Ice / Glass effect change

[Thistleknot]

<p>I was gone for quite a while, and I've been back a couple of months and I have to ask:</p><p>When exactly did the Ice/Glass effects change in the game, and was there ever a reason given for it?</p><p>Ice (in the cave off to the right when you  get to Everfrost for example) and glass (best example is the glass walkways in Sol. Eye), used to have a more solid appearance to them and when something was behind them, it was barely visible.</p><p>Now, the ice is almost completely see-through, and barely noticable. The floors in Sol. Eye look like you're practically walking on lava (for the inside area), and when your walking on the bridges the glass is barely noticable from a distance. The ice cracks in the white snow covered river beds in everfrost are now very transparant (you can actually see the body of those mobs that hide under the ice because of it.</p><p>Another really bad example is the bottles in Bastion of Flames are practically invisible. (I also think the walls used to be be more solid glass effect, with the fire behind it, instead of the now looking like lava with a very faint glass-shimmer, but I'm not 100% sure on that part).</p><p>I honestly don't like the new effect (I say new because I don't know when, in the time I quit at the beginning of TSO until two months ago, when it was changed), and was just wondering if anyone knew the reason for it.</p>

[Barx]

<p>It was changed a long time ago (I want to say over a year ago, but I don't think it was on the patch notes so hard to look up). If you do some forum seraches you might  be able to see when the change was first mentioned, as I remember some discussion when it happened.</p><p>Some of the old implementations of ice have become a bit wonky looking because of the change, but overall I think it reflects how ice and glass should be -- very transparent. I like it in most cases in Sol Eye, it gives it even more of a perilous feel for the glass walkways, although in some areas it does look too transparent. The EF ice tunnel also has that case where it's too see-through and it ends up showing geometry beneath that was partially hidden before and now looks worse. But on the whole I think it was a reasonable change.</p>