Guild Wars 2

hi,
let me start by saying that i am new and i m sorry if the question was already answered: i am sorry
(i did check but never find anything (wrong key words?) )

i have a little issue with my elementalist.
i decide to start to make and elementalist after watching a video, who, by the looks alone, motivate me to play this class.

the problem is that some awesome spell particles seems to not work on my computer
for example:
frost aura is like this on all the videos and trailers and poster i saw: http://imgur.com/a/Ax8di
but like this on my game: http://imgur.com/a/4nSE8

i check in the graphics options and i had animation to maximum
i also check my drivers and they are up do date .

i dont know why the effect is “down”/ stuck to the grownd i mean it s as if my caracter was 5 cm tall since it doesn t cover all my body. (yet you can see a faint line showing that it acknowledge my height)

is it due to the fact that i made the tallest human female possible ? and thus the height “overflow” and go negative or 0 ?

i have a GTX760 and using SLI, is the SLI the issue ? (usually when SLI cause probleme the shadow flicker but since it doesn t …

edit: oh god i m stupid, maybe i should post this on support know that i think of it … but maybe you guys had the same issue and know a way to resolve it.

Hi Metharius, welcome to the game!

A few months ago, the visual effects for all Aura skills were redone to make them less flashy. This was done to reduce visual noise in fights. The first picture you posted was how Auras looked like before the change.

oh …
well that s new . i never though someone would “nerf” visual effect (they spend time creatign them in the first place … it sound stupid if i may say so.)

is there a special option that you can use to manually make them as they where ?

i mean, i understand the issue for small PC when you have many player grouped.
but my PC can handle it (and so my eyes/brain since i m used to ultra flashy spells from moba or asian mmo)

it feel stange, even moreso because i think it s also a nessesity for pvp, no?
i mean based on the effect of the aura, i wouldnt want to hit someone who activate it.
i mean in duel i guess it s not problem but else ?

so even if i understand the fact that they reduce it to allow small computer to run more smoothly in big fight, i think be abble to identify a spell quickly/easely is as important.
(and i m not even speaking about this feeling for power it give )

(obviously i check the graphic option’s menu and i dont think i saw a slider for particle effect intensity, so i m refering to .ini files or thing like that.
The animation seems to still be here, it s just … down like a curtain put on the floor who just need ot be “raised” again)

either way, thanks for the quick answer !

For the record, I totally agree with you. I don’t think the old Auras were the real offenders when it came to visual noise (rather, it’s stuff like on-hit effects that scale with the enemy model.) I also agree that the new Auras are harder to distinguish from each other, which is counterproductive for PvP.

But the devs have decided that this is how Auras will be, so that’s what we’re stuck with

At least they’ve reverted most of the other visual nerfs they implemented (Elementalist Fireball etc.) Overload Air still doesn’t have its storm cloud back though

well the other issue, that come up with this is that screenshot and video became missleading .
they arent add per see i think so it s not false addvertisment but
when you see this kitten elementalist going with dual dagger and you are like: “yea ! a battlemage ! with super cool aura/shield”

but in game thoses effect are sometime barely visible or really seems to lack in power compare to the “awesome elementalist in the website”
ex: funny enouth they still call this http://imgur.com/a/2Xmwg a “shield” .
Can you see it ? feel the protection ! feel the flames of balthazar
can you still call “phoenix” : phoenix ? and not little sparrow ?

and i m not speaking about player’s video who can become outdated but official videos still featured in the website
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/elementalist/

so i m a little sad, but i m still hoping for a fix by changing .ini settings.

if that not possible, then they should REALLY -change- update their website.

and if it affect too many spells (like arcane utility or lightning storm) i think i ll have to check another class who suffered less by this change…because really, mage feel really underpowered is some case (see fire shield above) …
my “hidden hope” was that at early level skills where looking weak because you where low level but they would grow in power as you level until it looked like the video and screenshots)

They made all the auras and some other effects uglier/less detailed, while at the same time managing to decrease system performance to the point where the Mac client is in many case unplayable.

what s bugs me now is that i found a patchnote w<where they said this:

A new option called Effect LOD has been added to the graphics options of the game. It limits the detail of allied players’ skill effects. This option has been turned on by default.
o When toggled on, skills from allies will play a visually reduced version of their default skill effect. Additionally, ally hit effects and certain ally cast effects will be disabled.
o When toggled off, skills from allies will play the default version of their skill effect. Allies’ cast effects as well as allies’ hit effects on foes will be visible.

so why arent the skills reverted to their former glory yet?