Guild Wars 2

Some people say it’s better, some say it’s worse. What do you think about the new affinity culling system compared to the old system?

Better, worse, or the same?

http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=510e0c4ee4b0f55410b10a2f

15 votes so far.

Better 13%
Worse 67%
Same 20%

Need a bigger sample!

Ok I gave you my sample, but doctor the lid will not fasten. =X

Oozo.7856:

15 votes so far.

Better 13%
Worse 67%
Same 20%

Need a bigger sample!

Voted and bumped. Let’s get a bigger number and see if Anet takes notice!

Btw, anyone else noticed that there is now culling in pve as well? I never had that happening before (I think)!

Puz.8529:

Oozo.7856:

15 votes so far.

Better 13%
Worse 67%
Same 20%

Need a bigger sample!

Voted and bumped. Let’s get a bigger number and see if Anet takes notice!

Btw, anyone else noticed that there is now culling in pve as well? I never had that happening before (I think)!

I do very little PvE, but I did have some guildmates complaining that they were getting culling during an event in Orr (I believe).

On my server at least which 99% of the time just has small groups or solos out doing pve, I have heard several stories of culling in orr since this last patch.. I was not there but yeh just passing it along.

I don’t think the categories are very good. The new system for me is both better and worse because enemies will appear faster but it’s become harder to see allies. Personally, I like that better so I marked better but the categories aren’t as well defined as they could be.

Number: 35

Better 20%
Worse 69%
Same 11%

Enenion.8127:

I don’t think the categories are very good. The new system for me is both better and worse because enemies will appear faster but it’s become harder to see allies. Personally, I like that better so I marked better but the categories aren’t as well defined as they could be.

Seems to work since you do think it’s better, afterall.

This is just to get a general impression and to (hopefully – personal bias) let Anet know that there are a significant number of people who’s game experience has been negatively impacted regardless of what their internal numbers are showing them.

If you think it’s better (for you) then by all means vote what you feel!

it’s still giving thieves perma stealth without having to spec for it.

Before Anet for whatever reason deleted their last culling post…it was implied this last patch was going to be merely a foundation for future updates to improve culling. In other words this last patch was not an end all be all fix as it was explained to those who took the time to read their post. However this recent patch is require for the end result of their attempted fixes which is most likely why they did not revert the changes.

I think this is a better system. Only issue is I get like 10x as many “out of memory” crashes.

Voted. For me atm it’s worse. Now enemies, friendlies and also siege weapons and npc (commander npc) appear and disappear randomly from my screen… Also this happens in big scale battles but also in small scale one. That’s really confusing.

Takes long enough for allies to render now, that it can be confusing as to whether or not their an enemy when they first begin to render. Shocking that a game of this scope and magnitude would have these sorts of issues this far into release.

Got killed thrice within the span of half an hour, all due to a zergfest descending upon me out of thin air.

It’s much worse than before.

112 votes

Better 22%
Worse 67%
Same 11%

scootshoot.6583:

Before Anet for whatever reason deleted their last culling post…it was implied this last patch was going to be merely a foundation for future updates to improve culling. In other words this last patch was not an end all be all fix as it was explained to those who took the time to read their post. However this recent patch is require for the end result of their attempted fixes which is most likely why they did not revert the changes.

I read that post but I have a couple of questions.

1. Why make many of us suffer through a worse system until they have it completely ready?

2. How long do many of us have to suffer through a worse system until improvements are made?

Yeah. I have never had a real problem with culling until the 28th.

On the bright side, my thief is invincible.

It’s sooo much better for me it’s amazing, I don’t understand why others are having different results o.o

Definitely worse for me

Better 23%
Worse 66%
Same 11%
Total votes: 133

Much much worse for me.

ankdarkwolf.1487:

Voted. For me atm it’s worse. Now enemies, friendlies and also siege weapons and npc (commander npc) appear and disappear randomly from my screen… Also this happens in big scale battles but also in small scale one. That’s really confusing.

Same its worse, at least before there was some consistency.

I haven’t noticed a difference besides a placeholder model here or there in the middle of a bunch of invisible people. Doesn’t bother me though I just consider it part of the game at this point.

also voted worse… would be nice to see everyone continue to vote on these forums, even if you do feel its better please vote, want to get an honest tally of peoples feelings…

Worse for me and other folks I know.

Kazhiel.8194:

It’s sooo much better for me it’s amazing, I don’t understand why others are having different results o.o

For me its far more inconsistent with enemies and allies (and even siege) appearing then disappearing. The performance is also far worse, the lag in large battle is the worst its ever been and I upgraded my video card just before the change.

Op has supported my thread so I am going to repay the favour,

WORSE in the degree of 80%, if it gets any worse then there will be no point playing wvw

My findings are the following while in these scenarios:

1) Big zerg fights in an open field with me watching on a hill from afar —- The two armies seem to load up from further away now. The players at the middle division fighting each other all seem to be loading with the players that are further from the front line being invisible. It seems like this is an improvement from before where it was really random.

2) Small scale fight in the middle of nowhere away from large groups —- Our group of 4 spots 3 enemies fighting a guard. We slowly move in knowing there’s culling issues. We only see 3 people after waiting 10 seconds. We move in and attack and destroy 3 people and we end up taking massive damage and then 10 more people phase in on top of the 3. This happens almost every time. It’s impossible to use tactics in smaller fights because enemy numbers are never known.

3) Big enemy zerg approaching a smaller group attacking a gate —- Group of 10 attacking a gate and it’s going well. All of a sudden everyone is being hit by invisible things and everyone dies. Enemy zerg moved in from behind but never loaded (They did not use portal bombing)

Culling is broken big time right now.

Much worse.

I look in at the enemy group. I see 3 people. Could be 3. Could be 6. Could be 20.

I look to the side. I look to the other side. I see 2 allies on the left, 4 on the right.

Could 2. Could be 4. Could be 10. Could be 28.

I run 15 feet. A few people fade in, a few people disappear. I am fighting ghosts. Luckily, I have ghosts on my side as well, although I do not know exactly how many.

At least before I knew what my side looked like.

195 votes

Better 24%
Worse 66%
Same 10%

Voted.
Absolutely worse, by a long shot.

To those that say it is better, are you running lower end machines?
Seems like those that are are the ones that are better off.

P.S. As this is an across the board “fix”, anyone know if it is affecting sPvP/tPvP as well?

I don’t think sPvP/tPvP are affected because the cap on the number of players in a given map is so low that culling is not necessary. I could be wrong though…

Glad (wait should I be glad?) to know that my guildmates and I aren’t the only ones that feel like culling has gotten worse overall…

Better: 23%
Worse: 67%
Same: 10%
Total votes: 226

And I agree with Oozo – why do we have to suffer through a worse system, when it’s obviously not ready nor improving the issue? Why can’t they wait until it’s complete and all ironed-out before release?

Yestewrday we were on Blacktide borderland witch my guild.
Anyway, we were trying to get Hills, but RoS zerg came and wiped us. How we knew they came? Because of die, and about 10 secs later we could see them.
I think if there is less then 25 enemy, you can see them very quickly, but if there are more than 25 enemy, culling is worse.

i can’t believe they put this in after the feedback we gave when they tested it. it’s so bad, i don’t even want to WvW anymore because i can never tell how many enemies OR friendlies there are around me. even with no enemies nearby, friendlies just appear and disappear seemingly at random.

imo nothing within a set radius (preferably a radius I can set with a slider) should EVER be culled.

and i’m running a reasonably high end machine. i7 2600k @ 3.4ghz. 8gb ram, nvidia GTX 460

New culling is atrocious. I will not be playing until this is reverted/fixed. Absolutely ridiculous, is this company even serious?

This culling system is the best system that has implemented so far. That said all culling should be removed.

This system makes it so much easier to see enemies. Its way better than seeing allies. I just wish that commanders couldn’t be culled.

There was no significant improvement for me and I am running on a reasonably high-end machine.
I voted for worse just because allies are now randomly disappearing, also the target marks disappears once the person being targeted appears again. Also, I have no clue how many allies and enemies are around me with this system.

I voted worse, it was just terrible for the first few hours of playing. Nothing was rendering before melee distance and frequently non-theif players would not render at all in combat regardless of the number of players.

For some reason disabling “best texture filtering” and “high-res character textures” helped me out there. If you have either of those options checked and rendering as worsened, I would at least try disabling them. It’s still the same craptastic culling system, but at least it’s not significantly worse than before.

Had a 3v8 the other day where people were culling.

Maybe Arena Net are planning to add Ascended infusions to WvW?

Ruby Infusion
Offensive infusion
-5 culling. You can see five additional enemies in WvW.

or

Sapphire Infusion
Defensive Infusion
-5 culling. You can see five additional allies in WvW.

They could build like a story line around it too. Maybe it’s the return of Orbs? But this time they will reduce culling for the team who controls them?

Just some thoughts.

worse people still appearing out of no where and not loading into view
and even more so since this last patch

Gab Superstar.4059:

Had a 3v8 the other day where people were culling.

Maybe Arena Net are planning to add Ascended infusions to WvW?

Ruby Infusion
Offensive infusion
-5 culling. You can see five additional enemies in WvW.

or

Sapphire Infusion
Defensive Infusion
-5 culling. You can see five additional allies in WvW.

They could build like a story line around it too. Maybe it’s the return of Orbs? But this time they will reduce culling for the team who controls them?

Just some thoughts.

I like this idea.

New system:

- better for scouting (you see the models from far, but have no idea how many)

- worse for fights, since the enemies only render few by few so it takes too long before you realise how many you are fighting.
This potentially ruins any tactic used.

ummm where is this “who cares if its better or worse if its still broken and OP” button?

I have no idea how they could ever do this—- but Id like to see the damage you can take be limited to only the characters you can see. If I can target you and you can target me—- all is fair. If you’re rolling in a huge blob and just aoeing and smacking people dead because they didnt run when they thought they where only about to encounter a few enemies—- thats not so fair and everyone knows it (thats also why they do it).

328 votes

Better 24%
Worse 67%
Same 9%

Monsoon.2589:

I can t say if it is worst I can only say it is still here which is the main point. The fact that it is better or worst or the same is irrelevant.

I’d say it’s very relevant for the 67% of players who have responded that the old system was a better gameplay experience for them than the current system. I’d rather have a single patty crap sandwich with cheese than a double-decker crap sandwich with cheese.

much worse then before…

The culling is far worse to those with today’s computers. The culling is better for those still using computers made by the dinosaurs.

Why would any company in their right mind, cater to the past and not to the future?

its the same for me.