Guild Wars 2

I was wondering if this was only me. It makes me feel like I’m in some old wartime submarine film! I don’t understand the choice of sound, but I’d be happy to see (hear?) this change. Radar staff just doesn’t sit right XD

Something a tad strange has happened here. After 2 days of seeing abnormal temperature increases from GW2, it’s suddenly behaving and has almost entirely returned to normal. Nothing at all has changed and yet my GPU isn’t trying to kill itself and the CPU temp is lower again.

And can anyone tell me . . . is it odd that WvW makes my system run cooler than PvE?

Don’t be so hasty as to assume I’m complaining XD

If GW2 is intentionally using more CPU, then fair enough. As I said, I didn’t keep track of CPU usage, so maybe it’s been using that much for a while. If that’s because it’s now using more CPU on purpose to make noticeable improvements to the game, then that can only be a good thing. But if it is higher and it’s not deliberate and isn’t resulting in improved performance, then maybe there is something wrong. But that’s not for me to speculate on further.

Besides, FPS has always been limited to 60 for me. I’m not interested in pushing the GPU to the limits for extra frames my eyes can’t see lol

My system’s nothing fancy. CPU: Intel Core i3 3220 @ 3.30GHz, GPU: 2048MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 6670. I think my case is a Cooler Master Elite 311, and it has a single case fan at the rear that throws out warmish air. No liquid cooling or anything.

I cleaned inside the case a couple of weeks ago and I’ve just been keeping an eye on the temperatures since. When playing GW2 my CPU typically doesn’t get any hotter than 45°C, and the GPU doesn’t go beyond 60-63°C, and even then it takes a while to reach those figures. But I’m starting to get the feeling that this is remarkably cool for my set up!

But anyway, this was the case right up until last night’s update. Since then the temperatures have risen far more quickly whenever GW2 is running. All other software seems to have the same effect it has done for the past two weeks. So GW2 seems unique in this sudden change. And while this is isn’t exactly killing my machine, it is out of the ordinary and the sudden jump is quite worrying.

Also, I’ve not kept track of typical CPU usage, but right now GW2 seems to be using between 60 and 70% of the CPU. I’m not exactly an expert but it does seem a little high.

Hey!

Ranger pet names are only really stored for the 4 active pets. You can’t name every pet permanently, just the ones you’re using at the time. It’s a shame, but it’s how it’s always been.

Hi there!

Since tonight’s update (25/08/15) GW2 seems to be using far more of my computer’s CPU than I’ve ever noticed before. Although this is troubling, it’s not the end of the world.

What’s worrying me is that I’ve been keeping an eye on component temperatures whilst gaming lately, and tonight I’ve seen a dramatic rise in CPU and GPU temperatures whilst playing GW2. Normally they increase to a safe level gradually as I play, but in the short time since tonight’s update, GW2 seems to cause a harsh increase in just a couple of minutes, sending my CPU and GPU to 55°C and 70°C respectively – both well above my computer’s norm during this game.

I’ve shut the computer off and allowed it to cool down, I’ve played other games and run other software, and the dramatic temperature increase seems related to GW2 in particular. Is it possible that something about tonight’s update has caused this sudden change? I’ve not noticed any changes to my graphics settings (although I have seen one or two others mention settings changing by themselves).

Verdant Brink
The map delivers something of a new experience in GW2. Firstly it’s beautiful to look at and run across and fly across and die across. Secondly, the terrain and events work so well together to bring about some fun moments, like a push/pull battle with the mordrem for a narrow bridge, or the collecting of eggs up and down a canyon wall. The events themselves are imaginative and novel, with new mechanics that require teamwork to overcome. I hope this kind of variety in content is the norm for HoT, especially with the day/night cycle to throw new things into the mix. And although the cycle is still in its early stages, it already has an impact on how the map feels. When night falls, areas of the map come alive with mordrem and it really does feel more dangerous. And that’s great!

Of course there are some major bugs preventing some of the events from being completed, which resulted in frustration as players attempted to ‘unbug’ the events. I’m sure they’ve been reported in detail enough by now though.

Foes
I’m very impressed by the foes in Verdant Brink. There’s a whole range of builds being used by the various creatures and the mordrem, from slow and durable stoneheads to the glass cannon mordrem guard stalkers. Even the smaller creatures, such as the pocket raptors and the various annoying, bothersome, irritating little…mushrooms, are dangerous and can easily overwhelm you if you’re not prepared for them. Regardless of what build you use as a player, these foes test you and keep you on your toes.

I’ve already seen other players complaining about mob density and how difficult these enemies are, but I personally feel that this is what the game needs. And not to mention that Verdant Brink is supposed to be completely hostile enemy territory. We are supposed to feel vulnerable and as if we’re fighting an uphill battle. If the enemies were weaker or the map more sparsely populated, it would have felt like another wander through a tamer map from the core game. We need more challenging content (and I don’t mean a super hard mode!) and I think that this is a step in the right direction. A few more steps in that direction would be great! It’s a game of combat, and here we are forced into combat, especially during the night. I’m hoping that when the day/night cycle is complete we’ll have all hell breaking loose when the sun goes down.

Having said all that, I can see how it is difficult for players to traverse this area by themselves. But I found that it’s just a case of learning how to evade particular enemy movements and using your skills to avoid prolonged combat as much as to fight.

Mastery Progression
I think the rate at which masteries are unlocked is pretty much okay. It did feel a little grindy, but that was simply because of the size of the beta map. With a full map to explore it will be a nice passive goal to achieve whilst exploring and taking part in events. And with the full expansion, it won’t be a problem at all.

I have two minor concerns though. Depending on the number of masteries and how long it takes to fully master them all, I’m worried that it could end up being too fast, leaving eager players with no masteries left to work towards. And during the beta it was possible to earn chests in the core game that reward experience (such as map completion chests) and jump back into VB and open them for a boost on the mastery bar. I’m not sure how big a problem this could be, but it’s probably best to encourage exploration for mastery progress instead.

Bouncy Shrooms o’ Death
Uh oh! At first I didn’t like the idea of bouncing on mushrooms. As Guild Wars has always had something of a serious fantasy feel, the thought of fungus-based acrobatics annoyed me a little. And even now, I think it looks a little ridiculous. But that aside, it is nice to have these little shortcuts as a result of the mastery. I just wish they wouldn’t land me flat on my face and on the brink of death! I quickly learnt that using a mushroom whilst still moving had dire consequences. Still, the fall damage from correct trajectories is still a nightmare in such a hostile land.

I hope there are going to be areas that require these masteries, whether for the mushrooms or the gliding. I also hope something can be done to prevent mesmer portals from bypassing masteries, but that really does depend on whether content is missed by portalling in or not. That’s a concern for another day, perhaps.

There are so many feedback threads, so I thought I’ll add my thoughts here! (It’s mostly positive; people will likely argue lol)

Revenant
I’ve probably played this the most over the weekend, and I’m quite impressed. The overall feel of the profession is enjoyable and I personally think it achieves a level of depth and variety that a lot of people feared would be missing. Using a DPS-focused build (Shiro/Mallyx, Sword/Axe & Hammer, Assassin/Zerk gear), I was surprised at how high the damage output was. But having spent a lot of time in the core game I feel that it’s on par with other DPS builds I’ve seen and used.

I’m not overly keen on channelling Ventari. It kind of feels like a one tricky pony as everything centres on the tablet. I’ve seen others using it with a degree of skill, but it’s not something I’d really enjoy investing more time in. That’s not to say I don’t find it an interesting approach to a healing build, and I think it makes good use of the energy mechanic. But it’s simply not for me, I guess.

Two bugs stick out in my mind, however. When using Phase Smash with the hammer, the game thinks I’m falling and prompts me to open my glider. This is fixed by jumping. And the axe skill Temporal Rift doesn’t seem to react well to sloping terrain. It will make the rift straight into the ground or into the air above, depending on the direction of the slope, and have no effect on foes. Makes an uphill battle, well, an uphill battle!

Chronomancer
I’ve played this just a little. I found Continuum Shift a little overwhelming at first, but with practice I can see this being a powerful ability for mesmers. I don’t have much more to say about this for now.

Reaper
I really enjoyed the Reaper. Greatsword and Reaper Shroud attacks are a little sluggish, but are hard hitting to compensate. This works great in PvE, but perhaps makes the specialisation less viable for competitive play. But then again, you don’t have to stick to the new weapons just by taking the elite spec. But in all, the shouts are a fun direction for the necromancer and seem to gear the profession towards tackling large groups of foes (plus the MK reference on the heal made me chuckle).

Tempest
I’ve played the Tempest most out of the 4 elite specialisations, and I find it a real enhancement of the elementalist. The warhorn may even be enough to draw me away from my staff!

But the elite shout ‘Rebound’ feels underwhelming. A 25% cooldown reduction on a single skill for yourself and five others feels like a waste of an elite. I have no doubt that it is a useful skill, but as far as elites go it just feels lacking. It also appears bugged at the moment, as it doesn’t reduce the cooldown of every skill.

I also feel that the Overloads would benefit from a larger range, particularly if you prefer a ranged ele build.

Dragonhunter
I’m not a big guardian player, so I gave this a miss for now.

I think I stumbled upon this too. As excited as I was by all the numbers I deleted the item it gave me (and refuses to give me again) and then I left. I think this surprised me more than the myriad other bugs and issues with this update.

Thanks to Leon (somewhere above in the thread) for helping with this! But unlike him, I think we should embrace our true purpose and serve the Dragon!

If you know what you’re doing and don’t rush, it’s quite possible with a handful of people…for the most part. Champions require more care and generally more people to deal with. I managed to two-man a lot of the tower with a guild mate (ranger/ele duo). It got tense, but we supported each other and were able to clear some of the events by ourselves (taking out portals, destroying those spider cocoon prison thingies, etc). But when we came across the champion spider queen or the champion wurm, my mate had to badge up as commander and gather a small zerg. It’s definitely easier if you manage to get through without active events blocking your path. And it’s important to know where it’s best to run and best to stand and fight. Some mobs don’t need killing, but others will just make it difficult if you try to avoid them. (And it helps to clear spider webs on the 2nd level instead of running into them…especially if you’re running and not fighting)

If you haven’t completed the tower several times, I’d say it’s best to latch on to a large group. But saying that, there are mined areas and large groups can often trigger them as you’re running past. That can get painful. But a zerg is a great support in the tower and sometimes waiting for a commander is the way to go.

I don’t think it will really matter what the devs say…a large number of rangers will always be asking to perma-stow pets (and a fair few members of my guild have told me that they would play ranger if pets were optional, as in GW1). Sure it’s our core mechanic and there should be this sense that a ranger’s identity is partly in their pet (just as part of the player’s efforts are carried out through the use of pets)…but it doesn’t change the fact that there are times when pets are simply detrimental.

Jade Maw is a great example. Everyone’s always saying “stow your pet, ranger!” but they’ve obviously never played ranger to know that you simply CAN’T. But more than that, there are so many times when your lingering pet gets you into combat (or at least keeps you in combat) while you’re trying to go somewhere else. And I don’t mean to complain about silly details, but in WvW a pet essentially becomes a handle for people to grab onto as they play ‘kill that slow ranger’.

I wouldn’t care about having buffs, additional skills, etc. whilst a pet is stowed. But I’d just love to be able to stow a pet and not have it deploy itself as soon as I’m in combat. I’d like that to be my choice as a ranger. And rangers who keep their pets stowed forever will be missing out on part of their character as they’d lack the pet’s damage and agro and tanking and whatever else they use them for. As such rangers should still feel compelled to use their pets…to keep their ranger identity as defined by the gameplay mechanic. But perma-stow would allow much more efficient use of that currently flawed mechanic.

It would make me happy, it would make a lot of rangers happy, and most of all…it would make those who fight alongside rangers (particularly against the Jade Maw) very happy.

Lately I’ve been having a really frustrating issue with the party display. My guild enjoy forming parties and tackling dungeons, meta events, etc. on a regular basis, so I’m in a party for a lot of the time. However, for the past few weeks, information about the party has been failing to update on-screen:

*When a player leaves the party, they aren’t removed from the list on the left side of the screen;
*When a player joins the party, they do not appear on the list on the left side of the screen;
*Player locations on the map freeze or simply don’t display at all, especially if player is not shown on the party list;
*When a player changes character, their character name doesn’t change when hovering the cursor over their avatar;
*When a player moves from one map to another, the location information doesn’t change when hovering the cursor over their avatar.

A few nights ago, one player left the party and joined another, yet in WvW I could still see them within my party, as well as receiving accurate map locations for them. The whole time they were in a completely different party without me.

Nobody else in my guild seem to experience the same issue, so I’m guessing it’s not a widespread thing. The only solution I have found so far is to leave and rejoin the party, but this merely serves to ‘refresh’ the party information…it then fails to update again.