Guild Wars 2

Hello, GW2 community! I am Lord Naarghul, which you may or may not know from other sites or owning/getting owned in FPS lobbies. I am a newcomer here to GW2. I’ve just registered, and while I wait for the game to finish updating, I’d like some advice, and I’d like a little opinion of my computer, which I’ve literally just opened up.

I am an old veteran of WoW. I quit two years ago after five years of play. I was there from Vanilla all the way to Cataclysm, but I decided to move on. I have some preconcieved notions as a result of WoW, so don’t hold anything against me.

In WoW, the classes I often played either the heavy armored melee fighters (Warriors, Paladins, Death Knights) or else a ranged caster (Mage, Warlock, Moonkin Druid). Warriors translate universally through games, Guardian seems similar to Paladin in a lot of ways. Necromancer reminds me heavily of warlocks, with a theme of death instead of demons. Elementalist is the sort of mage I always wanted to be in WoW, so I expect to have fun when I master the constant elemental switches.

I am fully aware that combat and controls in GW2 are vastly different from most MMOs, and that the holy trinity does not exist. I have done my research, watched vids, and even provided a friend with his own copy to play with me when I get it. I have an idea of what to expect but I also expect the transition to be jarring.

Last but not least, I’d like to know how well my new gaming rig will perform. It’s an ASUS ROG.

CPU: Intel Core_i7_2.7_GHz Processor 2.3GHz

GPU: Nvidia GTX 660M 2G GDDR5

RAM: 16gb SO-DIMM

I’m likely to turn the resolution down as full 1080p is overwhelming on my vision and I hate shadows universally across games, so I’ll be turning them off too. If anyone has any info on how well this comp will perform, I’d love to hear it. I spent a pretty penny on this guy, and I’d like to make sure it’ll get me places.

I can’t comment on your computer, but it sounds like you’re coming at GW2 from a good perspective – as long as you’re prepared for it to be different, you’ll be fine! I’m not saying it’s dramatically, totally different either, but some of the small differences can have quite big effects.

Feel free to try out multiple classes and play them through to level 10 or so to get a feel for what they can do – but be aware that after that, there’ll still be lots for a character to develop. The longer you play a class, the more you’ll understand what can be done with it (that’s the same everywhere I guess). One thing you can do is go to the ‘lobby’ for structured PvP, where you can try out a build as if your character was at the level cap, and play around with skills and traits if it helps you decide what you want to play.

Other than that, hmm… go with the flow, don’t rush too much, reaching the cap is not something you have to do straight away. It’s also not that hard – you get exp for a lot of things, not just killing monsters. Hearts are the most quest-like things, but dynamic events give more exp. 100% clearing zones will get you a good chunk of exp. But mostly, GW2 fans will always tell you to just do what you find fun!

Hope you enjoy the game

lord naarghul.6305:

Last but not least, I’d like to know how well my new gaming rig will perform. It’s an ASUS ROG.

CPU: Intel Core_i7_2.7_GHz Processor 2.3GHz

GPU: Nvidia GTX 660M 2G GDDR5

RAM: 16gb SO-DIMM

I’m likely to turn the resolution down as full 1080p is overwhelming on my vision and I hate shadows universally across games, so I’ll be turning them off too. If anyone has any info on how well this comp will perform, I’d love to hear it. I spent a pretty penny on this guy, and I’d like to make sure it’ll get me places.

Well I am using a rather low/mid-end PC, with Xeon CPU (3GHz), 4G RAM, and (gasp!) Quadro FX 1700 (which is really old and rather low-end comparatively). I run GW2 in windowed mode, turn most graphics feature to “Low”, with no Post-Processing option. The game runs rather smoothly and with respectable frame rate even when the area is crowded.

I reckon with your rig, you can tune graphics option way high, and still get very good frame rate.

GW2 will work effortlessly on your pc. Mine are nowhere near yours and work a treat.
I played WOW for years too and loved it. GW2 IMHO is a better game and just as addictive.

In games where I don’t have a mount for flying, I tend to do a lot of wandering due to good ol’ fashioned ADD. I can’t tell you how often I wandered off course to go check out a Dwemer city or Nordic burial site while going to do a specific quest in Skyrim, and even moreso in morrowind.

For advice and more advised comments on ur rig i sugest u ask in the tech forums.

However since i usualy help out there ill give u my knowledge here.

Depending on which i7 u have will depend on how well ur game runs.
Since its 2.3ghz i suspect its a 3610QM which turbo’s to 3.3ghz. Personaly i stick the lowest recommend laptop CPU to the 3630QM which is 100mhz faster and the highest being the 3840QM being 500mhz faster, but even so i think u should be fine in PvE environments.
Just note that in WvW and maybe even in LionsArch (city) you will find ur FPS droping even though ur graphics card isnt fully utilized. This is becouse GW2 is heavily dependant on single thread CPU performance ..even OC’d top of the lIne desktop CPU’s can not keep GW2 at 60 FPS in WvW, most strugle to keep it above 30 in the REALLY big battles (~100people). So if u ever get into WvW battle expect low fps. Running at sub 1080p resolutions will help reduce this is ever so slightly, so if ur Laptops native res is say 1440 × 900 then hopefully u wont have as severe performance drops.

Graphics wise u should manage a combination of Medium and High settings. Make sure u keep Relfections on ‘Off’ or ‘Terrain and Sky’.

Remember that Laptops are always a notch or two down from desktops so u pay thru the nose for performance that would otherwise not cost near as much on a desktop. Be prepared.

Game wise u should know that the endgame of GW2 is nothing like regular MMO’s ..there is no stat farming, its al just skins. Dungeons are only 5 man ..there are no raids. The PvE events are not as ‘dynamic’ as may have been madeo ut to u. The game is good , but its a love/hate type of MMO. i personaly think its lacking but atm its one of only a few MMO’s out with the backing that makes it worth playing.

While you have already been answered I’ll just throw this in anyway. Whenever I decide to buy a new game I always wonder the same thing so I found a site http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri and have always checked it whenever I was unsure. Very helpful for people who do not understand computer jargon such such as dual-core or 3600QM, etc.

If you do use it there will be a pop-up you need to run which lets it see your pc and give you your results, and it is safe Most games show both a min and max requirements to play.

lord naarghul.6305:

In games where I don’t have a mount for flying, I tend to do a lot of wandering due to good ol’ fashioned ADD. I can’t tell you how often I wandered off course to go check out a Dwemer city or Nordic burial site while going to do a specific quest in Skyrim, and even moreso in morrowind.

Hello and a hearty welcome Lord Naarghul. I think you’re going to love GW2 as the game positively encourages exploring – which you’re richly rewarded for btw. There are jumping puzzles and other types to do while exploring and map completion rewards also.

Happy gaming and good luck!

Native resolution on it is full 1080p HD. I turned it down to 1600×900 as a medium on the NVIDIA control panel. Now that my game is fully updated, I’ve had a chance to muck about with the settings and I have shaders, shadows, and reflections either off or low. Everything else is cranked up to max, and I’m getting 65-90 fps when whipping my camera about as fast as it will go. I think my comp is blowing this game out of the water. It’s not even getting warm yet.

As far as first impressions go, I am being defeated by my lack of knowledge surrounding dodge. To make it easier, I bound my movement controls to the standard WASD controls that every other game uses. I have a habit of using the mouse to move, as I did with WoW. And I keep expecting to hit hotkeys to do all my combat, not realizing that the first weapon key is an autoattack.

Also, I need to find a staff for my necro ASAP. I like my casters to not be in the melee >.>

A tip, turn off double tap to dodge in your options and bind a handy key to dodge. The double tap to dodge feature is horrible and sometimes makes you fall of ledges when you try and take it slow i.e tapping along. And there will eventually be alot of ledges you can fall off.

And yes, pick up a staff for your necro, aswell as a scepter and a dagger for your second weapon set. They work really great together and offer you alot of AoE bleeds/poisons/cripples/chills/weakness along with blinds and condition removals/transfers.