One of the main reasons for WoW looking the way it does if for an aesthetic reason. IT was an art style choice to look that way.
Sure you can update it graphically, but they wouldn’t because it would confuse a majority of players and alienate many who have forgotten to upgrade their computer since 2008.
Id have to wear sunglasses while playing lol.
I think it is time now to upgrade the graphics of World of Warcraft. My main reason is you can buy a decent Gaming PC for $500 now. That PC can run a 1080p with no issue at all. With that, you can have a WoW with such good graphics. I came back playing WoW after the retirement 12 years ago. That’s because I got a new computer and I want to test it out. I am very disappointed that the graphics is still the same. However, the contents are way bigger than 12 years ago.
WoW is not declining. Well it is declining in subs but actually it’s making more money than any other game out there. Don’t believe me? Google “WoW highest grossing game”. I can’t post links because I don’t have the trust level.
Damn it, got caught up in a necro.
Lol no. The forums were an absolute s*** storm of complainers when blizzard changed the SL pc requirements to needing a $40 ssd … let alone the power wed need to run wow on an unreal 4 engine
I like the way it is now, WoW’s style is pretty unique and it holds well over time. Realistic looking games tend to age poorly
I just saw this was a necro from 2019. I really wish that dates for posts would appear on the front page of the forum so you’d know it had been dug up and dusted off.
Imagine wow played in its cinematic quality, I’ve dreamed of playing that game and hope someday it’s a reality. All this talk about people wouldn’t be able to play because of their computers is crap.
Build the game and the players will build new rigs just like back in the day. I remember when vanilla wow was released how myself and everyone I knew that played the game ran out and built new computers so they could play the game in all its glory. Nothing has changed. Back then wow’s graphics were revered because the “realistic” were so far behind, that’s changed.
The charm of wow isn’t in its cartoon graphics, its in its character types, world, storyline, and gameplay. I believe that all just gets better with it being more realistic. The allure is in the fantasy of dealing with orcs, elves and murlocs etc.
I dabble in the game here and there these day, but nothing like the 48 hour binges when I was a kid and some of that has to do with I’m older now but some has to do with the game makes me feel like…I’m too old for this. I guarantee if the game were remade to look like the latest Halo graphics I guarantee you’d have my attention every night again.
Vanilla WoW’s exact gameplay with Halo quality graphics. I actually wish this game would be made.
I googled highest grossing video game all time and 2020. WoW wasn’t in the top 10 of either.
Are you only talking Blizzard games?
Maybe in a 100 years. Something like that would cost so much it would be sure to put a company out of business.
Nope, one of the things I like the most about this game is the graphics style.
Could the older zones pre-BFA use a touch up on the res textures and poly counts where possible? Absolutely.
Stormwind at Boralus quality would look incredible.
When ESO first launched, I thought the graphics looked great. Now as the game has aged, you can see where the original zones look comparatively worse than the original zones in WoW vs. the new ones.
Realistic style graphics just don’t age well. This art style they use here really makes WoW what WoW is.
Its the primary reason I play this over any other MMO. In fact the only other MMO that I’ve seen that I liked visually was Wildstar. That game looked amazing.
There is also the problem that “Realistic” graphics irritate me as there is always something wrong that catches my eye. With cartoons that effect doesn’t seem to happen.
Same, Maleficent is just flat out wrong. The charm of WoW IS the graphics. Wildstar, to me, was the only game that pulled off the style better than WoW but Shadowlands has bridged that gap for me.
They just need to go back to the older zones and refresh them. Realistic graphics do not age well at all. Remember when we thought Goldeneye looked so amazing on the N64? Yeah.
A lot of the realistic graphics tend to come off generic and uninteresting to me. I also loved Wildstar’s aesthetic and enjoy games like Breath of the Wild, Torchlight, Mario, etc. that have a style rather than attempt to mimic real life.
Sidenote, I also find the realistic games don’t run as smooth.
You can always spice up your graphics with reshade effects. They are legal , won’t break any TOS and gives a nice look overall to game. I’m using reshade since BFA launch
One thing that makes wow what it is now , is this cartoonish graphic. And blizzard made sure to make it even better. I couldn’t imagine wow with different engine
As others have said, realistic graphics get boring and don’t age well from generation to generation, but WoW’s art style is timeless and unique. To remove it would be to neuter it.
I popped in my snes Doom the other day and laughed hysterically at what I used to tell people were amazing graphics lol
WoW’s art style is unique and fun, which is what I love about it. Some of the model animations could probably use a little tweaking here and there, and the older items/locations in the game would benefit from some higher-resolution textures, but otherwise it’s great.
“Realistic” games tend to look a bit samey, and don’t really have the same charm. I’d be disappointed if Blizzard went in that direction with WoW.
the problem with great graphics is that it dates them. You will like them for a time, but then 10 years from now you’ll right back to square one with a post like this.
Integration of each contents graphics is simple with a simplified style that WoW has, you don’t necessarily feel extremely disjointed going from expansion to expansion pack.
This doesn’t take into account the overall skill set that has improved over time, but it does make going from Stormwind to Hellfire not so glaringly separated.
To say realistic graphics don’t age well would be to pretend wow has done nothing to update their graphics since original release. It’s been slow, its not the easiest thing to achieve sure. But to say you wouldn’t want it if it were available?
You’re comparing wow to the mmos built at the same time. Yes wow has aged better than those. But to compare it to what’s available for graphics out there today? The environments in WoW with today’s graphics would be stunning and people would immerse themselves in that I think.
Take a game like GTA and look at graphics from original and through the years till now. Which would you rather play? How about the new lion king movie vs the older cartoon version? The new one is stunning… I liked the old better because they used different people to voice the characters and the script changed slightly but I can’t say the graphics were something I wanted from the old movie. And yes I know movie world is different I just used it to illustrate the evolution.