I imagine the hundreds or thousands of other threads across all mmo forums about why graphics must be limited in mmos, especially large scale pvp ones, will provide you with the answer you seek.

Really, here we have 2560x1600 with nothing, my GTX 460 needs a few breaks here:

http://carnagepro.com/eso/

I do not think you understand, things like hair and cloth physics can be done CLIENT Side, it's not something you have to do on the server side, on top of this EQ2 even did this, which again was almost a decade or more ago.

You could simply display cloth/hair physics within "x" range or have it be limited to a number of people nearest to you, it wouldn't take a ton of resources and it would be completely client side and could be turned on/off, so no, this "it's an mmo therefor they can't do it" does not fly.

You mean you are glad that they are not? I despise that stupid cartoony look. I'm a huge everquest 1/2 player/raider, but I won't be playing everquest next for just this reason. TESO graphics are very nice IMO, and of course I love the realistic style. I hope that they never introduce any non-realistic stuff like other MMO's have done in the cash shop. I'd rather not see a cheerleader or indiana jones equipped player running around to break the realism. Also huge armor and huge weapons are quite a turn off as well.

One word...SweetFX! I use it (along with Realvision ENB) in Skyrim and it looks amazing.

There is an example on Youtube of how it looks in ESO, as well. Search for: "SWEETFX enabled in - ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE - [running on Windows 8.1][ Improved graphics mod ]"

Generally the graphics look quite amazing. Though I was a bit disappointed, with my DX11 card, to see angular bald heads, instead of rounded heads.

I will definitely look into brightening the colours of the game. I loved the digital vibrance graphics setting but notice my nvidia no longer has it. I'll look up alternative (some suggested here I see).

My one complaint of the game is the lack of bright colour compared to other mmos. Lotro is aged but it's world still looks amazing even today and colours can be far brighter than in ESO.

I have never been able to see a difference with ENB or SweetFX.

They look fine to me

Hm... difficult topic. The landscapes are fine, many textures feel a little stonewashed, a little more color wouldn't have hurt them. Many animations are subpar for these days but several effects and the overall lighting seen to be good. It is ok to good for an MMO but could be massively improved with the very same engine. Let's see what we will get over the months/years. The sheer amount of love for details though adds to a very good total

I wouldnt go so far as to call graphics amazing, but its still some of the better MMO graphics I've seen. They tried to make some hills but its still very "flat" and generic in terms of design. To compare specific parts with two games, Skyrim gave a much better impression of realistic terrain due to differences in heights while for example GW2 show far better design in some areas (Divinitys Reach make ESO look like a flat pancake). That said, overall the world scale in open zones is far beyond GW2 and even feel a little Skyrimesque (albeit with shorter render distance).

Lets not even get into animations, we all know its a trademark weakpoint of the entire Elder Scrolls series and ESO is true to its form. They dont even come close to GW2.

TERA, over three years ago had better graphics.

Anyway, though not amazing and maybe a bit disappointment graphics(expected much more from ES, at least same quality as last title), it is still good for todays MMO and runs on anything better than calculator.

My jaw hit the floor reading people saying that Tera has better graphics. Crazy how different people's perceptions can be, or maybe some people just have to have something to complain about. Or maybe some just like that cartoon-y vibe... not sure.

But Tera is nowhere close to ESO. I've never seen a better looking MMO.

The game can look great, but there are areas that just don't look as good imo. I love Daggerfall covenant's big medieval style cities, but a lot of the areas seemed kind of dull and generic looking to me they lack style compared to some of the AD and EP areas. That negative review of the beta by Ars Technica said the game wasn't ugly but lacks flair. Guess which zones they were playing? AD's

My favourite faction areas graphically are probably Aldmeri Dominion. Khenarthi's roost and Auridon are stunning although I thought the Altmer buildings were a bit of a let down. Ebonheart pact's morrowind area's look fantastic too great choice of colors and I love the texture work on the Dunmer buildings.

Dont confuse graphics quality and graphics style.

The fact you like ESO style doesnt make its quality any better: reflections looks odd, clothing doesnt reaction to movement seems static, envieroment doesnt react to you(bending grass etc., though TERA didnt have this), should I continue? There is a lot ESO graphics lack - most things are static.

Realistic doesnt mean good just as cartoonish doesnt mean bad.

They exceeded my expectations after hearing some mixed reviews. If they were any better I'd likely turn them down anyway; not for system limitations--I just don't care for much beyond texture and animation quality.

"look I can see my individual finger shadows on sparkling rippling water!"

"it's giving me a headache, turn it off."

Then again I hate it when I accidentally buy tickets for a 3D movie, so I guess I'm just old-school

We should define bad graphic because for me they look great, even the models (at max quality).

Are you refering to rendering? The game take more time to process further away texture so if you rush to an npc and look at him, it will be really pixelated. Its like that to be able to have tons of stuff in your screen and players without lagging/dropping dead.

They had to make some choices to be able to load huge PVP battle on lower end machine.

Though your logic is valid, imho your assessment is just plain incorrect. Agree to disagree I suppose.

I played Tera and ESO both over the weekend and going back to Tera was like a time warp to the 90's.

I started my Vanilla Ice playlist just to complete the immersion.

You know what the graphics remind me of and this is a good thing. Watching the Game Of Thrones. It's a gritty, dirty feeling to the graphics.

I think the graphics are amazing for an MMO.

My graphics were fine.

I'm going to have to disagree with you and others here. I'll use EQ2 as an example. When EQ2 came out I'm not sure there was a PC available that could play it max settings above 1FPS. But, they developers had a plan (10 year?) and knew that moore's law would allow the hardware to eventually play on the highest settings. You may say that the engine was not efficient or whatever. But the fact is that is was on par, graphically, with any top-tier/AAA title at the time of launch

I think the graphics for ESO are decent. I was just using my workstation, not my gaming machine (read lesser hardware), to play in beta and was able to pretty much max everything out without issue. So, I think it's great that the engine is "good enough" to play, more or less, maxed on less than top of the line hardware. I guess they can always release a new engine/patch that pushes the graphics further. Hopefully, they will.. soon.