Visual Upgrades in the starting zone maps

[Hoover.6394]

Talked to my friend who just started playing this game, he's feedback is the graphic of the game is not as pretty as I told him about this game, then I showed him some of my screenshot from Elona and maguma jungles... and he's like "mmm"

 

I do agree with him though that for new players the starting zones are looking dated and not great example to show new player how nicely done this game is, a lot of new players only try a new game for a few hours to decide if they want to play more or not. Specially cos this is a free to play game.

 

I would suggest Arenanet to spent some time upgrade the visual of the very first starting zones, (5 maps only! maybe even just part of the map) adding small changes like more eye candies, upgrade the atmosphere, introduce nicer lighting... So when a new player starting with this game it looks more like a game from 2020 instead of 2010.

 

First impression is very important, for a free to play game trying to keep the picky new player these days!

[coso.9173]

Id personally love a graphic upgrade for I also know it’s not likely unless there’s an Ingmar reason to do so, like cataclysm in wow. They won’t use resources for such a big update for sole5ing most players won’t play since most people play on expac and living world new maps.

[Thornwolf.9721]

They need an overhaul, all of core tyria needs one. The newer maps are just a million times better, more dynamic and more fun to look at overall when compared to core and they need to take into account that we have gliding and mounts too. Nothing wrong with hidden areas you can only access when you have those abilities unlocked, Id love to see how different they would be due to the living world and how things have changed. (Kessex hills should be partially flooded.)

[Super Hayes.6890]

No thanks. They are fine. Events and metas could use updates though.

[Ashantara.8731]

While I support the idea (_Who doesn't want a visual upgrade of all content?_), I believe that they should focus on what they are working on at the moment and preferably see to bug fixing in the old maps rather than to visual updates.

[coso.9173]

If they managed to find a reason to update them that they could use both for new players, and new reasons for old lv80 players to come back to them that could work.

[Danikat.8537]

I _really_ don't have an eye for graphics, so changes have to be really extreme for me to notice them. The lighting is different in the newer maps, but other than that I don't see much change.

 

Two of my friends who started playing recently actually got into an argument about the graphics (which would be mainly based on the starter maps), one thinks the game is really pretty and absolutely loves looking at it. The other thinks it's "not bad if you consider it's an older game and MMOs never have the best graphics". I decided to stay out of it, but I might follow up when they get onto the newer maps to see if they notice the difference.

[Zaklex.6308]

Who cares, and there's specific reasons maps are lighted the way they are. Remember, each map is like a snap shot in time, it represents a static time period, tell your friends that and then let them decide.

[thepenmonster.3621]

I only said yes because there are a few places that need a geographical tweak because a lot of it only makes video game sense. Maybe add some trees on the hills. But a complete rehaul? Nah

[Randin.5701]

A simple thing they could do for pretty much all of central Tyria to improve the look is simply remove that low-hanging cloud cover that every zone has. Having enough of the sky visible that you can actually tell if it's day or night wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

[Dreamy Lu.3865]

For me, it's a bit the same than usual: Why not, but I see no matter of urgency. I would very much prefer that Anet spends time and budget on other things before to start with such an improvement. Very personal opinion of course. :3

[otto.5684]

I am always down for better graphics.

[Dawdler.8521]

And then people would just complain about the zones 1 step in instead.

 

IMO it would be a complete waste of time and effort when there are more important areas of the game that could use attention. Anet is already terrible at prioritizing - we've had what, 1 expansion and 3 LS in the time Anet hasnt fixed **a broken static model for a ~5x5m wall in WvW** - so dont encourage them.

[frareanselm.1925]

The main reason I didnt bought PoF since now is that when I played the beta-Pof my PC barely could move the game due to the excess detail and graphics of the new zones. So no, more visual updates is bad because produce tonss of lag. Not everybody can afford a high end gaming PC to run it.

[Martnor.1746]

I said yes but the only map that I feel could use an overhaul would be the "Plains of Ashford". The other ones still resonate quite well with me and feel almost magical. I understand that the Charr regions are meant to be rough and "dirty" but I just feel like that map didn't receive the same love as the other starting maps. The first bridge in Queensdale, the "forests" and snow mountains of "Wayfarer Foothills", the Asuran bridges and buildings, the swamps of Caledon..... those feel right to me.

[krz.1327]

Yes but they should fix all the bugs first

[Dante.1763]

> @"krz.1327" said:

> Yes but they should fix all the bugs first

 

Or they can do both, i mean they cant fix -all- the bugs, some bugs are just not fixable. Instead they should move items/collections/achievements away from those events that bug out constantly and need a game update to get the event to work..but only once.

[Tyncale.1629]

I think the old maps often have more interesting locales to visit and things going on then newer maps. I am using reshade from tekkit by the way and that makes everything so much better. Old maps can be a bit blurry (even with bloom off and such) but with reshade it's like a new map.

[hugo.4705]

I think there is a big difference between the instanced version of the maps within personal stories and their "open world" version. The story instances are definitely more attracting, with sometimes assets that aren't present in the normal version of the map. For once, will use norns: In the p-story you have an organized tournament next to Edenvar's Homestead. Out of it, nothing is happening there. It's the same where Isomnir was, the location is useless. The core maps are awesome regarding quests and the different POIs but apart that, it feels empty BUT because it needs more events and ambient dialogues. 60% of the starter maps NPCS are surely silent.

 

If I need to class each starter map by quality and amount of building/ambiance, it would be:

Caledon Forest > Metrica Province > Queensdale > Wayfarer Foothills > Plains of Ashford Grothmar feels way more Charr-ish.

 

[Fenom.9457]

I don’t see anything wrong with updating all the older maps, but since they hold up and still look pretty great it’s not a high priority

[Solanum.6983]

They could most definitely use an update in comparison to the POF Maps they look underwhelming to say the least.

[coso.9173]

BTW I dont think they need a complete overhaul. But even only adding better sky graphics (which use like 1/3 of our screen) and adding some more details here and there would be enough

[Hoover.6394]

> @"coso.9173" said:

> BTW I dont think they need a complete overhaul. But even only adding better sky graphics (which use like 1/3 of our screen) and adding some more details here and there would be enough

 

Yep that’s what I’m talking about, the designers And dev are so good now, it won’t take them much effort to make those areas nice, but it can give a great first impression!

[Hoover.6394]

> @"Solanum.6983" said:

> They could most definitely use an update in comparison to the POF Maps they look underwhelming to say the least.

 

Yeah for a new player trying out the free to play version, you want to give them a great first impression.

[killermanjaro.5670]

I wouldn't mind it as better visuals are always nice, but they don't really look bad enough to need any visual overhaul. What would Anet gain from putting resources into it? Some new players might venture into the maps and think "oh this looks pretty I'll give the game a shot", but I doubt there's many who currently enter a starter map and go "oh the graphics are awful I'm done with this!", it's nice if we have fancy visuals but ultimately I don't think fancy visuals are the reason people play MMOs, plus, and this is just a guess as I don't have any statistics, I'd imagine a large percentage of the playerbase might not even be playing on PCs capable of running higher graphic settings, hq shadows, textures etc. I'd rather resources went to other areas of the game or new content.