Guild Wars 2

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

It is already a high-reward activity, giving people plenty of reason to do it.

Well, making sure Jades spawn at off-times relative to Hablion might be sufficient. If Hablion is up, in my experience people typically ignore this event. And today, Hablion and Jades were spawning at the same time (and I saw no taxis to Jades on other maps, during the 2 hours I spent on the map trying). Serial failure was the direct/unavoidable consequence.

And I have lost track of the number of times I have observed comments in map chat to the effect “not worth the time”, “insufficient reward”, “you are better off doing other things”, and etc. So, I am not sure your opinion regarding the relative value of this event is widely shared.

Finally, while I often check the LFG tool while in Bloodstone Fen, and post a taxi there myself whenever this event starts on my current map, the fact is that even when the event is completed successfully, no-one makes use of the taxi, or only when I change the taxi description to “UG”. The LFG tool is great… except when it is not.

For whatever reason, it really seems like people are just as happy to skip this event, and since it can’t be done with just a few people, like as not I have to skip it as well.

Just finished my third failed Jade Construct encounter today… all spawned during the Hablion encounter, and since they are very narrowly time-constrained (i.e. if you don’t get enough people working the encounter within the first 15-30 seconds of the first construct to spawn, you are behind and the encounter will fail), ALL were doomed to fail.

Please make this encounter a daily, so people have a reason to do them. Many players seem to feel that the rewards are not commensurate with the time required (in which case the balance is wrong and there is no reason to have the encounter in the game).

From 2016/02/09 patch notes:

“Increased the Pulsating Crystal Node’s health slightly to allow more players to damage it before it is destroyed, allowing them to gain credit for the Crystal Healing Denier achievement.”

Should have included the following: “And also incidentally introduced a defect which completely denies credit to all participating players, rendering the Crystal Healing Denier achievement a matter of urban legend at best. We might get around to fixing this at some point, but we have no idea when. What, say again? Ah yes, ‘testing’! What’s that?”

I also get shot down while gliding, regularly and w/o warning (no targeting crosshair appears over my head, etc, I simply lose my glider and plunge to my death). Been assuming it was lag, but my guess is it either yet another defect, or perhaps some form of attack that can hit airborne players that does not offer any warning.

Frustrating. I think I will skip bothering with this event until it functions “properly” (or at least more approximately “as documented”).

Same happened to me. Dunno if I was on the same map or not. Lots of players indicating the lag was being experienced by many members of their guilds, etc, which suggests this was a community-wide hiccup.

It is indeed unappealing to put a substantial amount of time into an elaborate zone-wide meta-event, only to be kicked literally a couple of minutes before completion.

And there remains no way to reconnect/restart this sort of large-scale/time-boxed/scheduled content when failures occur. All of our time/effort is simply lost. This is especially problematic for those of us who actually have lives, are not in a position to just wait for the next run.

Computer games are supposed to be fun, not a source of frustration/disappointment.

About 1m before the defense of Tarir event was set to start (i.e. with about 1m left in challenges), on a full Auric Basin map, we received a bogus “map closing” prompt.

99% of the people on the map being mindless lemmings, generically incapable of critical thought, they left (no-one had the thought: “hey, wait, the map is full, a meta-event is about to start, why is it closing?”). Whole quadrants were unmanned for the event. We tried to taxi in replacements, without success (my guess is that virtually everyone interested in Tarir was already on a functional map, so why would they want to leave?).

Doomed the event before it started, and wasted the time of everyone who stayed.

EXTREMELY FRUSTRATING, to say the least.

Confirmed, as of 2016/01/05. Worked properly for me just a couple of days ago, now broken, so I am guessing this was the result of some sort of server-side hotfix?

Tooltip text still explicitly states that rift duration increases according to the number of illusions active a time of ability use, but now seems to operates with a fixed 1.5s duration regardless of the number of active illusions.

Why offer a skill that “reverses time” with a core effect that doesn’t last long enough to even make use of it? I am guessing this is a bug… and it breaks one of the chronomancer’s most important new features (possibly THE most important new feature).

Here’s to a quick fix.

The 64-bit client is more reliable for me than the 32-bit client. It crashes perhaps 3-5 times a week, as opposed to 3-5 times a day.

But (and I develop software professionally), a regularly “core-dumping” application is something EVERY development team should consider their HIGHEST priority, in terms of defect mitigation/resolution. Nevertheless, the problem persists…

So, if resolution is not feasible (due to unreliable 3rd-party technology, like Microsoft Windows, or whatever), workarounds to minimize the impact on the user should become the development team’s highest priority. I don’t see any evidence of these workarounds either (?!?), beyond the issue of the 64-bit client (which, granted, has been a major improvement).

I grow unutterably weary of the game crashing, kicking me off a map (like a Dragon Stand map in which I have an hour of my time invested, and which I must for all practical purposes wait another hour to restart in any meaningful way), only to find the map is full when I attempt to reconnect 10-15 seconds later. The recommended expedient, that of being in a party/squad so that we can taxi back to the map, is rarely viable.

I would suggest that Anet implement some sort of “map recovery” capablility. Keep track of which users (in terms of client IPs/accounts/characters) have been connected to each map recently. Hold a population slot open on relevant maps for all such users. If a connection arrives for a recently connected user, deliver them to the same map (to occupy the reserved population slot), restoring them to the state that applied when they crashed. Time out reserved population slots rapidly (30-60 seconds… long enough to allow a crashed user to restart and reconnect, but perhaps not long enough for a user whose system has crashed or whose internet connection has dropped completely, due to reasons beyond Anet’s control).

Something like that.

The fact that nothing like this has been delivered, given the well-known and long-standing issues of unreliability in the GW2 game client, is (IMO) unconscionable.

There was a period of time during which this worked, after I switched to the 64-bit client.

So, something else has changed, beyond simply using the 64-bit client.

Update: this happens for me with the 32-bit client as well. Definitely not specific to the 64-bit client.

The problem with HoT map/meta-event design is that each branch of the meta-event (and the meta-event as a whole) requires a certain minimum number of players to be viable.

With the exception of Dragon’s Stand, which hosts a much more cohesive meta-event, very often (90% of the time) I (simultaneously) end up with all of these conditions applying simultaneously:

1) I end up on a map with too low a population for any part of the meta-event to be viable; calls for help are ignored, I end up defeated, and the first step of the branch I am on fails (which means I don’t have access to the remaining steps)

2) There is no taxi to a more active map in a time-frame that usefully corresponds to the beginning of the meta-event on that map

3) No-one responds to my “LF active VB/AB/TD map” in the LFG tool in a time-frame that usefully corresponds to the beginning of the meta-event on that map

I am trying to work on achievements, and despite having plenty of time to play, I am completing them at a rate of at most about 3 a week. I just end up doing DS over and Over and OVER for mastery experience because that is the only map that ends up with a viable population, capable of attempting the meta event.

Perhaps this is by design (in which case, IMO, it is a bad design), but the meta-events initiate on a fixed schedule, so it would seem to me to be more effective to try to group players on existing maps until a certain minimum population is reached (enough to attempt the meta-event), at least during a certain time window near the beginning of each meta-event, before opening new maps and shuttling new arrivals to them.

Anyway, I think this should change.

The first “splash” screen you reach after logging in, the screen with the “Play” button on it (that displays recent game/site forum posts/etc) just sits and spins forever. Does not load/display any content. This started happening earlier this week. Sorry, I don’t remember which patch (there have been many).

Screen shot is attached. This state persists “forever” (or for as long as I have let it persist, 20+ minutes).

I am running the 64-bit client on a current/patched Windows 10 Pro x64. I have run a repair pass on my game (using the 64-bit client). This does not prevent me from logging in and playing the game.

Assuming this is not on the server end of things, I am guessing there is some little glitch in the GW2 network configuration.

Update: I was not running a 64-bit client, of course. But I have “upgraded” to the new (beta) 64-bit client. Been a couple of days, and NO crashes. In fact, the difference has been rather amazing.

Another expedient (for those who don’t have the capability to run the 64-bit client) might be to exit the 32-bit client proactively at regular intervals (every 2 hours, more often if possible)… basically “garbage collect” by restarting the application. Being in a group would facilitate this (you could recover your map by taxiing back on group-mates, and if you are quick enough at getting back in, you could retain your meta-event progress).

This bugs me.

My game client still crashes regularly, typically at least once a day, typically when I am engaged with time-intensive high-reward content (thereby maximizing the amount of time I waste, as well as maximizing the damage done in terms of lost progression).

I would like to see “small, very frequent updates” until this crashing behavior is rectified. Why do I get the impression basic/fundamental game client stability is a relatively low priority?

Frustrating.

P.S. I run a 64-bit client (as far as I know), on a fully updated 64-bit Windows 10 running a fully updated NVidia driver.

Attempted two world bosses today… Claw of Jormag for the daily achievement, Karka Queen for the Mistward Warboots achievement.

Claw of Jormag, client crashed in the middle of combat, without warning during the encounter. No achievement credit, no rewards.

Karka Queen crashed the moment I first attempted to use a skill against her. No achievement credit, no rewards.

Very frustrating. Will be attempting others today. If this happens again, I expect I will simply take several days or a week off, to give Anet time to get their act together and offer a stable play experience.

In the meantime, I will delete my game client and download from scratch, see if that helps.

<GRUMP!!!>

Not relevant to the issue of a guild, but… I have 2 accounts, and always felt… foolish and isolated. Knowing that there is someone with 5 accounts out there makes me feel somewhat less so :-).

Anyway, I have found “guild progression” for my one-person guild to be very slow (20000 influence, much less merits, is a hard row to plow), and under the new system it sounds as if soloing the initial guild hall event could basically be impossible, so I would expect the progression to be very slow in HoT as well.

So, out on my hike, I worked through a set of rules or “constraints” that I think could resolve this issue. As follows:

Treat merge actions as “special”, requiring explicit confirmation.

Treat the “originators” of groups listed in LFG as “special”, so they can’t get jerked around by clumsy or malicious people.

Individual players may explicitly invite/join at any time, as they do now (i.e. subject to relevant acceptance/cancellation, etc).

Any group member who lists their pre-existing group in LFG is considered the resulting group’s “originator”. Any individual player who initiates an LFG listing is considered the resulting group’s “originator”.

Any member of a group may initiate a merge of their existing group into a target group. When a merge is initiated, each member of the existing group is prompted; if they answer “yes” they transfer to the target group (subject to other constraints); if they answer “no” or time out, they do not transfer to the target group; if they are the “originator” of the existing group and do not transfer, their group remains listed in LFG (subject to other constraints).

When a merge is initiated from another group, the originator/“leader” of the target group is prompted; if they answer “yes”, players may transfer into the target group (subject to other constraints); if they answer “no” or time out, players may not transfer into the target group; the target group remains listed in LFG (subject to other constraints).

An “originator” cannot be kicked involuntarily from their group. If a vote to kick an “originator” passes, the “originator” is prompted; if they answer “yes” they depart the group; if they answer “no” or time out, they remain in the group. The group remains listed in LFG (subject to other constraints). If the kicking players want their own group, they are free to leave and form one, after first insuring they have successfully taxied wherever they were hoping to end up. This assumes the group has not merged (i.e. the “originator” has never acquiesced to transfer to another group).

The “originator” of the target group that ultimately results from one or more merge actions is considered the “originator” of that ultimate group (i.e. this is the one “originator” who has never acquiesced to transfer to another group; if an “originator” acquiesces to transfer to another group, they cease to be an “originator”; there can be only one).

All existing mechanisms for de-listing groups from LFG apply: group fills, “originator” transfers to another group, “originator” changes maps or disconnects, whatever; I am not necessarily clear on all of these.

Other obvious constraints: groups can’t exceed 5 members, any player transfer as part of a merge that would result in a target group exceeding 5 members will be precluded, etc; I am not necessarily clear on all of these.

Something like this would add some complexity, and require players to be responsive to prompts… but it would preclude weird hijacking behavior such as I have been experiencing, whether deliberate or inadvertent.

cbenner.8041:

@thegrimm, No a guild mate and I had created the group for fractals and had been waiting 5-10 mins before people started to show up in the group so unless one of the others joining was in a silverwastes LFG group and merged parties without knowing, I have no idea how they got merged or crossed

This is actually a plausible explanation. What gets me is that this apparently happened to me twice in ~20 minutes. REALLY WEIRD!!!

TheGrimm.5624:

Looking at both your screen shots it looks like the game bugged and joined both your LFGs together. You both look like you posted under two separate sections, I can see the Open World Content and the Fractals 1-9 section. Have to admit its cool you both have screens of the issue. Not a griefing issue. Was there a patch today?

Not certain of this. The order of the messages shown in that screen shot does not quite match what I see when I create a group, and then change the description. See the attached screen shot.

The chat log does not seem to receive messages when people join/leave groups. If it did, we could probably determine from the other user’s screen shot when I joined the group relative to when it description was changed, I was kicked, etc.

Anyway, in the attached screen shot, the first three lines are the group creation. Next line is the description change. Final line is from removal of the group from LFG. Doesn’t look quite the same to me. (Only my character name shows in this scree shot, sorry for the earlier screen shots/etc.) The other user’s screen shot seems to show a description change message, but not a creation message. Part of this hypothetical defect?

Nevertheless, you could be right that we were all innocently caught up in some sort of defect. If so, maybe all of this is enough documentation to give Anet what it needs to address the issue.

cbenner.8041:

Well since you posted this here, I thought I should clarify that the LFG you joined, as the fifth person there for removing the group from the LFG, was for a Fractal listed in the Fractals Category 1-9. See attached for listed under scales 1-9

Yeah, you may have joined the group after it had been hijacked. It was originally created (by me) as an SW taxi group.

The creation activity was no longer available in the chat backlog, or I would have included it. Also missing is some party chat from me asking people to please taxi to SW and leave group so I could start a new taxi, followed by one of the party members informing me that my SW taxi group was not an SW taxi group.

What IS included in the chat log is the group listing being changed (to fractal 9 yadda yadda), then me (the original group creator) being kicked.

Note: I will be reporting all members of such a group (i.e. a group created by me and then subsequently hijacked) for LFG abuse, as a matter of course, either at the point I am kicked or I figure out what has happened and leave. I would recommend everyone else do the same.

I probably won’t take the time to try to sort out who could/not reasonably have known the original purpose of the group by parsing the chat log, etc.

Be advised that there are people out there playing these sorts of trick :-(.

Have a key bound to “target next ally”. Will try this the next time it happens.

This has not occurred in any major way since my original post (there were a couple of attempts, but those were rapidly disrupted by Lurchers running through in the normal course of doing their thing… so: move away, deploy Shadow Refuge, wait a bit while the Lurchers collect the perpetrator(s)… problem solved).

Thanks for all the responses. Good to know I am not insane :-).

At this point, I am convinced people are hijacking groups because they are suppressed and can’t form their own… though the theory that people are undermining groups for other maps to promote their own is also viable. Either way: Harrassment!

I will try again later, and follow up here if it happens again (assuming I can find this thread again). Reported all of the associated users (who show in the screen shots), in game, for LFG abuse.

Now that I know what is happening, I can just use the in-game feature to report all who vote to kick me for LFG abuse and get back to playing the game (Unlike the people who drop a merchant/banker and then camp on the big chest in Hidden Depths, to prevent other players from accessing it , there IS a way to report THIS sort of griefing). Screen shots and editing a forum post is time consuming, and probably not necessary :-).

TheGrimm.5624:

What’s your LFG description?

See my screenshot, which I probably added (to the original post) after you replied.

I ALWAYS use something like “SW X% N/4”, etc. I.e. “SW”, plus a summary of map progress, plus optional instructions like “taxi” and/or “plz taxi and leave thx”, etc.

ALWAYS.

Hard to imagine these people are confused regarding MY intent (they could always be confused about what THEY may be trying to do). But… after thinking about it, I suspect they are suppressed (or just griefing) and doing it deliberately… which makes it harassment as far as I am concerned.

I will get into a fresh Silverwastes, and create a group in the LFG tool to taxi people into an otherwise fairly empty map.

I will have people join my group, then hijack it for other purposes. They never taxi into Silverwastes. They end up kicking me from the group I myself started, informing me in the process that the group is “not an SW taxi group!”

This is not a big problem (at worst, a small amount of time wasted), but does qualify (IMO) as a bit of a bizarre and senseless non-sequitur. Why would people do this? How could people be this confused?

Happens to me reliably a couple times a week, including just before posting this.

First Update: Happened to me AGAIN, just after posting this (19:10 server time), by a character named “Alexito”. Started a taxi group, random people joined but did not taxi, then I was kicked from the group. Sent annoyed whispers to perpetrator, received no response. If this is going to happen frequently, it WILL be a big problem.

See attached screen shot.

Second Update: Second screen shot is of the earlier incident that triggered this post. If you read the fine print in the second screen shot, it appears my group was hijacked for a level 9 fractal! First screen shot is of subsequent incident described in my “Update”. All users reported in-game for LFG abuse.

Are people hijacking unrelated groups because they are suppressed? If so, I need a way to report this!!! Could this be a bug in the LFG tool and just an honest mistake? Has anyone else seen anything like this?

Was going to simply follow up on my earlier post on this issue, but it seems to have vanished. So, here we go again.

Update: AHA! Someone found my original post and merged this in. A forum search using terms like “grief” or “hidden depths” or my user name did not result in any hits. Thanks.

I experience an intermittent problem with other players spawning a merchant on the large chest in the center of Silverwastes/Hidden Depths, then standing on the chest themselves.

The presence of the merchant precludes using a keyboard shortcut to interact with the chest. The presence of a PC precludes right-clicking/double-clicking on the chest.

This very effectively denies all other players access to the chest (which in turn renders this particular content effectively neuter, aka “useless”).

So:

1) I consider this a defect. Please fix this so that the chest remains accessible under these circumstances.
2) Additionally, a feature request: Please provide a mechanism for reporting players for griefing.

Thanks.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I am not inclined to respond to griefing by training Lurchers on the perpetrator (two wrongs don’t make a right). I will try to retain the presence of mind (and hopefully I will have time) to report for “botting” and include a screen shot.

Fortunately this does not happen often (though more often now than 6 months ago).

I am noticing an increasing incidence of players placing a merchant on the main chest in Silverwastes/Hidden Depths, and then standing on the chest themselves, which is a very effective way of denying all the other players access to the chest.

The “interact” keyboard shortcut (default “F”) is precluded because of the merchant, and right-clicking of the chest is precluded because of the player (each of which takes precedence over the chest via the respective style of interaction).

Deliberately interfering with someone else’s fun in the game is at the top of my list of unforgivable sins in this sort of context. I want to be able to do something constructive about it.

Would be nice if there was a way to report griefing like this, that automatically captured a screenshot.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

You can contribute enough to a Boss, or other hostile NPC, to gain the Gold reward, and still not contribute enough to earn a Chest.

There was no way to “interact” with the chest… not clickable, no “F”/Interact" popoup.

I am guessing I just did not do enough damage to qualify for the chest. Thanks.

Fairly new to the game, so certain experiences are still firsts for me.

Did this event sequence (i.e. “Breaking the Claw of Jormag”) for the first time ever on this account just now (at the time of this writing), level 80 character, as part of the Daily Completionist achievement.

Upon completion (and for that matter throughout the event sequence), I received a “gold” result, plus several rewards directly into inventory (some of which had to do with the daily), and very large chest appeared at the final combat location.

I watched as others operated this very large chest, but the chest was not clickable for me.

So, what am I missing? Should this chest have been clickable for me? If not, why not (and are the various mechanics related to this feature: world events, their rewards and how to access to them, as well as why they might not be clickable/operable, etc, documented somewhere? I haven’t been able to find much on “how do these work”)?

Thanks.