Are you satisfied with WoW's graphics?

[Danifilth]

Vanilla graphics was easy on my eyes as a tank/dps melee but now it's all about glitter shiny seizure approved effects. but it may just be me since i'm color blind too many colors or faded clear mobs makes it hard for me to see. I have color blind mode on still doesn't help but the game is fine as it is the more high quality the more band it requires.

[Jevlin]

Needs a bit of polishing and renewing, otherwise it's fine.

[frogger237]

Im happy with it

[Heptium]

I find it's a little flashy sometimes. So many spell effects make for a good cluster of light.

[Keoren]

I think that graphically the cartoony and even slightly candy coloured style of World of Warcraft is quite fitting for the title. Sometimes it can be too flashy and the game is starting to show its age but I don't think that notably more realistic graphics such as those offered by many other games would suit it too as well.

If I was to improve something, it would be to make darkness a more notable element in the game. There is not a single place in the game world that is actually dark, except perhaps the Emerald Dragonshrine in End Time. This is a factor that I believe would hugely enhance my in-game experience and could be used to make areas such are Icecrown tad bit more threatening.

Some examples of how darkness might look like in World of Warcraft: http://imgur.com/a/XH1gS
I'm also including few resized examples below.


Mage Tower


Random Lamppost

[Chickat]

I think that graphically the cartoony and even slightly candy coloured style of World of Warcraft is quite fitting for the title. Sometimes it can be too flashy and the game is starting to show its age but I don't think that notably more realistic graphics such as those offered by many other games would suit it too as well.

If I was to improve something, it would be to make darkness a more notable element in the game. There is not a single place in the game world that is actually dark, except perhaps the Emerald Dragonshrine in End Time. This is a factor that I believe would hugely enhance my in-game experience and could be used to make areas such are Icecrown tad bit more threatening.

Some examples of how darkness might look like in World of Warcraft: http://imgur.com/a/XH1gS
I'm also including few resized examples below.


Mage Tower


Random Lamppost

I can see how things could be darker, but thats just WAY TO DARK.

[Archeus9]

Yes, i'm. Personaly i like them more than newer MMOs graphics. I'm glad that WoW have it's own cartoonish style and isn't another "Almost Real-Life Graphic MMO no. 47". I play WoW since EU release and if they suddenly drastically changed graphics, i think that i couldn't enjoy WoW as much as i enjoy it now.

[Ashrr]

That pic looks TERRIBLE imho but that just me.

Agreed.

Personally, I think WoW looks much better than many games out there today. Great visuals don't always require the highest polygon count or whatever. Sometimes, simply things such as the right shade of colour can go a long way. Pandaria is breathtaking IMO. Sure if you zoom in all the way, you're gonna find plenty of things that look dated because they are. However, at a common camera zoom level, everything blends in beautifully.

On a similar note, I think Quake 3 Arena still looks better than most new first person shooters and vastly better than its own sequel, Quake 4.

[shammypowa]

WoW's stylized graphics are part of its charm and feel and I've never had an issue with it. My only gripe is how severely outdated the player models are compared to the rest of the updated world. It's tolerable but its long due for an update, but that's nothing new.

[Vargas]

Yes.

With games like WoW art style is more important that sheer graphical power. I'd much rather have a game that runs silky smooth than a game that looks bleeding edge.

[Keoren]

I can see how things could be darker, but thats just WAY TO DARK.

I used it as an example of how the game could support the concept. Darkness is a powerful tool and should be used for nights and certain areas to create a more immersive game world.

Personally I find the examples to be fittingly dark for the nighttime, but I can understand that for most people that would simple be too much. Frankly just about anything is better than the current way of giving everything a blue hue and possibly changing the skybox and leaving it at that.

[velde046]

I was wondering how many people are happy with wows graphics, and if some people even prefer it to newer games.

I prefer it to newer games any day of the week. The cartoony and colourful graphics are great.

[Duridi]

If I was to improve something, it would be to make darkness a more notable element in the game. There is not a single place in the game world that is actually dark, except perhaps the Emerald Dragonshrine in End Time. This is a factor that I believe would hugely enhance my in-game experience and could be used to make areas such are Icecrown tad bit more threatening.

Honestly, I would hate that. Would definitly require a feature to turn that off completely to keep it as it is now, if that were to be added. Dark games just makes me want to log off. Say Skyrim for example... I feel the gameplay is completely amputatet every time day turns into night. It's like I can't do shit when it's dark. It's just awfull in every single way. No, WoW has managed to tune day/night perfectly in my opinion. I like to actually see the enviroment no matter what hour it is.

[feangren]

I like them more then most newer mmos.
Some point of views in MoP are stunning.

[Cephilia]

I like WoW's artstyle a lot, but I would like to see some upgrades on the older models (no completely new models like making dwarves skinny or something else stupidly different, but uprades to panda level). I think the artstyle is one of the reasons why WoW holds up so well: if you try be realistic, you just can't achieve so realistic graphics that I'd buy it's real. WoW doens't even try to look realistic, so it doesn't get outdated that fast, and it's easier to buy some more unrealistic things. When you are playing a cartoon zombie you are more inclined to accept impossible things than when someone actually tries to tell you dragons are real in this world that's otherwise exactly like ours.

[Nyxxi]

I prefer having wow graphics with no loading screens when going between zones than better graphics and having loading screens everywhere.

[zyx]

They could improve the graphics but:
It would cause a large number of the players incapable of playing because of their low end computers.
It would take one hell of a time to redo every texture and model. Would probably be faster to make wow 2.0 instead.
It would destroy the Warcraft art style.

[dragothica]

I kind of like them, the game has an art style which is easy to identify as WoW at first glance. I was also guesting in Krasarang Wilds yesterday and noticed that shadows from the world objects (trees) are actually cast on character models now, haven't noticed that ever before. Of course some racial models and textures are pretty bad but otherwise I'm very content with WoW's graphics style.

Also, I think they should at least make an option which would increase the view distance significantly, like double the current maximum. For example in SW I could see all the way to the mountains behind SW, now I just see a fog taking over on the furthest corners of the city.

[Surfd]

An intersting question here: How many people who knock the graphics are actually running the game at 100% full spec? Max textures, max shadows, max effects, max draw distance, etc?

I am willing to bet a lot of people dont know how good WoW really looks when you push it to the limit of a modern video card.

Sure, I will admit, some things definately need an update (the trees mentioned on the first page area good example), but overall, I really like WoWs aesthetic look.

[Sareth]

I don't think WoW looks bad graphically or aesthetically. The majority of the game looks pretty good, and in the spots were the textures are much less refined I don't mind it too much. Where I do notice problems though is in fines like a dwarfs face, it's just ugly in both texture and aesthetics.