Guild Wars 2

I’ve probably forgotten quite a few things here. but there seems to be an ever growing list of pretty important issues that Anet have commented at some time in the past ‘they are aware of’ that they have either;

(a) forgotten about
(b) hope players have forgotten about
© are still in the process of being being ‘fixed’

For brevity I’ll only list the two I feel cause me the most frustration – other can add more.

Mega Servers – Judging by how regularly the ubiquitous ‘empty map’ box pops up, particularly in HOT maps, either the game has so few players that it is struggling to fill maps or more likely, someone needs to get a grip and fix this. TD and DS then might actually become playable maps.

Disconnects – why oh why (particularly after the same issue was identified and fixed in GW1) are we still waiting for a system to be introduced that automatically puts you back on the same map/personal story instance/activity etc without progress being lost, if you disconnect and reconnect within a 3-5 min grace period?

Any chance of some sort of comment/update Anet?

The “big” mega server complaint I remember was maps closing when people were doing the metas. That complaint has indeed been fixed. The other two complaints you have brought up, I can’t really address, but the pop up is something I"m not sure how they’d handle, because sometimes maps are closed simulatenously as a big event ends, or fails. As long as the server doesn’t close and you can stay on your server, I’m not sure if it’s an issue worth of a huge time investment.

HowTo solve problems

I’m not sure why everyone brings up Districts. There were almost always only 1 or 2, except during Holidays/Festivals, and then one could not get into the popular districts, as they were always full. Districts only ‘spun up’ when the 1 or 2 existing ones were full.

I guess the big perceived advantage is being able to move to an unpopulated district voluntarily, as opposed to being placed in one here. /shrug

Nage.1520:

The “big” mega server complaint I remember was maps closing when people were doing the metas. That complaint has indeed been fixed. The other two complaints you have brought up, I can’t really address, but the pop up is something I"m not sure how they’d handle, because sometimes maps are closed simulatenously as a big event ends, or fails. As long as the server doesn’t close and you can stay on your server, I’m not sure if it’s an issue worth of a huge time investment.

I’m not convinced that any sort of ‘fix’ has taken place as you describe. What has occurred is that players are using the taxi system to try and get to ‘full’ maps as events start. This is fine for the few that succeed but the problem is that many can’t because there are so many players on empty maps, that when they all try to join the advertised one or two, they end up staring at the ‘the map you are trying to join is full’ dialogue, they give up in frustration.

The system should be filling one map at a time (similar to how the old district system worked in GW1) but at the moment, because the priority is to ensure that each new map created has reserved space for friends and guild mates to join – too many ‘empty’ maps are being created.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

I’m not sure why everyone brings up Districts. There were almost always only 1 or 2, except during Holidays/Festivals, and then one could not get into the popular districts, as they were always full. Districts only ‘spun up’ when the 1 or 2 existing ones were full.

I guess the big perceived advantage is being able to move to an unpopulated district voluntarily, as opposed to being placed in one here. /shrug

As you correctly state, there were only ever 1 or 2 districts because the system filled up one at a time and only created another when the district neared capacity.

This is NOT how Megaservers are working – if it were, they would be fine.
Megaservers create maps and reserve space for guild mates and friends for every player on the map. So if you have 10 players on a map – the system might be reserving 10 spaces for each of those players and therefore 10×10=100 and the map is considered full and a new one created.

^^^This is why there are so many empty maps.

It really isn’t rocket science, they just need to change the programming to fill one map at a time – they know this, they have stated this and yet they haven’t.

Daroon.1736:

Nage.1520:

The “big” mega server complaint I remember was maps closing when people were doing the metas. That complaint has indeed been fixed. The other two complaints you have brought up, I can’t really address, but the pop up is something I"m not sure how they’d handle, because sometimes maps are closed simulatenously as a big event ends, or fails. As long as the server doesn’t close and you can stay on your server, I’m not sure if it’s an issue worth of a huge time investment.

I’m not convinced that any sort of ‘fix’ has taken place as you describe. What has occurred is that players are using the taxi system to try and get to ‘full’ maps as events start. This is fine for the few that succeed but the problem is that many can’t because there are so many players on empty maps, that when they all try to join the advertised one or two, they end up staring at the ‘the map you are trying to join is full’ dialogue, they give up in frustration.

The system should be filling one map at a time (similar to how the old district system worked in GW1) but at the moment, because the priority is to ensure that each new map created has reserved space for friends and guild mates to join – too many ‘empty’ maps are being created.

The fix was listed in the patch notes and it’s been quite a long time since I’ve seen a post about the zone closing during a meta.

Edit: For those who believe Anet doesn’t fix bugs, here’s a link to the known issue tracker. You can see recently solved bugs and bugs they’re currently trying to investigate.

https://help.guildwars2.com/entries/98802888-Known-Issue-Tracker

Edit: This is a quote from the known issue tracker relevant to the OP:

“Map Instances are being closed while active or with substantial progress in active Meta events”

This is listed under recently solved.

My biggest gripe is probably the disconnects. Especially because some instances seem to be more prone to them than others for whatever reason. I think I had to do the PS instance where you and Trahearne go into a cave to rescue a team and in the end fight a Lich and Abominations about 20 times, even though I’ve only done it on 10 characters. Mostly because I’d get a disconnect right at the end of this 20-30 minute dialogue fest.

The reason is probably, as usual, that they don’t know how to easily do it given the code and that they have more important things to do, but really. This existed in GW1 and it’s just the best feeling, knowing that, if you disconnect during the super long instance, you have up to 15 (?) minutes to attempt to reconnect with your progress being saved.

I mean, you may return to a wiped party and failed instance, but that’s better than a definitive kick.

Sourde Noire.5286:

My biggest gripe is probably the disconnects. Especially because some instances seem to be more prone to them than others for whatever reason. I think I had to do the PS instance where you and Trahearne go into a cave to rescue a team and in the end fight a Lich and Abominations about 20 times, even though I’ve only done it on 10 characters. Mostly because I’d get a disconnect right at the end of this 20-30 minute dialogue fest.

The reason is probably, as usual, that they don’t know how to easily do it given the code and that they have more important things to do, but really. This existed in GW1 and it’s just the best feeling, knowing that, if you disconnect during the super long instance, you have up to 15 (?) minutes to attempt to reconnect with your progress being saved.

I mean, you may return to a wiped party and failed instance, but that’s better than a definitive kick.

I’m pretty sure I was kicked from instances in Guild Wars 1 and had to restart then, like story instances. I don’t ever remember being returned to the same instance.

Sourde Noire.5286:

My biggest gripe is probably the disconnects. Especially because some instances seem to be more prone to them than others for whatever reason. I think I had to do the PS instance where you and Trahearne go into a cave to rescue a team and in the end fight a Lich and Abominations about 20 times, even though I’ve only done it on 10 characters. Mostly because I’d get a disconnect right at the end of this 20-30 minute dialogue fest.

The reason is probably, as usual, that they don’t know how to easily do it given the code and that they have more important things to do, but really. This existed in GW1 and it’s just the best feeling, knowing that, if you disconnect during the super long instance, you have up to 15 (?) minutes to attempt to reconnect with your progress being saved.

I mean, you may return to a wiped party and failed instance, but that’s better than a definitive kick.

I’m pretty sure they could do it quite easily – It already reconnects back to the same map or instance if you are in a party and if you disconnect from a PvP game you go straight back into the map you were playing.

Anet needs to place more of priority on fixing issues that values players time.

Sourde Noire.5286:

My biggest gripe is probably the disconnects. Especially because some instances seem to be more prone to them than others for whatever reason. I think I had to do the PS instance where you and Trahearne go into a cave to rescue a team and in the end fight a Lich and Abominations about 20 times, even though I’ve only done it on 10 characters. Mostly because I’d get a disconnect right at the end of this 20-30 minute dialogue fest.

The reason is probably, as usual, that they don’t know how to easily do it given the code and that they have more important things to do, but really. This existed in GW1 and it’s just the best feeling, knowing that, if you disconnect during the super long instance, you have up to 15 (?) minutes to attempt to reconnect with your progress being saved.

I mean, you may return to a wiped party and failed instance, but that’s better than a definitive kick.

I remember that especially from GW1 Missions. In front of the last boss > Crash > Restart GW > In front of the last boss. Yeah

How it works: https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Disconnect

Nage.1520:

The “big” mega server complaint I remember was maps closing when people were doing the metas. That complaint has indeed been fixed. The other two complaints you have brought up, I can’t really address, but the pop up is something I"m not sure how they’d handle, because sometimes maps are closed simulatenously as a big event ends, or fails. As long as the server doesn’t close and you can stay on your server, I’m not sure if it’s an issue worth of a huge time investment.

Auric Basin tried to shut down right in the middle of the meta on us last night. It’s not fixed.

GreyWolf.8670:

Nage.1520:

The “big” mega server complaint I remember was maps closing when people were doing the metas. That complaint has indeed been fixed. The other two complaints you have brought up, I can’t really address, but the pop up is something I"m not sure how they’d handle, because sometimes maps are closed simulatenously as a big event ends, or fails. As long as the server doesn’t close and you can stay on your server, I’m not sure if it’s an issue worth of a huge time investment.

Auric Basin tried to shut down right in the middle of the meta on us last night. It’s not fixed.

Tried to shut down, or the map closed? There’s a big difference.

The fix stopped maps from closing, not from getting any kind of message.

In the past maps closed. They don’t any more. That’s a fix. The message popping up…that’s an inconvenience. It only causes problems if someone actually clicks that they want to transfer maps, and furthermore, it only really matters if they’re not in a squad at that point and they can’t get back in.

The problem of maps closing has been fixed.

One of the reasons it pops up in AB by the way is the meta exploit. People are trying to get from your map into a multimap situations or they’re changing maps. As people move around, population changes and then the mega server message is triggered. They fix the multimap that will help AB as well…but the problem I was talking about, as far as I can tell is fixed.

The zone didn’t close.

Vayne.8563:

GreyWolf.8670:

Nage.1520:

The “big” mega server complaint I remember was maps closing when people were doing the metas. That complaint has indeed been fixed. The other two complaints you have brought up, I can’t really address, but the pop up is something I"m not sure how they’d handle, because sometimes maps are closed simulatenously as a big event ends, or fails. As long as the server doesn’t close and you can stay on your server, I’m not sure if it’s an issue worth of a huge time investment.

Auric Basin tried to shut down right in the middle of the meta on us last night. It’s not fixed.

Tried to shut down, or the map closed? There’s a big difference.

The fix stopped maps from closing, not from getting any kind of message.

In the past maps closed. They don’t any more. That’s a fix. The message popping up…that’s an inconvenience. It only causes problems if someone actually clicks that they want to transfer maps, and furthermore, it only really matters if they’re not in a squad at that point and they can’t get back in.

The problem of maps closing has been fixed.

One of the reasons it pops up in AB by the way is the meta exploit. People are trying to get from your map into a multimap situations or they’re changing maps. As people move around, population changes and then the mega server message is triggered. They fix the multimap that will help AB as well…but the problem I was talking about, as far as I can tell is fixed.

The zone didn’t close.

I would agree that maps no longer close without warning, that indeed seems to be fixed.

That was not however the issue I was addressing. The problem of too many ‘Empty maps’ is still very much a problem (just look at the number of threads related to this issue that have appeared in the last 6 months) and as Anet have stated that Taxi’ing is not ideal, why have they not fixed it yet?

Daroon.1736:

Vayne.8563:

GreyWolf.8670:

Nage.1520:

The “big” mega server complaint I remember was maps closing when people were doing the metas. That complaint has indeed been fixed. The other two complaints you have brought up, I can’t really address, but the pop up is something I"m not sure how they’d handle, because sometimes maps are closed simulatenously as a big event ends, or fails. As long as the server doesn’t close and you can stay on your server, I’m not sure if it’s an issue worth of a huge time investment.

Auric Basin tried to shut down right in the middle of the meta on us last night. It’s not fixed.

Tried to shut down, or the map closed? There’s a big difference.

The fix stopped maps from closing, not from getting any kind of message.

In the past maps closed. They don’t any more. That’s a fix. The message popping up…that’s an inconvenience. It only causes problems if someone actually clicks that they want to transfer maps, and furthermore, it only really matters if they’re not in a squad at that point and they can’t get back in.

The problem of maps closing has been fixed.

One of the reasons it pops up in AB by the way is the meta exploit. People are trying to get from your map into a multimap situations or they’re changing maps. As people move around, population changes and then the mega server message is triggered. They fix the multimap that will help AB as well…but the problem I was talking about, as far as I can tell is fixed.

The zone didn’t close.

I would agree that maps no longer close without warning, that indeed seems to be fixed.

That was not however the issue I was addressing. The problem of too many ‘Empty maps’ is still very much a problem (just look at the number of threads related to this issue that have appeared in the last 6 months) and as Anet have stated that Taxi’ing is not ideal, why have they not fixed it yet?

Just because something is not ideal, doesn’t mean there’s an actual solution that’s more ideal. It also doesn’t mean a solution can be performed in a timely manner. It also doesn’t mean that the solution won’t breed new problems.

It’s easy to say why don’t they fix this to a programmer. I’m pretty sure that most things we think are easy to fix are really really difficult to fix.

Why haven’t they fixed it? Because it’s not game breaking and other things are going to take priority.

Am I annoyed when a box pops up asking me if I want to transfer to another map. A tiny bit. Not worth a huge amount of effort from my point of view and I’m pretty sure fixing the megaserver generally, on any level, would make it prohibitive.

They absolutely had to fix the zone closing, because that’s infuriating. A hundred people on a DS map that closes being cheated out of a reward is absolutely infurating.

Having a warning pop up on a map to change zones a handful of times a day is far more bearable.

Did you look at the last of recently fixed bugs? It’s not like nothing is being done. Plenty is being worked on. Asking why a specific thing hasn’t been fixed, is ignoring how many things are being fixed.

What I find annoying is that I get this message to go to another server because it’s closing down and then I accept….and then 1 minute later I get the same message again. Sometimes 4 times in a row.

So why move me to a server 3 times that is about to close down? There is something in the programming that isn’t adding up there. Mind you, these are not moments where a meta event just finished.

But if I have to move then let it be a move and then let me be for a while.

Vayne.8563:

Daroon.1736:

Vayne.8563:

GreyWolf.8670:

Nage.1520:

The “big” mega server complaint I remember was maps closing when people were doing the metas. That complaint has indeed been fixed. The other two complaints you have brought up, I can’t really address, but the pop up is something I"m not sure how they’d handle, because sometimes maps are closed simulatenously as a big event ends, or fails. As long as the server doesn’t close and you can stay on your server, I’m not sure if it’s an issue worth of a huge time investment.

Auric Basin tried to shut down right in the middle of the meta on us last night. It’s not fixed.

Tried to shut down, or the map closed? There’s a big difference.

The fix stopped maps from closing, not from getting any kind of message.

In the past maps closed. They don’t any more. That’s a fix. The message popping up…that’s an inconvenience. It only causes problems if someone actually clicks that they want to transfer maps, and furthermore, it only really matters if they’re not in a squad at that point and they can’t get back in.

The problem of maps closing has been fixed.

One of the reasons it pops up in AB by the way is the meta exploit. People are trying to get from your map into a multimap situations or they’re changing maps. As people move around, population changes and then the mega server message is triggered. They fix the multimap that will help AB as well…but the problem I was talking about, as far as I can tell is fixed.

The zone didn’t close.

I would agree that maps no longer close without warning, that indeed seems to be fixed.

That was not however the issue I was addressing. The problem of too many ‘Empty maps’ is still very much a problem (just look at the number of threads related to this issue that have appeared in the last 6 months) and as Anet have stated that Taxi’ing is not ideal, why have they not fixed it yet?

Just because something is not ideal, doesn’t mean there’s an actual solution that’s more ideal. It also doesn’t mean a solution can be performed in a timely manner. It also doesn’t mean that the solution won’t breed new problems.

It’s easy to say why don’t they fix this to a programmer. I’m pretty sure that most things we think are easy to fix are really really difficult to fix.

Why haven’t they fixed it? Because it’s not game breaking and other things are going to take priority.

Am I annoyed when a box pops up asking me if I want to transfer to another map. A tiny bit. Not worth a huge amount of effort from my point of view and I’m pretty sure fixing the megaserver generally, on any level, would make it prohibitive.

They absolutely had to fix the zone closing, because that’s infuriating. A hundred people on a DS map that closes being cheated out of a reward is absolutely infurating.

Having a warning pop up on a map to change zones a handful of times a day is far more bearable.

Did you look at the last of recently fixed bugs? It’s not like nothing is being done. Plenty is being worked on. Asking why a specific thing hasn’t been fixed, is ignoring how many things are being fixed.

I would have to respectfully disagree on both counts.

Firstly fromDev AMA on Reddit – March 2016
https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/48zlyd/im_mike_obrien_here_with_gw2_dev_team_ama/

‘Megaservers does what Gw1 did ala districts, except automatically. The downside, which really became apparent with HoT, is that we have an almost impossible problem to solve: how do we reserve space for all the people that will want to play together but are not currently playing together? Fans have solved his problem with taxiing, which is amazing, but obviously that is not the best solution. Or perhaps if it is the right way to do it we should make it easier. But the basic problem is a map holds N people and if we leave space for M people that may or may not show up, then it really only supports N-M people and if M is large, the map is mostly empty. Megaservers favors parties when grouping, which is why taxiing works: a small buffer is reserved so parties can generally get into the map together. But reserving say for an entire guild, where we don’t know how many will show up for any particular map, is a hard problem conceptually, never mind the programming of it. I’m open to suggestions.’

As you can clearly see it is not a technical issue – its a conceptual one ie they are insisting that prioritizing reserving space for players who MAY want to join friends is more important that full maps.

And with regard to this not being ‘important’ enough – I would suggest that when you design a whole expansion pack around Meta events that require full maps – fixing the system that controls those maps should be a top priority.

Daroon.1736:

…

Interesting statement from anet devs.

Why not let the guild members choose the MegaServer district?
“We meet on dis 24 guys, bring food …”

Lyp Sao.1375:

Daroon.1736:

…

Interesting statement from anet devs.

Why not let the guild members choose the MegaServer district?
“We meet on dis 24 guys, bring food …”

I concur that this would make much more sense than the current system but clearly the Dev’s responsible don’t agree. Apparently players who might want to play on a map are far more important than those that actually want to play on it – Go figure.

Daroon.1736:

Apparently players who might want to play on a map are far more important than those that actually want to play on it – Go figure.

reasonable

Daroon.1736:

I concur that this would make much more sense than the current system but clearly the Dev’s responsible don’t agree. Apparently players who might want to play on a map are far more important than those that actually want to play on it – Go figure.

“A small buffer is reserved so parties can generally get into the map together” doesn’t at all indicate that they’re “far more important;” only that they’re worth a small amount of compromise to please as many people as currently possible. And, anyone who’s ever tried to get into Teq or Tarir late knows there’s a chance they won’t be able to taxi… demonstrating that at some point the map is going to be full of people who actually want to play on it.

edit: I also suspect none of us would be able to tell the difference between a map that is full with that reserve buffer unfilled, and a map that is full with that buffer also full.

~EW

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

Daroon.1736:

I concur that this would make much more sense than the current system but clearly the Dev’s responsible don’t agree. Apparently players who might want to play on a map are far more important than those that actually want to play on it – Go figure.

“A small buffer is reserved so parties can generally get into the map together” doesn’t at all indicate that they’re “far more important;” only that they’re worth a small amount of compromise to please as many people as currently possible. And, anyone who’s ever tried to get into Teq or Tarir late knows there’s a chance they won’t be able to taxi… demonstrating that at some point the map is going to be full of people who actually want to play on it.

edit: I also suspect none of us would be able to tell the difference between a map that is full with that reserve buffer unfilled, and a map that is full with that buffer also full.

~EW

I completely agree, but the evidence suggests that the ‘buffer’ is way too large at the moment which is resulting in way too many ‘empty’ maps being created and then closed after the grace period for those who might want to join expires and the system decides the map is underpopulated.

If each map was filled to at least 3/4 full before another was created, there would always (except on the map currently being filled) be enough ppl on any given map to complete any given meta and taxiing could be used (as intended) in those situations where players wish to join others on a different map.

Having a situation where a player arrives on a map 1 and within 5 seconds, is informed that the map is underpopulated is pretty inexcusable, particularly when, after they accept and change to map 2, the same dialogue is popping up again within minutes.