Console Performance - My ZOS-induced Banished Cells Nightmare

The_Lex

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom @ZOS_MattFiror @Wrobel @ZOS_DanDunham

I need to get some things off my chest. I need to talk to you about my group's run through veteran Banished Cells last night (June 27th). It's long, but please bear with me and read this.

Because my character is located in the AD, I fast traveled to the Ossuary Wayshrine in Grahtwood and swam over to the Undaunted encampment to pick up the pledge (I dare not travel to the Elden Root Wayshrine because I DC constantly, and by the time I swim over to the encampment, the NPCs and characters are fully loaded. Yes, it takes that long). I picked up the quest without crashing and with minimal FPS drops and stutters. I thought to myself that this was a good omen.

Our group then ported into Banished Cells (a long loading screen, but nothing too terrible) and began our run. I was looking forward to this run because Banished Cells isn't too difficult and it would give our group a good chance to develop as a team. We were killing it! Our team was effectively communicating and everyone (for the most part) was staying true to their role (i.e., the DPSers weren't trying to aggro the bosses and mobs). We took a bit longer to burn down the Keeper who spawns the Twilights, but we didn't wipe or anything. We blasted past the Harverster sisters and were ready to murder High Kinlord Rillis.

This is when it all turned sour. Our group had a plan, implemented our plan, were doing awesome! What's the problem, you ask? Enter: severe lag spikes where it appeared that the group was standing still and invisible attacks and attackers. Each one of us reported these problems at some point during the fight. As for the invisible attacks and attackers, we knew who was attacking because we're familiar with this dungeon, but we couldn't see the attacks and the red "tells" were nonexistant. As a healer, it was a beast to try to heal through it since I could not anticipate invisible damage, and the group was getting more and more frustrated. However, the worst part was when we got the boss down to 10-20% with three daedroths remaining (for the gold key). One or two of us would inevitably DC. It is especially bad for a healer to DC, but it's problematic for anyone to go offline. Because of our group was being wittled down to one or two people, the group would wipe (yeah I know: L2P - beat you to it!). Time and again, we'd restart the fight to experience the very same things again and again.

ZOS, I love your game. I love it so much that I spend countless hours playing it and I am an ESO+ subscriber (and not just for the crafting bag ). However, I feel as though I have been ripped off, especially since the Dark Brotherhood patch. Not only do I feel like I made a bad decision to subscribe, but I wonder what you give us console players as an incentive to continue playing certain aspects of the game. We can't enter certain zones (I'm looking at you, Grahtwood and Orsinium) without fear of constant DCing and severe FPS drops, at best, or our characters being stuck in the zone, at worst. As I mentioned, to pick up the Undaunted pledges, I have to travel to a different wayshrine and ride over in the hopes that, by the time I get there, everything will be loaded and ready to go (sometimes it is, sometimes it's not). Last night, I waited almost ten minutes for the banker in Marbruk to "pop in" - Marbruk! To describe the conditions in Cyrodiil would require a separate lengthy post (and many others have already done so). What about the bug preventing Thaumaturge from benefitting Puncturing Sweeps/Jabs?

I am trying to be as patient and as polite as I can be, but this situation is completely unacceptable. You say that you "understand our frustration." Do you? How often do you fire up the Xbox One or PS4 at your house (not at your magical developer network) to play some ESO? We're told that a fix is in the works but it might take a few weeks. Seriously? Any other business in America (that's where I'm from, so I can only speak from the American experience) would provide some form of compensation via a refund or other incentive TO KEEP THE CUSTOMER. What's our incentive? Nothing. You merely tell us to wait. Wait for what? What do you want us to do in the game until the fix is ready?

No, ZOS, you need to compensate us with more than a simple statement of empathy, which I and many others believe is insincere.

[Edited for clarity]

Panth141

Yep, dungeon performance is seriously crap right now. There are only four players in the instance, so how intensive can it be?

I actually had an infuriating run of Banished Cells last week - after each boss the whole group would get ported back to the start of the dungeon. Progress was saved, but my god was it a pain in the ass.

The_Lex

Panth141 wrote: »

Yep, dungeon performance is seriously crap right now. There are only four players in the instance, so how intensive can it be?

I actually had an infuriating run of Banished Cells last week - after each boss the whole group would get ported back to the start of the dungeon. Progress was saved, but my god was it a pain in the ass.

I'd love to say the polite, obligatory, "I'm glad it wasn't just me." However, I know it's not just me. Sorry you had a rough run.

The_Lex

I feel like console players need to start a support group for this!

EDIT: While we were experiencing these issues, one group member said that we have to wait but that ZOS confirmed a fix is on the way. Another group member said, "Dude, they're never going to fix it. They've never fixed Cyrodiil."

The_Lex

.........

The_Lex

I have still not received an actual non-copy/paste response to my support ticket where I demanded a refund for this month's subscription fee or some other form of compensation for giving me a defective product. My ESO+ membership renews tonight at midnight. Damn, I'm going to miss that crafting bag.