Can you ping launcher.bethesda.net ?

Issaro

Hello ESO community,

being stuck in a support loop (Ticket 170823-001746) im told again and again that according to the game consultant report dropped packets are the reason for my heavy FPS loss.
However i think that the server simply does not respond to ping requests and this isn't a network issue at all. Why would the game even run or allow me to log in with 100% packet loss if that server is important?

so please help me ... open a windows command promt and type:

ping launcher.bethesda.net

and then post if you had success or failed and also include the server IP address. In my case the IP is 159.100.230.100 with 100% packet loss. My ping request was send from germany. Depending on your region the address might warry and it might be possible that the servers respond differently for each region.

tassffx

Pinging launcher.bethesda.net [198.20.198.100] with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

I get kicked to login screen randomly after between 1 to 10 minutes when playing.

Morgul667

kamohs212eb17_ESO

Same problem, game kicks me to login screen every ~5-10 mins. Ping to server is same with above, 100% packet loss.
PCEU. I hadn't this problem until update with new DLC, everything was just awesome.

Issaro

Well ZOS support apparently finally realized that im not suffering from a network issue ;-)
However they also didnt reply to my question why launcher.bethesda.net doesnt respond to ping request...

So i guess the server is simply configured this way for performance reasons and its completly normal. If you can launch ESO at all you're probablly able to reach this server.

I only hope that someone (preferably a forum moderator) verifies this and relays this fact to the tech support so that they can adjust their checklists accordingly. After all its no use if they claim that you have network issues based on a failed to ping to a server that doesnt respond to anyone.

sim_pol

I'm currently going through support (Incident: 170820-003827), and I've read through the two Game Consultant reports that I've sent them so far. In both reports, the pings to launcher.bethesda.net lost all packets, and I just tried to ping it again and got the same result. Once in a while I will have an hour or two where I will get kicked every 10 minutes or so, but usually I don't. Anyway, here are my ping results:

Pinging launcher.bethesda.net [198.20.198.100] with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 198.20.198.100:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss)

I also feel like this isn't a good way to test network issues if it's flagging everyone.

Hobotron

Randomly tonight, after having played for 3+ years, I'm having the same problem. A more important test is whether you can connect via TCP to port 80. There are a number of ways you can check:

a) Web Browser
Try opening the link http://launcher.bethesda.net/Bethesda.net_Launcher/Bethesda.net_Launcher.patchmanifest in a browser such as Chrome.

b) Command-line tools
cURL: curl http://launcher.bethesda.net/Bethesda.net_Launcher/Bethesda.net_Launcher.patchmanifest
telnet: telnet launcher.bethesda.net 80

c) Network tools
tcpdump -v host launcher.bethesda.net

None of these work for me. In this case, I'm resolving to the correct IP address, 198.20.198.100, but there is a black hole on the other side where their infrastructure lives. No TCP response at all. I own a leased circuit, and personally manage all network gear, and know it's not blocked anywhere on my side. All I can figure is that my address space got lumped in with some manner of anti-DDoS net block. Good times.

Hobotron

A completely stupid solution:

Download a free VPN client (I used hide.me), install and run it, then begin your launcher. Once the launcher shows a PLAY button, close the VPN and start the game. All should now work as before.