Guild Wars 2

Once again people seem to read a title and a last sentence, and nothing else.

Cable already addressed these points and nothing presented explains why on the SAME platform with BETTER graphics cards, the game is marginally improved and in some aspects arguably worse.

Aza.2105:

GW2 engine is horribly optimized. Its strictly cpu limited for the most part. Not only that, but the engine multithreaded and its dx9.

Feirlista Xv.1425:

The game doesn’t run well running 2 video cards disable SLI and you should see a big improvement in fps.

Ansau.7326:

The fact that this game is cpu bottlenecked means as you get better gpus they’re being used less, since they still need to wait for the cpu to finish its work.

You can disable Reflections and shadows, and put Character limit to Low. These 3 settings are the most cpu ones, so you should try to minimize them.

Also, your SLI might be bottlenecked by pcie speed. When enabled, each gpu is running at 2.0 x8, which has the same bandwith as 3.0 x4. Pcie speed in gw2 matters a lot, I’ve test it, and 3.0 x4 was getting much less performance, specially in non cpu stressful areas, like underwater or open world pve.

Quit regurgitating knee jerk responses.

Nick.8256:

To be honest any performance issues with this game are usually on the cpu side/engine limitations. The game loves cpu but the engine cannot take full advantage of what is available. On my current 4970k@4.7 it will max out at 50% on all 8 threads when it’s clear it starves for more (my gpu usage actually plummets when my fps do).
One great tweak that I find helps smooth out many cpu heavy games is killing core parking. I have not tested on windows 8 but on 7 it does wonders.
Check out the vid for an easy way to kill it and you can google core parking for more info/happy stories

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl3u9eiskM4

Yes, like a lot of MMO, it’s CPU intensive. The confusing thing is why in a scene where there’s little NPC/PC activity(the big wham bam CPU killer in these games), is the scene where I get these bad dips in frames?

Thanks, I don’t have any core parking happening.
I checked GPU load in these spots (and most others). It’s full whack at 99% each …. that’s quite surprising. Why on Earth does it need that? There’s far more demanding games that don’t rely on the GPU that much.

I also disabled Crossfire. In the majority of areas, a single card gets about 45fps. In the bad areas, it drops to 28.

sirsquishy.8531:

Hollywood.2407:

sirsquishy.8531:

You don’t list what PSU you are using, nor its wattage. Nor what AMD Driver version you are using. I know 14.9 is available now, but 14.4 version 2 seems to still work best IMHO.

Its possible the 290’s are over heating, have you verified their temps? You also didnt list what design you went with on those cards (Asus, Gigabyte…ect) nor the cooling method for them either (DCU II, Tripple/Double…ect).

and are you using the CF Bridge or not?

Zeus ZM1200 PSU. I run 14.6 drivers (intentionally).
290s temps are 60-65
These cards do not use a bridge connector.

Nick.8256:

290 cfx is overkill for this game even maxed out at 1600p but try going into the amd control panel/overdrive and set power control/limit to +50%. This will allow the cards to use more power when needed and seems to help smooth them out. Also keep an eye on temps as they do like to throttle when they heat up and two can heat a small room

I did run a quick voltage/powerlimit test and it made no difference – and really it shouldn’t. If the cards have enough grunt and provide 60fps solid in 90% of the game world, then it’s down to what’s happening behind the scenes at these locations.

I just hoped maybe it was a known issue.

Are you just not using the bridge, or do your 290’s not even have the bridge connectors. My 280x has the bridge connections so thats why I am asking.

I was thinking about your 2600K and the CF setup, each card should be at 8×8x on version 2. I wonder what would happen if you moved the CF Traffic to the bridge instead of across the 8x PCIE lanes.

cause those 290’s do have the power to saturate the bandwidth available on a PCIE 8x version 2 connection.

If the cards do not have the pin out for the Bridge, you might just be looking at a CPU upgrade (probably more for the PCIE Version 3 spec then the CPU performance increase)

Yes, there’s no bridge connector – they’re designed not to use them as they talk to one another over the PCIE. As for saturation, they are at 8x 2.0 and I haven’t had any issues on that front. I question whether the small % of throughput gained from using native 3.0, actually offloads any stress from the CPU.

Certainly something to consider, but I won’t be upgrading a system just for GW2

sirsquishy.8531:

You don’t list what PSU you are using, nor its wattage. Nor what AMD Driver version you are using. I know 14.9 is available now, but 14.4 version 2 seems to still work best IMHO.

Its possible the 290’s are over heating, have you verified their temps? You also didnt list what design you went with on those cards (Asus, Gigabyte…ect) nor the cooling method for them either (DCU II, Tripple/Double…ect).

and are you using the CF Bridge or not?

Zeus ZM1200 PSU. I run 14.6 drivers (intentionally).
290s temps are 60-65
These cards do not use a bridge connector.

Nick.8256:

290 cfx is overkill for this game even maxed out at 1600p but try going into the amd control panel/overdrive and set power control/limit to +50%. This will allow the cards to use more power when needed and seems to help smooth them out. Also keep an eye on temps as they do like to throttle when they heat up and two can heat a small room

I did run a quick voltage/powerlimit test and it made no difference – and really it shouldn’t. If the cards have enough grunt and provide 60fps solid in 90% of the game world, then it’s down to what’s happening behind the scenes at these locations.

I just hoped maybe it was a known issue.

The CPU has been the same with the three different GPU setups. I could understand if in those specific scenarios, that the rendering was CPU intensive, however to my knowledge they are not(unless it’s a code issue). What’s on screen is little NPC/character, and mainly just geometry/textures.

It also doesn’t explain the 10fps loss with newer more powerful cards.

Yes the PSU is fine.

I always visit the same areas in-game whenever testing GW2 performance with new GPUs. One that’s easy to use is at the Black Citadel portal. As soon as I land, I am facing forward towards the city itself. Performance often suffers here.

When I started playing GW2, it was Crossfire 6970s. They were fine overall, but had noticeable loss in Black Citadel, Lion’s Arch etc. Black Citadel was at around 45fps.

Then I moved up to GTX 680s in SLI. An increase in general performance, and Black Citadel came to 55fps.

This year I acquired Crossfire r9 290s and in GW2, they are underwhelming. .
At the trusty Black Citadel spot, FPS drops from capped 60, down to 45-48.

I7 2600k at 4.7ghz
Asus P67 deluxe
R9 290 crossfire
30" 2560×1600
SSD drives
etc.etc.

In game settings are on the attachment.

Additionally when panning the camera in places like Lion’s Arch (and very few players or people around), I get slight stutters, bringing the frames down to 54/55 briefly. Meanwhile the VRAM usage of the cards is at 1290mb(and they support 4GB).
As far as I am concerned, there’s no reason for any bottleneck there.

I’m perplexed at
A) Why I do not cap 60 in these old testing spots
B ) That it seems to be degraded when using AMD cards.
C) The VRAM stutter during pan.

I’ve just purchased a 4k monitor and concerned that if these cards suffer at 1600p, then 2160p is just that much worse in these particular game area.s

Any one else using these cards and notice similar?

Purchased character slot, never showed up, however gems were taken.

Anyone else have this and find a resolution?

Beta had a bug where purchased character slots (through Gem store)were invisible after the transaction confirmed.
Is this still the case?

Purchased a character slot several months ago just before I stopped playing.
At the time, it didn’t show immediately – read somewhere on forums the system had a delay.

I did not think to check back,

What I can confirm is that I have eight hundred less gems, five character slots and the create button is grayed out.

Has this been the tactic for the past several sale events?

======

I am really disappointed that they were A) secretive about what was going to be available, and B ) to take stuff away.

Why not just put the good stuff on sale for the duration and add a few morsels each new day.

The removal of particular items means that (let’s use me as an example) if I was busy yesterday, but had plans to play this weekend and therefore didn’t need to rush home (and get some nice discounts), I may have missed it by mere hours.

A sale is a sale. I have never picked up a newspaper with an ad saying ‘three day sale…’ to then go into the store and find a few items were only sale eligible for one of the ‘three day sale.’

And to add salt to the wound, the character slot(s) I have purchased, I cannot even see or access. Meanwhile some people were buying one slot (on sale) and getting two extra free.

The way things are going, Arena would do well to offer half off slots for the next week and refund the difference for any full price slot purchases from this weekend.

Hi, I have looked at it for you and I do not see any promotion other than three ‘skins’.
Character slots are 800 gems at this time.

Were you able to see the store yesterday? Other people have confirmed there was a sale on character slots as of about twenty hours ago.

Hello,

Are/is there any ongoing threads concerning game servers being located in Texas?
And more to the point of whether Arena Net will eventually use the common server farm in Frankfurt or similar?

Maybe this is why they gave the mobs horrible leashing and resetting issues ?; to discourage you from kiting?

Or is that just bad coding?

Best $60 I’ve Spent in Over Ten Years

Jeez friend, you don’t get out much!

Don’t hold your breath.
And not because what you suggest would really hurt the game, it would help it..agreed.
it’s because the vast majority of MMO developers purposely design their games to have freely obtainable(gather, trade, loot etc..the typical methods) incentives or highly sought after items. When they do this, they create an artificial market with supply and demand. Then come the gold sellers.

Some games have avoided this pretty well … but clearly it’s obvious when development teams want gold sellers around..it’s a dirty underhanded two way business.

When they talk about gold spam prevention, you can believe it’s through lying eyes and a fake smile.

If not, then why do they design the games this way?

…. .. . ;crickets;

The real worry: is buying Gold ever going to be worth it?…

Until Arena Net gets competitive, then yes.

As mentioned in the post above mine, the ratio now is about 3:1 in favor of gold sellers.

Most people will fore go any security worries for that alone. And add on that a lot of sellers are reputable now, it’s a no brainer.

Get competitive Arenanet, or the gold sellers will keep on botting (but secretly that’s what they want. All MMO developers are often in bed with gold sellers). Proof is in th pudding in how they design the games.

So many suggestions floating around, hard to keep track of what’s been said.

A) Show vital/health bar when viewing player, monster and npc via the toggle button(which you have under keymapping as ‘Show Enemy Names’ and ‘Show Ally Names’).

This would allow you to view the health of those around you(namely outside of group), without needing to mouse over multiple people consecutively. A quick hold on the button will flash names AND health, allowing you a quick glance at who may be in trouble.

B) Mob pathing an leashing needs a complete overhaul(or I say that for dramatic effect). Monsters do some awkward things in amongst an unremarkable situation. You could be on flat land in the middle of the open meadow and right after you attack, they run the opposite way for three seconds, make a ninety degree right turn, and then another before coming back to you.
Next, their ‘leash’ or distance to chase from the point of contact /combat is noticeably low. This makes it frustrating to play ranged professions and if you find yourself in a scenario where you link several mobs, it often turns into a kite. Which is fine, yet disappointing when you spend the effort and time only to have your elation dashed as two of four mobs with 5% health wander off back to their spawn point.
Additionally, if mobs tag you before you tag them, they’ll chase you a fair distance as opposed to the other way around ….
If you turn to attack them, they’ll stop and go home. Then return home, stay invulnerable for five seconds, and proceed to chase you back down even further.

For a game that touts high combat status and ingrained action adventure, this really kills the mood.

It would also be nice if some mobs were more aggressive and chased you further or harder – say if they out number you, they are more inclined to stray from their home.

C) Auction House needs filtering for armor based on what type : light, medium or heavy.

D) Bump up the amount of gems one can buy through the in-game store. Currently doing a like for like comparison, with the gold you can afford from gold sellers, you can purchase three times as many gems as what you would get in-game.
As a small monetary example, 10GBP is about 10gold. As of the recent gem exchange, that’s just shy of 2500-3000 gems. In-game store costs 8.50GBP for 800 gems.
It would stand to reason that allowing time to pass, will mean that more gold circulates within the game, and therefore more gems are being purchased. As the gem sales go up, the gold ‘value’ decreases, making the advantage gold sellers have a lot less.

This would be a fine tactic IF gold was only good for gems, however it’s obviously good for many other things, some more important things.

Rather than try and suffocate the economy while it ‘works itself out’ let’s have you compete with the gold sellers – after all it is a business and customers would prefer to buy through you than third party – but not when we’re looking at a 3:1 ratio…

E) Meteor Shower from fire attunement (Elementalist staff) should be removed entirely. It’s too grandeur, too BIG to be such a reusable ability. It’s also extremely annoying to be in basic indoor events and have someone constantly using it even when not necessary just because they think it’s fun or cool. Well it’s not..it’s annoying, unrealistic, over the top and silly. Glyph of Storms makes more sense, and at a 60 second cool down, it’s more tolerable – it’s also more practical as it’s attunement based with benefits. That should be the only ‘hail mary’ holy shower of smite and screen shake that Elementalists should have for a long time. Additionally, given the Glyph of Storms is usable very early on, one ‘shower’ is enough.

This is a big issue that’s transcended by an even larger issue which is driving (for better or worse) the economy, so much so that it’s not a free market as they’re are trying to imply – which should be obvious since nothing is material anyways.

Without getting too specific on theory(which we’re full of already..), let’s look at some numbers and see why this all falls down.

We’re going to use United Kingdom sterling/British pound as our currency as most ‘exchange’ and exchange rate conversations circumvent it, with Euro being a close second.

After speaking with numerous English, we found that you can currently purchase 10 gold for roughly 10 GBP (it’s actually 11.3 from what I can see, we’re going to round down to keep it simple. The fact it’s 1:1 ratio is irrelevant).

We’re also going to use the in-game Gold to Gem conversion price of 30s per 100gems(this was where it was stable for several days before it got inflated in the past two).

At this rate, you could get 3000 gems for that 10 gold.

Arena net offers 800 gems for 8.50 GBP. If we round this up for simplicity let’s say you can get 1000 gems for 10 GBP.

Which would you prefer, 3000 gems or 1000?

The rise in the recent gem price is simply because the obvious : more gold is circulating and thus more people can buy gems.
However like most things in a vacuumed and false economy(as we have here with virtual ‘products’), the concept that demand drives price isn’t always true – especially when there assumption is that more gem sales should therefore equal higher gem cost.

The recent spike in gem cost is artificial. It’s far too convenient that now gold selling prices have settled – and Arena net is aware – that the spikes have began appearing.

I wouldn’t put it past them for not inflating it themselves.

And why would they do this?
Because the higher the gem value, the less ‘worth’ the gold has, which nullifies whatever advantage their gold seller competition has.

Remember Arena net’s free to play style in-game store is a means to make money (or money they do not obtain from subscriptions). Currently gold sellers are stomping them. They are losing money left and right.

As per my example above, the simple solution is to better the price per gems – yet they don’t want to do that.

The average sales price of the game itself in England was 40 – 45 GBP. Divide that by five and you have roughly eight. We start with five characters in the game. Five times eight is…forty.
If you consider that 800 gems equals one character slot …see the pattern?
It’s not a secret..it’s obvious and it’s fine.

However now combine that with the fact that 800 gems in the store costs..yes you guessed it 8.50 GBP.

Rather than compete with the gold sellers by lowering the in-game store cost of gems, they want to to see the gem price rise and the gold value drop. Then they don’t have to lift a finger to compete.

Strategic? maybe. Savy? sure. Shady? definitely.

For companies who try to act like they care about avoiding gold selling, they don’t start out so well by making games that have items and incentives in them to be taken advantage of. Some games have been smart and gotten around it. But cash cows like Guild Wars couldn’t resist the temptation.

As long as the gem price spikes continue, you can bet Arena net is artificially inflating it on purpose.

And the argument that gems are finite is a joke just as much as gold being finite is.
These are virtual items in a virtual world that can change at any moment they please.
If every player in the game spent one hundred gold on gems, then the system should pump out ever last gem without fail.

And thus the whole thing is a moot point.

This is not a free market, there is no real supply and demand and the dealers are players who are abusing a bad percentile rate that the owners refuse to adjust so they can win the long game.

For a virtual world, this aspect of it smacks a bit too much like the the bad side of real life government and fiscal travesties.

MMO economies are usually anything but – they’re often subject to so many unscrutinized conditions that there’s no trust and no proof. Often an afterthought, Arena net should have realized that they weren’t making another EVE, they were making yet another fantasy progression grind adventure MMO and they should stick to that reality.

Either adjust the gem prices to compete with gold sellers for gold on the gem rate, or drop the entire gem/gold buying in-game.

If Arena net let’s this go unchecked indefinitely, gem prices will soar, gold value will decrease, gold sellers will be thinned out and for a time, the general populace will be happy. Yet like any artificial market, it will crash and frankly that’s even worse.

Maybe we’ll then get a bail out from the president of Arena net and limp along like the American economy for a while.