Felt like the mode was wasting my time. Too much dead space waiting between spawns/rounds. Instead of Normal/Vet like everything else, every playthrough forces you through beginner mode with Arc 1 which doesn't even spawn the Marauder for the loot you need.

Which is a shame because this style of arena PvE could otherwise be enjoyable for me. Like if I could've selected Vet Mode and started at Arc 3 it would've actually been fun.

I have to agree with the need for a save function.
It really would be gold to get that for IA.

I have gotten to arc 10-12 a few times, which I have been really happy with, but all the times I had to stop because of time constraints. It is ofc possible I wouldn't have been able to push that much further, but it still felt really annoying that there was no option to even try to coordinate with my run-partner if we should meet up and proceed later.
And for solo runs, I barely bother with them anymore. It just doesn't feel worth it. I don't have much time these days, so even though I'd really like to play an hour of IA and then come back later, or the next day, I can't without a save function, so I skip it entirely and play another game instead. It would be really nice to be able to work on a solo run at my own leisure, without constantly feeling so busy.

Hi everyone,
I wanted to share some thoughts on the Infinite Archive. To be honest, it has quickly become my absolute favorite content in the entire game. I love the challenge, the unpredictability, and the solo/duo dynamic. However, as much as I adore it, I believe there is always room for improvement to make it even more legendary as we look toward the future.

Beyond just mechanics, I would especially love to see new Class Sets introduced regularly, along with exclusive Class Set Skins (visual variants) to give us more ways to customize our characters' identity.

I’ve put together a "Wishlist" of concepts and quality-of-life improvements that I think would take the Archive to the next level. I’d love to hear what the community and the devs think about these ideas!

◾ New Mechanic: Seasonal Blessings
Beyond Verses and Visions, I propose a new layer called "Blessings."
These would be themed after the current season (exemple : Season of Sheogorath).
You pick one at the start, and it stays with you for the entire run, providing a unique gameplay hook.

◾ Expansion of Class Sets

New Sets: Regularly adding new Class Sets to keep build diversity fresh.

Class Set Skins: Introduce "Prestige Skins" for these sets—unique visual effects or recolors that you can unlock by reaching high Arcs or completing seasonal achievements.

◾ New Boss Variations (Breaking the Monotony)

To keep Arc 4+ feeling fresh, it would be amazing to have new bosses added to the rotation alongside Th'Oat.

Sheogorath Boss Concept: A fight focused on "Madness" where he could temporarily invert your movement controls,split the screen, forcing you to adapt your positioning quickly.

◾ High-Arc Scaling

For the dedicated pushers, I feel the enemy damage scaling could be slightly adjusted after Arc 10 for exemple. The goal would be to make the challenge more about managing mechanics rather than inevitable one-shots.

◾ The "Archive’s Oath" Set (Craftable Idea)
I’ve been imagining a dedicated set for Archive enthusiasts:

(5 items) Passive: Increases the effectiveness of all your Visions and Seasonal Blessings by 25%.
(5 items) Active: Using a Synergy grants "Echo of the Archive" for 10s. During this, 50% of your Critical Damage is dealt again as Pure Magic Damage (ignoring all resistances).

◾ A Sustainable "Save & Resume" System

Long runs are epic, but life happens! I propose a way to suspend a run with strict rules to keep it fair:

Rest Area Saves: Only possible between Arcs at the Index.

Daily Expiration: Saves must be resumed before the next Daily Reset, or they are lost.
Partner Lock: In Duos, you must finish with the same partner (to prevent "carrying" services).

Crash Protection: A 20-minute window to rejoin if you suffer a disconnect or server crash.

◾ Prestige & Leaderboard Rewards

I think the rewards should be more immediate and prestigious:

Milestone Rewards: Reach the Top 10% and instantly receive a Legendary Class Set piece.

Seasonal Cosmetics: Top 1% players could earn tokens for exclusive cosmetics (or Class Set Skins) at the Gold Coast Trading Company.

End-of-Season Glory: The Global Rank 1 player could have a temporary statue of their character placed in the Archive lobby for the following season.

◾ New "Slottable" Champion Points

Archive’s Fortitude (Red): Gain extra Armor for every defensive Vision active.

Echoing Strikes (Blue): Light attacks have a chance to "echo" for 30% additional damage.

Resourceful Infinite (Green): Reduces the cost of rerolling Visions by 50%.

The Infinite Archive is already a masterpiece, but with a few tweaks, new sets, and seasonal rotations, I think it could stay relevant for years to come. What do you all think?
See you in the Arcs!

spartaxoxo wrote: »

IA needs new mini games, new stage designs, and a save function. I'd also like to see some of the newer quest, trial, and dungeon bosses added into the place. I don't particularly want new fabled or marauders though. Just because I think it would take time away from the other new stuff that I think would be more important, like the save function being more important imo.

I would adore some new mini games in IA! Maybe something with the grappling mechanic that is elsewhere in the game? Something similar to the organ stomp mechanic in the Naj Caldeesh? I've always thought there should be something with stealth, maybe avoiding patrolling Watchlings. Or maybe something like the moving lazer gates in Graven Deep?

MrCray78 wrote: »

◾ A Sustainable "Save & Resume" System

Long runs are epic, but life happens! I propose a way to suspend a run with strict rules to keep it fair:

Rest Area Saves: Only possible between Arcs at the Index.

Daily Expiration: Saves must be resumed before the next Daily Reset, or they are lost.
Partner Lock: In Duos, you must finish with the same partner (to prevent "carrying" services).

Crash Protection: A 20-minute window to rejoin if you suffer a disconnect or server crash.

No to the daily expiration. What if you can only play on weekends? What if you save on Monday but you're not able to play on Tuesday? Not everyone can game every day. Make it weekly and I'm with you.

I'd also want the ability to save between cycles. An arc is too long. If we're going to have a save system, don't hamper it with all these artificial restrictions that make it awful.

We need a save as a player safety feature. Long periods of physical inactivity are detrimental to our health and the fact that players have to engage in this unhealthy practice to advance through the Archive really needs to be changed.

Bguk wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

We need a save as a player safety feature. Long periods of physical inactivity are detrimental to our health and the fact that players have to engage in this unhealthy practice to advance through the Archive really needs to be changed.

While I agree a save feature would be great for quality of life and player satisfaction, I disagree with this reason why.

I can see this as a rabbit hole where games may start implementing play timers. As an example, if I am recalling correct, the recommendation is to take 10 minutes off of screen time each hour for one's eye health. Will a game then lock you out after 50 minutes for player health? I hope not. I'd rather be in charge of my health decisions, thanks.

I'm not saying they should enforce a play time. Players are responsible to monitor their own activity. But they shouldn't create a system that takes the choice from the player and requires unsafe practices to advance, and that is what this does.

I'll never farm IA for the simple reason the rewards are worthless and the time it takes to get the class gear isn't even remotely justifiable. My time is worth more than ZOS thinks it is.

SilverBride wrote: »

Bguk wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

We need a save as a player safety feature. Long periods of physical inactivity are detrimental to our health and the fact that players have to engage in this unhealthy practice to advance through the Archive really needs to be changed.

While I agree a save feature would be great for quality of life and player satisfaction, I disagree with this reason why.

I can see this as a rabbit hole where games may start implementing play timers. As an example, if I am recalling correct, the recommendation is to take 10 minutes off of screen time each hour for one's eye health. Will a game then lock you out after 50 minutes for player health? I hope not. I'd rather be in charge of my health decisions, thanks.

I'm not saying they should enforce a play time. Players are responsible to monitor their own activity. But they shouldn't create a system that takes the choice from the player and requires unsafe practices to advance, and that is what this does.

Thank you for the clarification, that I can agree with. I worry when anyone brings up things such as player health because I see future scenarios where governments may impose health laws that companies must comply with. I don't trust lol.

I'm not interested in a save feature, personally, but I can understand that others are. I guess I wouldn't mind a weekly per-character lock, if it was opt-in.

Personally, I'd like to see more side-room puzzles and more collectibles. Maybe some more enemy types, too.

As a resident IA enjoyer, I'll throw in a few things I'd like to see of my own.

New permanent upgrades and new temporary upgrades as a fortune sink:
Pretty simple, it's fun to chase for extra power to make your next runs easier or more convenient. We recently got the option to re-roll visions for a cost, so a new upgrade could iterate on that. For example it could grant one free re-roll per arc. Another repeatable purchasable reward could be a single pick of any vision of your choice to start a run with.

New target dummy reward for home owners:
This one was inspired by seeing Tho'At as a target dummy in store but it would be nice to be able to have a IA specialized target dummy that lets you interact with it to simulate any possible setup of verses and visions to test your DPS on your build assuming you want to bring that build in IA. That would help decide what sets you want to bring in for the specific purpose of IA since it uses its own special rules where some sets become uniquely great in the new context.

Fix companion taunt targetting:
Just a simple bug fix. It's so annoying to order my companion to focus on a Marauder to just watch them walk up to them, say hello and do nothing the entire time.

New customizable mythic idea from archive:
A fun aspect of a repeatable dungeon is to be able to bring some of its power into your adventures (with restrictions) so maybe the idea of unlocking a mythic that you can attune from inside the archive to mimic the power of one verse/vision of your choice from a curated selection and efficacy could be a nice addition (don't want an actual full power focused effort out into the wild, not that we don't already have the Shattered Path Signet for that).

New class styles:
I like cosmetic options, I'd like new imagined looks for each class to chase.

Hard Mode Banner on Tho'At:
For those who want a harder fight for greater rewards, give us a more difficult version of the fight with a few more mechanics. Could be an interesting chase too for an achievement and new title.

More interesting branching choices, not just from verses and visions:
Of course I would like more verses and visions, even if it dillutes the pool of getting the ones we want, but I'd also want to see more choices to make across the board and sometimes with a bit of an attached curse, say a super strong verse but also comes with a risk to yourself. Could also be that sometimes you get lucky and you get 2 portals to the cycle boss and you get to choose which boss you're gonna face, or with the addition of new biomes maybe portals to choose which biome to explore.

SirBanana1992 wrote: »

As a resident IA enjoyer, I'll throw in a few things I'd like to see of my own.

New permanent upgrades and new temporary upgrades as a fortune sink:
Pretty simple, it's fun to chase for extra power to make your next runs easier or more convenient. We recently got the option to re-roll visions for a cost, so a new upgrade could iterate on that. For example it could grant one free re-roll per arc. Another repeatable purchasable reward could be a single pick of any vision of your choice to start a run with.

Whoa, I really like this!