There are currently massive hacker attacks on PC GW2 multiplayer. Hackers are crushing game lobbies and skipping maps indefinitely so nobody can play the game. Most of the servers are down again because of them. You will see indefinite loading when getting into some lobbies on some servers, And for some other lobbies, the same matchmaking issue as last time. And the remaining lobbies are constantly under threat from hackers. The hackers this time are Chinese so they target majorly Asian servers, and NA West (2nd lowest ping for Chinese). The ID of the hackers who have been crashing lobbies day and night is *snip* and *snip*. They taunt other players on social media and even upload footage to show their hacking. And the ID of the hacker who is actively using map skipping mod is *snip* who also crushed lobbies for days several months ago. Please ban these hackers and investigate their mods to improve anti-cheat on PC. Remember EA, you just released GW2 on Steam last year and made more money. At least spend some on anti-cheat on PC and let PC players play online games. Proofs of hacking are in the attachments. I am attaching the footage recorded by the hacker himself that showed how he crashed the lobby. It is hard to show IDs who do the map skipping so I attached screenshots of other hacking behaviours such as using boss or modded weapons. (CM: Edited to remove names and content displaying names. Please do not share your or others' names on the forums. It is considered naming and shaming)

We've always had this problem to a degree, but with the game effectively being in maintenance mode, it's actually gotten worse. These hackers have to be dealt with, and in a more timely fashion than we've seen in the past. With the game on Steam and the resurgence in PC players, expecting such a minimum amount of service is not an onerous expectation.

@Gallimimus1 I have reported cheaters in the past. Although I have no idea if any of those reports were followed up on as I never recieve any feedback from EA.I'm not sure if I am doing it the correct way or not. But what I do is right click the cheater/hacker's name and click view profile, that opens up that person's profile in Origin, or the EA app (whatever it is called) and then I click the menu button and click "report user".

@EA_Lanna Hi,Do you know anyone who we can get in contact with who works on the reporting team for PVZ GW2 or anyone who may have access to visibility into PVZ GW2.Is there anything more that we can do?

@EA_Barry I understand the no Naming and Shaming thing. But @TheFitchBros makes a good point.Can anyone from EA speak to what anti cheat efforts are being taken in PVZGW2?

@MikeyJohn2 Yeah that's what I meant from the opening the users profile within the game.

Hackers are disabling the PC GW2 MP servers

20 Replies

EA_Lanna
Community Manager
3 years ago
Hi @THDNA,

Thanks for reaching out. 🙂 A quick heads up, I've edited your opening post to remove the callouts, video clip and images sharing other players' names. We can't action reports like this on Answers HQ, and such posts can lead to harassment as outlined in the Answers HQ Forum Rules.

Cheating is not okay and we do want to hear from you if you're seeing that in-game. The public forums just aren't the best channel to flag players suspected of cheating as we can't process those reports here but, we do have official dedicated channels in place to receive and investigate those reports. As a result, cheating reports are better going through the official channels where they can be routed to the team who handles them. This EA Help Article goes into that in more detail:

"Report players for cheating, abuse, and harassment".

Thanks

- EA_Lanna
MikeyJohn2
3 years ago
@THDNA Hi THDNA, thanks for highlighting this annoying issue. I play on PC on NA East servers, and since the "failed to find a match" issue got repaired a month'ish ago, I have noticed an increase in cheater/hacking activity. It sure would be nice if a game that continues to be sold could get a little anti cheat attention...
Gallimimus1
3 years ago
Hi @EA_Lanna
The help link you provided doesn't have details on reporting people within Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare 2. The only PVZ property on that list is for the mobile game Plants vs. Zombies Heroes - Mobile. Is there any additional advice for reporting people who cheat within PVZ GW2 other than the advice in the section 'REPORTING IF THERE'S NO IN-GAME OPTION'.
Before when I was able to play the game (a separate issue), there was a significant and disruptive presence of hackers. I used the method described in the 'REPORTING IF THERE'S NO IN-GAME OPTION' section as well as opening the users profile from within the game in order to report them. I provided detail of the abuses which they made. Since I made those reports I have seen the same people still in games continuing to use the blatant hacks (such as playing as bosses) after days of elapsed time and have seen from other peoples posts that these users still use the game as of now.
Are you aware of any issues with the reporting system that could be stopping reports or delaying there investigation? And do you have any further advice for people who are trying to report cheaters?
Thank you
MikeyJohn2
3 years ago
@Gallimimus1 I have reported cheaters in the past. Although I have no idea if any of those reports were followed up on as I never recieve any feedback from EA.
I'm not sure if I am doing it the correct way or not. But what I do is right click the cheater/hacker's name and click view profile, that opens up that person's profile in Origin, or the EA app (whatever it is called) and then I click the menu button and click "report user".
Gallimimus1
3 years ago
@MikeyJohn2 Yeah that's what I meant from the opening the users profile within the game.
EA_Lanna
Community Manager
3 years ago
Hi @Gallimimus1,

You've used the correct section. That section is there to help you send in reports when there isn't an in-game pathway available. The reports will be routed through to the team investigating the activity and actioning it. 🙂

I don't have any visibility on the review or action process, but from my knowledge of other titles' anti-cheat efforts; if cheating activity is taking place, it will be reviewed and the appropriate action taken. Seeing the players you've reported still in-game doesn't mean no action was taken and cheaters have gotten off scot-free. There's often a strike system in place and repeat offenders find they'll work their way through the levels to a permanent timeout. Again, I've no visibility into the process for PvZ GW2, but this approach tends to be the standard across EA titles.

- EA_Lanna
MikeyJohn2
3 years ago
@EA_Lanna Thanks for addressing the correct way to submit a cheating concern.

But how about the real problem. The game has become unplayable in any multiplayer mode across all regional servers. I don't know if it is due to hackers/cheaters or not, but @EA_Lanna, can you respond to the current multiplayer issues?
Gallimimus1
3 years ago
@EA_Lanna Hi,
Do you know anyone who we can get in contact with who works on the reporting team for PVZ GW2 or anyone who may have access to visibility into PVZ GW2.
Is there anything more that we can do?
sawaki142
New Traveler
3 years ago
Hackers used mods to turn me from a tree team into a zombie and make me stand still, unable to control my movement, and also unable to press the ESC key to select another character and exit the game, which is expected EA to ban this player account in the game Plants vs Zombies Garden Wafate 2. Ban players: [Removed - Admin.]
EA_Barry
Community Manager
3 years ago
@sawaki142

Please do not identify any player you suspect may be cheating, this is called "Naming and Shaming" and is not allowed on Answers HQ.

If you suspect a player may be playing unfairly you can use the steps detailed at the following link to report this.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/faq/report-players-for-cheating-abuse-and-harassment/

Thanks.