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World of Warcraft 9.0.2 client runs natively on Apple Silicon

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Re: World of Warcraft 9.0.2 client runs natively on Apple Silicon

#161
post #153

Just installed WoW on my M1 MBP and was blown away by the performance. I was running on battery, graphics set on max and the game was running 60fps without dropping a frame. And the fans never went on. How is this even possible on such a small machine? Here's a link for screenshots and video (notice how instant the game closes when exiting) https://www.notion.so/emads/MBP-M1-Chip-running-WoW-at-60fps...

That video is stuttering for me and it looks like you have about 10 fps, even when it's completely loaded (but I believe you, no worries, it's just funny) :P This is Chrome on Linux and I don't usually have problems with video, e.g. YouTube.

It's 60 FPS 2880x1800 video at like 51 Mbps. YouTube's recommendation for 1440p 60 FPS uploads is 24 Mbps and most likely they serve at a lower bitrate.

Re: World of Warcraft 9.0.2 client runs natively on Apple Silicon

#162

I haven't seen any benchmarks on how other Games perform. DO we know how games like CS GO would perform on Apple Silicon?

from reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/macgaming/comments/jwa1gj/25_mac_ga...

https://www.reddit.com/r/macgaming/comments/jw3e1c/game_benc...

Re: World of Warcraft 9.0.2 client runs natively on Apple Silicon

#163

Wow, I'm surprised! Great job Blizz Blizzard has always been good at supporting Mac's, even going back as far as Warcraft 3.

Except for Overwatch, RIP. Also Diablo 3 has always run terribly on MacOS. Pretty much only WoW runs decently. Maybe Starcraft 2 used to be okay but it since became way worse.

What's wrong with Hearthstone on macOS?

Re: World of Warcraft 9.0.2 client runs natively on Apple Silicon

#164
post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All those games you list are bloated games that are really only fueled by nostalgia players now. When is the last time Blizzard really innovated and made something we all had to play like Diablo I and II, Starcraft, and of course WoW? I don’t think it can anymore. It sold its soul to Activision and all the passionate people are gone, judging by their recent games.

I completely agree. Overwatch was a reactionary game, meaning they wanted to cash in on the success of games like it. Heroes of the storm is also just that; a reactionary game. Usually it's a very bad sign when a company turns after the marked instead of being a leader. It's a sign of growing too big and getting conservative. It's a steady decline that is difficult to get out of.

All their games have been reactionary, though? It's not like Diablo was the first hack and slash, nor Warcraft the original RTS. Blizzard's strength have always been refinement - take an existing genre and make the very best version of it. I think they succeeded with that in both Hearthstone and Overwatch.

Re: World of Warcraft 9.0.2 client runs natively on Apple Silicon

#165
post #11

This is a related tangent, but I haven't seen this addressed anywhere else yet so might as well ask it here. What does Apple silicon mean for the future of gaming on Apple hardware? With the death of bootcamp and the apparent difficulty with emulation, is the only hope for individual developers to update to native support like Blizzard is doing here? And what does the future of GPUs look like? Are there expected to b…

Gaming on the Mac was basically dead and will be revived with Apple Silicon, I believe. Even the MacBook Air now has enough power to run modern games smoothly, and more powerful models are to follow. A considerable amount of iOS games are suddenly playable on the new Macs, too. And yes, native support for Apple Silicon and Metal is clearly the way forward.

I don't believe the main problem with gaming on mac was the architecture or their anaemic graphic cards but rather their non-standard mac-only graphics API (metal), their deprecation of OpenGL, spotty support of Vulkan (if any) and removal of 32-bit support (for older games). The first three are not really a problem for big engine makers, as they can afford to implement additional backends but it is an issue for smaller studios and indie makers. 32-bit support is probably going to be less important (unless Rosetta can also translate x86 only code). It's good that they packed a decent graphics subsystem in their new chips but that's only part of the solution.

I believe their main concern is to bring iOS games to macOS rather than bring new games into the platform. Let's be realists here, iOS games bring in the cash. If they can run it in another form factor with potentially better graphics then even more money in the long run.

Re: World of Warcraft 9.0.2 client runs natively on Apple Silicon

#166

This is why Windows on ARM has largely been doomed while Mac on ARM will immediately succeed: Apple told its partners that this is the future of the Mac and expected them to deliver if they intended to continue to be on Apple platforms. Microsoft has constantly and aggressively failed to commit. Be it to Mobile or ARM or HoloLens or whatever. They simply haven't made it clear that supporting their new platforms is co…

No, this is not the reason. The reason is that Apple didn't half-ass anything, and they executed with competence. The Apple M1 is so good, it outperforms most everything else natively in single-thread, and every other previous x86-based MBP when using Rosetta, all the while offering superior battery life, and its not even that expensive because those are the entry-level models. Microsoft never had anything remotely l…

Never half-ass two things, whole-ass one thing. - Ron Swanson

Re: World of Warcraft 9.0.2 client runs natively on Apple Silicon

#167

I haven't seen any benchmarks on how other Games perform. DO we know how games like CS GO would perform on Apple Silicon?

I was going to test this soon (I’m finishing some set up stuff). I’m curious because CS:GO is utterly unplayable (<24fps) on my 2015 13” MBP, so I always had to resort to my desktop computer. Will update this when I do try it out !

[deleted]

Re: World of Warcraft 9.0.2 client runs natively on Apple Silicon

#169
post #92

Where is the Linux client?

I know that some people successfully running WoW with wine. You might want to try it.

The very first versions of WoW were actually faster with Wine.

And I think they still officially-unofficially support playing WoW through Wine. Basically they check that it still works after every release and don't use any super-weird APIs Wine might have issues with.

Re: World of Warcraft 9.0.2 client runs natively on Apple Silicon

#170
post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple isn’t selling to third parties, but I bet Google wants to. Google must be putting pressure on Qualcomm, and maybe Nvidia, to make something competitive. If they try, within a few years I’m sure someone can. Imagine 3 years from now there are a bunch of Chromebooks selling at Chromebook prices, but offering intel performance. That would start to hurt Microsoft.

From the way they have been selling in Europe, there is a very long path to go. Chromebooks are only relevant in US school system.

Chromebooks are actually widely used in schools in the Nordics.
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