[ BUG ] Frost\Ice Dragons have Issues

Tenthirty2

Hi @ZOS_Kevin this is the thread you asked me to create. Bit long so apologies but I thought of things the more I typed haha.

To avoid confusion I want to mention this is not that bug from a couple patch cycles ago. In that one, dragons at a certain fight spot in N. Elsweyr would become "stuck" in hover mode. I have not seen that since it was reported fixed

The issues I've noticed with Frost Dragons I have only seen in N. Elsweyr, but it can happen at any of the fight spots where dragons can be engaged.
I don't know about S. Elsweyr, I rarely go there for dragons because of the horrible FPS drop I get in some fight spots (one is near the water iirc)
But if someone has also seen issues with them in S. Elsweyr please post.

Breath Weapon
While on the ground in melee range a Frost Dragon's breath weapon often has a "descync" like behaviour.
It will begin it's breath attack facing one direction or player. You can be standing behind it and while it appears to still be facing away from you, you suddenly get hit with all the ice spikes and damage from the breath weapon. Moments later you will see the dragon "blink" to be facing you. There is no animation when it blinks around, literally like it's facing one way but the server suddenly decides it needs to be facing toward you. Very hard to mitigate this attack and survive because most of the time you don't even realize you're getting hit until you're suddenly missing half your health.
This one is common.
Worth mentioning: Sometimes with this bug the dragon's head will do this like, rapid shaking\vibrating\spazzing movement before it breathes. It's kinda B-Horror movie creepy looking.
(Side note with ALL dragons, sometimes they will start a breath attack and if the original target dodges or moves they will immediately stop the attack. This may be expected behaviour tho.)

While in flight has a similar "desync" like behaviour where the dragon makes a strafing run with it's breath weapon but you don't see the breath coming, just the effects and damage on the ground as it passes.
This one is not as common.

Worth mentioning that while the dragon is in "perch" mode and does a breath attack this seems to behave as it should, the attack is seen and felt in the same area.
(That said, ALL the dragons while in perch mode still sometimes have an odd visual where their head is visibly looking or "aiming" in one direction but the breath attack goes in another direction. Like they decided to sweep their breath attack and move their head but the attack stays rooted to the original target spot)


Fus Ro Dah
You just haven't lived until you've been Fus'd from a Dragon's backside.
Similar to the breath attack while on the ground, the dragon speaks a "Fus" in one direction and suddenly you are hit with it even though you are standing to it's side or even directly behind.
Behind is the most common form of this bug(Fus Ro Fart?)
(To be clear this is not the same behaviour I've seen where the dragon begins speaking and looking at a target, then right before "Dah" it turns it's head in a different direction and does like a smooth dude over-the-shoulder shot at you. That one is actually kinda cool and looks intentional, the sly dog)

Fo Iiz Gron
Almost sounds like "Foe Lee Groo"
The dragon will raise it's head skyward and call the shout that summons a circular ice and wind storm to encircle the battle site in a large diametre.
If you are arriving to a fight in-progress sometimes you can't see the active storm encircling the area, but the damage effects are definitely present.

Various Bites and Chomps
These bite attacks have the same desync-bugged behaviour like the others above. I've been bitten through wings, through tails, heck I've dodged and run well out of melee range and the dragon still manages to throw it's teeth and bite me.

Thank you again @ZOS_Kevin for passing this on! Dragons are some of the coolest creatures in ESO, extremely well done and beautifully terrifying.
With the Season of the Dragon event coming I hope the team can give the big guys some love and bug fixes.

These are all the ones I notice frequently but if I notice or remember others I'll update this post.

If anyone else notices issues with dragons, not just Ice please add posts here!

ZOS_Suserial

Hi, we moved this to a channel aligned with its topic.

Necrotech_Master

in all the times ive fought dragons i dont honestly recall any of these things happening lol

i think i have seen the issue where the dragon would get stuck in hover mode, but that was from a long time ago (and you since noted that has been fixed)

one of the dragons i have tried soloing was a frost dragon (got it down to about 55-60% hp before someone else showed up lol, this was also a few years ago too)

i dont fight dragons quite as much since i got all the achievements related to them (killing 100 and killing all the quantities of dragon minions lol)

ZOS_Kevin

Thanks, @Tenthirty2. We'll get this over to the team for them to investigate.

KlauthWarthog

The frost breath bug tends to happen when the dragon kills someone with it. The dragon then continues channeling it on another target for the duration, regardless of where the new target is in relation to its previous facing. So, if you are behind the dragon, and it kills someone in front of it with the breath attack, you might still get a face-full of minty-fresh breath if it changes the aggro to you.

Grizzbeorn

'Fus Ro Dah' isn't a directional spell; it's AOE.
It doesn't matter where you are standing in relation to the dragon's body [head, side, tail], if you're within the wide area of effect anywhere around the dragon, out to a certain distance, you're going to get hit.

KlauthWarthog

Grizzbeorn wrote: »

'Fus Ro Dah' isn't a directional spell; it's AOE.
It doesn't matter where you are standing in relation to the dragon's body [head, side, tail], if you're within the wide area of effect anywhere around the dragon, out to a certain distance, you're going to get hit.

It is a directional spell, with a clear telegraph for the area affected. Soul tear is the one that hits everybody around.

Grizzbeorn

KlauthWarthog wrote: »

Soul tear is the one that hits everybody around.

Whoops. My bad.
What words are said to cast Soul Tear? I've somehow gotten the two spells confused.

Tenthirty2

Grizzbeorn wrote: »

KlauthWarthog wrote: »

Soul tear is the one that hits everybody around.

Whoops. My bad.
What words are said to cast Soul Tear? I've somehow gotten the two spells confused.

"Rii Vaaz Zol"
But it sounds a lot like "Beef Croissant!"

TaSheen

Do you think that's because dragons are trying too hard to speak so that the rest of us can understand? I've spent years in Skyrim trying to actually hear what's said when the dragons and dragon priests shout - and so far, I've not really done very well with it.

katanagirl1

I haven’t done dragons in a long time, but I have been Fus Ro Dah to death while standing behind the dragon too, and more than a few times.

I have also seen them instantaneously flip head to tail as well. Many other bosses do this, though.

SickleCider

Ps5 here.

Can confirm the frost dragons are particularly buggy. The other elements can sometimes present odd behaviors but not with the frequency of these guys. I've seen all the things in the OP.

I've also seen hover dragons in Southern Elsweyr since that bug was allegedly "fixed." One night it was happening consistently at all combat zones. The population of dragon hunters had increased over the hour, not sure if that had something to do with it.

Dragonredux

The fus ro dah, bites and chomps, and the breath are most likely part of the same problem. I only encounter the desync problem with Ice Dragons. It only really happens when I kite them on my squisher toon only for them to snap suddenly. I can possibly record and upload a video later on the pts if you need a visual aid of the sudden turn and bite thing since I feel I know what OP is talking about.

Ashryn

Actually, I've seen some of these problems, but always chalked it up to lag.

Dragonredux

Visual aid of some examples of the desync bug from a quick fight on the PTS.

https://youtu.be/MeXPiM_5SCI

Billium813

I don't think I'v ever experienced any of these issues.

It may depend on how the Dragon is rendered (client vs server) and the lag to your client. I suspect what's happening is that your computer is lagging and the server is sending you information on the mechanics, but the animation is getting lower priority or can't keep up. So mechanics are firing, but you're lagging so bad that the mechanics are out of sync with the animation.

katanagirl1

Billium813 wrote: »

I don't think I'v ever experienced any of these issues.

It may depend on how the Dragon is rendered (client vs server) and the lag to your client. I suspect what's happening is that your computer is lagging and the server is sending you information on the mechanics, but the animation is getting lower priority or can't keep up. So mechanics are firing, but you're lagging so bad that the mechanics are out of sync with the animation.

I don’t recall experiencing any lag in cases where these weird things were happening. There was a bug with the conal attacks for enemies at the time of Elsweyr launch that took a while to be fixed, though maybe it might not have been completely fixed. It was the same thing, the red cone on the ground was not indicating the damage zone properly and it was making a mess of trials. I assume it is the same thing for the Fus Do Rah death-from-behind-the-dragon thing.

Billium813

Dragonredux wrote: »

Visual aid of some examples of the desync bug from a quick fight on the PTS.

https://youtu.be/MeXPiM_5SCI

Interesting. Come to think of it, I have definitely seen the dragon pivot really quickly. Like, swapping directions instantly as it changes aggro. But I don't think I'v seen mechanics going off in the wrong direction.

I wonder if it has anything to do with constantly running in circles around the dragon while soloing it? I'm sure that confuses the dragon AI as it can't turn fast enough to keep up with the player. Not sure about the effects though, I know I haven't seen these issues in multiplayer fights.

Dragonredux

Billium813 wrote: »

I wonder if it has anything to do with constantly running in circles around the dragon while soloing it? I'm sure that confuses the dragon AI as it can't turn fast enough to keep up with the player. Not sure about the effects though, I know I haven't seen these issues in multiplayer fights.

I be inclined to agree if happened to the other dragon types as well but it only happens with the Frost Dragons. Personally, I've seen these issues happen on the live servers as well. Granted if you have a tank most likely won't happen as they be standing still most of the time anyways.

PurpleScroll

I have seen all of these bugs on Southern Elsweyr ice dragons too. It's a particular pain to deal with.

Anifaas

I was just stabbing a frost dragon's tail when suddenly I was dead from frost breath. Its frustrating to do everything right but the game still decides to kill you.

Edit: While looting an ice dragon's corpse today (April 14, 2023) it bit me and I died. That shouldn't happen.

vsrs_au

katanagirl1 wrote: »

I haven’t done dragons in a long time, but I have been Fus Ro Dah to death while standing behind the dragon too, and more than a few times.

I have also seen them instantaneously flip head to tail as well. Many other bosses do this, though.

Slightly off-topic: most of the NPCs seem to do this also. As soon as you initiate a dialogue with them, if they're facing away from you, they'll instantaneously flip around to be facing you. I'd really like to see that fixed to look more natural.