Request for a change in hireling timer mechanics

Rodario

Receiving a delivery on the first login that happens at least 24 hours after the last one was received means it's almost impossible to receive one every day. No matter how hard you try, you'll never be able to log in/relog at exactly the same time every day, thus the delivery receival will shift to a later time every day, until you have to skip a day entirely.

If the hireling tier three was actually meant to address this, and not to receive two deliveries a day, i can accept that, but I'd want a "working as intended" confirmation.

Otherwise, my suggestion is the following:

1. Send deliveries at a fixed time e.g. 12AM (both simultaneously for tier 3) regardless of player logins. That way, as a bonus, players also wouldn't be punished for going on a vacation w/o access to a computer.

Failing that:

2. Take the refresh timer from above, but leave the login obligation (The deliveries will be overwritten by the following one, if not claimed). At least this way it wouldn't shift if you log in an hour later than usual.

Thanks for reading. Discuss.

EDIT after reading the comments:

3. Set the timers to 20 hours after last pickup and send both deliveries simultaneously for tier 3.

4. Additionally to any option chosen, make all characters' deliveries appear when logging in with any character. No more relogging 8 times to receive all mail. This would mean the mail is already generated in the inbox while offline, not sent upon login.

EDIT: updated the description to be more clear / replaced "chest" with "delivery" (i miss the feeling of opening those chests btw) / added 4.

knaveofengland

they must be on a tea break never there when you want them , up they need some thing really don't want to put what I suggest down

KenjiJU

They could at least drop the CD to 20 hours similar to the horse timer. The 2 per day rank to 10 hours.

Thywin

20/10 hour CD would be great!

Catches_the_Sun

The timers are so confusing to me. I think they're being affected by server resets or something as well. I would like for the mails to at least be timestamped so we can verify that they're working as intended.

alphawolph

Rodario wrote: »

Receiving a chest on the first login that happens at least 24 hours after the last chest was received means it's almost impossible to receive a chest every day. No matter how hard you try, you'll never be able to log in/relog at exactly the same time every day, thus the chest receival will shift to a later time every day, until you have to skip a day entirely.

If the hireling tier three was actually meant to address this, and not to receive two chests a day, i can accept that, but I'd want a "working as intended" confirmation.

Otherwise, my suggestion is the following:

1. Send chests at 0:00/12:00 (both for tier 3) regardless of player logins. That way, as a bonus, players also wouldn't be punished for going on a vacation w/o access to a computer. Before you say "but that would benefit farmers": no it would not. They don't care if they have to log in or not.

Failing that:

2. Take the refresh timer from above, but leave the login obligation. At least this way it wouldn't shift if you log in an hour later than usual.

Thanks for reading. Discuss.

Please, option two.

scabrous_ftz

I agree. On days I can't really play, I still want to log in for the hireling mails, then I find myself thinking "when did I log in last night?"

alphawolph

I will not log in on Sunday night. So on Monday I get my boxes early again.

Lupinemw

Sorry must just be me, I see these as a small bonus if I was worrying about them to craft at a serious level I'd never get anywhere.

huntgod_ESO

I would like to see a 20-22hr timer as well. I commented on that in another thread and by setting it to 24 hrs you introduce daily creep, which results in either having a login time well after a point where you need to be asleep (since most of us work) or not getting your bags for the day. As to the 3/3 hireling sending twice, they should just send 2 bags at the same time, since logging in twice a day just isn't an option for most people. I don't think anyone reading the perk description would think that they did it the way they currently are.

So either reduce the timer to 20hrs and keep it the way it is, change it so they ship at a fixed time regardless of when checked last or lastly allow them to stack up in the bank, so it doesn't matter when you check (I understand there are issues with option and it causing problems with the existing mail framework, so either of the first two options would also alleviate the problem).

aidevelopmentb16_ESO

This. I marked the times down so I wouldn't miss the deliveries. It was around 4:30 AM EST. After a patch it was moved to around 2:30 PM EST. I've since stopped bothering to try to figure out the time (must be a timer based on server up time, instead of clock time?), but I'd really like to know, or not have to log in twice a day would be great....

Catches_the_Sun wrote: »

The timers are so confusing to me. I think they're being affected by server resets or something as well. I would like for the mails to at least be timestamped so we can verify that they're working as intended.

Wooten

Either option would be a huge quality of life assist from the devs. That and plain common sense.

Tabia

i also agree that a 20 hr timer makes more sense. That daily creep is frustrating!

Mephane

I agree with the OP. There is a reason daily stuff either resets at a fixed time for everyone, or is on a 20 hour timer in almost all MMOs. Horse feeding in ESO here is also on a sensible 20 hour timer, so the 24 hour hireling timer seems more like an oversight than deliberate design.

aidevelopmentb16_ESO

Personally, I don't mind the 12/24 hour timer much... but it not being at a set clock time, and not happening unless I've logged in and gotten the mail is ridiculous. I miss at least 3 bags per maintenance day... so 6-12 a week. Within a month, that could be enough for me to craft a Legendary set to sell online for $350 USD... for a guildie.

Mabh

huntgod_ESO wrote: »

I would like to see a 20-22hr timer as well. I commented on that in another thread and by setting it to 24 hrs you introduce daily creep, which results in either having a login time well after a point where you need to be asleep (since most of us work) or not getting your bags for the day. As to the 3/3 hireling sending twice, they should just send 2 bags at the same time, since logging in twice a day just isn't an option for most people. I don't think anyone reading the perk description would think that they did it the way they currently are.

So either reduce the timer to 20hrs and keep it the way it is, change it so they ship at a fixed time regardless of when checked last or lastly allow them to stack up in the bank, so it doesn't matter when you check (I understand there are issues with option and it causing problems with the existing mail framework, so either of the first two options would also alleviate the problem).

I agree with this. As it is now stands with 3/3 hirelings you're penalized if you can't log in every 12 hours (ie working/life), so its a waste of a skill point.

Also why does the hireling parcel not deliver until you log your character out and then back in to get the mail? If I'm playing the character when the 12hr timer occurs the mail should be delivered. More game mechanics that are aggravating and not well thought out.

Ragnar_Lodbrok

Ive never had the OP's problem, but I play at the same times as I always do. I say it does not need changed.

Arsvita

I admit that I may miss out some on my mail with the 24 hour timer, but I also miss out when I am not perfectly logged in when my newest trait is learned.

23:45 would help to cut that slight extension of the "daily", but even the post can be delayed.

I would say it's fine even if there are times I seem to "miss out".

p.s. There really are times I do not miss the post being late, I hate junk mail.

SexyVette07

Having the hirelings on a set time would be restrictive to a lot of people and flood the server mail system. It wont work.

I do advocate the change to 10/20 hours though, the 24 hr timer is such a pain.

Catches_the_Sun

There are so many issues with the current system. If I understand this correctly


* Required to log in every 12 hours.
* Don't receive mail until you relog after the timer expires
* Timer is effected by the server resets
* The timer for your next bag doesn't start until you receive the current bag

To put this in perspective, let's say you log in at 9am & you are supposed to receive your bags at 10am & 10pm. You play a long session, logging out at 4pm. You didn't receive the morning delivery because you didn't relog after the 10am time, so you'll get it on the next login. You get back on at 11pm. You will only receive 1 of your 2 bags and now the timer for the next bag is 11am.

There really needs to be some changes around this system.

freddy_hgnrb18_ESO

I definitely support a fixed mailing schedule

Tool tip says "Receive mail Everyday" / "receive mail twice a day"- not Receive mail 24/12 hours after the last time you collected, so long as you actually log in.

There is no point setting a requirement to collect if the actual passive skill says You WILL receive mail every day / twice a day.

I am noticing my mail times fluctuting wildly (i collected at 8pm my time one night, the next night the mail didnt show up til 11.30 pm) and at that stage I should have been getting 2 / day because of 3/3 skill points for both Clothing and Woodcrafting.

As an asside, Enchanting would seem to be better to send you Glyphs for Deconstructing rather than runes (which in my bank are already in stacks of 20+)

And while mentioning runes stacking - why are Potency Runes only stacking in lots of 20 rather than lots of 100 ???

flemmingrohdb16_ESO

yeah this need to be adressed
im now at a point where i need to log on at 3 am/3 pm to get my bags, which off course is slightly disturbing to a normal family/working life....

Rodario

SexyVette07 wrote: »

Having the hirelings on a set time would be restrictive to a lot of people and flood the server mail system. It wont work.

Just to be clear, the fixed timer would mean it arrives at that time regardless of the player being logged in or not, so I don't see the restrictiveness here. For Option two this would mean the next delivery will only arrive if the first one has been picked up.

Rodario

Thanks for all the comments. It's good to see I'm not the only one being annoyed by this system. I've included the 20h timer as option 3, since it seems to be the most popular.

Jopoder

I want an option to recieve 2 chests in 1 mail every 24 hours at rank 3 hireling.

Zakua

Holy whaaat!?!? This is insane, I'd of never put a 3rd point into BS hireling for 3/3 if I had known this...I do not have the ability to go play my game at 7am in the morning...crazy!

I'm not raging about it but this is beyond silly in design and execution. <period!

Malediktus

support, hireling timers are stupid currently

SexyVette07

Rodario wrote: »

SexyVette07 wrote: »

Having the hirelings on a set time would be restrictive to a lot of people and flood the server mail system. It wont work.

Just to be clear, the fixed timer would mean it arrives at that time regardless of the player being logged in or not, so I don't see the restrictiveness here. For Option two this would mean the next delivery will only arrive if the first one has been picked up.

I was referring to your option to have the hirelings at set times but leave the login requirement. It wont work.

Sendarya

I agree it needs fixing in some way. In it's current form, I lose at least one delivery a week, and sometimes more.

Oevaag_Bur

I'm noticing additional weirdness to this problem lately. Last few days I've made note of the time I pick up my 1st bag of the day. Yesterday it was 3:05pm. Pain in the butt that it is. I logged in at 3:00am to pick up the second bag, expecting it to ping at 3:05 again. 3:14 came around and still no mail. I logged out and back in. Still nothing. I logged an alt and then went back to my main and there they were. At 3:25am. It's been the same last few days as I said but it seems I need to log an alt each time to make the mail appear ^^

They should have the mail arrive at fixed times of the day. I think someone already suggested 11am and 11pm. If you miss picking up the morning one before the next morning one is due you lose it as it is now (for what ever reason is in Zeni's head :P ). Ditto for the evening one.

Edit. Exactly the same again just now. 3:39pm before I noticed. Log alt and back in and there's the mail ^^

zhevon

The current system sucks in a major way; it needs to be fixed. Minimally the 20 hour day sounds good to me.

Its also tremendously lazy that the email is not date and timestamped and addressed to your character.