Let's Talk... Hammerdeath Arena!

DaniAngione

Hello, everyone

Today I come here before this great community and ZOS devs/community team to talk about one of the things that - at least for me - was one of the nicest additions to the game in One Tamriel and yet it is so... under used.

Let's talk about the Hammerdeath Arena!

"Hammerdeath Arena? What is this?" you might ask - and no, this wouldn't be surprising at all! Most people - believe it or not - are completely oblivious to its existence. In fact, I mentioned it a couple of times on different Zone channels and Guild channels and I got showered with whispers asking me what I'm talking about. This is a problem because the arena is pretty cool, the NPCs are fun and diverse ('friendly' minotaur champion, werewolf, a spirit with a funny/easter-eggish name, etc...).
So before we start, what is the Hammerdeath Arena for those that do not know it?

Hammerdeath Arena is a new area in Stormhaven, west of Wayrest and a short walk north of Soulshriven wayshrine. It is marked by two crossed swords on the map.
It is a place specially designed for DUELS, with plenty of room for both fighters and spectators, three differently sized arenas and a nice atmosphere.

Here are some pictures of it:

So, what's the deal with the arena?
Well, it is rarely used - if used at all. It is a nice, specific place given to us by ZOS but it's highly neglected. That's everyone's fault, to be honest. We, as players, should spread the word and encourage its use if we want to see it used. But since no one uses, even the players that do know about it will duel anywhere rather than trying to bring people to it - but ZOS could also encourage its use with a lot of nice treats! And this is what this thread is about. The arena could be the most "fair" and democratic answer to a lot of the community concerns right now: lag in cities because of too many duels, people that don't like to be invited randomly for duels but don't want to turn off duel invitation (because they DO duel), etc... Of course, dueling could still take place whenever and wherever - but it would certainly be nice to have a granted place that you can go to satisfy all your dueling pleasures!

Without further ado, then...
What could be changed to make the Hammerdeath Arena more appealing?

This is a list of ideas/suggestions for ZOS to make the arena more appealing to all players! Feel free to like/dislike them and add your own. The point here is to let ZOS know that there are people interested in the arena and that with a couple of tweaks it could be awesome - so show your interest and let's get some attention and love for the arena!

• SPECIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS - One thing that would certaily attract people to the Hammerdeath Arena would be specific dueling achievements. That is: achievements that can only be obtained if fighting in the arena. These could be varied and complex as Cyrodiil's PVP achievements are - with specific achievements for each class that you beat, maybe a damage, healing and blocking achievement, etc... They could grant fancy titles and dyes for the greatest duelists of Tamriel and since dueling is so fast and enjoyable, the numbers could go crazy high - with a 1,000 or even 10,000 duels achievement "Legend of Hammerdeath Arena".
• SPECTATING - Spectating could be a thing, too. Achievements for spectating duels in the arena could be given to not only encourage spectators (which is a nice addition to immersion/atmosphere) but also give you a bit more to do in-between duels. Spectating achievements could be really funny and require all sorts of things, like using emotes on people dueling (like /cheer) or celebrating the victorious character (or even throwing /boo on the losers!). Spectating achievements could unlock new emotes or something like that.
• BETTING - One thing a lot of people have requested since Dueling was announced was the ability to place bets on duels. Perhaps that could be possible - but only on duels held within the arena. Betting is an interesting thing and perhaps it could even allow spectators to bet - like a prompt that goes to the people nearby the duel center, asking them to bet on one of the fighters (or ignore it)
• GROUP SPARS - This would be amazing, if possible. And to encourage the use of the arena, could be an exclusive feature to it (with its own achievements) - the ability to duel in groups, like 2x2, 3x3, etc. Some games can handle that by allowing multiple duels at once. For example, let's say A and B want to duel C and D. A challenges C and D (two duels) and B challenges C and D too (another 2 duels. So there are 4 duels going on simultaneously, allowing for 2 pairs to duel each other. Of course that's not an elegant solution and ESO could certainly have a proper system - but that's up for the devs to devise. It should be really simple, though - perhaps a party leader challenging another party leader - and if both parties have the same number of people - could give a prompt asking if it is a group spar.
• BETTER WAYSHRINE PLACEMENT/MORE ACCESSIBILITY - One thing I've seen some people say about the arena is that it's more complicated to access than simply porting to a city. Which is kind of a lame excuse, since it's literally a 15 seconds ride from the wayshrine to it, but could be pointed out nonetheless. Perhaps pushing the Soulshriven wayshrine a bit north OR adding the ability to teleport to the Arena icon directly (just like we can port into dungeons or The Harborage).
• SOUND & MUSIC - Maybe a bit of tweaking to the atmosphere would help, too. Duels already have fun "boss" music, but perhaps duels inside the Hammerdeath Arena could have some unique new piece of music (once new music is added)? Or maybe give the battles there some "arena crowd" sounds just like the Kvatch arena has, with the public reacting to critical blows, defeats, dodges, etc.
• REMOVE DUEL LIMIT - Another thing that could encourage the use of the arena would be the removal (inside its walls) of the limit on the number of duels in the same area.
• ALLOWS TELEPORTATION FROM START - The arena should be "discovered" for every new character and they should be able to teleport to it from the start, like the first Wayshrine in each faction since One Tamriel went live.
• ADVERTISE IT! - Perhaps a special news article about it, a "screenshot community contest" for duels in the arena, a tutorial tooltip about it when a character leaves Coldharbour, etc... Thing is - make it known! This has been an issue with the Witches Festival (a lot of people didn't know what to do, how to get skulls, etc...) and this kind of thing should be noticed for the upcoming changes and festivals and stuff in general: NOT EVERYONE reads forums or news articles, things must reach them in-game somehow! (Tooltips, neat (lore-friendly) in-game mail, etc...)
• COSMETIC CONTENT - Arena costumes, motifs, etc... Things that could be obtained with the achievement but also by playing. Perhaps a token-thing for duels participated and duels won that you can exchange for a lot of cosmetic goodies, perhaps even "daily" quests to fight and to spectate that provide reward containers with random chances for goodies, potions, etc...
• MODDING API CHANGES - if any of these actually happen, allow dueling mods to take advantage of in-arena specific stats so we can have arena leaderboards and such!

Notice that the idea is to improve and enhance dueling, giving it a lot of depth.
This is NOT meant to be a fully-fleshed "Arena PVP" mode with gear acquisition and stuff, but rather a way to encourage more playstyles and to give TONS of depth to what is usually a regular/standard MMO feature.

Dueling in ESO IS fun. 1x1 combat is enjoyable. These things would be investments in the game's future and I'm sure a lot of it would appease the PVP community greatly.
So think about it with love, ZOS

That's it
Feel free to say anything and, once again, thank you for your time!

Sythen88411

Why duel there when you can have bank duels

Silver_Strider

Wasn't Hammerdeath arena a crafting station in Stormhaven for Torag's pact or something, or at least I remember it being extremely close to that place.

DaniAngione

Silver_Strider wrote: »

Wasn't Hammerdeath arena a crafting station in Stormhaven for Torag's pact or something, or at least I remember it being extremely close to that place.

Yes, the arena always existed. There's a contraband item that mentions it (Hammerdeath Arena tokens, I think) as well. And some lore books.

It was sealed off, however.
It was opened on Update 12, One Tamriel, to be used by duelists.

SaRuZ

I agree, somewhat.

THEDKEXPERIENCE

I've been trying to heard cats on XBox there the last few days. Every time I check there seems to be 6 to 12 people using it.

Great post.

Jaronking

Its a wonderful place but their a lot of stiff they can add to help attract people their like a cooking fire,a bank,crafting station so we can upgrade gear and crafting potions.Not to.mentioned a guild trader or two.It be like a mini town so it attract more players to go their.It's a reason why people like fighting in the cities the ease of access of everything you put some of that their you have a lot more dueling in the arena then you would in the town.

Smasherx74

I don't like dueling because people just rely on RNG to be good.

captainwolfos

I always thought it was a crafting location, and considering I wasn't all that interested in duelling, anyway, I never really gave it another thought.

That was until I randomly ended up back on the Stormhaven map, and saw it come up on my map as an undiscovered map pin (thank you, Destinations addon).

So I went and had a gander, and it's a pretty cool looking location. There was only about three people there, (and I'm pretty sure one of them was following me demanding a duel, but thank the gods for auto-decline), which is... fewer than I was expecting, honestly.

DaniAngione

Yeah, I think my post might have worked a bit ^^ or something else, I dunno.

As you see from my screenshots, it was completely empty when I visited there. All the times.

And now every day I see some people using it
Yay!

idk

Don't see the need and certainly domt see why DC should be the center of dueling.

Of course, no betting and no acheivements should be part of dueling. I kinda new when Zos added this ability that some would not be satisfied and as such would want more and more.

kadar

YAS.

Such agree, much awesome!

NordSwordnBoard

When accepting a duel, maybe you could have the option to fight on the spot or warp to the arena if the other agrees.

You could be challenged to a single duel (on the spot) or best of 3 match in the arena.

Or, make it so the person challenged can decide if they want to duel on the spot, or in the arena.

Adding a wayshrine to the arena and town amenities like Jaronking mentioned will make this work better as well.

N0TPLAYER2

This place is awesome. Thanks for the post.

Vaoh

Dueling.... it's honestly not my thing anymore. PvP is simply too imbalanced this patch. You either use the broken OP setups or get slaughtered by them.

I love this feature for testing only. Until Wrobel truly fixes this mess (and the Q1 2017 patch is supposed to be the balance update), I can only congratulate players who find enjoyment in dueling people during our current Heavy Armor/Stamina/Proc meta.

Hammerdeath Arena will see its glory days when PvP is somewhat balanced again

Taylor_MB

People duel in towns because it's convenient. Hammerdeath Arena needs a closer wayshrine (like you said), but also all crafting stations and bank access. I doubt many PvP'ers care about any of your other suggestions (except sparring).

AFrostWolf

Reminds me of my days in the Duel Arena in Runescape.

They should add it an option to duel others players with a bet on the item. A simple trade screen where both players put up items/money/whatever and it gets delivered via mail to the winner of a duel. If there is a potential for people to earn money there, people would flock to it.

RapidUrsa

Hmmmm Interesting that I have never heard of this, I shall be taking my legion there to train!

Regards,

Tylos Septim,
Imperial Commander

waterfairy

Smasherx74 wrote: »

I don't like dueling because people just rely on RNG to be good.

It seems like the only people who like dueling are those who use the meta proc sets that I can't stand which sucks all the fun out of fighting someone. I wanna fight you not vipers sting.

Olupajmibanan

How about making this arena instanced game mode with duel finder tool?

Same like dungeons and upcoming battlegrounds. And of course adding leaderboard with weekly rewards to it (same like trials).

roigseguib16_ESO

Very nice suggestions!

Narvuntien

Please get the duels out of the city.... this is certainly the best way to do it... give people a real reason to do duels in a particular location.

RapidUrsa

Olupajmibanan wrote: »

How about making this arena instanced game mode with duel finder tool?

Same like dungeons and upcoming battlegrounds. And of course adding leaderboard with weekly rewards to it (same like trials).

I love this idea

STEVIL

Remember there is a small house - hammerdeath bungalo - right there EDIT close-by for only 65k in-game gold.

if you purchaeed it, you could...

use the house as the warp point - no wayshrine needed to get there quickly.
You could invite/control those you wanted to go inside.
You could put in your own stations inside the home and/or a target dummy.
Wandering up to the area you could meet folks, chat then have them "step inside" the bungalo to use any of your stuff if you wish.

So right now any of your could by the house and setup a lot of the functions you are wishing ZOS would add for you - and you know - start-up a guild or whatever to drum up the traffic using your additional bungalo resources.

Now, IMO, what they need to add is a furnishing called "Arena Door" which when used opens an instanced version of the arena outside.

If the "Arena Door" was a possibility, running duels between friends, meeting new folks outside then setpping inside to change and then into the arena door for instanced play... etc lotsa potential.

EDIT: They really need to finish the outside ramp behind the bungalo to allow trek over the hill from the bungalo. House is still the closest po-point but more of a trek than would be better.

ProfesseurFreder

I only just discovered Hammerdeath Arena this morning in my travels through Stormhaven... and wandering in, I thought "What is this?"

I'd heard of the area but really knew nothing about it. I looked for guests of some kind -- there were none. I finally figured that it must be an endgame thing for people above level 50 (NONE of my characters are there yet, in part because I'm playing a bunch of characters 5 levels at a time).

So I came here, found this GREAT thread and now the almost endless possibilities of the place are apparent to me.

I think it must be the best-kept secret in the game.

So mostly I'm posting to say thanks for this helpful thread and to bump it. I wish there was a way that useful threads like this one could be pinned.

apostate9

Smasherx74 wrote: »

I don't like dueling because people just rely on RNG to be good.

So you lost a duel then? Got it.

NeillMcAttack

What about making it an instance?

This way it could function as an actual coliseum. Spectators could vote with a thumbs up or down as to which combatants can be executed. Being executed could mean a player has to exit the leaderboard for that cycle or "season". Like ancient rome those that can win will always be able to compete, while those that the fans dislike can be shunned unless they are winning. It would give a great "mob rule" kind of atmosphere and make spectating really engaging.

altemriel

DaniAngione wrote: »

Hello, everyone

Today I come here before this great community and ZOS devs/community team to talk about one of the things that - at least for me - was one of the nicest additions to the game in One Tamriel and yet it is so... under used.

Let's talk about the Hammerdeath Arena!

"Hammerdeath Arena? What is this?" you might ask - and no, this wouldn't be surprising at all! Most people - believe it or not - are completely oblivious to its existence. In fact, I mentioned it a couple of times on different Zone channels and Guild channels and I got showered with whispers asking me what I'm talking about. This is a problem because the arena is pretty cool, the NPCs are fun and diverse ('friendly' minotaur champion, werewolf, a spirit with a funny/easter-eggish name, etc...).
So before we start, what is the Hammerdeath Arena for those that do not know it?

Hammerdeath Arena is a new area in Stormhaven, west of Wayrest and a short walk north of Soulshriven wayshrine. It is marked by two crossed swords on the map.
It is a place specially designed for DUELS, with plenty of room for both fighters and spectators, three differently sized arenas and a nice atmosphere.

Here are some pictures of it:

So, what's the deal with the arena?
Well, it is rarely used - if used at all. It is a nice, specific place given to us by ZOS but it's highly neglected. That's everyone's fault, to be honest. We, as players, should spread the word and encourage its use if we want to see it used. But since no one uses, even the players that do know about it will duel anywhere rather than trying to bring people to it - but ZOS could also encourage its use with a lot of nice treats! And this is what this thread is about. The arena could be the most "fair" and democratic answer to a lot of the community concerns right now: lag in cities because of too many duels, people that don't like to be invited randomly for duels but don't want to turn off duel invitation (because they DO duel), etc... Of course, dueling could still take place whenever and wherever - but it would certainly be nice to have a granted place that you can go to satisfy all your dueling pleasures!

Without further ado, then...
What could be changed to make the Hammerdeath Arena more appealing?

This is a list of ideas/suggestions for ZOS to make the arena more appealing to all players! Feel free to like/dislike them and add your own. The point here is to let ZOS know that there are people interested in the arena and that with a couple of tweaks it could be awesome - so show your interest and let's get some attention and love for the arena!

• SPECIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS - One thing that would certaily attract people to the Hammerdeath Arena would be specific dueling achievements. That is: achievements that can only be obtained if fighting in the arena. These could be varied and complex as Cyrodiil's PVP achievements are - with specific achievements for each class that you beat, maybe a damage, healing and blocking achievement, etc... They could grant fancy titles and dyes for the greatest duelists of Tamriel and since dueling is so fast and enjoyable, the numbers could go crazy high - with a 1,000 or even 10,000 duels achievement "Legend of Hammerdeath Arena".
• SPECTATING - Spectating could be a thing, too. Achievements for spectating duels in the arena could be given to not only encourage spectators (which is a nice addition to immersion/atmosphere) but also give you a bit more to do in-between duels. Spectating achievements could be really funny and require all sorts of things, like using emotes on people dueling (like /cheer) or celebrating the victorious character (or even throwing /boo on the losers!). Spectating achievements could unlock new emotes or something like that.
• BETTING - One thing a lot of people have requested since Dueling was announced was the ability to place bets on duels. Perhaps that could be possible - but only on duels held within the arena. Betting is an interesting thing and perhaps it could even allow spectators to bet - like a prompt that goes to the people nearby the duel center, asking them to bet on one of the fighters (or ignore it)
• GROUP SPARS - This would be amazing, if possible. And to encourage the use of the arena, could be an exclusive feature to it (with its own achievements) - the ability to duel in groups, like 2x2, 3x3, etc. Some games can handle that by allowing multiple duels at once. For example, let's say A and B want to duel C and D. A challenges C and D (two duels) and B challenges C and D too (another 2 duels. So there are 4 duels going on simultaneously, allowing for 2 pairs to duel each other. Of course that's not an elegant solution and ESO could certainly have a proper system - but that's up for the devs to devise. It should be really simple, though - perhaps a party leader challenging another party leader - and if both parties have the same number of people - could give a prompt asking if it is a group spar.
• BETTER WAYSHRINE PLACEMENT/MORE ACCESSIBILITY - One thing I've seen some people say about the arena is that it's more complicated to access than simply porting to a city. Which is kind of a lame excuse, since it's literally a 15 seconds ride from the wayshrine to it, but could be pointed out nonetheless. Perhaps pushing the Soulshriven wayshrine a bit north OR adding the ability to teleport to the Arena icon directly (just like we can port into dungeons or The Harborage).
• SOUND & MUSIC - Maybe a bit of tweaking to the atmosphere would help, too. Duels already have fun "boss" music, but perhaps duels inside the Hammerdeath Arena could have some unique new piece of music (once new music is added)? Or maybe give the battles there some "arena crowd" sounds just like the Kvatch arena has, with the public reacting to critical blows, defeats, dodges, etc.
• REMOVE DUEL LIMIT - Another thing that could encourage the use of the arena would be the removal (inside its walls) of the limit on the number of duels in the same area.
• ALLOWS TELEPORTATION FROM START - The arena should be "discovered" for every new character and they should be able to teleport to it from the start, like the first Wayshrine in each faction since One Tamriel went live.
• ADVERTISE IT! - Perhaps a special news article about it, a "screenshot community contest" for duels in the arena, a tutorial tooltip about it when a character leaves Coldharbour, etc... Thing is - make it known! This has been an issue with the Witches Festival (a lot of people didn't know what to do, how to get skulls, etc...) and this kind of thing should be noticed for the upcoming changes and festivals and stuff in general: NOT EVERYONE reads forums or news articles, things must reach them in-game somehow! (Tooltips, neat (lore-friendly) in-game mail, etc...)
• COSMETIC CONTENT - Arena costumes, motifs, etc... Things that could be obtained with the achievement but also by playing. Perhaps a token-thing for duels participated and duels won that you can exchange for a lot of cosmetic goodies, perhaps even "daily" quests to fight and to spectate that provide reward containers with random chances for goodies, potions, etc...
• MODDING API CHANGES - if any of these actually happen, allow dueling mods to take advantage of in-arena specific stats so we can have arena leaderboards and such!

Notice that the idea is to improve and enhance dueling, giving it a lot of depth.
This is NOT meant to be a fully-fleshed "Arena PVP" mode with gear acquisition and stuff, but rather a way to encourage more playstyles and to give TONS of depth to what is usually a regular/standard MMO feature.

Dueling in ESO IS fun. 1x1 combat is enjoyable. These things would be investments in the game's future and I'm sure a lot of it would appease the PVP community greatly.
So think about it with love, ZOS

That's it
Feel free to say anything and, once again, thank you for your time!

awesome!!! yes please!!!


@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_KaiSchober @ZOS_JessicaFolsom @ZOS_RichLambert @ZOS_MattFiror @Wrobel @ZOS_BrianWheeler

Froil

I say just turn Hammerdeath into a free battleground for PvPers. If they don't own Morrowind they can still do them but they can only go to Hammerdeath Arena.

altemriel

or maybe, when expanding the options here, ZOS could add also a possiblity to fight PVE+PVP (something similar to Blessed Crucible pledge (PVE arena), or Kvatch Arena

Ehrlichcoleb14_ESO

I just discovered this place, googled it and found this. Cast Necromancy.