Cataclysm

[Simond]

As this is the generic cataclysm thread....

[Merusk]

Wow, what the hell did they do to make the engine look so much better there.  I went to MMO champ and the screenshot with the characters looks like the same old WoW, but that one's amazing.

[Fordel]

Other then the new water, it's just higher res textures/models. The Shadows are already in game if you want to crank them up.

[Sheepherder]

High resolution textures and what looks like DirectX 8 water.  I'd be curious as to whether they'll be adding HDR lighting as well.

[Dren]

Did anyone else think that was the "whomping willow" before looking closer?

[Fordel]

I doubt they add much more in graphical fancy'ness this go around. They have a very generous 'baseline' to maintain.

[Mattemeo]

High resolution textures and what looks like DirectX 8 water.  I'd be curious as to whether they'll be adding HDR lighting as well.

HDR would be nice, providing they optimise it better than their shadow effects. Those have consistantly ruined FPS rates on every machine I've played WoW on. Shadows, like water effects, are pretty much the first thing I turn off when tweaking a game. And to be honest, though this may be a smidge of nostalgia, I still don't think any MMO has done water effects as nicely as Asheron's Call 2. Maybe Guild Wars.

[Simond]

F&F Alpha just started, by the way.

[LK]

Employees announcing it on Facebook: good way to spread the word that it's going on.

[Lt.Dan]

You sure that's a WoW screenie - looks waaaay more like LOTRO.

Plus, there's no room for my humongous shoulder armor and infeasibly proportioned weapons in realistic terrain like that.

[Ingmar]

Also, that's apparently Blasted Lands. 

[Fordel]

I don't understand why people are so blown away by that screen shot.

[LK]

I don't understand why people would pay $25 for a fake horse in a fake game that provides fake benefits.

[Lakov_Sanite]

 

[Minvaren]

You sure that's a WoW screenie - looks waaaay more like LOTRO.

I agree with what you said.

And it doesn't quite look "blasted" anymore...

[Sjofn]

It's amazing what not-shitty-water will do for the graphics of a game, isn't it.

[ezrast]

And fog, and soft ambient lighting, and non-blurry-as-fuck textures, yeah.

[Sjofn]

All the rest of the shit in that screen shot, I've pretty much seen before. I've always played with my graphics maxed though.

[Lantyssa]

It's a carefully chosen pic.  If you closely examine any small piece of it, you'll see it isn't that different from WoW now.  The water and fog make the largest difference.  The remainder is just due to slightly higher textures and a less cartoony style choice.  (Compare the bridge or tree to any that exist in the game today, for example.)

[Sheepherder]

I doubt they add much more in graphical fancy'ness this go around. They have a very generous 'baseline' to maintain.

HDR is actually pretty simple.  AFAIK all it takes is adding a shader to the render pipeline, and AFAIK Microsoft actually provides some source code with their SDK.

HDR would be nice, providing they optimise it better than their shadow effects.

You've tried all the various levels of detail, right?

Because I can pull off the lower levels of detail in some places, though Duskwood with all it's scraggly trees kills my card.

[SurfD]

I doubt they add much more in graphical fancy'ness this go around. They have a very generous 'baseline' to maintain.

HDR is actually pretty simple.  AFAIK all it takes is adding a shader to the render pipeline, and AFAIK Microsoft actually provides some source code with their SDK.

HDR would be nice, providing they optimise it better than their shadow effects.

You've tried all the various levels of detail, right?

Because I can pull off the lower levels of detail in some places, though Duskwood with all it's scraggly trees kills my card.

Did someone say HDR?

Some YouTube Goodness to see it in action:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-NMsGOMSU4&hd=1

[Typhon]

Looks like Cata alpha begain yesterday - http://blue.mmo-champion.com/t/24690639017/cataclysm-alpha-has-begun/

Six months out would put them in November, which I'm sure they would be happy about.

[Malakili]

(Compare the bridge or tree to any that exist in the game today, for example.)

Exactly.  Don't let new water fool you, the rest looks just like everything does now.

[Sheepherder]

I knew it was easy, but I wasn't quite expecting that.

"Hey guys, I wrote a config file to go along with a shader package, enjoy HDR!"

[sickrubik]

I'll just leave this here. (Image)

[LK]

There's no wonder with this game anymore.

[Lantyssa]

I never use the front gates anyways.

[caladein]

... I'm gonna ride it.

[Malakili]

... I'm gonna ride it.

Well, the way blizzard is going, I'm sure there will be a DW mount.

[Evildrider]

So who is gonna give me an alpha invite!   

[Lakov_Sanite]

There's no wonder with this game anymore.

 

Right because they shouldn't even add game files to your pc until you're about to fight the monster. Or maybe just not give any screenshots or test their new expansion at all prior to releasing it for the public, that always works!

If you want wonder, don't read the fucking open spoilered images and stop reading about the expansion.  Honestly I saw the arthas fight/cinematic prior to beating it myself and even watching the entire thing made it not one bit less cool when I did it.

[LK]

Good for you.

[Lakov_Sanite]

At least WUA trolls with some kind of skill. Do you even play the game and if not, good for you and if you do then maybe you should find something you actually enjoy doing.  It begs the question why you still post here saying you hate everything, you don't seem me going onto farmville message boards telling people there what a piece of shit it is do you? 

I'm not trying to defend wow as the pinnacle of gaming, I would just like for people to stop douching up threads needlessly.

[Ironwood]

Fuck Farmville.

[Rasix]

I just think his sperginess is showing. He should probably tuck it.