I wouldn't really call this "HD".
It's simply different. I do like the way it looks, some of the small details like the proprtions of the hands, which would never be noticed ingame, are better, but all-in-all this is not as significant of a breakthrough as you make it out to be.
And the file size, over 500 KB for something so simple, it's ridiculous. That makes this completely unusuable, sorry.
2/5. If you can get its file size below 300 KB, I'll increase the rating to a 3/5. If you can make it look better, I might even consider raising it further.
There's this:
King - Which is similar but looks better than yours and is only 182 KB.
Even this model:
The Lich King, similar model (different theme of course), has a smaller file size despite being way higher quality AND being full of custom textures.
Your model has a very inefficient use of its size, far too much for me to overlook, and you'll have to do something about that if you expect good ratings.
As for ways to reduce file size, I'm no expert at animations, which are often a large source of file size. I usually make my stuff small simply by never making it big in the first place and not having to bother with any followup work for reduction. Except for the ice shield; I did do a bit of followup work to cut its file size down from 46 KB's or so down to 36 KB's.