Engineer's Workshop: Extended Draw Distance

[Alfakennyone]

Not sure I like the changes, The fog starts noticeably closer giving things a much duller feel even if you can see farther

Not sure what you're looking at but the fog starts a lot further, hence, increasing the draw distance

[Asotcha]

Not sure what you're looking at but the fog starts a lot further, hence, increasing the draw distance

After placing the before and after pics on separate tabs so i could compare full size images one after the other and really looking closely, I see what he means. For example, notice that in the 'old' picture of the Vale, the trees are brighter and clearer looking (even if you can't see as far in the distance), and in the Icecrown comparison, the snowy edges of the zone were brighter white and clearer when closer to the player, whereas in the new one that same area looks like a dreary mess consistently as it goes into the background.

While its true that Icecrown is a dreary mess in the first place and that its kind of the point of the zone, we see another example of this exact same effect in the Crystalsong comparison. Notice how the snowy mountain cliffs closer to the viewer in the old one is crisp and white and clear, and in the 'new' one it is much more toned down and muted.

My armchair guess is that this was a bid to try and shoot for a gradual shift of what we see in the background compared to what we see up close, in an effort to move away from 'blocky' shifts in perception. That stuff exists for a reason though, and we gotta see the stuff around us with brightness and clarity before we can worry about the shrubs and bushes a couple miles off. The tech is very nice and cool, but it may benefit people if they're able to use their graphics settings to customize stuff, if possible.

[Balir]

Looks good. Now if I had one of those handy dandy beta invite thingys, I'd gladly test it out!

[tangers58]

IN other words graphics are going to be worse again... but really its all for the player's benefit!

[grexly75]

Well even better now with this latest build they have finally put in the zone music for those zones that didn't have it yet.. And I can tell you the music in Stormheim is awesome reminds me so much more of Howling Fjord now.. And the weather effects are way cool in that when it rains it rains hard during the thunderstorm..

Oh and yeah the armor items you get from some of the world quests have had an ilevel boost..

[Kryos]

I would like to see an option to turn off the fog. I prefer to see the clipping over having this mist all over the screen.
At least start the fog way back in the distance like other games do it. Examples:

[Deleted]

Not sure I like the changes, The fog starts noticeably closer giving things a much duller feel even if you can see farther

Its like in real life now you see far/more but the details pop in as you come closer to a specific object.It use to be you see less but detailed.

[Mormolyce]

It's a big improvement, I wonder if they'll increase the monster draw distance as well.

[Shadow Fox]

Think it should be somewhat noted that they are only increasing the "Default" draw distance, or even the adjustable draw distance in the menu's... You've always been able to extend it farther beyond what the Game menu has; Same goes for Camera Distance. Before Draenor, max was 7. Legion was 10. Highest allowable is 50.

Same goes for Graphic settings / blood effects / and particle effects. :S

[Deleted]

When you think about it in context of games released in recent 3 or 4 years it was actually really bad. We know, we know, it's an old game. And was still bad.

And this upgrade just seems to just adapt some default limiters to growing hardware performance again, rather than fixing the poorly optimized code to make better (or actually any use) of current hardware potential of 'modern' computers built after the year 2010.

[TheDeeGee]

Not sure I like the changes, The fog starts noticeably closer giving things a much duller feel even if you can see farther

Not sure what you're looking at but the fog starts a lot further, hence, increasing the draw distance

I think he/she means the effect of the Fog has been stretched out.

Like so:



Which means it does indeed start closer than before, but it takes a longer distance before the whole strength covers the scene.

[Nevcairiel]

Yeah that's nice, I mean just adding in the interface what people have been doing with add-ons and with scripts for a while now.

The game allows a far higher draw distance now than it ever did, you couldn't make it exceed its limit even with addons or scripts.
The actual limit on live is just a bit higher than the options allow you to set, so scripts can increase it. In Legion, the actual limit is far higher than it used to be on live.

[Kibu]

Mmmmm even less fps , can't wait.

[Kryos]

In reality there can also be this fog:

But but it doesn't start so near. They need to start the fog further away and all would be fine. Just don't make objects in close range dull and with a blueish tint.

- - - Updated - - -

The game allows a far higher draw distance now than it ever did, you couldn't make it exceed its limit even with addons or scripts.
The actual limit on live is just a bit higher than the options allow you to set, so scripts can increase it. In Legion, the actual limit is far higher than it used to be on live.

I think they should change it this way:

[TheDeeGee]

I think they should change it this way:

I think that will hurt the permormance too much.

[Jin]

In the beta the performance was very unstable, from 100 fps down to 20 on certain angles. Broken Isle scenario had the same. So I am not yet convinced the performance (or actual optimisation) is good enough currently.

Tested 1080p

OS: Win 10
CPU: Int Core i7-4790K 1150 Noctua NH-D15 cooler
RAM: Corsair 16 GB DDR3-1600 Vengeance
GFX: Gigabyte 980Ti Gaming 6G Windforce
MBB: Asus MAXIMUS VII RANGER Z97
SSD: 120GB 840 EVO SAMSUNG (windows)
SSD: 1TB 840 EVO SAMUNG (games)
SFX: ASUS Xonar D2X/XDT PCIe
PSU: Corsair AX860i, 860 Watt

[Strataegos]

I just saw the Warcraft movie here in the Netherlands and it is epic. Support this great movie so we can more sequels.

[Weeksie]

Does this mean that players and NPC's will also load from a further distance? Getting really sick of them just popping up 3 feet from me when on a flying mount. I'm basically stuck inside of a 40 foot bubble with a really large, empty world around me.

[Deleted]

Switching from 970 to 1080 just for WoW. Yes, I think I'm insane in the membrane, but really hoping to get it maxed out on 3x 1080p monitors. 970 wasn't able to handle it properly.

[Kathranis]

In the beta the performance was very unstable, from 100 fps down to 20 on certain angles.

I don't think that's the draw distance so much as it's that some of the objects and doodads that are incorrectly optimized. I've noticed my framerate tanks when I look at certain liquid surfaces or, like, braziers with new special effects.