WildStar is already among the prettiest MMOs you can play, but it'll get even more good looking next week. To coincide with its move to a free-to-play model on September 29, NCSoft has announced it has tweaked the game's lighting system, and the results are impressive based on the screenshots provided.
"As we approached work on the WildStar: Reloaded update on September 29 we decided to revisit some art decisions we made for the game's launch that were based on tech limits—namely with lighting, skyboxes, and viewing distance—while we had the chance," a studio spokesperson wrote.
While the launch of Reloaded will usher in some of the changes, the studio plans to roll out more over future updates. They'll focus on starter zones to begin with, and progressively move up to higher level areas.
"Where before large sections of zones had sort of flat single-point lighting, we’re going back and making it more realistic by increasing the number of sources that light up the environment. We've also added effects such as the rays from an otherworldly star—or a glow from a campfire—that all go into bringing the look and feel of an environment together. While still fairly time-intensive, it’s allowing us to make some dramatic improvements to the visual quality of the game without needing to touch the already high-quality models and textures in the game."
Here are a couple of before and after shots, but head over to the site to see them all.
Before
After
Before
After
