The Elder Scrolls Online Plans To Limit AoE Spamming, Tests Kick Off Alongside Update 27
Over the past few months, ZeniMax Online Studios and Bethesda Softworks has been working hard to improve the game’s performance. According to Creative Director Richard Lambert, one of the things they’re looking to improve is the overall PvP experience, specifically how “soft” limit on skills and how AoE skills affect server performance.
“[. . .] We designed the game to have soft limits, which mean you can execute as many abilities as you want as long as you have the resources - Stamina or Magicka - to cast them. There is a global "cool down" timer on all abilities, which is set to 1000 milliseconds.
At some point, we crossed a threshold where most players in PvP were able to cast endless AOE abilities, without ever running out of resources. [. . ] As this behavior grew more prevalent, we reached a point where casting so many continuous AOE abilities in such a small area started to overwhelm the server process for that area, leading to situations where the "lag meter" spikes and the server becomes unresponsive for a period of time.”
But before they can fix the problem, Lambert says that they’ll first need to run some tests to come up with an ideal solution. The tests will be run on the live PC servers because, according to Lambert, “They are the only place where the combination of player behavior, specific builds, and mass battles happen.
With the launch of Update 27 on August 24th, the developers will be running a series of week-long tests in Cyrodiil. Different cooldown, cost, and regen values will be implemented during these tests which should make it more difficult for players to spam AoE skills. Double Alliance Points will be awarded to players who are active in Cyrodiil during the tests. Here are the specifics:
- Test 1 – Shared global AOE cooldown - 3 second timer. This test adds a global 3 second shared cooldown to any AOE ability. This means that when you cast an AOE, you will not be able to cast another for 3 seconds. For example, as a Templar, if I cast Ritual of Retribution, I wouldn’t be able to cast Puncturing Sweep for 3 seconds.
- Test 2 – Individual AOE cooldown - 3 second timer. This test adds an individual AOE cooldown to each AOE ability. This means that when you cast an AOE, you will not be able to cast that same AOE ability for 3 seconds. For example – as a Templar, if I cast Puncturing Sweep, I wouldn’t be able to cast Puncturing Sweep again for 3 seconds.
- Test 3 – No cooldown, global ramping AOE cost. This test adds a global ramping AOE cost for each AOE cast. Similar to how streak or roll dodge works, where when you cast an AOE you receive a debuff for 5 seconds, each stack of the debuff increases the cost of any AOE cast.
- Test 4 – Individual AOE cooldown – 3 second timer, global ramping AOE cost. This test adds an individual AOE cooldown to each ability as in test 2, but also combines that with a global ramping cost from test 3.
Update 27, minus the AoE changes, is now live on the PTS. Head over to The Elder Scrolls Online official forums for more details.
