Maintenance for the week of October 12:
• PC/Mac: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – October 12, 6:00AM EDT (10:00 UTC) – 8:00AM EDT (12:00 UTC)
• Xbox One: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – October 14, 6:00AM EDT (10:00 UTC) – 9:00AM EDT (13:00 UTC)
• PlayStation®4: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – October 14, 6:00AM EDT (10:00 UTC) – 9:00AM EDT (13:00 UTC)
• PC/Mac: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – October 12, 6:00AM EDT (10:00 UTC) – 8:00AM EDT (12:00 UTC)
• Xbox One: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – October 14, 6:00AM EDT (10:00 UTC) – 9:00AM EDT (13:00 UTC)
• PlayStation®4: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – October 14, 6:00AM EDT (10:00 UTC) – 9:00AM EDT (13:00 UTC)
The Markarth DLC and Update 28 base game patch are now available to test on the PTS! Read the full patch notes here: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/categories/pts/
Marketing and Distribution
Molagent
✭✭
Took over a year for me to get on these forums because I never got my invitation code, which continues to blow my mind you need such a thing for game forums. Anyways, today I'm probably getting banned for saying all this. So take note and read well.
The Apology of a Beta Tester
The Horror of Launch
For those of you who've only ever played Skyrim or some previous Elder Scrolls title, I ask you stop talking about the Thieves Guild, The Dark Brotherhood, or something else. The game time is not in those Eras, and while these organizations may or may not exist assuming they're even widely known, it doesn't call to lore of the time or any sense of reason and logic. If you don't believe that then I want to see completed scripts for dialogue, quest lines, pathing for AIs, locations, etc. If you can't do it, neither will they have a reason unless their INVESTORS not YOU THE PLAYERS say so. Because that's how marketing works, and the world.
Now that we're on the topic of marketing though, can someone at Zenimax because god knows I won't hear from Bethesda...Why exactly it is 5,500 crowns goes for the price of 39.99 USD? Now, sounds like a decent deal, especially since all the items you get from the crown store or character/account bound right? Wrong. A major market for crafters that we've personally been waiting for is now to be locked down and shot in the head. While these motifs, potions, food and drinks seem harmless, and add the cost on top of it. It would seem that crafters are in the clear right? Pardon, but who are you trying to convince, we all know those items are going to sell. So what's going to happen to motifs, alchemists, chefs and so on. While tri-pots (triple potions) are without a doubt safe to the market, for how long? What about enchanters, blacksmiths, woodworkers and tailors? I had no problem with ESO becoming buy-then-free-to-play, especially with all the changes they've made it's still a very nice game to play.
Let's think in long term though. Right now to get all the motifs in game it's assumed and let's just go with there's no haggling... Imperial is 50k, Daedric is 65k, Ancient Elven 25k, Barbaric and Primal 30k, Dwemer completed is 200k, and the other races are all 500 gold each so 5k.
50+65+25+30+200+5= 375k (375,000 gold.)
OR
39.99*3= 119.97USD.
Remember this is JUST and ONLY MOTIFS. I pre-ordered the game, played Beta, I spent 79.99 already on the game (Imperial Edition) and suddenly everything we had as a pre-order is now up for repeatable sales. From treasure maps to the pledges of Mara. I'm honestly surprised with the pledges of Mara only recently becoming available though since Marriage is a major topic in any game. What's insane to me are the prices though. It seems it was never talked about or thought of, almost everything is 400 crowns or more and just for a single item that can be drained easier than a gamer with their favourite drink. I'm still amazed Zenimax to this day refuses to refund the Mara Rings to those who pre-ordered or bought the Imperial Edition when our partner or friend stops playing the game. We can't choose a new person or even do anything with the rings if the other player leaves the group. What's the point of having them then? The poor business and game development goes on and on...
I wonder now what is to become of ESO. Will it become a game like Perfect World, Jade Dynasty and so on that spam the player with advertisements about sales and "limited time" offers and for how long those so called offers and sales all last, especially percentages off. Will they reduce the prices or keep the market mercilessly expensive, or turn to more desired topic. Account bound items. Something like motifs and soul gems suddenly might only be one thing and be completely bound across the account forcing players to either farm even more than they should or buy the crowns. So many other things. The best question to be though, how do you feel about this fast tracking? Do you think it will get worse, know it, what might come next and so on?
The Apology of a Beta Tester
Ever play Skyrim, Morrowind or Oblivion? Maybe a different title Bethesda worked with or produced themselves... We all know anyone who tries the Elder Scrolls series even if they hate roleplay, adventure, or deep stories will eventually be consumed by it. Now before I go further, as a Beta player we actually weren't allowed to play the full, so to speak "Campaign/Story" Quest line. We were virtually locked out at a point where you're trying to escape Coldharbour with Lyris and she goes through her "Trials of life." We couldn't see anymore of the story then this bit, and we were cut off about a quarter way into it. Why I say this is because I actually feel all Beta players should have been given the responsibility to see the story through especially for game reviewers and critics, but at the bare minimum to report on bugs and possible flaws. Seeing the way it is, blew my mind. Though it seems a lot of games were being pushed out way before their time in 2013, and 2014, seems 2015 will continue this horrid cycle. I can say though I've never heard of a game in my life that's an MMORPG that kills the main villain, but not only kills him/her but never replaces them! The only title I can think of that might come close to such a thing is RuneScape, even then there's always something else around the corner. So on the behalf of those who feel the same as I do, I apologize to the players now and after. I have hopes Bethesda didn't decide on such poor choices or even have a say in this, because of the content they've produced from Terminator titles to the Fallout Series I still love them. I wish them the best in the harsh up and down industry game development is with a hope that it was Zenimax and their investors that doomed this title and game.
The Horror of Launch
During launch, at least to my knowledge. There were major game breaking bugs in the game of course! Why wouldn't there be? It's an expected thing, even Blizzard's titles still have major bugs, BUT at least they're fixed in a timely manner. I don't really blame whoever made the choice of this, because I don't think anyone could have made it with an ease of mind. Back to topic, during launch we had severe problems, ones that'll blow your mind. We had the gold farmers and bots of course like any game, but these ones...No these ones, they could teleport! Mine, pick plants, chop wood and more. Oh yes, that's not the end of it. There were hackers running around at lightning speed, running up walls and more. See the video below for unbelievable proof, and there's more of them a rather incredible amount.
Believe it or not, that's not the worst of it. It hurt the hell out of anyone who wanted to become a crafter without a doubt, myself I ran into them numerous times. So many I simply refused to report it any further then the one time I did because it was never responded to. I knew I wasn't the only one bombarding Zenimax's "Customer Support" and knew it'd be fixed eventually. I felt that eventually would be 12-72 hours. Nope. Took a lot longer than that almost a month. Now losing materials is bad, but we survived rather fine. Reported the gold spammers and the bots, eventually it was taken care of, not a big impact on our Markets. BUT mind you this was one of three problems. Hackers, Hacking Bots, and the best one Hireling duplication glitch. Hireling duplication, back during launch getting tempers was rather impressively difficult, especially since quests never scale upwards in veteran content to produce sufficient gold or items such as Magical/Rare/Blues or higher. Always green and always less than 400 gold. So when someone found out they could duplicate from their hirelings mail. It was jumped on like you couldn't believe. People were walking around in full legendary gear at level 10 and up. It was loved as much as it was hated, guilds would safeguard the materials duped and distribute them out like candy getting people the best of the best or selling what they could. Not by ones or tens, by hundreds and THOUSANDS. It took over two weeks for this to even be addressed. The response of it was to ban an unknown amount of accounts and even some guilds I heard, and to rollback the game 7 hours. Yes this affected your trait researching. Of course no one had the 20+ day long trait researching as they do now, but you tell me if you want to be pushed back 7 hours when you were on your last day, hour, or MINUTE. Ouch. If the bots didn't make you leave, the hireling duplicators would. They wanted to charge the fullest prices and overprice materials and tempers alike and did. Kuta ran for 3-8k usually 5k/each. Don't even ask what Alloy or any others cost. Though I still laugh when people say Imperial motifs on the US server ran upwards of 60k and higher. I got mine for 12k, every guild I was in sold them for less than 20k. Maybe people were in the wrong guilds? No idea, but I never saw them run passed 25k. Daedric was top dollar until people started seeing how the armor looked. Now we're left hoping for Imperial Daedric.
There was a lot of ugly at launch, whether it was from the main quest line being ungodly awful ironic since you're killing a Daedric Prince or it be from the fact you're sent to the other faction's zones to get the title "Tamriel Hero" instead of letting us have a fully open world. Unless you were one of the many who decided instead to grind out mobs like a blender that never shuts off. So even more quests went without any knowledge of broken mechanics, and it took a week or longer to fix. Awful business planning and working.
Believe it or not, that's not the worst of it. It hurt the hell out of anyone who wanted to become a crafter without a doubt, myself I ran into them numerous times. So many I simply refused to report it any further then the one time I did because it was never responded to. I knew I wasn't the only one bombarding Zenimax's "Customer Support" and knew it'd be fixed eventually. I felt that eventually would be 12-72 hours. Nope. Took a lot longer than that almost a month. Now losing materials is bad, but we survived rather fine. Reported the gold spammers and the bots, eventually it was taken care of, not a big impact on our Markets. BUT mind you this was one of three problems. Hackers, Hacking Bots, and the best one Hireling duplication glitch. Hireling duplication, back during launch getting tempers was rather impressively difficult, especially since quests never scale upwards in veteran content to produce sufficient gold or items such as Magical/Rare/Blues or higher. Always green and always less than 400 gold. So when someone found out they could duplicate from their hirelings mail. It was jumped on like you couldn't believe. People were walking around in full legendary gear at level 10 and up. It was loved as much as it was hated, guilds would safeguard the materials duped and distribute them out like candy getting people the best of the best or selling what they could. Not by ones or tens, by hundreds and THOUSANDS. It took over two weeks for this to even be addressed. The response of it was to ban an unknown amount of accounts and even some guilds I heard, and to rollback the game 7 hours. Yes this affected your trait researching. Of course no one had the 20+ day long trait researching as they do now, but you tell me if you want to be pushed back 7 hours when you were on your last day, hour, or MINUTE. Ouch. If the bots didn't make you leave, the hireling duplicators would. They wanted to charge the fullest prices and overprice materials and tempers alike and did. Kuta ran for 3-8k usually 5k/each. Don't even ask what Alloy or any others cost. Though I still laugh when people say Imperial motifs on the US server ran upwards of 60k and higher. I got mine for 12k, every guild I was in sold them for less than 20k. Maybe people were in the wrong guilds? No idea, but I never saw them run passed 25k. Daedric was top dollar until people started seeing how the armor looked. Now we're left hoping for Imperial Daedric.
There was a lot of ugly at launch, whether it was from the main quest line being ungodly awful ironic since you're killing a Daedric Prince or it be from the fact you're sent to the other faction's zones to get the title "Tamriel Hero" instead of letting us have a fully open world. Unless you were one of the many who decided instead to grind out mobs like a blender that never shuts off. So even more quests went without any knowledge of broken mechanics, and it took a week or longer to fix. Awful business planning and working.
For those of you who've only ever played Skyrim or some previous Elder Scrolls title, I ask you stop talking about the Thieves Guild, The Dark Brotherhood, or something else. The game time is not in those Eras, and while these organizations may or may not exist assuming they're even widely known, it doesn't call to lore of the time or any sense of reason and logic. If you don't believe that then I want to see completed scripts for dialogue, quest lines, pathing for AIs, locations, etc. If you can't do it, neither will they have a reason unless their INVESTORS not YOU THE PLAYERS say so. Because that's how marketing works, and the world.
Now that we're on the topic of marketing though, can someone at Zenimax because god knows I won't hear from Bethesda...Why exactly it is 5,500 crowns goes for the price of 39.99 USD? Now, sounds like a decent deal, especially since all the items you get from the crown store or character/account bound right? Wrong. A major market for crafters that we've personally been waiting for is now to be locked down and shot in the head. While these motifs, potions, food and drinks seem harmless, and add the cost on top of it. It would seem that crafters are in the clear right? Pardon, but who are you trying to convince, we all know those items are going to sell. So what's going to happen to motifs, alchemists, chefs and so on. While tri-pots (triple potions) are without a doubt safe to the market, for how long? What about enchanters, blacksmiths, woodworkers and tailors? I had no problem with ESO becoming buy-then-free-to-play, especially with all the changes they've made it's still a very nice game to play.
Let's think in long term though. Right now to get all the motifs in game it's assumed and let's just go with there's no haggling... Imperial is 50k, Daedric is 65k, Ancient Elven 25k, Barbaric and Primal 30k, Dwemer completed is 200k, and the other races are all 500 gold each so 5k.
50+65+25+30+200+5= 375k (375,000 gold.)
OR
39.99*3= 119.97USD.
Remember this is JUST and ONLY MOTIFS. I pre-ordered the game, played Beta, I spent 79.99 already on the game (Imperial Edition) and suddenly everything we had as a pre-order is now up for repeatable sales. From treasure maps to the pledges of Mara. I'm honestly surprised with the pledges of Mara only recently becoming available though since Marriage is a major topic in any game. What's insane to me are the prices though. It seems it was never talked about or thought of, almost everything is 400 crowns or more and just for a single item that can be drained easier than a gamer with their favourite drink. I'm still amazed Zenimax to this day refuses to refund the Mara Rings to those who pre-ordered or bought the Imperial Edition when our partner or friend stops playing the game. We can't choose a new person or even do anything with the rings if the other player leaves the group. What's the point of having them then? The poor business and game development goes on and on...
I wonder now what is to become of ESO. Will it become a game like Perfect World, Jade Dynasty and so on that spam the player with advertisements about sales and "limited time" offers and for how long those so called offers and sales all last, especially percentages off. Will they reduce the prices or keep the market mercilessly expensive, or turn to more desired topic. Account bound items. Something like motifs and soul gems suddenly might only be one thing and be completely bound across the account forcing players to either farm even more than they should or buy the crowns. So many other things. The best question to be though, how do you feel about this fast tracking? Do you think it will get worse, know it, what might come next and so on?
"Happiness is foolishness I don't care for. When a scientist discovers something new that person would be willing to die to uncover the result of it. In that moment there is no happiness but an obsessiveness with interest. And it is with great pleasure I say I am not, nor ever desire to be happy, but take luxury and with sense of halcyon that I am interesting."