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Outdated graphics?
vikingur112
Member Posts: 12
Well as the title says "outdated graphics?" i have recently started playing again since 2006, i see NO improvements on the visual, side? is the game coded in such a way that it is nearly impossible to update it's graphics.?
Some say that updating wow's graphics will cause it to loose its charm grittyness and that stuff alike, i myself have found wow's texture flat and dull and really would like to see some improvements on the visual side? is that going to happen in cataclysm?
Comments
why fix what's not broken? they are not going to invest any more money than they need to to keep it running/keep the players in game. the subscription #'s they have dont warrent them to make any visual changes at all.
I've started thinking about that question too. Although when you think about it, the game is 5 years old now.
Admittedly some of the new Lich King content is alot more impressive, especially the Death Knight intro and armour. They're re-doing all of the old world in Cataclysm so I'd like to thing there's going to be some sprucing up to
Ofcourse it's not broken i wasn't implying that. it is though true what your'e saying? but if you look at the game it's graphics is somewhat "old"
Sure they dont need to invest money but well as i am i like to have my games a little shiny
I don't see there being a complete graphical overhaul any time soon, but there have definately been improvements in the last few years.
As for Cataclysm: "There will be incremental tweaks and updates to the graphics engine in this expansion"
Playing: EVE, Final Fantasy 13, Uncharted 2, Need for Speed: Shift
The graphics the way it is now...won't be long before you can play this on your iPhone.
Well that's what i thought.
I don't see there being a complete graphical overhaul any time soon, but there have definately been improvements in the last few years.
As for Cataclysm: "There will be incremental tweaks and updates to the graphics engine in this expansion"
If I remember correctly, all they did in Wrath was add dynamic shadows and create better rock/snowy mountain textures for Northrend. I wouldn't expect anything impressive in Cataclysm, and certainly not a graphical overhaul like you said. I'm sure the Worgen and Goblin starting areas will have better graphics, but not by much. Personally, I'd rather see Blizzard improving their character models (making sure Draenei don't have shoulders 3x the width of their waists, for example) and such before implementing hardware changes, like more advanced textures or lighting.
Already done.
An Iphone application, well i dont see that coming in the near future unless the iphone gets a dedicated graphics driver
There have been updates, mostly changing the way NPC trolls look etc. but I wouldn't be expecting a graphics upgrade til the next expansion. Blizz wants to keep their market share and a game, guessing 7 years old at that point, will need a bit of a graphics update to stay competitive. However they have to be really careful not to fall into something like UO ran into where they need to run two engines to keep customers happy or change things so drastically that they alienate a good percentage of the player base. Then there is the obvious, making sure whatever they do change will still run on most systems WoW can run on today. I wonder how feasible a steady update over the course of a year or so would be. It might keep WoW players oblivious enough to the changes that there wouldn't be a full on revolt.
Played in some form:
UO til tram, AC, EQ, AO, WW2O, PS, SB, CoH, AC2, Hor, LoTRO, DDO, AoC, Aion, CO, STO
Playing: WoW (for gf), WAR
Waiting For: SWTOR, FFXVI
Hoping For: DCUO, Secret World, Earthrise
-S- (UO Sonoma)
WoW has some really great graphics in some places, and old ones in others (Northrend and Classic Azeroth respectively)
If you want to see outdated graphics, look no further than the WoW ripoff that is gathering attention as pure plagarism (it shall remain nameless, but I'm pretty sure some people can figure it out)
Since when is Tuesday a direction?
Well, WoW's graphics is a good example of graphics aging well. Despite not using cutting-edge graphics and a fairly low polycount, it looks acceptable. We're surely far away from zomgwtfawesome, but it's cute and comic'y and it has some charm.
If you want outdated and bad looking, take a look at AO.
It's quite ok, and what's important, it runs on non-cutting edge machines. You can take a 3 year old maching and run WoW with high details and it won't grind to a slideshow.
Updating the graphics has only positive effects nothing bad.The easiest thing is to add a hi resolution pack that uses nothing but hi res textures/skins.This does not mean you do not have to use it,it just means Blizzard cares about their product and the players to give them QUALITY for all the money they receive from their followers.
As far as coding,you mean the game engine,the limitations would be technical such as limited size of texture probably 512x512,physics limitations,things like shaders SHOULD be possible ,i mean they are dated as far back as 1995.
EQ2 released with high quality graphics and definitely had the exact same time frame to complete the game as did Blizzard with WOW,EQ2 actually released a few weeks earlier,so Blizzard had no excuses.
The early excuses were that Blizzard was trying to keep down the poly counts for low end machines,witch is total rubbish.The reason this is 100% false is because the biggest platform of gamers was at the time console players on the Playstation,so if they really cared about reaching out to more players,it would have been released on the Playstation or Xbox as was FFXI.
Actually other than compression methods,FFXI has about the exact same quality graphics as WOW,witch is pretty sad for Blizzard.Like i said just because you up the QUALITY of your game ,does NOT limit the player base,this is why you have sliders so players can adjust the games quality to meet their PC.
Bottom line is updating the graphics is costly and most developers shun the idea,because you cannot charge the players for it,Blizzard is just being cheap considering the money they have made off this game.There has been TONS of developers updating their graphics even the cheap Runescape did it ,heck even EQ2 recently did it,cheap games like Second life type games have been doing it.There is NO EXCUSE for Blizzard,they are just dam cheap because the player base is too dumb to know the power they have over Blizzard.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
They have been adding more effects to the game like dynamic shadows and they will most likely add more stuff like that, that is easy to do.
Adding more polygons is a very different matter. First of all was the original engine written by Jeff Strain, and he hasn't worked for Blizz since long before the game even released. Remaking someone else code is really hard and Strain is one of the best there is, finding someone that can do that without changing the entire thing calls for a true master programmer.
Secondly, even if they find a master programmer (they surely have the cash to hire in one) it will take a lot of work, the question is if it wouldn't be better to make a Wow 2 instead. You had to remake all textures in the game into high resolution textures, that is a lot of hard work for many people.
The newer areas are made by using the engine better than they did in the early days, it is like comparing an early Amiga game with a late one, you learn to use the stuff you have better with experience and things will look better without a revamp.
If I would be Morhaime, would I revamp the graphics? No, I think Wow 2 would make more money for the effort I would put into it. It would have the possibility to fix all small things that can´t really be changed now, rebalancing the classes (all older MMOs classes tends to be more off after a few expansions) and old players that are burnt out would most likely return, a GFX update wouldn't have that effect.
Wow is aging, and upgrading it too much could turn it into a different game. Blizz is still making a fortune off it so fixing it while they still earn a lot is very risky, if they make a follow up that doesn't work that good they still have the original.
But it is clear that 5 years is a lot for any game so if I would be Blizzard I would both work on our new game and also start on Wow 2 to have it done 5 years from now or so instead of starting a revamp and have it fixed up in 2 years. A new engine have many advantages in the long run, one with Dx 11 support from the start.
Wrath introduced hi-res textures on new stuff, realtime dynamic shadows and longer draw distance. (all to be added to 1-60 azerth come cataclysm).
Sounds like ya still kicking around 1-60 azeroth that is 5 years old now, try going to outlands and even northrend and if you cannot see a gfx improvement then I suggest you update your hardware and/or go into the settings and crank them up.
If you have a decent PC and dont like the look of northrend on full settings then quit WoW now, other than new water effects theres little gfx changes to the engine come cataclysm.
For me Wow looks great.. far better then uncanny EQ2,AoC and so on. But its subjective, poly counts, shader 3.0 and Dx11 tech does not mean a game has better gfx just that it uses newer tech.
Hi-res textures
Dont be afriad of colour
A winter wonderland
Still very blocky there, almost tetris like.
Hum.... some how what you see must be somthing like below, I have 2 suggestions.
1. check your hardware
2. book a visit to your nearest opticians
The graphics have gotten improved over the years that is a fact. I guess you could say the graphics are out dated compared to AoC. I don't think its the graphics people dislike its the actual art style. People like different things, I really wasn't all into the cartonish art style of WoW, but yet I like Fallen Earths art style. People say its graphics are outdated which they may be, but I like how it looks just how a ton of people like how WoW looks.
I think graphics and gameplay should go hand in hand, a nice balance of both. But Im willing to see less eyecandy for better gameplay and thats why people still play WoW.
Hum.... some how what you see must be somthing like below, I have 2 suggestions.
1. check your hardware
2. book a visit to your nearest opticians
LOL
touché
wow looks alright for what it is, and the art style has stayed true to the whole series. I prefer other graphical art styles but it is true that WoW has and will age well (kind of like Borderlands).