Half request, half curiosity: Why are there so few drow models?

[Ilztas]

If I search for "drow", I find:

RPGDrizztWar
FemaleDrider (I forget what I didn't like about this thing...)
DarkElfAura
SorcererStone ("Original supposed to be a Drow Builder unit")
HeroDrider (The drow torso wobbles weirdly when walking.)
Valdris (a weapon attachment)

If I look up "dark elf", I find a sorceress who looks too much like a demoness to me, night elf models... and I guess this "HeroDemonHunter" could work as a drow, but I was hoping for something more.... magic-like.

Is there a particular reason that drow models (other than Drizzt) are so scarce? There has to be someone other than myself who'd appreciate seeing some.

For the moment, I've resorted to just using a night elf Blood Mage skin, and substituting the original Blood Mage with armel's WarMage.

 

[The_Legion]

one of the primary reasons that there are only a few Drow models is that the guy fixing the HoS models is still not done yet with some stuff.

 

[Mechanical Man]

I have that problem too. The main reason it may lie that there are no suitable textures for dark elves. At least this is why we have problem at Godfall with it. Night elf textures is too bright and purplish for the true dark elf for females and their armor does not fit, for males is even worse, bearded green haired tatooed night elves with covered eyes look bad used as drow. On the other hand we have some undead skins that may fit, namely Dark ranger and undead Arthas, but even those are not the best choice for Drow.

Now we concluded that the problem are the textures, not models. While plenty of people here (and also at other modding sites) can do pretty good models, only a handful are good skinners (texturers). If you go to skins section, you will see that despite many skins there, there are not many different users submitting them. If that is because skins section is more strictly moderated or it is just hard, I do not know. And if there are fewer people, less are the chances these people like DnD or other settings with prominent dark elves enough. Note that this is warcraft and there is WoW out, so people tend to do mostly warcraft related stuff.

Anyway, still there is light of hope. RPGDrizztWar is probably the best model and skin to start with, even alone is quite versatile, being a rpg with attachment and stuff. It is also male, which may fix some defiency on next packs. On above post aforementioned HoS pack contains some dark elves, but many models need fixin and they are quite specialized which means they are not versatile. However, for the Drow 'best pack' I would vote for 67chrome's skins which he created for his techtree contest map, although they are just skins, but of course could be used on models which use the very same textures as the originals these textures were made for. The main problem of these pack though, is that they contain very few skins for male dark elves, ex. 67chrome did a skin only for priest and footman which has already half of the face covered, while HoS pack's dark elf males are mostly monsters and spiderlings, not really humanoid.

I hope this helped and so we may build a better future for Drow!

 

[Kyrbi0]

I have that problem too. The main reason it may lie that there are no suitable textures for dark elves. At least this is why we have problem at Godfall with it. Night elf textures is too bright and purplish for the true dark elf for females and their armor does not fit, for males is even worse, bearded green haired tatooed night elves with covered eyes look bad used as drow. On the other hand we have some undead skins that may fit, namely Dark ranger and undead Arthas, but even those are not the best choice for Drow.

Now we concluded that the problem are the textures, not models. While plenty of people here (and also at other modding sites) can do pretty good models, only a handful are good skinners (texturers). If you go to skins section, you will see that despite many skins there, there are not many different users submitting them. If that is because skins section is more strictly moderated or it is just hard, I do not know. And if there are fewer people, less are the chances these people like DnD or other settings with prominent dark elves enough. Note that this is warcraft and there is WoW out, so people tend to do mostly warcraft related stuff.

Anyway, still there is light of hope. RPGDrizztWar is probably the best model and skin to start with, even alone is quite versatile, being a rpg with attachment and stuff. It is also male, which may fix some defiency on next packs. On above post aforementioned HoS pack contains some dark elves, but many models need fixin and they are quite specialized which means they are not versatile. However, for the Drow 'best pack' I would vote for 67chrome's skins which he created for his techtree contest map, although they are just skins, but of course could be used on models which use the very same textures as the originals these textures were made for. The main problem of these pack though, is that they contain very few skins for male dark elves, ex. 67chrome did a skin only for priest and footman which has already half of the face covered, while HoS pack's dark elf males are mostly monsters and spiderlings, not really humanoid.

I hope this helped and so we may build a better future for Drow!

Now that is incisive & insightful; I never thought about it, but indeed the greatest issue is not that of a lack of Modelers/Models, but of Texturers/Textures. Excellent point, and one that (despite the spidery-specificity of the Heart of Storms 'Shadow Elves') I think HoS will go a ways to help out.

Speaking of which,

one of the primary reasons that there are only a few Drow models is that the guy fixing the HoS models is still not done yet with some stuff.

True... Though a little birdy tells me we will not have to wait too much longer, if everything pans out... : )

 

[Ilztas]

I'm hoping that there'll be some good ol' regular drow models someday. I've seen the "Heart of Storms" stuff, and while it's alright, it doesn't look like drow to me. The drow I've seen, well..... they CAN have lighter skin at times, but those are more often than not "dark elves" or "shadow elves", which aren't always drow, and vice versa. I was hoping more for regular black-skinned drow, y'know?

EDIT: Never mind, right, Heart of Storms has nothing to do with drow. Those are shadow elves. The shots specifically say so... though I guess someone can always make another skin for the models.