So best water in an MMO? I play EQ2 but the water is some of the worst in the genre in my opinion. I love Aion's water and Lord of the Rings Online has good water ( a little aged now) I think my favorite even though I do not play the game anymore is Guild Wars 2 I am loving Bless Online's water as well
I think your being a bit harsh on EQ2 the water up on those islands in the sky sorry forget their names is pretty good for a game that old .
For me best water is water I can swim into and go down and have breathing issues and there are mobs and dungeons underwater so Guild Wars 2, Everquest and EQ 2 . Is there underwater content in Archeage and Black Desert ?
So best water in an MMO? I play EQ2 but the water is some of the worst in the genre in my opinion. I love Aion's water and Lord of the Rings Online has good water ( a little aged now) I think my favorite even though I do not play the game anymore is Guild Wars 2 I am loving Bless Online's water as well
I'm not really interested in the water. I'm much more interested in the sky. The ONLY game where the stars twinkle, and the sun and moons move is EQ2. And both moons and stars reflect in the water too if you look at the right angle.
I'm not really interested in the water. I'm much more interested in the sky. The ONLY game where the stars twinkle, and the sun and moons move is EQ2. And both moons and stars reflect in the water too if you look at the right angle.
The ONLY you say, with stucked capslock? At first I just wanted to drop LotRO, but on a second thought TSW (and AoC) has it as well, even if the movement is not fluent, instead the sun "jumps" a bit every few minutes - it's a bit odd when suddenly you're in the shadows because the sun jumped and the building next to you now casts a slightly wider shadow... Oh, and there's STO, you can even visit those twinkle twinkles
But on a more serious note, check at least LotRO, before dropping an "only". LotRO has maybe the most elaborate day / night cycle, with weather, and fluent movement. Once I watched and screencapped a whole day, from sunrise to sunrise, for a timelapse... which is a lot, LotRO's full day is a bit above 3 hours. Totally worth it though, sunrise and sunset are awesome, especially with clear skies, but a cloudy sunset has its charms too. And at night you can find most major constellations mentioned in the books, so it's not just a random starry sky. Plus at night it's easier to notice as the (Middle-) earth rotates, due to the many stars behind reference points like trees. Still slow though, it's less than 2 degrees per minute (almost 190 minutes for a full 360 degrees rotation) It's more than simply cosmetics, day / night cycle affects some mobs, respawn rates, some quests, etc. Good example is the current Anniversary, the Bree firework show quest is only active during the night. Funny thing is, weather is a separate mechanic, which can lead odd results, like the famous (though rare) night-time rainbow (hey, nobody stated in the books that rainbows are caused by the sun, who knows, can be magic even)
I'm not really interested in the water. I'm much more interested in the sky. The ONLY game where the stars twinkle, and the sun and moons move is EQ2. And both moons and stars reflect in the water too if you look at the right angle.
The ONLY you say, with stucked capslock?
There's a difference here between what you mentioned and was was said about EQ2.
The games you mentioned generally uses a moving skybox and sun. MEanign most all of those visual assets exist on a fixed plane and fixed location as the skybox rotates (or jumps as is the case with TSW).
EQ2 did a lot with simulation of assets and breaking things down, though. This means a bit of difference for their skybox as they are rendering most of that stuff across layers that all move independent of each other. It's kind of a detail that's lost on most players, but it means that as the days progresses most of the visuals such as the planets in the sky and the stars, will move and rotate in a manner that emulates a real sky and system much more closely.
The water in EQ2, while not looking quite the best, is also a bit on the undervalued side as it was the first MMO to experiment more with real-time mesh deformation and water caustics. It was limited by both the hardware and the code at the time as they couldn't render a dynamic tide or water flow without crashing the entire server, but the simple level of making things like splashes into actual dynamic 3D deformations of the water's surface is an element that tends to go unnoticed. It gave physical property to the water that most all MMOs following didn't even try to do since it's the sort of graphical detail that, while an interesting step for simulation purposes, doesn't benefit the narrow focus that many players tend to exist in.
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin
And while skybox may seem a limited solution (though sun / moon and the stars are not glued together), they couldn't really use something different, since LotR cosmology (in the TA at least) is quite straightforward... so there's no need anything else beyond a star-map layer, and a sun / moon layer (which can be simplified as well, since Tilion can't get close to Arien, so no eclipses or even both being up at once).
I don't know about 'best' but BDO, trading means you get to travel a lot from town to town etc. But there is one particular view, when travelling from Olvia to Velia by wagon, the trail at one point takes you on a route that is following alongside the sea, and from on top of the cliffs overlooking the sea is honestly a very 'scenic' route, it isn't just a flat water surface but one that has swells, waves, seeing the waves lapping at the shore below me from the trail on the cliffs, it did impress me with how good it all looks, particularly as the view varies so much with the time of day and the weather.
I'm not really interested in the water. I'm much more interested in the sky. The ONLY game where the stars twinkle, and the sun and moons move is EQ2. And both moons and stars reflect in the water too if you look at the right angle.
The ONLY you say, with stucked capslock? At first I just wanted to drop LotRO, but on a second thought TSW (and AoC) has it as well, even if the movement is not fluent, instead the sun "jumps" a bit every few minutes - it's a bit odd when suddenly you're in the shadows because the sun jumped and the building next to you now casts a slightly wider shadow... Oh, and there's STO, you can even visit those twinkle twinkles
But on a more serious note, check at least LotRO, before dropping an "only". LotRO has maybe the most elaborate day / night cycle, with weather, and fluent movement. Once I watched and screencapped a whole day, from sunrise to sunrise, for a timelapse... which is a lot, LotRO's full day is a bit above 3 hours. Totally worth it though, sunrise and sunset are awesome, especially with clear skies, but a cloudy sunset has its charms too. And at night you can find most major constellations mentioned in the books, so it's not just a random starry sky. Plus at night it's easier to notice as the (Middle-) earth rotates, due to the many stars behind reference points like trees. Still slow though, it's less than 2 degrees per minute (almost 190 minutes for a full 360 degrees rotation) It's more than simply cosmetics, day / night cycle affects some mobs, respawn rates, some quests, etc. Good example is the current Anniversary, the Bree firework show quest is only active during the night. Funny thing is, weather is a separate mechanic, which can lead odd results, like the famous (though rare) night-time rainbow (hey, nobody stated in the books that rainbows are caused by the sun, who knows, can be magic even)
I've played LOTRO. Their sky is a joke. It's plain white dots. So nice try but no fly.
A surface with a water texture and a zonal trigger that gives everything under that surface texture it's properties.There is no distinct winner,they are all basically identical.Utilize some fog lighting and some splash sounds,pretty tough to leapfrog the competition in quality.
I would not go so far as to say "the best" but more so who covers the basic agenda expected from a water zone.As of this very moment my brain cannot think of any game that deserves recognition. I feel what is needed from water zones to really set them apart is physics and realistic ideas.Example propulsion ammo should take a hit in the water and of course Fire should not work and weapons should swing very slowly.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
When I think good water, I think Pirates of the Burning Sea. Sorry, throwback title.
Luckily, i don't need you to like me to enjoy video games. -nariusseldon. In F2P I think it's more a case of the game's trying to play the player's. -laserit
Limsa Lominsa is suitably impressive, especially once the weather effects pick up. The stars, moon, and sun move through the sky, there are falling stars periodically.
If you are just looking at water for the sake of looking at water though, I don't know - they all tend to get a very repetitive pattern to them if you are looking from a ways away, especially overhead. FFXIV only gets my vote because of the way it combines everything together with the weather and sky and everything, and the lore and locations blend in naturally with the environment in which they are located.
BDO for sure, recently took a fishing boat on a journey from Velia to Calpheon via Epheria, not a particularly long trip, but, it made me wish i had more time to explore as BDO is a very beautiful game, admittedly i was playing the game in 2k with graphics on max settings, the water effects are impressive, and steering a fishing boat is actually fun, or at least i found it so, particularly as its so 'scenic'. Would like to see more variety in ships though, fishing boats are fine and all, but, i'd really like to get my hands on one of the galleons!
Stagnant water isn't the only bar you should look at; what impresses me is realistic looking flowing water, and if we're talking about open seas, then cool looking white-capped waves that would affect your boat or your character. A bobbing effect, or swaying. I hate seeing waves on a beach be only a tiny frothy animation.
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At first I just wanted to drop LotRO, but on a second thought TSW (and AoC) has it as well, even if the movement is not fluent, instead the sun "jumps" a bit every few minutes - it's a bit odd when suddenly you're in the shadows because the sun jumped and the building next to you now casts a slightly wider shadow...
Oh, and there's STO, you can even visit those twinkle twinkles
But on a more serious note, check at least LotRO, before dropping an "only". LotRO has maybe the most elaborate day / night cycle, with weather, and fluent movement. Once I watched and screencapped a whole day, from sunrise to sunrise, for a timelapse... which is a lot, LotRO's full day is a bit above 3 hours. Totally worth it though, sunrise and sunset are awesome, especially with clear skies, but a cloudy sunset has its charms too. And at night you can find most major constellations mentioned in the books, so it's not just a random starry sky. Plus at night it's easier to notice as the (Middle-) earth rotates, due to the many stars behind reference points like trees. Still slow though, it's less than 2 degrees per minute (almost 190 minutes for a full 360 degrees rotation)
It's more than simply cosmetics, day / night cycle affects some mobs, respawn rates, some quests, etc. Good example is the current Anniversary, the Bree firework show quest is only active during the night.
Funny thing is, weather is a separate mechanic, which can lead odd results, like the famous (though rare) night-time rainbow
(hey, nobody stated in the books that rainbows are caused by the sun, who knows, can be magic even)
The games you mentioned generally uses a moving skybox and sun. MEanign most all of those visual assets exist on a fixed plane and fixed location as the skybox rotates (or jumps as is the case with TSW).
EQ2 did a lot with simulation of assets and breaking things down, though. This means a bit of difference for their skybox as they are rendering most of that stuff across layers that all move independent of each other. It's kind of a detail that's lost on most players, but it means that as the days progresses most of the visuals such as the planets in the sky and the stars, will move and rotate in a manner that emulates a real sky and system much more closely.
The water in EQ2, while not looking quite the best, is also a bit on the undervalued side as it was the first MMO to experiment more with real-time mesh deformation and water caustics. It was limited by both the hardware and the code at the time as they couldn't render a dynamic tide or water flow without crashing the entire server, but the simple level of making things like splashes into actual dynamic 3D deformations of the water's surface is an element that tends to go unnoticed. It gave physical property to the water that most all MMOs following didn't even try to do since it's the sort of graphical detail that, while an interesting step for simulation purposes, doesn't benefit the narrow focus that many players tend to exist in.
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin
And while skybox may seem a limited solution (though sun / moon and the stars are not glued together), they couldn't really use something different, since LotR cosmology (in the TA at least) is quite straightforward... so there's no need anything else beyond a star-map layer, and a sun / moon layer (which can be simplified as well, since Tilion can't get close to Arien, so no eclipses or even both being up at once).
I would not go so far as to say "the best" but more so who covers the basic agenda expected from a water zone.As of this very moment my brain cannot think of any game that deserves recognition.
I feel what is needed from water zones to really set them apart is physics and realistic ideas.Example propulsion ammo should take a hit in the water and of course Fire should not work and weapons should swing very slowly.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Luckily, i don't need you to like me to enjoy video games. -nariusseldon.
In F2P I think it's more a case of the game's trying to play the player's. -laserit
LOTRO:
Next is BDO
Archeage
Which do you like?
Limsa Lominsa is suitably impressive, especially once the weather effects pick up. The stars, moon, and sun move through the sky, there are falling stars periodically.
If you are just looking at water for the sake of looking at water though, I don't know - they all tend to get a very repetitive pattern to them if you are looking from a ways away, especially overhead. FFXIV only gets my vote because of the way it combines everything together with the weather and sky and everything, and the lore and locations blend in naturally with the environment in which they are located.
Would like to see more variety in ships though, fishing boats are fine and all, but, i'd really like to get my hands on one of the galleons!