Guild Wars 2

Just wanted to give an update on my problem. About 15 days ago, I took the RaidMax POS back and, instead, bought a new hard drive and DVD Drive (which Iv’e been needing). I proceeded to install windows and Guild Wars 2, nothing else. After some Windows 8 problems (somehow my software/key for win8 is upgrade only, yet the packaging says full install, wtf?? There’s a workaround, but still!), I had 2 crashes on Guild Wars. I instantly thought the problem wasn’t fixed. At that point, I was out of town for 3 days, so didn’t get to play. However, after I got back I’ve gone probably 30+ hours of game play with only a handful of crashes.

While this still sucks, I am betting on it being a windows 8 problem now and not a hardware/guild wars problem. I’ve had 2 or 3 days go by with 0-1 crash (I’ve played 6+ hours in a row with no crash), so I’m satisfied, thanks again for peoples help! I hope the others who posted here can get there’s working, too.

So Thief is my first character i’ve leveled and I’m right about level 46 right now. Currently I’m running a condition build (something like http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQJAoYlcmaOXeS5E9pEhnivO2+DXF ) and I absolutely LOVE it! I can kill large groups of mobs even 2+ levels ahead of me with no problem, even kill veterans around my level usually.

I love the feel of dodging around, watching the numbers pop up while the mob crawls slowly towards me just to hit them with the dodge caltrops and then Death Blossom over them again.

But reading around the forums lately and it seems that this type of build/playstyle just won’t do much at level 80 for PvE or PvP. I know 1 on 1, this lacks, but I’ve never ran into a situation where I couldn’t kite my way to a victory (or get away without dying).

I really like this game because I heard so much about how there is no ‘best builds’ and it’s more about being good at what style you like.

So I’m not asking if the way I play is good or not, I’m asking about the long term, level 80 and beyond, and how viable it will be.

Thanks for any advice/criticism!

As someone who built computers for so long, I should have known better than to jump on Windows 8, but I couldn’t afford Windows 7 and didn’t want to bootleg it again. Oh well, I learned!

i’m thinking that having to install twice is what caused the issue. I never had an issue with this build on windows 7!

Thanks for everything, I’ll reformat it sometime in the next week or so, I’ll post back here on if that fixes it (or make a new thread if needed)

Thanks for all your help, Tink! If you don’t mind, I’ll add you to my friends list in game…if you ever need anything, just let me know.

EDIT So I was reading about why my windows install left the windows.old file when I installed and it turns out windows 8 sometimes leaves that file unless you manually format the disk (like the link you said above does), just picking the option for full install and keep nothing does not actually format it, despite the fact that it sounds like it should. I just thought that was interesting.

I tried using the recovery options to see if I can fix it without reformatting but they didn’t work. I mean literally they said there was a problem with the install, so it looks like I’ll be doing the full format after I backup a few things.

That’s the thing, I don’t know if it was a windows 8 bug or whatever, but I did go through the whole advanced option and format, twice. I thought it was strange, too, but never looked into it too much. I bought Windows 8 day one mainly because of cost, but with the problems I’ve ran into with Battlefield 3, Skyrim, and now Guild Wars 2, I’m regretting that. I know (or at least hope) windows 8 will only continue to grow instability, but I guess that’s what I get for being an early adopter.

Is it possible the problem is related to the windows install (or bad hard drive)?

I’d gladly reformat and reinstall windows if that’s the case (and the scan/recovery doesn’t help)

Edit: The system file check showed no integrity violations.

Hey Tink, thanks for the reply yet again.

I have not done the scan, will do it now. This OS was installed over top of another one (upgrade from Win 7 to Win 8 ). I only have 1 hard drive.

I did full format but, as windows always seems to do, it left some residual files (namely Windows.old folder). I actually did a full install (format) when I got win8 and the system was unstable, I did a second full install and it seemed to work after that.

Seems like you’re indicating it either a bad install or a hard drive problem?

Also, today was the first day I actually played GW2 for any extended period of time since last I posted and had 0 crashes in about 3 hours. The last dmp file I sent you was a crash while in Lions Arch while I let it soak 2 or 3 days ago, it happened after about 15 minutes. Today was, by far, the longest I’ve been able to play GW2 at one time since I started playing again last month. Also, I was in WvW, which I would think is more taxing on my computer than running around doing hearts.

I attached the screenshot of the disk management along with driver page in the hard drive properties, I think that’s what you meant by drivers and partitions.

I’ll be away from my computer for the next few hours, but will keep checking back here.

Sorry for the late reply, been out of town.

I also wanted to say I really appreciate all the help!

I zipped up the last 5 dmp’s and included them in the zip. i think they’re all the same, but figured it wouldn’t hurt.

Here’s the link: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6o_p5HrXKGnSUZqNVNLRnpkZlU/edit?usp=sharing

Ilithis, I was just reading that! A voltage issue would actually explain all the problems I’ve been having since I built it, but I haven’t touched any of the settings or anything for it. I did just realize my BIOS needed updating, so I did that and I also loaded default values.

Is there any way to check if the voltage is wrong or is it more like trial and error?

Also, I’m using HWMonitor to monitor temps and my MoBo went up to about 63C, Processor 56C, and Video Card 56C during game play. Those values don’t seem high at all. I’m going to let it soak for a few minutes in lions arch, where I was getting the worst crashes before, and see what happens.

Hoping this is the right info this time!

Searching around, it looks like it may either be my old overheating issue coming back or hardware problem, which wouldn’t surprise me, this build has had nothing but problems since day 1! Multiple exchanges of ram and mobo before it even booted!

Anyway, thanks for the link Jigain. I’m pretty sure at this point it’s not a driver issue. My video card has the latest beta drivers (prior to that it had the latest stable drivers).

And I’ll probably end up taking back my raidmax and getting the corsair.

==========
Dump File : 051313-39530-01.dmp
Crash Time : 5/13/2013 8:46:24 PM
Bug Check String :
Bug Check Code : 0×00000124
Parameter 1 : 00000000`00000000
Parameter 2 : fffffa80`08638028
Parameter 3 : 00000000`b6142000
Parameter 4 : 00000000`00000145
Caused By Driver : hal.dll
Caused By Address : hal.dll+2d965
File Description :
Product Name :
Company :
File Version :
Processor : x64
Crash Address : ntoskrnl.exe+5a240
Stack Address 1 :
Stack Address 2 :
Stack Address 3 :
Computer Name :
Full Path : C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\051313-39530-01.dmp
Processors Count : 6
Major Version : 15
Minor Version : 9200
Dump File Size : 280,272
==========

I had no idea Raidmax was a bad brand! While I was at the store, I looked at each of the PSU’s for antec, corsair, and Raidmax in my price range on Amazon, NewEgg, and TigerDirect and this PSU got the highest rating! I would have gone with the Corsair for the extra $15 if I had known!

anyway, so the crashing isn’t coming nearly as often, but it’s still there. I downloaded the windows debugger program and opened the .dmp file. I have been doing a bit of searching on what it could mean, but I don’t really know how to read it. Maybe driver issues?

These forums seem to be not letting me post the dmp in anyway so I pasted it in a text file and uploaded it, hope it works!

Thanks TinkTink, I always wonder about the whole rails thing and it’s not that simple to understand (although you made it seem pretty simple)

I decided even if it’s not the PSU, it’s time for a new one anyway, so I ended up buying the Raidmax RX-850AE (on sale for under 100 bucks) and I don’t know if it’s my imagination, but the whole computer seems a bit more stable and faster. I am just about to book up GW2 and see what happens, If I get another BSOD, I’ll post the minidump.

Thanks Storm, going to head out to buy one now, just had another crash.

TinkTink: I had 4×4 sticks in and Memtest86+ each stick on it’s own, only the 1 stick showed any errors, of course I took 2 sticks out because of dual channel so I’m currently running on 2×4 I also ran the memtest again a few days after finding the bad stick and had 0 problems, so I’m pretty sure it’s not the ram or slots.

I remember when I built this rig I needed 600w+, I think the video card needed a lot. I actually had a lower watt PSU before this one (550 I believe) and ended up switching with my brother because his system didn’t need the extra power.

I’ve always got antec PSU’s ever since I built my first computer back around 2004 and never had a problem with them, but I also heard the EW line was a bit under their standard quality when it first came out (and the one I’m using was soon after, it was actually not recommended but I didn’t complain since I didn’t pay)

thanks for the info, will update after installing new PSU and playing a bit.

Thanks Stormcrow, unfortunately there’s no way for me to borrow one, but I can go buy one. If it doesn’t fix the problem, I can always take it back. I do get BSOD but they are unreadable it’s more like a scrambled screen that I can tell is the BSOD.

Thanks for the advice for the new PSU! What I don’t understand is what you mean by 80+ bronze or higher…I know picking one out is a lot different than it used to be 10+ years ago, but I’m not sure what I’m looking for.

Nope, no overclocking or anything like that.

Truthfully this computer has never been stable since I built it. I could never pinpoint the problem, as it was never consistent with it’s problems. The PSU came to me slightly used from my brother, so it’s the oldest part.

I also had overheating problems/crashes with Skyrim (until I got that fixed, I have been monitoring my temperature and it’s been stable since), could those crashes cause the PSU to die? Or maybe it’s just been a bad PSU since the beginning…

Hello everyone! I’m hoping I can get a reply within the next hour (or less) about my issue so I can head to the store tonight if need be.

currently running:
Windows 8
AMD Phenom II X6 1075T
AMD Radeon HD 6870 (I believe it’s the 70, might be the one step below)
currently 4×4GB RAM (Was 16, I’ll explain below)
Antec Earthwatts 650
All drivers up to date

EDIT I just read I should be using the beta drivers for the graphics card, I’m installing those now*EDIT*

Ok, long story short, my game worked fine at first but I didn’t play for the past 4 or 5 months. When I came back, I was getting a lot of crashes. At first it wasn’t bad, maybe once every few hours, then it started getting worse to where if I was in Lion’s Arch I couldn’t go more than 15 min. Reading through forums, I thought it was RAM, so I did the MemTest and it showed I had a bad stick of RAM. Took it out and it was a lot better for about 2 days.
Fast forward to the past 3 or 4 days and the crashing has been getting progressively worse once again. Since I started playing today, I’ve had 2 crashes in less than an hour.

I looked in WIndows 8 Event Viewer and the crashes are as follows:

Critical
Source: Kernel-Power
Event ID: 41
Task Category (63).
The description is: “The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.”

I know I’m not physically losing power, so could it be the PSU? Or maybe the Motherboard? I would think my PSU is powerful enough for my system, but I could be wrong.

thank you!

to anyone having the same problem as OP (I.e. confirm is greyed out even after putting in all your information), I finally got it to work by hitting the back button, changing the quantity, then changing it back to what you desired and the confirm button lit up. Hope this helps anyone searching around with the problem.

So I bought the game late last year but didn’t’ start getting into it until just this past week and a half. I hit level 36 today on my main and I feel as if I’m missing….something.

What I mean by this is I feel like there should be more to the game than what I’m experiencing. I haven’t done the first dungeon yet, but I have done a few jumping puzzles, started crafting, and explored a bit.

Is there anything else? I’m having a lot of fun, I just don’t want to miss out, I guess.

Also the current event triggers even at level 1, but I can’t find out any information on what level it’s possible to do it at. I know it ends in a few days, but is it strictly for high(er) level or can anyone do it?

One last question. Now that I am inching my way into the second half of leveling, should I start doing PvP? If so, should I do sPvP or WvW? I haven’t looked into them much, so sorry if that’s a dumb question.

Thanks to anyone who replies!

Tons of good information, thank you! I’ve switched to a D/D main and S/P secondary. I use D/D for the most part and have been able to take out groups of 3, 4, or even 5 mobs with very little problems with the increased conditional damage from 5 points in trickery.

I hate to keep asking noobish questions, but should I put my next 5 points in trickery too, or should I add them to something else? I was reading somewhere that the first 20 points should be in Trickery and Acrobatics, but you just said go with deadly arts. Is it a matter of choice or what?

thanks for the reply, I’ve been looking around and finding that this game is all about how you want to play (as opposed to other MMO’s where you almost “must” stick with a single build) and that’s a good thing! I just picked up Caltrops, too. I didn’t realized death blossom worked that way, so that’s good to know.

I thinK i’ll be looking for some more conditional damage gear/upgrades and see how things go with d/d for now, although i’m still confused about traits =D

I’m pretty new to the game, so sorry if some of these questions are “duh” questions. I picked up the game when it came out but just started playing it seriously this week.

So I’m leveling my thief and I really like it, but find myself using shortbow 99% of the time over anything else. I’ve tried D/D and D/P combos but it seems like with shortbow I can take out large groups with not much problem. One on one either of the other two builds rule, but while leveling, you don’t often times fight 1 mob. Am I missing something that makes dual daggers worth it at this level for PvE?

Also, I haven’t picked up a sword yet (nor have I heard much in the thief forums about it), is that just a weapon that really doesn’t matter for thief?

One last (not specifically thief related) question. I know the first dungeon is at 30, but is there anything I’m missing before that if I’m just exploring/doing hearts/random events/crafting? I feel like there should be more.

Thanks for any and all replies!

So after reading and posting here last night, I played a little around with steal and even at low level it can mean the difference between life and death. I am level 13 and was taking on 2 level 14’s, almost dead and realized I had a steal saved up. I used it, it killed one of the mobs and pushed the other back, giving me time to use my heal and win the fight. Without it, I don’t think I could have survived. I don’t know exactly what move it was I used, but still, I think it was pretty awesome!

IMO the potential is high for it’s use and, while I wish they gave more options on how it’s implemented, I do like it a lot.

I see thieves as the quick kill type. (as designed I mean) What I mean is I think that 1v1, thieves will always have a chance, but the longer the fight goes, the less likely a thief will pull off a win. I don’t know if it’s like that now as I have not PVPed with my thief, but it sure seems like thats how they were thinking by what I have played.

Truth is there is no way to tell what the game will be like in a year or two. It’s very well possible that thief may be the top DPS or the lowest, the traits could all be different, playstyle could be completely different, or they may even change how you play a thief. If you’ve ever played any MMO for a long period of time, you’ll know this is just how it is.

And as someone said above, no matter what happens, no one is ever happy with changes to classes.

This is a really interesting thread, mainly because I’m semi-new to the game and just started a thief. Truthfully, I didn’t even know what steal did! Call me a big noob, but I thought it was more like a combo move…steal something (was thinking maybe you got a crafting item or trophy or something) then it gives you access to the next move.

Now that I understand it, I’ll be using it even more!

I haven’t looked into traits yet (just hit 11) so I’m not sure about making it better, but I agree that as a base skill, it’s a bit more on the weak side than the others, if for no other reason than you don’t know what you’re getting when you steal (at first anyway).

While I don’t know if it’s worth changing the skills for, I think the idea to have different types of steals would be cool, or maybe change the mechanic depending on what weapon is equipped on your main hand. At first I thought changing it from shadow step to a leap backwards would be cool for shortbow, but then when someone above mentioned the move that pushes you back, it makes more sense to shadowstep.

Still, I am excited to get back into game and check out steal with a whole new understanding!