WOW will "probably" get graphical reboot

By Oli Welsh Published 16 May, 2008

It's under frequent consideration.

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."

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (27) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • syphaa #1 4 years ago

    I think they should take it back a notch, make it cell shaded or something extreme...just for a laugh. Wonder how many people would stop playing it if the graphics actually deteriorated! Interesting experiment I think! :)

  • the_dudefather #2 4 years ago

    make its top down ascii based

  • japstersam #3 4 years ago

    make it a side scroller!

  • Chalee #4 4 years ago

    make it a board game!

  • Krusty #5 4 years ago

    Make it stop!!

  • Zander #6 4 years ago

    make it fun

  • Perjoss #7 4 years ago

    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.

  • page5 #8 4 years ago

    "Aren't they super-rich?

    They could upgrade the graphics every month, just for shits and giggles, if they wanted to. "

    Yes, and you become super-rich by not spending the fuckloads of money you earn on unnecessary developments

  • zozart #9 4 years ago

    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 by 1 at 16/05/08 @ 15:05

  • Danoxth #10 4 years ago

    "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."

    The nail firmly planted into the head I think :)

  • thedaveeyres #11 4 years ago

    When is it coming out for the Wii?

  • DFawkes #12 4 years ago

    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.

  • Psi #13 4 years ago

    add weather and lighting effects as an option? quick win without reskinning everything.

    Model updates? eq2 has a selection of two different model detail without much problem.

  • Chalee #14 4 years ago

    Thread has suddenly turned disappointingly serious. Epic fail.

  • jack_klugman #15 4 years ago

    Higher resolution ground textures would be enough for me.

  • NickD7 #16 4 years ago

    WOW players are sex starved freaks. I had sex on Tuesday, and I've never played WOW. But I bet if I installed WOW my girl would dump me the same day.

    I can't give up sex for a video game, I'm just not hardcore like you WOW players.

    Edited by 1 at 16/05/08 @ 16:15

  • peterfll #17 4 years ago

    In other news, when World of Warcraft producer J. Allen Brack was asked if the sun will set tonight he set "probably".

  • Skurmedel #18 4 years ago

    Look at me, I'm Nick and I have sex.

  • Gaol #19 4 years ago

    Will never happen. Whats the payoff for the publisher when such resources can be invested in a direct sequel or more effective retention strategies? How many people leave WoW because of shit graphics? They might not be up to much technically, but style wise they piss all over the competition.

  • stoopidgreg #20 4 years ago

    "make it fun"

    +1

  • WinterSnowblind #21 4 years ago

    @Gaol

    I think the Guild Wars artists would seriously disagree with you.
    http://ww w.conceptart.org/forums/showthr...

  • Gaol #22 4 years ago

    @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.

  • yagisencho #23 4 years ago

    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.

  • rogueJT #24 4 years ago


    Yeah but a lot of their monthly susbscribers can pay because their shitty old PCs can actually run WoW.

    If this change is implemented won't it alienate a lot of paying customers?

  • actionfitz #25 4 years ago

    @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.

  • actionfitz #26 4 years ago

    @WinterSnowblind

    nice plug for conceptart.org :)
    I love that site. so many talented artists showing their work. awesome.

  • eepic #27 4 years ago

    WOW doesnt really need a graphical upgrade.. the game is not about graphics, if you havent figured that out already. I think what a lot of people want is certain type of players being banned, like niggers and other losers who play the game just to ruin it for others.

  • davisorle #28 4 years ago

    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.

  • Ginger #29 4 years ago

    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 by 1 at 19/05/08 @ 14:23