We need a maintenance BADLY. Server needs to be reset at the very least.

Psychobunni · January 2015

Did Crows Wood the other night and every time I attacked the spiders (after the tunnel) my staff completely disappeared and skills greyed out. That was a first for me, couple /reloudui and avoided them to complete.

Saying the servers don't need basic clean-up because its 2015 and technology should be better and it just breeds laziness is skeever dung. Sorry, but it is.

That's like saying because you just bought the most current technologically advanced pc your money could buy, you should never have to clean your files...everything needs a clean up, and right now the ESO servers are hurting for it.

Aett_Thorn · January 2015

lordrichter wrote: »

Misa wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

Misa wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

Vikestart wrote: »

Huh, no. All MMOs do this. Server maintenance / restarts on a regular basis is completely normal.

This thinking leads to laziness.

This is 20145. We can build systems that will run with near 100% uptime. We can build software that does not have to be restarted every week in order to do garbage cleanup.

Aging systems, like Blizzard's WoW servers, need to be rebooted every week to do garbage cleanup. They probably still have legacy software in there that isn't even part of this century.

new mmos like wildstar, ffxiv, archeage has weekly maintenance too

This thinking leads to laziness.

how does this thinking lead to laziness ? sure you can create a server for something simple that almost never needs a restart, but something like a game server which doesn't just run counter strike but actually a large mmo and handles A LOT of users and all their input very easily creates bugs and glitches that requires a restart

There are few other industries like the software industry, and particularly the gaming industry, where malfunction is not only acceptable, but is considered normal.

When I say that this thinking breeds laziness, I mean that thinking of malfunction as normal, and therefore acceptable, is lazy. Lazy people have no interest in improving anything.

I don't really think that this is true. "Malfunction" is considered normal in most businesses, at least to a certain extent. Most companies build into their business model that some of their products are going to be defective in some way. As such, they build for customer service, returns, etc.

However, software is a bit different because all of it can be interdependent. A small malfunction in one part of the code can lead to bigger problems somewhere else. It also is noticeable to a larger population at once.

If my spaghetti sauce lid didn't get properly sealed, for instance, I am going to notice that when I get home and my sauce is a bit moldy. But you aren't going to notice it, because yours is fine. In my line of work, I've had documents go to press after going through a dozen reviews and nobody noticed that "shift" was spelled without the f in a few spots. But the likelihood of that causing the whole document to burst into flames is rather low.

In software, though, a typo like that could cause problems in the product that are unexpected. As such, there is a certain expectation that you will have a certain amount of problems in the product, but that you will fix them as you figure out what the problems are. In this way, the customer gets the product as soon as it is ready, and it will get patched to work better as it goes on.

Even small malfunctions in software are one of the only business areas where impacts can be widespread, noticeable by a good amount of disparate users, and potentially catastrophic to the product. As such, it's a business area that tends to get a lot of blame for it, even though most industries have the same thing.

Darlgon · January 2015

Vikestart wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

Yeah, these things should not be happening, but the servers should never be offline except for one reason: patch/update installs.

If they need to reboot to clean things out, then they have more work to do. Let's hope that they picked some hardware and software technology designed to handle this sort of continuous uptime. If they are dependent on rented PCs stacked on shelves and some freeware garbage, then we are truly in trouble.

Huh, no. All MMOs do this. Server maintenance / restarts on a regular basis is completely normal.

This.. and PLEASE restart them at least on Monday @ZOS_PaulSage.

SLy_Kyti · January 2015

There are few other industries like the software industry, and particularly the gaming industry, where malfunction is not only acceptable, but is considered normal.

When I say that this thinking breeds laziness, I mean that thinking of malfunction as normal, and therefore acceptable, is lazy. Lazy people have no interest in improving anything.

Thank you for the clarification. Yes, a troublesome attitude, a shifting standard ( see what I did there ;0 )

Little accountability.

RSram · January 2015

Sindala wrote: »

http://www.cracked.com/article_20727_5-reasons-video-game-industry-about-to-crash.html

Article has some good points.......just don't click anything else on the site unless your familiar with these sorts of sites.

Great Article!

Darlgon · January 2015

lordrichter wrote: »

There are few other industries like the software industry, and particularly the gaming industry, where malfunction is not only acceptable, but is considered normal.

When I say that this thinking breeds laziness, I mean that thinking of malfunction as normal, and therefore acceptable, is lazy. Lazy people have no interest in improving anything.

Ya know, I have been a PC tech/network admin for over 18 years, and I tell my clients to restart their computers daily. Why? Because updates get installed, the RAM cache gets cleared of any pesky TSR programs/ any extra unwanted processes are removed. Generally, a reboot (or in this case a server restart) helps out a ton of things.

Otherwise, why do you wash your plates at home? You are just gonna put food back on them again. You do it to get rid of bad stuff you dont want.

ZOS_UlyssesW · January 2015

Hello all,

We have reported this issue to our teams. They are currently looking into it.

We would like more information to help us to find the cause of the problem, for that, could you tell us:
- The exact locations you were having issues at
- Time it happened (all the time, intermittent)
- Which Megaserver
- If in Cyrodiil, which campaign
- Your country

Thank you.

SLy_Kyti · January 2015

Funny ZOS responds to one thread about this subject and not this one....forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/144795/i-think-the-server-needs-a-reboot#latest

ers101284b14_ESO · January 2015

SLy_Kyti wrote: »

Funny ZOS responds to one thread about this subject and not this one....forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/144795/i-think-the-server-needs-a-reboot#latest

Thats funny because right above your post on that one leading back to this one they actually responded. So they have the exact same response in the exact same position in both threads of you having the same gripe with links leading to the same articles.

Darlgon · January 2015

ZOS_UlyssesW wrote: »

Hello all,

We have reported this issue to our teams. They are currently looking into it.

We would like more information to help us to find the cause of the problem, for that, could you tell us:
- The exact locations you were having issues at
- Time it happened (all the time, intermittent)
- Which Megaserver
- If in Cyrodiil, which campaign
- Your country

Thank you.

Everywhere, including Cyrodiil, Haderus and Thornblade, NA megaserver intermittently.

Been rubber-banding back 10 seconds riding on horseback both AvA and landscape in Greenshade. had battles where I was 30sec to a min behind fights. Had entire keeps not form up in Cyrodiil for some of my guildies from Australia. (they had fun fighting from under the floors tho.) I am in St Louis, USA.

Just remembered one other thing. Twice yesterday, I timed out when trying to login.

Alphashado · January 2015

ZOS_UlyssesW wrote: »

Hello all,

We have reported this issue to our teams. They are currently looking into it.

We would like more information to help us to find the cause of the problem, for that, could you tell us:
- The exact locations you were having issues at
- Time it happened (all the time, intermittent)
- Which Megaserver
- If in Cyrodiil, which campaign
- Your country

Thank you.

Yeah, everywhere bud. NA server anyways. U.S.A
I've been sending in /bug reports like crazy. But the 3 I mentioned in the OP are the largest and most impressive I've come across because they effect entire groups of players.

There are plenty of Old existing bugs like Getting stuck in Charge animation, losing all skill bar functionality, having to log or zone in order to get purchased items or sent items in the mail.

But now group quests are bugging out (see OP), and that aspect has been fairly stable until the last few days. Major bugs that effect groups of people are what leaves a particularly bad impression.

Caroloces · January 2015

Last night, I was playing the quest in Bangkorai where you confront Septima Tharn on the Far Shores. During the combat with her ghostly minions, the game crashed about 3 times. This is something I haven't seen since the early days of the game (around Beta or early release). I also did a dungeon run in Crypt of Hearts, and at the beginning my DK got stuck in a charge animation.
I'm on the NA server.

Sacadon · January 2015

Darlgon wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

There are few other industries like the software industry, and particularly the gaming industry, where malfunction is not only acceptable, but is considered normal.

When I say that this thinking breeds laziness, I mean that thinking of malfunction as normal, and therefore acceptable, is lazy. Lazy people have no interest in improving anything.

Ya know, I have been a PC tech/network admin for over 18 years, and I tell my clients to restart their computers daily. Why? Because updates get installed, the RAM cache gets cleared of any pesky TSR programs/ any extra unwanted processes are removed. Generally, a reboot (or in this case a server restart) helps out a ton of things.

Otherwise, why do you wash your plates at home? You are just gonna put food back on them again. You do it to get rid of bad stuff you dont want.

Unfortunately restarts are a necessity for servers still. But, virtualization technology that has been around forever and now common practice allows the restart of servers with zero downtime. Your comparison of desktop/PC to server does apply as it relates to the similarities in the OS, but the overall design and maintenance approach of ESO is the only restriction to requiring dowtime for "general" maintenance, NOT the technology.

To all Re: laziness comment from @lordrichter, I got the point being made here... Just because its always been or currently is, does not justify lack of effort towards improvement. Otherwise we'd still be sitting in a dark cave with no fire. Sometimes it helps if you try to understand what someone is trying to say vs. what they said unless you just enjoy finding fault in what others say.

Alphashado · January 2015

I've noticed a few other strange things as well. Like gathering nodes that are greyed out as if you can't harvest them. That's a new one to me.

TequilaFire · January 2015

Really odd, been playing all day the last few days without problems.
I am on N.A. in South Florida.
I have been leveling and alt in prep for 1.6, I will say the low level zones in Auridon were packed today. It was good to see.
I feel for people having problems though.

Jamesbr1b14_ESO · January 2015

Agree! Today began an entirely new sort of madness. The animation of mobs is erratic (similar to skip-lag, without the lag), the hit boxes aren't working properly (unless you are in an instance) and the sky is falling. A reset after the holidays will be very welcome indeed!

kevlarto_ESO · January 2015

I think once a week the server at least needs a restart, performance has been going down hill a lot this week, odd things happening like buttons not working, more than usual rubber banding, quirky things that normally don't happen at least to me..

Flaminir · January 2015

It's been happening all over the EU server tonight.... specifically The Rift, Eastmarch, Shadowfen. Probably others too but these are the only three I've been in.

The usual rubber banding, items not responding, skills not working as they should, various graphics glitches. It has been discussed in zone chat and seemed to be happening to pretty much everybody.

I even had a Deer doing its finest 'Sorc Streak' after me across Eastmarch... never seen a magicka build streaking Deer before... it was quite fun!

syxx210 · January 2015

Just fire all of your employees, and the game should fix itself.

Just messing around. I do agree with the OP though. Although bugs won't stop many of us from playing, those who are new to the game and those who are just now trying it out after MMO contests are won, may not stick to it if they see problems. Many picky people quit before reaching level 30.

olemanwinter · January 2015

I was at the boss stage of level 8 (out of 10) in Dragon Star Arena when it bugged and we had to quit. I didn't even bother to fill out a bug report because bugs have become so prevalent.

Moonshadow66 · January 2015

Recently I fell through the gameworld below ground level several times, just while walking/running, no combat involved. Everytime this happened I was around Sentinel.
I also get more of these random loading screens again, and in cities it stutters more than ever.
Not quite sure if this is related to the overdue maintenance, but I think it's possible.

Edit: I'm in Germany, but playing on the NA server (which usually is not a problem).

SantieClaws · January 2015

EU server. Anyone else just get booted out of the game and unable to get back in again?

daemonios · January 2015

I've had 3 disconnects today. After each one, I get a log-in failure the first try I try to relog. Two of these were in City of Ash veteran, the other in Craglorn. After the first disconnect in CoA, a few seconds after I relogged back in the dungeon I got a 2-3 minute loading screen.

EU megaserver (Portugal), DC faction.

SantieClaws · January 2015

I have just had my third disconnect this morning too. Stopping for lunch now.

pema · January 2015

EU server, in group dungeons, I had a bad case last night in the last mission from the DC, the dremora that spawns balls to heal did so but they were in once place and impossible to destroy... the south of bankorai was pretty bad.

I think a simple reboot will do a lot, no need to research

Alphashado · January 2015

ZOS_MichelleA admin
6:43PM Staff Post
Hello, there! We will not be performing maintenance on the North American and European megaservers tomorrow, January 5.

Lovely. At the very least they could shut down for a few mins and reboot the system. Going from 1 maint per week down to 1 per month is borderline insanity considering how many new players we have these days. I just doesn't make any sense.

Magdalina · January 2015

Everywhere, all the time.
Random loading screens, random neverending loading screens that I have to forceclose the game to get rid of, random disconnect style freezes during which I still can use chat but have to quit game to go back to fighting, at least 10 minutes loading screen every single time I port to Mournhold, CONSTANTLY getting stuck in sprint mode, falling through the world(did you know there's a sea of lava under COA? That one was fun to fall into), random lag to the point where mobs/npcs just don't load...
Russia, NA. Game hasn't been THAT bad for me since like launch.

SantieClaws · January 2015

We got a huge influx of new players of the holiday season. This isn't what they want to be experiencing during that first 30 days when they are making their mind up if they should stay or not.

Honestly we try so hard in game to welcome new players, help them out, show them that this is a game and a community worth being part of - but sometimes, sometimes you make it so much harder for us.

bertenburnyb16_ESO · January 2015

ZOS_UlyssesW wrote: »

Hello all,

We have reported this issue to our teams. They are currently looking into it.

We would like more information to help us to find the cause of the problem, for that, could you tell us:
- The exact locations you were having issues at
- Time it happened (all the time, intermittent)
- Which Megaserver
- If in Cyrodiil, which campaign
- Your country

Thank you.

seriously....?
there is a maintenance long overdue, thats it
there are bugs and issues left & right

SteveCampsOut · January 2015

I logged in long enough to discover that a bug has crept into my character file and all of my alts show the same Character name instead of their own name in guild chat when using the pChat addon on the NA server. I know it's not the addon because my EU characters all display their own names just fine. I deleted the saved variables files for pChat on the NA server as well as the addon and reinstalled and it still happens. That and the actual character who's name is being displayed for all of the rest of my characters has got the woodworking sound effect every time I load that character between the character screen and seeing the zone he logs into. Reset the damn servers!