Showing Posts For Serious.6940:

Loading Lions Arch SSD vs HDD

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

Yeah, ssd is definitely faster, I’ve noticed that myself. But i think you have another bottleneck somewhere as it takes me less than 10s to load regardless of area or server load. My rig is not top of the line, I have a 3.4ghz Intel 15 processor with 8gb of ram and a gtx600 video card. I have all my settings on max.

I assure you I dont have a bottle neck of any kind, my rig is also pretty much top of the line 3770k @ 4.5 GHz / Nvidia 680 / MSI z77a-gd65 / 16gb ram etc etc…..

It was amazing how much an SSD effected the loading times in gw2 ive never really appreciated it till when I saw the results haha.

10s for a HDD to load any part of the game regardless or server load ?? Are you sure ?? Thats one dam fine HDD you got there son

No it’s an ssd and my rig is behind yours so I’m not sure why you’re getting longer load times than me, I was even thinking about upgrading to the i7 from my i5. My only other thought is maybe I’m closer to the server than you, or am getting better routing? Do you know your ping times? I get 20-30ms for the most part.

i7 BARELY performs better than i5. Stick with it.

Good to know, thanks.

I 7 has 4 cores plus 4 part cores. Unfortunately GW2 seems to be single threaded. That means the only performance gain is the difference in clock speed. If it was fully multi-threaded then there would be a performance boost.

Did they mention that defragging an SSD will kill it?

No it won’t. What it will do is cause extra wear for no advantage.

Old HDs use a disk that has to turn to read the next piece of information, if the data is scattered across the disk then the time taken to move between pieces builds up significantly.

Older SSDs do have an issue with writes ‘wearing’ locations, but not with reads. Each location on an SSD can only take so many writes before there is a chance it will be damaged, although this is many thousands of reads per sector. To stop this modern drives have an integral routine to mark sectors that have been written to when freed. It will then assign a new sector to the reference the OS thinks it is writing to. This massively reduces the issue but means that the computer isn’t writing to where it thinks it is. There is no way for the defrag program to make files continuous like it can on a disk. Nor is there any way to compact the programs to the fastest part of the disk, there isn’t one anyway. Because of this defragging is effectively useless and can be detrimental to the life of an SSD.

I would suggest anyone getting an SSD also switch off indexing in windows and move things like swap files to a second, normal HD. If you have enough real memory then this can be switched off completely too.

For that matter deleting data from an SSD is problematic, even with a specialist program. It will write over where it thinks the data is stored but is more than likely to miss it completely.

WvW notice about Scarlet

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Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

I’ve just put up a near identical thread for the Moto advert in that forum.

They send a load of mails to you, why do you need a constant reminder if you aren’t interested?

[POLL] Living Story or Expansion

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Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

The answer is to overlap it so each piece is there for 4 weeks but the next appears after 2 weeks.

So far the living story has been mostly farming events and completely unconnected to the dragons (who have probably got bored waiting and gone off on holiday).

To be brutally honest I don’t care which, providing they get back to the story lines that came with the game. For that matter how about some stuff from the Orders?, It doesn’t have to advance the story.

A new full area cave system would be nice too, especially if convoluted and on multiple levels. This could be accessed from a present PvE area and be underneath it. An Asuran city that was overrun by destroyers and you have to find some artifacts/weapon parts/plans? Sabotage is always a good option. Each order could have a different reason for going in there.

Perhaps one needs the area cleared out and sends in an intrepid team to do it? A team instance would allow them to bring back vanquishing, albeit for a single area.

Hmm, waffled a bit…sorry.

Side of screen advert

in Super Adventure Box: Back to School

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

I’m very happy for those who enjoy this additional sub game, may they get much enjoyment and rewards from it. Unfortunately I didn’t like the first installment and don’t want a message continually reminding me that it is back for a second time.

Yes, there are still account owners who don’t know it is up, but I do and I’d rather have that piece of screen clear for other things.

So how about an option to remove/hide it completely? That goes for the other events messages too.

Magic Find [merged]

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

As for wasting time/money getting expensive magic find gear, you aren’t losing the gear itself and get to choose your new stats anyway. So your investments there aren’t wasted.

So what is the freaking problem? They’ve made this transition as smooth as possible for everyone.

Seems that impatience is the only legitimate concern here.

My problem is we clearly didn’t have any choice as regards how the runes were changed, it was imposed on us. While those with Traveler runes are clearly ahead in value those with Pirate runes have ones that are effectively worthless – they aren’t worth salvaging the armor for so what we will have to do is put another set of runes over the top.

Had they given the option, ‘hey, we’ll be generous, you can have traveler runes too!’ I would have been much more happy.

Repeating magic find warning

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

Found it, a rare underwater spear I never use anyway. Still I don’t need messages repeatedly popping up at me when I’m playing. Once is enough.

Get rid of 'ruined ore'

in Suggestions

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

There are several issues around this, some people just say use the oricalcum tools for everything. The main problem with that is people who are farming are also trying to save money.

There are people that claim an advantage when leveling in using a lower pick to gain XP, even though the material is ruined. I don’t really see any advantage in that. With the change to make tools account bound there should be little issue in handing them to a lower level character.

When I find ruined ore, ruined plant fibre or wood in my inventory I get p—-ed off. Ruined whatever isn’t fun. To be honest I’ve never heard of ore being ruined, it’s all useable, except in games. Seems some games developers reuse stupid rules rather create new ideas.

Just make the gathering fail and install an error message that someone has used the wrong tool instead.

Oh, and no OK button, just fade the box out after a few seconds.

Anet repeating mistakes with currencies/mats

in Crafting

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

The problem is even worse with the watchwork sprockets, I’ve got a few stacks of those littering my storage. Problem is each stack makes one item, 12 stacks makes just 2 sets of Superior runes. There should have been a way of reducing them to a single item and a separate storage slot.

Repeating magic find warning

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

I seem to be getting a warning that I have items with no stats. The problem is this is on characters who has no magic find items and so can’t change them. The message keeps reappearing and pestering me despite my closing it down. Needless to say I’m not happy about it.

Anyone else getting this issue?

Any way of getting rid of the kitten thing permanently?

Magic Find [merged]

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

Magic find overall I don’t mind. It means I don’t have worse stats just because I want maximum gains.

Superior Rune of the Traveller, great item. People who own them will be pleased.

Superior Rune of the Pirate, terrible. ‘This stinks like a skritt cesspool’ comes to mind. A lot of people seem to agree with me, the price has dropped from a high of 40 silver down to well under 5. I thought they were going to give some choice. I personally would have much preferred precision than power, and why didn’t we get a 25% speed boost?

Returned TP items

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

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Serious.6940

You apparently sent back all the items that have magic find so people could chose a new stat and re-post them…

…Just one question…

…What happened to the 5% listing fee?

Suggestion: Lets have 3 day matches.

in WvW

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

2×3 day match ups per week with one day off is another option.

STEALTH stomping needs to stop.

in WvW

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

A lot of classes have stability to prevent certain downed skills working, perhaps the downed skills should be changed to work regardless?

Invisible kittening is my pet hate. Characters who are invisible should not be able to perform this act and at least a delay before they can do it when they become visible.

The supposed invisibility trap is worthless too. Then the number of times I’ve nearly killed a thief just to see them escape into invisibility and attack me again later is ridiculous. The devs really need to reconsider the whole issue of thieves and invisibility.

Town Clothing (thoughts)

in Suggestions

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

Some good ideas.

I would prefer that ‘town clothing’ could be used as in GW1, so that people can wear it anywhere and even fight in it. I do use the look a little but the weapons and stance also so town clothes shouldn’t show in WvW or sPvP.

They should be available through the HoM or similar once bought so multiple characters can use them or at least free replacements obtained. Perhaps even external designers could be allowed to sell products cheaply?

Viper - The Legendary Dagger

in Suggestions

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

Why not have the snake head as the blade point? Then it can bite the foes.

Thief with Rifle

in Suggestions

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

If thieves…

Lose all invisibility
No speed boosts
The 2 skill on dagger requires a target
No invisible finisher.

Then I’d agree to the rifle. Range as longbow on ranger.

The Unlimited Gathering Tools

in Suggestions

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

The Copper Fed Salvage-o-matic is probably the most dubious item in the whole game. Taken as being the equivalent of the 88 copper salvage kit you save just about a half a copper per use. Then I assume you have to switch it between characters (travel to bank, put it in, get it out on second toon). Which would cost more on average than just using the standard kits. It should have been 1 copper per use or even free.

As to the gathering tools, I agree. I might have bought a set for them if they had been account bound.

Player should to be in one guild at a time

in Suggestions

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

I represent one guild for PvE and a different one for WvW. The WvW one could not fill my needs for PvE and the PvE has little interest in WvW. Unfortunately this is the way of things.

Then I have 2 accounts, one in Europe one in the US. They are both split in guild representation.

All guilds I am a member of know of my duality and accept it. If you think differently then perhaps you should reconsider your own attitude. I have been in a guild that was suspicious about representing other guilds. I left, they lost a capable member.

Let Ascended Weapon Replace Precursors

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

So basically everyone craft a precursor within the time-gated 2 weeks? And instead of dozens of legendaries in every corner, we see everyone run around with multiple ones?

No thanks. Worst idea I’ve ever heard, no wonder devs don’t take these suggestions seriously.

In a couple of years everyone that wants one will have a legendary anyway I know of someone who already has 6 and another who has just done their second.


As to the price. There is at least one precursor available relatively cheaply, the trident Venom. Few want it because they can’t show it off in LA, same as with the other underwater legendaries

Why 80 players?

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

About two weeks ago I visited the claw of Jormag, it was early in the morning and few people were on. There were precisely 3 of us. After 10 minutes we gave up, no point in trying to do it. It wasn’t that we were not skillful, we were, we stayed alive close in to the ice champions. The problem was they spawned so quickly we couldn’t even think of trying anything against the Claw. The Champions gave no rewards at all.

I passed through there again last week. There was me and a commander. We didn’t even bother.

The tougher Jormag has killed the event. There are better rewards from much easier events.

Ranger - good class, or are others better?

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

Everyone has different preferences as to class. Unlike most I prefer different professions in different situations. As to the ranger being best that depends on how you play the game. I have all the professions available and use them all.

Rangers are good In PvE but all classes can be used there. Against champions and world bosses their weaker armor makes long range attack a big advantage. The pet is a useful tank against normal foes and veterans but tends to die quickly against higher ones.

They are useful in WvW but their pet is still weak due to the AI. Then the Necro’s minions are even worse. In both cases the GW1 versions were better. Their ranged attacks and ability to use speed is a bonus but most of their ranged skills are single target.

Let Ascended Weapon Replace Precursors

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

The precursor should have been the reward at the end of doing everything, mapping, dungeons and storyline. Then you should have got to choose a soulbound on acquire weapon and go hunting stuff to upgrade it. The actual Legendary should have automatically been soulbound on acquire too, as with the greatest it can ONLY be made by the user.

As it is the things are bits of gaudy tat which can be bought and thus anyone with a large enough wallet can visit the TP and get one instantly.

Useless soulbound drops.

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

The first one might have been CoE, was a long time ago and I haven’t been in either recently. My main problem is with them soul binding rather than account. Even then getting one as a drop can be useless if you don’t want to use it on a character.

The second was definitely the mystic forge.

Time Gating Is -> NOT FUN

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

Even worse the charged quartz is account bound and the weapons produced are also account bound. If you play on several accounts this requires you to craft your needs on each account. Why do I have to repeat craft leveling just because I have more than 1 account? Why more than 1? Because I have friends on both sides of the Atlantic and don’t want to pay the transfer fees every few hours!

There are also people out there with no interest at all in crafting. They might want to buy the weapons produced but can’t.

Useless soulbound drops.

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

Over the last year I have had two Superior Runes of the Golemancer drop. Both of these were received by necromancers, to which they are fairly useless. The first was received during a fractals run.

The second was dropped to a level 3 storage toon using the mystic forge. I keep my spare runes and sigils on the character and can’t be bothered to waste time switching them to another character.

Both are effectively worthless at the moment. I have no interest in boosting the storage character’s level to a point where it could actually use the item. Even if I did level it there are better options for necros and where would I store all my stuff?

I suggest switching as many dropped items as possible to unbound or at least account bound so they can be used on a different character. If neither is possible then remove them as a drop and arrange some alternate reward for those who have already got them.

Make the Commander flag Account based

in Suggestions

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

It would have been better to make this a guild item paid for with influence. An instant payment followed with a maintenance to keep it active. A larger guild should be able to keep several active. If the person leaves the guild the commander title would be retained by the guild and could be issued to someone else. The guild would have to think if they wanted to keep it active and would provide an ongoing drain on resources rather than a single done and it’s over hit.

Splitting the commander into WvW and PvE variants might be an idea but would bring other issues. I think it is still worth considering.

Individuals buying these is equivalent to rich people buying their commission. What you end up with is a lot of people with more money than sense running around with one. European armies dropped it a long time ago because incompetent but rich people bought their way to the top and it should go in GW2 as well.

Name 3 "easy" improvements for WvW

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Serious.6940

2. adjustable culling, let us decide how much culling we get so we can max computer settings

The problem might be less your computer’s ability to process information than their server’s ability to send it.

2.) If your server is leading in points, everyone in your server gets a server bonus of +33% MF, +33% Exp Gain, +33% Karma Gain, +33% Influence Gain, +33% Gold found on drops and +33% more tokens gained from dungeons.

This may be brilliant for the servers in the lead, but how will it encourage those on the other servers to join in? The most common situation is the leading server has advantages anyway.

This also brings in the orbs, which several people have asked to be returned. The reason this was removed was simply that the leading world, who usually ended up with all 3 orbs would have massive advantages anyway without this extra advantage.

(edited by Serious.6940)

Name 3 "easy" improvements for WvW

in WvW

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

1) Name plates of dead players greyed out for much better overview.
Seriously, how much spamming of skills on nothing would that avoid? It would also likely improve frame rates for everyone.

I would alter that to dead enemy players, Trying to rez someone on a battlefield is bad enough now without extra confusion, but it is a good option.

Loot bags drop into your inventory and you double click to open them. In the heat of battle it is very easy to miss a loot bag, some drop through the surface so that you have to be standing close in order to detect their presence.

No ‘finish them’ from stealth. You must be visible for this and stay visible afterwards for a minimum of 5 seconds.

Nurf some of the highest dps builds, or put a maximum rate on damage someone can suffer. Losing 24K health in under 2 seconds from a pair of Thieves attacking from stealth is nasty.

I also agree with Dayra, neutral mobs should not be auto-targeted – ever. It is far too easy to hit something out of view you can’t see, especially with culling.

(edited by Serious.6940)

Original culling behavior has been restored.

in WvW

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

How to Reduce Culling.

To reduce culling, or even remove culling, Anet need to reduce how much data is needed to be sent to the client. The following are some examples;
Enemy are seen as a single type of creature (a single race type),
Stop sending data relating to each individual enemy’s dye selections,
Stop sending data relating to each individual enemy’s armor,
Stop sending data relating to each individual enemy’s weapons.

Make all the enemy the same creature model (while accounting for class) without all the pretty details (that each individual selects and modifies to their own taste) that we currently have.

I would say that race should be included but that shouldn’t really need to be repeated very often. All enemies can be represented by a standard class armor and weapons similarly. This data can be temporarily stored locally until the culling stops.

I certainly don’t want to see someone’s nice Legendary Greatsword but then I don’t have one, an option to cull the effects would be nice.

There is no point in sending data concerning enemy dye selection anyway, they are uniformly colored red by the system.

Culling the quantity of data rather than the number of characters displayed should be the priority, beyond that friends should be culled before enemies. As has been said they aren’t going to kill you and are noted on the local map.

Annoying Sound Bug

in Bugs: Game, Forum, Website

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

I very much doubt it Siliconhobbit, if it was it would have to be encoded inside the game by the makers, it is therefore not true.

This is still an issue and hasn’t been fixed yet. It is an everyday occurrence during heavy sound periods. Many others complain of the same problem. Could we have an update on the expected delivery for the fix that was touted three months ago? To be honest not having any sound during these bouts would be preferable to the present situation.

(edited by Serious.6940)

Sound of pets annoyingly high compared to other effects

in Audio

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

I would add the tiny jagged horror minion that gets created by the Reanimator Trait. Actually this doesn’t live very long and is almost worthless but has the volume of a huge horse galloping. The sound, as with the fire spirit summoning is amplified in an enclosed area to a point of me having to temporarily remove my headphones.

What are the lines you hear the most?

in Audio

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

There are two kids around the bank, one says something like ‘but, do you ever wonder why our parents used to fight?’ and gets the reply ‘I don’t really care’. This has become one of my pet irritations in the game as it seems to repeat every few seconds.

I wonder if there can be other options, I’m sure plenty of people would be willing to voice random discussion quotes and sign a royalty waver. Downloading them over time would save on excessive bandwidth requirements.

WvW needs to be 4 teams, not 3.

in WvW

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Serious.6940

How about 2v2? That would be interesting.

I think it would be great, and actually easier to balance than 1v1 or 1v1v1 too.

Teaming a Euro server with an American one might be an option there. It would spread the numbers available during quiet time periods. You can balance them a little by limiting the overall number of people in WvW but also limiting the percentage from each world, so the most a world could supply is about 70% of maximum.

Unfortunately the maps would have to be changed too. perhaps to one 2X3 and three 2×2 ones? That would take time and I’m unsure if they are willing to put in the resources needed to do that at the moment. It would inevitably have to be a WvW expansion.

Do you want a skilled game?

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Serious.6940

I would rather keep the downed state and remove the ‘finish him’ option instead. That makes it far more difficult for some classes to survive being downed than others.

Aurora Glade vs Abaddon's Mouth vs Jade Sea

in WvW

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Serious.6940

And a happy new year to you too egalon, you can step on my necro’s marks anytime! >:D

I suspect that a lot of people are not playing WvW as much during the Christmas period, it certainly is an interesting match and can be the most exciting area of the game. Some guilds have suffered considerable absence which may have affected performance.

This is still the closest WvW week I’ve been in but has also shown the same balancing issues. The enemies have been fickle, sometimes deciding not to attack another world then doing so some time later.

There have been numerous suggestions that some few players do ‘cheat’. I try to report any instances of this but action is up to the anet team. I think that a player should be warned before being banned for cheating, although mostly it should be short term and more a sin bin option. Mostly I hope that effort is being made to fix the bugs and avoid them getting back into the game when a new build is released using previously corrected code, which is happening rather too often.

Great idea for upgrades?

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Serious.6940

Perhaps a scaling of value, the more upgraded the bigger the reward. That could be added to according to time held. A fully upgraded keep that hasn’t been taken for some time should be worth more to the invading force than one that has just changed hands.

The addition could be in WvW points rather than silver to avoid inflating the economy.

Of course an upgraded place should also be worth more in points to the defender too to help compensate for the expenditure of time and effort.

does anyone like underwater fighting

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Serious.6940

I like it but it could be a lot better. Many underwater weapons are not as good as their equivalent dry land options. Best for me personally seems to be the Necro with trident.

Apparently thieves are OP...

in WvW

Posted by: Serious.6940

Serious.6940

I think that once a thief engages a target, there should be a cooldown before they can re-enter stealth…

There is although it is way to short, it should be more similar to other popular MMO’s not needing mentioned. Make the stealth cool down after engaging longer and then give the Thiefs a 60 sec cooldown vanish utility skill again similar to the other MMO’s.

IMO I would prefer hidden characters to be removed from stealth if they are hit and not allow it to be reapplied for at least 5 seconds after being hit.

A second issue that perhaps should not be allowed is killing a downed player from stealth.

I’ve been ganked on multiple occasions by a pair of thieves or by a thief plus mesmer. This makes it incredibly difficult to survive as a glass cannon. It is easy to say dodge but by the time you know about the attack and are able to react your health can be down to zero. If they don’t get you first time they restealth and try again, trying to guess when that attack is going to come isn’t at all easy and you only have 2 dodges.

I log and end up dead...wtf?

in WvW

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Serious.6940

I have had several similar situations. Sometimes you are aggroed for quite a while after an action or even stuck – logging out and back in cures the stuck in aggro but you also die. The problem is you need to notice that you are still aggroed.

Another instance is where I’ve been involved in fighting and the client has crashed. This often dumps your dead body back in LA when you log back in.

The Battle of Dreaming Bay

in WvW

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Serious.6940

Presently the points are going Aurora +535, Ring of Fire +85, Gunnar’s +70. Aurora has almost 4 times the total score to what Gunnar’s has and getting close to the combined score of RoF and Gunnar’s.

We certainly aren’t winning. That doesn’t mean I’m not fighting, I am in Gunnar’s Hold Garrison as I type having recently been involved in retaking it.

What I object to is suggestions of people deserting or being traitors. They make a free choice as to which world to fight for. I, for my part, make a choice of who I want to play with.

tichai says ‘It was good to see our former allies spend so much time on our borderlands, something they did not do a lot of when they were with us’. Obviously someone was not in WvW at the same times I was.

KISS has made their choice, please respect it.

The Battle of Dreaming Bay

in WvW

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Serious.6940

A great work of fiction, unfortunately it does nothing for MARA’s reputation or our relationships.

I have been on WvW at 7am defending bay to my toons death – when the only other 2 people there were KISS members outnumbered ten to one. We then attempted to defend every other place we could. Where were you then?

I was there when Aurora Glade finally took the place, having gone out and defended the front gate area with just the NPCs to help. Six dead attackers later I returned to find that they had gone through the wall from the north. There was no-one left alive. I then attacked the whole of the Aurora Glade army solo – and, of course, died.

Over today I saw more people on than I’ve seen in weeks, so perhaps there has been some benefit from KISS leaving. Then, perhaps Gunnar’s should have been thinking why was KISS leaving? Perhaps some of those presently visiting WvW could have spent some more time there.

Now I’m left wondering if MARA is the guild for me still, or that Gunnar’s Hold is the world that I should be wasting my time defending.