none of the older players realized they couldn't live with HD
Incorrect. In 2018 shortly after the announcement, I began brainstorming a Project Proposal draft on Google docs for how I could rewrite an SD-only modding-oriented replica the game. One main motivating reason is so that I can finish my Warcraft 3 mod, which has hundreds of custom MDX models that I authored myself mostly between 2004 and 2015.
So, when you say, "none", in this case that is an incorrect overstatement. I advise using "almost none" in the future.
Then things got complicated when the HD graphics weren't good looking
This is painfully subjective. I continue to believe that a substantial amount of the negative reaction to Reforged was based on the manner in which it replaced the Warcraft 3 install on everyone's computer with an online-only webpage game launcher that was 20-30x bigger than the original game. And, this replacement process began without first checking if the HDD had that much space available, so some players simply lost access to Warcraft 3 entirely even if that was a minority. I'm about as technical as a War3 user gets and I forgot about this and lost my laptop's ability to play War3 about 5 months after Reforged release when I accidentally opened the Battle.net launcher. It really does delete the old game off your hard drive without asking, and it really
does not check that my hard drive is full.
Mistaking this hate/backlash at the loss of something as being a subjective art preference seems wrong to me. I am not telling you the Reforged art looks good either -- don't be confused. I am not making a statement about that here. I am just saying, personally and anecdotally, that when I think back on the public negative response in 2020 I believe the art was largely irrelevant.
But older players also attack reforged because they are afraid to learn new graphics, because they can only accept SD or SD+.
Wrong again. As it turns out, in certain instances like changing the color of a PKB file, learning the new graphics is borderline physically impossible. You can read more about how the company that created the Reforged particle format expressly does not support modifying this art format here on their forums:
I'm trying to make edits to some game files for a ... /FB_Liquid_BW_8x8.tifAtlas.SourceAtlas.DefinitionAtlas.SubDivAtlas.BlendingsamplerShape_2C
answers.popcornfx.com
As an example, look at the lightning emitters on Reforged such as the beam effect used for Chain Lightning. If you make an SD map and call
AddLightningLoc
trigger function, the old game engine will draw a beam between two locations and then the beam lasts until you call
RemoveLightning
trigger function to eliminate it. On the HD graphics
this system does not work the same. The lightning is drawn by the PKB lightning file, and many of those PKB lightnings define a hardcoded fade over time. After a few seconds, the lightning goes away. The visuals of the lightning are not permanent.
If you can send me a PKB file of the Chain Lightning (both primary and second) lightning, and the other 8 or 10 lightning PKB files in the HD graphics -- but where you mod these art assets not to fade, so that they exactly match the original HD lightning in every way except that they visually display permanently in accordance with how this system works on SD... If you can send me the 8 or 10 PKB files of these lightning effects modified with this fix to no longer fade away for me
within the next 2 months (by Aug 6, 2022) to use in future custom HD projects, I will donate you $300 maybe in an amazon gift card or some other way that works.
Are you afraid? You
afraid?
Afraid of editing HD? Why don't you want $300?
No, you're not afraid. Rather, you won't take me up on it because there is next to nobody on Planet Earth who is capable of this. And the people who are capable are not interested, generally, because it would be incredibly technologically hard to do. Your one chance is to reach out to someone currently modding Reforged who already solved this problem. Admittedly I didn't think of that; I guess those guys have had 2 years to do it. I'll know if you get back to me within the first month that indeed you asked them for help and didn't do it yourself, but I'll stand by my word and still give you the $300 if you send me each and every fixed-to-be-permanent lightning PKB. You know why? Because I've got so little faith in those guys, too! Hahaha.
(And those files would actually be useful for Reforged modding.)
Don't tell people they are scared to do something because it was obfuscated to all hell in order to make it effectively impossible. That's offensive. Lightning Effects on Classic graphics mode are an image file anyone can edit with any free 2d image editor program in about 5 minutes. These people aren't
afraid to learn something more complex. They simply don't learn it, because how would they?
The people modding HD aren't scared. On the contrary, it is profound that Hive workshop modders have created any modified HD vfx at all. Give credit where credit is due.
[In hindsight, I guess maybe you meant melee ladder players are afraid to learn the HD graphics, but Reforged doesn't have a ladder so why would anyone bother with that?]
I'm playing Minecraft, no one is going to argue with me about which texture pack I should choose. But that's not the case with Warcraft.
Okay so previously I thought you were talking about War3 modding which would lead me to a hysterical interpretation of what you are saying because of how incorrect it would be given that the modder needs to make his custom art in one mode or the other (Reforged/classic), but now I'm thinking your mind is on melee. So, let's give this the benefit of the doubt.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that on the Reforged graphics mode, the Water Elemental has a different icon at levels 1, 2, and 3 on Reforged graphics but has the same icon at all levels on Classic graphics. If you think about each icon as a symbol the player's brain must learn, having the icons be unique per level in the HD mode means that the player has to learn more symbols in order to perform at the same level of effectiveness. There is an argument to be made that these are meaningful symbols, so if a player did bother to learn them then perhaps the player will be more effective in the HD mode because of this additional subtle communication from the game engine. But, in principle learning a larger number of symbols is likely to take a human brain objectively longer.
Add to this the fact that on the HD graphics (or was it just the entire 1.32 client?) a lot of unit sounds were changed to be more randomly varied and less specific to the unit. That is an example where more symbols need to be processed and learned by the human brain to play at the same level, but they
do not encode more additional information. As I understand it, the general Reforged footman death sounds might have 2 or 3 variations. On the classic graphics, when a footman dies the same exact sound plays in every case. A human brain that memorizes that sound can more quickly count the number of footmen who died in a battle. So, even with a liberal melee-oriented interpretation of what you are trying to say, I still find that I
completely do not agree. Did I misunderstand you?
Since the release of the reforged, I've seen a lot of discussion about graphics in the community. The discussion makes me feel sad.
Yes. It is sad because these people wasted their time when they could have been playing or modding Warcraft 3, both of which I personally find more fulfilling.
I want the community to realize that graphics are just personal preferences, and that your liking of one image should not turn into an attack on another.
This is technologically false, so I want you to realize that you are making a false claim that is not subjective and is actually not true. Your liking of the new lightning effect graphic is an attack on my ability to use it to make a custom map with a persistent beam. If you want to prove me wrong, do the $300 challenge described above.