My impression with a low spec pc

Bladestrom

Hi Guys I have a low level system, my plan for the beta was to assess how my system coped with the game and to get a wee taste of the game.

spec:

GTX 460 SE, XP, Low grade monitor 1280*1024 @ 21 inch, AMD Phenom x4 955

Setup

Because my system is low spec I went for a setup that gave best bang for the buck: shadows at Low, everything Max, 1280*1024 (max my little monitor can handle)  Game looked gorgeous at this level, and a lot of scope to crank it up when game performance and/or my pc improves!

Performance

Considering it is a beta, not too bad, 30 -45 pfs out in world, a struggling 14-20 in busy areas.  To me the latter is unacceptable, so I need to update my system (which is not surprising), but I will wait until to see what performance anet will get out of the game in subsequent updates =- no need to knee-jerk reactions yet, it is first full on beta.  Bottom line, I could play with low to 0 shadows with everything maxed as it stands, and any optimisation from Anet improves it from there,

The Game

Oh my word, I was hoping for that oh so rare feeling i got when i first entered WOW all those years ago, and guys it is there!  I ended up just wandering about the  D Reach city and it was Gorgeous (I have made the main world out of bounds to me until full release so I still get that new world feeling on full release)  The city just felt alive through its sounds and gfx. Wandering about I found a few secret areas, some cool looking areas that were just there for flavour (fountains with a story attached, an automated band in a circus etc). 

I did briefly wandered in the wilderness, and mobs killed me if I didnt pay attention with what I was doing - perfect.  I also had a wee play of my talents in the mists, and the combinations of talents was just amazing, I had 40 to hand and I was using most right off the bat.

So far for a beta so good.