Q:
One of the most common issues reported here are issues with Internet connection.
1) Understanding your connection to Anet servers:
Anet’s servers are located in Dallas for NA servers. Unless you live in Dallas, a test such as speedtest will not work. Connections to other games and websites while having issues with GW2 does not mean Anet has server issues. Your internet connection takes a “drive” to get to Anet’s servers in Dallas. This drive goes along hops which can be compared to as “highways”. Sometimes these hops are having issues. Think of it as road construction or an accident on a road. If you live in Pennsylvania and there is an issue with a hop in Virginia (on its way to Dallas), that your internet provider uses, then you will have issues getting a good connection to Dallas where Anet has it’s servers. However you may not have an issue getting to servers in California since your internet is not going through Virgina (Hypothetically) to get to California. This is very similliar to taking a road trip where a major highway you must take is under construction. When one highway is under construction this only affects traffic going down that highway. This is why your connection may work at a local speed test server or other online games where their servers are located in different locations.
2) Where your problems are coming from:
To determine where your issues are coming from you can download ping plotter (https://www.pingplotter.com) It is a free program and can also be used on your iPhone or Android phone as an app. To determine general lag issues with GW2 simply download the program and type: “ncsoft.com” in the search. Run the test. If you want to be more specific, in game type /ip then take that number and plug it into ping plotter.
3) Reading your test (pics to follow)
You will primarily want to focus on Latencey and Packet Loss. Packet loss is shown on the left hand side (PL) and will have a red percentage. Packet loss can occur at any hop. Where the majority of your Latencey or packet loss starts, is where your issues lies. However if the packet loss starts at the bottom where Anet has its server names, then the issue is on Anets end and you should report this in a ticket with your results. If this occurs anywhere else along the route then this is not Anets problem and there is nothing they can do to help you.
4) How to fix issues
If you have issues anywhere except Anet’s servers or in the first couple hops, unfortunately there is not too much you can do. You can contact your ISP. If the issue occurs right at the first couple hops it may be your ISP and in that case they need to fix it. You can call them and report the issue. If the issue is somewhere else on the route, like halfway through, (for example Level3 or Telia.net are common issue hops) then you can call your ISP to try and pressure them into contacting the hop owner to fix the problem. However it is unlikely your ISP will do anything (except perhaps give you the “run around” saying its Anet when your data shows otherwise). They do not have direct control over the hop. They technically could use a different route around that hop although it’s unlikely you’ll be able to convince them to do this. Alternatively you could look into changing your ISP and hoping the new one does not use the same route. You could also look into a VPN however I do not have experience in this area to give any advice.
(edited by Andraus.3874)
