Blizzard Working on Solution for Players with Older GPUs to Run Shadowlands

Live Posted 2020/10/14 at 8:15 PM by perculia

compilation of Blizzard's official list of known issues

Blizzard

For the last few expansions, World of Warcraft minimum specs have required a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) that is shader-model-5 compatible (DirectX 11.0 or higher). With the newer graphical features included in the Shadowlands Pre-patch, the game has ceased supporting all GPUs that are not compatible with shader-model-5.

We’ve discovered that a very small number of players are attempting to run World of Warcraft on older hardware that cannot play the game after patching.

At this time, we’re working on a solution that could allow the game to operate on some older hardware, at the lowest graphical settings, with some graphic features unavailable. We expect this solution to take at least a couple of weeks to develop and test.

We will let you know when this workaround is available. Thank you.

Blizzard

	Minimum Requirements	Recommended Specifications
Operating System	Windows® 7 64-bit	Windows® 10 64-bit
Processor	Intel® Core™ i5-3450 AMD FX™ 8300	Intel® Core™ i7-6700K AMD Ryzen™ 7 2700X
Video	NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 760 2 GB or AMD Radeon™ RX 560 2 GB or Intel® UHD Graphics 630 (45W TDP) *Requires manufacturer's driver support.	NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1080 8 GB or AMD Radeon™ RX Vega 64 8 GB or better
Memory	4GB RAM (8GB if using supported integrated graphics)	8GB RAM
Storage	Solid State Drive (SSD) 100GB available space Or Hard Disk Drive (HDD) 100GB available space (depending on the performance of the drive, player experience may be impacted on HDD)	Solid State Drive (SSD) 100GB available space
Internet	Broadband internet connection
Input	Keyboard and mouse required. Other input devices are not supported.	Multi-button mouse with scroll wheel
Resolution	1024 x 768 minimum display resolution

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Comment by TobiasAmaranthNice of them. I remember how it was like without a decent PC. Raiding with my camera pointed to the wall to heal...Comment by EapsI've got dual 980s in my rig that I built 2 weeks ago. I've been trying to get a 3080, but nvidia can't seem to get their crap together.Comment by mvffinhow about getting a new GPU? $15 monthly subComment by themcfreakI'm all for allowing as many players to play as possible, but why spend resources to support something that is that far behind in technology?Comment by LeafstaggerOr those players should just upgrade? The game has to evolve. If you can afford a monthly sub you can put money aside for a decent mid to low end GPU like an RX 580Comment by RahzalThis is silly, wasn't shader model 5.0 released in like 2010/11? Should be optimising for current and future gen not worrying about ancient systems, people will upgrade if they want to play.Comment by brifroloThanks Blizz. I'm really happy that there's so many new updates but I don't have enough expendable income right now to upgrade my computer even though I desperately need to for a number of reasons. I'm a broke college student and affording the sub is hard enough as it is, but it's the nicest little thing I can get myself every month to make the passage of time a little less harsh. I was devastated to learn that the issues I was having with the PTR transferred to the patch as well, and now the game is unplayable despite the fact that I've been practically counting the days since it was announced.Comment by voreoProbably just releasing a solution, if it breaks they're not gonna touch back on it. I do wonder though if this means a old world revamp is coming, seeing as how most of the game would run fine on those old gpus. One can dream.Comment by RonetaneBreaking News: World of Warcraft will no longer run on a toaster. But don't worry Blizzard is working on a fix so those with toasters can play the game again.Comment by LappeA52a gtx 760 isn't all that expensive. A weeks worth of mcdonalds work will get you a great gpu.Comment by MuffpotterYou can buy a GT 750 Ti for 30 bucks or less. Someone you know might even give away an old GPU for free.Comment by MautheThis is silly, wasn't shader model 5.0 released in like 2010/11? Should be optimising for current and future gen not worrying about ancient systems, people will upgrade if they want to play.Or those players should just upgrade? The game has to evolve. If you can afford a monthly sub you can put money aside for a decent mid to low end GPU like an RX 580Comment by ShikaretSome wow players aren't at all into gaming, they just want to spend sometime on wow after work on their work laptop chilling or enjoying the story, so making the game playable for them at least to quest and run in the open world is very nice from blizzardComment by ChanchiOr those players should just upgrade? The game has to evolve. If you can afford a monthly sub you can put money aside for a decent mid to low end GPU like an RX 580Comment by 2155491This post was from a user who has deleted their account.Comment by 2155491This post was from a user who has deleted their account.Comment by AzraelUltimaBreaking News: World of Warcraft will no longer run on a toaster. But don't worry Blizzard is working on a fix so those with toasters can play the game again.Valuable time that the Blizz team could spend on fixing the real SL issues, wasted on keeping people running machines from vanilla (exaggeration, probably more like panda).Comment by AutomagThis is silly, wasn't shader model 5.0 released in like 2010/11? Should be optimising for current and future gen not worrying about ancient systems, people will upgrade if they want to play.Or those players should just upgrade? The game has to evolve. If you can afford a monthly sub you can put money aside for a decent mid to low end GPU like an RX 580Comment by DremallBreaking News: World of Warcraft will no longer run on a toaster. But don't worry Blizzard is working on a fix so those with toasters can play the game again.Valuable time that the Blizz team could spend on fixing the real SL issues, wasted on keeping people running machines from vanilla (exaggeration, probably more like panda).Comment by AlixieITT: Just buy new parts, peasant.

So condescending. Not everyone has the money to throw around if something doesnt work. And not including people who arent computer savvy enough to know what exactly is wrong and how to fix it. Especially just to fix a 16 year old computer game.

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