Airship Towers Revisited

[Memnir]

Since this was my gripe-du jour for U6 - I thought I'd take a moment and talk about them for U7.

I also wanted to thank the Art Dept. for listening.


They look, for the most part, a lot better in U7. The towers in The Twelve, House D, House J, and House D all got colored windows that help merge them better to their houses. Those in The 12, Harbor, and House D all received a darker tone to the towers that does a lot to make them mesh better with their surrounding local architecture, as well.

House J, on the other hand, got some major texture work - and now looks very good. Kudos, indeed!


The Tower in House K still looks the same as it has since U6... and that is really sad, since it was always the worst offender in terms of sheer ugly.



Overall, I like the cosmetic changes to most of the Towers very much. I still wish that there could have been less copy/paste to their placement, which still has some clipping issues... but the new colors have gone a long way to helping them be less of an eyesore. I very much hope that in the future all the Towers can gain the same texture lovin' that House J's received. It looks pretty good now.

And really... House K's needs work, stat.

[Jefro5]

I am glad you like the changes. Really we try my best to address what we can given our schedules. If there is time in the future to look at House K we will. No promises though. But yes we read the forums everyday and we do listen Thanks!

[Coldin]

Huh...I was hoping for more changes. All they did was change some colors. It does make them stand out a little less, and not appear so haphazard, but they still have some of the same clipping issues that the previous towers had.

I think part of it is we've just gotten more used to how the towers look, so any improvement seems great. If they ever get the resources to do it, they should just make entirely new airship towers that match the aesthetics of each zone. Just my feelings on it.

Edit: Jefro will beat me now for my post...

Edit Edit: To not be so mean, I do think they look a little bit better by getting the texture change, so it's not like it was all for naught. I just wish it was a bigger overhaul and each house had a more distinctive and unique airship tower that better fits the decor of that ward.

[Memnir]

Coldin, I'm not saying that all my issues with the Towers are swept away by the changes. The clipping is still horrendous in all the places they were wedged in - and I think a lot more needs to be done to make them look like they truly belong in each house.

But, for the most part they look better now - and a positive step forward for what is now (in U6), an eyesore in each House. They listened, and they did what they could for this Update - and I just wanted to appreciate the effort and I hope it continues with each Update in the future. A little work here and there - and eventually, they'll look pretty good. What I think each Tower needs is a fresh and separate texture pass... but that can take time to get looking right.

However, since this was my pet peeve from U6, and one I assure you is not something I've gotten used to (I still cringe when I see the current ones) - I felt I had to chime in with the improvements.

[Coldin]

Fair enough.

Actually, I wonder if they could just remove some of the surrounding buildings, or perhaps simply space them out a bit further to remove some of the clipping issues?

Would that change be simpler than creating entirely new art assets?

[Gratch]

They should add some sort of rubble "ripple" between the airship towers and the old buildings.... to show how the coin lords just thonked the towers in place with no care for the surrounding buildings.

Just visit Houston. Skyscrapers next to single story homes. I'd find a RLscreenshot of that but I'm busy. Like the Turbine art dept. Who's busy on the high level dracolich-boss pirate-king HIGH-F'IN-LEVEL RAID for a "nearsoon" update.

[moorewr]

I am glad you like the changes. Really we try my best to address what we can given our schedules. If there is time in the future to look at House K we will. No promises though. But yes we read the forums everyday and we do listen Thanks!

I still think it would look better to leave the Marketplace tower as the only tower in Stormreach (or maybe market+Deneith) and have lower platforms other places with an NPC and a little bobbing airboat "dinghy" waiting to take you into the sky..