Post-Maintenance Disconnections: Acknowledging the Issue and Requesting Better Communication

redeyedclyde · February 12

Since the recent maintenance on February 5-6, 2025, the disconnection issues in Elder Scrolls Online have become inarguably worse, to a point where they are game-breaking for many players across multiple continents. This isn't just a minor inconvenience; it's severely impacting our ability to enjoy the game we've invested so much time and money into.

The standard response of directing players to a generic troubleshooting guide is not helpful in this scenario. It's clear that the problem transcends individual setups. Numerous players, misled by suggestions to check their hardware and network, have gone out and bought new routers only to find their issues persist. This feels like a deceptive practice, shifting the responsibility onto us, the players, when it's evident that the fault lies within the game's infrastructure or recent changes.

We need acknowledgment from Zenimax.

Acknowledge the Issue: It's crucial that you recognize there is indeed a widespread problem to be resolved. Not doing so only breeds frustration and mistrust among your player base.
Transparent Communication: Players deserve to know what's being done to address these disconnections. While you might not have all the answers yet, stating that there's an issue and that you're actively working on it can prevent the vitriol currently directed at the team.

Many of us have been loyal players, spending thousands of dollars over the years, supporting ESO through both its highs and lows. The ledger, unfortunately, shows a lot of lows, and we're met with minimal communication regarding these significant issues. This approach needs to change, and it needs to change now, before the community takes more drastic measures like canceling ESO+ subscriptions.

Error Message Improvements: On platforms like Xbox, change the error messages. Currently, they imply the fault lies with the user's connection, which is misleading. I've experienced nearly 100 dropouts in three days, yet my logs show an uninterrupted internet connection, my ISP has verified that there are no issues with my service, I have switched out hardware and brand new cables three times, rebuilt my network from scratch several times including trying only the console on the network, most telling of all though is dropping out because "no valid internet connection" when the person playing next to me using the same network is still connected and in-game. This is not just frustrating; it's disheartening when you're paying for what feels like a defective product at times.

The community's frustration is palpable. With less than 24 hours of discussion across several Discord channels, over 1,900 players from just a handful of guilds on Xbox NA have committed to boycotting ESO+. This number will likely grow unless action is taken. No one wants to reach this point, but the relationship feels increasingly one-sided and, frankly, abusive.

Please give this feedback serious consideration. We're not just asking for acknowledgment; we're asking for better communication, transparency, and a real effort to mend what feels like a broken trust. Let's work together to make ESO the enjoyable experience it should be for all its players.

[Minor title edit.]

sans-culottes · February 12

redeyedclyde wrote: »

Since the recent maintenance on February 5-6, 2025, the disconnection issues in Elder Scrolls Online have become inarguably worse, to a point where they are game-breaking for many players across multiple continents. This isn't just a minor inconvenience; it's severely impacting our ability to enjoy the game we've invested so much time and money into.

The standard response of directing players to a generic troubleshooting guide is not helpful in this scenario. It's clear that the problem transcends individual setups. Numerous players, misled by suggestions to check their hardware and network, have gone out and bought new routers only to find their issues persist. This feels like a deceptive practice, shifting the responsibility onto us, the players, when it's evident that the fault lies within the game's infrastructure or recent changes.

We need acknowledgment from Zenimax.

Acknowledge the Issue: It's crucial that you recognize there is indeed a widespread problem to be resolved. Not doing so only breeds frustration and mistrust among your player base.
Transparent Communication: Players deserve to know what's being done to address these disconnections. While you might not have all the answers yet, stating that there's an issue and that you're actively working on it can prevent the vitriol currently directed at the team.

Many of us have been loyal players, spending thousands of dollars over the years, supporting ESO through both its highs and lows. The ledger, unfortunately, shows a lot of lows, and we're met with minimal communication regarding these significant issues. This approach needs to change, and it needs to change now, before the community takes more drastic measures like canceling ESO+ subscriptions.

Error Message Improvements: On platforms like Xbox, change the error messages. Currently, they imply the fault lies with the user's connection, which is misleading. I've experienced nearly 100 dropouts in three days, yet my logs show an uninterrupted internet connection, my ISP has verified that there are no issues with my service, I have switched out hardware and brand new cables three times, rebuilt my network from scratch several times including trying only the console on the network, most telling of all though is dropping out because "no valid internet connection" when the person playing next to me using the same network is still connected and in-game. This is not just frustrating; it's disheartening when you're paying for what feels like a defective product at times.

The community's frustration is palpable. With less than 24 hours of discussion across several Discord channels, over 1,900 players from just a handful of guilds on Xbox NA have committed to boycotting ESO+. This number will likely grow unless action is taken. No one wants to reach this point, but the relationship feels increasingly one-sided and, frankly, abusive.

Please give this feedback serious consideration. We're not just asking for acknowledgment; we're asking for better communication, transparency, and a real effort to mend what feels like a broken trust. Let's work together to make ESO the enjoyable experience it should be for all its players.

I’m sorry you are having this experience. However, “inarguably” is doing some heavy lifting. I’ve read about others experiencing this, but I haven’t had this problem. Curious about how widespread it is.

TaSheen · February 12

sans-culottes wrote: »

I’m sorry you are having this experience. However, “inarguably” is doing some heavy lifting. I’ve read about others experiencing this, but I haven’t had this problem. Curious about how widespread it is.

I don't have the issues either (I never do, and haven't at all in 7 years of play) - but from the amount of traffic on the forum over the years (including the one HUMONGUOUS thread from last May which is still going), I think we are the minority at least of forum posters.

PC NA and EU. HughesNet satellite.

Dragonnord · February 12

I have no disconnections at all. One or two once in a while, very rarely, that I blame my ISP for losing packages (as I check that).

People have all kind of computers full with third-party programs for video games and stuff, have graphics or processing configurations in Windows that someone told them are good or right for gaming, have outdated GPU drivers, have Windows versions with outdated or incompatible redistributables, frameworks and so, have addons giving conflicts, etc., etc., etc. and blame ZOS.

AzuraFan · February 12

Over the years I've had the occasional disconnect, but it's been rare for me. Lag spikes are a different story. Those happen more often.

spartaxoxo · February 12

I am not currently experiencing any new issues. PSN NA

sshogrin · February 12

I'd agree there are more random disconnects, 334 errors, lost lobby connections, etc.

redeyedclyde · February 12

Over the years there have been ups and downs, a disconnect here, a freeze there. To be expected, take it on the chin, go for a walk, maybe talk to another human. That's the nature of online gaming.

I'm speaking mostly from the perspective of a non-US Xbox NA player, though I play EU sometimes, and both NA and EU on PC, but I haven't been on PC for a few months, so I have no input to give for PC.

The rapid-fire disconnections and lag outs are most probably happening to a minority of players, but they are happening. And there is no clear cause as to why, when, or where they will happen. We have people from 3 continents and a multitude of countries in our guild. Some are of few means, with original release gen hardware; others are affluent with the latest hardware and the best service one can find when price is of no concern, and . The dropouts hit people in each of the mentioned groups as well as everybody in-between. Yet others in any given group may not have so much as a dropped frame.

I had a day when it only dropped out once, which isn't too abnormal now and then, and I thought whatever was wrong had been fixed. The next day, I had 11 dropouts in a trial. Which is awkward when you are the only tank there and nobody packed a healer. Gotta love a PUG right? This day ended with 4 logins just to craft a single platinum ring for dailies, which were handed in the next day because the run from the jewellery table in Summerset to the crafting drop off was interrupted by 2 more drop outs. I began to suspect that something was still not working as intended, because I'm kind of observant like that.

This has happened to varying degrees and has continued today. It could be 2 hours or 2 minutes between disconnects, there's no pattern or obvious cause that I can find. What I can say is, this is the only game it is happening on. My wife and son have sometimes been playing too when one of us would get kicked and told that there was no internet connection, while the other two were no effected at all. Then it happen to someone else, or two of us, or none for hours. One of my guilds has about 480ish players, about 120 who are active pretty much daily. We average about 40-60 members online at any given time. The last few days the most we have seen is 17 players online. A few have said they gave up, and to message them when it's working again. Others have said they are logging in every day for hours on end, but can't stay connected long enough to do content or sometimes even crafting writs.

It is prevalent enough that the usual bawdy, bordering on obscene zone chat in Riften shifted to the topic of stability and the question, "WTF is going on?" (It is Riften after all). The answer then was, and to this moment still is, "Nobody knows."

That's the thing I am hoping people will take away from this. There are time-poor players who schedule trials and outings with friends only to be plagued by these issues. Some have given up, some are taking a break, some are gradually regressing to a primitive state and are one or two dropouts away from hurling their own feces at the screen. In all cases, a certain amount of assurance that the problem is known, and there is a course of action, or an estimated timeline, or even a "Yeah we're stumped on this one", would go a long way to preventing them from spitting the dummy.

I don't think I'm being unreasonable in my request to know whether or not I am likely to get value out of my play time, or if I am better off doing something more productive than gnashing my teeth and making sounds like that of a bull-moose during the rut while trying not to throw a $200 controller at a $1800 TV.

Having regular updates from the team about progress and even lack of progress can only be a good thing. The propensity for extended silence and lack of information has been fuelling a small but toxic gallery of players who sign up for the forum to just go beast-mode on ZoS and the mods and anybody who disagrees with them. That's not good for either side.

A little more information and interaction about not just this issue, but future ones too would go a long way towards perhaps nurturing a little more empathy for each other and maybe dampening the adversarial nature of some of the more highly-strung folks. Maybe a little more respect in both directions comes from it.

At it's core, at least for almost everybody I play with, ESO is a social game. It's where friends who are continents apart can spend a few hours talking, laughing, and looting the corpses of their seriously outmatched enemies. Good, wholesome, family fun.

Four_Fingers · February 12

There has been an increase of malicious DDOS and other attacks on the internet big time this year.
With the political climate of the world today I expect it to get much worse, internet doomsday so to speak.

redeyedclyde · February 12

Four_Fingers wrote: »

There has been an increase of malicious DDOS and other attacks on the internet big time this year.
With the political climate of the world today I expect it to get much worse, internet doomsday so to speak.

You make quite a rational and plausible inference, and indeed I would not be shocked to find out you are right on the money.

But first, we kind of need to find out what's going on.

virtus753 · February 12

redeyedclyde wrote: »

show previous quotes

Four_Fingers wrote: »

There has been an increase of malicious DDOS and other attacks on the internet big time this year.
With the political climate of the world today I expect it to get much worse, internet doomsday so to speak.

You make quite a rational and plausible inference, and indeed I would not be shocked to find out you are right on the money.

But first, we kind of need to find out what's going on.

ZOS has officially commented several times since December to acknowledge DDOS attacks, so that part is not an inference:

Feb. 6: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8264122#Comment_8264122

Jan. 14 (from Matt Firor): https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/672037/u45-purchasing-clarification-recent-network-attacks

Jan. 13: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8252589#Comment_8252589

Dec. 16: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8238380#Comment_8238380
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8238682#Comment_8238682

We know from some of these posts that the measures they have put in place are expected to impact performance. It won't explain everything, but it is confirmed to be a factor here.

sans-culottes · February 12

TaSheen wrote: »

show previous quotes

sans-culottes wrote: »

I’m sorry you are having this experience. However, “inarguably” is doing some heavy lifting. I’ve read about others experiencing this, but I haven’t had this problem. Curious about how widespread it is.

I don't have the issues either (I never do, and haven't at all in 7 years of play) - but from the amount of traffic on the forum over the years (including the one HUMONGUOUS thread from last May which is still going), I think we are the minority at least of forum posters.

PC NA and EU. HughesNet satellite.

@TaSheen, I think you’re correct—at least based on what people are saying here.

This is well and truly outside my wheelhouse. However, I wonder what effect, if any, proximity to ZOS’s servers or whatever might mean for these issues/lack thereof.

For instance, I live in the Northeast of the US and not that far from, say, the DC metro area. I wonder what effect, if any, this has on my experience—which is to say, not experiencing these unfortunate DCs, etc.

sarahthes · February 12

sans-culottes wrote: »

show previous quotes

TaSheen wrote: »

sans-culottes wrote: »

I’m sorry you are having this experience. However, “inarguably” is doing some heavy lifting. I’ve read about others experiencing this, but I haven’t had this problem. Curious about how widespread it is.

I don't have the issues either (I never do, and haven't at all in 7 years of play) - but from the amount of traffic on the forum over the years (including the one HUMONGUOUS thread from last May which is still going), I think we are the minority at least of forum posters.

PC NA and EU. HughesNet satellite.

@TaSheen, I think you’re correct—at least based on what people are saying here.

This is well and truly outside my wheelhouse. However, I wonder what effect, if any, proximity to ZOS’s servers or whatever might mean for these issues/lack thereof.

For instance, I live in the Northeast of the US and not that far from, say, the DC metro area.

I'm in northwestern Canada and rarely have issues. Usually if I suffer from latency it's a (solvable) issue at my end, or it's something that affects everyone at once, like a mass kick followed by login queue.

I haven't had any issues lately.

sans-culottes · February 12

sarahthes wrote: »

show previous quotes

sans-culottes wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

sans-culottes wrote: »

I’m sorry you are having this experience. However, “inarguably” is doing some heavy lifting. I’ve read about others experiencing this, but I haven’t had this problem. Curious about how widespread it is.

I don't have the issues either (I never do, and haven't at all in 7 years of play) - but from the amount of traffic on the forum over the years (including the one HUMONGUOUS thread from last May which is still going), I think we are the minority at least of forum posters.

PC NA and EU. HughesNet satellite.

@TaSheen, I think you’re correct—at least based on what people are saying here.

This is well and truly outside my wheelhouse. However, I wonder what effect, if any, proximity to ZOS’s servers or whatever might mean for these issues/lack thereof.

For instance, I live in the Northeast of the US and not that far from, say, the DC metro area.

I'm in northwestern Canada and rarely have issues. Usually if I suffer from latency it's a (solvable) issue at my end, or it's something that affects everyone at once, like a mass kick followed by login queue.

I haven't had any issues lately.

This is very informative. Anecdotally, any issues I’ve encountered have fallen into the same categories.

freespirit · February 12

I live on the edge of London and rarely have any issues not even noticeable lag and that's over the last nearly 11 years.

I have often wondered if being so close to a big city does play at least a small part in my game's stability when other's really suffer.

I have good internet and always play wired, my PC is getting old but I am a bit obsessive about keeping it clean both physically and virtually,

There has been many occasion when everyone else crashes and I don't, it happened so frequently a couple of years back my Guildies were starting to discuss conspiracy theories as to how I did it!

Btw still no idea on that one!

LadyGP · February 12

redeyedclyde wrote: »

Since the recent maintenance on February 5-6, 2025, the disconnection issues in Elder Scrolls Online have become inarguably worse, to a point where they are game-breaking for many players across multiple continents. This isn't just a minor inconvenience; it's severely impacting our ability to enjoy the game we've invested so much time and money into.

The standard response of directing players to a generic troubleshooting guide is not helpful in this scenario. It's clear that the problem transcends individual setups. Numerous players, misled by suggestions to check their hardware and network, have gone out and bought new routers only to find their issues persist. This feels like a deceptive practice, shifting the responsibility onto us, the players, when it's evident that the fault lies within the game's infrastructure or recent changes.

We need acknowledgment from Zenimax.

Acknowledge the Issue: It's crucial that you recognize there is indeed a widespread problem to be resolved. Not doing so only breeds frustration and mistrust among your player base.
Transparent Communication: Players deserve to know what's being done to address these disconnections. While you might not have all the answers yet, stating that there's an issue and that you're actively working on it can prevent the vitriol currently directed at the team.

Many of us have been loyal players, spending thousands of dollars over the years, supporting ESO through both its highs and lows. The ledger, unfortunately, shows a lot of lows, and we're met with minimal communication regarding these significant issues. This approach needs to change, and it needs to change now, before the community takes more drastic measures like canceling ESO+ subscriptions.

Error Message Improvements: On platforms like Xbox, change the error messages. Currently, they imply the fault lies with the user's connection, which is misleading. I've experienced nearly 100 dropouts in three days, yet my logs show an uninterrupted internet connection, my ISP has verified that there are no issues with my service, I have switched out hardware and brand new cables three times, rebuilt my network from scratch several times including trying only the console on the network, most telling of all though is dropping out because "no valid internet connection" when the person playing next to me using the same network is still connected and in-game. This is not just frustrating; it's disheartening when you're paying for what feels like a defective product at times.

The community's frustration is palpable. With less than 24 hours of discussion across several Discord channels, over 1,900 players from just a handful of guilds on Xbox NA have committed to boycotting ESO+. This number will likely grow unless action is taken. No one wants to reach this point, but the relationship feels increasingly one-sided and, frankly, abusive.

Please give this feedback serious consideration. We're not just asking for acknowledgment; we're asking for better communication, transparency, and a real effort to mend what feels like a broken trust. Let's work together to make ESO the enjoyable experience it should be for all its players.

Just wanted to jump in here and say since the big maintenance my performance has actually gotten significantly better. This could be 100% coincidence on the timing but none the less things have gotten better for me.

I also want to give them credit on the coms. Personally I feel like their coms have gotten much better the last few months. They are even talking about the upcoming maintenance on the 19th and explaining why they cant shift the time of it and so on.

There are a few people in the big lag thread that have made comments about them having issues recently. The only thing linking them really that I could see is their location being NZ/Aus. Do you fall into that bucket by chance? This might illustrate some bigger issue on a regional/country standpoint.

But yeah... just wanted to chime in and say I'm sorry issues for you are worse since maintenance. Do the usual add-on check/disable them see if it still is an issue... etc.

LadyGP · February 12

virtus753 wrote: »

show previous quotes

redeyedclyde wrote: »

Four_Fingers wrote: »

There has been an increase of malicious DDOS and other attacks on the internet big time this year.
With the political climate of the world today I expect it to get much worse, internet doomsday so to speak.

You make quite a rational and plausible inference, and indeed I would not be shocked to find out you are right on the money.

But first, we kind of need to find out what's going on.

ZOS has officially commented several times since December to acknowledge DDOS attacks, so that part is not an inference:

Feb. 6: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8264122#Comment_8264122

Jan. 14 (from Matt Firor): https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/672037/u45-purchasing-clarification-recent-network-attacks

Jan. 13: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8252589#Comment_8252589

Dec. 16: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8238380#Comment_8238380
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8238682#Comment_8238682

We know from some of these posts that the measures they have put in place are expected to impact performance. It won't explain everything, but it is confirmed to be a factor here.

It is also worth notting from an IT point of view when you have issues there is always that window of... "will it go away soon... was it just a blip.. etc" then the... "okay this is going on long enough we need to put something out".

Back in my IT days I was always wanting to put out communication within 2 minutes of an issue happening. My boss always made us wait until an hour or so of issues going on before we could do that. If I put out coms everytime there was a blip... I would have been spamming my corp team about 20 times a week.

I'm sure ZoS is in the same boat... (obviously varrying time frames though).

ZOS_Kevin · February 12

@redeyedclyde If you are having connection issues that you believe are caused by our recent maintenance, please make sure to place a ticket for this as well. Having a ticket in the system will help keep better track of this as well.

Ella_Mental · February 12

I haven't experienced any connection issues, and ever since the last big DDOS attack that kept most people off the server, I've kept the Latency icon up and am at my usual 65-100. I have not noticed a SINGLE spike or any performance issue out of the ordinary (and am properly grateful not to be).

PC NA - NW Indiana US - (Really reliable upload speeds and higher than most people see so ping is really never an issue - or packet loss).

I do wish all the best improvement and connection luck to all those experiencing issues!

katanagirl1 · February 12

I live near a major metropolitan area that is not far from the NA servers. In addition to disconnects the other day when there were malicious attacks, I occasionally have lag spikes of several seconds when just doing things like daily crafting writs. It’s unpredictable and sporadic. I see other players skipping around instead of walking or running smoothly. A couple of days ago I just decided to skip Cyrodiil and go outside and enjoy the weather because the lag made killing two trolls in overland nearly impossible. I don’t think I have had any more connection issues but sometimes just playing the game becomes too much of a chore.

Melivar · February 12

I have noticed a lot longer load times and the occasion failure in the last week or so but have not had any actual disconnect issues once I have been logged in.

The only real lag is when my video card is acting up. Pretty sure it's closing in on a total failure but will manage it until it just won't work anymore. Orignally I thought this was game related as well but after 2 or 3 days the noise rattling scream of the video card would flare up and once it went away things got better.

Hopefully whatever is causing your issues is fixed soon

TaSheen · February 12

sarahthes wrote: »

show previous quotes

sans-culottes wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

sans-culottes wrote: »

I’m sorry you are having this experience. However, “inarguably” is doing some heavy lifting. I’ve read about others experiencing this, but I haven’t had this problem. Curious about how widespread it is.

I don't have the issues either (I never do, and haven't at all in 7 years of play) - but from the amount of traffic on the forum over the years (including the one HUMONGUOUS thread from last May which is still going), I think we are the minority at least of forum posters.

PC NA and EU. HughesNet satellite.

@TaSheen, I think you’re correct—at least based on what people are saying here.

This is well and truly outside my wheelhouse. However, I wonder what effect, if any, proximity to ZOS’s servers or whatever might mean for these issues/lack thereof.

For instance, I live in the Northeast of the US and not that far from, say, the DC metro area.

I'm in northwestern Canada and rarely have issues. Usually if I suffer from latency it's a (solvable) issue at my end, or it's something that affects everyone at once, like a mass kick followed by login queue.

I haven't had any issues lately.

I live in the US desert southwest, quite far from any major pop areas (nearest small city is around 100k) which is why my only available connection is (and has been since 2005) satellite.

sans-culottes · February 12

TaSheen wrote: »

show previous quotes

sarahthes wrote: »

sans-culottes wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

sans-culottes wrote: »

I’m sorry you are having this experience. However, “inarguably” is doing some heavy lifting. I’ve read about others experiencing this, but I haven’t had this problem. Curious about how widespread it is.

I don't have the issues either (I never do, and haven't at all in 7 years of play) - but from the amount of traffic on the forum over the years (including the one HUMONGUOUS thread from last May which is still going), I think we are the minority at least of forum posters.

PC NA and EU. HughesNet satellite.

@TaSheen, I think you’re correct—at least based on what people are saying here.

This is well and truly outside my wheelhouse. However, I wonder what effect, if any, proximity to ZOS’s servers or whatever might mean for these issues/lack thereof.

For instance, I live in the Northeast of the US and not that far from, say, the DC metro area.

I'm in northwestern Canada and rarely have issues. Usually if I suffer from latency it's a (solvable) issue at my end, or it's something that affects everyone at once, like a mass kick followed by login queue.

I haven't had any issues lately.

I live in the US desert southwest, quite far from any major pop areas (nearest small city is around 100k) which is why my only available connection is (and has been since 2005) satellite.

It’s cool that you’ve done this successfully and haven’t had issues, though. I’d wondered what effect, if any, satellite providers would have on things like game performance. I’m glad to learn that this has been viable!

LadyGP · February 12

sans-culottes wrote: »

show previous quotes

TaSheen wrote: »

sarahthes wrote: »

sans-culottes wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

sans-culottes wrote: »

I’m sorry you are having this experience. However, “inarguably” is doing some heavy lifting. I’ve read about others experiencing this, but I haven’t had this problem. Curious about how widespread it is.

I don't have the issues either (I never do, and haven't at all in 7 years of play) - but from the amount of traffic on the forum over the years (including the one HUMONGUOUS thread from last May which is still going), I think we are the minority at least of forum posters.

PC NA and EU. HughesNet satellite.

@TaSheen, I think you’re correct—at least based on what people are saying here.

This is well and truly outside my wheelhouse. However, I wonder what effect, if any, proximity to ZOS’s servers or whatever might mean for these issues/lack thereof.

For instance, I live in the Northeast of the US and not that far from, say, the DC metro area.

I'm in northwestern Canada and rarely have issues. Usually if I suffer from latency it's a (solvable) issue at my end, or it's something that affects everyone at once, like a mass kick followed by login queue.

I haven't had any issues lately.

I live in the US desert southwest, quite far from any major pop areas (nearest small city is around 100k) which is why my only available connection is (and has been since 2005) satellite.

It’s cool that you’ve done this successfully and haven’t had issues, though. I’d wondered what effect, if any, satellite providers would have on things like game performance. I’m glad to learn that this has been viable!

Succesfully completed multip trifectas with Starlink High performance.

TaSheen · February 12

sans-culottes wrote: »

show previous quotes

TaSheen wrote: »

sarahthes wrote: »

sans-culottes wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

sans-culottes wrote: »

I’m sorry you are having this experience. However, “inarguably” is doing some heavy lifting. I’ve read about others experiencing this, but I haven’t had this problem. Curious about how widespread it is.

I don't have the issues either (I never do, and haven't at all in 7 years of play) - but from the amount of traffic on the forum over the years (including the one HUMONGUOUS thread from last May which is still going), I think we are the minority at least of forum posters.

PC NA and EU. HughesNet satellite.

@TaSheen, I think you’re correct—at least based on what people are saying here.

This is well and truly outside my wheelhouse. However, I wonder what effect, if any, proximity to ZOS’s servers or whatever might mean for these issues/lack thereof.

For instance, I live in the Northeast of the US and not that far from, say, the DC metro area.

I'm in northwestern Canada and rarely have issues. Usually if I suffer from latency it's a (solvable) issue at my end, or it's something that affects everyone at once, like a mass kick followed by login queue.

I haven't had any issues lately.

I live in the US desert southwest, quite far from any major pop areas (nearest small city is around 100k) which is why my only available connection is (and has been since 2005) satellite.

It’s cool that you’ve done this successfully and haven’t had issues, though. I’d wondered what effect, if any, satellite providers would have on things like game performance. I’m glad to learn that this has been viable!

The biggest issue is the ping. But after 2 decades, I'm quite used to it. I'm sure anyone watching me keyboard combat would laugh hysterically - because I have to build in pauses in key accesses to account for ping, so it's not "smooth".

Believe me, WoW and RIFT were MUCH worse - because nearly every key on the keyboard could have two or three abilities/spells/skills (using the CTRL, ALT, SHIFT modifiers). In WoW my hunters had about 40 keys bound and available. Not that many in RIFT, for why I don't now know.

Rkindaleft · February 12

Remember you don't have to be the one actually lagging to be affected by the lag. Having someone DC because of a ZOS server issue can ruin trifecta runs not just for the person who DCed but also for the other 11 players in the group.

virtus753 wrote: »

show previous quotes

redeyedclyde wrote: »

Four_Fingers wrote: »

There has been an increase of malicious DDOS and other attacks on the internet big time this year.
With the political climate of the world today I expect it to get much worse, internet doomsday so to speak.

You make quite a rational and plausible inference, and indeed I would not be shocked to find out you are right on the money.

But first, we kind of need to find out what's going on.

ZOS has officially commented several times since December to acknowledge DDOS attacks, so that part is not an inference:

Feb. 6: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8264122#Comment_8264122

Jan. 14 (from Matt Firor): https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/672037/u45-purchasing-clarification-recent-network-attacks

Jan. 13: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8252589#Comment_8252589

Dec. 16: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8238380#Comment_8238380
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8238682#Comment_8238682

We know from some of these posts that the measures they have put in place are expected to impact performance. It won't explain everything, but it is confirmed to be a factor here.

I honestly believe that if ZOS's servers are experiencing regular DDOS attacks, we as the consumer should have a right to know, both when it happens and how often it typically occurs. If people are paying for a service that is, say, going to have a night per week where the game is mostly unplayable they should know about it. There are evenings when doing PvP or trial prog groups is basically pointless because some people just can't stay connected no matter what - and I would agree with OP since the maintenance I've noticed an increase in these issues both inside and outside of my groups.

People have to remember that you don't have to actually be the one lagging to be affected by the lag. Even just one person getting disconnected due to a server issue (be it routing, or DDOS, or any other reason) can ruin a trifecta run not just for the person who disconnected but for the other 11 players. Once it happens to two or three people you may as well just not play that evening because it's pretty much impossible to get any meaningful progression in.

blktauna · February 12

I live in a major city suburb above DC and I have incessant lag. I had to stop pvp today because skills simply didn't function. I've noticed since the maintenance the load screens have got even longer and when changing zones I will just stall and drop out.

redeyedclyde · February 13

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

@redeyedclyde If you are having connection issues that you believe are caused by our recent maintenance, please make sure to place a ticket for this as well. Having a ticket in the system will help keep better track of this as well.

Lodged already. In a rather ironic turn the page errored out on the first try, which gave me a chuckle, but I got it in. And just to clarify, I'm saying it started after the extended maintenance not specifically that it was caused by it. The whole, correlation doesn't mean causation, and all those other idioms.

LadyGP wrote: »

There are a few people in the big lag thread that have made comments about them having issues recently. The only thing linking them really that I could see is their location being NZ/Aus. Do you fall into that bucket by chance? This might illustrate some bigger issue on a regional/country standpoint.

But yeah... just wanted to chime in and say I'm sorry issues for you are worse since maintenance. Do the usual add-on check/disable them see if it still is an issue... etc.

I am in Australia, yes. And yes, it is only going to get so good here because...well physics. The sudden massive degradation of service was somewhat noticeable at first as lag spikes that we get often enough, but nowhere near that extent. I'm primarily on Xbox NA these days so other than the usual checklist, not a lot more one can do. But thank you for the suggestion.

virtus753 wrote: »

ZOS has officially commented several times since December to acknowledge DDOS attacks, so that part is not an inference:

We know from some of these posts that the measures they have put in place are expected to impact performance. It won't explain everything, but it is confirmed to be a factor here.

I appreciate the response and you taking the time to dig out some examples. I will happily agree that communication from the team has improved dramatically over the years, but there's still a little more room for improvement. A lasting massive DDoS attack is worthy of pinning at the top of the page, on social media etc, otherwise it tends to get buried in the forums pretty quickly. Obviously certain information is not expected to be published, particularly during a coordinated attack. That should go without saying.

As somebody who has an not entirely dissimilar job, I will be amongst the first to say that you're rarely going to have the complete picture at first, because if you did you'd get to fixing it. My ask is for a more regular updates, even if they are just, "Still scratching our heads". It may seem pointless to some, but you may be surprised at how often that changes the end-user's opinion from "Stoopid computuh guy not do job" to "Well, they're working hard on it and I wish them luck".

As for using "inference", it's a habit. At work we live by the maxim that until the final after-action report is signed off on, everything is inference. And even then, it is still just a working theory, because certainty invites catastrophe. But I see your point.

Rkindaleft wrote: »

I honestly believe that if ZOS's servers are experiencing regular DDOS attacks, we as the consumer should have a right to know, both when it happens and how often it typically occurs. If people are paying for a service that is, say, going to have a night per week where the game is mostly unplayable they should know about it. There are evenings when doing PvP or trial prog groups is basically pointless because some people just can't stay connected no matter what - and I would agree with OP since the maintenance I've noticed an increase in these issues both inside and outside of my groups.

People have to remember that you don't have to actually be the one lagging to be affected by the lag. Even just one person getting disconnected due to a server issue (be it routing, or DDOS, or any other reason) can ruin a trifecta run not just for the person who disconnected but for the other 11 players. Once it happens to two or three people you may as well just not play that evening because it's pretty much impossible to get any meaningful progression in.

If I've come across as snarky or shirty then I apologise, as that is the opposite of what I intend. I sometimes overlook the fact that tone and context doesn't always come through in text. I use hyperbole and occasionally florid language to try and imply a tone of good humour about things. I'm a fairly softly spoken and laid back bloke.

I honestly do have a lot of empathy for the team. Keeping a live service with a large userbase ticking for over a decade is no mean feat. What is more impressive is that they are largely limited to proprietary options to fix or modify things. This will often put you in the unenviable position of having to develop, then test, then QA, then test again etc, your own tools.

It's easy to lose site of the fact that the game is built on what would be classed as legacy technology in most places, spans multiple generations on several platforms, and on average still functions quite adequately. Sure you could get more out of current gen, but the trade-off to squeeze every last bit out of old gen is I personally believe, the right thing to do for the players who aren't in the position to upgrade.

Whilst it may seem that I am throwing the onus on the team, the majority of the motivation for me to actually post came from an increasing amount of negativity and even toxicity from players towards the game and the team behind it. These are the people who rarely if ever actually lodge a ticket (guilty of that myself on occasion) until one day they decide they are going to sign up for the forum and spit venom. It doesn't help anybody or solve anything and can lead to an acrimonious relationship between players and devs. Players feel they are being let down and the devs don't get the credit for the 98% of the things that work not by magic, but by hard work.

We want game that works and is fun, and they want a game that works, makes money, and earns praise. The desire is the same even if the motivations differ.

Apologies for the length of the posts. I'd usually be playing about now but the dropouts are fairly nasty this morning for me, so I'm here boring you all instead.

NoSoup · February 13

While I haven't done the standard tests yet, I'm pretty sure the routing for Australia has changed again since the maintenance and this could be your issue.

This has been an issue that pops up for aussie players from time to time, some times it fixes itself, other times enough of us have to make some noise. It's all to do with the Akamai routing and from time to time all network traffic from Australia gets routed in a completely stupid direction.

For the last 18 months I've had pretty steady latency averaging 220 with minimal disconnects. Noticed as soon as the maintenance was over latency was around 350 - 380. This was a major red flag and as someone that has been quite vocal in the past of routing issues for Aussies, I didn't even bother doing a test. I just "knew" what the issue was and how to fix it, immediately fired up mudfish (VPN) and logged back in, ping was stable again at 210 - 220 and no disconnect issues.

NoSoup · February 13

I'm at work at the moment (so results will be different from when I'm at home, but not by much) and my previous post was spot on. A simple tracert shows Akami is routing traffic through their Netherlands servers which is something that has happened previously ( see this thread https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/439549/oceanic-lag-now-300-400-ms-even-with-a-vpn-was-250-300/p2).

Anyone with basic geography knowledge would be able to conclude that routing Australian traffic through Asia - > Europe -> then the US is going to add a decent amount of latency and network noise. Last time it happened this affected our NZ brother's and sisters too, so I would assume they're in the same boat.

When the network is good and stable it routes Sydney -> L.A or Sydney -> Auckland -> LA via the Southern Cross Cable Network. When it's bad (like the last few days/week) it routes out through either the ASC, AJC or the Oman Cable which sends the traffic through asia and or the middle east on to europe and then finally to the US.

redeyedclyde · February 13

NoSoup wrote: »

I'm at work at the moment (so results will be different from when I'm at home, but not by much) and my previous post was spot on. A simple tracert shows Akami is routing traffic through their Netherlands servers which is something that has happened previously ( see this thread https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/439549/oceanic-lag-now-300-400-ms-even-with-a-vpn-was-250-300/p2).

I noticed this too yesterday quite by accident while I was scanning through some logs. Thank you for the link.

This type of information is quite useful.