Is load on system really a concern?

FlopsyPrince

A short while back ZOS fixed the "bug" that allowed BeamMeUp to perform its very useful functionality. (Something that really should be in the game.)

Now they have the ability to beam to each of your guildmates in an area sequentially - something that is doable manually so does not violate any "spirit of the game" in spite of what other are sure to assert.

Yet, this very change simply removed a quicker way of something that is doable and ended up putting more of a load on the system. Did those making this decision consider the system load at all? Was the old way really as "broken" as was claimed? Wasn't the "bug" really a true feature in this case and something that should have be integrated into the game instead, even on consoles?

theendoftheriver

Is this a joke?

FlopsyPrince

theendoftheriver wrote: »

Is this a joke?

No. It is a response to the "we are reducing the load" messages, yet something like this ends up increasing the load. (And making me sit around doing nothing when I could have been playing or could spend a lot of time doing manually instead.)

Though this would require active thoughts about what increases load and many QoL improvements that would reduce load.

Another area would be gathering dailies in IC.

phaneub17_ESO

Must be, the game no longer tries to keep me in play, the moment there's a hiccup it either kicks me out of the game right away or throws a 999+ lag wall at me. Suffice to say I am no longer reliable in group play.

FlopsyPrince

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

Must be, the game no longer tries to keep me in play, the moment there's a hiccup it either kicks me out of the game right away or throws a 999+ lag wall at me. Suffice to say I am no longer reliable in group play.

I had that briefly, but it turned out to be my ISP. Very few of those since then.

kargen27

I don't feel the BeamMeUp feature should be in the game. Physically visiting a wayshrine in game should be required to gain access to that wayshrine. I see it as a but that was delayed in fixing because there were other priorities but still a bug.

There is something to be said for traveling through a zone discovering things even on multiple characters.

Amottica

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

Did those making this decision consider the system load at all?

A while back Zenimax reduced how often add-ons, hence any aspect of our game, could ping the server for information. It was specifically to reduce server load since very ping, ever query, adds load to the server. Since the manual process is slower now, as you acknowledge, it is less of a load on the server at any given time by definition. It essentially spreads out the pings to the server so they occur over a longer period of time.

So yes, they did consider system load when making these decisions about how frequently we can ping the server. The messaging rates were also extended which is where auto-social bans occur.

So the question becomes, why do you question if they considered server load?

TaSheen

kargen27 wrote: »

I don't feel the BeamMeUp feature should be in the game. Physically visiting a wayshrine in game should be required to gain access to that wayshrine. I see it as a but that was delayed in fixing because there were other priorities but still a bug.

There is something to be said for traveling through a zone discovering things even on multiple characters.

I don't use that particular "feature" myself. I'm not fussed about finding wayshrines, since I love running around new areas.

FlopsyPrince

kargen27 wrote: »

I don't feel the BeamMeUp feature should be in the game. Physically visiting a wayshrine in game should be required to gain access to that wayshrine. I see it as a but that was delayed in fixing because there were other priorities but still a bug.

There is something to be said for traveling through a zone discovering things even on multiple characters.

You may think that, but it is not a good idea overall for a couple of reasons:

- You can already work around it by manually selecting others in one of your guilds to travel to. The whole idea of finding a wayshrine may be great for the first character (though that can be worked around with the in-game tools as I noted), but it gets very tedious for the 30-40th one. Perhaps some of us should have fewer alts, but alts are a fact.

- My OP noted that the way it works now is just automating the manual process and thus taking up a lot more server computing.

- Running around doesn't really add as much value after you have played the game for a while. It is even rather boring in High Isle. This is an MMO, not a riding simulator!

FlopsyPrince

Amottica wrote: »

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

Did those making this decision consider the system load at all?

A while back Zenimax reduced how often add-ons, hence any aspect of our game, could ping the server for information. It was specifically to reduce server load since very ping, ever query, adds load to the server. Since the manual process is slower now, as you acknowledge, it is less of a load on the server at any given time by definition. It essentially spreads out the pings to the server so they occur over a longer period of time.

So yes, they did consider system load when making these decisions about how frequently we can ping the server. The messaging rates were also extended which is where auto-social bans occur.

So the question becomes, why do you question if they considered server load?

Because it causes more server load the way it is now, even if they completely banned letting BeamMeUp beam you to anyone at all (since you can go through your guild list to do that - as I did on the PS4). That is a LOT more load.

I also noted (in the final comment) that gather daily quests in IC also creates significant extra load. This gets extremely frustrating during an event, but causes lots of zone changes for no extra value (after perhaps the first time you get the daily). Thus performance has not impacted positive changes there.

Many other Quality of Life changes would reduce rezones and other extra efforts. I am glad we have multi-craft now, which makes a single attempt possibly be longer, but seemed to reduce many interactions with the system and was a very good QoL change.

That is why I wonder how seriously the cost of doing things (from the game's viewpoint, not the player's) is really considered. I am sure they do some, but I would argue they are not thinking deeply enough.

Janni

By what mechanism do you think this is increasing server load? I don't know much about the addon since I've never used it but from a cursory glance it does seem it would be reducing work as they say.

I'm not sure what the dailies in IC have to do with this. I can agree that it is really annoying to go through all of those load screens though.

FlopsyPrince

Janni wrote: »

By what mechanism do you think this is increasing server load? I don't know much about the addon since I've never used it but from a cursory glance it does seem it would be reducing work as they say.

I'm not sure what the dailies in IC have to do with this. I can agree that it is really annoying to go through all of those load screens though.

You are shifting to each of your guildmates in the zone sequentially. This can be done manually, so it is just automating a manual process, but going to each character surely takes up some computational time.

kargen27

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

I don't feel the BeamMeUp feature should be in the game. Physically visiting a wayshrine in game should be required to gain access to that wayshrine. I see it as a but that was delayed in fixing because there were other priorities but still a bug.

There is something to be said for traveling through a zone discovering things even on multiple characters.

You may think that, but it is not a good idea overall for a couple of reasons:

- You can already work around it by manually selecting others in one of your guilds to travel to. The whole idea of finding a wayshrine may be great for the first character (though that can be worked around with the in-game tools as I noted), but it gets very tedious for the 30-40th one. Perhaps some of us should have fewer alts, but alts are a fact.

- My OP noted that the way it works now is just automating the manual process and thus taking up a lot more server computing.

- Running around doesn't really add as much value after you have played the game for a while. It is even rather boring in High Isle. This is an MMO, not a riding simulator!

Your OP basically states why your argument is presented on faulty pretenses. As others have pointed out automating means quicker queries and those quicker queries would have more impact on the server than doing so manually.

This is an MMO. So get off your mount and explore some. Maybe the excitement of discovery will return. And since when is playing the game in multiple aspects not a good idea? We get multiple characters so we can experience the game multiple times and in multiple ways.

FlopsyPrince

kargen27 wrote: »

I don't feel the BeamMeUp feature should be in the game. Physically visiting a wayshrine in game should be required to gain access to that wayshrine. I see it as a but that was delayed in fixing because there were other priorities but still a bug.

There is something to be said for traveling through a zone discovering things even on multiple characters.

You can also buy the wayshrines

kargen27 wrote: »

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

I don't feel the BeamMeUp feature should be in the game. Physically visiting a wayshrine in game should be required to gain access to that wayshrine. I see it as a but that was delayed in fixing because there were other priorities but still a bug.

There is something to be said for traveling through a zone discovering things even on multiple characters.

You may think that, but it is not a good idea overall for a couple of reasons:

- You can already work around it by manually selecting others in one of your guilds to travel to. The whole idea of finding a wayshrine may be great for the first character (though that can be worked around with the in-game tools as I noted), but it gets very tedious for the 30-40th one. Perhaps some of us should have fewer alts, but alts are a fact.

- My OP noted that the way it works now is just automating the manual process and thus taking up a lot more server computing.

- Running around doesn't really add as much value after you have played the game for a while. It is even rather boring in High Isle. This is an MMO, not a riding simulator!

Your OP basically states why your argument is presented on faulty pretenses. As others have pointed out automating means quicker queries and those quicker queries would have more impact on the server than doing so manually.

This is an MMO. So get off your mount and explore some. Maybe the excitement of discovery will return. And since when is playing the game in multiple aspects not a good idea? We get multiple characters so we can experience the game multiple times and in multiple ways.

Suffice it to say I would completely disagree.

You can never restore the "excitement of discovery", since you have already been there, likely multiple times!

I remember how "fun" it was to explore one of the Horde WoW zones when I ran from the single Alliance areas nearby. Running wild in a Horde area was fun. At least it was for part of a day. Then it got boring and just became a chore. I never repeated that route since it added no game value either.

You can only "explore" where you have not been before, by definition.

kargen27

The beauty of it is I can play as I wish and you can play as you wish. I rarely use a mount outside of Cyrodiil. I will use one if someone in Zone asks for help with a world boss. No need to keep them waiting because I prefer going slow. You want to port to places and the game has something in place that allows you to do that.

You also want to speed up the process by being able to hit one button and potentially have access to every wayshrine in the zone. I'm fine with that but trying to justify keeping that part of BeamMeUp as some kind of performance improvement is disingenuous.

And I believe you are absolutely wrong with your definition of explore not that we were talking of exploration though. Do you never watch a movie a 2nd time or repeat a television series? If so do you just watch the opening and closing credits because you've already experienced all the stuff in the middle?

FlopsyPrince

kargen27 wrote: »

The beauty of it is I can play as I wish and you can play as you wish. I rarely use a mount outside of Cyrodiil. I will use one if someone in Zone asks for help with a world boss. No need to keep them waiting because I prefer going slow. You want to port to places and the game has something in place that allows you to do that.

You also want to speed up the process by being able to hit one button and potentially have access to every wayshrine in the zone. I'm fine with that but trying to justify keeping that part of BeamMeUp as some kind of performance improvement is disingenuous.

And I believe you are absolutely wrong with your definition of explore not that we were talking of exploration though. Do you never watch a movie a 2nd time or repeat a television series? If so do you just watch the opening and closing credits because you've already experienced all the stuff in the middle?

No I can't "play as I wish". I have to waste a LOT of time running around collecting wayshrines.

Whatever though. My point is made. Others are free to disagree and some certainly will, as with anything on the forums.