Patch v1.5.3 – What happened?

ZOS_KaiSchober

We know that many of you are frustrated by the situation involving patch 1.5.3 today and are wondering what happened. We’d like to explain.

Every new fix, feature and improvement in an Update or incremental patch runs through a several stages from development to live. They start in small development environments and go through several staging and verification servers where they are gathered and readied for release to the live servers.

During the last step in the process, today’s patch encountered a problem where it unintentionally reverted back to a “last known good” version instead of proceeding with today’s patch. We’ve since fixed that issue, but it resulted in a slightly older version of the patch going live, which didn’t contain many of the fixes listed in the patch note.

While this is disappointing and frustrating for those of you waiting for particular fixes (e.g. for Alchemy writs or the Undaunted reputation) and also frustrating for us, the good news is that those fixes aren’t lost. We’ll get them patched as soon as humanly possible.

We will patch the verified 1.5.3 content to the European megaserver during tonight’s maintenance window, and are aiming to bring the missing changes to both megaservers during the maintenance windows on Thursday morning for North America and Thursday night for Europe.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience and frustration the issues with 1.5.3 have caused, and thank you for your patience and understanding.

sean.plackerb14_ESO

I genuinely appreciate the explanation, and the apology. Communication makes more of a difference then you might think.

I do find it kind of odd you guys have to wait until Thursday to actually roll out these fixes. If the fixes aren't lost why do you they need to go through all of the staging and verification again? Didn't those submitted fixes only fail because of a deployment error after they passed staging and verification?

Domander

Why not just fix it and patch it now? I'd much rather you put in the fixes sooner than make us wait until Thursday.

Rosveen

Thanks for the explanation.

ferzalrwb17_ESO

Thanks for the explanation but I thought Thursday maintenance windows had been abolished.

nikolaj.lemcheb16_ESO

What are you going to do with all those poor sods who have tried to level up their veteran characters since 1.5.2 and now are permanently stuck at a too low veteran level for the content because each zone now only give 1/3 the xp needed to get a VR level?

It is far from all who like me understood the disastrous xp levels and have had their alt on hold since 1.5.2.

Bars

will this patch have the xp fix ?

ZOS_KaiSchober

Domander wrote: »

Why not just fix it and patch it now? I'd much rather you put in the fixes sooner than make us wait until Thursday.

It has to go through staging and verification again. Thursday is the fastest we can do.

ferzalrwb17_ESO wrote: »

Thanks for the explanation but I thought Thursday maintenance windows had been abolished.

It just got resurrected - for this time - since we want to apply the fixes as soon as possible.

ers101284b14_ESO

Bars

could u just resurrect 1.4 and flush 1.5 where it belongs

JessieColt

Hey ZOS_KaiSchober,

Thank you SO much for taking the time to explain what happened and the steps that Zos is taking to address and resolve the issue.

It is greatly appreciated by this user!

BCBasher

I'm just curious about this "we screwed up but I'll have to wait until Thursday, maybe. "/way of dealing with an incomplete job. In my job if there's am oops people keep working until the job gets done. I would think if you are just liscencing me the use of your pixels you would simply pay some OT and keep more customers, not the case in the software world?

MissBizz

Thank you for the explanation. Is there any way this explains the 5 hour downtime? Did this happen early on and attempts were made to fix it?

bunnytrix

This is a joke right ? This should be hotfixed immediately , even if it means people working overnight (yes I know, a concept totally alien to ZOS.)
3 more days, lol seriously..this company....leaves me speechless.

Soooo..I expect that these 3 more days PAYING CUSTOMERS have to wait for this fix will be added free of charge to player's accounts ? Yes I know it should be a free month of game time for all subscribers for the crap that we've been given recently, but 3 days would be a decent goodwill gesture.

Bars wrote: »

will this patch have the xp fix ?

I very much doubt it, as the vet xp thing was obviously a planned change in that they knew exactly what they were doing, and lied to us about it.

DenverRalphy

As somebody who works in a very similar field... I have to say... your explanation is an attempt to assuage your customers who "don't know any better". In plain terms... that's a load of bull. Judge Judy said it best when she was quoted as saying "Don't <leaving this term out> on my back, and expect me to believe you when you say it's just raining."

JessieColt

bunnytrix wrote: »

This is a joke right ? This should be hotfixed immediately , even if it means people working overnight (yes I know, a concept totally alien to ZOS.)
3 more days, lol seriously..this company....leaves me speechless.

Soooo..I expect that these 3 more days PAYING CUSTOMERS have to wait for this fix will be added free of charge to player's accounts ? Yes I know it should be a free month of game time for all subscribers for the crap that we've been given recently, but 3 days would be a decent goodwill gesture.

LMAO!!

http://www.zenimax.com/legal_terms

6. Availability of Services and Content; Game Maintenance, Patches, Updates; Termination of Services

ZeniMax may patch, update, or modify at any time with or without notice to You. Notwithstanding the foregoing, ZeniMax has no obligation to make available any patches, updates or modifications or correct any errors or defects in the Services. ZeniMax makes no guarantees about the persistence or availability of any user names or other personas at any time and assumes no liability for lost or deleted Account data. Except as prohibited by applicable law, You agree that ZeniMax will not be liable for any interruption of the Services, delay or failure to perform, any loss of Content (including, but not limited to, User-Generated Content and Downloadable Content), and/or Account data (including, but not limited to, Character data) resulting from any causes whatsoever. ZeniMax reserves the right to offer new Services, change and/or discontinue certain Services at any time in its sole discretion.

11. Disclaimer of Warranty

TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, ZENIMAX DOES NOT MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES OR GUARANTEES TO YOU REGARDING ANY SERVICE, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE QUALITY, FUNCTIONALITY, AVAILABILITY, ACCESSIBILITY OR PERFORMANCE OF A SERVICE. EACH SERVICE IS PROVIDED TO YOU ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS.

IF YOU ARE NOT SATISFIED WITH THE QUALITY, FUNCTIONALITY, AVAILABILITY, ACCESSIBILITY OR PERFORMANCE OF A SERVICE, YOU MAY CANCEL YOUR ACCOUNT OR YOUR SUBSCRIPTION TO THE SERVICE.

Make note of that last part.

IF YOU ARE NOT SATISFIED WITH THE QUALITY, FUNCTIONALITY, AVAILABILITY, ACCESSIBILITY OR PERFORMANCE OF A SERVICE, YOU MAY CANCEL YOUR ACCOUNT OR YOUR SUBSCRIPTION TO THE SERVICE.

Robocles

I'm sure he knows... but thanks for the cut and paste job, we really needed that.

Amsel_McKay

"During the last step in the process, today’s patch encountered a problem where it unintentionally reverted back to a “last known good” version instead of proceeding with today’s patch."

ROFL I'm going to use this one, you have a good marketing department.

Bars

lol yep thats crap ,its a pity they didn't put as much work into the game as they did into that

Gyudan

JessieColt wrote: »

IF YOU ARE NOT SATISFIED WITH THE QUALITY, FUNCTIONALITY, AVAILABILITY, ACCESSIBILITY OR PERFORMANCE OF A SERVICE, YOU MAY CANCEL YOUR ACCOUNT OR YOUR SUBSCRIPTION TO THE SERVICE.

Can I haz ur stuf?

Thanks for the explanation @ZOS_KaiSchober !
This is much better than being kept in the dark about everything. I hope ZoS continues communicating this way about future bugs

Orchish

ers101284b14_ESO wrote: »

This is exactly how i feel right now. Couldn't play all day Sunday and now most of the fixes mentioned won't even be in tonight's patch. Surely it's pointless taking down the European server tonight? May as well wait until Thursday considering hardly any of the mentioned fixes are actually in 1.5.3.

Bouvin

ZOS_KaiSchober wrote: »

During the last step in the process, today’s patch encountered a problem where it unintentionally reverted back to a “last known good” version instead of proceeding with today’s patch.

This doesn't just happen on it's own. Someone made a mistake.

Why not just say, "We made a mistake. It happens sometimes."

Or at minimum, blame it on one of the interns.

Elsonso

I wonder if part of this was the unintentional release of the 1.5.3 client to EU players on Sunday.

ms_behaved

My total xp for a vet level just decided to change too... from 1.4mil to 4mil.... that's gonna make levelling so much easier >.<
imma go farming... till thursday

edit: this is an addon f-up..... apologies zos... just assumed it was one of yours..cause, well, you have so many

Elsonso

While I appreciate finding out what happened, this is the second major screw up in as many days. Sunday you pushed out the 1.5.3 client to the EU players, something that should never happen by accident. Today, you have a corrupted patch that goes undetected until after the server comes back up.

I'm not sure what is happening back there behind the curtain, but it is pretty clear that whatever it is, it needs to be fixed.

My parting comment is that you should seriously reconsider your deployment process before rolling out Update 6 and add extra checks to the patch deployment process until that happens.

Ara_Valleria

Is anyone having loggin issues after todays patch ?! Cause i sure can't loggin
Been trying since the past 8 hours
Tried contacting customer care but no response from them yet.

ZoS please halp !!

black-gryphonb14_ESO

Does this mean I have to wait until Thursday's patch to be able to even play? Logging in I keep getting the error I'm trying to run an out-of-date client and to relaunch the patcher - but there is nothing to download, not even via repair.

TheLaw

Thanks for the update. That's how to keep costumers ZOS!

bunnytrix

JessieColt wrote: »

bunnytrix wrote: »

This is a joke right ? This should be hotfixed immediately , even if it means people working overnight (yes I know, a concept totally alien to ZOS.)
3 more days, lol seriously..this company....leaves me speechless.

Soooo..I expect that these 3 more days PAYING CUSTOMERS have to wait for this fix will be added free of charge to player's accounts ? Yes I know it should be a free month of game time for all subscribers for the crap that we've been given recently, but 3 days would be a decent goodwill gesture.

LMAO!!

http://www.zenimax.com/legal_terms

6. Availability of Services and Content; Game Maintenance, Patches, Updates; Termination of Services

ZeniMax may patch, update, or modify at any time with or without notice to You. Notwithstanding the foregoing, ZeniMax has no obligation to make available any patches, updates or modifications or correct any errors or defects in the Services. ZeniMax makes no guarantees about the persistence or availability of any user names or other personas at any time and assumes no liability for lost or deleted Account data. Except as prohibited by applicable law, You agree that ZeniMax will not be liable for any interruption of the Services, delay or failure to perform, any loss of Content (including, but not limited to, User-Generated Content and Downloadable Content), and/or Account data (including, but not limited to, Character data) resulting from any causes whatsoever. ZeniMax reserves the right to offer new Services, change and/or discontinue certain Services at any time in its sole discretion.

11. Disclaimer of Warranty

TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, ZENIMAX DOES NOT MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES OR GUARANTEES TO YOU REGARDING ANY SERVICE, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE QUALITY, FUNCTIONALITY, AVAILABILITY, ACCESSIBILITY OR PERFORMANCE OF A SERVICE. EACH SERVICE IS PROVIDED TO YOU ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS.

IF YOU ARE NOT SATISFIED WITH THE QUALITY, FUNCTIONALITY, AVAILABILITY, ACCESSIBILITY OR PERFORMANCE OF A SERVICE, YOU MAY CANCEL YOUR ACCOUNT OR YOUR SUBSCRIPTION TO THE SERVICE.

Make note of that last part.

IF YOU ARE NOT SATISFIED WITH THE QUALITY, FUNCTIONALITY, AVAILABILITY, ACCESSIBILITY OR PERFORMANCE OF A SERVICE, YOU MAY CANCEL YOUR ACCOUNT OR YOUR SUBSCRIPTION TO THE SERVICE.

Ah, the fanbois..making assumptions and jumping to conclusions on every post on the forums that may even remotely criticise ZOS and their broken service. And don't you just love it when people take irony totally seriously. Ah the joy.

My sub was cancelled over 3 weeks ago, I have a few days left. My wife and daughter also cancelled their subs last week, when vet xp was broken. None of you can haz my stuff, as I may be back if this company gets their **** together.

Palidon

Prior to this mornings 1.5.3 patch I had completed 60% of the required 1,432,550 veteran experience points needed for the next level. Now it shows I have only completed 21% of 4,000,000 XP required. So all of sudden total Veteran experience points needed jumped from 1,432,550 to 4,000,000.

I quote your comment from update 1.5.2: "It takes 1,432,550 Experience Points to gain a Veteran Rank. We expect this to reduce the amount of time it takes to gain a Veteran Rank"
.
ZOS get your house in order. Enough is enough of your INCOMPETENCE and constantly created issues and bugs that players have to deal with.

RSram

OK, I can wait, but what about the VR players complaining about not gaining the correct XP for various achievements in the game like quests in the VR zones.

Maybe I missed something here, but I didn't see any mention of this VR XP in the patch notes, with the exception of monsters. but I remember that the staff posted a message that this would be fixed.

I stopped using my VR character because of this, and I'm not about to waste my time playing my VR character if this issue isn't fixed.