The Armory got a couple of upgrades this week, most notable of which the ability to zoom in and out on your character, see what their gear looks like on their body, and even play animations all from within your browser. The layout of the character window changed significantly as well, and shows a player’s recent activity as well as their achievements, spec, off-spec, and other stats in the same window.

Here’s what the Armory Upgrade Page has to say about the changes:

Every character profile now has a 3D model viewer that displays the character in his or her currently equipped gear, and accurately displays the character’s physical features, hairstyle, and helm/cloak display as they appear in-game. Mousing over the character model window brings up a control panel with the following controls (try it now with the character to the right!):

• Camera controls: To rotate the camera around a character, click and hold the left mouse button while moving the mouse left and right, or click the arrow buttons in the top left of the window. To zoom in and out, use the mouse wheel while hovering over the character window, or click the zoom buttons in the top left of the window. To move the character within the frame, right-click and drag the character in the window (or on the small square in the bottom left corner of the window).
• Animations: Each character has a selection of animations that they can perform. Use the arrows next to the animation’s name to cycle through them. The available animations are determined by the character’s class and currently equipped weapons.
• Capture pose: If you are logged in, you can set the default pose of any character on your account. Use the camera and animation controls to create a pose, then click the save icon to set it as the default. All visitors to the character’s profile will then see the character in that pose.
• Play controls: The rewind, pause, and fast forward buttons allow you to fine-tune a pose for a character.
  Fullscreen mode: You can view the character in a fullscreen display against a selection of backgrounds. All controls will continue to function in fullscreen mode.
• Embed: You can embed a standalone, interactive version of the character’s model viewer in a compatible website, such as a social networking site, guild website, or forum.
  Options: Extra options include selecting a background in fullscreen mode and toggling the display of a character’s helm, cloak, or tabard.

Those are some pretty cool upgrades! If you haven’t looked at your character on the Armory since the changes, you should definitely head over and look; it’s a world different, and in a very good way.