The Road Ahead

Joy_Division

Greetings, everyone, and welcome to another Road Ahead update! This month I’ll talk about our plans with Elder Scrolls Online. I know our Imperial City release had not addressed many of the issues and problems you folks who PvP every night are experiencing, so we have recently decided that we can no longer neglect this vital part of the game. We believe that no other MMO game has anywhere close to the dynamic and exciting PvP gameplay that our game could have and thousands of fans who are just waiting - begging - that we do something to entice them to come back and have fulfilling and fun PvP experiences. This does not mean we are not hard at work at the PvE end of things - we know we need a new trial and other end-game content - it just means we will not simply sit back and hope Cyrodiil's problems will go away own their own.

"Zerging"

Back during our "Guild Summit" last year, we admitted that we "recognized the current meta of stacking in AoE and distributing damage throughout your group. This isn’t the gameplay we wants, we want large groups of abilities to be vulnerable to AoE and afraid of AoE." We (now) understand that out efforts, which have included such measures as raising siege damage, adjusting AoE caps to hit more targets (albeit with falloff damage) and incentivizing other means of AP gains such as the 20% delve bonus have not had their desired effect. I want to make it crystal clear we want to do away with this meta because it is not very interesting, does not make players feel very heroic, and most of all it damages the integrity of our servers.

To that end we will be implementing a series of changes that will implemented periodically. The first of which will be:

Complete removal of damage AoE Caps

We are going to file this under the good intentions gone bad file. We know 87% of you did not want AoE caps and feared what they might lead to. However, at the time they were implemented, we had serious balance issues that demanded we do something. We had hoped a new meta would evolve without AoEs being so dominant yet at the same time deterring "ball groups". We now see this was a mistake. We understand this now means AoEs are going to be potentially strong and groups will have to fear them, but, that's kind of the whole point as we noted in the guild summit. We believe there is a "learn-to-play" (L2P) element here in that if you spread out from your Alliance comrades, you will dramatically lessen the chance that you will be targeted or hit by an AoE spamming player. In short, this will take some adjustment, but we are confident you folks are smart and skilled enough such that removing AoE caps will have a positive impact on your gameplay and our server performance.

Increase in siege damage

Brian Wheeler already indicated on the forums that this is something we are working on right now. Also, we understand that ice catapults (plain ineffectiveness), oil catapults (snare easily removed), stone catapults (lol), and lightning ballista (fire is just better) are not being used as much as we'd like and we look into way to make these more appealing options.

"Ground Oils" and Magicka detonation

We got rid of "ground oils" hoping that the Magicka Detonation skill would be able to replicate the useful but immersion breaking function of players pouring burning oil at their feet. This was another mistake on our part as the magicka detonation skill, despite our best efforts, has strengthened the very zergs it was intended to combat. Instead of just reintroducing "ground oils" (which Joy would love...sigh), what we are going to do is mechanically change the magicka detonation skill so its effect is similar, i.e., cast time and high AoE DoT. In such a way we can get back the useful function that "ground oils" had in the game for zerg busting while not having the unrealistic aesthetic that came with it.

Dynamic Ultimate Generation

This will be a step that comes after the AoE removal, probably about a month. We want to be careful how these two interact with each other because there is a potential for abuse. Plus, we are still experimenting on ways to generate that ultimate (we do not want the overly simplistic critical hit model). We originally believed capping ultimate gain would be desirable because many players expressed the opinion these powerful abilities seemed too commonplace. While that opinion is valid, too many other problems have arisen. We cut off potential interesting and diverse builds. We have damaged the ability of the "tanky" classes to hold their ground against ball-groups and compel them to spread out in the first place (ironic as we intended to help tanks). Most of all, we undermined the potential for you players to be "heroic" against formidable odds. Under the old system, outnumbered groups and players would generate more ultimate and thus give them a fighting chance at uncoordinated masses of enemies. We thought by limiting ultimates they wouldn't seem so common, so boring. But what we got are encounters that are so common and so boring because the larger group simply has too many advantages. We want you to be heroic and you need dynamic ultimate to do that in Cyrodiil.

Some of the ideas we are bouncing around:

• Replacement of the undesirable "charged" and "sturdy" traits for one that increases ultimate gain. We feel this will make for more diverse builds as players could give up very good "divine" and "precise" traits that everyone uses for a different approach to combat effectiveness.
• Single target DoT skills. We know DoTs are woefully underperforming and would like to incentivize these and make them more beneficial to their users. Note: this will not include AoE dots (although these also need help). We (now) know Wall of Elements does not "melt" enemies.
• At its core, this mechanic will have to involve the number of opponents that are hit, or alternatively, the number of opponents who hit a particular player (this would help solve the original problem of tanks not generating enough ultimate). We are currently testing various ideas.
  
  
  Additional Alliance War objectives in Cyrodiil
  
  We feel this is the most important and needed change. We can introduce all the mechanics in the world, but when it comes down to it, there is no Alliance War related reason to ever go to 95% of the map - which is a shame because we feel the artists and other folks who created that map did a superb job. We (now) realize that no matter how much we ask, how much your guilds ask, how much influential solo players ask, when the DC faction controls much of the map and takes Chalman Keep, the EP held scroll at Arrius is just going to act like a magnet that draws every Daggerfall player to it. That's just the way it is. We need to stop pretending like talking nicely or trying to shame other players into moving away from exciting and important battles to instead PvDoor backwaters like Castle Brindle is an acceptable solution. It's not. We need to provide important objectives on the map to spread folks out, get them working together, and, importantly, give small groups tangible ways to affect the AvAvA scoreboard.
  
  I am reminded of my time playing the first FPS games like Duke, Quake, and Doom that the various weapons, health packs, and buffs lying all around compelled us to spread out even on the smallest maps and naturally made for many small-scale engagements that were a part of a larger 8V8 "capture the flag" game. We want to simulate that sort of gameplay. We need to supply dumps, Alliance HQs, ancient ruins providing mysterious power, transport hubs, prestigious landmarks, crucial natural/arcane resources, and other stuff to not only give you folks actual reasons to spread out, but also add a bit more strategy. It's a way of adding "Battleground" type features into the AvAvA format and have them complement each other (as opposed to competing against each other).
  
  We recognize these places need to do more than just generate numbers on a scoreboard; they need to provide players with tangible power (for them and Alliance war buffs), like those weapons and powerpacks did in those old FPS games, so that players will want to go out of their way to get them. Our Alyeid wells sort of do this, but their bonus is too small and too transient. We will add these as they become available and monitor how you folks adjust your PvP routines and will be prepared to adjust accordingly. Our ultimate goal here is to provide enough incentive to get you off the beaten path, away from the 5% of Cyrodiil you folks are always fighting over, and provide numerous places that attract smaller groups of players to fight over
  
  
  Improving Communication
  
  After our Guild Summit, I wrote " As I’ve said many times before, games like ESO rely on a community of players to be successful. Having a regular dialogue with community leaders is a great way for us to stay in touch with real player issues and keep everyone in the community informed about what we’re working on" in a past Road Ahead article. We now understand we have gotten too far away from that. We do value your opinions and assessments and we are going to do a better job at this. I can see now how trying to fix, test, reform, balance everything internally is counterproductive.
  
  You are going to see our faces and our voices more often in podcasts, streams, and periodic meetings with PvP ambassadors who will serve as intermediaries so that we can communicate to you our vision and you can communicate to us your desires and concerns. There will no longer be an anonymous and mysterious "combat team." To that extent, we would like if the PvP community can select some ambassadors from various play-style preference (solo, organized guild raids, smaller scale groups, folks who try to organize "Pugs," etc.) so we can get the ball rolling. For this to work, we need to be willing to actually listen to and consider the experiences we do not see when testing internally and the ambassadors need to be able to filter out frustrations and emotionally charged disappointment so that they are providing constructive feedback of what is good and what needs improvement.
  
  Let's make it so the Elder Scrolls Online fulfills its potential of being the best PvP MMO out there!
  
  ********
  
  If it were only so...

OdinForge

:I

This is depressing.

Soulac

Antioos

Here are some of suggestions for some repopulate PvP-Areas and spread out the action:

Quests:

Conquer-Quests (Keep/Resources) should be given in an order, that players get “Home-Objectives” first. This makes Quests more accessible, gives players a reason to fight together for their territory (since quests are not spread out, as long as the own territory is not secured) and is newcomers friendly (since new players lack fast horses).
After the “Homeland” is secured, there are given “foreign” objectives, maybe with a slight higher reward.

PvP-Bonuses:
Grant PvP-Bonuses only to Players who reached Reward-Level 3 in their own Home-Campaign. It should be MORE to do, to achieve certain bonuses than joining the campaign, in which the own faction is dominating. Want a PvP-Bonus? Do PvP !

Give Players/Guilds a reason to conquer/defend Objectives:
Right now, the only real reason to conquer a keep is to get the merchant up. Not a real benefit for PvP-Guilds.
So there need to be better reasons to get/defend a keep.
Keeps right now got 5 Levels of Fortification.
Why not giving members of the inhabitant Guild a 1-5% Bonus on AP (matching the keeps status of fortification), plus an extra reward, when they successfully defend their keep.

Link the benefit of conquering a keep to the time, its not being conquered by enemies.

Turelus

Jhunn

Eirella

CtrlAltDlt

FENGRUSH

Thanks for the update Zenimax - this is all great news!

Jules

I love Joy Division.

Etaniel

Very well written, I agree with everything you said.
Sounds like something that would only come out of dreams though

Eirella

Jules wrote: »

I love Joy Division.

Well I don't! Foolishly got my hopes up for a minute.

Minno

CtrlAltDlt

FENGRUSH wrote: »

Thanks for the update Zenimax - this is all great news!

Minno

@Joy_Division it might be interesting to elevauate as a community how AP gains are seen, met from a playing standpoint, and how AP influences objective-map-moves.

Just a little worried there isn't much incentive to branch out anyway if AP farming from kills to get EMP is the current method of hitting keeps.

Mostly because we are seeing/seeking more ways to spend AP on, it devalues the map and point system the more valuable items get added to our purchasable list. Maybe we fully switch AP to the point system/objectives instead of including kills? Add a secondary "emp" so that small pops can gain a power figure head?

Just ideas to debate .

Dreyloch

Kudos Joy. Ya had me goin for about 30 seconds there,

I am not sure how the ZoS Devs are going to react to this. Basically acting like your a dev posting and pretty much trying to dictate what they are going do. Problem is, you don't write the checks. Sure you may pay a sub fee, but even a year's worth of subs from you wouldn't pay for a week's worth of Dev work. It might pay for their bosses' lunch on any given day however, rofl.

We all know how many ideas, commentary, podcasts, full blown wall's of text we've all written and it's like screaming at a brick wall. Although it's all enJOYable to read , until a dev comes along and really communicates a change is without a doubt going to happen on ALL your points? I'm just waiting like so many others for something new to come along and leave this game in the proverbial $4.99 bargain bin.

This, like any other business is going to fail for lack of delivery on a products' touted features in which it has miserably failed to do so. Ok, I take that back...failed to continue to do so.

MrGrimey

I'd like to see some update done to IC to make it more pvp friendly

CtrlAltDlt

Dreams are free afterall.

Armitas

A road ahead with everything there that should be there...we have just exited the twilight zone.

Ishammael

Manoekin

Plot Twist: Joy is Wrobel.

FENGRUSH

2nd Plot Twist: Jules is Gina

Lesspa

I want so bad to come back to ESO. Its been months and i still see no fixes for the issues that made me leave. GG, ESO. GG.

Minno

FENGRUSH wrote: »

2nd Plot Twist: Jules is Gina

Manoekin wrote: »

Plot Twist: Joy is Wrobel.

Nafirian

Very well made i cri every tiem.

Teargrants

phillyproduct

WoW...

PainfulFAFA

blabafat

Seriously what happened to the road ahead?

Road ahead that actually communicated with the players

Giving us updates on crown store items is not a road ahead. It's "What to spend money on ahead"

Jules

FENGRUSH wrote: »

2nd Plot Twist: Jules is Gina

you know it

Cryhavoc