It is faster because they are losing subscribers, and because their remaining subscribers are having more difficulty connecting to peers due to lack of PF. I switched to Air VPN and was actually surprised how fast it was compared to Mullvad. (the Canadian servers at least, haven't tried many of the other servers).
Air VPN as it supports port forwarding. PF isn't as important if you only download popular new content, as there are usually enough connectable seeders on popular torrents. But PF is absolutely crucial if you want to be able to obtain old or rare content or if you use private trackers.
I'm honestly baffled that so many are still recommending Mullvad after they made such a stunning reversal of their friendly policy towards p2p by removing port forwarding. I wouldn't trust them as far as I can throw them.
They should work. I usually just add the default pirate bay trackers to my torrents and it's usually all it needs:
udp://tracker.opentrackr.org:1337 udp://tracker.torrent.eu.org:451/announce udp://open.stealth.si:80/announce udp://tracker.tiny-vps.com:6969/announce udp://tracker.openbittorrent.com:6969/announce
I actually found this service easier to join than reddit. No endless captcha loops, no shadowbanning bcuz not enough karma, just fill out a simple application and you're on.
You can try this link with trackers added (I used the trackers TPB uses):
magnet:?xt=urn:btih:69ffcaa45d6fdc112832dd6c158fdca7e1eee912&dn=Github_RARBG_db.7z&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.opentrackr.org%3a1337&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.tiny-vps.com%3a6969%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3a6969%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.torrent.eu.org%3a451%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2fopen.stealth.si%3a80%2fannounce
The torrent is working. I'm seeing at least 30 seeds right now. If anyone is having difficulty, here is a link to the same torrent with trackers added. Not sure if this is against the rules but here it is:
magnet:?xt=urn:btih:69ffcaa45d6fdc112832dd6c158fdca7e1eee912&dn=Github_RARBG_db.7z&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.opentrackr.org%3a1337&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.tiny-vps.com%3a6969%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3a6969%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.torrent.eu.org%3a451%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2fopen.stealth.si%3a80%2fannounce
In your client, select add torrent by url and copy/paste that entire link into the url box.
These are magnet links that use the decentralized DHT network built into modern bittorrent clients. You must have DHT enabled (check the settings in your client.) When you add a magnet link, your client will then send the hash number to the DHT nodes which will then fetch the metadata from other peers who have the same file with the same hash number and connect you to them. All you have to do is copy a magnet link to your clipboard, then in your client select 'add torrent url' and paste it in the box, and your client will do the rest. This way you can download trackerless torrents.
I downloaded this from the Github on 6/4. Not sure if it is the latest version but it has more links than the earlier file that was circulating on reddit.
Seems this has become standard operating procedure for much of this industry - make shitty movies, wonder why they flop at the box office, then go scorched earth against alleged "pirates" and blame them for your "losses". When the studios make movies that are worth seeing, people will go to see them. See: Top Gun Maverick and Avatar 2, among other recent multi-billion dollar hits.
It is worth noting that many of the more egregious abuses of the legal process as of late seem to be by this one company Millennium Media and their many subsidiaries (Bodyguard Productions, HB Productions, etc.) They are basically just a bigger version of Strike 3, just professional trolls who would rather profit off of legal shakedowns than make good movies.