diff --git a/Emulator/src/main/java/com/eu/habbo/habbohotel/rooms/pathfinding/impl/PathfinderImpl.java b/Emulator/src/main/java/com/eu/habbo/habbohotel/rooms/pathfinding/impl/PathfinderImpl.java
index b6bd7df5..c3105f54 100644
--- a/Emulator/src/main/java/com/eu/habbo/habbohotel/rooms/pathfinding/impl/PathfinderImpl.java
+++ b/Emulator/src/main/java/com/eu/habbo/habbohotel/rooms/pathfinding/impl/PathfinderImpl.java
@@ -24,8 +24,11 @@ public class PathfinderImpl implements Pathfinder {
 
   private static final int CACHED_TIMEOUT_MS = Emulator.getConfig()
       .getInt(CONFIG_EXECUTION_TIME, 25);
+  // Default ON: bound A* to CACHED_TIMEOUT_MS (25ms) so a pathological search
+  // can't run unbounded and stall the thread. On timeout findPath returns an
+  // empty path (the unit simply doesn't move there) — graceful degradation.
   private static final boolean CACHED_TIMEOUT_ENABLED = Emulator.getConfig()
-      .getBoolean(CONFIG_TIMEOUT_ENABLED, false);
+      .getBoolean(CONFIG_TIMEOUT_ENABLED, true);
   private static final long CACHED_TIMEOUT_NANOS = CACHED_TIMEOUT_MS * 1_000_000L;
 
   private final Room room;
diff --git a/Emulator/src/main/java/com/eu/habbo/networking/gameserver/WebSocketChannelInitializer.java b/Emulator/src/main/java/com/eu/habbo/networking/gameserver/WebSocketChannelInitializer.java
index 6418992d..44a1b6be 100644
--- a/Emulator/src/main/java/com/eu/habbo/networking/gameserver/WebSocketChannelInitializer.java
+++ b/Emulator/src/main/java/com/eu/habbo/networking/gameserver/WebSocketChannelInitializer.java
@@ -26,12 +26,26 @@ import io.netty.handler.codec.http.websocketx.WebSocketServerProtocolHandler;
 import io.netty.handler.logging.LoggingHandler;
 import io.netty.handler.ssl.SslContext;
 import io.netty.handler.ssl.SslHandler;
+import io.netty.util.concurrent.DefaultEventExecutorGroup;
+import io.netty.util.concurrent.DefaultThreadFactory;
+import io.netty.util.concurrent.EventExecutorGroup;
 
 import javax.net.ssl.SSLEngine;
 
 public class WebSocketChannelInitializer extends ChannelInitializer<SocketChannel> {
     private static final int MAX_FRAME_SIZE = 500000;
 
+    // Runs the game packet handler OFF the Netty I/O event loop, so a blocking
+    // handler (login/friends/catalog/guild JDBC, A* pathfinding, etc.) can no
+    // longer stall socket I/O for every other client sharing that I/O thread.
+    // A DefaultEventExecutorGroup pins each channel to one executor, so a single
+    // client's packets stay strictly ordered (no new intra-client races); the
+    // cross-client concurrency degree is the same the multi-threaded I/O group
+    // already had. Daemon threads so they don't block JVM shutdown.
+    private static final EventExecutorGroup PACKET_HANDLER_GROUP = new DefaultEventExecutorGroup(
+            Math.max(16, Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors() * 2),
+            new DefaultThreadFactory("GamePacketHandler", true));
+
     private final SslContext sslContext;
     private final boolean sslEnabled;
     private final WebSocketServerProtocolConfig wsConfig;
@@ -82,7 +96,7 @@ public class WebSocketChannelInitializer extends ChannelInitializer<SocketChanne
 
         ch.pipeline().addLast("idleEventHandler", new IdleTimeoutHandler(30, 60));
         ch.pipeline().addLast(new GameMessageRateLimit());
-        ch.pipeline().addLast(new GameMessageHandler());
+        ch.pipeline().addLast(PACKET_HANDLER_GROUP, "gameMessageHandler", new GameMessageHandler());
         ch.pipeline().addLast("messageEncoder", new GameServerMessageEncoder());
 
         if (PacketManager.DEBUG_SHOW_PACKETS) {
diff --git a/Emulator/src/main/java/com/eu/habbo/networking/gameserver/decoders/GameMessageHandler.java b/Emulator/src/main/java/com/eu/habbo/networking/gameserver/decoders/GameMessageHandler.java
index a80be5a5..2ae92c58 100644
--- a/Emulator/src/main/java/com/eu/habbo/networking/gameserver/decoders/GameMessageHandler.java
+++ b/Emulator/src/main/java/com/eu/habbo/networking/gameserver/decoders/GameMessageHandler.java
@@ -56,14 +56,13 @@ public class GameMessageHandler extends ChannelInboundHandlerAdapter {
         ClientMessage message = (ClientMessage) msg;
 
         try {
-            ChannelReadHandler handler = new ChannelReadHandler(ctx, message);
-
-            if (PacketManager.MULTI_THREADED_PACKET_HANDLING) {
-                Emulator.getThreading().run(handler);
-                return;
-            }
-
-            handler.run();
+            // This handler is registered on a dedicated EventExecutorGroup
+            // (see WebSocketChannelInitializer), so channelRead already runs OFF
+            // the Netty I/O event loop, serialized per channel. Running the
+            // handler inline here keeps that per-channel ordering — submitting to
+            // the shared game pool instead would break ordering, so we no longer
+            // branch on MULTI_THREADED_PACKET_HANDLING.
+            new ChannelReadHandler(ctx, message).run();
         } catch (Exception e) {
             LOGGER.error("Caught exception", e);
         }