Post by SummonMew on Mar 28, 2014 22:31:34 GMT
General tips are in this post, the second post contains current and known issues and bugs.
Herro All, SummonMew here.
Thought Id share some of the tips I learned to avoid bugs and frustration during your early game ESO experience. These are things Ive learned and things the Skoomies mentioned on the latest episode. This may get redacted or expanded as bug get fixed. I may split the tips section if people find it useful to reduce clutter if this gets bigger.
Bugs:
General Fixes
/Reloadui typed in the chat box as seen
This command will allow you to bypass a full relog for a majority of the time your character is stuck in dialogue or wont move on screen. This is the first thing to try if you are having trouble.
Single/Double Relog
This is for server based bugs, when a quest item fails to appear or a monster isnt spawning. Since the game uses multiple instances of the same area, you can relog to enter a different iteration of the area you where in. A lot of the time this will take care of quest bugs. However beware make sure to remember to log out not exit. The queue will make you cry.
Ctrl-Alt-Delete
When the game hangs or crashes a quick control alt delete and close, can sever the data connection to the server. This disconnect simulates a logout or leaves the character ingame. Allowing you to get back in and pass the queue. A full crash to desktop or waiting for it to give a disconnected message often simulates a full exit of the client. This causes you to oft be set back in the queue. This is a last resort, and try the above before trying this method. Any of you who played other MMOs have most likely observed this sort of mechanic with how a game treats a crash versus a full timeout. The key to this is to restart your client and log back in as quick as possible.
Bug Report
I was surprised by the alacrity and thoroughness Zeni displays when getting to bug reports. If all else fails the ingame bug reporter is robust and easy to use.
Quirks:
Zoning
In the Beta and PTS zoning from the Coldharbor to the staring areas was riddled with issues. I personally sat for 6 minutes at the zoning screen. I tried multiple relogs and was greeted with waiting at the same screen. I found it best to wait it out and the majority of the time it loaded after 4-6 minutes.
CPU Spikes and Memory Leaks (rare)
These have improved immeasurably since the first beta. The CPU spikes are more specific to your personal hardware config. These will cause the game to stutter. You arent crashing its a known issue. Memory Leaks cause the game to continually allocate RAM and then fail to return it to the system. This will cause your game to lag like a 56k modem. A CRTL-Alt-Dlt and swift relog can allay this issue. These two have been mostly patched out, but are notorious as code gets altered and patched over and over can sneak back in.
Graphical Artifacts
These are usually bright pink or other utterly noxius looking blocks of texture that stick to your screen like flypaper. They also appear when canting your camera at certain angles.These usually are indicative of your need to update the graphics driver. However low GPU ram or overheating can cause these. Updating your drivers or lowering settings can abate these.
Questing:
Missing Objectives
These have become truly rare, most of the quests have the markers set to the exact spot. However there a few odd quests that dont. Your best bet is to open your Journal and check the quest text. Rarer and more esoteric is that some quest objectives are highlighted by a glow or light bloom. These occasionally will not appear if you have some of the post processing effects turned off.
Quest Related Items (and Costumes)
Most quests that require and item are streamlined. The use of the item simply requires you to approach a objective and toggle your use key. However there are a few that require the manual use of an item. These are rare but you can find the quest items in their own section of your inventory. A rare exception to this are costumes, a fair number of quests state explicitly and some only imply the use of a costume. If you find your self consistently getting murdered in what is meant to be a solo quest, check the log, most costumes can be found on corpses or where specified. After you get the hang of it, these quest go from a frustration to a real joy adding a sneaky element.
Puzzles
I wont spoil any specific quests. That said there are numerous puzzle elements in many quests. They range from blatantly simple to confusing. Once again check the log and look for stray notes on the ground. A few are bugged as of the PTS, hopefully these are fixed but I will add a list at the bottom for those that are broke. Nothing is more annoying than an unsolvable puzzle.
Monster Tap or Kill Credit
There is currently only one bug involving kill credit. Only fix is to relog. Since the credit for a monster is given to anyone who damages it, or is in a group that does, this is rather obvious as you will be looting bodies making it clear you are not bugged. The only reason I included this is because it can happen in dungeons, not getting credit for killing a boss can result in lost loot or unfinished quests. This bug Im almost positive will be fixed for launch as it has been singled as a priority to fix. Will remove when/if it is.
Hitting the Ground Running:
Coldharbor
Loot everything in the final boss room, no spoilers, has chests and giant pottery everywhere. These are great places to get early lockpicks, recipes and Provisioning mats. Rarer are some weapons and consumables.
Skyshards
Find them use them, skill points and profit. TF's Map Full of spoilers so if you are one who wants to explore on your own do not use this. Dont forget the Cyrodill shards.
Detailed Guide for Skyshards
Lorebooks
These raise your rank in the Mages Guild. Spoiler Locations
Lore Book Location Guide
Starter Island
For completionist and those who prefer a more cogent early storyline. At the moment the islands are a little backward due to the fact the ship drops you in a different place than was originally designed. However these areas are more linear and ease you into ESO, they also offer easier combatants to learn the combat system. The benefits of these islands can be balanced versus the drag it might cause if you are trying to pull ahead of the crowd zone wise.
Early Zone Rushing
Get in and out of the first Zone asap if thats your style. If you can pull ahead of the large mass of players this may keep your BP down.
Gathering
Each tree with a collectible resources has a talent that makes the nodes glow, each rank increases the range at which they glow. This is gonna be one of those things that is personal preference. If you keep ahead with those skyshards you might be able to spare a point for a rank 1 or more in this. This makes a huge difference if you are like me and my eyes rove right over the rather bland looking textures that denote a resource. Banked mats can be used as if they were in the inventory. I was gonna go more indepth about this topic, but Rudrias over at TF is insane, and I cant compete with his crafting madness so heres a link, if you want more info on getting that jump on crafting.
Group Dungeons
These give good xp from the quests and critters. You also get a skill point for completing the dungeon quest.
Consumables
Potions are important in this game, while in no way required you will find that that an extra potion can make a big difference when you pull one to many mans. Food buffs are actually rather potent, and can be acquired from some vendors or Provisioning. Finally Soul Stones are necessary to resurrect on the spot for yourself or to rez others. Not to mention their need for enchants and recharging. Quick slotting dove tails into the issue of consumables and is damn handy.
Area Loot and Auto Loot
These functions are there for those of us that want them. Area Loot makes it much easier to loot all those bodies especially if one falls into the terrain. Auto Loot is more personal preference and can fill up those bags quick.
Armor Repair
The durability system means as armor loses durability it becomes less effective, so if you don't keep your armor in good shape you will find that you are getting killed a lot quicker. You can repair armor at vendors or buy repair kits for keeping it topped off in the field.
Books and Bookshelves
Some books in the game besides providing intriguing lore, can provide a proficiency point in the books corresponding skill line. Lore Books are tomes you will find and will say such, these provide the rank up in the Mage Guild. Bookshelves are everywhere, dungeons, caves, house etc. Single books and notes can be found in places as common as a desk or as strange as in a tree stump.
Wayshrines (Fast Travel)
Discovered Wayshrines can be fast traveled to from the Map, the cost increases and decreases based on frequency over time. However if you walk to a nearby shrine and usekey it, the price is waved, so travel from shrine to shrine is free.
Skill Line Proficiency
Skill Lines have a Rank from 0-50, increasing these comes from having a corresponding skill from that line equipped while playing. The rate and exact mechanics are a little more complex, however the more skills from a line you have equipped or the more of a armor type you have on the faster it will increase. Early levels equip Soul Trap to get ups, while your bar isn't full.
Respec
You can respec at a cost of 100 gold per skill point or attribute point. These are found in AD Elden Root in Grahtwood zone. DC Wayrest in Stormhaven zone. EB Deshaan city of Mournhold. Find Rededication Shrine map marker and use the corresponding shrine for attribs or skill points. There was discussion of adding more but as of the latest PTS the earliest shrines are listed.
Mount Progression
You can feed your horse once a day at the Stable to increase its stats, based on the feed you choose. Beware however, the cheaper starter horses will not be able to be min/maxed for the best stats due to the fact they are overall inferior.
Mundus Stones
These are found in the world as standing stone shrines. They provide various bonuses to your character while the current stone is selected. Match to passives or armor types to give a real boost. The TF Map or Exploring can yield these.
Chat Tabs
You can create multiple chat tabs by clicking on the plus next to your chat window. You can then create a tab without Zone, Yell, etc. So if you keep having things scroll by too fast there you go.
Chat Colors
You can change chat colors by going to Setting then Social and set colors.
This is a WIP so Ill add some more tips, refine some of the language and probably work on the formatting and add links to the sections. I am by no means infallible, so please if you have any thing to add go for it or correct me if I whiffed something. Also feel free to contact me via PM or in vent, I dont mind helping with tech support or trouble shooting.
Herro All, SummonMew here.
Thought Id share some of the tips I learned to avoid bugs and frustration during your early game ESO experience. These are things Ive learned and things the Skoomies mentioned on the latest episode. This may get redacted or expanded as bug get fixed. I may split the tips section if people find it useful to reduce clutter if this gets bigger.
Bugs:
General Fixes
/Reloadui typed in the chat box as seen
This command will allow you to bypass a full relog for a majority of the time your character is stuck in dialogue or wont move on screen. This is the first thing to try if you are having trouble.
Single/Double Relog
This is for server based bugs, when a quest item fails to appear or a monster isnt spawning. Since the game uses multiple instances of the same area, you can relog to enter a different iteration of the area you where in. A lot of the time this will take care of quest bugs. However beware make sure to remember to log out not exit. The queue will make you cry.
Ctrl-Alt-Delete
When the game hangs or crashes a quick control alt delete and close, can sever the data connection to the server. This disconnect simulates a logout or leaves the character ingame. Allowing you to get back in and pass the queue. A full crash to desktop or waiting for it to give a disconnected message often simulates a full exit of the client. This causes you to oft be set back in the queue. This is a last resort, and try the above before trying this method. Any of you who played other MMOs have most likely observed this sort of mechanic with how a game treats a crash versus a full timeout. The key to this is to restart your client and log back in as quick as possible.
Bug Report
I was surprised by the alacrity and thoroughness Zeni displays when getting to bug reports. If all else fails the ingame bug reporter is robust and easy to use.
Quirks:
Zoning
In the Beta and PTS zoning from the Coldharbor to the staring areas was riddled with issues. I personally sat for 6 minutes at the zoning screen. I tried multiple relogs and was greeted with waiting at the same screen. I found it best to wait it out and the majority of the time it loaded after 4-6 minutes.
CPU Spikes and Memory Leaks (rare)
These have improved immeasurably since the first beta. The CPU spikes are more specific to your personal hardware config. These will cause the game to stutter. You arent crashing its a known issue. Memory Leaks cause the game to continually allocate RAM and then fail to return it to the system. This will cause your game to lag like a 56k modem. A CRTL-Alt-Dlt and swift relog can allay this issue. These two have been mostly patched out, but are notorious as code gets altered and patched over and over can sneak back in.
Graphical Artifacts
These are usually bright pink or other utterly noxius looking blocks of texture that stick to your screen like flypaper. They also appear when canting your camera at certain angles.These usually are indicative of your need to update the graphics driver. However low GPU ram or overheating can cause these. Updating your drivers or lowering settings can abate these.
Questing:
Missing Objectives
These have become truly rare, most of the quests have the markers set to the exact spot. However there a few odd quests that dont. Your best bet is to open your Journal and check the quest text. Rarer and more esoteric is that some quest objectives are highlighted by a glow or light bloom. These occasionally will not appear if you have some of the post processing effects turned off.
Quest Related Items (and Costumes)
Most quests that require and item are streamlined. The use of the item simply requires you to approach a objective and toggle your use key. However there are a few that require the manual use of an item. These are rare but you can find the quest items in their own section of your inventory. A rare exception to this are costumes, a fair number of quests state explicitly and some only imply the use of a costume. If you find your self consistently getting murdered in what is meant to be a solo quest, check the log, most costumes can be found on corpses or where specified. After you get the hang of it, these quest go from a frustration to a real joy adding a sneaky element.
Puzzles
I wont spoil any specific quests. That said there are numerous puzzle elements in many quests. They range from blatantly simple to confusing. Once again check the log and look for stray notes on the ground. A few are bugged as of the PTS, hopefully these are fixed but I will add a list at the bottom for those that are broke. Nothing is more annoying than an unsolvable puzzle.
Monster Tap or Kill Credit
There is currently only one bug involving kill credit. Only fix is to relog. Since the credit for a monster is given to anyone who damages it, or is in a group that does, this is rather obvious as you will be looting bodies making it clear you are not bugged. The only reason I included this is because it can happen in dungeons, not getting credit for killing a boss can result in lost loot or unfinished quests. This bug Im almost positive will be fixed for launch as it has been singled as a priority to fix. Will remove when/if it is.
Hitting the Ground Running:
Coldharbor
Loot everything in the final boss room, no spoilers, has chests and giant pottery everywhere. These are great places to get early lockpicks, recipes and Provisioning mats. Rarer are some weapons and consumables.
Skyshards
Find them use them, skill points and profit. TF's Map Full of spoilers so if you are one who wants to explore on your own do not use this. Dont forget the Cyrodill shards.
Detailed Guide for Skyshards
Lorebooks
These raise your rank in the Mages Guild. Spoiler Locations
Lore Book Location Guide
Starter Island
For completionist and those who prefer a more cogent early storyline. At the moment the islands are a little backward due to the fact the ship drops you in a different place than was originally designed. However these areas are more linear and ease you into ESO, they also offer easier combatants to learn the combat system. The benefits of these islands can be balanced versus the drag it might cause if you are trying to pull ahead of the crowd zone wise.
Early Zone Rushing
Get in and out of the first Zone asap if thats your style. If you can pull ahead of the large mass of players this may keep your BP down.
Gathering
Each tree with a collectible resources has a talent that makes the nodes glow, each rank increases the range at which they glow. This is gonna be one of those things that is personal preference. If you keep ahead with those skyshards you might be able to spare a point for a rank 1 or more in this. This makes a huge difference if you are like me and my eyes rove right over the rather bland looking textures that denote a resource. Banked mats can be used as if they were in the inventory. I was gonna go more indepth about this topic, but Rudrias over at TF is insane, and I cant compete with his crafting madness so heres a link, if you want more info on getting that jump on crafting.
Group Dungeons
These give good xp from the quests and critters. You also get a skill point for completing the dungeon quest.
Consumables
Potions are important in this game, while in no way required you will find that that an extra potion can make a big difference when you pull one to many mans. Food buffs are actually rather potent, and can be acquired from some vendors or Provisioning. Finally Soul Stones are necessary to resurrect on the spot for yourself or to rez others. Not to mention their need for enchants and recharging. Quick slotting dove tails into the issue of consumables and is damn handy.
Area Loot and Auto Loot
These functions are there for those of us that want them. Area Loot makes it much easier to loot all those bodies especially if one falls into the terrain. Auto Loot is more personal preference and can fill up those bags quick.
Armor Repair
The durability system means as armor loses durability it becomes less effective, so if you don't keep your armor in good shape you will find that you are getting killed a lot quicker. You can repair armor at vendors or buy repair kits for keeping it topped off in the field.
Books and Bookshelves
Some books in the game besides providing intriguing lore, can provide a proficiency point in the books corresponding skill line. Lore Books are tomes you will find and will say such, these provide the rank up in the Mage Guild. Bookshelves are everywhere, dungeons, caves, house etc. Single books and notes can be found in places as common as a desk or as strange as in a tree stump.
Wayshrines (Fast Travel)
Discovered Wayshrines can be fast traveled to from the Map, the cost increases and decreases based on frequency over time. However if you walk to a nearby shrine and usekey it, the price is waved, so travel from shrine to shrine is free.
Skill Line Proficiency
Skill Lines have a Rank from 0-50, increasing these comes from having a corresponding skill from that line equipped while playing. The rate and exact mechanics are a little more complex, however the more skills from a line you have equipped or the more of a armor type you have on the faster it will increase. Early levels equip Soul Trap to get ups, while your bar isn't full.
Respec
You can respec at a cost of 100 gold per skill point or attribute point. These are found in AD Elden Root in Grahtwood zone. DC Wayrest in Stormhaven zone. EB Deshaan city of Mournhold. Find Rededication Shrine map marker and use the corresponding shrine for attribs or skill points. There was discussion of adding more but as of the latest PTS the earliest shrines are listed.
Mount Progression
You can feed your horse once a day at the Stable to increase its stats, based on the feed you choose. Beware however, the cheaper starter horses will not be able to be min/maxed for the best stats due to the fact they are overall inferior.
Mundus Stones
These are found in the world as standing stone shrines. They provide various bonuses to your character while the current stone is selected. Match to passives or armor types to give a real boost. The TF Map or Exploring can yield these.
Chat Tabs
You can create multiple chat tabs by clicking on the plus next to your chat window. You can then create a tab without Zone, Yell, etc. So if you keep having things scroll by too fast there you go.
Chat Colors
You can change chat colors by going to Setting then Social and set colors.
This is a WIP so Ill add some more tips, refine some of the language and probably work on the formatting and add links to the sections. I am by no means infallible, so please if you have any thing to add go for it or correct me if I whiffed something. Also feel free to contact me via PM or in vent, I dont mind helping with tech support or trouble shooting.