I like to play MMORPG's only and strive for the most immersive experience possible. This means high end computers and internet connections. Recently I upgraded my computer to the following and have been comparing performance on LOTRO, Elder Scrolls and Star Wars The Old Republic
* I have 1900x1200 times 3 triple screen but to eliminate possible issues with surround monitors am using a single for comparison.
I can alter the settings arbitrarily with little change in the fps and performance. The disturbing thing though is that LOTRO still has the "traveling stutter". This is when on a horse or running the screen freezes for about a quarter to a half second - continuously. This stutter greatly contributes to the lack of immersion. Otherwise it performs well, and with little dependence on settings indicates that I have more GPU than is necessary for this game. In other words, the game engine has a stutter bug, it is not dependent on my hardware.
The Old Republic has the same issue. Elder Scrolls on the other hand is flawless. Since OR and LOTRO are older game engines I conclude that they both have self created performance issues.
Conclusion: Turbine, please take a little time off from updates to improve the performance of the game engine. I've found that it is impossible to get it to perform flawlessly - as Elder Scrolls does - when the hardware is not the limiting factor. In particular get rid of the "traveling stutter" which is especially egregious.
For interest sake I'll say that out of those MMORPGs I think LOTRO is still the best, both from story and graphically. Well the graphics are a toss up between Elder Scrolls and LOTRO actually. ES is more realistic with LOTRO more cartoony, but at high resolutions with everything turned on LOTRO can be quite stunning. Additionally LOTRO has the highest configurability which is a huge benefit. Annoyingly ES has very little configuration control, forcing you to use WASD for movement for example.
- AMD 295x2 - 2x295x water cooled (note this is the best GPU in the world atm, ignoring the exotic Titan Z)
- Overclocked i7
- RAID SSD's
- 80 mbps internet
- 1900x1200*
* I have 1900x1200 times 3 triple screen but to eliminate possible issues with surround monitors am using a single for comparison.
I can alter the settings arbitrarily with little change in the fps and performance. The disturbing thing though is that LOTRO still has the "traveling stutter". This is when on a horse or running the screen freezes for about a quarter to a half second - continuously. This stutter greatly contributes to the lack of immersion. Otherwise it performs well, and with little dependence on settings indicates that I have more GPU than is necessary for this game. In other words, the game engine has a stutter bug, it is not dependent on my hardware.
The Old Republic has the same issue. Elder Scrolls on the other hand is flawless. Since OR and LOTRO are older game engines I conclude that they both have self created performance issues.
Conclusion: Turbine, please take a little time off from updates to improve the performance of the game engine. I've found that it is impossible to get it to perform flawlessly - as Elder Scrolls does - when the hardware is not the limiting factor. In particular get rid of the "traveling stutter" which is especially egregious.
For interest sake I'll say that out of those MMORPGs I think LOTRO is still the best, both from story and graphically. Well the graphics are a toss up between Elder Scrolls and LOTRO actually. ES is more realistic with LOTRO more cartoony, but at high resolutions with everything turned on LOTRO can be quite stunning. Additionally LOTRO has the highest configurability which is a huge benefit. Annoyingly ES has very little configuration control, forcing you to use WASD for movement for example.