ZOS, Massive Spike in Ping/LAG in Recent Days - What Gives?

LadyGP · October 23

Estin wrote: »

Stridig wrote: »

This thread is finally starting to die down a bit. It's amazing what can happen if you just largely ignore a playerbase by throwing a bone once every couple of weeks. Even the last of the known streamers have fizzled out. I logged in for a few last night and noticed half the daily log in rewards were locked. Sad days....

It's dying down because ZOS already gave their official answer. The whole "Many things outside our control" one. They're not going to fix it. If they were actually serious about fixing this issue, it would've been fixed by now and they wouldn't keep the issue so close to their chest. I cancelled my sub when that answer was given. I'll resubscribe once the issue is fixed, but like I said, that's not going to happen.

Unfortunately, I'm starting to lean this way as well. I think it's not that they don't want to fix it but more of a "they can't" fix it (engine) issue.

Destai · October 23

Estin wrote: »

Stridig wrote: »

This thread is finally starting to die down a bit. It's amazing what can happen if you just largely ignore a playerbase by throwing a bone once every couple of weeks. Even the last of the known streamers have fizzled out. I logged in for a few last night and noticed half the daily log in rewards were locked. Sad days....

It's dying down because ZOS already gave their official answer. The whole "Many things outside our control" one. They're not going to fix it. If they were actually serious about fixing this issue, it would've been fixed by now and they wouldn't keep the issue so close to their chest. I cancelled my sub when that answer was given. I'll resubscribe once the issue is fixed, but like I said, that's not going to happen.

I'll never understand why their updates are so vague and carefully worded. There's so many clearly worded requests for more details and we keep getting the classic "no updates yet" line. How are there no updates on what's been tested? How are there no updates on what the internal severity or priority is?

And for a company who'll quickly jump in with a defensive answer to our concerns, you'd think they'd provide more direct, plainly-worded answers. It really feels like @ZOS_Kevin just drops a line here and then focuses elsewhere (judging by their post history); likely because they have a lot on their plate. Wish there were more back and forth, clearly the issue needs it.

Jaraal · October 23

LadyGP wrote: »

Unfortunately, I'm starting to lean this way as well. I think it's not that they don't want to fix it but more of a "they can't" fix it (engine) issue.

The problem with that approach is that 50 years from now, when people are still playing ESO (you can bet on it, unless the company goes under), the performance problems will still be just as bad, if not worse. And the reputation earned by whatever course of action/non-action they take will be influencing people's decisions to buy or not buy the studio's other offerings. Do they really want people saying, "Zenimax? They haven't fixed ESO in 50 years, why should I invest time and money in their new game that's coming out?"

It's in their best interests to invest whatever it takes (even if that means porting the game onto a new engine) to get ESO running correctly as soon as possible. And I'm sure they are aware of that.

Destai wrote: »

I'll never understand why their updates are so vague and carefully worded.

Because everything they say (and do) can, has, and will be used against them. There are select management quotes that are referenced with regularity, even many years after the fact. And players who can recite said quotes verbatim. So, they are naturally hesitant to put an excess of new meme fodder out there.

Aurielle · October 23

Estin wrote: »

Stridig wrote: »

This thread is finally starting to die down a bit. It's amazing what can happen if you just largely ignore a playerbase by throwing a bone once every couple of weeks. Even the last of the known streamers have fizzled out. I logged in for a few last night and noticed half the daily log in rewards were locked. Sad days....

It's dying down because ZOS already gave their official answer. The whole "Many things outside our control" one. They're not going to fix it. If they were actually serious about fixing this issue, it would've been fixed by now and they wouldn't keep the issue so close to their chest. I cancelled my sub when that answer was given. I'll resubscribe once the issue is fixed, but like I said, that's not going to happen.

The thread is also likely also dying down because people have given up and moved on to other games. I’m in several ESO guild discords, and it’s incredible how few people are playing ESO these days… These are people I used to play with every day. They’re still online, but so many of them are playing other MMOs and aRPGs.

Destai · October 23

Jaraal wrote: »

Destai wrote: »

I'll never understand why their updates are so vague and carefully worded.

Because everything they say (and do) can, has, and will be used against them. There are select management quotes that are referenced with regularity, even many years after the fact. And players who can recite said quotes verbatim. So, they are naturally hesitant to put an excess of new meme fodder out there.

Right, but here's the thing. If I take this update:

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Hi all, we wanted to provide you with a small update. As many of you know, overall performance in any online game can be affected by a variety of different factors, many of which are outside of our influence. We do have ways of mitigating those outside influence situations as they arise. We have also been investigating whether there may be more than the normal "order-of-business-for-an-online-game" happening lately.

As we continue to monitor your feedback and investigate game performance, when we make back-end adjustments in the future we will check in with you to gauge whether you are seeing improvements. Thank you for your continued patience and feedback – please keep it coming. Specific details including what type of performance issues you experienced (high ping, rubber-banding, disconnect, etc.), the time of day you experienced a game performance issue, and where you were in the game, is especially helpful.

I have no clue what question(s) that's answering. If anything, it muddies the waters even more. Maybe it's just me, I dunno. I don't think so, because others keep posting similar sentiments towards their updates. Just looking at all the subsequent replies to that update, sounds like more conversation is needed. And honestly, people wouldn't pick apart their words if they just gave us straight, transparent answers. Or let alone acknowledge that specific questions have been asked several times. The communication they use needs to focus on the specific questions being asked of them.

I think that's different than players taking interactions with the creative director out of context.

Sluggy · October 23

Aurielle wrote: »

The thread is also likely also dying down because people have given up and moved on to other games. I’m in several ESO guild discords, and it’s incredible how few people are playing ESO these days… These are people I used to play with every day. They’re still online, but so many of them are playing other MMOs and aRPGs.

I pretty much gave up (again lol). I've maybe played two days in as many weeks and both times were absolutely abysmal. I'd literally be in keep fights spamming AoE on people standing still and not seeing a single number pop up. None of my single target or even self-target skills worked more than half the time. Forget about Ultimates.

I ended up whispering one person an apology because I killed them right as I realized they were lagging so badly that they got stuck in a breakfree loop of doom. Shortly after that I was getting attacked though walls and rocks while struggling to get a single skill to fire for literally TENS OF SECONDS AT A TIME. Of course the obligatory tea-bags ensued right after that for some reason (because I guess bad players don't really have a chance to win in any other situation? I dunno lol). With that I left group and logged for the night. At this point I'm considering uninstalling again because I'd rather just have the drive space back.

LadyGP · October 24

NotNi.ya wrote: »

[snip]

I'm not going to disagree with any of these statements lol.

[edited to remove quote]

twev · October 24

A snippet of a response we got (as quoted above in Destai's post):

"As we continue to monitor your feedback and investigate game performance, when we make back-end adjustments in the future we will check in with you to gauge whether you are seeing improvements. Thank you for your continued patience and feedback – please keep it coming. Specific details including what type of performance issues you experienced (high ping, rubber-banding, disconnect, etc.), the time of day you experienced a game performance issue, and where you were in the game, is especially helpful."

1.) "As we continue to monitor your feedback..." as if they'd be surprised if things suddenly changed after 73 pages of this thread alone, after years of similar threads?

2.) "... when we make back-end adjustments in the future we will check in with you to gauge whether you are seeing improvements." They're going to start checking, in the future, as if it hadn't occurred to anyone before that that might be a standard procedure?

3.) The rest of the quote implies they haven't been looking at their own telemetry.
Or, they don't know how to read it?

Sorry, the 'response' in the quote (That I'm sure is exactly what Kevin has been authorized to convey) just looks like more of a polite deflection of any past awareness and current proactive steps, as if it's only recently come to their attention that maybe they might start considering planning some kind of preliminary steps to take when they've accumulated enough datapoints about issues that have only recently been brought to them.

I'm just sad.
Sad that it feels like our money and time participation hasn't been treated as an essential part of the transaction for a long while

edit: changed 'being' to 'been' in final sentence.

KaironBlackbard · October 24

Aurielle wrote: »

Estin wrote: »

Stridig wrote: »

This thread is finally starting to die down a bit. It's amazing what can happen if you just largely ignore a playerbase by throwing a bone once every couple of weeks. Even the last of the known streamers have fizzled out. I logged in for a few last night and noticed half the daily log in rewards were locked. Sad days....

It's dying down because ZOS already gave their official answer. The whole "Many things outside our control" one. They're not going to fix it. If they were actually serious about fixing this issue, it would've been fixed by now and they wouldn't keep the issue so close to their chest. I cancelled my sub when that answer was given. I'll resubscribe once the issue is fixed, but like I said, that's not going to happen.

The thread is also likely also dying down because people have given up and moved on to other games. I’m in several ESO guild discords, and it’s incredible how few people are playing ESO these days… These are people I used to play with every day. They’re still online, but so many of them are playing other MMOs and aRPGs.

What's the main reason most of are stabilities are a little better nowadays? Most of the playerbase has quit playing the game.

KaironBlackbard · October 24

I can go to Davon's Watch, and normally that wayshrine is swarmed. Lately it's seemed barren.
Go to gold coast on xbox, I see 1 or 2 people as I traverse the landscape and mingle around the wayshrines of the left town and the brotherhood door wayshrine.
Wander around town, barren.
The place used to be packed. 20+ or more. Run into someone around every corner. Now? No one, effectively.
NPCs don't count. I'm talking players here.

LadyGP · October 24

Is this related to this thread @ZOS_Kevin or is this a different issue?

ZOS_Kevin · October 24

LadyGP wrote: »

Is this related to this thread @ZOS_Kevin or is this a different issue?

We believe this is a different issue. We are working to resolve it now. If investigations prove any connections to the issues in this thread, we will follow up. But nothing we are seeing indicates there is a connection as of right now.

LadyGP · October 24

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

LadyGP wrote: »

Is this related to this thread @ZOS_Kevin or is this a different issue?

We believe this is a different issue. We are working to resolve it now. If investigations prove any connections to the issues in this thread, we will follow up. But nothing we are seeing indicates there is a connection as of right now.

Thank you for the info, sir!

Destai · October 24

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

LadyGP wrote: »

Is this related to this thread @ZOS_Kevin or is this a different issue?

We believe this is a different issue. We are working to resolve it now. If investigations prove any connections to the issues in this thread, we will follow up. But nothing we are seeing indicates there is a connection as of right now.

Thanks for confirming!

Servadei · October 24

LalMirchi wrote: »

Sorry to say but the game crashed and zapped my UserSettings.txt once again.

Same thing happened to me. I've had addon settings reset to default as well but I don't know if that's related to this issue. PC NA

Necrotech_Master · October 24

Servadei wrote: »

LalMirchi wrote: »

Sorry to say but the game crashed and zapped my UserSettings.txt once again.

Same thing happened to me. I've had addon settings reset to default as well but I don't know if that's related to this issue. PC NA

i think it is, all of the addons are stored in the "AddOnSettings.txt" which functionally operates similar to the UserSettings.txt, so it could suffer the same problems

i personally usually keep the usersettings file, addonsettings file, saved variables folder, and the addons folder backed up (partially in the case this thing happens, but also because it helps synchronize settings and addons across multiple computers)

Coo_PnT · October 25

@ZOS_Kevin san

Are you playing this game?
Do you enjoy playing this game?

Do you know the emptiness of getting disconnected in the middle of a critical moment, a never-die situation in Trials or the most fun defense battle in Cyrodiil with a large group of people?

gronoxvx · October 25

Coo_PnT wrote: »

@ZOS_Kevin san

Are you playing this game?
Do you enjoy playing this game?

Do you know the emptiness of getting disconnected in the middle of a critical moment, a never-die situation in Trials or the most fun defense battle in Cyrodiil with a large group of people?

Probably only on company time. I know if i worked on this game in this condition i wouldnt want to touch it unless i was being paid.

Coo_PnT · October 25

gronoxvx wrote: »

Coo_PnT wrote: »

@ZOS_Kevin san

Are you playing this game?
Do you enjoy playing this game?

Do you know the emptiness of getting disconnected in the middle of a critical moment, a never-die situation in Trials or the most fun defense battle in Cyrodiil with a large group of people?

Probably only on company time. I know if i worked on this game in this condition i wouldnt want to touch it unless i was being paid.

I understand. I too want as little to do with my own work in my private time as possible. I do other things to refresh myself.

LadyGP · October 25

Coo_PnT wrote: »

@ZOS_Kevin san

Are you playing this game?
Do you enjoy playing this game?

Do you know the emptiness of getting disconnected in the middle of a critical moment, a never-die situation in Trials or the most fun defense battle in Cyrodiil with a large group of people?

Even if they are playing it.. it would be on company machines and special builds so it wouldn't be a true "test".

I am curious though where the big write up @ZOS_Kevin mentioned like a month ago they were working on. Is that still happening or... what?

CrazyKitty · October 25

LadyGP wrote: »

Coo_PnT wrote: »

@ZOS_Kevin san

Are you playing this game?
Do you enjoy playing this game?

Do you know the emptiness of getting disconnected in the middle of a critical moment, a never-die situation in Trials or the most fun defense battle in Cyrodiil with a large group of people?

Even if they are playing it.. it would be on company machines and special builds so it wouldn't be a true "test".

I am curious though where the big write up @ZOS_Kevin mentioned like a month ago they were working on. Is that still happening or... what?

PR personnel have to say what ever it takes to placate the masses.

Destai · October 25

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

LadyGP wrote: »

Is this related to this thread @ZOS_Kevin or is this a different issue?

We believe this is a different issue. We are working to resolve it now. If investigations prove any connections to the issues in this thread, we will follow up. But nothing we are seeing indicates there is a connection as of right now.

I was thinking about this and had a question. You’ve made it sound like the main issue here has no information to share, so how do you know it’s not related? This makes it seem like there’s at least some information on the main issue here, so hopefully you can provide some insight on that.

thedocbwarren · October 25

I have 2.5Gb Ethernet and massive bandwidth and see high latency. It's not a local issue.

meekmiko · October 25

CrazyKitty wrote: »

LadyGP wrote: »

Coo_PnT wrote: »

@ZOS_Kevin san

Are you playing this game?
Do you enjoy playing this game?

Do you know the emptiness of getting disconnected in the middle of a critical moment, a never-die situation in Trials or the most fun defense battle in Cyrodiil with a large group of people?

Even if they are playing it.. it would be on company machines and special builds so it wouldn't be a true "test".

I am curious though where the big write up @ZOS_Kevin mentioned like a month ago they were working on. Is that still happening or... what?

PR personnel have to say what ever it takes to placate the masses.

It'll be the Update 35 Q&A all over again, lawl

LadyGP · October 27

Destai wrote: »

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

LadyGP wrote: »

Is this related to this thread @ZOS_Kevin or is this a different issue?

We believe this is a different issue. We are working to resolve it now. If investigations prove any connections to the issues in this thread, we will follow up. But nothing we are seeing indicates there is a connection as of right now.

I was thinking about this and had a question. You’ve made it sound like the main issue here has no information to share, so how do you know it’s not related? This makes it seem like there’s at least some information on the main issue here, so hopefully you can provide some insight on that.

Didn't want to say it... but yeah.. they clearly know "something" but are just not able/willing to share - which is disappointing as someone who has been invested in this game since beta.

I wish they would just come out and say it's the engine. Like hey guys this engine is 17 years old...and this old honda can't perform like a cybertruck. It is what it is.

I think most people could accept that.

Obviously, the follow up question would be why don't you swap to a different engine which the counter point then becomes this game is on its way out (with new ES6 coming) and it wouldn't be worth the investment.

Which again, I think most people could accept that.

We are adults (most of us anyways).. just be real with us. We can handle it.

KaironBlackbard · October 27

LadyGP wrote: »

Destai wrote: »

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

LadyGP wrote: »

Is this related to this thread @ZOS_Kevin or is this a different issue?

We believe this is a different issue. We are working to resolve it now. If investigations prove any connections to the issues in this thread, we will follow up. But nothing we are seeing indicates there is a connection as of right now.

I was thinking about this and had a question. You’ve made it sound like the main issue here has no information to share, so how do you know it’s not related? This makes it seem like there’s at least some information on the main issue here, so hopefully you can provide some insight on that.

Didn't want to say it... but yeah.. they clearly know "something" but are just not able/willing to share - which is disappointing as someone who has been invested in this game since beta.

I wish they would just come out and say it's the engine. Like hey guys this engine is 17 years old...and this old honda can't perform like a cybertruck. It is what it is.

I think most people could accept that.

Obviously, the follow up question would be why don't you swap to a different engine which the counter point then becomes this game is on its way out (with new ES6 coming) and it wouldn't be worth the investment.

Which again, I think most people could accept that.

We are adults (most of us anyways).. just be real with us. We can handle it.

It's not the engine when people in Florida are perfectly fine, except in PvP zones (Imperial City, Xbox and PC, NA, CP and NoCP) because those are located or pathed through trouble server/ISP. (Probably also Cyrodiil but I don't play PvP. I only went into sewers for tel var endeavors and healing in pvp endeavors. Was a bit laggy, had points of everything frozen for a bit, but overland seems to be fixed for my area. Slow rollout on the fixes, wish they'd hit PvP servers with the fixes too.)

Coo_PnT · October 28

I am sure that with a certain reduction in the number of people, this problem will be brought under control. In fact, during periods when there are no people, there is not much of a problem. And the network engineers at ZoS know the nature of this problem and are just silently praying that time will pass this way.

DukeCybran · October 28

Sometimes my 'h' key doesn't work in game, along with c, splash. Those keys work fine outside but when I shift into the game those keys just freeze.

After some time they work fine.

KaironBlackbard · October 28

Coo_PnT wrote: »

I am sure that with a certain reduction in the number of people, this problem will be brought under control. In fact, during periods when there are no people, there is not much of a problem. And the network engineers at ZoS know the nature of this problem and are just silently praying that time will pass this way.

AKA they want to lose 90% of their player base. That's brilliant marketing strategy. Such a brilliant way to increase the company's income. That's sarcastic. It's depriving them of millions in income. They need to get it fixed.

Coo_PnT · October 28

KaironBlackbard wrote: »

Coo_PnT wrote: »

I am sure that with a certain reduction in the number of people, this problem will be brought under control. In fact, during periods when there are no people, there is not much of a problem. And the network engineers at ZoS know the nature of this problem and are just silently praying that time will pass this way.

AKA they want to lose 90% of their player base. That's brilliant marketing strategy. Such a brilliant way to increase the company's income. That's sarcastic. It's depriving them of millions in income. They need to get it fixed.

My guess is 70% of what it is now; an average of about 7,000 people per day on Steam would be best.
(Totally my imagination)