Heavensward - Opening Movie (warning contains spoilers)

[KisaiTenshi]

Do you expect them to render every single possible combination of characters for the representation of the WoL in the CGI trailers and launch more than 1000+ of the same CGI scene but with a different model in it?

I'd hope they didn't resort to pre-rendering anything. I've seen other MMORPG's where they pre-render stuff just to show off how cool something is, but then when you get into it, no, it's far worse. Mister WoL stand-in only works because he's been there since V1.0... where's the rest of his party?
https://youtu.be/iBfIFgxf2sw?t=435


Note this Opening Cinematic is different from the one in the game (which is narrated)


Then there are the V1.0 OP's companions which appear in two separate scenes



And Midgardsomr is also in the V1.0 OP (when the airship was sent into the lake)... so I guess we're just coming around full circle on the stuff that was promised in V1.0 ha...

So yes, the Midlander male, Miqo’te female, Roegadyn male, Elezen female, and Lalafell female in the recent trailers are in fact the same ones that appeared in the 1.0 trailer! (Yes, the black mage is the Elezen female from the morbol party, not the snooty male from the Midlander’s party. The robe & hat conceal some of her more distinguishing features, and we all know there was no bust size adjustment feature back in 1.0).

90% of the game content can be achieved with the in-game rendering. Once you unload the map and other characters in the area, you actually can squeeze out some pretty good CG, and with top-end cards, get some lighting that allows for some of this. We don't want to go back to FF7/8/9 style pre-renderings for every cutscene because that severely limits the player's customization. The only-pre-rendering you get now in MMORPG's are for opening, ending cinematics that do not-feature your characters, and the occasional "epic" CG sequence that doesn't involve your character.

The problem with pre-rending stuff is that you get promised epic looking stuff in the CG (see that Morbol fight in the V1.0 opening) and then are let down nothing like that actually being possible.