Update Graphics

So GuildWars has been out for more than a year now so i was wondering is GW is ever going to get a graphics overhaul? Compared to some of the current games out the graphics just dont looks as special as they used to be. Hopefully they can add some new textures with larger sizes or something to make it look more up to date.

What does everyone else think?

gw is a game which is designed in a way so that even ppl who have a dial-up connections can play. Higher graphics could cut those ppl off (not saying gw graphics are bad at all)

still i dunno how ppl with 56k connections lived through the update before the NF preview.

And it allready has gotten a graphical update, so that the latest directx goodies could be used (and look at the nightfall introscreen *drools*)

Compared to other online games, GW still looks great. I think that the adopted business model is far more evolutionary than your standard online game and gives Anet an incentive to progressively update the engine with techniques that have already been standardized elsewhere in the industry. Having said that, I would just love to see an engine that does the concept art justice.

Nightfall DOES bring larger textures, updated shaders, additional bump/specular mapping, and character lip-syncing. And I disagree that GW doesn't look "special". The technical qualities of the graphics in it more than hold up against current titles, while remaining easy to run in most computers; but beyond that, the artistic direction is the best I've seen in any game of the genre.

If you DO want to compare with a current title, take the market leader... not only the textures are lower-res, the models are blockier, and the art direction, while amusing, is much less impressive than that in GW (imo, at least)

Now, one thing that DOES deserve an upgrade in GW are the spell effects... as I said before, I acknowledge they were kept simple and clean to improve visibility during PvP, but I don't see any reason why we can't have fully client-side effects, that can be toggled on or off, and that make your "eruption", and your "maelstrom" look like something appropriately impressive, rather than a miserable circle of shiny lights in the ground.

Guild Wars is realy impressive even nowadays...there are some scenaries simply breath taking....and NO game I have seen so far have prittier places the Sorrows Furnace or Mineral Springs or Riverside Province....this game is simply ASTONISHING! And as someone already said...the art direction here is the best I have ever seen...

Nightfall have more impressive looking locations that take your breath away and make you stand still and stare (not to mention take a lot of pictures), more better looking armor and gears and even some tecnical advances...

The best of this all is that the game is fast even on older computers...SO I have to say, I am pretty happy with Guild Wars looks and probably will take me a Guild Wars 2 to change my mind ^^

The art direction of the game and the designers simply won't let the locations get old so easly

Latter.

Do we really need even better graphics? Imagine Eve looking in game as she does on the box...

Boys would simply make a skimpy Ele, enter the dance command and watch for hours wile forgetting to play altogether.

I have to admit i would like to see the option of better graphics in some specific ways though. It's great that GW can run on older/less suitable machines, but in places it seems to take that a little too far. I have a 1yr old computer that was kinda middle-of-the-range when i build it then, and would probably be considered at the lower end of the desktop market now. But even with all graphics settings on max i get 60fps in most places, and only in some specific instances like watching the Hall on observer do i get down closer to the minimum 25. So i'd say that for someone with a fairly typical computer there's a lot of room for better quality graphics, let alone someone with a new and more powerful comp.

One thing i'm thinking of particularly was that big open plain in the nightfall preview. In areas like that where the distances involved are larger, the popup is really noticeably bad. The middle-distance is covered by a 'haze' blur, and things like ferns first pop into existence with low res textures when you get close and then higher res when you get really close in a very jarringly obvious way.

It was noticeable in factions too, where the buildings would morph into higher-res as you got closer but that didn't look quite as bad as the nightfall preview.

So an option for a much increased draw distance would be really nice....

Ah, that last part is true. I'd like to see the LOD sprites gone; they're ugly, plain and simple, and most computers don't really need those, so why not make them toggleable? They could take the opportunity and make it posible for players to see all other players in high texture detail in non-instanced areas, too, I think most current-gen computers could handle that as well.

On a sidenote, I'd also like to see more open plains, like the area north of lion's arch, or out of kamadan. Canyon mazes are alright in a few parts of the game, but when you represent entire continents with it, it gets not only boring, but highly unrealistic. Sadly, by looking at the non-discovered map of continental Elona during the preview, it seemed to me that most of the NF world will be composed of canyons, too... how unfortunate.

GW's graphics are still quite good in terms of MMORPGs. Whilst I'm a fan of the Warcraft universe, I believe WoW's fantasy, plasticky art style doesn't look too great. You should know that Guild Wars has advanced GREATLY in terms of graphics. If you google for things such as guild wars beta, you should find some screenshots of early EARLY Guild Wars. The graphics were downright cartoony then, there were no shadows, male warriors looked ridiculously muscular. It's hard to find these pictures, but if anyone can find them, please post a link for us.

Scavenger: I agree. Some places such as Riverside and SF are simply breathtaking.

Best i can find so far...

http://img240.exs.cx/img240/5170/57wn.jpg

Think there is a really early trailer about somewhere as well

*Edit*
Found loads on gamespot!
http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/guildw...x.html?page=14

I dunno, I can tax my computer pretty hard if I pump the AA, and the AF to max on the video card drivers Looks really good, but at 1280x1024, you might see slow down now and again lol.

amd 3400+ x800 xt pe

CHRIST ON A BIKE THAT'S SHITE!

Glad I came in late

Factions already looks better than phrophecies, and i'm sure nighfall will looks better than faction...

but what i'd really like to be given, it's the hability to increase the HQ distance view, to reduce the fog effect, and increase the items/monsters fade distance.

Being able to set an AA higher than 4x and choosing the Anisotropic filtering setting from within the game would be nice, too.

guildwars looks great as it is, even on dx8 at launch.

remember, there are a lot of people playing this game on low spec machines who purposely bought the game because it plays well and looks great on their low spec machines ... overhauling the graphics will immediately impact these players negatively, and they are not a minority mind you.

I can run it with almost everything maxxed on a 5500 FX, and everyone knows the FX series is Nvidia's weakpoint. That, and the lack of a subscription fee are what make it so great.

I think those hideous screens are pre-open betas, or very OLD betas (2003). It just goes to show that GW has evolved from what looks like an amateur (one of those weird Korean free MMORPGs) MMORPG to a DirectX 9 beauty.

I'd like distance adjustment settings, too. Sometimes ArenaNet's method of far away objects (for example, a tree looks 2D from afar) can be a little distracting, but I applaud them for being able to get such a spectacular game working on even the worst of computers (excluding anything before 1998).

If it looked like it did in 2003 and it looks like it does in 2006, imagine what it'll look like in 2009

(yea, I know, I'm just kidding).

And are we sure that this dosen't happen already? er.. /cough

Any who there are times when i feel like l'm playing sims 2 with this game but am just throwing fireballs and what not.

I still think the graphic for Guild Wars is far better than any MMORPG out there. Sure they can make the graphic looked like Elder Scrolls: Oblivion but imagine the slowdown and lags it might cause.

graphics are good like they are... although more draw distance on scenery and monsters would be cool.. but that would be more taxing on your pc.