expelled for spamming without even texting

NeKryXe · October 2016

today i started to play about 2 hours ago, and now i got dropped from the server with an Error 318, saying: "You have been dropped from the server because you hit the message rate limit. Please avoid excessive messaging (i.e. spamming)"

curiously i didn't even send one single message today, and i hardly typed more than 50 words in one week, and i NEVER spammed, so... whats the texting limit now? what's less than 0 words in one day?

this is really wrong $:\$

cjthibs · October 2016

Are you running any addons?

lillybit · October 2016

Think that's happened to most people at least once, seems quite common but you should be OK logging back on

idk · October 2016

Add-ons use chat to do what they do, though it usually doesn't actually show up in your chat.

That's probably what happened.

raglau · October 2016

I get a warning on this for add-ons, like Outfitter.

Lucious90 · October 2016

Sounds like either an add on or bad keyboard key

Funkopotamus · October 2016

Its happening to a lot of people.. Just replog and go on.. I have seen It happen to myself at least 5 times in two days.

MaKTaiL · October 2016

It's a misleading message. I got that a few times on PS4 when lag was too bad. You can log back in just fine.

lillybit · October 2016

Giles.floydub17_ESO wrote: »

Add-ons use chat to do what they do, though it usually doesn't actually show up in your chat.

That's probably what happened.

Happened to me on PS4 so not that, or not always that!

CapnPhoton · October 2016

It can happen when you lag, and press buttons repeatedly thinking that it didn't go through. Then when the server picks them up after a while, it comes through as spamming.

NeKryXe · October 2016

cjthibs wrote: »

Are you running any addons?

yes. i use master merchant that uses the message window to send me sales information, but those messages are personal, i'm the only one able to see it, it's not spamming. if personal messages are causing this problem at least they should change the message. anyway, i can't understand why they decided to punish the players for using personal messages from one addon that nobody else can see. i've been using master merchant for many years and only with "one tamriel" i started to get expelled for spamming.

Leandor · October 2016

Same question since more than two years.

The "message" limit is referring to the data exchange between client (your computer, console) and server (the ZOS operated game server). Any data exchange between those two is a "message". If, in a lag situation, packet loss occurs, the system will try to resend all data once the connection is reestablished.

This error message is a result of frantically pressing buttons while your char doesn't react due to lag (actually packet loss) and the "spam" when all these data packets arrive at the same time.

Also, as others have mentioned above, just log back in.

The "this is caused by addons" thing is not valid anymore since all maintained addons have filters/delays incorporated that prevent this from happening.

Lunerdog · October 2016

Leandor wrote: »

Same question since more than two years.

The "message" limit is referring to the data exchange between client (your computer, console) and server (the ZOS operated game server). Any data exchange between those two is a "message". If, in a lag situation, packet loss occurs, the system will try to resend all data once the connection is reestablished.

This error message is a result of frantically pressing buttons while your char doesn't react due to lag (actually packet loss) and the "spam" when all these data packets arrive at the same time.

Also, as others have mentioned above, just log back in.

The "this is caused by addons" thing is not valid anymore since all maintained addons have filters/delays incorporated that prevent this from happening.

@Leandor is correct.

What surprises me is that after all this time (since PC release), that Zenimax hasn't had the presence of mind to to change the message to something not quite so confusing as the current message leads people to think its some thing to do with text chat.

MarrazzMist · October 2016

I had this couple of times even before I used any addons. Disturbing, when I'm blamed for spam on quiet solo night. But no-ones gonna came after you!

Lumbermill_Emperor · October 2016

its NOTHING to do with chat
just FYI

Chew_Magna · October 2016

Happened to me before during a dungeon. Had some weird kind of lag going on, I could move, block, but not use any abilities. About a minute later I get kicked for spamming.

Valethar · October 2016

This has been an issue since before release. The error message could stand to be refined somewhat to give you a better idea of what actually happened, rather than the generic 'spam' message.

Don't expect that to get fixed though, it would take time and resources away from designing recolored gear for the crates.

NeKryXe · October 2016

Leandor wrote: »

Also, as others have mentioned above, just log back in.

i know i can log back in, i have no problem for being dropped from the server, that happens all the time and i don't care much, but this kind of messages could be avoided. i think that, like me, many people doesn't enjoy very much get expelled from the server and receive this kind of messages with accusations of something that we didn't do for sure.

i don't like spammers i never spam, it's nice to know that there is a system preventing spammers, but it's not cool that the system doesn't understand which messages are public or private. my master merchant messages are private.

Leandor · October 2016

NeKryXe wrote: »

Leandor wrote: »

Also, as others have mentioned above, just log back in.

i know i can log back in, i have no problem for being dropped from the server, that happens all the time and i don't care much, but this kind of messages could be avoided. i think that, like me, many people doesn't enjoy very much get expelled from the server and receive this kind of messages with accusations of something that we didn't do for sure.

i don't like spammers i never spam, it's nice to know that there is a system preventing spammers, but it's not cool that the system doesn't understand which messages are public or private. my master merchant messages are private.

Did you read anything of my reply other than that one quoted sentence?

Paulington · October 2016

You are not spamming the chat, you are spamming the server.

Normally when you are playing ESO, if you run forward and heavy attack, the sequence of client-server interaction will look like this:

You press W.
Server sees you pressed W and you move forward.
You let go of W.
Server sees you let go of W and you stop moving forward.
You hold LMB.
Server sees you hold LMB and you charge a heavy attack.
Everything is fine.

Now, when you lag, it looks like this:

You press W.
Server does not get this info.
You let go of W.
Server does not get this info.
You hold down LMB.
Server gets W down, W up and LMB down all at once.
Server panics, you hit the "message rate limit" and the server kicks you.

Basically the server has a defined number of messages you can send to it, whether they be "Show More" on the Guild Bank history or attacks you initiate. If you ever hit that number of messages sent to the server poof you get booted.

The usual culprit is addons and/or lag. If you notice yourself lagging just don't spam buttons/clicks, @Leandor explained it very well already.

.

nordsavage · October 2016

Add-ons with repeating functions such as ability and gear swaps can trigger it if they are spammed for any reason but the most common or certain one is if you lag and recover causing a rush of information to flood to you such as movement from you and other players, key presses, environmental changes etc that occurred during the transmission's delay.

Bryanonymous · October 2016

This is actually more a bug that occurs where the game stops responding to certain (not all) input commands, and you press several keys for a certain period of time, then the game starts responding again and get's hit with all those commands at the same time which boots you for input flooding. If it was specifically lag, you would not see everyone running around normally, which in these scenarios, you do see everyone in real time. However, it could also be one directional lag, where you are receiving the correct info for server activity, however the server is not responding to your upload data. That would explain why certain buttons still work because they are client side, while other buttons fail because they are server sided commands.

NeKryXe · October 2016

@Paulington > quite "Insightful". thanks

peniku8 · October 2016

You will also get kicked if you edit member notes in guildrosters or promoting players, which is insanely annoying for guildmasters. When I don't log in for two or three days, I usually have to promote about 40 to 50 players at once and I have to wait a few seconds after the 10th promotion because the server would kick me. Btw there is no limit on kicking, I've already kicked 400 members in 10 minutes

CapnPhoton · October 2016

You can also get dropped for spamming other things such as using abilities, or looting in quick succession. It can happen if your lagging. When you or the servers catch up, it thinks your spamming.

NeKryXe · October 2016

so... it looks like the system that should prevent us from spam messages is "punishing" a lot of users for non-spam actions. i don't know anything about code but i thought that it would be easy to restrict the spam prevention to the chat. even if it's not a big problem, it's weird to get expelled for using the keys when the server is lagging or just for managing the guilds.

navigante.annalisab16_ESO · November 2016

I just got kicked with same error message, any news about this?

Nestor · November 2016

@navigante.annalisab16_ESO

No news, just log back in to the game. We have had this since release and fortunately it does not happen all that often. Well, it might in PvP.

SirAndy · November 2016

Poorly worded error message since it refers to all client/server communication and you can exceed the "message" limit without ever sending a single chat/mail message.

This happens quite often when your connection to the ESO server is laggy. Your client will queue up a lot of "messages" it needs to send to the server while the server is temporarily not responding and then send them all at once when it reconnects.

So basically, ZOS is giving you a warning about their own inability to create a working client/server system ...