PTS Update 36 - Feedback Thread for Hiding Pets in Towns

ZOS_GinaBruno

This is the official feedback thread for the new setting to hide pets in towns. Specific feedback that the team is looking for includes the following:

• When toggled on, did you run into any issues with duels in towns or near objects?
• When you toggled this option off, did pets come back as expected?
• Did you notice any strange behavior in general when this option was toggled on?
• Do you have any other general feedback?

Billium813

I think this system should be expanded to the whole of each city and/or build interiors. Many building interiors are close quarters and staircases that are clogged by the immense number of summons and large pets. It breaks immersion while questing and is annoying seeing bear bums while climbing stairs or seeing twilight wings flapping through walls and clogging corridors

Zenzuki

There should be a toggle for each of the aspects of this option!

I may not want to see Flappy Birds and Bear Bums in close quarters, but I may like to see Non-Combat Pets and/or Companions, etc.

Please consider breaking this setting into separate "togglable" options.

The "All or None" of it is too over-reaching!

Tannus15

I would love to have this option for trials as well as towns.

Lauranae

Billium813 wrote: »

I think this system should be expanded to the whole of each city and/or build interiors. Many building interiors are close quarters and staircases that are clogged by the immense number of summons and large pets. It breaks immersion while questing and is annoying seeing bear bums while climbing stairs or seeing twilight wings flapping through walls and clogging corridors

The only issue i see here with this request, is that some houses are included in questing and full of enemies. So not able to be in with our fighting pet is not really a good option
Need to be certain that the tag building will be apply correctly

Billium813

Lauranae wrote: »

Billium813 wrote: »

I think this system should be expanded to the whole of each city and/or build interiors. Many building interiors are close quarters and staircases that are clogged by the immense number of summons and large pets. It breaks immersion while questing and is annoying seeing bear bums while climbing stairs or seeing twilight wings flapping through walls and clogging corridors

The only issue i see here with this request, is that some houses are included in questing and full of enemies. So not able to be in with our fighting pet is not really a good option
Need to be certain that the tag building will be apply correctly

Not sure I understand the issue. According to the 8.2.0 patch update:

Your own pets will not be hidden if this option is turned on, and if a player whose pets are hidden gets into a duel or combat while near the affected objects, the pets will reappear.

If there is combat inside a home, then the pets would reappear. If you are worried about pets being hidden for yourself, it says that your own pets are not hidden by this new feature; only other players pets.

Ragnarok0130

This option needs to be extended to trials and dungeons as well so when we pixel stack for a mech I can actually see what’s going on without a winged twilight’s rear end blocking my vision.

Kingsindarkness

It dosen't seem to work that well so far...I'm still seeing them...And in Delves it's like it dosen't exist.

I would also like for it to include non combat pets as large groups tend to gather around the wayshrines and stations all with their pets out...it's irritating

Lykeion

Extend it to trials and dungeons plz.

---

From tank overwhelmed by friendly deadroths

FluffyBird

I'd love to be able to hide pets everywhere. Just everywhere. At any new quest spot these zoos are a flap in the face. I even had to postpone doing a prologue quest once because of that.

ApoAlaia

Zenzuki wrote: »

There should be a toggle for each of the aspects of this option!

I may not want to see Flappy Birds and Bear Bums in close quarters, but I may like to see Non-Combat Pets and/or Companions, etc.

Please consider breaking this setting into separate "togglable" options.

The "All or None" of it is too over-reaching!

Same.

I'd love to have the option to 'hide' combat pets but 'show' non-combat pets.

I like to see people's little companion creatures

Also it would be awesome if this was, as some fellow players have already suggested on the thread, extended to dungeons/trials.

Is not as popular as it used to be but Maw is still a serviceable monster set, and the changes the combat team keeps introducing to sorc pushes us further and further away from 'petless' builds.

Please, make it 'a thing' to hide combat pets in all content.

Lauranae

I just wonder if we are all part of a MMO!!

So we remove combats pets and i totally agree, but then

- we remove little companions
- we remove the companion - assistant
- and we remove mounts too may be for those funny players who dare entering the town on their mount and keep going anywhere with there mounts

no one asking to remove players yet ?

thenappinghamster

Remove combat pets in non-combat situations is definite YES. Applying the setting to all companions is a NO. But i must be missing something, because when i want my annoying twilight to go away, e.g., i just choose "remove effect" in the character menu and poof no more flap. I guess that's too much to ask of all players 🤭 Anyway, great to be getting this kind of option at last.

Billium813

Lauranae wrote: »

I just wonder if we are all part of a MMO!!

So we remove combats pets and i totally agree, but then

- we remove little companions
- we remove the companion - assistant
- and we remove mounts too may be for those funny players who dare entering the town on their mount and keep going anywhere with there mounts

no one asking to remove players yet ?

Every player has their own personal limit on how much real estate they are willing to grant OTHER players on their screen. Always remember that each player only has 1 small window into the game and that is their experience with the game! By virtue of this being an MMO, I believe we are all accepting that each player is allowed 1 player model on our screen as a default amount of space. From there, I think it's entirely subjective. With a Companion, a summon pet, a non-combat pet, and a mount, many players on screen space utilization is 3 or more player models worth of space on other players screens! I would say that is more than the average person wants. Personally, my limit is 1 1/2 player models worth of space per 1 player. I enjoy non-combat pets because they are small and diverse enough to be interesting. I dislike companions because they seem to just clog up the world with fake people. But that's just my opinion.

I think it all comes down to model size and player distraction. Twilight Matriarchs, Bears, and Clannfears have such a large model that they take up too much space for other players. Twilight in particular also has a very active model that is distracting with the constant wing beating. These pets are hard for other players to ignore and distract those players from enjoying the world. Also, because they are so common, they are everywhere! They don't hold any fascination or interest to the player that has seen the same pet 1000 times in the last 30 minutes and has most likely had those pets block access to stations/totally consume the screen/clip through walls to break immersion.

Non-combat pets are often much different. They have smaller model sizes and less distracting animations. They are much more diverse, allowing for a more interesting experience for other players to observe them. They are often achievement or event specific, which adds to their exclusivity and the reason they are so diverse. However, I think most players that enjoy non-combat pets would start wanting them blocked too if their model was too large, or if the non-combat pet was too popular.

To be honest, I'm surprised ZOS is willing to hide the pets and isn't just selling new pet animations through their new "Customized Actions" feature. That would be one way to try to fix the issue, even if it wouldn't work in the long run. I'm sure it won't be long before we have custom Companion models and actions too.

Jayne_Doe

At the very least, please extend this to the entire town, as you ALREADY do with companions. Companions are currently automatically suppressed in towns. So, it would seem the code already exists that would allow us to do the same for combat pets and non-combat pets/assistants.

Just having it for crafting areas is not enough, as other pain points in town are banks, which often are small areas. I will often port to another town if the bank I enter has several flappers in it. Also annoying are Undaunted enclaves. I was so looking forward to this update when I first read about suppressing pets in towns, as on the final day of the Undaunted event, there were no less than 10 flappers at the Grahtwood enclave.

I also appreciate the ability to hide noncombat pets and assistants, as I am really tired of all the flappy and glowing pets that are out there, as well as the annoying crow assistants. There is so much visual noise in town, including the increasingly annoying mount summoning animations. And no, I am not asking for mounts to be suppressed, as that would be absurd - you'd end up with immersion breaking players weirdly floating around town. And, mounts are easily ignored as they're just a vehicle to get players around, and the summoning animation, however annoying, is brief, as opposed to someone's flapper flapping right on top of your character.

thenappinghamster wrote: »

Remove combat pets in non-combat situations is definite YES. Applying the setting to all companions is a NO. But i must be missing something, because when i want my annoying twilight to go away, e.g., i just choose "remove effect" in the character menu and poof no more flap. I guess that's too much to ask of all players 🤭 Anyway, great to be getting this kind of option at last.

As I mentioned above, companions (Bastian, etc.) are currently automatically suppressed in towns.

And, yes, it does seem to be too much to ask players to unsummon their combat pets in town. I always do so, since I find it so annoying, but I rarely play my sorc and sometimes I forget when I go to town. Once I realize it, I immediately unsummon them. My spouse is religious about it since he knows how much it annoys me.

Billium813

Jayne_Doe wrote: »

At the very least, please extend this to the entire town, as you ALREADY do with companions. Companions are currently automatically suppressed in towns.

wait, what?? Did I miss something? How do I enable that? I know they did it for Fargrave (https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/591348/pc-mac-patch-notes-v7-2-6) for "performance reasons", but I don't remember them doing it for all cities.

Jayne_Doe wrote: »

Just having it for crafting areas is not enough, as other pain points in town are banks, which often are small areas. I will often port to another town if the bank I enter has several flappers in it. Also annoying are Undaunted enclaves. I was so looking forward to this update when I first read about suppressing pets in towns, as on the final day of the Undaunted event, there were no less than 10 flappers at the Grahtwood enclave.

Couldn't agree more! I'm sure the way this is implemented, developers define the area where pets phase in/out. Currently, they are limiting it to crafting areas, but I think it would be MUCH easier to just define the area as anywhere inside towns. If combat occurs, phase them back in. Otherwise, limit their existence to outside of town.

"Hey! We don't serve their kind here. Your [pets], they'll have to wait outside. We don't want them here."

Kingsindarkness

Lauranae wrote: »

I just wonder if we are all part of a MMO!!

So we remove combats pets and i totally agree, but then

- we remove little companions
- we remove the companion - assistant
- and we remove mounts too may be for those funny players who dare entering the town on their mount and keep going anywhere with there mounts

no one asking to remove players yet ?

Sorry I don't need one player and his twenty adds laughing at the fact I can't see to remind me I'm in a MMO

Seeing why people are mad in game (because they can no longer harass people with it) should tell the devs all they need to know.

Honestly if I had my way you would only be allowed to se PC's in town...as I can't cross a bridge without being knocked off by a horse I know that's not practical though

Kingsindarkness

Jayne_Doe wrote: »

At the very least, please extend this to the entire town, as you ALREADY do with companions. Companions are currently automatically suppressed in towns. So, it would seem the code already exists that would allow us to do the same for combat pets and non-combat pets/assistants.

This x one zillion!

fizl101

Another voice for turning them off in trials, dungeons and arenas pls

UntilValhalla13

Lauranae wrote: »

no one asking to remove players yet ?

I mean, that's been happening naturally, with every subsequent patch...

Lauranae

I agree with all the comments on my comments, but still its strange (at least for me).

I would rather prefer that fights in towns are removed (duels) personally. But that is another matter.

By curiosity, do any of you asking for removing the little companions (pets) owns some of them or not ? --no mean or bait intended--

mbeetley_ESO

Just want to add my voice to those who think this "option" is pretty much useless as currently configured. Did a test today where I wandered around the Leyawiin crafting area with my pets out and a friend nearby. My pets kept popping in and out of view for my friend as I moved into and out of 'range' of the various stations. That's arguably more distracting than just having them there full-time, or it almost certainly will be on live when there are numerous sorcs and wardens in those areas quite often, so pets will be popping in and out of view constantly. Also, since it's basically just crafting stations and writ boards that appear to be affected, it doesn't help with the clusters of pets around merchants, bankers, quest givers in Undaunted areas, etc.

I'd recommend that you make it like companions where they don't appear in town (as you have named the feature, incidentally), but put a toggle on it. When it comes to dueling, if you accept a duel and have the toggle set to 'hide,' it's on you to be ready for the possibility that pets will pop up. If you plan to duel in town, turn the toggle off so you can see pets. Again, to those inclined to worry about this, the toggle only affects what you see as a player. It doesn't affect what other players see of your stuff unless they have set the toggle to hide.

And as some here have suggested, maybe have separate toggles for combat pets and non-combat pets.

TheImperfect

Definitely would like not to see flapping horror combat pets and other combat pets in town but do enjoy seeing the non combat pets.

Pelanora

Only hide combat pets, the rest are fine.

But no pets including non combat pets in banks, all livestock outside!

Kingsindarkness

It would be better if you could at least get the option to work right now it does nothing on the PTS.

Billium813

mbeetley_ESO wrote: »

Just want to add my voice to those who think this "option" is pretty much useless as currently configured. Did a test today where I wandered around the Leyawiin crafting area with my pets out and a friend nearby. My pets kept popping in and out of view for my friend as I moved into and out of 'range' of the various stations. That's arguably more distracting than just having them there full-time, or it almost certainly will be on live when there are numerous sorcs and wardens in those areas quite often, so pets will be popping in and out of view constantly. Also, since it's basically just crafting stations and writ boards that appear to be affected, it doesn't help with the clusters of pets around merchants, bankers, quest givers in Undaunted areas, etc.

I'd recommend that you make it like companions where they don't appear in town (as you have named the feature, incidentally), but put a toggle on it. When it comes to dueling, if you accept a duel and have the toggle set to 'hide,' it's on you to be ready for the possibility that pets will pop up. If you plan to duel in town, turn the toggle off so you can see pets. Again, to those inclined to worry about this, the toggle only affects what you see as a player. It doesn't affect what other players see of your stuff unless they have set the toggle to hide.

And as some here have suggested, maybe have separate toggles for combat pets and non-combat pets.

It seems that the way they coded this feature is based on radial distance around specific item locations (like crafting station or quest board). That's the easiest way to implement this feature without really having to do too much work. Granted, this would then automatically apply for things like crafting stations in player homes or future zone development, but it seems rather simplistic of a design. That simplistic design though is going to prevent them from expanding this "hide pets" feature in the way we all want... They can't hide pets everywhere in town because they need 1) a location 2) has to fit into a circle

If they really wanted to make this "hiding pets" a "feature" in the game, they would create a new developers tool that allows their zone creators to define whole areas to "reduce traffic". The developer working on the zone could define the area on the map and entire cities, which have irregular shapes, could just be restricted. Sort of like in photoshop how you can have multiple layers and removing graphix from the top layer exposes the bottom layer. They should have a "traffic" layer over their development map and zone developers paint defined areas on this layer that act as boundaries for pets.

Except they went with the [snip] route that severely restricts the possibilities of the feature. It makes sense, but it creates some annoying behaviors like having pets pop in/out of existence repeatedly because the crafting station "zone of no pets" don't overlap correctly.

[edited for bashing]

mbeetley_ESO

Billium813 wrote: »

[

It seems that the way they coded this feature is based on radial distance around specific item locations (like crafting station or quest board). That's the easiest way to implement this feature without really having to do too much work. Granted, this would then automatically apply for things like crafting stations in player homes or future zone development, but it seems rather simplistic of a design. That simplistic design though is going to prevent them from expanding this "hide pets" feature in the way we all want... They can't hide pets everywhere in town because they need 1) a location 2) has to fit into a circle

The fact that they have already hidden companions "in towns" suggests to me that there is a preexisting zone they could use, namely, towns. Why didn't they just apply that standard to the pets? As you say, they seem to have created a radial distance that they apply to certain categories of items, but if they just applied the 'town' zone to the pets, with the addition of a toggle to turn it on or off, it would accomplish what many of us seem to want.