Curse

Ctb · Jul 13, 2009, 02:15 PM // 14:15

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It looks great, but when playing a MMO I couldn't care less about the spider on the tree, the grass that bends with the wind, the dust that flies in the direction of the wind, the water that reacts to the ground.

This.

Well, sort of. ANET did an awesome job with graphics and sound/music in this game. Hands down, it's the purtiest of them all save, possibly, EvE Online. I would be happy if they could simply equal the quality in the original Guild Wars and, frankly, I'd prefer it. With the horrible pathing problems, embarrsingly stupid AI, and enormous number of basic features it lacks, I'd much rather they worry about making the game more functional technically than even prettier than it already is.

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anet has also licensed "Umbra" technology, which increases performance by telling the game engine to not render anything that's obstructed. in other words, GW2's engine will be very good at NOT rendering things that it doesn't need.

I wonder how well that works... info on it is slim, and I'd think that unless it's somehow psychic, it's going to have problems with sudden camera changes. How does it know ahead of time that you're going to swing the camera around, for example, and change your view to be over the rock in front of you that's blocking the little bunny on the ground?

JR · Jul 13, 2009, 04:51 PM // 16:51

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Originally Posted by Ctb

I wonder how well that works... info on it is slim, and I'd think that unless it's somehow psychic, it's going to have problems with sudden camera changes. How does it know ahead of time that you're going to swing the camera around, for example, and change your view to be over the rock in front of you that's blocking the little bunny on the ground?

It probably either has some pretty advanced tolerance setting capabilities, or it's a far more simple affair involving the level editor blocking off areas that dissapear when you are in x or y position etc.

Apollo Smile · Jul 13, 2009, 05:11 PM // 17:11

Umbra technology is going to be incredible for draw distance. I guarantee you won't see those 2-D sprites for stuff in the background like GW1.

Gigashadow · Jul 13, 2009, 05:28 PM // 17:28

It's going to depend on how well it's used; after all, Age of Conan and EQ2 used Umbra, and neither one of those performed very well. Luckily Guild Wars is pretty efficient even without Umbra, so at least it's starting from a good spot.