AMD, Blizzard Showcase World of Warcraft: Shadowlands DXR

[Raevenlord]

As part of its road towards release of their Radeon RX 6000 series, AMD has posted a video showcasing the raytracing effects that are being baked into World of Warcraft: Shadowlands. This comes as a result of a strategic partnership between the two companies. World of Warcraft: Shadowlands will be making use of AMD's FidelityFX Ambient Occlusion, where Blizzard says they were able to achieve "(...)a perfect balance between quality and performance..." which allowed them to achieve "(...)a significant performance advantage over our previous ambient occlusion applications."

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands will also be making use of DXR Raytracing technology as well as Variable Rate Shading (VRS). Raytracing is being used to calculate light interactions between light sources, objects and characters on the screen, while VRS will enable the game to reduce shading resolution on areas closer to the corners of the frame, or in fast-moving objects, where detail would be lost either way, to achieve higher frame rates. The higher the resolution, the more impactful the benefits of VRS. So it seems that Blizzard has decided to implement two performance-increasing and one performance-decreasing features available from the DXR repository. Catch the video explaining these features and showcasing their implementation after the break.

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[Xuper]

Something is wrong.I really can't see big different.How is FPS ?

 

[Sybaris_Caesar]

The problem with AMD is they can't for the life of them market their shit. I subscribed to Nvidia YT channel for few months now and their presentation is mwah, top notch.

 

[Raevenlord]

Something is wrong.I really can't see big different.How is FPS ?

I don't think the engine and art style lend themselves very well for very significant differences. We are also entering an area of diminishing returns when it comes to graphical quality, it seems. But I'd say the differences are there for the raytracing bit - just not so obviously for the ambient occlusion tech. When it comes to VRS, it's good that you don't see any difference, that's the whole point of the technology.

 

[Turmania]

This game favoured heavily for Intel & Nvidia. So if AMD caught and passed them in this game, it practically seals AMD dominance.

 

[silentbogo]

"New cutting edge DX12 custom engine", but same shitty 20y.o. assets, textures and lighting.
C'mon AMD, there are better ways of showcasing your latest tech, than picking the least evolving title from the most hated video game company of 2018-2020.

 

[Chomiq]

This is suppose to sell people on a $650+ gpu's?

 

[dir_d]

"New cutting edge DX12 custom engine", but same shitty 20y.o. assets, textures and lighting.
C'mon AMD, there are better ways of showcasing your latest tech, than picking the least evolving title from the most hated video game company of 2018-2020.

In defense the game now currently has more subs than any time in wow history because of the hype of Shadowlands. I don't think it was a bad move to show of their tech to that many people.

 

[Makaveli]

This is suppose to sell people on a $650+ gpu's?

It will sell to WOW fanatics and there is still alot of those left

But I get what everyone is say they want to see a demo on a AAA title.

 

[dirtyferret]

Something is wrong.I really can't see big different.How is FPS ?

From people using RTX cards in the PTR, they are reporting massive FPS hits with ray tracing enabled.

 

[Zareek]

I know it's not up to 2020 graphical standards but for WoW, this looks absolutely amazing! Almost as good as what their pre-rendered cut scenes used to look like.

 

[Xzibit]

It is interesting that Nvidia has been a Blizzard sponsor for so long and while having RTX out for 2 gens. AMD came out with the collab announcement first.

 

[Makaveli]

It is interesting that Nvidia has been a Blizzard sponsor for so long and while having RTX out for 2 gens. AMD came out with the collab announcement first.

Probably comes down to AMD version is based on DX12 Ultimate and a standard. And not proprietary RTX.

But that is just a guess on my part.

 

[my_name_is_earl]

Too late, I cancel my sub.

 

[Kaotik]

Probably comes down to AMD version is based on DX12 Ultimate and a standard. And not proprietary RTX.

But that is just a guess on my part.

None of the DX12 DXR titles use NVIDIA proprietary stuff, only Vulkan titles do (because there still isn't completely finalized official RT extensions)

 

[xman2007]

Too late, I cancel my sub.

Does this require a sub? I got a key along with Godfall with my 5600 XT

 

[Frick]

Does this require a sub? I got a key along with Godfall with my 5600 XT

World of Warcraft does indeed require a subscription.

Me I'm probably done with WoW for good. I've tried it a few times the past year and I just can't get through Legion. It's really bad, but I hate the idea of a level boost even more.

 

[katzi]

From people using RTX cards in the PTR, they are reporting massive FPS hits with ray tracing enabled.

I have a 3080 gaming x trio, and raytracing is in the live client too with the 9.x prepatch.

It does have a pretty heavy performance penalty when there is a lot of NPCs around, so majority cities etc (but WoW has ALWAYS Been like that in major cities).

I play at 2K/144 and it'll take my FPS from 144cap down to 60-70fps in major cities sometimes even lower with raytracing on *any* of the 3 levels. Out in the world it goes back up to my gsync cap.

It's a barely noticeable difference half the time in the content i've seen, it *may* be more visible/noticeable in the actual shadowlands content rather than the "old world" due to it being newer and intended to have raytracing.

World of Warcraft does indeed require a subscription.

Me I'm probably done with WoW for good. I've tried it a few times the past year and I just can't get through Legion. It's really bad, but I hate the idea of a level boost even more.

Legion was fuckin epic, what ya talkin bout lol.
BFA was a freakin nightmare of godawful systems.

 

[Dazzm8]

World of Warcraft does indeed require a subscription.

Me I'm probably done with WoW for good. I've tried it a few times the past year and I just can't get through Legion. It's really bad, but I hate the idea of a level boost even more.

Lmao, it's like the best expansion in recent memory, unlike BFA.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I love how in the video, they were propping up Radeon when they know full well those features will be on Geforce also.

 

[Lionheart]

I cannot notice a damn thing, Should of been like Minecraft or Quake II with ray tracing, now that's a jump in visuals, and a huge decline in fps lol.

 

[katzi]

Problem with that is, they'd have to re-texture the entire game, and there is no way they'd do that. Plus, WoW's art style is apart of what makes it WoW.

Going full-ham pathtraced lighting and such would ruin that.

 

[Calmmo]

In a world where the year is still 2004, someone is impressed by this.

 

[ExcuseMeWtf]

Better than WD: Legion RTX I guess

 

[Lionheart]

Problem with that is, they'd have to re-texture the entire game, and there is no way they'd do that. Plus, WoW's art style is apart of what makes it WoW.

Going full-ham pathtraced lighting and such would ruin that.

Yeah that's a fair point.