Guild Wars 2

Yeah, I was about to make another bug report on this till I saw your post. As well as this other post about the same issue: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/WW-JP-servers-not-closing/first#post5865747

I even made a video about it:
https://youtu.be/85RZmNhvfg8

The remaining question I left out of that video was: does this eventually reset when everyone is out of the instance? Which is the only thing we won’t know for sure; once we leave as the last person in that particular bugged instance. It might be connected to the issue about getting into the JP in the first place, but I personally can’t know for certain. Since this seems to be an odd occurrence.

Not even sure if it’s actually an exploit. I mean there are so many problem that have cropped up with this JP during this years Wintersday event. Including disappearing assets on the client’s side (invisible rolling snow boulders). Or the fact the server is not reading there is less then 4 people in the server for fifteen minutes, and then it finally starts putting in more players at the last minute. Or sometimes leaves only a few players in that instance the entire 30 minutes until the reset. For the last two Wintersday (not counting the first year) I have never had this problem, beyond having severe lag issues at times. Well at least that lag trouble seems to be fixed this year.

If a bug can be used to get any advantage it could be considered exploitable indeed, but I’m nobody to say if this case could be an exploit.

In any case, if you suspect about any exploits, know someone doing or something that could be exploitable you better reporting it through email to exploits@arena.net. Reporting exploits on forums is discouraged and even not allowed, so to avoid more people learning it and exploiting it.

shadow.6174:

If a bug can be used to get any advantage it could be considered exploitable indeed, but I’m nobody to say if this case could be an exploit.

In any case, if you suspect about any exploits, know someone doing or something that could be exploitable you better reporting it through email to exploits@arena.net. Reporting exploits on forums is discouraged and even not allowed, so to avoid more people learning it and exploiting it.

I feel like this falls along the lines of the CoF mastery farm, a grey area that should be addressed. The situation described is not easily or readily recreatable and players not attempting to exploit may find themselves in the same situation. So, I feel it should be talked about here rather than just through an email.

You still have to complete the entire puzzle on your own. The only advantage is your doing this with no one else. So saying it’s an exploit is a bit of a stretch. It’s more of a bug.

Being able to loot the end chest without doing the puzzle over and over again would be an exploit. Or standing on a rock to make sure you don’t take damage, while killing a boss is an exploit. This is just bugged out.

Drewberry.3426:

shadow.6174:

If a bug can be used to get any advantage it could be considered exploitable indeed, but I’m nobody to say if this case could be an exploit.

In any case, if you suspect about any exploits, know someone doing or something that could be exploitable you better reporting it through email to exploits@arena.net. Reporting exploits on forums is discouraged and even not allowed, so to avoid more people learning it and exploiting it.

I feel like this falls along the lines of the CoF mastery farm, a gray area that should be addressed. The situation described is not easily or readily recreatable and players not attempting to exploit may find themselves in the same situation. So, I feel it should be talked about here rather than just through an email.

It’s not at all the same as CoF farming — that offers no loot at all. Further, as you point out, it doesn’t seem possible to force a Wintersday Wonderland instance to remain open, so it’s only available to a few people. So there’s impact to the economy and limited availability — that’s pretty much exactly the sort of thing that ANet takes action against.

@OP you should probably remove the post — just tell ANet via email or support ticket. Posting an exploit forces ANet to act more quickly, which means taking time out of whatever is currently scheduled. Letting them know privately allows them to decide when and how to address the issue.