Talk:Game updates/2013-02-26

Item icons

"Updated numerous item icons. " oh god. -Chieftain Alex 20:45, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

That was my reaction--Relyk ~ talk > 20:49, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

It's just a guess but I assumed this was referring to many lower-level and/or blue/white items which shared icons and were easy to mix up. Danikat 21:42, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

I don't get it. Why "oh god"?174.35.247.117 22:50, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

from a game perspective, its great. from a guy-who-uploads-all-the-images perspective its a bit different :D -Chieftain Alex 23:06, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

As someone who doesn't really contribute to the wiki, thank you. 74.197.223.66 00:18, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Jump To Victory has it all sorted out for you. —Dr Ishmael 01:14, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

So far I've only seen Order of Whispers Spy Kit to be changed into a suitcase. Waiting for them to change exotic Duelist armor among others. It still uses the basic icons of rawhide. Medium armor gets the shaft in general with this :/ Karuro 01:24, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Seems Circle of Light also had it's icon updated 82.69.137.180 11:10, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Weapon-only preview

Least we can have proper screenshots of weapons without fugly characters getting in the way 81.129.181.163 21:10, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

The background has is still that ugly brownish tint, tho. No way to change background colors and lighting, although that'll be extremely useful for a preview. MithTalk 21:16, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

At least we get less armor clipping issues now… poke | talk 21:21, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

uMod would be of use there. —Dr Ishmael 21:21, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

Yeah, yeah. I remember using that a while back in GW1, I think. Or was it called something different? --People of Antioch talk 21:23, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

It was called texmod and was some closed source software. uMod is a new open source software based on the same idea, written from scratch. poke | talk 21:25, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

The original Texmod was closed-source and doesn't work with GW2. So someone wrote a new version from scratch, made it open-source, and called it uMod. It has a much better interface and can include command-line arguments. Frankly I'm surprised we haven't seen a huge modding movement develop yet. —Dr Ishmael 21:27, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

Interesting. I'll look into that. Do we have a Guide here on how to use it yet? --People of Antioch talk 21:52, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

Basically the same as TexMod - extract textures, edit them, load them back up. The major differences are:

• You don't have to build .tpf packages anymore, you just load the individual texture files.
• You can load/unload textures on-the-fly without restarting the game.
• "Capture all textures" now has dimension and type filters.

It still has the same bugs where it can cause the game to freeze or black-out after extended periods, unfortunately. Also, we might want to move this discussion to a more general location. —Dr Ishmael 22:00, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

The problem with texmod, as I am sure a similar one exists with uMod, is it is not strictly authorized by Anet, and as such, treading slippery ground using something like that. 69.183.30.93 06:28, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Anet said they were ok with people using Textmod in GW1. They just said (paraphrasing) that they were under no obligation to make sure the two were compatible and would not be taking it into consideration with updates and also that they couldn't help with any errors resulting from using it. Danikat 20:36, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Connection Errors

Oogh. Is that normal? --People of Antioch talk 21:18, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

Happened often during the betas, sometimes a problem during large updates.--Relyk ~ talk > 21:21, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

Try restarting the client if it doesn’t fix itself. poke | talk 21:25, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

Ranger

Rangers are still useless in pve, another month I will feel useless on my ranger.82.101.210.107 21:22, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

maybe if your finding rangers useless you dont know how to play them as good as they can be, if i get a chance i always take one with me on guild dungeon runs. Maybe you would be better playing along side a more experienced ranger. Spark-TBa 21:26, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

Rangers are excellent at snaring, can have super high attack range and have probably the best healing skill for groups. I don't see any issue with them o; 109.91.252.10 21:45, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

The DPS I achieve on my ranger, through a max precision build and a Superior Fire Sigil in my longbow, equals or exceeds my friends who play as thieves; and while they have stealth to help compensate for squishiness, I have invincibility (Signet of Stone). Large numbers of foes are never a problem either, due to penetrating arrows and the fact that Fire Sigil does large area damage every.. 3 seconds, isn't it? And for huge mobs, hit your F2 ability on your Drakehound pet and lahl as you Barrage. My point is, as someone who mains ranger in PvE, I really don't see how it's useless. I have one character for each class, five are level 80, and if anything, I find myself wishing most of them were as unstoppable as my ranger. My one complaint about the class? Please, Anet, give us the ability to do something -- anything-- to help us survive after being downed. Seriously, what were you thinking when you designed the ranger downed state? 174.35.247.117 22:56, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

Ranger downed ability is not that bad. Hit the pet heal skill and I usually pop right back up.Drunken Bulldog 05:23, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Only uselessness i can think of is the freaking pet. It still messes agro, and POP every time i get attacked or attack! another thing really bugging is if i avoid fight and dodge attack and my pet doesn't dodge, hence it catches attack, i enter fight mode and start running really slow, which is VERY frustrating! I would really like option to "stow pet" for good, as long as i don't want to see it's face again! --Ireth Tassartir 23:03, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

Y U NO STOW PET? 174.35.247.117 03:55, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Discussions like this are irrelevant to the wiki, please use the official forums to debate the relative power(ful|less)ness of a given profession. —Dr Ishmael 23:37, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

signet of the wild, everything (except plain birds) can tank now and yourself gets a reliable small selfheal. you're welcome. 67.233.98.18 03:57, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

Update size

queue controversial discussion on whether to document update size again.--Relyk ~ talk > 21:51, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

regina stated was 400MB but it took 495MB for me —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.87.45.1 (talk • contribs).

Was about 540 MB for me. O_o --People of Antioch talk 22:01, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

That was useful to know, thanks :) Kirbett 22:29, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

I was up to around 680 MB--Relyk ~ talk > 22:32, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

Proof that not even Anet themselves can accurately predict the size of an update. —Dr Ishmael 22:35, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

Yeah. It's impossible to make accurate estimates. It's easier not to mention it at all in the notes,and keeping it in the talk page. That way people can compare their sizes instead giving a number that won't match anyone. People like to compare sizes for some reason. MithTalk 01:45, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Part of the problem is that like they did today, have one major update and a lot of smaller ones, so depending on when that person logs in, they might get just one, or all of them at once, which would increase the total size. Posting the size for an update is a lost cause, in my opinion. Although having the game tell you how much is done WOULD be very possible, as Anet's system should be able to look at the files being downloaded in each instance, add them together and give a user specific total. That is something I would like to see actually, because the files percentage is basically useless alone. It tells you you have 8,736 files lets say, but some of the files are gone in the blink of an eye, and some take alot longer. Paying attention Anet? That would be an actual improvement. Let us see, when downloading updates, how much FILE SPACE is being used in the process. And not the one you have now, but how much is left to go. 69.183.30.93 06:26, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

urgh. Well, I'm all for phrasing it such a way as to be least misleading, but I would definitely prefer to have some idea of the size (even if it's out by 20%) than no idea. And yes, it's tricky when there's a whole bunch of updates like this. Seems that identifying the size of each update shouldn't be too hard from Anet's perspective, even if that doesn't exactly match up with what an individual might download, as I can imagine it would depend on how up to date they'd be. Each update must be a specific size - whether an individual needs the whole update, or only part of it or wotnot, doesn't affect the size of the actual update available, only what you download of it. Elwynd 21:54, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Lesser Elementals

"Lesser air elementals now have legs and a tail." Lolwut? -- Magic Talk 21:54, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

Lol, that's what I thought. They kinda have the shape of a devourer now. Probably so its easier to tell where they are relative to the ground. N Sejick 01:03, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

They turned it into a Young Karka. D: And now it's ugly as hell. I hope they didn't change the tonic too. I'll now be deleting that. D: -- Magic Talk 01:29, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Animations are shared between many creatures. They also share animations with Cavern Scutters. They do look more like elementals now. Before they were just sparks or whisps. MithTalk 01:42, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Karka's give me the heeby-geebies. D: -- Magic Talk 01:45, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Large Air Elementals also have legs and tails now.--Turbo404

Looks like the change was made to the model itself, instead giving summoned elementals or just elementals a new model, so anything that previously used the 'ball' flat sprite now uses the "lightning crawly" model. I've checked from Metrica Sparks, to branded air elementals, to Arah Sparks. MithTalk 14:07, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Retaliation Stacking

"Reduced the number of maximum of stacks of Retaliation allowed to five (was 25). Duration still stacks."

I'm not sure I understand this. Is this saying that the boon still stacks duration, but only up to 5 castings can have their durations combined? If so, how are "stacks" tracked? Once you're at five, does that mean you can't add any more until the boon is completely removed, or can you add a sixth stack once the duration from the first one (or shortest one?) is up? What if some of the stacks are more powerful than others? (Retaliation supposedly does a variable amount of damage based on the source's power.)

Do all boons that "stack duration" have some similar limit on the number of stacks? If so, is that documented anywhere?

Or does "duration still stacks" mean that duration continues to stack after you've reached the "maximum" of 5 stacks? And in that case, what do the first 5 stacks do? Intensity? --Felbryn 22:04, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

I'm not sure what they mean, not familiar enough with the retaliation mechanic. It seems like it would just stack intensity the normal way and there is no point mentioning duration.--Relyk ~ talk > 22:36, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

Prior to this patch, I am reasonably sure that retaliation did not stack intensity (at least, it didn't have the little number in the corner showing how many stacks you have like might does). --Felbryn 22:46, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

It did, and does. It's likely just that you rarely saw more than one stack of Retaliation on yourself due to it being a pretty uncommon boon, and as far as I know of, you'd have to have a bunch of guardians together buffing each other with it to get stacks. Obviously, there are some ways to get large stacks of Retaliation that I don't know about, or there would be no point to this nerf; it's probably implemented to nerf one or two specific traits / runes / sigils / skills that allowed players to accumulate ridiculously overpowered stacks of Retaliation so that things would just kill themselves by attacking you. 174.35.247.117 23:02, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

In comparison to bleeding, each stack of bleed has its own duration time. Example, the first stack bleed may be only 3s, if the second stack bleed is 15s, it doesn't extend the duration of the first stack. It is considered a 15s bleed duration that loses intensity after 3s because the first stack falls off. Now if that is that same with Retaliation, what I understand is that even if you have 25 stack of Retaliation, you can only have 5 stacks of intensity at any given time, the other 20 stacks are waiting for the first stack to falls off. But that's purely theoretical. --Sir Vincent III 23:29, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

Just checked in-game: using two retaliation skills in a row increases the duration, and there is no number in the corner indicating how many stacks I have (either before or after the second skill). I haven't tested the damage to verify that it isn't giving me "invisible" double damage, but I think 174.35.247.117 is hallucinating.

I may put together a skill sequence that gives me 6 stacks to try to see what happens, but I haven't done it yet. --Felbryn 08:16, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Just tested this on a necro with 30% boon duration: Unholy Feast gives retaliation based on the number of foes hit, hitting 5 golems with it gives you ~19 seconds (5 stacks) of retaliation (longer than the recharge which is 15 seconds). Using the skill again only adds another ~15 seconds (4 'stacks') to whatever amount (< 4 sec) of retaliation you still had. In short: it stacks in duration, with a maximum of 5 stacks (on a first in basis), anything more will not affect the duration. --Ki 12:20, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

this is pretty damn important then for durations period. it explains why regen amount gained from stacking healing spring or a warrior banner behaves so randomly at the highest numbers. there is still "Stacks" of 25 like of non duration stacking boons, well except ret now of course. 67.233.98.18 04:04, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

Either it's sloppy language, and what they meant to say was: "Stacking is still by duration." instead of "Duration still stacks." Or they're really saying that this stacks both by intensity and duration. If so, I can't imagine how that mechanic works. It could be dependent on the source? If it comes from 5 different sources, it's 5 intensity stacks, and if one of the sources reapplies it he lengthens the duration of just his stack? No idea. But then the question begs itself: can any class apply 25 duration stacks? In order for the stack to reach 25, he has to be able to apply 25 before the duration of the first one ends! And *if* that is possible, you can have 5 intensity stacks that last 25 durations! Highly unlikely.

5 intensity stacks of Retaliation can do 5x365 = 1825 damage to the attacker (assuming 2200 Power). That's just huge. You could kill an opponent just by standing there. I think they mean 5 duration stacks... --Alad 01:41, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

New minis in storage

Storage has been added for the 2 minis from Laurels under Special, along with 3 coloured Siege Golem minis which are soulbound on aquire, presumably from WvW chests? Joironfist 00:49, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Nope they come from the guild recommendations guy. This vendor has a new own symbol on the map and is present in every capital next to the other guild guys. Cost is a bit high, though. 79.244.60.30 01:57, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Have we got some names for each of the minis yet? (blue, green and red icons) -Chieftain Alex 09:56, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Symbol of Swiftness

I believe the duration of swiftness from Symbol of Swiftness has been increased up to 10 3/4 seconds. Wiki says 8. I vaguely remember it being 9 3/4 seconds before. Can anyone second this? -- Magic Talk 01:27, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Boon Duration —Dr Ishmael 01:29, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Ach. Checked my traits and everything. Bwhahaha. /fail -- Magic Talk 01:46, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Does the game work well with the Microsoft Update released today?

There's a new update for Windows 7 which claims to improve graphics of all sorts: KB2670838 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2670838 I hesitate to install it for fear that it will break the game. Has anyone tested it with this update? --Alad 02:14, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Just installed. Will tell you if it makes a difference. --People of Antioch talk 02:31, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

I have returned. Seems fine. No more or less in the performance department. (Nvidia GTX 560 OC) --People of Antioch talk 03:13, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Thank you :) I've installed it as well and all seems to be ok. I noticed a weird rippling effect on water surfaces, though, but don't know if this existed before. If you stand in a shadow (of a tree for example) near water (I did it near a stream which has ripples already), and strafe left and right, the water surface ripples unnaturally with your movement. To see it more clearly you may need to turn reflections off, shadows to low, and perhaps post-processing to low. --Alad 01:13, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

Got another minor patch today.

Have yet to figure out what it is. --People of Antioch talk 05:07, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Oh wait, this is the new hair and eye colors? Curses. --People of Antioch talk 05:09, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Global Leash Time

Can anyone explain what 'Eased the restrictions on global leash time' means? Drunken Bulldog 05:26, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

I believe 'leash' refers to the AI behavior that makes them go back to their spawn location if thy get too far. Before the update, they'd go back after some time not being able to hit an enemy while outside their 'roaming area' in the spawn location, like when a passerby arrives gets targeted and runs away, they'll chase them and get 'bored' and go back after a little while. This sometimes caused them to go back if you were avoiding all of their attacks with kiting and dodges. I don't know the current behavior. MithTalk 13:15, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

I believe that this is also to address the issue with mobs going invulnerable after some given time while fighting the mob. I noticed a slight difference in behavior among the Krait while doing my daily last night. I typically use Nine Tailed Strike when fighting the Kraits and often times before the patch, they lose interest and goes back to their post after 2-3 Nine Tailed Strike. Going back to their post causes them to go invulnerable and regen partial, if not all, of their health. Last night, the difference is noticeable. --Sir Vincent III 18:15, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Ore Nodes

The ore nodes don't appear to be static anymore. I am seeing them in different locations now depending upon the character I select. This doesn't seem to be mentioned in the update anywhere. Drunken Bulldog 05:41, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

You're probably popping into different overflow servers. —Dr Ishmael 06:16, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

I think you are partially right. I may have been guesting. Drunken Bulldog 16:14, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

One big update to make a lot of mistakes the following smaller updates have to fix

From a gameplay perspective, at least the part that I use, it seems that every time they do a major update to *fix* issues, they end up making a lot more issues that then have to be fixed again with the following smaller updates. And, like with the last major update, I have to say I am less than impressed with the supposed "improvements" I see.

I agree that selecting your choices of the daily stuff is a good thing, but half of them I don't even use. No I am not saying that is Anet's fault for that, but have all of the ones you had before on the daily as a choice as well.

While trying to take on a skale, something that people used to be able to do solo, without a ton of trouble, it is once again an iffy proposition. The skale regenerates as quick as you can damage them, and more often than not somehow manage to damage your character while doing so. Is taking on one small creature now supposed to be a group event? 69.183.30.93 06:20, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

They did keep all the dailies from before. We've even seen most of them in the rotation now. And the update did not affect the healing from regen skale get.--Relyk ~ talk > 06:38, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

(edit conflict)

The new dailies still change each day. Soon after the update, i completed a first 5 out of 10 (i think it's 10). Then it "reset" and another set of then was picked. Wait a few days to see if the ones you like make a return... TulipVorlax 06:40, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Engineer fixes

I'm happy to see that Deployable Turrets works (FINALLY) so how about fixing Fast-Acting Elixirs to work with the elixir gun now? 68.105.101.28 06:10, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

Ranger Pet Swap Cooldown

It seems they reverted the cooldown on out-of-combat pet swapping back to it's original state in this update. Hooray! --Musha 08:49, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

Stone Shards

Previously this skill counted as being channeled. As of this update Zephyr's Focus is no longer applied while casting said skill. 109.91.252.10 02:24, 1 March 2013 (UTC)

Guild Missions

I quote from the blog: "But what if my guild is super small?” you may say? Not to worry—all these missions take place in the persistent world, which gives you the ability to rally people from the surrounding countryside and maybe make some new friends in the process!". But yes, my Guild is super small and due to the unlocking costs will never be able to do any of those missions. Nice to be able to invite other people on missions that we will never be able to even unlock. 30000 + another 50000 here and another 50000 there. The 200 Points for the single mission is ok (I guess), but the unlocking costs are way too high. Maybe I can tell more in 3 years when we finally unlocked the first bit. [[80.137.54.133 19:30, 2 March 2013 (UTC)]]

I hear that! Costs are prohibitively expensive. --Musha 01:55, 3 March 2013 (UTC)