Popins are a problem, but they aren’t the biggest one. The biggest problem is the control (or lack of it) on the variation in performance.
On PS4, rain was beautiful with day 1 release. By 1.5, it had become insufferable Missile Command/Minecraft rain. With 1.6, it’s better but still pixelated at times. By bad luck or programming change, I don’t get proper downpours anymore. Heavy rain, thunder and flashes of lightning here and there. I miss them. But, I don’t miss and am not really a fan of sunshine, starry night rain. That precipitation is the kind I see most nowadays.
FPS wise. The variation has changed enough that I can now discern via the slow down whether the battle spawn point has triggered NPCs.
I’ve been talking about popins for a while. Day 1 was ok. By 1.4.3, the popins became distracting but were restricted in area (primarily Rattay). With 1.5, they got better. Probably to tolerable level if forced. With 1.6, popins are widespread, sometimes severe and they detract from gameplay.
The lack of predictability and stability is the greater problem … exacerbated by inadequate patch communications (expectation setting) by the studio
