Extremely HIGH PING, and lag, for the past 4 days playing from SEA.

Hi Arena.net

For the past 4 days, my ping has tripled to quadrupled (from an average of 240 to now getting an average of 750, with spikes reaching 1500). As you can imagine, this has made the game unplayable. Now contemplating just quitting. Please fix if the problem is on your side.

Thank you.

I'm playing from SEA too, been getting ping spikes since Winter's day. The problem seemed to have gone away after the latest update, but now I'm having infinite loading screens and difficulties connecting to the cash shop/trading post.

For the last days I have infinite loading screens on every maps , with any characters. I am in Europe playing on US servers and its the first time in 6 years this happen ...

You need to determine where the problem is.Run Pingplotter and this will identify any problems in the Network path between you and Anets servers.

I play from SEA also and GW2 has become unplayable for me. I tried reinstalling but I can't even get the client to download the game now.

My game can't even update as well :( keep on stuck at downloading 0kb/s

I have the same problem too. Tried to reinstall the game but can't even manage to download the game client now with 0kb/sec

Try to use a free VPN and see if that changes your ping. I have a friend from the Philippines who experienced 350 ping spikes and it dropped to 40 while playing on VPN.

Run a program like Ping Plotter to identify the routing between your computer and the game servers. There's a lot of internet between and increased ping could be a result of delays at any step along the way. If the problem is on ANet's end, the data will help them identify the source so they can fix it. If it's not, then you (or ANet) can use the data to contact the relevant business responsible for that step.

Alternatively, as @Isle of Stars.3049 suggests, using a VPN sometimes helps, because it forces the signal to travel a different route that might not be as badly bottlenecked. (That said, laws of physics aren't going to see a decrease from 350 to 40 ping across 14-15 km worth of cable. Even light needs 150 ms to travel from Manila to Virginia & back again.)

Thing is, my colleague contacted ANet support team regarding the same problem and they are the one who encouraged the use of VPN. The connection improved but it sucks that he's now paying for it.

Too bad there's no SEA/OCE server for the likes of him.

@Isle of Stars.3049 said:Thing is, my colleague contacted ANet support team regarding the same problem and they are the one who encouraged the use of VPN. The connection improved but it sucks that he's now paying for it.

Yes, of course ANet support would recommend VPN for the same reasons I have: if the route your signal is taking is bad, it's the only way that you have to change the route. ANet only has control over their servers and only minor influence with their ISP. There's still a lot of internet between you and that and it can go wrong, especially trans-Pacific or trans-Atlantic routes.

We are going to have to get used to things getting worse before they get better, as more and more people get online and start using up more and more data.

Too bad there's no SEA/OCE server for the likes of him.It is unfortunate. But it's unlikely to change because the business economics don't favor it.(And for now, if there were an SEA or OCE option, (a) it still wouldn't be great for a lot of people, since that represents a significant portion of the planet & (b) maps would be sparsely populated.)

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

It is unfortunate. But it's unlikely to change because the business economics don't favor it.(And for now, if there were an SEA or OCE option, (a) it still wouldn't be great for a lot of people, since that represents a significant portion of the planet & (b) maps would be sparsely populated.)

Yeah I think someone did mention the lack of people in SEA and OCE region before. They said that opening up a server for SEA/OCE wouldn't be practical for return of investments.

That being said, I am interested to try if VPN is worth any lick of salt. I'll try to play with one of them once I am in Australia.

I'm downloading the client now via VPN but it sucks that I have to use a sub optimal workaround. My download speed is about 1 to 2MB per sec, compared to my usual 15 to 16MB per sec. Question is, what has changed and is ANet doing something about it or is this the "new normal"?

If you use a program like Pingplotter, and find that there is an issue with a Tier 1 backbone (which is often the culprit), there's not a lot ArenaNet can do (other than maybe ask them to repair the problem; of course, they don't have much more clout than your ISP). That's why they suggest using a VPN (until the issue in the connection route is fixed).Also, be aware that you aren't downloading just one big file; the client must open, check and place each individual file, which is why the download speed varies considerably.

I've linked a Pastebin containing a WinMTR log pinging a GW2 game server (34.235.183.140) from Ohio. Not sure what to make of it but it doesn't look good. I usually get around 50 ms ping but it's spiking up to 1000 ms. Help would be appreciated.

https://pastebin.com/VP1D1FkF

I have dc spike, usually occur at least once and at most twice per night. Don't have such issue last month.I am from SEA, my subscribed ISP owned network has no issue therefore the problem occur in oversea network

Tracert stop showing details the moment it enter pccwbtn network though no visible packet lossThe moment it reappear at amazon network 72.21.222.251, it has packet loss.