World of Warcraft

[jtgotsjets]

Alright, I'm using the stress test, and I'm getting pretty poor performance.
However, I'd like an idea of how much of this performace is due to lag (it is the stress test, so it's expected to be laggy) and the fact that it is a beta. I don't meet the recommended video card (I'm using my iBook), but Blizzard also says they arent done optimizing, so can i expect that spec to go down?

Basically, what kind of lag are you guys getting on higher-end systems?
How much of my lag is due to server overload and unfinished optimization, and how much is due to a poor video card?

(and how do I find out my fps? i assume its in the console somewhere, but whats the command?)

EDIT: i found out the FPS command (not in the console, weirdly enough). hit ctrl+R. what framerates are you guys getting? i only get about 4.5-5 average. :( :( :(

[invaLPsion]

Alright, I'm using the stress test, and I'm getting pretty poor performance.
However, I'd like an idea of how much of this performace is due to lag (it is the stress test, so it's expected to be laggy) and the fact that it is a beta. I don't meet the recommended video card (I'm using my iBook), but Blizzard also says they arent done optimizing, so can i expect that spec to go down?

Basically, what kind of lag are you guys getting on higher-end systems?
How much of my lag is due to server overload and unfinished optimization, and how much is due to a poor video card?

(and how do I find out my fps? i assume its in the console somewhere, but whats the command?)

I'm running the stress test on my home computer (specs below) and there is relatively little lag. The game is very smooth at 1280x1024. :)

[BrianKonarsMac]

im r unnning the stress test on a 1.33 PB connected to a 1280x1024 monitor and have no performance issues, aside from server lag (this is the stress test right?) I am blown away by how well it performs on my machine (considering it is beta and my machine barely meets the minimum requirements). This game is so addictive.

[Flick1515]

My brother is playing it on a 1Ghz iBook he gets around 10 fps moving and 30 while standing still. From what I have seen the game doesn't appear to be very laggy at all.

[Laslo Panaflex]

I am running the stress test on my home comp in my sig at 1920x1200, at medium settings, and I would say I get around 30 frames. It's way smooth at say 1280x1024, but my native monitor rez is 1920x1200, so setting it at native rez and lowering the video quality gets me good performance. I think your iBook is just going to have a hard time handling it, sorry.

p.s. I can't wait to waste my weekend helping Blizzard test their servers.

[jtgotsjets]

My brother is playing it on a 1Ghz iBook he gets around 10 fps moving and 30 while standing still. From what I have seen the game doesn't appear to be very laggy at all.

how much RAM? why am i lagging so much?

[Flick1515]

how much RAM? why am i lagging so much?
it's got 512MB of RAM im not sure your getting so much lag sorry.

[BrianKonarsMac]

My brother is playing it on a 1Ghz iBook he gets around 10 fps moving and 30 while standing still. From what I have seen the game doesn't appear to be very laggy at all. if i were getting anywhere near 10fps (read, unplayable) i would be ****ting a brick. 10 fps is pretty much worthless for gaming.

[Jigglelicious]

WoW runs pretty horrible on my 1.4GHz eMac. Its playable, but outdoors the framerate usually hovers around 15fps so its not the most enjoyable. Indoors it ranges from 20-50fps. I'm guessing the main weakness is the Radeon w/ only 32mb of RAM.

Make sure you have the clipping plane turned down all the way. If I turn it to max, the game becomes unplayable with under 5fps at all times.

And lastly, don't confuse lag and poor game performance. Lag refers strictly to high internet latency (ie. ping). Lag has NO effect on the framerate or choppyness of a game.

[BrianKonarsMac]

WoW runs pretty horrible on my 1.4GHz eMac. Its playable, but outdoors the framerate usually hovers around 15fps so its not the most enjoyable. Indoors it ranges from 20-50fps. I'm guessing the main weakness is the Radeon w/ only 32mb of RAM.

Make sure you have the clipping plane turned down all the way. If I turn it to max, the game becomes unplayable with under 5fps at all times.

And lastly, don't confuse lag and poor game performance. Lag refers strictly to high internet latency (ie. ping). Lag has NO effect on the framerate or choppyness of a game.

well you are under the minimum requirements with that radeon, so i wouldn't expect much out of it. hopefully the GM will be more optimized for lower end graphics cards.

if you have high internet latency, then you will experience pauses (skipped frames) in game as your computer waits to download the content (i.e. a new area of gameplay, underwater, etc). if you experience skipped frames while you are just walking on a road, that's your computer.

you should also note that you modified the hardware, which could have adverse performance effects on the game, because technically there is no 1.4 ghz eMac. one thought is the processor is WAY too fast for your video card.

[bertinman]

got a 1gig tiPB with an ati radeon 9000 and 512 ram and it runs great at full res.

no complaints from me! gunna buy the game :)

[applemacdude]

I get 25-35 FPS on my 1.25ghz imac 1024*768

[kirk26]

it's got 512MB of RAM im not sure your getting so much lag sorry.

Whenever I play a game I always turn off any other apps that are running in the background. That helps me.

[boxerchip]

I am running it on my PC 1280x1024 all detial on fullll witha 9800XT and im getting 40 FPS some times it will drop to as low as 30, but nothing under that.

I dont get this game.... the attacks are lame everything about it seems lame... am i missing somthing or is the game really just running for 5 min to kill one wild board by clicking on it alot?

[invaLPsion]

My performance....

Outdoors and with loads of people it averages 20-30 FPS. At regular server loads I average 25-50 FPS outdoors.

Indoors, the average jumps magnifiently. I average from 60-100 FPS. :D

[spaceballl]

how much RAM? why am i lagging so much?
From your specs, your computer isn't that powerful. iBooks can never really run "new" games that well, due to video card limitations. "MINIMIMUM" requirements usually indicate a level below what's standard to enjoy the game at.

[ZildjianKX]

Anyone getting the proble that they're not getting sound effects in game? I get sound effects at the title screen, and music in game... but...

[Converted2Truth]

Anyone getting the proble that they're not getting sound effects in game? I get sound effects at the title screen, and music in game... but...
No sound effects problems... but the minimap wiggs out on me sometimes... whenever the game lags, it's because of too many users online with crappy connections, not because my vcard is crappy... although my fps are 20's and 30's

[JasonL]

Wow, is that game addictive!

I've only been able to play for a few hours, but I can't wait for this game to come out. The sheer number of quests keep you going. No issues with waiting for monsters to spawn either. There's plenty of action, that's for sure.

Btw, the game runs great so far on my machine...which is only a bit better than the minimum required. I was worried about performance keeping me from buying this game, but am glad to report that it runs fine!

[atari1356]

WoW runs okay on my 1.5GHz Powerbook with 128meg Radeon 9700 mobility graphics card... just have to make sure you turn the clip plane way down. It runs better on my old 1.4GHz Athlon PC with GeForce 2 Ultra video card though.

[BrianKonarsMac]

I am running it on my PC 1280x1024 all detial on fullll witha 9800XT and im getting 40 FPS some times it will drop to as low as 30, but nothing under that.

I dont get this game.... the attacks are lame everything about it seems lame... am i missing somthing or is the game really just running for 5 min to kill one wild board by clicking on it alot? apparently you don't know how to play...you don't click on the enemy more than once, you select them then use your abilities with the keyboard numbers (i.e. i left click on a kodo beast, press 4 to cast entangling roots, use 2 to cast wrath on him 2-3 times, then hit it with 3 (the moon strike or whatever), then press 1 to engage in hand to hand, or if i have enough mana (which i usually don't) morph into bear form for huge boost in life and tanking ability.

The interactivity of this game is what is key to it's success. Gathering at Thunder Bluff with a group of 50 other tauren, than running to outposts in the Barrens and recruiting as many other Orcs, Trolls, Ud. etc, as we can, then preparing for an assault on an alliance stronghold is tons of fun :D. equally, exploring the depths of caves where you would get slaughtered if you attempted to solo it, is rewarding with the help of teams, because you get to see some real crazy stuff.

another favorite part of the game, is the variety. the world is HUGE, going from place to place actually takes a long ass time (ty auto-run), the towns are beautiful, and you can customize your hero to fit your needs. i.e. my Tauren Druid has skills in leathermaking, skinning, and enchanting. i can retrieve my own resources (skin animals i kill), buy threads, ink, etc. in towns if necessary, and create various leather armors for myself, and others (i can't wear mail, otherwise i would have gone blacksmith, mine, enchanting). then i can lay various enchantments on my equipment, as well as armor patches etc. it is extremely handy, and the reward is, the more you practice, the higher your skill, the better equipment you can create, so you will find yourself making crap for experience and just giving it away, making you lots of greedy "friends."

[mishi]

im r unnning the stress test on a 1.33 PB connected to a 1280x1024 monitor and have no performance issues, aside from server lag (this is the stress test right?) I am blown away by how well it performs on my machine (considering it is beta and my machine barely meets the minimum requirements). This game is so addictive.

how much Ram do u have in ur PB and what is the average FPS you get outside.(just on the standard 1440x900 display i only have a crappy 1024x760 external display). i have not put WOW on my PowerBook yet but it runs like glass on my PC (40-55> fps outside). i might buy the full version for mac instead of PC if there is a good frame rate :rolleyes:

[applemacdude]

WoW runs okay on my 1.5GHz Powerbook with 128meg Radeon 9700 mobility graphics card... just have to make sure you turn the clip plane way down. It runs better on my old 1.4GHz Athlon PC with GeForce 2 Ultra video card though.

Thats because mac optimization hasnt begun

[mishi]

Thats because mac optimization hasnt begun

ok just so as i know thats its worth a try, ill put it on my mac

[jtgotsjets]

Whenever I play a game I always turn off any other apps that are running in the background. That helps me.

yea, i figured out that closing the apps that i always have running helps quite a bit (duh).

i still average around 15 fps, but for me, that's playable with this type of game. (for a first person shooter, i'd be crying).

[shortyjj]

Anybody else have trouble installing? I'm stuck on "terrain.mpq" near the beginning...

Was REALLY looking forward to playing this too...

[vashim66]

Just as a mac vs pc fps comparison

WoW on my powerbook (1.25 GHz, 512MB ram, raedon 64MB 9600 mobility) runs around 15-20 fps on average and significantly drops when lots of people come into my range as well as in large cities.(lowest settings for everything)

My PC runs it great and is 4 years old. 933MHz PIII, 512MB ram, 32MB GeForce 2 Ultra. I'm guessing around 25-30 fps on average.

I hope they optimize the mac version a lot because i hate having to fire up my 4 year old PC to get better performance than my 11 month old laptop.

[vraxtus]

So I just got into the WoW stress test also somehow... so I guess I'll try it after I d/l this huge ass file -_-

[Quobobo]

Just as a mac vs pc fps comparison

WoW on my powerbook (1.25 GHz, 512MB ram, raedon 64MB 9600 mobility) runs around 15-20 fps on average and significantly drops when lots of people come into my range as well as in large cities.(lowest settings for everything)

Okay, that's really worrying. I just bought a very similar system (1.33ghz 15 inch Powerbook with a Radeon 9700), and one of the big reasons I went for a Powerbook was for this game (figured the video card would help a lot). Are you running it at the max (native) resolution? I've read on the WoW forums that that helps for Powerbooks.

Also, does anyone else have any numbers for FPS on other similar Powerbooks? I'm really hoping that this ia some kind of anomaly..

[Diatribe]

Geeez, relax people. Mac optimization hasn't even begun, the game isn't even out yet and yet people are worried already... When the game comes out and you cannot play it with your rig after the optimization is done then you can start complaining.

[robotrenegade]

I just got picked for the extrended Stress test. I'll try it out today with both of my computers.

[Quobobo]

Geeez, relax people. Mac optimization hasn't even begun, the game isn't even out yet and yet people are worried already... When the game comes out and you cannot play it with your rig after the optimization is done then you can start complaining.

Mac optimization hasn't begun already? Funny, maybe you should read the posts that say the exact opposite... from the developers themselves. http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/forums


Also, thanks robotrenegade, would love to hear how it runs on your Powerbook.

[Xenious]

I don't have any issues with the 3d elements and frame rates, etc. I'm using a 2.5 G5 (1 gig mem with 9600xt) at 1920x1200. I do have lag issues on heavily used servers. How this actually manifests is that I walk around, etc without issues, but when i click on an NPC to interact with it I have to wait for the action to happen. This doesn't happen all the time just on heavy server use (the point of the stress test).

The sad thing I've found is that after playing the stress test I am no longer excited about the game. While some of the graphics were nice I wasn't too excited overall about the gameplay. I've not felt any MMORPG excitement since first playing UO (which got old after a year or two) and I was hoping that WoW would be my answer.
-jim

[Diatribe]

Mac optimization hasn't begun already? Funny, maybe you should read the posts that say the exact opposite... from the developers themselves. http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/forums


Also, thanks robotrenegade, would love to hear how it runs on your Powerbook.

Don't feel like reading through all of this. Don't you have a more specific link?
Even if it is true... has it ended? Is it done? No. So there still is no need to be worried, which was the point I was trying to make if you did not quite catch that during your attempt to be sarcastic.

[JasonL]

Okay, that's really worrying. I just bought a very similar system (1.33ghz 15 inch Powerbook with a Radeon 9700), and one of the big reasons I went for a Powerbook was for this game (figured the video card would help a lot). Are you running it at the max (native) resolution? I've read on the WoW forums that that helps for Powerbooks.

Also, does anyone else have any numbers for FPS on other similar Powerbooks? I'm really hoping that this ia some kind of anomaly..

I have the same system as him, except 1GB or RAM and I can't complain about how well WoW is working on my system. Definitely good enough for me to buy it when it comes out.

[BrianKonarsMac]

they added more users since they extended to sunday. welcome fellow noobies :D. i look forward to dueling you ;).

alot of people seem to be talking about poor performance, but this game absolutely kicks ass. it only stutters when d/ling new area content, so maybe i need a faster connection, but when i'm in an area, i can run it in windowed mode without any drop in performance....so i think some of these people are lying just to make mac's look bad. If my 1.33 with 512 ram and a 5200 w/ 64mb of ram can handle this game....you should be able to as well...i mean, i'm basically at the minimum system requirements. since mac optimization can only get better, i'm excited to see how much better it can get.

the only time i have SERIOUS choppiness, is when I am taking a gryphon ride and it has to constantly update the game material with new d/l'd content, my DSL modem starts going CRAZY (the activity light blinks non-stop super fast), anyone on a faster connection not have problems with gryphon rides? i think it is time to explore faster alternatives (RCN has a 7Mbps connection...and the USA is a superpower? my ass...asians laugh at us).

[invaLPsion]

Former:

1GHz G4 or G5
512MB Ram (1 Gig Recommended)
64MB Video Card

Now:

933MHz G4 or G5
512MB Ram (1 GIg Recommended)
32MB Video Card (64MB Recommended)

[Quobobo]

Don't feel like reading through all of this. Don't you have a more specific link?
Even if it is true... has it ended? Is it done? No. So there still is no need to be worried, which was the point I was trying to make if you did not quite catch that during your attempt to be sarcastic.

Yeah. Can't locate it at the moment (currently access to gaming sites is blocked where I am), but I'll post it later. It's basically what you're saying, and the developers make a specific point of saying that optimization is ongoing work, and is never exactly going to be finished. However, last I read they were planning for a launch sometime around the end of 2004, which doesn't give them all that much time before launch, right?

I caught your point, I just thought it was pretty presumptuous to say that "Mac optimization hasn't even begun" if you don't read those forums.And sheesh, an "attempt" to be sarcastic? I thought it was a success :)

[shortyjj]

First off, I've got a 12" 1.33 w/ 768, and I'm already both pleasantly surprised and content with the performance.

I'm wondering if there is any sort of basic documentation, reference materials, etc that explain the game. The whole thing may be obvious to some, but my understanding is lacking (skill points? damage/second?)

[vraxtus]

D/Led from FilePlanet in about 5 hours... not bad!

The install took about 20 min but from there everything ran pretty smoothly.

GAMEPLAY:
I chose to play as a Tauren warrior... so far I've found it a little difficult as I'm not used to MMORPGs but I'm an RPG fan so it wasn't that hard to pick up. The game so far seems very well balanced, however I find that solo playing can be fairly difficult, especially in areas where no other players are. Creeps respawn rather quickly and can tend to overpopulate an area, so you may end up finding yourself fighting several creeps at once... even at a low level. Other than that there seems to be a lot of variety in character choice, but the two most popular ones I've seen so far are Shamans and Warriors... so maybe in the next few days I'll run into more.

PERFORMANCE:
When I started up, WoW autochose my settings at 1024x768 with mostly high details, except for lower water detail and halfway clipping detail. I switched the settings up a bit, to medium water detail and kept the halfway clipping detail, and switched the resolution up to 1280x1024. Performance, for the most part, is pretty good! I'd say in general my FPS is in the high 20s but stays in the 30s (visibly smooth) under almost all circumstances, except when I get into towns, when the FPS rate drops down a bit, sometimes into the teens. Otherwise, I think the performance on my rig is pretty good! The one complaint I have right now is that there seems to be a few loading cache problems. As soon as I step into the world, the game stutters heavily when I look around, but once I look back again, there's virtually no stutters at all. I think they still have a few caching problems to iron out but so far I think the performance is pretty acceptable.

CONCLUSIONS:
Looking forward to playing the full version! I think I'll be willing to pay the monthly fee for this, but at the same time I think there's just so much depth to the game that I may not have the time to dedicate it. Nice job again Blizz :D Now just optimize that code and I'll be happy :p

[Diatribe]

Yeah. Can't locate it at the moment (currently access to gaming sites is blocked where I am), but I'll post it later. It's basically what you're saying, and the developers make a specific point of saying that optimization is ongoing work, and is never exactly going to be finished. However, last I read they were planning for a launch sometime around the end of 2004, which doesn't give them all that much time before launch, right?

I caught your point, I just thought it was pretty presumptuous to say that "Mac optimization hasn't even begun" if you don't read those forums.And sheesh, an "attempt" to be sarcastic? I thought it was a success :)

Oh well, there you have it... stop reading these forums for a couple of weeks and there you have it- you miss out :D No, seriously I couldn't find any comments regarding this, but as someone posted, they seem to have lowered the specs, which they will probably do again before the game is released.
So I guess everything will be all right.

Success in what respect? :D

[Quobobo]

Oh well, there you have it... stop reading these forums for a couple of weeks and there you have it- you miss out :D No, seriously I couldn't find any comments regarding this, but as someone posted, they seem to have lowered the specs, which they will probably do again before the game is released.
So I guess everything will be all right.

Success in what respect? :D

Ok, found it: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?FN=wow-tech-support&T=5902&P=2 (look for the first post in blue by a Blizzard employee)

Heh... we should probably stop the pissing match to avoid a smackdown from the mods though.

[Diatribe]

Ok, found it: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?FN=wow-tech-support&T=5902&P=2 (look for the first post in blue by a Blizzard employee)

Heh... we should probably stop the pissing match to avoid a smackdown from the mods though.

Thanks for the link. According to the thread it seems unplayable in some areas in situations only... so let's hope that this gets sorted out. I think you should be able to play this on a Rev. C 12" by the time it is released without hickups.

And besides... that was all good ol' fun, hope you caught that. Nothing malicious. :)