I have not had a great deal of joy in the way ZOS handles things, sorry. Been here 7 years, and the water under the bridge with the way things have gone over that amount of time is deep enough to sink the Titanic. So I'm not at all sanguine that I'll still be playing after all this lands.

BasP wrote: »

This seems to be a bit of a generalization? I've done those solo, aside from the Mirrormoor Incursions because there were always other people around. I haven't stepped foot in West Weald for a while now though - but a more difficult Overland would give me a reason to revisit the zone at least for a while because I'd then do the Main Quest and side quests I haven't done yet.

Of course it's a generalization, like every similar statement on this forum.

I'm sure there are a handful of players who engage with these things outside of events. But very few. It took me months to get the final harrowstorm I needed in Blackreach for the achievement, because nobody was ever there doing the things.

The Bastion Nymic was added as a more difficult incursion that required grouping for most players. Nobody does it. The seekers in the Telvanni Peninsula were added as roaming bosses. Everyone complained that they attacked without provocation. ZOS changed that. Nobody does them. They beefed up the WBs in Necrom and Gold Road. Nobody does them outside of events. I could go on, but I've made my point.

(And yes, "nobody" is a generalization.)

Anyway, I don't think ZOS is going to turn overland into a vet experience. I expect (hope) they'll beef up some storyline bosses in an intelligent way and add new incursions or areas that are totally optional

(And yes, once everyone has the rewards for the optional activities, nobody will do them lol.)

AzuraFan wrote: »

Anyway, I don't think ZOS is going to turn overland into a vet experience. I expect (hope) they'll beef up some storyline bosses in an intelligent way and add new incursions or areas that are totally optional

(And yes, once everyone has the rewards for the optional activities, nobody will do them lol.)

I am already not able to do the last few zone story bosses....

TaSheen wrote: »

I am already not able to do the last few zone story bosses....

I'm hoping that if ZOS does touch the story bosses, they'll also provide an easier mode for those who need it, so everyone can complete the story. It would be a huge slap in the face if they beefed up the bosses for one crowd, but don't provide a way for those who can't beat the story bosses in later chapters to progress.

Having said that, I said in another thread (or maybe this one) that there wasn't much of anything in the letter for casual/solo players, so maybe ZOS has decided not to focus on that cohort and will go ahead and make the story bosses unbeatable for even more players.

A weird thing for me is the timing. Announcing this during the ten year anniversary. It’s a real party ender.

It’s like out of the blue getting served divorce papers while everyone is having a great time during your New Year’s Eve party.

[I'm in the "wait and see" camp but given the game is 10 years old now I think it's probably par for the course that they're winding down content release.
]

I hope not, 10 years isn't that long. I'll happily play another 10 years and I don't see why they would want to wind it down. It's been a great cash cow, I know how much I've spent over the years and I'm not a whale. I'm guessing people may have been spending less the last couple of years but that's the global economy and would be the same whatever the game.

So I read the announcement, and my thought was "Oh, they're wrapping up ESO". Ive played for 7 years, over 10k hours, ive done everything in the game 10-500 times and the only thing that bought me back the past few years, was the chapter release and the Q4 little DLC. I feel like such a fool, I held out hope for the last 2 years that ESO was going to get back to being good (summerset!), and instead it got not only worse, but so little content that I was essentially staying subscribed year round, for what equated to about 25 hours total new game play. I should have stopped my sub two years ago, but I didnt, I honestly thought that if I believed hard enough, that ESO would get good again and the joy would be back. But it never happened. I finally cancelled my sub a month ago when I realised I simply cant keep up with the "event every month about something you've done hundreds of times and isnt new or fun in any way, just to get tickets, pushing your FOMO, to catch up on the pieces of items you missed ages ago, but they keep bringing out new items, so you can never actually catch u.." oh, this isnt fun any more. Reading that letter was being being broken up with via a text. Im so so so disappointed that ESO will never get back to being good, but.. i also kinda feel free? finally? like, I dont have to keep pushing my hope up, only for it to get dashed again and again. If the game isnt giving you the joyful vibe it used to, I give you permission to cancel your sub and move onto something else. You too are free, now.

Where is the cross play though. Not even consoles? I’ve seen so many excuses from zos over the years yet they pump money in everywhere else. I’m not sure if it’s sheer ignorance or on purpose but it sure is disappointing year after year.

All this talk about returning players and new features means nothing if there are no options to get back into the game on another machine with your friends. Whether they like it or not people don’t play on the same one for life. The refusal to start again is real and they need to wake up to it if they want to see the game succeed into the future.

TaSheen wrote: »

He lost me at "increasing overland combat difficulty".

Why though?? Overland combat difficulty is so boring... Mobs need new mechanics, variety, and you shouldn't be able to afk while standing in the red circles... Like what is the purpose of having red circle attack indicators if they do no damage??

I'm looking forward to it.

They did make some right decisions, but they were LATE decisions. I can't imagine a company having dedicated players test new patches and provide feed back for them, only to ignore said feedback for a full patch cycle and implement the feedback in the next patch cycle when the player base has already given up. This isn't just a one-time thing. It's a repeated behavior from ZOS. That statement in the letter just threw me off completely and I don't really care what else they're doing with the game afterwards.

I’m genuinely perplexed by the number of comments seemingly insistent that Matt’s letter is an indication of the game moving towards ‘maintenance mode’.

Becoming more ‘agile’ is something we’re seeing industry-wide. Take both World of Warcraft and Guild Wars 2 as examples; both games have changed their strategies towards more gradual drip feeds of content over shorter time periods, as opposed to one large dollop of content every six to twelve months.

Yes, chapters are retiring, but I do not see that as cause for concern. Game development takes time, and different studios have different budgets. The aforementioned two are sat at vastly different ends of that spectrum and it’s possible to see that in their approach to delivering content. I believe ESO sits somewhere in the middle, but in order to manoeuvre themselves into a more ‘agile’ position, something has to give.

With Chapter gone, this opens the door to ZeniMax addressing many long standing issues that frequently appear as strong desires within their community. Things noted explicitly in the letter itself. Every interview I’ve read recently, queries whether there are plans to increase the challenge of overland content, for example. Journalists don’t just pick these questions from The Immortal Plane, they’re asking because it’s a frequently requested feature — though it may differ from the personal wishes of both you or I. Chapters departing essentially frees up development teams to focus on other aspects. It means the people within these teams, specialists, might have the opportunity to address issues specific to their skillset, things that perhaps the team members working on the previous Q3-4 content simply couldn’t address as it laid outwith their remit, or scope.

As far as the discussion regarding ‘seasons’; we’ve already experienced this in the past: ‘Season of the Dragon’. I took it to mean much the same… We might see a ‘Season of the Dark Brotherhood’ or ‘Season of the Mages Guild’. It might not span the course of a year, but I am confident it will be much the same, albeit in more ‘bite-size’ proportions, and that whatever appears — much like ‘Season of the Dragon’— it will remain for as long as the game persists.

Finally, as noted elsewhere on the forums, there is a push to invest in older content. They intend to spruce up the starter zones, and continually tweak the tutorial… These efforts wouldn’t be a priority for a game on its last legs. It’s a push to bring in new life, and another facet of this ‘agile’ approach to development.

Anyway, these are my thoughts on the matter. The sky doesn’t appear to be falling just yet.

- Dusk.

Edited to fix typo, and add clarity to my thoughts on Seasons.

I reserve my judgement for now. It does feel like ESO is nearing the end of its lifespan, but I still enjoy the game and hope it still has a few good years.