I finally installed world of warcraft, it was amazing how long it took to install..

I made a character, and did a couple of missions to get a feel, but my frame rate dropped.

I didn't think WOW was a hard game to run, so could it be my internet connection? This is the same PC I play Oblivion/Fallout 3 on. The opening thing with the dragon runs perfectly, my cursor always moves quickly, but frame rates on the game and watching people move around is quite low.

Thanks.

I would guess it's your internet connection. If your computer can run oblivion, it can run wow.

I haven't played World of Warcraft in a while, but if you can run Oblivion and Fallout 3 fine, it is not your machine. My laptop couldn't run either of those even on super low settings and it did WoW fine. So, I would imagine it is your internet. This might have changed since last I played, but if you look to the bottom right corner of your screen you should see what looks like a computer, its screen will either be green, yellow, or red depending on your latency. If you mouse over it, it will tell you your current frames-per-second and your latency. If your latency is high that either means your server is having problems, your internet is not fast enough, or both.

You also might want to look around the World of Warcraft support page. http://us.blizzard.com/support/index.xml?locale=en_US&gameId=11 If you cannot solve your problem, you might want to contact their customer service via e-mail or phone. I've had to do it a few times. They've always been really nice and helpful for me.

OOOH!! It might be that the game isn't fully downloaded yet. They do this thing where the game updates while you play. Whenever you launch the game a pop-up box that has some news and what-not pops up. If it is still updating, you are going to have gameplay issues.

it's either this or are you in the main city? wow has always had a problem of the main city for the top level players to sit at becoming so over populated that it slows down everyone's computer

Lagforge in late vanilla (Ironforge)
Shattrath in BC
Lagaran in WOTLK (Dalaran)
IIRC it's Lagwind in Cataclysm (Stormwind)

forgot to mention that shadows can take up a lot of processing power from your graphics card, just turning it down one from max can help a lot

How about posting the specs of your PC? WoW isn't the pushover it used to be (and its highly unlikely it has anything to do with your internet connection - that doesn't affect frame rate). With a Phenom II X4 955 and a GTX 460 1GB I cannot max all graphics settings in WoW. I easily can Fallout 3 and Oblivion. I should qualify that - in areas with lots of player characters running around (Stormwind in particular) I can't max them all and keep a high frame rate - shadow quality has to be set to low.

My computer screen icon is green, and reports 6-15 fps. I don't remember the latency readings.

I'm at the place where night elves start. Sorry, don't know the names yet..

I have never played wow but I know it’s not a demanding game I'm guessing you’re in a place overcrowded with players. Turn off some settings maybe.

Turning off the shadows also helps too.

The latest nVidia drivers have been messing with WoW recently. Lots of framerate issues, graphical glitches etc. going on.

What are your computer specs please? CPU? Graphics card? Basically, what are you trying to run this on? If you're only get FPS like that in the Night Elf starting area it sounds like you're trying to play it on an old laptop or something. Go to the graphics options and hit the "recommended" button and apply. See what settings it gives you (low, fair, good, etc..).

It's actually a pretty demanding game. On low graphical settings, you should be fine. But if you want to turn all of the settings up, you actually do need a computer that can run Crysis well. I have a good desktop that can run both Oblivion and Fallout 3 at max settings with plenty of mods and hold a solid 60fps, but WoW will cripple me to 30 or even 15fps if I try to max it out. The reason why is because of the new special effects like the revamped water and shadows, which exist as an additional graphical overlay not built into the original system, and the large draw distance that is pushed forward with every expansion. The game is just not built with optimization in mind. My old laptop had a lot of trouble running the game even semi-well, even though that had no problems running other modern games. The thing that I found worked best for me was disabling the dynamic shadows. Doubled my frame rate by removing that alone.

You've got real problems man.

I've got a triple core and a GTX 460 756MB, and I can run WoW maxed out at 50fps.

To the OP, if you are alt tabbing out, changed to full resolution windowed. I can run WoW perfectly, then when I alt tab out of fullscreen I'm stuck at 24fps until I restart the game...

I remember from the last time I played, that some of the extra graphics settings can have crazy effects on framerates. Things like shadows, or fancy water, or "full screen glow".... you can try turning off specific bonus settings to see if one of them changes your FPS problems....


Also, you might try the official WoW tech forum. They should be up to date on the latest driver and framerate issues.

Not at all. I keep mine pegged at a verticle sync limited 60 FPS will all settings maxed save for Shadow Quality. In Stormwind (with those settings) I stay at around 45 FPS. If I turn up Shadow Quality to full it drops to 25-30 FPS at very busy times (like early evening standing in front of the AH), which to me is unacceptable. In more demanding zones like Zangarmarsh, Terrokar Forest, and Grizzley Hills with every settings maxed (including Shadow Quality) I get around 45 FPS. With Shadow Quality on low it jumps about 5-10 FPS in those zones.

No, I have no "real problems", I'm apparently just fussier about keeping a high FPS in that game than you.

I guess so. I certainly don't watch my framerate religiously, but I do know my game rarely stutters.

Can't give all specs right now, but:

Nvidia GeForce 9800m GT
ntel? Core?2 Duo Processors P8600 (2.4GHz) w/3M L2 Cache
2GB DDR2/800 Memory


It recommends "High" and a 1680x1050 res.

I think internet plays into it. I can play games like new Vegas just fine, but I cant play many MMOs.

Alright, now at a constant 50 fps on high settings.

I did two things:

Got a new driver for my GPU from laptop2 or whatever it is, and put the laptop on two books to keep it from overheating.

Very enjoyable now.