I see very few complaints about this, but it is so obvious that Asobo have changed the water since the second major patch (which included the Japan update), it is far less reflective and looks incredibly dull, at low wind speeds. Some see an actual improvement, but I do not enjoy anymore flying over water in the sim. 

For those having the same complaint, please post here, thanks!

It's been an issue since the 1.8.3.0 patch. In the 1.9.3.0 patch it was made somewhat better, however it also introduced some glitches with the waves at higher wind speeds. I've reported the issues to Zendesk, and there are also a few threads about the new water in the official forums if you'd like to vote for them. I think a full revert to the water behaviour of the launch builds would be ideal.

Just now, ChaoticBeauty said:

It's been an issue since the 1.8.3.0 patch. In the 1.9.3.0 patch it was made somewhat better, however it also introduced some glitches with the waves at higher wind speeds. I've reported the issues to Zendesk, and there are also a few threads about the new water in the official forums if you'd like to vote for them. I think a full revert to the water behaviour of the launch builds would be ideal.

But.....

What if the current water is a stepping stone towards better water effects for boats and amphibious planes?

This is just a blue sky hypothetical, but the point is that while we back seat drive, we have no idea what Asobo has in mind.

I feel like we really need more patience, but more and more I'm feeling kind of alone on that.

Just now, HiFlyer said:

I feel like we really need more patience, but more and more I'm feeling kind of alone on that.

No you're not.

1 minute ago, HiFlyer said:

But.....

What if the current water is a stepping stone towards better water effects for boats and amphibious planes?

This is just a blue sky hypothetical, but the point is that while we back seat drive, we have no idea what Asobo has in mind.

I feel like we really need more patience, but more and more I'm feeling kind of alone on that.

It doesn't feel like that way. 1.8.3.0 actually broke the water, and waves could be discerned only at extreme wind speeds. This only affected preset weather, when switching to live weather the waves would appear even with more reasonable wind speeds.

The fixes in 1.9.3.0 felt like a quick solution to fix that problem, but it resulted in even more problems overall. The water still looks somewhat flat at lower wind speeds (though better compared to 1.8.3.0), but at higher wind speeds it looks like totally broken, and then there's that ugly texture that makes the water look like an oil painting at higher altitudes.

I don't know what (or whether) they have in mind and you could be right that this might be a stepping stone, but there's no reason to make the water right now look worse for something that's not here yet. They can keep tweaking the water in their internal builds and maintain the superior solution for the release build. For example, they could tie the water changes to their DirectX 12 builds, or one of the major upcoming updates if that's what they have in mind.

I landed the Mooney at kbkl in a 25 knot cross wind a bit ago..I assure you I wasn’t looking at the water..  😓

To give my previous posts some context, the 1.9.3.0 patch notes said "Ocean rendering has been improved (waves scale, foam and reflections)", and this is what the water looks like at high wind speeds since 1.9.3.0.

With 1.9.3.0 this weird water texture was also added (screenshot taken from the forums).

The issue with 1.8.3.0 was that the water looked like a mirror unless you turned up the wind speeds really high when using preset weather, but when using live weather the water looked pretty much identical to the launch build.

Whether this is preparation for upcoming water effects or not, the water has been massively degraded since release, and if they have internal branch builds they do not have to push out a half-baked implementation. I'm not being impatient and I understand they need time to sort everything out, but I'm just pointing out that the water was degraded with the patches.

I thought 1.9.3.0 water looks great, especially when under few knots of wind the waves and white caps etc look surreal. The water is of course not perfect, but is really good.

Couldn't help to think that back in P3D or XP such water quality would be a pipe dream, still is.

1 hour ago, 767lover said:

I see very few complaints about this, but it is so obvious that Asobo have changed the water since the second major patch (which included the Japan update), it is far less reflective and looks incredibly dull, at low wind speeds. Some see an actual improvement, but I do not enjoy anymore flying over water in the sim. 

For those having the same complaint, please post here, thanks!

Asobo doesn't live here...

26 minutes ago, airlinejets said:

Asobo doesn't live here...

But they actively watch this forum. So your point is?

6 minutes ago, RW1 said:

But they actively watch this forum. So your point is?

It is unclear who actually checks this forum, it may just be the new marketing girl/guy rather than anyone with influence over development.

1 hour ago, HiFlyer said:

But.....

What if the current water is a stepping stone towards better water effects for boats and amphibious planes?

This is just a blue sky hypothetical, but the point is that while we back seat drive, we have no idea what Asobo has in mind.

I feel like we really need more patience, but more and more I'm feeling kind of alone on that.

Didnt we do this yesterday ? lol

1 hour ago, ChaoticBeauty said:

To give my previous posts some context, the 1.9.3.0 patch notes said "Ocean rendering has been improved (waves scale, foam and reflections)", and this is what the water looks like at high wind speeds since 1.9.3.0.

With 1.9.3.0 this weird water texture was also added (screenshot taken from the forums).

The issue with 1.8.3.0 was that the water looked like a mirror unless you turned up the wind speeds really high when using preset weather, but when using live weather the water looked pretty much identical to the launch build.

Whether this is preparation for upcoming water effects or not, the water has been massively degraded since release, and if they have internal branch builds they do not have to push out a half-baked implementation. I'm not being impatient and I understand they need time to sort everything out, but I'm just pointing out that the water was degraded with the patches.

I'm not sure I agree with this.

Of course, I immediately hopped into my sim and attempted to replicate your concerns.

I was only able to do so by inputing the maximum 150kts winds, and at any reasonable height, everything looked fine. To find anomalies in the mesh, I had to drop to essentially wavetop height, and the first thing that occurred to me then was, what the heck am I doing on the water on 150kts winds?!

It was even hard for me to take a photo, because within seconds, my plane was flipped over and the sim ended.

Which made me wonder why somebody would be flying in such weather, and if they were flying, why on earth would they be at wavetop level?

I'm not quite sure I hold Asobo responsible for us being silly with the settings....

 

Wavetop height: Anomalies detected!

By the way, I was unable to replicate the repeating patterns.

21 minutes ago, RW1 said:

But they actively watch this forum. So your point is?

Who's they? Microsoft has an official support forum for posting problems and reporting them, this is not it. Asking to post here will not solve the problem.