Discussions about a mysterious character from game art in World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade has showcased a conceptual design of the Draenei race.
Released in early 2007 as the first World of Warcraft expansion, The Burning Crusade is notable for increasing the MMORPG’s level cap to 70 and introducing players to the shattered world of Outland.
Blood Elves and Draenei also became playable races in the expansion, the latter bearing a striking appearance with blue skin, horns, and goat-like cloven hooves.
But WoW players recently stumbled across The Burning Crusade art that reveals the Draenei looked a little different in the conceptual phases of development.
World of Warcraft: TBC art depicts another Draenei design
In posting a picture of a cropped Burning Crusade loading screen, Reddit user Profoundsoup posed a question to fellow WoW fans – Who is the mysterious character in the top-right corner?
Many Redditors quickly noted it was a conceptual version of a Draenei character, the way a “Draenei female should have looked,” talyria added in their reply.
In their response to the original post, talyria also called attention to the work of the original concept artist, Wei Wang, whose Art Station page hosts a treasure trove of World of Warcraft illustrations between 2005 and 2016.
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Wang’s art shows the Draenei could’ve been more purple in color, with their foreheads and horns bearing a few extra intricacies compared to the final version.
Of course, the technology at the time of Burning Crusade’s 2007 release limited what developers could accomplish in terms of character detail.
Still, some WoW faithful may find it beneficial to revisit imagery from the past to see how developers translated wild imaginations from page to screen.
