@Personofsecrets thank you for defending ToT. it is a good game and some improvements can, surely, help it to grow.

@ZOS_Kevin i was pleasantly surprised you have eventually reacted on numerous posts regarding a ToT time control issue.
With current ToT rules can be exploited, and you know, if there is an opportunity, it surely will be used. So we have what we have.
In my land this is called "a spoon of tar in a barrel of honey" which translated into English "a fly in the ointment" -
the case when malicious minority can (and does) spoil the entertainment of playing a good game for the remaining majority,
without breaking any rules. This is very unsportsmanship behaviour, it can not be varied, but can be mitigated to some extent.

May i, please, suggest implementing time controls? Exactly like in chess.
Classic - like 10 minutes per player for first 10 moves, then the extra 5 minutes added for another 5 moves
Blitz, Rapid, and Bullet with shorter time limits per player AND per a number of moves.

Also, as we speak about a huge number of players, matchmaking can be done. Not only based on players win/lose ratio, but the game engine can calculate the rolling average how much time player normally spend for one move (in theirs last 100 games) and when queues appear - to choose both fast players, or both slow players, not to mix them, as slowpoking normally enrages blitz pros.

Kevin, time controls in chess do exist for a reason. They are, indeed, useful and required. Please, talk with Developers to implement these in ToT, as they will help to mitigate the existing issue.
Once on the stream Rich Lambert said there are still passionate developers and ToT tournaments inside Zenimax. The issue is that these Devs are isolated from ToT in game, and if they do not abuse each other, the players in the game do, so if hey face this certain behaviour playing with randoms, they would, probably, start thinking about the solution.

I play ESO to have fun. waiting for 90 second for my opponent to make no-brainer moves is no fun at all. Try it, OKay?

Amottica wrote: »

spartaxoxo wrote: »

Report them and explain the situation. I doubt anything will come of it but let zos determine if it's against the rules as exploiting.

This and only this.

Also, they are using psychology to get people worked up to improve the chances their opponent will make a mistake. That is the reason for their delay, and I expect it will work for those who allow it to get to them.

Code of conduct -

Unacceptable behaviors will also include any conduct that is considered by ZeniMax to be cheating (e.g. match fixing and collusion) or other unsportsmanlike conduct such as use of secondary accounts, intentionally losing and bribery.


-

Isn't what the OP is describing breaking Sportsman like behaviour rules? Why are we saying they aren't breaking the rules so we don't report them??

They are clearly taking advantage of the timing and how it works. This SHOULD in my opinion, and probably others reading those words, come under that rule. So report them.

Change how the timer works so this is no longer possible.

Have it start counting down after a card is played and if another move isn't made within 15 seconds or so it will automatically end the turn. And have it automatically end the turn 15 seconds after the last card is played.

Players could still draw each of these steps out, but it would be a lot more work for them to do so and they may find it not worth the effort.

ESO_player123 wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

Change how the timer works so this is no longer possible.

Have it start counting down after a card is played and if another move isn't made within 15 seconds or so it will automatically end the turn. And have it automatically end the turn right after the last card is played.

Players could still draw each of these steps out, but it would be a lot more work for them to do so and they may find it not worth the effort.

Automatically ending turn after the last card is played should not be done IMO. What if the player wants to sacrifice the last played card by using the Hlaalu patron?

I didn't think of that. Thanks for pointing it out.

I'll adjust my suggestion to say automatically end the turn 15 seconds after the last card is played.

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

Personofsecrets wrote: »

- Some players, as @ESO_player123 and myself notes, engage in the behavior when they are winning a game. The actual player in question even told me "I'm glad to see you angry and helpless." Therefore, some players may feel like they are exerting power and lording over others via the behavior.

- Relatedly, there are some players who will hurl abuse through the chat as they engage in the behavior. There have been such players who have told me that they are finding information about me online, insulted my nationality, and told me to die. Such anti-social behavior often coinciding with the timer abuse shows how it is being used to lash out at others.

I have two comments here.

First, if your opponent told you "I'm glad to see you angry and helpless," it sounds like you had whispered to them and they'd perceived your tone to be one of anger, so you might reflect back on whatever you'd said and how you'd said it, and in future matches you might refrain from saying anything at all, especially during matches with that particular opponent. I mean, it's a social game (meaning ESO as a whole), so players should be able to communicate with each other; but sometimes silence is better than trying to engage in an exchange of words.

Second, if players hurl personal abuse at you, they should definitely be reported for it.

Your first idea only serves for enabling of anti-social behavior. Yes, I did get mad at being disrepsected by the turn timer abuse and I told them to cut it out. They didn't and then revealed that the motivation for their behavior was to harass me. And that much is obvious. When a player has zero possible game actions, has past the winning threshold by an impossible to overcome margin, and then takes up the turn timer, it's obvious what they are doing. In such case though, it's better to receive their written idea of why they do what they do so that they have no hypothetical defense.

I tell all players who harass me this way to stop and that I will record their behavior for submission to support. This type of behavior, the unhinged things that people have written to me, as well as other TOS violations are reported consistently. The serial harasser (there are others who complain about this players behavior in guild quite often), so far as I've seen, hasn't received a penalty for their behavior. This seems to be somewhat of a double standard within the game after seeing some of the things that others claim to be banned for.

So even if your commentary has some value, and it may, the deconstruction isn't necessary. A player is repeatedly abusing a game component to harrass others. No other details matter.

tahol10069 wrote: »

I'm lucky in this regard that I've encountered these people only few times, but those times I've been successfull in dealing with them. I do the same back. These people, in addition of not having any integrity, are selfish. You do back to them what they do to you, they suddenly grow a back bone and actually play the game. They can't stand to just sit there and look at you doing nothing. Play your turn, then sit out the timer, you don't have to do it more than 2-3 times and they suddenly remember how to play the game properly.

That happened to me once. They ran the timer out a couple of times so on my next turn I did it too, and I told them "I have all the time in the world". This went on for a couple of turns then they stopped doing it and we finished the game.