Why the hell wow graphics look so awful whereas Guild Wars is pretty better?

Im not here to criticize wow but i have tried both of them on my rather old laptop which has integrated graphics supporting pixel shader 2. i had bought Guild Wars and played it approximately a year then returned later. (first time of return in 2008 and second
was a week ago.) I downloaded the wow starter edition which is free up to level 20 as well. That game looked so crappy even on
maximum graphics settings. On the other hand, Guild Wars had much more quality in graphics, in case of visuals and so on even not perfect.

According to my long introduction, i wonder two things so much :

A) wow looks so awful since may laptop graphics hardware is not capable to display the visuals of the game and shows only what it is able to? (like a pixel shader 3 requiring game application running on a shader 2 capable hardware) or wow graphics are really so bad that's why even on highest settings, it looks awful?

If the result is the second, why the hell Guild Wars is not appreciated but wow has millions of fans?

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Comments

SteveLord

WoW is an older game for one.

Guild Wars also has instanced gameplay and more limitations at the time given the fact it has no monthly fee.

Blizzard was a more established company, known for pushing out quality games. NCSoft/Arenanet...not so much.

Blizzard's games had a bigger grip on the asian markets. Makes a huge difference.

Blizzard's art style for WoW is more cartoonish (which is appropriate given the previous Warcraft games) versus a more realistic and gritty one in Guild Wars.

Guild Wars is still a great game to this day given all the improvements and additions they've made. I am eagerly awaiting Guild Wars 2.

VAHokie56

Maybe get you gear updated ...I never thought wow looked that bad at all, I did however play with a fairly nice rig. I installed the new Star wars mmopg last month and played for a week and I thought the graphics in that where kind of sub par personally.

ptilsen

It's about accessibility and gameplay. WoW runs on more systems, is arguably easier to get deep into, and is more appreciated by the majority of players. I prefer Guild Wars myself (but don't currently play either), but I can understand both why WoW is more popular and has mediocre graphics.

demonfurbie

check eve onlines gfx and come back with a comparison

ptilsen

demonfurbie wrote: »

check eve onlines gfx and come back with a comparison

I would say the Eve and Guild Wars have comparable graphics in subjective terms, but being very different games with very different settings, it's hard to compare them. Both have substantially better graphics than WoW, pretty much regardless of the system on which they're running.

WafflesAndRootbeer

Star Trek Online, FTW.

Everyone

My 5850 will play WoW at 5760x1200 (tripple monitor) with all settings on Ultra, and never drop below 50fps. Most places in the game it is 100fps+, just drops a bit in heavily populated areas (Stormwind).

I don't think it looks bad at all, but it certainly isn't anywhere near the most cutting edge graphics. Like others already said, it is meant to be playable even on lower end systems. They wouldn't have over 11 billion subscribers if only high end machines could play it.

All the newer raids from Cataclysm look pretty nice. I'm sure they will update the graphics a little more with the next expansion too, but probably only for the new content.

VAHokie56

Everyone wrote: »

They wouldn't have over 11 billion subscribers if only high end machines could play it.

That pretty much sums it up...They keep coming out with expansions that can run smoothly on Rigs that where around when the game first came out...this is making me want to play WoW again...resist!

dave330i

Wish they had 7 day subscription. Would play again periodically if they offered it.

demonfurbie

dave330i wrote: »

Wish they had 7 day subscription. Would play again periodically if they offered it.

see whats why i like eve, you can use ingame currency to buy game time and even if i dont play for a week or 2 my toon still trains skills (kinda like leveling up)

Whiteout

Sir, I recommend in investing in a dedicated graphics card to get ready for Guild Wars 2 and Diablo 3!

thedrama

Everyone wrote: »

My 5850 will play WoW at 5760x1200 (tripple monitor) with all settings on Ultra, and never drop below 50fps. Most places in the game it is 100fps+, just drops a bit in heavily populated areas (Stormwind).

I don't think it looks bad at all, but it certainly isn't anywhere near the most cutting edge graphics. Like others already said, it is meant to be playable even on lower end systems. They wouldn't have over 11 billion subscribers if only high end machines could play it.

All the newer raids from Cataclysm look pretty nice. I'm sure they will update the graphics a little more with the next expansion too, but probably only for the new content.

would you send me a screenshot from your game? perhaps graphics of the game will have an issue with my hardware.

shaqazoolu

No one cares about the graphics in WoW. The reason people play WoW is for the friends they've made in the game. Sure, good graphics can make a game better, but they don't make the game. I haven't played in over a year but I thought they were good enough to get you immersed in the content.

I seriously doubt that the graphics are maxing out Blizzard's capabilities either. If you've played any other Blizzard games ever, you know their cut scenes look unbelievably good. However, if they made the whole game look like that, it would take FOREVER to develop and they would be able to sell it to a fraction of their current customer base that can afford to drop $2k on a new rig every year.

WafflesAndRootbeer

dave330i wrote: »

Wish they had 7 day subscription. Would play again periodically if they offered it.

That's why I stick with F2P games. You can play whenever you feel like it and invest whatever you feel like investing. There are a few WoW clone F2P games that you should take a look at like Forsaken World.

thedrama

shaqazoolu wrote: »

No one cares about the graphics in WoW. The reason people play WoW is for the friends they've made in the game. Sure, good graphics can make a game better, but they don't make the game. I haven't played in over a year but I thought they were good enough to get you immersed in the content.

I seriously doubt that the graphics are maxing out Blizzard's capabilities either. If you've played any other Blizzard games ever, you know their cut scenes look unbelievably good. However, if they made the whole game look like that, it would take FOREVER to develop and they would be able to sell it to a fraction of their current customer base that can afford to drop $2k on a new rig every year.

You are totally right about graphics is not everything, however, the game we are talking to looks so ugly no matter i change the graphics settings to high. i inspect that they should look visually different on low and high. On the other hand, guild wars is not all about graphics. Its fantastic
world is truly worth to explore with characters inside. Combat doesn't seem bad even not marvellous.

Turgon

I feel so old reading threads like this. No time to play these games.

thedrama

Turgon wrote: »

I feel so old reading threads like this. No time to play these games.

honestly, you won't feel like that. Playing games is the best way to get rid of the stress off the day as soon as you can spend time for it.

WafflesAndRootbeer

Turgon wrote: »

I feel so old reading threads like this. No time to play these games.

They are tremendously popular amongst retirees. Just saying.

VAHokie56

WafflesAndRootbeer wrote: »

They are tremendously popular amongst retirees. Just saying.

Yeap I recall when I used to raid hearing people on there and thinking , wow they must be 80 years old

dustinmurphy

Graphics in an MMO is a give-and-take thing. I worked for an MMO developer... and they were always having to sacrifice and make things work for better network play vs. graphics.

Also, some decisions are made for game content. For instance, WoW uses more "cartoonish" characters versus real-to-life. The MMO I worked for WAS going to use real face samples for their human race, however a decision was made to use a painted face instead... to keep with the theme of the game (didn't want the humans to look more realistic than the aliens)