AoC vs. WoW – Eye Candy or Immersion?

Published by Alinden under World of Warcraft on June 5, 2008

One of the first things that struck me was the graphics in AoC, and it was the same with LotRO. It’s little things, not really related to character models. You know, things like grass and plants gently swaying in the breeze, greater detail in the environment, realistic shadows, environmental sounds … a richness. I did wonder if it was just because it was different but I now think it was because there were just more environmental inputs to combine.

So, does the eye (ear) candy really make that much difference? After thinking about it for a while I have decided that what it comes down to is that eye and ear candy allows an increased feeling of immersion in a virtual world. Running around Tortage made me feel like I did when I first ran into Ironforge a few years ago after being isolated in Teldrassil as a low level Night Elf, but it was more than just new sights and sounds, it was the extent to which it was done.

It’s no surprise really, WoW is aging. Just compare Crysis to an FPS you were playing 3+ years ago. It’s the same thing. This is one of the reasons I think Blizzard will have to do something to keep people interested in WoW. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think WoW is going away overnight, but it’s definitely not “shiny” any more. Of course it’s not all about eye candy. Tetris is an engaging game, even today, and game-play is still a significant part of the whole equation.