The current state of the game is completely unacceptable.

Jarryzzt

1. Whenever anyone, on any MMO forum, makes a sweeping claim about "70% of players are X" or "60% of players want Y" or "90% of players are suffering from Z" I just want to ignore the entire post, if not the entire thread. What, you went out there and physically counted heads? Hacked the game server and dumped the internal stats? Conducted a telephone opinion poll with a 3% margin of error?

It's an...incredibly inefficient way to preface an argument when we don't even know what the total number of subs for this game is (only approximate, and dated, estimates). Especially when the English language possesses so many ways to water down any rhetorical argument - "what seems to be a majority of players..."; "most of the players I have observed on the forums..."; "apparently a significant subset of the player base..."; et cetera.

2. It appears to me that there may be a problem from the following standpoint:

- There are a lot of similar-sounding complaints on the forums, to the point where we now have a loading screen sticky.
- From personal observation and experience, ZOS technical support is not, shall we say, five Michelin star class. It's not awful, just not especially helpful (at least not in every instance).

Unfortunately I have no way of knowing the internal server stats, i.e. any way of gauging how truly widespread the problem is. There is further cognitive dissonance in that I, myself, personally, have not experienced any of these problems since I've come back to the game a few weeks ago, save for one specific post-Monday maintenance incident which was fixed by running the client repair cycle twice rather than once. Since there is at least one player - myself - who has not experienced what the OP has, one has to conclude that some of the problem has to do with ZOS, but some might - might! - have to do with the OP's device/network/ISP/etc.

3. In the ideal world, ZOS would pay attention to the forums and - no, not necessarily change their development cycle, since IT project management for something of this size can be quite unwieldy in the short run - but at least conduct a PR campaign on the forums in the vein of "I hear you, I feel your pain, we're going to make it all better". Not that this would necessarily reduce the number of "RAAAAAAGE!!!" threads on the subject, but that's sort of the standard corporate step to take.

No, this won't help the OP's situation. No, this won't alter development priorities, not likely, unless and until enough players "fall through" for ZOS to take a financial hit, so the pace of bug-fixing should remain unchanged. Literally all I can suggest to the OP is to step away for a month, play something else with their limited time (to wit...World of Tanks! FTP PVP deathmatches with an average duration of five-seven minutes, so easily ten a night for an hour-long fix, since time is such an issue for the OP), and then come back and see if the problem goes away.

Slick_007

Alpheu5 wrote: »

If nobody were to complain and moan and protest when the issues do happen, what incentive do those applying the changes that cause problems have to try and prevent the issues from happening in the first place?

reporting issues and whinging are totally seperate things. one is constructive. the other annoys people. most people on here cannot do both.

GreenhaloX

cheemers wrote: »

Like many people who work full time, I have limited time to spend on playing video games.

Today I got home from work and thought I could do some pvp and get transmutation crystals. I logged on to my first character and queued up for battlegrounds. The queue didn't take very long, but the loading screen going into Ald Carac immediately gave me the message "This may be an unusually long load time". I waited for 10+ minutes looking at the same screen before deciding to close the application and try again. I log back into my character and notice I can't requeue for battlegrounds - I have a 17 minute deserter penalty.

I had ESO running for nearly an hour, in which time I was able to get about 5 minutes of gametime. By all accounts, this is NOT acceptable.

Yes.. keep beating on the horse until they fix it!

Yeah.. I'm a long-time ESO player and haven't played any other MMO, aside from ESO. Those of us with full-time job away from home really have a disadvantage. I have heard some peeps are, regularly, putting in 8 to 12 hours and more each time they play. Well, I can't do that during the weekdays, thus, my catch up are usually the weekends or a day off during the week. Unfortunately, you have to put in load of continuous hours in order to make any progress on your toons. With that, yes, it is so disheartening, since release of CWC, with this crazy "usually" long loading screen debacle.

Well, there is the main thread up on the top screen for addressing the issue. At the least, it is good to know the good ZOS are tracking is and trying to address it. However, the fix or future patch is another story. Although, this loading screen is really a major issue or bug following CWC, it is really nothing new for bugs and issues to occur following each and every new DLC or new contents being added to ESO. I'm not going to get into every single details of issues and bugs, but there were plethora of those following installation of One Tamriel, Homestead, Morrowind, and each DLC, new contents and anniversary contents prior. Most of the bugs were minor and it went away or were fixed/patch behind the scene, but, some bugs/issues took weeks and even months to get fixed or improved. Heck, some are still lingering or reoccurring.

Although, I do enjoy frolicking around with my toons whenever I have the time, I am one who does not look forward to future contents or DLC, because they have always been plethora of issues and/or bugs in the weeks following release (each and every time.) For me, the enjoyment level goes down each time a new DLC is released, and my playtime and enjoyment level have dwindled since One Tamriel. The only reason I'm still around is I have put so much efforts and progresses on all my current maxed out 14 toons, that I still enjoy popping in and taking each out for a frolick and wreaking havoc throughout PvE land. Well, at least, when it is working right. Thus, my enjoyment has plummeted even steeper with this long arse loading screen issue and having to close app and reload/relog in so many times. Likewise, it seems to be the same for many other players and fans of ESO.

Oh well.. I'm sure they will eventually locate the actual cause and implement a fix/patch. Fortunately, there are other games and entertainment to pass the time. It's not the end of the world. Ha ha

starlizard70ub17_ESO

Axoinus wrote: »

Ch4mpTW wrote: »

I agree with 100%.

...I’ve encountered so many people as of lately on these forums who are defending ZOS’ actions, that frankly make no sense...

I think that the disconnect is PS4. Some 80% of people on forum are on PC. So when this sort of thing is talked about, PC folk aren't seeing the same thing.

^This right here^ , I play on PC, and while PC players have problems, apparently it's nothing like the horror stories we hear from PS4 and XBOX players.

Kronuxx

I am in the same boat as you OP. I can't believe what a buggy mess this game is. The sad thing is that this has been going on for almost the past 2 years. The Devs don't give a *** and there's little communication from them. I recently cancelled my subscription a day ago. They will not receive another dime from me. I was under the impression that when you perform a job that you're paid to do, you perform it to the best of your ability and do it with pride. ZOS and the team clearly don't have that mindset. It's also clear that they are incompetent at what they do, besides knowing how to program, and maintain servers, but also incompetent at class balance. Literally clueless people. I would advise against any new players picking up this game if you are reading this.

idk

MakoFore wrote: »

agree, i m cancelling my eso+ subsciption as we speak also. as i ve said this isnt a game in Beta, this is 4th year now, and we re paying an actually high subsciption compared to other entertainment serveices like netflix. I might actually be okay with it- if they were constantly working on - communicating with the community and taking our feedback,. instead its the usual "hey look at this shiny free pet!"

The subscription rate isn't on par with the industry. Netflix is irrelevant.

Apache_Kid

idk wrote: »

MakoFore wrote: »

agree, i m cancelling my eso+ subsciption as we speak also. as i ve said this isnt a game in Beta, this is 4th year now, and we re paying an actually high subsciption compared to other entertainment serveices like netflix. I might actually be okay with it- if they were constantly working on - communicating with the community and taking our feedback,. instead its the usual "hey look at this shiny free pet!"

The subscription rate isn't on par with the industry. Netflix is irrelevant.

What do you mean by that? That ESO+ doesn't have as many subs as other premium sub services in the gaming industry, or that the sub-rate is irrelevant due to Netflix being a different industry? (Not trolling genuinely curious what you meant.)

Spacemonkey

I dont understand people playing an MMORPG for matchmaking AND expecting it to be as smooth and seemless as triple A title matchmaking games.

Manage your expectations


If this game was ESO: Battlegrounds. I'd say fine. I agree. But it isn't - it doesn't matter if you paid a triple A title price for morrowind. When you enter battlegrounds it doesnt close your client and open up a different game's client. This is software reality here. Battlegrounds run within ESO and as such have to slog through everything that comes with the MMORPG. The best programmers in the world would not be able to make battlegrounds as great as it could be if it was NOT part of ESO.

TLDR: If you are playing ESO only for battlegrounds, you are playing the wrong game. It sucks, its frustrating, but its the reality of it.

Stania

-I'm getting tired of being kicked out of the server almost every time I recall to a wayshrine, travel to a player or port to any of my houses.
-I'm also tired of being invisible and see everyone as a Mr. Game and Watch for several minutes after I log in.
-It's very very annoying when merchants, bankers or quest givers take a lot of time to respond and makes me unable to interact with other things. I have to walk away, switch weapons wait some seconds, get back to the NPC, and spam "E" key so they finally stop whatever they're doing and talk to me.
-I'm sick of having to do three or four tries to log in every single time since I have a constant "Error in login, try again in a few minutes" message. It's not a problem with my internet, it's from the server's side.
-Thanks to the guild bank visualization changes, the members of my guild cannot longer ask for an specific item we have, I have to spend a lot of time checking the bank to see if the stuff they want exists. And no, I cannot risk the bank to potentially abusive members by giving everyone withdrawal permissions.

This didn't happen before your "improvement" patch with CWC, ZoS. I'm cancelling my ESO+ aswell, the benefits from it are over-countered by these and other issues that I'm having lately.

Aurielle

Huyen wrote: »

Brutusmax1mus wrote: »

Huyen wrote: »

Axoinus wrote: »

Ch4mpTW wrote: »

I agree with 100%.

...I’ve encountered so many people as of lately on these forums who are defending ZOS’ actions, that frankly make no sense...

I think that the disconnect is PS4. Some 80% of people on forum are on PC. So when this sort of thing is talked about, PC folk aren't seeing the same thing.

Perhaps thats true (on pc as well), but keep in mind that 75% of the people that play on PC complain as well. Its just to easy to blaim ZoS for every thing that can go wrong. Long load-screens can happen if there are alot of people doing the same thing at the same time. It could be a temporary dip in data-stream with your provider. Or you are just playing on prime-time with the provider handling more data then usual. And on top of that most people on PC got a complete lack of cleaning their rig (both software and hardware) usally clogged with dust, and virusses and yet blame ZoS for it. I play since the Beta, and the game has come a long way since then. Most bugs I encountered so far is fixed pretty soon. I agree that cyrodiil needs some dire work (mostly increasing server-capacity if you ask me) but look at your own end first instead of pointing fingers.

And yes, we all spend to much cash on games. I got tons lying around that I cant play with windows 10, because the furthest they are supported is XP wich is removed as viritual enviroment in 10 sadly. So suck it up.

Are you unaware of what's happened to console?

Like the pc never has trouble. Face it guys, any game that launches now has its own trouble one way or another. Complaining wont solve it. Shouting that you will stop your eso+ isnt going to help either. "I want them to fix it, but I wont give them money till they do"...yeah, thats gonna solve it! If you dont agree with the fact that issues are bound to happen (we are all human) then dont play.

Oh my God. Do you have ANY idea what it's like to PVP without being able to die, or use a transit shrine? These aren't just minor issues affecting the console versions of ESO: they are GAME-BREAKING issues that are driving players away. If we DON'T voice our displeasure, the message that we send is that we're satisfied with the current state of the game's performance.

Suck it up, dude: we'll keep complaining until something actually gets done.

Rescue78

idk wrote: »

MakoFore wrote: »

agree, i m cancelling my eso+ subsciption as we speak also. as i ve said this isnt a game in Beta, this is 4th year now, and we re paying an actually high subsciption compared to other entertainment serveices like netflix. I might actually be okay with it- if they were constantly working on - communicating with the community and taking our feedback,. instead its the usual "hey look at this shiny free pet!"

The subscription rate isn't on par with the industry. Netflix is irrelevant.

You're right it's not, it's higher. Final Fantasy XIV is cheaper and has no where near the problems this game has and that game is cross platform. They also fix *** right away unlike this game. The amount of white knighting for ZOS is ridiculous.

Dreyloch

Twohothardware wrote: »

Sony and Microsoft are just about as much to blame for these issues as ZoS. They need to get rid of whatever stupid logic they have for not allowing PTS builds on console and there needs to be a program where users sign up and test the patch a couple of weeks prior to it's live release so that if there is any glaring issues the release date for the patch can be delayed and people can continue playing a working version of the game in the meantime.

When patches are submitted to Sony and Microsoft the reason it takes a lot longer to get the patch compared to on PC is that it goes through their own testing and certification and that process obviously isn't worth a spit since they never catch these big issues that break the game. It's time this testing is done by the players that actually know what to look for.

But that's just it! From a PC perspective, we test on PTS. We tell them what's wrong, what's OP, what is game breaking, and most of the time it goes live anyway. Then to add more frustration, they push it on over to the consoles. I don't play console, so all I can assume is console gets at least a slightly better patch than PC because it takes longer to get over there. Personally, I think this game isn't meant for console. Not as an MMO anyway. There's just too much graphical and unscripted action to make it work flawlessly like a single player game.

Getting back on subject, load screens have gotten better over time, but when it happens it's often the worst time possible. Your guild raid needs you, and half your raid is stuck trying to come back at a camp, or your trying to get to a Keep under fire before you can't port there. This is all PvP of course, but i'm sure death and load screens manage to defeat many groups/raids in PvE too =/

Huyen

The_Patriarch wrote: »

Dapper Dinosaur wrote: »

I don't understand how they can playtest new patches and allow such glaring issues to be pushed through. It happens literally every single time they have a big content patch, it breaks at least one major component of the game and we have to sit here and deal with it for usually over a month at least before they patch the patch.

It's just very unprofessional.

This

I refuse to believe that the patch was properly tested. If only one or two people were having issues, we could argue that those bugs just slipped by despite testing. However, there are several pages of specific examples of load screen bugs and other issues in the official thread alone.

And it's astounding how vocal the white knights have become. Even in this thread, they've even stooped to name-calling.

You better be careful chasing away the console crowd. It's been proven that consolers spend far more than the so-called PC master race. If consolers leave, a huge revenue stream leaves with them.

Console players spend more on average, because stuff is 40% more expensive on consoles. Go figure: the same game: costs €50 on pc, costs €100 on ps4. Exact same game (yes, I owned a ps4 before).

cheemers

Spacemonkey wrote: »

I dont understand people playing an MMORPG for matchmaking AND expecting it to be as smooth and seemless as triple A title matchmaking games.

Manage your expectations


If this game was ESO: Battlegrounds. I'd say fine. I agree. But it isn't - it doesn't matter if you paid a triple A title price for morrowind. When you enter battlegrounds it doesnt close your client and open up a different game's client. This is software reality here. Battlegrounds run within ESO and as such have to slog through everything that comes with the MMORPG. The best programmers in the world would not be able to make battlegrounds as great as it could be if it was NOT part of ESO.

TLDR: If you are playing ESO only for battlegrounds, you are playing the wrong game. It sucks, its frustrating, but its the reality of it.

This issue isn't exclusive to battlegrounds only. I get where you're coming from, that the game isn't totally focused on having smooth matchmaking, but the game is barely playable at all for end game activities at the moment.