Skimmer Advanced Course in Lion's Arch is bugged

[tetmikem.5608]

@"Sylvanna.1748" said:I made a video showing how to do it.

Thank you, this worked for me :)

[Sylvanna.1748]

@NekoLen.9753 said:Holding down c doesn't work because I go underwater before the parts I have to go over land, IDK how to keep it held to the underwater section without going down too soon. I wish we'd be told they are trying to fix it. It is very annoying we were waiting for this for months and it releases impossible for the average player to complete and Anet is on radio silence.

Watch my video. You will go underwater before the first beam, then when you come around for the second beam , go to the right and it will allow you to just gently glide over the second beam without letting go of your C button, or having to press Spacebar/V. Once you get to the main underwater leg, you can let go of C. DO NOT SURFACE until you reach the last leg.

Hope this helps.

[Traveller.7496]

I can't go through the race with swimming normally. Instead of people telling me to get gud, could you maybe fix it so I could use the skimmer underwater?

[Kumbaya.4689]

Really frustrating bug.

[Jukhy.2431]

@Traveller.7496 said:I can't go through the race with swimming normally. Instead of people telling me to get gud, could you maybe fix it so I could use the skimmer underwater?

Nothing to do with 'get gud'. Anet clearly made the race easy to do with all kinds of ppl in mind, IF it worked the way it's supposed to.

Personally I'll wait for a fix, cause I'm too old'n grumpy to spend too much time trying to do a race that should be a breeze.

[Dark.1823]

It's not one bug, there are SEVERAL bugs with this race and it seems to only affect certain people which makes absolutely no sense to me.

The bugs I experienced:

• double pop-up window at the beginning of the race (every time)
• timer disappears after a few seconds of starting the race (every time)
• crossing the finish line doesn't end the race / endless laps until the checkpoints stop registering (every time for me. my friend doesn't have this bug)
• if you don't close the 2nd pop-up window and let the 30sec timer expire, it teleports you back to the beginning of the race without actually ending it (only tried it once)
• the silver & gold rewards don't re-appear above the skill-bar if you restart the race (every time for me)
• (edit) skimmer dive doesn't work in the race. this one is pretty obvious but I figured I'd include it

The current state of this event makes it impossible to complete for me and from what I've seen in in-game chat, there are a lot of people with the same issues I'm having.

[BadHealer.3608]

@sajah varel.9261 said:As a hotfix, if they can't find a solution, why not just add 60s to gold and silver in the mean time. That way people can do it and they have time to work on a real fix.Well, hotfixes should be very easy to find. I think 15 seconds to silver would be enough. Let people win gold if they have the full skimmer, but allow them to get it in the first place.Other fixed would be:

• Just fix it that I can use the skimmer down skill no matter if someone starts the race as well
• Allow people to swim faster temporary
• Allow people to swim faster temporary in L.A. only
• Allow people to have their own instance of L.A. temporary
• Make this part as autowin
• Allow people to train your skimmer without the full collection
• Allow people to use the skimmer down option temporary in L.A. only even if the not trained it
• Allow people to use the skimmer down option temporary even if the not trained it

And so on. Plenty option. But beside the lack of playtesting they show a lack of fast fixing. (How hard can it be to add 15 seconds to the silver time?)

[Doghouse.1562]

Holding down C works, if you can engage it before (a) the spurious reset panel pops up, and (b) you touch the first ring. I've done it successfully on two different accounts this morning. There's a video showing how (not mine) at

I found getting started a bit hit-and-miss, but the second or third bubble is deep enough in the water for the skimmer to be able to dive (and confirm that the skill is working, even though it's not showing on your bar). Clear the spurious window with Esc - but don't let go of that C key until your skimmer dives after you get the "use skill 3" pop-up.

Just make sure you have plenty of speed buffs (although there will likely be a banner or two at the start, and there's a villager up by the WP will give you the "get about town" 5 minute buff as well).

[MidnightX.6294]

this kitten bug made me buy an asc breather with +11 infusion. otherwise as a ranger i would not have made it in time to silver. (and yes i refuse to bug the buggy race like other people recommended )

[Jukhy.2431]

@Dark.1823 said:

• crossing the finish line doesn't end the race / endless laps until the checkpoints stop registering (every time for me. my friend doesn't have this bug)

Well, that explains a lot. Pretty sure I had this one every time I tried. Was confused about why the checkpoints just kept appearing after the finish line. To me it seemed like it did not even register that I finished the lap. So very much pointless for me to even try to do it when it just keeps on going.

Edit: dunno if not registering the finish line has something to do with the constant 'unable to access log in server' errors (code 42) I've been having after the update. Earlier it used to happen only sometimes when using the trading post, but now it slaps me with the error all the time no matter where I am or what I'm doing.

[aspirine.6852]

@Jukhy.2431 said:

@Dark.1823 said:

• crossing the finish line doesn't end the race / endless laps until the checkpoints stop registering (every time for me. my friend doesn't have this bug)

Well, that explains a lot. Pretty sure I had this one every time I tried. Was confused about why the checkpoints just kept appearing after the finish line. To me it seemed like it did not even register that I finished the lap. So very much pointless for me to even try to do it when it just keeps on going.

I had that too.. I cannot understand how this passed quality control.

[Zok.4956]

Yes, it is frustrating that it is so buggy.

After some practicing I was able to finish the race without the skimmer-dive in time with me ele and the help of skills that increase the speed like "Eye of the Storm","Mist Form", "Signet of Air" and a +20 swim speed infusion. Without the +20 swim speed infusion I was always 2-3 portals away from the finish line when the time ran out.

And then after one meta run in Dragonfall I had enough XP to unlock the "Skimming the Depths" mastery.

[misterman.1530]

@Ayrilana.1396 said:

@BadHealer.3608 said:How about they just show us how they mange to do this when testing this? Will be great to see this race gods. How about the next Boss will be killable only by a weapon that you get after killing him? That will be so much fun.

The issue is due to a bug. A bug that wasn't present in their testing environment.

Their testing environment should be an exact duplicate of their production environment. That's how testing works. If it worked during testing but fails in production, they have a serious disconnect between the two environments.

[Tyncale.1629]

I will add my post to this thread. Here's waiting for the confirmation of the bug by Anet, 2 days from now, on Reddit, not here.

[Nazarick.9653]

@misterman.1530 said:

@Ayrilana.1396 said:

@BadHealer.3608 said:How about they just show us how they mange to do this when testing this? Will be great to see this race gods. How about the next Boss will be killable only by a weapon that you get after killing him? That will be so much fun.

The issue is due to a bug. A bug that wasn't present in their testing environment.

Their testing environment should be an exact duplicate of their production environment. That's how testing works. If it worked during testing but fails in production, they have a serious disconnect between the two environments.

They obviously tested it with no-one else around when they ran the race. Same with the Quaggans, I bet. (while knowing all along that hundreds of people would attempt it at once on day 1)

[Miporin.3529]

Completed all sub tasks and then the race as everyone else stated already is bugged, do not bother to use a trick to do it, wait for a hotfix from Anet, i want to do it how it should be.I'm not in a hurry so devs take your time and fix it properly, also please fix the exit to desktop crash too, expecially for Win 7 users. Thanks.

[misterman.1530]

@Nazarick.9653 said:

@misterman.1530 said:

@Ayrilana.1396 said:

@BadHealer.3608 said:How about they just show us how they mange to do this when testing this? Will be great to see this race gods. How about the next Boss will be killable only by a weapon that you get after killing him? That will be so much fun.

The issue is due to a bug. A bug that wasn't present in their testing environment.

Their testing environment should be an exact duplicate of their production environment. That's how testing works. If it worked during testing but fails in production, they have a serious disconnect between the two environments.

They obviously tested it with no-one else around when they ran the race. Same with the Quaggans, I bet. (while knowing all along that hundreds of people would attempt it at once on day 1)

Exactly. They should open their testing environment to players (beta-testing).

[Julie.9576]

When I start the race, jump on a skimmer, there isn't a C on the bar. Only the barrel roll and the hover. I see people are saying to hold down the C key. Does that work even if the C key is not on my bar?

[Mercutio.6312]

A content designed to be the tutorial of the new skimmer skill can be completed (and with difficulty) with everything except with the new skimmer ability. Good job Anet.

[Nazarick.9653]

@tetmikem.5608 said:

@"Sylvanna.1748" said:I made a video showing how to do it.

Thank you, this worked for me :)

Worked for me too, after about an hour of trying. Things to watch out for:

Reset window - if it appears too late, the checkpoints vanish. (though they reappear if you get one)Checkpoint @ 0:36 (just beyond the bridge) - won't register half the time.Checkpoint @ 0:42 (under the arch) - you can't climb over the beam while holding C, aim for the far right corner to get over.Checkpoint @ 0:51 (first after 2nd dive) - release C as soon as you go under, or you'll miss this one. (you can't see it until the last second)Checkpoint @ 1:26 (first one half-submerged) - most of the time it either won't register or you break the surface. I slowed down slightly to pass it on my winning run.Checkpoint @ 1:35 (last one half-submerged) - camera screws up (as seen on video), confusing but no need to worry about it.Checkpoint @ 2:02 (finish line) - if using the raptor, BE CAREFUL with jumping after the final turn...I lost 2 attempts due to uncontrollable wide jumps.

[Heibi.4251]

All these "work-arounds" should not be necessary. I've tried some of the suggestions but none have worked for me. I'll just wait until the fix comes in, which I'm sure will be soon.

[Nazarick.9653]

@Julie.9576 said:When I start the race, jump on a skimmer, there isn't a C on the bar. Only the barrel roll and the hover. I see people are saying to hold down the C key. Does that work even if the C key is not on my bar?

It's based on other people starting the race right after you. If there's enough of a gap, you'll see the dive skill (slot 4) and if you're quick enough you can press it before someone else starts the race. (causing the reset window)

[svenshady.7803]

@"Sylvanna.1748" said:I made a video showing how to do it.

This worked for me as well. Thank you very much!

[Kitty La Boom Boom.4065]

Can we please have a "We acknowledge that this is a real issue and we are working on it" response from Anet? These issues are over 24 hours old and.....[crickets]

[tonny.7580]

it almost 20hs and the havend fix it and the black lion trade new weps skins