diff --git a/e2e/vegeta_test.go b/e2e/vegeta_test.go
index d609cc9e4..558f508a2 100644
--- a/e2e/vegeta_test.go
+++ b/e2e/vegeta_test.go
@@ -328,11 +328,6 @@ func processResult(m *methodMetrics, result *vegeta.Result, serviceType serviceT
 		// Check if Error field is nil (good)
 		if rpcResponse.Error != nil {
 			m.jsonRPCErrorField++
-			// Only track the error field message if there's no validation error
-			// (to avoid duplicate tracking when validation fails due to error field)
-			if validationErr == nil {
-				m.errors[rpcResponse.Error.Message]++
-			}
 		}
 
 		// Check if Result field is not nil (good)
@@ -340,7 +335,7 @@ func processResult(m *methodMetrics, result *vegeta.Result, serviceType serviceT
 			m.jsonRPCNilResult++
 		}
 
-		// Process validation error
+		// Process validation error - this takes priority over error field messages
 		if validationErr != nil {
 			m.jsonRPCValidateErrors++
 
@@ -349,6 +344,13 @@ func processResult(m *methodMetrics, result *vegeta.Result, serviceType serviceT
 			errorMsg := fmt.Sprintf("JSON-RPC validation error: %v (response preview: %s)", validationErr, preview)
 			m.jsonRPCValidationErrors[errorMsg]++
 			m.errors[errorMsg]++
+		} else if rpcResponse.Error != nil {
+			// Only track error field message if validation passed
+			// (meaning the response structure is valid but contains an API error)
+			// Add response preview to API errors too for consistency - use longer preview for API errors
+			preview := createResponsePreview(result.Body, 200)
+			errorMsg := fmt.Sprintf("API error: %s (response preview: %s)", rpcResponse.Error.Message, preview)
+			m.errors[errorMsg]++
 		}
 	}
 }
@@ -706,6 +708,8 @@ func validateResults(t *testing.T, serviceId protocol.ServiceID, m *methodMetric
 		}
 	}
 
+	// TODO_TECHDEBT(@adshmh): Output the most frequently occurring malformed payloads.
+
 	// Collect assertion failures
 	failures = append(failures, collectHTTPSuccessRateFailures(m, serviceConfig.SuccessRate)...)
 	failures = append(failures, collectJSONRPCRatesFailures(m, serviceConfig.SuccessRate)...)