Guild Wars 2

So posting here is sort of my last hurrah before I throw in the towel on making a return to GW2 for the expansion. Over the past two days I’ve been attempting to download the game in it’s entirety after taking an extended break (that and my old drive failed). I’ve been running into problem after problem trying to get the game downloaded…which is odd because I’ve never had any difficulties with this launcher in the past.

When downloading from scratch, I get an error that causes my launcher to strobe over and over again saying “Connection Error, Retrying…” whenever the speed goes over 1MB/s. I’ve been told that this is normal due to heavy load on the server, but I’m not sure how accurate that is.

So I let the game download overnight and when I got up after 12 hours it was only at 73% (which is unusual considering other games can download far faster than that). I let it download the rest of the way yesterday only to have a “Download Failed” message and to “Check my connection”. I wrote this off as a possible corrupted download. So I uninstalled the game and tried again the following night.

Again, this morning I got up this morning to it being at 83% after eight hours, far faster than the night before, but still slower than normal. It once again got to 99% (14 files remaining) before getting the error “Download Failed (3)”.

I’ve tried the following. Those marked with * are what was recommended by ArenaNet staff during support:

()Changed Asset Servers using the -assetsvr <IP>:<Port> command line *
()Forced the launcher to use a different port using /clientport <port number> command line *
()Run the 32-bit client and added the -32 command line to the end.
()Altered the HOSTS file under C:/>Windows/System32/drivers/etc/ to point to a different asset server.
()Changed DNS to Google’s DNS (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4)
()Reset all Layer 2 and Layer 3 devices multiple times.
()Completely disabled antivirus during install to prevent interference.
()Plugged straight into the modem to make sure no complications with the router firewall *
()Flushed DNS using command line.
()Ensured Ports 80, 443, and 6112 were open and unobstructed. *
()Run the ArenaNet program to search for errors. *
()Run WinMTR to check for packet loss between server and client PC. *

I’ve been working with support but I’m not sure they even know what’s going on, that’s why I’m bringing it to everyone else to see if anyone has a solution I’ve overlooked.

If I’m unable to get the base game and Heart of Thorns downloaded, there isn’t much point in purchasing the expansion if I can’t get the game to even download properly. Has anyone run into this problem? Have you found a solution? Please let me know.

Thanks.

-Z

OS: Windows 7 64-bit
Location: Guam

A connection error on the launcher like that means your connection dropped when trying to download files from the asset server.

Try using ArenaNet’s primary asset server:

Gw2.exe -assetsrv 64.25.41.2

If that has the same problem, you know the problem is with your connection. To rule out any other software causing it, open msconfig (WindowsKey+R), select the boot tab and check safe boot with network under it, then ok and reboot. Undo this later by unchecking safe boot. Under safe mode, try running the launcher.

To actually see what the launcher is doing, you can use the -log option. It’ll save a log file to %appdata%/Guild Wars 2/Gw2.log, which you can open in notepad. It’ll tell if your connection is simply dropping or if the patch files are corrupted, in which case a VPN is required.

This game is the only game of its kind that has these ridiculous patching & downloading problems. I gave up on the game, which is very frustrating considering all the time I’ve spent (wasted) playing.

Just a couple of days ago, I was playing with my brother… that same evening, the latest patch “broke” the game for us. Of course, the “solution” was to have us go into the config files, tweak our computer firewalls some more, maybe open up a few more ports or run some command-line prompts… haha, no thanks. Just dumb and ridiculous player-side patches meant to make up for ANet’s incompetence.

Because, and I repeat this, these problems have been there from the beginning. They’re unlikely to ever be fixed. Just a basic online search will reveal five years of the same… five years of “why does this game download so slowly?!” and five years of “why can’t I connect… my home connection is fine!” Of course the problem is never them. Which means, it always is.

It’s really pretty simple… do your own research and you’ll come to your own conclusions. Add up the pieces like I have, and the picture that emerges is that ANet can sure make a pretty, fun game, but have no clue how to deliver that to the masses.

And yet, masses do play it.

If you are interested in continued play, you can contact the Tech CS Team for assistance.
If not, best of luck wherever you adventure.