AAAH GRASS PHYSICS!

[Bowno]

The grass is going to move when you run through it! THE GRASS. IS GOING. TO MOVE!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH EXCITE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj0tU7Q2WFA
LOOK AT IT MOVE. LOOK AT IT!

[Bonita]

I love the little details they are adding!

[Sukurachi]

I just hope all these graphics "improvements" don't mean the game will now become unplayable to much of its fanbase.

I play on two computers, one is a slower computer and I have to set the graphics options really low to get any sort of usable framerate.

[cowmuflage]

I'm glad that grass is now learning science.

[Celibie]

idk if I'm the only one who found it amusing but i love how he says "look at that it moves!" in the beginning haha. they did a nice job on that.. i didn't even notice because i wasn't looking for it

[Finduilas]

A question to those of you in the beta: will my pet finally leave footprints? It's bugging me out to no end that my minipet will leave tiny footprints but my hunter pet won't. It's nice they are adding moving grass and all, but I'd love to see that first.

[Lisaara]

Grass physics!

[Shade]

idk if I'm the only one who found it amusing but i love how he says "look at that it moves!" in the beginning haha. they did a nice job on that.. i didn't even notice because i wasn't looking for it

Tis Crendor-so no you are not, though you should watch some of his other vids now.

I just hope all these graphics "improvements" don't mean the game will now become unplayable to much of its fanbase.

I play on two computers, one is a slower computer and I have to set the graphics options really low to get any sort of usable framerate.

I play on a 2009 Mac, and the game can be laggy from time to time for me-mostly when loading into a raid and people are already killing the trash mobs-it just freezes things up for me.

However, I was concerned about the updated graphics, as I cannot afford a new computer any time soon. Found this post and was a bit more comfortable:

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/9952565891

Taepsilum
Community

11/03/2014 08:43Posted by Maideen
Since we are being blessed with new character models (Which can be disabled? Yes, no?)

Yes.

11/03/2014 08:43Posted by Maideen
However, I am quite useless on Ordos and Sha since my frame rates dips to 1-10 FPS.

Will the new models cause even more problems in world bosses and even in regular raids?

It's hard to say exactly, many things can influence performance.

Remember that characters aren't (usually) naked inside raids, which means that most of the polygons and textures being drawn and rendered aren't exclusively attributable to player models, but also to armor.
On top of that, raids have their own surrounding geometry, bosses, etc... and all that adds up in the end. Obviously, new (more detailed) models means slightly more processing power is required, but new models aren't the only big change coming to WoD.

We are also applying a squish to anything related to stats; this means that in certain situations, there might be some performance improvements, especially when it comes to addons that process combat data.
More importantly, we are reducing the amount of visual clutter that currently fills every fight where a lot of players are involved.
Less sparkly stuff flying around means better video performance for everyone.

Client performance is something we care about a lot. It doesn’t matter how well-designed an encounter is: you aren’t going to have fun raiding at 8 FPS.
We want everyone to be able to enjoy playing with the new models, and our dev team is working hard making sure that WoW is as resource efficient as possible in order for that to happen.

11/03/2014 08:43Posted by Maideen
Shall I start looking for a new computer or should I stick with the one I have?

That's a hard question to answer.
I'd say that you shouldn't be worried about any big drop in performance; things will most likely remain very close to what you are experiencing right now.
So if you're satisfied with what you have right now, then there shouldn't be any need to change anything.

[Sukurachi]

Thank-you Shade.
That is most reassuring.

[Slickrock]

Well, the also announced that they were dropping support for some older video cards. Also, some older OSss will not be supported. I know my old MacPro that was still on 10.7.5 would not be supported.

[Lisaara]

That's to be expected. Old computers can't last forever so it's inevitable older ones will need to be replaced.

[cowmuflage]

They can't support older pcs forever.

[Xota]

Two things that I've found help with framerate on current world bosses and raids and large BG, in addition to graphic settings.

1. Disable meters. This is a no-brainer, but I switched to a more efficient meter a couple of times, but my machine just isn't keeping up with the graphics so I disabled the meters.
2. Disable all sounds. It can make things tricky, especially if you use sounds to notify you of stuff. But its still better than watching a slideshow of the fight.

Someone suggested these in an IoC HK farm, and my healing went up 4x. (I was on my priest). I don't know which one makes the most difference. But I'm in the same boat when it comes to probably needing a major hardware (and software) upgrade to play WoD. Which is why some of their "wait and see" design decisions are really frustrating. I don't want to invest in something with those particular uncertainties.

And while old computers and OSes can't be supported forever, Windows XP accounts for more than 25% of desktop/laptop usage, and it probably won't drop below 20% for maybe a year or more. As a point of reference, Mac OS only accounts for about 7% usage (including all versions). So while Blizzard shouldn't be expected to support all computers forever, it would behoove them to support XP for a while longer, until most of their XP users either upgrade or stop playing. stats source

[zedxrgal]

I SHALL FROLIC THROUGH GRASSY AREAS FOREVER!

[Slickrock]

Didn't M$ officially drop support for XP as well? That makes it harder for developers to support it.

On the PC side, it's more about the video drivers anyway. If folks have hardware that's not supported by current drivers, that really would limit what Blizz can do.

On the Mac side, it's about OpenGL/OpenCL and memory management in the OS. It was clear 2 years ago that support for OSX 10.7.x would be dropped at some point.

Everyone complains about WoW's graphics engine, but then they also want WoW to run on 10-year-old hardware and drivers... O.o

[Xota]

Didn't M$ officially drop support for XP as well? That makes it harder for developers to support it.

On the PC side, it's more about the video drivers anyway. If folks have hardware that's not supported by current drivers, that really would limit what Blizz can do.

On the Mac side, it's about OpenGL/OpenCL and memory management in the OS. It was clear 2 years ago that support for OSX 10.7.x would be dropped at some point.

Everyone complains about WoW's graphics engine, but then they also want WoW to run on 10-year-old hardware and drivers... O.o

Yes, XP support officially dropped, but there's still occasionally an update, like if there's a major virus. XP usage will wind down over a few years, not suddenly cease. And to be a little argumentative, I don't think it's the same everyone who is complaining about the graphics engine as the everyone who has old hardware/OS (drivers updated frequently though). Personally, I like their graphics engine, and if I hadn't needed a new fuel pump, I might have enjoyed it sooner (or at all).

[Slickrock]

XP is not being dropped yet anyway. Some video cards are being dropped, and Blizz published a list of those a while ago.