It just won't feel as EPIC!

[Xeones]

blizzard cannot keep running a 32 bit engine forever. as support ceases for it they will be forced to upgrade.

Hasn't happened yet so it really isn't a topic of immediate concern. Were I a betting man I'd bet at least 60% of computers in the US use 32 bit operating systems.

[intrinsc]

The people that create these threads are following an extremely shallow line of thinking. They don't realize that if everyone else is hitting for the same DMG you are then when you get that 50k crit it's still as epic as 500k when everyone else is hitting for 500k crits.

[shoc]

Believe it or not, even a several decade old calculator can handle huge numbers let alone modern expensive high tech servers, plus the fact Blizzard it said was for convenience, I highly doubt server stress was the issue.

It's not the matter of 1 million crit chaos bolts, it's the matter of the bosses. Heroic Garrosh already has like, effectively 2 billion health on 25man Heroic based on how many times he heals to full and 25% and such, it's only going to get exponentially bigger in WoD. The 32 bit client caps out at 2,147,483,648; probably close to how much damage you have to deal to Garrosh. The system literally cannot handle any bigger numbers.

[intrinsc]

Hasn't happened yet so it really isn't a topic of immediate concern. Were I a betting man I'd bet at least 60% of computers in the US use 32 bit operating systems.

You think WoW is being ran on home computers? Lol. This is the largest MMO in the history of video games and MMOs are the most complex games in the industry. Blizzard game servers aren't some rinky dink servers ran out of 1998 compaq presario's.

[Osmeric]

Isn't the client 64 bit by default? I'm pretty sure you have to go out of your way to activate 32 bit in the launcher settings.

This has nothing to do with whether the client has been compiled for x86-64. It has to do with the int datatypes used in the program itself, and more specifically in the communication protocols between the client and server. The bit layouts in those communication encodings aren't using 64 bit ints, I am sure.

[Feel The Power]

I just want to know what the lore is concerning the squish.

[shoc]

You think WoW is being ran on home computers? Lol. This is the largest MMO in the history of video games and MMOs are the most complex games in the industry. Blizzard game servers aren't some rinky dink servers ran out of 1998 compaq presario's.

But do we know whether or not the health values of each mob is stored on the client or downloaded from the server? I know things like movement speed, player position, models and such are stored client side but I don't know anything about where the mob HP numbers are stored.

[Vargur]

I played the Beta at Blizzcon, and honestly, you get used to it in about 30 seconds. People are blowing this up way more than it's worth. Big numbers are still going to be epic, hell, I remember when I first crit 40k in Wrath as a tank, I felt like the biggest badass in the world.

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Isn't the client 64 bit by default? I'm pretty sure you have to go out of your way to activate 32 bit in the launcher settings.

It's default if you have a 64bit OS. In which case you wouldn't need the 32bit.

[Asmekiel]

I can't imagine the latency when servers have to crunch numbers in excess of seven digits in real time.

Same as in WotLK, Cata and MoP.

[Spotnick]

Ya, having bosses heal themselves because you cannot give them a proper health number is totally epic.

[mistahwilshire]

You think WoW is being ran on home computers? Lol. This is the largest MMO in the history of video games and MMOs are the most complex games in the industry. Blizzard game servers aren't some rinky dink servers ran out of 1998 compaq presario's.

That's not what he's talking about...

The consumers are using 32 bit systems in their home. It hasn't phased out yet.

[Drilnos]

blizzard cannot keep running a 32 bit engine forever. as support ceases for it they will be forced to upgrade.

It's not a matter of engine size. 32 bits is the standard size of a long integer. The maximum size of such a number is ten digits long. Which is a big number, but with the exponential rate at which numbers have been increasing, apparently it's not big enough. So once it even looks like it's thinking about scraping the ceiling, and this is during internal calculations, not just what gets put out on the screen, they've got the option of doing a number squish -or- scouring the entire engine and retyping all the ints. Then going through the database and doing the same thing. And doing it again for the next expansion. Besides that, once you've got a ten digit long number, you can't compare it to other numbers visually.

The decision of which way to go would not have been half as difficult for me as it apparently was for them.

[Asmekiel]

That's not what he's talking about...

The consumers are using 32 bit systems in their home. It hasn't phased out yet.

Just about every computer sold since 2006 has a 64 bit processor in it.

[Kryos]

I wonder if someone will develop an addon to re-inflate the numbers?

Day 1 - They should call it Megadamage and add three random numbers behind each dmg/heal/hp stat or alternatily a single K for 1000 and M for million.

[Wildtree]

I would like to suggest Blizzard put in some 'atta boys' voice overs, like from Quake 3... "HEAD SHOT!" "KILLING SPREE!" and the ever popular, "GOD-LIKE!" needs to come over the speakers when we slap our anemic foes with ice-cube melting fireballs and drink-chilling frost bolts.

You mean like it's been used with Pinball machines, and Arcade game machines for like decades?

No, not really.. If I wanna play a game with such sound effects, then I play one of those I've mentioned.
But the thought of it is funny.... lol

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I wonder if someone will develop an addon to re-inflate the numbers?

I would not be surprised lol

[Kayb]

like from Quake 3... "HEAD SHOT!" "KILLING SPREE!" and the ever popular, "GOD-LIKE!"

Yes, this is offtopic, and yes this is nitpicky but I can't help it... That's actually Unreal Tournament you're thinking off, not Quake

[Concatto]

blizzard cannot keep running a 32 bit engine forever. as support ceases for it they will be forced to upgrade.

It's not the "engine", but the data type. Converting everything to 64-bit integers is absolutely overkill - their maximum capacity is more than 9 quintillion.

[Wildtree]

Yes, this is offtopic, and yes this is nitpicky but I can't help it... That's actually Unreal Tournament you're thinking off, not Quake

Imagine this.... At least that's what came to my mind, when I've read the OP..



Everytime one crits, those speech bubbles pop up with ZING.. BOOM... BANG.....

In a dungeon/raid etc, it be sort of like this

[Osmeric]

Just about every computer sold since 2006 has a 64 bit processor in it.

The issue has nothing to do with whether the processor is 32 or 64 bit.

[intrinsc]

That's not what he's talking about...

The consumers are using 32 bit systems in their home. It hasn't phased out yet.

Devs explained yesterday that one of the reason for the squish is because they use an unsigned binary system. Switching to signed would let them keep it as is without the hassles that unsigned binaries bring to such big numbers, but, of course, there are other reasons on top of that which they have and won't reveal.