Hireling Emails and Game Design

ThePonzzz · September 2015

I'm slowly remembering why I stopped putting skill points into hireling emails. I'm not really a fan of how they work when you get 2 packages a day. Since the mail is completely dependent on the mail reloading, if you don't change zones, you don't get the package. This is especially an issue with Cyrodiil right now, since without leaving or going to the Imperial City, you won't trigger your mail. And due to the queues to get back to Cyrodiil, it makes it even more difficult to get these hireling deliveries. The time stamp to get your second package is 12 hours from the time you get them in your mail inbox, so it's pretty important to line these up if you want 2 a day. Missing a package due to failure to load is not something that the player can always control if they want to stick to a specific area. This seems like very poor game design, since the user isn't necessarily doing anything wrong.

I suggest having a way to set the timers on the deliveries and just have them delivered at those times. You'd still need to be in game for it to happen, so no one could just wrack up materials. But I should be able to set them at a time so they can always arrive as long as I meet the requirements (in-game, able to get mail, have the skill, etc).

Zeth163 · September 2015

u know u get those either if ur in game or out i was gone for two days and still got my packages. it doesnt depend on where u r at what time u just have to wait the time for them to come in

nimander99 · September 2015

2 a day? Since when?

JamieAubrey · September 2015

Zeth163 wrote: »

u know u get those either if ur in game or out i was gone for two days and still got my packages. it doesnt depend on where u r at what time u just have to wait the time for them to come in

How and HOW ?

I need to log in each 12 hours just to collect them

nimander99 wrote: »

2 a day? Since when?

2 per 12 hour intervals ( 3/3 hireling skill points )

SLy_Kyti · September 2015

Zeth163 wrote: »

u know u get those either if ur in game or out i was gone for two days and still got my packages. it doesnt depend on where u r at what time u just have to wait the time for them to come in

Not since pre launch ...sorry buddy...you have to log in to get the first mail and that starts the timer for the second. 10-11 hours later if you are still logged in or relogging you will get the second hireling mail. Always been that way.

It's a horrible system I agree.

CGPsaint · September 2015

SLy_Kyti wrote: »

Zeth163 wrote: »

u know u get those either if ur in game or out i was gone for two days and still got my packages. it doesnt depend on where u r at what time u just have to wait the time for them to come in

Not since pre launch ...sorry buddy...you have to log in to get the first mail and that starts the timer for the second. 10-11 hours later if you are still logged in or relogging you will get the second hireling mail. Always been that way.

It's a horrible system I agree.

Sounds like a really cheap "leash" system for ensuring that players come back regularly.

RizaHawkeye · September 2015

It is truly a poorly designed system.

I was also told in zone chat that if you opted for the highest level of hireling, you would receive more high level mats in the mail.

So far it hasn't worked for me and now I feel like I wasted my skill points on the level 3 hirelings.

SLy_Kyti · September 2015

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

It is truly a poorly designed system.

I was also told in zone chat that if you opted for the highest level of hireling, you would receive more high level mats in the mail.

So far it hasn't worked for me and now I feel like I wasted my skill points on the level 3 hirelings.

Several of us having been trying to verify or get an answer from devs if the 3rd point has to be spent to get the V15-v16 mats. It seems so.

Here: forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/2268099#Comment_2268099

Gidorick · September 2015

I came up with an idea for a Courier Guild concept that would give players a parcel box (mailbox) to which all hireling deliveries would be sent. Part of the concept was to deal with the pretty overwhelming task of managing hirelings.

The concept is pretty long and in depth:
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/173665/courier-s-guild-concept/p1

Nerouyn · September 2015

IMO it's extremely tedious. I trained up a few alts in crafting and used to log them in each day to collect mats. Dump them in the bank for the right mule fetch out. Off to horse trainer. Log out. Slip into coma.

Xendyn · September 2015

Nerouyn wrote: »

IMO it's extremely tedious. I trained up a few alts in crafting and used to log them in each day to collect mats. Dump them in the bank for the right mule fetch out. Off to horse trainer. Log out. Slip into coma.

Sounds like my typical morning.
Except I'm drinking coffee, so no coma. Similar feeling of blah, however.

Saddiq · September 2015

There is a weird bug that lets you get these when you don't log in, but it's very sporadic. I experienced it once when I didn't log in for half a week, but haven't since. My sister was off for an entire week travelling and came home to dozens of emails of hireling stuff.

But that's once each since Beta, so whatever bug is going on there, it's certainly rare.

ThePonzzz · September 2015

Well, the point here is, the hireling system should definitely be redesigned. It's not intuitive game design.

Saltypretzels · September 2015

Treat it like a bonus and not like a job. The mail pops up, I say cool, and keep playing. Every few days I harvest 50 emails of free stuff. Don't really see a problem here just because I am not getting my absolute max allotment of mail.

ThePonzzz · September 2015

Saltypretzels wrote: »

Treat it like a bonus and not like a job. The mail pops up, I say cool, and keep playing. Every few days I harvest 50 emails of free stuff. Don't really see a problem here just because I am not getting my absolute max allotment of mail.

You're not understanding. This isn't talking about a min/max mentality. What I'm saying here is, if I'm in game, but don't trigger the mail to load (i.e. change zones or log off/on), I don't get the hireling package. In Cyrodiil currently, there are queues to get in every night. There just isn't a way to trigger the mail, at all, while staying in Cyrodiil. This is still poor game design. I should only have to meet the criteria of being in game to receive it. Even if it doesn't load, the time stamp should hit every 12 hours if I'm in game. Just because the mail didn't load, doesn't mean I should be penalized.

I hardly can get two separate logins that are 12 hours apart. So when I set them up, I want to make sure I can try to hit it. So I'm stuck adjusting it again another day (which means I'll miss another hireling package). I don't have 8 characters, I just play one. It took me 14 months since launch to get to VR14. I'm hardly someone trying to get the most out of this game. I simply want this hireling skill to work as the write-up explains, every 12 hours if I'm in game.

Mashille · September 2015

You know if you just open your mail it should load it in. Works for me.

ThePonzzz · September 2015

keybaud wrote: »

You know if you just open your mail it should load it in. Works for me.

It's not reliable though. It doesn't always work. I was routinely getting Rewards of the Worthy and checking. I couldn't trigger it until 3am when I finally left Cyrodiil for Deshaan. It should have triggered at midnight. So I logged in at noon the next day, no package. Hence why I wrote this post at the time I did, I wanted to confirm it.