Quite the Difference

I promised a post about the difference between the new and the old computer. I've got things yet to learn but I'm fairly confident about my abilities to get around within the new software. I can't thank my guild mate, Chris Reid, enough for putting up with my "Huh?" I owe him cookies, at the very least.

So here is a screenshot of World of Warcraft as taken on the old computer.

It really doesn't look that bad. There are ships and mountains and the vague outline of a settlement in the distance. I've been places where this kind of haze and distance is normal.

Now, here I am at the same location on the new computer.

I almost don't know where to begin to compare. The distance alone is striking. Look at the grass. There are tall groups of grass and small ground flowers. There are more than just a couple huts from the town across the bay and the mountains have more form. Plus, there are more of them. You can see the shading of the sails on the horde ships and the sky is actually blue, not a generic orange.

Shadows. Look at the shadows. On the old computer, I had to turn shadow rendering off. The video card wasn't capable of playing the game and rendering shadows. I will be somewhere and see the shadows of birds flying over and think something's out to get me. You can't see it in these shots but water is incredibly different here. I can see to the bottom of some places I never saw before and, when I swim to the bottom and look up, I can see someone in the air above the lake. I saw raindrops hitting the ocean for the first time on Wednesday night. I just stood and watched a fake rain shower in a fake world.

The guild roams about the world and I'm seeing that world with all its bells and whistles and I am, to use a slightly overused cliche, blown away. There are places I haven't been yet because I haven't had time, which are as familiar to me as old slippers. I am trying to find a time to go there, to look, to see.

I took some criticism from a couple of well meaning friends about the purchase of a new computer when I do still have some financial things hanging in the winds. I am, thanks to learning to do without, better now than I have been in many years. I play WOW at night. It's my pastime. Some people watch TV. I play a computer game. My 7 year old computer was dying. I still have it. Chris suggested I hang onto it until it actually completely dies because there will come a time when I'll want another screen going while I'm in the game. I can see that. Because this is what I do, why not avail myself of good technology? Why not make what I do more enjoyable? I can and it's better to do it now than wait until the old screen goes dark and then have to scramble up the cash for something not as good. I understand their concern but I'm good now. I'll be good for a long time.

So, this shows you some of what I see with the new computer. I've seen monsters in the distance. I ran out of a building into a snowstorm. I've run out of this building countless times but never saw the snow.  I see the fish at the bottom of the river. I watched the clouds roll past mountain tops. We'll be running something familiar and I'll comment, with delight, at what I now see. Guild members just giggle. Best of all, it feels like a new game, fresh and exciting. This was worth every penny.

Beverage:  Lady Gray tea

Deb