Game breaking issues on NA = Sensible compensation

xaraan · April 2022

ApoAlaia wrote: »

For me the crux of the matter is not compensation.

The crux of the matter is that when the NA server went awry we got a full post-mortem by none other than the game director.

The umpteen times the EU server has gone awry over they years, to the point that it became a meme, including but not only the two most recent instances, not even a single word.

So yes, is not really easy to feel like a 'valued customer'.

That's definitely understandable.

Sounds like the exact same issues though, so prob would be the same post-mortem. But that leads to another question of why they fix a problem on one server and then let it roll out live on another when they knew ahead of time.

Bat · April 2022

Mythgard1967 wrote: »

Bat wrote: »

Why do I get the feeling from some of these replies that people who play only on PC-NA feel entitled to their compensation and that players on other platforms and servers should just be quiet?

It's just sus to me to see so many offended by me floating the mere idea that it would be fair to compensate players equally.

UH but NA didnt get any compensation that was specific to NA. All the "compensation" we received was also given to EU....so....I think what NA is saying...NA didn't get any NA specific compensation. The so called compensation was applied to everyone...even EU...who didn't have issues yet.....so...you want compensation applied equally to only be for EU when you were compensated for NA issues..and that is equal exactly how????

You must have been not paying attention. The compensation was instated because PC-NA had issues. When PC-EU have practically the same issues, there's nothing but an expectancy of PC-EU customers to be patient.

And also, PC-EU was down yesterday for extra maintenance. We're getting another server shutdown in just 10 minutes and who knows how long that will last, 4-6 hours I'd estimate from previous experience, meaning people who come home from work now won't see yesterday's nor today's event tickets + event loot.

I didn't say I want PC-EU *ONLY* to be compensated, so please refrain from further misreadings.

Bat · April 2022

xaraan wrote: »

davidtk wrote: »

Yea what I understood is that "compensation" is for global update 33 issues and it is 1200 weekly endeavors and XP scrolls. Thats all. No specific compensation for NA server issues after sharding. So next compensation yes but for all.

Same here, compensation was given. This thread makes it sound like EU is wanting more compensation than what NA got. But it's probably just frustration in the end, it's pretty annoying to have limited time and time locked events and not be able to get into the game.

Please, quote where it's made to sound like that, because that surely isn't what I wrote.

Youmee · April 2022

Dear ZOS,
we understand that you have made a mistake, but what abut an apology and some compensation for those who waited for this anniversary event?

xaraan · April 2022

Bat wrote: »

xaraan wrote: »

davidtk wrote: »

Yea what I understood is that "compensation" is for global update 33 issues and it is 1200 weekly endeavors and XP scrolls. Thats all. No specific compensation for NA server issues after sharding. So next compensation yes but for all.

Same here, compensation was given. This thread makes it sound like EU is wanting more compensation than what NA got. But it's probably just frustration in the end, it's pretty annoying to have limited time and time locked events and not be able to get into the game.

Please, quote where it's made to sound like that, because that surely isn't what I wrote.

Why is it that I have this feeling, that no compensation will be given for EU players' losses?

You got the same compensation we already did = bonus endevour and daily login reward increases right?

So what compensation are you asking for in that case with that sentence?

I'm not saying I don't understand your frustration, we were there last week with all this and it shouldn't have rolled out live to another server when they knew the problems. Just pointing out that when you get the same compensation we do without having had any problems yet, giving additional to just EU b/c they eventually did have those problems that caused the rewards isn't really "equal".

Khenarthi · April 2022

Well NA got an explanation from the game director, can EU get an explanation too, please? Does not even have to be from the director.

sarahthes · April 2022

Khenarthi wrote: »

Well NA got an explanation from the game director, can EU get an explanation too, please? Does not even have to be from the director.

We didn't get our explanation and apology until it had been stable for 48 hours.

Grizzbeorn · April 2022

Bat wrote: »

Why do I get the feeling from some of these replies that people who play only on PC-NA feel entitled to their compensation and that players on other platforms and servers should just be quiet?

I'm not telling you to be quiet; I'm telling you that what you are saying is incorrect.
I'm saying they don't divide compensation by server.
Why and how could they when everyone has access to both servers, by design.
We are not locked to a specific server based on where we live. US players can play on EU server; EU players can play on NA server.
Compensation goes to everyone IF they choose to compensate.

And, on the off-chance that I am wrong about how they do things, I also asked for you to give specific examples of WHEN they have divided compensation by server. Because I've never seen it.

Varana · April 2022

"Their compensation" as in "compensation because of problems on their platform", not specific to players on that platform.

Ascarl · April 2022

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

If anyone is concerned about missing event tickets due to yesterday’s outage on PC EU, please place a ticket with Customer Service. They will review and help to compensate the missing tickets.

Those who have other issues connected to the outage should also place a ticket for those issues to be addressed.

As this effects many players, do you really want all of them to submit a ticket?

I_killed_Vivec · April 2022

Ascarl wrote: »

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

If anyone is concerned about missing event tickets due to yesterday’s outage on PC EU, please place a ticket with Customer Service. They will review and help to compensate the missing tickets.

Those who have other issues connected to the outage should also place a ticket for those issues to be addressed.

As this effects many players, do you really want all of them to submit a ticket?

"ESO apologizes for issues that some players may be experiencing when attempting to submit tickets. The ticket server will be taken off line until we have completed investigating the issue."

Mythgard1967 · April 2022

I guess thats one way to look at it....though I never saw it...I just heard it was a hardware issue from the forums.....

but...if it was a hardware issue...would you be having an issue???? Well...I guess if they swapped out the NA hardware with the EU hardware....

so...did we????

sarahthes wrote: »

Khenarthi wrote: »

Well NA got an explanation from the game director, can EU get an explanation too, please? Does not even have to be from the director.

We didn't get our explanation and apology until it had been stable for 48 hours.

after being unstable for over a week. I hope they at least learned from how they fixed NA so that EU isnt messed up for as long as NA was.

And well....I think it is also highly suspect....I mean,,,what are the chances the EU server has exactly the same hardware issue after cold sharing that NA had????

Khenarthi · April 2022

The thing is, it's not the first time something like this happens on EU. There are too many of us logging in in the same small timeframe, apparently.

Instead of making provisions for this during events particularly, and this one is the most anticipated, we get hit with maintenance while ZOS deals with "backend issues".

Now, I am not an IT specialist, so to me it feels like they're just turning the server off, waiting for people to go do something else (or go to bed...), turn it back on and since by then many players are done for the day, consider the issue "solved".

sarahthes · April 2022

Mythgard1967 wrote: »

I guess thats one way to look at it....though I never saw it...I just heard it was a hardware issue from the forums.....

but...if it was a hardware issue...would you be having an issue???? Well...I guess if they swapped out the NA hardware with the EU hardware....

so...did we????

sarahthes wrote: »

Khenarthi wrote: »

Well NA got an explanation from the game director, can EU get an explanation too, please? Does not even have to be from the director.

We didn't get our explanation and apology until it had been stable for 48 hours.

after being unstable for over a week. I hope they at least learned from how they fixed NA so that EU isnt messed up for as long as NA was.

And well....I think it is also highly suspect....I mean,,,what are the chances the EU server has exactly the same hardware issue after cold sharing that NA had????

The hardware infrastructure is likely the same age. It may not be exactly the same thing but I suspect a lot of their stuff is running beyond its optimal lifetime.

I think the extra load on the servers from the background data migration is just bringing preexisting problems to light. I don't think cold storage and sharding caused the problem. I think it is making it apparent earlier than it would have been otherwise, but that the problems would still be there and prone to failure at any time.

Canary in a coal mine.

Daimonion82 · April 2022

"You got the same compensation we already did = bonus endevour and daily login reward increases right?" - that would be truth, if we could log in to claim those login rewards and receive endaevors...

Mythgard1967 · April 2022

sarahthes wrote: »

Mythgard1967 wrote: »

I guess thats one way to look at it....though I never saw it...I just heard it was a hardware issue from the forums.....

but...if it was a hardware issue...would you be having an issue???? Well...I guess if they swapped out the NA hardware with the EU hardware....

so...did we????

sarahthes wrote: »

Khenarthi wrote: »

Well NA got an explanation from the game director, can EU get an explanation too, please? Does not even have to be from the director.

We didn't get our explanation and apology until it had been stable for 48 hours.

after being unstable for over a week. I hope they at least learned from how they fixed NA so that EU isnt messed up for as long as NA was.

And well....I think it is also highly suspect....I mean,,,what are the chances the EU server has exactly the same hardware issue after cold sharing that NA had????

The hardware infrastructure is likely the same age. It may not be exactly the same thing but I suspect a lot of their stuff is running beyond its optimal lifetime.

I think the extra load on the servers from the background data migration is just bringing preexisting problems to light. I don't think cold storage and sharding caused the problem. I think it is making it apparent earlier than it would have been otherwise, but that the problems would still be there and prone to failure at any time.

Canary in a coal mine.

That is fair and even understandable.

Here is the thing......if it went that poorly for NA.....and your aging infrastructure was impacted by this extra load...and the two sets of hardware are of roughly the same age...

Is it not reasonable; to say "OK guys, NA was bad, what are our plans if EU goes south???" and "Have we checked??? do we feel ok with the hardware handling the strain?", if we have any doubt??? should we move either the event or the work efforts that impacted the hardware so they don't happen together???

I lead 2 IT development teams and one business team........our back up plans have back up plans.

This feels like standard thinking.....common sense even....so it just makes me think....we might have gotten a "this was the problem"...but I don't know that I believe it. Not because they didnt prevent it happening to EU....but because they neither managed the timing (they had to know this happening in the anniversary event is bad juju) nor make a noticable improvement to responsiveness that would suggest they had a recovery plan in place.

Gargath · April 2022

I rather won't ask for compensation if they don't give it willingly. I have my pride!

Ascarl · April 2022

Gargath wrote: »

I rather won't ask for compensation if they don't give it willingly. I have my pride!

This is most likly their reasoning.

nesmewno · April 2022

Great gift for the anniversary of the game from ZOS

We should get used to this attitude by now.
Approximate wait time 4 hours

TechMaybeHic · April 2022

The idea of trinkets being given out in game making up for poor performance is what leads us deeper in this mess.

Forget compensation IMO. Just focus on fixing the game. Everything else is nonsense. Including the chapters.

davidtk · April 2022

TechMaybeHic wrote: »

Forget compensation IMO. Just focus on fixing the game. Everything else is nonsense. Including the chapters.

After too much issues with servers i can only agree with that... l really hope for fixed and stable game. (Okay, some gems, gold, crowns, house, mount etc would be nice but...) I loved that game but what what happening now? Okay i played only WoW and EVE Online as MMOs and must say that i didn't encounter so much problems like here

Gaeliannas · April 2022

I am just hoping the EU players don't have to go through 2+ weeks of this like NA did.

Grizzly_UK · April 2022

xaraan wrote: »

Bat wrote: »

xaraan wrote: »

davidtk wrote: »

Yea what I understood is that "compensation" is for global update 33 issues and it is 1200 weekly endeavors and XP scrolls. Thats all. No specific compensation for NA server issues after sharding. So next compensation yes but for all.

Same here, compensation was given. This thread makes it sound like EU is wanting more compensation than what NA got. But it's probably just frustration in the end, it's pretty annoying to have limited time and time locked events and not be able to get into the game.

Please, quote where it's made to sound like that, because that surely isn't what I wrote.

Why is it that I have this feeling, that no compensation will be given for EU players' losses?

You got the same compensation we already did = bonus endevour and daily login reward increases right?

So what compensation are you asking for in that case with that sentence?

I'm not saying I don't understand your frustration, we were there last week with all this and it shouldn't have rolled out live to another server when they knew the problems. Just pointing out that when you get the same compensation we do without having had any problems yet, giving additional to just EU b/c they eventually did have those problems that caused the rewards isn't really "equal".

I log-in daily on PC-EU and, so far, I haven't received any bonus endeavour and daily login reward increases. Anybody know when are we supposed to get this so-called compensation? Apologies but I don't visit these forums very often so if there was some announcement about this "compensation" then I simply haven't seen it so I'm not aware of it.

But, let's get this right shall we? EU players have had server issues for years with zero compensation but NA players get server issues last week and instantly get compensation!

Something seems a little off there doesn't it?

EDIT: Went and had a dig around in the forums and finally found the information regarding the "compensation" in the letter post from @ZOS_MattFiror:

we are going to be giving out five 150% Experience Scrolls on the first day of April through the Daily Login Rewards calendar and will be tripling the number of Weekly Endeavor Seals the week of 4/4 for players on all ESO platforms

Seems I did get these "compensatory rewards" without even knowing about it! I'll not comment on the fact that the letter from MattFiror was directly in response to "the PC North American megaserver performance problems deserve some explanation" and outlined "what has been going on the last week or so for our North American PC players". Wonder if MattFiror will follow up with a similar letter for the PC-EU players or will we simply get nothing as usual?

xaraan · April 2022

Bat wrote: »

[snip]

xaraan wrote: »

Bat wrote: »

xaraan wrote: »

davidtk wrote: »

Yea what I understood is that "compensation" is for global update 33 issues and it is 1200 weekly endeavors and XP scrolls. Thats all. No specific compensation for NA server issues after sharding. So next compensation yes but for all.

Same here, compensation was given. This thread makes it sound like EU is wanting more compensation than what NA got. But it's probably just frustration in the end, it's pretty annoying to have limited time and time locked events and not be able to get into the game.

Please, quote where it's made to sound like that, because that surely isn't what I wrote.

Why is it that I have this feeling, that no compensation will be given for EU players' losses?

You got the same compensation we already did = bonus endevour and daily login reward increases right?

So what compensation are you asking for in that case with that sentence?

I'm not saying I don't understand your frustration, we were there last week with all this and it shouldn't have rolled out live to another server when they knew the problems. Just pointing out that when you get the same compensation we do without having had any problems yet, giving additional to just EU b/c they eventually did have those problems that caused the rewards isn't really "equal".

[snip]

Not really considering the amount of others that echoed similar feelings that I have. Perhaps you didn't communicate what you meant well? Either way, would you rather them have only given those things to NA and then wait and see if you had problems before getting them? And compensation can go out ahead of time - people get paid in advance all the time.

Now, if you were saying they should give everyone another round of additional rewards, that definitely did not come across that way, especially with you specifically calling out NA like they get special treatment for being litigious (despite ToS requiring arbitration which would make that moot).

[edited to remove quote]

Gaeliannas · April 2022

Bat wrote: »

Same gamebreaking issues on EU = "Thank you for your patience!"

I opted to stay away from EU last night.
I have a friend on EU who had their entire Glenumbra progress for both Psijic and Mages entirely rolled back by yesterday's issues. That's one entire zone's worth of rifts closed and books collected.
Why is it that I have this feeling, that no compensation will be given for EU players' losses?
We're just not good at vocalizing our disappointments, I think. Most of our nations aren't as litigious as the US.

For what it's worth, I play NA and didn't get any compensation for the 2-3 week mess we dealt with last month either. XP Scrolls and extra endearments (or whatever they are called) that I don't use or need = no compensation for me.

ZOS_Icy · April 2022

Greetings,

We have recently removed some unnecessary back and forth from this thread. This is a reminder to keep the discussion civil and constructive. Please keep our Community Rules in mind moving forward.

Thank you for your understanding.

Ragnarok0130 · April 2022

ApoAlaia wrote: »

For me the crux of the matter is not compensation.

The crux of the matter is that when the NA server went awry we got a full post-mortem by none other than the game director.

The umpteen times the EU server has gone awry over they years, to the point that it became a meme, including but not only the two most recent instances, not even a single word.

So yes, is not really easy to feel like a 'valued customer'.

With the same issues (symptom wise) recurring on both NA and EU servers can any of us actually think we're valued customers? We're paying for ESO plus then can't use the service we're paying real money for, in my industry that demands actual compensation not just a few XP scrolls. Whether that compensation would be crowns, and extension of our current ESO+ etc doesn't matter but a few XP scrolls isn't compensation for the amount of time we've been out of the game over the past month and I never demand compensation - it's the recurring severe nature of the issue making me think this way now.

matterandstuff · April 2022

Mythgard1967 wrote: »

sarahthes wrote: »

Mythgard1967 wrote: »

I guess thats one way to look at it....though I never saw it...I just heard it was a hardware issue from the forums.....

but...if it was a hardware issue...would you be having an issue???? Well...I guess if they swapped out the NA hardware with the EU hardware....

so...did we????

sarahthes wrote: »

Khenarthi wrote: »

Well NA got an explanation from the game director, can EU get an explanation too, please? Does not even have to be from the director.

We didn't get our explanation and apology until it had been stable for 48 hours.

after being unstable for over a week. I hope they at least learned from how they fixed NA so that EU isnt messed up for as long as NA was.

And well....I think it is also highly suspect....I mean,,,what are the chances the EU server has exactly the same hardware issue after cold sharing that NA had????

The hardware infrastructure is likely the same age. It may not be exactly the same thing but I suspect a lot of their stuff is running beyond its optimal lifetime.

I think the extra load on the servers from the background data migration is just bringing preexisting problems to light. I don't think cold storage and sharding caused the problem. I think it is making it apparent earlier than it would have been otherwise, but that the problems would still be there and prone to failure at any time.

Canary in a coal mine.

That is fair and even understandable.

Here is the thing......if it went that poorly for NA.....and your aging infrastructure was impacted by this extra load...and the two sets of hardware are of roughly the same age...

Is it not reasonable; to say "OK guys, NA was bad, what are our plans if EU goes south???" and "Have we checked??? do we feel ok with the hardware handling the strain?", if we have any doubt??? should we move either the event or the work efforts that impacted the hardware so they don't happen together???

I lead 2 IT development teams and one business team........our back up plans have back up plans.

This feels like standard thinking.....common sense even....so it just makes me think....we might have gotten a "this was the problem"...but I don't know that I believe it. Not because they didnt prevent it happening to EU....but because they neither managed the timing (they had to know this happening in the anniversary event is bad juju) nor make a noticable improvement to responsiveness that would suggest they had a recovery plan in place.

This is bog-standard ZOS thinking at this stage. If they've decided to do something, and to do it on a timetable, no amount of technical problems that should logically lead to a reconsideration will actually make them reconsider - they'll just plough ahead as if the technical problems associated with their decisions never happened and half-heartedly work through the resulting chaos later with minimal communication.

shadyjane62 · April 2022

no compensation is enough to have to go thru the ticket process.

xaraan · April 2022

Grizzly_UK wrote: »

xaraan wrote: »

Bat wrote: »

xaraan wrote: »

davidtk wrote: »

Yea what I understood is that "compensation" is for global update 33 issues and it is 1200 weekly endeavors and XP scrolls. Thats all. No specific compensation for NA server issues after sharding. So next compensation yes but for all.

Same here, compensation was given. This thread makes it sound like EU is wanting more compensation than what NA got. But it's probably just frustration in the end, it's pretty annoying to have limited time and time locked events and not be able to get into the game.

Please, quote where it's made to sound like that, because that surely isn't what I wrote.

Why is it that I have this feeling, that no compensation will be given for EU players' losses?

You got the same compensation we already did = bonus endevour and daily login reward increases right?

So what compensation are you asking for in that case with that sentence?

I'm not saying I don't understand your frustration, we were there last week with all this and it shouldn't have rolled out live to another server when they knew the problems. Just pointing out that when you get the same compensation we do without having had any problems yet, giving additional to just EU b/c they eventually did have those problems that caused the rewards isn't really "equal".

I log-in daily on PC-EU and, so far, I haven't received any bonus endeavour and daily login reward increases. Anybody know when are we supposed to get this so-called compensation? Apologies but I don't visit these forums very often so if there was some announcement about this "compensation" then I simply haven't seen it so I'm not aware of it.

But, let's get this right shall we? EU players have had server issues for years with zero compensation but NA players get server issues last week and instantly get compensation! Something seems a little off there doesn't it?

EDIT: Went and had a dig around in the forums and finally found the information regarding the "compensation" in the letter post from @ZOS_MattFiror:

we are going to be giving out five 150% Experience Scrolls on the first day of April through the Daily Login Rewards calendar and will be tripling the number of Weekly Endeavor Seals the week of 4/4 for players on all ESO platforms

Seems I did get these "compensatory rewards" without even knowing about it! I'll not comment on the fact that the letter from MattFiror was directly in response to "the PC North American megaserver performance problems deserve some explanation" and outlined "what has been going on the last week or so for our North American PC players". Wonder if MattFiror will follow up with a similar letter for the PC-EU players or will we simply get nothing as usual?

In addition to the five scrolls they gave out for daily rewards, did you guys have 1200 seals for your weekly endeavor this week? That was the other part I believe.