Guild Wars 2

After going there last night and I noticed a drop in the framerate when I was looking at the dust storm from the outside, but when I was inside it returned to normal.

I think it’s a problem trying to render everything as normal and the heavy particle effect that is the dust storm, as when you are in the dust storm, your vision is reduced drastically to the point where it balances out with the heavy particle effect.

Getting 140ish FPS on sandstorms. And I can finally hear my 780ti working

I had to switch to Best Performance… I’m playing a game based on looks that has no looks.

They have obviously added different effects to this map that are not present in other maps. It could be an optimization issue, but honestly I think those that are really noticing a frame drop are running out-dated hardware. I run 2 780’s in SLI maxed everything, and I see no performance hits. If this map was truly not optimized even I would notice some frame stuttering. Just upgrade your hardware people, don’t settle for mediocre frame rates. Bring on the flames, I’m just saying, if your going to sit on the computer all day long and play this game, why not invest some money into your rig and enjoy the game the way developers intended.

Yeah, guildmate is reporting Tequatl-zerg levels of FPS in Dry Top, too.

+1, had to abort the second ls mission (not even open world) because of this.

Fighting was basically impossible since the graphics and the input devices were literally on a different page.

Same problem here, my guess is too much of particle effects – the flames at ship’s crash site and maybe dust in the air everywhere on the map?
Anywhere else I can have 40+ fps but in Dry Top I get around 20 and sometimes less than 10.
Would be nice to hear from anet some statement on this issue.

mike.5476:

Just upgrade your hardware people, (…) and enjoy the game the way developers intended.

I’m quite confident that in a F2P MMO which requires a large userbase to pay off, the way the developers intended the enjoy the game includes playing on machines ~2 years or even older.

Excluding a largish part of your users just to satisfy the edge demographic of graphic whor…graphic kittens isn’t exactly a sound business strategy.
Google “crytek financial trouble” for reference.

Got a little worried when i read the title of this post, but in my case there is no fps loss whatsoever and my computer is not that great.

Though I don’t personally have any issues with it, I agree that this is one more instance of why we still need much more granular control over particle density in the client.

I’d just like to have it so I can read enemy tells in zerg events. Find the guys that wrote the excellent particle scaling for the City of Heroes engine, they all got downsized right?

It MAY also be that during a sandstorm they’re using some poorly optimized volumetric fog of some sort, which could chug due to optimization issues on older GPUs. Wasn’t there a similar problem in the clocktower the first year that they eventually fixed that had to due with fog as well?

Sithis.3564:

AMD Phenom™ II X6 1090T (6x CPU), ~3.2GHz
Asus Crosshair III
Kingston HyperX 4×2GB DDR3
AMD Radeon HD 5970 2GB

No issues with every other map since the launch. Almost highest settings.

My fps dropped by a half on this new map.

Built mine in 2010:
AMD Phenom™ II X6 1090T (6x CPU), ~3.2GHz
AMD Radeon HD 5870 1GB
Asus Crosshair IV Formula
Corsair 4×2GB DDR3 (8gb)
Dual Asus 21" 1080p monitors

All settings on highest except character models, that’s on medium for world boss runs.
I get 30-40 FPS – nothing is overclocked, higher when the ‘fog of war’ sand storm comes – it reduces draw distance so it should increase your fps if your graphics card is capable of using the method they chose to render it. The only map I have problems with is the one nearest the center camp in Southsun Cove, I take a 10fps hit when in the camp.

barefootstep.7026:

mike.5476:

Just upgrade your hardware people, (…) and enjoy the game the way developers intended.

I’m quite confident that in a F2P MMO which requires a large userbase to pay off, the way the developers intended the enjoy the game includes playing on machines ~2 years or even older.

Excluding a largish part of your users just to satisfy the edge demographic of graphic whor…graphic kittens isn’t exactly a sound business strategy.
Google “crytek financial trouble” for reference.

If some players were only getting 30-40 fps before the patch this doesn’t really give the developers any room to add any type of visual upgrade (if they don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings that is… ). I’m all for minor graphical improvements in the games I play. If something as simple as a environmental weather effect (done right, which it is, and looks great) moves your pc from 30 fps (which is already fairly low) to 20 fps it’s obvious that it’s your hardware at fault. Maybe the devs can add an option to turn it off or something but I don’t see how that would in any way make your experience better at all.

Sorry if this seems harsh or blunt, just trying to make a point.

I just fired up my old PC from 2009 (Phenom II x4 + 5770) to see the difference and I’m getting 45~50fps on overall medium settings (model quality low).

So yeah... the zone works perfectly fine on very outdated hardware, don’t expect to play the game on a machine that was already a potato 7 years ago, that’s simply not reasonable.

barefootstep.7026:

graphic kittens isn’t exactly a sound business strategy.
Google "crytek financial trouble" for reference.

Their problem is the games, which are mediocre at best, not the graphics.

In fact all their games run just fine on potatoes if you lower the settings.

A lot of people are complaining of the map making them nauseous. It’s probably the FPS drop doing that.

Lord Kuru.3685:

A lot of people are complaining of the map making them nauseous. It’s probably the FPS drop doing that.

Oh boy, I remember when I had played Doom on XBox Arcade. I played for about 10-15 min then got really sick. After feeling better I’d try it again, and again got sick after about 10 min. I looked online about it, and found that others had the same problem and it was due to motion sickness caused by the framerate.

I don’t envy anyone who is getting nauseous in Dry Top.

I think the problem is how AMD cards render the scene, specifically the fog. I noticed that problem on my old AMD build, when it comes to smoke. Maybe that’s it?

VaLee.5102:

No problems here either, all maxed, around 60fps since V-sync is on.
FX-6350, 8GB RAM, R9 280X Toxic.

So not a problem with AMD cards.

It doesn’t seem to be specific to a particular hardware manufacturer. People have listed pretty much all of the more common components, through a decent range of models. I’m wondering if maybe it is due to the version of Windows, or maybe a specific Windows patch that the players experiencing the FPS drop are lacking. FWIW, I run an Intel CPU (2500k but at stock speed) and an AMD GPU (6970, also stock speed), my wife has an older Intel CPU (C2D 8300 I think) and an Nvidia GPU (GTX 470). We both run Windows 7 Ultimate with all available important/recommended updates. Neither of us are experiencing a noticeable FPS drop in Dry Top.

Khisanth.2948:

Seems fine here. Radeon 5770 (definitely not a new card) with I think a Phenom II 930 or something like that. Most settings on medium except model limit which is on lowest, it’s not like I can really see the individual people anyway.

I’m the same, but I have two 5770s in crossfire, and a lower level Phenom II, 840 I think.

I have no problems with the new map. The only time I have real issues is on maps with huge zergs.