Shield Mechanics abit buggy

eromon84b16_ESO · April 2014

I was not really sure where to put this.

I often find the shield I use not working properly and I am missing alot of blocks because of this. It is not lag, it is not due to low stamina, my mouse is fine since I have tried binding this to keyboard and have same problem. Sometimes when I am holding down block button either my shield refuses to come up, or it comes up and instantly goes down even while im still holding block. I am just curious if any1 had this problem. I am not sure if its some animation problem, but it o=does tend to happen fairly often. Just see mob charging up a skill, i try to block, shield just comes up for 1 second, goes down; i take finger og block button to maybe try and press button again and nothing happens, then after a delay it comes up...then goes down. Sometimes this happens to me and sometimes it doesn't, but its hurting me alot in dungeons atm.

As I was not sure which forum to put this in and I just want to know if there is anyone noticing some lack of responsiveness with their blocking.

ariella321 · April 2014

Haven't had trouble with blocking, but back in the last beta I had a lot of trouble with picking locks. Seemed like even though I still had the mouse button pressed, it would still randomly release. Might be a similar issue.

On the other hand, I'm using a cordless mouse. In my case, at least, I couldn't tell if it was the game or the mouse...

Luewen · April 2014

Remember that raising shield to block doesnt use any stamina. Only getting hit or keeping the shield up without getting hit drains stamina

jhaus · April 2014

I have this exact trouble. With full stamina, even out of a fight, the shield does not always raise. Sometimes it will come up and lower while the block button is depressed. Like the OP I even bound the keyboard ruling out any trouble with the mouse (a quality gaming mouse), but to no avail.

My current solution involves spamming block and paying careful attention to the animation.

Viverim · April 2014

I have been having this problem as well, and especially I am finding it difficult to get the shield bash off to interrupt casters. I thought it was just my mouse, but if other people are having issues then I guess maybe it's not the mouse after all.

jhaus · April 2014

After some consideration I'm fairly convinced this is related to client/server syncing.

There are two types of behavior being observed:
1. The shield randomly drops while the block button is still being depressed.
2. Blocks unpredictably fail, even when the button is being depressed and the animation is showing a block.

<-- Beware: Much conjecture beyond this point -->

Both of these can be explained if network polling is used to determine the block state. During a lag spike the server updates the client with what it believes is the client state, causing the shield to drop, even though you're still depressing the button. Really, it's the old and familiar rubber-band effect.

The problem is that the client is only paying attention to key-ups and key-downs. Once it decides you're not pressing it a key it has no way thinking otherwise until you press the key again.

A solution might be for the server to trust the client's opinion of block state, and allow the client to send a correction back to the server when it is told that it is no longer blocking. After all, only the client knows if the button was actually un-pressed (if that's a word). This assumes that the server was told in the first place; which leads us to #2.

The second scenario is simpler than the first -- the client is showing the animation, but due to a lag spike hasn't yet convinced the server that you're blocking. And so doesn't.

p.s. I think we would see shields stuck in the up position if polling weren't being used, i.e. just the key-ups and downs were transmitted. A missed message containing the key-down would result in a shield stuck in the up position.