Hello from the Lead Gameplay Designer

Elsonso

.

Vanthras79 wrote: »

Rob, how close are you guys to delivering everything that was mentioned from Quakecon 2014? With Murkmire just being announced I feel like there is one thing that has eluded being mentioned lately...

...Any updates on spell crafting? (Some of the player-base would really like some new spells to play around with, the old set of skills are getting rather bland)

Honestly, after what they did with Jewelry crafting, I would actually prefer that they stay far far away from Spell Crafting, thank you.

XGCAlbatr0ss

and.......hes gone....

Elsonso

XGCAlbatr0ss wrote: »

and.......hes gone....

He moved here: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/5402597/#Comment_5402597

Drakkdjinn

Welcome welcome,

Glad to have you; I'll just leave this here:

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/415209/multiple-bug-threads-with-no-answers-some-for-months-at-a-time-general-disappointment-masterpost/p1

Thanks & Best,
Drakk

R_K

Good luck on the new position at ZeniMax, Rob! I am confident that you will do well with that type of dev experience under your belt.

#Lua4Lyf3

ZOS_RobGarrett

Merlin13KAGL wrote: »

I would assume where Wrobel effectively determines what an in game action does, I suspect Rob is in charge of making that action happen, implementing the keypress > UI > backend result.

(Wrobel's the what, Rob's probably the how.)

My role is to lead the collective efforts of the Gameplay teams as we execute on the product goals set forth by our Creative Director, @ZOS_RichLambert. Some of the things I'm responsible for are helping to translate those goals into features/changes, reviewing designs and in-progress work, facilitating communication between teams and departments, and helping designers grow in their craft. I am involved in design discussions, but usually at a high level. The teams handle most of the nuts-and-bolts stuff, including implementation.

Zypheran wrote: »

Do you also oversee housing?

Housing is one of the features the Systems team is responsible for, so yes. We're cooking up some pretty cool stuff on that front, so stay tuned!

DuskMarine

ZOS_RobGarrett wrote: »

Merlin13KAGL wrote: »

I would assume where Wrobel effectively determines what an in game action does, I suspect Rob is in charge of making that action happen, implementing the keypress > UI > backend result.

(Wrobel's the what, Rob's probably the how.)

My role is to lead the collective efforts of the Gameplay teams as we execute on the product goals set forth by our Creative Director, @ZOS_RichLambert. Some of the things I'm responsible for are helping to translate those goals into features/changes, reviewing designs and in-progress work, facilitating communication between teams and departments, and helping designers grow in their craft. I am involved in design discussions, but usually at a high level. The teams handle most of the nuts-and-bolts stuff, including implementation.

Zypheran wrote: »

Do you also oversee housing?

Housing is one of the features the Systems team is responsible for, so yes. We're cooking up some pretty cool stuff on that front, so stay tuned!

could you poke them to actually talk to us on here about whats going on so they actually know whats going on on live side?? like seriously the report system doesnt work it goes ignored about 99.99999% of the time when a bug is reported or something is wrong.

Dreyloch

ZOS_RobGarrett wrote: »

ak_pvp wrote: »

Welcome @ZOS_RobGarrett

Hammy01 wrote: »

Do you pvp at all and if so do you like BG's or Cyrodiil? I for one love Cyrodiil but I really think it needs some new life breathed into it (ie - new and exciting objectives for groups of all sizes).

I try to experience all types of activities in the game since the Gameplay teams, to varying degrees, contribute to all of them. I did recently spend a larger portion of my game time in BGs and Cyrodiil during Midyear Mayhem, and still regularly chase that first win of the day bonus in BGs. I also played Dark Age of Camelot back in the day, so Cyrodiil was immediately familiar to me.

@ZOS_BrianWheeler and I regularly have conversations about Cyrodiil and how we might improve the experience. While I'm not going to make promises or talk specifics at this time, I will say you are not alone in your general assessment.

Peekachu99 wrote: »

Thanks for chiming in. My question: are there any plans to work on UI features, social features (group finding interface) and other much needed tools? Especially on console (which you’re now on), the lack of functionality is crippling.

Whatever do you mean? Our UI is perfect! PER-FECT!

But seriously, the UI team is always looking for ways to improve the experience on both PC and console. Once again it wouldn't be appropriate for me to describe efforts-in-progress or future plans in detail, but we agree there are opportunities to streamline the social experience of ESO.

This bolded part is the only thing that really has any of my attention. For a few years now the lag in Cyrodiil has been atrocious. If you spent any time on the "current" Vivec server, especially during the Mayhem event? I would hope you felt our pain. The PvP community feels totally abandoned at times. Sure, we get a small tid bit here and there, and I understand it takes time to get things "into reality". I understand it doesn't make the money from that part of the player base, as PvE does, but it IS part of the game. A part that many like myself CAME to ESO for. A part that some pay a monthly sub for. Yet all we see is small "incremental" changes to help with lag in just about every major patch notes.

We've learned to adjust to new OP gear. We've learned how to deal with broken or bugged skills. All of this would be even less painful if the clicking of a skill meant it went off as close to real time as possible. I can't tell you how many Keep battles I've been in where lag was the ultimate deciding factor. I can't tell you how many times load screens have stopped the momentum of groups I've been in. (which btw has gotten WAY better, but I don't group too often anymore). Recently, there have been many battles I can't even get into because as soon as I get on the grounds of a Keep siege in progress, I suddenly lose connection. Any movement from players and NPC's comes to a stand still. I either have to try and relog, or wait for the server to kick me. THEN, I get a message saying to check my internet connection. That really needs to be changed because it's clearly not my connection as I'm screaming in Discord about it to my friends. The servers need to be replaced or some how coded to handle the player load. If you have any say in this. The PvP community is BEGGING you to fix it. Or put a team on it that can make it happen.

We might be a very small part of the playerbase overall, but many are very dedicated to it. So please, help us out here =/

mb10

A ZOS employee that actually wants to communicate on here?

Long may it continue

Integral1900

In that case, any chance of a proper functioning oven like that nice redguard one?

SunRaider

Please hire a fashion designer. Most of youre armors and cloths look the same and the eyes makeup on the store ARE HORRIBLE.

thanks

PS- get some decent new fashion HAIRCUTS

TheRealPotoroo

ZOS_RobGarrett wrote: »

Merlin13KAGL wrote: »

I would assume where Wrobel effectively determines what an in game action does, I suspect Rob is in charge of making that action happen, implementing the keypress > UI > backend result.

(Wrobel's the what, Rob's probably the how.)

My role is to lead the collective efforts of the Gameplay teams as we execute on the product goals set forth by our Creative Director, @ZOS_RichLambert. Some of the things I'm responsible for are helping to translate those goals into features/changes, reviewing designs and in-progress work, facilitating communication between teams and departments, and helping designers grow in their craft. I am involved in design discussions, but usually at a high level. The teams handle most of the nuts-and-bolts stuff, including implementation.

Here's a high level suggestion: separate PVE and PVP completely. That means at the very least each character gets two completely separate builds. Completely separate. Different attributes, skills, CP allocation, armour and weapons. Swapping between them is a keystroke. And don't take three years about it. This has been desperately overdue already for a long, long time.

Zypheran wrote: »

Do you also oversee housing?

Housing is one of the features the Systems team is responsible for, so yes. We're cooking up some pretty cool stuff on that front, so stay tuned!

How about more slots? We're screaming for more slots, especially Special Collections slots. Who seriously thought 10 slots was acceptable?

Carbonised

ZOS_RobGarrett wrote: »

Zypheran wrote: »

Do you also oversee housing?

Housing is one of the features the Systems team is responsible for, so yes. We're cooking up some pretty cool stuff on that front, so stay tuned!

I find that housing and crafting bugs and issues are often overlooked for ages, despite being consistently reported and bugged.

The combat team is pretty easy to get in touch with, everyone know who they are, and with the class representatives, it's even easier to pass on ideas and bugs. The PvP team and dungeon/trial team is also easy to contact.

However, the housing and crafting team seems very invisible to me, bugs have persisted even since Homestead update, such as the recent provisioning daily writ bug that just got fixed more than one and a half year too late. Furnishing recipes are wrong, and often take ages to correct, despite being bugged to you several times. Eidetic Memory books also take ages to get fixed, so you can obtain them after their quest is done, many aren't even fixed yet, despite being bugged numerous times.

I'm not saying all this just to be negative, I think the systems/housing/crafting responsible people could take the cue from the other teams, and be more visible to the community, and perhaps react faster to the bugs and issues being handed over to them. Every DLc update, I also find several furnishing/crafting changes that weren't even in the patch notes, which makes me wonder if this stuff is even prioritized as much as you prioritize dungeon and trial issues.

Bugged eidetic memory books, bugged furniture crafting recipes, bugged daily writs (up until now), bugged furniture recipe droprate, which happens almost every DLC update. So many times we have to see "increased the droprate of x furniture recipes/items, that were dropping much less than intended" in the patch notes, while having wasted 3 months or half a year trying to find something that didn't even drop (like the blackmarrow table recipe). Dungeon or trial bugs would NEVER take that long to fix.

So yeah, I miss the team responding and reacting faster to the issues we report to you, as well as perhaps engage a bit more with the community, like the pvp team, trial/dungeon team and combat team do on occasion. There are many people that are very engaged in the housing/crafting/lorebooks side of the game, and many times I feel like we're being overlooked and our issues and bugs not really prioritized.

MajBludd

Out of all the problems posted he commented on housing! That answers everything, doesn't it?

Sun7dance

MajBludd wrote: »

Out of all the problems posted he commented on housing! That answers everything, doesn't it?

Yes!
But we all knew it before.

Gnozo

MajBludd wrote: »

Out of all the problems posted he commented on housing! That answers everything, doesn't it?

I think he has some sticky note on his sceen saying:

Things to not talk about:
- Lag
- Lag
- PvP Performance
- Lag
- Shieldbreaker
- Group Finder
- Lag

Anyway, welcome to ESO and i really hope you have a good time here and some positive impact on the game.

essi2

Welcome


.... Get back to work! ;P

barney2525

Welcome!



Can I have a penguin mount? 8D

Vanthras79

ZOS_RobGarrett wrote: »

Merlin13KAGL wrote: »

I would assume where Wrobel effectively determines what an in game action does, I suspect Rob is in charge of making that action happen, implementing the keypress > UI > backend result.

(Wrobel's the what, Rob's probably the how.)

My role is to lead the collective efforts of the Gameplay teams as we execute on the product goals set forth by our Creative Director, @ZOS_RichLambert. Some of the things I'm responsible for are helping to translate those goals into features/changes, reviewing designs and in-progress work, facilitating communication between teams and departments, and helping designers grow in their craft. I am involved in design discussions, but usually at a high level. The teams handle most of the nuts-and-bolts stuff, including implementation.

Zypheran wrote: »

Do you also oversee housing?

Housing is one of the features the Systems team is responsible for, so yes. We're cooking up some pretty cool stuff on that front, so stay tuned!

I image these guys may feel like clockwork apostles sometimes. Specializing on different parts of the clockwork so that all of the pistons pump correctly. Malfunctioning factotums must be like "glitches" and fabricants must be like "bugs".

Odovacar

Welcome @ZOS_RobGarrett !

anadandy

ZOS_RobGarrett wrote: »

Zypheran wrote: »

Do you also oversee housing?

Housing is one of the features the Systems team is responsible for, so yes. We're cooking up some pretty cool stuff on that front, so stay tuned!

This is good to hear - housing has been pretty neglected since its release - second only to PVP. I'd love to see some more tiers of ownership so houses I share with my partner were more flexible for decorating, and a merge of the collectibles limits so I didn't have to choose between pets and trophies (instead of 10 and 10 just make it 20). Visit the housing thread for some really great ideas.

SantieClaws

ZOS_RobGarrett wrote: »

Merlin13KAGL wrote: »

I would assume where Wrobel effectively determines what an in game action does, I suspect Rob is in charge of making that action happen, implementing the keypress > UI > backend result.

(Wrobel's the what, Rob's probably the how.)

My role is to lead the collective efforts of the Gameplay teams as we execute on the product goals set forth by our Creative Director, @ZOS_RichLambert. Some of the things I'm responsible for are helping to translate those goals into features/changes, reviewing designs and in-progress work, facilitating communication between teams and departments, and helping designers grow in their craft. I am involved in design discussions, but usually at a high level. The teams handle most of the nuts-and-bolts stuff, including implementation.

Zypheran wrote: »

Do you also oversee housing?

Housing is one of the features the Systems team is responsible for, so yes. We're cooking up some pretty cool stuff on that front, so stay tuned!

The housing thing yes. On a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 is a ball of yarn that smells like salmon and 1 is a dog that smells like a dog - where would you place the cool stuff on this scale?

Yours with paws
Santie Claws

Jeremy

ZOS_RobGarrett wrote: »

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to take an opportunity to introduce myself here on the forums. I'm the Lead Gameplay Designer on ESO, overseeing the Systems, Combat, PvP, and User Interface teams. Some of you may have seen me on ESO Live last month. I was a little nervous in the beginning of the show if you couldn't tell. =P

I've been working in games for 15 years, most recently having spent 7 at Riot Games working on League of Legends and several smaller games in the LoL universe. I joined ZOS in January and started playing ESO about a year ago. Obviously many of you have been playing the game much longer and have acquired a wealth of knowledge and expertise during that time. ESO is a huge game, and I won't claim to have the same depth of knowledge as someone who's been actively playing since beta.

I do, however, play pretty much every day (I recently switched from PC to console to get better visibility into that experience) and scan the forums and Reddit when time permits. I also lean on the knowledge and experience of the great teams and people here at ZOS who've been hammering on ESO for about a decade. To be clear, my role here is less about making specific changes or improvements to the product and more about helping our teams improve how we work and communicate, both with each other and with you - the players. That being said, I'd be lying if I said there aren't specific aspects of the game I'd like to improve.

My intent is to start posting here on the forums more regularly and, in time, provide more insight into how we think about Gameplay design. My days are already pretty busy (it turns out shipping an update every 3 months leads to a pretty aggressive development schedule!) but I will engage when I can. I'm also certain Gina will find opportunities to poke me for a response.

ESO is a great game. I wouldn't have joined the team if I didn't believe that, and it's exciting to have a hand in shaping the game for the coming years. I'm happy to be here and am looking forward to hearing from you!

It's commendable when any developer or designer has the cojones to brave the fire of his/her critics and wade into a video game forum. So you got my respect for that.

Eso is a great game (over-all the best MMO on the market IMHO) but certainly not without flaws.

Since it seems you are involved in the combat aspects of the game - I would ask for you to take another look at the healing aspects of this game - especially as it relates to PvP - because it's considerably weak and unimpressive in that area and could use some serious improvements.

I would also ask you to re-assess many of the changes to the Templar Class (such as requiring targets of our healing magic to be in front of us). These were foolish and likely vindictive changes to the class that targeted our healing magic specifically. Otherwise why just pick on our healing magic? For example: we can still cast shields on players who are behind us... so it just makes no logical sense otherwise. So I hope you personally play as a healer - as this game's combat system could really benefit from a developer who actually plays as a healer rather than the combat decisions being dominated by those who play as damage-dealing classes and who are more interested in finding ways to counter healers in PvP than they are at improving the actual class and making them enjoyable to play.

Uviryth

Hello Lead Game Designer and congratz to you new Job.

First question: Will there ever be a version of ESO where combat isnt animationcanceling?

xeNNNNN

Hello rob!

thanks for taking the time to make a post and start everything off!

I will join others in requesting patience when dealing with the community however, we can be a really really salty bunch sometimes however if done right and not dismissed the community would be extremely happy to have way more communication and such as we usually only get silence haha whether thats due to PR stuff or whatever else I dont know but the lack of communication specifically about PvP has been extremely depressing for us PvPers as we love PvP but we feel like we are ignored and such most of the time.

Hopefully this changes things :P once again welcome to the community

ZOS_JesC

Greetings, we've removed several off topic comments. This is a reminder to keep comments constructive and on topic with the thread. Thank you for your understanding.

aetherial_heavenn

"ZOS_RobGarrett wrote: »

My role is to lead the collective efforts of the Gameplay teams as we execute on the product goals set forth by our Creative Director, @ZOS_RichLambert. Some of the things I'm responsible for are helping to translate those goals into features/changes, reviewing designs and in-progress work, facilitating communication between teams and departments, and helping designers grow in their craft. I am involved in design discussions, but usually at a high level. The teams handle most of the nuts-and-bolts stuff, including implementation.

Hi @ZOS_RobGarrett
I am necroing this because these issues are becoming more noticeable as time passes and this succinct summary should be, in my opinion, the 'to do' list for quality improvements. As it is economically viable to bring down the servers at peak Oceanic time to fix an unnamed issue that is most likely a fix to the store to enable gold selling with impunity, then I feel strongly that it should be economically viable to improve the matters listed below over the next year, so that subscribers and purchasers of the actual game get what they pay for., too

The team has made some real improvements and fixes and I acknowledge those but the list below ( and a fair consensus that bug and QoL issues should be prioritised over other changes ) should drive the design and development team in my opinion.

The UI is awful for a 5 star MMO even on PC. As is the targeting. Lag due to high ping is affecting game play more each patch as the game becomes more reliant on instant feedback. Game breaking bugs are not acknowledged and certainly not fixed. Server performance in high traffic areas and in Trials and Cyrodil are becoming a reason many of us are now reluctant to recommend the game to those who prefer that type of content.

Please read this list.

Thanks.
And I hope you are still enjoying your job and your PvP
cheers
aeth

Merlin13KAGL wrote: »

Welcome, Rob.

[snipped for the key points]

:::::::::::::::

On that note some very basic, yet often still very broken features I'd like to see improved:

• On the most basic level, the client should be able to differentiate between:
  • A single keypress (Sometimes interpreted as a press and hold)
  • A held keypress. (Sometimes interpreted as a single keypress, or no keypress at all)
  • A release of said keypress. (Some combo of above, preventing other actions)
  • A non-keypress.
  This ties into HA bugs as well as some other actions as well, such as server/client desync and having to mash a button 5 times to finally get a response, often during a limited combat window.
  
• Targeting in this game is atrocious.
  • There should never be an issue hitting something the size of a house that is 2 ft in front of you.
  • HA/LA's shouldn't have to be released and pressed again to fire.
  • In non-dodge-chance scenarios LA/HA's shouldn't be going around the target and hitting nothing or the wrong thing.
• Last but not least (possibly out of your scope) Collision:
  • Portals shouldn't have collision. If you can't damage it, it shouldn't prevent you from moving.
  • Things that should have collision shouldn't be able to hide in other things' colliders. (inability to bash)
  • NPC projectiles shouldn't be able to curve path 2 different ways and hit you through solid objects (LoS)

• Keypress dodge should dodge in the direction of movement, unless no movement is present.

EDIT: Draft came back. Hellifino.

Arrodisia

Welcome to the Elder Scrolls forums, Rob.

GreenhaloX

ZOS_RobGarrett wrote: »

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to take an opportunity to introduce myself here on the forums. I'm the Lead Gameplay Designer on ESO, overseeing the Systems, Combat, PvP, and User Interface teams. Some of you may have seen me on ESO Live last month. I was a little nervous in the beginning of the show if you couldn't tell. =P

I've been working in games for 15 years, most recently having spent 7 at Riot Games working on League of Legends and several smaller games in the LoL universe. I joined ZOS in January and started playing ESO about a year ago. Obviously many of you have been playing the game much longer and have acquired a wealth of knowledge and expertise during that time. ESO is a huge game, and I won't claim to have the same depth of knowledge as someone who's been actively playing since beta.

I do, however, play pretty much every day (I recently switched from PC to console to get better visibility into that experience) and scan the forums and Reddit when time permits. I also lean on the knowledge and experience of the great teams and people here at ZOS who've been hammering on ESO for about a decade. To be clear, my role here is less about making specific changes or improvements to the product and more about helping our teams improve how we work and communicate, both with each other and with you - the players. That being said, I'd be lying if I said there aren't specific aspects of the game I'd like to improve.

My intent is to start posting here on the forums more regularly and, in time, provide more insight into how we think about Gameplay design. My days are already pretty busy (it turns out shipping an update every 3 months leads to a pretty aggressive development schedule!) but I will engage when I can. I'm also certain Gina will find opportunities to poke me for a response.

ESO is a great game. I wouldn't have joined the team if I didn't believe that, and it's exciting to have a hand in shaping the game for the coming years. I'm happy to be here and am looking forward to hearing from you!

Oh man.. truly, you have my dream job. Good for you, Rob and kudos on your impressive gaming industry experience. I have been on hiatus from ESO for some time (partly due to frustration with the sometimes poor, clunky and buggy combat flows amongst other things), but, like you and everyone else that enjoy ESO, I still enjoy the game. Want to throw you a welcome and hope your experience will greatly enhance the contributions to the betterment of ESO and future success of the franchise. Thank you also for your introduction. It is nice to have an official acknowledgement as this is depicting an actual staffer focusing on console for ESO. Do good things for console, please..

Reistr_the_Unbroken

I was about to say welcome to Coldharbour but Nirn is nicer than that place :’)