1.0 had higher texture resolution, without DX11, so no, DX11 is not mandatory for it.
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I feel Yoshi-P got misquoted when mentioning DirectX11
As a developer I know that alot of the potential features being potentially added such as;
Tesselation
Ambient Occlusion
Hi-Resolution Textures
High End Particle Simulation
Physics improvements
Depth of Field (Field and cut scenes)
All of the above and more are capable with DirectX 9, however the process through DirectX 11 allows for a smoother, faster experience with all of the above.
More notably DirectX 11 allows for sharper shadows and more accurate lighting with deferred rendering. Faster too! [Lighting and Shadows]
Here is how I see it panning out;
DirectX 9 [Toggle/Client] - Release Candidate, suitable for mid-range > high-end PC's.
This is appropriate for the launch of the game, making sure both the PC and PS3 versions are stable and playable.
DirectX 11 [Toggle/Client] - A High-end client boasting all of the above potential additions, with a performance increase available for those with the appropriate hardware.
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The main problem with the PS3 is the memory limit, MMOs in particular eats up a beastly amount of memory. More than your average shoot 'em up. So for Square Enix to get all this content crammed into the PS3 whilst maintaining an interesting PC version is phenomenal, really.
Also, don't forget the PS3 is completely DX version independent since DX is windows only. PS3 uses openGL, so the feature set is independent to begin with.
The important thing is that even though DX11 isn't technically needed, at least they're going to be giving us the higher resolution textures and other features eventually when they do make the DX11 client.
DX11 isn't needed for high resolution textures but it is more optimized with high resolution textures and multi threaded processes. In result you will get better performance with the use of high res textures than you would with DX9.
As far a DX11 support goes we should also keep in mind that PS4 will be launched later this year and it supports DX11 and from what i have read its architecture is similar to pc, so by supporting DX11 for pc they can also port it to PS4.
I think PS3 memory is the reason for low res textures and low end pcs as well and since this game is in development for less then 2 years which is very short period of time as far as mmo are concerned and high res textures will only benefit high end pcs they decided to implement it after the launch and maybe we get more then just high res textures and few DX11 features because of PS4, that is if there is a PS4 version.
Question - when DX11 support, along with whatever further engine optimizations are finally added, will it (DX11) be automatically used by your PC if it is able? And what affect would these additional optimizations and DX11 have, if any, on CPU and GPU load? Would it raise or lower their loads? Or maybe that's a dumb question. My hope and expectation is that your computer will be able to do more with less effort (this was my understanding). Look/play better with lighter load percentages. Would this be accurate?
I see people "complaining" that they "only" get a 30% CPU load, as if they want their processor to be doing 80% or something. Similar complaints with GPU use. This confuses me. Do they WANT their computers to work harder?