Guild Wars 2

Same here. This is really kitten annoying.

That sort of artifacting is usually a bad card, but for GW2 it seems to show up when the card is clocked too high/is unstable. Drop your clocks a bit and try again.

Personally, no issues on 13.12@1050/1450 with my 7850. I only ever had issues with the 13.8b drivers (they caused huge input lag and horribly low framerates) so I went back to 13.4 for a while.

Aliase.1938:

Thank your for the response. Which unit do you suggest I upgrade first?

Mobo (if needed)/CPU (eventually)/Ram/OS, then GPU at some point.

RAM+OS first, then bump up the CPU, then the GPU.

Look in the background. It’s much blurrier on native render sampling when compared to supersampled, at least on 1080P.

Paulytnz.7619:

Besides that you CAN make games like this controller viable/friendly, FF14 is a good example and so was 11. Wake up and get out of the stone age already dude. :P

It can be controller friendly, but the controller users will still be at a HUGE disadvantage. Honestly, if they end up porting it I’d rather see separate servers. I don’t really want to play with people hugely gimping themselves because they chose to use a controller over a proper KB/M, especially in PvP.

Also, the rather weak CPUs of the next gen consoles could present a rather significant barrier to getting the game on them as well.

honeyjars.6590:

Mazreal Blackknight.1564:

I downloaded an app on my phone so I could watch when we owned what I needed.

What app?

Guild Wars 2 WvW Monitor on the Play Store for Android. At least, that’s what I have.

I’m personally fine with world completion being how it is, although it is/can be pretty kitten annoying when the colors don’t cycle. I finally got mine last night, since we were green at least- had needed 2 Vistas and a PoI in WvW for like 5-6 weeks. Really, if the colors cycled properly (and/or you could somehow get the needed stuff without having to go inside of the structures) it’d be much better.

Just OC the crap out of your CPU and it’ll end up ~as good as it will get.

It’s doubly annoying since it’s twice as high in the air as my character is tall, sitting in the middle of the screen blocking everything from view.

Honestly, people being tagged up in LA/etc aren’t nearly as obnoxious as this. Those you can just ignore, this is directly in your face.

dwahvel.7356:

Enjoy running around in full map blobs pressing 1 to victory. You can actually ignore dodge/heal mechanics and still never come close to dying. Now that’s some skills.

Got to love the completely meaningful “victory” of getting the most points that don’t do anything by holding some random points for hours and spamming 1 in huge laggy blobs. It sounds like so much fun, too!

No offense meant to people who do enjoy playing for PPT, it’s just that you gain nothing from winning.

If you’re getting a 650ti for $110-120, you should just spend the extra $20-30 for a 7850. It’s a pretty substantial power increase for not that much money. 650tis are rather lacking in the price:performance department.

http://us.ncix.com/products/?usaffiliateid=1000031504&sku=77602&vpn=FX-785A-CNL4&manufacture=XFX&promoid=1363

Avelos.6798:

Looking through the thread, a GTX 760 is NOT needed to enjoy this game at it’s maximum potential. A 9800GT can do alright, but if GW2 is the ONLY game you play, GTX 760 is way too much. a GTX 650 TI will eat this game alive, even a Radeon HD 7790 will do the trick.

You’ll want at least a 2 GB 7850; having something a bit better will still be helpful. This is especially true if you want to play something besides GW2.

What sort of keyboard is it? Are any necessary drivers properly installed?

TaDah.3615:

Thanks everyone for your input! I did hours of research and The link to Logical Increments helped me amazingly as it was a great guideline on where to start.

I am going Intel on this one. Here is what I have decided to go with

Case: NZXT Phantom 530 Black ATX Full Tower Computer Case Includes 1 × 200mm Front, 1 × 140mm Rear 2 x USB 3.0 Fan Controller ($129.99) Newegg.com

Motherboard: MSI Z87-G45 Gaming LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Pro Gaming with Killer Networking & Sound Blaster Intel Motherboard ($139.99) Newegg.com

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K Processor – Quad Core, 6MB L3 Cache, 3.4GHz, 84W, Fan, 1200 MHz Graphics Core Speed – BX80646I54670K ($224.99) Tiger Direct

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 Video Card – 2GB GDDR5, PCI-Express 3.0 (x16), 1x Dual-Link DVI-D, 1x Dual-Link DVI-I, 1x Display Port, 1x HDMI, DirectX 11.1, SLI Ready, Dual-Slot, Fan, – N760 TF 2GD5/OC ($259.99) Tiger Direct

Ram: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 × 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL ($84.99) Newegg.com

Power Supply: Ultra LSP650 650-Watt Power Supply – ATX, SATA-Ready, SLI-Ready, 135mm Fan, Sleeved Cables, Matte Finish, 3-Year Warranty ($59.99 or 49.99 after rebate) Tiger Direct

Hard Drive: Western Digital WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive, Blue – OEM (59.99) Newegg.com

Your best bet is to plug everything into pcpartpicker.com – It’ll show you where the cheapest place to get everything is. For example, that case is $100 from Microcenter, which would save you $30.

Another thing is that PSU- you’re a bit above what you need in terms of wattage. A CX500 is more then enough, and it’s half as expensive. Your RAM is also about $15 more then it should be- really, all ram is the same. You should only be spending like $70 for a set of DDR3-1600.

Overall, not terrible (although I’m a bit wary of the PSU, never heard of the brand and I tend to stick with Corsair/SeaSonic just because of how important it is), but you could shave a good amount of money off with ease.

sirsquishy.8531:

GTX 760 is only 8-13% faster then the R9-270. And the GTX 760 still goes between 265-319, where the R9-270 is about 200. So the Cost vs Performance isnt really worth it IMHO.

You can get a nice 760 for $235 right now. They’ve been as low as $200, just a couple days ago. Even at $235, it’s like $25 more then a 270x, while 270s are just going to depend on what you’d get for a deal. Honestly, the 760 is the way to go atm- the performance increase is pretty evenly in line with the price increase.

sirsquishy.8531:

GPU – This depends on your Monitor’s Resolution. If you are running 1080P then consider getting a HD7850, HD7870, or an HD R9-270. They all have about the same performance and fall in about the same price range of 179-249 (newegg has the best deals for GPUs right now).

For a 7850, you shouldn’t go over like $150. Similarly, once you get past $200, really, you should just get GTX 760- an R9 270/7870 for that much is just not worth it at all.

]Ram, Get Dual channel 2×4GB of the fastest memory you can find for your Motherboard choice.

You’re not really going to see a performance increase past 1600 unless you’re running an APU.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2Onj5

I’d suggest something like this. If you already have/don’t need Windows, springing for an i7 could be a possibility, but I’d just save your money.

TaDah.3615:

PS In the near future I will be sticking in some purple fans, why because I totally want them! So if you have suggestions on awesome colored fans feel free to throw in your opinions on that too

My advice would be to not waste your money on useless bling. It sounds like you want LEDs, which will just get annoying. Buy decent quality fans over those with lights, with noise/air movement as a higher priority. If you really want LEDs, just make sure that they’re on something decent.

chronometria.3708:

A bigger problem for asura, as the badge is as large on the screen as the character is.

And it’s floating twice the character’s height in the air. It’s literally nowhere close to my Guardian’s head. Were it not so far away, I’d be a fair bit less unhappy with the change. Still, though, this needs to go away. Putting something in the dead center of my screen, where I’m trying to see stuff, isn’t really the greatest idea.

They’d be ok if they didn’t shoot quite so much. As it is, it’s pretty much impossible to do anything when you’re getting shot at.

Well, that’s a slight exaggeration, but still.

azizul.8469:

err..commander tag ? the difference is only the badge of honor, right ? those people can still get them from JP chest iirc, which means they can still get them without WvW experience.

Now you get this on your screen when you’re tagged up. Completely ridiculous, honestly, especially with how far above the character it can be.

Tyger.1637:

Options are always good but you can de-tag, right?

It’s still right in the way, if you’re, you know, actually doing something that requires the tag.

It’s also really annoying how far up it is, at least on my Guardian. It’s like twice as high up as my character is tall.

Vavume.8065:

GuzziHero.2467:

Is there an option to turn this off? It is MASSIVELY obtrusive.

LMFAO, now you can see for yourself how obnoxious your tag looks when standing around in LA.
Btw this comment is not aimed at you personally, just all the ego tripping wanna be commanders who tag up in LA and in dungeons, they should have to suffer seeing the tag just as others do.

It’s not even close, though. This is stuck dead in the center of your screen; when others tag up, you can just sort of ignore it. I agree that it’s annoying in dungeons, though.

I agree, it’s kind of annoying and it gets in the way.

I use 1-5 for weapon skills, F1-F5 for heal/utilities, v for the conventional F1, then F6/7/8 for the rest of the class specific skills.

Then, action (usually F) is Z, while F is dodge. Works fine for me.

I have f bound to dodge, z to action, and u to aoe loot. Even in WvW I’ll tap u as I run a long every couple seconds to make sure that I get everything. It works well.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2KmH6

$1030 with a nice 23" IPS panel. Was $1015 until I decided to swap the PSU for a semimodular one. It’s really not that hard. It could be brought right on-budget with a TN panel, but eh. IPS is worth it imo, so that’s what I’m recommending.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2KnNL

If it really must be $1k, but getting the slightly bigger monitor is good@1080P, and getting an IPS panel is nice as well.

It’s still a lower-end card from the last generation. It’ll do well, sure, but it’s far from the best option, especially when you have the budget for more. Also, games are already chewing over 1 GB of vram, so it’s hardly a great choice.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2KmH6

I’d suggest something along the lines of this. It’s a little bigger, but I’ve honestly found that to not be an issue at all, even considering that I pack my PC back into the case box for transport. Even in my dorm the 912 is small enough- the only advantage of it being smaller would be it fitting on my desk, where I’d honestly rather cram another monitor.

If you want to go a little smaller:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2KmAt

Or you could spend a little more for a Bitfenix or other nicer mATX case from the first build in this post.

sirsquishy.8531:

Drop the GPU down to a HD7790 (PLENTY of power for GW2) and go with stock Cooling (I dont see him OC’ing to be honest, and if he wants to he can get that after market cooler later on).

You’re losing out on power unnecessarily both ways. Anyways, a better GPU will come in handy if he ever decides to play anything besides GW2, and a 7790 will really hurt from that, especially since it’d only be a 1 GB card. I honestly wouldn’t go below a 2 GB 7850 at this point in time.

sirsquishy.8531:

All of the above builds are rock solid. But, No matter the choice, Stick to a Z87 Motherboard and the i5-4670K.

Depends on the price. There’s not enough of a gap atm, but if you can get a Z77 mobo for like $40-50 less then a Z87 one (you’re looking at ~$20 gap right now), getting a 3570k might be a good idea.

I’ve been getting a couple lag big lag spikes where nothing will happen for like 10-20s then it’ll be fine again, usually when fighting bosses (>_>). Thus far I’ve only DC’d once, though. I’m using a 95/80 wired connection.

Assuming that you don’t have a monitor:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2Kgxr

I went with a 7850 2 GB because it runs the game fine and I couldn’t quite get a 760 in. You could definitely get a cheaper monitor, but that one’s a pretty nice 1080P IPS panel. It’s too bad, that mobo was $50 yesterday when I had first put the build together…

Assuming you do have a monitor:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2KguM

Alternates if you have a monitor:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2KgCk i7+660
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2KfSX – i7+760

I’m not sure if the i7 will really help with streaming; it’s a matter of having the additional CPU power required beyond what the game takes. Someone who has tried streaming on an i5 would be able to help you out more here. Any of these could be switched over to the CX500 for a PSU if you felt the need, but the CX430 will be fine if you’re planning on sticking to a single card.

Edit:

Did this setup for someone else,
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2IWVf

You can save enough with a cheaper mobo to get an SSD or Windows. Also, that PSU is a bit on the excessive side.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2Kg5l

So think for yourself and lower what you want to.

Settings preset>Autodetect

sobe.4157:

If you bottom out on a mechanical keyboard, it’s because you don’t know how to properly type, but if you really feel the need to mash down each key press, simply purchase a set of o-rings that dampen the keys over the switches.

I feel like I’d be less prone to go for the bottom-out typing style if I had had a different keyboard before this one :| that Dell Quietkey was actually really nice in how hard it was to push the keys, that is they were pretty ‘stiff’, even being so old.

It doesn’t really harm the keyboard, though, correct, unless you’re really slamming them down?

I have high hopes for the one I bought, I shall give it feedback after a few weeks of using it.

Best of luck- at the very least it’ll be a hefty upgrade over some crappy rubberdome.

sobe.4157:

As far as not needing to see keys though as per an above post, if you are an elitist of typists, you would probably be on a Das Keyboard Ultimate or using blank keys anyway.

I actually looked at the Model S Ultimate and wanted it fairly badly. It’s rather expensive, though, but kitten it’s just so plain (in a good way).

I normally play/work in a dark area at home Its easier to have a blue glow then a glaring White/Yellow Lamp on at 4AM. So that’s what I am also considering when I purchase this.

So you need to look at the keyboard then? Investing some time into learning to touch type (purely in the server of not looking at the keyboard while you’re typing, not necessarily that homerow bullcrap) would be wise.

Just remember that if you’re paying for backlights, you’re really dropping money on something that’s essentially useless. They’re cool and all (if you’re into that sort of thing), but they don’t really add function.

Also, I’ve heard some bad things about Corsair’s backlights not lasting particularly long, something about how they actually build the KBs, although that’s going to be fixed this year (if it hasn’t been already?). Might be expensive tho.

The only hard part for me was Balt, I soloed the rest. For Balt, I needed one other person to help clear out the mobs, since so many would get summoned and I would just go down. In addition, the raining fireballs were quite a nuisance.

Otherwise, it’s really not bad at all.

I got a CM Storm Quickfire XT with browns for Christmas, and it’s great. I went for browns because they’re quieter then blues, which is pretty handy since it’s loud enough just with me bottoming out the keys (which I can’t really see myself stopping).

As for general ‘office’ type of stuff, I gained ~12-14 WPM from the new keyboard (going from 71-73 to a solid 85), while it also feels a little nicer to use. I could happily go back to the old keyboard (one of the original old Dell Quietkeys), but it’s just so much easier to type fast with this one.

To figure out what’s best for you, though, it would probably be ideal to go try them all at a Microcenter or the like, if possible, to see what you enjoy the most, since at the end of the day it’s all down to preference. But, if it’s purely between browns and blues, I’d say browns just because blues would get annoying really quickly imo, even with a headset on.

I just find it hilarious when people don’t follow the zerg and just kill champs when they spawn because of the attitudes of some of the zerglings. That being said, it’s not the best thing for new players to be yelled at by people telling then how to play right in the beginning. It gives quite a negative first impression.

Rajani Isa.6294:

Fermi.2409:

Im Mudbone.1437:

Fermi.2409:

Bind move and turn right to F5/F6, use coins to hold the buttons down. Problem solved.

Good job on posting a way to circumvent something ANET has in place to stop people like you from taking advantage of others.

Wait, who am I taking advantage of and how exactly?

The idea behind the shorter AFK kick timer would be to prevent people from AFKing and taking up room in maps with bosses like the Wurms or the doll. Some of the events tied into these don’t even require you to do anything to get credit, and you’d be preventing someone who wants to play from possibly getting in on an instance with a full group.

Still doesn’t explain how I’m personally doing this, which is what Mudbone accused me of.

sirsquishy.8531:

Your OEM key is tied to your Vendor’s Motherboard. Once you change the Motherboard You lose access to that OEM key. (Again hard coded in the BIOS/EFI’s SLIC).

I’ve always wondered about this. If that’s truly the case, why did my OS carry over from my HP laptop to my desktop without issues? Other people have had the same luck, too.

6-10 is about right for Wurm on an AMD CPU.

My main point with the motherboard is that if you’re spending so much getting a board that can be used for overclocking, get the CPU to go with it now and buy a GPU down the line. So, just get a 4670k with the board and no GPU. Otherwise, the money that was dropped on the i3 essentially just went down the drain. The iGPU will run the game fine until such time as it’s replaced.

As for the Xeon, it has no iGPU. It’s really just an iGPUless 3770- you can’t OC it. However, that lets you save on the mobo and get a real GPU, as well as being a pretty beefy chip. I may get one myself.

sirsquishy.8531:

Please remember the topic of this OP. Gaming rig for 500-600. Anything that can push faster then a R7-260X or HD7790 is going to be 250-300 at a min. and then your talking 2GB vRAM 256bit memory interface….ect.

I am saying, and currently will until this changes, the R7-260x and HD7790 are the BEST CARDs for the price point of $99-$139. I am NOT saying they are the absolute Best cards there are.

And to get 2GB vRAM you are going to pay 30-40 more, in which case you should just jump to a Class 1 card. Which is not in the budget of many (including the OP) that I recommend those 2 cards to.

You can get a 2 GB 7850 for like $150.

sirsquishy.8531:

yes, but you still see name tiles. I have not seen a single rig that can handle the game on full detail and maintain a playable frame rate with out turning down culling.

Full Details = Ultra/Highest settings.

Just having the nameplates isn’t the same, especially for trying to judge where large groups are/how many they are.

As for playable framerate on high details (sans reflections because of how messy that is), were you to get a decent GPU you should be fine. Especially for zerg content, 15-20 is easily playable. I do well enough dropping to ~8-10 in some areas.

locx.6412:

you can use sites like PassMarks Video Card Benchmarks or Futuremarks Benchmarks and see how the cards perform.

Anandtech is also pretty good.

locx.6412:

I would suggest going with Asus Z87-K and i3-4130 because the motherboard is actually cheaper than what you chose

Getting a Z87 mobo with an i3 isn’t really the wisest of investments, and if you’re not getting an i5 now but are planning on dropping another $230-240 on a new CPU not too far down the line, you’re just throwing away money. Imho, spring for the better CPU now and go with the iGPU or make a compromise, something like this:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2GdDT

A little on the high end of the budget, but you don’t really lose anywhere except you can’t OC.

sirsquishy.8531:

Yea…I have NO issues with my HD7790 at 1080p, and that’s with full details on anything I throw at it.

and GW2 does not use 1G VRAM at 1080p unless you are super sampling and have your character limit above medium. The Most I have ever seen GW2 for vRAM was 760~MB. (Sampling – Native, CharLimit – Low, CharQual – Medium, Rest on High/Ultra).

So I don’t get where you are seeing otherwise….

Well yeah, but you’re really gimping the game with culling. That’s realistically one of the last things that should go on; seeing people is quite important. You’re also losing a lot in terms of character quality there.

Also, when you say “full details”, is that everything turned on as high as it will go?

Imo the best way to customize/scale pets would be to give them ‘pet gear’, where you can equip them to fit certain roles better, or improve them in their ‘intended’ role. This would also allow them to be improved as better levels of gear come out.

Ofc, then you have the issue of having to fill a decent number more armor slots then other people, which could be fairly expensive.

Detharos.3157:

From my time working in customer service/customer relations, one of the worst things and I emphasize this, THE WORST THINGS TO DO.. was to agitate angry/upset customers with lack of communication or lack of sympathy in regards to a defective or even a perceived to be defective product. People have invested money and ESPECIALLY, time into their rangers. People are frustrated, angry and that is the natural human result for anyone who invests a great deal in a product that does appear to have defects it was not supposed to. (In this case the ranger class.) Even if their job is development, when you are replying to paying customers with a COMPANY TAG on your profile in a forum in regards to these issues, you are performing CUSTOMER RELATIONS. In these positions, most people are trained to give ear to the customer, and to agreeésympathize with the customer even when they are off-target simply to diffuse the hostility/anger. There has been next to no inkling of such replies from Jon Peters or anyone replying to ranger threads. It’s always a post along the lines of “Have you seen the ranger pvp participation numbers?”, “Condi and support builds are quite effective right now.”, “This is something that cannot be fixed at this time.”, “We do not approach modifying traits in that way. We take one step at a time.” That is not how you handle customer relations. If you did that in a store, you’d see your customer stomping out furious and telling all their friends not to shop at your location/buy your product. Many modernized businesses even record such instances in their systems and consider such as a build up/factor in “LOST SALES” and the employees that handle such situations too poorly and too often are liable to lose their jobs in a competitive environment where there’s plenty of others out there who could answer in a way that much better appeases your customers simply by using a different tone.

So defend them if you will, the ranger class and all classes are customers, and this is not how professionals handle customer relations. That it is being done over an internet forum and not face to face should not change that fact.The distance that’s built up between the ranger community and the balance team doesn’t have to be this great gulf that is today. And believe it or not, its not solely the ranger players that created it. Some simple customer service skills could easily diffuse the agitation that plagues us.

This, so much.

I would greatly enjoy being able to zoom out more+have an FoV slider. I generally play fairly zoomed out with the FoV set to 90-100, so I feel rather constrained this game, even when on my Guardian (which is an Asuran).

A 4670k+mobo should be around $350-370, so ~$380-470 depending on what you opt for for a cooler.

I’d just like to see a couple possible choices for each type of weapon, like how there are 3 greatswords.

Reading through the general suggestions, I only really disagree with a couple things, and your list of big issues is pretty decent.

For your suggestions, what you say about Signet of the Beastmaster. It should either be removed or have its function reversed (makes signets affect pets as well) in addition to being moved.

Also, I’m not a huge fan of the suggested pet overhaul. While pets do need work, I don’t like the idea of essentially making them timed summons in the slightest.

Your idea to make more damage pull less agro just further pushes the DPS meta. The more damage you do, the less likely you are to get hit, meaning that you can get less defensive stats and do more damage. Also, whoever does the least damage, will end up having to take the damage. This is likely to be the worst player in the group, which isn’t really a great mechanic when everyone will be as DPS specced as possible to try to gain as little agro as possible.