debugger and previewer different results

The game is broken when I run it preview but works fine when I run it in debugger with breakpoint and steps and I'm totally baffled by this.

I look at the event sheet and I swear everything should work properly but doesn't when I preview the game. When I run it in the debugger it works as it should but I do have to type in the proper values for the 2 variables. When I run the debugger in real time without the breakpoints for some reason one of the variables doesn't update not until I have to click in and out of some layers through mouse clicks in the game menu's. It should work by clicking on the game button objects but it doesn't update the global variables and I see nothing in the event sheet that can explain it. I'm having trust issues with Construct 2. How do I know if it's something I'm doing wrong or if Construct 2 has some kind of bug messing with my results?

Is there a better way for me to debug my game? I like the breakpoints but the game can't run in real time, I can't interact with the game to see what events get triggered and what events don't. I have to type in the variable values instead of letting the game run while playing it. Is there a way I can see in real time the event sheet working while playing the game? I need to know the workflow because something is not right and I have no idea what it could be.

From your description it sounds most likely as if you have done wrong with the variables and not something with C2, since you say that it works fine when you break the application and have to set some variables first. But its very difficult to help troubleshoot without any screenshot of code, error message etc.

But what you could do, is start by disable stuff one at the time to see in which event the error occur.