Grass

[Imoen]

I'm not expert in the plant department but... It just looks like they are using low quality alpha channel for the current grass/plants (Black/white for transparent on/off, no grey scale in between for blending) on top of that it it looks like low rez alpha hence the stair stepping effect. There could be overdraw or light issues with having it blend better but again I'm no expert in this part of development.

I agree though it could use some love, the chisel alpha thing always creates a flicker/sparkling effect over the scene while running through that always drives me batty.

[Lirion]

If how grass looks is a big issue for you in a game then I think you should consider yourself happy. I think UI, gameplay and accessibility far outweighs pretty grass. But that's just me.

I don't mind they working on cranking up the graphic settings but putting time on making grass pretty considering the other problems the game had is not exactly the best priority. The great thing about MMOs is that you can always update them, the bad thing about MMOs is you rarely get a second chance if you fail the launch. I'm pretty sure if AAR bombs there will not be a third chance. Pretty grass will not make people stay if the other stuff are not up to it, the devs are humans, they can't just snap their fingers and have everything they or the fans want. So let them focus on the important stuff and once that's done, focus on pretty grass and wet effects. Maybe that's the reason they're not supporting DX 11 at launch... time and deadlines man, what a pain in the ass.

The game is by no means ugly as it is already.

[Shougun]

I'm not expert in the plant department but... It just looks like they are using low quality alpha channel for the current grass/plants (Black/white for transparent on/off, no grey scale in between for blending) on top of that it it looks like low rez alpha hence the stair stepping effect. There could be overdraw or light issues with having it blend better but again I'm no expert in this part of development.

I agree though it could use some love, the chisel alpha thing always creates a flicker/sparkling effect over the scene while r
running through that always drives me batty.

The shimmering effect makes me very batty too XD (my eyes are trying to pay attention to detail and having good FPS you see every shimmer)

Maybe that's the reason they're not supporting DX 11 at launch... time and deadlines man, what a pain in the ass.

The game is by no means ugly as it is already.

Yeah and by no means do I want them to delay the game for great grass or not tweak the UI because they are working on foliage physics. (The part that bugs me is every model is so crisp in detail all the lines are so nice, but the foliage which is so jaggdy - its very abrasive imo in comparison to the rest of the game - Its like tossing Minecrat models into Crysis)

[Imoen]

If how grass looks is a big issue for you in a game then I think you should consider yourself happy. I think UI, gameplay and accessibility far outweighs pretty grass. But that's just me.

I don't mind they working on cranking up the graphic settings but putting time on making grass pretty considering the other problems the game had is not exactly the best priority. The great thing about MMOs is that you can always update them, the bad thing about MMOs is you rarely get a second chance if you fail the launch. I'm pretty sure if AAR bombs there will not be a third chance. Pretty grass will not make people stay if the other stuff are not up to it, the devs are humans, they can't just snap their fingers and have everything they or the fans want. So let them focus on the important stuff and once that's done, focus on pretty grass and wet effects. Maybe that's the reason they're not supporting DX 11 at launch... time and deadlines man, what a pain in the ass.

The game is by no means ugly as it is already.

You know, it IS low priority and by no means a game breaker, but people always say this stuff like there is only like 5 guys on the team or something. I just can't stand it when people are like "OH THEY SHOULD FOCUS ON THIS INSTEAD OF THAT" when its like 2 totally different departments working on it.

With that said, yes maybe the art peeps responsible for this have their plates full, or maybe this is a technical art issue and they have their plate full. Who knows.

[Lirion]

You know, it IS low priority and by no means a game breaker, but people always say this stuff like there is only like 5 guys on the team or something. I just can't stand it when people are like "OH THEY SHOULD FOCUS ON THIS INSTEAD OF THAT" when its like 2 totally different departments working on it.

With that said, yes maybe the art peeps responsible for this have their plates full, or maybe this is a technical art issue and they have their plate full. Who knows.

Where did I say there is only 5 people?

I don't know how many are currently developing the game, I'm guessing a lot. But as you said, grass isn't on the top of the priority list and I think therefor shouldn't take development time from things that needs to be finished for launch. It's not like this thread is about balance or gameplay issues, it's about grass. Now if he played the beta and thought the class balance is all messed up, that is worthy of their attention. Complaining about grass before the game is even finished and knowing where the game was, is IMO not worthy of their attention at this time.

[Imoen]

Where did I say there is only 5 people?

I don't know how many are currently developing the game, I'm guessing a lot. But as you said, grass isn't on the top of the priority list and I think therefor shouldn't take development time from things that needs to be finished for launch. It's not like this thread is about balance or gameplay issues, it's about grass. Now if he played the beta and thought the class balance is all messed up, that is worthy of their attention. Complaining about grass before the game is even finished and knowing where the game was, is IMO not worthy of their attention at this time.

I didn't say you said there was only 5 people, I said people say this stuff LIKE there is only 5 people.

Case and point, the guys working on gameplay are most likely not the guys working on art. Thus having an artist work on plants does not effect any gameplay development time. (That was my point)

[Shougun]

Where did I say there is only 5 people?

I don't know how many are currently developing the game, I'm guessing a lot. But as you said, grass isn't on the top of the priority list and I think therefor shouldn't take development time from things that needs to be finished for launch. It's not like this thread is about balance or gameplay issues, it's about grass. Now if he played the beta and thought the class balance is all messed up, that is worthy of their attention. Complaining about grass before the game is even finished and knowing where the game was, is IMO not worthy of their attention at this time.

Every detail is worth attention - and I already specified that its not high priority but rather a "bla bla isnt doing anything assign him flora detail".

I could argue the classes are fine and its a waste of your time mentioning them. So please dont use that argument. Obviously I feel its worth while to mention - else I wouldnt have mentioned it, and I'm more then reasonable with the priority of the issue.

There is no "higher priority you cant mention anything else rule".

And as Imoen is pointing out you have no idea how many or who are working on what - so there could be a graphic artist twiddling his thumbs and you are saying "no dont make my game better even though it wont effect anything else".

Obviously Yoshida isnt going to stop designing a job class or balancing combat to make grass better. "Everyone stop! All 500 of you! We need to work on grass"... -_- if they did that I'd appologize lol

[Lirion]

Every detail is worth attention - and I already specified that its not high priority but rather a "bla bla isnt doing anything assign him flora detail".

I could argue the classes are fine and its a waste of your time mentioning them. So please dont use that argument. Obviously I feel its worth while to mention - else I wouldnt have mentioned it, and I'm more then reasonable with the priority of the issue.

There is no "higher priority you cant mention anything else rule".

And as Imoen is pointing out you have no idea how many or who are working on what - so there could be a graphic artist twiddling his thumbs and you are saying "no dont make my game better even though it wont effect anything else".

Obviously Yoshida isnt going to stop designing a job class or balancing combat to make grass better. "Everyone stop! All 500 of you! We need to work on grass"... -_- if they did that I'd appologize lol

I didn't say you said there was only 5 people, I said people say this stuff LIKE there is only 5 people.

Case and point, the guys working on gameplay are most likely not the guys working on art. Thus having an artist work on plants does not effect any gameplay development time. (That was my point)

Fair enough.

[Linkurrra]

Exactly, or even have a firey explosion singe the grass for a time. I know NeverWinter Nights the grass bent when you walked through it and thats quite an old game now. The thing is, how much extra computing power would they need and how much more information would need to be packaged and sent via internet, how much would this slow things down, is creating better grass going to reduce the quality of other, more improtant areas of the game/gameplay. Those screenshots had lots of grass.

I am not against adding in a patch later that increases some visual aspects of the game (IIRC Direct X11 support and SLI support is coming?) at least they arent as focused on the grass as some people are. They need to get the core systems to a playable state before worrying about the fluff.

I fully agree that having the grass react to the player is a nice immersive element. I would love to see spells effecting the grass too.
One other thing to add though is when during casting the grass could whip in and out as you prepare your magic to cast. Like when helicopter hovers. Then whips forward with the spell when cast! It would add a lot to the power of the spell.

They could even make it so the effect is more extreme at higher levels. Like when your 50 space and time ripples when you enter the room! lol (okay that's kinda silly, but you get my point)

As far as it taking extra processing on the server or bandwidth is an non-issue. This type of stuff can be handled solely on the players client PC or PS3. There is no need to transmit what the grass is doing to the server or other players. It's purely for the player's experience. It has no gameplay element to convey other than, wow that spell is pretty powerful!

[Cedri]

"Life" did maintenance on a park I zoned into, grass was removed.