Guild Wars 2

Michael Walker.8150:

Selno, your optimism is admirable and I don’t think you are wrong on the developement points your make.

There are several problems with the “GW2 Mac Community”

• People expected a Mac Client, not a Wrapper. To be fair, people also expected GW2 to revolutionize MMOs and were left a little confused about the highly iterative/evolutionary steps it took and is taking. Beta, I know.
• After every update the bugs came in all different shapes and colors, Beta I know.
• People have been ignored. Don’t be “fooled” by the presence of a mac specialist. Over a long time the pattern looked like this: Mac users complain, dev/mod/xy appears and promises to communicate more/take care of xy/forward our issues and then vanishes into thin air. This process repeats every other month. Appeasement at its worst.
• Anet advertises it as a beta client suggesting it is a client in developement even though it is more the wrapper that is in developement, not the client.
• Anet advertises the beta “client” to run well (well, well is well for everybody in a different way) on a number of systems. They do so on their store page, for people to buy GW2 and without proper warnings for the mac client.
• If we are supposed to be beta testers, there has been very little incentive to do so due to a lack of communication and no feedback has been given to the user that their reports and pleas were actually heard.
• Anet did realize they had bad communication with the player base in general. A small subsection like the mac client was “hit” even worse by this. At least this is my opinion.
• Anet introduced this draconian policy of not talking at all about anything remotely in developement, this alone makes/made it extremely hard contributing.
• We aren’t getting any loot, really where is the Mac Mini? :P

Really, go back a few pages/months if you really feel like it but the communication here has been horrendous and insulting how they stalled users and tried to appease the same way over and over again. Which is what it boils down to, Anets communication problem.

Again, a native client is what people expected when they announced a mac client and working on a wrapper for the whole time suggests a native client not being developed at all, not the other way around like you hope.

I have summarized the last few pages of this forum for you, ratio is aprox

• Users: “here is a bug” “there is a bug” “when is the tp working again?” “Can’t install sadface” “can we get an update on the mac client?” “here is a bug too” “this is how you deal with that” “Sorry your mac can’t run the beta client” “when is the tp working again?” “I’m using windows until mac works again” “when is the tp working again?” “when is the tp working again?” “Can’t install sadface” “can we get an update on the mac client?” “here is a bug too” “I’m using windows until mac works again” “why do i get a black screen?” “here is a bug” “there is a bug” “when is the tp working again?” “can we get an update on the mac client?” “here is a bug too” “this is how you deal with that” “Sorry your mac can’t run the beta client” “when is the tp working again?” “I’m using windows until mac works again” “when is the tp working again?” “when is the tp working again?” “why do i get a black screen?” “can we get an update on the mac client?” “here is a bug too” “I’m using windows until mac works again”

Approximately two months later:

• Anet: “We hear you, there will be improvements to somethingsomething and we will get a mac specialist”

• Users: “Great news!” “Thank you for acknowledging us” “Thank you” “Thank you, is there any news on a native client?” “can we get an update on the mac native client?” “hello?” “why do i get a black screen?” “Can’t install sadface” “Hey I’m late, thank you for answering, is there any news on a native client?” “hello?” …. “Can’t install sadface” “here is a bug too” “I’m using windows until mac works again” “here is a bug” “there is a bug” “when is the tp working again?” “can we get an update on the mac client?” “here is a bug too” “this is how you deal with that” “Sorry your mac can’t run the beta client” “why do i get a black screen?” “when is the tp working again?” “I’m using windows until mac works again” “when is the tp working again?” “when is the tp working again?” “can we get an update on the mac client?” “Can’t install sadface” “here is a bug too” “I’m using windows until mac works again”

You can now copy paste this 6 times for a total of one year.

Trying not to be overly cynical but this is very close to the truth.

Very nice post.. sadly true. GW for Mac is not a beta but stolen money.

FlamingFox stop defending this crap game, are you paid by ArenaNet or you are just completely fool?

They deserve a petition and the worst review we can make.
No updates, little communication, so many problems. It is not a beta it is stolen money.

Elder Scroll Online is native and well supported, Mac coders even post on forums like InsideMacGames.com

Guild Wars 2 is a joke even if FlamingFox is trying to defend ArenaNet in every thread.

Yes you’re right but I doubt they are working on Mac versions. In the best case scenario they are paying Transgaming (which is the wrost Mac company ever) to update a wine/cider wrapper. If we dream big we will have horrible performance and many bugs.

I hope I’m wrong and we get a super port by Feral or Aspyr… But I doubt.

I can understand. Me and other 3 friends quitted because the situation is absurd.
On every Mac gaming website and forums Guild Wars for Mac IS THE JOKE.

Arena Net really deserve any bad feedback we can give for this “beta”. They should give at least a refound.

@FlamingFox
Since they are super slow doing things, it is important to know already it hangs in the beta. Probably they won’t do anything as always.

chronic.9403:

Apple computers are premium products. Their software is proprietary. Ever seen OSX run on a PC (it can be done…)? This is so they can keep their premium price on their product. And so more people have pc’s than macs because pc’s are cheaper. Fewer mac gamers means a smaller budget for Anet to work on the mac client. And sure, you can bash windows for being greedy, but Apple is just as bad because they jack the price up on your computer at least $1000.

There are two simple fixes. One is to buy a pc. They are cheap, you can run gw2 on a 400 dollar machine from Walmart….

The other is to dual boot Windows on your mac. With a student discount, its 80 bucks. It’s really really easy, and unless your computer was made in 2000, it shouldn’t be a problem. You only need to partition like 30 gigs of hard drive space, and you only need to use it to play guild wars.

No one can disagree that the mac support is lacking. But you can play the game most of the time. Compared to the downtimes experienced while i played D3 (this was irregardless of platform), the downtimes you get are literally nothing. I’m just grateful I can play this game on my mac. I just think it’s pointless to quit this game because you don’t like how it works on one platform when you are unwilling to try it on another.

Edit: Adesia, look at this link https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/members/CC-Danicia-1394/showposts

Danica has been doing a good job imo. Things have been running better since she came in. I’ll be kitten ed if Anet isn’t listening to us. You asked for more communication (I did, too). Guess what? We got it

You are incredibly ignorant. Where is retina display, Thunderbolt 20Gbp/s, FireWire 800, super fast support, 7 years free operating system updates? I’m a pc technician if you say Mac are the same as PC you’re a fool. Try to open a MacBook Pro, it is art inside. If you only check ram, cpu gnu sure you will get a great pc for gaming for few bucks… but it is not the same. Apple software and hardware integration is the best, same the support, operating system and materials. Other than that if you are a PRO you need FireWire, Thunderbolt and other things which are not on common PC.

No they don’t care, but i got a report for writing their support is a joke. Probably i will get moderated again. Guild Wars 2 for Mac is stolen money.

Performance Issues: MacBook Pro with Retina Display
I don’t have a MacBook Pro so no comment.

It was a software issue and firmware issue with 650M drivers. If you update your Mac you don’t have the issue anymore. Since every intelligent user should always update, this should be considered fixed.

The only fix we will get this year!

It is just a joke, Mac client isn’t even a beta it is a mess, a cider quick dirty port.

It happens to me too, i will try Travis link… but this game is really a joke like ANet support.

Probably it will never end since ArenaNet are totally clueless about Mac software and Transgaming is well know to abbandon things half done.

mac version has been a joke since the beginning and sadly i doubt it will resolve. Me and my friends are waiting a native version to come back to play but maybe is will not see the light of the day.

washac.2897:

I stopped playing months ago when I realised the best they are going to give us is a wrapped version which will always be Beta.

No Mac native version I do not play anymore.

I wish I had never spent my money on this game.

Same here, full of bugs and performance are terrible. They are dishonest, this is not a beta but a joke. They will not have ever a single cents from me. My other 2 friend playing GW2 quitter too for the same reason. We’re waiting for ESO that will be native and the mac dev is posting on Mac forums.

FlamingFoxx.1305:

ikir.4923:

I’ve lost any hope, i highly doubt it will change anything… i will think twice before purchasing something from NCSoft/ArenaNet.

me and my friends purchased the game the week they announce the Mac beta. Now we all stop playing because poor performance, support and bugs of mac version. No updates? No info about beta? It seems like a bad joke.

Elders Scrolls online have a native Mac client and the lead programmer is even present on big Mac forums like InsideMacGames.com…. i just feel cheated about a fake beta, they just took my money for a CIDER WRAPPER!!!!

Buyer beware. You could have easily found out that the beta was a cider wrapper before you purchased. I’m not saying your concerns are any less valid and I’m not trying to devalue how you feel. But you can’t get angry at them for information that was provided to you.

What? A cider wrapper should be in the best scenario a temporary solution. At least they should update it regularly since if you tweak Cider you can get decent results. Some games like Dragon Age 2 runs pretty decent even if they are ciderized.
Since a big company like ArenaNet start their adventure in Mac land with a beta release you think it will get better and better not worst every patch and without support.
They really deserve nothing especially someone defending they greedy and stupid strategy, they no sense support and “beta” cycle.

Aigisthos.3059:

FlamingFoxx.1305:

Aigisthos.3059:

Ashley Segovia.8276:

Thanks guys! I appreciate your patience and I’m trying to get more attention paid to these forums and these issues so I’m doing what I can

Hi Ashley, it’s been a couple weeks now so I just thought I might ask to see if you had any updates for us? Thanks!

She’s actually posted a couple of responses in other threads since the update in this one

Fox, not any real updates on this though. She responded to issues with Gems (obviously the team came in to fix that since it hurt their pocketbooks) but they have not yet addressed this issue.

Indeed they are really pathetic. I think we should act together in other ways….

This will be remembered as the Guild Wars 2 Mac disaster. Arena Net really doesn’t deserve a cent from us. I never will buy anything again from them.

I’ve lost any hope, i highly doubt it will change anything… i will think twice before purchasing something from NCSoft/ArenaNet.

me and my friends purchased the game the week they announce the Mac beta. Now we all stop playing because poor performance, support and bugs of mac version. No updates? No info about beta? It seems like a bad joke.

Elders Scrolls online have a native Mac client and the lead programmer is even present on big Mac forums like InsideMacGames.com…. i just feel cheated about a fake beta, they just took my money for a CIDER WRAPPER!!!!

Ashley Segovia.8276:

Hey Kyllaa – No updates at the moment. Sorry!

Hi thanks for replying in these forums at least.

Anyway i think it is incredible a company as Arena Net didn’t have a proper Mac team even after launched a beta client. Nobody is working on it? it is really absurd.

I’m sorry but really i regret giving you my money, i’ve also buy item in the store… I put my money where my mouth is, for sure i will think twice before giving Arena net a cent in the future.

I reallt hopes Arenanet do something. Mac support is terrible, client is terrible too and it is a cider port!
No news, no mac specific changelog… It is already a week i didn’t log in, i think i will be left GW2 if they continue to act like that.

We are left in darkness. ArenaNet support is terrible and there is no support or moderation here.

The OS X client even if works “ok” for most, are a crap cider port. Transgaming are not helping, ArenaNet didn’t care…. i think this is the worst support ever for Mac users.

I love the game, this is the only reason i stay here… but probably i will switch to ESO if the OS X client is good.

You can try, i play only on OS X. The client is better than the first relases, but the lack of public update and news about this beta is embarassing.
ArenaNet really are doing a crap job here.

Just reset SMC, the game will run much more better then. Don’t worry resetting it doesn’t harm anything.

Try with Twitter, our last hope.

Thats embarrassing…. now i’m trying to contact them via Twitter.

The forums is full of users complaining about performance and bugs. If these things won’t change i will quit playing for sure, it seems ESO mac client is native and well supported.

So what do you suggest? Contacting Transgaming?

vince.5937:

Nothing can be done about it. The Cider wrapper is 32bit and there’s no changing it.

All we can do is contacting support and feedback asking for it.

Magoo.5726:

DonQ, actually the Mac Beta Client is the Windows client started by a wrapper named Cider. So of course “both” clients were updated. As far as I can see the wrapper wasn’t updated with this patch.

Yes, no mac specific change….. it is becoming a joke.

TAKBonez.4953:

get a dang pc Macs suck so much. Or at least google how to intsall windows on ur piece of crap system. No offense I jus hate macs is all.

Please no troll. I’m a PC tech and PC sucks, mac are far superior for many things, integrated, better materials, high end connectivity which come to PC years later, lightweight OS, UNIX, cheaper OS upgrade… i could continue for pages but this is a Mac forum, we don’t care about PC vc MAC 13 years old players threads. We are here to fix problems since Mac client is not native and ArenaNet is not communicative.

Just go to hide yourself under a rock and keep your ignorance for yourself.

new patch… no Mac specific changelog.

Using 10.6 is no sense… 10.7 and 10.8 have faster 3D drivers, iCloud, find my mac, iMessage! Cmon don’t be like stupid windows users, update your os! Even if it is not the fix, everybody should update operating system especially in Mac world since they cost a joke.

There are many more thread about these problem….. i suggest just to contact devs with ticket/Feedback. I suppose they don’t care about this forum.

Not native, nut still i prefer to play with crippled Mac client that installing Windows. i use my computer for much more things than gaming, and Windows sucks so hard i can’t believe someone can be so crazy to use it. So i will stick with this client but i hope ArenaNet improves it even if it is Cider based.

The Older Scrolls Online confirmed they will have a native client of the game. GW would be the major MMO without a native Mac client. EVE online is native, WOW is native, LotRO is native…

Korval.2197:

I don’t want to be the bearer of the bad news but since I’m a software developer who writes applications for Mac OS X I do feel that it is necessary to shed some light onto this topic because there seems to be some confusion here.

Cider does not use the X11 driver because Mac OS X does not use X11. Instead it uses a Quartz-based driver. Quartz is the native graphics architecture that Mac OS X uses. This means that changing anything in the [x11drv] section does not have an impact on the GW2 client. I.e. changing the VideoRam setting to 32MB gives you the same FPS as changing it to 4096MB.

This would be true if the performance remain the same… after editing the VRAM line my performance increased A LOT.

awesams.4135:

249 gb of ram

Ehm no…. that the hard drive space. Apple —→ Information about this mac.
If you have only 2GB go to your Apple Store and boost to 4GB or 8GB.

I’m very happy to see so many users who wants a better beta updates or native client!

While we wait try this for better performance:

-Go to Library/Application Support/Guild Wars 2
-Edit config file with TextEdit
-Find this

[x11drv]
"AllocSystemColors" = "100"
"CopyDefaultColors" = "0"
"PrivateColorMap" = "N"
"PerfectGraphics" = "N"
"Managed" = "Y"
"Desktop" = "No"
"UseDGA" = "N"
"UseXShm" = "Y"
"DXGrab" = "Y"
"UseXVidMode" = "Y"
"UseXRandR" = "N"
"DesktopDoubleBuffered" = "Y"
"TextCP" = "0"
"VideoRam" = "256"
"AGPVertexRam" = "128"

-Put your VRAM value (MB) in “VideoRam” = “xxx”
-Put the half of your VRAM in “AGPVertexRam” = “xxx”

Enjoy more fps and boost gfx Probably you need to do it/check every patch.

As i can see a many users would love a native client, others point to the difficult for this for a company like NCSoft. I think we will need a native client if the game will be a huge success similiar to WOW… if we play this game for years i hope they will investigate this possibility after a while.

Anyway a fixed, optimized Cider beta is easier to obtain. NCSoft has been little active and some things like this crazy VRAM bug must be fixed… How to get this? Is this forum monitored by someone at NCSoft?

OK thanks so much, i’m going to try!

All games ported by Feral and Aspyr are native as far i know, usually high quality. I don’t have problems with Borderlands 2 but you can see many other games ported greatly by these 2 company on Mac, Rage, Deux Ex Human Revolution, Dirt2…

I think looking forward a native client will be needed or at least this one must be very well optimized… for sure needing to edit my amount of VRAM in a config file is quite strange even for a beta.

And this one?
“AGPVertexRam” = “128”

Also they could rely on Apsyr and Feral, they have both an incredible experience to bring games to Mac (native!!).

Naqaj.6219:

While I do support the call for a native OSX client, there are 2 things I like to point out:

1. Your last point (app store) is likely not valid. There are already Cider ports on the app store, the majority of ported PC games on there actually uses Cider or similar technology. There are probably other reasons why the game isn’t on the app store (profit margin, account purchase model, in-app purchase restrictions)

Hi Naqaj. About your point 1, probably you’re right. Anyway most of Cider games i know are not on the Mac App Store, so i was thinking about issue there.

I’m not creating a petition, just i want to know how much users desire a native client.

Check this please and speak out loud!

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/mac/Let-s-unite-for-a-Mac-OS-X-native-client

@otherworld.4012

I see the map correctly, it must be something else. Are you sure before it was ok?

Thanks so much for this tip!

This MUST be an automatic thing, and if cider still doesn’t do that (incredible) this option should be configurable from the game.

Do you know if the mac client will see some official improvements?