Night Market - Week One Notes

shaggydog3b14a_ESO · May 10

I enjoy both solo and group content in ESO. My preference is solo — exploration, story, lore, looting, talking to NPCs — but I sometimes queue for dungeons and join groups for world bosses and other content. I also have to step away from the keyboard unexpectedly much of the time, and so I am not often able to commit to group content. For most of the content I can do that, and just queue for a group when I know I have enough uninterrupted time.
I'm posting because I think there are some design issues with Night Market that are worth raising, separate from the difficulty debate that's dominated most of the feedback.

On supporting multiple play styles
The vast majority of ESO zones support both solo and group play naturally. Even Craglorn, which is the closest precedent to what Night Market is trying to be, threads a solo path through its quests while keeping the harder content group-focused. That balance is one of ESO's strengths, and it's what has kept a broad playerbase engaged across years of content.
What concerns me about Night Market isn't that it's group-focused — I understand the MMO argument, and I'm not asking for group content to be removed or made easier. What I'm asking is that we don't arrive at a point where the game has three distinct and largely incompatible play types to support: PvP, solo PvE, and group PvE. Group and solo play have coexisted naturally in the same content throughout ESO's history. That's worth preserving.
I'm also aware that the response to solo accessibility concerns is often "it can be done with the right build." I'm sure that's true. But build optimisation at that level is appropriate for things like trials, arenas, vet dungeons and IA — content that has always been understood as requiring that investment. Applying it to what's being presented as a zone sets a different precedent, and I don't think it's the right answer for players who have never needed to approach the game that way to access standard content.

On zone completeness and quality
ESO zones have a consistent design pattern that gives them lasting structure: you start with an empty map, you explore, you discover content progressively, and there's a zone completion checklist — delves, world bosses, skyshards, points of interest — that gives a sense of working through and finishing something. Some of that content requires groups, which is fine. The point is the framework exists for both play styles.
Night Market is missing that framework. The map icons are all discovered at the start, which removes the exploration loop entirely. There's no zone progression to work through. I understand it's an event zone with a limited run, but that doesn't preclude it being completable in the ESO sense of the word — and since ZOS has said it will return later in the year, having that structure in place would give it real replay value.
This gives me the impression that the content was released before it was finished, and that there was not enough time to implement some of the typical zone features like this.
A few other smaller things felt unfinished rather than intentionally different:
The entrance through Fargrave is down a passageway that isn't marked on the map, even though the map shows other passageways with dotted lines. It felt like the map wasn't updated beyond adding an icon.
There are two Curators with largely the same dialogue. I spoke to the one outside the portal, went through the full conversation, and then had to zone in and repeat essentially the same dialogue with the one inside to advance the quest. It would have been less confusing if the outside Curator simply sent me through the portal, or if there were just one.
These are small things individually, but they reinforce the same impression. That's been a recurring concern since the Writhing Wall, and I'd like to see it addressed going forward.
I genuinely want ESO to succeed. I paused my sub a few weeks ago and was hoping Night Market would be the reason to renew it. It wasn't, but I'm still here giving feedback because the game matters to me.

kind_hero · May 10

After getting the relics, I find they help to little with the daily chores (quests). Also the coffer rewards are not so interesting. I would want to be able to chose something like sets, or motifs/recipes, or furnishings etc. Getting access to rooftops, dark areas or other blocked areas doesn't have other rewards than shortcuts. It would be cool to open more content, like a vendor, buff or quest.

Right now, the area I enjoy the most is the green area (Skittering) - and I don't like spiders! -, just because of the grappling hook which allows me to traverse the zone much easier when doing daily quests. I would like to have grappling poles in the other areas as well. For example, in the blue area we could use void fissures like in Blackreach.

An other issue is joining your group. Many people just enter - die - resurrect at one rooftop to join the group. Maybe teleport to your group leader should place you on a roof top, rather than at the beginning of the instance?

Lastly, there are a lot of things which are not clear, like some encounters or how the keys work.

Varana · May 10

LitzySoDitzy wrote: »

I was happy to read, "Feedback regarding the faction points influencing faction choice (specifically seeing the scores before making a choice) is also heard and we will look at what we can do to address that." I had not read all of the details regarding picking a faction, so went with Ruckus to help get different ingredients and because he's a cool cat. Then I read that the "winning" faction would get better rewards at the end. That's disappointing.

"Better rewards" is technically true but a bit generous with the term "better".
There's a few more banners and flags, and the monster set is gold instead of purple or blue.
But that's it, you're really not missing out on much.
On the flip side, while maybe not intentional, the factions with fewer players can sell their recipe drops for decent gold.

---

Adding to the voices to re-think the keys system. I understand the reason but the implementation is really hostile to organising groups, joining random groups, and helping players out.

SerafinaWaterstar · May 10

Going to post (again!) about the key system.

It is utterly flawed & deeply frustrating.

It has led to some guildmates just finding it too stressful so they have stopped joining in NM groups, even though the guild is helping them get their relic pieces & keys.

It is ridiculous that I now have the hold key for the trial, but also have the chance to run it with 2 groups, so have to choose, rather than just run with both.

If I did want to do both, I then have to find the time plus find a competent group to first collect brazens then argents then split into smaller group for dungeons.

This is beyond grindy, this is just ridiculous gameplay & no wonder it is putting people off. Not everyone has hours & hours they can devote to a game. Some of us do work, have families & other responsibilities & do also get out to touch the grass occasionally 😁.

Do better.

Papalapagas · May 10

I'm sorry ZOS - but you've lost me for good. I won't be renewing my ESO Plus membership as it is not worth it as a solo player. You keep promoting group content and ignoring the vast majority of your players who play the game solo, or occasionally with a friend. I am enjoying Solstice, but because I didn't pay for the Season Pass (above and beyond the annual amout you drag out of me), I had to wait over a year to experience it; and guess what, I'm nearly through the content. So soon, I will be back to being bored and just logging in daily to get my hirelings emails and craft for gold.

Why don't you do something useful, like port Oblivion and Skyrim to your servers using your engine? I would love to go back and experience both of those stories but cannot play them with the original engine. Gameplay is terrible, controls are terrible. You've got a fantastic product and it's being wasted on pure violence, trash mobs and bosses. Please use it to bring resurrect the LORE once again!

spartaxoxo · May 10

It's amazing to me how a singular update not catered to solo players during the quarter that has literally never catered to solo players has suddenly become ZOS abandoning solo players. And it's not any one person, it's a sentiment being expressed many places. I have no idea where this is coming from but quarter 1 has literally not been solo content for like 10 years.

It really shows the power of ideas when they spread through groups.

Anyway for anyone worried about this, remember much of the rest of the year will be solo friendly content. And that quarter 1 has always been dungeons. I hope the sage's vault is as fun as it sounds on paper.

peacenote · May 10

When the NM first dropped, I was going to post a lot of feedback but as I've spent more time in it, there's a big gap between what frustrates me and what's barely an issue, now. There are three things, for me, that are really annoying.

1] I need to echo the other sentiments that the keys are the biggest problem and barrier for people to play together in an event and zone that is intended for people to play together.

2] Another thing that is still driving me crazy is how the quests work. I know an explanation has been posted somewhere but I can't stand that a) you can't share most of them with your group and b) many only advance individually even when you are grouped and on the same quest. I know some of it has to do with the factions but honestly I just don't care. I want to be able to share the quests with the people who are playing with me and progress together, period. I don't want a whole "if this, then that" situation to make it work.

As a side note to the questing thing, the pick your faction quest is an extra huge offender of this because if you are grouping with someone and they've picked up the quest on a different character but haven't finished, they can't even pick up the quest nor can it be shared with them. Having it so only one character per account can hold the quest is so frustrating and, again, the opposite of encouraging grouping.

3] I don't enjoy limited time offerings for difficult content that requires relying on other people to get it done. Don't get me wrong -- I love grouping. But I'm also a bit of a completionist and it can be difficult with limited play time to complete group content quickly. Especially with this key situation. I don't love that there are achievements and dyes and a limited time Golden Pursuit award all tied to content that requires coordination. Yes, you can make fun of me and call it FOMO - again, I don't care. I understand making experimental content, but then don't tie achievements to it until you know for sure it's sticking around. I much prefer to know that if something comes up IRL that the content will be around and/or come back when I have time to play it.

I have some other smaller observations, like how the respawn length is punishing for groups trying to duo or trio a boss, and how it would be nice if the dropped favor lasted about 20 seconds more than it does, and how the rewards are a little meh. Also, I wish there was an easier way to see which area your group mates are in. I'm used to doing this via the group list, but it all just says "Night Market." But these things are not impacting my enjoyment of the content and I view them more as nice-to-haves.

Otherwise, I generally think the NM is great. I think the content is fun with a group. I like to see people using Group Finder! I like that it is new and different and how it's a zone that adds value to the tank and healing roles. The house is kind of fun. I'd say I like it much better than a new solo arena, but not nearly as much as a new 4 person dungeon, so I sure hope we get some of those in early 2027. NM is definitely not a comparable replacement for new dungeons or trials, but is a cool idea as its own thing. I don't think the difficulty is too hard, especially considering that power creep exists and eventually it will level out just from that alone. I wouldn't do anything to accelerate that. I think there needs to be some awareness that if, say, a new zone and a new companion had been released before the Night Market, less people would have felt excluded by the nature of this content. Don't cater to that feedback; give them something else to do that they'll enjoy!

spartaxoxo · May 10

I've found the longer respawn timer to be incredibly useful in the night market and I hope they don't change it. You can complete quest objectives while immune and avoid aggroing trash packs. It is far more frustrating to have someone drag a bunch of enemies into an already difficult fight than it is to have them ghosts for a few seconds.

Trash packs would need to be nerfed substantially and respawn timers decreased dramatically to have a lower respawn timer.

peacenote · May 10

spartaxoxo wrote: »

I've found the longer respawn timer to be incredibly useful in the night market and I hope they don't change it. You can complete quest objectives while immune and avoid aggroing trash packs. It is far more frustrating to have someone drag a bunch of enemies into an already difficult fight than it is to have them ghosts for a few seconds.

Trash packs would need to be nerfed substantially and respawn timers decreased dramatically to have a lower respawn timer.

The suggestion that I saw in another thread, which I think is a good idea, is for it to remain the same but give you the ability to pull yourself out of it sooner by attacking something. So if you're using it to navigate and sneak by stuff, which I've done, it would stay the same, but if you're waiting at a boss watching your allies die, you can jump in faster. This is how I'd vote for it to be changed, if I had a vote.

tohopka_eso · May 10

spartaxoxo wrote: »

It's amazing to me how a singular update not catered to solo players during the quarter that has literally never catered to solo players has suddenly become ZOS abandoning solo players. And it's not any one person, it's a sentiment being expressed many places. I have no idea where this is coming from but quarter 1 has literally not been solo content for like 10 years.

It really shows the power of ideas when they spread through groups.

Anyway for anyone worried about this, remember much of the rest of the year will be solo friendly content. And that quarter 1 has always been dungeons. I hope the sage's vault is as fun as it sounds on paper.

Solo player here. I watched the stream and read up on the website and already knew going in was going to be a choice. All I wanted was the house but was upset for a brief moment about the 3 rooms being closed.

I tried tagging around with a group but got killed by the roaming boss. Went back into try the sneak route to get the quests done (which I did). and made the decision I am not geared for this type of content and it doesn't bother me the slightest.
I'm grateful they have content for the group player in mind. Just wish the I was better equip'd.

I still have IA which I don't mind doing with my companion. And not everything has to be geared toward the solo player.

Aiden.X · May 10

The Night Market offers me absolutely nothing. It is extremely difficult for new players, and there are no worthwhile rewards for long-time veterans—meaning customer retention is non-existent. I have no idea what ESO/ZOS is planning here; and on top of that, I consider the decision to cut back on new DLCs focused on exploration to be fundamentally misguided, as that is something a great many players love and value. I believe ESO/ZOS is heading down the wrong path.

Best regards

Syldras · 12:34AM

Aylish wrote: »

I think you changed the spawns of Faceted enemies again. Yesterday, they were EVERYWHERE. Today I haven't seen a single one, again.

I did a lot of instance hopping the past few days and there are some instances that have none (usually players running around), and others that are extremely full with them (usually no other people around). I suspect there might be some respawn problem and they only appear in fresh instances but don't respawn in that instance once killed?

AScarlato · 4:51AM

Definitely hope Night Market is expanded when it returns.

Went back to my typical gameplay now that I farmed all the favor I needed this run and found myself really bored doing overland quests again. After the fun in NM, walking over all the mobs put me to sleep. I did try a vet dungeon but already felt micromanaged and annoyed in ways I never was in night market. "Balls! Balls! Balls!" kept repeating the tank as I was the healer in Spindleclutch 2 vet for his sustain. He wasn't really happy unless that was all I cast. Just couldn't get enough of them I suppose.

I may just stay in night market without needing anything since it's still more exciting for the time being.

Necrotech_Master · 5:12AM

overall ive been enjoying the night market as well

ive found it to be an enjoyable challenge to run in small groups, but its also been fun steamrolling things as a 12 person group

my overall feedback is that i enjoy the zone, but i have several pain points regarding how things are handled

faceted enemies are STILL bugged, i have yet to see any faceted enemies since day 1-2 (this might be due to some buggy instances but yeah its still a problem)
if populations are an issue, then each of the districts could be split off into its own sub-instance (theres a few reasons this would help, for one by making it so people in your group knew which district you were in when they joined your group, and potentially for increasing the pop caps of the individual instances)
KEYS (most other people have mentioned this but this whole situation is a pretty awful setup, it should be a 1 time unlock like the relics if its included again)
the favor scores are totally pointless
a nice to have would be to put the quest turn ins for the district repeatables either in the main plaza or just inside the district entrance (or at least make the turn ins always the closest oasis to the entrance of the district, since this is super annoying in the parch)
the trial is OK, but the whole running the ball part i found to be kind of awful and convoluted, especially if your expecting people to do this in a non formal group

twisttop138 · 10:32AM

spartaxoxo wrote: »

It's amazing to me how a singular update not catered to solo players during the quarter that has literally never catered to solo players has suddenly become ZOS abandoning solo players. And it's not any one person, it's a sentiment being expressed many places. I have no idea where this is coming from but quarter 1 has literally not been solo content for like 10 years.

It really shows the power of ideas when they spread through groups.

Anyway for anyone worried about this, remember much of the rest of the year will be solo friendly content. And that quarter 1 has always been dungeons. I hope the sage's vault is as fun as it sounds on paper.

It's crazy right, but you're correct. It shows how mob mentality works. From the very first hour night market was alive and snowballed. Thankfully, many have seen the error of this and tried it out. I have quite a personal example of this. My wife is your very casual solo player. Lives quests, her houses, getting that look just right on her characters. She has never once participated in pvp, never done a trial and the only dungeons she's ever done were with me in a duo of base game dungeons. We're through most of them now. I am all those things but I also do vet and hm trials and dungeons, an officer in a social guild, etc. I love the night market but to her it's impossible. The other officers in my guild and I were able to put together a small group of mostly just us and convince her to join. She was not concerned about keys, or dailies beyond the kill 150, we just ran around and killed mobs and bosses for about 2 hours. She had a great time. The smaller group size kept the noise and stuff down and in my guild we don't apologize for dying or not doing huge dps or anything. Just fun. Last night she said she had a blast and hopes that we can do it again next weekend.

I know people get on here and are inundated with a deluge of negative comments. That somehow this idea has taken hold in some that ZOS has abandoned solo players and are focusing only on group players. I personally think that many saying this are being disengenous. I don't know what other conclusions to reach. This is the very first thing of it's kind. It's bookended by solo stuff. Zos has tried to tell them repeatedly. I hope Zos sticks to what they've said. That this zone is meant to be this way and that solo stuff is coming.

twisttop138 · 10:40AM

AScarlato wrote: »

Definitely hope Night Market is expanded when it returns.

Went back to my typical gameplay now that I farmed all the favor I needed this run and found myself really bored doing overland quests again. After the fun in NM, walking over all the mobs put me to sleep. I did try a vet dungeon but already felt micromanaged and annoyed in ways I never was in night market. "Balls! Balls! Balls!" kept repeating the tank as I was the healer in Spindleclutch 2 vet for his sustain. He wasn't really happy unless that was all I cast. Just couldn't get enough of them I suppose.

I may just stay in night market without needing anything since it's still more exciting for the time being.

The night market is definitely a good time and such a wide gap between that and mobs that, for all intents and purposes, don't really exist in the overland. Really it's almost like they're not there. Quick cloak and wall is enough for most things to just evaporate. I'm glad to see you tried to branch out into vet dungeons, lots of fun to be had there. You should tell your tank to fix his sustain issue next time lol. I'd love to make a small suggestion. There are amazing guilds out there who's great joy is teaching people vet content. I'm an officer in a social guild where we do that. I caution my members against vet pugs for the very kinda of issues you shared and worse. Id love to see success in your journey and I wish you luck.

dipperjoy · 12:56PM

I like the NM even though I'm primarily a solo player. I only wish there were less mobs so you could run around freely and do the quests and general exploration of the area. Now you can barely move two steps before running into enemies. If you don't have stealth you are helpless.

Regarding the Night Market Den/House, I wonder what will happen with bank vault access after the event runs out. Will we still retain access? What about next season when we might choose a new faction? If the vault requires you to have 5000 favor with your current faction, would it count as 0 again and lock you out?

AScarlato · 1:32PM

twisttop138 wrote: »

AScarlato wrote: »

Definitely hope Night Market is expanded when it returns.

Went back to my typical gameplay now that I farmed all the favor I needed this run and found myself really bored doing overland quests again. After the fun in NM, walking over all the mobs put me to sleep. I did try a vet dungeon but already felt micromanaged and annoyed in ways I never was in night market. "Balls! Balls! Balls!" kept repeating the tank as I was the healer in Spindleclutch 2 vet for his sustain. He wasn't really happy unless that was all I cast. Just couldn't get enough of them I suppose.

I may just stay in night market without needing anything since it's still more exciting for the time being.

The night market is definitely a good time and such a wide gap between that and mobs that, for all intents and purposes, don't really exist in the overland. Really it's almost like they're not there. Quick cloak and wall is enough for most things to just evaporate. I'm glad to see you tried to branch out into vet dungeons, lots of fun to be had there. You should tell your tank to fix his sustain issue next time lol. I'd love to make a small suggestion. There are amazing guilds out there who's great joy is teaching people vet content. I'm an officer in a social guild where we do that. I caution my members against vet pugs for the very kinda of issues you shared and worse. Id love to see success in your journey and I wish you luck.

Night Market encouraged me to branch out, but I had quickly turned around. Maybe I just had a... not bad experience since we finished the dungeon without that many issues. I actually didn't the vet base game dungeon to be any harder than the normal version of the newest DLC dungeons. But bad in the sense that in Night Market people appreciated my healing without telling me exactly what to cast every few seconds.

The tank had like 2500 cp so I figured he knew better than me so I just stood near him and cast orb for 20 minutes until it was all over. The DPS wasn't the highest so I would have liked to have had time to cast Combat Prayer, which would have taken some time since they were always in different directions but oh well.

Psyphiman · 2:06PM

My group last night had a blast:
- Died to a calamitous boss twice, but kept at it and won.
- Died to a brazen boss twice, but kept at it and won.
- Died to an argent boss once, and a calamitous boss wandered into the fight. We were dropping like flies, but we kept at it and won.

Other people would rather give up and come to the forums to complain. Maybe, just maybe, the issue isn't the Night Market at all. Maybe you can try joining a guild. Maybe you can try being open to new gameplay experiences. I would encourage all the naysayers to give it another try.

twisttop138 · 2:12PM

AScarlato wrote: »

twisttop138 wrote: »

AScarlato wrote: »

Definitely hope Night Market is expanded when it returns.

Went back to my typical gameplay now that I farmed all the favor I needed this run and found myself really bored doing overland quests again. After the fun in NM, walking over all the mobs put me to sleep. I did try a vet dungeon but already felt micromanaged and annoyed in ways I never was in night market. "Balls! Balls! Balls!" kept repeating the tank as I was the healer in Spindleclutch 2 vet for his sustain. He wasn't really happy unless that was all I cast. Just couldn't get enough of them I suppose.

I may just stay in night market without needing anything since it's still more exciting for the time being.

The night market is definitely a good time and such a wide gap between that and mobs that, for all intents and purposes, don't really exist in the overland. Really it's almost like they're not there. Quick cloak and wall is enough for most things to just evaporate. I'm glad to see you tried to branch out into vet dungeons, lots of fun to be had there. You should tell your tank to fix his sustain issue next time lol. I'd love to make a small suggestion. There are amazing guilds out there who's great joy is teaching people vet content. I'm an officer in a social guild where we do that. I caution my members against vet pugs for the very kinda of issues you shared and worse. Id love to see success in your journey and I wish you luck.

Night Market encouraged me to branch out, but I had quickly turned around. Maybe I just had a... not bad experience since we finished the dungeon without that many issues. I actually didn't the vet base game dungeon to be any harder than the normal version of the newest DLC dungeons. But bad in the sense that in Night Market people appreciated my healing without telling me exactly what to cast every few seconds.

The tank had like 2500 cp so I figured he knew better than me so I just stood near him and cast orb for 20 minutes until it was all over. The DPS wasn't the highest so I would have liked to have had time to cast Combat Prayer, which would have taken some time since they were always in different directions but oh well.

I do want to say that in all my years, I've never once heard a tank tell a healer what skills to use in anything but a funny mess around way. Certainly not in pugs. I think you'll find groups with a guild focused on teaching much more friendly and welcoming. Because so often dungeon groups don't even want to bring a healer, we make sure to always bring one so people's skills stay sharp and they feel appreciated.

shadoza · 2:14PM

spartaxoxo wrote: »

It's amazing to me how a singular update not catered to solo players during the quarter that has literally never catered to solo players has suddenly become ZOS abandoning solo players. And it's not any one person, it's a sentiment being expressed many places. I have no idea where this is coming from but quarter 1 has literally not been solo content for like 10 years.

It really shows the power of ideas when they spread through groups.

Anyway for anyone worried about this, remember much of the rest of the year will be solo friendly content. And that quarter 1 has always been dungeons. I hope the sage's vault is as fun as it sounds on paper.

Could you be overly focused on this one event?
Could it be that there has been rumbling beneath the surface for years that had been dismissed by petulant social media users?
Could it be that this concept that ESO does not support its solo players festered long enough that it has found a path to the surface so those players are talking about it?
Could it be that ZOS irritated the wound when they said that they want to encourage grouping. When someone says they encourage something, that usually means they prefer it. (Seriously, Night Market should have been billed as an alternative form of a dungeon. People would not be upset about a dungeon requiring grouping.)

I think it could be. Most solo players are not followers in my opinion. This is why they do not enjoy grouping. I think they do not like to lead and do not like to follow; they enjoy pounding out their own path in a game. It would be unlikely that such a personality would jump in with a group even when it game to what they are willing to believe. I think it is not a mob mentality spreading but rather honest feeling that has reached a point were players want to talk about it.

There are members of the fora that will pounce an attack on the posters they don't agree with so that does limit how much people are willing to reach out. Some won't even try to discuss it; they will just quietly leave their sub to run out and go play something that doesn't make them feel like every fora thread is a PvP zone.

There is an undercurrent of 'go to the fora and relate your view' in the chat right now. I am not surprised at all that players are starting to do this. I think everyone should feel comfortable expressing their experiences with the game here.

spartaxoxo · 2:38PM

shadoza wrote: »

Could it be that this concept that ESO does not support its solo players festered long enough that it has found a path to the surface so those players are talking about it?

The majority of the content for the past several years has been solo content? Do you have any specific examples of why solo players may have felt this way? Is it moreso maybe the lack of casual content rather than group size? For example, they cut the Q4 DLC and replaced it with IA a couple years back? IA is designed to be solo content too but it's not particularly casual solo.

shadoza wrote: »

Could it be that ZOS irritated the wound when they said that they want to encourage grouping. When someone says they encourage something, that usually means they prefer it. (Seriously, Night Market should have been billed as an alternative form of a dungeon. People would not be upset about a dungeon requiring grouping.)

It's not an alternative form of a dungeon but it was billed as replacing the dungeon content for this year. Hence the confusion why this event would be where it would explode. As people are essentially upset that the "dungeon" content for this year requires a group.

AScarlato · 2:39PM

shadoza wrote: »

spartaxoxo wrote: »

It's amazing to me how a singular update not catered to solo players during the quarter that has literally never catered to solo players has suddenly become ZOS abandoning solo players. And it's not any one person, it's a sentiment being expressed many places. I have no idea where this is coming from but quarter 1 has literally not been solo content for like 10 years.

It really shows the power of ideas when they spread through groups.

Anyway for anyone worried about this, remember much of the rest of the year will be solo friendly content. And that quarter 1 has always been dungeons. I hope the sage's vault is as fun as it sounds on paper.

Could you be overly focused on this one event?

Could you?

There are thousands of hours of solo quests in this game and most events are meant for soloing. I think the rest of this year which are questlines and solo-dungeons are for solo players. Once in a while group and PvP players are thrown an event and the PvP events get complaints too.

AzuraFan · 3:00PM

AScarlato wrote: »

There are thousands of hours of solo quests in this game...

Yes, there's a lot of story content. The problem is that you aren't rewarded for repeating it. Dungeons, trials, and arenas have the sticker book. Daily dungeons have transmutes, and if you do the undaunted quests, you get keys.

The game offers absolutely no incentive to repeat the zone story content (main and side quests). Once a player has completed it, unless they want to repeat it on an alt (and since AwA, you don't even get achievements for doing so), there's no reason to do it again.

I don't have anything against the Night Market, and I'm not upset about it, so I don't care that a zone was added for groups (though I do object to "encourage grouping" - come on, it's 2026. Get over it, already!). But this notion that, hey, you solo players have a ton to do. Look at all the quests!!! Where's the incentive to do them once you've done them once? If there were no rewards for repeating group content except 20g and a piece of overland gear, only the diehards would ever repeat the content. But solo players are told they should be happy that they can repeat the same content for virtually zero reward.

There's only a ton of stuff for NEW solo players to do. A lot of solo players who have been here for a while don't have much to do.

Having said that, perhaps solo content coming later this year will have a repeatable REWARDABLE element to it. The story content will not. Maybe some other stuff will.

My message to ZOS: The bulk of the solo content in this game is questing, so figure out how to entice people to repeat it. Unfortunately you threw out a system that was an incentive (achievements), and you didn't replace it with anything.

And to posters who trot out the tired old, "But look at all the solo quests!!!!!" If you wouldn't repeat content for zero rewards, don't expect solo players to do so.

AScarlato · 3:05PM

AzuraFan wrote: »

AScarlato wrote: »

There are thousands of hours of solo quests in this game...

Yes, there's a lot of story content. The problem is that you aren't rewarded for repeating it. Dungeons, trials, and arenas have the sticker book. Daily dungeons have transmutes, and if you do the undaunted quests, you get keys.

The game offers absolutely no incentive to repeat the zone story content (main and side quests). Once a player has completed it, unless they want to repeat it on an alt (and since AwA, you don't even get achievements for doing so), there's no reason to do it again.

I don't have anything against the Night Market, and I'm not upset about it, so I don't care that a zone was added for groups (though I do object to "encourage grouping" - come on, it's 2026. Get over it, already!). But this notion that, hey, you solo players have a ton to do. Look at all the quests!!! Where's the incentive to do them once you've done them once? If there were no rewards for repeating group content except 20g and a piece of overland gear, only the diehards would ever repeat the content. But solo players are told they should be happy that they can repeat the same content for virtually zero reward.

There's only a ton of stuff for NEW solo players to do. A lot of solo players who have been here for a while don't have much to do.

Having said that, perhaps solo content coming later this year will have a repeatable REWARDABLE element to it. The story content will not. Maybe some other stuff will.

My message to ZOS: The bulk of the solo content in this game is questing, so figure out how to entice people to repeat it. Unfortunately you threw out a system that was an incentive (achievements), and you didn't replace it with anything.

And to posters who trot out the tired old, "But look at all the solo quests!!!!!" If you wouldn't repeat content for zero rewards, don't expect solo players to do so.

Now that the sticker book is curated it likely takes far less time to complete your stickbook for the few sets people care about than there is solo content. Collecting every set that will never be used for no reason other than collector's sakes I am sure appeals to some but not others. There are also solo overland sets to collect too, so there is that I suppose.

Most dungeons have no meaningful reason to return either unless some set is meta at the moment.

As far as there being a ton of stuff only for new players, that usually applies to most people in all MMOs regardless of interests. At some point you have all the gear and accumulated a stockpile or whatever stuff you need and there isn't much to look forward to once you play enough.

shadoza · 3:07PM

AScarlato wrote: »

shadoza wrote: »

spartaxoxo wrote: »

It's amazing to me how a singular update not catered to solo players during the quarter that has literally never catered to solo players has suddenly become ZOS abandoning solo players. And it's not any one person, it's a sentiment being expressed many places. I have no idea where this is coming from but quarter 1 has literally not been solo content for like 10 years.

It really shows the power of ideas when they spread through groups.

Anyway for anyone worried about this, remember much of the rest of the year will be solo friendly content. And that quarter 1 has always been dungeons. I hope the sage's vault is as fun as it sounds on paper.

Could you be overly focused on this one event?

Could you?

There are thousands of hours of solo quests in this game and most events are meant for soloing. I think the rest of this year which are questlines and solo-dungeons are for solo players. Once in a while group and PvP players are thrown an event and the PvP events get complaints too.

I could be, but I am not.
Do you realize that there is very little content that a grouped player cannot access?
That PvP is unbalanced because of enhanced group dungeon rewards?

AScarlato · 3:09PM

shadoza wrote: »

AScarlato wrote: »

shadoza wrote: »

spartaxoxo wrote: »

It's amazing to me how a singular update not catered to solo players during the quarter that has literally never catered to solo players has suddenly become ZOS abandoning solo players. And it's not any one person, it's a sentiment being expressed many places. I have no idea where this is coming from but quarter 1 has literally not been solo content for like 10 years.

It really shows the power of ideas when they spread through groups.

Anyway for anyone worried about this, remember much of the rest of the year will be solo friendly content. And that quarter 1 has always been dungeons. I hope the sage's vault is as fun as it sounds on paper.

Could you be overly focused on this one event?

Could you?

There are thousands of hours of solo quests in this game and most events are meant for soloing. I think the rest of this year which are questlines and solo-dungeons are for solo players. Once in a while group and PvP players are thrown an event and the PvP events get complaints too.

I could be, but I am not.
Do you realize that there is very little content that a grouped player cannot access?
That PvP is unbalanced because of enhanced group dungeon rewards?

You have access to groups, you just don't want to. So don't. But that is your choice and MMOs can't design only content for solo players if they want to maintain interest. ESO has never ONLY had content for solo players and that's how it should be.

BagOfBadgers · 3:14PM

AzuraFan wrote: »

AScarlato wrote: »

There are thousands of hours of solo quests in this game...

Yes, there's a lot of story content. The problem is that you aren't rewarded for repeating it. Dungeons, trials, and arenas have the sticker book. Daily dungeons have transmutes, and if you do the undaunted quests, you get keys.

The game offers absolutely no incentive to repeat the zone story content (main and side quests). Once a player has completed it, unless they want to repeat it on an alt (and since AwA, you don't even get achievements for doing so), there's no reason to do it again.

I don't have anything against the Night Market, and I'm not upset about it, so I don't care that a zone was added for groups (though I do object to "encourage grouping" - come on, it's 2026. Get over it, already!). But this notion that, hey, you solo players have a ton to do. Look at all the quests!!! Where's the incentive to do them once you've done them once? If there were no rewards for repeating group content except 20g and a piece of overland gear, only the diehards would ever repeat the content. But solo players are told they should be happy that they can repeat the same content for virtually zero reward.

There's only a ton of stuff for NEW solo players to do. A lot of solo players who have been here for a while don't have much to do.

Having said that, perhaps solo content coming later this year will have a repeatable REWARDABLE element to it. The story content will not. Maybe some other stuff will.

My message to ZOS: The bulk of the solo content in this game is questing, so figure out how to entice people to repeat it. Unfortunately you threw out a system that was an incentive (achievements), and you didn't replace it with anything.

And to posters who trot out the tired old, "But look at all the solo quests!!!!!" If you wouldn't repeat content for zero rewards, don't expect solo players to do so.

I have done the main story on all of my toons and most of the DLC overworld content also. I have the compleat sets for nearly all group/solo content and yet I keep coming back to it all, beacause to me that's fun. I don't RP, housing, much PvP as it's not, too me.

AzuraFan · 3:34PM

AScarlato wrote: »

Now that the sticker book is curated it likely takes far less time to complete your stickbook for the few sets people care about than there is solo content. Collecting every set that will never be used for no reason other than collector's sakes I am sure appeals to some but not others. There are also solo overland sets to collect too, so there is that I suppose.

But there's still an incentive to repeat the dungeons, even though that incentive will eventually complete (and after that, there are still transmutes for players who want them). There's no incentive to repeat solo story content. Yes, there are players who love the lore, or who want to do it anyway. But there are other players (like me) who don't want to listen to the same dialogue and do the same story they're already familiar with, for no reward. Before AwA, getting an achievement on an alt was enough for me to repeat. But they took that away.

As far as there being a ton of stuff only for new players, that usually applies to most people in all MMOs regardless of interests. At some point you have all the gear and accumulated a stockpile or whatever stuff you need and there isn't much to look forward to once you play enough.

Agreed. I was just pointing out that people are telling solo players, "Hey, there's a lot for you to do. Look at all the quests!!!!" Which is absolutely true for new players, but not for longstanding players.

BagOfBadgers wrote: »

I have done the main story on all of my toons and most of the DLC overworld content also. I have the compleat sets for nearly all group/solo content and yet I keep coming back to it all, beacause to me that's fun. I don't RP, housing, much PvP as it's not, too me.

That's great. Of course there are players like you. For me, I'm not the type to read the same book several times, or watch the same movie several times, with very few exceptions. So I need some reason to repeat the content beyond seeing it again.

My point wasn't that nobody repeats story quests. My point was that there's a lot of solo quests in the game (though not thousands of hours - I have less than that in playtime and I completed the bulk of the story quests long ago. I think I finished just before Necrom was released), but for some of us, there's no incentive to repeat them. Give me an incentive and sure, I'll do them again. For example, why not do something similar that was done for the Night Market - reward a base house at some point, then add wings as more zone story quests are repeated. Something. Anything.

There needs to be an incentive (beyond personal satisfaction, which will appeal to a few, but not others), to repeat story content, just like there are incentives to repeat group content.

twisttop138 · 3:39PM

AScarlato wrote: »

shadoza wrote: »

spartaxoxo wrote: »

It's amazing to me how a singular update not catered to solo players during the quarter that has literally never catered to solo players has suddenly become ZOS abandoning solo players. And it's not any one person, it's a sentiment being expressed many places. I have no idea where this is coming from but quarter 1 has literally not been solo content for like 10 years.

It really shows the power of ideas when they spread through groups.

Anyway for anyone worried about this, remember much of the rest of the year will be solo friendly content. And that quarter 1 has always been dungeons. I hope the sage's vault is as fun as it sounds on paper.

Could you be overly focused on this one event?

Could you?

There are thousands of hours of solo quests in this game and most events are meant for soloing. I think the rest of this year which are questlines and solo-dungeons are for solo players. Once in a while group and PvP players are thrown an event and the PvP events get complaints too.

Calling all players who like grouping "followers" is peak trolling. But that's all that ever gets responded by said player. Trolling. Wild patently false statements that get people going so they can call you aggressive trolls, elites secretly working with Zos to keep the solo player down. And over and over it goes. I would try not to get baited.