APM, AND SERVER PERFORMANCE

VvwvenomwvV

I was reading over the Combat Preview, I realized there is something in common with all of the changes, they all reduce the actions per minute. This will be less calculations the server has to make.

The change to light, and heavy attacks: "We're replacing light and heavy attacks impacts in damage production by adjusting their damage to deal a flat amount, regardless of stats". This way the server doesn't have to do as many calculations.

The adjustments to dots: "The other area we have spent a considerable amount of time on for this is the uptime of effects in ESO, as these are another huge way to improve your combat capabilities. Outside of weaving, the main limiter of your effectiveness in combat is your ability to output events, such as damage, healing, shielding, etc, which is bound by activating abilities, which in turn are bound within the global cooldown system. Activating from your action bar locks out your other abilities for one second, so, a way to circumvent this system is to utilize actions that add power or extra events without your need to continuously activate them".

These changes will help reduce the strain on the server, which should help performance.

However, as they keep adding more stuff, it will eventually be back to where it was.

I understand that for an MMO to survive, it has to have changes that keep people interested. If it becomes stagnant, people become bored, and leave. I embrace change. I understand it is necessary. I would like to point out to everyone who's against these changes that change is necessary, and there may be a silver lining...a possible improvement to server performance.

Extinct_Solo_Player

VvwvenomwvV wrote: »

I was reading over the Combat Preview, I realized there is something in common with all of the changes, they all reduce the actions per minute. This will be less calculations the server has to make.

The change to light, and heavy attacks: "We're replacing light and heavy attacks impacts in damage production by adjusting their damage to deal a flat amount, regardless of stats". This way the server doesn't have to do as many calculations.

The adjustments to dots: "The other area we have spent a considerable amount of time on for this is the uptime of effects in ESO, as these are another huge way to improve your combat capabilities. Outside of weaving, the main limiter of your effectiveness in combat is your ability to output events, such as damage, healing, shielding, etc, which is bound by activating abilities, which in turn are bound within the global cooldown system. Activating from your action bar locks out your other abilities for one second, so, a way to circumvent this system is to utilize actions that add power or extra events without your need to continuously activate them".

These changes will help reduce the strain on the server, which should help performance.

However, as they keep adding more stuff, it will eventually be back to where it was.

I understand that for an MMO to survive, it has to have changes that keep people interested. If it becomes stagnant, people become bored, and leave. I embrace change. I understand it is necessary. I would like to point out to everyone who's against these changes that change is necessary, and there may be a silver lining...a possible improvement to server performance.

It will change nothing, the server hardware from 2012 needs to be replaced....

VaranisArano

Huh?

You still need to weave light attacks in order to proc stacks for relequen, so it's not like players who already weave are going to stop. They'll just do less damage.

And it's not like there's dead time in a rotation. Any GCDs not spent reapplying DOTs/buffs is going to be filled with a spammable.

So it's not any less button pressing.

Jaimeh

VvwvenomwvV wrote: »

I was reading over the Combat Preview, I realized there is something in common with all of the changes, they all reduce the actions per minute. This will be less calculations the server has to make.

The change to light, and heavy attacks: "We're replacing light and heavy attacks impacts in damage production by adjusting their damage to deal a flat amount, regardless of stats". This way the server doesn't have to do as many calculations.

The adjustments to dots: "The other area we have spent a considerable amount of time on for this is the uptime of effects in ESO, as these are another huge way to improve your combat capabilities. Outside of weaving, the main limiter of your effectiveness in combat is your ability to output events, such as damage, healing, shielding, etc, which is bound by activating abilities, which in turn are bound within the global cooldown system. Activating from your action bar locks out your other abilities for one second, so, a way to circumvent this system is to utilize actions that add power or extra events without your need to continuously activate them".

These changes will help reduce the strain on the server, which should help performance.

However, as they keep adding more stuff, it will eventually be back to where it was.

I understand that for an MMO to survive, it has to have changes that keep people interested. If it becomes stagnant, people become bored, and leave. I embrace change. I understand it is necessary. I would like to point out to everyone who's against these changes that change is necessary, and there may be a silver lining...a possible improvement to server performance.

How far do they have to ruin fast paced combat--something that a lot of players love about the game, and what sets it apart from other MMORPGs--in the name of performance... it shouldn't even be a consideration, we should be able to have stable, decent performance irrespective of APM. It's ludicrous if ZOS is doing this, even in small part in the hoped of fixing performance, instead of dealing with it at the root of the problem, and fixing their code/investing in their infrastructure.

VvwvenomwvV

I have said for many years that the code needs fixed, and we need new servers. The server issue was proven awhile back on PC when they received a new server, and many of the lag issues, especially in PVP were fixed as a result.

Without trying to make that a focus of discussion ( because everyone knows it, and what needs to be done ) I'm only focusing on the "Combat Preview" of what will be in the near future. It's hard telling if / when the real issues will be addressed. I'm on PlayStation....so it may be awhile....if ever.... 👀.

X_K

Regardless of buffs / nerfs your still going to have 150CPM players. with stats no longer effecting lights there is much less reason to runs sets like coral riptide. so most fights in endgame content everyone is using rele/pillar/ 2h maelstrom
it pushes fun sets out of the meta only to replace it with sets that have massive reward for no work. you don't have to manage your stam, you don't have to do anything. you just left click and your sets are doing max damage. it looks to me like they are trying to adopt a much slower combat style, it goes against everything that made this game good. if i wanted to play slow combat with a 2s gcd and no weaving id go play FF. eso is good because its fast paced, complicated, and dynamic. ripping away everything that makes it good gives more and more of a reason to just not play

remosito

APM aint going down. Cooldowns haven't changed at all afaik. players will fill those cooldowns opening up due to longer dot/hot/de-/buffs with other skills...

fix la dmg is only gain server calc wise.

doesurmindglow

It won't do that at all. APM and weaving at the top end isn't going away.

It just means people who cannot weave (or those haven't yet learned how to sustain their skill rotation and thus spam light and heavy attacks while they're waiting for their mag or stam to recover) will now do less damage. They're also less likely to be rostered for difficult content as a result, both because they're doing less damage and because the higher APM players who could previously be relied upon to carry them will no longer have the damage to do so.

That's it. That's all it means. Server performance will be the same.

VvwvenomwvV

Less button mashing, fewer commands sent to the server. Simple. Anyway, we'll see how things go.

doesurmindglow

It's not simple, though. Players will still need high APM to put up good damage. There is nothing about lowering light and heavy attack damage that will in any way change that. Also players with higher APM aren't going to lower their APM for any reason. (Because, like, why would they?)

The thing that *will* change is how much damage you can put up with high APM. That's likely to come down, meaning both bad players and good ones will be doing less damage. It'll just hurt bad ones more as they don't have the proficiency of skill rotation to compensate.

It isn't actually a good change if your concern is accessibility. If your concern is some imaginary solution to performance then you'll probably also be disappointed.

Cuddlypuff

Go on ESO logs and sort by CPM (Casts Per Minute). It is and will continue to be the best indicator of performance, especially for DDs. Not saying players need a perfect 120 but you'd think 100+ is pretty reasonable for a cleared encounter. Sadly most logged players on vet trials are still <60 which suggests they aren't even casting enough skills, let alone weaving light attacks.

X_K

Cuddlypuff wrote: »

Go on ESO logs and sort by CPM (Casts Per Minute). It is and will continue to be the best indicator of performance, especially for DDs. Not saying players need a perfect 120 but you'd think 100+ is pretty reasonable for a cleared encounter. Sadly most logged players on vet trials are still <60 which suggests they aren't even casting enough skills, let alone weaving light attacks.

if you go look at some of the Captain Vrol kills from decent groups this patch. most of the necros are in the mid 140s low 150s range
https://www.esologs.com/reports/xqwfD364hmYbvM2K#fight=55&type=casts
take this kill for example
the "best" necro rotation involves barswapping ALOT as its a very dynamic rotation.
most people cant even cast 1 skill per second let alone LA weave as you said.

Cadbury

I think the real issue is that we have reached a point where hardware limitations are going to become a factor. I say this as a former console player, but if/when ZOS decides to sunset the previous console generation will we maybe see some noticeable server improvement.

That said, I don't think they will do this anytime soon.

And no, this LAW change will not "save the servers". They'll keep trying, though...