New Darklight Wood Artwork

I will admit upfront that I have always loved Darklight Wood as a starting zone. I also have fond memories of leveling up various characters in the zone and while definitely dated, I was quite fond of the style and atmostphere in there. That is why I was not looking forward to the upcoming revamp that was recently mentioned. Since it went live today, it was the first thing I had to see and I was expecting to be very disappointed over the changes and already preparing myself to choose a new starting zone for new characters.
Then I finally saw the zone and I must say that I was stunned. The zone looks a hundred times better than before and it makes me want to start a new character there just to experience it throughout that zone's questline.
I want to thank the designer(s) who handled the revamp and let them know they did an awesome job!
-Aganon

I love it...
This update is amazing

Thank you for the positive feedback! I am going to start my new beastlord there tonight

I am going to have to agree here, the artwork update to DW is well done.

I, also, think DLW looks amazing and I'm running a little one through the quests, just to thouroughly check things out!

Amazing job on DLW-the artwork is breathtaking-the sablevein golems look incredible, and i love how it actually looks like a "Wood" now, instead of just an open plain-very impressive

Every thread needs its grump. I HATE Rainbow Wood. I find all those colours ghastly, except for the mushroom area which is definatedly more "mushroomy".
All Praise our Father Innoruuk, God of Hate!

I love what was done in DLW. The trees are amazing. I love the colors and the ambiance in general is just so much more how an "evil" forrest should be. Great job on the makeover.

Fantastic! I always loved the zone before but wow, what an improvement. Nice work!

Whilhelmina@Storms wrote:

I am the second grump then .. lol it looks like a faded water colored version of its previous self. I do not like, but since I am unlikely to ever run it again and others simply love it, I will give it the /thumbs up none-the-less

Ahlana wrote:

I guess it all boils down to personal taste. I find it too bright and cheerful now. I'm glad others like it though, I wasn't that attached to the old looks.

I went in expected basically new paint on the same tired old rickety chair, and was very pleasantly surprised.
I also absolutely LOVE how it looks now. It does have a lot of color, but it looks autumnal to me, not rainbow happy- cheerful. It is most definately more woods like now. All it would need is more undergrowth, but as always turning flora on does nothing in the zone still.
I admittedly really didn't like old Darklight much though. Never liked how absolutely sparse and unforest-like it was.

Love the new DLW! Good job guys!

Really love the changes, I had to stand there for bit. Had to let myself adjust to the change. Wunderlust fair looks great surrounded by trees, the bog with the mushrooms looks awsome!
Amazing!

I have to agree, it looks really great. Not long after Neriak was released some years ago, I remember commenting that I felt Darklight Wood, although nice, didn't really feel quite atmospheric enough. It never actually felt like "woods." I even made the suggestion that ground fog and more dense tree coverage would go a long way - as well as more vibrant fungi and color schemes, in general.
Lo and behold, someone else must have felt the same -- and it's nice to see the changes finally put into place. Towering, shadow-dropping trees, more virbant colors, giant fungi, and even ground fog in the undead areas.
There were a couple of times when I didn't even know where I was at, so drastically different did the surroundings look - particularly around the Thexian area and the fair. The additional fences, lamp posts, bridges, and trees really go a long way.
Call me crazy, I still wouldn't mind even more trees and more fog -- and especially ground flora -- ... but I think this was a HUGE step in the right direction. DLW was already my favorite starting zone (since almost all of my characters are evil, anyway) but it is definitely the best of them, now, artistically as well.








~ Ara

Gorgeous change overall, while not making it Disneyland-ish. Also looks like they tried to keep the somewhat dark and sinister ambience of DW.

<33

(can't wait to see what they'll do with the New Halas, Maj'Dul, Kelethin. Ouch, I almost forgot New Halas revamp is already out here.)

I only went to take a tour of the zone (will start toon later on to check out how it plays, yes i know very little quests were changed, just want to go through it and see how it plays on a new toon) and overall I love it so far.
So many of the little touches, fences at just the right spots to delineate paths, adding trees to a place with Wood in the name, a bit more lighting, etc etc, a nice change.

Thanks for all of the feedback everyone! We're glad you like the changes!
However, there are a few more minor changes coming as Araxes' images brought to light a bug with our push yesterday. Some environment files are missing - for instance, around the Bog, the environment blends to a much hazier fungal green and around the bone tower, it blends to a more ghostly white. The general fog coloring is different with a much stronger moonlight (the lighting will look even better). We took a lot of influence from Neriak itself and feel the changes are exactly what Darklight needed to tie everything together.
Oh - and there is flora (missing due to same bug above). Hopefully we'll have the updates out soon. Thanks again everyone!



Araxes@Antonia Bayle wrote:

Haohmaru wrote:

Oh wow. That is awesome. Hope the fixes go in soon! I'm running through the zone now on a new alt!

The fog addition around the Bone Tower and bog looks like it will be a great effect, Haohmaru! And yay for flora!

~ Ara