[?Spoiler?] Thought on Recent Hero Portraits

[mr. peasant]

To those keeping up to date, Blizzard has recently released images for a number of Protoss hero units; including Tassadar, Urun, Nyon, etc. As a number of sharp-eyed people have noticed, most of them are simply slightly modified versions of existing portraits and have so voiced their disappointment.

A thought has just occurred to me regarding them; could they simply be generic heroes made specially for the map editor a la Mojo and Gui Montag (i.e. they don't appear in the main campaign but are simply available so that map makers have hero units for all the main unit types). The portraits might simply be placeholder versions until the finalised ones are made for when (if at all) these characters appear in the Protoss campaign.

This makes sense to a degree since it would be surprising for Blizzard to lock in voice actors for such relatively small roles at this stage when the bulk of their voice work would only take place in a year or two's time. What do you all think? Yes? No?

[Warsaw]

Protoss have always helped Raynor, I'm sure they still remember him. They are probably in game. I'd put down money on it. If they have a portrait they will appear in WoL.

[Alex06]

Protoss have always helped Raynor, I'm sure they still remember him. They are probably in game. I'd put down money on it. If they have a portrait they will appear in WoL.

Exactly. There are even achievements related to Preservers, Selendis, Urun and Mohandar.

[mr. peasant]

Protoss have always helped Raynor, I'm sure they still remember him. They are probably in game. I'd put down money on it. If they have a portrait they will appear in WoL.

I've no doubt that Raynor will receive aid from the Protoss at some point in the campaign to acknowledge their past history together. But from half the Hierarchy at the same time? If Raynor could pull that off in a fraction of a campaign, Zeratul's had his work done for him even before LotV begins. And they just so happen to fill the Phoenix, Void Ray, Carrier line-up of the Protoss' combat air units? I'm smelling a trick here.

Exactly. There are even achievements related to Preservers, Selendis, Urun and Mohandar.

Achievements are not an indication of importance. If you notice, even Probes need to be unlocked and the heroes you mentioned rank below Executor, which is the standard building portrait for the Protoss. Plus, if you look at the other races, aside for the final portrait for those achievements, none of the others feature notable individuals from the campaign (e.g. Raynor, Zeratul, etc).

[Kimera757]

I think the named portraits are real heroes who will play an actual role in the campaign. They probably have different voice actors, too (although possibly just people in Blizzard, rather than actors).

On top of the "Tiger Marine" and other guys, who might be more generic, unnamed Dominion officers who show up to control enemy bases in the campaign.

[Pandonetho]

Perhaps all those unnamed marines are going to be just a random portrait distribution between Dominion forces as you fight them, just to spice up the variety a bit.

As for all the palette swapping, after looking at their massive list of portraits, it really does make sense just to palette swap most of the time as it would save them a lot of time instead of having to design a new portrait for every 'unique' or different unit that they have. Doesn't mean I'm any less disappointed about those palette swaps though, at least change a detail here or there like with the Spartan Company goliath and the normal goliath.

I just hope they at least have their own unique voices (I doubt it) for every mercenary. That would be great.

[Kknewkles]

I got a feeling that Tassadar will return as a Twilight Archon.

And oh boy, Blizz killed half of the awesomeness that Protoss faces had. SHIAT.
They got more concrete facial traits, but hell, SC1 had EACH Protoss individual to have a unique face. Now they are all similar as one. SHIAT again.

[Pandonetho]

He'd have to merge with someone to be a twilight archon.

[Kknewkles]

He'd have to merge with someone to be a twilight archon.

I don't know, he clearly is an Archon on a portrait. Seriously, there are an Archon armor pieces on him.
And who knows, maybe for Protoss like him it's just enough to create a blast of Twilight energy.

I wonder if we will see Adun as well...

Do you remember, how, if it is known, did Savassan(Khas) died?

[flabortast]

I got a feeling that Tassadar will return as a Twilight Archon.

And oh boy, Blizz killed half of the awesomeness that Protoss faces had. SHIAT.
They got more concrete facial traits, but hell, SC1 had EACH Protoss individual to have a unique face. Now they are all similar as one. SHIAT again.

Perhaps they are just generic Hero types. Though it would make sense that Mohandar has similar Void Ray pilot armor just pimped out. The same goes with Urun and his wicked mask/visor. The other heroes that have recolored portraits are probably not important enough to warrant a uniqur portrtait. Maybe they are generic squad leader A or something like that.