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Worst part about playing ESO in Australia and other non-NA and EU regions

seventy_kg
seventy_kg
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the high ping in ESO is really terrible for endgame players in other parts of the world who want to enjoy the game, and for some reason after all these years ESO is still the only major mmo that doesn't have an Asia-Pacific server, and Zenimax knows it, players have asked for it, people have argued for Zenimax quoting various reasons such as local regulations, cost of running another server, lack of players, etc
But if a much smaller game like Albion can do it, saying ESO, a game backed by Microsoft can't is absurd

But what I want to talk about today is the animation jitter caused by lag when you have 180+ ping
I noticed this because I used to live in America and I had great ping. After moving to Australia I now have 280 base ping and in Cyrodiil it goes up to 350, 400 at times. Using exitlag I get 260 base ping and 300 in Cyrodiil, so not ideal.
And of course the skills not firing issue is mind blowing, even when there's one bar population.
But worse than that is the animation jitter. And anyone with 200 ping or more can test it out, I have watched a lot of twitch streamers with the same problem, they just don't know it because they don't know that ESO isn't like that at lower ping.
All you need to do, is point your camera at a target, and light attack. I recommend using dual wield, but a staff or 2H also work.
You'll notice your characters swinging animation isn't smooth, they hold their hand up in the air like they're lagging, and a second later the animation is complete but the actual swinging part never happens.
And now, if you move your camera off a target, and light attack at nothing, you'll notice the animation jitter is gone, the swinging animation plays nice and smoothly.
This only happens when you are aiming at a target.
And this has serious implications.
For endgame players who enjoy weaving, and require weaving to parse or animation cancel in pvp, and just quality of gameplay in general, this is not only simply a dysfunctional and game breaking bug, it also puts high ping players at a huge disadvantage.
I want to make it clear that just because you have completed blah blah trial and parsed blah blah number at 300 ping doesn't make this okay, I have done all of that, I parsed 100k at 280 ping, doesn't make the game experience any less miserable for me.
And for all the Aussies that say "it's just like this, you just gotta deal", have you thought maybe that's the reason companys think it's okay to treat you like they do?

I don't know if ESO has future plans for an Asia mega server, and if Zenimax want to they would. After all, like I said, not just big games like WoW and FFXIV do, smaller games also have Asia servers, and they usually have more players than NA and EU
But even if that never happens, the animation lag in light attacking, a essential part of the games combat system, is by far the worst part of playing ESO in Australia for me.

Hopefully someone on the dev team can see this, and maybe just attempt to take a look at it
  • milkiie
    milkiie
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    NA players can play on EU at 160 ping and Australian players get minimum 280 ping. Everyone thinks that’s okay? 🙄
    Maybe once they’ve finished with the Xbox Eu server they can look into something for Asia
  • WySoSirius
    WySoSirius
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    Fellow Aussie here with the same uncomfortable experiences as OP
    But unfortunately we won't get the wish of an oceanic server because we just don't pull in enough of a playerbase

    If that dream ever did come true I would hope to get my account migrated though
  • milkiie
    milkiie
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    WySoSirius wrote: »
    Fellow Aussie here with the same uncomfortable experiences as OP
    But unfortunately we won't get the wish of an oceanic server because we just don't pull in enough of a playerbase

    If that dream ever did come true I would hope to get my account migrated though

    An Asia server tho…
  • seventy_kg
    seventy_kg
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    WySoSirius wrote: »
    Fellow Aussie here with the same uncomfortable experiences as OP
    But unfortunately we won't get the wish of an oceanic server because we just don't pull in enough of a playerbase

    If that dream ever did come true I would hope to get my account migrated though

    That's why i said an Asia-Pacific server is the solution, an oceanic server definitely won't have enough players to support it, but a server located in Singapore or Hongkong can host players from Japan, China, Korea, all of southeast Asia and Australia and New Zealand, and all of these regions will have less than 150 ping
    It's honestly hard to find an mmo these days that doesn't have an Asia server, ESO is just odd
  • Dr_Con
    Dr_Con
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    seventy_kg wrote: »
    WySoSirius wrote: »
    Fellow Aussie here with the same uncomfortable experiences as OP
    But unfortunately we won't get the wish of an oceanic server because we just don't pull in enough of a playerbase

    If that dream ever did come true I would hope to get my account migrated though

    That's why i said an Asia-Pacific server is the solution, an oceanic server definitely won't have enough players to support it, but a server located in Singapore or Hongkong can host players from Japan, China, Korea, all of southeast Asia and Australia and New Zealand, and all of these regions will have less than 150 ping
    It's honestly hard to find an mmo these days that doesn't have an Asia server, ESO is just odd

    ESO has skeletons.
  • seventy_kg
    seventy_kg
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    Dr_Con wrote: »
    seventy_kg wrote: »
    WySoSirius wrote: »
    Fellow Aussie here with the same uncomfortable experiences as OP
    But unfortunately we won't get the wish of an oceanic server because we just don't pull in enough of a playerbase

    If that dream ever did come true I would hope to get my account migrated though

    That's why i said an Asia-Pacific server is the solution, an oceanic server definitely won't have enough players to support it, but a server located in Singapore or Hongkong can host players from Japan, China, Korea, all of southeast Asia and Australia and New Zealand, and all of these regions will have less than 150 ping
    It's honestly hard to find an mmo these days that doesn't have an Asia server, ESO is just odd

    ESO has skeletons.

    so does wow what's your point
  • Dr_Con
    Dr_Con
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    seventy_kg wrote: »
    Dr_Con wrote: »
    seventy_kg wrote: »
    WySoSirius wrote: »
    Fellow Aussie here with the same uncomfortable experiences as OP
    But unfortunately we won't get the wish of an oceanic server because we just don't pull in enough of a playerbase

    If that dream ever did come true I would hope to get my account migrated though

    That's why i said an Asia-Pacific server is the solution, an oceanic server definitely won't have enough players to support it, but a server located in Singapore or Hongkong can host players from Japan, China, Korea, all of southeast Asia and Australia and New Zealand, and all of these regions will have less than 150 ping
    It's honestly hard to find an mmo these days that doesn't have an Asia server, ESO is just odd

    ESO has skeletons.

    so does wow what's your point

    chinese wow was heavily censored last i checked
  • TaSheen
    TaSheen
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    Part of the issue is that it's not "just one server". It's 3 more servers, one for each platform.
    ______________________________________________________

    "But even in books, the heroes make mistakes, and there isn't always a happy ending." Mercedes Lackey, Into the West

    PC NA, PC EU (non steam)- four accounts, many alts....
  • RevJJ
    RevJJ
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    Since you’ve played both with high and low ping, have you tested if there is an actual drop in damage when you do a parse? I’ve only ever played with 280+ ping and I wonder if there is a measurable difference when doing a parse.
  • disintegr8
    disintegr8
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    Because I've only ever played from my current house, I've never had a good ping and no lag, especially in Cyrodiil. I cannot get less than 350 ping and it only goes up from there.

    I was really disappointed when I switched from ADSL to fibre optic, getting fibre to the premises, going to 50mbps download speed but getting no improvement in ESO performance.
    Australian on PS4 NA server.
    Everyone's entitled to an opinion.
  • Hapexamendios
    Hapexamendios
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    Live in Japan. Game runs OK. Get lag at times.
  • Syrusthevirus187
    Syrusthevirus187
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    Yep
  • milkiie
    milkiie
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    Dr_Con wrote: »
    seventy_kg wrote: »
    Dr_Con wrote: »
    seventy_kg wrote: »
    WySoSirius wrote: »
    Fellow Aussie here with the same uncomfortable experiences as OP
    But unfortunately we won't get the wish of an oceanic server because we just don't pull in enough of a playerbase

    If that dream ever did come true I would hope to get my account migrated though

    That's why i said an Asia-Pacific server is the solution, an oceanic server definitely won't have enough players to support it, but a server located in Singapore or Hongkong can host players from Japan, China, Korea, all of southeast Asia and Australia and New Zealand, and all of these regions will have less than 150 ping
    It's honestly hard to find an mmo these days that doesn't have an Asia server, ESO is just odd

    ESO has skeletons.

    so does wow what's your point

    chinese wow was heavily censored last i checked

    Chinese people are playing ESO without censorship.
  • Dr_Con
    Dr_Con
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭
    milkiie wrote: »
    Dr_Con wrote: »
    seventy_kg wrote: »
    Dr_Con wrote: »
    seventy_kg wrote: »
    WySoSirius wrote: »
    Fellow Aussie here with the same uncomfortable experiences as OP
    But unfortunately we won't get the wish of an oceanic server because we just don't pull in enough of a playerbase

    If that dream ever did come true I would hope to get my account migrated though

    That's why i said an Asia-Pacific server is the solution, an oceanic server definitely won't have enough players to support it, but a server located in Singapore or Hongkong can host players from Japan, China, Korea, all of southeast Asia and Australia and New Zealand, and all of these regions will have less than 150 ping
    It's honestly hard to find an mmo these days that doesn't have an Asia server, ESO is just odd

    ESO has skeletons.

    so does wow what's your point

    chinese wow was heavily censored last i checked

    Chinese people are playing ESO without censorship.

    Who distributes ESO in China?
  • kynesgrove
    kynesgrove
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    There are sooo many East Asian and South East Asian players. I am from HK.

    When I play, and queue for random dungeon its honestly 50/50 at times where I might run into someone from Taiwan or Mainland or Korea that sometimes struggles with English. Japan is active too. We all play together, also lots of guilds on NA catering to us and our languages.

    NA audience needs to notice the game is already Asia friendly and advertised here. The Simplified Chinese releases was huge for the players here. It honestly made it accesible to so many on Mainland too.

    I just want to throw my two cents in to this thread of people who need a little help and clarity on the "no skeleton" policy.

    Not saying there isn't censorship, and these laws change often. But the whole skeleton thing is basically the government is just stringent about outside games finding foothold and competing with locally produced things (the list for censorship is awful and strict). China has plenty of skellies in games that they make themselves. This is about unnecessary control on a market and on information technology.

    The list to not have reigns pulled in on your game can be broad and vague. So if you want to talk about "no skeletons" blame the devs too. Elden Ring and all these skellie games are huge in China. And it's basically unlicensed by the government. So that means you can release and distribute a game without government approval to some extent. A new law is that you're not allowed to stream unlicensed games. China has many rich stories on the super natural and the cultures and archetypes has grown along modern story-telling.

    TLDR: Stop saying it's because of skeletons, its ignorant. Its because of insane broad and hard to follow import and approval laws that need to be adhered to. Nothing "squeamish" or "culturally insensitive".

    But VPNs and such have been "legal" ways to get around these things for decades. There are versions of uncensored WoW people used to play. And anywhere in Asia thats not China/Vietnam (they have their censorship laws) play on basically NA versions of their games and are always thankful for any kind of language support.

    I'm with the Australians on this, if we want this game to truly be more accessible and have good ping for other people who would also like to take it more seriously, a new Asia Pacific server is definitely required if they truly want to get to another big market.
    "The shrine is breathtaking, sitting upon a rise and dominated by many standing stones carved with holy runes. The place truly seems to have been kissed by Kyne's icy breath."
    - Urig the Wanderer
  • seventy_kg
    seventy_kg
    ✭✭✭
    Dr_Con wrote: »
    milkiie wrote: »
    Dr_Con wrote: »
    seventy_kg wrote: »
    Dr_Con wrote: »
    seventy_kg wrote: »
    WySoSirius wrote: »
    Fellow Aussie here with the same uncomfortable experiences as OP
    But unfortunately we won't get the wish of an oceanic server because we just don't pull in enough of a playerbase

    If that dream ever did come true I would hope to get my account migrated though

    That's why i said an Asia-Pacific server is the solution, an oceanic server definitely won't have enough players to support it, but a server located in Singapore or Hongkong can host players from Japan, China, Korea, all of southeast Asia and Australia and New Zealand, and all of these regions will have less than 150 ping
    It's honestly hard to find an mmo these days that doesn't have an Asia server, ESO is just odd

    ESO has skeletons.

    so does wow what's your point

    chinese wow was heavily censored last i checked

    Chinese people are playing ESO without censorship.

    Who distributes ESO in China?

    who distrubutes ESO in Australia? in Japan? it's Zenimax, the game server is accessible from anywhere on earth that has access to internet, just because the game isn't published and hosted at certain regions doesn't mean it can't be played there. Just look at how many ads Zenimax put on Chinese social media. The game has Simplified Chinese because it has a mainland China playerbase. Yes the game isn't published there, but neither is it published in Australia. but you can play ESO in China and there are a lot of Chinese pvp'ers in cyrodiil
  • Dr_Con
    Dr_Con
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    seventy_kg wrote: »
    Dr_Con wrote: »
    milkiie wrote: »
    Dr_Con wrote: »
    seventy_kg wrote: »
    Dr_Con wrote: »
    seventy_kg wrote: »
    WySoSirius wrote: »
    Fellow Aussie here with the same uncomfortable experiences as OP
    But unfortunately we won't get the wish of an oceanic server because we just don't pull in enough of a playerbase

    If that dream ever did come true I would hope to get my account migrated though

    That's why i said an Asia-Pacific server is the solution, an oceanic server definitely won't have enough players to support it, but a server located in Singapore or Hongkong can host players from Japan, China, Korea, all of southeast Asia and Australia and New Zealand, and all of these regions will have less than 150 ping
    It's honestly hard to find an mmo these days that doesn't have an Asia server, ESO is just odd

    ESO has skeletons.

    so does wow what's your point

    chinese wow was heavily censored last i checked

    Chinese people are playing ESO without censorship.

    Who distributes ESO in China?

    who distrubutes ESO in Australia? in Japan? it's Zenimax, the game server is accessible from anywhere on earth that has access to internet, just because the game isn't published and hosted at certain regions doesn't mean it can't be played there. Just look at how many ads Zenimax put on Chinese social media. The game has Simplified Chinese because it has a mainland China playerbase. Yes the game isn't published there, but neither is it published in Australia. but you can play ESO in China and there are a lot of Chinese pvp'ers in cyrodiil

    So the Internet distributes ESO in China? Not Tencent or NetEase? Or are players needing to access the game through VPNs? What advertisements? Wasn't Simplified Chinese localization only added after the WOW Chinese server shut down?

    It seems that a Hong Kong server is impossible to have, the game is too far into its lifecycle and it would seem that Zenimax specifically avoided releasing in China for whatever reason.
  • kynesgrove
    kynesgrove
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    The players in China access it through Steam generally. Bethesda Asia is the "distributor" if it makes any sense as a division of the larger Zenimax company, just like Zenimax Australia is for Australia. If I am not mistaken.

    Hong Kong is not impossible, its just that the contracts and networking arrangements can be tricky and costly when it comes to providing a service to players. Communication is so important and if a company doesn't have the in between contacts to make it run smoothly, it can be dire to their success if miscommunication occurs during any technical difficulties.

    Having a Asia Pacific server means no small thing, it'll have to serve cross-ocean to many many countries, like Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and then all the way down under to Australia and New Zealand. It's definitely not a cheap venture to take lightly of course. This is not just a Sino-centric issue.

    Riot Games took many years to get servers running for most East Asia countries (individually no less!) once the contractual period with Garena ended, and it still took a lot of work in order to get everything up to par. Not that Zenimax is as big as Riot Games, but its not like East Asia is a barren wasteland of no internet/no service, great firewall of China and all that, who cannot access "Western" internet. Each country having it's own server and network regulations etc.
    "The shrine is breathtaking, sitting upon a rise and dominated by many standing stones carved with holy runes. The place truly seems to have been kissed by Kyne's icy breath."
    - Urig the Wanderer
  • seventy_kg
    seventy_kg
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    kynesgrove wrote: »
    The players in China access it through Steam generally. Bethesda Asia is the "distributor" if it makes any sense as a division of the larger Zenimax company, just like Zenimax Australia is for Australia. If I am not mistaken.

    Hong Kong is not impossible, its just that the contracts and networking arrangements can be tricky and costly when it comes to providing a service to players. Communication is so important and if a company doesn't have the in between contacts to make it run smoothly, it can be dire to their success if miscommunication occurs during any technical difficulties.

    Having a Asia Pacific server means no small thing, it'll have to serve cross-ocean to many many countries, like Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and then all the way down under to Australia and New Zealand. It's definitely not a cheap venture to take lightly of course. This is not just a Sino-centric issue.

    Riot Games took many years to get servers running for most East Asia countries (individually no less!) once the contractual period with Garena ended, and it still took a lot of work in order to get everything up to par. Not that Zenimax is as big as Riot Games, but its not like East Asia is a barren wasteland of no internet/no service, great firewall of China and all that, who cannot access "Western" internet. Each country having it's own server and network regulations etc.

    It is more of a "if they want to" problem than if they can problem. Zenimax can easily choose to publish the game in Singapore and it will serve the entire Asia-Pacific region and the game will only need to abide to Singaporean regulations. This has been the case with a lot of MMOs, even bigger games like Genshin Impact are published globally in Singapore because the regulations there are looser than other places, and the game can still be accessed from anywhere in the world.
    Not to mention ESO is actually published in Japan separately, the japanese version uses a different launcher, but still connects to the NA server.
    They can definitely do this if they want to, and while it is definitely not a cheap venture, it no doubt would bring in a lot more players, and I have thought the reason they added simplified chinese language to the game last year is to expand the market and it has to a degree, but playing at a minimum of 200 ping will always hurt the gaming experience.
    At this point I think they either have given up on ESO and are focusing more on their new MMO, or they are just too incompetent.
    We are here debating if it's doable for a game backed by Microsoft to make a server in the most populated region on earth, it's honestly ridiculous.

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