Guild Wars 2

I have the same issue. The researchers will not follow me to the exit and the exit will not open, despite me killing off all creatures. I tried yesterday and today as well, both times it didn’t work.

Hoping this gets fixed soon, I’m lvl 65 now and rising and I want to follow the story

I have a character blocked at this quest. My most recent try was yesterday 20/9. I like to do my personal story at the level intended so it progresses alongside my character. I really don’t want to be lv80 and having the story to do in one big chunk so currently I don’t want to play the character. Luckily I have others

Having some experience with coding and I have played MMO’s for long enough to know bugs and unforseen glitches just happen, will always happen and can be very difficult to track down. So thank you for an awesome game all your hard work and a fix soon please

I got this to work finaly, by getting a guildie also on the quest to come thru with me, it seemed the npcs all followed her, they got stuck a few times on rocks but a bit of negotiating on her part got us all out safe and sound
I would suggest trying this is you are having the npc not following bug like i did
oh and we also cleared the whole tunnel south and east before going to help the researchers, maybe this helped i dunno.

Vrenzee.6734:

OK, I finally able to clear it. After trying so many times, here’s what went well for me:

1. Ignore the first dead Asura.
2. Clear all the mobs on the path of the first green circle.
3. Then ignore all the mobs and keep running to the 1st research team (on the hill).
4. Help 1st research team fight undeads.
*5. When it’s time to move, walk S-L-O-W-L-Y + in the middle of the path > making sure all research team is moving and following you.
6. Go into the cave after whisper agent clears the barricade.
*7. Clear ALL mobs inside the cave including southern exit BUT DO NOT GO NEAR the abomination that fights the 2nd team.
8. After southern exit is cleared, help 2nd team defeat the abomination.
*9. When it’s time to move, walk S-L-O-W-L-Y + in the middle of the path toward the southern exit.
10. After Trahearne summon his minions, go back and exit from the cave entrance.

(*) < Important step.

It doesn’t matter whether Trahearne died, or left behind, because he will spawn next to you. Goodluck!
-v

This quest bugged out for me where either half of the research team would not follow me, or I reached the south-end of the cave with the barrier up and no cutscene. After two hours of wipe-festing, I finally gave up and came to the forums. Reading through about 5 pages of complaints, I found the gem of a method listed above.

It took me two tries with the method above. The first time I tried, the quest bugged between steps 8 & 9 after I killed the abom-boss when 4 more grubs appeared out of nowhere. Once I killed those grubs and got to the south end, the barrier was back up with no cutscene yet again.

On the second go-round I figured out the problem: when you first enter the cave, there are supposed to be 4 grubs at the beginning of the cave, not 2. (Sorry guys, but if you hit the cave and only find 2 grubs at the beginning, you’ll have to start this quest from the beginning again until ArenaNet finally fixes this quest.) Between steps 8 & 9, only 2 grubs spawned as they’re supposed to while escaping to the barrier. I hit the barrier and then BOOM, cutscene, YAY!!! The rest of this quest worked like clockwork.

Sidenote: Although I’m primarily a fire-magic elementalist, in order to solo this quest I found I had to use water-magic ONLY to heal my NPC’s and keep them alive to survive the bug.

Server: Darkhaven, L69 sylvari elementalist Incendia Stygian, Sept 21, 2012 2:50 AM PST.

Good for you Roesia but i have tried this method 4 times and every time once i kill abomination and get ready to move two bugs appear..every single time. So i am only getting 2 grubs at beginning of cave.

Players shouldn’t have to go through all these hoops to complete one mission.

just bumped into the same issue. it’s still bugged. the researchers don’t follow
Karleya, lvl 80, Fort Aspenwood

Oddly I went thru clearing the cave with the first team following me and it was open but I had to get the sec research team. After I got them a mob appeared and they all ran back even the ones that followed me before thus the end was blocked again.

I am level 70 and wonder how many times I have to do this one mission. If it was not so long and so many responds at least trying it over and over would not be so bad.
And if you die your repair bill for all these tries sucks.

Ok that time it kicked me out as I ran toward the first battle. Perhaps they are fixing it.

The story line progress is more important than people exploiting to get rich. So fix these first please. I can pass on if a reg quest or orange circle party quest but NOT story line.

Finally, it’s DONE for me.

My solution is: TAKE OFF all the skills increasing your MOVEMENT SPEED, then the members of second team will follow you up.
No clear the cave before abomination, no Trahearne not dead, just make your movement speed normal.

I finished it. I never had any skills increasing your MOVEMENT SPEED even the times they would not follow me.

1. When you see the first dead researcher it is the guy who has a heart quest about protecting his golems. To the left of him is a hill you can cross to avoid the first set of undead.
a. You will se eyour green star is over that hill.
b. That first bunch of undead you fight later so my trying to kill them and watch them respond explains them responding as they are needed to fight later.

2. You will find yourself at the first research team and no fights yet. Make sure your two companions followed you to them. They can hang up going over that hill.

3. Now it says defend and you are rushed by a few easy waves. If it says you need to expand your search you have to walk around the hut that is to the rt of you.

4. Once the waves have been killed one of the researchers takes off to your next green star. You can also avoid fights here.

5. Once the researcher unblocks the cave entrance you can go through the entire cave killing everything.
a. Avoid the area where the second research team is.
b. You will see the south entrance is unblocked but you have to run after the second team.
c. Fight what is trying to kill the second research team the talk and they will follow.
d. There is a respond but I ran down a little pass him to make sure I was being followed.

6. The south end is now blocked. You talk and have a cut scene. Then you fight your way BACK UP and kill everything even the guys outside. Then another cut scene and a major fight.

7. You can now accept your reward and leave.

Not sure if the number of crawlers/grubs matters But I had two when I walked into the cave with some undead. I had four after that fight and no undead. Two of those crawlers were hung up but we i could still kill them.

Tried this again today and I finally got it done
Trahearne died and got ressed multiple times and I ignored the researcher asura at the start. I only hit next in cutscenes and walked slowly for every part when they needed tofollow. I’m not sure but staying on the ground might be causing it. For example if you jump on a rock in the cave to avoid the mobs then the NPC’s can’t path to you either (Trahearne teleports to you anyway) so I always stayed on the ground where the pathing could not break. IMO it’s got more to do with the AI pathing because I didn’t go slow or skip anything. I pretty much killed anything in my way and anything close to me. Hope this helps.

Still bugged.
Look at the screen above…

Tried it again today and I FINALLY got it done as well.

wasted another hour of my life. this is still bugged

i was just doing this quest solo on my thief next thing i know i have a bunch of npcs that wont move when i cleared out the area not to mention dieing a whole crap load of times from all the zerg rushing mobs heres a pic to look at

Just happened to me as well posting screen

I, too was having problems on this but was able to fix it after a couple tries. Here’s what I did:

1. Follow the questline until you get into the cave. (Make sure no one gets stuck or anything)
2. Once in the cave, kill all the monsters but ignore the 2nd research team and the abomination attacking them. Go down towards the south exit and make sure you kill everything.
3. Once that’s done, kill and help the 2nd research team.
4. Talk to the guy it tells you to talk to after you kill the abomination and there will be a cutscene.
**5. After the cutscene, the 2nd research team should start following. Two grubs should also spawn now. IGNORE THEM. Run right past them. The NPCs will stay back and fight them but that’s okay. Just right south toward the gate. Once you get there, wait a while. The NPCs will teleport to you and the quest will resume as normal.

HOW I DID IT.

I had the same bug where the second team would not keep agro.

1. when you get to the cave kill everything BUT leave the VET. (do not go near the 2nd team yet)

2. go the to part that becomes blocked off, then go back to the start of the cave to trigger the cave worms (if they didnt trigger before hand)

3. everything but the VET should be dead go to the 2nd team kill the VET now.

4. learn the agro range watch what the NPCs/2nd team do. when you are still near to where you killed the VET the NPCs will run back to their starting spot when you move away and run to you when your close. (you are faster than them use this)

5. let some of them move back to their starting point grab the agro from them and RUN just RUN to the blocked cave. if they catch up to you, you will lose agro.

I hope this helps guys and girls.

P.s. i had a speed sig on at the time.

Kevin beat me to it!!!

Kevin.1387:

I, too was having problems on this but was able to fix it after a couple tries. Here’s what I did:

1. Follow the questline until you get into the cave. (Make sure no one gets stuck or anything)
2. Once in the cave, kill all the monsters but ignore the 2nd research team and the abomination attacking them. Go down towards the south exit and make sure you kill everything.
3. Once that’s done, kill and help the 2nd research team.
4. Talk to the guy it tells you to talk to after you kill the abomination and there will be a cutscene.
**5. After the cutscene, the 2nd research team should start following. Two grubs should also spawn now. IGNORE THEM. Run right past them. The NPCs will stay back and fight them but that’s okay. Just right south toward the gate. Once you get there, wait a while. The NPCs will teleport to you and the quest will resume as normal.

I did this exactly, but after ignoring the last to grubs and running to the exit, which I rich wel before the npc`s killd the grubs (according to the minimap) the all walkt back and only Thehearne telleported/walkt to my location.
Just to be sure I waited, but nothing

PS: If only the 2 grubs did not spawn AFTER you ask Kekt to follow you, and would have a true clear path!
Anet, hint, hint

And why can you ask Kekt to follow you only once??
If the run back, you should be abel to ask them to follow you again!

Developers – You need to give us the option to skip this quest PLEASE. just build in the simple option to skip this nightmare. At the very elast let me skip all the chatting in the town before going in to get researchers.

I can’t waste any more time on this.

it happens me too.

Confirmed as still bugged on Tarnished Coast. Trahearne and the explorers are just standing with me at the green waypoint at the southern tip of the cave. Nothing happens.

I just got through it on the last attempt. Phew, I nearly gave up on this.

You need to follow the step by step guide earlier in this thread and be careful with the researchers. whenever you move keep an eye on all of them. Make sure the catch up when you move.

@ BOSS: What guide are you talking about, there are more then one in this poste

I just completed the guide that Kevin posted and I finally finish this buggy quest.

Yesterday I tried this quest and got the same problem as everyone, I left the quest and retook it, I didnt revive the first researcher, every time my guy died I went back to the starter point and he revived (my NCP companion), when I got the end of the cave and saw the researcher he asked me a question that has 3 choices, the first one is lest go or soemthing like that (I am at work so I cant remember the exact words) I did the first choice and they immediately started to move (the researchers) and I managed to finish the quest, the first time I choose number 2 and maybe that is the bug.

I just completed the guide that Kevin posted and I finally finish this buggy quest. ²

And I also didn’t let the ugly plant guy die before taking the second team…

bugged for me as well.
same as the posters above, the researchers refuse to follow.
also I feel the mob respawn rate is WAY too high in the first area (prior to the cave). They respawned in no more than 5mins which is ridiculous, I mean, why do they respawn at all?

After doing this quest 5 times, I finally was able to finish it. With regards to the problem where the 2nd team will not follow, here is what I did:
1. I cleared out the entire cave of enemies. I left the veteran boss at the 2nd team for last. (Not sure if this matters or not).
2. Before talking to the Asura in the 2nd Team, I walked all the way into the room where the 2nd team is huddled.
3. Talk to the Asura and choose the conversation that triggers the next part of the quest.
4. After the conversation, a grub spawned just outside the room. I resisted the urge to kill it. I stayed where I was and did not move. I waited until Trahearne gave his speech about him leading everyone out of the cave (about 10 seconds).
5. I moved out of the room, killed the grub and the 2nd team followed me.

I think the key is to not enter combat right away after talking to the Asura in the 2nd team. If you do, Trahearne doesn’t give his speech and the quest bugs out. No speech = No progress. So it is important to make sure there are no enemies around the 2nd team area and that you do not enter combat until the speech is finished. I hope this solution works for someone else.

Finally did it after 5-6 attempts…

The MAIN point is to walk VERY VERY SLOWLY when you lead the second team to the blocked exit, about one step per second. ^^

I don’t think I’ve ever raised as many bug reports on a single piece of software as I did in the past hour trying to complete this story. Between the aggro problems, the way Trahearne would just stand and face the wrong way when 5 undead spawned on top of me and, of course, the fact that the researchers didn’t even move a single step towards the exit at the end.

About to try this again, did it last night and got stuck at the last part. Gonna take my time and clear the whole cave this time to see if that fixes the problem I was having. Also, why this quest of all quests? It just has to be the longest one.. -_-

I just had this bug happen to me. It’s irritating considering I spent over an hour running around and killing EVERY SINGLE ENEMY in the zone until it was completely empty and the quest still won’t progress…

Tried this mission again after a few days and made it to the researchers just to have them glitch AGAIN, as in they teleport back to their original spot in the cave and won’t budge. This is getting really frustrating especially since its such a long and difficult mission and I can’t get any further in the storyline.

And we shouldn’t have to jump through freaking hoops in the hopes that we can finish the mission, that is just rediculous.

Still bugged on the Tarnished Coast server as at 23/09
Rather ridiculous that this thread has been going for 2 weeks now and the devs still have not fixed it.
As someone else mentioned a few pages back, the higher I level, the more bugs seem to be rampant on maps, events, skill challenges etc.
Very disappointed.

Still bugged for me too and it almost feels random because following the steps posted where it has worked doesn’t seem to mean those steps work for everyone.

I did have what is maybe a clue by way of a very similar bug on an early story quest in Caledonia Forest NPC refused to move… talk… etc. After a couple of tries it turned out the NPC had to be led around a small bump in the terrain if I went over it he froze if I went round it he followed.

This one however I don’t fancy going back and looking for terrain bumps So I’ll hang out for a fix.

In my second attempt I tried to do this as adviced in this thread – cleared whole cave before joining with the second team but than on the way to the exit a risen grub spawned and after killing it the second team returned to the place they were initially in and refused to move.
It’s been over two weeks since reporting the bug here and nothing has been done. I guess fixing the story mode should be a priority since it’s blocking your progress in the game.

Still bugged too, the second set of researchers always return to where they were before and don’t follow.

How is this not fixed yet?

Bugged for me too! After meeting the second party, no NPCs follow me (apart from Trahearne) and I can’t get out of the cave to the south.

Still bugged, this is the 2nd bugged quest in this personal story, what a mess!

Stuck on thiskittenquest for TWO WEEKS. I’ve tried it for 6-7 times now, all taking half an hour before seeing if it’s bugged or not. Storyline quests should be at the top of the fix list imo.

The least Anet could do is continue to post and update us on this issue. Instead they tell us to keep posting in this thread but then leave us hanging.

Bugged for me with no deaths, everyone but Trahearne froze in place and won’t move after 2nd research team found.

Indeed they communicated and said they have a fix which will come with the 9/24 update. That fix could solve the problem, but it can be that it will not (like the 9/17). It seems hard to reproduce that bug (I don’t know exactly why, because a lot of people do have that bug.), but however if that incoming fix does NOT solve it for everyone, they should give you the option to skip that part. This option should be offered to anyone with that storyline quest as long as it takes to get rid of that bug once for all.

what a kitten of a quest, who the kitten thought it was good to have respawning mobs and ally npcs with dumb aggressive ai wants kicking in the balls. On my 3rd character with this now and its bugged at least once on each run though, just got right near the end and the resarchers decided to stop following me, kitten.

This iskitten I did the whole quest and the other allies wont follow me. I spent 20 mins on this quest, what a waste. I get to the southern exit and nothing happens.