GW on 56K?

I'm really surprised that no one is talking about this already... maybe I missed it and it's not a problem, or it's just not possible...

Well, the question is:

Does GW play at all (or at least worth a crap) on 56k connections?

All I really need is a few one word answers from anyone who has tried it or knows from experience, thank you

I've only really ever seen one mention of it, and that was a complaint about loading times when moving from a city to the wild, or from city to city. Something about how it has to download new files.

I'm not entirely sure as I don't use 56k but it sounded like a harsh issue. Maybe a 56k user will stop by and help you out.

thanks for the info, but I have one comment: There are very rarely files to be downloaded while traveling if you installed the game with the CD. I know this because I am personally running the game on 384k cable, and this thread could really help a friend of mine (a potential W/Mo lol), and i really want him to start playing if possible. So if anybody knows someone playing on 56k, lemme know please!

Yeah, I had a feeling I could've been talking nonsense. Like I said it wasn't a problem I've had, just one I read about. *Shrug.*

I am playing on 56K (actually around 42 - 46K) and the game plays great. If you have the full retail version there aren't any files to load when you enter a new area unless the area has been patched. Even then it is a very quick affair. The longest I have ever had to wait for a new area to load was around 45 seconds when it had 15 files to transfer. If you have ever played City of Heros on 56K, this game is pretty close to that as far as performance goes, actually it is a bit better. I got some lagging on CoH and don't with GW. It is really nice that the patching is streamed in the background so there is no waiting for an update before you can play.

I haven't played on broadband, but I would suspect that the gameplay is very close to broadband performance on dialup. It is really amazingly well done especially with no monthly fees!

it depends on the game version

Retail: Only downloads new content, streamed in. Not a problem for modem users (well, not now, it depends how much they stream into the world )

Web: Downloads all content as soon as you enter into a new zone. Can be 30mb the first time. Not a good plan for the bandwidth impaired.

I have someone in my guild with ISDN, of course it's a bit of a speed difference. But he says he can play just fine.

Sweet. Thanks guys

One more question: Davidmor, can you give me your system specs?... just wanna know how much RAM, video card stuff, and maybe processor speed. I would assume that the game would want these specs to make up for some online lag... so if you can, i'd like that info

Thx again for the help

I have a P4 2.5 ghz processor, 1g ram, Ati Radeon 9600 Pro. Also for further reference, I connected at 26.6K last night and played for about 2 hours, both PvP and PvE and had almost no lag. I only had a couple of spots where it would 'skip' if you know what I mean. Nothing that made the game unplayable at all. I didn't even realize that I had connected at that slow speed until I was ready to disconnect and go to bed. That is when I saw what speed I had been running at. If your friends computer can handle the game, your internet connection really is a non-issue.

thanks davidmor, i kinda thought the comp specs meant more than the connection speed. And, just for the record, your comp's ram and videocard are awesome.

The ram is fine, but the video card is a bit out of date. It does the job though so I will stick with it for a while.

I just ordered GW from ebgames (got free 3 day shipping ) and i have 56k. But I only connect at 28.8 kbps or 31.2 kbps at my max. Do you think that will affect me any?

It will probably affect you a little, but not much. In the towns/outposts where it is heavily populated you will probably see a little lag but once you go out into a mission you won't notice much. I did a 2 hour session connected at 26.6 and I didn't notice any lag at all in the missions and only a little bit in the towns. That was both PvE and PvP. You should be fine.

My friend played on 56k till a few days ago.
The only trouble he had was a bit longer load time, and dropping out.
He dropped out alot.

A game doesnt use 56 kb/sec from a user. Not even a mmorpg, and if it does the developers really should think about what the heck they are doing .

Usually its around 8bit/sec for normal online games

I also have a 56K connection, and it doesn't seem that i'll change any time soon.

I know my pc is good enough to run Guild Wars, since i can play Half Life 2, no problems.

But will i have any problems with the streaming or downloading in new areas?
I haven't yet brought the game (im probably going to). But every time i start the GW client i downloaded (just to admire the login screen ), it has to download like 15 files. This is a bit annoying, will it be doing this all the time, even when i have brought the game CD and installed it onto Hard Disk.

Thanks
-Darksci

I'm on 56k, but after my character creation, I automatically get sent to the loading screen for Ascalon, and there's like, 8,600 files to download, which would probably take 24 hours, which I'm just not gonna do!

Surely all of these files aren't just patches?
I have the retail version, I didn't download it, so I shouldn't have to download everything for every town or outpost...no?

What I recommend is going to the charachter logon screen, and then leave it overnight.

56k works fine, its just the load times after large updates

What may help those people that have low bandwidth connections (dial-up) is getting a copy of the GW.DAT from someone. Assuming you have a real life friend that plays the game on a fast connection, just have them get you a copy of their DAT file after they have done a -image.

This will reduce your streamed updates to zero until the next major game update.

Guild Wars plays very well on low bandwidth connections, the only draw back is large updates. If you don't have the retail version this will present a big problem. But, even with the retail version large game updates will still pose a delay.

So, just get a friend to give you a copy of his GW.DAT. (2-4 gigs)

This is where my computer illiteracy comes in...

I have a friend who plays GW on a 4MB broadband connnection.

But what is GW.DAT, and how could he go around giving it to me?

Thanks for the replies by the way!