Guild Wars 2

There was an update last night of 7,000 + files, and I only got about 2 Mbps from 208.46.163.42 (presumably the distribution server). I eventually gave up and went to watch TV, and didn’t get to play last night.

Why don’t you implement a torrent client for patches, like W*W does, and:

A) save some bandwidth ($$s), by allowing everybody to become a distribution node?
B) Improve download times, by removing a single point of distribution?
C) Remove a single point of failure?

I know that torrent has a bad reputation, but using it in a legitimate arena can help remove that sterotype. Since you don’t ask for a monthly fee, this can DEFINATLY remove overhead costs, increase RoI, and improve End User – i.e. my :-) – satisfaction.

Yeah, but MY satisfaction matters too. I don’t want my connection slowing down because I’m seeding a bunch of people. If it was made optional then you’d have hardly any seeders.

As ninja said.

I for example have a very crappy internet connection cause their is nothing better available for my region. If I would be forced to seed I wouldn’t be able to play the game.

I don’t know why you’re complaining about seeding. Here are my µTorrent stats for the last 31 days:

- downloading 717.6 GB
- uploading 34.4 GB
- D + U 752 GB

As you can see you can download as much as you want while uploading/seeding a minimum. In my µTorrent settings the uploading speed is limited to 15 kb/s maximum, 1 kb/s once the downloading is over. Once I got what I wanted, once the downloading is over I stop the torrent, I don’t upload/seed anymore. By default the uploading speed in µTorrent settings is set to unlimited, that’s probably your problem, that’s why it’s slowing down your internet connection. 15 kb/s is the number that works for me but you just have to test, which minimum uploading speed will give you the maximum downloading speed.
BTW an alternate source like torrents would be really useful not just for patches but also for downloading the game itself. A lot of people already complained that they couldn’t download the game from this site. Or that it stopped at x %.

Devil’s advocate:

When the patch is downloaded from a peer network, it is easy to poison the content. Obviosuly the game will run a checksum on its data to ensure it is valid, but a user, or group of users, could cause many users to have difficulty patching just by seeding invalid data.

As inconvenient as that would be, imagine it in the context of WvW. When there is a patch people try to rush back in—but you would have some users trying to keep their opponents from patching properly while they and their friends are clearing undefended towers and keeps.

I have a 35Mb up- and down-link. I realize this is more than most people have, but I patch fast. server reliability and capacity is not an issue if they can saturate my connection during peak times—it is the client side of the link that has issues; if you have an unreliable or throttled connection changing to a peer network does not change that. It can produce some gains due to how traffic is typically throttled on cable networks, but it won’t solve the problems.

i back up the game’s DAT file every week onto an external drive. as long as i don’t lose it, installing it takes only a copy into the directory (several minutes). which reminds me: i need to do that tonight.

the patching system is good as it is now.

please do not fix what is not broken.

no.other games tried doing it and i just closed it right after i finished downloading.unless its a movie,i dont bother seeding

Don’t fix what isn’t broken. It is fine as is.