Options

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The options panel allows players to modify language, graphics, sound, keyboard shortcuts, and otherwise customize the game. It can be opened by pressing F11 or clicking the gear icon in the upper left corner and choosing "Options" from the drop-down list.

General Options

Language

• Text Language — Specifies the language of all printed text in the game.
• Audio Language — Specifies the language used for spoken dialogue.
• Profanity Filter — Specifies the amount of profanity to filter in chat and other communications.

• The two language options have a drop-down menu allowing you to select another language.
• "At release only English, Spanish, German, French, and other yet-unspecified European languages will be supported." -Source:FAQ
• "ArenaNet has not stated whether voice work will be translated into every language." -Source:FAQ
• "Support for Asian languages will be added later." -Source:FAQ

User Interface

• Autoloot — Automatically picks up all loot for you, unless your bags are full. Also displays the loot you acquired for a short time at bottom-right of screen so that you still know what you picked up.
• Show All Enemy Names — Enables displaying enemy names above their heads even if they are not targeted.
• Show All NPC Names — Enables displaying NPC names above their heads even if they are not targeted.
• Show All Player Names — Enables showing all player names above their heads even if they are not targeted.
• Disable Closing Windows with Esc — Pressing ((Esc)) will not close UI windows, it will only stop the current action or bring up the Game Menu. If you enable this, you must close UI windows by pressing the Close button in the corner of the window or pressing the appropriate key again.
• Show Skill Recharge — Superimposes a white-text timer over recharging skills (in tenths of seconds).
• Simple Party UI — Collapses the party list in the heads-up display, showing names instead of icons (this is the same style chosen for Structured PvP).

Camera

• Rotation Speed — How fast the camera rotates when you move your mouse.
• Position — With the camera zoomed in all the way, this slider shifts the camera so that it is looking over the left or right shoulder of your character. Center the slider to disable the camera shift.
• Invert Camera Y-Axis — Reverses Y-axis camera movement with the mouse.
• Enable Camera Shake — Certain control mechanisms (ie knockdown or launched) will cause the camera to shake, as if you are seeing your character's point of view. If you prefer for a static camera, only adjustable by you, disable this.
• Use Free Camera — Prevents the camera from re-aligning behind you when you walk.

Combat

• Double-Tap to Evade — Double-pressing movement keys makes your character roll in the same direction. When disabled, you can only evade by binding additional keys to evade or manually clicking the evade icon (next to the Endurance display). Many players recommend disabling this option for those who use non-standard input devices or who find themselves accidentally double-tapping (and thereby wasting endurance).
• Disable Area of Effect rings — Hide area of effect rings for ground-targeted skills. This will make the game more difficult.
• Double Click to Attack/Interact — If enabled, you can interact with objects by double-clicking on them (in addition to right-clicking).
• Stop Auto-Attacking On Target Change — By default, the auto attack will continue when you target swap. Disabling this functionality may help you avoid unnecessary aggro.
• Autotargeting — When using a skill with no target selected, the game will choose the nearest one for you.
• Promote Skill Target — The current target can not be switched by autotargeting. (Note: Targeting a harvesting node/ally when trying to use a skill on a nearby foe will change the target to that foe with this option on.)
• Fast-Cast Ground Targeting — Skills that target the ground activate immediately at the current position of the cursor.
• Melee Attack Assist — This will prevent you from running through targets (essentially making targets "solid") so that you stay in melee range.

Graphics Options

Graphics options window.

• Resolution
  • Drop-down options include "Window", "Windowed Fullscreen", and all valid resolution options for your monitor and video card.
• Refresh Rate
  • Drop-down options include "Default", and all valid refresh rate options for your monitor and video card.
• Interface Size
  • Drop-down options include Small, Normal, Large, and Larger.
• Graphic Mode
  • Slider: <Best Performance | Balanced | Best Appearance>
• Anti-Aliasing - Smooth edges of objects at a slight cost in performance
  • Drop-down options None, or FXAA.
• Render Sampling - renders samples at either the current resolution or smaller (improved performance but quality trade off)
  • Drop-down options Subsample, Native or Supersample.

• Textures - Controls texture resolution. Higher values give more detail on terrain and objects, but require more video memory and bandwidth.
  • Drop-down options include Low, Medium, and High.
• Environment - Controls the complexity of terrain, props, decals, and ground cover. Higher values show more detail but require more GPU bandwidth. Some features may not update until the map changes.
  • Drop-down options include Low, Medium, and High.
• Shadows - Draw simple character shadows in addition to static map shadows.
  • Drop-down options include None, Low, Medium, High, and Ultra.
• Shaders - Controls the quality of various shader effects, such as wind and lighting. Adjust to lower cheaper materials and fewer textures, which can improve performance for low-end GPUs.
  • Drop-down options include Low, Medium, and High.
• Reflections
  • Drop-down options include None, Terrain and Sky, and All.
• Post processing - Controls visual quality such as bloom, depth blurring, portal distortion, character lines, light rays, and selective scene tinting.
  • Drop-down options include None, Low, and High.
• Animations - Controls model animations and simulations, such as cloth and water.
  • Drop-down options include Low, Medium, and High.
• Full Screen Gamma
  • Number with linked Slider, range: 0.5 to 3.5
• Vertical Sync - Forces the frame rate to synchronize with the monitor refresh rate. Helps eliminate tearing artifacts, but can result in artificially low frame rates.
  • Check-box, on or off.
• High Res Character Textures - Enables high resolution textures for NPCs and other player character models. Requires a map change for the setting to take effect.
  • Check-box, on or off.
• Enable Stereoscopic Rendering - Rendering for 3D capable monitors. Requires full screen mode.
  • Check-box, on or off.

Auto Detect - analyzes your system and guesses what quality you are capable of running the game at.

Graphic option notes

• Many graphics options have tooltips.
• The first time you run the game, it will attempt to automatically find the best settings for your computer.
  • Increasing the resolution or other options tends to decrease performance noticeably.
  • The game will display CUSTOM near the top of the tab.
• Setting the reflections options to "None" seems to improve frame-rates for weaker video cards.
• "High" texture size is not available to clients running on 32-bit systems.

Sound Options

You are able to change these sound options by the use of a slider, left would be the minimum setting and sliding to the right the maximum setting.

• Master Volume
  • Controls the overall volume of GW2.
• Music Volume
  • Volume of the ingame music.
• Environment Volume
  • Volume of the sounds of the environment around you.
• Effects Volume
  • Volume of character effects, such as skills.
• Dialog Volume
  • Volume of the ingame dialogs.
• UI Volume
  • Volume of the UI, like event notifications, ingame mail etc.
• VOIP Ducking
  • Controls the volume adjustment when using a 3rd party VOIP program.

• Audio Device
  • Selects which audio device to use for playback.
• Sound Quality: <Fastest | Highest Quality>
  • Sets your sound quality, can influence the game performance.
• Music Interval <Shorter | Longer>
  • Sets the length of pause between tracks of music. With longer music interval, music will have a longer pause before playing again.
• Mixing Buffer Size <Lowest Latency | Most Stable>
  • Dictates how much memory the sound engine will use, from a large amount of memory and lower latency to a smaller amount of memory but more stability.
• Mute when GW2 is in the background
  • Mutes the sound if GW2 is minimized.

• Restore Defaults
  • Restores every option to its default setting.

Sound Options Notes

• You can play your own music within Guild Wars 2.
• Go to your My Documents folder -> Guild Wars 2 -> Music. In Windows 7; the full path: "C:\Users\<username>\Documents\Guild Wars 2\Music"
• Create a playlist using your favorite media player.
• Using iTunes & Right Click + Export to the directory above in .m3u format works seamlessly with the game mechanics using the playlists named below.
• NOTE: The music files have to be in a format that FMOD supports by default: .mp3, .ogg, .flac, .wav, .aiff, .mid, .it
• NOTE: Wikipedia FMOD Formats
• NOTE: The playlist formats that are supported are: .wpl, .m3u, .pls, .asx, and .wax
• For the game to recognize your playlists you have to give the playlists a specific name.

Custom Playlist Recognized Names

• Ambient (Default Playlist)
• Battle
• Underwater
• City
• MainMenu
• NightTime
• Crafting
• BossBattle

Control Options

Actions

• Action: Dodge V
• Action: Interact/Revive/PvP Finnisher F
• Action: Stow/Draw Weapons
• Action: Use Elite Skill 0
• Action: Use Healing Skill 6
• Action: Use Profession Skill 1 F1
• Action: Use Profession Skill 2 F2
• Action: Use Profession Skill 3 F3
• Action: Use Profession Skill 4 F4
• Action: Use Utility Skill 1 7
• Action: Use Utility Skill 2 8
• Action: Use Utility Skill 3 9
• Action: Use Weapon Skill 1 1
• Action: Use Weapon Skill 2 2
• Action: Use Weapon Skill 3 3
• Action: Use Weapon Skill 4 4
• Action: Use Weapon Skill 5 5
• Camera: Free Camera
• Camera: Reverse Camera
• Camera: Zoom In Page Up
• Camera: Zoom Out Page Down
• Chat: Open Chat Enter
• Chat: Reply Backspace
• Chat: Start Chat Command /
• Chat: Toggle Chat
• Inventory: Cycle Equipment .
• Inventory: Open Inventory I
• Miscellaneous: Language Quick Toggle
• Miscellaneous: Log Out F12
• Movement: Automatic Run Num Lock
• Movement: Jump/Swim Up Space
• Movement: Move Backward Down Arrow
• Movement: Move Forward Up Arrow
• Movement: Reverse Direction
• Movement: Strafe Left Left Arrow
• Movement: Strafe Right Right Arrow
• Movement: Turn Left A
• Movement: Turn Right D
• Movement: Walk/Swim Down
• Panel: Open Access Escape
• Panel: Open Commerce O
• Panel: Open Contacts Y
• Panel: Open Guild G
• Panel: Open Hero H
• Panel: Open Options F11
• Panel: Open Party P
• Panel: Open World Map M
• Panel: Open Story Journal
• Panel: Open PvP Information N
• Panel: Scoreboard B
• Screenshot: Normal Print Screen
• Screenshot: Stereoscopic
• Show the Kennel Dialog
• Targeting: Ally-Nearest
• Targeting: Foe-Nearest
• Targeting: Foe-Next Tab
• Targeting: Friendly-Next
• Targeting: Hold Lock
• Targeting: Show Enemy Names Left Cntrl
• Targeting: Show Friendly Names Left Alt

See also

• Controls