Game is unplayable on a computer that used to run it smoothly, last year at this time

Title says it. Last year at this time the game ran smoothly. Now it chugs so badly I can't even play in PVP matches. I haven't dared to try to go to the new expansion, and HoT is like trying to move in soup.

This same computer ran the game smoothly last year.

Update: I just finished a match where it got so slow, the audio was glitching.

Open the case and clean the dust out of the CPU heatsink and all fans. Also, make sure all fans are working.

1. As suggested, clean all your hardware components from dust using a soft brush and compressed air.
2. Clean your system using CCleaner.
3. After doing (2), defragment your hard disk drive.
4. Deactivate any automatic updates (Windows* as well as other software), as those tend to run in the background and lead to lag while gaming. Do the updates manually (just don't forget about them), and defrag weekly.

*) It is possible, if you are using Windows 10, that you are experiencing lag because of the changes in Windows 10's update policy.

Saying to clean the computer is not helpful. Also you don't defragment SSDs.

What is your CPU, GPU, and ram usage during these times? What are the specs on your machine?

@countytime.8134 said:Saying to clean the computer is not helpful. Also you don't defragment SSDs.

You're assuming the person has the game on an ssd. Not everyone does.

When I go to vacation I have this game running on a laptop that isn't made for gaming. While it doesn't work in 60 fps it works pretty damn well still. Even WvW isn't too bad.Also it's CPU intensive. If you have issues, check your processes, one must be eating processing power more than needed.

Also: bad overclock will do more bad than good in this game. If you overclocked you might want to double check the values, or disable overclock and test again.

If you could handle HoT, there should be no problem with PoF. Mounts add some extra stress but unless you spend your time in bounty squads it won't impact you.

@countytime.8134 said:Saying to clean the computer is not helpful. Also you don't defragment SSDs.

If the computer is thermally throttling cleaning it out can definitely help

@countytime.8134 said:Saying to clean the computer is not helpful. Also you don't defragment SSDs.

Not providing your specs is also not helpful.

Check the temperatures of your CPU and GPU with something like HWMonitor.

@countytime.8134 said:Saying to clean the computer is not helpful.

How is it not helpful? Do you have any idea how many people fry their hardware due to layers of dust leading to overheating (which leads to severe lags and other issues, and ultimately to hardware failure)?

@Engelsstaub.4356 said:Not providing your specs is also not helpful.

Exactly. People give him/her their best advices in the face of zero information about the system and what could be the problem ("This same computer ran the game smoothly last year" is not information), and then we get such a cocky response. Wow.

I dont think its the game tbh ... im playing on a laptop i bought 6 months before GW2 first launched... and im still playing fine. However i have cleaned inside out a few times over the years, paying particular attention to the inlet for the graphics card cooling fan, i also sit it on a cooling pad( a holder that has 3 fans in to powered via the usb socket, i have also cleaned the heat paste off the cpu and gpu and reapplied better thermal paste, in a more uniformed fashion.

• Also to add, if using Nvidia graphic on a laptop.. dont just use the latest driver. Google "best driver for Gw2" the newest often are made to work with brand new fps games and 3d oculus rift nonsense ... not the best for gw2.
• Sort out for power settings, and nvidia settings outside of the game "max performance"
• Laptop setting on power mode, reduce from 100% to 99% - stops laptop overheating and throttling.

@finkle.9513 said:However i have cleaned inside out a few times over the years, paying particular attention to the inlet for the graphics card cooling fan, i also sit it on a cooling pad

:+1:

• Also to add, if using Nvidia graphic on a laptop.. dont just use the latest driver.

I can't recommend that, to be honest. The latest driver is almost always the best choice. The only important thing is to not install nVidia's GeForce Experience along with it, as that eats up resources and is not optimized for laptops in general -- hell, it's not even optimized for desktop PCs, as it is often buggy and installs several telemetry services along with it that eat up your bandwidth (and probably also spy on your system).