Why is ZOS Keeping Things Out of Patch Notes?

chimneyswift_ESO

Discussion title says it all. I'm confused as to why sometimes things are left out of patch notes. For example, Update 1.3.4 which rolled out today, "ghost" nerfed the damage done in Bat Swarm. Yesterday my Bat Swarm was doing 350 dmg and today it's doing 260, yet nothing was said about this in the patch notes. I felt the need make a new forum post about this because I don't feel happy that they're potentially leaving stuff out of patch notes. I absolutely LOOOVE this game and I really love the updates ZOS has rolled out (don't get me wrong), but if a skill was mistakenly doing more damage than intended (using this as an example here) and then changed back in a later update I'd like to see ZOS own up to that in the patch notes when they fix it. Hopefully they can just add an update to the patch notes and include stuff they've missed but if they don't then I'm left to wonder WHY. As someone who loves this game, loves updates, and wants to see all the best for this game...I want to see the most detailed patch notes possible. Not every player plays the same way and even the smallest little tweak to something might be really important to someone else.

tldr: ZOS, please dont leave anything out of any future patch notes. Thanks

Phantax

Get used to it, they do it a lot !

kieso

because they hate you for being born.

rbenkepub19_ESO

They have said many, many times that they always strive to include everything in the patch notes, but sometimes things are omitted unintentionally. When that happens, and they become aware of it, they post an addendum to the patch notes. If you look at the patch notes forums, you'll see several such cases.

Edit: In fact, they've already posted one addendum to 1.3.4. Not the mistake you're talking about, but one nonetheless.

Lunerdog

Phantax wrote: »

Get used to it, they do it a lot !

Tru Dat !


Ma'iq say:

Company that hold hands up and admits dropping flea bitten testi get more respect than company that smirks and treats paying customer like Argonian pond skater.

elwhy

If it's something positive, they'll include, but if it's something they screwed up and are fixing, they don't say anything. Remember when they changed looting distance to be super tiny and said they were doing it, then the looting distance increased in a later update but no mention of it. So they did something stupid, but instead of owning up they just quietly fix it. Lame.

Phantax

eliasadriancombsub17_ESO wrote: »

If it's something positive, they'll include, but if it's something they screwed up and are fixing, they don't say anything. Remember when they changed looting distance to be super tiny and said they were doing it, then the looting distance increased in a later update but no mention of it. So they did something stupid, but instead of owning up they just quietly fix it. Lame.

So very true. Zenimax don't have a good reputation for transparency, at least not where ESO is concerned !

Talrenos

Things are left out for 3 reasons:
1. The change is considered so trivial that no one should notice.
2. The developer is intentionally leaving it out for unknown reasons.
3. The person coding the change is human; humans forget things like putting the change in the list for future patch notes.

No matter which of the 3 it is, there is no excuse for leaving things out, ever.

chimneyswift_ESO

Lunerdog wrote: »

Phantax wrote: »

Get used to it, they do it a lot !

Tru Dat !


Ma'iq say:

Company that hold hands up and admits dropping flea bitten testi get more respect than company that smirks and treats paying customer like Argonian pond skater.

HAHA! I have no idea how to interpret this M'aiq Speak but i love it.

WebBull

They don't seem to care much anymore. When they nerfed Fiery Grip and completely left it out of the patch notes, it still took over a week before they even acknowledged it. The sad part is that it is always nerfs being left out.

Vaelen

Bat Swarm's not even worth using now, there's better alternatives such as Standard of Might which does more damage and cost less ultimate.

WebBull

Vaelen wrote: »

Bat Swarm's not even worth using now, there's better alternatives such as Standard of Might which does more damage and cost less ultimate.

I don't think that is the point of this thread.

smeeprocketnub19_ESO

WebBull wrote: »

Vaelen wrote: »

Bat Swarm's not even worth using now, there's better alternatives such as Standard of Might which does more damage and cost less ultimate.

I don't think that is the point of this thread.

yea where did that come from? lol

guybrushtb16_ESO

Vaelen wrote: »

Bat Swarm's not even worth using now, there's better alternatives such as Standard of Might which does more damage and cost less ultimate.

Assuming you have standard of might. For templars for example, bat swarm was considered one of the best alternatives, because their own ultimates suck compared to the awesomeness of standard/veil.

timidobserver

I would be interested in some confirmation on the bat swarm change.

Vaelen wrote: »

Bat Swarm's not even worth using now, there's better alternatives such as Standard of Might which does more damage and cost less ultimate.

It is eons better than any ultimate a Templar has access to with regard to PVP. They could reduce the damage even more and it would still be the best options for us. DKs do have very strong ultimates, so abandoning it is certainly an option for them.

Taonnor

The devouring bat swarm calculation was broken.

The devouring swarm used Magicka+Endurence+Spell dmg+Weapon dmg to calculate the dmg. The correct behavior was to use the higher pool to calculate the dmg, not all pools at same! So it was a fix of ultimate dmg calculation and the lowered dmg was a side effect of this.

Thralgaf

Is it confirmed that the damage listed in the tooltip was changed? There are so many things that can lower damage and are often forgotten-I'd check there first. Hell, I'm guilty of the ZOMG STEALTH NERF knee jerk, when it turns out it was gear change, etc.

Elsonso

sfradenb14_ESO wrote: »

Things are left out for 3 reasons:
1. The change is considered so trivial that no one should notice.
2. The developer is intentionally leaving it out for unknown reasons.
3. The person coding the change is human; humans forget things like putting the change in the list for future patch notes.

No matter which of the 3 it is, there is no excuse for leaving things out, ever.

4. The change is related to something that was reported internally and not by a customer.


(And yes, you often do want these things filtered out)

chimneyswift_ESO

Taonnor wrote: »

The devouring bat swarm calculation was broken.

The devouring swarm used Magicka+Endurence+Spell dmg+Weapon dmg to calculate the dmg. The correct behavior was to use the higher pool to calculate the dmg, not all pools at same! So it was a fix of ultimate dmg calculation and the lowered dmg was a side effect of this.

Ahh very true, I didn't think of that. Either way I'd like to see something like that in the patch notes as well

Vahrokh

Vaelen wrote: »

Bat Swarm's not even worth using now, there's better alternatives such as Standard of Might which does more damage and cost less ultimate.

Good.

I was getting tired seeing entire raids consisting of vamps all spamming bat swarm 24/7 for auto-win.

IKilled007

ZOS_HugoP wrote: »

Greetings folks!

Please be sure that the patch-notes contain every change we made to the game, even the smallest one.

If you think that something changed without being listed in the patch-note, feel free to share that with us, so we can review it

Thank you!

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/111488/does-zenimax-share-all-the-patches-it-makes-in-the-patch-notes

Royalroacho

Havent you ever done something like this? Like, maybe when you were a kid, doing chores or something?
"Yeah, mom, I vaccuumed, cleaned the windows, and even was able to get all the dust build-up that was stuck under the floor vent, since I know thats been bugging you for a while!"
....please dont notice I broke the lamp...please dont notice I broke the lamp...please god just dont let her go in there till I can get some crazy glue....

Im kidding. Kinda. They really should mention every small detail, it matters to someone. Or they dont get to play outside for a week.

Arsenic_Touch

It's quite common for mmorpgs to ninja change things. They all do it and they all reassure their playerbases that they never do ninja changes and that patch notes always reflect the changes, no matter how minor. I just find it amusing that people are surprised when ESO does it or bend over backwards to claim that they don't.

crislevin

I just find blizzards patch note 10,000 times better than ZoS' s.