@Zenimax - Reconsider Mondays Craglorn Anomaly Nerf !

Phantax

While playing yesterday (most of which in Craglorn) the subject of the upcoming anomaly nerf on Monday came into conversation a number of times, quite a few times actually.

Now, while I can see the logic behind Zenimax's reason for this I don't think they have fully grasped the implications of what it will do. OK its intended to stop people rushing through VR1-VR12 and in some ways that's a good thing.
However, it's TOO LATE ! Many people ( a large portion in fact) have already done that and are VR12's. I know more than a handful who are already levelling alts to VR12.

All this is going to do is force another prolonged gap between those who are already there and those who are not yet. Its "too little, too late" again.
Zenimax, think back to when you nerfed the drop rate of rare motifs, again "too little, too late". Hundreds of people had already farmed the hell out of them and had made thousands(hundreds of thousands) in gold. You then nerf it and the majority of ESO's population got left behind and were angry about it.

If you go ahead and nerf Craglorn's anomalies you will have the same situation. A massive chunk of the population are already at VR12 and preparing for the next update, thousands are just going to be alienated and left further behind. The 'Carrot and Stick' approach only really works if sometimes you do get the carrot !

The best way to do this would be to drop/slow the xp rate for update 1.3 !
This would then still allow all those who have reached VR12 to enjoy the new content but allow everybody else (the greater proportion of your player base) to slowly catch up !

Nerfing the lower levels ability to progress is only going to fragment the community, not to mention leaving masses of players truly fracked-off. Just think before you act this time guys... leave existing Craglorn as it is, and balance out the levelling system starting with update 1.3. It will still take time but at least this was all of ESO's player base will eventually level out for end-game content.
Most the time in Craglorn at the moment there is a good atmosphere.... DON'T RUIN IT ! ! !

Kingslayer

What they should do is nerf the loot somewhat that way the grind is their at least.

Phantax

Kingslayer wrote: »

What they should do is nerf the loot somewhat that way the grind is their at least.

Although I kinda agree there, I don't think that many people are there just for the loot (some yes maybe) I've been in plenty of anomaly groups where people in the group are constantly giving away any purples to others in the group. Its nice to see stuff like that happening. For me personally It'd make no difference if they nerf loot of not.

Inco

Well - I'm sure to get some negative feedback on this, but I disagree.

In all reality Craglorn should have been LOCKED down to VR9-VR12 players only. This is my humble opinion and most likely not shared by most players.

WHY? Cause you couldn't get to the 2nd Alliance for VR5-VR10 without completing VR1-VR5 first Alliance. Why was CRAGLORN wide open for VR1? That was the most stupid thing ZOS could have done. (IMHO). I sat at a couple anomalies and laughed. Watching VR1's, VR2's, etc. just grinding away. Each taking the SLIM chance of getting the XP for the Crystal or Boss.

Me.. Templar Healer (VR12) - so my time at Anomalies was SHORT. I ended up grinding VR10-VR12 in a weekend doing dungeon's in Craglorn instead with about 10 hours time investment I was VR12 (oh boy).

Suggestions to "FIX" this whole anomaly thing and Craglorn:

• Lock out all players that have not finished Cadwell's 2nd Alliance. Yea- Go Grind the zones first folks. I hate to say that cause that grind sucks.
• Fix XP/VP award so that anyone that contributes gets XP/VP.
• RESET the RESPAWN timer and be SMART about it. RANDOMIZE the respawn timers on all them so people can NOT find a pattern and farm.
• LOOT drop was crazy, but no need to NERF it if the respawn is corrected.

Now some will say I'm a VR12 being a complete SOB and others will say I have an axe to grind, and more just "VR12" doesn't care about others, but none of the above really. I mention this because showing up in Craglorn as a VR1 ruins the ability of players to LEARN some of the skills and class tools in the VR content. Second and more importantly it doesn't show the VR1 player how Hard VR fights really are when everyone gangs up and races to kill a crystal and one boss. What does that mean to other players and what is my biggest BEEF? To be BLUNT - A crap ton of NOOB's that have no idea how to not get slaughtered in Trials and/or VET Dungeons they should have run while leveling VR1-VR10. Not being elitist or snobby (I'd love to run trials more - but like I said Templar Healer).

Now all that said: I totally HATED leveling VR1-VR10 content and feel that ZOS really screwed up on that portion of the game, but feel that we shouldn't leave a giant shortcut in the game either. Watching zone chat tonight confirmed that we don't have a LOT of "LOVE and FUN" going on as OP mentioned, but just the opposite. Lots of "we must have had a BADDIE on our team" and general zone chat bickering about how one guy did better than another while drinking his Mt. Dew. Really? That's "Fun" and "Getting along" to folks?

Maximis_ESO

Inco wrote: »

Well - I'm sure to get some negative feedback on this, but I disagree.

In all reality Craglorn should have been LOCKED down to VR9-VR12 players only. This is my humble opinion and most likely not shared by most players.

WHY? Cause you couldn't get to the 2nd Alliance for VR5-VR10 without completing VR1-VR5 first Alliance. Why was CRAGLORN wide open for VR1? That was the most stupid thing ZOS could have done. (IMHO). I sat at a couple anomalies and laughed. Watching VR1's, VR2's, etc. just grinding away. Each taking the SLIM chance of getting the XP for the Crystal or Boss.

Me.. Templar Healer (VR12) - so my time at Anomalies was SHORT. I ended up grinding VR10-VR12 in a weekend doing dungeon's in Craglorn instead with about 10 hours time investment I was VR12 (oh boy).

Suggestions to "FIX" this whole anomaly thing and Craglorn:

• Lock out all players that have not finished Cadwell's 2nd Alliance. Yea- Go Grind the zones first folks. I hate to say that cause that grind sucks.
• Fix XP/VP award so that anyone that contributes gets XP/VP.
• RESET the RESPAWN timer and be SMART about it. RANDOMIZE the respawn timers on all them so people can NOT find a pattern and farm.
• LOOT drop was crazy, but no need to NERF it if the respawn is corrected.

Now some will say I'm a VR12 being a complete SOB and others will say I have an axe to grind, and more just "VR12" doesn't care about others, but none of the above really. I mention this because showing up in Craglorn as a VR1 ruins the ability of players to LEARN some of the skills and class tools in the VR content. Second and more importantly it doesn't show the VR1 player how Hard VR fights really are when everyone gangs up and races to kill a crystal and one boss. What does that mean to other players and what is my biggest BEEF? To be BLUNT - A crap ton of NOOB's that have no idea how to not get slaughtered in Trials and/or VET Dungeons they should have run while leveling VR1-VR10. Not being elitist or snobby (I'd love to run trials more - but like I said Templar Healer).

Now all that said: I totally HATED leveling VR1-VR10 content and feel that ZOS really screwed up on that portion of the game, but feel that we shouldn't leave a giant shortcut in the game either. Watching zone chat tonight confirmed that we don't have a LOT of "LOVE and FUN" going on as OP mentioned, but just the opposite. Lots of "we must have had a BADDIE on our team" and general zone chat bickering about how one guy did better than another while drinking his Mt. Dew. Really? That's "Fun" and "Getting along" to folks?

Wow, you want to force us to grind out the second faction? No thanks the first one was enough and I don't want to play the DC or I would have made a freaking DC character. Same goes for the AD. Keep the grind thanks!

Phantax

@Inco I disagree with the fact you disagree...lol

However I agree that VR1-VR10 was ruined by Zenimax. That's one of the reasons I love Craglorn, it allows me to level my character without having to 'ruin' my faction pride or immersion. At least now I can run an Alt and have those other factions fresh to enjoy them !

Inco

Yea, I was pretty sure my wall of text is not going to be "Agree" selected much. LOL

I don't have any great ideas on how they can fix VR1-VR10 grind. Nice we have loop holes, but ZOS needs to wake up and "FIX/ADDRESS" how terrible it is to do that grind cause NOBODY wants to do that. I refuse to level an ALT beyond 50 just for that reason. Even with my MAIN being a Templar Healer. I'll just pop around on my lowbie DK and SORC for fun instead of go thru that terrible design of leveling.

I hear ya @Maximis_ESO - I was not a FAN of the FORCED to do all factions. Was totally useless for me to roll ALTS in other factions to play.

Phantax

Inco wrote: »

Yea, I was pretty sure my wall of text is not going to be "Agree" selected much. LOL

I don't have any great ideas on how they can fix VR1-VR10 grind. Nice we have loop holes, but ZOS needs to wake up and "FIX/ADDRESS" how terrible it is to do that grind cause NOBODY wants to do that. I refuse to level an ALT beyond 50 just for that reason. Even with my MAIN being a Templar Healer. I'll just pop around on my lowbie DK and SORC for fun instead of go thru that terrible design of leveling.

Yeah standing at the same anomaly for 3 hours at a time isn't my idea of fun. I will do it for maybe an hour every so often. Grinding has always been a legitimate way of levelling in MMOs and that's fair enough if people want to do that, they should have the right to.
Personally I'm mixing it up, bit of Craglorn, bit of PvP, bit of questing/dungeons etc.
Like I suggested I think they should just leave what we already have alone (still balance and fix obviously) but use the new content 1.3 onwards to balance out the levelling system !

PS - yes it was me that gave you that agree...lol

Inco

They need to properly FIX VR1-VR10 with OPTIONS on how we want to level without being forced to do EVERY dang world boss, dungeon, anchor and rescue kitty in a tree mission.

Heck ADD Exploration VP back to the other two factions. No idea why that was removed from VR1-VR10 areas. Two whole factions of VP to collect via TRAIT bonus on our gear that should still be valid for 2/3 of the map(s) in game.

Bromburak

Farming exp doesnt really matter, if players like to move forward this way its their choice.

Actually its a loot issue, same we had with public dungeon bosses after release.
You can loot tons of good drops just by leeching within minutes.

Imho a timer to the reward chest is the only fix we need.

Phantax

Bromburak wrote: »

Actually its a loot issue, same we had with public dungeon bosses after release.
You can loot tons of good drops just by leeching.

Imho a timer to the reward chest is the only fix we need.

So you think people are there more for the loot than the xp? I guess each have their own opinion. Though like I said personally the loot doesn't bother me so they could add a loot timer I suppose.

Thevampirenight

i love loot do not nerf it I want the loot too just kidding I don't care as long as rare montifs keep droping the same. whats with an anomoly is that the rare motifs droping if so keep it that way if not fix the expiots with bosses

Bromburak

Phantax wrote: »

Bromburak wrote: »

Actually its a loot issue, same we had with public dungeon bosses after release.
You can loot tons of good drops just by leeching.

Imho a timer to the reward chest is the only fix we need.

So you think people are there more for the loot than the xp? I guess each have their own opinion. Though like I said personally the loot doesn't bother me so they could add a loot timer I suppose.

I think what i wrote before!

That farming exp doesn't hurt anybody!
But leeching loot and mats this way does hurt game economy.

Sure we can take it easy because its already broken, but thats not the way how you deal with issues in game development ...

phtony06b14_ESO

I agree with the post. After having heard about the upcoming nerf, I tried to speed level my main the last 2 days. Grouping to do the POIs from VR1-VR3 (almost 4) & I'm pooped. 1 day left & I don't think there's any way I can get through 2 VR levels tomorrow + enjoy the less strenuous XP available in Craglorn at VR6+.

This will leave me behind all the people who were able to beat the nerf clock. I haven't even made it to VR10 yet & then I saw that 2 more VR levels were added. By the time I get to VR12 who knows what the level cap will be. If I have to level via alternate faction quests the whole way to catch up, then I can see myself giving up on the whole affair.

Either do a better job of catching unintended mechanics & hotfixing them or leave them as is so the people who have less available time to play can enjoy the same mechanics as the full time players.

Nox_Aeterna

Well my issue with nerfs to the exp are quite simple , i dont want to group , i wont group , end of story. I have no intention of even reconsidering this.

Zergs to lvl are not so bad , because it is not really a group and it does not require such work together , if they remove this from craglorn ... then i pretty much any way to lvl "solo" to vr12 in a resonable way.

If people dont find another way after this ... then i wont even play much anymore , not that i do it a lot today anyway heh.

So yeah , i do hope zen is making huge balance patches and great improvements , cause i do need reason to actually play their game.

Bahz

Phantax wrote: »

@Inco I disagree with the fact you disagree...lol

However I agree that VR1-VR10 was ruined by Zenimax. That's one of the reasons I love Craglorn, it allows me to level my character without having to 'ruin' my faction pride or immersion. At least now I can run an Alt and have those other factions fresh to enjoy them !

+1 I hate playing as a newb in a new faction, it also spoils the faction pride. I only enjoy hunting skill points in those new areas.

Bahz

Inco wrote: »

Yea, I was pretty sure my wall of text is not going to be "Agree" selected much. LOL

I don't have any great ideas on how they can fix VR1-VR10 grind. Nice we have loop holes, but ZOS needs to wake up and "FIX/ADDRESS" how terrible it is to do that grind cause NOBODY wants to do that. I refuse to level an ALT beyond 50 just for that reason. Even with my MAIN being a Templar Healer. I'll just pop around on my lowbie DK and SORC for fun instead of go thru that terrible design of leveling.

I hear ya @Maximis_ESO - I was not a FAN of the FORCED to do all factions. Was totally useless for me to roll ALTS in other factions to play.

I enjoy grinding from time to time, mix it with some crafting and pvp. I however don't like missing out on skills points. In the old days that was the only way to lvl, now you have more options but that doesnt mean the new way is the best. If I want steady xp and new gear to deconstruct or research, farming is a great way.

Menelaos

As long as VR 1-10 is not fixed in terms of progression time and story immersion in some way Craglorn schould stay the way it is now. Period.

OkieDokie

Inco wrote: »

Yea, I was pretty sure my wall of text is not going to be "Agree" selected much. LOL

I don't have any great ideas on how they can fix VR1-VR10 grind. Nice we have loop holes, but ZOS needs to wake up and "FIX/ADDRESS" how terrible it is to do that grind cause NOBODY wants to do that. I refuse to level an ALT beyond 50 just for that reason. Even with my MAIN being a Templar Healer. I'll just pop around on my lowbie DK and SORC for fun instead of go thru that terrible design of leveling.

I hear ya @Maximis_ESO - I was not a FAN of the FORCED to do all factions. Was totally useless for me to roll ALTS in other factions to play.

I don't think they need to do something (except nerf loots, I agree completely with this).

People still have to go through vr content for skills and leveling lines. The difference is they don't have to do every single quest.

That is a good thing mate, it is alternative for those of us who think it is nonsense going out looking for one of the npcs relative or pet for some exp.

By the way, where they said they are 'fixing' it? I missed that.

WilliamTee

If it means I can actually find a group in craglorn to do quests and dungeons rather than endless groups requesting various inane, mindless forms of xp grind?

Then I'm all for it.

At the moment craglorn is a rather depressing failure. I reached VR 12 ages ago, but I haven't been able to clear all the quests and dungeons there yet as I can spend hours asking for a group without finding one for anything other than anomolies and balameth runs.

wrlifeboil

All these ridiculous suggestions about Craglorn entry. Okay, I can make one up. ZOS should have limited Craglorn to only VR10s who finished the Cadwell's Gold quest.

See? I can be ridiculous too.

Phantax

OkieDokie wrote: »

By the way, where they said they are 'fixing' it? I missed that.

This was in a thread about anomalies grinding/nerfing

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Thanks for your feedback on this, everyone. We are making some adjustments to this that you'll see in our next patch on Monday.

OkieDokie

Damn.

I guess I'll have to log in and level up today lol

sajackson

The nerf does appear to be necessary because this doesn't seem to be working the way it was originally intended. Craglorn was meant to be an end game experience for VR9 and above players but it seems like some parts of the community have found a way to cheese their way to VR12 by farming these which is obviously not what ZOS were intending.

It will *** a few people off, for sure, but I'm not sure that doing nothing is an option either. Probably best to just get the game to work how they wanted to in the first place.

Daethz

better yet, all characters should start out at v12 with bis gear.

McDoogs

I have 2 characters at VR12 now, partially thanks to anomalies. Sucks that all you guys who arent vr12 are going to have to slog it out.

Winnower

As someone who has participated in some of the grinding as a Veteran character, my recommendation is that they nerf the heck out of the XP on Anoms, Burial Sites, Tombs, Balanath, etc; change the spawn timers to control the loot, and THEN:

go back and double the xp for quests in the VR 1-10 zones, double the xp for mobs in the VR zones, and gently nudge the difficulty level down a hair, and the loot drops up a hair. If they would rather adjust the amount of XP it takes to get a VR level down some instead that would work for me too.

The reason for this is at the moment I could level two characters from 1-50 in about the same time as doing all the VR1-10 zones - I'd *prefer* that I only had to take as much time as it took me to get to level 50 to get to VR10.

And yeah, lock out Craglorn until VR9, please.

Daethz

think its time to quadruple quest experience and make it so "Anomalies" give ZERO experience.

stungateb14_ESO

I still feel that the way development and deployment of updates and content for ESO are being made is with the darts method. Its like everyone involved with development is standing at the line with the board being their ideas in place of numbers then they come to forums to see the fotm gripe then they hand out darts and whom ever can hit same idea the most that idea is deployed regardless of what that "fix"is or its related unintended consequence could be.

iaintoff

How can it be digitally possible to spend x amount of time in production ( which probably includes craglorn and a great chunk more that was split off into future updates) only to then release a game and spend the entire duration of its life nerfing at one end and buffing at the other.

It happened the same exactly in swtor, I don't care to remember how many times, sorcs been in the worst position pvp wise, guess what, they were one of the strongest before the nerf hammer, now peeps are clambering again for a nerf hammer, why, because they were buffed again because everyone was complaining they were to weak and on and on it goes....

Volcanic rune will be next, beware!!!

infraction2008b16_ESO

Phantax wrote: »

While playing yesterday (most of which in Craglorn) the subject of the upcoming anomaly nerf on Monday came into conversation a number of times, quite a few times actually.

Now, while I can see the logic behind Zenimax's reason for this I don't think they have fully grasped the implications of what it will do. OK its intended to stop people rushing through VR1-VR12 and in some ways that's a good thing.
However, it's TOO LATE ! Many people ( a large portion in fact) have already done that and are VR12's. I know more than a handful who are already levelling alts to VR12.

All this is going to do is force another prolonged gap between those who are already there and those who are not yet. Its "too little, too late" again.
Zenimax, think back to when you nerfed the drop rate of rare motifs, again "too little, too late". Hundreds of people had already farmed the hell out of them and had made thousands(hundreds of thousands) in gold. You then nerf it and the majority of ESO's population got left behind and were angry about it.

If you go ahead and nerf Craglorn's anomalies you will have the same situation. A massive chunk of the population are already at VR12 and preparing for the next update, thousands are just going to be alienated and left further behind. The 'Carrot and Stick' approach only really works if sometimes you do get the carrot !

The best way to do this would be to drop/slow the xp rate for update 1.3 !
This would then still allow all those who have reached VR12 to enjoy the new content but allow everybody else (the greater proportion of your player base) to slowly catch up !

Nerfing the lower levels ability to progress is only going to fragment the community, not to mention leaving masses of players truly fracked-off. Just think before you act this time guys... leave existing Craglorn as it is, and balance out the levelling system starting with update 1.3. It will still take time but at least this was all of ESO's player base will eventually level out for end-game content.
Most the time in Craglorn at the moment there is a good atmosphere.... DON'T RUIN IT ! ! !

Don't you find bashing a crystal and overpowering a 4 man boss with 20 men at your side over and over and over boring?

I mean there's other things to do in craglorn to earn VP such as quests and dungeons yet people would rather stand on the spot and bash a crystal over and over?

I for one welcome any changes if it gets people doing something else rather than just farming anomalies in craglorn. This is meant to be an elder scrolls MMO, not a Korean grindfest.