Frustrated.

AttenOke · April 2014

So I discovered this evening that the way the game currently plays makes it almost impossible for me to play the game with regular friends 'unless' we just both happen to be at the exact same point in the game.

For example, she played a couple hours while I was at work, finished Glenumbra Moors, and so when she went to help me do the same her toon would disappear. We had no ability to actually play together. I could not reshare the quest with her to have her do it again, nothing. I soloed the area fast just to get back to an area we could play, just to find out the next area... yup the exact same thing.

So yes... am I missing something? Because if this is true the second she goes a little further in any quest line we lose all ability to actually play the game together? If this applies to two, imagine the logistics of having a group doing the same.

This is kind of a big deal in my opinion.

All other MMOs I have played have some form of mechanism to allow friends to play with friends even if they are at different points in the game. Sharing quests to bring characters back to a point in a question line they have already completed. Something.

phermitgb · April 2014

sadly, I'd say this is one of the biggest problems with MMO+Elder Scrolls single player + Elder Scrolls changing world. I love that in Elder scrolls games, one of the key features is that the actions of your character change the way the world reacts to you, AND that you are frequently confronted with divergent choices.

Problem is, including this into the single player aspect of an MMO has created a tremendous problem with teaming up with friends - it feels like too many points in the game are written around divergent choices that force anyone that hasn't picked the same choices or reached the same point to be out of phase with you while you figure that point out on your own.

It's really frustrating, because in any other circumstance, I'd love it. It just...seems to be getting in the way of the chief selling point of an MMO - that is, working with other people.

however, PART of the problem is that I've been playing for about a week, and I still don't have a solid grasp of what *exactly* causes phasing and how far it extends. I've been in phased choice instances (like your final choice with the crew of Captain Jaleen) where I AND my friend could both be in the same encounter, but make different choices. Others that were solo instances (like doshia) that were confusing because there was no point at which it *said* it was a solo-unique instance - it just was. There are even open world characters and encounters that change depending on where you are in an open world quest.

It's all very confusing, and might not actually be as inconvenient as it SEEMS, because we might be misinterpreting what's happening at various points. I just sorta wish someone would map out exactly what happens when you and a friend are paired up at various junctures, regarding different phases in a quest, different divergent choices in a quest, and truly solo-only instances/quests...

we'll see...

AttenOke · April 2014

It just seems to me, that considering the idea of an MMO is to allow collaborative play between friends... that no matter what choices were made there would be a mechanism that allows you to still play with those friends.

An MMO that in any way places restrictions on your ability to play a game with your friends is in my opinion missing the point of an MMO.

lordspyder · April 2014

I just want to say that the Devs are aware of this issue and are working on a fix, most likely going to be a mentor like system where you can click to set your phase to some one else's.

DFDelta · April 2014

There would be a rather simple fix.

There already is an option to join another persons server/shard/channel (seriously, what is the official name for that?) in the party menu.
When you use that to join another person just make the game lock you into their phases as well until you leave the party.
Since you clearly want to be together with that person there would be absolutely no downside to this.

AttenOke · April 2014

Or simply make it temporarily dependant on the party leader?

lordspyder · April 2014

DFDelta wrote: »

There would be a rather simple fix.

There already is an option to join another persons server/shard/channel (seriously, what is the official name for that?) in the party menu.
When you use that to join another person just make the game lock you into their phases as well until you leave the party.
Since you clearly want to be together with that person there would be absolutely no downside to this.

They are working on that, like I said.

lypheb16_ESO · April 2014

A fix that "seemed" to work for me and my wife every time ... have the higher level log out and log back in - with the lower level as group leader. Every time, I was able to join her even after having fully cleared Glenumbra. GL and hope it works for you.

jmido8 · April 2014

Have you tried the "travel to player" function? I only ask because my brother was able to join me in an instanced quest that he had already completed earlier. If that doesn't work, then it might be bugged because I know it's possible from experience.

Another possibility is that they're trying to join a quest that is meant to be solo'ed, which is the case with a few quests in the game.