Duedroth Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Hey there, I have an old Toshiba laptop from 2009 that is still running SWTOR fairly well on medium settings when I'm soloing things and sometimes in warzones, but I've noticed something odd. I have a number of lowbie characters that I PVP with and a couple lvl 60s that I PVP with (I'm not a first-and-foremost PVPer, but I do hop into the queue almost daily). When I'm in lowbie PVP the game runs fairly smoothly. Maybe a little glitchy here and there but nothing rage-inducing. But lately in lvl 60 PVP I've had such incredible lag that I can barely control my character and I'd do my team a favor by just not being in there. When I don't glitch, even in lvl 60s, I'm a solid contributor. My 60 Infiltration Shadow averages 600-800 and I spike above 1mil every once in a while. But when I'm glitching my total damage drops to something like 150-300k and I"m useless on defending objectives since it's capped before the opponent even renders on my screen. That simply hasn't happened in lowbie PVP. I've done lowbies first then 60s, and when it glitches I think it must be because the laptop is heating up and not cooling well enough. So I switched to doing 60 right away upon login but it's still happening. When I switch to lowbie, even after the machine is hot, the lag isn't nearly as bad. So are lvl 60 warzones just more taxing on the computer than lowbies for some reason? And before you say "get a better machine," I'm in the process of figuring that out. I just want to know if there's some inherent difference in graphics required for the different tiers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Banderal Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 I can't answer definitively, but I will say I think I have noticed the same thing. I don't know if there are some top-tier abilities that wreck my computer or what, and I'm not to the point of being useless (my ability is what makes me useless, not my computer ), but I notice a definite slow down and choppiness when I get into big fights at the top level. And rarely, if ever, do I remember that happening in lowbies. My memory says it always seems to happen where there is a lot of force-storm spamming going on, but my memory often is a liar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duedroth Posted July 30, 2015 Author Share Posted July 30, 2015 I can't answer definitively, but I will say I think I have noticed the same thing. I don't know if there are some top-tier abilities that wreck my computer or what, and I'm not to the point of being useless (my ability is what makes me useless, not my computer ), but I notice a definite slow down and choppiness when I get into big fights at the top level. And rarely, if ever, do I remember that happening in lowbies. My memory says it always seems to happen where there is a lot of force-storm spamming going on, but my memory often is a liar. Thanks for the reply. Glad to know I'm not hte only one who has noticed this. re: Force Storm spamming. Maybe, but the lowbie I'm currently WRECKING with is a Lightning spec Sorc. It's been smooth sailing with him. I don't mindlessly spam Storm, but I do use the ability when 3 or more opponents are grouped up together. Which brings up a point. The 2 lowbies I'm having fun with right now are Sniper and Sorc. My 60s are Sin, Shadow, Guard, Marauder. I'm sure melee is harder with poor graphics and ranged is a bit more forgiving. But even factoring that in, sometimes I can't even run around in lvl 60 whereas my lowbies never have that issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daystarr Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 This definitely happens. I run a fairly OTT rig, where I can play Arkham Knight with a consistent 60fps under heavy graphical load without strain on my resources, yet in max level warzones, I suffer from stuttering and am benching 25-30fps, and in lowbie warzones I can easily get 100+ fps in the same combat circumstances (heavy player and aoe presence). I've looked into this and cannot seem to find a solid answer on this issue, and it infuriates me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raansu Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 There's more stuff going on at 60 than in lowbies. More abilities, more particle affects. Naturally its going to have a bit more impact on performance, especially given how poorly the game is optimized. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duedroth Posted July 30, 2015 Author Share Posted July 30, 2015 So as a member of the American Bar Association (lawyers, not liquors, but we do drink a lot...) student division, I can get about half off on select Lenovo products right now for "back to school." The system I'm looking at is: Lenovo Erazer X315 90B00004US AMD A8-7600 Processor (3.10GHz 4MB) AMD R9 255 2GB 8.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3 1600 MHz 1TB 7200 RPM HDD 280W Power supply (yikes...) For $500 even because of the ABA membership. It normally retails for $850-$950 depending on where you're looking. I know this will run SWTOR better than my current laptop, but I've also heard to stay away from AMD for this game. Is this a good deal? I'd like to hop into WZs and Ops at lvl 60 and actually contribute on decent graphics settings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicRider Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 (edited) Play on a laptop also... just bought an AC cooling fan and after a few hours of testing my fps improved to playable levels by preventing cpu/gpu throttling due to overheating which has been happening much more severely since 3.0. PS: I play on lowest graphics settings. Edited July 30, 2015 by MusicRider Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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