I don't think they intended to let bugs carry on during the early release stages. I would imagine they tried to fix them when reported during the beta phase, but the issue with this is I imagine it's hard to test it out with just a small quality assurance team. With a lot more people playing the game live now, they have a massive field of testers before the actual game release, which I imagine is the whole point to the early release.

Zenimax/Bethesda are not companies like those dreadful developers/owners of WoW, they always aim to release quality content and take their customers' feedback into account, but like many people have explained, there will be growing pains, which have been experienced by every single game release I can recall taking part in.

Just be patient, I am sure once we all get back in the patches will make us happier with the game experience than we previously were,having to constantly wait to complete quests due to bugs.

Just think about the positive side of things, if this was bugs in WoW, we would have waited a month at least for the fix to be rolled out. In this case, they've began rolling out fixes just hours after the problem were reported/investigated.

Double post after editing!!

I expected a large patch the day before release, that was inevitable and I still expect it to happen. But a greater than 12 hour downtime in the middle of early start is a bit much. Especially when people payed a significant amount extra for that specific benefit. (Yes, I know that is not all that you got but frankly it is a huge selling point for people that bought the Imperial edition.)

Also, we are not talking about a game that is Pay once play always, like GW2, this will have a monthly sub fee, so we aren't through paying for it. So not fixing things that were reported as broken in their minimal beta is concerning, especially when you add the lack of forethought that went into designing a multi-language forum and just dumping all the languages in the same forum, a sub form split isn't that difficult.

Now there are those that are going to say; "Well they didn't have to offer that at all." and you would be correct. Now take a moment and think how much not offering what has become fairly standard would have impacted sales, especially of sales of the "Imperial edition", so actually yes they did have to offer it in order to get the starting sales numbers they needed. Also, imho all the ability to play and imperial and the ability to join any of the 3 factions with any race did was fix a huge mistake in the game, since that is how it should have been and has always been in every other Elder Scrolls game. I fully expect that is become something that is at least purchasable in the future. So I don't see that as a real benefit.

In short I think that the folks who expressed concern about this excessive down time do have a fair argument and reason to complain. Not much that can be done about it at this point because, well frankly they already have your money.

P.S.

Darf wrote: »

please understand that new MMO's are like a giant ship with thousands of moving parts.

Darf, LOL, thank you for this it reminded me of an old saying from my Army days that brought to mind some good memories. Back then Heuy's were still the norm and Blackhawks were the new thing. Your quote reminded me of something we used to say; that Heuy's weren't really helicopters they were actually 6000 moving parts flying in close formation. LOL.

A long downtime is not unexpected. Every launch has its issues, and it's far better that they address them now rather than ignoring them just for the sake of more playtime. What would you rather do? Get to play a game that is extremely buggy, or wait while the servers are taken down, so that those bugs can be addressed?

I've been having to work on connectivity issues, and I have everything setup to test whether or not the issue has been resolved. I do need a server to test though. I've been waiting for 3 hours now. No biggie. I'd rather them fix the issues than ignore them for the sake of playtime. I get much more frustrated with buggy playtime than I do with waiting on a server maintenance to complete. That's just me though. It gives me time to get everything else I needed to get done today completed, so I can have more playtime when the servers do come up. Glass half-full

Without being cliche', patience is a virtue (admittedly not one of mine). However, waiting on server maintenance is definitely the "lesser of two evils" when compared to playing with game-breaking/progression-blocking bugs.

Might go play some FFX in HD while I wait.

Another thing we may consider before we flame is that these devs are probably running on fumes after being up all night trying to fix the issues. I set aside my day to play TESO as well, but the unforeseen happens. Let's support them, not make it more difficult

MOGKash , no-one here is making the dev's lives any more difficult by venting. It affects their ability to bring the servers back online not one jot. Just like your comment does not make it any easier for them. Nothing we say here affect the situation, but we have every right to express our disappointment. Personally I have waited 10 hours before coming here to express my frustration - I have been patient and now I am angry. I think I have a right to be.

Thanks for updating, Just going to take a look through the notes.

Should have been tested and fixed in beta. These issues are not client or server hardware issues they are coding and beta issues. If software has bugs(which all software does) then it needs to be handled in beta. If needed you add more testers you test it longer, you do not release it call it a finished product and charge people for it then say bummer we have to take it down to fix something that(was reported in beta numerous times) should have already been fixed. Stop making excuses for companies, if this was your car you would be pissed or dead.

Cthulu wrote: »

My biggest concern with this down time, is that it is to address issues that where reported during the beta phases. Its a little disappointing to me that these fixes weren't implemented before the game was opened for early access, but instead as paying customers now, they are being addressed now which is in turn cutting in to our play time.

I am hoping these issues get resolved, but feel that the development team should have fixed these when they where reported initially during the beta phases.

Honestly you can't be that surprised. They have not shown great amounts of competence. As a project manager I would have been fired long ago for what is common place at ZoS

Obviously

Negative39 wrote: »

jbird79, that's just sycophantic nonsense. The fact is we DID PAY for early access and have lost a day. That's really not on. Software developers, especially those that work on MMOs seem get a pass on giving paying customers broken product and just write it off as 'that's mmos for you'. Which is not good enough. All of the cringe worthy posts here about 'give them a break' make my skin crawl.

From what I have played so far this is a GREAT game, and I've personally experienced exactly zero in game bugs (outside of me mysteriously dismounting my horse every now and again) on my trip to level 9. So far I've been delighted with everything in game.

None of that changes the fact that today's performance is just not on.

Obviously, none of you work in software. If you did you would understand. I'm not going to debate people on a subject they are ignorant on. People want something for nothing, plain and simple. Just like people who go eat at a classy restaurant and get served a wonderful meal but then complain about it in hopes of getting a partial refund or free dessert. It is disgusting behavior.

My point stands, early access is there for a reason, and if you don't understand that reason then you shouldn't have paid for it. It gives you early access to get a leg up on the average user and also it gives the devs this chance to see what is still broken so they can fix it before the full launch. It is supposed to be a two way street. We get to play early and the price for that privilege is helping the devs identify the *** in the armor. Beta does not fix everything people, and that is the real reason early access exists.

You paid for the game and 30 days of subscription time and you got 5 extra days thrown in for free by being one of the first people to do that. They gave you the 5 days so you could help fix these bugs by identifying them. If you weren't willing to do that then you should have waited until launch. I have been playing almost non-stop and was actually grateful for the downtime so I could get some sleep. The downtime has been negligible. I know because I have been on way more than I should have been, I had to force myself back to reality lol.

No I paid for 5 days of early access that was the main selling point not the vanity pets, not the imperial stuff, not the horse, and not the loot maps. I bought early access because they said I could play 5 days early.

Quote From Pre-Purchase Page.
"Order the Digital Imperial Edition today and be the first to play with five days of early game access and receive an exclusive collection of digital content."

It says nothing about 5 days of beta testing because if it did I would not have purchased.

So your statement is moot.

TheMoDiiFii3r wrote: »

most people here thought they're saying meaningful stuff but its all nonsense... I just want my items back... idc about your unfinished game, idc about down times, I just want my items back.

Now THAT was meaningless nonsense...