Community Communications and Engagement - Preferences Feedback Wanted

ZOS_JessicaFolsom · December 19

Hi everyone! As a follow-up to this comment and as we continue planning for next year and beyond, we wanted to ask for your input on a few specific topics related to our communication and engagement opportunities.

For Reddit AMAs, do you prefer when they are focused on specific topic and/or team, or when they are broad and open to all topics?
Similarly, for planned Q&As on the forums, what are everyone’s thoughts on them being a broad “grab bag” style Q&A versus themed around a specific topic such as PVP content? Do you have a preference? (Answering "both" for this question and the one above it is fine, too!)
Also, when we pull questions from the forums for a written Q&A, how would you all feel about using the forum react system to "vote" on what questions are most important to you? For example, dropping an "Agree" react on the ones you'd most like us to answer.
On the topic of player satisfaction surveys, what are your thoughts on these being all-encompassing versus a little more focused on specific things each time, based on what is going on at the time?

Thank you in advance for sharing your input with us, and for being a part of our community. We hope you have a happy and restful holidays in Tamriel and beyond!

Circuitous · December 19

Depends on how long the AMA will be open for. Longer ones should be general, shorter ones more focused.
Same here.
Sounds like a good idea to me.
You should be doing both, and more often. Maybe a general survey every six months, and a more specific one every two to three? Also, I'd like to point out that a lot of other online games incentivize surveys with various in-game currencies, etc. ESO adding something like that would be huge.

Happy holidays to the team!

CoolBlast3 · December 19

For Reddit AMAs, do you prefer when they are focused on specific topic and/or team, or when they are broad and open to all topics?
Both is great!

Similarly, for planned Q&As on the forums, what are everyone’s thoughts on them being a broad “grab bag” style Q&A versus themed around a specific topic such as PVP content? Do you have a preference? (Answering "both" for this question and the one above it is fine, too!)
Both is great again!

Also, when we pull questions from the forums for a written Q&A, how would you all feel about using the forum react system to "vote" on what questions are most important to you? For example, dropping an "Agree" react on the ones you'd most like us to answer.
I at least always put a react of some kind when I see something I agree with, and if ZOS starts using react counts as indications of things to comment on, I think that'll also be for the best!

On the topic of player satisfaction surveys, what are your thoughts on these being all-encompassing versus a little more focused on specific things each time, based on what is going on at the time?
For satisfactions surveys I feel like them being specific to game systems, specific content, etc is best here. General surveys always feel a too long and well- far too general for any meaningful information. Perhaps giving a crown crate or something of the likes to incentivize people to give their opinions would also be good. Also- advertise surveys in-game as well! Not everyone pays attention to the forums, emails, etc

TaSheen · December 19

For Reddit AMAs, do you prefer when they are focused on specific topic and/or team, or when they are broad and open to all topics?

NA - I won't touch reddit at all.
Similarly, for planned Q&As on the forums, what are everyone’s thoughts on them being a broad “grab bag” style Q&A versus themed around a specific topic such as PVP content? Do you have a preference? (Answering "both" for this question and the one above it is fine, too!)

Both.
Also, when we pull questions from the forums for a written Q&A, how would you all feel about using the forum react system to "vote" on what questions are most important to you? For example, dropping an "Agree" react on the ones you'd most like us to answer.

That would be ideal.
On the topic of player satisfaction surveys, what are your thoughts on these being all-encompassing versus a little more focused on specific things each time, based on what is going on at the time?

All-encompassing preferred.

TheImperfect · December 19

Overall I prefer things to be very specific because you can drill down to the heart of a matter without being derailed off into other topics and nothing ever being fully addressed.

It would sometimes be good though to also have completely open ended discussions because people have ideas and it can lead to valuable insights.

I guess a mix of both types of discussion but being clear as to the type of discussion.

I think a react system for voting is good because it ensures most people get answers but it would really be absolutely best, if it's possible, to answer every question (even if the answer has to be kept brief for some questions).

As for surveys I would say a mix of both types but if you are looking for specifics say about housing or questing then keep the survey specific to that. Sometimes though people might have feedback they want to submit not related to the survey so you could do infrequent general surveys or at the very end of a specific survey just ask if there is any other feedback about the game they would like to raise in regards to anything they want.

Stridig · December 19

In my opinion, all Q&As should be specific. It takes way too much time and energy to extract information if it's just an open forum. I'm all for using a voting system to develop a strategy on which specific topics should be prioritized. I think it would be pretty simple to just type a keyword into the search bar to get started. Type "PvP" or "Cyrodiil" into the search bar, pick the top 10 most common topics folks have passion around, then push those 10 out to a vote. Take the top 5 voted on topics and have a Q&A.

Nitewalker314 · December 19

For Reddit AMAs, do you prefer when they are focused on specific topic and/or team, or when they are broad and open to all topics?

I agree with the idea that an AMA meant to last longer should be broader, and one meant to last shorter should be more specific.

Similarly, for planned Q&As on the forums, what are everyone’s thoughts on them being a broad “grab bag” style Q&A versus themed around a specific topic such as PVP content? Do you have a preference? (Answering "both" for this question and the one above it is fine, too!)

Both is good!

Also, when we pull questions from the forums for a written Q&A, how would you all feel about using the forum react system to "vote" on what questions are most important to you? For example, dropping an "Agree" react on the ones you'd most like us to answer.

This is nice, in theory, but no matter how detailed or well-explained a post is regarding what reactions mean for voting... folks will still react with whatever they please, on whatever they want. That potentially skews results, which can be seen as unfair. I would be inclined to participate if the "votes" were seen more as interest checks in questions, versus hard stops.

On the topic of player satisfaction surveys, what are your thoughts on these being all-encompassing versus a little more focused on specific things each time, based on what is going on at the time?

I think it's a good idea to have at least 1-2 all-encompassing broad satisfaction surveys, and a few pointed, specific surveys based on whatever is going on.

Veryamedliel · December 19

For Reddit AMAs, do you prefer when they are focused on specific topic and/or team, or when they are broad and open to all topics?
Not a Reddit fan, but if you have to, do Both depending on what's being worked on.

Similarly, for planned Q&As on the forums, what are everyone’s thoughts on them being a broad “grab bag” style Q&A versus themed around a specific topic such as PVP content? Do you have a preference? (Answering "both" for this question and the one above it is fine, too!)
Same as above minus the reddit comment.

Also, when we pull questions from the forums for a written Q&A, how would you all feel about using the forum react system to "vote" on what questions are most important to you? For example, dropping an "Agree" react on the ones you'd most like us to answer.
Probably the most logical way, but by no mean does it have to be the only one. See below.

On the topic of player satisfaction surveys, what are your thoughts on these being all-encompassing versus a little more focused on specific things each time, based on what is going on at the time?
I'd say do both and let the player decide what to comment on on specific areas. Nothing a well-built branching form won't do.
The form used so far offers zero to no real feedback room. It's so generic and lacks any specific subject at all. Yes, it'll take a while to build a decent multi-branch survey, but it'll give you much more data than mere feedback. Like what people play or don't play and why (not).Use that data in your Q&A when deciding on topics. It never hurt to know what your customers want you to work on (and what definitely not). Make it a 2-way communication and I'm sure it'll be appreciated.

Cominfordatoothbrush · December 19

- I would prefer that a variety of questions can be asked
- both. It's ok to have questions around a specific theme, but it may present blind spots on potential feedback if you avoid certain topics. So I think again a variety of questions is needed at least as often.
- not a bad idea, but I wouldn't strictly stick to it. Leave room for some questions that don't necessarily get the eyes but are really unique or touch on something you have to think about more
- again, both are fine, but here I most think themed surveys make sense

wilykcat · December 19

I only prefer and use the forums as I dislike social media and reddit.

tomofhyrule · December 19

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hi everyone! As a follow-up to this comment and as we continue planning for next year and beyond, we wanted to ask for your input on a few specific topics related to our communication and engagement opportunities.

Thank you in advance for sharing your input with us, and for being a part of our community. We hope you have a happy and restful holidays in Tamriel and beyond!

Thanks for asking the community. We hope that this will lead to a better relationship between the devs and the players.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

[*] For Reddit AMAs, do you prefer when they are focused on specific topic and/or team, or when they are broad and open to all topics?

I don't use Reddit, but casting too broad of a net dilutes the answers and makes it easier for some players to feel that their voices aren't being heard if their question is overlooked. Too narrow, and it has a chance of not getting the information passed along outside of niche communities.

The best option would be to base it on the frequency of these. Very frequent (good!) posts could be narrower as then players with concerns outside the scope of the AMA could still be satisfied that they would be able to get an answer in a following one. Less frequent (bad!) ones would need to accept more questions on varied topics.

Another thing is if they are narrower focused, people need to realize the topic and be promised that their concerns will be answered in a future one... and then it should happen. That was the major issue we saw with the Rich stream debacle was that a conversation about accessibility in ESO was essentially hijacked with a comment to the effect of "my disability is that Cyrodiil is laggy, how will ESO address that?" (a comment which is conveniently left out of the video passed around). Not answering a question because it is not topical is one thing, but if there is high demand for a specific topic (like the fact that "PvP" or "Cyrodiil" is posted repeatedly in every ESO official stream), then that topic should get priority to have a focused AMA and soon.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

[*] Similarly, for planned Q&As on the forums, what are everyone’s thoughts on them being a broad “grab bag” style Q&A versus themed around a specific topic such as PVP content? Do you have a preference? (Answering "both" for this question and the one above it is fine, too!)

See above. Narrower topics benefit the dev team well by giving better feedback, but leave other players unable to contribute. Also bringing the same ideas to both Reddit and the forums may have a bit of player overlap, but there are also several players that use only one or the other source for any number of reasons. It's better to have more players see topics, so it would be a good idea to run AMAs and forum Q&As on the same topics for the benefit of both communities.

The most important thing is that these should exist, and should be a relatively common occurrence.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

[*] Also, when we pull questions from the forums for a written Q&A, how would you all feel about using the forum react system to "vote" on what questions are most important to you? For example, dropping an "Agree" react on the ones you'd most like us to answer.

It could work, but it is prone to a bit of manipulation. In the absence of any other mode though, it could work.

One issue is that if threads get longer, people will post without reading the entire thread, thereby diluting the "Agree"s by having the same question on every page since posters didn't read the previous pages. I think that when the dev team collects data, they also should recognize if there are questions that are coming up frequently as well and count those as having high "Agree" counts.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

[*] On the topic of player satisfaction surveys, what are your thoughts on these being all-encompassing versus a little more focused on specific things each time, based on what is going on at the time?

Again, more specific is better to get better data, but particularly if they're frequent.

A general survey can really only give a "How happy are you, rank 1-5" kind of thing. Which could be useful, particularly if there's an open ended "What kinds of things would you like to see?" question. I know that there are times I'd love to offer a "it would be great to see this thing," but there's really no good place to answer an open ended 'wishes for the future' like that.

A specific survey could go deeper and get more useful feedback for the team, especially in more technical terms like combat/balance/PvP.

One of the most important things here though would be to get a good crop of players to answer. ESO used to send out surveys to random accounts (and even offerred a bantam guar pet to players who answered it), but it was essentially a lottery if you were one of the lucky ones who could give your opinions. If you want good data, don't only send surveys to three players who may or may not be active. Send them to everyone.

Regarding compensation for surveys, I see the points above about offerring Crown Crates for people who complete it and that could work, but I know I'd love to answer every survey whether I got a reward or not; my love for this game is the only reward I need. I don't know whether enticing more random people to answer surveys is better than offerring everyone the chance and then only receiving the answers from those who are most interested in helping the game. The former will give more data, but the latter option may be more useful data. Especially if a more technical survey is asked, not having excess noise may be better.

--

Also, one thing I really hope the team also considers: please please please interface with the PTS more.

I'm one of the lucky people who got the 11-day temp-ban because I go onto PTS every cycle like it's my job to check things out and test them. Over the last few cycles though, we feel like we aren't being heard at all. The various people who do PTS religiously do always mention bugs that we see go live because evidently nobody checked the PTS forums, and it makes it discouraging to essentially do unpaid QA for ESO and not even see our work appreciated.

There are also several threads in the PTS forum that have gotten extremely long - see the complaints about the Jabs animation/spear model change, the permaglow on Grim Focus, the locking of the Class outfit styles - and nobody even checks in to see why the players are so against the thing. And then it goes live, and we immediatley get a thread in General complaining about it even more than the PTS did. More dialogue would be great, especially for hot topics like this (and especially those that change the look of characters, because we love our Fashion Scrolls)

spartaxoxo · December 19

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

[*] For Reddit AMAs, do you prefer when they are focused on specific topic and/or team, or when they are broad and open to all topics?

Both. They are both important. A warning ahead of time that a particular AMA will only be focused on a specific topic would also be good. That would hopefully cut back on things like if you were to have a Tales AMA and people spammed it with questions about housing (just a silly example to illustrate the concept, not a real incident).

[*]Similarly, for planned Q&As on the forums, what are everyone’s thoughts on them being a broad “grab bag” style Q&A versus themed around a specific topic such as PVP content? Do you have a preference? (Answering "both" for this question and the one above it is fine, too!)

Again, both. Sometimes I'd prefer a deeper dive into a specific issue. Sometimes I'd prefer it to be more broad. Just depends on the situation.

[*] Also, when we pull questions from the forums for a written Q&A, how would you all feel about using the forum react system to "vote" on what questions are most important to you? For example, dropping an "Agree" react on the ones you'd most like us to answer.

I don't like this idea because it overly favors the first page or two. It's good to look at stuff that has a lot of likes, but sometimes it's the niche questions that are the most frustrating to get answers to.

For example, it took me years to get answer as to why the justice clothing items we not made part of the outfit system. And even now the feedback that it's something some of us would still like has never been addressed.

I understand why this is not important to the dev team. But some of us held onto those items for years now and just equip them, sigh in disappointment, and then put them back in the bank.

It's good to answer niche things like these from time to time and not just the most popular topics. Although, obviously, the most popular concerns should be given priority.

[*] On the topic of player satisfaction surveys, what are your thoughts on these being all-encompassing versus a little more focused on specific things each time, based on what is going on at the time?
[/list]

I think surveys work better when they are more focused as a general rule.

Destai · December 19

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hi everyone! As a follow-up to this comment and as we continue planning for next year and beyond, we wanted to ask for your input on a few specific topics related to our communication and engagement opportunities.
For Reddit AMAs, do you prefer when they are focused on specific topic and/or team, or when they are broad and open to all topics?

Similarly, for planned Q&As on the forums, what are everyone’s thoughts on them being a broad “grab bag” style Q&A versus themed around a specific topic such as PVP content? Do you have a preference? (Answering "both" for this question and the one above it is fine, too!)

Also, when we pull questions from the forums for a written Q&A, how would you all feel about using the forum react system to "vote" on what questions are most important to you? For example, dropping an "Agree" react on the ones you'd most like us to answer.

On the topic of player satisfaction surveys, what are your thoughts on these being all-encompassing versus a little more focused on specific things each time, based on what is going on at the time?

Thank you in advance for sharing your input with us, and for being a part of our community. We hope you have a happy and restful holidays in Tamriel and beyond!

Very happy to see this post!

Before diving into the individual bullet points, what I'd suggest is a survey or forum post to identify hot topics. In my mind, there's a few:
1. Overall performance. Just using this year's big thread as an example, we really need to better understand what work is underway to resolve overall game performance issues.
2. Cyrodiil & PVP issues. Cyrodiil has long been plagued by issues, shadowed by yet-to-be fulfilled commitments to resolve it.
3. Combat (General Direction). Knowing what the end-goal of combat development is would be great. A long-term combat roadmap has been asked for years. Examples would've have been contained in the thread that I messaged you about.
4. Forum moderation/management. We just had a discussion on this, which went as expected. There's a lot of work to do in making the forums more welcoming. This should be a reddit AMA, just so concerns can be expressed freely.
5. The Health & History of the Game. The recent letter from Matt really worries many. More assurance and more details are needed to combat the perception of "maintenance mode". I think waiting until April is going to negatively impact the playerbase. Having honest conversations about studio mistakes and clearing the air on historical fiascos (Rich's stream, U35 handling) will go a long way to bury the many hatchets and make future conversations more productive. This could morph into a general, semi annual discussion.
6. Classes and class balance.

For Reddit AMA's,
Both would be nice, but I think there's some big elephants in the room that need to be addressed first. I've outlined those above, others can add theirs. Having targeted sessions on those would be really beneficial. Once those have happened, we can have more general sessions as needed. I think having AMA's/QA's anywhere after big combat patches or experiments launch/sunset would be ideal going forward.

For planned Q&A's
Platform aside, How would a Q&A be different than an AMA? I'm just curious if you guys are thinking about it differently. I think the forums would be a great place to have any sort of discussion, provided moderation is reasonable. Again, more targeted discussions is the best place to start. I would prefer the forums just because the downvote option isn't there to silence discussions.

Voting
Sure, I could see where it would work. I worry about it becoming a popularity contest though. I think we’re at a point where we should take inventory of questions and who leads the conversation here. Reach out to us regulars; there's a few of us who've been really detailed in the past. People like myself, @React , @LadyGP , @Cooperharley @spartaxoxo and @Elsonso stand out to me as really valuable, regular contributors who often going into detail. We could help you shape things too. There are many more, sorry if I missed someone.

Also, I have concerns about posts being left alone enough to actually be voted on. I also would love to know from your perspective, what are the issues? I think as a community, we need to better understand your guy's headspace, what you see as the issues, and then reconcile them.

Player Satisfaction Surveys

Both, but start with hot topics.
Work with us on the format.
Have them following big releases and mid-year/end-year general surveys.
Use exit surveys, ask about unresolved issues, concerns from whatever AMA/Q&As there are.

Hope that helps, feel free to message me if you need more information.

ghost_bg_ESO · December 19

i myself won't bother to participate in ama or q&a as they both seem to me like smoke and mirrors, although may scroll through answered q&a on the forum to see where communication stands.

depending on incentive and topic would probably answer to in-game surveys. by experience every month/season is not bad idea to have one general or specific on new features.

colossalvoids · December 19

I prefer both broad and focused ones, though if one with precise focus might have a burning community issues or questions regarding those it is a priority and should be also looked at and preferably answered either directly or as a follow up post.

Voting system inside forum seems justified and probably favourable.

On a last note I surely prefer it being focused on a current day issues more, accompanied with fast and agile in-game answers from the developers or some form post *** hear back what's being worked on in that department.

Tandor · December 19

For Reddit AMAs, do you prefer when they are focused on specific topic and/or team, or when they are broad and open to all topics?

I have no interest in Reddit (or, for that matter, Twitch).

Similarly, for planned Q&As on the forums, what are everyone’s thoughts on them being a broad “grab bag” style Q&A versus themed around a specific topic such as PVP content? Do you have a preference? (Answering "both" for this question and the one above it is fine, too!)

Both.

Also, when we pull questions from the forums for a written Q&A, how would you all feel about using the forum react system to "vote" on what questions are most important to you? For example, dropping an "Agree" react on the ones you'd most like us to answer.

All questions should be considered important. If there are too many to deal with then that suggests you haven't given enough information in the first place. With the recent letter, for example, it must have been obvious to you all that there would be tons of questions about e.g. seasons and increased combat difficulty as well as the impact of the changes on ESO+, so it would have been better to have provided some FAQs at the outset rather than thumbing through the threads looking for questions to answer and then taking weeks to provide the responses. If you didn't have enough information to provide FAQs with the letter then that suggests the changes hadn't been thought through fully when they were first announced, which isn't very encouraging.

On the topic of player satisfaction surveys, what are your thoughts on these being all-encompassing versus a little more focused on specific things each time, based on what is going on at the time?

There are player satisfaction surveys? I guess both options have their place. Generally, all such surveys should pop up on the launcher automatically and this will be especially important if you're running surveys to obtain feedback on "experimental" additions to the game. The more players you can target for feedback the better, and the launcher is the one place where you can maximise the feedback.

gariondavey · December 20

Make surveys in game when you log in before character screen
No way to bypass it without answering (keep it short with 1-3 questions)
This way you can actually poll the population of the game. The forums aren't always that representative of what the majority of the population is like.

Old school runescape does votes on the direction the game should go in and features to add, and do what the majority want.

You should be looking to obtain information from the population and then make changes accordingly.

React · December 20

1. For Reddit AMAs, do you prefer when they are focused on specific topic and/or team, or when they are broad and open to all topics?

The broad and open to all topics approach isn't very helpful when the majority of pain points being discussed are related to PVP, performance, balance, and combat in general. I would say focus on these topics first, either all together or one at a time, before considering moving on to broader topics.

2. Similarly, for planned Q&As on the forums, what are everyone’s thoughts on them being a broad “grab bag” style Q&A versus themed around a specific topic such as PVP content? Do you have a preference? (Answering "both" for this question and the one above it is fine, too!)

Again, I would pick specific topics. Do multiple posts in a short period of time, each representing their own topics. A big part of the problem people have with communication is that we often receive single, vague non-answers in regards to our hot-button topics (again, pvp/performance/balance), and then nothing for long periods of time. Having multiple in depth answers to specific questions surrounding one topic at a time will be much more productive than vaguely addressing a variety of topics all at once.

3. Also, when we pull questions from the forums for a written Q&A, how would you all feel about using the forum react system to "vote" on what questions are most important to you? For example, dropping an "Agree" react on the ones you'd most like us to answer.

It's not a terrible idea, but ultimately the system does not accurately represent the community as a whole. There are certainly a number of heavily reacted-to posts here on the forums you could draw inspiration from for the Q&A, but I do think in general you should have a good idea by now of exactly what people wish to know in regards to PVP/Performance/balance.

4. On the topic of player satisfaction surveys, what are your thoughts on these being all-encompassing versus a little more focused on specific things each time, based on what is going on at the time?

The more specific, the better. Right now it is very obvious people are unhappy with the state of balance, they are unhappy with Brian Wheeler's preferred playstyle and how that might affect the aforementioned balance, they are unhappy with the performance of cyrodiil and the new battlegrounds, and they want to know when exactly we can expect changes in regards to these things.

In general, here are the things I would like to see addressed in any upcoming Q&A.

1. Balance in PVP - There are dozens of highly interacted with posts here regarding balance. Cross healing, particularly the nature of stacking 10+ same morph heal over time skills like echoing vigor, is an obvious pain point. Maximum health being on average in the upper 30k's to low 40k's, and being further exacerbated by the increased availability of damage shields with scribing and arcanist being introduced, effectively giving people 70-80k effective HP at times. Group buff sets being stacked so effectively in 12 man groups that every single player has above emperor level stats at all times. Hybridization remaining unfinished, as well has having introduced a host of balance issues that were never addressed. Status effects and procs sets drastically overperforming, especially in comparison to damage sourced from skills and stats. Polar wind being an absurdly overpowered heal for year(s?). These are common pain points that I know many people would like to see addressed. Is zenimax okay with how these things are performing? If so, why? If not, when can we expect them to be addressed? We have no frame of reference to know whether this is what zenimax wants for PVP, but it seems clear that the vocal majority here on these forums do not want these things.

You recently stated that you are going to be doing some sort of limitation tests on what skills/functions work in PVP with the end goal of increasing the population caps back to launch levels. But I would ask you, what is the point in doing that with the aforementioned balance issues as well as the current population levels? People have left the game because of this balance, and they aren't going to return while it persists simply because you raised the population caps.

2. The PVP limitation "tests" - The upcoming changes discussed in Firor's post are frustrating, to say the least. They are frustrating because we have no idea what is being implied, and all we can do is speculate. There are many concerns that you plan on "dumbing down" combat even further than it already has been by limiting core combat functions, or drastically limiting what gear and skills people have access to in PVP. Tell us the things you have in mind for these tests. Don't leave us to speculate until april, or whenever you see fit to let us in on these plans. Get our opinions now so that if the playerbase doesn't want it, you can plan and make adjustments accordingly instead of going ahead with something that nobody is asking for (like the new BGs!).

3. New open world content - Cyrodiil and Imperial City are starving for genuine content updates. I don't mean content like destructible bridges or milegates, new sets, or new cosmetics. I mean actual content that provides new experiences to be had, new environments to fight in, new objectives or ranks to pursue. We have been doing the same exact things for a decade now in these zones, and the staleness of that is reflected in the population. Is zenimax willing to provide content updates to these zones?

For reference, I wrote a post detailing how imperial city could be drastically changed into something that the game doesn't have yet - an "FFA" pvp zone. This post includes suggestions such as factions being eliminated in favor of maximum 6-8 man groups, a new ranking system based on telvar, new reward incentives, new district mechanics, and more. This is the scale of content update I'd expect to see in regards to these zones that are now a decade old, assuming that zenimax has no intentions of introducing a new PVP zone entirely.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/620139/in-depth-imperial-city-rework-idea-the-pvp-content-eso-needs-in-2023/p1

ESO_Nightingale · December 20

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hi everyone! As a follow-up to this comment and as we continue planning for next year and beyond, we wanted to ask for your input on a few specific topics related to our communication and engagement opportunities.
For Reddit AMAs, do you prefer when they are focused on specific topic and/or team, or when they are broad and open to all topics?

Similarly, for planned Q&As on the forums, what are everyone’s thoughts on them being a broad “grab bag” style Q&A versus themed around a specific topic such as PVP content? Do you have a preference? (Answering "both" for this question and the one above it is fine, too!)

Also, when we pull questions from the forums for a written Q&A, how would you all feel about using the forum react system to "vote" on what questions are most important to you? For example, dropping an "Agree" react on the ones you'd most like us to answer.

On the topic of player satisfaction surveys, what are your thoughts on these being all-encompassing versus a little more focused on specific things each time, based on what is going on at the time?

Thank you in advance for sharing your input with us, and for being a part of our community. We hope you have a happy and restful holidays in Tamriel and beyond!

yeah i think this all sounds fine, especially the agree vote being used to highlight particular questions people want to see answered.

LadyGP · December 20

React wrote: »

1. For Reddit AMAs, do you prefer when they are focused on specific topic and/or team, or when they are broad and open to all topics?

The broad and open to all topics approach isn't very helpful when the majority of pain points being discussed are related to PVP, performance, balance, and combat in general. I would say focus on these topics first, either all together or one at a time, before considering moving on to broader topics.

2. Similarly, for planned Q&As on the forums, what are everyone’s thoughts on them being a broad “grab bag” style Q&A versus themed around a specific topic such as PVP content? Do you have a preference? (Answering "both" for this question and the one above it is fine, too!)

Again, I would pick specific topics. Do multiple posts in a short period of time, each representing their own topics. A big part of the problem people have with communication is that we often receive single, vague non-answers in regards to our hot-button topics (again, pvp/performance/balance), and then nothing for long periods of time. Having multiple in depth answers to specific questions surrounding one topic at a time will be much more productive than vaguely addressing a variety of topics all at once.

3. Also, when we pull questions from the forums for a written Q&A, how would you all feel about using the forum react system to "vote" on what questions are most important to you? For example, dropping an "Agree" react on the ones you'd most like us to answer.

It's not a terrible idea, but ultimately the system does not accurately represent the community as a whole. There are certainly a number of heavily reacted-to posts here on the forums you could draw inspiration from for the Q&A, but I do think in general you should have a good idea by now of exactly what people wish to know in regards to PVP/Performance/balance.

4. On the topic of player satisfaction surveys, what are your thoughts on these being all-encompassing versus a little more focused on specific things each time, based on what is going on at the time?

The more specific, the better. Right now it is very obvious people are unhappy with the state of balance, they are unhappy with Brian Wheeler's preferred playstyle and how that might affect the aforementioned balance, they are unhappy with the performance of cyrodiil and the new battlegrounds, and they want to know when exactly we can expect changes in regards to these things.

In general, here are the things I would like to see addressed in any upcoming Q&A.

1. Balance in PVP - There are dozens of highly interacted with posts here regarding balance. Cross healing, particularly the nature of stacking 10+ same morph heal over time skills like echoing vigor, is an obvious pain point. Maximum health being on average in the upper 30k's to low 40k's, and being further exacerbated by the increased availability of damage shields with scribing and arcanist being introduced, effectively giving people 70-80k effective HP at times. Group buff sets being stacked so effectively in 12 man groups that every single player has above emperor level stats at all times. Hybridization remaining unfinished, as well has having introduced a host of balance issues that were never addressed. Status effects and procs sets drastically overperforming, especially in comparison to damage sourced from skills and stats. These are common pain points that I know many people would like to see addressed. Is zenimax okay with how these things are performing? If so, why? If not, when can we expect them to be addressed? We have no frame of reference to know whether this is what zenimax wants for PVP, but it seems clear that the vocal majority here on these forums do not want these things.

You recently stated that you are going to be doing some sort of limitation tests on what skills/functions work in PVP with the end goal of increasing the population caps back to launch levels. But I would ask you, what is the point in doing that with the aforementioned balance issues as well as the current population levels? People have left the game because of this balance, and they aren't going to return while it persists simply because you raised the population caps.

2. The PVP limitation "tests" - The upcoming changes discussed in Firor's post are frustrating, to say the least. They are frustrating because we have no idea what is being implied, and all we can do is speculate. There are many concerns that you plan on "dumbing down" combat even further than it already has been by limiting core combat functions, or drastically limiting what gear and skills people have access to in PVP. Tell us the things you have in mind for these tests. Don't leave us to speculate until april, or whenever you see fit to let us in on these plans. Get our opinions now so that if the playerbase doesn't want it, you can plan and make adjustments accordingly instead of going ahead with something that nobody is asking for (like the new BGs!).

3. New open world content - Cyrodiil and Imperial City are starving for genuine content updates. I don't mean content like destructible bridges or milegates, new sets, or new cosmetics. I mean actual content that provides new experiences to be had, new environments to fight in, new objectives or ranks to pursue. We have been doing the same exact things for a decade now in these zones, and the staleness of that is reflected in the population. Is zenimax willing to provide content updates to these zones?

For reference, I wrote a post detailing how imperial city could be drastically changed into something that the game doesn't have yet - an "FFA" pvp zone. This post includes suggestions such as factions being eliminated in favor of maximum 6-8 man groups, a new ranking system based on telvar, new reward incentives, new district mechanics, and more. This is the scale of content update I'd expect to see in regards to these zones that are now a decade old, assuming that zenimax has no intentions of introducing a new PVP zone entirely.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/620139/in-depth-imperial-city-rework-idea-the-pvp-content-eso-needs-in-2023/p1

I mean - I honestly don't think it would be possible for me to say it any better than this. This response by @React is exactly how I would answer these questions - and are my actual feelings about this game ATM as well.

I also agree with what @Destai said - I'd love to hear ZoS perspective on topis we bring up. Being able to understand your headspace would really help connect some dots and make the communication/direction make more sense to us. Maybe there is some side/perspective to these issues we aren't considering and then we have an "oh, duh" moment - idk just talking out loud here.

chessalavakia_ESO · December 20

I'd prefer reddit AMA's were topic specific and forum questions were more grab bag.

I'd suggest against using the forum's react function because that could incentivize people linking others to in to vote or using multiple accounts to vote.

I think aiming the surveys a bit wider would be fine provide the questions allow for some detail in the answers.

Erickson9610 · December 20

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

For Reddit AMAs, do you prefer when they are focused on specific topic and/or team, or when they are broad and open to all topics?

Similarly, for planned Q&As on the forums, what are everyone’s thoughts on them being a broad “grab bag” style Q&A versus themed around a specific topic such as PVP content? Do you have a preference? (Answering "both" for this question and the one above it is fine, too!)

Also, when we pull questions from the forums for a written Q&A, how would you all feel about using the forum react system to "vote" on what questions are most important to you? For example, dropping an "Agree" react on the ones you'd most like us to answer.

On the topic of player satisfaction surveys, what are your thoughts on these being all-encompassing versus a little more focused on specific things each time, based on what is going on at the time?

I liked that the Gold Road AUA was open to some questions not necessarily related to the Chapter, but I do think the general focus should be on what's current.
I would prefer that Q&As on the forums be structured like the Companions Q&A, which is themed around a topic which has a lot of related questions in one place. A Q&A more focused on one topic is more likely to have numerous questions on a subject answered in-depth, as opposed to a general Q&A composed of surface level questions for many miscellaneous topics.
Please do not take player votes into account when selecting which questions to answer. I don't know if upvoting was a factor in which questions were answered during the Gold Road AUA on Reddit, but selecting only the most popular questions leaves out the less popular questions that should also be considered for answering. I personally have many questions to ask regarding Werewolf, and — knowing it's one of the most niche things in this game — my questions would likely not be considered if player votes are taken into account. The developers should be able to pick which questions they want to answer, regardless of the popularity of the questions.
Like my other responses, I think player satisfaction surveys should be specific, even if they're not about the topic that people want to talk about. You'd glean more information from specific surveys, whereas you'd only get an overview (of likely redundant information) from more general surveys.

I don't think I can stress this enough: Q&As, AMAs/AUAs, and player satisfaction surveys should be specific to one topic of your choosing, not ours. People won't have a reason to ask different questions otherwise.

RedJohn_COF · December 20

For Reddit AMAs, do you prefer when they are focused on specific topic and/or team, or when they are broad and open to all topics?
I think it should be both. Some shorter ones for specific topics and longer ones for everything. Mainly because there would probably sometimes be questions that won't fit to anything great and people will still have the ability to ask their questions.

Similarly, for planned Q&As on the forums, what are everyone’s thoughts on them being a broad “grab bag” style Q&A versus themed around a specific topic such as PVP content? Do you have a preference? (Answering "both" for this question and the one above it is fine, too!)
As for the AMAs it should be both.

Also, when we pull questions from the forums for a written Q&A, how would you all feel about using the forum react system to "vote" on what questions are most important to you? For example, dropping an "Agree" react on the ones you'd most like us to answer.
In all honesty I didn't even know the forum got such a function lol. It's not very visble at least for people who aren't in the forum too often. If you really want to choose that way, I think you guys should maybe make sure people see the reaction a bit easier. Like a "thumbs up" icon.

On the topic of player satisfaction surveys, what are your thoughts on these being all-encompassing versus a little more focused on specific things each time, based on what is going on at the time?
For satisfaction survey I would make them specific to a certain topic. Otherwise, if they are too long some people would probably not even finish them and might even be harder get the results you guys are looking for.

LonePirate · December 20

For Reddit AMAs, do you prefer when they are focused on specific topic and/or team, or when they are broad and open to all topics?

Considering how infrequently these occur - only once a year if that often - they should be broad and open to all topics. If these occurred once a quarter, then you could narrow the scope to focus on specific areas of interest.

Coo_PnT · December 20

Why not hold a public question session on Twitch or some other forum? We want to talk directly with the developers in real time if possible.

Here in the Forum, you ZoS censors and deletes everything that is said, especially if it is negative. I understand to some extent, but you delete too often.

agelonestar · December 20

My responses for you :

For Reddit AMAs, do you prefer when they are focused on specific topic and/or team, or when they are broad and open to all topics?

I don't use Reddit much, but would prefer focussed.
Similarly, for planned Q&As on the forums, what are everyone’s thoughts on them being a broad “grab bag” style Q&A versus themed around a specific topic such as PVP content? Do you have a preference? (Answering "both" for this question and the one above it is fine, too!)

I prefer themed / specific / focussed.
Also, when we pull questions from the forums for a written Q&A, how would you all feel about using the forum react system to "vote" on what questions are most important to you? For example, dropping an "Agree" react on the ones you'd most like us to answer.

Sounds like a good idea.
On the topic of player satisfaction surveys, what are your thoughts on these being all-encompassing versus a little more focused on specific things each time, based on what is going on at the time?

Again, I prefer focussed but I think overall satisfaction surveys can be a bit more all-encompassing.

Can I add two further comments / requests?

Forum moderation seems to have become a little vicious lately. Can we turn it down a bit? I am all for moderation (honest!) but people should also be able to express a reasonable opinion without fear of sanction.

To that end, X (Twitter) has become a hell-pit and many people are moving to other platforms, especially to Bluesky (which seems very gamer-friendly). Any chance we can get ZoS to set up on Bluesky too? It's a well-moderated environment and I feel like it would be a great place for announcements and community messages.

Have a great Christmas & New Year. I feel like ESO has been back on top form this year after a couple of rocky years, so thank you! I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do next year with the planned changes.

Elsonso · December 20

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hi everyone! As a follow-up to this comment and as we continue planning for next year and beyond, we wanted to ask for your input on a few specific topics related to our communication and engagement opportunities.

Thanks for asking. Would it be possible to go back an revisit the other times that the community was asked and pull input out of there, as well?

agelonestar wrote: »

Can I add two further comments / requests?
Forum moderation seems to have become a little vicious lately. Can we turn it down a bit? I am all for moderation (honest!) but people should also be able to express a reasonable opinion without fear of sanction.

To that end, X (Twitter) has become a hell-pit and many people are moving to other platforms, especially to Bluesky (which seems very gamer-friendly). Any chance we can get ZoS to set up on Bluesky too? It's a well-moderated environment and I feel like it would be a great place for announcements and community messages.

It is item #1 why they should not do item #2. Item #1 is why I am not active on Bluesky, since moving from a less restrictive platform to a more restrictive platform seems counter intuitive if I want to hear what everyone has to say.

Avran_Sylt · December 20

For Reddit AMAs, do you prefer when they are focused on specific topic and/or team, or when they are broad and open to all topics?

Reddit is more about fast-paced interactions, and not slow-burning discussions over several days like the forums, so I'd suggest a multi-staged approach:

Start with a broad AMA
Answer within your timeframe
Aggregate the topics of all asked questions, and determine a list of the most asked about topics/most upvoted questions
Create a community poll on what specific AMA's the community would like to see in the future
Do focused AMA's

Similarly, for planned Q&As on the forums, what are everyone’s thoughts on them being a broad “grab bag” style Q&A versus themed around a specific topic such as PVP content? Do you have a preference? (Answering "both" for this question and the one above it is fine, too!)

Given the forum is split into categories, and in general is more about long-term discussion, you can do broad and focused at the same time:

Create a "bucket" thread for AMA questions in each section of the forum
Specify that these threads will be open for a week, and questions inside would be considered for a fully fledged AMA response come the next week. (Encourage discussion and refinement of the questions in these threads too)
Answer all chosen responses in a master thread AMA.

Also, when we pull questions from the forums for a written Q&A, how would you all feel about using the forum react system to "vote" on what questions are most important to you? For example, dropping an "Agree" react on the ones you'd most like us to answer.

Use that as a guideline. But be sure to primarily pick answers you can give substantial answers to. Not too many people would enjoy half of the responses in an AMA of "We can't answer/we don't know". That being said, if you're unable to answer/are not sure on a majorly upvoted topic, be sure to reach out even with such an answer.

On the topic of player satisfaction surveys, what are your thoughts on these being all-encompassing versus a little more focused on specific things each time, based on what is going on at the time?

All-encompassing surveys can get responses from players of a wider variety of engagement: Those that cannot be on as often as well as those that are on often, and allows responses regarding all types of content interaction. These can be useful for exploring pain points that might not be on your radar.

Current event focused surveys will target highly engaged players that follow current trends. Useful for getting immediate feedback on in-focus design.

Each has their own use.

LadyGP · December 20

Coo_PnT wrote: »

Why not hold a public question session on Twitch or some other forum? We want to talk directly with the developers in real time if possible.

Here in the Forum, you ZoS censors and deletes everything that is said, especially if it is negative. I understand to some extent, but you delete too often.

Agree/Don't Agree with this.

Twitch - I think it would be a spam fest and the topics would be jumping all over the place. IMO there are just a few "high priority" topics that people want answers too. Right now it's performance (lag spikes) in general.

If they did a just... fire away.. kind of Q/A on Twitch it would be hard to get anything of substance. They would answer a question, which would then have follow up questions that would never get answers too. It's like going to a buffet and trying a bit of everything when you're really just craving a steak.

As for here on the forum... I mean this in the most respectable way possible (as I am already close to being buh-byed for some reason).. the overwhelming opinion of people on the forums is that moderation is a bit heavy handed and every ounce of criticism no matter how well intentioned/respectful gets the good ol' [snip] followed by a warning/infraction.

Yes, some people are jackbutts and deserve a warning/infraction but we ALL have seen very well throughout posts get the heavy hand of a mod - which this just makes people want to be quiet and keep their thoughts to themself (zone chat becoming a ghost town now because of the AI...everyones scared to say something and lose an account they have had for 10 years).

IF there was some change in the moderation and feedback was welcomed then I could see forum stuff being a good approach but right now I think a neutral area is where we need to go if you want legit and HONEST feedback.

Ingenon · December 20

For AMAs, I prefer focused on specific topic and/or team.

For Q&A I prefer a specific topic.

Using the forum react system to vote on what questions are most important sounds good.

Player Satisfaction surveys, I prefer mostly focused, but I think there should be something "free form" at the end for players to comment, while the bulk of the survey can be scale questions (SA, A, N, D, SD).

Kyip · December 20

Hi everyone! As a follow-up to this comment and as we continue planning for next year and beyond, we wanted to ask for your input on a few specific topics related to our communication and engagement opportunities.

- My primary input is that I, and the Nightblade community, would like the devs to fix the Grim Focus Permaglow problem.

For Reddit AMAs, do you prefer when they are focused on specific topic and/or team, or when they are broad and open to all topics?

- I would prefer any format that lets us discuss the Grim Focus Permaglow problem. I suppose a broad AMA would be better because it will let us constantly raise longstanding issues like the Grim Focus Permaglow problem until they are fixed.

Similarly, for planned Q&As on the forums, what are everyone’s thoughts on them being a broad “grab bag” style Q&A versus themed around a specific topic such as PVP content? Do you have a preference? (Answering "both" for this question and the one above it is fine, too!)

- My preference would be any style that lets us discuss fixing the Grim Focus Permaglow problem. If I had to pick, I likewise think a broad approach would be better here, again so we can constantly raise longstanding issues like the Grim Focus Permaglow problem until they are fixed.

Also, when we pull questions from the forums for a written Q&A, how would you all feel about using the forum react system to "vote" on what questions are most important to you? For example, dropping an "Agree" react on the ones you'd most like us to answer.

- Maybe that sounds good, if, for example, we can use it to show you how many of us want the devs to fix the Grim Focus Permaglow problem. But an actual poll vote would probably be better for clarity, because otherwise you cannot see how many people would vote No on a topic people do not feel are important.

On the topic of player satisfaction surveys, what are your thoughts on these being all-encompassing versus a little more focused on specific things each time, based on what is going on at the time?

- My thoughts are that I'd like either version, so long as it lets us express our extreme dissatisfaction with the Grim Focus Permaglow problem. So here again I guess an all-encompassing format would be better, unless you have a player satisfaction survey specifically focused on visual and audio effects people want fixed, like the Grim Focus Permaglow problem, the Banner effect audio volume, etc.

Thank you in advance for sharing your input with us, and for being a part of our community. We hope you have a happy and restful holidays in Tamriel and beyond!

- Thank you for asking us, I do very much appreciate your good faith efforts to seek community input. I just wish that it would lead to someone actually fixing the Grim Focus Permaglow problem. I also hope you, your co-workers, and your families have a very happy and restful holiday season. I'm frustrated by the lack of action addressing the Grim Focus Permaglow problem, but I'm sure you and your team are doing your best to support the many issues our community cares about. Happy Holidays.

For context, anyone can read more about the Grim Focus Permaglow problem here:
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/641376/grim-focus-permaglow#latest