This is about a small thing, to be sure. A genuine QQ post, though I do try to minimize those.

In general, I tend to find myself pleased with the graphics decisions made by blizzard.

Especially with the advent of the Burning Crusade, I would say there have been more delightful things to look at than not, far more things to applaud than to complain about.

Nagrand is gorgeous. Plain and simple.

The new Jolly Rancher Raptors are adorable, and even those who hate ravagers LOVE to hate them.

I absolutely love the new Children’s Week pets, as well as the beerbunny.

The new carrion bird model looks incredible, regardless of color.

The OLD carrion bird looked…well…like a carrion bird. A turkey vulture. You can give it bright plumage all you want - that bald head and staring eye is just flat out creepy. I never did like the old carrion birds, and it had nothing to do with annoying wingspan.

As a Jewelcrafter/healer, I have been using (and loving) the “green bird” trinkets. Until relatively recently, the pinnacle of the “green bird” jc trinkets has been the Talasite Owl.

Using the trinket spawns a short-duration vanity pet. For the Talasite Owl, this was a tiny owl, with a unique skin that made it look like it was actually carved out of a green gem.

It was incredible. I loved it. And I loved it even more when the developers removed the “death” sound and animation from its despawn and simply made it fade away instead.

But then I heard about the Seaspray Albatross. Very obviously the next step in the “green bird” JC trinket line, but I couldn’t make it till I got my hands on some seaspray emeralds.

As many of you know, the american realms got the last stage of the SSO locks released, including a jewelcrafting vendor that would trade me two seaspray emeralds for 30 shiny heroic badges.

I was more than willing to make the bargain and happily absconded to my bank to pick up the remaining mats, which I’d been hoarding.

I crafted the trinket, equipped it, and waited with baited breath for the initial cooldown to complete.

With great anticipation, I used the trinket…

…and then stared in horror at what my pains had wrought.

It was a tiny vanity pet, just like all the others, yes.

But this looked like an actual vanity pet, not like it was carved out of stone. Although that was startling, I probably would have been fine with it were it not for the other.

It was…it was the OLD carrion bird model. The old one. The ugly one. The one that ugly-pet-lovers everywhere shunned as being TOO ugly.

They tried to make it easier to swallow by giving it albatross colors - white body, gray primary feathers, yellow legs and face.

But its a CARRION BIRD. A carrion bird! And the old one, to boot!

I know I’m harping on that, but I just can’t fathom the choice. Carrion birds look no more like albatrosses than owls do. The stormcrow/ravens look more like albatrosses than that!

Why? I feel…betrayed.

Not only did the model not look like I’d crafted it using my expensively-gained jewelcrafting skills, but it was..it was ugly. Embarrassingly so.

Why not another owl? Why not a gem-skin? Why not the new carrion bird? Why not the raven?

I am at a loss.

My only consolation is the same thing that I once bemoaned when I used my beloved owl.

It only stays for a very short time.

QQ

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 and is filed under Soapbox, ~ Vonya. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.