Let me start of by saying that, the entire economic system in this game is founded on the ability to create, manage, and hire a guild trader. Console players do not have options to get add-ons to make the game more fluid by providing tools that the developers have not yet included in the game. So why have the issues that have been plaguing console gamers not received more attention?

First let’s address the failed updates: There is no PTS for the xbox, so I understand that every time there is an update, there is the possibility that something might happen that shouldn’t. A graphic issue about “flickering grass” is NOT a huge problem, but having all prices disappear from the guild traders IS a HUGE problem. Although this issue did get fixed, it took over a month to push the update through. I understand that this is mostly the fault of how xbox conducts the patch and that the process to get a game update through takes a long time. However, this is something that should not have happened in the first place. On that note, there are still issues that have not been addressed that have been present since launch day. Although the friends list is not working, the latest update for the Xbox broke the entire roster system. Since the updates take about a month to push through, I just hope that the developers take some more time to make sure that no more game breaking updates slip through.

—The ruined roster system: First, let me say that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the old roster system that used pages with the triggers. Why did this have to change? Were there really so many people complaining about this roster system that it was on the priority list to change? So why change - and break - something that was perfectly functional? Now, it is impossible to use the roster system entirely! Let’s look at the new roster system:
*If you kick someone from the guild, it scrolls to the top and you lose your place.
*If someone logs on/offline, the roster scrolls to the top.
*If you are scrolling through a guild that is 500 members long, chances are that you
will have to start over at some point because someone logs on/off.
*You no longer have the ability to scroll through people in groups to make scrolling faster.
*The triggers are useless.
This makes it almost impossible to manage the rosters - not to mention that if you don't know how to spell a person’s alphanumeric gamertag, then you can’t just scroll down and find it. This would not be a terrible interface if it didn't scroll to the top every time, and if it was possible to scroll through a page by using the triggers. This game is no longer a pay-to-play model; as such, there is no need to take up endless amounts of time by not making things more convenient for the players.

1 —How is promoting/demoting players spamming? I am tried of getting disconnected because I promoted or demoted too many people too quickly. There is no message that appears on the individual’s screen that they have been promoted or demoted. This is not something that should be considered spamming. It would be like having to pay your employees one at a time and one every minute so that it doesn't overwhelm the system. On that note, why is there no ability to do mass promotions and demotions? This is something that is crucial to a company and should be a tool that guild masters can use to better manage their guilds.

2 —No reply to mail option: This just baffles me! How is this not in the game? This is not a console specific problem! After over a year, this is still absent on the PC, as well. This is the equivalent of having to re-type an email address from all incoming mail. Why is the ability for the game to copy and paste the gamertag into the game so difficult from the incoming mail page when this is achievable from the guild roster?

3 —Mass messaging: I understand that the developers are trying to limit spamming, but having the ability to message all members of a certain rank or just a group of guild members should be an option for a guild master or an officer. Imagine having to send the same memo to all of your employees, except you are unable to copy and paste, and you have to send each message individually! This is about efficiency, and when someone joins your guild, they are accepting the rules that come with your guild. If they don't like the rules or the fact that the guild master sends too many messages, then they can leave.

4 —Destroying items: Although I am somewhat happy with the current system, I still don't understand why it wouldn't have been simpler to make the destroy option a “press x to confirm” screen. This seems like an extremely easy fix, yet for some reason, it has taken three different updates to address the issue of people splitting stacks and accidentally destroying the items at the end because it would default to destroy when there was no more room, or when you were down to the last item.

5 —Splitting stacks: This is a simple fix. I would really like to see the ability to go in increments of 10 with the left and right bumpers.

6 —The map: On the console, the map scrolling is terrible! Especially in Cyrodiil! Having to use the left trigger and hold it for a good 15 seconds to zoom out is unnecessary. Once again, the use of the left and right bumpers here would simplify this and improve it greatly.

7 — [FIXED] Guild trader filtering: I would personally like to see the ability to filter with more specific criteria on the traders. Until recently, it was impossible to filter out trophies. Minimally, I would like to see the bug where the last search option disappears. If you access a guild trader and you select, say, Crafting>Blacksmithing>Tempers, and then you switch over to Crafting>Clothing>Tempers, it will make the last entry disappear and you cannot search any of the clothing items because the list of search options under blacksmithing are longer than the list of search options under clothing (since there are no weapon traits). To fix this, one has to back out of the trader, or go back to blacksmithing, and search under motifs before they switch to clothing.

8 —Last seen online: There is nothing worse than having someone take up a spot in the guild that has been sitting there for over a month and not having the option to see that they have been offline for over 2 months. This is a feature that Xbox Live has had since the Xbox 360 launched in 2005, so why is it not in this game? This decade-old feature is something that the game desperately needs! If someone doesn't want you to know when they were last online, then they simply change their status to offline and it will count that as the last time they were online. Even though the status screen sorts people by the last time they were online, some people have their status glitched offline and cannot appear online anymore, and there is also no time stamp. The lack of this feature was actually the catalyst that caused the majority of all guilds, especially on the xbox to require weekly fees from their members, just so that they can see who is online and who isn't.

9 --Contingencies/ "If-This, Then-That": This would be a useful tool for guild masters to use in the guilds, and it has many applications. For instance if a player deposits 10k to the guild bank, they will automatically be promoted to a set rank in the command. Same thing can be applied with online status. If a player has not been online in X amount of days, they will be automatically removed from the guild or demoted to a rank that the guild master can then filter through to kick them. If a player has made X amount of gold in sales they will be promoted to a rank. This is a great way to take the over encumbering tasks that a guild master has to do and automate most of it, thus allowing the guild master to spend more time socializing and improving the guild through the guild chats and community interactions.

10 —The UI ERROR on bidding!!! This is an issue that has been persistent since launch, and it has not been fixed! Although this is an issue that only effects 0.01% of the players, this small percentage is critical to the rest of the players having the ability to sell things. Players have had to go to extreme measures to get a work-around constructed by creating a new account to be the guild master, just so that they can keep bidding. This issue has been documented in the forums since the second month after launch, and the only solution that was posted had no improvement on the situation.

Overall, the game has come a long way since if first came out almost 2 years ago, but there are still hurdles to get over. I saw that there are some better guild management options coming later this year, according to the update about what is coming this year. I just really hope that there is some consideration put into the issues I have listed here. I also hope that more care is taken when these updates are pushed through. I know I am not the only one that feels this way. This is not just about making the game better; this is about making the time that guild masters put into the game worth it to them. If there are too many obstacles for them to overcome and too much work in running the guilds, then they will eventually stop focusing on their responsibilities as guild masters. It isn't the guild master that will get the worst part of it, it is the 499 other members that will have a poor experience in the game. In the end, it is the guild masters and the guilds that keep the majority of the game flowing, especially on the console where zone wide chat is not an option yet. I know that there are other guild masters out there, like me, that still do everything they can to keep the guilds running. However, a little more guild support and some better guild management options would go a long way to making everyone’s experience better in the game.

Lastly, a big thank you to all the developers that work endlessly to make the game better, and I look forward with great anticipation to the things coming this year to Elder Scrolls.