Writhing Wall Event – My First Real Post in 10 Years, Because Wow

Furyous · November 1

I’ve been playing since beta and never felt the need to post here until now. The Writhing Wall event is, hands down, the most disappointing and overhyped event I’ve seen in my 25 years of playing MMOs.

Phase One was already a slog: gather supplies, grind dailies, repeat. It was framed as a massive buildup to unlock Phase Two, only to find out that Phase Two was just Phase One renamed.

Phase Two is just more of the same. Same supplies. Same quests. Same grind. The only “new” content is a boss who shows up with zero context, just loitering until we roll in and kill him. No lore, no buildup, no explanation, just violence.

They added a couple more crafting options… To help us gather the same damn supplies.

Phase One felt like “you gotta eat your veggies so you can have a treat in Phase Two.” Turns out the treat was a can of cold spinach. Just more veggies, now with less flavor.

And the rewards? Blue boxes dropped the most worthless junk imaginable. Gold boxes weren’t much better, just a couple style pages, and once you’ve got the set, the repeats are basically trash. With a little trading, you’re done in a few days, and then you’re stuck grinding a month-long event for rewards that have zero value. They did include a house in the drop pool, but it’s the same house most players already unlocked by doing the main quest and spending a bit of gold. Not new, not exclusive, just recycled.

If you’re thinking of the new mount or any decent rewards, those were from Golden Pursuits, not this event. Writhing Wall gave us nothing but busywork and disappointment.

And the worst part? This event had so much potential. A massive, mysterious wall. A fanatical cult. A realm-threatening incursion. And how do we fight it? We knit sweaters for a month.

My enthusiasm for doing another few weeks of housekeeping is nonexistent. Next time, just call the event “Watching Water Boil.”

Rohamad_Ali · November 1

Thanks for sharing so my blood don't boil after logging in.

Dalsinthus · November 1

Agreed.

Personally, I think they should have dropped phase 1 and just started with phase 2. Then I would have added many of the rewards from non-daily quest sources to the coffers. For example, the Twitch drop rewards, the furnishings from delve bosses, and the achievement based rewards could all have been in the coffers. Then lift the 1 / day drop of things like Stirk Fellowship motifs and gold style pages. Finally, have all the things -- furnishing plans, different type of style pages, caltrop fragments, etc. -- drop from day 1. Then maybe there would be enough incentive to grind the event across multiple characters and the grind would be more like 2-3 weeks instead of 1 to 2 months.

miloflipper · November 1

The worst thing is that the main quest was hyped to be as exciting as the original main quest with some of the same characters reappearing - the worm cult is back - like wow how do we beat them this time? Well it happens you need to make some helms, a bow, gather some light leather and maybe make some stew. That will teach em!

KV_Tootn · November 1

Totally agree with OP. Just got the info that we need to do the same thing for 1 mont again.....

(((( Im sad i paid for it.. Its a job not adventure. Atleast when the wall falls, do we get super cinematiic to whole server????? Liek this is a big event...everyone needs to know its down... If not....worst event ever.

kind_hero · November 1

I hope they will have a meeting to shorten Phase 2...

I would not miss a minute of Phase 2, and I simply want to get to the eastern zone to complete the points of interest and the main story. The public dungeon from Phase 3 is fine, but I just want to get to the content... not this carrot on a stick.

DoofusMax · November 1

Definitely agree with the "overhyped" bits. I'll note that while I've seen players talking it up as a "once in a lifetime" event, I don't recall anyone from ZOS calling it anything more than "a one-time event." If I'm misremembering, then I'm misremembering, but "one-time" would put it outside the story-arc events which come back every couple or three years.

My personal tinfoil-hat head-cannon is that the event was a way to give console players a way to be first into some new content without jumping through the hoops needed to change up the release schedule (probably platform certification stuff, but I'm guessing) and that meant dragging things out for a couple or three weeks longer than usual. My basic premise for this is that companies aren't generally capricious, so there is some unstated but practical reason behind it and this is among the more practical reasons I can think of.

The underwhelming rewards and the grindy dailies have been commented ad nauseam and I'm probably more in agreement with that take than not. They're fine and pretty much in keeping with the rewards for a normal-length event, but pretty unsuited to something running this long and the couple of really nice rewards were in the Golden Pursuits, which I knocked out in a couple of days. I'd be unreasonable to expect insta-gazillionaire rewards, but repetitive grind in pursuit of content which has already been bought is a pretty big ask.

Syldras · November 1

DoofusMax wrote: »

Definitely agree with the "overhyped" bits. I'll note that while I've seen players talking it up as a "once in a lifetime" event, I don't recall anyone from ZOS calling it anything more than "a one-time event." If I'm misremembering, then I'm misremembering, but "one-time" would put it outside the story-arc events which come back every couple or three years.

duagloth · November 2

I expected nothing and still disappointed

Sythen88411 · November 2

Yea this event.......I have not one positive word for it....not one....

thedocbwarren · November 2

Have to admit not enjoying the invaded dungeons and delves myself. I think I'm good to skip a next season or two as this is not my speed.

lillybit · November 2

You know the thing that most annoys me about the event? They couldn't even put a merchant in the event areas. Probably needed a banker too but definitely a merchant. Selling style mats.

I'm pretty much not bothering to anything but the event (because it sucks the fun out of the game but I want the content I paid for) and have to go elsewhere to get mats, repair and get rid of all the junk. It's not "encouraging us to go it cities," it's just plain annoying. It's bad enough the Stirk wayshrine doesn't work (I'm guessing it hasn't been fixed? Not sure when I checked last).

If they want me to do this stupid event can I not just do it without the faff?

redlink1979 · November 2

Furyous wrote: »

(...) Phase One felt like “you gotta eat your veggies so you can have a treat in Phase Two.” Turns out the treat was a can of cold spinach. (...)

What a, sad but true, way to resume all this.

old_scopie1945 · November 2

Reminds me of my old report card "Unsatisfactory, must do better".

Vonnegut2506 · November 2

I log in, get my three gold boxes, then log out and go play WoW Legion Remix. It has a ton of stuff to do and earn and feels fun, not like a chore.

rothan117 · November 2

I have to agree with the OP on this. Been playing MMOs since 2008 and this has got to be the most over hyped release I have seen. Once in a lifetime, but in a bad way, like when I had an emergency gall bladder removal.

I just log in, do my usual crafting writs, refill the trader, do the event crafting quest for a pathetic the gold box and log out to go play a real event called Legion Remix in WoW. It has lots of rewards, lots of interesting things to do and is actually enjoyable. Not like WW. I do not even like the GP pet and mount and am actively avoiding getting them. Got my 15k gold and called it good.

Not buying anymore seasons on pre-order, will wait and see if the content is actually worth buying. Not falling for the hype again.

Foxtrot39 · November 2

If phase 3 doesn't include PVE siege events like Cyro castle PVP i'm gonn-

Oh well I know it won't already or be massively underwhelming better get pre-disappointed for phase one- I mean 3

lostineternity · November 2

Vonnegut2506 wrote: »

I log in, get my three gold boxes, then log out and go play WoW Legion Remix. It has a ton of stuff to do and earn and feels fun, not like a chore.

I'm waiting for Plunderstorm event returning, I was having a blast with it. Entirely new game mode not just daily quests.

licenturion · November 2

Yeah the developers seem to be very disconnected with this years content.

In the streams I heard them say stuff like 'event on an epic scale we never did before'. What we got was dolmen 2.0

I also heard Rich saying on stream 'we went all in with production values'. What we got wat the most lazy chapter zone ever released full of recycled Summerset and Coldharbour assets. We also didn't get our yearly a login screen theme music.

They talked about how this is the sequel of the main quest with original characters and everything is at stake again but the story so far was super predicable and a bit boring.

This is stuff that Rich and others said on live stream. So I hope the community and event numbers put them with their both feet back on the ground so they can see how the event is coming across with players and they course correct for 2026.

Auricle · November 2

I’ve also been playing on and off since beta and I have to agree with OP. This event is the most disappointing batch of content I’ve seen from ZoS for a while. Solstice as a zone concept is cool, and I was hyped to see the wall, but the timing and structure of this event is actively bad. It feels incredibly lazy, and almost an insult considering the price tag. A month long grind with no real reward is just bad game design, and will alienate the playerbase.

I’m going to (generously) assume this has something to do with profit-hungry Microsoft acquiring Zenimax. I’ve never seen a corporation of that size take over a smaller company and actually make it better.

CAB_Life · November 2

If I’m not mistaken, this was the last piece of content from, shall we say, the grandfathered team who should no longer be working on the overall content or vision of the game. So I’m willing to give ESO one more season with a new director to see if he can turn the ship around. But as is this event could’ve been any other event in the history of ESO. There’s very little to distinguish it from a rote selection of dailies and quests that we’ve been doing for over a decade now.

lillybit · November 2

CAB_Life wrote: »

If I’m not mistaken, this was the last piece of content from, shall we say, the grandfathered team who should no longer be working on the overall content or vision of the game. So I’m willing to give ESO one more season with a new director to see if he can turn the ship around. But as is this event could’ve been any other event in the history of ESO. There’s very little to distinguish it from a rote selection of dailies and quests that we’ve been doing for over a decade now.

They've called this a transition year from the start, which implies they aren't going to do the same again next year. Nevertheless I am not hopeful whatever they do will be an improvement

DoofusMax · November 2

Syldras wrote: »

If that's Twitter or X or whatever the heck Musk is calling it these days, then I didn't see that, so "one-time" pretty much matches up with my recollection.

Syldras wrote: »

Not to put too fine a point on it, but doing anything is "making history" (philosophically, doing nothing is doing something). As such, it can be thrown out as marketing hype without straying over the line into untruth. Whether it significantly changes the course of what follows is a question for historians.

Syldras · November 2

lillybit wrote: »

They've called this a transition year from the start, which implies they aren't going to do the same again next year. Nevertheless I am not hopeful whatever they do will be an improvement

Transition away from the chapter/story content... And that's the most concerning thing to me. What might we get instead? One-time events with content that vanishes again afterwards, like the dungeon of phase 3 that they want to trash again after a week?

rsciw · November 2

This was their writhing wall design process

DenverRalphy · November 2

DoofusMax wrote: »

Syldras wrote: »

If that's Twitter or X or whatever the heck Musk is calling it these days, then I didn't see that, so "one-time" pretty much matches up with my recollection.

Syldras wrote: »

Not to put too fine a point on it, but doing anything is "making history" (philosophically, doing nothing is doing something). As such, it can be thrown out as marketing hype without straying over the line into untruth. Whether it significantly changes the course of what follows is a question for historians.

Pretty sure they used the Once in a Lifetime terminology in a livestream as well. Along with Historic, One of a Kind, and a couple other descriptors.

twisttop138 · November 2

DenverRalphy wrote: »

DoofusMax wrote: »

Syldras wrote: »

If that's Twitter or X or whatever the heck Musk is calling it these days, then I didn't see that, so "one-time" pretty much matches up with my recollection.

Syldras wrote: »

Not to put too fine a point on it, but doing anything is "making history" (philosophically, doing nothing is doing something). As such, it can be thrown out as marketing hype without straying over the line into untruth. Whether it significantly changes the course of what follows is a question for historians.

Pretty sure they used the Once in a Lifetime terminology in a livestream as well. Along with Historic, One of a Kind, and a couple other descriptors.

They very much did. I remember because I went straight from the live stream to guild discord to hype the people up. People were very disappointed with the solstice zone itself and it felt like this would make up for it, not to mention that back then we had no idea what the other half of solstice would be. Oh what sweet summer children we were then.

The more I think about this, the more we discuss it, the more people chime in with their thoughts, I just become more and more dumbfounded. How was this passed off as fun.

Syldras · November 2

twisttop138 wrote: »

They very much did. I remember because I went straight from the live stream to guild discord to hype the people up. People were very disappointed with the solstice zone itself and it felt like this would make up for it, not to mention that back then we had no idea what the other half of solstice would be. Oh what sweet summer children we were then.
The more I think about this, the more we discuss it, the more people chime in with their thoughts, I just become more and more dumbfounded. How was this passed off as fun.

It's generally interesting, to say the least, to take a second look at the old announcement articles. How spectacular and awesome the story was supposed to be, with amazing plot twists and what not...

Another unique aspect of the Seasons of the Worm Cult storyline is in the way the team has divided it into two parts. With Part 1 arriving in June, you won’t be able to truly conclude this new saga until Part 2 releases (and you can venture into Eastern Solstice) in Q4*.
“Not to give anything away, but [this format] does provide us with a wonderful opportunity for a cliffhanger,” explains Baker. “Our Chapters or DLCs generally can’t do that because they need to tell a story all in one go. Here, we were able to present some huge twists and unexpected developments at the midpoint and then give them room to breathe. It’s a powerful narrative device we hardly ever get a chance to employ, so we took full advantage of it.”

Source: https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/68079

I'm not sure how to comment on that politely, so I'll say nothing.

tomofhyrule · November 3

Syldras wrote: »

twisttop138 wrote: »

They very much did. I remember because I went straight from the live stream to guild discord to hype the people up. People were very disappointed with the solstice zone itself and it felt like this would make up for it, not to mention that back then we had no idea what the other half of solstice would be. Oh what sweet summer children we were then.
The more I think about this, the more we discuss it, the more people chime in with their thoughts, I just become more and more dumbfounded. How was this passed off as fun.

It's generally interesting, to say the least, to take a second look at the old announcement articles. How spectacular and awesome the story was supposed to be, with amazing plot twists and what not...

Another unique aspect of the Seasons of the Worm Cult storyline is in the way the team has divided it into two parts. With Part 1 arriving in June, you won’t be able to truly conclude this new saga until Part 2 releases (and you can venture into Eastern Solstice) in Q4*.
“Not to give anything away, but [this format] does provide us with a wonderful opportunity for a cliffhanger,” explains Baker. “Our Chapters or DLCs generally can’t do that because they need to tell a story all in one go. Here, we were able to present some huge twists and unexpected developments at the midpoint and then give them room to breathe. It’s a powerful narrative device we hardly ever get a chance to employ, so we took full advantage of it.”

Source: https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/68079

I'm not sure how to comment on that politely, so I'll say nothing.

Every time I look back to what they've posted this year, I'm just like "Come back Chapters! I miss you!"

colossalvoids · November 3

Syldras wrote: »

twisttop138 wrote: »

They very much did. I remember because I went straight from the live stream to guild discord to hype the people up. People were very disappointed with the solstice zone itself and it felt like this would make up for it, not to mention that back then we had no idea what the other half of solstice would be. Oh what sweet summer children we were then.
The more I think about this, the more we discuss it, the more people chime in with their thoughts, I just become more and more dumbfounded. How was this passed off as fun.

It's generally interesting, to say the least, to take a second look at the old announcement articles. How spectacular and awesome the story was supposed to be, with amazing plot twists and what not...

Another unique aspect of the Seasons of the Worm Cult storyline is in the way the team has divided it into two parts. With Part 1 arriving in June, you won’t be able to truly conclude this new saga until Part 2 releases (and you can venture into Eastern Solstice) in Q4*.
“Not to give anything away, but [this format] does provide us with a wonderful opportunity for a cliffhanger,” explains Baker. “Our Chapters or DLCs generally can’t do that because they need to tell a story all in one go. Here, we were able to present some huge twists and unexpected developments at the midpoint and then give them room to breathe. It’s a powerful narrative device we hardly ever get a chance to employ, so we took full advantage of it.”

Source: https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/68079

I'm not sure how to comment on that politely, so I'll say nothing.

This article quote is downright diabolical level of marketing. We're getting a "unique", "saga", "wonderful opportunity", "huge ... and unexpected". Still a bit funny how it says they're taking a full advantage of it knowing what we got now with the story and event both. That's the most forum friendly and short way I can say it, at least.

spartaxoxo · November 3

I actually think this event could have been pretty fun with some tweaks.

1. Ditch the competition
2. Tie defending the siege camps to some charity and let us cooperate instead
3. Up the drop rate of the coffers and curate the style pages.
4. Reduce the amount of daily quests to 1 per day. Let the rewards mostly come from the Field Marshalls and Siege Camps
5. Each Phase only lasts 1 week.
6. Give us something other than gathering from mobs from the daily NPC that wants us to get pelts and the like. We already had a gathering quest for vitrified souls. IDK what but a 4th gameplay type would help keep it varied. Maybe a delivery quest where we could use wayshrines and had to deliver it on time?. Maybe some thing more akin to the side portals in IA? IDK just something to add variety