Update 35 Roadmap

ZOS_Kevin

Curious to see what lies ahead for Update 35? Our updated Roadmap is here to give you a sneak peek at what’s on the horizon for ESO in the coming months. Link to the web version is available here as well.

React

I want to point out that the last actual PVP content that was released was in February of 2019 in update 21, in the form of a single BG map. It has now been 3 years and four months since we got PVP content, and according to the January PVP update, we will not be receiving any PVP content for AT LEAST the next 6 months. I obviously do not speak for the entire community when I say this, but in my opinion four years without PVP content is beyond ridiculous. PVP is an entire facet of the game that was heavily advertised at launch and basically been neglected ever since.

With this in mind, it is beyond disappointing to find out 6 months later that the "weekend PVP events" we were told could happen have turned out to be 25% AP in battlegrounds and double EXP in cyrodiil and imperial city. The vast majority of PVP players are far over the effective EXP cap, and outside of PVP there are ways to earn EXP that vastly outweigh any potential EXP you could earn in PVP. This is a complete non-incentive for the audience these events were for, and feels like a slap in the face to many of us. At the very least, double AP should be enabled as a weekend event in IC/Cyro. Furthermore, the imperial city celebration event could just be enabled during weekends instead - double telvar & key fragments, with increase drop chance on items from molag bal. These types are events are what everyone expected and has been waiting for.

The 25% AP in battlegrounds is nice, but a huge portion of the community doesn't even play battlegrounds. Also, why was such a low modifier chosen for these events? You already earn far less AP in battlegrounds than what is possible in open world, so 25% is hardly an actual incentive for players to go in there.

I really hope zenimax reconsiders what they're doing with these weekend events. I know that many of my friends who held out hope these past 6 months in expectation of enjoyable pvp events have flat out left the game after seeing what they turned out to be.

It is as if not a single person associated with zenimax has any involvement or experience with PVP whatsoever.

CameraBeardThePirate

React wrote: »

I want to point out that the last actual PVP content that was released was in February of 2019 in update 21, in the form of a single BG map. It has now been 3 years and four months since we got PVP content, and according to the January PVP update, we will not be receiving any PVP content for AT LEAST the next 6 months. I obviously do not speak for the entire community when I say this, but in my opinion four years without PVP content is beyond ridiculous. PVP is an entire facet of the game that was heavily advertised at launch and basically been neglected ever since.

With this in mind, it is beyond disappointing to find out 6 months later that the "weekend PVP events" we were told could happen have turned out to be 25% AP in battlegrounds and double EXP in cyrodiil and imperial city. The vast majority of PVP players are far over the effective EXP cap, and outside of PVP there are ways to earn EXP that vastly outweigh any potential EXP you could earn in PVP. This is a complete non-incentive for the audience these events were for, and feels like a slap in the face to many of us. At the very least, double AP should be enabled as a weekend event in IC/Cyro. Furthermore, the imperial city celebration event could just be enabled during weekends instead - double telvar & key fragments, with increase drop chance on items from molag bal. These types are events are what everyone expected and has been waiting for.

The 25% AP in battlegrounds is nice, but a huge portion of the community doesn't even play battlegrounds. Also, why was such a low modifier chosen for these events? You already earn far less AP in battlegrounds than what is possible in open world, so 25% is hardly an actual incentive for players to go in there.

I really hope zenimax reconsiders what they're doing with these weekend events. I know that many of my friends who held out hope these past 6 months in expectation of enjoyable pvp events have flat out left the game after seeing what they turned out to be.

It is as if not a single person associated with zenimax has any involvement or experience with PVP whatsoever.

I second this. Don't get me wrong - having anything related to PvP being announced/added is wonderful. It's great just to know that something is being done, but extra experience and AP is more or less worthless for the vast majority of PvPers because a good chunk of PvPers are already at endgame, don't need experience, or have so much AP that we don't know what to do with it.

It also worries me that certain game modes will be promoted since many of the game modes are so unbalanced that a weekend event highlighting those game modes will only cause people to be upset with how easy it is to "game the system" and win the objective modes with speed/tank builds and 0 damage.

Again, thank you ZOS for adding anything related to PvP, but we want new or rebalanced content, not something that feels like an afterthought, or things that will only serve to highlight existing issues within PvP

lpfan678

I have absolutely zero interest in more item sets. I've been playing this game for 8 years and there are dozens and dozens of sets that I'll never even use, and you guys are adding more. Most of them are junk or are too much of a pain to farm.

Neoauspex

lpfan678 wrote: »

I have absolutely zero interest in more item sets. I've been playing this game for 8 years and there are dozens and dozens of sets that I'll never even use, and you guys are adding more. Most of them are junk or are too much of a pain to farm.

But the new ones are the best ones every time!

Grandchamp1989

Combat adjustments? Can be quite broad. Can we get a sneak peak on what that means?

VaranisArano

We're not going to get new PVP content until the PVP we have works well and reliably. And that won't be at least until after the server rearchitecture is done...assuming that even solves the problems.

I wouldn't expect more than bonus fluff like this for quite a while.

agelonestar

Let’s have yet another boring group dungeon that most people will do once (if at all) and ignore that PVP is a thing.

Cyrodiil….. anyone……? No…..?

Magio_

Disappointing

Stamicka

I'm a bit sick of the 2 Dungeon DLC formula. I get that ZOS is on sort of a "financially safe" path, but I really think it is time to try something different. The dungeon DLC's add very little to the game for almost all types of players.

As for PvP, adding new sets doesn't do what you think it does. New sets are usually either useless or wildly broken. I know many people who quit PvP and never came back after Dark Convergence was introduced. The sets detract from the PvP experience rather than add to it. I've accepted that the devs are no longer making stuff for the sweatier/ competitive crowd, but AT LEAST don't make things worse than they already are.

Destai

I think without details on what “combat changes” actually means, I can’t say this is truly a roadmap. The use of broad language on what could be deeply impactful needs to be curtailed; tell us what you are aiming for.

joerginger

Still more sets? Why? What for? Shouldn't new expansions these days remove sets? Like combine two existing sets into a new one? After several million years we might eventually arrive at a sane number of sets in this game.

And yet more DLC dungeons? I know I'm repeating myself, but: Why? What purpose are they supposed to serve?

colossalvoids

joerginger wrote: »

And yet more DLC dungeons? I know I'm repeating myself, but: Why? What purpose are they supposed to serve?

Same as any other content drop like a chapter or zone dlc - entertainment for parts of community. None are made for everyone, it's fine.

duagloth

Not good enough, try again, try harder.

ccfeeling

2 light
2 Medium
2 heavy
2 monster set

Seems no new mythics...
I wish vampire skill lines can be revamp...

SimonThesis

Pretty disappointed and underwhelmed!

Same tired old formula without anything new or exciting. They promised weekend events in cyrodiil, so they gave a population of max level end game players a worthless xp boost.

Battlegrounds give waaaay less ap than in cyrodiil, an ap bump in there is a step in the right direction but taking keeps in cyrodiil will still give far more ap. People don't do battlegrounds because the rewards aren't worth it, as a pvper I'd love to do them but theres no reason to. I also do think they should try two team battlegrounds instead of 3.

Destai

SimonThesis wrote: »

Pretty disappointed and underwhelmed!
Same tired old formula without anything new or exciting. They promised weekend events in cyrodiil, so they gave a population of max level end game players a worthless xp boost.
Battlegrounds give waaaay less ap than in cyrodiil, an ap bump in there is a step in the right direction but taking keeps in cyrodiil will still give far more ap. People don't do battlegrounds because the rewards aren't worth it, as a pvper I'd love to do them but theres no reason to. I do think they should try two team battlegrounds instead of 3.

It feels very formulaic. I'm expecting the prologue to be another "YOU THERE!!!!" quest giver. IMO, these prologues just need to stop, they're weighing down too many cities and make the new player experience even more confusing.

I can live with another dungeon, they're fun with guildies at least. I just wish they came with the expansion rather than a separate purchase for people without Plus.

FangOfTheTwoMoons

Many in the community are unsatisfied with the upcoming PvP "events." Please reconsider these lackluster bonuses and implement something that will incentivize people to actually play PvP.

Panachudo

With the rewriting of the architecture underway would a major update be better served by:

A major visual overhaul?

The industry has moved far beyond the visuals we currently experience. An overhaul of the architecture is a serious undertaking. Perhaps now is the time to look at future proofing the visuals? This could be achieved multiple ways really. Personally I’d go with 2k textures and focus efforts on lighting and shading. Work a truly spectacular lighting system into the game and Bobs your uncle. I understand this would render certain consoles and systems obsolete but users have to move on at some point. To overcome this a migration of user accounts could be performed?

Perhaps an opportunity to get crossplay integrated?

Not entirely sure on the complexity. But having the ability to bring all platforms together under NA and EU servers would be something special indeed.

Virtual reality?

This would be some amazing. PvP would be a daily calorie burn 🔥. Immersion with visual updates as well. I know this is far fetched but MMO Skyrim VR. Drooltastic.

Set / item / recipe amalgamation and condensing?

There are a lot. Like, overload a lot. A deep dive into what we have already I think is required. Combining close and duplicate sets for instance. Narrowing down the near infinite choice. It is difficult as choice is fantastic. Though too much can leave many feeling overwhelmed. I love where you went with Druids Braid. Brilliant. More of that but at the same time reducing the total number. Recipes, boy is there a lot that simply don’t appear to get used. What’s the benefit of knowing all the recipes? Is there one? I think getting to the core of what ties in with what and promoting these with a sense of purposeful choice would bring more to the table.

UI / Tooltips

This is a biggen that will help players achieve their goals. Skills as well as champion points should list what buffs what in the tooltip. So let’s say you hover over Fetcher Infection. In the tooltip it should list the champion points that buff its power. Under that it should list the class, passives, guild, world and whatever that buffs it as well. Now, this can turn into a huge list but make it a toggle or dropdown. Something so players can have a sense of direction. There is so much choice it is easy to get lost in the depth of scale.

Currently

I love the updates. High Isle has been the highlight as far as updates go for me. Great mythics, great story. It has more depth to previous updates and DLC’s. It is fantastic to see an old title continue its development and roadmapping. The team have taken so much flak and bounce back. It’s difficult being on the receiving end of criticism for sure. Though as I mentioned above. It’s time for something big. Something that projects us all into the next 10 years.

What do you think? An overhaul opportunity in both the underlying architecture, visuals, and content or adding more? It’s a debate worth having. Sometimes less is more? 🤷‍♂️

Thanks,

Pan.

Ps: Please don’t nerf Oakensoul.

Jamie_Aubrey

I'm guessing one of the PVP sets is an "anti group set" that will be used by groups

Also they better be non procs so they can be used in NO CP

FluffyBird

That's not a road map, that's just some bland info crumbs. Non-info even, it says almost nothing useful and gives nothing to anticipate. You could have just written "same old yearly formula" and that would be just as not exciting.

Booooriiiiing!

Aardappelboom

Okay, so just to say something positive, I'm kind of looking forward to "featured BG modes" when there's a deathmatch weekend, I'll be excited to participate tbh.

I am a bit dissapointed that there aren't any real incentives for Imperial City, I really love that area, the PVP is a lot of fun but there's just so little people. There's almost no lag there, even during midyear mayhem and it's just generally fun to participate in smaller group battles there, since BG doesn't support CP this is the only place left to experience quick close quarter battles.

I actually also kind of like the tel var system, but the rewards, at this point, are pretty lackluster, if we could buy some special mounts, furnishing, general PVP only rewards, I would be more than happy.

@ZOS_Kevin I like PVP in this game and I just like to say, that as far as rewards go, exclusive cosmetics for hardcore PVPers would actually get me excited, you guys released a pvp only motif, but it was sadly possible to obtain it through non-pvp ways and if anyone happens to not like the looks of it, they were out of luck, because there's only one, more of these kind of things!

Aldoss

It's amazing how forthcoming ZOS is willing to proclaim how out of touch they are with their own player base...

And now, we will receive no acknowledgment from anyone at ZOS. They will unleash the pts and completely ignore the forums. They'll ignore all feedback from the players. They will literally say nothing, only to repeat this same announcement x3 each year.

Your game is dying, ZOS. BGs need so much more than this. You've slit the throat of both communities and have provided a bandaid to stop the bleeding. The cyro queue will be measured in the hundreds on "event weekends" that are anything but deathmatch. Hundreds of BGers will take the weekend off because of how nonsensical the "objective" modes are and how easily they are glitched and trolled.

Disappointed.

I'm also eager to see what new warden nerfs you have for us because of our overbearing "offensive nature"...

Try harder.

Firstmep

Rather than extra xp and ap, I'd prefer certain bg modes to be reworked.
Ctf and relic are the worst offenders, due to the 3 team aspect of bgs, these mode heavily incentivize avoiding actual pvp combat.
Imho capture the flag should be outright removed as crazy king is an already existing better version of it.
Relic mode should have much harsher respawn timers, or make it so that you dont spawn at your base after killed.
That you can get back on the map quickly, but you cant just keep respawning and defend easily.
In general we need modes that actively encourage pvp fighting around objectives.
Many of these changes could be done without significant developer time as well tbh.

Sarannah

Firstmep wrote: »

Ctf and relic are the worst offenders, due to the 3 team aspect of bgs, these mode heavily incentivize avoiding actual pvp combat.

Tactics are also a part of PvP, just dumbly bashing someone's head in isn't the only PvP. Those modes are actually the most enjoyable, as players can outsmart the 'I'm-the-strongest'-types of players. If someone wins with tactics, they are actually better at PvP.

(unrelated to the above quote)
In my opinion PvP is already much too rewarding, adding more rewards to it will only have PvPers benefit even more from PvP. Too many benefits actually. Players who do not want to PvP simply won't PvP, regardless of how many carrots you place in front of them. I am one of those players.
The only way to make PvP work, is to place those players new to PvP on the same powerlevel as the top tier PvPers. But this is highly unwanted by regular PvPers(example: how the PvP community responded to oakensoul). In regards to improving PvP, it is best to not listen to actual PvPers. But instead listen to the casuals, about what they would want changed in/about PvP to actually take part in it. We all want more players in PvP, so any changes should not only be for the current niche of PvP players.

FluffyBird

Sarannah wrote: »

Firstmep wrote: »

Ctf and relic are the worst offenders, due to the 3 team aspect of bgs, these mode heavily incentivize avoiding actual pvp combat.

Tactics are also a part of PvP, just dumbly bashing someone's head in isn't the only PvP. Those modes are actually the most enjoyable, as players can outsmart the 'I'm-the-strongest'-types of players. If someone wins with tactics, they are actually better at PvP.

(unrelated to the above quote)
In my opinion PvP is already much too rewarding, adding more rewards to it will only have PvPers benefit even more from PvP. Too many benefits actually. Players who do not want to PvP simply won't PvP, regardless of how many carrots you place in front of them. I am one of those players.
The only way to make PvP work, is to place those players new to PvP on the same powerlevel as the top tier PvPers. But this is highly unwanted by regular PvPers(example: how the PvP community responded to oakensoul). In regards to improving PvP, it is best to not listen to actual PvPers. But instead listen to the casuals, about what they would want changed in/about PvP to actually take part in it. We all want more players in PvP, so any changes should not only be for the current niche of PvP players.

A filthy casual here, and I'd want them to stop trying to balance PVP and just let players go [snip] with broken builds. Because broken vs broken is a ton more fun than bland vs bland, constant nerfs and endless chasing of FotM meta. (and because that also hurts my casual PVE)

[edited for profanity bypass]

olsborg

I wonder how many years it will take for zos to make an update thats mainly focused on pvp...if ever..

James-Wayne

You can throw what experience you want at PvP but if the ping rate doesn't get any better for me then I wont be doing any PvP.

Lumsdenml

Sarannah wrote: »

Firstmep wrote: »

Ctf and relic are the worst offenders, due to the 3 team aspect of bgs, these mode heavily incentivize avoiding actual pvp combat.

Tactics are also a part of PvP, just dumbly bashing someone's head in isn't the only PvP. Those modes are actually the most enjoyable, as players can outsmart the 'I'm-the-strongest'-types of players. If someone wins with tactics, they are actually better at PvP.

(unrelated to the above quote)
In my opinion PvP is already much too rewarding, adding more rewards to it will only have PvPers benefit even more from PvP. Too many benefits actually. Players who do not want to PvP simply won't PvP, regardless of how many carrots you place in front of them. I am one of those players.
The only way to make PvP work, is to place those players new to PvP on the same powerlevel as the top tier PvPers. But this is highly unwanted by regular PvPers(example: how the PvP community responded to oakensoul). In regards to improving PvP, it is best to not listen to actual PvPers. But instead listen to the casuals, about what they would want changed in/about PvP to actually take part in it. We all want more players in PvP, so any changes should not only be for the current niche of PvP players.

So what you are saying is to make things in pvp better, you have to completely ignore the people who are actually participating in pvp and make changes dispite them?

And how is pvp too rewarding?

TheGreatBlackBear

People complaining about this not being enough need to face facts. Any kind of PvP content is a waste of dev time, resources and energy tbh. It adds nothing to the game for the vast majority of players and actually causes strife when players’ favourite classes, sets and mythics get nerfed because of PvP complainers. From a practical standpoint what sane manager would prioritise PvP in this game? I’m sure that if PvP died and cryo became a PvE zone game sales, playtime player spending and all the metrics that investors like would all increase.

Celephantsylvius_Bornasfinmo

*yawns*

It's still the same old, waste of our time too I guess. (honest opinion and PvP player example)