Events in Preparation state

#1 - May 20, 2013, 6:13 p.m.

Hi,

We’ve identified a bug where events that advance to the ‘preparation’ state are not reported properly via the API. Events in the ‘preparation’ state retain their previous state from the API’s perspective until the state changes again.

Not all events have preparation states at all, and it’s often short for those that do, so this should not effect most events. However, events that are part of complex event chains may show incomplete or inaccurate information as a result of this bug.

The bug will be fixed when the next game patch goes live, so if you’re having trouble with some events I’d recommend re-examining them at that time. Without deeply examining individual events, I can’t say whether this will fix any particular issue you may be having. If at that time there’s still a problem, please report it.

I’ll also update this thread when the bug is fixed.

[EDIT: Fixed!]

#3 - May 20, 2013, 6:39 p.m.

klarkc.3754:

The preparation status is only when a cutscene is being shown or other things, like when the player needs talk to npc to activate the event (or this one is on the warmup status)?

The best description of preparation status is the one in the documentation. An event designer has a fair amount of freedom when deciding if and how to use the preparation state, so it completely depends on the event.

#6 - May 28, 2013, 9:55 a.m.

This bug is now fixed — events should be correctly displaying the preparation state. You may find it much easier to track the status of some events now.

#8 - May 28, 2013, 2:06 p.m.

Terrasque.8735:

They have been in Preparation since (at least) 21:10, and time is 21:55 locally here. Is this intended behavior?

Maybe.

It’s up to the event designer how to use the preparation state.

Sometimes (usually?) it is a short period of time that automatically completes as a result of NPCs talking to each other or getting in position. Other times an event may be waiting for a player to come by and activate it, such as the events triggered by talking to an NPC that has an event icon over their head.

It’s completely up to the designer how to use it, so for some events some totally different criteria may need to be met for the event to advance to the ‘active’ state.

#12 - May 31, 2013, 6:14 a.m.

Terrasque.8735:

Yeah, I was wondering because I rarely see those in-game.

I tried to find out what triggered them, and it looks like the wiki have all of them flagged as bugged:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Prove_you_know_a_lot_about_Destiny%27s_Edge
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Stop_the_bandit_thief_from_stealing_the_pumphouse_blueprints
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Drive_the_rogue_bull_back_home,_and_fix_any_mayhem_on_the_way
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bandits_have_constructed_a_roadblock_to_stop_Shaemoor_traffic

The live response team checked up on this. One of the events listed has a bug, but the others just haven’t met required pre-conditions to start.

Thanks for the detailed report!