Hello from the Lead Gameplay Designer

Nebthet78

Welcome @ZOS_RobGarrett , You have a lot of work ahead of you but do hope you enjoy your time here. I'm sooooooo glad to see a developer finally coming onto the forums and hope to see more communication in the future.

As such, if you don't mind I'd like to provide you with my Top 5 wish list. Sorry, I type a lot, so I'll put it in a spoiler tag so you don't automatically see a wall of text.

#1) The grind for things is at a tipping point. It's no longer fun. So many grinds to obtain things in this game, from armor to furnishings, to materials have been added, that the more casual players pretty much have to work at it more than their real life jobs. When a game hits that tipping point of requiring more than half the time of a real life job to get certain things, it's no longer fun. Players begin playing less. They stop subscribing. They stop buying Crowns.. because what's the point? They are not having fun playing the game any more.

- Reduce the number of motifs and it's pieces released every year. No more than 4 motifs and release them about 6 months between each other. This gives players time to get the peices they need without having to grind so much to get it, in preparation for the next release of 14 motif pieces. Please do not do stuff like we had with the Glass motif ever again. No one liked it.

- Jewellery Crafting Grind... I'm looking at you!! Then 10x item requirements for refing of trait pieces on top of more 10x requirment for refining the quality items is too much. It should be the same as the other crafting abilities. Remove the dusts and give the full upgrade material at least. It's better now with the reduce in upgrade mats needed, but still is a heck of grind.

- Minimize the RNG grind. Either token system or let people choose their prize in places like VMA, VDA and Trials. The last boss should always drop a weapon or jewellery for everyone, not just select players.

If you have a good game with good content, people will play it over and over again with their friends for the social aspect, and not because they have to grind to get something to keep doing what they used to do previously.

#2) Please work on seperating PVP skills from PVE skills so that we have two completely different systems. As a mainly PVE player (who has played enough PVP), I'm tired of having my PVE character nerfed into the ground in the name of "balance" (which is never gonna happen) of PVP.

As a player with a disability, you've taken enough from me that I can no longer keep up with my friends who continue to play. You have changed things so they rely mainly on "animation cancelling" and "attack weaving" which I cannot do reliabley enough. I'm left in an area where I'm powerful enough that normal trials are boring and unchallenging and not as fun, but not powerful enough where I'm allowed to particpate with friends in a core raids group. Trying to get people to do regular Vet trials when they have people who don't meet their or the community set standards is hard to come by.

Part of that problem I feel is this notion that for the last two years, changes were made and we as players were told it was to lower the ceiling and bring up the floor. This hasn't happened AT ALL!! You can't lower the ceiling by nerfing the players. That can only happen by nerfing the content. The top 1% of players, who use macro keyboards are always going to be the top 1%. If you don't want them getting 75k dps, then put a DPS cap in the game. That's the only way you can control that. Players won't like it though. But the changing of the type of trials, and the different mechanics haven't made a difference to the requirements. Before these changes happened, players were required to have 25k stamina or 20k magicka dps. Now, it have risen to requiring 35k stamina dps and 30k magicka dps. That ceiling has gotten higher. Not lower, and because of the changes made to the way combat works in the game, players like me, get more left behind and gimped even more than our own disabilities make us, because of the changes that have been made.

I'm not sure how you can solve this. Perhaps it is time to start looking at soft and hard caps and implementing them again. Make the CP use matter. If a player has too much CP into attack abilities that they go over the DPS cap, it will force them to use CP in places for defence or something else, without hindering those of us who need the extra points in those trees to help boost our DPS to compensate for our disabilities. (Some CP abilities may need to be moved around a bit.)

Example: Johnny is one of the elite 1%. He currently always pulls 50-60k dps in Trials. ZOS doesn't really want players pulling that much DPS because they go through content too quickly and bypass mechanics. ZOS puts a 40k max DPS cap into the game. Now, no matter what Johnny does, he can only get 40k DPS, but Johnny still seems to be dying a lot in Trials. So, to compensate, he takes some points out of his DPS abilities, slots a heal for himself, and puts those points into the CP that increases his healing skills. Maybe Johnny doesn't die so much any more.

Example2: Jenny is a disabled/older player who can get between 25k-30k DPS depending on rotation and luck. She can't animation cancel reliably. She knows the mechanics pretty good for most Trials, but no matter what she does, she can't get over that DPS hurdle. So Jenny is left out of playing in Trials groups with her friends. After a couple new updates come out, CP is increased enough that Jenny can put more points into her Penetration and Weapon Dmg or Direct Attack Dmg to boost her DPS more. She seems ok in the surviving department, so the few given there will compensate. With more practice and fiddling with her CP and the correct abilities, Jenny is now reliably getting over 30k DPS and closing in on the 35k DPS requirements where she might get a chance to play with her friends again.

Ok the two examples might be a bit overly simplistic in understanding, but they are an example of an idea.

#3) Please use one least one Dungeon DLC to instead work on fixing as many of the bugs in this game as possible. It is due for a serious bug cleaning.

#4) Please hire a couple people full time who go from server to server to take care of the botting problem in this game. Yes, it is a problem that severely needs to be taken care of. Most players are no longer willing to report bots any more due to it being extremely time consuming. Most only have an hour or so a night to play, and who wants that time eaten up by reporting bots that should be taken care of weekly by a GameMaster visiting and checking out known botting locations?!

#5) Please add a 6th ability tab for use of a toggled passive only. The active ability cannot be used in combat. (Therefore not needing to add any more buttons to press for the consoles than there already is). This may add a different dynamic to combat and help to elevate the dps of a few people who need it. Yeah, it will elevate the top players too, but they are so beyond everyone that they don't really count any more.

Thank you for time and even attempting to read this all.
I used to love this game, but the grind and not being able to keep up with my friends has kinda killed the spark.

Morgul667

This is no excuse, but people tend to get angry when they feel ignored

VirtualElizabeth

@ZOS_RobGarrett I know people are asking for a lot of changes and giving suggestions as to how to make their experience in the game better. But the one thing I really want in this game is outside your realm sadly:

I WANT THIS HOUSE WITH A GARDEN WHICH WILL REQUIRE A WALL OF SOME KIND

I will love you forever if you make this happen!!

Alkapton

Zer0oo wrote: »

Welcome Rob,


[*] getting the surveys done is a pain since you can only do one at once, which results in pointless running back and fort (would be nice you could do a stack up surveys at once)
[*] why do we still have no real multi craft for pots and food (it takes ages to craft a full stack of pots but at least we have addons so we do not have to spam the bottom)

[/list]

Umm, don't know what you mean. I wait until I have about 30 assorted surveys - a few of each kind - and I just send my master crafter out to grab them all at once then refine when I got everything. The only exception I make is Cyrodill surveys and chests where I wat till I have at least to make the trip worthwhile.

It can take ages if you want 200 of your fav recipe, its annoying, but immersive in the sense that in the real world the more you want the longer it will take to make it:-(

Alkapton

meant to say I wait till I have at least five.

Is it you are having a problem with the picture clue? If you click on another survey it will change, or mouse click in right place to make it go away.

Even if I have 2 or 3 copies of a survey all I do is go to the place take everything wander off for a short distance then I return - repeat until all copies are used.

Be aware for PC there is add on that puts markers (big red X's) on your map and mini map for each survey/chest you are holding. Don't know how I would cope without that addon

geonsocal

DanteYoda wrote: »

geonsocal wrote: »

best of luck...the not being a jerk thing - is gonna take some work

I was just thinking, welp thats me out...

I like to think of myself as - simply being passionate about the game

and, all the trolling I like to do...well, that's simply sharing my inner sense of humor with the world...

yeah, I guess I am a bit of a *** sometimes...

Morgul667

I hate to do that but at the same time we never get any reply so .... would be nice if you could have a look on few bugs :

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/431572/bug-keep-doors-and-walls
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/417903/bug-kill-40-players-quest

There are much more in the forums, just sharing 2 recent ones impacting PVP

Nightfall12

geonsocal wrote: »

DanteYoda wrote: »

geonsocal wrote: »

best of luck...the not being a jerk thing - is gonna take some work

I was just thinking, welp thats me out...

I like to think of myself as - simply being passionate about the game

and, all the trolling I like to do...well, that's simply sharing my inner sense of humor with the world...

yeah, I guess I am a bit of a *** sometimes...

never found you to be a jerk

I find your posts to be entertaining

Sarousse

Welcome @ZOS_RobGarrett !

Could you introduce a difficulty slider for the overland content ? I'm so tired to overkill anything in the new content. (After paying 40€).

Nerftheforums

Welcome welcome glad to see the dev team grow! The game needs more of people like you

kind_hero

Welcome!

Some of the things I would like to see improved or implemented (not adding many of the good suggestions posted so far)

- better inventory management: stuff like surveys should go to the crafting bag, pvp items should have their own storage
- ability to switch between two builds, like pvp/pve, healer/dps
- traveling (horse simulator) in Cyrodiil is boring. The teleport token is a step in the right direction, but people should travel easier in the controlled territory (maybe adding some wayshrines to which you can teleport if your faction controls the area but the teleport costs AP)

Enslaved

Welcome, hope u can help PvP community with some new ideas.

themaddaedra

Heilo there @ZOS_RobGarrett!

I'm glad to see your post. Enjoy your time and make the game even better ^^

The forums are unfortunately not excessively consteuctive and non-biased, so it might be bit hard to see what's what.

If anything i'd suggest taking a bit deeper look into achievement hunters' opinions. Believe me when i say none knows this game better than a person with 30k+ achievement points ^^

Sevn

Greetings and salutations to you good sir! I do not envy the seat you are sitting in as you will be bombarded by dedicated Pvper's nonstop, all convinced of knowing what is best for the game. I hope you can maintain a plucky attitude and I look forward to seeing how your passion for ESO translates over to the entire game. Best of luck to you in your future endeavors!

ccfeeling

Hi RobGarrett , nice to meet you .

Quick question , have you lag in PVP / PVE ? If yes , what you gonna do with this ? Thank you !

MISTRESS_DARKNESb14a_ESO

Welcome to the family!
Hope you can put a thought out there.. One world market vendor we access from bank, list. sell collect gold.. no more stress and running maps for items!
Another thought, tons of new quests.
Not all folks want PVP as end game all there is to to is pvp...
We would love to see quests!!!!!!
thank you for listening!

Vivecc

welcome Rob !

(please do not listen to nerf calls)
(PvP needs more love)

maybe it´s better to raise the time between updates to make sure they work proper and not break up stuff that needs even more time fixing ( win-win)

enjoy!

MajBludd

@ZOS_RobGarrett

How about make it so we can carry more transmute stones. Only 200 is dumb

fix the postern glitch already in cyro so ppl stop exploitin into keeps, I mean that's a lot to ban.
It's been glitched for over a month now. Thats sad.

maybe upgrade that server that doesn't seem to handle a populated vet pvp server all that well.

Bots, get rid of the bots. Put some kind of detection in your game. I see bots all over and nothing is done, do something. I don't care of its your job or not, pass it along to the guy who apparently is slacking.

I reported several and still see them or those players in game. They just aren't "bots" collecting nodes, it's also players using bot programs to grind skill lines.

Naughty_Ryder

Welcome...

Kimba_Do

Hi, and welcome to the zoo! I have to agree with all the 'ignore the nerf requests' however, here's a thought - set up a 'nerf jar' along the lines of the old 'cuss jar' - toss a coin in every time someone cries for a nerf. When the jar is full, use it to fund time for a dev coder to make all weapons in the game into giant Nerf™ noodles that do miniscule damage for a day. Bet that would cause a massive reduction in the whines. It very likely would also cause a massive increase of the numbers watching the streams for that day. Something to think about for next April, perhaps.

Anyway, welcome aboard!

Rex-Umbra

Welcome to ESO, look forward to seeing what direction you take "Gameplay" Game hasn't had any cool new systems since Thieves guild or Dark Brotherhood btw...

SpiderCultist

Welcome (and don't listen to Wrobel)

you, along with your team, have a huge job to do: fixing bugs which happen to be a lot and implementing new content

just listen to the community if and only if there's consensus

synnerman

Welcome @ZOS_RobGarrett . I have been here since Beta seen some improvements myself and yet in PvP we still are plagued by performance issues. However my main gripe is with the state of the campaigns. The fact that people are faction hopping bacward and forwards and capping at night or early mornings just puts people off actually bothering with the campaign thus making it meaningless.

Last 30 day campaign PC EU was one of the closest I have seen in a long time because it was fought for well into the last week. However we see that the morning cappers are back and 5 days in to the new campaign its already won. Frustrating and demoralising to say the least.

The rewards for winning a 30 day campaign are pathetic 19k gold can be farmed in an hr in pve. The fact that there are now advantages to those who can pve well and gain VDSA weapons (a necessity to many build now)...Its about time these weapons were introduced to PVP as rewards .

Please look at these isues in general as once PVP in this game dies it will never come back as I and others will have just moved on but if the performance issues and the campaigns have meaning then you will have a proper pvp game on your hands.

modaretto

wonderful, I feel this will bring in some amazing improvements to the game

not to discredit the rest of the team and it may be a complete coincidence but stuff's been happening since January and I couldn't understand why things started to look up just as I went offline in game for months

very exciting news and best of luck!

Bam_Bam

Hi @ZOS_RobGarrett. Nice to hear from you.

The roles you have absorbed - does this mean you are taking on the work of 4 individuals? If so, will you have the energy, enthusiasm, commitment and determination to ensure that you can fulfil each role without detriment to any of the others (EG, Systems excelling at the expense of PvP)?
I have faith you can and I wish you the very best of luck in your new job.

PS. Gilliam the Rogue has recently joined the development team and knows his PvP stuff - please put him to work!

thomas1970b16_ESO

Don't ever lose that feeling of wonder that ESO has. And remember to make sure people can play the game their way and that they should be able to be equally successful however they choose to play.

Cavedog

Playing on console? Really? Just how badly does this bode for those of us playing on the platform the game was designed to be played on?

I hope you are at least using a keyboard and mouse with your gamebox and not a controller. ...otherwise, how are you getting a feel for how the combat is supposed to go?

Palidon

Well if he play's this game every day like he says, then he well knows the problems with the game performance and issues associated with the PC and console. Actions speak louder than words and ZOS always has words but in the end, no action.

ZOS has cried wolf too many times for me to believe anything they say anymore.

Violynne

ZOS_RobGarrett wrote: »

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 know you probably didn't mean to do this, but what I took away from this is "No one else at ZoS plays on console". I may be wrong, but here's hoping a dedicated console player will help with...

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.

...this.

Priority for console should be please, please, for the love of the Eight, fix the UI. For four years, the console UI has been a frustrating experience which only grows worse as more objects and items are thrown into the game.

I'd love to see a button-mapping feature in the future, as not everyone holds/plays controllers the same way. I have large hands, and let's just say the "DPad" is an area I wish were removed from controllers forever.

Guess where weapon swapping lies.

I'd also like to see ZoS work with authors in the PC world to bring many useful Add-Ons to the console. If this is not possible, then at least build them into the core game.

Because...

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!

... I can agree with this, but I also have to be honest and blunt to say mechanics of the game are about to push me away again.

I will not speak for anyone else, as this is only my experience, but the game's "mechanics" have punished players far too long, for the ridiculous belief from those who sign your paycheck that "everyone needs to be on every day".

It's 2018, and this idiocy of "RNG" needs to die. The game completely forces us to "grind levels" for crafting, then immediately throws it all out the window for RNG.

As a level 50 in all crafting, obtaining master writs is now RNG based, which is stupid beyond words. Why not revamp the system which takes skills, research, and motifs learned into a more rewarding system.

For example: PLEASE STOP GIVING US MASTER WRITS WE CANNOT COMPLETE. I don't have 9 traits unlocked in every craft, yet I continually get these accursed writs (when they finally do drop), which completely negates my excitement.

The better the crafter, the more writs rewarded. Is there a particular reason everything has to be Epic or Legendary, and rubbedite level? I have tons of mats that do nothing but take up bank space.

I do believe ESO can be a great game, but only if the attitude of "RNG" "keep players online daily" is relaxed.

And speaking of relaxing, please stop treating ESO+ members like whales. This level of thinking is precisely why I get frustrated with this game.

There's no reason to sell me an ad when I'm already paying to play.

Merlin13KAGL

Welcome.

I had more to post, but the stupid draft system saw fit to nuke it when almost complete.