Having a discussion with some players on vox, just talking about the game, the graphics issue eventually came up. Spikes made a very good point, that with the size of the arena, and the fact that such large areas need to be rendered, you would need some serious super computer to run the game with such a large arena if you increased the visual graphics load by much.
I'm no expert in graphics, rendering, not even a casual interested observer. So, I can't comment on the accuracy of the statement, but I believe it to be true and valid, and from what I've read from HT's responses on the subject, not far if at all off the mark. So, that being the case, there is really two options - have a large world to fly around in, and an advanced flight model, or have a game with pretty terrain/sky/effects, yet have a much smaller patch to play in. Like as in WAY smaller than the current maps. I for one can forgo the pretty lights and amazing visuals new graphics could give the game, if the trade off would have to be a tiny map with everyone squashed in together in small space. Will technology eventually allow us to have cake, and eat it as well? I hope so, but if I understand the issue correctly, that just isn't possible right now with current gaming PC's. If that's incorrect, I'd love to see a new graphics engine in AH, but I wouldn't want it to be at the expense of the rest of the game as it stands.
I've got pretty much one of the top 2 CPU's in terms of speed in both my systems now, and 780's and SLI setups, and at max settings on 144hz monitors, if I crank the reflections to max, I can chug down into the 40's FPS wise when it gets busy near me. That being the case, what would better graphics to do average systems I wonder. Likely nothing to make those players very happy.
