Chat Countdown Issue

Sygil05 · January 2017

I've scrolled through 2 pages of bug reports, and cannot find one that relates to the problem I've been having for the past several months months now playing this game on XBOX One (NA Server):

About 75% of the time when switching chat channels, I'll lose all ability to use chat (hear or speak). This includes joining a group and automatically thrown into group chat, being in no channels and attempting to join a guild channel, or just joining area chat in general. It displays the message that I'm switching to whatever chat, then nothing happens. If I go into Social and look at my available channels, I see the countdown timer continually counting down and then resetting, and even if I try to time it right, I cannot leave whatever channel I'm in (sometimes I show up in the chat roster, other times I don't but can see everyone else in the chat).

I've tried reporting this to customer service, but their only solution was to check my firewall settings, which has absolutely nothing to do with this problem (which is not present all the time), and to quit all my guilds and rejoin. They were pretty rude about this, and did not seem inclined to help me in any way. I went through their resolution steps anyways and verified everything was ok on my end, and have left all the guilds I was a part of, but the issues persists. When I reported back to them on this, their ultimate response (paraphrasing) was "tough luck".

I enjoy this game and have for quite a while now, but I'm seriously considering quitting over this, as it makes it almost impossible to do dungeons, trials, or group pvp. I can understand bugged/broken skills, or how hard it is to fix the performance issues in Cyrodiil that have existed for the entirety of this game, but getting the chat to work correctly seems like it would be something they could figure out long ago.

But hey, at least I'll be able to buy a house in-game soon...

Sygil05 · January 2017

Just wanted to follow up on the above to add that this all seemed to start around the Orsinium DLC release, but that may just be a coincidence.

nvsg · January 2017

nope I just made a post and everyone knows that is currently playing on xbox

Sygil05 · January 2017

So, the issue doesn't seem to be contained to just switching chats. Yesterday, I used the Activity Finder to find a group to run a random dungeon. I was put into the group, and was able to manually join the group chat (it did not automatically join).

I thought "hey great, it' working!", but about 5 minutes into the dungeon, I noticed that it had gotten really quiet. I opened the social area of the start menu, only to discover that I had lost chat and was once again stuck in the endless countdown timer.

I don't believe this is related to the other chat issues various people are now reporting, as their issue seems to be recent while mine has been an ongoing problem for months.

Sygil05 · January 2017

As an update to my ongoing chat saga, I logged in yesterday to find that I did not have area chat. It just was not on my list of available chats. Oddly enough, I'm part of two guilds, and had no issues joining any of their chat channels or switching between them.

I figured I could get by without area chat, so I went and completed writs, still with no area chat. Once my writs were complete, I used a wayshrine to travel to a different area, and area chat magically returned to my list of available chat channels to join (I was automatically part of this channel after teleporting. I was able to hear and speak to other players, but a few minutes later as I was running along (not using chat or anything, just walking from point A to point B ), I got a notification that I was joining area chat (which I had already been in and never left). When I opened my social menu, the countdown timer was back, and though it indicated I was joined to area chat, the list of people in area chat was missing my name and had 0 players in it.

Sygil05 · January 2017

Continuing to document my trials and tribulations while attempting to play this game that I usually enjoy:

I logged in on Saturday, only to have my Area chat go in and out, repeatedly. I had the endless countdown timer deal going, so I was not able to turn off chat or leave the channel. I put up with this for maybe 30 minutes, during which time I entered/left area chat dozens of times (though not hearing any other players).

When I looked at the list of players in area chat, my username did not appear. I checked this both in area where there were other people in chat, as well as an area where I was the only player around (I did not appear in the list of those in chat).

I got fed up, logged out, and then signed back on later to find that I still had the same issue, only it was occurring less frequently (entering/leaving chat once every 10 minutes or so, rather than a few seconds). I'd go long stretches where I was not in any sort of chat, then get a notification that I was joining area chat. Every single time I checked this, I had the endless countdown timer.

BllyDnsr · January 2017

It's an issue that has come up before, at least two other times, since Orsinium dropped. The last couple of times it's happened, they said they "fixed" it. I'm quickly learning that "fixing" anything with ZOS only means putting a temporary bandaid on it until it breaks again.

nexxus_ESO · January 2017

You aren't the only one having chat issues. The last couple of weeks it's been nearly impossible to use for any length of time on XB NA.

Endless countdown timer
Chat kicking you out suddenly
Clicking to join a chat and it disappears from the list entirely until you relog
Robotic voices, followed by the endless countdown timer
At least twice chat has become completely unavailable with a "Taken offline" msg

Sometimes it just seems to be one or two people and others it's everyone.

Shouldn't have to resort to XB Party chat to be able to coordinate and play the game.

kharleesi · January 2017

Hello! I think my issue is the same as the folks above me. I've been playing on Xbone NA for about a month and today is the only time this has happened to me. The "voice channel changed to" notification keeps popping up in the right corner of my screen and ENDLESSLY DINGING every few seconds. I checked the voice chat menu and the Join channel timer ticks down from 6 seconds over and over. I've restarted the game and my xbox three times and it hasn't helped, I've also tried to join a different channel/leave the channel and it hasn't helped either. My gamertag is kaarrrl and I'm currently in Hew's Bane. I'll attach a video of said dinging so you can enjoy it too.
*Edit* the video doesn't want to load from my phone so take these screenshots instead.

Sygil05 · February 2017

Thanks for the feedback, at least someone's paying attention to this. I just can't believe an MMO would go months with semi-broken chat. I just went the entire weekend without being able to really use chat, and I can honestly say that it's ruining this game for me.

Other than the Maelstrom Arena, I've completed most of the solo content in this game. It's not feasible for me to try to do trials without chat, Cyrodiil is only marginally fun solo, and I've been kicked from groups using group finder since I don't have chat (assuming here, since I'm getting kicked almost immediately, prior to engaging with any enemies, and I'm at the CP cap).

I know there's been a bigger issue with XBox One chat lately, but I feel it's unrelated to my trouble, which has been going on so much longer. It would be nice if ZOS would at least acknowledge "hey, we know there's a chat issue on xbox, and we're working on it", but I've not seen it and am only hanging on in the hopes that I see a "fixed chat issues" in the next round of patch notes.

Compton1865 · February 2017

nexxus_ESO wrote: »

You aren't the only one having chat issues. The last couple of weeks it's been nearly impossible to use for any length of time on XB NA.

Endless countdown timer
Chat kicking you out suddenly
Clicking to join a chat and it disappears from the list entirely until you relog
Robotic voices, followed by the endless countdown timer
At least twice chat has become completely unavailable with a "Taken offline" msg

Sometimes it just seems to be one or two people and others it's everyone.

Shouldn't have to resort to XB Party chat to be able to coordinate and play the game.

I have also experienced all of the aforementioned issues.

The most bizarre was the endless "enter voice chat"/"leave voice chat" cycle. I was kicked from chat, rejoined, and then it was an endless, automatic loop of enter/leave. I had to restart the game to temporarily resolve the issue. Really hoping ZOS addresses this issue soon.

SwaminoNowlino · February 2017

Add me to the list of those suffering from this as well

Sygil05 · February 2017

Xbox party chat seems to be the best workaround that I've found, but that's kind of a hassle. Has there been any response from ZOS that I may have missed? This seems like it's a known issue, since multiple people are experiencing it (for a while, in some cases).

Sygil05 · February 2017

Well, chat seemed to work off-and-on most of the weekend, until yesterday. I used Group Finder to find a group to run dungeons with, and everything went fine at first (was able to join group chat). About 3/4 of the way through the dungeon, I noticed that I could no longer hear anyone speaking. I went under Social, and saw that I had disappeared from the Group channel list, but I could still see everyone else in there. I was able to switch to Area chat and speak there, but in doing so, started the endless countdown timer issue. I tried logging out and closing out of the game (XBox One), but the issue persisted when I logged back in.

It seems like the problem is mainly with Group and Guild Chat, with Area chat working correctly for the most part. Of course, it's been a month since I first posted this, and I've yet to find one acknowledgement anywhere on the forums from ZOS, even though several people on this thread as well as in game are having issues.

Sygil05 · February 2017

Continuing with my futile daily update: I was unable to use chat at all the entire weekend. I would usually appear in the area chat, but no one could hear anything I said. I would periodically be thrown out of area chat and not have it automatically rejoin, but had no issues manually rejoining the channel myself (other than the fact no one could hear me after I rejoined). I could also join guild chat and group chat, but no one could hear anything I said in any of these channels either. This is ridiculous, and my only hope is that they'll just address it in today's update.

Sygil05 · March 2017

Well, doesn't seem like it does much good to post here, but I'm already in it this far: I've been unable to use Guild or Group chat for the past week (possibly longer, but I went a week without playing so...). This has persisted through logging off and restarting my xbox numerous times over the course of the week. Also, since customer service gave me their stock responses on resolving my issue, I guess I should add I've also tried resetting my internet connection.

My area chat has worked off and on, but I have the endless countdown timer issue constantly (as in, every single time I log on). Occasionally, I'll show up in area chat, but will be unable to speak or hear anything. Other times, I'm able to hear other players, but am unable to speak in the chat channel myself. Sometimes, I'll get a message I'm in area chat, but it will list 0 players under that particular channel.