wtb non retarded rounded down minute times

[Vivec]

The case might be exaggerated, but still valid.
You have some dungeons where your time may be capped at something like 0:55, 1:20, 3:20, 2:40, 2:15 (total time: 10:30, minute based 8)

So now I change my build which costs me time on every level but saves some time on 3rd level so i get the following:
0:58, 1:50, 2:55, 2:59, 2:40 (total time: 11:22, minute based: 7)

this is not based on any dungeon record, just to show that a case like this is possible.

[Ether]

honestly, i believe we should only use seconds based timing for places that we can all agree are currently unbeatable by the /age measure.

i think seconds based should only be used to enforce more competition in places where optimization to such a level is possible. seconds based measuring would make more sense to use in like some mission records, than the 8 man doa record. for places that cannot benefit from the seconds based measuring, i propose a 30 second based measurement.

30 seconds based measurements would provide more incentive to create better tactics and to improve execution among players who are aiming for a record. while this is only enforceable by a 3rd party tool, i think once everything has been pushed to its /age limit, i believe the community that is left will do all that they can to optimize and prove records, whether thats always recording or 3rd party tools, after all if someone wants to beat a time by seconds, obviously they have to prove it. who wouldnt want their record approved?

my biggest issue with seconds based measurements is that this game is not like an ordinary console game that is a popular speed running game. while people may use second based measurements in Legend of Zelda games, Super Mario 64 etc, they do not have to do what guild wars players have to do. guild wars players don't necessarily have the same situation every run attempt, infact its mostly far from that in some places. its nearly impossible to execute the perfect actions in any situations. there is too much randomness. whether its spawns, skill usage by mobs, or whatever.

seconds based measurements can be beaten by stupid things. say you are running duo bogsc, and as the runner/sealer you DC to targets, and always DC in front of them, as in they are blocking your path so you have to go around them. someone who does the same run, could get somewhat better DC's and gets the record. no skill involved. just luck and randomness. i do not like this. 6men urgoz? someone gets 2 more HSR on their Esurge in the blood drinkers room and its a faster run. thats frustrating.

however all of this said, places where randomness is not that huge of a factor, i believe seconds based is useful for places like some dungeon records and mission records, but i believe it is ridiculous in other areas.

sorry for the huge wall of text, its probably scatter brained. this iswhat u get when ether takes adderall and barely sleeps

[Kaspar]

30 second segments don't solve the rule changes problem though, and that's what most people have been super rustled about here. We would need rules for whether we want timing with no loads, or timing with loads. People were mad that seconds based timing is unfair to slow loaders, so I'm assuming they would want no loads timing.

We would need to enforce no loads timing by having players edit in timers to their records in post-processing or we would be forced to literally have the mods calculate the time themselves off of video because as Nika said, we are not going to have public video. That means mods are the only ones that can validate whether seconds were measured according to the rules.

Imho video and placing timers in post-processing is the best way to move away from /age based timing without 3rd party software, but very bothersome to implement. A very basic 3rd party timer with video requirement would be easier to enforce than this whole mess with editing in timers and subtracting load times. 3rd party software is a trigger word for some on this site, though, so I think calculating times purely off of video with edited in timers is more realistic.

[livia]

1) Compute after loading would't really make sense. You could pretrigger & no one could say you did. Furthermore we talk here about a diff of ~1-2 secs which doesn't really matter in Guild Wars.
2) Timer never trigger the community even though they were 3rd party software so no worry there.
3) Having lower segment is interesting to be able to beat some of the current record, but second based is way too low.
4) Require a video isn't a bad idea. You can record in low quality / fps freely in a complete legal way.

[Misty]

however all of this said, places where randomness is not that huge of a factor, i believe seconds based is useful for places like some dungeon records and mission records, but i believe it is ridiculous in other areas.

Can you name a single area (including missions) where RNG can't cost you some seconds?

[Flo]

Augury rock, get mad

[Jang]

Sniper is used there though.

[Flo]

Yes, but you could use sniper in any area. The fact that you use sniper doesnt make the area rng based.

[Misty]

I didn't say the area itself had to be RNG based... just that good RNG is required to get the perfect time, which is true if the fastest tactic uses Sniper Support. I suppose if you could guarantee perfect RNG, it would actually be a useful skill in a lot more areas.

[Barath]

sorry, but this suggestion is not really good.

quick explanation why, even though i think its really obvious - atleast for people that actually run records...

second based records would lead to record holders that are never satisfied with their job, because they always know that there are some seconds lost here and there due to rng, spawns and other stuff that is unavoidable in guildwars, which would result in endless grinding for a record, which is just not what records should be about.

records are about good playing, not about endless grinding for a better spawn or rng!

the /age measurement gives 1 minute breaks, which is used since guildwars is existing to measure records.

but measuring records by seconds does not fit guildwars. it did not fit the last 10 years, and so it does not now.
it ALWAYS can be 1 second faster. you would NEVER see a tie again, everyone that does a record knows it can be beaten, by investing time into it = pure grinding.

there is already enough grinding in records, but on a "ok" level due to the 1min breaks.
if you want competition, there are enough records that can be beaten. and also: a tie is a good competition! only because you were not the first, it does not mean its less worth
second based records... this would not raise competition, it would just raise the grinding level over 9000... more like 9.000.000

no thanks, topic closed

edit: if you want a good suggestion: free pcons for everyone! someone pm's anet?