https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/572676/pts-patch-notes-v7-0-2#2Improving in-game performance has been a huge focus for us and we’re starting to make significant progress towards our goal
VaranisArano wrote: »I confess I'm confused as to how you go through the entire development process for Companions, put that feature in all your marketing, release it on PTS, and only then hit the point when you realize "Wait, if everyone equips their companion in the Alikr Dolmen train, this tanks our performance."
Like, I'm not a Dev, but seriously, maybe they need to hire more in-house playtesters if they genuinely didn't realize that masses of Companions were going to be a hit to server/client rendering prior to the PTS.
I know I've been making up short fic about the immersion issues of having 20 of the same companion hangng out in the same area, but I'm beyond disappointed that the Devs' response appears to be that they didn't even consider that, and worse they didn't evaluate the performance impact of having 20+ companions in the same area. Now, they have to consider going back on what was advertised - make no mistake, if they have to despawn companions in cities for the sake of performance, then that is a substantial downgrade in companion usefullness.
It just seems like a failure of Quality Assurance 101 to me. If performance was such a priority, I would have expected that Companions would be designed to fit in the current performance demand from the beginning, rather than subject to a PTS Week 3 "Oops, we gotta test downgrading Companions so they don't downgrade performance" series of tests.
VaranisArano wrote: »I confess I'm confused as to how you go through the entire development process for Companions, put that feature in all your marketing, release it on PTS, and only then hit the point when you realize "Wait, if everyone equips their companion in the Alikr Dolmen train, this tanks our performance."
Like, I'm not a Dev, but seriously, maybe they need to hire more in-house playtesters if they genuinely didn't realize that masses of Companions were going to be a hit to server/client rendering prior to the PTS.
I know I've been making up short fic about the immersion issues of having 20 of the same companion hangng out in the same area, but I'm beyond disappointed that the Devs' response appears to be that they didn't even consider that, and worse they didn't evaluate the performance impact of having 20+ companions in the same area. Now, they have to consider going back on what was advertised - make no mistake, if they have to despawn companions in cities for the sake of performance, then that is a substantial downgrade in companion usefullness.
It just seems like a failure of Quality Assurance 101 to me. If performance was such a priority, I would have expected that Companions would be designed to fit in the current performance demand from the beginning, rather than subject to a PTS Week 3 "Oops, we gotta test downgrading Companions so they don't downgrade performance" series of tests.
dcam86b14_ESO wrote: »VaranisArano wrote: »I confess I'm confused as to how you go through the entire development process for Companions, put that feature in all your marketing, release it on PTS, and only then hit the point when you realize "Wait, if everyone equips their companion in the Alikr Dolmen train, this tanks our performance."
Like, I'm not a Dev, but seriously, maybe they need to hire more in-house playtesters if they genuinely didn't realize that masses of Companions were going to be a hit to server/client rendering prior to the PTS.
I know I've been making up short fic about the immersion issues of having 20 of the same companion hangng out in the same area, but I'm beyond disappointed that the Devs' response appears to be that they didn't even consider that, and worse they didn't evaluate the performance impact of having 20+ companions in the same area. Now, they have to consider going back on what was advertised - make no mistake, if they have to despawn companions in cities for the sake of performance, then that is a substantial downgrade in companion usefullness.
It just seems like a failure of Quality Assurance 101 to me. If performance was such a priority, I would have expected that Companions would be designed to fit in the current performance demand from the beginning, rather than subject to a PTS Week 3 "Oops, we gotta test downgrading Companions so they don't downgrade performance" series of tests.
I dont see how that makes companions useless? Since the only reason, you'll have them is for combat anyway.
It makes me wonder when ZOS is going to consider removing features to fix performance.
Other MMOs have a way to remove disliked features naturally by just not including them in the next expansion.
Imagine if companions flopped hard and were universally disliked and basically unsalvageable or they completely wreck performance. Would ZOS be willing to pull the plug on a feature - even one that was a big part of promotion?
The mount for 2 people seems to have been completely scrapped because of anti-cheat. That one never saw the light of day and was not a huge part of promotion, so it was somewhat easy to brush under the rug. What if something like this would happen to a big feature like companions?
Somehow I can't see ZOS doing that, even if it's necessary...
Oh well, let's hope it never comes to that!
https://blog.playstation.com/2021/05/04/customizable-companions-come-to-the-elder-scrolls-online-next-month/“With the Companions System, we wanted to provide our players with a new ally they can take on their adventures to provide companionship and combat support,” explains Rich Lambert, ESO’s Creative Director. “When adventuring with a Companion, we want our players to be more confident in experiencing everything Tamriel has to offer while also getting to know some unique and interesting characters.”
Not to dis on the hard work the devs did with creating the new companions - but wasn't a big part of Elder Scrolls coming Online that you could now adventure with friends?
That is what was said in the first gameplay trailer of ESO:Never have our choice weighed more heavily. To stand alone - or side by side, against the encroaching forces...of Oblivion
If the overland is too easy though, and not challenging at all - or never puts players in a position to think about what they are doing - then players have very little reason to group together for the general questing experience. I don't see anyone going "Hey want to do this quest together?"
(That does not mean I am advocating for the forced grouping of Craglorn)
ZOS wants companions to give players a reason & confidence to try out dungeons with a friend and their companion - ok sounds interesting. However, Overland should, to some extent, also contribute to building a players confidence in taking on harder content, but how can they when that content does nothing to teach them how to play?
Sure the tutorial gives the basics but you never need to use the mechanics they teach to beat any story content. Is it any wonder we run into level 40-50 players in dungeons who don't understand the combat if Overland never asks the player to get better?
Because I think it should be concerning that a person who only does Overland questing can actually learn nothing about bashing, dodging, and staying out of the red spaces. I have seen that happen and have heard too many stories about it. So far, Overland does not encourage socializing (although it is better than it used to be) because things are just too simple and easy for anyone to want to work together unless it is specifically the group content like WBs and Dolmens.
What we have also found in beta - from ZOS' attempts to make companions Not as good as players is that they have made them VERY incompetent, because that is how low the bar is for skill in overland. Like many have asked "Overland is so easy why would I have a companion who needs help or can't even do their role properly?"
Maybe if Overland encouraged players to better their skill ZOS would have an excuse to raise the skill ability of NPCs and Companions - just a smidge.
Let us hope that the feedback in beta gives ZOS ample opportunity to tweak and fix things.
VaranisArano wrote: »It makes me wonder when ZOS is going to consider removing features to fix performance.
Other MMOs have a way to remove disliked features naturally by just not including them in the next expansion.
Imagine if companions flopped hard and were universally disliked and basically unsalvageable or they completely wreck performance. Would ZOS be willing to pull the plug on a feature - even one that was a big part of promotion?
The mount for 2 people seems to have been completely scrapped because of anti-cheat. That one never saw the light of day and was not a huge part of promotion, so it was somewhat easy to brush under the rug. What if something like this would happen to a big feature like companions?
Somehow I can't see ZOS doing that, even if it's necessary...
Oh well, let's hope it never comes to that!
They're at that point already. Gina stated that the change to 12-person groups in PVE is because of performance.
Sure, that's a liked feature, but it lays bare how desperate ZOS is: they are slashing their social groups to 12 in order to see some performance gains.
Because from what I have seen ZOS can be very much unwilling to listen to reason and keep nonsensical changes as they are without even addressing them and just pretending that everything is fine for years. It would be simple to just keep it in and ignore it
I just love when people make post and start whine about thing without do any research at all you got love whining post
Beside "Make Significant Progress" well last few months i have not have drop in frame rate or any latency spikes that in my book is "Make Significant Progress" consider how bad it was back in 2014 for them of us that have play since 2014 this game have very significant progress over year