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  1. #1

    WoW graphics engine and other games

    I really dont know anything about graphics engine, so if anyone can technically explain why is WoW running so good on all sorts on computers. I heard that WoW dev team is upgrading wows graphics every know and then, but it is still 10year old engine.

    To me, WoW looks really great, lately is was flying a lot all over the continents and beauty of them are really astonishing.
    I saw GW2 and Rift and their graphics look miles behind Wow. Also, in Rift , character movement looks so artificial (like they are gliding on terrain), while WoWs char animation looks so realistic.
    Played SWTOR also, and aside long loading times, its graphics (engine) is so demanding for even modern computers.

    Noticed one more thing - all those games benefit much more from CPU upgrading than GPU upgrade. Why is that so?

  2. #2
    I am Murloc!
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    one must differenciate graphic engine capability and artistic direction.

    i'll give you that from what i saw when i was sub or on picture, the art team does a very good job in utilising the engine to render world.

    But the engine is getting old, i'm sure today's average computer could handle a few more polygone. zooming on a human face or hand would show how ugly the graphic engine is.


    WOW (2004 graphic engine)



    Guild wars 2 (2012 graphic engine)
    Last edited by Vankrys; 2013-07-15 at 01:38 PM.

  3. #3
    Deleted
    It think wow is behind many other games i have played. I would love them to use a newer and better graphic engine, yet of course that will not happen so easily.
    I agree, that the animations of wow are far more better then many games i have seen.

  4. #4
    Not many games ever get a total graphics overhaul. You'll just have to deal with the fact that World of Warcraft is an old game. They've made the overall graphics better and higher resolution over the years, but don't expect a TOTAL overhaul.

    Also bear in mind that a lot of what Guild Wars 2 does isn't in the Poly mesh but in the normal/specular maps. I'm not sure if World of Warcraft's gaming engine can really handle modern normal maps, but if I could, they could definitely make some improvements, especially to character models.
    Quote Originally Posted by Novakhoro View Post
    I recommend shoulder surgery immediately... there's no way you didn't fuck it up with how hard you just reached.

  5. #5
    You think GW2 graphics are miles behind WoW?!

    I love WoW to bits but to say its graphically better than GW2.... yeah I don't think so. GW2 is absolutely beautiful and if WoW looked anywhere near as good it'd just about be the perfect game imo.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Vankrys View Post
    one must differenciate graphic engine capability and artistic direction.

    i'll give you that from what i saw when i was sub or on picture, the art team does a very good job in utilising the engine to render world.

    But the engine is getting old, i'm sure today's average computer could handle a few more polygone. zooming on a human face or hand would show how ugly the graphic engine is.
    I agree that character model are far behind GW2 ones, but I dont find that important really since most of the time we stare at chars backs from a distance. World objects and their colors on the other hand look great, much better than Gw2.

  7. #7
    I am Murloc! Azutael's Avatar
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    one must differenciate graphic engine capability and artistic direction.
    Yeah for sure. I for one prefer the style WoW uses compared to the more "realistic" looking games. WoW could need improvements for sure, but I really hope the overal style is kept the same.

  8. #8
    Titan Maxilian's Avatar
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    Well i agree in some things i don't agree in others..., is true that GW2 have a better graphics engine than WoW..., but remenber that WoW Graphics are more cartoonish while GW2 graphics are more realistics..., is true that WoW needs to update the graphics of some things (Like players models -mobs models-, some structures models, etc...)

  9. #9
    Guild Wars 2 does have some solid artistic direction. Problem is, nothing else about the game is worth playing, to me. It's like dating a beautiful woman who is dumb as hell and has literally nothing to offer but her looks. She might be fun for a night or two, but nothing to keep me around for long. But hey, that's just my opinion.
    Quote Originally Posted by Novakhoro View Post
    I recommend shoulder surgery immediately... there's no way you didn't fuck it up with how hard you just reached.

  10. #10
    The Patient
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    Quote Originally Posted by Veyne View Post
    Guild Wars 2 does have some solid artistic direction. Problem is, nothing else about the game is worth playing, to me. It's like dating a beautiful woman who is dumb as hell and has literally nothing to offer but her looks. She might be fun for a night or two, but nothing to keep me around for long. But hey, that's just my opinion.
    This is exactly the reason I stopped playing Guild Wars 2 in a month and went back to WoW.

  11. #11
    [QUOTE=Maniac2;21762158Noticed one more thing - all those games benefit much more from CPU upgrading than GPU upgrade. Why is that so?[/QUOTE]

    This is true about WoW as well.

    Truth be told, more of what makes modern graphics so nice - all the bells and whistles, like lighting, particle effects, and even the number of objects visible on screen at once - are handled by the CPU.

    There really hasn't been a huge bump in graphics card power that makes much of a difference in a decent long while. It's mostly adding RAM for higher resolution texture storage (which even then, most games rarely ever utilize more than 2GB), slightly faster clock speeds, and lower power costs.
    Quote Originally Posted by Novakhoro View Post
    I recommend shoulder surgery immediately... there's no way you didn't fuck it up with how hard you just reached.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Lukazor View Post
    You think GW2 graphics are miles behind WoW?!
    Maybe it is just matter of taste, i dont really know.
    All I know that when Im flying, wow landscapes look just great. Lot colors and its cartoonish style give wow world feeling it is much more alive.
    Not to mention animations, they look so realistic.
    Tried GW2, swtor, rift and world, colors and animations look so dull, brownish, sleepy, dont really know how to e xpress it

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by TylerN View Post
    Yeah for sure. I for one prefer the style WoW uses compared to the more "realistic" looking games. WoW could need improvements for sure, but I really hope the overal style is kept the same.
    For years Blizz has somehow managed to convince people that their terrible, godawful graphics are a stylistic choice. They could keep the style without the low-res, pixellated, hard-edged, blocky graphics they have. I mean, for god's sake, there's barely a true round object in wow. Go into a house and look around. A skillet is an octagon. Barrells are octagonal. Cauldrons are octagonal.

    The armors don't occupy different areas of space except for shoulders and helm. All the robes are identical with different colors drawn on to them. I mean, I'll use my favorite exalmple of character models and armor to contrast:









    THAT, my friend, is astonishing. This:



    ...is NOT astonishing. In fact, it's pretty insulting. It's not "stylish," it's not "artistic," it's objectively bad. Even the updated models they've done with Thrall, Jaina, Vol'jin, etc are really too little too late. They're updating them to still look old. The original models looked old when they were first released.
    Last edited by Bridgetjones; 2013-07-15 at 03:01 PM.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Bridgetjones View Post
    For years Blizz has somehow managed to convince people that their terrible, godawful graphics are a stylistic choice. They could keep the style without the low-res, pixellated, hard-edged, blocky graphics they have. I mean, for god's sake, there's barely a true round object in wow. Go into a house and look around. A skillet is an octagon. Barrells are octagonal. Cauldrons are octagonal.

    The armors don't occupy different areas of space except for shoulders and helm. All the robes are identical with different colors drawn on to them. I mean, I'll use my favorite exalmple of character models and armor to contrast:

    I'll agree that the textured-on 2D details are getting increasingly obnoxious lately. You can tell the artists are getting frustrated with the painted-on armor limitations.

    I still prefer the look of WoW to the vast majority of competitors though. Especially the archetypical asian fantasy design. I swear I cannot tell those games apart at all. So obsessed with sterile, doll-like beauty.
    And even though I feel WoW armor designs have been a huge bore since WotLK, I am at least glad they dropped the plate bikinis.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Veyne View Post
    Not many games ever get a total graphics overhaul. You'll just have to deal with the fact that World of Warcraft is an old game. They've made the overall graphics better and higher resolution over the years, but don't expect a TOTAL overhaul.
    Ultima Online got a graphics overhaul...
    Original Everquest got a graphics overhaul....
    and both got them in a lot less time than the entire lifespan of WoW....
    You'll just have to deal with the fact that Ultima Online and Everquest are old games... and that Blizzard will nickel and dime us for everything they do and not have enough time or staff for anything else.

  16. #16
    WoW has been getting subtle upgrades over time. Lighting, shadows, texture resolution increase. Player models had their textures doubled in size in patch 3.1 but barely anyone noticed.

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Lazy Gecko View Post
    WoW has been getting subtle upgrades over time. Lighting, shadows, texture resolution increase. Player models had their textures doubled in size in patch 3.1 but barely anyone noticed.
    It didn't go unnoticed by me. Unfortunately they didn't go back and adjust any of the armor from 1-70 (which they still haven't done to this day). The result was that we got low-res armor on mid-res models, and it looks like sloppy body paint with fuzzy, pixellated edges. It's just bad and it's really inexcusable. If Blizz was as concerned with making a quality game as they are making sure poor folks can run it on their toasters, the game would look and feel completely different.

  18. #18
    GW2 had better graphics, but not the great art style and fantastic landscape WoW offers.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Joyrock View Post
    Ultima Online got a graphics overhaul...
    Original Everquest got a graphics overhaul....
    and both got them in a lot less time than the entire lifespan of WoW....
    You'll just have to deal with the fact that Ultima Online and Everquest are old games... and that Blizzard will nickel and dime us for everything they do and not have enough time or staff for anything else.
    I said not many. Don't try to make this into something it isn't. And Everquest still looks terrible.
    Quote Originally Posted by Novakhoro View Post
    I recommend shoulder surgery immediately... there's no way you didn't fuck it up with how hard you just reached.

  20. #20
    Deleted
    I think wow graphics are unique and still pleasant to look at. However an update is needed and it shows when looking at other MMO's such as GW2 and Rift.

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