This game feels very... sluggish / unresponsive.

Stx · October 2014

I have been trying to figure out what it is that turns me off from PvP in this game. I think I finally figured it out.

Even when I have 60+ FPS, no lag, or anything else, my character still seems to have a half second of lag on a lot of actions, such as breaking free, or using certain abilities. It feels like there is a global cooldown on almost every button I press, and its awful.

One example I can give to try and express my point...

In WoW, on my rogue if I was opened on by another rogue and he stunned me, I could instantly pop my break free(pvp trinket), hit vanish, turn and face him, and stun him back with my own opener. You could do all that in a split second if you were fast enough.

In GW2, on my thief, if someone stunned me, I could instantly shadowstep away, start casting cloak and dagger, shadowstep back, land my cloak and dagger, gain stealth, and strike back with a backstab. All in half a second (if I was fast enough).

Basically, when your skills are responsive, and you can perform moves and counters with quick reaction timing, it makes gameplay more fun and rewarding.

To me, ESO does not play this way. If I get ambush stunned by a NB, and I immediately hit Break Free, I cannot then instantly shadow cloak, and hit him with Surprise attack to stun him back... because when I hit my break free button, my character won't perform any action for half a second.

Im not sure if this is intentional. I can see why ZOS might think putting a global cooldown on all abilities would be good in a game with no cooldowns... but in my opinion it really dumbs the game down.

Almost every time I engage in PvP combat, things happen that I just cant figure it out... and I attribute them to the game just being unresponsive. I'll be stunned, so I break free, ill then immediately be rooted, so I roll dodge.. but before the roll animation even completes, ill be CC'd again, and I won't even know what it is.. my character will just stutter step or freeze. I have never ever experienced that in other games, and it is frustrating.

I personally feel that if ZOS really worked on making combat gameplay more smooth and responsive, it would go a long way in making this game a great PvP game.

Edit: Blocking being 360 degrees and being able to cast instant abilities while blocking is another aspect of this game that really dumbs it down to me, but thats a topic for another thread hehe.

Soloeus · October 2014

Well, it is what it is.

Sorry to put it like that, but its the truth. Once you start weapon swapping, or at least, trying to, you will get even more upset.

You can still Animation Cancel to Light Attack Weave. You just can't have smooth rotation of abilities and break free, roll dodge, etc.

By design.

Stx · October 2014

Soloeus wrote: »

Well, it is what it is.

Sorry to put it like that, but its the truth. Once you start weapon swapping, or at least, trying to, you will get even more upset.

You can still Animation Cancel to Light Attack Weave. You just can't have smooth rotation of abilities and break free, roll dodge, etc.

By design.

Swapping weapons actually works pretty smooth for me(since the patch where they made it faster anyway). But the overall response time is still slower than weapon swapping in GW2. In that game you could hit your swap key and your attack pretty much instantly and you knew it was going to fire. This game swapping isnt that fast but still works pretty good for me.

Although I have seen people complain about the swapping so maybe I just don't PvP enough to experience that particular issue.

jeevin · October 2014

I agree OP. The combat or input lag that affects skills and weapon swapping in particular makes the game feel more sluggish than it should. But I guess thats the price we pay for no cooldowns on abilities? I don't know. There are plenty of games that don't suffer from the same delays as this one though.

Emeliana · October 2014

+1 for the OP.

Compared to the games you mentioned, ESO responsiveness is subpar. I'd expect more from a game released in 2014.

Lack of response does affect players differently, some more, some less and appearently some don't have any latency what-so-ever. The latter will often post in threads like this "I have no issues, why don't you buy a new computer?" As if that would help the players that have problems.

For some odd reason, I get the worst latency and lack of respons in solo-instances and especially dungeons, in which I am to be lucky if weapon-swap works at all. What irritates me the most is that when npc's are about to throw something at me, all my skills are disabled and sometimes also the movement of the avatar until the npc is done.

It feels like "Ok, my turn, now his turn, my turn, his turn and yeehaaahh now it's my turn again! Interaction? Not really...

Stx · October 2014

Emeliana wrote: »

+1 for the OP.

Compared to the games you mentioned, ESO responsiveness is subpar. I'd expect more from a game released in 2014.

Lack of response does affect players differently, some more, some less and appearently some don't have any latency what-so-ever. The latter will often post in threads like this "I have no issues, why don't you buy a new computer?" As if that would help the players that have problems.

For some odd reason, I get the worst latency and lack of respons in solo-instances and especially dungeons, in which I am to be lucky if weapon-swap works at all. What irritates me the most is that when npc's are about to throw something at me, all my skills are disabled and sometimes also the movement of the avatar until the npc is done.

It feels like "Ok, my turn, now his turn, my turn, his turn and yeehaaahh now it's my turn again! Interaction? Not really...

I don't notice the sluggishness in PvE to be honest. In PvP is where quick button pressing and timing really become important, and it becomes so obvious how unresponsive the game is.

And I am expecting a few of those "get a better comp/internet" comments, which I plan to politely ignore.

Sleep · October 2014

In Cyrodiil I've seen a lot of people complains about lag from time to time. I've also seen a lot of people don't have that lag issue. (Zergball lag excluded) They've got no problems of breaking free and using skills as well as swapping weapons. Latency may happen from time to time, and not everyone has that problem. For me, I need at least 2 seconds to cast a Crystal Shard, at least 3 seconds to cast Snipe, sometimes I saw someone casting and I block immediately but I still got knock back. Of course it's my internet's problem, not the server's problem.

MADshadowman · October 2014

I really wish ZOS would work on the unresponsiveness. Some inputs seem to get completely ignored. Most of the time you have to hit every key multiple times to make sure it really fires the skill. One other thing i've experienced is that you stop moving when a crystal fragment or a charge attack like invasion is incoming. So the game already knows you will get hit by that even though it hasn't happened yet on your end.

OrangeTheCat · October 2014

I totally agree OP. The ability lag is bad and is quite noticeable in PvE as well. It really makes this game feel second rate and definately not modern.

deepseamk20b14_ESO · October 2014

It's hit or miss. Sometimes weapon swap is smooth. other times I will hit my weapon swap key, start using a skill, wondering why the skill isn't working, and realize my bars never swapped. There is a timing involved. If you are to fast, it won't swap because it is still performing the other skill (at least that's what it seems like). I don't mind LA or HA weaving, I do it all the time however I think 360 blocking and casting while holding block is the dumbest thing in the world. Don't get me wrong, I'll jump into a group of mobs, hold block, and sap essence all day but it's to easy and honestl, like one of you said, dumbs it down. Block is severely in need of a change.

Stx · October 2014

deepseamk20b14_ESO wrote: »

It's hit or miss. Sometimes weapon swap is smooth. other times I will hit my weapon swap key, start using a skill, wondering why the skill isn't working, and realize my bars never swapped. There is a timing involved. If you are to fast, it won't swap because it is still performing the other skill (at least that's what it seems like). I don't mind LA or HA weaving, I do it all the time however I think 360 blocking and casting while holding block is the dumbest thing in the world. Don't get me wrong, I'll jump into a group of mobs, hold block, and sap essence all day but it's to easy and honestl, like one of you said, dumbs it down. Block is severely in need of a change.

I often see Templars, DK's, and sometimes Sorc's tanking whole groups of players, simply due to being able to hold block while casting instant skills like shields or heals. You should never be able to tank 10+ players like this if a game has any level of balance.

Block being 180 frontal would go a very long way in fixing this. It would take more skill to use and position your character, and it would give dps characters a viable way to combat tanks by strafing behind them.

Things I think would really improve this game from a combat perspective:

1) Skills fire instantly, more responsively. Remove global cooldowns between dps skills and utility skills.

2) Blocking is 180 frontal, no more blocking attacks coming from behind you.

3) Blocking removes your ability to use other abilities. You either block, or you attack. Simple gameplay improvement which encourages smart use of block and good timing instead of just constantly holding block all day every day.

4) When you turn your character, your character needs to turn. Currently, this is the only game I have played when using the mouse to steer my character that my character won't follow where I point the mouse. He will only turn once I start actually moving, which isn't too big of a deal currently, but matters a lot if blocking becomes 180, or if you are trying to position yourself to avoid sneak attacks.