Best Of
Re: 2027: Winterhold (Mythics)
ESO_Nightingale wrote: »... the next major zone coming to ESO.
People should really really temper their expectations.
What they actually said in the stream:
“Not just for the location, but for our first‑ever Excursion Zone and the team’s new take on what a zone can be.”
(Official source with timestamp: YouTube Stream)
Now google or lookup the word excursion on Google or Cambridge dictionary. You will get the same results everywhere.
So calling it a 'major zone' or thinking about it as something like a chapter or Q4 zone will get people majorly disappointed. These showcase streams are written out well in advance and every word choice is deliberate and thought out by a whole marketing team.
As for your question: I would love sets, mytics, dungeons, delves, main story and incursions in the new zone. Will we get it?...we will probably know Q1 2027, but so far I am very cautious.
Re: How are folks feeling about new ESO direction?
Updating my feelings now that the pilot season is open.
Communication: I'm very proud of the team and where they are. Having individual messages with the CMs over the year, understanding their limitations as a studio, I'm way more understanding now if balls get dropped. The PTS responsiveness is such a win, even if things don't get changed right away. The streams felt more personable and they've done a great job of humanizing the people that make the game. I love that, it's great. It's been sorely needed.
There's still some big room for improvement.
Combat: I’m probably the most positive on combat, of all things. The DK rework has been great, and completely reinvigorated that class for me. If that’s at all indicative of the future reworks, then I'm quite hopeful of the direction. My only concern is if they eventually nerf the DK or the subsequent reworked classes. With that - I hope they come up with a solution for balancing PVP without harming PVE builds.
QoL: I’m also positive about QoL adjustments. U49 was a blast of goodwill. My only concern there is that future updates may not see that level of improvement. Time will tell, but I am hopeful.
The Seasons Model: I am somewhat negative on this monetization model. It's essentially the endeavors system reskinned with paid tiers. And instead of reducing the FOMO, there's still some daily login to click through. I don't feel like there's any progress on reducing FOMO. If anything, it's worse. Moves like the Tome Points expiration fiasco sink my confidence more than anything.
Tomes overall feels like it was a little shy of ready. Not only was the Tomes UI indicative of rushed development, but a deepening hold of the monetization model over the game’s systems. You guys have to decouple the two a little bit. It feels like there's an over-reliance on micromanaging engagement vs. making content that's approachable and rewarding.
That being said, the rewards themselves aren't bad and it's getting people into previously dead areas of the game. If they can work through the pain points, it'll be a good solution.
Gold Coast Bazaar: This first offering is pretty lackluster for me. I did a video comparison between this and the crown store, and they don't measure up. They really don't. Sure, there's ~100 items, but most of it's consumables and smaller rewards like pets or statues. Sorry, I just don't care about those. Meanwhile we have a backlog of houses and mounts and other really attractive items that are solely allocated to timed deals.
Content Production and Release Management: My deepest concern is that the drought of new permanent content will continue the game’s decline we’ve see for the last few years. I am concerned that the upcoming content is either quest-driven, which I feel we have enough of, or event-driven. On top of that, I have no clue if they'll be rewarding.
I simply do not understand why - especially after the Writhing Wall - they're still focusing on limited-time content. The Night Market and High Seas of Tamriel sound attractive on paper. But they're events, that's it. It's just an odd move considering how much clamoring there is for permanent new systems. We are getting very little in the way of something like IA.
Closing thoughts: I am here until the end, but not terribly thrilled about the overall direction. I still feel like the new management is listening, so hopefully they can steer us towards calmer, more player-friendly waters.
Communication: I'm very proud of the team and where they are. Having individual messages with the CMs over the year, understanding their limitations as a studio, I'm way more understanding now if balls get dropped. The PTS responsiveness is such a win, even if things don't get changed right away. The streams felt more personable and they've done a great job of humanizing the people that make the game. I love that, it's great. It's been sorely needed.
There's still some big room for improvement.
- Responding to issues. Things like the Eidetic Memory issues still aren't garnering a response after years of tagging. And now we're seeing a lack of responsiveness on the Tome Expiration issue. Meanwhile, links gets posted about housing contests and other articles. There's still a pattern of getting one statement, loads of question pile in after said statement, and then no follow up. While this has gotten better, it still happens and still needs to be improved.
- Clearly explaining systems. Tomes sunk for me over this. For one, there's too many currencies, too many similar sounding names, too many UI elements. And Tome Points expire with no notice. People shouldn't have to read a help menu to navigate a UI, let alone for a monetized system. If a system has a fine print feature, that shouldn't be a feature at all.
- Focusing on rewards vs. sales points. For me this is the biggest issue. When they show off new content, I want to know why I should do it. We get these video cuts of people running and casting spells and other visual flare - I see through that. I want to know why I should run Night Market a 1000x. I want a reason to run dungeons or whatever it is. And that is rarely communicated. It portrays a lack of confidence on their end, intentional or not.
Combat: I’m probably the most positive on combat, of all things. The DK rework has been great, and completely reinvigorated that class for me. If that’s at all indicative of the future reworks, then I'm quite hopeful of the direction. My only concern is if they eventually nerf the DK or the subsequent reworked classes. With that - I hope they come up with a solution for balancing PVP without harming PVE builds.
QoL: I’m also positive about QoL adjustments. U49 was a blast of goodwill. My only concern there is that future updates may not see that level of improvement. Time will tell, but I am hopeful.
The Seasons Model: I am somewhat negative on this monetization model. It's essentially the endeavors system reskinned with paid tiers. And instead of reducing the FOMO, there's still some daily login to click through. I don't feel like there's any progress on reducing FOMO. If anything, it's worse. Moves like the Tome Points expiration fiasco sink my confidence more than anything.
Tomes overall feels like it was a little shy of ready. Not only was the Tomes UI indicative of rushed development, but a deepening hold of the monetization model over the game’s systems. You guys have to decouple the two a little bit. It feels like there's an over-reliance on micromanaging engagement vs. making content that's approachable and rewarding.
That being said, the rewards themselves aren't bad and it's getting people into previously dead areas of the game. If they can work through the pain points, it'll be a good solution.
Gold Coast Bazaar: This first offering is pretty lackluster for me. I did a video comparison between this and the crown store, and they don't measure up. They really don't. Sure, there's ~100 items, but most of it's consumables and smaller rewards like pets or statues. Sorry, I just don't care about those. Meanwhile we have a backlog of houses and mounts and other really attractive items that are solely allocated to timed deals.
Content Production and Release Management: My deepest concern is that the drought of new permanent content will continue the game’s decline we’ve see for the last few years. I am concerned that the upcoming content is either quest-driven, which I feel we have enough of, or event-driven. On top of that, I have no clue if they'll be rewarding.
I simply do not understand why - especially after the Writhing Wall - they're still focusing on limited-time content. The Night Market and High Seas of Tamriel sound attractive on paper. But they're events, that's it. It's just an odd move considering how much clamoring there is for permanent new systems. We are getting very little in the way of something like IA.
Closing thoughts: I am here until the end, but not terribly thrilled about the overall direction. I still feel like the new management is listening, so hopefully they can steer us towards calmer, more player-friendly waters.
Destai
2
Re: Update on ESO Plus Benefits & Seasons
I wonder why ZOS did not just provide one token tome each month for anyone that is subbing and not bother with the strange focus on the length of the subscription. Because certain features are reliant on having an active sub, the game must be check for a sub already.
Just drop one token at the first of each month if the sub test = true.
Just drop one token at the first of each month if the sub test = true.
shadoza
5
Re: Overland Content Feedback Thread
I recently came back to the game from an extended hiatus, and a large motivating factor for me was the fact that they are implementing this difficulty toggle.
That said, while I am very pleased to hear that they are doing something, I would like to offer some feedback on ZOS' implementation as described, in hopes that they will improve it sometime in the future. (I am one of those people who would have preferred separate instances for different difficulties, but I expect that ship has sailed, so I won't go into that further.)
From what I understand, the difficulty toggle affects all enemies in overland equally. I have not read every single recent comment in this thread in detail, but I have skimmed the posts and I can see that others have expressed similar sentiment, which is that this will not be ideal.
In my personal opinion:
- Quest and delve bosses will absolutely benefit from the beefing up as described. With a larger health pool, they will get to say their piece and use all their attacks, and if they hit significantly harder, they will actually feel like bosses. This is where the new system will shine.
- Regular mobs absolutely do not need a health increase. Quest areas are positively packed with them (far more than in any single player game) and turning every trash encounter into a miniboss fight will be utterly tedious. I would actually like it if they hit significantly harder, maybe had a tiny bit more health (and varying health pools and damage done depending on mob type, though I suppose that's probably far too much to ask at this point). But I really do not like the idea of them taking noticeably longer to kill (bar having to block/dodge/etc).
- I know many people will disagree with me here, but I do not think world bosses need a buff. Even now, my main, on my vet arena build, struggles with some of the recent DLC world bosses (the lurker boss in Apocrypha comes to mind -- I spent 10 minutes bashing my head against that before I died and gave up on soloing it -- such a slog!). As for my other characters, who have RP builds only, they struggle even with base-game world bosses with current scaling.
I understand the system can be toggled on and off at will, and that's great. But this game already has too much menu micromanagement as it is, and the last thing I want to be doing is constantly going into a menu to swap difficulties depending on the encounter.
Now, perhaps it will be possible to create an addon that allows us to swap difficulty with a keybind, and someone will be kind enough to create it. If so, I can see myself making extensive use of this system. Otherwise, however, I will probably set the difficulty to the second-lowest on my main and keep it at lowest for all my other characters -- and that would be a shame, because there is a lot of potential here.
(Edited for clarity.)
That said, while I am very pleased to hear that they are doing something, I would like to offer some feedback on ZOS' implementation as described, in hopes that they will improve it sometime in the future. (I am one of those people who would have preferred separate instances for different difficulties, but I expect that ship has sailed, so I won't go into that further.)
From what I understand, the difficulty toggle affects all enemies in overland equally. I have not read every single recent comment in this thread in detail, but I have skimmed the posts and I can see that others have expressed similar sentiment, which is that this will not be ideal.
In my personal opinion:
- Quest and delve bosses will absolutely benefit from the beefing up as described. With a larger health pool, they will get to say their piece and use all their attacks, and if they hit significantly harder, they will actually feel like bosses. This is where the new system will shine.
- Regular mobs absolutely do not need a health increase. Quest areas are positively packed with them (far more than in any single player game) and turning every trash encounter into a miniboss fight will be utterly tedious. I would actually like it if they hit significantly harder, maybe had a tiny bit more health (and varying health pools and damage done depending on mob type, though I suppose that's probably far too much to ask at this point). But I really do not like the idea of them taking noticeably longer to kill (bar having to block/dodge/etc).
- I know many people will disagree with me here, but I do not think world bosses need a buff. Even now, my main, on my vet arena build, struggles with some of the recent DLC world bosses (the lurker boss in Apocrypha comes to mind -- I spent 10 minutes bashing my head against that before I died and gave up on soloing it -- such a slog!). As for my other characters, who have RP builds only, they struggle even with base-game world bosses with current scaling.
I understand the system can be toggled on and off at will, and that's great. But this game already has too much menu micromanagement as it is, and the last thing I want to be doing is constantly going into a menu to swap difficulties depending on the encounter.
Now, perhaps it will be possible to create an addon that allows us to swap difficulty with a keybind, and someone will be kind enough to create it. If so, I can see myself making extensive use of this system. Otherwise, however, I will probably set the difficulty to the second-lowest on my main and keep it at lowest for all my other characters -- and that would be a shame, because there is a lot of potential here.
(Edited for clarity.)
Re: Please reduce or remove the cooldown on reward boxes.
DenverRalphy wrote: »Because as evidenced by the glut of Jubilee 2024.. It took ages to recover from that one. Too many boxes flooded the game with an absurd overabundance of furnishing plans, motifs, style pages, mats, recipes, etc. etc..
Well not only is there a cooldown the boxes are absolute garbage now too. Even if there were no cooldown they aren’t worth farming. Unless you just want to load up on alchemy mats and the same purple recipes over and over. The big nerf came last year a few days into event. Gold mats always dropped way too much. I understand the nerf and kind of prefer it so the market isn’t flooded but there was no need for a cooldown. This is suppose to be the one event so ppl can try to obtain items without having to pay big amounts but it’s nearly impossible now. Just another mediocre event like the rest now.
XxCaLxX
12
Re: Please reduce or remove the cooldown on reward boxes.
Because as evidenced by the glut of Jubilee 2024.. It took ages to recover from that one. Too many boxes flooded the game with an absurd overabundance of furnishing plans, motifs, style pages, mats, recipes, etc. etc..
Re: Do not open all of your Tome Caches at once!
SilverBride wrote: »
The question mark is in the top pretty much right, its called HELP, in case you want to open it, or just press F1. Anyway I didn't have to do that, as it opened automatically.
WHY would I access the help menu if I didn't need help with anything?
Re: Is this one rotation?
Yeah, that’s about right. You got hit by three attacks, some procs, and status effects that all ticked within the same GCD. It’s a pretty efficient and fun build, tbh.
Re: Do not open all of your Tome Caches at once!
Honestly, I think all unspent points should be automatically converted, at a reasonable rate, to either bars or seals at the end of a season. IMO, this would be reasonable.
@ZOS_GinaBruno Any thought into making this a possibility?
@ZOS_GinaBruno Any thought into making this a possibility?
