Since launch this game has been a frustrating mix of the awesome and the enraging. In general, I think Zenimax has done a good job of moving in the right direction. Certainly the game is in a much better state than it was at launch! That said, I would like to discuss fundamental things that hold this game back from being truly competitive, using a recent run at vMSA as an example. I mention vMSA because it is part of the (attempted) competitive scene and because tonight's run showed a large number of outstanding problems.

For background, I have played this game on and off since launch. Back then I was part of some of the earliest clears of AA and HRC (admittedly trivial), and have generally enjoyed the group endgame since then. I took a break shortly before Imperial City was released and returned a few weeks ago. My build is not perfect, but improving rapidly. I have, as of this writing, 370 champion points. Since returning, I have completed most of the new content and have most of the gear that I want.

Back to vMSA. First of all, congratulations where they are due. I think the designers did a good job and I love the concept of the area in general. There are a lot of good things here. I personally enjoy the difficulty. The first time I tried vMSA I was on a Templar in v14 purples with under 200 CP. Every death was motivation and each round was satisfying to clear. However, the experience is marred by the proverbial worms in the apple.

There are designs I disagree with. For instance, I weep for melees in here. The stranglers, the Argoniacrocodroth boss, the daedroths of the last arena! Oh, and whoever thought that backpedaling mobs were a good idea should be made to backpedal laps around your office until he repents. That said, the above is only opinion.

What is not (I think) debatable is that at this point in the game's life, there is core functionality that should be expected. A list of the issues I encountered in a single run tonight:

- Weapon swap inconsistency: Tonight in argonian wing, I tried to weapon swap. Instead, the weapon swap failed to happen and I Streaked out of the shield, with disastrous results. Now yes, every time I weapon swap, I can (and should) check to make sure it actually happened. That is my fault. However, that does not change the fact that weapon swapping is a fundamental part of combat that should not just be a polite suggestion. Personally I'd like to see it become a "barrier operation", interrupting skill queuing so quickly hitting keys will not cancel the swap and latency inconsistency will have less effect. But that is my preference.

- Bizarre animation issues. Overload was truculent tonight. I had one death to the heavy-attack bug and three due to sluggish skills in overload. I hesitate to even mention this in relation to Sorcerer, since I also play a Templar and...well..you know what I'd say about animations there so why bother. That said, what on earth is wrong with overload timing? Why does it sometimes switch to heavy attacks? I hit it as slowly as I can to avoid the issue, but when latency hits, sometimes the attack rate of the skill is enough to cause the issue. Also, why on earth are other skills slow to fire if used immediately after an overload attack?

- I somehow managed to get stuck inside a pylon in the spider arena. I still have now idea how.

- Twice my character, at full stamina, showed the block animation and yet did not block. This still happens semi-regularly. Blocking is a core part of combat. It is a sorry thing to still be inconsistent after over a year. If it is just a latency issue, why does the animation play? If it is not an animation issue, what causes it? Is there an arcane ritual I can perform to avoid it?

- The last boss is a great example of how screwy bash is (still!). To whom must I sacrifice six fat white cows to make bash hit consistently?

- Targetting is inconsistent. Once tonight I had a troll marked as my preferred target, but instead repeatedly hit the wolf that was not only behind said troll, but completely occluded from view! I have also repeatedly ended up hitting something outside my field of view instead of the mob in crosshairs. Why? I could do a lengthy rant about silly targetting behavior but ultimately, if it behaved in a consistent manner, I could deal with it.

TL;DR - Ultimately, for a truely competitive atmosphere, one requires CONSISTENCY. That is the recurring theme in all of the above issues. Every time one of these problems manifests (and they do often), it reduces motivation to go again. Competition is hurt whenever the result is dictated by the system instead of the player. Most of my challenges and deaths are motivating, and that is good. However, each time one of these things happens, I lose a little more desire to keep going. This game has a frustrating history of doing half of things really well while all the "little things" are dysfunctional.

Thank you for your time.