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The burning crusade graphics are stunning. Why cant SoE games....
Solusek
Member Posts: 280
Right off the back yes i play WoW, iam no mean a fan i play it because i find it fun, hell i even play UO time to time because its fun. Now that i said that WoW TBC graphics are beautiful played at max settings the mix of cartoony + realism is just great. Now heres what i dont understand, EQ2 and Vanguard SOH im sure with graphics maxed up are very beautiful as well but whats with the extreme need for a good computer?
Iam running WoW TBC with a ati radeon 9550, pent 4 3.0 processor, 1 gig of ram and i run WoW with everything on max and it runs sooo smooth i never lag and many places in WoW is overpopulated wether its bloodelves or draenei i still get no lag.
Though with EQ2 and im sure vanguard is even worse i just run on med settings which looks pretty bad but the lag and the choppyness is intense. Does SOE/sigil not have a good engine?
Iam running WoW TBC with a ati radeon 9550, pent 4 3.0 processor, 1 gig of ram and i run WoW with everything on max and it runs sooo smooth i never lag and many places in WoW is overpopulated wether its bloodelves or draenei i still get no lag.
Though with EQ2 and im sure vanguard is even worse i just run on med settings which looks pretty bad but the lag and the choppyness is intense. Does SOE/sigil not have a good engine?
Im bringin sexy back.
Comments
Vanguard runs great on my PC (high settings).
i cannot compare it to Burning Crusade though, as i do not have the game.
WoW did a smart thing - they used the an art style to hide the limitations of their technical cap. WoW models and areas are very well done, but they are done in an art style that allows for less detail.
SOE usually takes more of a "realism" style, which is much harder to pull of in a world that, well, isn't real. Some of the Vanguard screenshots are beautiful, and even looking back to EQ the original, some of the newer work is very cool - but it's trying to mirror real life, which is tougher than mirroring a cartoon.
Other game companies have different styles...a lot of the web based games use the chibi-anime style, while NCSoft's Lineage II and upcoming Aion are the more realistic, more artsy anime style. I think it's really just a matter of user taste - what would you rather?
Laura "Taera" Genender
Community Manager
MMORPG.com
Im bringin sexy back.
But WoW is aesthetically pleasing. All the technological bells and whistles don't mean a damn thing if the final product looks thrown together and utterly lifeless. The problem with Vanguard and EQ2 is that they try so hard to look "real" that every single flaw sticks out like a sore thumb. Maybe it's the Uncanny Valley, but it certainly isn't pleasing to look at or immersive by any stretch of the imagination.
How do you kill that which has no life?
WoW....
There's got to be some connection with the lowercase O ....
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MMOs Retired From: Earth and Beyond, Project Entropia, There, A Tale in the Desert, Star Wars Galaxies, World of Warcraft, Eve Online, City of Heroes/Villains.
MMOs Currently (worth) Playing: None.
MMO hopefuls: Age of Conan.
You also need to remember the WoW engine is 2 years old and can be improved should blizz see a need (i dont see a need), they have ramped up the poly count in TBC, going to places such the eco-domes, they opened up the enviroments more so you can see more. On my radeon 9600Pro laptop I need to reduce my view distance to 50% to get a good 20-25fps in most places in outlands.
Take into account the style of WoW gfx and protected shadows would look wrong, a mild HDR would be nice, but the gfx have never been an issue for me. where as VG I just dont believe the world, be honest with your selves it looks like pastic, If using all these fancy HDR and specular stuff does that then you can keep it.
I cant play a game if I cannot gell with the world or beleive the world.
Serious death penalties makes every close call an adrenaline rush, and every minor achievement a major victory. This alternative rule-set should be in all MMORPGs.
"Before this battle is over all the world will know that few...stood against many." - King Leonidas
I never liked the look of WoW. I prefer the real look. WoW was never immersive for me.
But, art is a matter of personal taste.
Wow = sat morning cartoons
EQ2 and VG = a live action fantasy movie.
Just my opinion though
The reason WOW runs so well is because it doesn't require much from the video card or the CPU.
WOW is a fun starter MMO but it's low tech plain and simple. Now if you appreciate it's art style cool you certainly have that right. Let's be real here though, WOW is nothing to be brag on in 2007 from a graphical or technical standpoint..
You know there are those who prefer Mustangs to Lamborghinis and that is their opinion.
However the FACT is Lamborghini is a far superior automobile..see my point?
EQII, and Vanguard are far superior MMO's both graphically and technically regardless of personal opinions.
But by all means let's continue to applaud those who set the technoligy bar low.
Good grief we'd all still be flying in Bi-planes.
Dutchess Zarraa Voltayre
Reborn/Zero Sum/Ancient Legacy/Jagged Legion/Feared/Nuke & Pave.
Sony of Entertainment
World online Warcraft
make your choice
You also need to remember the WoW engine is 2 years old and can be improved should blizz see a need (i dont see a need), they have ramped up the poly count in TBC, going to places such the eco-domes, they opened up the enviroments more so you can see more. On my radeon 9600Pro laptop I need to reduce my view distance to 50% to get a good 20-25fps in most places in outlands.
Take into account the style of WoW gfx and protected shadows would look wrong, a mild HDR would be nice, but the gfx have never been an issue for me. where as VG I just dont believe the world, be honest with your selves it looks like pastic, If using all these fancy HDR and specular stuff does that then you can keep it.
I cant play a game if I cannot gell with the world or beleive the world.
WoW's engine is much older then two. It's the unreal enginge and if you wanna know what can be done with the unreal engine then take a look at EQ2 with all setting cranked. WoW isn't the best in coding simplisity either, nor was the engine as smooth at release as it was today.
People continue to look at VG and its performance at this stage and want to compare it to a engine that has had 2 years of optimization.
Even on balanced setting I think VG looks far better then WoW running at max. The use of ambiance and detail to the surroundings make the world come to life.
WoW has acomplished what they wanted from the engine they chose to use, but I could never shake that they style and direction that they chose was never original from the beginning. Unreal engine and Warhammer art, not even the engine and style is original to Blizzard, guess that's why every other aspect of the game is just a knock off of someone elses ideas, but then most MMO's are.
A simple, low polygonal, unoriginal, unimaginetive world in my opion doesn't make up for better performance.
Game was still fun for the better part of 2 years
can you give some better reasoning behind your thoughts?
WoW's success does not mean every single other MMO out there sucks.
I think the basic thing here is WoW has GREAT art direction. SoE games generally lack that, instead they focus on 'realism' instead of style (See: SWG, EQ2). Realistic gfx takes high system specs. As the above poster said, Bliz made a good choice for getting beginers into their game.
I have noticed a trend starting though, when you look at games like Sword of the New World (and to a MUCH lesser extend Pirates of the Caribbean), these games have a strong sense of style AND realism but with low performance specs. I can't really say how SoNW is doing it but I just saw a vid of a guy with a P3 2.2 and a 64meg Video card running it and it looked almost as good as the high end renderings and SS that have been put out (Ill go and find the youtube link now).
In reality more games need to do that. Be accessible by low end systems and have the dynamic power to be awesome on high end systems. Lord of the Rings Online right now has a FANTASTIC sytle, and a BEAUTIFUL game. Putting the High Res client on Ultra High and you feel like you are ACTUALLY IN Middle Earth. They are overcoming this by have 2 clients. 1 High Res and 1 Low Res. So the graphics nuts get what they want and people on crap machines and still access the game.
Its a great trade off, but in general, a game cannot do well unless the appeal to both sides of the aisle and 'Why can't SOE get it right?' isn't fair to SOE (and trust me I am NOT a SOE fanboi).
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Bartle Test Breakdown: Achiever 20.00%, Explorer 86.67%, Killer 26.67%, Socializer 66.67%
I find it amazing that by 2020 first world countries will be competing to get immigrants.
There isn't because the "O" in SOE shouldn't be lower case
Sony Online Entertainment
World of Warcraft
The reason WOW runs so well is because it doesn't require much from the video card or the CPU.
WOW is a fun starter MMO but it's low tech plain and simple. Now if you appreciate it's art style cool you certainly have that right. Let's be real here though, WOW is nothing to be brag on in 2007 from a graphical or technical standpoint..
You know there are those who prefer Mustangs to Lamborghinis and that is their opinion.
However the FACT is Lamborghini is a far superior automobile..see my point?
EQII, and Vanguard are far superior MMO's both graphically and technically regardless of personal opinions.
But by all means let's continue to applaud those who set the technoligy bar low.
Good grief we'd all still be flying in Bi-planes. In case you missed these points, a thing like Art also has to do with graphics. A think like world terrain, detail, all has to do with graphics. Everquest 2 only has a powerfull engine, but it seriously lacks in things like detail and art compared to WoW. Saying that its fact is ignorant. If it really was fact, then reviewers would have put Everquest 2 above WoW in the graphical department, yet we see the opposide happen.
While not not going for realism like EQII & Vanguard the art style/direction of those titles is fantastic.
People hammer EQII and Vanguard for trying to do much and to some extent maybe they have.
However the same hammer must be dropped on WOW for doing far to little then trying to passing it off as artistic.
Especially when newer titles are light years ahead using an artistic style instead of realism..
Dutchess Zarraa Voltayre
Reborn/Zero Sum/Ancient Legacy/Jagged Legion/Feared/Nuke & Pave.