My biggest gripe with the new graphics is the lack of distinguishable silhouettes.

Up close, the new graphics look amazing. However, a very important rule of graphic design for RTS specifically (including MOBAs) is that each unit should have an easy distinguishable silhouette, from different angles.

For example, when I first saw the new Beastmaster today, he looked really similar to the ogre creeps. The old yellow bulky beast master with the batman mask was very different from the old ogre creeps. Even for things as simple as determining whether the peon is carrying gold or not, the old big golden ball on top of the peon was very distinguishable compared to the current beige sack.

The old graphics are really outdated, but each unit has a very distinct silhouette that you can easily know it from its shadow. The big planes of solid colors helped in this to a great extent.

Lets look at the neutral heroes for example, look at the new Tavern vs. old Tavern. Notice the big flat bright red roof of the old one with the giant barrels, compared to the new indistinct one. Old Alchemist vs. New: the old one had this bright blue color with the big shiny silver blades and the distinctive balls on his back, the new one is very muted, the blades are grey and tiny and the details are very small. The old dark ranger had a huge cloak and big bright balls at the end of her bow and a very distinctive crouching stance, the new one is just an archer. The worst offender in my opinion is the Panda, who lost almost all of his distinctive features: the big hat, the big barrel, the almost flat shape.. etc. I don't even know what is he supposed to resemble now.

On the other hand, there are some models that were done well. The new Naga Seawitch for example has a very distinct snake like tail and different color. The new Tinker kept its distinctive silhouette, but lost its distinctive bright golden color. And while they did a good job with the new Firelord preserving its distinctive features and color, the new lava spawn looks like a hydralisk and is not distinctive at all compared to the old one.

I can go on and on but you get the idea: RTS graphics should be clear and distinguishable from the bird-eye vie, even if they were not pretty.

(All the pictures I used in this post is from this video.)

I hope this post is perceived as constructive criticism, and not dismissed as many of the other critical posts.