Update: The Warden and Class Refresh

ZhuJiuyin · September 2

@ZOS_Kevin @ZOS_JessicaFolsom We all understand the impact of layoffs and hope yous can weather this difficult time. But I think many people are curious about why decided to postpone Sorc updates until after the Templar update. Because you said, "To get the classes out as quickly and effectively as we’re able to…"
Does this mean that refreshing Sorc is encountering difficulties, such as design philosophy or underlying code, and therefore requires more time to resolve these issues?

It would be great if you could provide a clear explanation, like you do with the Warden refresh.

FabresFour · September 2

ZhuJiuyin wrote: »

@ZOS_Kevin @ZOS_JessicaFolsom We all understand the impact of layoffs and hope yous can weather this difficult time. But I think many people are curious about why decided to postpone Sorc updates until after the Templar update. Because you said, "To get the classes out as quickly and effectively as we’re able to…"
Does this mean that refreshing Sorc is encountering difficulties, such as design philosophy or underlying code, and therefore requires more time to resolve these issues?

It would be great if you could provide a clear explanation, like you do with the Warden refresh.

Let me throw a thought out there: while the Templar rework revolves around character animations, visual effects in general, and balancing, the Sorcerer has all of that plus the reinterpretation of its pets.

I imagine reworking those pets—giving them a newer, more interesting model, while still keeping their gameplay fun and everything else that comes with it—is a pretty major complication for the Sorcerer class.

Personally, the Sorcerer rework is the one I’m most interested in seeing, precisely because it seems like the most complicated one from an overall scope perspective. It’s a very interesting class conceptually, and there are so many different ways it could be modernized—which makes it significantly more complex to work on than any of the other classes. Maybe only the Warden comes close, because of all the different animals involved, plus the bear... And, well, the Warden got a massive delay because of the amount of work involved.

I imagine Templar and Nightblade are two classes that are relatively much easier to rework on compared to Sorcerer.

StrandedMonkey · September 2

betty netch being downgraded to the visuals of an arcanist crux feels like a step in the wrong direction - would it be ironic to say that the new animation looks lifeless?

gonna miss the little guy following me around but i guess its for the better

goodbye sweet prince it was a good 10 years

Pinktraining · September 2

FabresFour wrote: »

ZhuJiuyin wrote: »

@ZOS_Kevin @ZOS_JessicaFolsom We all understand the impact of layoffs and hope yous can weather this difficult time. But I think many people are curious about why decided to postpone Sorc updates until after the Templar update. Because you said, "To get the classes out as quickly and effectively as we’re able to…"
Does this mean that refreshing Sorc is encountering difficulties, such as design philosophy or underlying code, and therefore requires more time to resolve these issues?

It would be great if you could provide a clear explanation, like you do with the Warden refresh.

Let me throw a thought out there: while the Templar rework revolves around character animations, visual effects in general, and balancing, the Sorcerer has all of that plus the reinterpretation of its pets.

I imagine reworking those pets—giving them a newer, more interesting model, while still keeping their gameplay fun and everything else that comes with it—is a pretty major complication for the Sorcerer class.

Personally, the Sorcerer rework is the one I’m most interested in seeing, precisely because it seems like the most complicated one from an overall scope perspective. It’s a very interesting class conceptually, and there are so many different ways it could be modernized—which makes it significantly more complex to work on than any of the other classes. Maybe only the Warden comes close, because of all the different animals involved, plus the bear... And, well, the Warden got a massive delay because of the amount of work involved.

I imagine Templar and Nightblade are two classes that are relatively much easier to rework on compared to Sorcerer.

I recall someone compiling a list suggesting that each of Sorc's abilities has hidden cast time or flight time, which explains the cumbersome experience of using abilities like Liquid Lightning—these hidden extra times are hard-coded into the animation.

However, aside from Warden, ZOS should have explained the rationale behind the spawn order of each class (and the reasons for subsequent changes) to players from the beginning, instead of letting players speculate or complain.

For example, if the Necromancer's spawn time is so late because they wanted to use Sorc to test things out, such as pet AI, summoner gameplay (or to avoid the Necromancer's style overlapping with Sorc's), then ZOS should have clearly explained the reasons for this arrangement to players.

Wolfchild07 · September 2

Good that those ugly shalks are going, but ww is garbage now, so I don’t care too much anyway.

Nemesis7884 · September 2

Looks great! And you can feel the passion of all the zos employees...my fear is just that this refresh will take way too long and the reality of the situation will catch up with this timeline.... Arena Net has twice the employees now and the gw3 beta will start next fall...and 2028 is the expected TES VI launch...
I think it would serve eso well if they accelerate the class refresh timeline as much as they can...

Firstmep · September 2

After taking a closer look at especially the videos, I have to say I am not in completely love with the new animations.
The 2 main ones I don't like is scorch, here the damage and the animation seem completely out of sync and the overall visual feedback for the skill seems way to toned down.

As for spriggan, so we basically summon a spriggan which summons butterflies? I really don't like it either visually, nor functionally, you basically make a 1 step skill into multiple steps. The spriggan doesn't stay around to keep healing it just does 1 skill and that's it.
Dive and it's morphs are already mostly unused due to the long time it takes for the "projectile" to land, this is the same delayed sluggish principle being applied here.

I do like the glowing vines in the pictures, please keep those and scrap the butterflies.

CAB_Life · September 2

Changes look decent, but my subscription expires in January and I shan’t be renewing until I see A.) If the team can deliver on a reasonable timeline and B.) If there are more layoffs next year.

Not trying to be negative or a pessimist, just a realist given ZOS’s history with overpromising and underdelivering and the general climate of game development these days.

I do appreciate that they’re moving Templar up, as I imagine the pet classes require more work with vfx and mechanics. Necro in particular needs a complete overhaul imo. This whole, “let’s reinvent the wheel and have a summoner class with no permanent summons” thing has not worked.

Turtle_Bot · September 2

@ZOS_Kevin thanks for posting the link to the article, definitely some interesting stuff here, with a few issues that some like @React have pointed out already (so I won't bother repeating).

I also hope that with the team looking to take on board feedback for future refreshes that the team can try to find a good balance between making things fun to use, feel powerful but also not feel overwhelming.
It is a hard point to reach but I think as long as the team can put forward their intentions/reasons for why some of the more debated things are designed the way they are, that would help those of us genuinely trying to give constructive and informed feedback a better understanding of the underlying intentions/goals that we can then give feedback to try and work towards instead of having to try and speculate and just throw things at the wall hoping we maybe get something right.

FabresFour wrote: »

ZhuJiuyin wrote: »

@ZOS_Kevin @ZOS_JessicaFolsom We all understand the impact of layoffs and hope yous can weather this difficult time. But I think many people are curious about why decided to postpone Sorc updates until after the Templar update. Because you said, "To get the classes out as quickly and effectively as we’re able to…"
Does this mean that refreshing Sorc is encountering difficulties, such as design philosophy or underlying code, and therefore requires more time to resolve these issues?

It would be great if you could provide a clear explanation, like you do with the Warden refresh.

Let me throw a thought out there: while the Templar rework revolves around character animations, visual effects in general, and balancing, the Sorcerer has all of that plus the reinterpretation of its pets.

I imagine reworking those pets—giving them a newer, more interesting model, while still keeping their gameplay fun and everything else that comes with it—is a pretty major complication for the Sorcerer class.

Personally, the Sorcerer rework is the one I’m most interested in seeing, precisely because it seems like the most complicated one from an overall scope perspective. It’s a very interesting class conceptually, and there are so many different ways it could be modernized—which makes it significantly more complex to work on than any of the other classes. Maybe only the Warden comes close, because of all the different animals involved, plus the bear... And, well, the Warden got a massive delay because of the amount of work involved.

I imagine Templar and Nightblade are two classes that are relatively much easier to rework on compared to Sorcerer.

I will say that while this is the most likely reason for pushing Sorcerers refresh back, it would still be nice to hear it from ZOS themselves though so that we don't have to speculate.

As for Sorcerers refresh being pushed back itself, I don't mind it since I would rather ZOS get it right than try to rush it out and mess it up, but it would be nice to have an official reason from ZOS.

Pinktraining wrote: »

I recall someone compiling a list suggesting that each of Sorc's abilities has hidden cast time or flight time, which explains the cumbersome experience of using abilities like Liquid Lightning—these hidden extra times are hard-coded into the animation.

However, aside from Warden, ZOS should have explained the rationale behind the spawn order of each class (and the reasons for subsequent changes) to players from the beginning, instead of letting players speculate or complain.

For example, if the Necromancer's spawn time is so late because they wanted to use Sorc to test things out, such as pet AI, summoner gameplay (or to avoid the Necromancer's style overlapping with Sorc's), then ZOS should have clearly explained the reasons for this arrangement to players.

I'm probably not the first person to post about this issue (hidden cast times/animation delays) Sorcerer (and some other classes abilities) has, but it is a consistent frustration for the class that often gets completely overlooked in most discussions.

Seeing a statement from ZOS that its being acknowledged/the team is aware of it, would definitely be nice.

disky · September 2

noblecron wrote: »

I do have a suggestion for the betty netch. Keep like how you want it but give us a skill style that turns it into a nixad. Then those who like the netch cna have the netch and those who want something else can have something else. For morrowind animals, skill styles of those and the bears please as I know some who do love the morrowind theme

Honestly, if I were a Morrowind-themed Warden, I think it could be really cool to have an alit or kagouti instead of a bear.

Hymzir · September 2

Hate the Griffon. Besides, Scorch is a ground-based attack; why does it have an aerial animation? It also looks way too distracting and prime candidate to be culled by the FX filter feature.

It would make some sense as a skill style for Dive, but even so... It still looks excessively flashy and distracting. And all you are really doing is changing the skill from a primarily eastern biome summon to a western biome summon. It will still feel just as out of place for just as many characters as the current one.

And the Netch thing...? Arcanist get the buff for simply slabbing a skill on one of their bar; does this mean we still have to micromanage the thing for ours? At least make it last a full minute or something. I get that DKs still need to re-apply theirs, but that comes with group synergy, so I can understand why that was kept. But pls, remove some of the micromanagement from buffs going forward.

All that aside, the real issues is that the Netch is even more Morrowind-themed than Shalks. I also do not like the new hovering animation, and find it actually more distracting than the old beam partner. I never liked having to have a tag-along netch that I had to be constantly refreshing, but at least it was pretty obvious and hard to miss when it wasn't up anymore, which helped in maintaining the buffs it provided. In all honesty, you should prolly ditch the skill and move the buffs to another skill line. Animal Companions is such a no-brainer one-stop shop for sub-classing that you could redistribute the goodies it contains a bit. Would really appreciate some proper ice-themed source for the buff, and not just a Netch that looks like it has a cold.

Not a fan of the Spriggan either. What role would it serve? What function would it provide? It's also yet another visual clutter thing. And if it is just FX and not a real summon, then why have it at all? A Spriggan summon would suit plenty of builds, but a distracting, large visual FX for some random buff? No thanks.

The thing is that the visual 'refresh' is a two-edged blade. Yes, there are bound to be people who will find the change cool and make their experience better for it, but...You will also anger and disappoint some by getting rid of the animations they are used to. Just remind yourself that a large portion of us are still hopping mad for making Templar jabs look like garbage. These things matter.

I will be really miffed if I have to switch over to this new and stupid griffon thing. While the current scorch animation does not really fit the look of my Warden either, I still truly prefer having it rather than some stupid griffon emerging from a distracting portal. I've grown rather fond of the orange glow version I have from a skill style - what will happen to that once the refresh goes live? Don't tell me it will just turn the Griffon orange going forward... THAT WOULD BE UNACCEPTABLE!

- ahem - Anyway...

I hope you realise that ultimately the graphics are a secondary issue. What really matters is the mechanics behind the skills. Releasing at least a beta build of that on the PTS should be the primary goal for the refresh project. The visuals can wait.

And besides, all that animation stuff is far better handled via the skill style system. You've already implemented some truly different skill styles via that system, demonstrating it can go beyond simple re-rolors. Skill styles should be the primary method for any new animations. Let those who like the old animations keep their existing and established looks.

You already destroyed the poison-based toxin-doctor look of my original DK by turning the class to all flame and nothing but flame, Pls, don't muck up my warden Ice Queen look while replacing the visuals of the class.

SolidBeast · September 2

RaidingTraiding wrote: »

I'm not a fan of the new scorch. I really liked the beetles, it was an iconic look for warden. Also this new design looks like it could be very clunky. IMO gryphons are overused and I never really liked how ESO gryphons look to begin with. I honestly thought it was cutting dive / screaming cliff racer when I first glanced at it, and honestly that would be a better fit than scorch.

I don't like it either and I didn't realize it was scorch. The old scorch also has more of an impact than the gryphon just flying, which does not feel as crunchy at all. I was hoping for a more robust and flashy rework that emphasized speed and agility in combat, myself. I think the DK was an improvement, but the warden looks like more of the same with some reskins. Sorry, guys, I know you're working with limited resources and I don't want to feel like I'm kicking anyone while they're down, but this rework WIP just does not excite me visually.

MorganaBlue · September 2

Hymzir wrote: »

I hope you realise that ultimately the graphics are a secondary issue. What really matters is the mechanics behind the skills. Releasing at least a beta build of that on the PTS should be the primary goal for the refresh project. The visuals can wait.
.

This is the point at hand.
While the visuals are important (templar jabs docet), they are absolutely secondary to how the class performs in combat, and where it is will be comparison to the other classes.

There is zero information in regard, so while this update on the Warden refresh is welcome and needed, it's nothing but fluff. What changes are planned for its kit? What is being done for the Warden in terms of class balance?

ZOS_Erin · September 2

baratron wrote: »

Please keep the Bear!

love,
@baratron, and her four Wardens.

We will be keeping the Warden's bear, fear not!

And the team has also seen the requests for potentially offering skill styles for the Warden's ultimate to allow for other animals to be used instead of a bear. It is something we are actively discussing, but nothing has been solidified since we have to be very cognizant of animation memory.

Nemesis7884 · September 2

ZOS_Erin wrote: »

baratron wrote: »

Please keep the Bear!

love,
@baratron, and her four Wardens.

We will be keeping the Warden's bear, fear not!

And the team has also seen the requests for potentially offering skill styles for the Warden's ultimate to allow for other animals to be used instead of a bear. It is something we are actively discussing, but nothing has been solidified since we have to be very cognizant of animation memory.

Just ditch the support for that poc xbox s

ZOS_Kevin · September 2

ZhuJiuyin wrote: »

@ZOS_Kevin @ZOS_JessicaFolsom We all understand the impact of layoffs and hope yous can weather this difficult time. But I think many people are curious about why decided to postpone Sorc updates until after the Templar update. Because you said, "To get the classes out as quickly and effectively as we’re able to…"
Does this mean that refreshing Sorc is encountering difficulties, such as design philosophy or underlying code, and therefore requires more time to resolve these issues?

It would be great if you could provide a clear explanation, like you do with the Warden refresh.

That's a fair question. The swap is not due to difficulties. This is more on the effectiveness end of things. Sorc will need a bit more time in the visual effects/ arts departments than than Templar. Having that work done for Sorc right after Warden isn't the most effective for the team. So the adjustment was made.

This is also not to say Templar won't get a visual update. It will. It just most likely will not require a wider overall like Warden and Sorc.

IncultaWolf · September 2

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

ZOS_Erin wrote: »

baratron wrote: »

Please keep the Bear!

love,
@baratron, and her four Wardens.

We will be keeping the Warden's bear, fear not!

And the team has also seen the requests for potentially offering skill styles for the Warden's ultimate to allow for other animals to be used instead of a bear. It is something we are actively discussing, but nothing has been solidified since we have to be very cognizant of animation memory.

Just ditch the support for that poc xbox s

This. It's obvious between these refreshes that last gen consoles are holding them back with the hardware limitations.

noblecron · September 2

IncultaWolf wrote: »

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

ZOS_Erin wrote: »

baratron wrote: »

Please keep the Bear!

love,
@baratron, and her four Wardens.

We will be keeping the Warden's bear, fear not!

And the team has also seen the requests for potentially offering skill styles for the Warden's ultimate to allow for other animals to be used instead of a bear. It is something we are actively discussing, but nothing has been solidified since we have to be very cognizant of animation memory.

Just ditch the support for that poc xbox s

This. It's obvious between these refreshes that last gen consoles are holding them back with the hardware limitations.

As much as I hate excluding folk from playing I do kind of agree. It's reaching the point where it's getting harder to cater to older consoles. Maybe allow free account transfers or something with all their collectibles or something

Overamera · September 2

Why make scorch an aerial attack (gryphon) when we already have dive (cliff racer)?

I always liked scorch because it's and underground abilty than the opponent doesn't see and can't roll dodge unless he times it when he saw the opponent use the spell. This new aerial gryphon looks really easy to dodge.

Would have just been easier to swap the new spell for "Dive" as that's similar.

ItsNotLiving · September 2

Can’t wait for a million skill style threads about “Grrr I can’t summon shrimp? Won’t the developers think about the role play situation of my shellfish mage summoner?!?!”

Destai · September 2

ZOS_Erin wrote: »

baratron wrote: »

Please keep the Bear!

love,
@baratron, and her four Wardens.

We will be keeping the Warden's bear, fear not!

And the team has also seen the requests for potentially offering skill styles for the Warden's ultimate to allow for other animals to be used instead of a bear. It is something we are actively discussing, but nothing has been solidified since we have to be very cognizant of animation memory.

Can we get to a point where other players don't see the bear, like having it be either totally invisible or translucent? Much like Sorc pets, they're quite obstructive. At the very least, that'd be nice in towns.

You also take inspiration from GW2's Soulbeast Ranger specialization. It's a mechanic where the player merges with their pet. Perhaps a morph of the pet could do something similar here. It'd be nice to participate in that skill line without needing the obstructive bear.

Sadras · September 2

With these limitations and people's different wishes, it'd be really nice if we could get something like a moderate set of themed animations for the relvant skills, including the bear, to cater to a few core regional fantasies. Obviously I have no idea how these resources are planned out, but I'd like it if if people who like the old styles could keep them and alternatives were also offered so we could have like, the Morrowind experience, something to fit the gryphon, a wolf ultimate and maybe something more warm-climate in addition, overall enough for a forest/Bosmer-like/ranger fantasy, but perhaps keep the styling more subdued if tech budgets are an issue. E.g. I wouldn't mind if the Ultimate animals were all of about the same size, similar build (four-legged sturdy mammals) and behaviour, but different Wardens would still feel distinct with their companions. I personally don't need animation flahsbang with every fighting ability; I prefer old-school immersion in the world with somewhat realistic creatures (within the fantasy world).

Arunei · September 2

ZOS_Erin wrote: »

baratron wrote: »

Please keep the Bear!

love,
@baratron, and her four Wardens.

We will be keeping the Warden's bear, fear not!

And the team has also seen the requests for potentially offering skill styles for the Warden's ultimate to allow for other animals to be used instead of a bear. It is something we are actively discussing, but nothing has been solidified since we have to be very cognizant of animation memory.

At this rate, why won't the devs drop support for older systems and consoles? From what I understand that's one of the main limitations the game has with all this limited memory you have. It's going to get to a point where you can't add anything new to the game because it'll have hit its memory limitations. There needs to come a time where the devs need to bite the bullet and increase the game's minimum specs, otherwise the whole thing will be held back because of older tech.

ItsNotLiving · September 2

ZOS_Erin wrote: »

baratron wrote: »

Please keep the Bear!

love,
@baratron, and her four Wardens.

We will be keeping the Warden's bear, fear not!

And the team has also seen the requests for potentially offering skill styles for the Warden's ultimate to allow for other animals to be used instead of a bear. It is something we are actively discussing, but nothing has been solidified since we have to be very cognizant of animation memory.

Is the bear going to get a visual upgrade? I think he could use a little bit of a face lift.

DenverRalphy · September 2

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

ZOS_Erin wrote: »

baratron wrote: »

Please keep the Bear!

love,
@baratron, and her four Wardens.

We will be keeping the Warden's bear, fear not!

And the team has also seen the requests for potentially offering skill styles for the Warden's ultimate to allow for other animals to be used instead of a bear. It is something we are actively discussing, but nothing has been solidified since we have to be very cognizant of animation memory.

Just ditch the support for that poc xbox s

IncultaWolf wrote: »

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

ZOS_Erin wrote: »

baratron wrote: »

Please keep the Bear!

love,
@baratron, and her four Wardens.

We will be keeping the Warden's bear, fear not!

And the team has also seen the requests for potentially offering skill styles for the Warden's ultimate to allow for other animals to be used instead of a bear. It is something we are actively discussing, but nothing has been solidified since we have to be very cognizant of animation memory.

Just ditch the support for that poc xbox s

This. It's obvious between these refreshes that last gen consoles are holding them back with the hardware limitations.

I think you'd be surprised at how many PC rigs would be affected too. I'm relatively confident ZOS is accutely aware of what percentage of their playerbase would be negatively impacted by such a move.

Nemesis7884 · September 2

ItsNotLiving wrote: »

ZOS_Erin wrote: »

baratron wrote: »

Please keep the Bear!

love,
@baratron, and her four Wardens.

We will be keeping the Warden's bear, fear not!

And the team has also seen the requests for potentially offering skill styles for the Warden's ultimate to allow for other animals to be used instead of a bear. It is something we are actively discussing, but nothing has been solidified since we have to be very cognizant of animation memory.

Is the bear going to get a visual upgrade? I think he could use a little bit of a face lift.

it would be kinda nice to get one "normal" bear looking morph and the other morph looking more magical like the wild hunt bear to get either an "animal" or a "magical" option

Arunei · September 2

DenverRalphy wrote: »

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

ZOS_Erin wrote: »

baratron wrote: »

Please keep the Bear!

love,
@baratron, and her four Wardens.

We will be keeping the Warden's bear, fear not!

And the team has also seen the requests for potentially offering skill styles for the Warden's ultimate to allow for other animals to be used instead of a bear. It is something we are actively discussing, but nothing has been solidified since we have to be very cognizant of animation memory.

Just ditch the support for that poc xbox s

IncultaWolf wrote: »

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

ZOS_Erin wrote: »

baratron wrote: »

Please keep the Bear!

love,
@baratron, and her four Wardens.

We will be keeping the Warden's bear, fear not!

And the team has also seen the requests for potentially offering skill styles for the Warden's ultimate to allow for other animals to be used instead of a bear. It is something we are actively discussing, but nothing has been solidified since we have to be very cognizant of animation memory.

Just ditch the support for that poc xbox s

This. It's obvious between these refreshes that last gen consoles are holding them back with the hardware limitations.

I think you'd be surprised at how many PC rigs would be affected too. I'm relatively confident ZOS is accutely aware of what percentage of their playerbase would be negatively impacted by such a move.

Even so, a game can't keep trying to support older hardware at the expense of the game itself. There comes a point where minimum requirements need to be raised or else the game just keeps getting held back simply for the sake of running on older tech.

I know in this day and age a LOT of people can't afford to drop money on a decent gaming computer or the latest console. We've been told in the past one reason we haven't gotten new Classes or more Furniture slots is because of the limitations of older tech. However, one of the Suggestions that's been moved to Exploration is to increase the Furniture limits.

I can only think of a few things that means. Either they're looking to see what they might be able sacrifice to increase the limits, they're considering some way to increase the memory they have (which idk if that's possible to do since idk if it's external memory or an engine limitation), or they're considering dropping support for older hardware. I suppose a 4th option is they're trying to claw whatever memory they can from each Class refresh that could go to Housing.

Nemesis7884 · September 2

DenverRalphy wrote: »

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

ZOS_Erin wrote: »

baratron wrote: »

Please keep the Bear!

love,
@baratron, and her four Wardens.

We will be keeping the Warden's bear, fear not!

And the team has also seen the requests for potentially offering skill styles for the Warden's ultimate to allow for other animals to be used instead of a bear. It is something we are actively discussing, but nothing has been solidified since we have to be very cognizant of animation memory.

Just ditch the support for that poc xbox s

IncultaWolf wrote: »

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

ZOS_Erin wrote: »

baratron wrote: »

Please keep the Bear!

love,
@baratron, and her four Wardens.

We will be keeping the Warden's bear, fear not!

And the team has also seen the requests for potentially offering skill styles for the Warden's ultimate to allow for other animals to be used instead of a bear. It is something we are actively discussing, but nothing has been solidified since we have to be very cognizant of animation memory.

Just ditch the support for that poc xbox s

This. It's obvious between these refreshes that last gen consoles are holding them back with the hardware limitations.

I think you'd be surprised at how many PC rigs would be affected too. I'm relatively confident ZOS is accutely aware of what percentage of their playerbase would be negatively impacted by such a move.

i doubt that, on average ppl have a 3060 according to steam which performs way better than an S
https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/videocard/

honestly if your pc cant run a 10 year old game, thats your problem...

even the console update cycle has historically been 5-7 years.... and afaik the next xbox comes out 28 as well; and the only reason they postponed to from 27 afaik is that they hope the ai craze comes down a bit together with the memory prices...

IncultaWolf · September 2

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

DenverRalphy wrote: »

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

ZOS_Erin wrote: »

baratron wrote: »

Please keep the Bear!

love,
@baratron, and her four Wardens.

We will be keeping the Warden's bear, fear not!

And the team has also seen the requests for potentially offering skill styles for the Warden's ultimate to allow for other animals to be used instead of a bear. It is something we are actively discussing, but nothing has been solidified since we have to be very cognizant of animation memory.

Just ditch the support for that poc xbox s

IncultaWolf wrote: »

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

ZOS_Erin wrote: »

baratron wrote: »

Please keep the Bear!

love,
@baratron, and her four Wardens.

We will be keeping the Warden's bear, fear not!

And the team has also seen the requests for potentially offering skill styles for the Warden's ultimate to allow for other animals to be used instead of a bear. It is something we are actively discussing, but nothing has been solidified since we have to be very cognizant of animation memory.

Just ditch the support for that poc xbox s

This. It's obvious between these refreshes that last gen consoles are holding them back with the hardware limitations.

I think you'd be surprised at how many PC rigs would be affected too. I'm relatively confident ZOS is accutely aware of what percentage of their playerbase would be negatively impacted by such a move.

i doubt that, on average ppl have a 3060 according to steam which performs way better than an S
https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/videocard/

honestly if your pc cant run a 10 year old game, thats your problem...

Most important, the majority on that same survey have at least 16GB of RAM, while last gen consoles only have 8GB, with almost 2GB being reserved for the OS/UI. Seems like zos runs into memory limitations more than anything.

DenverRalphy · September 2

Arunei wrote: »

DenverRalphy wrote: »

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

ZOS_Erin wrote: »

baratron wrote: »

Please keep the Bear!

love,
@baratron, and her four Wardens.

We will be keeping the Warden's bear, fear not!

And the team has also seen the requests for potentially offering skill styles for the Warden's ultimate to allow for other animals to be used instead of a bear. It is something we are actively discussing, but nothing has been solidified since we have to be very cognizant of animation memory.

Just ditch the support for that poc xbox s

IncultaWolf wrote: »

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

ZOS_Erin wrote: »

baratron wrote: »

Please keep the Bear!

love,
@baratron, and her four Wardens.

We will be keeping the Warden's bear, fear not!

And the team has also seen the requests for potentially offering skill styles for the Warden's ultimate to allow for other animals to be used instead of a bear. It is something we are actively discussing, but nothing has been solidified since we have to be very cognizant of animation memory.

Just ditch the support for that poc xbox s

This. It's obvious between these refreshes that last gen consoles are holding them back with the hardware limitations.

I think you'd be surprised at how many PC rigs would be affected too. I'm relatively confident ZOS is accutely aware of what percentage of their playerbase would be negatively impacted by such a move.

Even so, a game can't keep trying to support older hardware at the expense of the game itself. There comes a point where minimum requirements need to be raised or else the game just keeps getting held back simply for the sake of running on older tech.

I know in this day and age a LOT of people can't afford to drop money on a decent gaming computer or the latest console. We've been told in the past one reason we haven't gotten new Classes or more Furniture slots is because of the limitations of older tech. However, one of the Suggestions that's been moved to Exploration is to increase the Furniture limits.

I can only think of a few things that means. Either they're looking to see what they might be able sacrifice to increase the limits, they're considering some way to increase the memory they have (which idk if that's possible to do since idk if it's external memory or an engine limitation), or they're considering dropping support for older hardware. I suppose a 4th option is they're trying to claw whatever memory they can from each Class refresh that could go to Housing.

Be that as it may, I'm sure ZOS would love to increase the resource requirements. However, until it's financially beneficial to do so it ain't happenin.

I don't doubt that a majority of the playerbase (both consoles and PCs) have suitable hardware to accommodate a bump on requirements. However, it would have to be an overwhelming majority. So overwhelming that losing the revenue generated by the minority would be inconsequential compared to subsequent future gains. And I don't doubt for a moment ZOS has professional number crunchers constantly calculating exactly that kind of information.