Unable to log in

#1 - Feb. 18, 2013, 11:28 a.m.

.. The Game Client has lost connection to the server. Please wait a few minutes before restarting the client and trying again.

Ok I’ve only been playing a few weeks but I’ve encountered this issue several times. I have email authentication switched on and am at times asked to verify which I do. Sometimes I get this error when I’ve been asked to authenticate (sometimes not), sometimes I get the error when I haven’t been asked authenticate, today I was asked to authenticate and have the issue. All in all it seems very random.

First things first, and before I start thinking this is a game bug, my initial reaction to this is ok, server is down for some reason (emergency maintenance) and every time this has happened I go off searching these forums and the internet in general to find out if GW2 is online or not and haven’t been able to find anything. Right now I’m thinking its a server/ANet issue as I can toddle off for a while – come back and have no issue logging in. I’m pretty sure its not an ISP issue as I’ve managed to log onto these forums (and head off to other internet based places) with no problem. I’ve also noticed ingame messages saying server is going down for maintenance or whatever, at these times I’ve even popped onto Internet Explorer and searched for something to tell me if the servers are available and haven’t been able to find anything.

So.. 1. Where do I find messages out of game from ANet about server availablity, in particular if the server I am trying to log into is up and available?
2. How long is a few minutes, half an hour, 4 hours?
3. Is there some trick to this that I’m missing, do I need to reboot or something?

Gaile Gray

#2 - Feb. 18, 2013, 4:06 p.m.

If you lose connection and don’t see a message here in the forums or on the website, then it’s probable that the issue lies with (1) your ISP, (2) your hardware, such as the router, or (3) the Internet “backbone,” where entire regions or countries can have connection issues.

We have very, very little down time and, when possible, we post about the fact that we’re going to have down time in advance, such as here: https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/info/news/Scheduled-Server-Maintenance-on-February-13-2013 or https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/info/news/Billing-Maintenance-7th-Feb-5-00AM-PST-13-00-GMT.

In the first link, you’ll see we did have a period of time where players could not access the game. In the second, which is far more common, the notification is intended to tell you that you may have trouble buying gems or buying a copy of the game, but that the game itself is not down.

The place to find our notifications is The News and Announcements Forum. You will also get info through Facebook or Twitter, but those are usually smaller matters, like “We’re aware some players are having lag from XX location, and the devs are looking at it.”

Hope that helps!