Guild Wars 2

I’m not sure if this is a widespread problem, or if it’s just my sound card / settings, but I’ve noticed that, on a regular basis, some sounds will just be inappropriately loud for how far away their source is. Like, I’ll hear someone talking that I can’t even see (I think this is sometimes intentional). This happens most often with background conversation in cities; it just doesn’t feel like the volume scales properly with distance.

This probably isn’t an easy thing to calibrate, and I know a lot of different people have different preferences, but I’m just here to ask, has anyone else experienced this?

I was having this issue last night in LA, first noticed it when I went to the bank and I could hear a child talking very loudly. I’ve got all my sound settings set quite low for when I wear my headset and it was happening that often and that loudly I ended up logging and switching to my speakers instead.

I noticed this too. I have to ask, do either of you use simulated surround sound? I have a Xonar DG soundcard which can output 8 channels to my headset. I remember hearing something about sounds being played through all of the speakers in actual surround sound setups, and I’m wondering if this is the same case, causing the volume to be much higher.

My main complaint is not only that, but the cutscenes are SO LOUD even with settings turned down very low. I’m starting to think that the dialogue volume has nothing to do with these cutscenes.

I have also noticed it. Plus all of the cut scenes (or whatever it’s called), the voice between the two characters speaking to each other is way louder than the normal game volume. It blasts my ears out when using my headphones.

Jenvo.3578:

I noticed this too. I have to ask, do either of you use simulated surround sound?

Now that you mention it, yes. I had been tinkering with my sound settings earlier and switched it from stereo to 5.1 surround. I usually just have my speakers on but if I’m in TS with my guild the headset works better. Maybe I’ll just have to remember to switch my settings back to stereo for the headset so I don’t blow my eardrums out with random NPC chatter.

I’ve noticed this problem when fighting near water. certain sounds along with the water splash sound are like 200% louder than everything else.

The loud volume seems to be caused by the audio engine not recognizing above & below positions. You might be standing on top of a NPC in another floor which is why it’s loud yet not visible.

I’m using a 7.1 set and also have this & cutscene dialog annoyances.

Yeah, I can sometimes hear NPC (mostly those with quests) voices far away from them. And I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t hear them.

Also the voices in cutscene conversations in My Story are at least 50% too loud.

I’m using ASUS Xonar DX in stereo mode.

mircel.4135:

The loud volume seems to be caused by the audio engine not recognizing above & below positions. You might be standing on top of a NPC in another floor which is why it’s loud yet not visible.

I’m using a 7.1 set and also have this & cutscene dialog annoyances.

This happens to me, but I won’t be anywhere near the NPC and their voice is blasting in my ears. I’ll usually be able to see them a while away, and the next line in their voice dialog sounds completely normal. I’m using an emulated 7.1 headset.

It’s kinda funny hearing random players shouting their buff lines right in my ears in WvW when they’re hundreds of meters away…

I think this happens when the voice loads before the actual NPC model. The source of the sound is unable to locate and you hear it as if it was in your ears.

I get this often. Rather annoying to be standing there crafting or running around out in the open with no one else around and I get blasting someone shouting their buff or an npc saying some dialogue after an event finishes up. Most the time the person doing their buff or the event npc isn’t even close to me, as in hundreds of feet away on my map. Doesn’t matter if I am using my stereo external speakers, headset in stereo mode, or headset in 7.1 mode. The loud sound glitches with hunter pets or elementalist embers is still present and quite annoying as well.