Thank you, Grit, for posting that link. It points to a post in which I describe the culling issue in some detail and discuss a few of the issues involved with changing culling. An even more in depth explanation of what culling is can be found here https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/wuvwuv/The-real-problem-here-is-invisible-enemies-Give-their-algorithms-time-to-match-servers-properly/page/4#post356817 (be sure to read both that post and the next – my description exceeded the post size limit).
As you know we’ve been working on this problem for a while but what I think we haven’t ever said before is that our goal is to remove culling completely from WvW. In order to remove culling completely we have to address three issues:
1) Bandwidth out of our servers/datacenter (traffic would increase without culling)
2) Bandwidth in to each client (traffic to each client would also increase without culling)
3) Client performance issues related to rendering (potentially) all the players on a map at once. (Note that we base our performance requirements in this case on min-spec clients. We don’t want to stop anybody being able to play the game after all.)Until all three of those issues have been dealt with we can’t turn culling off because doing so would cause something to break or perform poorly.
Ok, now let’s talk about what progress we’ve made!
Issue #1 was the easiest to deal with because we can basically just throw money at the problem. When we first started down the road toward removing culling from WvW I took a bunch of bandwidth measurements and then went to the executives and said, essentially, “Hey, if we disable culling our network traffic will increase by X%. Are we ok with that?”. The answer I got was a clear and unambiguous “yes!” So issue #1 isn’t a problem after all.
Issue #2 is a little harder. We need to ensure that folks with a min-spec network connection won’t be overwhelmed by the data we send them and we obviously can’t just buy a better connection for all of our players. So we put our heads together and came up with a plan to reduce the bandwidth required for WvW (and Gw2 in general) as much as possible. Those changes are in testing now and will be rolled out as soon as we’re convinced that they’re solid. Assuming we’re able to get everything working the way we’d like (and I’m fairly confident that we will) then this will address issue #2.
So that leaves us with issue #3: client performance. Some time ago the WvW team acquired an engine programmer who is focused 100% on this issue (and he is being assisted by another engine programmer who isn’t officially on the WvW team). They’re working on some really fantastic optimizations and engine modifications which we hope will allow even min-spec clients to render all the players on a WvW map. We’ll be talking in more detail about the specific changes they’re making when things get just a little more nailed down, but I can say right now that I’m very impressed with the work they’ve done already.
So that’s where we are. Engine programmers are working their magic even now and we’re testing the networking changes that will be required. I believe that our goal of removing culling from WvW is achievable and I’m looking forward to the day that I can announce to you all that we’ve pulled it off!
Wow, that was a great post! Just one question though on number 3. You talk about having the requirement of the new culling system to be able to run on min spec hardware; is there any way you could implement a “culling slider” that would adjust the amount of culling that happens on the clients side? So for users that have capable hardware to render every player can max out that slider but for users running less than optimal hardware can just adjust that slider downwards until they find a capable trade-off. This seems rather reasonable to me because I find it unfair that those with high performance hardware would have to suffer because of min spec users.
With that said though, if you find a way to allow min spec users to have absolutely no culling, hence no slider being necessary(and it seems like you’re almost there!) then that is obviously the best solution for everyone.
Being perma-banned seems kind of harsh. A much more reasonable action would have been maybe a two week suspension. There would have been much less of a community outcry while still punishing the offenders.
1.)Just a convenience improvement but when you mouse over a base(tower,keep,castle, whatever) information should pop up, such as amount of supply in tower, bought upgrades, upgrades being worked on, etc. It would help the overall cohesion of players so everyone knows where to focus resources. Oftentimes, players will unknowingly take supply from a base that is currently being upgraded. If we have mouse-over information pop up, then players will know where to take supply or not. (PlanetSide 1 did this very well, if you need inspiration).
2.)Also, maybe commanders could place defensive or offensive icons over bases/ground to more easily organize the zerg.
3.) Add a commander chat channel that only commanders have access to. Commanders will more easily be able to communicate behind the scenes, without bogging down other chat channels.
4. When a commander speaks, we should know it. It should either be highlighted in blue or add a separate chat channel called “orders” so everyone knows who is talking and who to listen to.
Also, more/better benefits to outmanned buff. Maybe decreased repair costs?
(edited by BroScientist.9875)
I never know if I should run back and forth for supply to repair walls/gates. Someone told me it starts auto-repairing at 10 percent health. Is this true? Is this default or do you need an upgrade for the workers to do this? Does auto-repair cost supply? Is there even an auto-repair? Thanks.
Here’s an explanation of the lattice I copied from someone on this forum:
“2) “The Lattice”.
World War 2 Online and Planetside both ran into the same problem: players spread out too much and there was no real “front line” or focus to the fight. They both added their own style of “lattice” system — Given bases A-—B—-C—-D—-E, you own B and the enemy owns C, you can attack from B to C but you cannot attack D or E. You need a link to them. Of course, the real lattice was multi-pronged so you always had options on where to attack next but you couldn’t just abandon “B” to go on the offensive somewhere else because if the enemy took it behind you, your offensive would be dead in the water with no friendly territory to link to.”
How do you think this would affect wvw? Pros? Cons?
I have an i7920@4ghz and two 4890s. I expected this game to run like crap being that I’m on 4 year old hardware but Guild Wars 2 runs surprisingly well. I’m running everything maxed 1080p on high/ultra but no super-sampling. I get around 40-90 fps pretty much everywhere except Lions Arch and giant zergs in wvw. In those two places I get 20-30 fps. I’m not sure if I would still be getting this performance on two comparable Nvidia cards but my senses tell me I wouldn’t. I think this game is optimized towards AMD? Because it’s honestly the only modern game I can completely max out.
They misspelled some things, which may have made the description unclear. Here’s a fixed version:
“The ranger class combines its own lackluster abilities with the skills of their horribly programmed pets. We’ve balanced the class around the idea that you must suck at everything in any fight. The fact that the ranger can have multiple pets allows them to combine their virtually useless pets in ways that do not impact the current fight. We want the Ranger to have none of the evasion enjoyed by the Thief, as well as the mobility other classes employ. The class is unable to deal physical or condition damage, and it can do this in melee or at range.”
This had me rolling.
In wvw if you’re attacking on top of a wall/keep at enemies down below, your pet just sits there and does nothing. Your pet is supposed to be an extension of yourself and is meant to deal a large portion of the damage that you yourself would otherwise do alone. So why doesn’t he have the AI that would allow him to run down the stairs and outside, attacking foes that you are aiming at with your bow? This is very frustrating, considering that no other class has this problem.
Yeah I really like those wvw bonuses. Great incentive to not only play wvw but to win(not that w3 needs an incentive but it’s nice).
I would also like to see a dedicated healer class in a future expansion.
I don’t know about anyone else but I get satisfaction knowing full well that when I kill others in wvw they will have to spend money to repair their armor. I would like to see repair costs stay(at least in wvw) because if they weren’t there then what would be the consequence of dying? Nothing, and we can’t have that.
Or better yet just remove the kitten thing from wvw entirely. It IS a disgusting waste of queue space. I realize it is not the players fault but ArenaNets. Whose idea was it to make a jumping puzzle in wvw? Whose idea was it to make badges as a reward, a reward that is greater than actual fighting? Fire that person, please.
Okay I looked at the link and it says back items can only either be crafted or acquired by using the mystic forge. Doesn’t really seem fair to users like myself who do not like to do those things. What about hardcore wvw players? pvp’ers? I guess I can understand the outcry over ascended now, especially when the way to get them is so limited.
Yes, you can acquire Ascended Rings in Fractals at level 10 or higher.
You can also craft back items (like the Endless Quiver) in the Mystic Forge, check out http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/List_of_ascended_equipment#Back_Items for all the backs that are craftable atm
Well, like I said I would rather not craft or use the mystic forge, so I assume what you are saying is that it is not possible to get a quiver by running fotm?
Okay so I have never crafted or used the mystic forge before. I also don’t plan on using them in the future. Is it still possible for me to acquire ascended gear? I’ve been running fractals(so far up to 9) in the hopes of getting the ring and/or the quiver from a chest or drop. Is this possible? Someone told me the only way to get the quiver is to craft. If that’s true, it doesn’t really seem fair to non-crafters. Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks.
Maybe I should have said 2x the total damage?
Works when my pet is dead, doesn’t if it’s alive.
Is it supposed to work when it’s dead? I’ve noticed it almost always works when my pet is alive but doesn’t when it’s dead.
So the description of QZ says all your actions are twice as fast during this four second period. So I assume this means if you are attacking, you would be firing off twice as many arrows which would equal twice the amount of dps(assuming all arrows hit). Well to me, this is very obvious on the LB #2 attack. The bar takes just as long to fill as before and it is very apparent you are firing twice as fast. Well for the LB #5 attack this does not seem to be the case, at least to me. If you notice, while using QZ the bar takes just as long to fill but when it hits 3/4 it insta-skips to being done, finishing the move. So it seems when you use QZ for barrage, you are in fact firing twice as fast but your attack bar fills faster cancelling out any extra dps you should have had. Does anyone else notice this?
So I bought the Guild medium armor from the vendor in wvw and I absolutely do not like the look of it. I know it basically works as a transmutation. I am looking to have my guilds symbol on all of my armor and weapons. I already have the guild backpack which looks nice. So my question is if I want to have guild symbols on my armor/weapons, will I have to use the cosmetics of the guild armor and weapons? Or can I keep my things that I have already and add guild symbols on top of them?
Which game sent information about 100 other players to all other players ten years ago?
PlanetSide 1.
How do you even upgrade things? So you’re saying a solo player who is just random-zerging it out cannot upgrade walls, keeps, etc? Even if they have the gold/karma?
Hi guys, I have a level 80 human ranger with almost full exotic gear from running dungeons. My problem is that I can’t find a chest piece from a dungeon that suits my tastes. I have previewed all of the human cultural armor and I do not like any of them. The only thing left as far as I am aware is karma vendors. I have around 220,000 karma saved up and I don’t know what to do with it. I’ve read that there are a bunch of exotic karma vendors in Orr but you have to complete a series of events for them to even come out. I’ve asked around in-game but I’ve gotten vague answers. Does anyone know how I can go about previewing all the karma gear that is available? It seems like it is going to be a lot of work just to be able to preview a certain type of gear that I may not even like.
I just submitted a bug report describing how sometimes there isn’t an animation for my ranger pulling the string back on his longbow. It only happens sometimes, and oddly enough only appears depending on the direction you are looking, but it is there none the less.
There was an update a few minutes ago. Could someone test it to see if they fixed it? It seems a bit faster to me but it could just be placebo.
I have to be honest. I really can’t understand why people even bother transferring for WvW. I mean, what’s the point?
You go to a higher tier, then what? People/servers gain absolutely nothing being in a higher tier. And I do mean -absolutely nothing-. There is literally nothing to accomplish or “win” in WvW. There’s no ranks, no rewards, nothing.Anyway, at this point, I’m going to be really surprised if they remove free transfers at all. They just need to make it so you can only transfer to lower populated servers, and stop letting people swarm/crowd to the upper ones.
This is a good idea. Make transferring to lower population(or lower tiered) servers free while having a price to go to a higher one.
This is a great idea. I don’t think there should be any stat boost. It would just be a vanity option, like how legendary weapons are: no better than exotics currently. Although it would be weird to “craft” a pet.
Let me pre-face this by saying I don’t know if it’s because of the patch, or me acquiring one more piece of exotic gear or a new build, or a combination of all three. I have to agree with the OP. I’m doing much much better in w3 post patch. I too won at a 2v1 only for me to quickly escape alive when a third showed up. What helped me greatly is that I realized that you have to switch pets constantly so you don’t get the 60 second cool-down. Pets are much better at sticking with their targets and laying down attacks. I also keep my pet on avoid at all times so he stays next to me. When I am attacking a target I will specifically tell him to attack. It’s not good to just leave him on offensive all the time imo.
Ehhh my bear’s name is Timothy Treadwell. Kind of messed up but it reminds me to never get too close to bears in real life.
I heard it was inches but I don’t know if it’s true. How would you measure that? Take a tape ruler to your monitor? Would it work like that?
How do you get there?
Do you guys have any tips on how to excel at this? I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong but I’m hitting the corresponding keys just as the colors cross over into the blue circle. After about 30 seconds of doing this, I realize my health is drastically low and then I get booted out. I think the issue is my timing but I’m not sure how to correctly time it?
Can’t believe the sense of entitlement in some people.
Thank you Kaizer – that’s the point i’m trying to make.
I logged into my toon to “WTF happened to my rifle?!?!?” “WTF happened to my bow/mace/sword/focus?!?!” Read the notes and was outraged how this ‘intended’ look was not made apparent to people and then stealth deployed. People should be compensated in some way for their (fine) transmutation stones and the inconvenience of questing and getting a karma skin they had no idea was a design flaw. Had no idea this was also a tier 3 skin – still don’t where you would buy it. All i know until this evening was the skins i like on my toons were in charr lands. The point is through no fault of our own we now have horrible skins and wasted fine transmutation stones that were purchased in the store.
Wow, that is outrageous. I hope you get compensated somehow.
In my opinion the firing speed is way too slow. It’s almost aggravating at times. This is probably my biggest gripe currently. Anyone else feel the same?
Seems the same to me.
I’m not sure if it’s actually giving me 25 and it’s only a description error. On the tool-tip it says 25% but on my actually screen above my utilities it says it’s giving me 10%.
there’s a red cancel button, just have to press it.
I think a lot are forgetting this feature would be OPTIONAL.
I just try to make them as useful as possible, if they die so quickly why not to auto-swap them if the cooldown in ready?
That’s just the wrong point to work on. Instead of work aroung certain things, they need to work on the actual problem.
Yes, but it would only help. Why would you be against this? Often times I find myself in combat not even realizing my pet is dead. This would just be a quality of life improvement, in my opinion.
Actually you can just press V and space-bar at the same time and it will achieve the same effect. I don’t know why I though V came first.
I don’t know why I’m posting this as it’s a rather pointless discovery, but cool none the less. Press V first then directly after space-bar. You will jump and roll at the same time if you timed it right. It’s useless but pretty cool imo lol.
I think it’s been discussed before but I would like to see some type of pet customization. Maybe we could buy equip cosmetic armor or even dyes to their fur? As it stands now, my only emotional attachment to my pet is its name. That and maybe how I acquired it. The wolf had me venture into enemy wvw territory in order to tame him. With that said I believe it’s been stated that pet customization would be to tremendous of a task, but regardless, I still think it would be an awesome feature.
I like being able to hit with my shortbow from 1500 range and my longbow from 1800+ range. I think I can deal with having to hit my #1 skill button for that perk.
Shortbow 1500!! Longbow 1800!!! Where are you getting these numbers from? My shortbow tops out at 1200 and longbow at 1500. Granted it goes a bit farther because of the bug but how do you figure an increase of 300 from the skill description?
Well this just put a damper on my parade. Here we are thinking rangers are getting selective treatment to bring them up to par with other classes+give them specific roles. No, they are buffing speed across the board so in reality we are getting no improvements at all(in regards to speed). With that said I will reserve judgment until patch notes are out.
I really don’t think you can test it. 1200 what? Feet? Inches? Who knows. Only the programmers and it’s in their hands to make it function correctly. You also cannot test it against other weapons/classes range, as who knows if their range is accurate or not.
Lions Arch is the only one that consistently takes exceptionally long to load. Coincidentally, it is also the one area where my frames dip into the 20’s. I am getting an SSD soon so hopefully that will improve the load times, assuming I’m not bottle-necked by anything else.
While I agree with what you guys are saying I have actually found great looking armor for my level 80 ranger. I prefer bulky metal type armor that actually looks like it protects you rather than trenchcoats and the like. I have Sorrow’s Embrace pauldrons(which look great because they are very bulky), SE furnace helm, SE boots which are very cool and I am temporarily wearing a trench-coat for my body but it looks great in combination with the above. With that said, this was literally the ONLY armor I could find that suits my tastes. Here’s to hoping they add in more armor variation down the line.
Edit: this is with the COF helm which looks just as good as the SE one imo:
(edited by BroScientist.9875)
Anyone else think this game kind of looks like Dark Souls? Just saw an in-game picture on Reddit here: http://i.imgur.com/RkmWf.jpg and I could have sworn it was Guild Wars 2 with the Gabe thing photo-shopped in. Anyone else feel the same or is it just me?
Is the slow bug exclusive to rangers or is it a profession wide bug? If it’s the former, then that’s ridiculous and I demand it to be changed immediately.