Desiato wrote: »

This isn't just a Microsoft thing. The gaming business has been in an upheaval for a while now.

Microsoft said they had their most profitable time ever and that the projects were excellent. Poor performance is in no way the reason for the layoffs. Phil Spencer actually had to be pried away from Blackbird and the play testers thought it was going to be a big thing and was one of the most fun and positively viewed multiplayer games in ages. There was really no reason for Zenimax to see this coming. They were completely blindsided because they were doing incredibly well.

My personal theory as a total outsider looking in is that Microsoft is doing this because they think the future is AI and they're trying to get ahead of it so they'll be in a good position a few years from now. Nothing to do with current sales.

Did your ability to play and/or complete certain types of game content improve after the launch of Update 46?

I run numerically calculated builds on PvP and keep a good track on UESP. The shift from nosubclassing to subclassing gave me roughly a 20-30% boost in overall damage. The biggest red flag is that without restriction people are just stacking 3x damage lines. Utility lines are just going to be forgotten unless they are brought up to snuff damage wise. Ideally as talked about on PTS, all skill lines would host damage, tank, and heal/support equally to avoid a singularity meta happening. This would be where players all move towards only the same 3x skill lines because they are numerically the most efficient.

Scribing simply gave everyone an absurd burst healing soul that also grants the strongest healing buff in the game with major vitality. It is a no contest free win in duels if the other player doesn't have it. To top it off, the warden charm script is so far beyond strong that people are starting to make fun of each other for running it. Compared to the other class scripts it is like comparing an ultimate to a light attack..... I simply do not run it because I have played my sorcerer for 10 years and dont plan on swapping because of a borderline exploitable mechanic.

If anything the level of content in pvp took a nosedive if we want to talk on a diversity or uniqueness level. Now builds are just boiling down to one or two build paths. If you run a burst you will use XYZ, if you run a dot setup it will be ABC.

TBH now there is ALMOST no reason to have multiple characters. Subclassing could have just allowed us to choose any skill lines so people can experience the game on their main character. Current subclassing just feels like a QoL kick in the nuts. You want to change around one minor detail on your build like a script.....Oh you gotta drop everything on this character and swap and level on another character. Oh it doesn't have psijic gotta level that. Oh it doesn't have undaunted.....time to do that. The QoL just became a nightmare. Rip the bandaid off and just make the game One character, everything account wide already if you are planning on it.

If so, prior to the launch of Update 46, what was your character build?

Before I was a 2h stamsorc using the 3 sorc lines(basically just stormcalling because daedric and dark magic were useless).

What did you change to your character build when Update 46 launched that allowed you to play or complete content that you had trouble with before?

I had no trouble before in BGs or solo/small man cyrodil, now I am just a 2h stamsorc that has access to the animal and assassination skill line passives. The only notable loss was darkdeal from dark magic.....but netch from warden filled the sustain gap, atleast until i realized I simply didnt need sustain anymore because sustain is given out like candy now adays. For the most part my skills are the same except my build now has a 8x more passives that are useful and a few "ACTIVE" skills that are only slotted for the PASSIVES they give me.......If you catch my drift.......Its almost like ACTIVE skills should be used for their ACTIVE portion, otherwise "building" is boiling down to who has the most "passives"

What game content was it?

BGs and solo 1vX or 2vX in PCNA cyrodil

We need more reasons to return to older zones not less. This would be bad for the overall health of the game as it would make zones feel more empty than they already do.

I just saw the video and wanted to post it here, but you were quicker.
Hack confirms my fears about the future of ESO. Let's see how it goes.

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Hi All, just wanted to follow up quickly. We appreciate the player conversation element of this and would like to keep the thread open as long as possible. So just doing our due diligence in reminding folks to keep the discourse civil toward any and all parties and remember to follow our community guidelines. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for your response here, Kevin.


ESO means a lot to me as a player. I really don't want to lose this game. As always, I'm happy to keep subscribing to ESO Plus and buying the new content as they release, because I spend most of my time with this game.

Honestly while I can't say I'm no longer completing content I was before, a good deal of fun has been sucked out of it for me. "Subclassing" (more accurately called multi-classing in my opinion) has erased all class identity in the game. I enjoy games (like guild wars 2) where each class is unique and subclassing is a further delve into the specifics of the class instead of muddying the waters by allowing you to utilize other class skills.

I will continue to play the game because I love dungeons and playing with friends as we try to check off all the dungeon tris, but trials are no longer remotely appetizing unless I play a support role due to the fact that everyone is running the same build (arcanist, nightblade) because it's easier than actually creating and playing another class. I honestly feel like the ball was dropped with multi-classing because it erases the class identity that was so distinctive at the start.

Yeah... I'm not too hopeful about ESO's future unfortunately. Microsoft might be trying to quash them given their recent unionization (which I was originally thrilled for them), as they'll likely be looked at as "too expensive".

Desiato wrote: »

Teabagging is not against the rules. Harassment is. Continuing any form of taunting after a player requests it can be interpreted as harassment and therefore can result in action by the service provider.

There is no way in Cyrodiil to request the offending player stop the activity. At least on console. Not that I've found. So where does that leave the policy?

Played vet dungeons and trials, PVP (poorly, but I enjoy it - cyrodil>BGs personally)
My mains were magplar (pve) and stamdk (PVP) though I did enjoy the arca and nb too
Tried subclassing - Can I do content I couldn't previously? I could do everything previously (except hm and trifectas - because I never wanted to get into the groups for them). Now: damage is higher which I didn't mind, I'm pretty casual so I like easier.

What I didn't like is that I don't really feel the point of alts anymore. Class identity feels dead - I had my DK tank, plar, NB, and Arca DDs and Necro heal, now what's the point - pick the prettiest and off you go.

I took a break because the direction of the game has been irritating me the past few patches. It bugs me to have to drastically change my build and play style every patch - I am an average player, but like to pull my weight and not just hope some S-tier DD will be in my my vet pug.

Sorry for the long rant, but I used to play this daily - be excited to log in. Now? Eh.

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

spartaxoxo wrote: »

I think it will probably be the case for a lot of people on forums because they are more invested users. For this question in particular you all may want to do a survey too.

The team wants just general commentary right now. We've ask this similar question in a few places just to get a rough idea from a few communities. It came up in a conversation yesterday and we wanted to just get some quick takes out there without going through the whole survey process. We do have a more formal survey in the works to include a few combat related items, but we'll notify folks when that is ready.

Well quick take TLDR:

1. Subclassing power creeped the game by 20-30% so i suppose dungeons are easier
2. Subclassing is much harder for new players to make choices since it is so open ended with absolutely terrible choices available next to game breaking choices in skill lines
3. Scribing is a character bound nuisance that has game breaking scripts like warden class mastery
4. The worst of it all is that subclassing as it stands is pushing the game towards a singularity where all builds are starting to converge to the same meta with very minor differences.
5. PvP for anyone who knows what they are doing has boiled down to Stormcalling, Animal, Assassin, or Aedric spear........ This is only 4/21 skill lines primarily being used. These lines in particular have such potent passives vs other lines which offer next to nothing. For example you have lines like daedric summoning, which isn't designed to work on its own and requires damage from other lines. Or Dark magic "shield sorc" playstyle which mainly relied on Frags+ Curse(from daedric) + MagesWrath(from stormcalling) + Ward(from daedric). Why run these discombobulated skill lines when you could just pick 3 fully functional lines on their own?

EACH skill line individually needs to portray a unique playstyle and stand on its own for subclassing to work.