I have been putting off writing you this letter for so long... The good times with you are so good that it makes me not want to tell you these things - to acknowledge the awful truth in my heart. Fact is I have known what you are about for 25 years now. It has been pretty serious lately though - since console release we have been together pretty much every day.
Lately though - the way you have been treating me is not ok. I have suffered for too long and if our relationship is going to last I need you to become better. I need you to fulfill the promises you made to me. While I have endured sporadic class changes and balancing issues through the years lately it has just been too much. While there are certainly arguments about skills and abilities - cast times and damage... There are bigger problems facing us now.
I play almost nightly - after a full day's work - after the kids are in bed... That is our time ESO. Last night it all came to a head as my friend - who has also been with you since console release was playing VMA... Trying for flawless like a fool. He was experiencing the performance I know we have all become sadly accustomed to. I myself was having many of the same issues but fortunately I was running around Wrothgar in farming gear... Animations and sounds were desynched - frame rate was sporadic at best... Textures were missing - and our hearts were breaking. On mobs often my blazing spear would not even fall until after combat was over, gathering resources the harvesting sound would play 20 seconds later as I was running away, and around every corner was a NPC or texture waiting to load... Every location with more than 2players a sea of solid black masses... Some sprinting up running on top of their mounts... This doesn't even begin to cover the issues faced by players engaging challenging content - such as my friend and his failed Flawless VMA run - abandoned after he couldn't synergize a shield and died.
As we talked and debated the merits (severly lacking outside of character models) of BDO... We began to ask... "How did it come to this?..."
Two top tier players - long time subscribers, still in love with the franchise as well as ESO itself should not be handwringing and talking about performance and a lack of alternatives to this game. ESO you are failing to deliver on your promises you made to us and it is starting to become painfully obvious. This is not just an issue of balance and skills - combat or mechanics... There are issues to be discussed. But the fact is everything else becomes a side issue with performance in the state it is.
I don't know if you were wasted when you did it - but you have acknowledged the "performance issues" for a while now... But you need to know this isn't enough and your lovers will not suffer indefinitely. You are breaking our hearts. And honestly it is shameful how you have these "events" like a great party for you to meet new people - when you are abusing the relationships you already have. We all know performance is going to be EVEN WORSE during an event! My friend and I noted -had we been honest with ourselves about our expectations for the event - it is always like this - and worse all the time lately. Do you have no pride in your product? Do you understand the experience you are providing? People are skeptical because in spite of loadscreens acknowledging "game masters" there is no proof they exist. Did any of your developers play any event content during an event lately? Are they okay with the state of the game? You events have become the equivalent of a restaurant where half the tables are seated and the other half are littered with dishes to be bused or laying broken in the floor. There is a line out the door but people are standing waiting for tables. Half the people eating don't have what they ordered and yet there isn't an employee or manager in sight. Just a hostess telling everyone - "we are awarr of the issues - also try the flaming necro with a side of NPC pop-in... So delicious..." You should be ashamed of your product at this point and be taking MAJOR steps to address long-time problems. Your events hurt your long term players with even worse performance than usual and anyone new or returning to the game would be mad to get serious with the state the game performance is in.
You have to do better. You have done so much to get better through the years... So much. From outfits - crafting bags - housing - skill lines -multi-crafting now.. You listen to what we want in the game. What we need more than anything now is for you to fufill your basic game performance expectations. You know all the issues and if you don't they are in every 5th thread. Load screens are long again, pop-in and rendering of textures is a huge issue, desync of skills, animations, and sounds. Music stopping and dropping. Players not loading/3 min "black body suit" player groups. Mechanics and skills breaking, not firing, not interactable. Frame rate drop and lag - especially when there are multiple players around or in busy areas.
I know performance updates are coming and I want to let you know how inportant it is for you to get these things right. If you don't start treating us better and giving us what you promised we will all start to look for something else to fill this ESO sized hole in our hearts. The good will and franchise love cannot last forever. Fix yourself please.
Love,
Fields
ESO plus/PS4 - since console launch
TLDR/
-game performance issues have reached a near-critical level
-ZOS should be ashamed of ESO performance experience players receive, especially during events and prioritize performance fixes
-if the multiple known performance issues are not addressed in a meaningful way soon the game will really start to lose tons of long term players.
Lately though - the way you have been treating me is not ok. I have suffered for too long and if our relationship is going to last I need you to become better. I need you to fulfill the promises you made to me. While I have endured sporadic class changes and balancing issues through the years lately it has just been too much. While there are certainly arguments about skills and abilities - cast times and damage... There are bigger problems facing us now.
I play almost nightly - after a full day's work - after the kids are in bed... That is our time ESO. Last night it all came to a head as my friend - who has also been with you since console release was playing VMA... Trying for flawless like a fool. He was experiencing the performance I know we have all become sadly accustomed to. I myself was having many of the same issues but fortunately I was running around Wrothgar in farming gear... Animations and sounds were desynched - frame rate was sporadic at best... Textures were missing - and our hearts were breaking. On mobs often my blazing spear would not even fall until after combat was over, gathering resources the harvesting sound would play 20 seconds later as I was running away, and around every corner was a NPC or texture waiting to load... Every location with more than 2players a sea of solid black masses... Some sprinting up running on top of their mounts... This doesn't even begin to cover the issues faced by players engaging challenging content - such as my friend and his failed Flawless VMA run - abandoned after he couldn't synergize a shield and died.
As we talked and debated the merits (severly lacking outside of character models) of BDO... We began to ask... "How did it come to this?..."
Two top tier players - long time subscribers, still in love with the franchise as well as ESO itself should not be handwringing and talking about performance and a lack of alternatives to this game. ESO you are failing to deliver on your promises you made to us and it is starting to become painfully obvious. This is not just an issue of balance and skills - combat or mechanics... There are issues to be discussed. But the fact is everything else becomes a side issue with performance in the state it is.
I don't know if you were wasted when you did it - but you have acknowledged the "performance issues" for a while now... But you need to know this isn't enough and your lovers will not suffer indefinitely. You are breaking our hearts. And honestly it is shameful how you have these "events" like a great party for you to meet new people - when you are abusing the relationships you already have. We all know performance is going to be EVEN WORSE during an event! My friend and I noted -had we been honest with ourselves about our expectations for the event - it is always like this - and worse all the time lately. Do you have no pride in your product? Do you understand the experience you are providing? People are skeptical because in spite of loadscreens acknowledging "game masters" there is no proof they exist. Did any of your developers play any event content during an event lately? Are they okay with the state of the game? You events have become the equivalent of a restaurant where half the tables are seated and the other half are littered with dishes to be bused or laying broken in the floor. There is a line out the door but people are standing waiting for tables. Half the people eating don't have what they ordered and yet there isn't an employee or manager in sight. Just a hostess telling everyone - "we are awarr of the issues - also try the flaming necro with a side of NPC pop-in... So delicious..." You should be ashamed of your product at this point and be taking MAJOR steps to address long-time problems. Your events hurt your long term players with even worse performance than usual and anyone new or returning to the game would be mad to get serious with the state the game performance is in.
You have to do better. You have done so much to get better through the years... So much. From outfits - crafting bags - housing - skill lines -multi-crafting now.. You listen to what we want in the game. What we need more than anything now is for you to fufill your basic game performance expectations. You know all the issues and if you don't they are in every 5th thread. Load screens are long again, pop-in and rendering of textures is a huge issue, desync of skills, animations, and sounds. Music stopping and dropping. Players not loading/3 min "black body suit" player groups. Mechanics and skills breaking, not firing, not interactable. Frame rate drop and lag - especially when there are multiple players around or in busy areas.
I know performance updates are coming and I want to let you know how inportant it is for you to get these things right. If you don't start treating us better and giving us what you promised we will all start to look for something else to fill this ESO sized hole in our hearts. The good will and franchise love cannot last forever. Fix yourself please.
Love,
Fields
ESO plus/PS4 - since console launch
TLDR/
-game performance issues have reached a near-critical level
-ZOS should be ashamed of ESO performance experience players receive, especially during events and prioritize performance fixes
-if the multiple known performance issues are not addressed in a meaningful way soon the game will really start to lose tons of long term players.