Guild Wars 2

cyn.2157:

Just wanted to put in there that if you have kitten, you basically don’t want to be defragging your system. People with an SSD shouldn’t have this issue anyway, but defragmenting kitten will only burn through some of its write cycles, and won’t improve performance, because the drives have built-in algorithms to spread writes out across the SSD to ensure the maximum longevity of the drive. Defragmenting assumes the system knows the physical layout of the drive and can reliably write to a physical location.

In my suggestion above I made a remark about SSD too, defragmenting a SDD drive could reduce its lifetime due the number or reads/writes during defragmentation process. Defragmenting kitten drive isn’t recommended and, in fact, shouldn’t be needed.

I was even going to suggest defragmenting your HD indeed. I also have noticed that stuff takes a bit longer to load after each patch and fragmentation seems to play a role on it yes. I took the habit to defragment the GW2.dat file after big patches and it seemed to reduce the issue.

A good tool for this could be Defraggler, it’s free and it allows you to defrag a single file instead the whole drive. GW2.dat is a huge file and it’s highly possible it will fragment with patches.

If you don’t have a defrag tool like that, copying the file could help, although it wouldn’t fix the fragmentation but reduce the fragments instead (however, if your HD is too busy when you do that, the effect could be the opposite, more fragmentation).

Windows comes with a built-in defrag tool that’s supposed to keep a low fragmentation rate, but although it keeps that lower than what older versions did my personal experience has showed it’s not that effective though.

To OP: I would suggest running Defraggler or any tool that allows you to defrag a single file and defrag at least the GW2.dat file (for faster results. You could defrag the whole drive for an overall performance but the process could take a lot longer). A caveat: if you have kitten drive, excessive defragmentation could worn out your drive and reduce it’s lifetime though.

To show what I meant, here is a sample that I sent to support a while back. It kind of shows how the backbones (nodes in the middle) can affect ping and packet loss.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

shadow.6174:

Apparently Friday is the day for Win 10 updates and, as everyone know, you have barely to no control of when it’s going to happen. Possibly an update was being downloaded that congested the connection then the game started to lag and disconnect.

Good point. Your ISP speeds might be affected by people in your building/neighborhood downloading updates at roughly the same time. Microsoft does try to space update “appointment” out, but there are just only so many days in the month and far too many machines.

Similarly, your nearest backbone might be impacted …or parts of the backbone between you & ANet’s ISP.

The internet is getting more & more congested; it’s not always within the control of anyone we pay to do something about it.

In short: needs more data — run pingplotter or something similar to collect it and send to ANet.

Yup, during my troubleshooting with support I send forth and back several ping reports (some even done with Pingplotter) and most of times the nodes in the middle (neither me, my ISP or Anet’s) had the highest packet loss in average.

To OP: yes, it’s a complex issue and a deep troubleshoot is usually needed. As Illconceived said, try to work out with Anet support and maybe they could help you to find a solution.

SCVwar.3784:

Although my client doesn’t disconnect often, my screen goes black few times a day. It is definitely not a connection issue or PC problem. I can see my GW2 mouse cursor moving just fine, no FPS drop, the screen going pitch black and not interactable at all. All I can do is shut down GW2 and restart the launcher.
and it happened during my sPvP match today which makes me feel sad even more.

I had been having such issue last year, curiously it stopped recently (hopefully it won’t come back). I had been working with support for months and no conclusive response so far, but everything pointed out to be an issue with the intermediate servers between my ISP and Anet servers: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/Constant-black-screens-and-discon-Repost/

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

It seems there was a recent Win10 update (at or near the same time) that is causing some issues.

Microsoft loves to make things better by “upgrading” tools and changing settings back to defaults.

Actually, maybe it’s not the changes or tools itself but the very own process of downloading updates. Apparently Friday is the day for Win 10 updates and, as everyone know, you have barely to no control of when it’s going to happen. Possibly an update was being downloaded that congested the connection then the game started to lag and disconnect.

I tell it for fact because recently at my work place every Friday the connection start having issues, to the point of download speed reaching 2 Kb/s on a 30 Mbps connection, in a network with 15 or so comps running Win 10.

SlippyCheeze.5483:

I’d suggest the best choice being to move the content to the GW2 wiki, and then link to that from the forum post. Possibly with an excerpt or summary here, but ultimately, that’s a better place to maintain a document anyway…

^Yup, I also was going to suggest that. Wiki would be the best place for guides and documents, either by the freedom to format and put how much info you want as by the easier search. In forums the content becomes quickly buried and hidden.

onevstheworld.2419:

I always go to South, so I’m not sure if it happens at the other ’Vines.

Any of them I believe, it kept happening to me at West gate.

Yhamm.8397:

What also sometimes happens is when I, wearing an exalted armour, use the portal behind the city doors after breaking them, I get teleported to the city… without the armour.

I have faced this issue a lot of times. After trying to enter with the armor and losing it 5 times in a row I just called it a day and gave up the armor :S For me the issue seemed to be related to an “inactivity timer” triggered during loading screen, so soon the loading screen was over I would appear without armor and with several warnings like “unless you move within X seconds you will leave the transformation” (something like that).

Regarding the first issue, I can’t tell much as I haven’t experienced it. Also, not all issues will be in that Issue Tracker list, that list is maintained manually by a dev/mod and might contain only the most common or known issues.

RNG settings? There is not such thing, RNG is… RNG, it’s Random, that means it depends on luck, just luck. :P Also, RNG is equal for everyone, it’s the same Generator for everyone.

P.S.: I know your feeling, RNGods hates me as well :P For those who don’t know, RNG stands for “Random Number Generator”.

Odik.4587:

shadow.6174:

I don’t know how they handle it and I believe it depends on the case.

However, once a GM gained control of an account from a player that was cheating in PvP. Then they took the char to Divinity’s Reach, stripped down all gear and then did a jump to death from the hightest point in the city and then logged off and deleted the char. All this was recorded and there is a video of it somewhere.

Not sure if it’s the common practice from them to do these things though.

Sounds like savagery and make no sense ,like why would you do suicide jump as GM and delete a character ? That guy need permanent ban instead,lol . I seen plently of hackers but Anet dont have any type of protection in their game, thats the problem . They are too busy doing next expansion or something like that.

The guy got banned, even the GM who did the vid said that. I don’t know why the GM did that, maybe it was in response to complaints or whatever reason. The thing is, they indeed ban cheaters but I’m sure they rarely do that public shame on them. Also yes, they have protections, but you know, it’s like viruses, it keeps evolving faster than the defense mechanisms, so do cheater’s techniques.

Well, thanks to the “working” [sarcasm self-test completed :P] search I can’t find the thread with a link for that vid.

Edit: Oh here we go: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/wuv/Blacktide-Thief-Hacker-Strikes-again-part-10/5033684

Maria Murtor.7253:

So, if I got the same Glider twice from the chests, I can ask for refund?

Yup, if you got several times the same item from the BLC chests you can ask for a refund. Usually the refund would be another key I believe.

I don’t know how they handle it and I believe it depends on the case.

However, once a GM gained control of an account from a player that was cheating in PvP. Then they took the char to Divinity’s Reach, stripped down all gear and then did a jump to death from the hightest point in the city and then logged off and deleted the char. All this was recorded and there is a video of it somewhere.

Not sure if it’s the common practice from them to do these things though.

Not intended, but it can happen when there is a de-sync between the client and server. Usually it can happen when the server doesn’t “know” where your last location was (maybe due a failure sending data to server) and then it puts you at a “default” location.

At times it can be even worse, per example, you might log off at Silverwastes and when logging in back you find yourself near the northern entrance/portal at Lion’s Arch (possibly the center of world map).

Sadly it’s intended, it has been this way since launch I believe. Same happens with guild and squad chat (for guilds it vanishes if you switch the guild you are representing).

I would be indeed nice if chat would be kept even after leaving it. I even went through a situation where I was in a party with someone and they were disrespectful at the point it deserved an Abuse Report, however I quickly left the party and WPed away after the abuse and then I noticed the party chat gone before I could even screenshoot it.

Kong.3280:

shadow.6174:

The answer is simple: inactivity timeout. There is a mechanic that if you don’t do any action while transformed during a certain time, you are kicked of the armor. What happens is that countdown kicks in even during the loading screen and the timer is very short (like 20 or 30 secs I think, or less) and then if the loading screen takes longer than that, poof you go.

I have noticed it a while back through the chat, after teleporting and being kicked out of armor, my chat would have several warnings about inactivity.

Thanks for the response, but I don’t believe that is it. I’m refering to literally, getting into the armour, walking to the Exalted Portal, using it, and 5 seconds later appearing below in battle outside of the Enchanted Armour I was attempting to use.

Oh, that’s a different case then. What I mean is I would lose the armor even before the loading screen was done.

Huh, I can’t recall any “quest” that asks you to kill “xy named elite/rare mob”. Can you be more specific where you are having issues? I have seen areas with stupidly fast respawn yes but mostly it’s fine across the game.

Also, if you mean things like group events, well those were really meant to be done in group, that means you going to have a hard time soloing them, and usually in events like these is where fast respawn usually occurs.

The answer is simple: inactivity timeout. There is a mechanic that if you don’t do any action while transformed during a certain time, you are kicked of the armor. What happens is that countdown kicks in even during the loading screen and the timer is very short (like 20 or 30 secs I think, or less) and then if the loading screen takes longer than that, poof you go.

I have noticed it a while back through the chat, after teleporting and being kicked out of armor, my chat would have several warnings about inactivity.

BrettM.9062:

Even adding an “are you sure” prompt would be better than suddenly finding myself on my feet again in a situation where I will immediately go back down to defeat.

Archranis.2375:

Add an option whether or not choosing revive orb is displayed when you are downed. Problem solved once and for all, and works for everyone.

Since it’s going to consume an expensive item a prompt would be the most sensible and obvious option to have. But also having an option to not even having that item at all would be good.

Here we go again… once more a badly implemented mechanic has mislead someone… I wonder when they will realize that this bad design choice is more confusing than helpful… But well, since it’s at the core of the game and basically it’s there since release and based on other bad design choices that confuses more than help (looking at you NPE..), I would not hold my breath in that hope… (although I believe that simple change to that prompt could lessen the issue…) :/

Mark Katzbach.9084:

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed a bug that prevented players from purchasing grawl firestones when replaying the quest.
• Fixed a bug that prevented frostbitten suet from dropping when replaying the quest.
• Fixed a bug that allowed players to purchase multiple grawl firestones from the task region vendor.
• Fixed a bug that allowed players to purchase more than three eggshells from the task region vendor.
• Fixed a bug that allowed players to be trapped behind closing gates after looting reward chests.

Chrury.4627:

It wasn’t listed in the patch notes but utility, heal, and elite skills now have a static position on the skill selection tab. No more skills rearranging based on what skill is currently equipped. It’s super nice.

Hmm, weird. Not sure with other professions but for me, a mesmer, skills have stopped reordering randomly since HoT was launched, it has appeared always in the same position since then.

On topic, on Tuesday it happened to me. When I logged in my Utility Skill #1 was blank and blinking, then I just reselected it and it worked normally, but weird anyway.

And one more report…. I wonder why they don’t change those to some other type of marker. I’m still for it having a special icon instead using the same icon as events and then causing this confusion. It’s frustrating to see that marker and facing nothing when getting there.

Also if it’s intended, why don’t show it only for those already with the Stabilizer? It gets confusing at first for those not aware about those events. -_-

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/support/Server-DC-Crashing-11-15-2016-11-16-2016/6402020

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/support/Server-DC-Crashing-11-15-2016-11-16-2016/6402020

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/support/Server-DC-Crashing-11-15-2016-11-16-2016/6402020

Merc The Forgotten.5610:

mrstealth.6701:

In windowed mode, the game doesn’t go by in-game resolution settings. It has a completely customizable size, within the constraints of your desktop resolution. The problem is with how Windows 10 handles the borders around some games in windowed mode. The gap left is about the same as the standard window frame/border in Windows 7 (with aero theme). It’s limiting the game window size as if that border was still there, instead of the 1 or 2 pixel border Windows 10 has.

This doesn’t happen with every game, but I’ve seen several effected by it. The only thing I’ve found to do for it is use borderless window instead of a window. Or just try and ignore the gap.

Is it possible to get this borderless mode with gw2?

Yup, choose Windowed Fullscreen. It still runs in windowed mode (you can Alt+Tab easily) but you will get no border at all, not even a title bar.

You are welcome.

And just to clarify: Holding Ctrl while clicking a Waypoint, per example, will post it straightly in chat. Holding Shift, however, will just put the chat code in the chat box, allowing you to add more text to the message. And again, events aren’t linkable. Doing that action with an Event icon in map will do nothing.

As far as I know, events and creatures cannot be linked in chat, only items, skills, landmarks, buffs/boons etc.

What exactly are you trying to link? If you are trying to pinpoint an event/boss you could link a Waypoint or Point of Interest near it.

New accounts will only be able to see them when the first character in that account reaches level 10. After that, all characters (even lower than level 10) will see it.

In other words, it’s only hidden for the very first character in an account, after unlocking it they will be visible to any newly created characters.

Linken.6345:

shadow.6174:

Yay, look who is back… the (err…) loved (nop) NPE >.>

Anyway, seriously now. Yes, it’s like Linken mentioned, it’s intended as part of a streamlining attempt they did a while back called New Player Experience.

For info about when those elements will be unlocked (understand visible) in map can be found at https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Level_rewards.

A last thing: in NPE’s philosophy… “You are not supposed to see Vistas and Points of Interest yet because we think that they are too overwhelming for you. Come back when you are more experienced.” :P

P.S.: Seriously Anet, can’t cases like this one show how NPE needs seriously some revision? -_-

As much as I disslike this system, I dont want them to waste more resouces on it and possibly make it even worse.

Yup I tend to agree. But I just said that because even with a long thread with hundreds of suggestions and complaints (even recent threads like this one), they never brought any of several promised fixes and ended tapping their ears singing “lalalala” like a child as if everything is fine. I just wanted to point out once again that they aren’t and the topic is still relevant.

Yay, look who is back… the (err…) loved (nop) NPE >.>

Anyway, seriously now. Yes, it’s like Linken mentioned, it’s intended as part of a streamlining attempt they did a while back called New Player Experience.

For info about when those elements will be unlocked (understand visible) in map can be found at https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Level_rewards.

A last thing: in NPE’s philosophy… “You are not supposed to see Vistas and Points of Interest yet because we think that they are too overwhelming for you. Come back when you are more experienced.” :P

P.S.: Seriously Anet, can’t cases like this one show how NPE needs seriously some revision? -_-

I see it as a bug, but it seems it’s related to the current rift events (https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Class_I_Magic_Rift). The even marker seems to be used to point out where a rift can appear, then triggering an event there. Already reported in https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/Content-Guide-pointing-to-false-event-markers/

I’m still for it to be changed to something else (maybe use specific icons instead event markers) if it was intended to point those rift events. The way it is now disrupts game play when seeking truly for events and makes it frustrating to travel there and be like “whut?” glancing at an empty and quiet area when expecting to have an event there.

Yay, dumb NPE…. it has been a while I don’t say this…

Anyway, yeah… NPE broke pretty much immersion at several places of the game. It was a nice initiative but badly implemented and most stupid hand-holding I have seen and here we have another proof. OP’s case somehow reminds me of an area at Plains of Ashford that used to have TP and other NPCs.. now it’s barely empty with NPCs calling at nobody like “The crafter sent a message to you, boss.” with no boss there.

Well, I wouldn’t hold my breath expecting anything to change, after “barking at a wall” in another now-closed thread for one year without results, I don’t think anything would change (although I still defend that NPE should be revised). I’m not going to discuss further.. that thread contained a lot of the reasons for it…

Oh a last thing: you ask for more NPCs there? According NPE’s philosophy: “You are not supposed to interact with NPCs at that level because we think you are not able to do that yet. Come back when you are more experienced.” :P

In fact, at first there wasn’t any banker NPC at that area, actually, in any of the crafting stations at starter areas. But in a patch a few months ago (not sure if early this year or later last year) they added them.

I also think it’s redundant since crafting stations already has that feature. It’s even weird at other maps, like Wayfarer Foothills where the NPC is pretty much over the crafting stations (literally one or two steps). I admit I was amazed to learn that you can access bank through crafting stations when I first found it. Having such NPC just delays such discovery or even prevents it, since players would get used to use and seek a banker NPC to that purpose.

Well, it doesn’t surprised me to see such NPC added, since NPE (yay NPE… >.>) the game seems to deal with new players like they are kindergarten child with so many hand-holdings…

Anyway, if that NPC is going to stay I’d also agree with the suggestion of putting it in that building. I also had noticed that building a while ago and even was wondering if it was supposed to be a bank or something with those signs and decorations (it reminded me of the old banking place at former Lion’s Arch), it even seems to have a vault there.

Mark Katzbach.9084:

Bug Fix:

• Brisban Wildlands: Fixed a bug that prevented players from participating in the Seanan’s Bandits renown region.

If it was related to this issue https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/Ground-disappearing-during-personal-story it should be fixed by now.

Somnus.5934:

1. Why haven’t they said anything?
2. Why in the heck isn’t this fixed yet?

C’mon Anet get on it!

Be patient… :P

Mark Katzbach.9084:

11/08/2016 – November 08 Release Notes
Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug with the ground textures in the norn starting instance “The Great Hunt.”

merby.5724:

I only have this problem when I try to do my personal story on my Norn. I was asking other people on the map and they said they were having the same problem with their Norn characters.

That’s a known issue: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/Ground-disappearing-during-personal-story

Have any of you tried to repair the game? Instructions about that are at: https://help.guildwars2.com/hc/en-us/articles/201863008-Repairing-the-Game-Client

That’s true, I have noticed it while testing that command a while back. It cycled through NPCs, pets, minis etc but not players.

Usually players underground or fast teleporting abnormal distances are usually people exploiting. In these cases you better report them via in-game tool. Also, if you see or know some type of exploit you can report it via email to exploits@arena.net.

Just to remind, reporting exploits in forums isn’t allowed and it’s discouraged. Also to remind, that email is for reporting the ways an exploit can be done, to report players for any illegal behavior you have to use the in-game tool.

Know issue. It’s an old bug that apparently got back.

Edit: Thread got merged.

Yeah I realized it started happening again. In fact, I don’t think it would have to do with the new chest preview thing. It had been also happening on last week as well.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

The odds of getting anything but the Ecto are very small.
(shadow, you can acquire Mini Spooky Moa, Mini Thailog the Gargoyle, Tattered Bat Wing as a very rare drop. https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mad_King's_Chest )

Oh ok, I didn’t know that. Since I always got exactly ToT bags and Ecto I thought it was a fixed drop.

Do you know how many buff you got during the event? The amount of buff is what will define how many keys you will get. 4 buffs for 1 key. Early today I got a stack with 12 buffs and got 3 keys as expected.

Also, the chest itself doesn’t give anything else other than a ToT bag plus a Glob of Ectoplasm as far as I know (at least that’s what I always got every time I opened it).

iHeartbound.3074:

Speaking of known issues.. The page stopped working for me. Does it work for you?

Hmm, the page is working fine for me. Maybe it was just a glitch at the time you tried or they took it off for changes (I see the whole support portal has a different visual now, not sure since when though).

iHeartbound.3074:

The only possible way it would do that is if Anet were amateurs. And they aren’t. As someone else said a second ago, it’s a simple fix.. Adding collision on something like that. Other things I’d agree it’s not as simple. Their engine was built for their game. They wouldn’t mess that up. I promise you it’s a simple fix, it’s not hard and wont break a bunch of other things. You guys are over thinking it big time.. I guarantee Anet could even tell you the same.

It’s also a very fast & easy patch. But as others said it’s not really a big deal. But the fact they over looked this for 2 festivals now says something. Do they even know? I was on known issues & seen nothing about it. That’s the entire point of my post. It’s an easy fix, it’s not hard. Even you could look up a youtube video & see how it’s done & mane to recreate it on their engine. UNLESS they have a bad engine. & I know for a fact they don’t. They know what they are doing. I just believe this was overlooked. And that’s it. That’s why I keep bumping this. You guys can argue with me if youd like and tell me I’m wrong, because I never used their engine.

But a studio as big as Anet would not have a kitten engine like that. I promise you. I’m about 90% sure they over looked it or cant be bothered to mess with something so minor.

Yup I know. And well, I never stated that anyone here was wrong. And for sure it needs a fix. But quoting myself...

shadow.6174:

Only Anet can tell if it’s an easy fix or not.

shadow.6174:

the thing isn’t about if it’s easy or not, it’s about their priority and how serious such a bug/flaw can be.

shadow.6174:

discussing if it would be easy for them or not is going to lead nowhere.

Don’t take me bad, it’s nice and appreciated the issue is reported. But the report was made and done, no reason to keep discussing it further. Hopefully they will see this and fix it (for the next year maybe). *shrugs*

Yay Ruindows 10 :P (bad joke, I know) Joke aside, by chance do you have anything that could intercept keystrokes or some software that could be registering keystrokes? I can’t name one but it’s usually something that people asks in cases like this. (ShadowPlay comes to mind but not sure if it could interfere)

Another thing I could suggest is repairing the game, but since you say that reinstalling doesn’t help, a repair might not help either.

Also, is it an (yay profanity filter kicked in here) USB keyboard and mouse? Or wireless? Maybe it’s having troubles communicating with your comp.

OP mentions about knowing Unity and Blender, Guild Wars 2 uses a completely different and in-house engine. Each and every engine works differently, what’s easy in one may not be in another. Only Anet can tell if it’s an easy fix or not. What can seems a easy change may lead to a chain of breaking items.

Either way, the thing isn’t about if it’s easy or not, it’s about their priority and how serious such a bug/flaw can be. It’s a bug/mistake or an intentional change with a unfortunate side-effect (who knows) for sure, but discussing if it would be easy for them or not is going to lead nowhere.