Guild Wars 2

Since last patch, some weapon seems to disappear after 30 minutes.

What the kitten anet ?

Siege has always had a despawn timer. Just have to refresh the siege weapon every now and then.

No, that’s not true. Golem and Trebuchet had one. That’s fine since they’re mostly attack weapon .
But Arrow Cart, Ballista and Catapult didn’t.
You have to build somes of those before any kind of attack , just to be ready.

According to: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Siege_weapon

“Siege weapons have a despawn timer of 30 minutes. If a player uses a siege weapon, the timer is reset. When the timer reaches 0, the siege weapon is removed from the game. This Timer may be different for each weapon.”

Would be nice if someone from ANet could clarify the timer (if one exists) for each siege type.

Yes this would be some good information for all of us:) Mister Arenanet hehe

Ok, thank you, but i know for a fact that it didn’t affect all the siege weapon in the same way before, why did you change it ?

Matt Witter.6982:

Player placed siege weapons have a 30 minute timer that remove the siege from the game, when the timer expires. Players using the siege causes the timer to restart.

Thanks for the confirmation!

Jomg.9061:

Ok, thank you, but i know for a fact that it didn’t affect all the siege weapon in the same way before, why did you change it ?

It really did, just because you didn’t realize someone else was tagging it for you and keeping it alive didn’t mean it wasn’t happening. I’ve lost lots of siege to this in the past.

OP – As a general rule, if you pass through a keep, you refresh siege. Myself and a lot of others I know, when they go AFK, they do so in a tower and refresh on return. Typically, just jump on fire and move to the next one.

Ok, maybe i was wrong about that.

Still, i want to point out the fact that is not a fun mechanism and i don’t see it purpose.

What the point of forcing player to reset them ?

because to reduce lag or other reasons, there is a limit on siege weapons per map iirc. and if no siegeweapons despawned people would not be able to put down new siege.

Jomg.9061:

Ok, maybe i was wrong about that.

Still, i want to point out the fact that is not a fun mechanism and i don’t see it purpose.

What the point of forcing player to reset them ?

So that unused ones aren’t taking up siege room i presume?

A massive improvement that can be done is to display the countdown on the sieges, or show it when the players click on the sieges. Will make it much easier for players to see which sieges need refresh, rather than having to go to everyone of them.

Jomg.9061:

Ok, maybe i was wrong about that.

Still, i want to point out the fact that is not a fun mechanism and i don’t see it purpose.

What the point of forcing player to reset them ?

Whoa…someone admitted they were wrong on the internets!

The timer is two fold. There is a siege per map limit, so resetting unused siege helps keep maps from just becoming siege heavy. The other is that prevents keeps and towers from becoming impregnable.

As for the mechanic itself, it’s not bad. I do wish that siege had a timer on it though.

flame rams seem to stay around forever though

kreese.9461:

flame rams seem to stay around forever though

Yeah rams should disappear before any other siege. They are only useful for doors, and are NEVER used defensively. So once the tower/keep is taken, they just sit there until someone from another side takes the time to destroy them (which they shouldn’t if they don’t have to as it takes up slots).

Matt Witter.6982:

Player placed siege weapons have a 30 minute timer that remove the siege from the game, when the timer expires. Players using the siege causes the timer to restart.

Can you please respond to the question without lying?
I played a lot of wvw and saw arrow carts, balistas, catapults and rams not being removed for hours and hours. The only siege that get’s removed in probably 30 mins is the trebuchet and probably golems (haven’t tested these yet)

From time to time I like to play defensively and just upgrade and place some basic siege in one of the towers and escort some dolyaks. I only focus on that specific tower and ignore the rest. What’s very frustrating is that trebuchets always disappear very very quickly while the other stuff remains for ever.

Please give a straight answer and not lie. It doesn’t do any of us any good. Now if this is a bug you don’t know about, then I’m sorry for making you a liar. And if it’s a bug that this timer only applies to trebuchets, then please fix it because it’s making the 1% people that actually defend instead of running with the command zerg attacking, very disappointed.

The wvw population is already getting lower by each day and that I can confirm for a fact. Don’t scare away the other players that actually want to play your game.

Regards.

Matt Witter.6982:

Player placed siege weapons have a 30 minute timer that remove the siege from the game, when the timer expires. Players using the siege causes the timer to restart.

This is a myth, but one that has apparently entrenched itself even up into the ranks of Anet?

And it is easy to debunk. Pick a secluded nook on the northern wall of your home borderlands. Around the orb spawn area works fine, no one every goes there. Build one piece of siege equipment. In my case I built an arrowcart. I then sat watching said arrowcart for THREE hours, no player touched it. And it did not despawn.

After that I got bored and went to go find people to kill. But I checked on my arrowcart periodically. It survived for five days, right up until friday’s WvW reset.

Caliburn.1845:

Matt Witter.6982:

Player placed siege weapons have a 30 minute timer that remove the siege from the game, when the timer expires. Players using the siege causes the timer to restart.

This is a myth, but one that has apparently entrenched itself even up into the ranks of Anet?

And it is easy to debunk. Pick a secluded nook on the northern wall of your home borderlands. Around the orb spawn area works fine, no one every goes there. Build one piece of siege equipment. In my case I built an arrowcart. I then sat watching said arrowcart for THREE hours, no player touched it. And it did not despawn.

After that I got bored and went to go find people to kill. But I checked on my arrowcart periodically. It survived for five days, right up until friday’s WvW reset.

Im starting to think that the people that work for arena net that respond to forum posts don’t play the game. Another employee told me to send an email to a particular address, which opens a support ticket, then told me to continue emailing, which opens more tickets. then told me 4 tickets were too excessive.

Caliburn.1845:

Build one piece of siege equipment. In my case I built an arrowcart. I then sat watching said arrowcart for THREE hours, no player touched it. And it did not despawn. After that I got bored and went to go find people to kill. But I checked on my arrowcart periodically. It survived for five days, right up until friday’s WvW reset.

That’s what I’m saying also. The only siege that despawns are the trebuchets. I love building trebuchets and be able to counter catapults and even other trebutchets. So if you have this 30min timer on trebuchets, then please add it to all the other sieges, otherwise, I will fill the entire map with arrow carts

Catalin.5341:

Caliburn.1845:

Build one piece of siege equipment. In my case I built an arrowcart. I then sat watching said arrowcart for THREE hours, no player touched it. And it did not despawn. After that I got bored and went to go find people to kill. But I checked on my arrowcart periodically. It survived for five days, right up until friday’s WvW reset.

That’s what I’m saying also. The only siege that despawns are the trebuchets. I love building trebuchets and be able to counter catapults and even other trebutchets. So if you have this 30min timer on trebuchets, then please add it to all the other sieges, otherwise, I will fill the entire map with arrow carts

BUT you cant as there is a siege cap and once you get a certain amount, you are blocked from placing more.

I believe this siege cap is both for the entire map and also for a certain area, am I correct?
For example you can place a maximum of 100 siege weapons per map, but no more than 15 siege in garrison. Anyone knows exactly how this works?

THAT I don’t know. :< IF anyone would, it’s another player as I’m pretty sure ArenaNet doesn’t.

I will test this tomorrow and come back to you with a reply.

I understand the reason for siege despawning, it would become too powerful if every keep/tower had 20 siege items permanently there, but 30 minutes is really too short.

Can’t count how many times I’ve placed siege at a recently taken objective, only to return a short time later when its attacked, and its gone. In the same play session, not like the next day. You can be defending a structure, run off to do one thing, like retake a camp, get diverted into a few skirmishes, and by the time you get back your siege is gone.

The timer despawn should be at minimum an hour, so you don’t have to sit your butt glued to a wall afraid stuff will disappear if you leave.

Rams built on the gates stay for ever and never despawn. This is tested and can be confirmed by many people.
Arrow carts, balistas and catapults built inside a tower/keep stay for ever. Yesterday there were 2 balistas, 2 arrow carts and one catapult in cliffside and for at least 6 hours that I have played they haven’t respawned. And we only were attacked 1-2 times and the tower wasn’t constantly contested, unlike other towers/keeps.
Trebuchets disappear very quickly after you place them. I will test this tomorrow to see exactly the time.
Golems → I don’t know. Usually when you build them you use them immediately.

There are some myths that the siege will despawn after you logout or if the place is contested then the timer reset. But nothing can be confirmed. Is there anyone that can confirm any of these myths?

99% of the time, my Arrow Carts, Ballistas, and Flame Rams do NOT despawn or need to be cycled. If they ‘despawn’, it’s due to people destroying them, or quaggan lightning in a borderland keep.

Catapults for me are funky for me. Half the time they remain, half the time they despawn. I had a particular case in Woodhaven where one catapult would despawn if not cycled, and one would never despawn. Ever.

Trebuchets and Golems obey the 30 minute timer faithfully.

Now, I have many examples of rams, arrow carts, and ballistas that stays for DAYS, and I know for a fact they were not cycled. So the cycling myth is just that, a myth. Good myth to circulate though, since it does keep people cycling the vital siege like trebs.

And if/when they do fix the despawn timer, we’ll need people to keep cycling.

Thank you Darxio,

Advance notification of new builds (updated 12/14 – see below)
In order to allow WvW players to make good decions about siege placement, assault timing, etc. we’re adding a new build pre-announcement. This will be in the form of a message broadcast to all players some time before the current build expires. Because this notification is tied to one of the final steps in our build process, and those final steps take a variable amount of time, we won’t be able to say exactly when the current build will expire. Instead, the message will provide a window of time in which the new build will become available.

I hope this comes soon so we know when the trebuchets are going to expire. Probably after they add this feature they have the rest of the siege expire after 30 minutes too. If any dev is reading this, can you please increase this to 1 or 2 hours? I’m sure you guys don’t play wvw and don’t know that 30 minutes in wvw goes very very fast.

dekyos.1548:

kreese.9461:

flame rams seem to stay around forever though

Yeah rams should disappear before any other siege. They are only useful for doors, and are NEVER used defensively. So once the tower/keep is taken, they just sit there until someone from another side takes the time to destroy them (which they shouldn’t if they don’t have to as it takes up slots).

This isn’t entirely true; the fear on the flame ram 2 skill can be very useful for defending trebs set up on the cliff edge at Astral to hit Hills keep for instance.

I thought the siege timer started after the owner logged out or something like that.

pigtaro.2749:

A massive improvement that can be done is to display the countdown on the sieges, or show it when the players click on the sieges. Will make it much easier for players to see which sieges need refresh, rather than having to go to everyone of them.

Or 2 “hp” bars. 1 HP bar and 1 bar right above it that shows the timer (so halfway means 15 minutes left)

I did some tests today and if you start a siege build site without completing and don’t put any supply in it for 10 minutes, the build site will disappear. Every time you add more siege the timer rests again for 10 minutes.

I watched 5g worth of upgraded siege disappear … poof. I had done a run to retick it not 15 minutes before and when I lapped back around again, it was all gone.

I cried.

Do you actually have to USE the siege to reset the timer? Or is just entering the siege enough?

Centrix.4065:

Do you actually have to USE the siege to reset the timer? Or is just entering the siege enough?

I’m talking about building the siege. You can’t use siege that you haven’t built yet
So the only way to reset the 10 min timer is to add more supply to the build site.

Centrix.4065:

Do you actually have to USE the siege to reset the timer? Or is just entering the siege enough?

I’ve got same question also. Bumping thread up and hoping to get answer.

To refresh siege equipment and reset timer:

1) Is it ok to just take control of siege equipment?
2) Or do we have to actually fire something?

Here’s what I found so far:

Arrow carts, rams, catapults and balistas placed on the ground, not on walls, stay forever without having to use them at all.

Arrow carts, rams, catapults and balistas placed on walls expire after 30m, 40m, 1 hour, it’s a bit random

Trebuchets always expire after 30 min if you don’t use them. Don’t know about siege golems, but I believe they follow the same principle as trebuchets.

Building sites for any siege weapon don’t last more than 10m and everytime you add more supply to it it resets the timer.

Note: using the siege weapons means pressing F when next to them. You don’t have to fire with it.

Basically it’s what arena net said, that the siege expires after about 30 minutes. But they only apply this rule for siege placed on walls. It may be a bug that siege on ground never expires.

you can just “use” it, you don’t need to fire it. i’ve kept siege alive for hours like this. however, there have been times when i’ve had to head to the other side of the map to join int he defense, and when i got back only the trebs had despawned. then again, a couple of us actually tested the despawning with an arrow cart one night, and after a half hour, it did indeed disappear.

my guess, is that “using” will reset the timer, but firing it extend it’s life even further. however, that doesn’t explain the times where it’s despawned before the timer has run out. so it really gives the appearance of being entirely random.

Catalin.5341:

Basically it’s what arena net said, that the siege expires after about 30 minutes. But they only apply this rule for siege placed on walls. It may be a bug that siege on ground never expires.

It IS a bug. Dev gave us an answer on how the game is intended to work: all player placed siege despawns after 30 of no use.

Any other behavior is a bug!

Please report all bugs so they have a chance of getting fixed.

Catalin.5341:

Basically it’s what arena net said, that the siege expires after about 30 minutes. But they only apply this rule for siege placed on walls. It may be a bug that siege on ground never expires.

It IS a bug. Dev gave us an answer on how the game is intended to work: all player placed siege despawns after 30 of no use.

Any other behavior is a bug!

Please report all bugs so they have a chance of getting fixed.

Catalin.5341:

Basically it’s what arena net said, that the siege expires after about 30 minutes. But they only apply this rule for siege placed on walls. It may be a bug that siege on ground never expires.

It IS a bug. Dev gave us an answer on how the game is intended to work: all player placed siege despawns after 30 of no use.

Any other behavior is a bug!

Please report all bugs so they have a chance of getting fixed.

I’ve seen catapult despawn while placed on the ground after 30 minutes.

30 minutes seems to be painfully too fast. You barely get the lord’s room siege in place, take a leak, come back and it’s popping out. Or at least you need to have some poor kitten sitting in the room running around touching all the siege weapons to keep them from despawning.

I wouldn’t mind seeing that timer bumped up to an hour or two at least.

Something changed with siege within a recent patch, but it seems to not despawn anymore.

Sometime the 30 min timer work, sometimes not, it seems so change with the location, but i couldn’t find any things consistent,
In cbe it seems that nothing ever despawn, but it’s not true on BL. But sometime it still stay for day in BL..

So , once again.
Anet, what about a real answers and not something c/c from the wiki ?

ArenaNet should be encouraging people to use siege equipment, and 30 minute despawn does the opposite.

No siege-weapon should ever expire and there should also be no max to the number of siege weapons. People pay money (some real money) to place those things. And it is one more rule that is bad for tactical play and good for brainless and boring zerging.

Because you now can’t put up defensive siege weapons. WvW has great potentials but a lot of design decisions make no sense at all.

Have a look at this post: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/wuvwuv/WvW-needs-more-resourcefulness-and-less-zergs

Keep in mind that taking the temple of storms also zaps your keeps too. I saw it happening when we took the temple, went to garrison, which was ours and one catapult got zapped for 4k dmg almost destroyed it.
Normally i should give the healing buff to the temple owners, but lately the quaggans zap everyone regardless.

How it should work:

Siege engines have 30 minute timers.
Siege engines inside of a fort have 4 hour timers.

A siege built in the middle of nowhere should expire normally but defensive siege should stick around. It’s too easy to make defenders waste money by watching them setup siege and then you just go lol and attack somewhere else. Easiest way to destroy defensive siege is to just go away for half an hour.