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Warcraft Water Quality Settings - Good vs. Ultra
🕑 Added 2021-08-17 13:41:21 +0000 UTCThis is a comparison of several shots of water showing the reflectivity of the shaders applied to the ingame water, comparing particularly the Good vs. Ultra settings. I've personally found that my personal taste prefers Good over the Ultra, particularly for the reason that the reflections aren't static mirrored doubles of the terrain. I've also noticed that many objects aren't shown in the reflection on Ultra quality, but do show in Good. The one main downside to using Good quality is that when looking directly down on to the water rather than looking at it horizontally, the reflections seem to disappear whereas in Ultra quality they do remain. Overall, I believe Good is going to be my setting of choice in most cases. This is not necessarily to say one is better than the other, and absolutely not to say that one is bad.
00:00 - Basic terrain reflections This demonstrates the basic terrain reflections. Ultra quality is capable of reflecting the terrain, but it seems rather literal in that it mirrors it on the Z axis. The waves of the water do not effect the appearance of the mirrored objects in the reflection. Good quality is capable of a wavy reflection. Neither seem capable of reflecting the water tornado.
00:29 - Terrain and object reflections Some terrain shows a lone rock object (not actual terrain mesh) that shows no reflection in Ultra quality. The terrain skyline is shown through the rock where the reflection should be blocking it. In Good quality, this reflection is present, albeit blurry.
00:58 - Object reflection inconsistencies Objects which remain animated do not have their reflection in the Ultra quality water. There are spinning gears, moving cranes, and bulging pipes that remain de-rendered in the reflection. In Good quality, most objects in the center of the screen are present (though difficult to see through the blurry waves).
01:28 - Lighting reflections This portion handles more natural lighting, where Ultra quality reflections are incapable of reflection objects that cast light and natural lighting placed into the game world. Good quality reflections are capable of picking up this lighting, though again due to waves and blurriness it can be difficult to tell (look at the light under the roof on the right building.)
01:57 - Angled (looking down) reflectivity This is where Good quality falters and Ultra quality will surpass it - looking directly downwards towards water will eliminate the reflections of Good quality reflections. Neither lights nor environment nor objects are cast, only a vague sense of the skybox.
02:26 - Lantern (object) reflections Lanterns (emissive objects) are not visible in Ultra quality reflections, however Good quality is capable of just barely showing these reflections, though subtle.
