I started in Mists for frame of reference
The game may be 15 years old, but I still can’t get over how much more subtle it feels with lighting. I used to loathe Stormwind and Darnassus, they’re so bright and the textures so sharp in retail it really made my stomach churn looking at them.
In classic however, they seem more muted in color, and when it’s night it actually gets dark. I actually love Darnassus now, but I tried going there in retail to compare the differences and it just hurts to look at.
Anyone else notice this or is it me?
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Yes, it’s a welcome change. I recall it getting much darker initially but some changes were made by the time the game came out of beta from what i’ve seen online.
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I’ve honestly been awestruck by some of the landscape lighting I’ve seen.
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I like the game much better now, in every aspect. The colors and lighting are much nicer. The vibe is cooler. Whoever worked on and created that world should do the expansions for classic if there are any.
I’ve also been running the “Night Light” function in W10 to calm/warm the screen, that makes a huge difference.
I love old Orgrimmar too; the drag is my favorite spot because how dark it gets. 
And yeah, those people should. I need heavier rain, snow, and just better weather in general with fog and everything.
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If you are playing Classic with graphics options cranked up to max, you’re actually experiencing Retail lighting, shadow and water effects.
It didn’t look nearly that good back in 2005.
I keep everything on ultra/highest setting except water and ground clutter and it ‘fits’ my memory pretty well. it’s going to look better in modern resolution no matter what I do compared to struggling for 20fps on a 4:3 ratio monitor back in the day
That’s what confuses me; I play them on high/ultra on both classic and retail but retail feels brighter/sharper and it kinda hurts to look at for me. At least, in regards to places like Darnassus. something about those bright purples and greens really hurts the eyes and the water glows so brightly, like even at night, I can’t look at it directly. XD I dunno what it is, maybe I should screen-shot them and compare them to see what I’m missing.
Sometime in Cataclysm Blizzard Oopsied the entire lighting engine and the day/night contrast and it wasn’t remotely fixed until WoD, and even then it was pretty significantly different to how it used to be. They never managed to get the environmental effects right after that, particularly the rain and fog effects.