Mac client announced

[Lucky_]

Lots of people have only one computer or are not interested in getting a separate computer just for gaming.

Then you buy a PC. You can also buy a PC with an apple logo on it that doesn't have windows pre-installed and install windows on it.

[Sylvanie]

Then you buy a PC. You can also buy a PC with an apple logo on it that doesn't have windows pre-installed and install windows on it.

I could give you an answer why for some people a Mac running OS X/Darwin is a preferable or even necessary choice, but I suspect that this would just eventually turn into a religious debate again?

[Lucky_]

I could give you an answer why for some people a Mac running OS X/Darwin is a preferable or even necessary choice, but I suspect that this would just eventually turn into a religious debate again?

Not entirely sure why it has to, unless you have an axe to grind. A modern Mac is an x86 PC with some minor BIOS mods that pass Mac OS checks telling it to allow to boot on it. You could argue otherwise back in PPC days, but that is over half a decade ago.

Considering the messed up API situation with semi-proprietary apple-style implementation of OpenGL on current gen Mac OSX, running OSX for games is simply inane. You're going to get inferior product unless it's built specifically for it (and as a result gimped on wintel/DX11 which is just not going to happen with AAA titles). Hence, most companies just do a quick inferior port for those who absolutely must run OSX.

Those who want a full implementation will just boot windows.

[Riavan]

High quality hardware combined with a rock stable OS? The fact I have one cable to my system and most people who don't know an iMac ask where the computer is? Being able run any number of copies of Windows as child applications within OS X? Really, why do people suffer having JUST a Windows computer.

Oh, did I mention I can resell it far easier than a beige box machine?

Sweet laptop processor in your desktop pc.

Yeah, macs are not for gaming, they are for people who like how pretty their computer looks, on the outside.

In saying that I'm happy that you go your game, the more players the better, especially considering the way a-net is curerntly handling it.

[Horrid Crow]

Why do people even torture themselves with Mac if they are going to be gaming, I understand Mac is great for other things but if you are into gaming just get a PC, IMO Apple is for i-phones, or any of there i-series hardware, computer gaming is for PC, the days of Apple gaming computers died with Oregon trail 20 years ago.

Because I'm not just gaming, I need to work on my computer as well.
It just happens to be that I'm used to OS X. For me it's a superiour OS in almost any way.

Besides, I can game just fine on my Mac. The hardware is good enough to run any game smoothly on the highest settings.
The only downside is that I occasionally have to use a Wineskin wrapper or install Windows to play certain games.
A lot of games these days have a Mac version though.

Yeah, macs are not for gaming, they are for people who like how pretty their computer looks, on the outside.

I don't get why some people (be it Windows or Mac users) always have to hijack these kind of threads and boast how 'superiour' they think they are. You are extremely shallow, and ignorant. Your ridiculous statement proves that.

[Revak]

Running beautifully on my iMac at max resolution and all settings maxed (27" 3.4GHz Quad-Core i7, 16GB RAM, 2TB HD, 2GB Video). Haven't noticed any issues other than the mouse scroll wheel issue. In bootcamp I was getting an average of about 10fps more than on OSX (10.8.1). Definitely happy with this port. All the other windows games I currently play (including via Steam) can easily be played via Parallels using my windows bootcamp install. No need to switch over now which is nice.


I also really wish the mods here would start infracting those who feel the need to come in and insult Mac users on every thread that pertains to Macs. You own a PC, I own a Mac. Great! Be happy that we can both enjoy a game on our preferred platform and that if it's a game you enjoy that it may be just a bit more successful now that it supports multiple platforms.

This thread had nothing to do with whether or not PC's or Macs are superior, but about the fact that Mac users can now run GW2 natively without bootcamp or parallels. Macs are for whatever I choose to use them for. And I've played WoW on a Mac since vanilla (dating back to the PPC days) without a single issue ever.

[clevin]

I'll tell you why I use a Mac to game... because I don't play that many PC games. It's just not a huge part of my life, so I've been fine with WoW and some other stuff from Steam including Torchlight. It's odd to me that MMO devs don't realize that we're a great market to address - affluent and with a lesser selection of games so we're enthused when a title we like does have a Mac client. One reason I didn't hop on SWTOR was that I would have had to redo my Bootcamp partition and deal with dual booting. This port might well get me to try GW2 even if it's not great performance.

[mvaliz]

I can't access the area to download the beta as it requires me to enter in a store-bought serial copy to register first. >_<

...not like it could run on my 2008 iMac anyways. :P

[Riavan]

Because I'm not just gaming, I need to work on my computer as well.
It just happens to be that I'm used to OS X. For me it's a superiour OS in almost any way.

Besides, I can game just fine on my Mac. The hardware is good enough to run any game smoothly on the highest settings.
The only downside is that I occasionally have to use a Wineskin wrapper or install Windows to play certain games.
A lot of games these days have a Mac version though.



I don't get why some people (be it Windows or Mac users) always have to hijack these kind of threads and boast how 'superiour' they think they are. You are extremely shallow, and ignorant. Your ridiculous statement proves that.

Less companies make games for mac, so, it's less useful for gaming? Fact.
Unless you install windows on it, but then it's kind of like, why bother buying the mac in the first place?

Wasn't any issue of superiority, I just, as not a very rich university student, and therefore very practical with my money person, don't see why it's a good idea if your main interests are gaming. Unless of course you have money to throw around and don't really care about such issues. I don't see how this can be disputed. I won't be coming back here, so you can label me ignorant or w/e, feel free.

[mafao]

Then you buy a PC. You can also buy a PC with an apple logo on it that doesn't have windows pre-installed and install windows on it.

Yeah, macs are not for gaming, they are for people who like how pretty their computer looks, on the outside.

Less companies make games for mac, so, it's less useful for gaming? Fact.
Unless you install windows on it, but then it's kind of like, why bother buying the mac in the first place?

God, people can you even read? What is the point of getting a new PC only for gaming when my Mac (which I already own) has the specs more than sufficient to play games? Installing Windows on it for gaming is a much more sensible choice. If only thing I did was play games, sure I'd get a PC. But if I already have a Mac for work, who are you to forbid me from playing games on it? Not to mention that equivalent Windows gaming laptop would cost me another 1200 euro.

On the more important note, what does this even has to do with the thread? You can take your irrational Mac hate elsewhere.

[Horrid Crow]

Less companies make games for mac, so, it's less useful for gaming? Fact.
Unless you install windows on it, but then it's kind of like, why bother buying the mac in the first place?

Wasn't any issue of superiority, I just, as not a very rich university student, and therefore very practical with my money person, don't see why it's a good idea if your main interests are gaming. Unless of course you have money to throw around and don't really care about such issues. I don't see how this can be disputed. I won't be coming back here, so you can label me ignorant or w/e, feel free.

You just completely ignored the other person I replied to in that same comment.
On purpose?

[Deleted]

Completely off topic but can some of the Mac users here explain how it is better than PC for work? If it requires a really long explanation you can just ignore this or give me a link to some site that explains it (In PM).

[Fencers]

Should probably stop talking about Mac/PC viability and stay on the topic of Guild Wars 2 for Macs.

Also the bickering. Honestly, it's pointless. Get over it.

--Fencers

[Aliessil]

Cool, I might have to give it a try then! Also know a dozen or so other Mac users who might give it a try now - I'll have to let them know.

Less companies make games for mac, so, it's less useful for gaming? Fact.
Unless you install windows on it, but then it's kind of like, why bother buying the mac in the first place?

Wasn't any issue of superiority, I just, as not a very rich university student, and therefore very practical with my money person, don't see why it's a good idea if your main interests are gaming. Unless of course you have money to throw around and don't really care about such issues. I don't see how this can be disputed. I won't be coming back here, so you can label me ignorant or w/e, feel free.

Riavan,

You're making an invalid assumption that I've highlighted for you. Most Mac users I know (including me) do a ton of stuff other than gaming, for which we find our Macs are fantastic! Gaming is just something else we're interested in doing; it's not the main purpose of our computer.

Alie

[Sylvanie]

Not entirely sure why it has to, unless you have an axe to grind. A modern Mac is an x86 PC with some minor BIOS mods that pass Mac OS checks telling it to allow to boot on it. You could argue otherwise back in PPC days, but that is over half a decade ago.

Very well.

Recall that we are talking about a situation where you use a computer primarily for work or other serious activities and where gaming is its secondary use.

What you're usually dealing with is software constraints. In my case, I need a Unix-like OS for my work. Cygwin is a heroic effort, but has simply too many limitations (see, e.g., the fork() troubles). Visual Studio is a great IDE, but fairly useless for software that needs to be eventually deployed on Unix machines, let alone HECToR.

More generally, you will find hardly any Windows PCs in our department. Not because we hate Microsoft, but because there's simply too much software that we need that is difficult or even impossible to install on Windows. So, we're using OS X, Linux, and Solaris instead. Unix is to many research areas what Windows is to office work.

We're professionals; computers are our tools. They need to work, costs are secondary. We're not going to dicker over a price difference that amounts to less than our hourly pay per month when amortized over a few years.

In addition to the hard constraints imposed by software, there are obviously other reasons, too.

First of all, there's still plenty of a usability gap between OS X and Windows, despite some Apple missteps (hello, skeumorphism) and Windows improvements over the past decade.

Secondly, there's hardware convenience. I'm in good shape physically (two pretty active kids will do that to you), but there's a limit to how much upper body strength a woman of my height and frame can reasonably develop. Apple's seeming obsession with producing ever lighter and thinner laptops may appear silly to some, but when having to carry a laptop to work every day and frequently taking it on trips to to conferences, it does matter that Apple provides one of the best CPU horsepower/weight ratios (let alone battery lives) in the industry. Similarly, the fact that my iMac consumes very little space on or under my desk is an added bonus. Obviously, these are secondary benefits, and with enough shopping around I can find similar products in the PC market, but that usually means that I'd end up paying about the same price that I'm paying for a Mac.

Note that I'm not an Apple fangirl who blindly buys everything Apple. I routinely replace Apple mice with non-Apple mice (because the Apple mice tend to suck), I'm running Chrome and Thunderbird instead of Safari and Mail.app, etc. However, overall, Apple computers do serve my needs best, at least for now.

Considering the messed up API situation with semi-proprietary apple-style implementation of OpenGL on current gen Mac OSX, running OSX for games is simply inane. You're going to get inferior product unless it's built specifically for it (and as a result gimped on wintel/DX11 which is just not going to happen with AAA titles). Hence, most companies just do a quick inferior port for those who absolutely must run OSX.

When gaming is your computer's secondary purpose, it only matters that the implementation is "good enough": you're not running OS X for games; you're running OS X for some other purpose and do gaming on that computer on the side. Yes, OS X seems to be stuck on OpenGL 3.2 semi-permanently, which limits the features that hardcore gamers want. But if, say, your main game is WoW, and it already runs at north of 60 FPS on max settings in a raid, there's very little reason to dedicate a separate computer to gaming. Even if not, you have to weigh the inconvenience against the benefits of getting an additional computer.

Similarly, at the moment, GW2 seems to run fine on OS X, with the only downside being that right now I can only select medium textures (same what happens if you run 32-bit Windows). That is "good enough" for many people.

---------- Post added 2012-09-19 at 12:53 PM ----------

I can't access the area to download the beta as it requires me to enter in a store-bought serial copy to register first. >_<

If you bought the game online, you should have gotten the serial code in your email?

[ro9ue]

YES.

Finally! I always preferred Mac over PC, and ArenaNet knows what they are doing. Lots of people are getting macs these days, and now I can finally drop WoW for GW2!!!! OH HAPPY DAY

[Shmeckle]

Sort of decent performance on a 15" Macbook Pro late 2011. The game looks decent and I can play usually around 35-40fps on university's internet. Hoping for some nice updates in the future so I can fully enjoy the game

[nevermore]

The Mac client is annoyingly bugged at the moment, but then again it's only Beta.
I'll keep on Bootcampin' until it's in a decent shape.

[Rampant Rabbit]

I might consider giving it a go. Not too enthusiastic about it yet.

Why do people even torture themselves with Mac if they are going to be gaming, I understand Mac is great for other things but if you are into gaming just get a PC, IMO Apple is for i-phones, or any of there i-series hardware, computer gaming is for PC, the days of Apple gaming computers died with Oregon trail 20 years ago.

You're way too old fashioned to understand how big (and capable) Mac gaming is at the moment..

I'm a gamer, and I have a mac. I can play about 80% of the games that I'd like to play either through wineskin ports or official game clients from the companies.

[Crunga]

Any news on how it runs on the base Retina MBP model?