C2 Duo E8400 CPU/Radeon HD4870 owner asks for lower quality WoW graphics

[Sturmbringe]

C2 Duo E8400 CPU/Radeon HD4870 owner asks for lower quality WoW graphics b/c his machine can't cope

I really didn't believe my eyes when I saw that the thread of the owner of an ancient C2D from 2007/2008 and a 512MB Radeon 4XXX series GPU made headlines today at MMO Champion.

Hi.

Since we are being blessed with new character models (Which can be disabled? Yes, no?) in WoD, will we need more "bang" in our computers?

Currently I am playing on a more than 5 years old machine with a Radeon HD4870 512MB (GPU) and a
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz 6MB (CPU) and I am quite satisfied with it's performance in 10-mans, LFR and flex (13-14).

However, I am quite useless on Ordos and Sha since my frame rates dips to 1-10 FPS.

Will the new models cause even more problems in world bosses and even in regular raids?
Shall I start looking for a new computer or should I stick with the one I have?

Not only that but, a Blizzard employee wasted some of their time to respond to the above owner of the vintage hardware, and promised that Blizzard will do everything in their power to reduce as much as possible the quality of WoW graphics, so that the above mentioned vintage hardware owner may run WoD in their obsolete system.

we are reducing the amount of visual clutter that currently fills every fight where a lot of players are involved.
Less sparkly stuff flying around means better video performance for everyone.

You'd think that maybe Blizzard would consider to spectacularly increase the graphics quality of their ancient 2002 graphics engine to match the capabilities of modern hardware and other modern games such as Skyrim, Crysis, and SWTOR.

Instead, the thread of a Core 2 Duo owner makes headlines and I imagine that the whole Tech Department at Blizzard California is sweating as we speak trying to find ways to make WoD run at a Core 2 Duo at 30 FPS.

I am one of the people who think that a return back to the roots is good for WoW, but for heaven's sake nobody who is sane wants to return to the Core 2 era and the era of 512MB GPUs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For f*ck's sake Blizzard, this person owns a 2006 GPU!

I thought that they were going to significantly improve WoW graphics quality with WoD. Now I see that they will insist on the same old 2004 textures.

Are they completely out of their mind at Blizzard? Wtf are they smoking?

[JemiS]

As the owner of "vintage" hardware, and the member of several raiding guilds full of people running similar "vintage" hardware, I'm quite glad they're doing this. Personally, I raid on a 2010 Mac Mini, and it runs the game fine for me. Previously I was running it on an old gaming rig from 2005. And I have guildies with older computers than that.

The top end graphics in WoW are great, and quite demanding. Keeping a lower threshold for people running older hardware is great- the accessibility of WoW to a wide variety of players (hardware, skill, time commitment) is what's kept it so popular over the years.

Would a number of people probably upgrade to play WoW? Sure. But you'd also lose a lot of people who wouldn't.

[Shamanberry]

He was pointing out that they will include the option to use old models/reduce graphic quality/etc, to allow those with older hardware to play. Go try it out right now - there is a massive difference in quality between minimal and max graphic settings, and that difference will only grow in WoD.

As for the spell clutter... that's more of a gameplay issue than a graphic one. While it looks pretty standing back and watching a video, it's confusing in the heat of combat and makes it hard to see what's going on - particularly for melee classes. They're not cutting the graphic quality of spell effects, they're just getting rid of or toning down other people's spell effects that you don't have any reason see all the time so that you can, perhaps, see other things (like your own character).

[zhero]

he didn't say anything about reducing the graphics quality, only the amount of clutter in high population areas, this means they are dealing with things like excessive spell particles. other games already do similar by switching to lower res models.

[willtron]

If it affects higher end rigs, then you have a right to complain, but the gfx engine is bloody old you cant compare it to Crysis. At the same time, there has to come a point when old is too old, blizzard need to stop trying to make everyone happy. However, WoW has always been about catering to a large range of rigs.

I doubt this one guy has Blizzards tech sweating.

[Sturmbringe]

The issue here, as I see it, is that the thread of a vintage C2D/Radeon 4XXX owner asking for lower quality graphics makes headlines and attracts blue responses, whereas a thread by an Intel Core i7 4770k Haswell/Nvidia GTX 780TI owner asking for better graphics didn't.

I mean, 2008 called, but we ARE in 2014, aren't we? Other games phase out Core 2's (they are not listed in the minimum req's even) and yet at Blizzard a post by a Core 2 Duo owner elicits a half-page long blue response apologizing b/c the game moves forward?

[twiddler]

C2 Duo E8400 CPU/Radeon HD4870 owner asks for lower quality WoW graphics b/c his machine can't cope

I really didn't believe my eyes when I saw that the thread of the owner of an ancient C2D from 2007/2008 and a 512MB Radeon 4XXX series GPU made headlines today at MMO Champion.



Not only that but, a Blizzard employee wasted some of their time to respond to the above owner of the vintage hardware, and promised that Blizzard will do everything in their power to reduce as much as possible the quality of WoW graphics, so that the above mentioned vintage hardware owner may run WoD in their obsolete system.



You'd think that maybe Blizzard would consider to spectacularly increase the graphics quality of their ancient 2002 graphics engine to match the capabilities of modern hardware and other modern games such as Skyrim, Crysis, and SWTOR.

Instead, the thread of a Core 2 Duo owner makes headlines and I imagine that the whole Tech Department at Blizzard California is sweating as we speak trying to find ways to make WoD run at a Core 2 Duo at 30 FPS.

I am one of the people who think that a return back to the roots is good for WoW, but for heaven's sake nobody who is sane wants to return to the Core 2 era and the era of 512MB GPUs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For f*ck's sake Blizzard, this person owns a 2006 GPU!

I thought that they were going to significantly improve WoW graphics quality with WoD. Now I see that they will insist on the same old 2004 textures.

Are they completely out of their mind at Blizzard? Wtf are they smoking?

No offense, but I think that Blizzard has a better argument than you do. Unfortunately, they create games for PCs. They want to maximize the market cap and to do so, they need their game to run on a broad range of machines. They can make their game as polished as you want but one thing is for certain, the market would not be as big as they want.

[Xucuroz]

You are reading too much into it. Reducing visual clutter doesn't mean they are dumbing down the graphics or making it worse. Most this talk applies to the low graphics setting, something i don't think most of us running high or ultra need to worry about). WoD will have graphical enhancements, just like every expansion. Relax.

[Illiterate]

The issue here, as I see it, is that the thread of a vintage C2D/Radeon 4XXX owner asking for lower quality graphics makes headlines and attracts blue responses, whereas a thread by an Intel Core i7 4770k Haswell/Nvidia GTX 780TI owner asking for better graphics didn't.

I mean, 2008 called, but we ARE in 2014, aren't we? Other games phase out Core 2's (they are not listed in the minimum req's even) and yet at Blizzard a post by a Core 2 Duo owner elicits a half-page long blue response apologizing b/c the game moves forward?

Why do you care what others are running? Obviously the guy with the gtx780 won't have problems running the game, so why should they waste time reassuring him?

[twiddler]

What I wonder is what does their research tell them? How many people actually leave because the game isn't graphically as amazing as their competition? How many players of amazing looking games actually continue to play these games?

My guess based on their presentation of WoD at BlizzCon is that Blizzard has identified the social aspect of the game to be the most important of all their researched variables.

[Illiterate]

What I wonder is what does their research tell them? How many people actually leave because the game isn't graphically as amazing as their competition? How many players of amazing looking games actually continue to play these games?

My guess based on their presentation of WoD at BlizzCon is that Blizzard has identified the social aspect of the game to be the most important of all their researched variables.

Graphics were never the selling point of wow

[Shamanberry]

The issue here, as I see it, is that the thread of a vintage C2D/Radeon 4XXX owner asking for lower quality graphics makes headlines and attracts blue responses, whereas a thread by an Intel Core i7 4770k Haswell/Nvidia GTX 780TI owner asking for better graphics didn't.

Those two things are hardly comparable.

Reducing graphic quality is mostly a matter of turning things off. It's not like they're doing extra work to have lower graphic quality - they're just giving the option to use the lower-polygon character models (which already exist), not to turn on dynamic shadows or procedural lightning (which is a matter of just skipping using the features), reduce the draw distance (a number change), lower resolution etc, etc.

Improving graphic quality is a matter of spending months on new artwork and effects.

[Deleted]

It's not even anything to do with Graphics Quality, its CPU Usage that is causing the low FPS!

I played WoW on a AMD Netbook, it had a GPU that's far beyond the HD4870. The Dual Core CPU however was (According to benchmarks) half the performance of a 2.6Ghz Core 2 Duo. I could not get above 14-15fps, no matter what I did. Even 800x600 with Lowest Graphics Settings (Same applied for increasing Graphics Settings) WoW CPU Usage was 98% in Task Manager.
I did not install any Addons either.

That person with the Core 2 Duo should spend €50 on eBay for a Core 2 Quad CPU/Motherboard (Or better, a modern Quad Core is not expensive). But some people just never want to upgrade. I wonder if the poster would expect PS4 games to run on a PS2?!

[mistahwilshire]

This doesn't change anything for people that want to crank the game on ultra. We're still getting a pretty fantastic looking game (relative to WoWs age). All this means is that setting your game to low for people on low end machines (imagine that) will get decent results.

The high end is still improving. Not getting weaker.

[twiddler]

It's not even anything to do with Graphics Quality, its CPU Usage that is causing the low FPS!

I played WoW on a AMD Netbook, it had a GPU that's far beyond the HD4870. The Dual Core CPU however was (According to benchmarks) half the performance of a 2.6Ghz Core 2 Duo. I could not get above 14-15fps, no matter what I did. Even 800x600 with Lowest Graphics Settings (Same applied for increasing Graphics Settings) WoW CPU Usage was 98% in Task Manager.
I did not install any Addons either.

That person with the Core 2 Duo should spend €50 on eBay for a Core 2 Quad CPU/Motherboard (Or better, a modern Quad Core is not expensive). But some people just never want to upgrade. I wonder if the poster would expect PS4 games to run on a PS2?!

Those actually price around $200, main board and CPU. For whatever reason, eBay traders seem to illogically disobey economics when in comes to outdated computer parts. That is a pretty bad deal whereas some of the last gen AMD combos are cheaper.

[mistahwilshire]

It's not even anything to do with Graphics Quality, its CPU Usage that is causing the low FPS!

I played WoW on a AMD Netbook, it had a GPU that's far beyond the HD4870. The Dual Core CPU however was (According to benchmarks) half the performance of a 2.6Ghz Core 2 Duo. I could not get above 14-15fps, no matter what I did. Even 800x600 with Lowest Graphics Settings (Same applied for increasing Graphics Settings) WoW CPU Usage was 98% in Task Manager.
I did not install any Addons either.

That person with the Core 2 Duo should spend €50 on eBay for a Core 2 Quad CPU/Motherboard (Or better, a modern Quad Core is not expensive). But some people just never want to upgrade. I wonder if the poster would expect PS4 games to run on a PS2?!

The MMO genre as a whole is largely CPU bound. That's nothing new. If you want to play MMOs on good settings then you need a good CPU.

[Kezotar]

You're aware of that the 8400 with a aftermarket cooler can be clocked to 4,0GHZ. Regardless two cores, it can run WoW at MAXIMUM with no performance issue? I've got the CPU, tried it with a noctua aftermarket cooler and it's a beast. Only downside is two cores, meaning you cannot do much more than gaming and not operate more things.

What I think blizzard meant with that is that when players tune to "Low Quality" it tears more of the graphics down and makes it more compatible for older PCs, not that they will reduce the overall graphics.

Oh, btw, if you think it's mandatory to spend up to thousand or more on a battle station to be able to play a game you're totally wrong. That would mean gaming is quite a EXPENSIVE hobby if you have to buy new PC parts at 1250 USD give or take every 2-3 years. That's 420 USD a year, + add subscriptions on all games, costs on games. Yepp.

Either way, don't worry OP. Stop being a dramaqueen. Blizzard isn't tuning down their graphics, it's just when you select the lower options that you have a chance to "skip" the new effects.

Blizzard is a company. They expect to make money, not to please super graphic guys.
- They got a large playerbase and know that not EVERYONE has the best PC therefor they have to take that into consideration.
- Blizzard wont force their players to upgrade their PCs unless their PC is ANCIENT, which is not in this case.
- They can't just restrict the game for probably up to a million players. I got friends who play on their school laptops, they get really few FPS, however they still play.

If you paid too much for your PC and are sad that you can't use it all, well cry somewhere else because you knew what you got yourself into when you got something more than a :

Cheap i5
Nvidia 650/660 non TI or Eq for Radeon r7 260x.
4 GB ram.

Everything more than that was in vain, sorry.

[Sturmbringe]

Those actually price around $200, main board and CPU. For whatever reason, eBay traders seem to illogically disobey economics when in comes to outdated computer parts. That is a pretty bad deal whereas some of the last gen AMD combos are cheaper.

Thank God, Core 2's and Intel P45 Express motherboards still sell quite well. The reason e-bay prices are so high is that there still is a substantial demand for them.

For a reason nobody can quite fathom, many Core 2 owners would rather buy a high end Core 2 Quad to replace their own low-end Core 2 than an Haswell i3 and an H87/B85 mobo.

I sold my own Core 2 PC on e-bay last Xmas.

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650=136 GBP
Asus P5Q Deluxe (Intel P45 Express)= 85 GBP
8 GB DDR2 1100 MHz Memory= 95 GBP

Total: 316 GBP/382 Euro

This is madness of course, yet there are so many ppl who want to buy the above that we can sell them at exorbitant prices.

The high end is still improving. Not getting weaker.

They way I see it, Blizzard care too damn much for people with ancient and low end hardware. I am not sure there are many C2 owners left at this stage, so they should rather focus on improving the game for SB, IB and Haswell owners.

[acphydro]

I wonder if that means I can play on my SlotA athlon 700mhz or my pentium2 450mhz.

[Deleted]

Why doesn't he just play the game at lower settings?