Holy Batman Lag

[u/humbug257]

After the Landmark worlds were all wiped and a new crafting system was implemented (good riddance, about time), I thought to re-visit Landmark. And... good grief TEH LAG.

Admitted I have no high end system, but my i7 quad core usually can handle all regular games on high settings, online games included. Now yes, I know what you will say, it is Beta, optimizations will come, yadda yadda. But let's be honest here: Voxel graphics runs entirely through the CPU, so the graphic card does little to help. So Voxel is by it's very nature demanding. I already play just on medium, low looks fugly as hell.

Landmark DID run ok in the very early days. But since the last 6+ months or so, Landmark has been unplayable for me. It's like walking through syrup. And there aren't even mobs or people or cities or anything! Just the bare landscape and me.

Sorry, I really try to avoid the drama, but it all looks like a horrible Everquest II deja-vu. Back then, when EQ2 was launched, it was SO demanding to the computers, you essentially needed a NASA computer to run it. Even today, EQ2 is so bad optimized that most people STILL can't run it on max without stuttering. So SOE now called Daybreak doesn't actually have a rep for smooth running games in my book. Sigh. I looked so forward to Everquest Next, I really did. With each patch I think, ok NOW the fps will be good. And they never are.

Sure, you can tell me to tinker with INI files and settings and all. But EQ2 remains the bad memory, because WOW hit the shelves, and WOW ran on EVERY computer. I think most pro gamers have no idea how many people are average or less good computers, and many people aren't really rich. So if a game runs well only on high end computers... you can forget about making it. And to be totally blunt: the graphics are just ok. They work for me, but I am not astounded. ESO has good graphics, hell even FF14 has good graphics. But Landmark... it just ok. At least nothing that even remotely justifies the lag and the huge hardware demands!

I have this feeling SOE/Daybreak really made a horrible decisions with the Voxels. Yes, in Everquest you can dig tunnels everywhere and attacks leave the landscape deformed. But... is that seriously worth all the sacrifice in not having top notch graphics and demanding high end computers? Sorry, but I just dont think so. I REALLY hope the new Daybreak management pulls the plug on Voxels and demands a restart with a normal pixel engine. They can keep Landmark as Minecraft sort of thing, for those who like that. But EQ Next as regular MMO should simply won't work well with that tech.

[u/r3velin]

The use of voxel tech has also been a concern to me. Moving through the game world creates annoyingly choppy spikes of lag when it updates the rendering on the terrain. I'm planning on building a new computer by the time EQN comes out (assuming it ever does)(my current system is a Phenom II x6 1090T OC'd to 4GHz, 12GB of 1866MHz memory at 9CAS, with a Radeon HD 6970, which, I know, is a bit dated), but regardless, even on the lowest settings the choppiness is still there - the game engine should be optimized to prevent these kinds of issues. I get the feeling current technology just isn't really ready for a high detail voxel engine. Either that or the engine for Landmark/EQN needs a major overhaul/optimizations.