Patch Discs

seanvwolf

Dear @ZOS_Maiq_the_Liar,

Can we have the option to have patch discs sent to our homes by your company?
We'll pay, of course!

For those of us who:
(a) Live out in the middle of nowhere and aren't allowed a premium selection of internet providers, or
(b) Have satellite with restricted bandwidth limits for a month.

Some of us can't afford the big file downloads, either because of time or actual bandwidth costs. Some have to pay close to 20 USD for each excess GB per month. That's huge! I would happily pay an additional 10 bucks during a very large file patch just so I could have a hard copy on hand, in case of corruption or what not.

Sincerely,
@seanvwolf

Sighlynce

agree

KBKB

Sentiment great, logistics too hard =(

MuseTheDrunkenDragon

I agree. Also, patching from a disc would take FAR less time than downloading it.

Sylvyr

Good idea. And if they add disk mailing service they could include the option to include a plushie mudcrab for an additional $29.95 (USD) which could contribute towards hiring more QA peeps.

eventide03b14a_ESO

I have never heard of a AAA MMO doing that.

seanvwolf

eventide03b14a_ESO wrote: »

I have never heard of a AAA MMO doing that.

It would be the difference between a triple-A MMO and a quadruple-A MMO

murmur

And then you would complain that postal service didn't manage to deliver your hard copy patch in time before you need next patch to be able to log in to game.

Would be great idea if game would be patched only once or twice a year, but it's patched like once or twice a week...

AlexDougherty

seanvwolf wrote: »

eventide03b14a_ESO wrote: »

I have never heard of a AAA MMO doing that.

It would be the difference between a triple-A MMO and a quadruple-A MMO

No, Triple A refers to the degree of funding an MMO has, not the quality of the game or it's support.

A Triple A has full funding for development, for the server running and I forget what the third A is for.

yodased

well unfortunately it would be multiple discs and the logistics of getting them pressed (not burned, they aren't going to burn 750k copies of the patch notes) would cost about $2.45 per dvd.

For any major expansion you would have to go bluray which would increase to about $7.00 per @‌ 750k

Plus it would take more time to press the discs than it would to distribute them, an to distribute them would be a nightmare as well. You are talking probably about $4,00 to send the patch domestically, forget sending to custom's needed places.

Beyond that, by the time you got the patch and installed it, you would be about 3 patches behind.

seanvwolf

yodased wrote: »

Beyond that, by the time you got the patch and installed it, you would be about 3 patches behind.

Waiting a whole month to pass because you exceeded your bandwidth due to a regular incremental patch isn't fun either.

1. I would hope that 750k people wouldn't need the patch disc, this would only be for people who are physically unable to download the patch due to size. If 750k people have terrible internet or satellite and are playing the game, that would be very surprising.
2. ZOS surveyed us during the beta about preferred data delivery systems, and I always said that I would prefer to have a hard copy version included with the ability to download via launcher. I still do. They wouldn't have asked if they didn't think they could handle the logistics.
3. Only put assets on the patch discs... things like hot fixes and game breaks should be relegated to regular maintenance.
4. Vet patch content for a month internally before rolling to PTS. Vet patch content for a month on PTS before rolling to Live. With a two month lead time, there would be no excuse other than civil war that you didn't get the patches within a reasonable time.

yodased

I didn't say they couldn't handle it, they are a multinational company with millions of dollars of research into delivery I'm sure.

The point i'm attempting to make is its basically impossible to keep up with their schedule of 6 week updates if it relied on physical discs.

To answer, no they wouldn't need a disc for every person who subbed, thats for sure, but to cover themselves they better make one.

Leave it to the last person that wants a disc and can't get one, you think the download taking a long time causes rage imagine that, so yes they would have to produce one patch for every client, the same way they do with the launcher, just digitally instead of physical digitally?

Even if they were to say yes, we will give you patches on disc, they would then have to push their update time out to three months by your own ideas, which would then break their intended update plan.

There is a business to be made for anyone who wants to download, burn and send the patch notes to these people.

ZOS outsources their UI 'improvement' they can outsource their patch distribution 'improvement' no?

seanvwolf

yodased wrote: »

There is a business to be made for anyone who wants to download, burn and send the patch notes to these people.

ZOS outsources their UI 'improvement' they can outsource their patch distribution 'improvement' no?

That's a good idea. Anyone want to burn a copy of the ESO databuild and send it to me via mail?

DenverRalphy

The cost incurred to guarantee overnight delivery would be insane. Without overnight delivery, you'd receive the update just in time to not be able to login because the next patch was pushed. At best you'd be able to play 2 days a week,with the added shipping costs.

Realistically (and I mean no disrespect saying this) limited bandwidth internet users really shouldn't be participating in MMOs. The service simply isn't conducive to the premise.

seanvwolf

DenverRalphy wrote: »

The cost incurred to guarantee overnight delivery would be insane. Without overnight delivery, you'd receive the update just in time to not be able to login because the next patch was pushed. At best you'd be able to play 2 days a week,with the added shipping costs.

If they scheduled known patches well ahead of advance and tested them, these wouldn't be issues at all. Such and such date passes, launcher asks to either download scheduled patch or insert dvd. Easy peasy.

DenverRalphy wrote: »

Realistically (and I mean no disrespect saying this) limited bandwidth internet users really shouldn't be participating in MMOs. The service simply isn't conducive to the premise.

There isn't a large bandwidth demand to play MMO's... only to patch them. No disrespect intended, but this is an inane statement.

Ignotus

I don't personally see how they could implement mailing of patch discs. I don't know, but I doubt they have the patch completed days before it's released. They would likely have to have it completed and ready to deploy 2-3 days in advance in order to ship discs and get them to us when the patch goes live. I just don't see that being possible and it's certainly unprecedented when comparing to any other game that I've played.

Something they possibly could do would be to have a patch available for download as a separate file, possibly even by torrent. Then a person with limited or slow connection speeds or bandwidth allotment could download the patch at work or at a friend's house then take it home and apply it. Right now, you have to have the client installed in order to get the patch. I certainly wouldn't want to install ESO on my PC just to let a friend get the patch files, and I know most employers don't want it installed on company machines.

DenverRalphy

seanvwolf wrote: »

DenverRalphy wrote: »

The cost incurred to guarantee overnight delivery would be insane. Without overnight delivery, you'd receive the update just in time to not be able to login because the next patch was pushed. At best you'd be able to play 2 days a week,with the added shipping costs.

If they scheduled known patches well ahead of advance and tested them, these wouldn't be issues at all. Such and such date passes, launcher asks to either download scheduled patch or insert dvd. Easy peasy.

DenverRalphy wrote: »

Realistically (and I mean no disrespect saying this) limited bandwidth internet users really shouldn't be participating in MMOs. The service simply isn't conducive to the premise.

There isn't a large bandwidth demand to play MMO's... only to patch them. No disrespect intended, but this is an inane statement.

Not inane at all. Most (not quite all, but most) have weekly patch schedules.

If all you did was play MMO's, you might get away with it with relatively low need to monitor your bandwidth usage. But if you're under a bandwidth monitor, then you'd also need to cut out video and audio, drastically reduce web surfing (pics/photos alone rack up quickly), as well as other services just to accommodate your gaming habit.

Additionally... when you rehash my "no disrespect intended" clause, don't taint it by throwing out a statement with words like "inane". If you truly meant no disrespect, you'd steer away from words or terms geared towards the derogatory.

seanvwolf

@DenverRalphy‌ I didn't say you were inane. The comment was inane. Your sensitivity is showing.

Luckily, my bandwidth usage isn't restricted, just the speed at which some of these downloads come to me (175kbps). Total usage is 113 GB in the last 60 days. Most of those consumed by ESO's patches of both Live and PTS servers.

If we were only speaking conservatively addressing weekly patches as being around 5-6 gigs each time, that's about 48 GB in two months for just the Live server. I also watch a ton of Netflix on my laptop too, but it doesn't shine a light to how much bandwidth ESO's patches consume. Some of the ESO weekly patches though far exceeded 5-6 gigs, some as much as 20.

So, no, sir. Playing the game doesn't require monitoring bandwidth. Downloading patches does.

But there are better ways of patching, particularly using diff instead of patch.

EQ2 does major patches of about 3 gigs, if that, and most of it handled with a background downloader which doesn't have to have all the assets to allow you to play from the launcher.

WOW routinely has about 15 mb patches for incremental patches... about 300 or 600 mb for major version updates. No where near 6 gigs for ESO's incremental patch.

Don't get me wrong. I love ESO... I'll still play. I'll still wait. But I know there can be a better solution for those with limited service.