Guild Wars 2

Dustfinger.9510:

Sorry bout that. It was on the History Channel, Ancient Discoveries Riots and Revolutions. King Mithridates used a substance called burning mud that was flung at the Roman soldiers. As it burned, it slowly dripped down in between the armor plates burning the person underneath and setting on fire the softer bits holding the armor together. The Roman soldiers were cooked alive. I couldn’t find that one scene on youtube so you may have to watch the whole thing. When the History Channel recreated it, it warped and burned through metal sheets because it burned so long and hot.

Sounds interesting, but as I’m by my very nature a sceptic, I tried to find a confirmation of this information – and I’m unable to find a single source that can confirm the existance of “burning mud” outside of quotes saying the History Channel showed it. I don’t trust information, particularly something like history which should be widespread information, that only has a single source. :P

If it did exist, however, it was most likely delivered in large quantities and at a speed which would not penetrate a human body (I would estimate the most advanced delivery system to be by catapult or trebuchet, but possibly as primitive as a cauldron) – so my pondering yet remains.

Hmm, found over 25 people throughout history named Mithridates, and “burning mud” finds me everything from pottery to text-based multi-user dungeons. :P

Looking forward to hearing what it’s about.

I’ll be honest, I strongly dislike the charr voices. Yes, all of them, including Stevie’s work – I’m sure it’s fine, but the amount of loud noise interspersed through the speech, no doubt intended to simulate growling, makes it literally (and yes, I know how to properly use the word) painful for me to listen to it. Makes me feel nauseous.Only charr I’ve liked listening to is Mister Tibbles in the Whispers. So I’m afraid I haven’t a clue as to the charr storyline.

It is a very interesting theory you have, however, and if the facts are as you present them I agree with you 100%. Cartridge ammunition could not be coated. It also brings up an interesting thought – at what speed do GW2 rifles fire? Depending on what the charr were firing at, making the ammunition “stick and burn” would indicate the velocity of the ammunition not being sufficient to penetrate the target. If firing at lightly armored or unarmored humanoids, a relatively low speed would be sufficient to penetrate the body entirely, and would most likely do more damage than burns. Then again, if firing at a heavily armored humanoid, and assuming the ammunition wouldn’t penetrate the armor in the first place, unless the armor is by its very nature flammable there’s little point to make the target burn – at most it would make the armor too warm to wear.

Meh, I’m probably overthinking it. I have a tendency to do that.

Pretty sure the reason we don’t have signets is because all of our utility skills (save elite, but including healing skill) have two active effects. As a proud engineer, I’d say we don’t need passives to compete with other classes because we already get, in effect, four more active abilities than others. Sure, you could argue that elementalists have four buttons too, or that the warrior has adrenaline, but no other class has as much choice in what abilities to pick for those slots.

The barrel lenght and stock sizes do match that of scatterguns, I’ll admit. Blunderbusses… the ol’ thunderpipes… I guess you could consider it an early prototype of a shotgun, it’s a common discussion among gun addicts. I’ll admit I rarely consider it as it was such a niche use in the before-times, and had very little effect on how firearms are used today. But I will say blunderbusses were mostly handguns, with only a few rifle-stock models. If I were to use my imagination, and discount sound and graphics, I’d say the Twinspur and Norn rifles may be some odd marriage between a rifle and a grossly exaggerated blunderbuss or rifle muzzle.

Le edit: Love the discussion, by the way. It’s rare I get to talk guns outside gun forums.

Le edit secundus: Coffee time, hate to love you and leave you, but them’s the rules. I’ll check back in in the afternoon.

Dustfinger.9510:

Ah, I do get what you’re saying. That a-net specifically names it a rifle. Though, I still doubt A-net distinguishes between rifled bores and smooth bores. I think it’s more likely they call any long barrel gun a rifle.

Well, that clashes with your previous example though. :P

If ANet takes care to name an arquebus an arquebus, why would a rifle not be a rifle?

There’s also the length of the barrel and stock size to take into consideration, as mentioned before.

All in all, the way I see it, there’s every reason to assume it is a rifle (even before knowing if there’s a different sound effect or graphical representation when firing it), and little to no reason to assume it to be a shotgun. Although I will admit it is possible for it to be a combination gun, as suggested – though the problem with inaccurate scattergun firing as well as stress on the shoulder would still persist due to the large stock.

Le edit:

edit: Norn “rifle” http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Norn_Rifle

I’m assuming you’re referring to the muzzle? It’s a cartoonish exaggeration of a rifle muzzle, actually. In order to protect the rifling from damage, the muzzle is sometimes “crowned” as it’s called. The design present on that rifle is not a common shotgun design, but rather an exaggerated rifle design popularized by comics in the early-to-mid 1900s.

Dustfinger.9510:

It’s well known that A-Net uses the term “rifle” as a catch all for any long barrel gun. e.g.: shiverpeak arquebus
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shiverpeak_Arquebus

In fairness, that’s a weapon type, not a name. It could be argued that a real-life shotgun could be classified as a rifle-type weapon (definitively firearm, but more rifle-like than handgun-like). Sclerite Rifle is a name, however, and it would be silly to call a scattergun a rifle by name.

Dustfinger.9510:

I don’t see how anybody can say with any certainty that they are definatly shotgun or rifle.

Hint’s in the name. Sclerite Rifle Skin. Keyword: rifle.

If it was intended as a shotgun, it’d have one of the associated names: scattergun, shotgun, pepper gun, fowling piece. Additionally, while not unheard of, shotguns are not commonly that long, while rifles typically are. It also has a larger stock than a typical shotgun, meaning it’s intended to be fired from further away from the body. If it was a shotgun, that would cause undue stress and inaccuracy while firing, due to kickback and the distance from the shoulder.

I’m a bit of a gun nut.

Lightsbane.9012:

Jigain.8231:

http://gw2.mmorpg-life.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/GW2_Sclerite_Rifle_2-1024x640.jpg

It isn’t a shotgun, it’s a double barreled rifle. Like a hunting rifle. Double rifles are pretty common in sports and hunting, mates.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_rifle

i think you give arenanet a little too much credit. because if they put that in their knowingly, they’re trolling rangers AND engineers.

Unless you’re saying ArenaNet was the first brand of double-barreled rifles (which they were not; it’s commonly accepted that Holland & Holland made the first working double-barrels), I’m not giving ArenaNet any credit at all.

http://gw2.mmorpg-life.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/GW2_Sclerite_Rifle_2-1024x640.jpg

It isn’t a shotgun, it’s a double barreled rifle. Like a hunting rifle. Double rifles are pretty common in sports and hunting, mates.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_rifle

nakoda.4213:

but….

my heart is illiterate!

Quote of the day, right there.

Right here in this forum, stickied. Here’s a direct link.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/audio/A-guide-to-custom-playlists

Have you considered making a custom playlist for the game? If you have the OST, you can put that in the way you want it, then have another piece of music for battle, or none at all.

Personally, there are a few things I dislike about Trahearne. Him being the figurehead, the head honcho, the general to which you are but a sidekick… is not one of them. I actually like that setup, story-wise I keep getting sick of MMOs that set you up as “now you’re the best guy in the entire universe. Just like that guy. And that guy. And that girl. But not that fellow, because he’s not gotten there yet. But he will. Oh, isn’t it swell?” Sure, it can be argued that the same still occurs since everyone ends up being Trahearne’s second-in-command, but I still see it as a refreshing change.

What does rustle my jimmies, however, are points that have already been made in the thread, and number three. Presentation, development, voice.

Let’s start with the voice, since that’s the easiest to summarize. Trahearne is an incredibly monotone character to listen to, and you have to listen to him a lot. I don’t know whether to blame the script writer or the voice actor for it, but his voice is just so horribly bland that when he talks about, say, the deaths of people you have been working with closely, he might as well have been talking about his latest essay on Orrian tree rot, or the peculiar taste of swamp water. There is little to no emotion in what he says, and that ticks me off the most.

Presentation, then. Assume the player character is not a sylvari, which statistically should have about an 80% chance of being correct. The first time you encounter him, he’s barely introduced as anything but a scholar who knows stuff about Orr. The second time, he becomes your boss. This is on top of the PC just having been severed from another character who was a partner, not a boss. Depending on the player and the faction chosen, you might’ve even had some form of emotional attachment to the character in question (RIP, Mister Tibbles – next apple’s on me). Now, enter Blandvoice Scholarboss and let hilarity ensue… no? No.

Finally, development. Or more accurately the lack of one. Over the course of the faction storyline, you get to see and learn new things regarding your “mentor”, whether that be the childish curiosity of Seiran, the humor and dedication of Tybalt, or the reluctant admiration and friendship of Forgal, the three characters develop from what they seemed when you first met them. Trahearne, on the other hand, does not develop. You do not learn anything new about him, despite interacting more with him than with the previous three combined. He doesn’t reveal any flaws, his abhorrently bland voice doesn’t confer any new emotions, and he seems perpetually stuck in a character limbo where nothing happens. From the moment you meet him his character is as good as it’s going to get, and whether you’re satisfied with that character or not, it doesn’t change the fact that it doesn’t develop from there.

Those are my three reasons to dislike the character. If I were to rewrite the character, this is what I’d do:

• Revoice him from the ground up, make sure he can convey fear, friendship, trust, authority, all the necessary range of emotions for a character that’s meant to be your friend, superior, and advisor all in one.
• Introduce him earlier in the storyline, maybe have him visit or briefly partake in a mission for one of the orders. Make him get to know the PC as well as the PC’s partner. Make him mourn partner’s death.
• Give the character flaws, and let the PC be aware of them and help alleviate them temporarily. “I may not be good enough” is NOT SUFFICIENT. One suggestion is to make Trahearne afraid of personally engaging in open combat.

I’m sure that with time, I, and certainly the rest of the community as well, could establish a full list of what we’d like Trahearne to be and how we’d like to see him become that – but alas, hindsight is a beautiful and often pointless thing. At best we might be able to make our voice heard and prevent ANet from making the same mistake, but I fear Trahearne will always remain… mister Blandvoice Scholarboss.

“Probably caused by : AuthenticAMD”

Do you have any AMD and/or Radeon components in your system (stupid question, it was right there in the first post), and if so, could you list them and their driver versions (if applicable)?

Le edit: Looks like a 124 error, which is usually defective hardware, memory, processor, or overheating. Rarely, very rarely, it could be driver related, but no point excluding it as a possibility. Here’s a link for some possible solutions:
http://www.faultwire.com/solutions-fatal_error/The-system-encountered-an-uncorrectable-hardware-error-0x00000124-*1289.html

That’s awesome, Bill. Thanks.

I would honestly stick with speedy kits if you do a lot of WvW or if you dislike running downtime in PvE.

lunyboy.8672:

I built a full compliment of auto healing traits, runes (dolyak), skills (heal turret for stacking), and a sigil for life stealing on crits (with the old omnomberry ghosts, additionally) and I wasn’t regenerating enough HP to outheal more than one mob in Orr.

Were you dodging and using your available CC abilities? Apart from veterans and champions, I definitively outheal any damage I get from a single Orrian mob – and I don’t even build my Engie around healing.

Just caught a sloppy mistake in my previous statement which has now been rectified. :P

No worries, I’m happy to help.

Also, for the guy who wanted more golem for the golem phone (LIGHTNING FOR THE LIGHTNING TURRET, GOLEM FOR THE GOLEM PHONE!), I also stumbled across this in my search:

http://picosong.com/npP9/

The golems actually play that song specifically when the day-and-night cycle switches from day to night night to day. A little extra info. Also, I’m pretty sure that the ditty is part of, or at least inspired by, Snaff’s Workshop from the OST.

As for the ditty…

http://picosong.com/npYE/

It’s been slightly edited, as far as I can tell, so it just says “good morning” three times, rather than the (I think) “Bonjour. Good morning. Guten morgen.”

I’ll look around some more to see if I can find the original.

Le edit: Nope, can’t seem to find a proper recording of the original. Might possibly do it myself if I find myself with an extra supply of time units, but don’t count on it.

Kevlar Eater.1985:

Power Gloves – they’re so bad.

Got the reference.

In fact, got the reference, the popcorn, and the time to watch it again. Will proceed to doing so now.

Specterryu Quipter.8412:

Back pack regenerator is pointless, it heals for almost nothing.

Incorrect. It heals for 125 per second, which is comparable to the Regeneration boon (which, at level 80, heals for 130 + (0.125 * HealPow) per second. The fact that both stack means you have a pretty decent heal-over-time setup, which is able to outheal up to six stacks of Bleeding, assuming for simplicity no Healing Power or Condition Damage modifiers.

Do not underestimate regeneration.

Nerf, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not soe,
For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,
Weak’n not, poore nerf, nor yet canst thou nerf mee.
From patche and fix, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with class-change doe goe,
Rest of their names, and chars deliverie.
Thou art slave to Whine, Chance, bugs, and desperate devs,
And dost with flamer, naydes, and elixirie dwell,
And trait change, or range can make us nerf’d as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell’st thou then?
One short patche past, wee wake eternally,
And nerf shall be no more; Nerf, thou shalt be nerfed.

-John Donne on GW2 Engineers, ca 1610

Dustfinger.9510:

I discovered that a-net specifically ordained all engineers to be using iron legion tech because iron legion pioneered the class. […] the steampunk tech of asura engineers fits the lore. even inquest use iron legion tech as well as magitech turrets. which furthers the idea that iron legion tech is new to asura. Not something they used to have and gave up because it became outdated.

That is assuming asuran engineers do not innovate. Which would be against asuran nature to begin with; they acquire, improve, and re-re-release. Such is their society.

Yes, steampunk might’ve suited asura engineers once, but we built a floating city out of what was once but a theorem by a Statics runt who was ridiculed for his desire to make items float. Geniuses do not settle for “working”.

I still stand by my previous point, however, that race-specific turrets are not currently possible from a technical standpoint. Lore-wise there is a basis, if not a requirement, for it – but we must all use some degree of suspension of disbelief already, so one more thing should not be too much to ask.

At this point it’s basically arguing semantics(log). Modern age versus industrial age, more advanced versus less advanced, it’s all irrelevant to the core of the matter.

The point is “should different races have different looking turrets?”

I’m willing to say yes to the asura part of this, but there are also some difficulties in implementing it. First one I can think of (and the only one I’ll jot down; haven’t had breakfast or coffee yet) is that if one race gets unique looking turrets, every race needs to have them. For the sylvari, sure, that’s easy. There’s already a seed turret in the game, so with a few variations on the skin that’s sorted. Asura, also easy, just make variations of things like the asura lightning turret. Charr, that’s the design we know now. Humans and norn, though, don’t really have any technology to speak of that isn’t directly taken from the charr. That’d be a bit harder to pull off.

Just, please cease arguing semantics(log).

Like Ilithis Mithilander, I have to say, once you try wireless you’re never going back. Got myself a Logitech G930 close to a year ago because my old Creative headset broke (and I do mean broke, it snapped one of the earpieces off so it hung by its cord… sad day), thinking I’d only use it at the actual computer, but now I find myself playing music on it whenever I’m away from the computer. Doing the laundry, cleaning, cooking, you name it.

As for recommendations, the G930 is good enough. It has its issues though, and in its 7.1 surround sound mode it chews through battery like it’s ice cream in the desert. I’ve also recently started doubting the power of its internal audio card, particularly while multitasking sound. A proper audio card would probably be better if you want the crispest audio. For voice comm it does a great job, though, IMO. It does get rather hot while charging, and leaves you with a snazzy line across your hair if you wear them as long as I do. :P

Final judgment, I’d say the G930 is good if you just want it for voice comm and/or wireless audio. If you’re concerned about getting the best out of music and game audio, you should probably find another headset.

I hear a lot of whistling.

Whenever I’m on my ranger, I hit the Attack command over and over and over again to see if I can get my asura to whistle a proper melody. I’m starting to think she’s tone deaf.

Pretty sure Squall Leonhart was spot on with the non-Unicode language.

Go to your Control Panel, pick Region and Language (or if you’re viewing it in category mode, click the text “Change display language” under the heading “Clock, Language, and Region”), and go to the Administrative tab. Click “Change system locale…” and set the language you want your computer to use for non-Unicode text. Note that this requires you to be logged in as an administrator. Click OK, then OK/Apply, and then restart your system. Should be good to go after that.

PS. If it doesn’t work, having the non-Unicode language set in a particular way shouldn’t affect you that much, but if you want to restore it, just follow the same instructions and pick what you had previously, save and reboot.

I have experienced something similar. In my case, if I log out to the character select screen, then immediately log in to a different character before the character model has rendered, the game will crash. Regardless of what I’ve done prior to logging out. Can’t say I’d guarantee a 100% reproduction rate on my system, as I’m typically not in that much of a hurry, but I can safely say it has been happening far too often under those specific circumstances for it to be just blind (bad) luck.

Those were admittedly overclocked temps grabbed out of memory. Not sure what they’re like now that I’m down on stock.

Gods, after running OC’d for so long that sounds like a disease… stock. shudders

Little update on what’s happened since last:

*Crashes still only occur on one character
*Crashes still occur with two other flawless PSUs (both tested automatically and manually)
*Crashes still occur with other memory sticks (brand new, the old ones were good according to Memtest but I figured I might as well upgrade)

@basketcase:
I’m fairly sure (this is off the top of my head as I glanced at the BIOS yesterday but without looking for the voltage in particular) that the CPU voltage on my machine is defaulting to something akin to ~1.4. This seems reasonable as the stock voltage for the FX-8120 is 1.39. It does have a VRM heatsink, not that I think that causes my issue on only one character. Since I was adviced to try removing overclocking earlier in the thread, I did, and haven’t turned it on since – this includes turbo core. Finally, my CPU temp idle is ~25-30, running any game save GW2 ~53-56, running GW2 ~59-63. Celsius, natch. Haven’t actually checked if there’s any difference in temp if I play my thief versus any other character… might be worth looking into.

To be honest, at this point I’ve pretty much given up. It’s not like I can’t play the game, after all, only I’m not permitted to play a thief.

Hope you learn something from support, Ferdoc, that can help not only yourself, but also me and the numerous others I spotted glancing over the Tech Support forum having the exact same issue. I’ll fill in a ticket myself, and keep you updated.

Not sure if I have an empty CD lying around, my optical drive has hardly been used since I bought the computer. I’ll look around, and if I have one, I’ll give Memtest a spin. See what I did there? A spin? It’s funny because a CD… ah, forget it.

Stormcrow.7513:

Jigain try resetting your overclocks to stock and see how that goes. I know it sucks but GW2 seems to be finicky with OC’s.
The Thief scenario could be related to the zone or area your toon is in. I find some areas are higher demanding than others.
Do you have MSI afterburner installed? Do you use HWinfo for cpu temps?
Hard shutdowns are generally associated to the PSU. Did you run Memtest to see if you had a bad stick?

In the weekend, I’ll attempt some more gameplay with my thief – first to confirm whether or not the system shutdown still occurs, second to attempt to crash it again with stock CPU clock.
The zones have been all over the place. Just to name a few: Lion’s Arch, fountain; Queensdale, Beetletun; Quuensdale, Bandithaunt Caverns; Metrica Province, Loch Jezt; Caledon Forest, Ogham Wilds. As you can see, some of them include areas that are indeed very demanding, such as Lion’s Arch, but also places that have no reason being demanding, like Beetletun. Also, which zone I’m in does not correlate to my thief in particular – I have visited all of these areas with at least five other characters with either similar or severely more playtime, all uninterrupted by system shutdown.
I do not have MSI Afterburner installed currently, though I know I did at one point. For temperature and other sensor readings, I use AIDA64 – if you do not know of it, perhaps you have heard of its predecessor, Everest.
I have not run Memtest, but I have run Prime95 for over 12 hours (I was away that day, but I believe I came home after roughly 13 hours and 15 minutes), with no errors recorded whatsoever. Prime95 is a program designed to stress test the CPU primarily, in order to ensure system stability, especially after overclocking. It also catches memory errors, so I’m fairly confident that’s not an issue. I will run AIDA64’s cache and memory test, though, just to be sure.

Ferdoc.6429:

Jigain, here’s how I solved my issue. It turns out that while my BIOS is listed as compatible with CPU, it in fact wasn’t. I ended up updating to the F7 version (oldest known stable confirmed by multiple sources rather than just manufacturer).

Since then my comp has been running fine. What was the issue? My 6 cors ran as following at moderate useage.

Core 0 + 1 – 1507.2 MHz
Core 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 – 3.552.8mhz

All temps at 26C

Multiplier Core 0 + 1 – 1.5
Multiplier Core 2 + 3 + 4 +5 – 17.0

Core 0 and 1 were not responding and were calling for more and more power, without actually running. It was a fake kernel power supply issue.

Just for kittens and grins, check your BIOS version against known stables.

Where can I find which BIOS versions are stable? I don’t mind updating them again, but I am hesitant to downgrading them – the one I have is not even fully half a year old yet. Scratch that – I’m already running F7.

My thanks go out to both of you for your assistance.

I doubt it is the PSU – as stated, I did test it both with a multimeter and with a PSU tester I was kindly lent by an acquaintance who used to be a hobbyist in electronic maintenance and repair, and both came out perfectly fine. Again, this issue has not happened with any other application, before or since, and I haven’t made any hardware changes to the system since 13 months ago. If it is a case of GW2 drawing so much from the CPU that it’s destabilizing an otherwise stable system, perhaps this ought to be optimized?

Nevertheless, I’ll see if I can borrow a replacement PSU to temporarily switch to and see if it helps, but I’m not yet ready to spend money on a new good one – got a pretty hefty investment I need to make as it is in less than a week, and two more soon after that.

As an afterthought, if it really is a case of faulty PSU and we accept the theory that GW2 is the only application that reveals said fault, why would this happen only on my thief? I just find that theorem rather far-fetched. Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate.

Food for thought.

Post scriptum: You mention that GW2 draws massive power “in demanding scenarios in the game”. If we can assume picking a new skill and/or standing still in a village without any dynamic events going on does not qualify as a demanding scenario, our two problems, while similar, most likely do not share a cause.

I, too, am experiencing the exact same issue – or rather, I was roughly one month ago, at which point the frustration made me take a hiatus from playing. Started playing again two or so days ago, and haven’t experienced it yet, but then I have deliberately avoided the steps that repeatedly caused the system to shut down in the past.

The symptoms are as follows: At unpredictable intervals, and only when playing GW2, the system shuts down completely. Identical to cutting the power by pulling the plug or holding the power button. No fans spinning, no lights on. Once I’ve had the system hang instead, showing a black screen, no audio, system still running, which forced me to reboot – but that may be a different issue altogether.

The most interesting thing I’ve deduced so far is that it only seems to happen when I’m playing my low-level thief. It can happen at any point, whatever I’m doing – buying a new skill, standing around town, running past enemies, you name it. But when I play, say, my warrior or engineer, I can play for hours on end without any issues. On my thief, one hour is the longest I’ve been able to play before the system shuts down. No event is recorded in Windows Event Viewer or in the crash log for GW2.

My computer is a little over one year old now, and I haven’t made any changes hardware- or software-wise between when GW2 worked fine even for my thief, and when the system started crashing irregularly when playing said thief. It has an AMD FX-8120 for a processor (overclocked to 4.1GHz, confirmed stable for the past year as well as after rigorous testing less than two weeks ago), 2×4GB of Corsair DDR3 SDRAM, and 2xRadeon 6950s in Crossfire (with stock settings), as well as a powerful 750W PSU that, for all my testing, works perfectly fine no matter what stress I put on it. I’m experiencing similar temperatures as Ferdoc (perhaps a smidge lower), and other applications do produce higher quicker than GW2. Also similar to Ferdoc, I use a GA-970A-UD3 motherboard with the 10/22/12 BIOS. Other quick info: 64-bit Win7, Eyefinity 3-screen setup (running GW2 as windowed fullscreen on the center monitor only), stability tested using AIDA64 and Prime95 for 12+ hours.

I don’t think there’s anything else I can add, but there’s my addition to the issue. I’ll be keeping an eye on this thread to see if you need anything else from me. Hopefully this issue can be resolved.