Guild Wars 2

Hello everyone! I’m a new GNU/Linux user (primarily use Ubuntu-based distros) and I would like to provide insight on how to maximize performance using Wine and AMD Hardware for Guild Wars2. I spent roughly 8 months testing various commands and arguments, hardware, and performance. I created this post on WineHQ as well to ensure that there is a record of these tests in various places so that people can enjoy GW2 in GNU/Linux.

I would rate Guild Wars 2 as a solid GOLD+. I have been playing the game for 8+ months and performance for AMD hardware is not great without the tweaks below.

I have used an AMD 5870m in an Alienware laptop throughout my playtime and now average between 16-60 FPS. The worst area of the game is the Maguuma zones. The Maguuma zones drop my framerate to around 16 and sometimes less.

I used Xubuntu 16.04 with Oibaf PPA, Wine+Gallium Nine (Direct 3D tracker), Radeon-Profile, and various arguments that are built into Guild Wars 2, they are:

PPAs:
Oibaf: ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers
Gallium Nine Dev Tree: ppa:oibaf/gallium-nine
Wine+Nine: ppa:commendsarnex/winedri3
(Follow instructions, ensure DRI3 is enabled and you use winecfg to use Gallium Nine)
Radeon-Profile: ppa:trebelnik-stefina/radeon-profile
(Use “Auto” and “Performance”)

-forwardrenderer
-dx9single
-assetsrv 174.35.71.9:80
-autoplay

The -forwardrenderer argument specifically targets AMD GPUs and increases my framerate dramatically (THANK YOU ANET). Without it, I lose roughly 10-15 FPS. The -dx9single argument tends to give me more consistent gameplay event after changing the CPU governor to “performance” without using it. The -assetsrv stops the launcher from crashing and will make it download EVERYTHING without ever crashing! I have used this argument in fullscreen and virtual desktop, everything downloads and runs perfect. The argument -autoplay simply launches the game automatically after clicking “Login” thus a mere quality of life improvement.

I want to personally thank ANet for the -forwardrenderer option. This truly made the difference in playing GW2 on my OS of choice. I do hope you folks plan to improve this as well one day. Thank you.

If anyone needs help, I would be happy to provide assistance as best I can.

Cheers,
-Padre

I love the idea of fist-based weapons—Katar, Nekodes, et al. It would be really cool to see something like this implemented.

My favorite maps are—Silverwastes and Dragon Stand. I felt that these two maps are so well put together and cohesively epic in scale. ANet did a great job with these.

5 Active Late Night Weekend Players [PvE/Raid]

Greetings!

I’m looking for a guild a group of us can call home; five of us. I’m doing the legwork for our playgroup to find a guild that best aligns with what we are looking for. We are all over the age of 25 and have been playing MMOs since the Asheron’s Call days; raiding since World of Warcraft. We enjoy joking around and having good fun over voice chat while gaming. However we understand that when we are progressing, it is important to pay attention, maximize build for the encounter, and pay attention to the raid leader. We enjoy all aspects of GW2 and look forward to finding a community we can call “home.”

The five of us bring the following raid-ready professions—Engineer, Mesmer, Elementalist, Thief, and Guardian

We are primarily weekend gamers.
Late nights on Fridays and Saturdays (late night EST/PST)
We prefer raid times for 10-11 pm EST start on Fridays and/or Saturdays, later is okay :-)

We are power and completionist gamers.
We enjoy progressing our characters to the maximum potential. A number of us are working on Ascended and Legedary Weapons.

We are looking for a guild that enjoys all aspects of the game but has a strong focus on progression raiding.

We are not looking for any particular size guild. We just want to grow with a core group of people that enjoy the game.

Another suggestion…

I use a number of Guild Wars 2 event timers websites. Is there anyway possible to have some kind of timer system integrated into the game? Perhaps some text would be best to keep with immersion. For example,

A world-wide message…. “The Shatterer breaks it’s way through the Blazeridge Mountains meeting those that seek to face it….”

Greetings! I believe this is my first on this particular forum; not a big fan of posting things, more of a reader. I’m a firm believer that any feedback is great feedback when it’s constructed in a way that can be understood. I have been a healthcare facility manager for roughly 4 years and understand how important feedback is regardless of the source; patients, physicians, staff, etc. I had an excellent experience last night which I truly wanted to share with the ANET team.

I have been playing MMOs since Legends of Kesmai and Asheron’s Call. I played Asheron’s Call for a very long time; oddly enough big part of my preteen and teenage years! Asheron’s Call kept our group engaged for a very long time. We also played nearly every single MMO that released since that time as well. We have been trying to find a home since World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade but that meets our demanding lifestyles—work, marriage, kids, growing up, et al. We have extensive play times in many MMOs before we settled here.

I have been playing Guild Wars 2 for probably between six and eight months. I bought the game when it originally released but it wasn’t until Heart of Thorns that things stuck for me and the people I brought to the game with me. I love the expansion content and honestly, everything about the game. I have to hand it to ANet. I never thought we would find a game that truly worked around our schedules. We finally found our home and a place that we can all get together once or twice a week and game. The game has provided us with many hours of entertainment and I want to say, “Thank you.” Keep up the great work folks.

I wanted to truly thank you for one piece of content that I managed to complete last night. I saw some groups for a place called “Dragon’s Stand.” I joined them and went out there. This particular content that leads up to the zone-wide event was truly spectacular and completely blew my mind. It was epic in scope, scale, and teamwork. I haven’t had this much fun in an MMO in a very long time. Our playgroup is able to do every aspect of content that this game offers without having to rearrange our lives. The previous sentence sums up how my playgroup feels about the game you have built the best.

Again, thank you ANet.

I have a few ideas/suggestions/criticisms that are more or less quality of life issues.

1. Legendary Weapons
I really enjoyed the different aspects of getting through the achievements. I was not a fan of gathering all of the materials and such but the objective-based aspects of these collections was top-notch. I worked on “The Juggernaut” precursor called “The Colossus.” The problem with this content is that you are left hanging after the completion of the “precursor” item. I received an in-game mail that tells me to “go to the mystic forge…” I did that but there is a complete lack of direction on what to do or how to make “The Juggernaut.”

It wasn’t until I used the Wiki to find out what I needed to do and it’s quite confusing with all of the materials I need. I think it would be better if there was some kind of text explaining what needs to be done after the “precursor” crafting. In addition, the materials/items needed for the final version are quite staggering. Perhaps that can be reduced or an alternative means of obtaining some of these items be instituted?

2. Profession Specific – Engineer
I play an Engineer and truly love the class. However, I feel as though the “Gyro” aspect of the class is underwhelming. The gyros don’t seem to follow me all that well; too slow and don’t path correctly at times (Blast Gyro, in particular). I hope there are some plans to make these Gyros more effective. Perhaps one approach could be to allow the “turret” traits to also affect the Gyros through an alternate effect of some sort? I’m not a game developer and won’t pretend to be. You folks do this for a living and I’m sure you know best!

I’m really excited about the addition of new content and even the next expansion. I hope that this post finds you well. There are times when we work all day and never get a thank you. I want to say, “Thank you” for providing me with quality entertainment that works around my schedule and thank you for being relatively “GNU-Linux” friendly and providing tutorials on the wiki as I game on Kubuntu.

Sincerely,
A thankful GW2 player.