Diablo 4 offers a glimpse of what World of Warcraft would look like with modern AAA graphics

Ever wondered what World of Warcraft might look like with modern graphics? Diablo 4’s store update offers a glimpse.

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What you need to know

What you need to know

Last year, Microsoft finalized its acquisition of Activision-Blizzard, giving it control of mega franchises like Candy Crush, Call of Duty, and World of Warcraft. Indeed, the Blizzard acquisition is among the most exciting, as we could see classic franchises like StarCraft return from dormancy.

Blizzard has been on a roll in recent years.Overwatch 2 is ticking over well and is exploring bringing back 6v6gameplay,Diablo 4 just got a new season, Infernal Hordes, and so far it seems really awesome.World of Warcraftis also set to get a new expansion calledThe War Within, kicking off a new story saga led by returning franchise architect Chris Metzen.

RELATED:World of Warcraft: The War Within review

World of Warcraft has entered its 20th year in operation, and still sports the same engine. The engine has had a ton of new graphics improvements, but still is heavily “stylized” in essence. Many areas in World of Warcraft haven’t received visual improvements, however, including old cities like Ironforge and the Undercity. It has led many people to request enhancements to the old world, and some of WoW’s upcoming expansions such as Midnight and The Last Titan might offer graphics passes on some of these older zones. Some have dared to wonder even further. There’s plenty of Unreal Engine Warcraft fan art on YouTube, for example, such as thisamazing Ironforge render. But what if Blizzard itself reimagined WoW in a modern engine?

The latest Diablo 4 season “Infernal Hordes” has added a range of new skins to the shop, and some of them have a distinctly Warcrafty theme.

There’s a Kael’thas skin for sorcerers. Kael’thas was the heir to the Blood elven throne, until he threw his lot in with Illidan and later the Burning Legion, becoming a notorious villain. There’s also a Druid skin based on Xavius, the evil elven traitor who also sold his soul for demonic power (sensing a pattern here…). There’s also a necromancer skin based on Xal’atath, the new central antagonist of the upcoming Warcraft Worldsoul saga. There’s a skin for famed Banshee Queen Sylvanas, for rogue archers. Departing from elves a bit, we also have a Barbarian skin based on Varian Wrynn, who was turned into a pile of ash by Gul’dan during the Legion expansion (RIP). Finally, there’s a mount skin based on Blizzard’s notorious Celestial Steed. This horse mount was the first in-app skin Blizzard offered on Warcraft’s microtransaction store. A former StarCraft developer noted that the skin, while derided by core fans, actually outsold an entire StarCraft II expansion, perhaps further encouraging Blizzard to go down the microtransaction.

The skins each cost 2800 platinum, which costs around $25 depending on your region and the current sales events going on. Right now, Blizzard is offering 300 platinum on top of a 2500 purchase, which matches how much the skins generally cost. They come with weapon visuals and so on, too.

Use Microsoft Rewards to get Diablo 4 skins for free

Use Microsoft Rewards to get Diablo 4 skins for free

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Sure, they are pretty steep to buy. But, did you know you can convertMicrosoft Rewardspoints for using Bing into Diablo IV Platinum? Now you do. You can also buy the Diablo 4 battle passes too. Head over toMicrosoft Rewards' redemption pageto spend them, and you can switch your search engine on mobile and Chrome to Bing to start earning.

It would be awesome to see World of Warcraft get a true next-gen visual makeover, but it would also make the game astronomically more expensive to build. The game’s more “simplistic” stylized visuals are at least potentially cheaper to build at scale, over something more photorealistic. World of Warcraft patches and expansions come with veritable mountains of content, in part owing to the size of the team making the game, but also the maturity of the tools and its engine. Moving WoW to a more complex engine probably wouldn’t do the game’s content release schedule any favors, but it’s fun to dream.

RELATED:World of Warcraft: The War Within’s story overview

Either way, WoW has some of the best pre-rendered cinematics in the entire industry, with bothThe War Within’s intro movieand the recentNerubian faction profile cinematicbuilding hype for the expansion’s launch on August 22, 2024.

You can also grab Diablo IV right now as part ofXbox Game Pass.

Jez Corden is the Executive Editor at Windows Central, focusing primarily on all things Xbox and gaming. Jez is known for breaking exclusive news and analysis as relates to the Microsoft ecosystem while being powered by tea. Follow onTwitter (X)andThreads, and listen to hisXB2 Podcast, all about, you guessed it, Xbox!