It's time for a graphics update

ethantokes

ESO is aging. Don't get me wrong, of course gameplay is more important than graphics, the thing is, I think eso gameplay is already pretty fantastic and many people agree on that in the mmo community. Features should come too and as priority 90% of the time, but the game is beginning to age quite heavily in some ways. A cloth physics pass on characters, animation/locomotion changes, lighting improvements and weather effects could go a really long way to keep the game fresh. Most people I know use reshade in some way at this point because the game looks bland without it and no one should ever have to look outside the game to improve it to a "playable" state. Forgive me if what you think what I am saying is harsh, but it's undeniable that some simple improvements, some very simple tbh, could go a really long way. Characters just feel so stiff and lighting is very very weak, you should consider it for your next large update patch.

TaSheen

I've already been through 2 graphics updates in other MMOs - which made my characters look nothing like I wanted them to look, and made the worlds even more cartoonish than they were to begin with, and which ultimately led to me cancelling numerous subs in both games, quitting them completely, and I've never been back to either one.

And considering the state of the "re-do" on templar jabs and DW flurry.... Please, no. Just leave the game alone.

Arcturus

I for one, at the very least, would really like my sorc pets to stop glowing and get a retexture. They look horrible.

notyuu

Nah,
i'd say the game looks fine enough as is

Snamyap

ethantokes wrote: »

ESO is aging. Don't get me wrong, of course gameplay is more important than graphics, the thing is, I think eso gameplay is already pretty fantastic and many people agree on that in the mmo community.

You don't read the forums much, do you? 😉

Dokolus

All I'm after really is just improved texture details to older zones, and NPC clothing. The water update turned out great, new zones look amazing and newer NPC clothing is just fine, but the old zones could definitely use some love (even WoW is getting an upcoming facelift on it's Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdom zones, and they're even improving LoD's/lighting).

Tandor

I think the game is looking great as it is, but that is partly subjective and partly dependent on the hardware and settings used.

Personally I've never liked the sample reshade screenshots posted here, and ZOS burnt their fingers badly on some lighting upgrades that some players blamed for increased performance issues and a lot of players simply didn't like. ZOS said they wouldn't make the mistake of making such changes again.

Aardappelboom

It's still pretty good in terms of graphics, the animations are a different story, but it's always very subjective.

Warhawke_80

I'm using a RTX 3090TI You can do some amazing things with the Nvidia filters....I don't think it's so much the environments that need a update but the character models especially the horses....I'm not expecting RDRII levels of detail but they don't blink...and they have this creepy look on their horsey faces....

NeuroticPixels

Reshade makes the game look so much better. I use Crispy Sharpness from the NexusMods site. (Yeah, I made it. lol.) i actually tweaked some things and need to release a “version 2”.
As Warhawke_80 said, the Nvidia filters (I forget what it’s called exactly) are another option.

But unfortunately, all of that only works on PC. Console gamers are stuck with the bland colors and lack of details of vanilla graphics. Best they could do is fiddle with their tv settings.

TybaltKaine

You have to consider that a major overhaul of graphics would impact members of the user base on lower end systems. ESO is already squeezing every last drop out of players, so to ask them to suddenly have to upgrade a computer, maybe drastically, in a time when graphics cards are wildly overpriced or lose access to their investment because of a non-critical issue like graphics seems a bridge too far.

There are plenty of avenues for the user to take to increase graphical fidelity without impacting the game for everyone else.

ethantokes

TaSheen wrote: »

I've already been through 2 graphics updates in other MMOs - which made my characters look nothing like I wanted them to look, and made the worlds even more cartoonish than they were to begin with, and which ultimately led to me cancelling numerous subs in both games, quitting them completely, and I've never been back to either one.

And considering the state of the "re-do" on templar jabs and DW flurry.... Please, no. Just leave the game alone.

Uh, i'd say they should give us a coupon to remake our chars, but I don't think fear of them doing bad is a good excuse to not upgrade the graphics ever lol.

ethantokes

Snamyap wrote: »

ethantokes wrote: »

ESO is aging. Don't get me wrong, of course gameplay is more important than graphics, the thing is, I think eso gameplay is already pretty fantastic and many people agree on that in the mmo community.

You don't read the forums much, do you? 😉

I mean I've come to check stuff out every once in a while since release

wilykcat

I 💯 percent agree with this. This game does need more better quality animations and realistic physics in general. There are so many things relating to graphics that the game can improve on.

One example:
The current animations in the game are lacking for cloths and hair. They're glued to the character and it looks fake. The animations/physics need improvement. Also higher quality textures.

Guild wars 2 is another example of a game that has super high quality animations, realistic physics, 3d effects, textures, and lighting effects. Maybe eso can learn a thing or two and get inspired by how other games do their graphics. Eso has great potential in the future.

ethantokes

Warhawke_80 wrote: »

I'm using a RTX 3090TI You can do some amazing things with the Nvidia filters....I don't think it's so much the environments that need a update but the character models especially the horses....I'm not expecting RDRII levels of detail but they don't blink...and they have this creepy look on their horsey faces....

Yeah I have my own reshade, its on nexus if anyone wants links, called Arcana, but

TaSheen

ethantokes wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

I've already been through 2 graphics updates in other MMOs - which made my characters look nothing like I wanted them to look, and made the worlds even more cartoonish than they were to begin with, and which ultimately led to me cancelling numerous subs in both games, quitting them completely, and I've never been back to either one.

And considering the state of the "re-do" on templar jabs and DW flurry.... Please, no. Just leave the game alone.

Uh, i'd say they should give us a coupon to remake our chars, but I don't think fear of them doing bad is a good excuse to not upgrade the graphics ever lol.

There was no way to remake my characters so they were "right" again in the other games. It's a deal breaker.

ethantokes

wilykcat wrote: »

I 💯 percent agree with this. This game does need more better quality animations and realistic physics in general. There are so many things relating to graphics that the game can improve on.

One example:
The current animations in the game are lacking for cloths and hair. They're glued to the character and it looks fake. The animations/physics need improvement. Also higher quality textures.

Guild wars 2 is another example of a game that has super high quality animations, realistic physics, 3d effects, textures, and lighting effects. Maybe eso can learn a thing or two and get inspired by how other games do their graphics. Eso has great potential in the future.

Yeah the stiff glued on look is not good at all.

ethantokes

TybaltKaine wrote: »

You have to consider that a major overhaul of graphics would impact members of the user base on lower end systems. ESO is already squeezing every last drop out of players, so to ask them to suddenly have to upgrade a computer, maybe drastically, in a time when graphics cards are wildly overpriced or lose access to their investment because of a non-critical issue like graphics seems a bridge too far.

There are plenty of avenues for the user to take to increase graphical fidelity without impacting the game for everyone else.

The truth is much of what we are asking for could be sliders, checks or optional and the animation side of things other than cloth physics has basically 0 performance hit.

TaSheen

But they're not very apt at animation. I remind you all about the very unhappy response to the changes to jabs and flurry....

licenturion

Rock and vegetation updates would do soooooo much in the old base zones. Those assets are very bad compared to the assets from DLC1 and expansion 1 on.

Seeing that all other zones have much improved assets for years and years this would have zero performance hits

TybaltKaine

Gotta love how this thread was just a backdoor ad for a Reshade mod.

ethantokes

TybaltKaine wrote: »

Gotta love how this thread was just a backdoor ad for a Reshade mod.

Except it wasn't, I hadn't even published it until a few minutes ago. I just so happened to hit publish right before checking this thread so I showed it off since it pertains to what I am talking about. Reshade is basically necessary for ESO at this point if you want to have nearly as visually pleasing an experience as is possible.

ethantokes

licenturion wrote: »

Rock and vegetation updates would do soooooo much in the old base zones. Those assets are very bad compared to the assets from DLC1 and expansion 1 on.

Seeing that all other zones have much improved assets for years and years this would have zero performance hits

Agreed

fall0athboy

TaSheen wrote: »

I've already been through 2 graphics updates in other MMOs - which made my characters look nothing like I wanted them to look, and made the worlds even more cartoonish than they were to begin with, and which ultimately led to me cancelling numerous subs in both games, quitting them completely, and I've never been back to either one.

And considering the state of the "re-do" on templar jabs and DW flurry.... Please, no. Just leave the game alone.

Same.

RS3's graphical updates were...painful.

Dokolus

I find a good chunk of people over the years end up using Reshade in ways that they don't understand, say from the PoV of a photographer who knows how to properly tone a shot with it's white highlights and dark tones.

Most folks with Reshade end up producing a lot, and I mean a lot of crushed black tones and generally a duller atmosphere with an overuse of sharpening, and most games are generally not designed to look like that all the time (hence we get games like TF2, or Fornite, or even GW2 with colours that just pop and even some areas in ESO have colours that are designed to pop, not be muted and darkened).

licenturion

Dokolus wrote: »

I find a good chunk of people over the years end up using Reshade in ways that they don't understand, say from the PoV of a photographer who knows how to properly tone a shot with it's white highlights and dark tones.

Most folks with Reshade end up producing a lot, and I mean a lot of crushed black tones and generally a duller atmosphere with an overuse of sharpening, and most games are generally not designed to look like that all the time (hence we get games like TF2, or Fornite, or even GW2 with colours that just pop and even some areas in ESO have colours that are designed to pop, not be muted and darkened).

That is the cool thing about ReShade and Nvidea filters. People can make it how they like their personal taste and they bother no one else with it.

My ESO looks like Sea Of Thieves with oversaturated and over bloomed visuals and instead of oversharpening like most people do, I gaussian overblur and sharpen slightly again so the base zones of the game looks more current gen and blend together better with post launch zones.

Usually I never use Reshade on other games but my monitor is on digital vibrance 70 percent because I like clear popping colours. I do the same with EQ for music so everything is the way I like it. All those options are there for a reason.

Dokolus

licenturion wrote: »

Dokolus wrote: »

I find a good chunk of people over the years end up using Reshade in ways that they don't understand, say from the PoV of a photographer who knows how to properly tone a shot with it's white highlights and dark tones.

Most folks with Reshade end up producing a lot, and I mean a lot of crushed black tones and generally a duller atmosphere with an overuse of sharpening, and most games are generally not designed to look like that all the time (hence we get games like TF2, or Fornite, or even GW2 with colours that just pop and even some areas in ESO have colours that are designed to pop, not be muted and darkened).

That is the cool thing about ReShade and Nvidea filters. People can make it how they like their personal taste and they bother no one else with it.

My ESO looks like Sea Of Thieves with oversaturated and over bloomed visuals and instead of oversharpening like most people do, I gaussian overblur and sharpen slightly again so the base zones of the game looks more current gen and blend together better with post launch zones.

Usually I never use Reshade on other games but my monitor is on digital vibrance 70 percent because I like clear popping colours. I do the same with EQ for music so everything is the way I like it. All those options are there for a reason.

I've no issues with how people go about using either filter techs, but I was just pointing out that many of the times people show them off, they tend to end up looking one way or the other, instead of going for a kind of tone that compliments the given style of the game they are playing.

There is one Youtube ESO user I have found recently that just so happens to be a Photographer and notices the same patterns I'[m seeing with how others use Reshade, and as such he combined other filters to create his own, but not so much in a way that blacks would be crushed, or white tones blooming too brightly.

I just feel like people would benefit more with their usage of reshade if they learn how colour grading works, or at least the basics of it (or you could even use a camera/phone to try taking irl shots to practice learning, as I have done so in the past with my cameras).

I am likely going to use that user's Reshade, as it sorts out quite a few issues I've had with ESO's overall colour scheme, but I also want to learn more from his personal choices (from one camera man to another, and as a guy who wants to draw again).

Here is the user's video side by side comparison if you'd like to take a gander:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=-vX84xsGltw

katanagirl1

NeuroticPixels wrote: »

Reshade makes the game look so much better. I use Crispy Sharpness from the NexusMods site. (Yeah, I made it. lol.) i actually tweaked some things and need to release a “version 2”.
As Warhawke_80 said, the Nvidia filters (I forget what it’s called exactly) are another option.

But unfortunately, all of that only works on PC. Console gamers are stuck with the bland colors and lack of details of vanilla graphics. Best they could do is fiddle with their tv settings.

No, it looks great on PS5 with HDR and 4K.

NeuroticPixels

katanagirl1 wrote: »

NeuroticPixels wrote: »

Reshade makes the game look so much better. I use Crispy Sharpness from the NexusMods site. (Yeah, I made it. lol.) i actually tweaked some things and need to release a “version 2”.
As Warhawke_80 said, the Nvidia filters (I forget what it’s called exactly) are another option.

But unfortunately, all of that only works on PC. Console gamers are stuck with the bland colors and lack of details of vanilla graphics. Best they could do is fiddle with their tv settings.

No, it looks great on PS5 with HDR and 4K.

Game looks fine if you have nothing to compare it to. If you’ve never had a way to (or never chose to) tweak sharpness, vibrance, contrast, lighting, etc then it’s difficult to have a well-rounded opinion.
I like to toggle Reshade off and on to remind myself how dull and blurry the vanilla game looks even on my 2k HDR 165Ghz monitor.
I’m glad people are content with whatever they have. But there’s not much in this world that couldn’t stand to be improved.

katanagirl1

NeuroticPixels wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

NeuroticPixels wrote: »

Reshade makes the game look so much better. I use Crispy Sharpness from the NexusMods site. (Yeah, I made it. lol.) i actually tweaked some things and need to release a “version 2”.
As Warhawke_80 said, the Nvidia filters (I forget what it’s called exactly) are another option.

But unfortunately, all of that only works on PC. Console gamers are stuck with the bland colors and lack of details of vanilla graphics. Best they could do is fiddle with their tv settings.

No, it looks great on PS5 with HDR and 4K.

Game looks fine if you have nothing to compare it to. If you’ve never had a way to (or never chose to) tweak sharpness, vibrance, contrast, lighting, etc then it’s difficult to have a well-rounded opinion.
I like to toggle Reshade off and on to remind myself how dull and blurry the vanilla game looks even on my 2k HDR 165Ghz monitor.
I’m glad people are content with whatever they have. But there’s not much in this world that couldn’t stand to be improved.

Are you assuming it looks better on PC or have you seen them side by side?

The HDR 4K is quite a step up from 2K.

EDIT: I thought I read somewhere on here that PC did not have HDR

Hotdog_23

Dokolus wrote: »

licenturion wrote: »

Dokolus wrote: »

I find a good chunk of people over the years end up using Reshade in ways that they don't understand, say from the PoV of a photographer who knows how to properly tone a shot with it's white highlights and dark tones.

Most folks with Reshade end up producing a lot, and I mean a lot of crushed black tones and generally a duller atmosphere with an overuse of sharpening, and most games are generally not designed to look like that all the time (hence we get games like TF2, or Fornite, or even GW2 with colours that just pop and even some areas in ESO have colours that are designed to pop, not be muted and darkened).

That is the cool thing about ReShade and Nvidea filters. People can make it how they like their personal taste and they bother no one else with it.

My ESO looks like Sea Of Thieves with oversaturated and over bloomed visuals and instead of oversharpening like most people do, I gaussian overblur and sharpen slightly again so the base zones of the game looks more current gen and blend together better with post launch zones.

Usually I never use Reshade on other games but my monitor is on digital vibrance 70 percent because I like clear popping colours. I do the same with EQ for music so everything is the way I like it. All those options are there for a reason.

I've no issues with how people go about using either filter techs, but I was just pointing out that many of the times people show them off, they tend to end up looking one way or the other, instead of going for a kind of tone that compliments the given style of the game they are playing.

There is one Youtube ESO user I have found recently that just so happens to be a Photographer and notices the same patterns I'[m seeing with how others use Reshade, and as such he combined other filters to create his own, but not so much in a way that blacks would be crushed, or white tones blooming too brightly.

I just feel like people would benefit more with their usage of reshade if they learn how colour grading works, or at least the basics of it (or you could even use a camera/phone to try taking irl shots to practice learning, as I have done so in the past with my cameras).

I am likely going to use that user's Reshade, as it sorts out quite a few issues I've had with ESO's overall colour scheme, but I also want to learn more from his personal choices (from one camera man to another, and as a guy who wants to draw again).

Here is the user's video side by side comparison if you'd like to take a gander:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=-vX84xsGltw

Thanks for the video. Play on PS5, so it's a moot point for me, but did find it interesting.

Stay safe