I'm back to allow you to take a first look at the "Dreamworld Engine" that FunCom is developing and testing on the Test-Live server.
As soon as i logged in, I noticed a difference, a huge difference between our actual client and the new client, images were much more detailed, with deeper colours, on the overall even the loading screens appeared to be much more polished.
I took a ride around some significant zones in which i experienced some lag issues in the past to see how was the client reacting, so, before posting any information i would like to point out my PC build to set a "benchmark":
Core: Intel i5-750 overclocked @ 3.2GhZ
Mobo: Asus P7P55D-LE
RAM: 4 GhZ DDR3
Video Card: GeForce GTX 570 GDDR5 1GB
So, given those basic build information here's what i found out in the following zones:
1) Keshatta @Thoth-Amon's Strnghold square: Full DX10 without AA, 70fps without any big variation, never had big jumps, I didn't experience any kind of mini freeze due to monitor refreshing rate, or to background loading, impressive.
2) Chosain Province (Around Shaulun): Ok, that IS one of the worst zones ever, due to its rich textures it's actually a pain even for someone with a good machine, in Full DX10 without AA I had 30fps, what is surprising is that 30 is a stable value, there are no jumps and with the progressive re-rendering of the textures done by the graphic card, the FPS rate is going to increase. Maximum peak was at 40fps minimum at 27.
Never had a big drop with the fps, not even while fighting multiple mobs.
3) Tarantia: Ok, Tarantia is probably the less/worst optimized zone on TL, as soon as you spawn at the path location (near to the graveyard) I had a suddend drop of the fps below 15fps, then it went up again to fall down again a few moments later when i started to move around.
Tarantia in full DX10 with the new engine is simply astonishing, taking a ride around the roads, on the bridges and terraces of the city and looking around makes you really see what this engine is capable of.
Initially you will have some fps jumps and a bit of rubberbanding, but don't worry, after it will be stable, I had after some minutes fps in the range of 40-60 which is a good value given the size of that zone.
On the overall I found that engine really impressive, the game appears to be smooth, really smooth, movements are dynamic, light/shadow effects are seriously great and the detail of the texture is really amazing.
Beside the mere appearance of the new engine, what surprised me is that stability of the engine, mini freeze are not happening at all and if they do it's not a common thing, even during fights in heavy "texturized" zones does not make you play a screenshot-game, you are now capable of being dynamic and responsive for the whole lenght of the fights, and that's indeed a great news.
What I'm wondering is if this will be valuable for sieges as well when 48 characters will be on the same spot along side with environment, buildings, particle effects and so on.
Probably yes, it will (with all the needed attention like decreasing a bit the detail), but yet again, I have the feeling it's more a matter of server stability and reliability more than a graphic issue.
If the server crash everytime a siege occurs, the graphic is useless!
Phoenix Cloak: Particle Effect reworked
So that is, at least for what regards me, is the first change i see on the HoX, the first real change that is goin to affect even if not directly one of our skills and the impact it has on the gameplay.
I'm talking about Phoenix Cloak.
It is our "Bubble", calling it bubble could sound a bit improper though, for it does not provide us a total immunity, they provide us a +50 at damage deflection.
Even though, it sometimes may result usefull and i dare to say in 1vs1 encounters or when we manage to pick up an enemy that's not group and that's roaming around.
One of the biggest issue with PC beside the skill itself was with the rework of the animation that was done, this skill went through 2 phases in its history, and the third one is beginning:
1) Release: no animation or pretty unnoticeable, PC could have been a fake cast
2) First rework: We actually have a traffic light over our head the entire world knows we have PC up, the entire world knows that this is the best moment to CC us, wait for PC to disappear and to gank us.
3) New Rework: Finally the animation has been resized and polished, it's more dynamic and finally now like for all the other class you will have to pay a bit more of attention to notice us popping it, the pulsing effect has been made smaller and a bit more translucent.
Enough talk it's time to let the screenshots speak!
I hope you'll enjoy the images and the video!
Stay tuned!!
Arcalimon
Album with all the screenshots taken
No comments:
Post a Comment