As a game designer and computer animator i can tell you what the OP calls "graphics" are the same in 04 than in 09.. The only things that changed are the textures.. with better detail, contrast and resolution, but in the end the same engine
depends how you look at it ... game engine is essentialy the same, yet between the release and expansion 1 and 2, they certanly managed to optimise how some things work and learn from their own work/mistakes, so that they in fact increased the poly count and how detailed the textures are, plus they added some additional effects that surfaced in that time, which means the graphics are better.
If you compare content created when wow came out with Burning Crusade and Wrath, there is a definitive, undeniable progress.
what they did not change is the style, which I don't really expect them to change as it is one of the features. Wow has a certan look to it regardless of poly count. Some people love it and some don't.
I personally think that wow designers are the best at creating so much with so little, meaning that on ridiculously small poly count and no half of the effects we consider the norm today, they are capable of creating a very marquant enviroments and characters with tons of attention to detail. Not to say that the animation is far above everything else in the MMO department, as just about every game that I played after wow seemed stiff untill I got used to it so I can ignore it.
Yeah i agree with what you said.
Blizzard are pushing their engine pretty hard. I notice lots of optimization since the game was released
What i noticed the most in the last expansion was the textures, the quality of work was much better. DETAIL! is all in the little details.
Also better use of color
If you watch The Karate Kid backwards it's about this karate champ that just kinda slowly becomes a pussy and ends up moving back to Jersey
Yeah i agree with what you said. Blizzard are pushing their engine pretty hard. I notice lots of optimization since the game was released What i noticed the most in the last expansion was the textures, the quality of work was much better. DETAIL! is all in the little details.
Also better use of color
Of course they need more colors now for all the rehashed recolored old gear models
Comments
depends how you look at it ... game engine is essentialy the same, yet between the release and expansion 1 and 2, they certanly managed to optimise how some things work and learn from their own work/mistakes, so that they in fact increased the poly count and how detailed the textures are, plus they added some additional effects that surfaced in that time, which means the graphics are better.
If you compare content created when wow came out with Burning Crusade and Wrath, there is a definitive, undeniable progress.
what they did not change is the style, which I don't really expect them to change as it is one of the features. Wow has a certan look to it regardless of poly count. Some people love it and some don't.
I personally think that wow designers are the best at creating so much with so little, meaning that on ridiculously small poly count and no half of the effects we consider the norm today, they are capable of creating a very marquant enviroments and characters with tons of attention to detail. Not to say that the animation is far above everything else in the MMO department, as just about every game that I played after wow seemed stiff untill I got used to it so I can ignore it.
Yeah i agree with what you said.
Blizzard are pushing their engine pretty hard. I notice lots of optimization since the game was released
What i noticed the most in the last expansion was the textures, the quality of work was much better. DETAIL! is all in the little details.
Also better use of color
If you watch The Karate Kid backwards it's about this karate champ that just kinda slowly becomes a pussy and ends up moving back to Jersey
Its a bit like looking at the face on Mars is nt it ? You see what you want to see .
Of course they need more colors now for all the rehashed recolored old gear models