Shaigat.8935

Thank you very much for all responses. I was drawn to the game by the assurances that there is no holy trinity and you can play any class (slash specialization) and choose any role you want (implicit message is, that it all will be - more or less - balanced, 'uniform', the difference is only in style). So, for now, it's 3.5k+ hours of playing zerker with axes, only. Even in pvp, no matter what (achievement 'masochist' unlocked). But well, someone unaware of warriors situation in this game, probably would laugh hard hearing about 'heal warrior' build for example... Practical (but general) solution, in my opinion, would be something like this: a.) make a 'digital twin' of GW2 system, but simplified as possible for the combat testing purposes; b.) construct the bots that can play on prepped arenas; c.) attach a neural network to learn from the duels; d.) if the resources allow, widen the number and vartiety of participants configurations; e.) construct a supervisor (genetic algorithm) that will speed up the learning process and allow to point out / filter the weaknesses/strong points; f.) the very same supervisor can help with the system evolution, where demanded result is 'equal win ratio'. That would require the know-how and the money. Lots of money, as I doubt that any small-to-mid developer has the demanded horsepower (lots) and they would have to rent it (consider testing from the scratch after each change, at least at the beginning, without supervisor). Maybe if they had a rendering farm it could be used for another purpose... but Anet artists are more 2d oriented. So far I can bet all Anet is doing is more or less 'manual testing' with maybe a little help of few simple equations. Let me give you a simple example: class B shoots twice as fast as class A, but each shot deals twice less damage. In my opinion most people would agree it's 'balanced'. We can't apply game theory here (and we're not aiming for that), all we could have is to get most people feel that the gameplay is 'fair', 'uniform' or 'balanced'. You said that there are strict definitions for what balance means, and I agree. In exact sciences. Do I have to add that if these definitions are not equivalent, they are not describing the same object? If you mock the question about 'balance' definition, then let's use yours, it/they should give us something to start with. So, according to these, mentioned by you definitions, is GW2 balanced or not balanced game? Maybe you wanted to say that it's silly to claim that someone has it's own definition (and not equivalent to the official one) of energy balance in thermodynamics, but I can be wrong of course. So, we need a theory of everything. Interesting. You didn't say anything about the game or its classes. Essay not on topic.

Regarding professions (and alleged lack of holy trinity): - what conditions should be met in pve so you could say it's balanced? - what conditions should be met in wvw so you could say it's balanced? - what conditions should be met in this-badly-glued-to-mmorpg-arcade-minigame-for-cc-and-condi-lovers ("pvp") so you could say it's balanced? Should games 1-on-1, 100% offensive character vs 100% defensive character (controlled by equally skilled players) have 50/50 win ratio?

DPI scaling is horrible, and I would have to change system DPI each time as I'm using quite high values for desktop (it's ugly and too big with 250-300%). "Larger" option is bearable with 4k and 70"+, but on smaller screens or 5k-8k it's ridiculous. I'd like to get bigger version of UI, with nice items icons (not upscaled...), etc. And proper size mouse pointer (without mods). It's really a challenge in 8k...

The future of voice acting in games - (not so) simple solution. Right now hiring actors, getting them to studio (and paying for it) is quite expensive (and time consuming). I see no other option that to get to work combo voice synthesizer + neural network. 1. During character creation player get additional bunch of sliders for voice parameters; 1b. User can also record few phrases with own voice (optional, as not everybody likes own voice, we sound weird to ourselves as we mainly hear own voice through skull); 2. With style transfer technique nn builds voice characteristics, which can be used for reading out loud anything; 3. When it comes to "acting" - style transfer can be also used for it, when we feed nn with enough samples; This applies not only for dialogues (accents, expression, diction), but don't forget about short in-game phrases that play important role in many games ("NO!" -> warrior's berserk mode ends in few seconds), this can be done too; 3b. We can of course hear other players with their own voices, as sending characteristics is not like streaming whole audio; 4. De Niro ("You talking to me, lousy revenant?"), James Earl Jones ("I'm your father, Logan") and Willis ("Yippee ki yay, Mordremoth") unlockable for 1k gems; 5. Profit. If I remember correctly first time this technique was used in some Japan exhibition, where long-ago-dead painter (Renoir?) reconstructed voice was used for making interactive guide (and mentioning the events that occurred a long after his death).

Jin.8501: "Never used vsync after upgrading to gsync monitor. " Of course. Mental shortcut, "switching off vsync" -> turning off also gsync, completely. I checked with gsync and vsync alone (as it is more popular situation), to check this weird (input? I'm not fully convinved) lag. I usually cap 120Hz the TV (on which I play mostly) is capable to show (pvp, fractals...).

Maikimaik.1974: "Have you tried turning off VSync in your Nvidia contol panel? This completely fixed the input lag for me." I tried. It changed a little the delay. Even if this would work, it's not a solution. I have gsync in all monitors/laptops and tvs and I see no reason to turn it off (especially with the horsepower I have). Turning off vsync is always a bad idea, it should be for testing only, introduces tearing and was popularized by people with really bad specs rigs. That's why gsync/freesync were introduced, they make vsync less painful (also consider that with 120+ Hz, turning off vsync is not that useful). In DX9 everything is ok.

I could live with missing/broken textures and things like this. Hell, I played Quake with mod that turned opponents into red rectangles (hitboxes). Not a problem. But response time is everything. I don't know how to say it precisely, but I have to trust the interface in all layers. To see that my actions have instant meaning. It's a part of immersion too. You don't have the fun when driving a bicycle with all the screws loosen, even if it's beautifully painted.

Tested on 2070 super, 3070, 3080 Ti, 60, 120 and 360Hz matrices, latest software (drivers, updates, etc), GW2 launched from ramdisk. Resolution doesn't matter (tried 720p to 8k). All tests with vsync turned on (forced in nvidia control panel). Find a place where you got fps maxed out (equal to matrix refresh rate). Set mouse on at least 6,4k dpi (for such high dpi I prefer metal mousepads, but don't forget to calibrate mouse). Make rapid moves. With DX9 response time is fine, with DX11 there seem to be a major delay. As I pvp, at this moment DX11 is completely unplayable and useless. With DX9 I get 90+ fps in crowded cities, sometimes it drops to 50 (probably shaders update when something new appears), but the feel and reaction time is just fine. No need for broken DX11.

Nope, not alone, as I was playing in windowed fullscreen all the time (DX9).

Checked, but in my case there's still a big difference between DX9 (even with vsync on) and DX11.

Tested on 2070 Super and 3070, 120Hz, 4k. DX11 enabled, tested in places where I get almost constant 120 fps, there is a weird lag, similar to input lag (dunno, DX9 had DirectInput, maybe this difference matters). I'm using Logitech G903, 6400 dpi, making rapid moves shows that with DX11 the image is slightly delayed. DX9 works fine (still). Btw, wtb Nvidia Reflex (and DLSS of course).

Hello. One day, I saw in the launcher a very good information: 'Stock up on gems and save big! From April 2 until April 4, get 20% off digital Guild Wars 2 Gem Cardsvalued at 2,000 gems and 50% off Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire™ Standard or Deluxe editionswhen you purchase them through our Amazon store.Don’t miss this great sale—and keep an eye out for skritt when you bring home your stash of shinies.' I wanted to save big. I didn't want to miss this great sale.I clicked the link, which magically opened the browser and I saw it: 'Guild Wars 2, Gems - 2000 - [Online Game Code]Brand: NCSOFT' Below was the additional, comforting information: 'List Price: $25.00 DetailsPrice: $20.00You Save: $5.00 (20%)' 'That's it !' - I said to myself - 'I won't be spending pathetic amount of money, as usual, like 50 or 100EUR anymore !I'm gonna spend A LOT this time'. As I have accounts in a few different Amazon shop instances (like Spanish or German)I knew that I have to register/create/make a new one for a .com.So I did. Then I choose one of my prepaid cards, which is billed in USD and prrrecharged it hard. Then, something weird happened.I added this digital code to a digital cart in a digital shop aaand...saw this: 'Important MessageThere was a problem with some of the items in your order (see below for more information):Guild Wars 2, Gems - 2000 - [Online Game Code]We are sorry. Something went wrong with your purchase of this product.Any bundle discounts associated with this product will not be applied in this purchase.' I was shocked, terrified and ready to contact with the customer support.So I asked the chat bot politely if I can speak 'with associate'.And 'the associate' appeared and we spoke.And 'the associate' said, that they can give me a $5 discount (for anything, I assume, for the inconvenience, I assume).And I said, 'I just want the shop to be working, not giving me errors without any meaningful information'.And 'the associate' told me to wait, and that I'll be speaking with 'the specialist'.And 'the specialist' appeared, and told me to wait. So I did.And 'the specialist' asked me in which country I am at the moment,and I replied that I'm in my little European country at the moment. I won't bring up the name, but it's the very same country in which most people got the monthly income below $700,but in many cases we're paying in Euro, as the rest of European Union, but we don't have Euro (as a currency).And the rest of EU, which have 3-4 times bigger minimum wages (for example) got the same prices as we have.Unfortunately, we're not poor Russia or China, so no one cares about... anything.So, the people learned to cope with the problem in a different manner. But we'll get to that. So... back to our fascinating story.Why should anybody care where physically I am ? Think about it.I stressed that I don't expect any physical delivery of a digital code from the digital shop,and just for a second I was thinking about the country that gmail servers are located in(the ones that the mail with digital code will be send to). Nevermind.And 'the specialist' sent me something very, very funny. At first, I thought it is a joke, so I send him a smiling emoticon.It was a link to the website with title 'Countries & Territories Eligible to Shop for Digital Games & Software'.I told him, that I got the link from the game, so there must be a mistake. And I told him, that in XXI century we got temporary mails, VPNs, fake address generators, proxy credit cards,and we even don't need a deepweb for all these toys, they can be easily googled up, installed, used... so what's the point ?To filter out some random guys, a small percentage, to make shopping less convenient, to show the gap between civilized worldand the poor countries with a communities with gross inequalities in earnings ? Don't you think it is weird, anyway, that in fact, shop doesn't want money from poor people ?Because poor people need to pay more (among other reasons, to stay poor). So far, I agreed to pay 15-20% more than Americans, and a few times more than the price for my country should be.But advertising in 'global channel' info about discount which comes out to be a poor America exclusive(well, thinking about Guatemala and Puerto Rico which are eligible, of course) is just... great. This post is also about the wasted time, in these few hours I could earn a lot of dollars (and the majority in my country couldn't,that reminds me, once, I did a poll, in an official forum of CS:GO, how many hours you need to work to open 100 boxes, grouped by countries,it magically disappeared few times).But that's not the point. English is not my main language, so... apologies, etc.