October Road Ahead is up!

Csub

And you can find it here!

Now I will read it, I posted it before reading. :P

seanolan

And it reads like a last month synopsis

ers101284b14_ESO

Yay!!! Everything we already knew from Quakecon, Guild Summit, ESO live, Reddit, The Forums, Facebook. Glad we finally have a half page of crap we already knew about last month. Good for you Road Ahead.

Voodoo

thanks.

Csub

Yes it looks a bit like "Road Behind" to be honest. I mean after the first insight into update 5 we mostly saw the stuff that happened recently with some "ongoing fixed/improvements". I hoped we can sneak peek further in the future like if we are getting 1.6 this year or if it is next year, what might be in it etc.

rophez_ESO

Yeah - completely underwhelming. It was not a road ahead - it was a recap on the PTS patch notes. Seriously - you couldn't give us any new tidbits on the Champion system? Spellcrafting? Justice System? How about a few ideas from further down the road? Housing? Imperial City? Nothing? Just a summary of stuff we can read here on the forums?

I guess I'll stop looking forward to these articles.

Maverick827

This Road Ahead is streets behind.

Sallington

It's basically a TL;DR for people who don't pay attention to the forums or patch notes.

Nestor

Well, technically, the 1.5 content is not out yet, so it's on the Road Ahead.....

That being said I would like to see more about what they are planning. But, they also run into the "Hey they promised this and they lied" if they don't get something out they were talking about. Somethings can be wanted by a game developer but when they go to implement into a game, find out it won't work. So, I am sure they have to keep near term future developments close to the cuff.

rophez_ESO

There's no excuse for it. This is a lame "Road Ahead." Compare it to some of the language in the first Road Ahead back in May:

COMING IN FUTURE UPDATES

Along with fixing bugs, combatting black market gold farmers, and balance tweaks, we have a long list of features and updates we’re working on that will be coming throughout 2014 and beyond. Here’s a sneak peek at what’s coming up. For most of these, we don’t know yet which update they’ll be in, but they’re under active development right now:

A system that allows grouped players to see each other even when they’re in different phases
A justice system—steal from and kill NPCs and deal with the consequences if you are caught
Migration of European Megaserver to our European datacenter.
Field of View (FOV) adjustment
Armor dyeing and tinting
Two new Veteran Dungeons: Crypt of Hearts and City of Ash
New region of Craglorn with a new Trial (the Serpent)
Increased ability to pick up items in the world
Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood storyline and quests.
Spellcrafting
Horse Racing
Dragonstar Arena—similar to Trials, but built for a group of four
Improvements to fishing
Crafting system improvements
Improved Looking for Group system
Better NPC facial animations
Guild functionality updates: guild store interface updates, customizable guild insignias, tabards, and guild ranks, and Guild Kiosks—guild stores open to everyone that are available to the highest-bidding guild.
Auto-leveling dungeons that level to your group leader
Awards when you repeat dungeons
Imperial City PvP dungeon

As we end this first month of our journey together, we want to express sincere appreciation to our loyal fans. Be assured that we are working diligently to keep ESO balanced, stable, and fresh for veteran players. We’ve gotten through our launch month well and are heading towards our first update soon. After that, expect many more good things in ESO. Thank you so much for your support and continued enthusiasm about the game—now I’m off to level my Nightblade.

I mean, consider the fact that there was no September road ahead. Look at the list of features mentioned in the may article - you can see stuff that's getting added in update 5 and beyond. Surely Matt could have given us a few more details by now on the stuff that is coming after update 5? It's been 5 months.

Cuyler

"On a related note, we’ll be moving collectibles like pets out of your inventory soon and into their own collections UI, keeping your pack just a little lighter."

Audigy

Hmm,

the Road Ahead article that we waited for since August seems to be totally improvised and rushed.

No words about their progress in regards of Spellcrafting, Justice System, DB & TG, Champion System etc.

We still have not heard a word about housing or the lack of real quad support and what they add for gamers not interested in raid content.


I fully understand that Matt has better things to do than write a column for us each month but then he should just say so and we forget about it and only watch ESO live in future which is equally informative and offers a view behind the scenes like last time with the musician who was a great guest in the show.


In the end, not having news or time is fine but you really see in every sentence that there wasn't much enthusiasm in writing this Road Ahead article.

Maybe I am too harsh I don't know.

DDuke

rophez_ESO wrote: »

There's no excuse for it. This is a lame "Road Ahead." Compare it to some of the language in the first Road Ahead back in May:

show previous quotes

COMING IN FUTURE UPDATES

Along with fixing bugs, combatting black market gold farmers, and balance tweaks, we have a long list of features and updates we’re working on that will be coming throughout 2014 and beyond. Here’s a sneak peek at what’s coming up. For most of these, we don’t know yet which update they’ll be in, but they’re under active development right now:

A system that allows grouped players to see each other even when they’re in different phases
A justice system—steal from and kill NPCs and deal with the consequences if you are caught
Migration of European Megaserver to our European datacenter.
Field of View (FOV) adjustment
Armor dyeing and tinting
Two new Veteran Dungeons: Crypt of Hearts and City of Ash
New region of Craglorn with a new Trial (the Serpent)
Increased ability to pick up items in the world
Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood storyline and quests.
Spellcrafting
Horse Racing
Dragonstar Arena—similar to Trials, but built for a group of four
Improvements to fishing
Crafting system improvements
Improved Looking for Group system
Better NPC facial animations
Guild functionality updates: guild store interface updates, customizable guild insignias, tabards, and guild ranks, and Guild Kiosks—guild stores open to everyone that are available to the highest-bidding guild.
Auto-leveling dungeons that level to your group leader
Awards when you repeat dungeons
Imperial City PvP dungeon

As we end this first month of our journey together, we want to express sincere appreciation to our loyal fans. Be assured that we are working diligently to keep ESO balanced, stable, and fresh for veteran players. We’ve gotten through our launch month well and are heading towards our first update soon. After that, expect many more good things in ESO. Thank you so much for your support and continued enthusiasm about the game—now I’m off to level my Nightblade.

I mean, consider the fact that there was no September road ahead. Look at the list of features mentioned in the may article - you can see stuff that's getting added in update 5 and beyond. Surely Matt could have given us a few more details by now on the stuff that is coming after update 5? It's been 5 months.

Well, atleast they've got a decent chunk of that list done :P

Now, where's horse racing?

reften

you guys must be a riot at parties. Geez.

The "Road Ahead" from August still has HUGE items they're working on...so, that old road ahead is still relevant.

rophez_ESO

Audigy wrote: »

In the end, not having news or time is fine but you really see in every sentence that there wasn't much enthusiasm in writing this Road Ahead article.

Maybe I am too harsh I don't know.

You're not too harsh. The tone of this letter is like someone just going through the motions. Give us something to be excited about down the road. Something to look forward to (not back on.) The first couple TRA letters hinted at distant and exciting features, they didn't rehash already released info.

kevlarto_ESO

Sad thing is looks like 1.5 will be the last update of the year unless they surprise us

Gorthax

Why such a horrible road ahead? This isnt even anything we didnt know. The first road ahead was more informational than this. This is just a big slap in the face. "hey look we wrote some stuff you know already, slapped the road ahead title on it, and published it. Oh btw, its everything we told you weeks before. ENJOY! thanks for playing ESO!"

jeevin

kevlarto_ESO wrote: »

Sad thing is looks like 1.5 will be the last update of the year unless they surprise us

It may be the last big update period. Theres not exactly a massive player base here and Zenimax will only prop Zos up financially for so long until it's sink or swim time.
But I agree that Road Ahead is very dull and lacks the enthusiasm of past ones.

Elsonso

The Road Ahead, as I have said in other threads, is no longer important. We get more information from ESO Live and other sources than we do from The Road Ahead.

babylon

Where is Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood and player housing.

The Road Ahead that gives us news of those three things will be a winner...you'd think they'd just start doing those three things.

I just read -

stuff max 45 people care about
graphics tweaks almost nobody cares about
grind
grind
stuff nobody actually wants to happen
stuff that will probably go horribly wrong

Tyr

kevlarto_ESO wrote: »

Sad thing is looks like 1.5 will be the last update of the year unless they surprise us

There's 10 weeks left in the year and 1.5 will be live at the end of this month, so why would you think there would be no 1.6 in the first half of December on schedule?

Tyr

After the guild summit there's almost NOTHING we don't know that the devs have finalized, so this Road Ahead shouldn't be a surprise for anyone.

The devs don't know what will go into the next patch for sure until the previous patch hits the PTS which only happened this week.
In fact, the only reason they even are continuing to release Road ahead articles is because some still asked for them on this forum, even though they have most of their ESO live show dedicated to it.

Edit: Removed the mean parts.

rophez_ESO

Tyr wrote: »

After the guild summit there's almost NOTHING we don't know that the devs have finalized, so what do you mouth breathers expect?

The devs don't know what will go into the next patch for sure until the previous patch hits the PTS which only happened this week.
In fact, the only reason they even are continuing to release Road ahead articles is because some mouthbreathers still asked for them on this forum, even though they have most of their ESO live show dedicated to it.

Insightful!

someuser

Hmmm

Guess I'm the odd sheep out. While the "Road Ahead" was indeed more of a summary of the next major update (VS a more long-term summary of things ahead), I'm pretty impressed with the change log on the PTS.

My god, do the devs even sleep over there at ZoS? Seriously, I gave up on reading everything cause it was just too much... I looked over the highlights though.... Like implementing the next stage of the Champion System (that's huge); the facial animation system (minus non-human npcs, still that's a LOT of code to go through); a reason to re-do group dungeons (huge for people like me who prefer co-op play vs PvP).

Plus we now have chat bubbles which really is minor and unimpressive as an "update" but I really like having that option. Together with the guild tabards, its a couple steps in the right direction for RP'ers.


Honestly, when this game was launched they probably had a list of things-to-do lined up which made that first Road Ahead epic. Now that they are into the thick of things I don't think we'll see "Road Ahead"s like that again.

Seriously, those guys/gals over there at ZoS must be getting some fat over-time checks :-)

someuser

Tyr wrote: »

show previous quotes

kevlarto_ESO wrote: »

Sad thing is looks like 1.5 will be the last update of the year unless they surprise us

There's 10 weeks left in the year and 1.5 will be live at the end of this month, so why would you think there would be no 1.6 in the first half of December on schedule?

I dunno, maybe some people still celebrate x-mas with their families?

LonePirate

If you want to complain about the lack of stuff that is ahead in The Road Ahead, you should probably post about it on Reddit as feedback there has more visibility and seems to be taken more seriously.

Gorthax

someuser wrote: »

Hmmm

Guess I'm the odd sheep out. While the "Road Ahead" was indeed more of a summary of the next major update (VS a more long-term summary of things ahead), I'm pretty impressed with the change log on the PTS.

My god, do the devs even sleep over there at ZoS? Seriously, I gave up on reading everything cause it was just too much... I looked over the highlights though.... Like implementing the next stage of the Champion System (that's huge); the facial animation system (minus non-human npcs, still that's a LOT of code to go through); a reason to re-do group dungeons (huge for people like me who prefer co-op play vs PvP).

Plus we now have chat bubbles which really is minor and unimpressive as an "update" but I really like having that option. Together with the guild tabards, its a couple steps in the right direction for RP'ers.


Honestly, when this game was launched they probably had a list of things-to-do lined up which made that first Road Ahead epic. Now that they are into the thick of things I don't think we'll see "Road Ahead"s like that again.

Seriously, those guys/gals over there at ZoS must be getting some fat over-time checks :-)

I fully agree, the patch notes are really impressive!! Just the road ahead would of been better if it was ahead of everything lol someone said "the road behind" and i feel that is relatively accurate

Audigy

Tyr wrote: »

show previous quotes

kevlarto_ESO wrote: »

Sad thing is looks like 1.5 will be the last update of the year unless they surprise us

There's 10 weeks left in the year and 1.5 will be live at the end of this month, so why would you think there would be no 1.6 in the first half of December on schedule?

I don't think the patch will come this month, I see it more around mid / end of November. Keep in mind they said 6-8 weeks between updates and not 4

And since we do have Christmas in December (you know when you celebrate with your family), New years eve (when you party with your friends) a patch is very unlikely around that time.

I also think that an announcement was made in regards of 1.6 coming in January.

We will see what happens but I wouldn't get my hopes too high.

Csub

Well, true, I think with ESO live the Road Ahead stuff will be less and less important and surprising which is not necessarily bad, I love the ESO live episodes. Would be nice if Road Ahead would focus instead on whatever they plan in 2 updates from now on and on the past stuff as well so they won't "collide" with ESO live. Of course, the Road Ahead would not be written in stone, meaning it could still change considering there are around 3-4 months till then.

Elsonso

Never argue with @Tyr‌ as he has one end of the red bat phone that rings on Firor's desk.

If Update 5 is on "schedule", it will be released the week of October 27. By "schedule" I mean the original "every 4-6 weeks" comment from April. I certainly do not hold that as a promise, but if past performance holds, it will be around Halloween.

Tyr

someuser wrote: »

show previous quotes

Tyr wrote: »

kevlarto_ESO wrote: »

Sad thing is looks like 1.5 will be the last update of the year unless they surprise us

There's 10 weeks left in the year and 1.5 will be live at the end of this month, so why would you think there would be no 1.6 in the first half of December on schedule?

I dunno, maybe some people still celebrate x-mas with their families?

Do people celebrate Christmas 3 weeks early now?