Guild Wars 2

So, after about 2.5 hours of explorable path #3, I switched characters to get some power-boosting consumables. But, wait! The whole party just got kicked out of the dungeon, and we can’t get back in. Yes, I was the leader, but judging by a post by Robert Hrouda, this shouldn’t have happened. The instance should stay open for several minutes, even with nobody in it. I had this happen to my party just after launch, but I thought it would have been fixed by now. Is this being addressed? I have no words to express the frustration felt by my entire party, and I don’t know that I could try Path 3 again without knowing that this bug was fixed. And the bug that prevented half our team from hitting the graveling mounds. That didn’t help us, either.

As far as I can tell, the dungeon got bored. After two and a half hours of toying with us and smashing us repeatedly, the Catacombs no longer found us entertaining, and so it discarded us. We must have offended it by defeating Kholer…

Anyway, I wanted to bring this bug to the attention of the developers in case they hadn’t noticed it. The “Bugs” forum might be more appropriate, and if so, I encourage the moderator to move this topic to that forum.

Um it’s not a bug. If more than 2 people leave the party while 3 are still inside, the whole group gets teleported out. I don’t know why Anet put that there but yeah.

bban: What you said is false.

Roy: If you created the instance and switch characters the instance is deleted and all players currently in the instance are kicked. The post you cited is either incorrect or you interpreted it incorrectly.

Do not create an instance is you want to screw around with other characters in future.

WAIT 2.5 hours in AC path 3? that should take 30 min max o.o even with killing everything 45 tops there are other things happening in that run other than it not letting u back in

I was actually leader of AC Branch 2 this weekend. We completed everything and before I had a chance to accept my Ascalonian Tears, it kicked my entire party from the dungeon. Luckily, the window was still opened and allowed me to accept my rewards…but dam what a sinking feeling when I hit the loading screen!

Risingashes.8694:

bban: What you said is false.

Roy: If you created the instance and switch characters the instance is deleted and all players currently in the instance are kicked. The post you cited is either incorrect or you interpreted it incorrectly.

Do not create an instance is you want to screw around with other characters in future.

Pretty much this. if you open the instance, it’s technically your instance, and when you leave it to go on another character, it will reset.

Had a guy today think it was a good idea to open the instance, not say anything, then when we get to final boss, switch characters to a lowbie alt to leech exp, only to kick the whole party and reset the instance. This person had a legendary weapon.. Guess money doesn’t = brains lol.

some people will just leave party kicking the other 4 members right before/at final boss than invite 4 friends/paying people and they get rewards

the lesson here always be the first to zone in

bbanfillov.9308:

Um it’s not a bug. If more than 2 people leave the party while 3 are still inside, the whole group gets teleported out. I don’t know why Anet put that there but yeah.

Your info may not be accurate.

If the leader of the party (the one that enter the dungeon first) leaves the group (he got kicked, you get kicked, he change character) everyone gets kicked out but him.

The instance stays open if no-one is in it, but as soon as the party leader changes characters the instance is wiped and no longer exists. This is your fault and you did it to your group. If you start the instance you can not change characters. It’s as simple as that. The post you linked does not address switching characters at all (which is what caused the instance being wiped) and it’s still correct to say that an instance will remain open if no-one is in it. An instance will cease to exist as soon as the player that created it swaps toons.

This means, do not swap characters to get something from their inventory, to not swap characters to get the 60 tokens a second time, do not swap characters to get the completion experience or karma on a levelling alt. If you start the instance, you stay.

It’s something they are working on (although I suspect they will retain some kind of way to prevent switching to alts to get rewards from final bosses without running the whole dungeon on the alt) and will hopefully be changed in the future. Until then, either don’t start the instance or don’t swap characters.

Shiren.9532:

If you start the instance you can not change characters. It’s as simple as that.

…

This means, do not swap characters to get something from their inventory, to not swap characters to get the 60 tokens a second time, do not swap characters to get the completion experience or karma on a levelling alt. If you start the instance, you stay.

Just wanted to quote for the emphasis. What is worse than wasting your own time is wasting the time of 4 more others.

Thanks, everyone, for your constructive input.

It was obviously my fault, as common sense would tell me that anyone else in the party can do whatever they like (switch characters, leave the party, whatever) but I can’t. This well-publicized, definitely-advertised-in-game feature is obviously the way things should be, and I must have been a moron for thinking anything else.

WAIT 2.5 hours in AC path 3? that should take 30 min max o.o even with killing everything 45 tops there are other things happening in that run other than it not letting u back in

Yes, 2.5 hours for Ascalonian Catacombs Path 3 really is too much. We all agree with that. We had two necromancers, two guardians, and a ranger who switched to elementalist, so we did the best we could with what we had; please don’t mistake this for a “please tell me what we did wrong” thread. We just couldn’t get it to work. Obviously, we should have been a more experienced party. That’s the best solution, isn’t it? Just be better.

I’m sorry for the sarcasm, but really, how should we have known about this? My party was relatively new to dungeons (only one of us had done this path before), and we had no idea this would happen. It really shouldn’t, in my opinion, and this seems like kind of a high-priority bug.

mosspit.8936:

Shiren.9532:

If you start the instance you can not change characters. It’s as simple as that.

…

This means, do not swap characters to get something from their inventory, to not swap characters to get the 60 tokens a second time, do not swap characters to get the completion experience or karma on a levelling alt. If you start the instance, you stay.

Just wanted to quote for the emphasis. What is worse than wasting your own time is wasting the time of 4 more others.

It wasn’t a random pick-up group, it was a guild thing, and three of us were on Mumble the whole time. I wasn’t intentionally trying to ruin everyone’s night, and in fact, I feel pretty bad that it was my actions that caused this. I don’t feel a sense of satisfaction from anything that took place; only frustration and a twinge of guilt from the party kick. It was a horrible ordeal that made nobody happy.

I don’t know how to get the word out to potential party leaders, but this was not a fun lesson to learn by experience. Until the bug is fixed, I think it would probably be a good idea to have a sticky thread advising party leaders not to switch characters while the dungeon is active.