i made a thread like this also and it got ratio'd hard lmao, I loved the idea of the writhing wall, its just the execution that was terrible. Phase 1 and 2 was a joke, and a poor one at that. Everyone could see through what the Writhing Wall was, just dividing up the content for the year.

That said, phase 3 was awesome and I really loved the Writhing Fortress. My unpopular opinion is fomo is healthy for the game to an extent, I don't mind the content being one time only or two, but in the future, one time events need to be free, considering that its just a public dungeon basically, a fancy one, and you can't access the actual island without buying the pass. It would be an easy explanation to say the stirk fellowship opened a portal from within the writhing fortress for the alliances of tamriel mainland to help.

That way everyone gets to participate without paying and it encourages others who dont have the chapter to want to buy it and see what it is exactly that they helped with.

If they did this, the community I bet would have been much happier with it all. Its at least a third of the equation for why people were unhappy. The other two being the glitches and that phases one and two were garbage.

And its a real shame too because eastern solstice quests were very well done. Loved the dialogue options and different choices affecting the outcome of the quests, absolutely need more of that.

They also let me hit on the newly widowed gilf lol 10/10 would be a *** boy again.

Nah, I'd personally prefer it if the team would spend their limited resources on developing something like a new solo or four person arena instead of a one-time community event such as the Writhing Fortress for the next Season.

I would rather not have the season pass model in 2026 if it will be anything like this year. This was a big step down from chapters.

The Writhing Fortress on its own is a neat concept, but everything else surrounding it this year was poorly implemented, and the communication about how this event would play out - including its temporary existence - was never properly expressed right up until it was about to go live. In my case, I feel like I dodged a bullet by not purchasing the pass since I wouldn't have even been able to experience what I paid for during the time the fortress was up. It would have been throwing money away for two half-baked zones and a lost part of the experience.

Frankly, if all the effort going forward will be put into more temporary 'events' like this every year instead of improving existing systems and story content then I don't see ESO getting any better than the competition. Feels like a waste of time and resources that could be used on something more lasting and impactful. Events should be the extra sprinkles on the cake, not the cake itself, like Whitestrake's Mayhem and the Anniversary event.

Paying for both ESO+ and the season pass is just too absurd for what we get.

It is tough to run an MMO. Sometimes the devs just can't win. Not being sarcastic here.

People want an interactive world where you feel like you're actually making a difference with your interactions and choices, with unique rewards and experiences and lasting impacts to the environment. They want new and different things to try. They want bragging rights and commemorative type memorabilia so it feels like a living, breathing environment where time actually passes. And they want all of that provided in such a way so that no one can ever miss out on the experience, in a way that's infinitely repeatable and re-playable, and enjoyable in high and low volume participation.

All of that is just not possible. Some of those wishes directly contradict each other. :P

My personal issues with the event were small observations I won't go into here - I didn't hate or become frustrated with Phases 1 and 2, like apparently many did, and I've enjoyed Phase 3. However, experiencing the public fortress tonight after everyone's presumably moved on to the other zones for the new event... it's extremely obvious to me why this was designed and worked well as a limited time event which brought the bulk of the game's population to it for a week. And I'd definitely enjoy more of them.

My primary issue with the event was how it was marketed. The season pass was advertised specifically as content that would always be available going forward, to be played at our leisure, so if the event was considered part of the season pass, that was incorrect advertising. If it's considered base game, it should be fully accessible to all and not be so intertwined with the release of content that's only available via season pass. My opinion, of course. Not to mention the fact that I am someone who does leisurely go through the stories (I haven't even done West Weald yet, let alone Solstice), so it's frustrating to have to participate in a story that is somewhat spoilerish if you want to experience the limited time event. It would be nice if it was just its own thing. I powered through the main story quests in Solstice because I wasn't clear if "Barrier Buster" would be available after the limited time event, but I'd rather not have to skip around like that.

No because they're not capable of making it truely fun.

The problem with one time server wide events is they spend so much resources making it work, they're forced to pad out the play time with arbitrary busy work tasks. Ultimately the content could be good under the surface, but it will be drowned in BS to the point where you feel like you're on a treadmill as we felt this year.

If they took a different, more replayable approach like they used with arena's, I'm all for it.

Imagine the Writhing Fortress and phases 1-3 were like a mini Infinite Archive with hordes of enemies and bosses that developed new abilities each phase over a few weeks. It could even be balanced around 12 or 4 player group sizes. Add a currency, shop, powerups, mechanics. That would easily be much more fun to me and I imagine it wouldn't take any more or less developement time in comparison considering the enemies, location, and bosses just build upon each other. You don't need to make 10s of arena's, you just need 1.

Play it with a group for 10 minutes, get your currency, do something else. Low investment, quick fun and real team work.