by JR Cook - 9 years ago     show comments

Anyone who remembers last year’s Azeroth Choppers webseries may be interested in something Blizzard released today:

Now, the principal thing that’s different about Azeroth Armory is that it’s clearly not intended to be a competition-style reality show. It’s really 100% about master blacksmith Tony Swatton and his crew crafting a combat-ready reproduction of a weapon from the Warcraft franchise; in this case, Grom Hellscream’s legendary axe, Gorehowl.

In terms of capturing how such a weapon would get crafted using modern techniques and materials, Swatton showcases the process as much as possible. It matches very strongly with the long-running series he’s had on Youtube called Man-At-Arms, where he’ll make similar reproductions of weapons from TV shows, videogames, anime, or even original creations that are inspired by the same sources.

It’s important to note that the objective of the show isn’t to create a product for sale; just like Azeroth Choppers, it’s to create a showpiece and demonstrate Swatton’s craftsmanship more than anything else.

It’s also critical to point out that there’s a good reason why Gorehowl is the weapon being made in this episode, and why VP of Art & Cinematics Nick Carpenter is the one bringing him the order: to a large extent, Carpenter’s team has done a ton of legwork in visualizing how to make Gorehowl into an authentic-looking weapon, given how prevalent it was in the Warlords of Draenor cinematic. There are a ton of weapons in the franchise, but there aren’t as many weapons that have been given that degree of scrutiny and detail from the side of the developers themselves.

I’d love to see something like Zin’rokh, Destroyer of Worlds, or Ashkandi, but I recognize that it might not be something that anyone aside from the in-game art team has really paid very close attention to, and hence might be substantially more difficult to craft.

As it stands, there’s no confirmation that this is going to be an ongoing series (or even if there’ll be a second episode) but as soon as we know, you’ll know.