Graphical Improvements

DaniAngione

It is widely known that some MMOs see changes to their graphics and older areas during their lifetime. It's incredible to see how much can an art team 'evolve' in a few years of practice within the engine/game and the advancement of technology. Just look at examples like how EVE Online graphics changed over the years or how LOTRO's first zones were bland when compared to Rohan (which is amazing) that came later.

In ESO, this has been noticeable in less than a year, to be honest. First the interior lightning effects came (and I still marvel before their glory), Craglorn looks far more refined and worked than most zones and now Imperial City has some stunning environments and level design.

So, this brings me back to an old thought of mine: some cities and places in ESO that could be improved (in my opinion) to look different from the rest of the villages and towns of that same faction - for example, urban Highrock cities (Daggerfall, Wayrest) are quite different from rural Highrock towns and villages; This is not the case with the dunmer, for example. Mournhold looks like a big camp with more empty space than buildings. With the ESO team clearly evolving on that matter, would you like to one day see improvements and revamps to old places?

And secondly; the same principle apply to some stuff that could be improved over time. There are a few things that bother me:

• Oceans and coastlines are bland. No waves, no water movement, feels like one big lake. This breaks immersion so much, especially on 'naval' based areas or questlines like we've got in the game.
• The fog is too thick. This is something that has been discussed since the game launched - though it allows for some beautiful atmospheric scattering effects on distant mountains and cities, it makes the world feel small - you barely have horizons. You can't climb high places and look at vast green fields and forests, you just see... fog. This also contributes to bad looking oceans mentioned above - you don't see the horizon line on oceans, which is kind of annoying. Game looks so beautiful without the fog! (there used to be a crack for that) - you could see imperial city from afar, like we did in Oblivion. Please, ZOS, work that out!
• Cyrodiil keeps are pretty much the same, only changing in 'size' (there are the small ones and big ones (main building is different) - there could be more variety to their styles... Like some could look very imperial, others (borderlands) could have the neighboring province syle influencing a bit, like 'nord-ish' keeps on the north, etc... This would make Cyrodiil a bit more fun, I suppose.
• I'd love to see more weather effects, like big thunderstorms with heavy winds or almost blinding sand and snowstorms. They could be really rare but add some depth and variety to the game.
• Sharpening & Better color correction are lacking. I play the game with SweetFX - as some do - and it's incredible how just a bit of sharpening does wonders for ESO. For example, skin textures are incredible detailed, as chainmails and textiles. All the detail simply goes away with the game's default blurry looks. Why create such amazing textures to have them blurred by post-FX, I wonder? Oh, and just a tiny bit of contrast and saturation makes the game even more beautiful as well: skies become blue, scenery feels lively and intense, places like snowy regions or deserts feel so incredible and immersive; not the default, grayish and washed looks they have. Just a bit, not much - it doesn't affect the overall 'realistic' aesthetics of the game, in fact, it looks more real.

So, these are some of the possible changes that we could see in the future! What do you think about them?
Feel free to suggest other graphical/environment/level design changes you'd love to see