A 56K mode

I have high-speed internet. My girlfriend, on the other hand, does not. Now the box says only an internet connection is required, and the recommended settings don't even stress the importance of high speed internet, saying again that 56K is just fine. That is very wrong, particularly now that Factions has come out.

When she logs on, she is often dumped into the district with the highest traffic. She lags terribly and sometimes only sees the place for a second before getting the Error 7. If they program the game to take her speed into account it could easily have put her into a lower-traffic district.

Another thing is the streaming technology. I know it's been such a boon to the developers, but really, it shouldn't try to download anything while she's in the game. We tried doing one of those cooperative, 2-party Factions missions. We got half-way through by the time she finished loading the mission and joined us. Afterwards, she lagged so much she just stood still for nearly all of it and we finished without her, since there was no way for her to catch up to us. As I watched the cutscene, I had to describe it to her on the phone, because it wasn't playing for her due to the lag. Then the mission ended. We all went to the next area... she got disconnected.

According to the game, she successfully completed the mission, but she really wasn't "there" at all. She didn't get to experience it at all, which is a shame because it was one of the most fun missions I've ever been in.

Now this was not because her connection was crappier than usual, this was because the game tried to stream crap to her. Couldn't the streaming be done later when she isn't playing? Say for example, just let her have a huge download when she loads the game? A huge download is preferable to the half-ass gameplay she has to bare with now. For that matter, why the hell does she need to stream so much stuff when she actually installed the game right from the disc? Isn't it all on there?

I'm sure many people on this forum have high speed, and so it isn't relevant to them. But I think this is important so if you have sympathy at least, please give this one a /sign. She is an excellent player and loves Guild Wars.

Well, I wouldn't know how they can help with the gaming speeds of a 56k connection, so I can't really help you there :\

As for streaming, it just keeps loading maps and what not while you play so that you don't have to wait at the loading screen for ages. More often than not, when there's a new update, there will be bits to be streamed into the game, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the installation on the CD.

Once again, I do not know how the game developers can help the 56k situation, but I'll give you a /sign for the benefit of the doubt.

/signed.

/sign, I had 56k for some time so I sympathise.

Also the minimum system requirements are the same the game is much more graphically intense. Alliance battles, higher quality textures, etc. My pc is starting to show it's age, so I notice a pretty big difference in performance in prophecies and factions.

hmmm wanted to give a long comment, but i think ill just pass:P.

/signed

how about a dl of all the maps at once ... even for the high speed connections, it'd be better ...

i'd rather wait for 2 hours for one dl than 5 - 6 mins at each new map, specially if u r in a group
also, every update needs to re dl them .. so, another reason to make one big dl

Leave the game on login screen overnight, it'll download whatever it's missing.

huh? it's dling when u enter a new map huh ^^

C'mon who uses 56K anyway these days.. ?
Very few people I guess, since everyone got broadboad (here at least: The Netherlands)
now. So they shouldn't waste time to make it better for 56K users.

Just keep it in the login screen, and it will download all the content.

I got a better idea , you leave the game in login screen for a night then you burn everthing on a dvd and give the dvd to your girlfriend

However most people's 56k connection ties up their phone line.

/sign I agree because if im at my grandmas house she has 56k and i hate the lag so yea i think anet should do something about it

Am I the only person who has a problem with this statement?

Yes, you'd think that would be alright, wouldn't it? She does that sometimes (she has two phone lines). Hopefully her parents don't want to use the internet while she does that.

But does it work? Nope. It seems even after all the login downloading she is still downloading stuff. In fact, I've noticed that too, though since I'm high speed it doesn't bother me as much. I just downloaded a huge package by leaving the login screen on... why do I still need to download files when I enter an area?

In fact, for some strange reason, she often has to download more files for an area that she has just been in. Like, she enters it, finishes downloading, lags out, enters it again and it downloads more files?

It's all a mystery to me.

And Nibor, 56Kers are Guild War consumers too. My girlfriend has bought 2 accounts and has at least 1 set of 15K armor for each of her characters. It wouldn't be a waste of time for ANet, and in North America where local calls are unlimited a good number of people have 56K.