Past Interviews Suggest Likely Reason ESO's Creative Director Didn't Upgrade Existing VMA Weapons

GrumpyDuckling · June 2020

Interview 1
In a March 2018 ESO Live episode, we learn that the Creative Director of ESO, Rich Lambert, considers Veteran Maelstrom Arena to be one of his favorite pieces of content. The two hosts of ESO Live both mention that, at the time, Lambert had run VMA over 600 times, and Lambert confirms counting his runs. He then goes on to say, "...[Veteran Maelstrom Arena] is definitely one of my favorite pieces of content."
Source (VMA talk begins at 11:30):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoyDXIK3Ejg

Interview 2
Lambert also mentions in a recent Twitch interview from last week that he runs VMA "a ton," re-confirming his position from two years ago that he engages with the content at a high rate (likely for enjoyment, as the reward pool must be severely diluted after so many runs). In the Twitch interview, Lambert also avoids giving a clear, justifiable answer as to why the existing VMA weapons are not being updated.
Source:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/633422102?t=06h31m00s
Interview starts at 6:31:00, and you can hear VMA talk starting around 6:51:30. Comment about how much he runs VMA is around 6:53:03.

Likely Conclusion
The absence of a justifiable reason for not updating existing VMA weapons, along with Lambert's voiced affinity for VMA shines light on the likely reason existing VMA weapons were not updated -- Lambert just wants to give himself further/renewed incentive to keep playing "one of [his] favorite pieces of content" that he plays "a ton." Go ahead and also toss in further evidence from that discord back and forth that he had with a player where he claims he is in the same boat as everyone else -- implying that he has to run the content again if he wants the weapons (something he already does, clearly enjoys, and chooses to engage with frequently -- unlike many players).

Lambert's decision not to update existing VMA weapons appears to be made based on his self-interests -- not the interests of the community of ESO players (given the feedback that we have seen on the forum regarding this topic).

Fischblut · June 2020

I think that the reason for low decisions about MA and DSA weapons is: to make new players feel good (they can now have weapons which only veterans could have, without any effort by doing simple content) and to try forcing old players to play same old content without spending developer resources on new arenas and new weapons... It shows that developers don't care how much effort old players put into veteran content, and it removes the limit of how low they can treat old players. New players who now cheer cause they got easy weapons, they might become old players someday...

But this version of self-interest in vMA is equally sad

vestahls · June 2020

If he wants to be forced to run the content over and over again, he should just destroy all his MA weapons. There, get motivated.

Nemesis7884 · June 2020

I just cant do it more than a couple times a week...so repetitive...so boring

Firstmep · June 2020

Then design new arenas within VMA and put them on a "rotation".
Ezpz new content.

relentless_turnip · June 2020

Not defending his decision, but what he said in that interview was that players didn't lose anything. As in they didn't lose power, but we're given the potential to earn more. This whole expansion has been largely about making us revisit old content via the antiquity system as well.

I feel for them to a degree. We demand that they focus on performance which must be incredibly difficult to achieve when they also have to add content. There is financial pressure from above as well as maintaining customer engagement. So on the one hand they are reviewing and optimising as much code as possible while in the other hand adding more.

I believe the real reason is to keep us playing without making their 'main focus' an impossible task.

Kuratius · June 2020

relentless_turnip wrote: »

I feel for them to a degree. We demand that they focus on performance which must be incredibly difficult to achieve when they also have to add content. There is financial pressure from above as well as maintaining customer engagement. So on the one hand they are reviewing and optimising as much code as possible while in the other hand adding more.

Artificially increasing engagement metrics is the last thing you should be doing when your servers are already struggling with the amount of new and existing players .

Kadoin · June 2020

It could be a good piece of content if it wasn't extremely buggy.

Too bad this patch it's a meme.

Seriously, for some of these runs you have to gather the family around and get a projector for the laughs. Anyone will find it entertaining at how bad the performance is if you aren't running a build that can burn the boss down in 20 seconds.

VaranisArano · June 2020

My suspicion is that in fits in with their "raise the floor" idea.

It raises the floor in that more players can get VMA weapons, which had been somewhat of a gatekeeper to higher difficulty content, particularly the bow and staff. It might even lower the ceiling a little, since the perfected bonuses aren't amazing and require regrinding.

Now, I'm not sure it will really work, since I suspect the experience of triumphing over VMA was what really made players and-game ready, not just the weapons.

Dark_Lord_Kuro · June 2020

Or just becuse we farmed for the basic weapon not the perfected one so we arent owed anything
Also for those that say they nerfed og weapon only to make us farm them again this is false the new ona are stronger
Og= 1or 2 2 piece effect+mealston enchantment
Basic wep=maelstom bonus+regular enchat/poison
Perfected= 1or 2 2 piece effect+maelstom bonus+regular enchat/poison

They simply added new loot to existing content
Be grateful they did not just add them in the same loot pool to increase the rng

Nairinhe · June 2020

Is tinfoil hat a new mythic item? Game would be in a much more... let's say curious state if devs would change stuff based just on their personal preferences.

Elsonso · June 2020

GrumpyDuckling wrote: »

Lambert's decision not to update existing VMA weapons appears to be made based on his self-interests -- not the interests of the community of ESO players (given the feedback that we have seen on the forum regarding this topic).

I don't think that is the simplest conclusion. I think that he runs the arena so much that he does not think it is any issue at all for players to run it again. He considers that a new (not upgraded) weapon is being introduced into the dungeon for the veteran content, so the fact that it is just a simple matter of rerunning the content for the new reward is the answer.

ZOS_Lunar · June 2020

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