Posts with tag visual-effects

@szspagna Completely agree. This is a major priority for us, and something we discuss among the class team, with our FX artists, etc., often

- Watcher (@WatcherDev) February 6, 2014

There has been talk of this before, and with good reason too. When players go into melee and are faced with totems, pets, elementals, minions, imps, apparitions and more, it's hard to work out what's important and what isn't. At the PvP summit it was also raised, with discussion on making the most important visual cues really stand out, and the less important ones less flashy. The same is likely to apply in PvE, with emphasis added on your own animations and key ones from other players, mobs, bosses and so on.

This should have several effects. Not only will it make life easier for melee, and for PvPers as a group, it will also reduce strain on players' systems. While it's remarkable that WoW still runs on older systems as well as it does, it is slowly getting harder and harder for less current machines to cope. And as upgrades like the new character models continue, it's only going to get worse. Things like reducing visual clutter, especially in raids, will be a huge help for system resources.

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The World of Warcraft artists are second to none in the industry, masterfully turning concepts into game reality. What happens, sadly, when your awesome weapon graphics are overshadowed by the overzealous weapon enchant you are practically required to have? Blizzard is still looking into a way to deal with displaying weapon enchants, either through a toggle, some other interface switch, or some unannounced feature yet to be determined.

While I agree with Blizzard that iconic and recognizable looks are a great way to pinpoint what items are capable of how much damage and power, as we have seen with transmogrification, the general scope of iconic looks has changed drastically. If it's possible and feasible, Blizzard will allow us to toggle our enchants, especially after the success of transmogrification.

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I didn't have any interest in watching the Oscars last night (so no, I didn't get to see Wolverine singing and dancing), but there was one piece of WoW-related news to come out of the big event. Steve Preeg is a visual effects artist who's worked on films like the Lord of the Rings trilogy and I, Robot, and last night, he won an Oscar for his team's work on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. And that's not his only achievement: he's also done everything but Sarth 3D with the guild he leads.

Yup, we've heard from one of his guildies that Preeg is a guild leader in the game -- he plays a Combat Rogue with 450 Enchanting and Inscription, and runs a progression guild that's downed everything but the big black dragon and his three companions. he's even done all of the holiday events so far (though he's rolling with the "Champion of the Frozen Wastes" title).

So he's picked up some excellent loot, both in and out of game (Oscars are epic at least -- the drop rate is pretty low). Congrats to Preeg and his team on the Oscar, and to his guild, good luck with Sarth 3D. Maybe if Anne Hathaway showed up for that you'd have him down by now.