No base game update in 48?

ESO_Nightingale · September 11

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Lysorris wrote: »

All I even hear is that they are working on "more" but that "more" will be later. One may think that they are working on every single possible thing that players ever requested and they listen to players feedback but whenever they are supposed to deliver they claim that they looked at the stats and that's not it. When I've heard on the stream that they will do survey to get players feedback.... I mean, forums for the past few years were not enough?

We have specific questions that we will be asking in the surveys. And we also want to get the most recent feedback from folks. There is definitely feedback to look for here on the forums and other mediums. And the team has looked at those as well. But it’s always good to do a current gut check with folks. We don’t think anyone wants us to spend time on only making changes based on feedback given 2+ years ago. We want to give another opportunity with specific questions to get the most up to date info as the team continues to work.

Well, I'm not going to hide that I'm beyond disappointed with this next update.
I was wondering if you can give us any reassurance or update on the whole "piercing cold being buffed to 15% while they work on a long term solution for more sources of frost damage" thing? I'm afraid that like many things (like the gravelords sacrifice rework) that some more promises were made only to be forgotten again.

tomofhyrule · September 11

I concur with a lot of the issues above. We have been hearing some variation of “we have cool things coming in the future, we’ll tell you later!” for quite a while now, and it’s getting a lot harder to ride the hype train on promises of surprise alone… especially when so many surprise reveals lately have fallen very short of expectations.

I hope the team considers that a January reveal event will be a good idea this year, and that they actually reveal something we can be excited about, even if it’s something that will release later. I keep thinking back to the Necrom reveal where we were introduced to the Arcanist Class - it wasn’t dropping until June, but the prospect of a new Class alone was so exciting, and the devs were talking about some of the skills and you could feel the excitement coming through the screen. It was all I could think of for months. That reveal alone sold me the Chapter and I preordered it instantly.
Compare to the January reveal event this year, and we got “but the new Season Pass! But we’re not telling you what’s in it until April!” And then we find out the new ‘feature’ is basegame so our purchase didn’t even get us anything beyond one more zone…

After the disappointments of “a housing feature!” (which was just half of an addon PC has instead of the increased limits people are desperately begging for), and “a PvP feature!” (which was replacing the unpopular BGs with a differently unpopular version while not touching Cyrodiil), and then the infamous letter, and then the new transition year which is leaving players wanting… I really hope that we get information of something more concrete to look forward to, and soon.

We all have our personal thing we’re desperately hoping for (mine is that I will buy the next pass sight unseen if we’re getting a new Class), but the anticipation is making us all antsy. And the more we’re given leave to speculate and hype ourselves up, the harder we end up falling when what we get doesn’t live up to the hype.

Eclipse318 · September 11

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

We have specific questions that we will be asking in the surveys. And we also want to get the most recent feedback from folks. There is definitely feedback to look for here on the forums and other mediums. And the team has looked at those as well. But it’s always good to do a current gut check with folks. We don’t think anyone wants us to spend time on only making changes based on feedback given 2+ years ago. We want to give another opportunity with specific questions to get the most up to date info as the team continues to work.

This is great news. I'm continually finding things I want to bring up as QOL improvements, but don't really have a way to do that unless I post a complaint type thread here, and those tend to devolve quickly.

My spouse was in software QA for decades so I get it. I know things take time to hear from users > bring to the team(s) > assign to specific teams/leads > develop > test 9340 times on 7234 different scenarios > roll out to the PTS > fix bugs > roll out to the PTS again > fix bugs > wash rinse repeat until the launch deadline = pencils down, this is going live tomorrow, bugs or not, we'll hotfix those as we roll.

I'm really really grateful for the previous surveys of pain points and wish lists. I hope this can be a regular thing.

On the topic of "the end of the year is flat," other than the endeavors and pursuits... the whole yearly calendar is kinda flat. I've mostly run out of things to do other than endeavors, farming, and pursuits. The event quests are extremely repetitive and the same every year. Shouldn't be too hard to come up with some new event daily quests and better rewards for completing them?

And the September daily rewards... what the heck. A lot of people are saying they're meant to be for new players only, but... why? I've also heard that the better rewards calendar was only for the 10th anniversary year. Again... why? This is such an easy lift for you guys. Even just ONE really nice item in the middle of the month costs you absolutely nothing, and buys you a lot of player good will. A cool furnishing, a pet, a mount, a costume, an emote... all of these are something everybody can appreciate, and helps us feel appreciated as your entire source of income.

Did someone over there forget that we're paying actual cash monies to play this game...? Don't be so stingy, folks... they're our purse strings, maybe open them up a bit wider...?

Thanks again for listening.

Stamicka · September 11

In the past, big future plans didn’t change the amount of content released, so this is weird to me. ZOS used to release one big patch after another.

I also can’t see this being good for the population issue. I can’t even imagine how low it’s going to get after this.

AllenaNightWood · September 11

i know its unlikey this year but New life festival could really use an overhaul and its rewards to maybe make each quest for races engaging instead of a tedious chore @ZOS_Kevin

ESO_Nightingale · September 11

Stamicka wrote: »

In the past, big future plans didn’t change the amount of content released, so this is weird to me. ZOS used to release one big patch after another.

I also can’t see this being good for the population issue. I can’t even imagine how low it’s going to get after this.

It's not gonna be good that's for sure

Soarora · September 12

AllenaNightWood wrote: »

i know its unlikey this year but New life festival could really use an overhaul and its rewards to maybe make each quest for races engaging instead of a tedious chore @ZOS_Kevin

I want to piggy back off this comment because I think the same thing every year. It'd be nice to see more engaging seasonal events like snowball pvp or something.

T3vvy · September 12

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

T3vvy wrote: »

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Hi all! Just wanted to follow up here. There will be a base game update for U48. It will be focused on bug fixes and minor adjustments, rather than bigger QoL features this patch. The team has added quite a bit of QoL features over the last several patches and working on some good ones that you will see roll out next year, including some from the top pain points list many of you contributed to earlier this year. So this quarter will be lighter in that area.

The focus for this patch will be rolling out The Writhing Wall Event, the Eastern Solstice zone and Vengeance tests as those are both pretty sizable tasks for the team.

Can we get some insight into what those changes next year may be and/or the pain points that they will be fixing? Even if its just in vague terms of 'we are looking at tackling x y and z in the next year'

That is as far as I can share right now, unfortunately. But we will update everyone as soon as we get the greenlight to do so!

Always a little frustrating to hear, but somewhat expected considering development processes.

Somewhat related, do you guys keep as tight of a lid on upcoming balance/combat changes as you do on story content? Obviously you dont want to reveal plot, spoilers, and overarching themes for upcoming content, but personally id like to see balance changes being laid out a little more in advance, even if its in vague terms e.g. 'we're working on ways to bring animal companions more in line with other dps trees'. Updates like that would be super great not only for seeing initial reactions, but also for reassuring players that areas of sore balance are still being looked into (looking at you Dark Magic).

tomofhyrule · September 12

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Lysorris wrote: »

All I even hear is that they are working on "more" but that "more" will be later. One may think that they are working on every single possible thing that players ever requested and they listen to players feedback but whenever they are supposed to deliver they claim that they looked at the stats and that's not it. When I've heard on the stream that they will do survey to get players feedback.... I mean, forums for the past few years were not enough?

We have specific questions that we will be asking in the surveys. And we also want to get the most recent feedback from folks. There is definitely feedback to look for here on the forums and other mediums. And the team has looked at those as well. But it’s always good to do a current gut check with folks. We don’t think anyone wants us to spend time on only making changes based on feedback given 2+ years ago. We want to give another opportunity with specific questions to get the most up to date info as the team continues to work.

I would be interested to know more about the possibility of surveys.

Really the only time we all as players got surveys was for the Vengeance tests, and those were very specific for Vengeance. Before that, ZOS would randomly… sometimes… maybe send a handful of surveys to a couple random people with no rhyme or reason as to who got one. That meant that most of us really don’t have a way to give feedback without posting on the forum, which as people have noted can devolve quickly.

Is the team thinking of redoing the logic of who gets one? Would the team consider surveying players who consistently use the PTS? How about letting players sign up for surveys on different topics, like “what kinds of features would inspire you to buy the pass?” or “what store items would you like to see more of?”

Ruj · September 12

tomofhyrule wrote: »

After the disappointments of “a housing feature!” (which was just half of an addon PC has instead of the increased limits people are desperately begging for)

I unsubbed from ESO directly after that stream. The disappointment as a housing player was heartbreaking.

It was like repeatedly telling your best friend all about what you want most for your birthday. Your best friend keeps hyping for months that you'll get something you really want. Then your birthday comes around and it's... the strap of a purse you already own.

Nemesis7884 · September 12

I prefer if they take more time and then come out with a big great overhaul rather than trickle down updates...BUT if they hype a big update they need to deliver eventually.

wolfie1.0. · September 12

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Hi all! Just wanted to follow up here. There will be a base game update for U48. It will be focused on bug fixes and minor adjustments, rather than bigger QoL features this patch. The team has added quite a bit of QoL features over the last several patches and working on some good ones that you will see roll out next year, including some from the top pain points list many of you contributed to earlier this year. So this quarter will be lighter in that area.

The focus for this patch will be rolling out The Writhing Wall Event, the Eastern Solstice zone and Vengeance tests as those are both pretty sizable tasks for the team.

veangeance i understand,

but why so much effort on the Writhering Wall event that is going to be a one and done thing? is it truly going to be as epic as yall are hyping it up to be? especially with no other content besides it?

Galagladi Dragonblood · September 12

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Lysorris wrote: »

All I even hear is that they are working on "more" but that "more" will be later. One may think that they are working on every single possible thing that players ever requested and they listen to players feedback but whenever they are supposed to deliver they claim that they looked at the stats and that's not it. When I've heard on the stream that they will do survey to get players feedback.... I mean, forums for the past few years were not enough?

We have specific questions that we will be asking in the surveys. And we also want to get the most recent feedback from folks. There is definitely feedback to look for here on the forums and other mediums. And the team has looked at those as well. But it’s always good to do a current gut check with folks. We don’t think anyone wants us to spend time on only making changes based on feedback given 2+ years ago. We want to give another opportunity with specific questions to get the most up to date info as the team continues to work.

There are some question in my mind right know:

- When can we expect the survey?
- How long will it take to react to the survey?
- When can we expect the news announcement for the next season/update 49? More early 2026 or spring 2026?
- Will those announcements you guys make, as you said, really come 2026?

I'm asking this because for me right know it looks like the DLC expansion "Eastern Solstice" looks wonderful, genius etc. but then the announcement from Combat and PVP created a big hole for me. I appreciate the time and hard work you guys take and hope you will deliver with u49 etc. but i wished at least a temporary solution like "Only Main Class gets 15% boost, 1 Subclassline gets 8% boost and 2 Subclasslines gets 0% boost". This would be enough for me at least to be at ease.

licenturion · September 12

valenwood_vegan wrote: »

And on the one hand I get it, but on the other hand, the whole "we can't really talk about next year yet" doesn't generate any excitement either.

I agree with this 100 percent.

I’m always watching the livestreams, but this time my excitement has hit an all-time low. (and I consider myself a very ESO fan).

We’ve been hearing the same thing for ages: “We have very cool things planned ahead, but we’re not ready to talk about them.” At some point, the teasing has to stop, you need to start showing your cards.

The same thing happened last year with the season pass model. We got a few vague comments in the end-of-year letter, and then had to wait months, left to speculate about what’s coming. It only raised more questions and stirred up frustration. Then came the Q1 dungeon release debacle, and even then, they refused to explain what happened or what the plan was moving forward 'because we are not ready to talk about it'.

The Writhing Wall event is on October 13, and once again, we know almost nothing apart from 2 random views of the environment. Another new livestream is teased for this event, promising “very, very cool things.” Why not show them now? The audience was already there, and the event is just around the corner.

What happened to the graphical revamp you teased last year? How is Overland coming along? What about crossplay? What is the roadmap of all this neverending stream of cool things you have been leading us on with? You’ve got excited people tuning in to see what’s next, but all we get lately is rambling between colleagues, patting themselves on the back and loads of vague promises of “great things to come that we can’t talk about yet.”

I bet my dog on it that we get another letter end of year with vague promises of all the amazing thing the team has been working on', followed by 5 months of silence before we get more news in May, like it has always been...

To summarize: You can only dangle the carrot so long before the donkey finds a new trail.

Hotdog_23 · September 12

I didn't watch the stream, and by reading the comments here, I’m glad I didn’t waste an hour doing it. I love and really enjoy playing ESO. That said, I, for one, lost hope awhile ago with the endless hype train of just wait until later, but I can’t tell you now PR cycle. Reminds me of the FOMO cycle.

Content has been getting less and less or at least it seems so, and not just this year. I concede it may not be true, but just my 2 cents. I am afraid of putting too much hope in future content, not that I will not enjoy it, play it, and want more of it. Just that I am 100% certain what ZOS thinks is big will not seem big to me and be a letdown. So, I have definitely scaled back my expectations when it comes to ESO. Just look at the new housing feature a lot of people were excited about that turned into a bust or the quarter of bug fixes and improvements that turned out to be nothing for veteran players. The loss of any real new 4th quarter content for the last few years. Just to name a few.

I get that ESO is big, and things take time, and resources are finite. The talk of this being a transition year does not instill faith or hope in me for the future, given the recent past. I will still be here in some capacity, I am sure, so these hype and reveal streams, I guess, are not really for me. I just really wish they would give me something to be excited about that I can actually play next update and not a wait-and-see next year FOMO PR train.

Other thoughts,
Thanks for fixing the save error on console and enabling add-ons for consoles. Just hope you expand on them like you said you will in the future.
Bringing back 4 new dungeons a year. Just please let us solo them.
The whole we want ESO to be a 30-year game sounds good on one hand but is a cry of fear and desperation on the other hand.

Stay safe

Punches_Below_Belt · September 12

It is so frustrating listening to the excuses, “this is a transition year”, for not fixing and improving already existing systems or in the case of companions, antiquities, scribing and Tales of Tribute just pretending they don’t exist anymore and then have ZOS turn around and introduce things that no one asked for or wanted.

Fine we got swimming mounts but I’d rather have a fourth undaunted quest giver and dlc dungeon inclusion queuing toggle. Attitude responses? Really? Why? I sure would rather finally have a bosmer companion. Instead of the Writhing Wall event, maybe just sell us a complete zone and return battlegrounds to their original configuration.

You keep releasing big beautiful notable castles, many given away for free (TY) but a plot of dirt to make a garden seems too much to do in spite of having been requested since housing was introduced. It’s the absurdity that is so maddening.

Maybe you stop trying to reinvent PVP, which to me is the ultimate fool’s errand that will never make anyone happy. But, , hey, it’s your company and if you want to die on that hill so be it. Maybe instead offer the PvE campaign of Cyrodil that has been asked for since launch. I’m not a developer but how hard can it be to turn off PvP in the already completed zones of Cyrodiil and Imperial City for one campaign in each. How many players would you make happy?

I feel the same way same about ZOS priorities as I do the government. There are always resources for hollow, expensive PR initiatives, questionable military operations and tax cuts but never any money for schools or roads.

Supposedly, we didn’t have some content over the last few years because attention was going to be paid to fixing and improving the issues in the base game and what we got were spelling corrections and clipping fixes. Nice but certainly not losing two dungeons that were suppose to be part of the ESO+ package worth of nice and certainly not the base game improvements your player base was hoping for.

Nobody cares what big and exciting changes you have in store for the future if they are things we didn’t’t want to begin with and playing day in and day out is a frustrating, janky series of lag,ping spikes and disconnections. That is while I am literally by myself doing nothing but walking.

I quit the game every night with having to force close and send an error report to Microsoft. It’s been mentioned multiple times as has performance issues arising from the late June update and no one at ZOS will even acknowledged it. I don’t need to know what went wrong but I do need to know you know something went wrong, and that you want to correct it.

Until ZOS can be responsive, to the day in day out concerns of its players, your big events and major releases are going to be undermined by resentment and hostility fomented from the neglect of the daily gameplay experience.

Mathius_Mordred · September 12

I've been playing since closed beta. So I've seen all yearly updates, the chapters, the trials, the dungeon packs and events.

My overall take on this year is one of trimming down the game, cost savings and getting away with as little as possible without shedding too many players.

You no longer do the incredible trailers that we were all mesmerised by, probably because of the cost, but also because there is really little to advertise in them. You have lost a lot of staff and are now run by one of the largest corps in the world who literally only care about shareholder dividends and boy does it show.

This perpetual, "there is more coming, but we can't talk about it," is so old now that it's not even worth your time writing.

If you want to maintain interest in your game, you have to give the players something to look forward to, something to get excited about. Where is the 2026 roadmap?

Why can't you talk about what you are working on? Is it because you are so uncertain of whether it will actually happen that you don't want to promise something you can't deliver? If so, why are you so uncertain if it will happen? Doesn't this point to a lack of direction, a lack of funding, a lack of imagination?

If you have big plans for 2026, then TELL US NOW what they are. We are not asking for specific dates, just tell us what you're doing so we know there is a point to maintaining our investment in this game and not moving over to another that tells their community what they are doing.

To me the game still has enormous scope for content, there are so many areas of Tamriel that are untouched, so many former themes from the other Bethesda games that are ignored, so many suggestions and QoL ideas from your awesome community and yet we see very little actually being announced. Goodwill will only take you so far.

RandomKodiak · September 12

I do hope Brian does not hate Sorcs as much as whoever we had these past couple of years. Not all Sorcs are PvP streakers, some of us play PvE. Sorcs have been nerfed into the ground for the last two years in PvE and I hope we can see a reversal of that next year. I am not asking to be the best at everything and realize that they are still good in PvP but as a Sorc PvE main the last few years have been painful.

Destai · September 12

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

We want to acknowledge that we understand the frustration here. We tried to be clear about that earlier this year when noting that this year was one of transition. It's setting things up so we can come through on the "bigger things are coming" part. Development and changing things up takes time to set up. But we are getting close to the point of sharing everything we have been working on. So we appreciate everyone's feedback and passion around this. Leadership really wants the team to take our time on this to make sure we are hitting your expectations and addressing your feedback.

There's a bit of wariness around the "bigger things are coming" message. It's been heard so much before. It's understandable that things take time, and probably even more so now given the transitions you're managing. But be careful with that kind of messaging. I would hate for us to be here again next year, with the same or similar message. This is why the roadmaps and progress reporting are so important. It gives us assurance things are truly progressing and helps manage blowback to your teams.

At this point in the game's life, it's more about showing vs. telling what you're going to do. It feels like we've been telling you guys for years how to communicate with us and it just keeps getting pushed out. The efforts are recognized, but that frustration is real and impacts how much time and money people spend on this game.

Right now, I'm not spending either. With such light content and no real roadmap, there's no real reason for me to do so. And it seems like the focus is more on the Crown store product rotation than keeping people actually playing the game. You guys just streamed new houses that could've been earnable. The new crates content could've been earnable with the relevant content. The current monetization and content volume is going to keep people playing ESO only in the short term.

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

We have specific questions that we will be asking in the surveys. And we also want to get the most recent feedback from folks. There is definitely feedback to look for here on the forums and other mediums. And the team has looked at those as well. But it’s always good to do a current gut check with folks. We don’t think anyone wants us to spend time on only making changes based on feedback given 2+ years ago. We want to give another opportunity with specific questions to get the most up to date info as the team continues to work.

Two points:

There is relevant feedback that's 2+ years old. If it's something like being stuck in combat, yes, I FOR SURE want you guys to spend time on that. Not all gripes are about a recent combat change. There are longstanding issues that are really important to folks. Just bear that in mind, that's all I ask. Completely understandable that you want to make sure feedback is still relevant though.
Any time you guys solicit feedback, it'd be great to get a "let me read that back to you" recap post from you. I'm concerned the way you guys interpret and action our feedback sometimes results in something that doesn't match up to the actual feedback. Knowing how our feedback is aggregated and interpreted is going to make this process so much smoother.

Freezbeez · September 12

Mathius_Mordred wrote: »

I've been playing since closed beta. So I've seen all yearly updates, the chapters, the trials, the dungeon packs and events.

My overall take on this year is one of trimming down the game, cost savings and getting away with as little as possible without shedding too many players.

You no longer do the incredible trailers that we were all mesmerised by, probably because of the cost, but also because there is really little to advertise in them. You have lost a lot of staff and are now run by one of the largest corps in the world who literally only care about shareholder dividends and boy does it show.

etc....

This text perfectly reflects my gaming experience and feelings. I wouldn't change a single word, and it saves me a lot of time explaining myself.

Pevey · September 12

RandomKodiak wrote: »

I do hope Brian does not hate Sorcs as much as whoever we had these past couple of years. Not all Sorcs are PvP streakers, some of us play PvE. Sorcs have been nerfed into the ground for the last two years in PvE and I hope we can see a reversal of that next year. I am not asking to be the best at everything and realize that they are still good in PvP but as a Sorc PvE main the last few years have been painful.

I'm sorry to tell you that Brian is the same Brian we already had in charge of combat the last however many years.
"Meet the new management, same as the old management."

Punches_Below_Belt · September 12

Pevey wrote: »

RandomKodiak wrote: »

I do hope Brian does not hate Sorcs as much as whoever we had these past couple of years. Not all Sorcs are PvP streakers, some of us play PvE. Sorcs have been nerfed into the ground for the last two years in PvE and I hope we can see a reversal of that next year. I am not asking to be the best at everything and realize that they are still good in PvP but as a Sorc PvE main the last few years have been painful.

I'm sorry to tell you that Brian is the same Brian we already had in charge of combat the last however many years.
"Meet the new management, same as the old management."

You mad baby Roger Daltrey cry. Shame on you.

StihlReign · September 12

Destai wrote: »

Two points:
There is relevant feedback that's 2+ years old. If it's something like being stuck in combat, yes, I FOR SURE want you guys to spend time on that. Not all gripes are about a recent combat change. There are longstanding issues that are really important to folks. Just bear that in mind, that's all I ask. Completely understandable that you want to make sure feedback is still relevant though.

Any time you guys solicit feedback, it'd be great to get a "let me read that back to you" recap post from you. I'm concerned the way you guys interpret and action our feedback sometimes results in something that doesn't match up to the actual feedback. Knowing how our feedback is aggregated and interpreted is going to make this process so much smoother.

We've been known to disagree, but this, this hits home (and I couldn't have said it better).

Finedaible · 1:36PM

licenturion wrote: »

valenwood_vegan wrote: »

And on the one hand I get it, but on the other hand, the whole "we can't really talk about next year yet" doesn't generate any excitement either.

I agree with this 100 percent.

[...]

The same thing happened last year with the season pass model. We got a few vague comments in the end-of-year letter, and then had to wait months, left to speculate about what’s coming. It only raised more questions and stirred up frustration. Then came the Q1 dungeon release debacle, and even then, they refused to explain what happened or what the plan was moving forward 'because we are not ready to talk about it'.

The Writhing Wall event is on October 13, and once again, we know almost nothing apart from 2 random views of the environment. Another new livestream is teased for this event, promising “very, very cool things.” Why not show them now? The audience was already there, and the event is just around the corner.

What happened to the graphical revamp you teased last year? How is Overland coming along? What about crossplay? What is the roadmap of all this neverending stream of cool things you have been leading us on with? You’ve got excited people tuning in to see what’s next, but all we get lately is rambling between colleagues, patting themselves on the back and loads of vague promises of “great things to come that we can’t talk about yet.”

[...]

This is what it has felt like every year in my opinion. I almost rather they didn't hype up Schrödinger's Future Update like they are taking a page from Todd Howard's book. The community tends to tear itself apart during the ensuing 6 months of silence. They should have learned that people don't like to be strung along indefinitely, especially after they couldn't deliver all the cool stuff from that 2014 Quakecon presentation.

I also want to know anything about this Writhing Wall event and why I would want to buy the season pass for it. So far I haven't seen anything that would entice me personally. Anniversary event and Whitestrake's Mayhem are the only events I get really hyped for anymore but that's because they feel rewarding. What is Writhing Wall doing to stand apart well enough as a one-time event?

Add alchemy/provisioning reworks to the ever growing list of things left in limbo. I expected at the very least a new class set in the archive to round out the last skill lines, and a new Scribing grimoire or two. It's weird that they skipped this entire year without adding to those fairly new features.