There's no way this'll be a permanent change. I wouldn't worry about it too much.
For the record: I log onto GW either from my home connection (10mbps cable) or on my college's fiber-optic network and I still lag sometimes. Stop complaining.
What's with the skill icons loading?
Mr_eX
Aerian_Skybane
Like someone said before me.. anyone consider that this is a beta, and that it is probably something they are working on relating to the template saving? In fact, I am QUITE sure it just has to do with the Beta, not a feature or even neccesarily a bug. Remember, although the templating hasnt been issued to us for the weekend, its coding still probably exists interweaving with the skills loading.
During previous betas, things of this nature have been commmon place. Think Under Construction dudes
. I remember from the first GW beta that half the skills, when activated, and loading, the hard hat dude would appear instead of the real icon.
So, give the rumour mill a break, all this screaming of "OMG anet is trying to nerf intterupts!!!11!" is really premature if not immature. I'm quite sure they would have mentioned it in the update notes if it were a interface change.
During previous betas, things of this nature have been commmon place. Think Under Construction dudes
. I remember from the first GW beta that half the skills, when activated, and loading, the hard hat dude would appear instead of the real icon. So, give the rumour mill a break, all this screaming of "OMG anet is trying to nerf intterupts!!!11!" is really premature if not immature. I'm quite sure they would have mentioned it in the update notes if it were a interface change.
tomcruisejr
for the second time, this "feature" should be removed coz it sucks.
Warrior1986
Quote:
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Originally Posted by tomcruisejr
for the second time, this "feature" should be removed coz it sucks.
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Nathan the Skank
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Warrior1986
Quoted for emphasis. Does ANet really think that by not pre-loading tiny little skill icons that must be no more than 10KB in size, that will improve people's gameplay experience?
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tomcruisejr
i'd rather wait a lil time for my maps to load (but not like forever) than seeing gray skill icons from the time i load until the match is over.
Lex Talionis
It is likely due to high server load and wonderful lag that causing this glitch issue. Should be taken care of soon as the event ends. Least I hope it does.
Hephaestus Ram
I read this thread earlier today and couldn't figure out what
y'all were talking about, I hadn't seen any hour glasses.
I was in the other room a while ago talking to my wife while
she was playing.... son of a gun, little hour glass icons
where skills should be for a second.
The only differance between her system and mine is the
amount of memory, mine has twice as much as hers.
y'all were talking about, I hadn't seen any hour glasses.
I was in the other room a while ago talking to my wife while
she was playing.... son of a gun, little hour glass icons
where skills should be for a second.
The only differance between her system and mine is the
amount of memory, mine has twice as much as hers.
//RogueNine
well I have over 2 gigs of PC6400 ram and im getting the hourglasses so its probably not that..
Kook~NBK~
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Aerian_Skybane
So, give the rumour mill a break, all this screaming of "OMG anet is trying to nerf intterupts!!!11!" is really premature if not immature. I'm quite sure they would have mentioned it in the update notes if it were a interface change.
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Whether it be an intentional program update or a bug, this beta weekend is set up so A-net can get feedback on POTENTIAL game changes and identify PROBLEMS. Either way, this thread covers both bases: A. If this is a planned change, people don't like it. or B. if it's a bug, "A-Net we have a problem."
I don't like the hourglass thing one bit. I get it where ever I play and it makes interrupting extremely difficult (especially for us old coots with slow reation times in the first place
) The sooner an interrupter knows what kind of skill is being used, the faster he/she can get to the correct interrupt.I don't think it's a lag issue, because it happens with me if I'm experienceing lag or not. (I don't experience much)
N E D M
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Cyan The Archer
No lag for me. Check your internet, it's not Anets fault.
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QoH
in my opinion, reason of this happening is the high server load(i am pretty sure this was implemented way before the event). Will everything go back to normal after the event? Probably yes.
supaet
I thought it was due to lag, too many people playing on gw server
Rusty Deth
I normally get lag. My character while running will slow down, speed up. Its rather annoying.
But Friday. Oh Friday!!! The game was running so smooth. No stuttering, no lagging, no frame skipping. and I didn't do anythng different on my end. Gw was running so smooth for me that day after months of my normal lag.
Then saturday i noticed the hourglasses. Yeah everything went back to what it is. Skills taking a little longer. Character slowing down, speeding up while running.
As many times as I hear its lag on my end, too many times do I see radical changes that make me think otherwise.
Also I' trying to figure out what happened on Friday. The game ran great for me, but my DL times for the event took longer than normal. Suspicious!!
But Saturday and the rest of the weekend DL's were fast but my gameplay suffered.
But Friday. Oh Friday!!! The game was running so smooth. No stuttering, no lagging, no frame skipping. and I didn't do anythng different on my end. Gw was running so smooth for me that day after months of my normal lag.
Then saturday i noticed the hourglasses. Yeah everything went back to what it is. Skills taking a little longer. Character slowing down, speeding up while running.
As many times as I hear its lag on my end, too many times do I see radical changes that make me think otherwise.
Also I' trying to figure out what happened on Friday. The game ran great for me, but my DL times for the event took longer than normal. Suspicious!!
But Saturday and the rest of the weekend DL's were fast but my gameplay suffered.
Blackhawk
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Cacheelma
"....this person is casting something....hmmm...(The icon finally appears) OH MY! I have to interrupt that!" oops....too late.
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MelechRic
It's obviously un-optimized code.
Example:
I'm farming Shiro'ken and I have the Sympathetic Visage icon on my skill bar. I get my mob of Shiro'ken all grouped together and run in to kill. I click Sympathetic Visage and see an hourglass icon on my enchant/condition bar.
So you obviously have the SV icon on your bar and it is loaded somewhere by the client. Unfortunately, it's not being cached by the client. So when the client needs it again it has to reload it. Hence the hourglass.
I have a feeling that ANet developed a new icon-on-demand library to ease memory usage by the client. With more and more skills there's probably considerable memory allocated when all the icons (and their mini versions) are loaded. So with this new library you have an abstraction that grabs the icons dynamically as the client needs to display them. This replaces older code that would grab everything at once. Unfortunately it's not fast enough (at this point in time). I'm sure that ANet will fine tune this. They could:
1. Pre-fetch icons for an instance. All monster and player icons in an isntance would be pre-loaded.
2. Improve the fetching code so that it has priority.
3. Revert back to the old way and lower the quality of the icons to conserve memory.
....
I think we should all be patient. I realize it's frustrating, but ANet has a track record of fixing things that have a large impact on the community.
Example:
I'm farming Shiro'ken and I have the Sympathetic Visage icon on my skill bar. I get my mob of Shiro'ken all grouped together and run in to kill. I click Sympathetic Visage and see an hourglass icon on my enchant/condition bar.
So you obviously have the SV icon on your bar and it is loaded somewhere by the client. Unfortunately, it's not being cached by the client. So when the client needs it again it has to reload it. Hence the hourglass.
I have a feeling that ANet developed a new icon-on-demand library to ease memory usage by the client. With more and more skills there's probably considerable memory allocated when all the icons (and their mini versions) are loaded. So with this new library you have an abstraction that grabs the icons dynamically as the client needs to display them. This replaces older code that would grab everything at once. Unfortunately it's not fast enough (at this point in time). I'm sure that ANet will fine tune this. They could:
1. Pre-fetch icons for an instance. All monster and player icons in an isntance would be pre-loaded.
2. Improve the fetching code so that it has priority.
3. Revert back to the old way and lower the quality of the icons to conserve memory.
....
I think we should all be patient. I realize it's frustrating, but ANet has a track record of fixing things that have a large impact on the community.
Chewbacca Defense
Most likely they will be implementing some kind of caching code in Nightfall. The idea of caching all 900 skills at load time does have the several problems:
So they might be implementing a cache system that will only load the skill icons and skill code that users within a party are using.
For debug purposes, it makes sense to see the hourglass loading in real time to judge the ramifications of network and/or graphics lag.
For example, if you are in a battle and no character in the entire map uses the skill "Gaze of Contempt", then why bother loading the skill, it's icon, and any associated code into memory?
It may have been loading 600 skills with their associated icons was acceptable with a 512 MB computer, but with 900 skills and all upgrades in Nightfall, it may be a bit too taxing on an average or below average system.
I'm sure when Nightfall does release, all this caching will be done prior to map/mission load. It may result in a slightly longer load time.
- Not every user has a super computer
- Memory management
- Optimization
So they might be implementing a cache system that will only load the skill icons and skill code that users within a party are using.
For debug purposes, it makes sense to see the hourglass loading in real time to judge the ramifications of network and/or graphics lag.
For example, if you are in a battle and no character in the entire map uses the skill "Gaze of Contempt", then why bother loading the skill, it's icon, and any associated code into memory?
It may have been loading 600 skills with their associated icons was acceptable with a 512 MB computer, but with 900 skills and all upgrades in Nightfall, it may be a bit too taxing on an average or below average system.
I'm sure when Nightfall does release, all this caching will be done prior to map/mission load. It may result in a slightly longer load time.
Sir Skullcrasher
I still see the hourglass loading for all the skills i have.
Alleji
I think anet wants us to play like henches and:
a) Use an available interrupt on the first skill you see
b) Have godlike reflexes and interrupt those prot spirits... er, I mean hourglasses like the ghostly hero
a) Use an available interrupt on the first skill you see
b) Have godlike reflexes and interrupt those prot spirits... er, I mean hourglasses like the ghostly hero
deathy
If its a 'feature', then i want an option to turn it off, its so bloody annoying.
If its server lag(my connection is fine), then upgrade your dam servers(sort out err7's while your at it as well please)
If its server lag(my connection is fine), then upgrade your dam servers(sort out err7's while your at it as well please)
Don Zardeone
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Yawgmoth
If preloading all of the skill icons (from 3 campagins) is too much, then why not preload just those that my party members and opponents have?
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hax
Rathcail
Bah, I was hoping for this to get removed when the event ended. No such luck.
Tydra
ye its still there ... and i agree to all here, its really very annoying .... especially for interrupters, but also in general ... i mean, if an enemy starts castin sumthin i pretty much wanna know what the hell is gonna hit me - before i have to find it out on my own
lol thats bit exaggerated, but anyways ... Anet, plz plz plz REMOVE this bug/feature/whatever plz plz plz plz plz PLZ PLZ PLZ
lol thats bit exaggerated, but anyways ... Anet, plz plz plz REMOVE this bug/feature/whatever plz plz plz plz plz PLZ PLZ PLZ
UBS
Useless even having interupt skills now.
GG anet.
GG anet.
GranDeWun
Not sure why they did this - each skill icon uses about 3k, so even 1000 skills pre-loaded seems minor in terms of saving memory...
ilovecp
Are you all not literate enough to read the name of the skill that shows up? What's the big deal with icons, you don't really remember what all 1000+ of them represent do you
Theus
looks like putting key hexes on opponents and covering them just got easier.
*sigh*
Fix this,please.
Wow..That sure is retarded.
*sigh*
Fix this,please.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by ilovecp
Are you all not literate enough to read the name of the skill that shows up? What's the big deal with icons, you don't really remember what all 1000+ of them represent do you
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Alleji
Quote:
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Originally Posted by ilovecp
What's the big deal with icons, you don't really remember what all 1000+ of them represent do you
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So yeah, this is a big deal.
UBS
Yeah, me too.
We recognise the icons that are a threat. The icon is much easier to read and is faster to 'read' than the text.
We recognise the icons that are a threat. The icon is much easier to read and is faster to 'read' than the text.
logan90
You know there is another possibility.. Instead of them doing what you think they've done, they could've actually just changed it so instead of showing no icon while its loading it now shows the hourglass while its loading.. I used to notice that while scrolling down skills in the K menu it took them a fraction of a second to appear. Now instead of that fraction of a second without the blank icon its now a fraction of a second with an hourglass icon..
Hephaestus Ram
Quote:
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Originally Posted by ilovecp
Are you all not literate enough to read the name of the skill that shows up? What's the big deal with icons, you don't really remember what all 1000+ of them represent do you
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seems to be that it wasn't a problem before the update
and now it is.
So what changed and why.
Esprit
It's not even when you are instanced. When I just enter a town and bring up my skill list, I either see no icons or hourglass icons. When you scroll down you see more hourglasses. It's like Windows loading thumbnail icons.
tomcruisejr
This "feature" Is WAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY Worse Than My Mesmer Having A Friggin Mascara And Looking Homo. Please Fix This.
Bump For !!!!!!!.
Bump For !!!!!!!.
Carth`
Quote:
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Originally Posted by MelechRic
I'm sure that ANet will fine tune this. They could:
1. Pre-fetch icons for an instance. All monster and player icons in an isntance would be pre-loaded. 2. Improve the fetching code so that it has priority. 3. Revert back to the old way and lower the quality of the icons to conserve memory. |
ilovecp
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Theus
Wow..That sure is retarded.
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ubermancer
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Don Zardeone
Because if you only preload those, some guy somewhere would make some hack that shows you which skills your enemy has.
hax |
Also, I am hyperlexic. When I was 14 I clocked in at 3,600 WPM at 100% comprehension. And STILL it is quicker for me to look at skill icons then to read focus on a skill name.
Finally, if this really is a 'feature' its one thats utterly incomprehensible to me. I can not fathom how skill icons can have a substantial negative impact on our performance. Please, at least give us an option to preload icons.
Leddy
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Tremere
Yeah... all of us just can't be 'bothered'. Dude, if i had the money, i'd be playing Oblivion with all the slider's at the high end, and my days of Guildwars'ery would be at an end for the joy of experiencing HD lighting, Havoc 2 physics, and something GW's gfx coder's seem to unaware of called Bump Mapping. Poor noobs. Not everyone is languishing in the technological dark-age because their 'lazy'.
 - Tremere |
Savio
Quote:
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Originally Posted by ubermancer
I really hope that was sarcastic. How the hell would a third party computer know what your client had loaded to memory or not? And if it could tell that, wouldnt you be worried about, ya know, more serious things?
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some guy
Yeah, change the skill bars back, the loading is very annoying.
Phoenix Arrows
Our guild faced Shiverpeak Short Bus the other day. They ran a Blood Spike with Oppresive Gaze. The key to Oppresive Gaze Spike is having the target Weakened. A lot of times I got an hourglass put on me before the Necros finished casting Opp Gaze. I can't tell if it was a hex, condition, enchantment, or something else on me until it's too late. By the time it loads up, I find that I get spiked, and so can't tell my Monks that. THIS FRIGGIN SUCKS! CHANGE IT BACK!
Also, when Adren Spiking, it gets annoying to find out that the moment you are about to start a chain if attacks you get Blinded, but you realize that AFTER your skills are starting to be used, due to STUPID HOURGLASS!!!
CHANGE BACK PLEASE!
Also, when Adren Spiking, it gets annoying to find out that the moment you are about to start a chain if attacks you get Blinded, but you realize that AFTER your skills are starting to be used, due to STUPID HOURGLASS!!!
CHANGE BACK PLEASE!