[Alacrity] - Why Serpent (hard mode) isn't dead

sbanned_530978

As head-GM I wanted to let the community know why we haven't downed Serpent hardmode.
I first want to say Alacrity was formed for PVP and eternally will live in the PVP world. Its just what it is.

That being said I would like to backtrack with you all for just a minute, back to when the first trials appeared.... Aetherian Archive and Hel Ra Citadel.
Alacrity had a thought (all joking aside) we joked lets go in and see if its actually hard. Not knowing we went in.... PvP gear still on, impulse spamming bosses down, stacking together and spamming heals from 2 sorcs just running through the trial in blazing times. The community being in an uproar calling us cheaters and hackers and make believers was alot of drama. But what did they know, all they saw was a stream of the first AA kill on the PTS and made it look hard.

So we streamed it, split up and joined groups and helped lead and teach anyone who asked.
In the short day or two trials first came out, we were pretty much done having collected all the gear, setting a time 2-3 times as fast as anyone. The joke we thought was over pretty much.

Now with the 1st set of trials out of the way ZOS caught a glimpse of how the community tore through the easy sauce first wave of trials and tried to make the 2nd tier of trials a challenge.
This new trial Serpent had bosses with a massive health difference and very long and extremely extensive trash hall ways and pulls that took insane amounts of time to clear compared to the 1st tier of trials. In essence clearing up to the 1st boss and killing it while still not even making it to the 2nd boss, was basically the amount of time it took to clear both the other 2 trials back to back.

Boy was that interesting to see, And for a different game that would have been very appealing to the members of that game. However for ESO a very casual easy game thus far, it was a dark and painful nightmarish fate.

Adding a WoW style raid to ESO with little to no UI and having ZOS say go at it to all the casual players sealed the coffin.....

Very little thought or time went into comparing these 2 tiers of trials. AA topping out at 10 min runs for the majority and serpent on average just under an hour all while having the same amount of soul reservoir 36 shows how much care we are ever going to see. Leaving AA, HR and SO all at a 33 minute achievement is just another slap in the face.

For guilds to be completing Serpent 30 days after its released doesnt mean the content is hard. It just shows the lack of care from the creators and the small community of players even attempting this content.

For the 3rd out of 4 (non EU) guilds even seriously attempting Serpent to have completed it 30 days after release of the trial truly says something.

Not that the content is hard but rather easy in that there are only 2-3 mechanics per boss and are all very straight forward.

In the end this is to curb everyone from posting a I win (beat serpent) post on the forums. Where is the cut off limit? I dont remember 100 posts from 100 different guilds when they 1st completed AA. I dont remember a month after AA was released reddit posts going up [Alacrity] Cleared AA! I mean theres gotta be a cut off. Somewhere after the 1st guild and 1st week of content release. The rest can go on their guild website and such for their own guild members to discuss and congratulate.

In the end Serpent hardmode hasnt been down because AA a 10 minute run with 36 lives isnt comparable to SO roughly ~1 hour 6x longer without 6x the soul reservoir (I could eventually see 30-40 min SO runs so again 3-4 the soul reservoir is required). Even 100 limit soul reservoir like dragon star arena would be more accommodable.

Easy content, few mechanics, little reward and no competition = not a big congratulations.

Krayiss Head-GM Out.

edit:typos

zbtiqua

krayiss wrote: »

As head-GM I wanted to let the community know why we haven't downed Serpent hardmode.

krayiss wrote: »

In the end this is to curb everyone from posting a I win (beat serpent) post on the forums. Where is the cut off limit? I dont remember 100 posts from 100 different guilds when they 1st completed AA. I dont remember a month after AA was released reddit posts going up [Alacrity] Cleared AA! I mean theres gotta be a cut off. Somewhere after the 1st guild and 1st week of content release. The rest can go on their guild website and such for their own guild members to discuss and congratulate.

So you feel that guilds who are 3rd or 4th to clear a challenging raid shouldn't post anything because that's not important, but your explanation of why you HAVEN'T killed it IS important?

You have some good suggestions in this port re: a larger soul resevoir and UI changes would be helpful for this kind of a raid. However, this premise you have is 1) pretty arrogant to assume you are somehow the authority on what others should post and 2) completely in contrast with you posting something that most of us probably don't care about- why you haven't beat something yet. I'm sure if you want to beat it and you spend the time, you will. You don't need to explain to us that you haven't spent enough time to beat it. That is understood as a basic premise of raid progression.

P.S. You should probably explain why you haven't killed it on Normal, before you explain why you haven't killed it on hardmode. If you feel ESO is too "difficult" now and is no longer "casual," I suggest you try this other game which may suit you better.

Neptonic

I hear Hello Kitty Online might be easier for you.

rashkosh127ub17_ESO

This is perhaps the absolutely most pathetic thing I have ever read coming from a competitive guild in any game I have played in the past 15 years. Congratulations Alacrity, I have now witnessed a new level of depravity.

Nazon_Katts

The point of this contradictory post eludes me.

General_Kefka

ROFL - All I hear is excuses. Put up or shut up.

BTW who made you internet forum king to tell people what to post...Try looking up the definition of FORUM

I'll help -

Forum
ˈfôrəm/
noun: forum; plural noun: forums; plural noun: fora
1. a place, meeting, or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged.

Jules

Less QQ, more pew pew.

krim

Get some world first kills then come holla at us.

Huntler

I present Luvboard: First of his name, GM of Erotic Roleplay, Lord Protector of our Sanity, Warden of Bleakers, Father of Death Knights, Roberto de Estoy Aqui, and Baker of Potatoes

Ifthir_ESO

krayiss wrote: »

the small community of players even attempting this content.

pretty much this

we are what 5 months in and the "endgame" content isnt even being attempted much

Islyn

I told ya so.

Nazon_Katts

Huntler wrote: »

I present Luvboard: First of his name, GM of Erotic Roleplay, Lord Protector of our Sanity, Father of Death Knights, Roberto de Estoy Aqui, and Baker of Potatoes

Maybe you should do the write up next time around, you seem to make much more sense, really.

DDuke

Ifthir_ESO wrote: »

krayiss wrote: »

the small community of players even attempting this content.

pretty much this

we are what 5 months in and the "endgame" content isnt even being attempted much

Apart from completing it once for giggles & world firsts, there's not much reason to do the content is there?

If there were better incentives (e.g. loot) for going there, I'd be willing to bet a lot more guilds would atleast try it.

sbanned_530978

zbtiqua wrote: »

2) completely in contrast with you posting something that most of us probably don't care about- why you haven't beat something yet.

General_Kefka wrote: »

ROFL - All I hear is excuses. Put up or shut up.

Jules wrote: »

Less QQ, more pew pew.

You all do realize Alacrity achieved live world 1st DSA normal + hardmode right?

@krim‌ Thats right, we havent seen any good 1st yet from them.

@rashkosh127ub17_ESO‌
Let me know once you finish the game and can tell me all about it.

@Nazon_Katts‌
Thanks Nazon for being the only one to understand ^.^

zbtiqua

krayiss wrote: »

zbtiqua wrote: »

2) completely in contrast with you posting something that most of us probably don't care about- why you haven't beat something yet.

General_Kefka wrote: »

ROFL - All I hear is excuses. Put up or shut up.

Jules wrote: »

Less QQ, more pew pew.

You all do realize Alacrity achieved live world 1st DSA normal + hardmode right?

@krim‌ Thats right, we havent seen any good 1st yet from them.

@rashkosh127ub17_ESO‌
Let me know once you finish the game and can tell me all about it.

@Nazon_Katts‌
Thanks Nazon for being the only one to understand ^.^

-Tripwyr the one and only

Someone who shall remain nameless suggested you may just be trolling. I would point out that people who don't know you may not know that this is your sense of humor, or be able to differentiate between if this is a troll or a serious series of statements. I would argue that the concept of "trolling" in this sense requires that a group of people gets fired up, while unrelated people realize you aren't being serious.

If no one can tell, then it's not trolling. It's just you making statements.

Braidas

zbtiqua wrote: »

krayiss wrote: »

zbtiqua wrote: »

2) completely in contrast with you posting something that most of us probably don't care about- why you haven't beat something yet.

General_Kefka wrote: »

ROFL - All I hear is excuses. Put up or shut up.

Jules wrote: »

Less QQ, more pew pew.

You all do realize Alacrity achieved live world 1st DSA normal + hardmode right?

@krim‌ Thats right, we havent seen any good 1st yet from them.

@rashkosh127ub17_ESO‌
Let me know once you finish the game and can tell me all about it.

@Nazon_Katts‌
Thanks Nazon for being the only one to understand ^.^

-Tripwyr the one and only

Someone who shall remain nameless suggested you may just be trolling. I would point out that people who don't know you may not know that this is your sense of humor, or be able to differentiate between if this is a troll or a serious series of statements. I would argue that the concept of "trolling" in this sense requires that a group of people gets fired up, while unrelated people realize you aren't being serious.

If no one can tell, then it's not trolling. It's just you making statements.

not knowing him, or being a pve'er, i knew this was trolly immediately. ofc all good trolling is based in some truth...

Nazon_Katts

Braidas wrote: »

zbtiqua wrote: »

krayiss wrote: »

zbtiqua wrote: »

2) completely in contrast with you posting something that most of us probably don't care about- why you haven't beat something yet.

General_Kefka wrote: »

ROFL - All I hear is excuses. Put up or shut up.

Jules wrote: »

Less QQ, more pew pew.

You all do realize Alacrity achieved live world 1st DSA normal + hardmode right?

@krim‌ Thats right, we havent seen any good 1st yet from them.

@rashkosh127ub17_ESO‌
Let me know once you finish the game and can tell me all about it.

@Nazon_Katts‌
Thanks Nazon for being the only one to understand ^.^

-Tripwyr the one and only

Someone who shall remain nameless suggested you may just be trolling. I would point out that people who don't know you may not know that this is your sense of humor, or be able to differentiate between if this is a troll or a serious series of statements. I would argue that the concept of "trolling" in this sense requires that a group of people gets fired up, while unrelated people realize you aren't being serious.

If no one can tell, then it's not trolling. It's just you making statements.

not knowing him, or being a pve'er, i knew this was trolly immediately. ofc all good trolling is based in some truth...

Trolling is an art form and best when unnoticed. At least it used to be. I don't agree with the modern definition.

Rook_Master

krayiss wrote: »

we went in.... impulse spamming... stacking together and spamming heals

You say that like your guild does anything else ever.

Huntler

Rook_Master wrote: »

krayiss wrote: »

we went in.... impulse spamming... stacking together and spamming heals

You say that like your guild does anything else ever.

Here:

krim

Rook_Master wrote: »

krayiss wrote: »

we went in.... impulse spamming... stacking together and spamming heals

You say that like your guild does anything else ever.

Guilty of spamming.

Nazon_Katts

Now all of the sudden I somehow feel the urge to form a Nords only guild named "Spam! Spam! Spam!".

sbanned_530978

Cap more RED KEEPS!!

zbtiqua

krayiss wrote: »

Cap more RED KEEPS!!

AA World Record - 7m 34s
HR World record - 6m 04s (All pre-nerf)

You should probably drop those orb exploit times off your sig... especially since they aren't even active on the leaderboards now.

Still waiting for you "world first" types to catch up to our "first in the world" DSA vet time.

Maybe you should spend less time playing around in PVP and do something actually difficult, like serpent. I thought you guys were the best in the world? Where is your clear?

Cody

I have never took your guild seriously... now I take them less seriously because of you..

who are you to say what guild can post what? because a guild did not clear the trial in 11 minutes, they cant talk about it outside of their websites? so you think you are better than them now? that is called arrogance.

tbh, I don't know whether this is trolling, or if you actually mean what you just typed. either way, all I see are excuses.

you think this video game is really so difficult? I have played video games for over a decade, idk if that's as long as you have, but its enough time, to where I have played plenty of games that are more difficult than this. if this game is so hard, that you have to go on the forums with this.... post.... then you have no right to act like the jerk you have acted like with this post.

nice to see some fo you have not changed much since the first 3 months:/

Metalxead

I just cant understand what OP wanna say here....
Basically serpent to easy for you guild so you dont even try, same time demand a nerf? (what UI problems you have? maybe i can help with some addons?)

Still, grz with VDSA.

Personaly for me and our guild, when there was a *timer* race in AA and HRC, i dont actualy care clear i this trials for 11 mintues or 10... it just pointless to compete there..

TehMagnus

Isn't this the guild who exploited Orbs, skipped bosses and got "powerfull" to get the "op times"? ^^.

Tripwyr

magnusnet wrote: »

Isn't this the guild who exploited Orbs, skipped bosses and got "powerfull" to get the "op times"? ^^.

We used orbs second in response to an EP guild using them to pass us (and other guilds like Potato trying then denying it), but we never posted a time skipping bosses.

TehMagnus

Tripwyr wrote: »

magnusnet wrote: »

Isn't this the guild who exploited Orbs, skipped bosses and got "powerfull" to get the "op times"? ^^.

We used orbs second in response to an EP guild using them to pass us (and other guilds like Potato trying then denying it), but we never posted a time skipping bosses.

Yet you still flag your "times" obtained through exploiting even after the leaderboards have been wiped clean (mainly because it contained times reached by exploiting)? So you take pride in the times you got by exploiting?

What is ZOS ban police doing

Tripwyr

magnusnet wrote: »

Tripwyr wrote: »

magnusnet wrote: »

Isn't this the guild who exploited Orbs, skipped bosses and got "powerfull" to get the "op times"? ^^.

We used orbs second in response to an EP guild using them to pass us (and other guilds like Potato trying then denying it), but we never posted a time skipping bosses.

Yet you still flag your "times" obtained through exploiting even after the leaderboards have been wiped clean (mainly because it contained times reached by exploiting)? So you take pride in the times you got by exploiting?

What is ZOS ban police doing

I flag our times because they are still faster than others who used the same technique. For those who did not utilize orbs, our time (9m 02s) is the fastest time. For those who did utilize orbs, our time (7m 34s) is the fastest time.

It is the same concept as speed running single player games, people can decide "Ok, I am willing to do this (jump a wall intended to divide sections of the game) but that (clip through a wall intended to divide sections of the game) is out of the spirit of the game in my opinion."

When we discovered Orbs, we decided that we were willing to use them in Trials but only if another group also used them. For that reason, we are proud of both times.

EDIT: The leaderboard was wiped clean because it was no longer "current" content. The level cap went up to VR14, but the content remained VR12. It is for this same reason we have not bothered to submit a time ourselves. On the rare days we have 12 people to run Trials, we don't wish to waste them doing AA/HelRa.

Jules

Tripwyr wrote: »

EDIT: The leaderboard was wiped clean because it was no longer "current" content. The level cap went up to VR14, but the content remained VR12.

That is not accurate. The boards were wiped due to exploited times.

"In the future, we’ll be wiping our leaderboards. We want to do this in light of several exploits that have allowed teams to achieve completion times that shouldn’t be possible. We’ve fixed the exploits we are aware of, and we’ll continue to keep our eyes open for and correct any other unintended behavior. As part of our steps to address unrealistic completion times, we’ve made sure that you have to kill all the bosses in Trial runs before the timer stops."

http://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-gb/news/post/2014/08/20/the-road-ahead----august-20

sbanned_530978

@jules
wait a minute you guys still havent beaten our time at v14? Why are you guys even posting anything on the forums, just to get trolled?