Bad Timing For New Players?

Woopy

Hi all,

I'm curious as to how often the community experiences these downtimes. I've been trying to switch from one MMO(AA) to this one, mostly because of the poorly constructed publisher management and frequency of server-side technical difficulties and lack of communication... for those who might have played the one I'm switching from - might know and agree.

I've been playing ESO for a few days now, and even decided to sub my second day in because it really is a lot of fun. However coming to the forums and seeing the community talk about how this is an on-going issue kind of deterred me. I'm not too upset about the downtime from today, but I'm just curious in general about how things run around here. Is what's been going on today a recurring issue? I haven't seen any updates in the maintenance thread aside from the first downtime experience way earlier in the day.

RebornV3x

Yes since the homestead patch went live it's been like this they need to roll it back at this point

Khenarthi

It does not happen very often, fortunately. But when it does, it feels like it takes forever.

Palidon

Players have been dealing with constant load screens, lag, game crashes and freezing for over two years. Server problems seem to be more frequent.

max_only

The forums don't represent the majority of players, just the loudest.

Unsent.Soul

Palidon wrote: »

Players have been dealing with constant load screens, lag, game crashes and freezing for over two years. Server problems seem to be more frequent.

This is true, spot on.

max_only wrote: »

The forums don't represent the majority of players, just the loudest.

Like all game forums? Don't act like zos has been open about these issues, since homestead there has been issues that are affecting players ability to play, doesn't matter if people are on the forums or not. The people that aren't vocal most likely choose to just play another game. Either way that doesn't help zos.

mandrakethebard_ESO

Actually, having played many games I can say that Bethesda/ZoS is one of the more responsive companies to complaints and issues in the industry. The simple fact is that there is always a vocal minority for whom any problem or downtime is a personal affront and grounds for immediate online carnage, as well as people for whom no aspect of the game is good enough unless it is precisely their personal idea of the perfect game. These people are always the most vocal in the forums. So be it.

The rest of us have better things to do, including playing the game when we have time and doing our jobs and living our lives, etc. In any game there are going to be occasional code problems whenever an update is pushed. Until tonight I have not experienced any downtime or problems following the Homestead patch, not one. Based on what I've seen my experience is typical, not that of those who insist that this game and this company suck.

My advice... if you're having a good time keep at it, this is a great game. If you think this game sucks and that this outage is evidence of a company that doesn't care about you, feel free to go play a different game.

SanSan

Just don't let the majority people on here affect your ability to play. These forums have been know to be very sour and just start a blood bath. People in-game are much nicer than these leeches.

raglau

I've been in this game since beta and there are three things that have persistently dogged this game:

1 - Performance is terrible and getting worse each month. The game client performance is weak despite ESO being rather simplistic graphically, in modern terms anyway, but I can live with this. The main issue is garbage network performance which leads to a certain lack of playablity. Using abilities sometimes has a really noticeable lag attached, and bar-swapping is hit and miss.
2 - Reliability is bad, disconnects, crashes, they are very common in this game. Last night I was tanking a trial and I could not swap my bar to get to my taunt, game just stopped accepting input, then froze then crashed and I had to run a 'repair', a painfully slow process, before I could play again. The LFG tool is totally broken since the Homestead patch, and that's the core tool for an MMO. This is the only game l know of that needs an working day of outage for a weekly patch, and these patches often land so badly that the game is taken down again in the same week to patch the patch.
3 - Support - ZOS do not support us, they don't care once they have our money. They will auto-respond tickets, auto-close tickets even if you ask for them to be escalated, send you pages full of duff support info that has no bearing on the issue you are experiencing. You really are on your own in this game if you need tech support.

I subbed from release up until recently but the clear decline in standards of this game mean I did not renew this time around. I mainly play FF14 now, but I do follow what's happening here and login a few times a week still to see if things are improving, sadly they are getting worse each week.

So by all means sub, but perhaps do it on a monthly basis so you can get out if you feel things are not going your way.

failkiwib16_ESO

Many players come to the forums, when they happen to experience something bad or problems in the game.

If you intend to have success later on in the game, then take some of your gaming time in eso and spend it on being a little social, to get a few friends who are around your own level and join a few social guilds. << if you are able to pull this off, then you will be saved from a lot of the problems that you read about here ..on the forums.

Seraphayel

Khenarthi wrote: »

It does not happen very often, fortunately. But when it does, it feels like it takes forever.

It happens very often. Since Homestead servers were down four or five times besides the usual maintenance. That's pathetic for a game that's been out for almost 3 years.

Turelus

There have been some issues recently but it's not something you should solely judge the game on, these current issues are not the norm for ESO.

However they are issues right now which they're working to address, so it might be a bumpy time to join.

Unsent.Soul

Turelus wrote: »

There have been some issues recently but it's not something you should solely judge the game on, these current issues are not the norm for ESO.

However they are issues right now which they're working to address, so it might be a bumpy time to join.

Considering the game literally becomes trash after each update/dlc means nothing?

Huyen

I've said it before and I will say it again: People who experience issues should make sure the problem isnt at their end. If I started downloading something huge, I would experience lag too in ESO. Does that give me the right to blame ZoS for it? NO!

Integral1900

Haven't had any problems since the patch, just one 60 second load screen but I needed to make a sandwich anyway. I'm pc Euro but I don't know if that makes a diffrence, also it's great to see the place so busy, really feels like a living world

One general note however....

Just for the new players....

I use to think the forum was a good game barometer....

It's not.....

Never assume this forum with its millions of tonnes of salt represents any more than 5 percent of players. That's pretty much universal as regards game forums, and I've worked for a couple of big ones in the past, forum crowd is almost universally negative, you could give them a whole crate of gold bars and the grumpy little Wombles would still complain that it was the wrong shape

Unsent.Soul

Huyen wrote: »

I've said it before and I will say it again: People who experience issues should make sure the problem isnt at their end. If I started downloading something huge, I would experience lag too in ESO. Does that give me the right to blame ZoS for it? NO!

Yeah, it's the players fault... the fact they've been having maint. Patches on the fly, every weekend, means nothing.

MissBizz

To be honest, it almost seems like it rotates through... So on the forums you'll see the PS4 down crowd, then Xbox, then EU PC etc... It seems like a lot (and sometimes is) but generally is different servers. I was busy today so I logged in after the second maintenance and had 0 problems.. even in Cyrodiil.

HereKittehKitteh

I don't agree that some people are pointing fingers at zos for problems at their end, only because I think (or at least hope XD) most people would realise lag may be connected to their large downloading at the same time.

However there are some issues lately, I've had frequent ping spikes since homestead, though it recovers quickly and doesn't cause issues normally, though it did occur once in maelstrom causing me to die. Group finder apparently has issues but i always find a group within five minutes, instantly at peak, and I'm a dps usually, so clearly the game is performing differently for different people. Personally I wouldn't base your opinion off forums views(especially when said forum can exaggerate just a touch on the issues sometimes XD) play the game, have fun and form your own opinion of the game

mariskaas

For me all these things are not so common(PC, EU). (No PvP mind you)
Crashes? No happened maybe once.
Load screens long? Yes, usually only just after an update patch and usually kicks me out the first time but after that it's fine.
Load screens during play? Just in big and busy cities (Mournhold, Rawl'Ka etc)
Lag? Not really, but this is the worst in cyrodiil. The worst lag i get is in dungeons but still not so bad. Cable is much better than using wifi
FPS drops? Yes a lot but that's on me. My computer does not like huge fights with lots of particle effects.
Unexpected server broken server like yesterday in PCNA? I don't really recall don't think it happens that often..

I notice other people do experience these stuff a lot, but it's not everyone so I don't really know what to tell you.Just play and have fun:)

Edit: About an hour after writing this I got thrown out of the game twice. Which hadn't happen in forever.

Woopy

Thanks for all of the great criticism you all provided, constructive or not. I personally have not been experiencing any issues, aside from the downtime today. But it's good to be aware of what others might experience or think in case my time comes. I do enjoy the game a lot and will continue playing, as long as things don't get too shady

Turelus

Unsent.Soul wrote: »

Turelus wrote: »

There have been some issues recently but it's not something you should solely judge the game on, these current issues are not the norm for ESO.

However they are issues right now which they're working to address, so it might be a bumpy time to join.

Considering the game literally becomes trash after each update/dlc means nothing?

I'm not going to say there are no issues as I hate that whole "dismiss it's an issue because it doesn't effect me" thing, however it's not so bad that everyone's having the issues.

The NA outage last night was an issue sure, but that's not common practice happening ever single week, nor after every single update.

For the most part the game runs fine a majority of the time and it's biggest issues are on mechanics within the game rather than the server issues.

shauny.gibbsb16_ESO

Oso wrote: »

Hi all

I'm curious as to how often the community experiences these downtimes. I've been trying to switch from one MMO(AA) to this one,

I too have left AA to return to ESO, so firstly well done for escaping

There has been extra downtime but stay with it as it will normalise eventually, the PvP is fun here and ridiculously easy to get geared up (compared to AA) so you can actually spend your time Playing however you want. You'll also notice the forums are a *** cat compared to AA, even if you do have the odd end of world forum complainer.

Just bear with it, you won't be sorry

P.s the eso subreddit is a good forum to check out

Nerouyn

Pibbles wrote: »

I've been in this game since beta and there are three things that have persistently dogged this game:

I've also been playing the game on and off since then. Less earlier and more lately though.

Pibbles wrote: »

1 - Performance is terrible and getting worse each month. The game client performance is weak despite ESO being rather simplistic graphically, in modern terms anyway, but I can live with this. The main issue is garbage network performance which leads to a certain lack of playablity. Using abilities sometimes has a really noticeable lag attached, and bar-swapping is hit and miss.

Game performance has always pretty smooth for me and my computer isn't the greatest.

Today has been a little bit bad with lag. I'm guessing the double pvp xp drew a crowd. But lag isn't common. Unless you're in one of the really popular cities and all the bloody duellers are at it in the streets.

Pibbles wrote: »

2 - Reliability is bad, disconnects, crashes, they are very common in this game. Last night I was tanking a trial and I could not swap my bar to get to my taunt, game just stopped accepting input, then froze then crashed and I had to run a 'repair', a painfully slow process, before I could play again. The LFG tool is totally broken since the Homestead patch, and that's the core tool for an MMO. This is the only game l know of that needs an working day of outage for a weekly patch, and these patches often land so badly that the game is taken down again in the same week to patch the patch.

So point 2 is the same point 1?

I reckon I would have crashed fewer than half a dozen times ever. It's extremely rare.

The interminable load screen of death I've seen. During festivals and especially on overcrowded maps. But haven't seen that one for a while so that would be something getting better.

Pibbles wrote: »

3 - Support - ZOS do not support us, they don't care once they have our money. They will auto-respond tickets, auto-close tickets even if you ask for them to be escalated, send you pages full of duff support info that has no bearing on the issue you are experiencing. You really are on your own in this game if you need tech support.

Their CS used to be fantastic but lately has been terrible.

I suspect they're either using staff with a terrible command of english who don't understand our responses or it's some kind of really crude AI which is failing miserably.

OrphanHelgen

I think the problem is more in the end game. For new players, you can be busy for 6-12 months I guess. There is ton of content and achievements and fun.

CireNesnomis

Congrats on subbing, I hope you get as much enjoyment out of ESO as many of us.

The Forum at times can get negative (or maybe just passionate), but I have never played a MMO with as welcoming an in-game community as ESO.

While it's true that recently we've had more issues, ZOS has also added tons of content. I've been playing since Beta and seen ups and down but this game is still getting better every year. Thus, I doubt in the long run these glitches will be "game ruining" for you - except if your gaming window is very limited OR is during weekly maintenance.

I encourage you to check out ESO Live on a Friday and hear/watch directly from ZOS regarding their direction.

As you know, this game will be what you make of it. Join some different types of guilds and ask for help whenever you need it.

Seraphayel

Turelus wrote: »

Unsent.Soul wrote: »

Turelus wrote: »

There have been some issues recently but it's not something you should solely judge the game on, these current issues are not the norm for ESO.

However they are issues right now which they're working to address, so it might be a bumpy time to join.

Considering the game literally becomes trash after each update/dlc means nothing?

I'm not going to say there are no issues as I hate that whole "dismiss it's an issue because it doesn't effect me" thing, however it's not so bad that everyone's having the issues.

The NA outage last night was an issue sure, but that's not common practice happening ever single week, nor after every single update.

For the most part the game runs fine a majority of the time and it's biggest issues are on mechanics within the game rather than the server issues.

Did you play Cyrodiil? The game never ran fine in Cyrodiil and most likely never will. If you're solo roaming through Cyrodiil the game might run good but that's not the point of Cyrodiil.

After big updates those issues are pretty common but Homestead caused the worst kind of performance issues ESO ever had, especially on consoles. I never experienced so many downtimes, lags, disconnects and problems in ESO since... maybe the first weeks after launch. The game is in a poor state when it comes to performance.

And everybody who says the forum is just full of negative nancys... that is not right. This game has exceptional performance issues that just downgrade this game's qualities by a huge margin.

Tandor

Unsent.Soul wrote: »

Palidon wrote: »

Players have been dealing with constant load screens, lag, game crashes and freezing for over two years. Server problems seem to be more frequent.

This is true, spot on.

max_only wrote: »

The forums don't represent the majority of players, just the loudest.

Like all game forums? Don't act like zos has been open about these issues, since homestead there has been issues that are affecting players ability to play, doesn't matter if people are on the forums or not. The people that aren't vocal most likely choose to just play another game. Either way that doesn't help zos.

Some players, not all. Comparatively few players, judging by the number I see running around quite happily whenever I log on without any problem.

Unsent.Soul

Tandor wrote: »

Unsent.Soul wrote: »

Palidon wrote: »

Players have been dealing with constant load screens, lag, game crashes and freezing for over two years. Server problems seem to be more frequent.

This is true, spot on.

max_only wrote: »

The forums don't represent the majority of players, just the loudest.

Like all game forums? Don't act like zos has been open about these issues, since homestead there has been issues that are affecting players ability to play, doesn't matter if people are on the forums or not. The people that aren't vocal most likely choose to just play another game. Either way that doesn't help zos.

Some players, not all. Comparatively few players, judging by the number I see running around quite happily whenever I log on without any problem.

This may be true, maybe it's just the squeaky wheel that deserves the oil. I know you've been around for awhile, you've seen this through thick and thin. Sadly my input is stricktly console based and this game has been rather disappointing in some aspects. I definitely got my money's worth, I won't deny that fact. It's sad to see a game I've loved for years take a turn for the worst. Maybe brighter days are in the future but zos lack of comm. and timely fixes seem to be the tipping point for some.

raglau

RainaLionheart wrote: »

I don't agree that some people are pointing fingers at zos for problems at their end, only because I think (or at least hope XD) most people would realise lag may be connected to their large downloading at the same time.

However there are some issues lately, I've had frequent ping spikes since homestead, though it recovers quickly and doesn't cause issues normally, though it did occur once in maelstrom causing me to die. Group finder apparently has issues but i always find a group within five minutes, instantly at peak, and I'm a dps usually, so clearly the game is performing differently for different people. Personally I wouldn't base your opinion off forums views(especially when said forum can exaggerate just a touch on the issues sometimes XD) play the game, have fun and form your own opinion of the game

If you are alone LFG, you'll get a group fast. But if there are 2 or more of you, the LFG just hangs. I can be 2 people - tank and healer - LFG and the finder will simply fail to locate DDs. I even had it where all it needed to find was one DD and it failed, so I left, ran finder alone, and immediately found an entire complement of people to group with.

And heaven forfend if someone leaves your group part through, the Finder rarely replaces them.

Vahrokh

I play on the EU server (PC). Outside of Cyrodiil the game is smooth enough, for about 2 hours. Then it slows down, probably because of some memory leakage and the amount of mods I've installed.

Client crashes every now and then.

On EU I don't see particularly bright things, but don't see huge issues either.

Seraphayel

Tandor wrote: »

Unsent.Soul wrote: »

Palidon wrote: »

Players have been dealing with constant load screens, lag, game crashes and freezing for over two years. Server problems seem to be more frequent.

This is true, spot on.

max_only wrote: »

The forums don't represent the majority of players, just the loudest.

Like all game forums? Don't act like zos has been open about these issues, since homestead there has been issues that are affecting players ability to play, doesn't matter if people are on the forums or not. The people that aren't vocal most likely choose to just play another game. Either way that doesn't help zos.

Some players, not all. Comparatively few players, judging by the number I see running around quite happily whenever I log on without any problem.

All platforms had additional downtimes besides maintenance in the last weeks. So in fact it affected all of the players and not only some.