Some of us are talking about low-poly, some about the style of the graphics.
The low-poly rants are coming from people with better-than-average PCs. It's time these people realised that MMOs aren't built for the top 10% who all have GeForce 8800s and Core2Quad Extreme CPUs.
OMG! He has been at my house..................NOT!!!
just so you know i have a 6000 series card with a Duel core processor [2.3 Ghz].
Also no matter what you say it still doesnt change the fact that WoW's graphics engine is seriously out of date.
Another great example of Moore's Law. Give people access to that much space (developers and users alike) and they'll find uses for it that you can never imagine. "640K ought to be enough for anybody" - Bill Gates 1981
Also no matter what you say it still doesnt change the fact that WoW's graphics engine is intentionally out of date.
Fixed that for you. WoW's graphics, as stated here many times, enable 1000's of people to play the game that can't play another MMO on the market today. Additionally, by putting more focus on art direction, they still remain "pretty" (regardless of personal preference).
p.s. If it helps, graphics have absolutely nothing to do with the 96 reasons I don't play WoW.
they way they made wow look its to let people play on old or low end pc simple and sweet but this will hurt them in the end when new real time animation and real time enviromental damage games come out they will have to redo alot or come out with a wow2 to keep up with the new power that pc can use
do you know how many times I've heard people on forums like this try and inform us all what is going to "hurt WoW in the end!"...guess what, the number of NEW subscribers...not total subscribers...just NEW ones...that WoW adds every year is about equal to the total population of 5 other major MMO's combined.
I don't like the game, I don't play the game, I don't even think it's a good game...but it's really time to realize, what you think doesn't jibe with the general public or the numbers.
Well.. it is quite dated, the polygon restrictions, texture restrictions, no shaders etc. They should update the game's graphics to the current standards.
You know it, the best way to realize your dreams is waking up and start moving, never lose hope and always keep up.
Also no matter what you say it still doesnt change the fact that WoW's graphics engine is intentionally out of date.
Fixed that for you. WoW's graphics, as stated here many times, enable 1000's of people to play the game that can't play another MMO on the market today. Additionally, by putting more focus on art direction, they still remain "pretty" (regardless of personal preference).
p.s. If it helps, graphics have absolutely nothing to do with the 96 reasons I don't play WoW.
Oh yea i quite agree with this statement that WoW's graphics allow more people to play WoW, and the art style does make the most of the level of detail the graphics engine is capable off. My post however was more aimed at those who say that WoW's graphics are the best etc [such as the OP's post], Now while i have no problem with other people having such an opinion as it is there opinion not everyone agrees that WoWs graphics are the best.
I merely state my reasons why.
Another great example of Moore's Law. Give people access to that much space (developers and users alike) and they'll find uses for it that you can never imagine. "640K ought to be enough for anybody" - Bill Gates 1981
Well.. it is quite dated, the polygon restrictions, texture restrictions, no shaders etc. They should update the game's graphics to the current standards.
Just as soon as you give me a single reason why other than "you just think they should"...
If 1% of the WoW population plays on a system anywhere near the current system requirements, and I'd almost guarantee it's a helluva lot more, virtually any upgrade will mean the loss of 100,000 current subscribers and an additiona 10,000 new subs a year.
And they should do this because a handful of elite gamers who know what a graphics card is think they should?
Well.. it is quite dated, the polygon restrictions, texture restrictions, no shaders etc. They should update the game's graphics to the current standards.
I think they are planning to by adding reflections and shadows in there next expansion.
Not sure how it would effect the older zones tho.
Another great example of Moore's Law. Give people access to that much space (developers and users alike) and they'll find uses for it that you can never imagine. "640K ought to be enough for anybody" - Bill Gates 1981
Some of us are talking about low-poly, some about the style of the graphics.
The low-poly rants are coming from people with better-than-average PCs. It's time these people realised that MMOs aren't built for the top 10% who all have GeForce 8800s and Core2Quad Extreme CPUs.
Well, actually, Vanguard did that and look where it got them. Also EQ2 to some extent.
Newsflash: your average WoW player doesn't have an uber machine. Because of this, they don't care about "low-poly" this and "HQ AAx16" that. If you really want to play a game which is all eye-candy, then Crysis does quite well in that department.
Seriously, your average gamer doesn't blow $1000 on a gaming PC and $$$ more upgrading year. Catering to the people that do (hello Vanguard, again) results in disaster.
You forgot the other big group, those with über-1337 machine's, and spending less than €1000! 'Investing' in Nvidia/Intel will cost you a lot, yes... Aiming for the people with good machine's excludes the 'PWNZ0RZ' as they prefer spending their money on foolish mobile phone ringtones. Or who are afraid of buying good machines, because of their image at school....
And WoW is a perfect example of it. I think we can all agree WoW has pathetic community, everybody should agree on that. That's the curse of good graphical engines... low req -> pathetic players. Another example, Guild Wars, BY FAR the best engine I've ever seen. Requires as good as nothing, and their current 'breaking the language zones' or something similar is by far one of the best systems I saw. And what's the result? The über-PWNZ0RZ invade it... Yet the funniest of those people roam around in the f2p PvP-based games. L2 private servers, Fury, etc. I saw my first Xa0! spike a few days ago, from a 'player' who was begging for money in Fury. Divine... ^^
You know it, the best way to realize your dreams is waking up and start moving, never lose hope and always keep up.
Well.. it is quite dated, the polygon restrictions, texture restrictions, no shaders etc. They should update the game's graphics to the current standards.
Just as soon as you give me a single reason why other than "you just think they should"...
If 1% of the WoW population plays on a system anywhere near the current system requirements, and I'd almost guarantee it's a helluva lot more, virtually any upgrade will mean the loss of 100,000 current subscribers and an additiona 10,000 new subs a year.
And they should do this because a handful of elite gamers who know what a graphics card is think they should?
please.
A lot of people would quit, yes. But they'd also gain other players, and according to player forums, opinions etc. The community and graphics are the biggest problems with WoW
You know it, the best way to realize your dreams is waking up and start moving, never lose hope and always keep up.
Perhaps you are intended to focus less on the bling and more on the function of items (armor, weapons, etc.,..)?
As for how the cities and terrain look... could've been done better, for sure. I think Blizz does a great job of creating a 'feel' for an environment or area, but the overall appearance and functionality of certain areas really don't jive that well.
Capital Cities and 'players':
I see a lot of people out and about in cities... but where do they 'live'? Perhaps that's not a 'graphics issue'? But if the buildings were larger and/or the Inn's had more than 3 beds or 3 rooms... I might believe these 'capital cities' could house '10,000,000' players.
...
I dislike the fact that I can't recolor armor to match. Nothing worse than wearing 'clown' gear. How are you really supposed to feel like some kick ass warrior wearing multi-color-rainbow'esque armor?
How hard would it to be to allow crafters to make armor recolor kits so that players could actually like the gear they are levelling in? Plus, let the tailors, leather workers, and blacksmiths/armorsmiths make some coin off of selling the kits. If you can apply stats to weapons and armor with kits now and you can modify the appearance of a weapon wtih an enchant... why not allow this?
Anyway... side-tracked...
First note when I saw WoW was that Blizz fired former employees of Crayola. Looked like the entire art team threw out technology and used crayons.
Again, it took some time for the game to 'grow' on me.
A lot of people would quit, yes. But they'd also gain other players, and according to player forums, opinions etc. The community and graphics are the biggest problems with WoW
I'm pretty sure that Blizzard, in fact, achieved a billion dollars in annual sales by basing their entire business model off of player forums...
Let me say this again...slowly...
WoW has no biggest problem...they have 10 million subscribers...they may not have your 15 bucks a month, but that's hardly a problem or a reason to change a single thing.
Originally posted by Vincenz A lot of people would quit, yes. But they'd also gain other players, and according to player forums, opinions etc. The community and graphics are the biggest problems with WoW
I'm pretty sure that Blizzard, in fact, achieved a billion dollars in annual sales by basing their entire business model off of player forums...
Let me say this again...slowly...
WoW has no biggest problem...they have 10 million subscribers...they may not have your 15 bucks a month, but that's hardly a problem or a reason to change a single thing.
get it yet?
Yeah, I get it and second it. Man it's great to be practical. Too many (forum outspoken) elitist, art house characters in the MMO community as a whole who are over thinking the "player plays a game process".
For me it's either play what they give you or don't. As far as complaints go...well, everyone is entitled to have an opinion, problem is that if it's not brought about in a positive manner then no one gives a shit. Certainly not I. If it goes beyond constructive criticism, You are just wasting your breath.
I have been thinking this for a long time, with the over abundance of these sort of threads. If you don't like what a game company is offering you beyond the small changes that could be made...DON"T PLAY IT<~~>GO AND MAKE YOUR OWN GAME. Think you could do better, Don't talk about it...Be about it.
Jeez, people need to throttle back and enjoy what has been given to you and stop taking the work behind any of the projects for granted which is exactly (from what I see), 95% of the threads are on this site or any site like it.
Maybe I'm easily amused but I enjoy the graphics in WoW. I remember the first time I went on a flight after I upgraded my comp. I was amazed! Sure there are games out there that do it better but the game is visually stimulating. I like the colors, style and theme of the different areas.
Personally, I think the graphics in WoW are tremendous - a powerful infusion of character into rather simple drawings. From a design point of view, WoW is extraordinary, IMO.
If only they could keep the sense of discovery alive at end game... but having played countless hours of the thing, I certainly got my money's worth.
You forgot the other big group, those with über-1337 machine's, and spending less than €1000! '
It's not a big group. It's less than 10%, most likely.
Hundreds of thousands of machines are sold each year. By far the majority of those machines are sold to people who have no idea what a graphics card is. These people can play WoW. They do play WoW.
Blizzard has ensured that practically anyone who hears about their game can go out and buy a copy, and it will run. And that policy has worked fantastically well for them. In fact, I'd be tempted to say it's as much the reason for their subscriber numbers as the design of the game itself.
Comments
just so you know i have a 6000 series card with a Duel core processor [2.3 Ghz].
Also no matter what you say it still doesnt change the fact that WoW's graphics engine is seriously out of date.
Another great example of Moore's Law. Give people access to that much space (developers and users alike) and they'll find uses for it that you can never imagine. "640K ought to be enough for anybody" - Bill Gates 1981
and yet somehow, 10 million people don't seem to mind.
Fixed that for you. WoW's graphics, as stated here many times, enable 1000's of people to play the game that can't play another MMO on the market today. Additionally, by putting more focus on art direction, they still remain "pretty" (regardless of personal preference).
p.s. If it helps, graphics have absolutely nothing to do with the 96 reasons I don't play WoW.
they way they made wow look its to let people play on old or low end pc simple and sweet but this will hurt them in the end when new real time animation and real time enviromental damage games come out they will have to redo alot or come out with a wow2 to keep up with the new power that pc can use
do you know how many times I've heard people on forums like this try and inform us all what is going to "hurt WoW in the end!"...guess what, the number of NEW subscribers...not total subscribers...just NEW ones...that WoW adds every year is about equal to the total population of 5 other major MMO's combined.
I don't like the game, I don't play the game, I don't even think it's a good game...but it's really time to realize, what you think doesn't jibe with the general public or the numbers.
Well.. it is quite dated, the polygon restrictions, texture restrictions, no shaders etc. They should update the game's graphics to the current standards.
You know it, the best way to realize your dreams is waking up and start moving, never lose hope and always keep up.
Fixed that for you. WoW's graphics, as stated here many times, enable 1000's of people to play the game that can't play another MMO on the market today. Additionally, by putting more focus on art direction, they still remain "pretty" (regardless of personal preference).
p.s. If it helps, graphics have absolutely nothing to do with the 96 reasons I don't play WoW.
Oh yea i quite agree with this statement that WoW's graphics allow more people to play WoW, and the art style does make the most of the level of detail the graphics engine is capable off. My post however was more aimed at those who say that WoW's graphics are the best etc [such as the OP's post], Now while i have no problem with other people having such an opinion as it is there opinion not everyone agrees that WoWs graphics are the best.I merely state my reasons why.
Another great example of Moore's Law. Give people access to that much space (developers and users alike) and they'll find uses for it that you can never imagine. "640K ought to be enough for anybody" - Bill Gates 1981
Just as soon as you give me a single reason why other than "you just think they should"...
If 1% of the WoW population plays on a system anywhere near the current system requirements, and I'd almost guarantee it's a helluva lot more, virtually any upgrade will mean the loss of 100,000 current subscribers and an additiona 10,000 new subs a year.
And they should do this because a handful of elite gamers who know what a graphics card is think they should?
please.
Not sure how it would effect the older zones tho.
Another great example of Moore's Law. Give people access to that much space (developers and users alike) and they'll find uses for it that you can never imagine. "640K ought to be enough for anybody" - Bill Gates 1981
Just so we're clear here...
You can play WoW right now...With Burning Crusade...on a Pentium 3 800 Mhz, 512 megs of RAM, and a 32 meg 3d graphics chip.
Stop lieing. Everyone doesn't hate it.
Futilez - Mature MMORPG Community
Correcting people since birth.
And WoW is a perfect example of it.
I think we can all agree WoW has pathetic community, everybody should agree on that. That's the curse of good graphical engines... low req -> pathetic players. Another example, Guild Wars, BY FAR the best engine I've ever seen. Requires as good as nothing, and their current 'breaking the language zones' or something similar is by far one of the best systems I saw. And what's the result? The über-PWNZ0RZ invade it... Yet the funniest of those people roam around in the f2p PvP-based games. L2 private servers, Fury, etc. I saw my first Xa0! spike a few days ago, from a 'player' who was begging for money in Fury. Divine... ^^
You know it, the best way to realize your dreams is waking up and start moving, never lose hope and always keep up.
Just as soon as you give me a single reason why other than "you just think they should"...
If 1% of the WoW population plays on a system anywhere near the current system requirements, and I'd almost guarantee it's a helluva lot more, virtually any upgrade will mean the loss of 100,000 current subscribers and an additiona 10,000 new subs a year.
And they should do this because a handful of elite gamers who know what a graphics card is think they should?
please.
A lot of people would quit, yes. But they'd also gain other players, and according to player forums, opinions etc. The community and graphics are the biggest problems with WoW
You know it, the best way to realize your dreams is waking up and start moving, never lose hope and always keep up.
WoW's graphics grow on you.
I had to warm up to them myself.
Perhaps you are intended to focus less on the bling and more on the function of items (armor, weapons, etc.,..)?
As for how the cities and terrain look... could've been done better, for sure. I think Blizz does a great job of creating a 'feel' for an environment or area, but the overall appearance and functionality of certain areas really don't jive that well.
Capital Cities and 'players':
I see a lot of people out and about in cities... but where do they 'live'? Perhaps that's not a 'graphics issue'? But if the buildings were larger and/or the Inn's had more than 3 beds or 3 rooms... I might believe these 'capital cities' could house '10,000,000' players.
...
I dislike the fact that I can't recolor armor to match. Nothing worse than wearing 'clown' gear. How are you really supposed to feel like some kick ass warrior wearing multi-color-rainbow'esque armor?
How hard would it to be to allow crafters to make armor recolor kits so that players could actually like the gear they are levelling in? Plus, let the tailors, leather workers, and blacksmiths/armorsmiths make some coin off of selling the kits. If you can apply stats to weapons and armor with kits now and you can modify the appearance of a weapon wtih an enchant... why not allow this?
Anyway... side-tracked...
First note when I saw WoW was that Blizz fired former employees of Crayola. Looked like the entire art team threw out technology and used crayons.
Again, it took some time for the game to 'grow' on me.
I'm pretty sure that Blizzard, in fact, achieved a billion dollars in annual sales by basing their entire business model off of player forums...
Let me say this again...slowly...
WoW has no biggest problem...they have 10 million subscribers...they may not have your 15 bucks a month, but that's hardly a problem or a reason to change a single thing.
get it yet?
Let me say this again...slowly...
WoW has no biggest problem...they have 10 million subscribers...they may not have your 15 bucks a month, but that's hardly a problem or a reason to change a single thing.
get it yet?
Yeah, I get it and second it. Man it's great to be practical. Too many (forum outspoken) elitist, art house characters in the MMO community as a whole who are over thinking the "player plays a game process".
For me it's either play what they give you or don't. As far as complaints go...well, everyone is entitled to have an opinion, problem is that if it's not brought about in a positive manner then no one gives a shit. Certainly not I. If it goes beyond constructive criticism, You are just wasting your breath.
I have been thinking this for a long time, with the over abundance of these sort of threads. If you don't like what a game company is offering you beyond the small changes that could be made...DON"T PLAY IT<~~>GO AND MAKE YOUR OWN GAME. Think you could do better, Don't talk about it...Be about it.
Jeez, people need to throttle back and enjoy what has been given to you and stop taking the work behind any of the projects for granted which is exactly (from what I see), 95% of the threads are on this site or any site like it.
Maybe I'm easily amused but I enjoy the graphics in WoW. I remember the first time I went on a flight after I upgraded my comp. I was amazed! Sure there are games out there that do it better but the game is visually stimulating. I like the colors, style and theme of the different areas.
-Almerel
Hello my old friend.
Personally, I think the graphics in WoW are tremendous - a powerful infusion of character into rather simple drawings. From a design point of view, WoW is extraordinary, IMO.
If only they could keep the sense of discovery alive at end game... but having played countless hours of the thing, I certainly got my money's worth.
Hundreds of thousands of machines are sold each year. By far the majority of those machines are sold to people who have no idea what a graphics card is. These people can play WoW. They do play WoW.
Blizzard has ensured that practically anyone who hears about their game can go out and buy a copy, and it will run. And that policy has worked fantastically well for them. In fact, I'd be tempted to say it's as much the reason for their subscriber numbers as the design of the game itself.