Block bug and delayed fix couldn't come at a worse time for Endgame PvE

BahometZ

For those who didn't know the next incremental patch fix will be December 5 and 7 for PC and console respectively. For PC it will have been over a month since Firesong DLC dropped, and block has been unreliable the entire time. The issue is a bit more complicated than simply not working, but in effect it means that any content where you rely on block mitigation is more than likely not achievable. Veteran content is being done, but there is little to no point in progressing any no death content if the tank could take a one shot hit at any point and block fails. Many progression teams are stalled, and I imagine some will be on hiatus until this is fixed, with probably more players trickling away, sick of dealing with a broken game. (Because while the block bug may be a huge issue, the fact is that players regularly deal with unattended combat and mechanic bugs every day. To the point where word of mouth workarounds are relied upon to persevere through them.)

This is yet another hammer blow to the endgame community when it was already on its knees. The population has plummeted due to a series of ZOS actions. After Account Wide Achievements removed motivation for many to repeat achievements, and update 35 displayed how detached the devs are from the endgame raid experience, many have left the game, or stepped away until things have improved. There is grumbling throughout the community, every raid night is full of gallows humour regarding the state of the game. Regard for the game is at an all time low, with countless reported bugs persisting, like animations not appearing, synergies not working, various dungeon and trial mechanics are broken.

A lot of endgame raiders are barely hanging on for their team mates or that one last goal to achieve, and now any meaningful progress has to be put on hold while ZOS again inflict significant problems on to the playerbase. We are paying to not play the content we're here for. Outside of raid times, which are commitments I've made to other players, I'm barely on. Other games simply work as intended.

On the one hand I'm amazed that there aren't a deluge of the posts on the front page about this issue, but then I guess there aren't that many endgamers, and there aren't that many people on these forums anymore. Do ZOS understand how precarious the situation is for what was once a thriving segment of the player base, and that a free pet is a risible gesture?

Jaraal

I’m sure they are well aware of the discontent. But they remain focused on adhering to the cranking out new content every three months model, regardless of the fallout.

Player satisfaction in the form of fixing the broken parts first doesn’t seem to be a priority for them. I can’t explain it, and they don’t seem to be willing to.

LordRukia

Jaraal wrote: »

I’m sure they are well aware of the discontent. But they remain focused on adhering to the cranking out new content every three months model, regardless of the fallout.

Player satisfaction in the form of fixing the broken parts first doesn’t seem to be a priority for them. I can’t explain it, and they don’t seem to be willing to.

Even if they delayed the next content update and focused on fixing bugs, the next DLC would just break it again. The game is a mess and good performance is nothing more than a dream players will be chasing until the servers are taken offline. If they are still selling $100 houses and what not in the crown store and people are throwing money at them, nothing is going to change. It doesn't matter if every player in the game was posting on the forums, the only thing that talks is money and its the only language they understand.

If everyone quit and went to GW2, WoW, New world or whatever then I guarantee things would change QUICK. Look how fast Blizzard turned things around. Years of ignoring feedback until everyone stops playing then oh all of a sudden we were right all along.. go figure.

TaSheen

Problem: I don't personally have any interest in any other mmo out there. So I'm not leaving ESO, and i'm not dropping my 3 annual subs.

THIS is the game I want to play - and for me it works just fine, because I don't do any group content (burned out a decade or more ago on WoW and RIFT) or pvp; so as long as things work for me, I'll keep paying and playing. Oh sure, at some point they'll pull the plug on the servers, and then I'll continue (as I do now) playing Oblivion and Skyrim.

And, since I don't mess with group content, I don't have any issues at all with the game - high ping is on my end because the only connect available to me (other than..... dialup....) is satellite. Which is seriously NOT "real broadband".

I really do wish that those of you in pain because you want to play content you enjoy would have that option.

I - am not really expecting to see TES VI - THAT is what makes me sad.

CrashTest

BahometZ wrote: »

On the one hand I'm amazed that there aren't a deluge of the posts on the front page about this issue, but then I guess there aren't that many endgamers, and there aren't that many people on these forums anymore.

There were quite a few when it was first discovered. The biggest thread for it was moved to bugs forum.

What amazes me is the amount of gaslighting and dismissal players who are affected get from this forum from people who think it's a non issue bc it doesn't affect them personally or from people who are affected but say it's not so bad.

SPR_of_HA_community

As I think about month or even may be more with NOT working block.

But will they really fix it on 5-7th december or it will not work again ?

ApoAlaia

The reality is that MMOs are among the most expensive games to develop and maintain and only return a fraction of what significantly more simple and cheap games do.

I also find some of their decisions baffling however I don't - and probably never will - know what kind of constraints they are working with.

I am not making excuses for them, they are all grown ups and can do that themselves if the feel the need, just trying to remain aware of the way things are.

When you look what other genres/markets make from straight re-skins of the previous year's game or 'games' that are hardly worth the denomination (some of them even play themselves) thanks to microtransactions (the 'micro' part in air quotes) it does put things in perspective.

zaria

LordRukia wrote: »

Jaraal wrote: »

I’m sure they are well aware of the discontent. But they remain focused on adhering to the cranking out new content every three months model, regardless of the fallout.

Player satisfaction in the form of fixing the broken parts first doesn’t seem to be a priority for them. I can’t explain it, and they don’t seem to be willing to.

Even if they delayed the next content update and focused on fixing bugs, the next DLC would just break it again. The game is a mess and good performance is nothing more than a dream players will be chasing until the servers are taken offline. If they are still selling $100 houses and what not in the crown store and people are throwing money at them, nothing is going to change. It doesn't matter if every player in the game was posting on the forums, the only thing that talks is money and its the only language they understand.

If everyone quit and went to GW2, WoW, New world or whatever then I guarantee things would change QUICK. Look how fast Blizzard turned things around. Years of ignoring feedback until everyone stops playing then oh all of a sudden we were right all along.. go figure.

I suspect it was the combat changes or some bugfix on them who broke block, not the firesong content.
New zones and quests don't affect core mechanics like blocking.

beer781993

Yea what should I say... All I hear is:

"I can't block and need to leave the instance", "CE Error, I need to restart the game",
"Sry guys I got disconnected",
"I can't use any skills anymore, I need to /reloadui",
"I got killed with a heavy attack through block"
"I got kicked from the group while travelling"

We raid 2 hours and this awesome bugs alone eat around 30 - 40 Minutes every time.

Then you are in a fight and can't cast any skills until you role dodge and ofc you die.

You queue for a dungeon and you don't get ported and need to relocate to an other zone.

That's so frustrating and all we get is a guar, sad times to be alive.

SPR_of_HA_community

beer781993 wrote: »

Yea what should I say... All I hear is:

"I can't block and need to leave the instance", "CE Error, I need to restart the game",
"Sry guys I got disconnected",
"I can't use any skills anymore, I need to /reloadui",
"I got killed with a heavy attack through block"
"I got kicked from the group while travelling"

We raid 2 hours and this awesome bugs alone eat around 30 - 40 Minutes every time.

Then you are in a fight and can't cast any skills until you role dodge and ofc you die.

You queue for a dungeon and you don't get ported and need to relocate to an other zone.

That's so frustrating and all we get is a guar, sad times to be alive.

It is adult guar content.

We all were (snip)ed with that

Now we can even say, the we were guared )))

Jaimeh

Jaraal wrote: »

I’m sure they are well aware of the discontent. But they remain focused on adhering to the cranking out new content every three months model, regardless of the fallout.

Player satisfaction in the form of fixing the broken parts first doesn’t seem to be a priority for them. I can’t explain it, and they don’t seem to be willing to.

I don't think they have the resources, otherwise there's no other logical reason why they delay fixing game-breaking bugs so much. There is speculation that ZOS is working on another project, so it could be because of this reason. Regardless, it's a pity they allow things like that to go on for so long, it's shows how little care they have for the non-casual community in particular.

terrasight

It was the biggest joke to even let the patch go live WITH the bug. You knew it, so why? It wouldn't have hurt anyone to postpone it. But no, you have to stick to your schedule, regardless of the players. And anyway...endgame players don't bring any money anymore anyway...^^

The endgame community is getting smaller and smaller. It's hard to find (useful) people. They either leave the game or take a break. If this continues, hardly anyone will play the trifectas at some point.

INM

Do you guys not like guars?

BahometZ

SPR_of_HA_community wrote: »

As I think about month or even may be more with NOT working block.

But will they really fix it on 5-7th december or it will not work again ?

You called it, bud.

Elsonso

zaria wrote: »

LordRukia wrote: »

Jaraal wrote: »

I’m sure they are well aware of the discontent. But they remain focused on adhering to the cranking out new content every three months model, regardless of the fallout.

Even if they delayed the next content update and focused on fixing bugs, the next DLC would just break it again. The game is a mess and good performance is nothing more than a dream players will be chasing until the servers are taken offline. If they are still selling $100 houses and what not in the crown store and people are throwing money at them, nothing is going to change. It doesn't matter if every player in the game was posting on the forums, the only thing that talks is money and its the only language they understand.

I suspect it was the combat changes or some bugfix on them who broke block, not the firesong content.
New zones and quests don't affect core mechanics like blocking.

If they would stop messing around with non-content things, like the constant twiddling with skills and sets, they would have more QA time available to making that content work right. It's not that simple, sadly, but I like to think it.

WrathOfInnos

Elsonso wrote: »

zaria wrote: »

LordRukia wrote: »

Jaraal wrote: »

I’m sure they are well aware of the discontent. But they remain focused on adhering to the cranking out new content every three months model, regardless of the fallout.

Even if they delayed the next content update and focused on fixing bugs, the next DLC would just break it again. The game is a mess and good performance is nothing more than a dream players will be chasing until the servers are taken offline. If they are still selling $100 houses and what not in the crown store and people are throwing money at them, nothing is going to change. It doesn't matter if every player in the game was posting on the forums, the only thing that talks is money and its the only language they understand.

I suspect it was the combat changes or some bugfix on them who broke block, not the firesong content.
New zones and quests don't affect core mechanics like blocking.

If they would stop messing around with non-content things, like the constant twiddling with skills and sets, they would have more QA time available to making that content work right. It's not that simple, sadly, but I like to think it.

They have 300 QA workers, should be able to catch some of these major bugs in the several weeks of test time before they go live.

AinSoph

TaSheen wrote: »

Problem: I don't personally have any interest in any other mmo out there. So I'm not leaving ESO, and i'm not dropping my 3 annual subs.

THIS is the game I want to play - and for me it works just fine, because I don't do any group content (burned out a decade or more ago on WoW and RIFT) or pvp; so as long as things work for me, I'll keep paying and playing. Oh sure, at some point they'll pull the plug on the servers, and then I'll continue (as I do now) playing Oblivion and Skyrim.

And, since I don't mess with group content, I don't have any issues at all with the game - high ping is on my end because the only connect available to me (other than..... dialup....) is satellite. Which is seriously NOT "real broadband".

I really do wish that those of you in pain because you want to play content you enjoy would have that option.

I - am not really expecting to see TES VI - THAT is what makes me sad.

A shining example of ZOS's target demographic.

Turtle_Bot

CrashTest wrote: »

BahometZ wrote: »

On the one hand I'm amazed that there aren't a deluge of the posts on the front page about this issue, but then I guess there aren't that many endgamers, and there aren't that many people on these forums anymore.

There were quite a few when it was first discovered. The biggest thread for it was moved to bugs forum.

What amazes me is the amount of gaslighting and dismissal players who are affected get from this forum from people who think it's a non issue bc it doesn't affect them personally or from people who are affected but say it's not so bad.

this right here, it's the same thing when talking about classes that need buffs, the same people always come out with some stupid excuse as to why a dead class cannot receive any buffs and because those people bait and bash and constantly get away with it, the threads that were otherwise providing insightful feedback and suggestions get shut down instead of being listened to.

DMuehlhausen

WrathOfInnos wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

zaria wrote: »

LordRukia wrote: »

Jaraal wrote: »

I’m sure they are well aware of the discontent. But they remain focused on adhering to the cranking out new content every three months model, regardless of the fallout.

Even if they delayed the next content update and focused on fixing bugs, the next DLC would just break it again. The game is a mess and good performance is nothing more than a dream players will be chasing until the servers are taken offline. If they are still selling $100 houses and what not in the crown store and people are throwing money at them, nothing is going to change. It doesn't matter if every player in the game was posting on the forums, the only thing that talks is money and its the only language they understand.

I suspect it was the combat changes or some bugfix on them who broke block, not the firesong content.
New zones and quests don't affect core mechanics like blocking.

If they would stop messing around with non-content things, like the constant twiddling with skills and sets, they would have more QA time available to making that content work right. It's not that simple, sadly, but I like to think it.

They have 300 QA workers, should be able to catch some of these major bugs in the several weeks of test time before they go live.

Please by all means go and do a better job.

The issue this time was these are two separate bugs. This one wasn't created by the fix for the first one. So they assumed this was just part of the first one when in fact it's a different bug. That's why it didn't get caught.

Also you have no idea how difficult stuff like this can be to catch. Alien v Predator was broken for almost a decade until a modder found a single use of the word tether mis spelled as like tethor. That single spelling mistake broke how the Alien AI was suppose to react. Now the game still had issues after, but once he changed that the game started working as intended. A single misplaced character in literally billions of lines of code can cause this. Yet it's so simple to just find and fix.

Elsonso

WrathOfInnos wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

zaria wrote: »

LordRukia wrote: »

Jaraal wrote: »

I’m sure they are well aware of the discontent. But they remain focused on adhering to the cranking out new content every three months model, regardless of the fallout.

Even if they delayed the next content update and focused on fixing bugs, the next DLC would just break it again. The game is a mess and good performance is nothing more than a dream players will be chasing until the servers are taken offline. If they are still selling $100 houses and what not in the crown store and people are throwing money at them, nothing is going to change. It doesn't matter if every player in the game was posting on the forums, the only thing that talks is money and its the only language they understand.

I suspect it was the combat changes or some bugfix on them who broke block, not the firesong content.
New zones and quests don't affect core mechanics like blocking.

If they would stop messing around with non-content things, like the constant twiddling with skills and sets, they would have more QA time available to making that content work right. It's not that simple, sadly, but I like to think it.

They have 300 QA workers, should be able to catch some of these major bugs in the several weeks of test time before they go live.

It was not clear which studios those QA people work for. Zenimax is larger than ZOS and Zenimax QA is larger than ESO. I am assuming that some of them are currently testing games like Starfield.

Major_Soulless

I only play ESO for PVP and the card game so I can’t relate to the woes of elite pve players with this block bug.

But the communication from the developers has been appalling on what is a pivotal component of the game for a group of players who have invested time wise a lot and I hope more players don’t leave due to it as that’s the last thing the game needs

Cadbury

DMuehlhausen wrote: »

WrathOfInnos wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

zaria wrote: »

LordRukia wrote: »

Jaraal wrote: »

I’m sure they are well aware of the discontent. But they remain focused on adhering to the cranking out new content every three months model, regardless of the fallout.

Even if they delayed the next content update and focused on fixing bugs, the next DLC would just break it again. The game is a mess and good performance is nothing more than a dream players will be chasing until the servers are taken offline. If they are still selling $100 houses and what not in the crown store and people are throwing money at them, nothing is going to change. It doesn't matter if every player in the game was posting on the forums, the only thing that talks is money and its the only language they understand.

I suspect it was the combat changes or some bugfix on them who broke block, not the firesong content.
New zones and quests don't affect core mechanics like blocking.

If they would stop messing around with non-content things, like the constant twiddling with skills and sets, they would have more QA time available to making that content work right. It's not that simple, sadly, but I like to think it.

They have 300 QA workers, should be able to catch some of these major bugs in the several weeks of test time before they go live.

Please by all means go and do a better job.

The issue this time was these are two separate bugs. This one wasn't created by the fix for the first one. So they assumed this was just part of the first one when in fact it's a different bug. That's why it didn't get caught.

Also you have no idea how difficult stuff like this can be to catch. Alien v Predator was broken for almost a decade until a modder found a single use of the word tether mis spelled as like tethor. That single spelling mistake broke how the Alien AI was suppose to react. Now the game still had issues after, but once he changed that the game started working as intended. A single misplaced character in literally billions of lines of code can cause this. Yet it's so simple to just find and fix.

Wasn't it Aliens:Colonial Marines?

SimonThesis

This has been bad for PVE and PVP too, neither communities have been doing well lately. Your tank can't block Bosses and in PVP you lose block and can't block siege/Ultimates/Pulls etc.

ZOS_Bill

As there are multiple threads on this topic regarding Blocking issues, we have decided to close this discussion. You can find updates and the latest information in this thread.