Urge-supressor or Instigator?

The culprit: WoW Model Viewer.
The crime: Aiding the imagination.

Today, I was minding my own business and leveling one of my alts (I'll introduce her on Monday), when I happened upon a male Night Elf rogue, running around and doing his thing. Turning in quests? Picking up quests? Scouting out a suitable location to engage in some /dance? I'm not really sure, though I am thankful that there was no /dance.

As I'm still getting used to the server, I sometimes reminisce about my characters on Sentinels. In seeing that Night Elf rogue, my thoughts wandered to Sec, my Night Elf hunter who I've not played in months. She is my most accomplished character, although she hasn't even hit 70. Perhaps one day I will be able to buy a ticket for her to ride the Transfer Express, but until then, she sits in limbo. I've always had a love-hate relationship with Sec, mainly because I never realized that the Night Elf models had annoying flaws until after rolling her and realizing the "kinks" many levels later. Right now, my Moon Guard roster lacks any Night Elves, because of the fact that aesthetically, I decided that they were annoying.

Yet, seeing this Night Elf rogue caused the cogs in my head to creak and turn. The grand result of my skewed thought process was that I had to load up WoW Model Viewer and see if there was a model I could produce that would avoid the "kinks" as best as possible.

Of course, before I even created my first character on Moon Guard, I decided that I would not hastily stuff my roster full. So much for that. Impulse prevails!

I load up WoW Model Viewer and start pushing buttons.

For anyone not familiar with WoW Model Viewer, it is an application that lets you view 3D models of characters, items, creatures and environments. You can not only view models, but you can also view their various animation sequences, if they have any. You can even put characters on mounts and design tabards without worrying about in-game lighting conditions. Did I mention that the mounts aren't restricted? Have you ever wanted to see a Tauren on a Mechanostrider? You can with WMV!

WMV is wonderful, unless you're trying to restrain your alt-making habits. WMV allows the user to zoom in and see characters' details in a manner that WoW's character customization screen doesn't. With WMV, I can actually, easily tell the difference from one Night Elf face to the next. Facial details are also easier to see, whether they be Blood Elf earrings or Night Elf markings. When The Burning Crusade was released, I was rather disappointed that the character customization screen wasn't improved upon, though of course, the staff already had their hands full with everything else.

I've come up with a Night Elf that looks nice and probably wouldn't irk me. I'm happy to see that I could roll a "nice" looking Night Elf, but knowing isn't satisfying enough. No.

Now I have to.