As a person that has spent these last few days playing Warcraft 2 (I'm old-school) and Dwarf Fortress I must admit I could not care less about the graphics. I wouldn't want a Eternal Crusade where the characters has a gazillion polygons as my computer would not be able to handle it, and I'm pretty sure that neither would yours. Just imagine the requirements of a game with the scale of EC, and the graphics of Crysis. Anyone here has a NASA-computer? No? Thought so.
If you have a less epic game you can afford to boost the graphics.

well as others have said, it is pre-alpha footage. And usually this is the case with all MMOs: They take awhile to be built, so by the time they are out, they are going to be a bit aged. Even then, MMOs generally have to be made to appeal to more people performance wise, so it would make sense to not have tons of fancy, extra qualities

but, what other MMOs is it going to compete with? The only other names I can think of are old titles, where EC will be far superior to in looks I think, as well as technology. The newest MMO I can think of that was big was GW2, and that game didn't even seem to be doing technological innovations

I totally agree with your view. It's obvious that ready game will be much better and polished from what we've already seen and even if it doesn't have the best graphics possible I won't be dissapointed at all. Some people nowadays tend to rate the game looking only at the surface - graphics which is silly cos there are hundreds of titles with superb graphics and hopeless gameplay. It's hard to expect Crysis level of graphics in a game with such a huge world, so many players and high level of environment interaction. The heart of EC experience lies much deeper fortunately.

Exactly. Not only is this pre-alpha, this is a game about war. It want it to look good but crazy graphics simply aren't necessary. I want smooth action and solid mechanics. Graphics get better so quickly. A game that is heavily invested will get outdated and lose its appeal. A well made game that looks decent will last much longer. Look at Team Fortress 2.

Since it seems that most people either agree with the mod that pre-alpha footage peeks can in no way be indicitive of the release or actually dismiss my concern outright I'll assume that any concern on my part is a personal failing.

Though I maintain my right to express it lol.

It was based on the model types and movements seen in the peeks which were very SM like, the final graphics of course I agree need have no real relevance to that seen in the peeks, as I said since the Dev's still have probably 18mnths up their sleeves to create and polish.

As for graphics of an MMO mattering to a player, I firmly believe yes they do matter...I'm not advocating standing about and wistfully staring at the scenery during a PvP battle, but scenery/costume/enviroment all come together to create the world and enhance if not outright allow the "suspension of disbelief" that makes a game great.

Eg: grass/purity seals/robes/smoke/rain all moving in continuity to a wind/shock wave in game is far preferable to such lightweight objects acting like cardboard or ignoring the game-world physics altogether.

And while combination moves/attacks based on pre-alpha peeks are a long way from possible discussion at this point, it behooves both the future players/fans and Dev's alike to expose themselves to contemporary develoments in MMO technology....any game that takes years to develop and thats most games nowdays, can't be created or appreciated in a cultural vacuum.

Eternal Crusade is being built on unity. I have only played one shooter on unity and it felt solid. I have no doubt in my mind the devs will have any problems making a solid gameplay experiance. Now I don't think it is going to be the best looking game. I haven't seen anything come out of unity that just wowed me on the little details yet. I think we might get cool environment design but it is going to be off one way or other.

I really like the aesthetics of EC even in it's pre-Alpha Stage. The decision to make it close to Spacemarines will benefit the game in a long run. Semi-realistic / stylized realism ages much better than photo-realistic in games. (And cartoonish wouldn't fit WH40K ;-) )

Anyways, you could make a game with unity or cryengine (maybe some differentes in the engine power), but the visuals would be the same, if you choose so.

Its way too early for this noise, we have not even seen a tenth of the game assets so you just simply cannot pass judgement at this stage.