WOW will "probably" get graphical reboot News
MMO PC News by Oli Welsh
In today's interview about next expansion Wrath of the Lich King, World of Warcraft producer J. Allen Brack said that WOW will "probably" get a complete overhaul of its graphics engine in the future.
"Will we need a graphical update from the ground up at some point? Yep, probably," he said.
Wrath of the Lich King will be getting a more modest revamp, with some optional new effects for players with high-end PCs. But, said Brack, overhauling the engine completely was considered, and will be again.
"That's actually something we talk about every expansion," he said. "I'm positive we'll talk about it next expansion."
However, he noted that such overhauls had only been moderately successful in the past, when attempted by games like Ultima Online and EverQuest.
"A lot of people continued to play with the original client, because it was faster, or they preferred it, or were just used to it or whatever," he said. "And so for me as a game developer, the idea that we would spend so much time and energy on something and have people go, 'meh, that's not really for me,' that's not very exciting."
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Comments: 1-28 of 28 in total
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make it...
actually I think I'll add something semi serious (no offense to people making silly jokes, we all love 'em) I wasn't expecting this as I got the impression blizzard was very happy with the art style of wow. Graphical upgrades in games like everquest failed because they had really bad art direction, more polys and higher res textures mean nothing if you dont have talented people making them or at least an experienced art director to keep things in check. So unless blizzard decide not to use the original graphics team to make this upgrade I dont see a problem. Obviously people with ancient computers / gfx cards will be upset as it mean they might have to spend money on hardware to keep playing but blizz are much like valve in that they are pretty good at keeping requirements low. Even though I dont really play wow anymore they have my approval to proceed, I'd probably sign up again just to experience it, they do have some fine artists. |
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Oh please! I can appreciate the cautionary tale, but come on - WoW has terrible, terrible graphics.
Of course the huge raid guilds are still going to use the "old client" to give maximum fps, but the casual gamer with a PC that is above WoW's recommended spec (so pretty much any PC being sold today) would love it. Let's face it - WoW has some incredible artists. I think it would be super awesome to see what those guys can do with character models that have more than 200 faces and terrain that doesn't look like Kryten's head.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 16/05/08 @ 15:05
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Please, please, please no graphics upgrades. half of my love for WoW is it runs on pretty much any machine ever made, even my sisters, which has onboard graphics, 256MB RAM, a 2.4Ghz Celeron, and worst of all a whole bunch of random processes running in the background.
I still like the visuals. Generally speaking, I love my framerate more than flashy garbage, so as long as I can still dial it down to zero and have it run smooth, I'll be happy. |
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WinterSnowblind
16/05/08 @ 17:50
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@Gaol
I think the Guild Wars artists would seriously disagree with you. http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthr... |
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@Wintersnowblind
Forgot all about GW, it is beautiful but for some reason my brain doesn't include it when thinking about competing mmorpgs, most likely because of the instancing of everything. Good shout though, the character models are gorgeous. Main point I was making, is I don't think the low tech graphics of WoW are going to be much of a deal breaker on subs for a while yet. |
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yagisencho
16/05/08 @ 18:45
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At 1920x1200 resolution with all the bells and whistles enabled, the game looks fine as-is.
They should try their hand at crazy instances that are rendered differently from the rest of the game. One could be cell-shaded. Another could be 'painted' like that one quest in Oblivion. And maybe a monochrome instance? I'd also like to see an Alice In Wonderland approach, where the party grows or shrinks in physical size in relation to the world around them, depending on the situation. |
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Kirly_Wombat
16/05/08 @ 20:07
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I think they should keep the graphics the same, it gives the game its own unique feel. When I first saw pics in mags before it was out, I though "pfft" looks crap. Once Id played it and seen it in motion, I love the graphics and a bonus of the cartoony style is that it runs well on a modest pc / lags less than more graphical games Ive played (and I have a high end pc / good net connection).
All id like added would be more different character faces / customizations. |
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actionfitz
16/05/08 @ 21:46
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@Perjoss
" I wasn't expecting this as I got the impression blizzard was very happy with the art style of wow." Upgrading the graphics engine wouldnt change the art style tbh. For example, if you compare the character models and textures of the Bloodelves and Draeni - added in the last expansion - to the original races, you can see a huge difference in quality. I think its more than possible to improve the graphical quality of WoW without sacrificing style. - still not gonna renew my subscription though hehe. IM FREE!! and never going back to being a wow raider. |
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actionfitz
16/05/08 @ 21:50
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@WinterSnowblind
nice plug for conceptart.org :) I love that site. so many talented artists showing their work. awesome. |
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I've been saying that for quiet a while now. I mean who wouldn't love to see his char fully detailed in a stuningly designed world instead of how it looks now? Just imagine it and you'll simply have the answer on how much better will be. I can't be playing the same shit and alwasy look at the same thing just cause not everyone has a better pc than what he had 5 years ago. That's a choice we got to make and I made mine. Moving to Age of Conan :p If i can see my chars renewed in wow ill consider it again ofc.
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Of course, they forgot to mention Eve, which recently had a complete graphical overhaul provided for free for all customers. Pretty poor form of the reviewer not bringing that one up.
Oh, and you don't have to use the new graphics if your machine can't handle it - thus keeping the subscriber base entirely intact :)
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 19/05/08 @ 14:23
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Comments: 1-28 of 28 in total
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