World of Warcraft's remodeled female Night Elves are 'fully capable huntresses'

The female remodel for World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor's Night Elves aims to keep the character "distinct but subtle," according to lead character artist Tyson Murphy on Battle.net.

According to Murphy, the team's goal is to leave the original model intact while using the new tech to "realize characteristics that we weren't able to fully represent with the lower polygon counts and texture resolutions." The new model is more defined, Murphy continued, but with more realistic proportions, better looking ears and muscle tone.

"We wanted to visually communicate that she is a fully capable warrior huntress, and small details like muscle definition help highlight that," Murphy said. "We also put additional focus on her hands and fingernails, giving a very slight point to her nails to provide just a hint of a more feral nature."

Blizzard announced the overhaul for its original races at BlizzCon last year; the remodel is an effort to bring those races up to speed with the quality of the Pandaren, introduced in the last expansion. Blizzard has already detailed changes for the game's female orc, female Draenei and Tauren.

The game's fifth and upcoming expansion, Warlords of Draenor, launches this fall.