WoW made me appreciate other games' graphics

I never really realized how good some (most) of recent games look, the animation, the textures, the higher polygons, until I really got into WoW. If it wasn't for the excellent art in WoW I think the game would look like donkey shit. That says a lot about Blizzard's artists, and how they can make a game "shine" with fewer resources (compared to non-MMO games).

So after 4 straight days of playing WoW and nothing else, I fired up CoD4 and was literally blown away. I think this was a good experience for me, and has made me a LOT less jaded.

I never really realized how good some (most) of recent games look, the animation, the textures, the higher polygons, until I really got into WoW. If it wasn't for the excellent art in WoW I think the game would look like donkey shit. That says a lot about Blizzard's artists, and how they can make a game "shine" with fewer resources (compared to non-MMO games).

So after 4 straight days of playing WoW and nothing else, I fired up CoD4 and was literally blown away. I think this was a good experience for me, and has made me a LOT less jaded.

You gotta remember that WoW is 4 years old and wasn't really a graphics powerhouse back then, either.  The graphics just need to be functional for WoW... and they are.

Too bad the game can be more addictive than crack.

"If it wasn't for the excellent art in WoW I think the game would look like donkey shit."

This is a bit of a contradiction. Surely the same could be said of COD4 - because all computer generated visualisations have their own artistic merits.

But I understand your point. We are encouraged to think along the lines of "Better graphics does not necessarily mean a better game" but to deny it's impact at all is just wrong. If a game has breathtaking visuals then they should be noted and appropriately appreciated. I don't think this is really a fair criticism of WoW though; that its bad because other games of a completely different genre have better graphics?

The art style of WoW was designed that way deliberately so that it was accessible to everyone whilst retaining a strong sense of style. With 2.5 million people jumping onto the Lich King, it seems to be working...

Maybe I should rephrase, WoW does look good for a games of its age and type, and when I went back to CoD4 I appreciated the graphics even more.

I don't even see how you can say the art style is so good. It just looks like every other fantasy thing to me.

"I don't even see how you can say the art style is so good. It just looks like every other fantasy thing to me."

"HandsomeDead said:

"I don't even see how you can say the art style is so good. It just looks like every other fantasy thing to me."

I disagree."

Genius begets genius.

It's the old art direction vs. bleeding-edge technical methods argument.

Lol.. I just ran VC not 10 minutes ago.

"The art style of WoW is nothing special at all. It's just blocky cartoony fantasy."

I actually find the visuals in WOTLK very  nice in their own way. Blizzard environment designers are the best. The art is great and funny, the scale is amazing, very nice details, and they are very immersive, they get you immersed in those places. Of course that in terms of technology they are way behind recent games, but they still have their charm, and they have been pretty much enhanced in WOTLK ( dynamic shadows, great view distance, light and particles new effects, etc.)
Anyway, try to play a game with the graphics of COD4 as an MMORPG, and then you will see why developers can't pull much in that field ( Age of Conan sucked in that aspect because almost no one could run it decent when it came out)
Just my opinion.
Cheers

WoW never needed great graphics with it's amazing art, the game is still my favorite looking game to this day