Disappointed - US Anniversary event canceled

Jimbru

I have read in other places that ESO is Bethesda's biggest money maker. So if they're cancelling an event related to their biggest money maker, there is no possible way that is good news for anybody involved. Given the developments and lack thereof over the last two years, it's pretty clear that ESO is on the back burner, and maintenance mode may not be far off. Which means the time is coming soon for ESO gamers to find a new home. Problem is, there's not many places to go that are worth the trip. Guild Wars 2 drove me away with End of Dragons. Blizzard and WoW are outdated ghosts of what they used to be, [snip] T&L is too PVP driven and again, anime. New World? Don't make me laugh. Maybe the genre is dying just like we are, I don't know...

[edited for bashing]

JiubLeRepenti

[snip]

Happy to see I'm not the only one feeling like that ahah

[edited to remove quote]

JiubLeRepenti

Jimbru wrote: »

JiubLeRepenti wrote: »

Sorry guys, but I missed this backstory around the BG stream... Could any of you give me a short summary of what happened?

[snip]

Ok thanks for the explanation. I saw NefasQS also made a long video about it, will surely check it out.

[edited to remove quote]

OtarTheMad

I_killed_Vivec wrote: »

OtarTheMad wrote: »

I_killed_Vivec wrote: »

OtarTheMad wrote: »

Jaraal wrote: »

wolfie1.0. wrote: »

Lizzy_the_Alchemist wrote: »

I want to know why. Like 20 friends and I have been planning this since they said there would be an event in Baltimore. And the fact that they locked comments makes me angry. We have spent thousands of dollars on this game over a decade and you all can't be bothered to give us an event that isn't in Europe? And you can't allow us any input or give us any kind of reason whatsoever? So you don't care what we want, you just want our money. I have never felt that way. I have always made excuses for every failure and insisted on giving the benefit of the doubt and being patient. This is ridiculous and incredibly disappointing. I can't imagine a good reason for this other than they don't feel like it. >:(

It is what it is, but if it came down to a choice between a live event and in game content I would choose the latter.

Except the roadmap was revealed to be reduced content going forward, and more focus on "QoL and bug fixes."

Formulate your own conclusions.

Except Kevin came on these forums and said that changing to reduced content and focusing on bugs was due to feedback, (which is true, we’ve asked for years) but they heard us say we want more content now and he passed that along.

People have been asking for bug fixes for years, but not at the cost of reduced content that we pay for in chapters or DLC paid by ESO+.

Some people might have answered polls about which region the next chapter should feature with an exasperated "Forget about new content, I just wish they'd fix Cyrodiil", but it is disingenuous to suggest that this is a serious mandate for cutting the content we receive (and pay for with ESO+).

Also, if they are going to say "Look, we are responsive, you asked for bug fixes at the cost of content", then why can't they respond to all the posts that say it's a rip off for ESO+, maybe OK once, as an extreme measure, but definitely not a permanent feature.

And if they really want to demonstrate how responsive they can be then why don't they fix things?!

Yes, they did. Sadly I am way too active on these forums. I did a quick search:

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/7715011#Comment_7715011
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/7593639#Comment_7593639
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/6126444#Comment_6126444
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/7746121#Comment_7746121
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/502141/stop-just-stop
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/6786270#Comment_6786270
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/6183722#Comment_6183722

And those are just the ones I found quickly using a phrase which was "stop content", imagine if I tried other ways of saying that. That was just page 1 and 2 basically as well. So it came up a lot, apparently around 2019-2020.

The dangers of searches! Some of those prefix "stop content" with "don't"!

"Stop just stop" is indeed an outright call to stop content creation until bugs are fixed, and did get a lot of agrees.

Some of them are "of their time" - discussing the issues of content creation during covid lockdown, and suggesting that it might be better to avoid the pressures of developing new stuff and concentrate on bug fixes.

I'm sure you could do a similar search to find the unhappiness at the loss of content while ZoS fix the mistakes they made.

But again, it is disingenuous to suggest that content developers (coming up with storylines, location design, NPCs, all the new materials, leads, designs, etc.) are the same people who would be involved in bug fixing (which should be an on-going process in any case).

It should be possible to do both.

It would make sense to have them as different departments but I don’t know the inner workings of ZOS or their priority list if they have one.

I was just providing the evidence that some players did indeed ask for that and were loud enough to get ZOS’ attention.

Now the thing that I can’t prove is if ZOS were looking for a reason to reduce content and couldn’t justify it until we asked, so we are forever the scapegoat. “Well, you asked.”

The other thing is I was indeed disappointed in Q3 this year because it wasn’t bug fixes, I mean it was more of an IA update than housing, let’s be real on that too. Necrom year Q3 was great, crazy long patch notes and all fixes… this year was just odd and kind of just seemed like ZOS slowly increasing content again.

This whole thing smells weird to me and while I do think the game is doing just fine I wonder why they canceled, as it’s not a good look for them at all. Not giving us an explanation is also leading to wild theories, including my own left field one, and staying silent is going to hurt ZOS.

If this event was a random year then it would be an oh well, but this was a milestone year and a celebration for NA and also console release. We won’t get this back, and nothing ZOS does will fully make people okay with it.

Jaraal

tomofhyrule wrote: »

AzuraFan wrote: »

OtarTheMad wrote: »

I actually am guessing it has a little to do with that BG the devs did and all the drama. Kind of like higher ups saying “we did a lot for you and you say this stuff, nope. Event gone.” Corporate side of anything can be very cold towards others.

Whatever the reason for the cancellation, I doubt it's good. I'm wondering if the end-of-year letter or the January preview of what's to come (if there is one) will shed some light. If there won't be much new content released or the game is going into maintenance mode, I doubt they'd want to hold an in-person event in 2025. At the very least, something has changed for them to cancel this event.

Problem is that the lack of any other word from the devs makes this sound like the most likely explanation...

If there were a way to put a positive spin on it, I'm sure they would have. The fact that no reason at all was given doesn't bode well. And it's telling that they used the verbiage of "no longer" having large scale events in North America, rather than using an open ended "maybe later." Seem as if they were not given a choice, doesn't it?

Arunei

TheMajority wrote: »

Lizzy_the_Alchemist wrote: »

I want to know why. Like 20 friends and I have been planning this since they said there would be an event in Baltimore. And the fact that they locked comments makes me angry. We have spent thousands of dollars on this game over a decade and you all can't be bothered to give us an event that isn't in Europe? And you can't allow us any input or give us any kind of reason whatsoever? So you don't care what we want, you just want our money. I have never felt that way. I have always made excuses for every failure and insisted on giving the benefit of the doubt and being patient. This is ridiculous and incredibly disappointing. I can't imagine a good reason for this other than they don't feel like it. >:(

you know when they first announce this event, so many people on the forum did complain and go "why are you having these events when we need you to work on the game!!!"

now they dont do the event and work on the game like people wanted, and people complain again.

how do the devs know if they are coming or going with this community? sending mixed message all the time. furious if they do, furious if they don't.

well, I don't defend zos practices always, sometimes they do not make a good choice, but with the climate of the user base lately after the whole live stream thing happen, and many other things like the strike of recent times, I would not be surprise if the choice was made for the mental health of employees so that they can focus on quality work and not pressure of being an entertainer when that not their job.

I dont know if thats the case or not, but I think they need to put time and thought into the game right now, and its a good move on their part, because really, people losing faith in the game will not be helped by events.

Maybe because different people like different things? The community isn't one hivemind that all only care about one thing and one thing only. Of course people who wanted to do the meet-up will be upset, regardless of the people who didn't care or thought it was stupid.

No community is ever going to all agree on things and no company is ever going to get bent out of shape over said community being divided on things. It's just part of life; all the people will not agree on all things all of the time.

You also can't really speak for people you don't know when it comes to claiming these meetings won't improve peoples' faith in the game. Plenty of people wanted to go bad enough that they're upset the event has been canceled. Maybe for the people who didn't care the meetings wouldn't do anything for faith, but it very well might have for all the people who did care and now can't go.

TheMajority

Arunei wrote: »

TheMajority wrote: »

Lizzy_the_Alchemist wrote: »

I want to know why. Like 20 friends and I have been planning this since they said there would be an event in Baltimore. And the fact that they locked comments makes me angry. We have spent thousands of dollars on this game over a decade and you all can't be bothered to give us an event that isn't in Europe? And you can't allow us any input or give us any kind of reason whatsoever? So you don't care what we want, you just want our money. I have never felt that way. I have always made excuses for every failure and insisted on giving the benefit of the doubt and being patient. This is ridiculous and incredibly disappointing. I can't imagine a good reason for this other than they don't feel like it. >:(

you know when they first announce this event, so many people on the forum did complain and go "why are you having these events when we need you to work on the game!!!"

now they dont do the event and work on the game like people wanted, and people complain again.

how do the devs know if they are coming or going with this community? sending mixed message all the time. furious if they do, furious if they don't.

well, I don't defend zos practices always, sometimes they do not make a good choice, but with the climate of the user base lately after the whole live stream thing happen, and many other things like the strike of recent times, I would not be surprise if the choice was made for the mental health of employees so that they can focus on quality work and not pressure of being an entertainer when that not their job.

I dont know if thats the case or not, but I think they need to put time and thought into the game right now, and its a good move on their part, because really, people losing faith in the game will not be helped by events.

Maybe because different people like different things? The community isn't one hivemind that all only care about one thing and one thing only. Of course people who wanted to do the meet-up will be upset, regardless of the people who didn't care or thought it was stupid.

No community is ever going to all agree on things and no company is ever going to get bent out of shape over said community being divided on things. It's just part of life; all the people will not agree on all things all of the time.

You also can't really speak for people you don't know when it comes to claiming these meetings won't improve peoples' faith in the game. Plenty of people wanted to go bad enough that they're upset the event has been canceled. Maybe for the people who didn't care the meetings wouldn't do anything for faith, but it very well might have for all the people who did care and now can't go.

event is not as important as keep the game running.

blktauna

TheMajority wrote: »

event is not as important as keep the game running.

This should not be a zero sum question.
The event would not be set up by the developers or the ZOS staff. Them keeping the game running is not related to the event happening. Most of the people who show at the events are the higher ups not involved in the daily running, or the community manager types who's job it actually is to meet with the community.

I'm very sad they've decided to cut this off with no explanation.

Elsonso

blktauna wrote: »

TheMajority wrote: »

event is not as important as keep the game running.

This should not be a zero sum question.
The event would not be set up by the developers or the ZOS staff. Them keeping the game running is not related to the event happening. Most of the people who show at the events are the higher ups not involved in the daily running, or the community manager types who's job it actually is to meet with the community.

I'm very sad they've decided to cut this off with no explanation.

It is true that it is not a zero sum, but the devs that show up to these events are devs that are involved with the day to day development of the game. True, they tend to be directors and leads, but they are not disconnected from the game development.

tomofhyrule

Elsonso wrote: »

blktauna wrote: »

TheMajority wrote: »

event is not as important as keep the game running.

This should not be a zero sum question.
The event would not be set up by the developers or the ZOS staff. Them keeping the game running is not related to the event happening. Most of the people who show at the events are the higher ups not involved in the daily running, or the community manager types who's job it actually is to meet with the community.

I'm very sad they've decided to cut this off with no explanation.

It is true that it is not a zero sum, but the devs that show up to these events are devs that are involved with the day to day development of the game. True, they tend to be directors and leads, but they are not disconnected from the game development.

This is true, however there's also the major issue that this has been a... difficult year for ESO, and building community relationships is about the #1 most important thing this game needs to do right now. Yes, even above bugfixes (which should be a standard thing). We had two years where they reduced the amount of new content to focus on QoL and bugfixes, which honestly didn't address some of the major bugs (and let's face it, did they fix more bugs than the content updates that weren't solely for bugfixes?) and many of those updates recently turned off more people than were happy by them, and then within the past few weeks they did a stream of a (very) unloved game mode that only served to highlight said bugs and how unloved said game mode was, and the response was then to... brush that under the rug by deleting the vod?

...oof.

It seems that every month since they started the 10th Anniversary, since people burnt out grinding for über-rare style pages by farming Geysers on repeat and then they temp-banned every one of their most loyal testers for the better part of two weeks, there has been a major source of discontent on socials.

We have heard for years that they want to work on communication and building relations. A very easy way to do that would be to... hold a huge anniversary celebration for the half of the world that doesn't get ESO events. One that was planned last year, that people have been saving for since last year.

There is probably a very good reason that they had to cancel this, considering how high the stakes are at this point. Anyone with any bit of business sense would know that this community is hemorrhaging right now, and more bad news is just going to keep going on this path. And yet... still no news. That must mean that whatever the reason is isn't even something they can spin into a positive.

Because seriously, if there was any positive side to this whatsoever, don't you think it'd be in the company's best interest to put something out to stop the doomposting? If the community is just feeling like it's all over and just breeding depression, that's going to hurt their bottom line even worse than the latest BG stream faux pas.

gariondavey

After that bg stream event fiasco (they also deleted the video from twitch) I can't say I'm surprised they cancelled this.
Guess that's saved expenses though that hopefully could be used to improve the code or the servers.
2b made off eso goes where exactly?

TaSheen

gariondavey wrote: »

After that bg stream event fiasco (they also deleted the video from twitch) I can't say I'm surprised they cancelled this.
Guess that's saved expenses though that hopefully could be used to improve the code or the servers.
2b made off eso goes where exactly?

Think about it.... where would one expect it to go?

Personofsecrets

Jimbru wrote: »

I have read in other places that ESO is Bethesda's biggest money maker. So if they're cancelling an event related to their biggest money maker, there is no possible way that is good news for anybody involved. Given the developments and lack thereof over the last two years, it's pretty clear that ESO is on the back burner, and maintenance mode may not be far off. Which means the time is coming soon for ESO gamers to find a new home. Problem is, there's not many places to go that are worth the trip. Guild Wars 2 drove me away with End of Dragons. Blizzard and WoW are outdated ghosts of what they used to be, [snip] T&L is too PVP driven and again, anime. New World? Don't make me laugh. Maybe the genre is dying just like we are, I don't know...

Isn't it contradictory to disolve the biggest money maker?

[edited to remove quote]

Belegnole

I've always found it funny how many of these events were in locations that I would love to travel to. When I was in a job that required expo's, conferences, etc. they were considered a vacation of sorts. Even though these are "working" trips traveling to a foreign country makes these vacations for most of the employees. As these particular employees are from the US, there is little desire to vacation here when you can go to Europe. Add to that the probability that their budget has most likely been cut and I would cut the US trips too.

OtarTheMad

gariondavey wrote: »

After that bg stream event fiasco (they also deleted the video from twitch) I can't say I'm surprised they cancelled this.
Guess that's saved expenses though that hopefully could be used to improve the code or the servers.
2b made off eso goes where exactly?

But what real expenses? Sure, they have some but it was in Washington DC which is in Baltimore, same state as ZOS HQ.

malistorr

I played this game for a few years of my life and for 20+ hrs a week. I spent several hundreds of dollars on it at least. The company seemed to never listen to feedback and wants of the community. [snip] I understand money makes the world go round but this is a dead and dying game. The powers that be put out less and less actual content and things that the players actually care about over time and it shows with the amount of people leaving the game altogether like I did. They never updated PVP and made it what it could be which is something that would actually draw new players into the game. They also allowed stupid things that should have never existed like ball groups which did nothing but make all the non-ball players want to leave and stop playing. It is probably hard to be as done-deaf as ZOS is but they pulled it off. Very few people I played with wanted companions and almost nobody even used them. Dungeons and trials are stale and all seem the same. The new ones were horrible and worse than anything that came before them. They ran out of gear ideas years ago and 90% of the sets in the game serve no real purpose. This game should have died years ago. ES6 should have been released at least 6-years ago. That's what players want. [snip] They've ruined what once was a good game and I'm sure by ZOS gettng bought by Microsoft there will be even worse decisions made moving forward. I don't know if I'll support this company any longer or not. The people making decisions at the top seem to ruin everything. People want more real RPG content and lots of it. PVP players want changing and improving PVP? What do they get? More companions that nobody will use and nobody asked for and more crown store items that nobody wants... [snip]

[edited for bashing]

Juju_beans

I figure if they aren't telling us why it was cancelled then maybe they can't tell us why it was cancelled and that it came from higher up the chain.

XSTRONG

Juju_beans wrote: »

I figure if they aren't telling us why it was cancelled then maybe they can't tell us why it was cancelled and that it came from higher up the chain.

Probably money, maybe Eso budget for Events like this was cut hefty and they come to understanding that hosting a big event like this will hurt them financially.

This is evedince that Eso are probably not doing well if they cut down on already announced Events.

Thats what I think are happening, I cant see another reason why they would do this.

On the posetive side if they had to cancel it because they cant afford it in their budget that is a good move by Zos, means the money hopefully are spent elsewhere to improve game etc.

minnowfaun

Honesty, I suspect it has to do more with safety and threats of violence. I've seen suggestions of violence on my FB groups. If they monitor that, it'd be reason enough. The general climate of the US right now is another reason - there's more violence then before.

otoh -

TakeLessons a decent platform where teachers connected with students was shut down pretty quickly after MS took possession of it.

M1SHAAN

I'm still hopeful that they'll be able to (get permission to?) give us more details on the reason for the cancellation. The news dropped on a Friday, so we've been ruminating on it over the weekend. Given this isn't an active emergency I wouldn't expect further communication until a workday, especially if they need to clarify with higher ups what information can be shared. It's also possible they were taken by surprise by how strong the reaction was considering how small a fraction of their playerbase were even considering attending. For us players it seems obvious that such news implies a negative financial situation and amplifies worries about the game, but that might not have been obvious from ZOS's perspective.

In any case, I'll wait a few workdays and then I'll panic lol

ZOS_Hadeostry

Greetings,

After removing some unnecessary back and forth from this thread, we would like everyone to keep posts on the subject at hand, civil, and constructive and keep in mind that Misinformation and Conspiracy Theories are against the rules.

If there may be any questions in regards to the rules, please feel free to review them here

Amottica

It really seems odd that an American-based company would place would cancel the event in their home. They plan on holding smaller events in "global" locations, but no mention of having some of those events here.

It would have made more sense if the post commented that they planned to hold multiple smaller gatherings on this side of the pond instead of the major gathering, but that does not seem to be the plan. What is said, and not said, in communication holds a lot of meaning.

Elsonso

Amottica wrote: »

It really seems odd that an American-based company would place would cancel the event in their home. They plan on holding smaller events in "global" locations, but no mention of having some of those events here.

It would have made more sense if the post commented that they planned to hold multiple smaller gatherings on this side of the pond instead of the major gathering, but that does not seem to be the plan. What is said, and not said, in communication holds a lot of meaning.

It will be sooo interesting to see if another shoe drops in the coming months.

TaSheen

I'm not posting anything I think, because I don't choose to be accused of conspiracy theories.

However, considering the current business climate, I know what I think is going on. We'll see....

Destai

ZOS_Hadeostry wrote: »

Greetings,

After removing some unnecessary back and forth from this thread, we would like everyone to keep posts on the subject at hand, civil, and constructive and keep in mind that Misinformation and Conspiracy Theories are against the rules.

If there may be any questions in regards to the rules, please feel free to review them here

Can we get some more details on why the event was canceled?

spartaxoxo

TaSheen wrote: »

I'm not posting anything I think, because I don't choose to be accused of conspiracy theories.

However, considering the current business climate, I know what I think is going on. We'll see....

Oof. Yeah, that's certainly something they can't and shouldn't discuss here, if that were the reason.

Pelanora

spartaxoxo wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

I'm not posting anything I think, because I don't choose to be accused of conspiracy theories.

However, considering the current business climate, I know what I think is going on. We'll see....

Oof. Yeah, that's certainly something they can't and shouldn't discuss here, if that were the reason.

Current domestic US business climate? Or gaming industry business climate? Or owned-by-microsoft business climate?

sleepy_worm

ZOS_Hadeostry wrote: »

keep in mind that Misinformation and Conspiracy Theories are against the rules.

It would be easier to avoid misinformation if we had more information.

ArchangelIsraphel

TaSheen wrote: »

I'm not posting anything I think, because I don't choose to be accused of conspiracy theories.

However, considering the current business climate, I know what I think is going on. We'll see....

This. I have my speculations based on that, among other things. I think its about timing, location, and safety. Not trying to post conspiracy theories- just empathizing with the Dev's and expressing my understanding of their decision if this is indeed the case.

Given that the German community manager was talking about hosting another ESO Tavern in 2025, I feel that this is not about finances or the game doing badly. Plans are still being made for other events. I would make a strong guess that the US will probably get an event at another time to make up for this. (Please come to PAX East? XD)



Translation: "You may have seen on the forums or social media that the US event that was supposed to conclude the 10th anniversary celebrations next year has been cancelled. This does not affect the ESO Tavern plans. You will find out the 2025 Tavern date after Matt's letter is published."

Destai

ArchangelIsraphel wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

I'm not posting anything I think, because I don't choose to be accused of conspiracy theories.

However, considering the current business climate, I know what I think is going on. We'll see....

This. I have my speculations based on that, among other things. I think its about timing, location, and safety. Not trying to post conspiracy theories- just empathizing with the Dev's and expressing my understanding of their decision if this is indeed the case.

Given that the German community manager was talking about hosting another ESO Tavern in 2025, I feel that this is not about finances or the game doing badly. Plans are still being made for other events. I would make a strong guess that the US will probably get an event at another time to make up for this. (Please come to PAX East? XD)



Translation: "You may have seen on the forums or social media that the US event that was supposed to conclude the 10th anniversary celebrations next year has been cancelled. This does not affect the ESO Tavern plans. You will find out the 2025 Tavern date after Matt's letter is published."

Does the US get anything equivalent to those events? I don’t recall ever seeing a US ESO Tavern. I would try to get to one if they were nearby.