When i first read the details about this expansion i was initially quite excited by it . But when some ingame friends said its really nothing more than Blizzard doing a Caverns of time to the entire game world . I had another look at what was really on offer and i realised the content of this Xpac is for the most part the type of thing we would normally get in a major patch . I really feel that they need to offer more to justify charging for it . The thing i think most would make this really worth its price is an overhall of the graphics engine . it would be great to experiance WOW with up to date graphics any revamp without one really is nothing more than tinkering the existing game .
Adding "Up to date" graphics is probably the most stupid thing Blizzard could do. I can run WoW on an asus e900 at the moment, now imagine all the sub par PCs that can play this game. Why take that away? it would be like telling a chunk of their player base to get lost, thus loosing money.
That's absolutely right, you could play WoW on a pocket calculator and that's part of its attraction. That said, if you actually stop and look at it with everything turned to high, it looks really very good. IMO, the graphics in this game are a lot better than people give them credit for...
If you took the time to compare the graphics of the game from the time that it launched to now, you'd be pretty surprised. Theyve been modifying the games graphics for some time, including graphics models and textures. The WoTLK expansion had its biggest revamp, adding new particles, shadows, lighting etc.
so the answer to the question, if there is one in this troll fest is that Blizzard is continuously upgrading the graphics of the game. Im sure when they release the next expansion they'll update the graphics even more.
However, if you're looking for Blizzard to take Warcraft and transform WoW into some claymation MMO like EQ2 or AoC.. or put an insane amount of bloom in their graphics similar to LoTRO.. it wont happen.
and if you think Cataclysm is nothing more than a paid for patch because theyre not making their world look something more realistic or plastic, then theres really no pleasing you. If they accomplish what their goals are for this expansion, it will be the biggest single expansion any MMO has ever seen. To think otherwise is just to be blatantly argumentative.
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a robot foot stomping on a human face -- forever."
I agree that they should upgrade the graphics for this game, since everything looks outdated, and they are using the same graphics since launch in 2004. I have no idea about the cost or mechanics that goes into a complete graphics overhaul, but i imagine that it would be quite costly to implement. Also, there is the issue of players not having a computer that is powerful enough to handle the newer graphics. In a way, it was a smart move by Blizzard to keep the old graphics engine so that the game will remain accessible to a large demographic, but I think that eventually within a few years they will have to upgrade the engine eventually.
Warlock Shard System - you have 3 shards and you can only use them in combat and you can only use them to do one spell - Soul Burn. Soul Burn is a buff that changes your existing spells. Soul Burn + Fear = instant Fear. Soul Burn + Death Coil = longer duration and more healing. You can use Drain Soul to recover a shard in combat. Any non-combat spell that uses shards will no longer use shards.
Guild Levels - only the top 20 earners for the day will contribute the guild gaining levels. Which could be anyone. You get guild experience by players leveling, increasing professions, killing raid bosses or winning in PvP. Also, there will be a guild news feed. Sort of like an active Message of the Day. If you kill a new raid boss that will be in the guild news feed.
All this information and everything else that is currently confirmed(number of new spells is not confirmed) is all around the internet.
When i first read the details about this expansion i was initially quite excited by it . But when some ingame friends said its really nothing more than Blizzard doing a Caverns of time to the entire game world . I had another look at what was really on offer and i realised the content of this Xpac is for the most part the type of thing we would normally get in a major patch . I really feel that they need to offer more to justify charging for it . The thing i think most would make this really worth its price is an overhall of the graphics engine . it would be great to experiance WOW with up to date graphics any revamp without one really is nothing more than tinkering the existing game .
Ok you want Blizzard to overhaul their graphics engine to mimic what? AoC..........Aion.....what? Please stop already. WoW art style is based off Warcraft-RTS. And that decision came about from Blizzard devs looking at what an average player's PC could run smoothly while still giving a sense of being in a world based off Warcraft (funny how that sounds, huh?).
In TBC Blizzard introduced flying mounts and a seamless world that players could traverse from one end to another. Players like myself wanted that same freedom of flight and exploration that we got in TBC in Azeroth.
In WoTLK Blizzard introduced phasing techniques to show players that through questing, they could personalize their experience by changing entire areas of the game. As well as revamp graphics to something more dynamic than old Azeroth, while keeping the demand for system specs below current MMO trends. If anything it shows that Blizzard monitors it's players' current hardware limitations and tries to be more inclusive to the massive amount of players they cater to.
Now in Cata Blizzard is combining the previous 2 techniques and applying them to the entire world of Azeroth. Gone will be the barrier between Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. Some landscapes will change dramatically from how they were in old Azeroth. And the graphics will be upgraded to the level of WoTLK while keeping true to the philosophy of being inclusive rather than exclusive to their players' hardware limitations and to the Warcraft art direction.
Seems to me that players want WoW's sense of huge seamless landscape scale, massive amounts of content or virtually lag-free sense of game play mechanics while wearing the skin of whatever current MMO tickles their fancy....sorry but Warcraft will be Warcraft and if you don't like the overall graphical style.....tough.
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
Warcraft will need a graphics engine update at some point by the time this xpacs out it will be 6 years old with each passing year it looks more dated . It looks ok at the moment but in two or three years its going to look very old . Its time they at least thought about updating the graphics engine before the game looks so dated people will head else where . Blizzard have resources applenty to start working on a new graphics engine .
I do take on board that WoW plays on very low spec pcs thats a good thing but there will come a point when the average low spec pc will play games with far more advanced graphics than WOW has now . Also would nt it be possible to allow players with lower spec pcs to have the option of playing with the old graphics ? Theres always ways around these things . I m not suggesting they change the graphical style either but you could improve an awful lot with an updated graphic engine within that style . I dont have a problem with it being toony some games try to look realistic and it backfires because the characters look like manaquins .
Blizz is already overhauling their models and animations and thats really all the game needs right now, the improvements we will see is probably on higher poly count rendering while keeping the same performance, usage of new technology to create better details and thats all they should do, two great examples are the DK Ghoul which is a totally improved ghoul from the classic one and the worgen models which are much more detailed, blizzard also mentioned that at some point they will revamp old models and races overtime to add the detail others have such as the ones I mentioned thats all they have to do, changing the gfx completely would kill the game for me, their stylized gfx are portrait exactly and fit into the lore.
Blizzard will likely never fully upgrade the graphics to modern standards. Which, I think, is fine.
However, Blizzard should at the least update all playable race models to current WoW standards.
Comparing the new Cataclysm male Goblin model to the male Orc model is simply jarring to say the least.
The playable race models are what we look at every day in game and are how we interact with the game.
Updating the current playable race models could also lead to further character customization(not on the scale of Aion, EQ2 or SWG but still more option would be great).
Comments
Adding "Up to date" graphics is probably the most stupid thing Blizzard could do. I can run WoW on an asus e900 at the moment, now imagine all the sub par PCs that can play this game. Why take that away? it would be like telling a chunk of their player base to get lost, thus loosing money.
That's absolutely right, you could play WoW on a pocket calculator and that's part of its attraction. That said, if you actually stop and look at it with everything turned to high, it looks really very good. IMO, the graphics in this game are a lot better than people give them credit for...
If you took the time to compare the graphics of the game from the time that it launched to now, you'd be pretty surprised. Theyve been modifying the games graphics for some time, including graphics models and textures. The WoTLK expansion had its biggest revamp, adding new particles, shadows, lighting etc.
so the answer to the question, if there is one in this troll fest is that Blizzard is continuously upgrading the graphics of the game. Im sure when they release the next expansion they'll update the graphics even more.
However, if you're looking for Blizzard to take Warcraft and transform WoW into some claymation MMO like EQ2 or AoC.. or put an insane amount of bloom in their graphics similar to LoTRO.. it wont happen.
and if you think Cataclysm is nothing more than a paid for patch because theyre not making their world look something more realistic or plastic, then theres really no pleasing you. If they accomplish what their goals are for this expansion, it will be the biggest single expansion any MMO has ever seen. To think otherwise is just to be blatantly argumentative.
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a robot foot stomping on a human face -- forever."
Then the detractors would cry about blizzard trying to milk the new racial change feature coming.
I agree that they should upgrade the graphics for this game, since everything looks outdated, and they are using the same graphics since launch in 2004. I have no idea about the cost or mechanics that goes into a complete graphics overhaul, but i imagine that it would be quite costly to implement. Also, there is the issue of players not having a computer that is powerful enough to handle the newer graphics. In a way, it was a smart move by Blizzard to keep the old graphics engine so that the game will remain accessible to a large demographic, but I think that eventually within a few years they will have to upgrade the engine eventually.
There are 4 new raids at launch
And 8 new 5 man dungeons
Orgrimmar was not destroyed it is being fortified
Warlock Shard System - you have 3 shards and you can only use them in combat and you can only use them to do one spell - Soul Burn. Soul Burn is a buff that changes your existing spells. Soul Burn + Fear = instant Fear. Soul Burn + Death Coil = longer duration and more healing.
You can use Drain Soul to recover a shard in combat.
Any non-combat spell that uses shards will no longer use shards.
Guild Levels - only the top 20 earners for the day will contribute the guild gaining levels. Which could be anyone. You get guild experience by players leveling, increasing professions, killing raid bosses or winning in PvP.
Also, there will be a guild news feed. Sort of like an active Message of the Day. If you kill a new raid boss that will be in the guild news feed.
All this information and everything else that is currently confirmed(number of new spells is not confirmed) is all around the internet.
Why would they want to make use of DirectX 11, when the majorty don't even use DirectX 10?
Some just have to complain about everything...
If that is so, both previous xpacks don't deserve that title either.
Ok you want Blizzard to overhaul their graphics engine to mimic what? AoC..........Aion.....what? Please stop already. WoW art style is based off Warcraft-RTS. And that decision came about from Blizzard devs looking at what an average player's PC could run smoothly while still giving a sense of being in a world based off Warcraft (funny how that sounds, huh?).
Seems to me that players want WoW's sense of huge seamless landscape scale, massive amounts of content or virtually lag-free sense of game play mechanics while wearing the skin of whatever current MMO tickles their fancy....sorry but Warcraft will be Warcraft and if you don't like the overall graphical style.....tough.
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
Warcraft will need a graphics engine update at some point by the time this xpacs out it will be 6 years old with each passing year it looks more dated . It looks ok at the moment but in two or three years its going to look very old . Its time they at least thought about updating the graphics engine before the game looks so dated people will head else where . Blizzard have resources applenty to start working on a new graphics engine .
I do take on board that WoW plays on very low spec pcs thats a good thing but there will come a point when the average low spec pc will play games with far more advanced graphics than WOW has now . Also would nt it be possible to allow players with lower spec pcs to have the option of playing with the old graphics ? Theres always ways around these things . I m not suggesting they change the graphical style either but you could improve an awful lot with an updated graphic engine within that style . I dont have a problem with it being toony some games try to look realistic and it backfires because the characters look like manaquins .
Blizz is already overhauling their models and animations and thats really all the game needs right now, the improvements we will see is probably on higher poly count rendering while keeping the same performance, usage of new technology to create better details and thats all they should do, two great examples are the DK Ghoul which is a totally improved ghoul from the classic one and the worgen models which are much more detailed, blizzard also mentioned that at some point they will revamp old models and races overtime to add the detail others have such as the ones I mentioned thats all they have to do, changing the gfx completely would kill the game for me, their stylized gfx are portrait exactly and fit into the lore.
Blizzard will likely never fully upgrade the graphics to modern standards. Which, I think, is fine.
However, Blizzard should at the least update all playable race models to current WoW standards.
Comparing the new Cataclysm male Goblin model to the male Orc model is simply jarring to say the least.
The playable race models are what we look at every day in game and are how we interact with the game.
Updating the current playable race models could also lead to further character customization(not on the scale of Aion, EQ2 or SWG but still more option would be great).