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[Coolwhip]

I rarely, if ever, play a human in MMOs when there are good alternatives. Sadly, the majority of races in Guild Wars 2 are not appealing to me. I can see how people would like the Charr, Asura, and Sylvari, but they're just not for me.

Fortunately, Guild Wars 2 has one of the better human race designs I have seen in an MMO. I'm currently looking at rolling either a Human or Norn.

I'm on the same boat. I usually play female characters though, female Norn look wrong due to their size.

 

[RagingAvatar]

I'm confused.. I've preordered the Collector's Edition and therefore secured my early access.. Can I reserve my character name yet?

 

[Emitan]

<3 you Arenanet. Making my eventual switch to Linux a lot easier.

 

[Complistic]

I'm confused.. I've preordered the Collector's Edition and therefore secured my early access.. Can I reserve my character name yet?

Only people who played guild wars 1 have their GW1 names secure for reuse. No one will have any new gw2 names secure until the servers go up on the 25th for head start.

 

[Retro]

I'm confused.. I've preordered the Collector's Edition and therefore secured my early access.. Can I reserve my character name yet?

If you have characters in GW1 with names you like, and you've logged into it at least once this year (before July 31st), then those names will be held for you for a short period after launch.

Otherwise, there's no way to reserve any names. You'll have to be on the second the servers come up and try to snag the names you want.

If you pre-purchased the CE (Not just pre-ordered), then you should have access to the 3 day headstart. Which is good, because most of the prime names are gonna be gone within the first hour or so.

 

[RagingAvatar]

Thanks for the info guys - indeed, I do have the headstart.

 

[Retro]

Thanks for the info guys - indeed, I do have the headstart.

Then if you have some high-priority single-word names (those will go fastest) then I recommend you start clicking Login at midnight on the 25th and don't stop until it lets you in.

 

[ComputerMKII]

From what I've heard, it runs amazingly well with Bootcamp. I'll let you know when I play a bit on my dad's mac later this year.

But yeah, a dedicated Mac version would be great.

I'd rather we get DirectX 11 support.

 

[Retro]

I'd rather we get DirectX 11 support.

That too. While we're wishing for stuff, I wish the game was out this weekend and not next weekend...

I can't believe in 16 hours we're only going to have a week left.

 

[LkPr]

Then if you have some high-priority single-word names (those will go fastest) then I recommend you start clicking Login at midnight on the 25th and don't stop until it lets you in.

Didn't I read somewhere that the servers may be up as early as 3-hours prior to the head-start launch, to ensure that there isn't a huge crash at Midnight?

I don't have the source I thought I read it somewhere, possibly in this thread.

 

[LumpOfCole]

Every MMO race has to pander to a specific group:

Humans: People who aren't into fantasy mumbo jumbo and just want to play
Big furry: You want to be intimidating, but also have a soft side.
Small uguu race: For creepy people who will undoubtedly fill a sketchbook with disturbing art
Elves: You want your character to be fantastical, but not too much
Regular furry: For you know who.

Small uguu race

 

[ComputerMKII]

Didn't I read somewhere that the servers may be up as early as 3-hours prior to the head-start launch, to ensure that there isn't a huge crash at Midnight?

I don't have the source I thought I read it somewhere, possibly in this thread.

Source is ArenaNet's Facebook and Twitter.

What does uguu mean?

 

[shysaursoft]

The human capital is wonderful. I spent hours as a Charr just exploring the various districts, and trying to get into the Great Collapse. I love how each of the main roads is named after one of the gods, and themed appropriately. If only some SP games I know of would have this much detail and variety in their city locations.

 

[Retro]

Didn't I read somewhere that the servers may be up as early as 3-hours prior to the head-start launch, to ensure that there isn't a huge crash at Midnight?

I don't have the source I thought I read it somewhere, possibly in this thread.

Yeah, they tweeted that they may launch early to meet demand.

I should have clarified; the game was originally supposed to go live at 3AM Eastern time. With the three hour window, that makes it midnight. West Coasters will want to be spamming that login button right after dinner.

 

[LumpOfCole]

Source is ArenaNet's Facebook and Twitter.


What does uguu mean?

It's just chibi nonsense

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTGzW94JlGA

 

[Emitan]

Kawaii!

 

[Retro]

The human capital is wonderful. I spent hours as a Charr just exploring the various districts, and trying to get into the Great Collapse. I love how each of the main roads is named after one of the gods, and themed appropriately. If only some SP games I know of would have this much detail and variety in their city locations.

Yeah, I spent a lot of time in there too. Probably a good time to just link to my BWE Gallery: http://imgur.com/a/3ZG8I. Lots of shots of the Orphanage in there, which you don't get to see much of the interior of.

 

[Mr. Luchador]

Great seeing the screenshots. How do you guys get them looking so crisp? I've got max settings on, but they don't seem as good - is it Steam compressing them?

 

[ComputerMKII]

The human capital is wonderful. I spent hours as a Charr just exploring the various districts, and trying to get into the Great Collapse. I love how each of the main roads is named after one of the gods, and themed appropriately. If only some SP games I know of would have this much detail and variety in their city locations.

Yes, it's beautiful, but am I the only one who thinks the game is poorly optimized/does not make good use of your GPU?

Great seeing the screenshots. How do you guys get them looking so crisp? I've got max settings on, but they don't seem as good - is it Steam compressing them?

Use FRAPS/Bandicam/some similar program

 

[shysaursoft]

Great seeing the screenshots. How do you guys get them looking so crisp? I've got max settings on, but they don't seem as good - is it Steam compressing them?

I use Fraps, taking shots at 1080p, which then gets scaled down to 720p when I post it to Tumblr, which makes it look a bit nicer.

Yes, it's beautiful, but am I the only one who thinks the game is poorly optimized/does not make good use of your GPU?
Use FRAPS/Bandicam/some similar program

You're not wrong - it doesn't fully utilize the GPU yet, likely because they're still optimizing the CPU part. I read somewhere that they're using some new BSP middleware tech, and that they're still trying to get it working properly with the CPU before shunting all the geometry to the card. I wouldn't say it's not poorly optimized, I'd say it's still being optimized.

Yeah, I spent a lot of time in there too. Probably a good time to just link to my BWE Gallery: http://imgur.com/a/3ZG8I. Lots of shots of the Orphanage in there, which you don't get to see much of the interior of.

Nice shots! I really wish they'd let us mousewheel in until it's first-person, like Guild Wars 1. This whole /sleep thing to try and fudge the charracter (lol) out of the shot, is kinda annoying. I don't always want to have my beautiful kitty in the shot. Not always.



&#8220;Huh? What&#8217;s that thing you&#8217;re holding?&#8221;

 

[aramanKain]

I'm on the same boat. I usually play female characters though, female Norn look right due to their size.

FTFY. Snoo snoo beckons.

 

[Mr. Luchador]

Yes, it's beautiful, but am I the only one who thinks the game is poorly optimized/does not make good use of your GPU?


Use FRAPS/Bandicam/some similar program

I use Fraps, taking shots at 1080p, which then gets scaled down to 720p when I post it to Tumblr, which makes it look a bit nicer.

Thank you my Guildies.

 

[Deleted member 10571]

You're not wrong - it doesn't fully utilize the GPU yet, likely because they're still optimizing the CPU part.

Yeah so is this actually confirmed and true or still a relic of the first BWE and just guesswork by players?

It always comes up again and I didn't see any actual confirmation of it.

 

[Retro]

Nice shots! I really wish they'd let us mousewheel in until it's first-person, like Guild Wars 1. This whole /sleep thing to try and fudge the charracter (lol) out of the shot, is kinda annoying. I don't always want to have my beautiful kitty in the shot. Not always.

They've mentioned that first-person mode is one of the features they want to support. However, from the way they worded it (I'll have to dig up the exact comment) it sounded like they want to have actual first-person view (ala Elder Scrolls) where you're seeing your character's arms in front of you and such.

Personally I'd be happy with just a first-person HD auto-hide UI camera mode.

It always comes up again and I didn't see any actual confirmation of it.

It's still running off the CPU as of BWE3, not sure on stress tests. That said, GW2 Beta = actual Beta.

 

[shysaursoft]

Yeah so is this actually confirmed and true or still a relic of the first BWE and just guesswork by players?

It always comes up again and I didn't see any actual confirmation of it.

Dang, the forums are now closed so I can't link to it directly: but the last thing I saw (posted recently on the last Stress Test) was one of the devs saying "We know there are performance issues, and we're looking into it", in response to someone saying "listen, my CPU is maxed, my GPU is barely 20% utilized, what's up?"

Personally I'd be happy with just a first-person HD auto-hide UI camera mode.

I told them I'd pay $10 for an in-game item off the Gem Store, that lets me go first person, auto-hides the UI and lets me take super-supersampled shots.

Hell, why not just make it like the Cook outfit that has a special skillbar. Make a Photographer's or Tourist's outfit, that has skills for emoting "say cheese" and for taking screenshots.

The game is just too pretty.

 

[LumpOfCole]

Some screens:

(Rabbit Finisher)

(Supply camp taken for GAF Guild - that flag would've had our emblem on it if our beta guild had an emblem ><;; )

 

[ComputerMKII]

You're not wrong - it doesn't fully utilize the GPU yet, likely because they're still optimizing the CPU part. I read somewhere that they're using some new BSP middleware tech, and that they're still trying to get it working properly with the CPU before shunting all the geometry to the card. I wouldn't say it's not poorly optimized, I'd say it's still being optimized.

Good to hear they're working on it. I upgraded from a Radeon HD 4890 to a Radeon HD 7850 mostly for Guild Wars 2 and I'm getting 27-30 FPS on average (with drops as low as 7-8 FPS during yesterday's Stress test). Its hard to deal with with when you're a 60 FPS zealot.

FTFY. Snoo snoo beckons.

.

 

[Lovely Salsa]

Will the graphics look better in the final version? like more graphical options to choose from?

 

[aramanKain]

Good to hear they're working on it. I upgraded from a Radeon HD 4890 to a Radeon HD 7850 mostly for Guild Wars 2 and I'm getting 27-30 FPS on average (with drops as low as 7-8 FPS during yesterday's Stress test). Its hard to deal with with when you're a 60 FPS zealot.

It's a new game, optimization will be an ongoing task for months even after release.

 

[LumpOfCole]

And an oil stylization of the attack on a keep:

 

[Jack_AG]

Thank you my Guildies.

Steam does compress.

When you use Fraps - save them as PNG - lossless format. All others are lossy.

 

[ComputerMKII]

Will the graphics look better in the final version? like more graphical options to choose from?

They said they may look into DX 11 support after launch...

Steam does compress.

When you use Fraps - save them as PNG - lossless format. All others are lossy.

That's what I do, but in the end I have a folder full of 1920x1200 PNG screenshots and even generating thumbnails takes quite some time and stresses my hard drive. Then I have to manually convert those I like to JPG.

 

[flyinpiranha]

So, did anybody play a Charr character up to a higher level? How is the armor/weapon clipping with the better looking armor? It's the one thing keeping me from rolling a Charr.

 

[Jack_AG]

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/ybk0p/guild_wars_2_now_works_very_well_on_linux/

I can try some performance tests on any distro for anyone interested. Right now I'm rolling Mint on my desktop and Arch on my laptop - but can install the more "universal" Ubuntu since that's what seems to be the rage these days for Linux newcomers and, apparently, Valve.

 

[Jack_AG]

That's what I do, but in the end I have a folder full of 1920x1200 PNG screenshots and even generating thumbnails takes quite some time and stresses my hard drive. Then I have to manually convert those I like to JPG.

Batch them in Photoshop. Saves tons of time.

 

[ComputerMKII]

So, did anybody play a Charr character up to a higher level? How is the armor/weapon clipping with the better looking armor? It's the one thing keeping me from rolling a Charr.

It's crazy how some people have LV 40+ character. I've started playing since BWE3 and the furthest I've went was a LV14 Human Guardian. My current (definitive) character is a LV9 Norn Ranger and I also had a LV7 Human Warrior.

Batch them in Photoshop. Saves tons of time.

Is there a tutorial for this? I've never batched tasks on Photoshop (always done everything manually)

 

[Emitan]

I can try some performance tests on any distro for anyone interested. Right now I'm rolling Mint on my desktop and Arch on my laptop - but can install the more "universal" Ubuntu since that's what seems to be the rage these days for Linux newcomers and, apparently, Valve.

I am very interested in Mint and Ubuntu performance.

 

[Jack_AG]

So, did anybody play a Charr character up to a higher level? How is the armor/weapon clipping with the better looking armor? It's the one thing keeping me from rolling a Charr.

From what I have been reading - all armor have been designed for each race, individually. There is no "one size fits all" approach other MMOs take.

 

[Jack_AG]

I am very interested in Mint and Ubuntu performance.

Downloading Ubuntu nao!

 

[shysaursoft]

They said they may look into DX 11 support after launch...


That's what I do, but in the end I have a folder full of 1920x1200 PNG screenshots and even generating thumbnails takes quite some time and stresses my hard drive. Then I have to manually convert those I like to JPG.

What you want is this: http://picasa.google.com/

 

[chiablo]

And an oil stylization of the attack on a keep:

I'm assuming it's a photoshop filter.

I would like to see a whole series done like this as 1080p wallpapers of various vistas.

 

[Jack_AG]

Is there a tutorial for this? I've never batched tasks on Photoshop (always done everything manually)

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/digitalphotography/l/blps_batch.htm

There's probably more step-by-step tutorials but the basic idea is that you record an action - a series of events like resize, crop, save as, save for web, etc - save that as an action.

Then you can simply apply that action to a single image or entire folder with a few clicks you can batch resize and save for web at your desired compression settings for an entire folder without you doing each image one at a time.

 

[ComputerMKII]

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/digitalphotography/l/blps_batch.htm

There's probably more step-by-step tutorials but the basic idea is that you record an action - a series of events like resize, crop, save as, save for web, etc - save that as an action.

Then you can simply apply that action to a single image or entire folder with a few clicks you can batch resize and save for web at your desired compression settings for an entire folder without you doing each image one at a time.

What you want is this: http://picasa.google.com/

Thanks!

 

[BadTaste]

Anyone played GW2 on a single 5870? Whats the performance like?

 

[flyinpiranha]

From what I have been reading - all armor have been designed for each race, individually. There is no "one size fits all" approach other MMOs take.

That's great news. I'm really leaning towards a Charr.

 

[XeroSauce]

For me I need to make one of every class and every race, I have to. I need all of them alts man.

I have classes and builds planned for every race, color scheme, even roleplay options.

 

[Emitan]

Downloading Ubuntu nao!

<3

 

[Alex]

I have a 560ti and during my time on the latest stress tests I don't think I really dropped below 60, I just did the quests in the initial part of two starter areas though, but both seem densely populated with structures and lots of models. Ran real solid.

Last time I had tried it, which was the old BWE, which was BWE2 I think? Now that ran HORRIBLY for me, like 20 FPS.

 

[ComputerMKII]

Thanks a lot Jack_AG, batch conversion works and it's fantastic.

 

[BattleMonkey]

Will the graphics look better in the final version? like more graphical options to choose from?

Probably not, the graphics are more geared to large scale performance it seems. Technically uneven at some spots but it runs really great with tons of players on the screen. Few MMOs run as well with so many people on screen and so much action going on.