World of Warcraft Fan Server Turtle WoW Aims to Bring WoW an Unreal Engine 5 Upgrade | MMORPG.com

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World of Warcraft Fan Server Turtle WoW Aims to Bring WoW an Unreal Engine 5 Upgrade | MMORPG.com

Turtle WoW, a private World of Warcraft server, is bringing WoW into the modern era with an Unreal Engine 5 upgrade.

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Kumapon

10 mins after this was posted. Blizzard gave a C/D to the team..lol

Wargfoot

I always wonder why the original studios don't do this sort of work.

You've got Outlands for UO - doing more than broadsword ever will.
You've got these guys for Wow - again, doing more than the developers.

How do you have millions of players and millions coming in and not do a graphics upgrade and work to keep the game current and huge for additional years to come?

Xiaoki

Wargfoot said:

I always wonder why the original studios don't do this sort of work.

You've got Outlands for UO - doing more than broadsword ever will.
You've got these guys for Wow - again, doing more than the developers.

How do you have millions of players and millions coming in and not do a graphics upgrade and work to keep the game current and huge for additional years to come?

Because changing graphics engines isn't a simple copy paste job.

Blizzard would have to hire a whole new team to switch WoW to UE5 which would take a lot of manpower and money. Microsoft might give them the money for it, because Activision Blizzard sure wasn't.

But, then, Microsoft would probably just tell them that the game runs fine as is and doesn't need to spend a bunch of money to upgrade.

Also, they would need to change the systems that interact with the graphics engine like Battle.Net

When you have an army of volunteers and whenever as a deadline these things seem easier.

Angrakhan

well, also keep in mind Blizzard/MS won't want to spend money to license UE5 when they already have a functioning engine they wrote in-house and they already own. However, nothing is stopping them from adding the advanced lighting features which looks like the only thing Turtle Wow is really leveraging from UE5. The models and textures are exactly the same.

Also, LOL:

Video unavailable This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Blizzard Entertainment

Angrakhan

Updated link to the video which Turtle Wow moved to their own website for hosting to get around the YouTube ban: https://turtle-wow.org/watch/turtle-wow-2-0-powered-by-unreal-engine

Sovrath

Wargfoot said:

I always wonder why the original studios don't do this sort of work.

You've got Outlands for UO - doing more than broadsword ever will.
You've got these guys for Wow - again, doing more than the developers.

How do you have millions of players and millions coming in and not do a graphics upgrade and work to keep the game current and huge for additional years to come?

The thing is that World of Warcraft has had graphical updates. 

Blizzard keeps the graphics at a level where most people can run the game.

StoneRoses

I thought they already did with Tarisland?

Dattelis

lol 'fan server' just fucking call it what it is, a PRIVATE SERVER, which this site used to be against promoting, but those were the old days. I guess Project Ascension will start getting coverage too with their Conquest of Azeroth 'fan server' right?

Vagabondo

Sovrath said:

Wargfoot said:

I always wonder why the original studios don't do this sort of work.



You've got Outlands for UO - doing more than broadsword ever will.

You've got these guys for Wow - again, doing more than the developers.



How do you have millions of players and millions coming in and not do a graphics upgrade and work to keep the game current and huge for additional years to come?

The thing is that World of Warcraft has had graphical updates. 

Blizzard keeps the graphics at a level where most people can run the game.

That's the logic they follow. The gamer base is not composed of only Western Europe and North American gamers. That is only circa 40%. The rest of the players run WoW on a Potato.

Blizz knows that

Quizzical

Wargfoot said:

I always wonder why the original studios don't do this sort of work.

You've got Outlands for UO - doing more than broadsword ever will.
You've got these guys for Wow - again, doing more than the developers.

How do you have millions of players and millions coming in and not do a graphics upgrade and work to keep the game current and huge for additional years to come?

A games official developers have to officially support a lot of different hardware and it has to work right on everything that they support.  If a private server tries something and it makes the game run poorly or not at all on the hardware that half of the game's players run, then oh well.  It's just a private server.  If the officially launched game does that and suddenly half of their players can't play, then that's a catastrophe.

Dattelis

Quizzical said:

Wargfoot said:

I always wonder why the original studios don't do this sort of work.



You've got Outlands for UO - doing more than broadsword ever will.

You've got these guys for Wow - again, doing more than the developers.



How do you have millions of players and millions coming in and not do a graphics upgrade and work to keep the game current and huge for additional years to come?

A games official developers have to officially support a lot of different hardware and it has to work right on everything that they support.  If a private server tries something and it makes the game run poorly or not at all on the hardware that half of the game's players run, then oh well.  It's just a private server.  If the officially launched game does that and suddenly half of their players can't play, then that's a catastrophe.

Partly true. If these private server guys are able to do the core thing of this supposed graphic update (which is for it to be a toggle option, not really a 'one-size-fits-all' approach) then it kind of leaves Blizzard with less public excuses outside of just not wanting to invest the money. If SE did that approach with their new DT graphical upgrade (making it a toggle instead of forced), they'd have less blowback atm.

KnightFalz

Dattelis said:

Quizzical said:

Wargfoot said:

I always wonder why the original studios don't do this sort of work.



You've got Outlands for UO - doing more than broadsword ever will.

You've got these guys for Wow - again, doing more than the developers.



How do you have millions of players and millions coming in and not do a graphics upgrade and work to keep the game current and huge for additional years to come?

A games official developers have to officially support a lot of different hardware and it has to work right on everything that they support.  If a private server tries something and it makes the game run poorly or not at all on the hardware that half of the game's players run, then oh well.  It's just a private server.  If the officially launched game does that and suddenly half of their players can't play, then that's a catastrophe.

Partly true. If these private server guys are able to do the core thing of this supposed graphic update (which is for it to be a toggle option, not really a 'one-size-fits-all' approach) then it kind of leaves Blizzard with less public excuses outside of just not wanting to invest the money. If SE did that approach with their new DT graphical upgrade (making it a toggle instead of forced), they'd have less blowback atm.

Blizzard needn't make excuses. If considered it will be on the basis of whether spending the money to do so is worthwhile. If they don't feel it will in some way boost their profitability they likely won't bother.

Valdheim

This is by far my favourite WoW private server and this announcement and demonstration just made me hyped af! This is the graphics update I've always wanted, keep the charm while providing better lighting. It looks beautiful!

KnightFalz

Super73 said:

Wargfoot said:

I always wonder why the original studios don't do this sort of work.



You've got Outlands for UO - doing more than broadsword ever will.

You've got these guys for Wow - again, doing more than the developers.



How do you have millions of players and millions coming in and not do a graphics upgrade and work to keep the game current and huge for additional years to come?

This is why you're a nobody who's never made anything. And they are the most successful studio in the world. COPE

What are your grand achievements?

Gorwe

KnightFalz said:

Dattelis said:

Quizzical said:

Wargfoot said:

I always wonder why the original studios don't do this sort of work.



You've got Outlands for UO - doing more than broadsword ever will.

You've got these guys for Wow - again, doing more than the developers.



How do you have millions of players and millions coming in and not do a graphics upgrade and work to keep the game current and huge for additional years to come?

A games official developers have to officially support a lot of different hardware and it has to work right on everything that they support.  If a private server tries something and it makes the game run poorly or not at all on the hardware that half of the game's players run, then oh well.  It's just a private server.  If the officially launched game does that and suddenly half of their players can't play, then that's a catastrophe.

Partly true. If these private server guys are able to do the core thing of this supposed graphic update (which is for it to be a toggle option, not really a 'one-size-fits-all' approach) then it kind of leaves Blizzard with less public excuses outside of just not wanting to invest the money. If SE did that approach with their new DT graphical upgrade (making it a toggle instead of forced), they'd have less blowback atm.

Blizzard needn't make excuses. If considered it will be on the basis of whether spending the money to do so is worthwhile. If they don't feel it will in some way boost their profitability they likely won't bother.

Tbh, I am tired of taking filthy rich people's needs, wants and goals into consideration. It's such an one way street, feels almost like a hostage situation.

Kothoses

Money alone is not the reason Blizzard havent done this, that much is for sure.

When deciding where to focus developers a studio will look at the following

Impact on the game - What will it bring will it get people excited, get people talking/streaming (free marketing and the most powerful there is)

Return on investment - this is the money side, if we put the man hours into this, what is it going to get us back.

Opportunity cost - If Blizz have 200 devs (number pulled out of my backside) and it takes 40 to work on this for a year, that means those Devs cant be working on something else. What other stuff could those 40 devs make in that time, would that be more impactful and offer a bigger impact and ROI.

Game development is rarely as simple as just throwing money/resources at a problem, and there is a strange comparison with real life to be made.

When you are young, lets say a student, you have plenty of free time but cant afford to do all the things you want, same when you are a small indie dev, you have the time to invest but not always the money.

When you are older, working a regular job, meeting family and social commitments etc, you have disposable income, but only so many hours in a day.

Same when you are a big triple A studio.

If the 40 devs needed to make this happen, could also make a Housing system, or some other highly requested feature, or 2 new battlegrounds, 2 new dungeons or maybe Guild halls, but you can only have one thing, which would it be?

KnightFalz

Wargfoot said:

I always wonder why the original studios don't do this sort of work.

You've got Outlands for UO - doing more than broadsword ever will.
You've got these guys for Wow - again, doing more than the developers.

How do you have millions of players and millions coming in and not do a graphics upgrade and work to keep the game current and huge for additional years to come?

The original studios will only do it if they see it as profitable. Those operating private servers are driven by passion so make different choices.

KnightFalz

Gorwe said:

KnightFalz said:

Dattelis said:

Quizzical said:

Wargfoot said:

I always wonder why the original studios don't do this sort of work.





You've got Outlands for UO - doing more than broadsword ever will.


You've got these guys for Wow - again, doing more than the developers.





How do you have millions of players and millions coming in and not do a graphics upgrade and work to keep the game current and huge for additional years to come?

A games official developers have to officially support a lot of different hardware and it has to work right on everything that they support.  If a private server tries something and it makes the game run poorly or not at all on the hardware that half of the game's players run, then oh well.  It's just a private server.  If the officially launched game does that and suddenly half of their players can't play, then that's a catastrophe.

Partly true. If these private server guys are able to do the core thing of this supposed graphic update (which is for it to be a toggle option, not really a 'one-size-fits-all' approach) then it kind of leaves Blizzard with less public excuses outside of just not wanting to invest the money. If SE did that approach with their new DT graphical upgrade (making it a toggle instead of forced), they'd have less blowback atm.

Blizzard needn't make excuses. If considered it will be on the basis of whether spending the money to do so is worthwhile. If they don't feel it will in some way boost their profitability they likely won't bother.

Tbh, I am tired of taking filthy rich people's needs, wants and goals into consideration. It's such an one way street, feels almost like a hostage situation.

Did you ever? Most put priority on their own needs or that of their loved ones. Where companies seek to maximize profits consumers seek to maximize the value they get for their money. Our entire economy is primarily motivated by the self-interest of all parties involved.