In the upcoming expansion, NPCs will now turn their heads towards the player, finally acknowledging the existence of someone who has save Azeroth more times than players killed Gammon in Ogrimar. It's about time...
Some NPCs have already acknowledged the presence of players, especially those in the Garrison from Warlords of Draenor. However, in the World of Warcraft: Shadowlands alpha, Wowhead found that most NPCs, even those from previous expansions, will now turn their heads towards the player.
Blizzard has added a new feature to NPC animations in Shadowlands. When walking near an NPC, most NPCs will now turn their head towards you in a gesture of them acknowledging your presence.https://t.co/97K5pbUeUhpic.twitter.com/GDiWsV12hl
— Wowhead (@Wowhead) April 22, 2020
This isn't the biggest change ever, but it is great to see Blizzard still adding these little, quality changes with each expansion, instead of just pushing out new content. Back in Legion, for example, a similar feature was added to player characters.
While most NPCs will now turn their head towards players when players come close to them, not all NPCs will, at least, not in the Shadowlands alpha. Some NPCs simply don't have models which support animation in their heads.
Maybe, just maybe, Blizzard will also update the stiff-neck NPCs before Shadowlands releases later this year.