Dawntrail Graphics Update - Eye Strain

[Rueby]

And what does that have ANYTHING to do with the game hurting people now that never had a problem before the "update"? (like me) Less pixelated graphics aren't the problem as I can for example play Frist Descendant just fine and that game has alot of flashbangy effects too.

Don't bother, it honestly feels this person lives in their own little bubble where we don't exist in their world and they make some nonsense posts... But feel free to speak to their FC leader about their behavior as they so claim as if that's somehow...a good thing.

[UNDEAD10000]

It's have being 2 months now when Dawntrail got released and problems with graphics update still haven't being fixed.

I still have really hard time doing content like AAC Light-heavyweight Tier 1, 2, 3 & 4 normal raids due to everything being so bright, doing Vanguard dungeon is very painful due to very bright lighting and very strong bloom effect and many other content that makes my eyes feel very uncomfortable.

Currently Ultima Thule is only area that will make my eyes hurt after spending few minutes in the area due to extremely dark ground areas while there is extremely bright light middle of the map.

Bloom is still one of the worst graphical effects in the whole game when bloom simply is way too strong that in every area that have lots of strong bloom effects makes my eyes feel very uncomfortable.

Most of the shadows are is still broken that makes most of the shadows look very blurry no matter what shadow graphic settings i use and in every area that have lots of shadows simply makes my eyes feel very uncomfortable.

[Daralii]

Upgrading graphics is basically just a matter of switching graphics rendering from a Ps3 to a Ps4, that's all.

Where it really changes is when people add shaders.

Take a look at Ghost of Tsushima or any other game that isn't an MMO, it's always graphically more beautiful.

What did you expect? The liveletters always seem to tell us how wonderful the graphical change is, but it's still below any game released on Ps4. Whether you like it or not, this is still a Playstation-based MMO, and we'll be switching to Ps5 graphics at the next opportunity.

You're right, every PS4 and 5 game has so much bloom on every light source that objects just run together.

[gllt]

I wish it was a slider honestly. I prefer no bloom but even if I wanted to turn it on for a picture I'd want way less bloom than the current available options.

[Iscah]

While I am not physically troubled by the updated lighting, I find it unpleasant and mentally distracting in a way that was never on my radar in the old state of the game. Things glint and shine and steal attention, and so often the reflections and cast lighting fail to resemble the light sources in the room and it creates this constant cognitive dissonance and a feeling that there was no care put into making the lighting feel real.

Some issues that come to mind:

The relentless "three lines of lighting" that beam from nowhere and catch on everything.

The lights in the palace at Tuliyollal, where the cast shadows don't match the lights and skylights in the room, and the upper floor reflects lamps that don't exist, and those three beams of cold white lighting jar with the warm lighting of the room.

The marketplace at Tuliyollal, lit by a hundred tiny lanterns overhead that should cast a diffuse light, and yet the ground is lit as if by three giant spotlights from above.

A lamp on a table that lights up the ground beneath the table. (Upper Kozama'uka bandit hideout)

Lights in the background having so much glare and bloom on them that they shine over a person standing in front of them.

Objects or people in front of the setting sun will cast shadows on the air around them. Additionally the angle of the light doesn't make sense and I suspect it is acting as if the sun is a very close object and not the giant distant object it is, where any light shining on a person amounts to a tiny fraction of the light cast by the visible "disc" of sunlight.

[mallleable]

The only thing close to eye strain I've experienced is certain grass textures giving off a weird doppler(?) effect. It's especially prevalent in zones like Yanxia, and Shaaloani.

[Iscah]

A couple more things I remembered where the lighting is jarring:

The inn room at Gridania is unpleasantly bright. It used to be a bit dim but in a way that made sense with its dark wood panelling and soft lights. I haven't been to the other inns lately.

Shadows cast by lamps and small artificial light sources can be unnaturally sharp. Again in the Gridania inn room, standing at the edge of the room near the bed, the main overhead lamp casts a dark and sharp-edged shadow like sunlight, where a quick test in reality of a room light at similar distance reveals that cast shadows become diffuse at that distance unless the object is very close to the surface they are being cast onto.

Another too-sharp lighting is a lateish MSQ scene where some characters have a campfire inside a ruined building. Again, the fire casts a perfect sharp-edged shadow up onto the walls of the building in a way that instantly looks wrong.

[gllt]

I wish you could drag settings from the options straight to hotbars

I've written macros to turn party effects on and off (I use the holy icon for the macro) just to save my eyes, of course I'd rather them fix Holy and give us better granularity with turning effects on and off but if I could just toggle more options instead of hoping I can write a jank macro that would be nice

[Astronis]

I wish you could drag settings from the options straight to hotbars

I've written macros to turn party effects on and off (I use the holy icon for the macro) just to save my eyes, of course I'd rather them fix Holy and give us better granularity with turning effects on and off but if I could just toggle more options instead of hoping I can write a jank macro that would be nice

I would LOVE that. Holy is so obnoxiously bright.

[Erinellza]

I would LOVE that. Holy is so obnoxiously bright.

As a RDM main, I am scared to cast LB3, lol. That shit doesn't only blind me but also covers up boss mechanics. When someone else casts it, I just close my eyes for a couple of seconds because looking at it feels like a Jolt in my brain.