ESO in Australia

seventy_kg

First of all, to all the aussies that are gonna say "the ping is manageable", "ive done this dungeon and that trial and it's fine, i completed vet trials so its fine"--- you don't know what the game is supposed to be like, that's coming from someone who moved from America to Australia, the lag difference is absolutely shocking, and that's on top of the lag NA players already experience

This game is unplayable in australia, the PvE aspect might be "manageable" but the fact that your light attacks and skill casting have a very noticeable delay, and that your animation actually stutters, yes the animation stutters, when you light attack, just leaves me honestly nauseous and disgusted. That's coming from someone who enjoyed weaving and endgame dummy parsing back when I had decent ping in America.

However, that is nothing compared to the PvP experience. I know Grayhost is incredibly laggy for NA players too, but man this is on a different level and i didn't know there could be one in ESO. In the 5 minutes I got on and had a keep fight at Chalman, my skills went off a total of maybe 5 times in the 50 times I pressed a button, and that is not exaggerating, my ping spikes from 280 to 330 and then to 410, my skills don't go off ever, and even when they do, it's after I spam the button 5 times, and after a 2 second delay. And this isn't even pop locked grayhost.

I don't want to start a debate on whether the ping is fine in Australia, because I understand non-endgame players and people who are used to higher ping likely won't care much nor would their experience be affected. But to endgame players, be it PvE or PvP, you should know that this game is very very different when played with lower ping, I can't stress this enough, I notice a delay even when I open mails and sell things to merchants.

ESO is just not playable in Australia for me, the difference in gameplay experience here compared to NA, feels like a scam. It shouldn't be advertised here.

[Title Edited for Bashing]

Darkstorne

Yeah I really feel bad for Aussie players.

It's bad enough in the UK. I get 80+ ping here, and by any MMO standard that's just poor performance. With WoW I have 25+, FF14 is 30+, and GW2 and SWTOR are 40+. But even 80+ looks fantastic compared to what Australian players are dealing with.

I'm guessing it's a side effect of megaservers? I'm not technical-minded enough to know for sure, but it's the one major difference between ESO and the other MMOs I've played. If it is because of megaservers, I hope they don't use them for their next MMO. Really not worth the latency hit.

vsrs_au

Most of that ping is the distance. Even when I run a gaming VPN, my ping is at least 320ms, without the VPN it's typically about 380-420ms. There's not much we can do about it, because ZOS aren't going to create an Oceania megaserver, for various reasons.

gariondavey

In b4 lock
Yeah that's brutal, I know some Aussie pvpers and they have it rough too
I'm in Ontario, Canada, and my ping is like 110. When I played league I had like 20-30.
Having 110 ping in 2023 in a mmo is pretty unacceptable
I lived in the middle east during my high school years and had like 400-1k ping in wow tbc. That was really tough to play. Crazy it is 15 years later and the ping can still be that bad in a much newer game.

milkiie

Yeah it’s pretty crap for Australians. An Asian server is our only hope.

Paulytnz

As stated above it's a distance thing and ZOS can't do anything about that. Besides having servers downunder for us which they won't do - not enough players. Even if they did, I wouldn't play on them.

Have you ever tried playing a COD game or any other FPS game on Xbox or PS? You will know the pains us Aussies and Kiwis have there. It's funny when I hear Americans moaning about hit markers when playing those games. Like it's a RARE thing. When to us if we don't get hit markers it's a rare thing and if it happens it can actually put us off our game because the game then seems too fast for us than we are used to. So, then we start to actually perform worse lol, if that makes sense. Well, this was from my experiences back some, (modern warfare 2 era I think) before we started getting more local servers for consoles and those games and more players of course to populate those servers.

Again, nothing can be done about it unless we get local servers. And if that happened you would probably be here complaining about something else such as not many players playing on those servers or that they are all Aussies lol. That or players from other countries night flipping when all you Aussies are asleep.

Edit: I'm not saying that ZOS can't do anything to improve game performance, because I know they certainly can or should be able to. As I have played other similar games where the performance has been better. GW2 is a good example, there in their version of cyrodil I could easily be in a big battle with one faction fighting another with 100+ players on the screen (in same area) with no noticeable lag or skill delays.

What I am saying is they can do nothing about the ping. For those of us in Australia/NZ we should expect minimum 80 - 200 ping with rare hits up to 400, I think that's the best I ever saw on GW. I have not seen my ping in years though so I could be wrong. And that's only because I am a console player and ZOS chooses to hide that info from us console players for some reason.

Syrusthevirus187

Yup
Should never have been sold on console in Auz/NZ

dem0n1k

yeeeeep! eso is pretty bad with greater than 250ms ping & my ping to eso servers is always greater than 250ms.
the solution : realise that it's not playable in the way players with a good ping play.... or play something else that is actually enjoyable

i still pvp a bit every now & then ... but performance is so trash i can never expect attacks to hit the target. i have to build for more aoe & less single target attacks & hope the enemies walk into my aoe !@!# it's a joke.

realistically, i give up on functional pvp in eso a few years back when zenimax announced there will never be an oceanic server. all my local friends quit eso at that point.

Runefang

I remember when I played in the US once on a holiday the biggest difference was how quickly I could pick up daily crafting quests, it was lightning fast. Rather than what feels like a stammer between trying to get each one when playing in Australia. I only had a laptop so couldn't try anything like trials but I could only imagine....

Paulytnz

Syrusthevirus187 wrote: »

Yup
Should never have been sold on console in Auz/NZ

Platform doesn't make a difference........

M0ntie

Paulytnz wrote: »

Syrusthevirus187 wrote: »

Yup
Should never have been sold on console in Auz/NZ

Platform doesn't make a difference........

Having played console and PC in Australia, I can say that platform does make a difference. Console (PS4)is significantly worse in performance than PC. And that is comparing using exactly the same connection with both machines.

I get a pretty consistent 230-240 ping, which is pretty good for Australia.

ZoS can do something - then can ensure that no mechanics require such a fast response that someone playing on typical Australia ping can’t respond to the mechanic.

luen79rwb17_ESO

The way I see it, Australia in ESO is like a pocket realm from Oblivion! If you RP it that way you might get used to weird things happening like ping and such.

nebula3832

Got to add that we dont exactly have the best internet connection here in Australia even optic fiber is a total mess worse than third world countries!
Using pigeons for internet connection would be more reliable at this point

Hlaaluna

I am not sure what the comparison is with the number of players in ESO vs WOW but WOW have Oceanic servers and the are always well populated. I can’t see why ESO can’t do likewise.

As an Aussie I would transfer to an Oceanic server even if I was the only person on it. Woul just have to hone my skills a lot 😂 to solo those WB.

gronoxvx

I get where youre coming from and yeah it sucks as an aussie playing this in both PVE and PVP. Admittedly in PVE its not as bad as PVP which in greyhost US primetime is unplayable (Skills not going off or delayed by 4+ secs etc).

This is why here in Australia zos/eso has such a bad reputation. I can remember seeing the elsweyr chapter being advertised on billboards and it blowing up on facebook with a mix of current and ex AU players telling others to not touch it if they value low ping and want to be competitive in Pve or Pvp. I cant begin to imagine the crap zos would have copped when they came to pax that one year here in melbourne. Probably why they never came back. Lol

The unfortunate thing about this is no matter how much we jump up and down, it wont be fixed. So ultimately if im asked about it by people, i just tell them not to touch it unless they want to RP and thats it which is a shame tbh after the countless hours since 2017 ive put into the game.

Its also why even if the new MMO theyre working on is a big IP, most of us oceanic players wont touch anything from zos again.

gronoxvx

nebula3832 wrote: »

Got to add that we dont exactly have the best internet connection here in Australia even optic fiber is a total mess worse than third world countries!
Using pigeons for internet connection would be more reliable at this point

Somewhat true. But ill be honest, i use to play this on a 5-20mb/s adsl connection up to the patch after homestead and PVE wise it was managable, even in emd game PVE. Now im on a 250mb/s connection and its somehow much worse....

BretonMage

Paulytnz wrote: »

As stated above it's a distance thing and ZOS can't do anything about that. Besides having servers downunder for us which they won't do - not enough players. Even if they did, I wouldn't play on them.

I sometimes wonder if they just might put up an Asian server if there was a huge uptake by players in China. My ping is bad (250-300) but I'm pretty comfortable on the NA server, can't imagine moving either.

DMuehlhausen

Welcome to basically every online game for Australia. To far from anything to have a good connection, but you aren't going to run servers just for Australian players as there wouldn't be enough to warrant the cost.

Carcamongus

I'm from South America and, despite having good internet, my ping is often slightly below 200. Perhaps I'm not as furious as OP because this is all I've ever known. Cyrodiil works alright, but battlegrounds is a blasted mess in which I have to press the bloody key about 5-10 times for the skill to fire once and I feel like banging my head on the desk every time I get the message "you can't do that while dead" after failing to drink the potion that might have kept me alive.

ESO_Nightingale

I think it was extremely poor taste for them to advertise their game down here when it can be often barely playable.

disintegr8

I don't know if it's all server related or not, as I have the same (or similar) issues on other games. I try to defend incoming attacks and they don't activate; I think it's because I'm already dead on the server, just not on my screen.

I'm an AU console player but ran some ping tests from my PC yesterday. Ping to local servers was around 20ms but as soon as I selected an overseas location it shot up to 200ms and over. Add suggested server lag on top of that and I'm in trouble.

PS. ESO ping test (NA) from my PC is averaging 338ms right now.

DMuehlhausen

Honestly AU players would probably be better off with Satellite Internet. The satellites are closer than connecting US or even Asian based servers.

TaSheen

As someone with only satellite for connection (since I live so far out of a city), I can say that my ping is INFINITELY worse than 200-300 ms. It works for me because I'm a very casual player, don't do anything requiring "instant responsiveness". But anyone who wants to do competitive pvp or pve endgame is not going to be very happy with satellite.

Well, actually, I guess if Starlink is available that might be a good option as it's only 340 miles up appx. It's not available where I live, and HughesNet's satellites are at 22k miles in geosynchronous orbit.

Supreme_Atromancer

As an Aussie, I'm so glad I have the opportunity to play in Australia.

The ping isn't ideal. Its downright frustrating sometimes. It has always felt terribly clunky.

I'd still far rather to be able to play at all, than not.

TaSheen

Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »

As an Aussie, I'm so glad I have the opportunity to play in Australia.

The ping isn't ideal. Its downright frustrating sometimes. It has always felt terribly clunky.

I'd still far rather to be able to play at all, than not.

My cousins in NZ agree. It's not ideal, and they do grouse about it some, but they (like me) are TES fanboys and fangirls, so they (like me) are happy with what they can do.

They do want to consider Starlink, but I'm not sure it's available where they live.

LadyAzura

I'm in NZ and yeah the ping is bad. I do "end game" content and I know I will never be able to parse as high as some of these people who have like 40 ping, but it's just something you get accustomed to. You will definitely get used to the ping over time, as much as it sucks, there's not much else you can do to change it except maybe use a vpn.

As for the people who keep saying that there should be an Aus/Asia server. No. If they introduced one, I would not change over to it. Even if they transferred my account, with all my achievements and stickerbook, houses, etc. I wouldn't do it. I have way too many friends I have made that are from America, or otherwise would stay on NA. The dungeon queue and Craglorn is already as dead as it is on the NA server, so I can't imagine how much worse it would be if they added an Aus/Asia server because no one would play on it. If you have been around the Aus/NZ/Asia guilds you would know that it's a relatively small community of people, at least for PVE, as that is only what I do. The only way an Aus/Asia server could have been successful was if they had one at launch.

As for internet speed, the internet in Aus is pretty notoriously bad. Again not much you can do. Internet is better in NZ though, at least if you are in a relatively urban area.

jtm1018

seventy_kg wrote: »

First of all, to all the aussies that are gonna say "the ping is manageable", "ive done this dungeon and that trial and it's fine, i completed vet trials so its fine"--- you don't know what the game is supposed to be like, that's coming from someone who moved from America to Australia, the lag difference is absolutely shocking, and that's on top of the lag NA players already experience

This game is unplayable in australia, the PvE aspect might be "manageable" but the fact that your light attacks and skill casting have a very noticeable delay, and that your animation actually stutters, yes the animation stutters, when you light attack, just leaves me honestly nauseous and disgusted. That's coming from someone who enjoyed weaving and endgame dummy parsing back when I had decent ping in America.

However, that is nothing compared to the PvP experience. I know Grayhost is incredibly laggy for NA players too, but man this is on a different level and i didn't know there could be one in ESO. In the 5 minutes I got on and had a keep fight at Chalman, my skills went off a total of maybe 5 times in the 50 times I pressed a button, and that is not exaggerating, my ping spikes from 280 to 330 and then to 410, my skills don't go off ever, and even when they do, it's after I spam the button 5 times, and after a 2 second delay. And this isn't even pop locked grayhost.

I don't want to start a debate on whether the ping is fine in Australia, because I understand non-endgame players and people who are used to higher ping likely won't care much nor would their experience be affected. But to endgame players, be it PvE or PvP, you should know that this game is very very different when played with lower ping, I can't stress this enough, I notice a delay even when I open mails and sell things to merchants.

ESO is just not playable in Australia for me, the difference in gameplay experience here compared to NA, feels like a scam. It shouldn't be advertised here.

[Title Edited for Bashing]

Asian player here.

I know exactly what you mean.

Half a second delay on anything your doing, 250+ ping, and lagfest galore.

I live in your nightmare, we call it asian players online.

Paulytnz

M0ntie wrote: »

Paulytnz wrote: »

Syrusthevirus187 wrote: »

Yup
Should never have been sold on console in Auz/NZ

Platform doesn't make a difference........

Having played console and PC in Australia, I can say that platform does make a difference. Console (PS4)is significantly worse in performance than PC. And that is comparing using exactly the same connection with both machines.

I get a pretty consistent 230-240 ping, which is pretty good for Australia.

ZoS can do something - then can ensure that no mechanics require such a fast response that someone playing on typical Australia ping can’t respond to the mechanic.

Can you please tell me exactly how you managed to see your ping on the PS4 to compare it to the PC? I have tried the Ping code in game on both my PS4 and PS5 - no joy. If you can't see the ping on your PS4 you really can't say they are the same. We need proof here - pics.

Edit - it would be nice if they could and DID add more game features that took in to account players from other countries, I agree with that. Maybe that's part of the reason for these new mini games like TOT? You have a bit more safety there when it comes to ping as there are turn timers etc. That is sort of pvp too if you think about it lol.

TBH this is why I prefer the combat/PVP in Guild Wars 2. Every skill has a cool down timer there, so it's more strategic in a way. It's about WHEN you use your skills, there is also an auto attack too. It's not just, find the best few skills to SPAM. These small things really do help out a bit better imo/experience in the pvp setting for players like you and me on the far side of the world.

Just a shame that game is not on console and does not have as many game features as ESO, it's all just combat, combat, combat, pvp and story. Sad really. Oh wait they did finally add fishing and mounts - too late for me tho lol.

seventy_kg

I understand many aussie players would rather be able to play the game with higher latency than not having the option at all, but it's like paying the same price for a product, and in this case possibly even higher because a lot of aussie players use a vpn, then get a product of much worse quality, in fact it is literally dysfuntional if you look at the pvp aspect

yes it is tolerable if you ignore certain parts of the game, for aussies that enjoy housing and overland content such as questing, the game is tolerable. But for endgame pvp'ers like me, there is no such thing as even "tolerating" it, because it is quite literally completely unplayable

SalamanNZ

I live NZ. Ping ranges from 220+. I love pvp. And thanks to a lot of the good players quitting, I am competitive in BGs. I have noticed that skills fire a lot slower in pvp than pve. Which I have found interesting as it slows pvp servers are actually a lot slower

Supreme_Atromancer

seventy_kg wrote: »

I understand many aussie players would rather be able to play the game with higher latency than not having the option at all, but it's like paying the same price for a product, and in this case possibly even higher because a lot of aussie players use a vpn, then get a product of much worse quality, in fact it is literally dysfuntional if you look at the pvp aspect

yes it is tolerable if you ignore certain parts of the game, for aussies that enjoy housing and overland content such as questing, the game is tolerable. But for endgame pvp'ers like me, there is no such thing as even "tolerating" it, because it is quite literally completely unplayable

I wouldn't consider gryphonheart, unchained, sunspire and kyne's aegis hard modes, many dlc dungeon trifectas, emperor and grand overlord as questing, housing and overland content. And my fellow Aussie and SEA actual hardcore friends have achieved FAAAR more, and are FAAAAR better at the game than I am.

I understand your complaint, and as an Aussie who has been playing since 2014, I **strongly** empathise. Its not ideal. It feels not fair sometimes. It should be discussed.

But some of what you are saying is exaggeration.