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Open Letter to ArenaNet regarding Server Latency


TheSun.4321

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Dear ArenaNet,

We’re keen to get your attention on this pressing issue as we have continually grown in frustration that has almost reached a breaking point for many players and guilds within the community. Over the past few months there has been a significant increase in skill lag and server latency, with frequent mass interruptions to the flow of gameplay becoming commonplace, more so than they were eight years ago when the issue first began - albeit less than what we are facing today.

We all are deeply passionate about Guild Wars 2, and the work, development and ingenuity that’s been put into the game since inception. World vs World has been a centerpiece of the game for many of us who have invested thousands of hours of our time into making it what it is today.

You’ve given us the tools to forge empires, families, and comradery that has taken us far beyond our mundane lives, and we are deeply appreciative of that. But many of us have experienced what has felt like a continuous neglect of the numerous dedicated players who enter World vs World, only to be punished for taking part in what the gameplay is about, to amass, conquer, and battle.

Even if mitigation or a solution is not possible in the short term, communication with us - the playerbase - about the issues goes a long way to reassure us that we are cared for, and not being abandoned. We do not need another World Restructuring or Alliances promise followed by more than three years of silence.

These are the questions on our minds, and points that we implore you to address with urgency:

-What is causing this latency?This existed before the COVID-19 lockdown, and is not primarily the result of it. However this has exacerbated the existing and underlying issues that we have all become far too familiar with over the past several years.

-Do you lack the funds to pay for better servers or upgrade existing infrastructure?Many of us gladly purchase gems on a monthly basis, there are many untapped parts of the game that could be monetized by which we could support the experiences we wish to have.*

-Is this something that can be resolved?Either in the short term by mitigation - even on the part of the players, or in the long term by infrastructure changes on your side.

When we are unable to utilize the kits you have worked so hard to create and balance, we’re doing you a disservice, as you are doing yourselves a disservice. When we are unable to enjoy the smooth fluidity of the animations and abilities you’ve painstakingly worked to bring to life, it is a great shame to all of us.

We ask you, as Guild Leaders, Officers, and Commanders, to resolve this. We know you want this game to succeed as much as we do.

Friends, fellow WvW players, please express your support to this, let ArenaNet know that this cannot go unresolved or unanswered for any longer.

Sincerely,Guild Leaders, Officers & Commanders of the Illuminardy.

*edited, subscription suggestion derailed from core argument

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We should be fighting each other, not the server latency. Please fix (at at least mitigate) it so we can go back to poking fun at Frenjo and not at the server for taking an age to decide if your skill will, in fact, eventually go off, or if the input will get eaten like the turkey leg by your fat cousin at Thanksgiving dinner.

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When instant cast skills or running through gates become things that do not register while you are playing, there is a big problem. It's not even just a case of missing a few skills here and there, it is every skill possible. You have to sit there and spam the skill you want while your character does a stutter step forward. Entire zergs can run towards you and not get any damage out in front of themselves. (Saw it happen more than once tonight so I don't think they were only fielding engies with bomb kit, and I don't think its just player skill) It makes GW2's fluid and engaging combat system not even worth giving the time of day. But a lot of us are here in WvW because it is still one of the best options out there. ANET has something special here and they are just letting it sit neglected. Alliances when? Server upgrades when? Class bug fixes when? (Stares at moving rev utilities, dragon banner bugs, screwed up mantra tooltips, etc) Even if it's not hard dates, just talking with the community about it would be nice.

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I left the game for a few months and came back. The game only used to lag for me in massive 3 server fights with 50+ blobs on every side. I have experienced that same lag with just 2 servers with full squads going at it. The latency is getting more than just ridiculous at this point. Please do something!

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There has absolutely been a steady decline in server performance. You don't even have to have two groups engaging each other anymore to lag out everything server side. They simply have to exist on the map together near each other and the servers cannot operate. Week in week out it's the same story and it's unfortunate, sapping the fun out of the gamemode.

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Just to reiterate that this isn't just a WvW problem. You can watch the server struggling to keep even a SAB lobby map stable. But the multiple server connections in WvW just exacerbates the problem even more. Its also kinda silly looking at the pings of the server connections that are all in the same data center yet vary 100-200ms between one another.

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In all my years of playing since Beta, I have never seen things as bad as they are right now. These latency issues are intolerable and unacceptable, to put it lightly.We'd like to not have to worry about the next time a 40v40 happens, is it going to turn WvW into Unplayable Lag Simulator 2020.Just let us enjoy playing the game mode again, please.

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At this point, it's every fight. At the beginning of every fight, our entire zerg rubberbands, no matter who we're facing or how many servers are present. Three-way fights are unplayable to the point where skill lag will cause skills to not be able to be used for upwards of 10seconds. It's sad, and it's something the community wants more than new expansions, more than WvW events, and due to it's severity, we'd take fixing the skill lag over a role out of alliances. Today I was doing a heropoint train in the Crystal Oasis with 7 people and all of our pings spiked to 2.5k. We were a make-up of Americans, Central Europeans, and Brits. We all had 2.5k+ ping. It's not just WvW having server issues, it's the entire game. The servers at this point will not be able to handle a new expansion, and I'm fearful of what will happen to WvW as we get closer to launch. With every update, the lag become worse, and more players leave the game frustrated.

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It’s difficult to have fun when a “competitive” game mode that requires skill to crack larger groups is inhibited by lag resulting in a win for whoever has more bodies. The lag doesn’t allow any outplay potential for dropping skills, moving, cleansing, etc.

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The servers are straight up failing to function as of lately. I play NA, OCX and SEA and its awful the entire time.

NA reset for the most part is unplayable, the game struggles to keep up with two servers; skills flash and take several seconds to activate, people blink around, and its a slide show. Then if a third server shows up anywhere nearby, outside of render distance and stands still even, the servers just completely die and you get dcs, crashes, and 30 seconds of skill lag and people desyncing all over the place.

Aside from the disaster that happens at reset, sea is probably the worst timezone where at least a third of asian and australian players can't even login, or are at permanent 4k ping and are unplayable soon as a fight starts (perfectly fine beforehand).

Ocx is pretty bad as well, i sit still in mistlock sanctuary with 800 ping like wtf. Meanwhile my local connection and download speed are perfectly fine.

Please FIX your broken game servers, no one cares AT ALL if you delay the living world releases. Fix the routing to Asian and oceanic countries as it exponentially worsens for them and it lags and dcs even in 15v15.

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@TheSun.4321 said:Friends, fellow WvW players, please express your support to this, let ArenaNet know that this cannot go unresolved or unanswered for any longer.Unfortunetly I cannot supported this because for some reason completely beyond me you decided to drag subscriptions, which 99% of players will be against, into this letter. I would have supported it if that line wasnt in there. Now I absolutely cannot on principle.

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