Main Story Quest Reapers March "The First Step" Bugged Blocking Progress!!!

Arathane

Day 3 for me and I'm still screwed on this quest. I was told a potential fix is to have another player with this quest abandon it and then pick it up again and share it with you.. My problem is I canot find anyone willing to do so so I cannot test and see if that is an actual fix for the issue.

As for the fact that this quest is buggy, it is also griefable. My quest was stuck when a player figured out that he could drop the quest after drinking, pick it back up, and then time drinking the chalice while another player is on the phase of watching the ceremony. When a player is drinking the chalice while you are on the phase before, it will most likely bug out and break for the character on the phase of watching the ceremony. This is the source and will bug you most of the time and is PLAYER EXPLOITABLE and has been used to GRIEF unsuspecting players. The player that did this to me and the like 6-7 players after me knew this and intentionally griefed myself and the players afterwards for (I imagine) kicks and giggles.

The only word I've had from support is as follows.

Greetings!

Thank you for contacting The Elder Scrolls Online Team! I am sorry you cannot progress in the quest 'The First Step'. I understand your frustration and thank you for your patience.

I will forward your query to our team of specialists who can help you further. You you should receive a reply as soon as possible.

Thank you for your continued interest and support!

Kind Regards,
Aisling,
The Elder Scrolls Online Team

And I have not received any word from their coveted team of specialists. Nor do I expect to.

Swiftly

Arathane wrote: »

When a player is drinking the chalice while you are on the phase before, it will most likely bug out and break for the character on the phase of watching the ceremony

This is my exact scenario. Someone was drinking while I was watching the phase before. OMG a phasing issue with a quest...who would have thought!?!?!?!

Arathane

OMG a phasing issue with a quest...who would have thought!?!?!?!

No kidding, right? At least there's a discernible source to the issue, which means there's a quick way to fix it.

Honestly, if they made interior main quests private instanced, it would fix 600% of the issues like this. Especially the people who know about these phasing issues and use them to mess with players. The end game community so far as has been (mostly) solid, but it sucks when griefing exploits like this come out of the woodwork for people to abuse. Especially moments before you're ready to move to 50++ Content.

arapas

..... Still same issue - 1 Week aniversary

Swiftly

Well, I will admit I was a little skeptical that other players were intentionally phase bugging out players on this quest. But I just witnessed in myself!

@ZOS_GinaBruno‌ Something needs to be done about this...NOW!!

Arathane

Swiftly wrote: »

Well, I will admit I was a little skeptical that other players were intentionally phase bugging out players on this quest. But I just witnessed in myself!

I have bugged this over 100 times under Crashing/Blocks Progression.. But I'm starting to think if I spam bug it as an exploit, something might actually get done. Because for the past three days while I sit online and attempt to find a fix / wait for a response I have seen multiple people intentionally exploit this bug and wreck the progression of players for *** and giggles.

Swiftly is right. @ZOS_GinaBruno VETERAN RANKED PLAYERS NEED A FIX FOR THIS MESS.

Arathane

Quick little update - I was contacted by support twice in the matter of 5 minutes on the matter. You'd think that would mean something is about to get done with the matter, don't hold your breath. Both representatives did not even read my ticket as neither of them answered my ticket with responses that were appropriate or pertinent towards the exploit.

Response By Email (Jourdan)

Greetings!

Thank you for contacting The Elder Scrolls Online Team.

If a player abandons a quest in the middle of a dungeon, it is very likely that some objectives won't be available anymore, and therefore, the NPCs won't give the quest again in the current instance. The only solution is to leave the instance for five minutes, and re-enter the dungeon.

You can also find this information in our knowledge base, which we consistently update with any changes. Use the following link for the most up-to-date information regarding your question:

http://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/home?region=US/track/AvPalQq7Dv8S~YF7Gk4e~yILnPUqIC75Mv~I~zj~PP8B

Currently, the best way to keep an eye out for upcoming news about The Elder Scrolls Online is to watch our official page and social channels:

http://elderscrollsonline.com
https://www.facebook.com/ElderScrollsOnline
http://www.twitter.com/TESOnline
http://plus.google.com/+ElderScrollsOnline

Thank you for your continued interest and support!

Warm Regards,
The Elder Scrolls Online Team

Response By Email (Derrius)

The Golden eye shines upon ye Matt!

Thank you for contacting The Elder Scrolls Online Team.

Answer Link:What can I do if my character gets stuck or seems to fall through the world?

You may wish to try abandoning the quest and reaccepting it, as well as logging off and back on.

If you cannot abandon the quest, it is likely considered a main story quest. We are currently working to fix this issue. In the meantime, you can progress to the next chapter of the storyline by moving ahead to the next area.

It is our hope that you will be able to return and complete the affected quest shortly.

You can find more information about The Elder Scrolls Online on our website and social channels (Facebook, Twitter, and Google+).

Thank you for your continued interest and support!

May Molag Bal bring you glory in your conquest,
The Elder Scrolls Online Team

GMs. Please READ your tickets before you respond to them. Players are running around knowingly preventing other players from progressing from 50++ content for the fun of it. This should not be possible.

Kristov

Swiftly wrote: »

Well, I will admit I was a little skeptical that other players were intentionally phase bugging out players on this quest. But I just witnessed in myself!

@ZOS_GinaBruno‌ Something needs to be done about this...NOW!!

People should be perma-banned for this. Hoping you reported the person you saw doing this?

Swiftly

Kristov wrote: »

Swiftly wrote: »

Well, I will admit I was a little skeptical that other players were intentionally phase bugging out players on this quest. But I just witnessed in myself!

@ZOS_GinaBruno‌ Something needs to be done about this...NOW!!

People should be perma-banned for this. Hoping you reported the person you saw doing this?

Oh LoL, I tried, but that also bugged out when submitting...

Arathane

If it makes anyone feel any better, I finally was able to get in contact with service that seem to have actually helped.

The exploit according to my latest interactions with a GM has apparently been escalated and brought to the attention of people higher up the chain. While this is slow progress it's still progress, with any luck we'll see a fix in the next patch or two, knock on wood.

Foxhunt

While we are talking about this quest, I'd like to throw out there that the 'fix' for motes in the moonlight doesn't seem to have worked for me. I got past the purify SW part of the quest but when I get to the Dark Mane, I can get him down to half health before he disappears, and tigers appear. Then, I'll kill the tigers and suddenly when there's like 1 or 2 left they will disappear and the Dark Mane will respawn once again but with full health. Repeat, drop him to half health, disappear, tigers appear... Over and over and over.. I haven't tried abandoning the quest yet, but I will as soon as I get home.

Arathane

Foxhunt wrote: »

While we are talking about this quest, I'd like to throw out there that the 'fix' for motes in the moonlight doesn't seem to have worked for me.

As of now Motes in the Moonlight is officially listed as one of the quests with developers working on a fix, so you will probably see a patch for that quest sooner than we will for this one.

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/80362/in-progress-known-issues/p1

Unfortunately The First Step is only just now being recognized as bugged/exploitable.

Worstluck

I am stuck on 'The First Step' as well. I managed to drink from the chalice ok, but I've become stuck on the part where it says 'Survive the Dead'. The zombies spawn inside of this ledge and are stuck. I can't kill them, they can't move. Not going to bother with a support ticket, they can't help...Going to try abandoning quest I guess.

Arathane

Still no communication with a GM past thanks for letting us know about this and we'll tell our superiors who may chose to do something about it or not.

I was in love with this game but this has begun to be very off putting.

Swiftly

Day 10, No fix, all communication has stopped from ZOS. Cancelling subscription.

Attorneyatlawl

Bumping this again... having no way to continue a primary character for this long is unacceptable .

Could we get this looked at? @ZOS_GinaBruno‌

Arathane

I have had no communication after day four when my ticket was escalated.

Usually I would assume that escalation of a query would mean that the subject matter would be addressed swiftly, especially on a matter that (at this point in time) is affecting strictly hardcore and loyal players. You would think that people in 50+ content and above would be one of the most vital player-bases to cater to at this point in time. People are looking towards Veteran Ranked players to learn about how the game at high to end game content is. It does not bode well for ZOS, ESO or their (already atrocious) customer service reputation that an exploitable issue this serious is being completely skidded across by ZOS employees, including @ZOS_GinaBruno - Who's job, I would assume, is to scan the forums in which you administrate to pick up on serious game issues, this one especially.

I love this game and want to continue playing it and contributing to ZOS but I am finding less and less drive to play the game, support the company, and spread the good word about the game that I am beginning to regret doing.

This is a simple problem with a simple fix that creates major problems for Veteran Ranked players. Especially since malicious players are able to exploit this knowingly and intentionally.

ZOS, this is one issue that NEEDS immediate attention.

arapas

Still same issue here, cant progress on the game for more than 10 days.

No response, nothing. Already canceled my sub.

Attorneyatlawl

Bump, hearing a lot of people with this issue and it's a critical one.

Arathane

I have done everything under the sun to attempt to make this known.

I have contacted support and had support contact me via phone.
I have emailed, messaged, and private messaged multiple ZOS administrators directly. This includes @ZOS_GinaBruno.
I have submitted over 100 bug reports (not that I expect this to yield any results at all)
And obviously I have been vocal on a variety of mediums to express that this is a problem.

What does it take to get this issue noticed?

What's more is malicious players are still intentionally exploiting this to hinder progress on unsuspecting players for the laugh of it.

I really love this game and want to continue doing so, quit making it so hard to do ZOS.

Attorneyatlawl

Arathane wrote: »

I have done everything under the sun to attempt to make this known.

I have contacted support and had support contact me via phone.
I have emailed, messaged, and private messaged multiple ZOS administrators directly. This includes @ZOS_GinaBruno.
I have submitted over 100 bug reports (not that I expect this to yield any results at all)
And obviously I have been vocal on a variety of mediums to express that this is a problem.

What does it take to get this issue noticed?

What's more is malicious players are still intentionally exploiting this to hinder progress on unsuspecting players for the laugh of it.

I really love this game and want to continue doing so, quit making it so hard to do ZOS.

Yup, and unlike vampirism etc. this is REQUIRED TO PROGRESS and NOT an intended game mechanic, that people are using DIRECTLY and PURPOSEFULLY to harm other players, from the sound of it. Vampirism complaints which in no way block gameplay and can be bought from other people even, has had many dev posts, but stuff like this is being ignored seemingly ?

Arathane

Attorneyatlawl wrote: »

Yup, and unlike vampirism etc. this is REQUIRED TO PROGRESS and NOT an intended game mechanic, that people are using DIRECTLY and PURPOSEFULLY to harm other players, from the sound of it.

There is no doubt that this is being used maliciously. It was used on me and the 5 players who followed behind me the day my quest was exploited. I have seen (and reported) players use this intentionally in the days following in the few hours I log on to player / check and see if anything has changed.

What's worse is the players who are not doing this intentionally are far more in number, on peak times during the day you will see plenty of players get their quest bugged due to the volume of players in the area, and the perpetrators in these scenarios have no clue they're causing it.

Bottom line this is too crucial to the natural veteran ranked content progression to have an issue like this occur, especially since there is no other way to progress.

This will unfortunately probably not be resolved until a big youtube personality has this happen to them months down the road and naturally have it spit shined just because they pull in plenty of free advertising.

Attorneyatlawl

@Arathane, yeah, I'm noticing a troubling trend of podcasters being the main feedback given any heed on important issues a lot of the time... PR instead of meat . UI? MMORPG.com guy complains, boom it's changed. Vampirism "needed" (and I use the term loosely) but players want to charge for their bites? HUGE publicity. Etc.

Arathane

Attorneyatlawl wrote: »

I'm noticing a troubling trend of podcasters being the main feedback given any heed on important issues

Without naming those involved, I have contacted a few of the largest ESO related players who are large in the community and they have all said roughly around the same thing: "Sucks for you, hasnt happened to me, contact support if its that big of an issue."

Time will tell with this issue I guess, unfortunately.

EDIT: Of course I also intend to be vocal towards the developers and on the forums with this exploit until it gets fixed.

Attorneyatlawl

Arathane wrote: »

Attorneyatlawl wrote: »

I'm noticing a troubling trend of podcasters being the main feedback given any heed on important issues

Without naming those involved, I have contacted a few of the largest ESO related players who are large in the community and they have all said roughly around the same thing: "Sucks for you, hasnt happened to me, contact support if its that big of an issue."

Time will tell with this issue I guess, unfortunately.

EDIT: Of course I also intend to be vocal towards the developers and on the forums with this exploit until it gets fixed.

Yup, I sometimes wonder if I should have done a site/podcast instead of actually submitting feedback and pvp'ing for glory and bug/mechanic testing. /joking

Just sometimes though.:)

Swiftly

They're not responding because in all likelihood they have no clue how to fix the issue...

Sad...

Attorneyatlawl

You need a more sensationalistic title... see this for an example:

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/comment/709436

Your title lacks emotional character and attention-grabbing hyperbole.

Arathane

@Attorneyatlawl I wish it was always as "simple" of a fix as the support phone call. The first time I was hung up on and I am on day 2 awaiting my second phone call queue.

ZOS_GinaBruno

Hey everyone, apologies for the delay. We're going to look into this now and see if it's something that the team is aware of, and when it may be fixed.

Arathane

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey everyone, apologies for the delay. We're going to look into this now and see if it's something that the team is aware of, and when it may be fixed.

Thank you for finally recognizing that this is a problem. It feels like the first bit of progress to occur since this bug appeared.

Is there any chance we can get an update as it becomes available?