Modern wow's architecture leans a bit too far into cartoony, it makes things smoother texture wise, and fatter/lumpier polygons wise

Oathbetrayer: They need to revert the graphics. It was so much better!

miscellania4263: I cannot thank you enough for the thoughtful “behind the scenes” WoW content you consistently put it. You’ve legitimately become my favorite channel on YouTube for my ‘2nd home’ now just over 21 years running

hellspirit2727: They pretty much kept the Warcraft 3 artstyle which is great and made it feel familiar.

KevinHwoarang: Warcraft 3 was still on my PC when installing WoW for the first time, that transition also felt seemless.

thinkeightsix: It is intended to look like the low-poly WCIII. The mouth movements could have been synced with the VA, but they chose not to.

WCII looks more realistic than WCIII.

dtam4128: Bill Petris? Like the potion?

user-sc1qi3ce7j: Love this!!!

cardrave: RIP Bill :(

TehPwnographer: Jeff is the man

Jan 17 2026

Buy WOW Classic Gold (lvl60)