Even though vanilla World of Warcraft was released in 2004, a lot of work has been done to improve its graphics and graphical options over time. The two latest expansions, Dragonflight and Shadowlands, look quite beautiful. In order to make WoW look good on good PCs, and still playable on low-end machines, the graphical settings options are quite wide in scope. There are more than 20 different settings to play around with, and that is not including the advanced stuff! We will not be looking at all of those settings, but will instead look at which settings affect looks and performance the most.
World of Warcraft has no fewer than 20 different graphical options.
Not all settings will impact the visuals of World of Warcraft the same way. The game is roughly divided into two parts: Enclosed areas and open areas. Dungeons, indoor settings, jungles, large cities such as Silvermoon, Undercity, Stormwind, Ironforge, and Dalaran are all good examples of enclosed areas, since you can only see so much of the environment at a time. More open areas are zones with deserts and plains, such as Tanaris, Durotar, Mulgore and Nagrand(s). In these open areas, there are significantly less view-blocking structures or high walls, and you can easily see for miles around. Standing on a big hill in an open area will typically let you see all the way to the edge of the zone.
Enclosed areas are more affected by settings like ground clutter, texture resolutions, and liquid detail. Compare the before and after shots below by moving the slider in the image below. Note in particular the amount of foliage on the right, and the quality of the both the lighting and the foliage on the left (below the dragon).
Drag the slider to compare Graphical Presets on the lowest (left) and on highest (right) settings in an enclosed area.
Open areas are significantly affected by viewing distance and environment detail. More the slider in the image below to see just how greatly viewing distance can affect the visuals of the game in open areas. Note how the texture quality is reduced to splotches of colour, how many small trees and objects get removed, and how everything beyond the river disappears into the fog.
Drag the slider to compare Graphical Presets on the lowest (left) and on highest (right) settings in an open area.
So if you are trying to compare two settings to see the difference, make sure you are comparing them in an appropriate environment. Checking the difference in Water Quality will not be very helpful, unless you are standing in an area with water!
Now let us take a look at some specific settings, and how they affect the World of Warcraft's visuals and performance.
Resolution:
Drag the slider to compare resolution on low (left) and on high (right) settings.
Resolution is simply the number of pixels on your screen, or the number of pixels that the game is producing. The higher the resolution, the smoother and sharper the game's visuals will be, especially objects that are curved or at an angle. Lower resolution will result in a more pixellated image, even with all other settings staying the same. In the image above, move the slider to check out the differences in the Blood Elf's hair on the right, and the yellow flowers on the left, to see just much better it looks in higher resolution.
Resolution has one of the biggest impacts on performance in the game. A PC that can handle the game fine at 720p may struggle at 1440p, since it will be driving 4 times the number of pixels. A major change in resolution can have a drastic change on performance, butchering FPS to a quarter of its value (if you increase resolution all the way up), or doubling it by lowering resolution.
Resolution effect: Resolution has a major impact on FPS (25-100%).
Anti-Aliasing:
Drag the slider to compare Anti-Aliasing being set to off (left) and on the highest (right) setting.
In-game objects have curves, or lines that are at an angle. Your screen's pixels are square, and are arranged in a square pattern. Curves and angled lines will not fit perfectly into square pixels, and thus you get "jaggies". Anti-aliasing refers to various techniques used to reduce (or remove) the "jaggies" effect on in-game objects. In the image above, move the slider to see the jaggies on the plants on the wall, as well as the curves of the bridges.
World of Warcraft (Battle for Azeroth, Shadowlands, or Dragonflight) has a wide assortment of different anti-aliasing techniques, and explaining them fully is outside the scope of this article. EyesOfTheBeast hosts a wonderful, detailed article that shows the different anti-aliasing settings and effects. In short:
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None: Full jaggies.
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FXAA: Reduces jaggies, slightly blurs the image. Tiny performance penalty.
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CMAA: Reduces jaggies a bit less than FXAA, but has a sharper image. Tiny performance penalty.
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MSAA: Reduces jaggies a bit better than CMAA. Moderate performance penalty.
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SSAA: Reduces jaggies almost completely. Huge performance penalty.
If your computer can handle SSAA, then that is the best. Most computers cannot, and switching from SSAA to MSAAx4 will double your framerate. Dropping down further will give even more performance, but you will need to choose between a slightly blurred image (FXAA) or more conservative smoothing (CMAA).
Anti-aliasing effect: Anti-aliasing has a variable impact on FPS. CMAA and FXAA affect FPS a little ( a negligible ~5%), 2x, 4x, and 8x MSAA affects FPS in a moderate-to-major manner (15-33%), and SSAA reduces FPS dramatically (33-66%).
Texture Resolution:
Drag the slider to compare texture resolution on low (left) and on high (right) settings.
Texture resolution refers to the resolution of in-game model textures. High means that the textures are sharper! The effect can be quite subtle if you do not know what to look for, so in the image above, move the slider and pay attention to the details and scratches on the two large pillars in the centre and on the right. Since texture resolution has such a low impact on FPS, unless you are running WoW on a potato, set texture resolution to high!
Texture Resolution effect: Texture resolution has a negligible impact on FPS (1-3%).
View Distance:
Drag the slider to compare view distance on minimum (left) and on maximum (right) setting.
When you lower view distance, World of Warcraft will add a "fog" effect on objects that are further away. These objects are rendered with lower quality, or you might just see the outline in the fog. If an object is far away enough, it is not rendered at all. View distance is a bit more CPU-bound, so a weaker CPU may require you to lower view distance. It is also context dependant, as it has a much bigger effect in open areas.
View Distance effect: View distance has a variable impact on FPS (0-20%), depending on the current view.
Environment Detail:
Drag the slider to compare environment detail on low (left) and on high (right) settings.
Environment detail refers to in-game objects that only exist to make World of Warcraft look pretty. In the image above, you will need to look quite closely to see that some small rocks and bushes disappear, that braziers on the road also disappear, and many of the trees in the distance disappear. These objects do not affect your gameplay, but they serve to make WoW look more alive and less bland.
Environment Detail effect: Environment detail has a moderate impact on FPS (10-15%).
Ground Clutter:
Drag the slider to compare texture resolution on low (left) and on high (right) settings.
As can be seen in the image above, ground clutter is how much grass and pebbles WoW puts near to the player. Some people prefer to see the game in its full splendour (particularly since the Broken Isles have a LOT of beautiful grounds), but you can gain a moderate FPS boost if you turn this setting low.
Ground Clutter effect: Ground clutter has a moderate impact on FPS (10-15%).
Shadow Quality:
Drag the slider to compare shadow quality on low (left) and on high (right) settings.
As is the case in most games, shadows can be the biggest FPS killer in World of Warcraft. Putting Shadow Quality all the way up to Ultra High is an easy way to lose up to a third of your framerate, even with a good PC. The good news is that sub-ultra-high shadow quality settings are actually fine. Take a look above at the images above, and you can see the difference between Low and High quite clearly, especially on the stairs and the sitting ogre.
Drag the slider to compare shadow quality on high (left) and on ultra (right) settings.
When comparing High, Ultra, and Ultra High, the difference in Shadow Quality is not really that big. Ultra High shadow quality will have a major impact on your FPS, but Ultra and High will not, so stick to those.
Shadow Quality effect: Shadow Quality has a major impact on FPS (10-30%).
Liquid Detail:
Drag the slider to compare liquid detail on low (left) and on fair (right) settings.
Low and Fair water quality are both quite bad. Low makes the water surface look like a sheet of ice, while Fair makes water look like clear jello. Neither setting looks good. Since the Good liquid detail setting (shown below) has a negligible performance impact, we highly recommend for Good instead of Fair or Low.
Drag the slider to compare liquid detail on good (left) and on ultra (right) settings.
On the other hand, both Good and Ultra water look quite good! Ultra liquid detail allows for proper water reflections, making it the best. Unfortunately, Ultra setting is quite expensive, so set your Liquid Detail to Good for the best framerate.
Liquid Detail effect: Liquid detail has a variable impact on FPS. Good and Fair have a negligible impact on FPS, while Ultra can reduce FPS moderately (up to 15%), depending on how much water is in the scene.
Particle Density:
Drag the slider to compare particle density on low (left) and on high (right) settings.
Particles can refer to smoke, fire flames, or spell effects. We tested the impact on performance while solo questing, and found it to be negligible. In dungeons and raids, where dozens of spells are being cast at any one time, the effect of particle density can be higher.
Particle Density effect: Particle density has a negligible or no impact on FPS (during questing). It was not tested in raids.
SSAO:
Drag the slider to compare SSAO being disabled (left) and on ultra (right) settings.
Screen space ambient occlusion, is the very fancy way of saying "better lighting and shadows near angled surfaces". From the images above, you can see how SSAO can make the scene look a lot better, with more realistic shading near all the edges of the building, and under the branches of the trees. The visual difference between High and Ultra is quite small, and might not even be noticeable. But the performance impact of Ultra SSAO is very heavy! We recommend setting SSAO to High or Low.
SSAO effect: The Low SSAO setting has a small impact on FPS (5%), while High and Ultra SSAO has a major impact on FPS (15-25%).
Lighting Quality:
Drag the slider to compare lighting quality on good (left) and on high (right) settings.
The Lighting Quality setting changes how light sources affect the surrounding environment. It makes World of Warcraft look much better when it is set to high, and the performance penalty is practically nil.
Lighting Quality effect: Lighting quality has a negligible or no impact on FPS.
Graphics Quality (slider):
The old presets of World of Warcraft (Low, Fair, Good, High, and Ultra) have been removed, in favour of a sliding scale that goes from 1-10. As a rough guide:
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Graphics Quality 1-3: Equal to the Low/Fair of old. Game looks rather ugly in this range, but the framerates are highest.
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Graphics Quality 4-6: Significant performance drop per increase in Graphics Quality in this range. Game looks decent.
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Graphics Quality 7/8: Game visuals are good, and the graphics look modern. Major performance loss.
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Graphics Quality 9/10: World of Warcraft looks gorgeous in this range, especially the newest areas! Largest performance penalty.
Graphics Quality effect: Graphics quality has a major impact on FPS (up to 200% difference between 1 and 10).
