I was lucky enough to attend a press event in London for Elsweyr on the 12th March, and got a chance to speak with Rich Lambert and Rob Garrett about ESO and ZOS. Matt Firor was at the event as well but I sadly didn’t get a chance to pull him aside for a chat.
Whilst others have fantastic write ups about Elsweyr and the Necromancer (which you will find linked below) I wanted to write something with more general information from the round table as well as fun comments and information gained from conversations with Rich and Rob.
Please note that the below write-up is in my own wording and paraphrasing, so don’t take comments as direct quotes from ZOS unless stated. I also didn’t take any notes (mistakes were made) so I'm working from memory.Chufu's information (available in EN, DE, FR): https://www.eso-library.com/core/index.php?chapter-elsweyr-en/All Necromancer Skills: https://www.eso-skillfactory.com/en/build-planerSantie's information: https://www.imperialtradingcompany.eu/home/m/21354827/article/4951463Communication and Organisation
ZOS is working internally to improve communication and organisation so they can get more presence on forums answering questions, informing players of updates and discussing change.
Many of the teams are active in reading the ESO forums and Reddit to gather feedback and information, however it can take time for them to author responses as they want to make sure replies are up to date and accurate.
It was also mentioned they’re working internally to get everyone on the same page with information so they can speak more openly about things without contradicting one another or mentioning things which might not be ready to announce yet.
Rob Plays Console
Rob mentioned that after joining ZOS he wanted a better understanding of console play and any struggles it may have, as such he switched to playing the game on console (PS4).
He also commented that he actively uses the PS4 recording features to make videos of bugs he finds, uploads them privately and sends them on to the bug teams at ZOS.
Rob Actively Reads the Forum
Rob confirmed whilst he doesn’t comment on threads, he is active in reading what people are talking about and what people are annoyed with or expressing concerns about.
Confirmation on Rob’s Role at ZOS
Something which came up numerous times in conversation about skills and game balance was Rob’s role and job within the company.
As lead gameplay designer Rob is in charge of organising and directing the gameplay teams, which includes things like Combat, UI, Crafting, Housing, Guilds, Zone Guide, etc. (basically all the stuff that isn't zones, dungeons, quests, lore, etc.). His role is overseeing those teams and looking at the big picture of their collective efforts.
He’s aware of what each team is currently working on but compared to the designers in those teams who work on each area daily he’s a less reliable source for deep details. Whilst he can sometimes comment on a specific skill or change other times it might be better for him to defer the subject matter to the experts.
This came up because we would pester him about specific skill changes, and whilst he could answer most questions, he sometimes wasn’t certain on the exact details (this is an area to speak with Wheeler or the combat team about for detailed changes)
No Plans for Changes in Racial Passives
They don’t have plans at this time to revisit racial passives, they’re happy with where they are.
I did overhear in a different conversation where there was talk of changes in Elsweyr, although this was a comment I heard walking past so can’t confirm if true or context as it contradicts what I heard in a direct conversation.
Alliance Change and Separating Alliances
Discussing the new faction locked campaigns with Rob we spoke about how ZOS wanted to keep the accessibility of people playing with any of their friends but also bring back something to encourage team and faction loyalty.
I spoke with Rob about breaking alliance choice away from character creation (something I’ve wanted to see in ESO for a long time), we spoke about how there are technical issues (which is why they don’t and won’t offer faction changes) and whilst these could be overcome with a large investment of time ZOS needs to balance between if these would be good use of that time vs other things they could be working on.
Little Things Team
I asked Rob about implementing a little things team like EVE Online did, he said they kind of have one which works on QoL changes but it often depends on what the other teams are doing and what’s required for use of developer time.
Slowing Down Content Releases and the Great Fix Patch
I spoke with Rob about the fast release of updates and if ZOS had considered doing a “Great Fix Patch” for one of their updates. He said it’s a question they get a lot and whilst it’s not off the table they as a company do need to produce for everyone and a majority of the bugs and issues faced are not ones everyone encounters or are drastically halting gameplay, as such they need to continue creating content for people who want new content to play and and don’t play at the higher level to notice if a skill or mechanic works a little wonky.
Balance Mentality/CP Changes
I asked Rob about CP changes which expanded into a conversation about balance over all. He mentioned CP really was in a discussion phase and there was nothing concrete about changes, however they’re addressing the system (and all balance changes) from a place of “does this do what it intended to do” and “does it offer options”.
When I joked I would personally love to just see it removed he noted I’m not the only one to say that, however they’re not going to just gut the system without something replacing it.
It’s ESO’s only progression system at present, but he mentioned later in the round table that “does anyone really get excited for each CP they earn after their 900th?” I got the feeling they want to keep the system in play, but want to to find a way to make it interesting, desirable, exciting and contain meaningful choice.
Rob also mentioned that they’re taking a wider look at balance and rather than balancing individual skills up and down they’re heading to root causes of problems and pain points to fix the bigger wider issues.
They’re currently/still working Stamina/Magicka balance and one of the questions they’re asking is “what does it mean to be stamina/melee”
Account Wide Things
Starting in Elsweyr you’ll be able to buy Skyshard SP unlocks for Crowns if you’ve previously completed the achievement on another character. There might be bundles (zones, alliances etc), however much of this was in development at the time and nothing was nailed down.
This is a starting point, in future updates they might add skill lines depending how things go.
No account wide achievements right now.
Personally I am looking forward to the P2W conversations this one is going to spawn (spoiler: it’s still not P2W).Separating PvE/PvP Skills “Play The Way You Want” Confirmation
During the round table ZOS was asked about separating PvE/PvP skills. They confirmed this isn’t something they’re intending to do and that skills themselves are pretty broken up into ones good for PvP and PvE in general (an example was snares are not as needed in PvE).
It was also mentioned that separating the PvE/PvP skills wouldn’t hold true to their “play the way you want” and that phrase means allowing players to do what they want, even if it’s not optimal. My own interpretation from this is that ZOS wants to throw the options out there and let people do what they want, not that every option has to be viable (something we as the community often use “play the way you want” to demand)
Choosing Starting Story/Tutorial
I asked in the round table about the option to choose starting story/tutorials, it’s something they hear a lot and are looking into, but confirmed it won’t be an option for Elsweyr.
Guild Update
Another question I posed in the Q&A was about if there would be a guild systems update. They’re interested in an update for guilds and guild features, but first they want to work on Guild Finder and getting people into guilds.
Nightmare Mode
Not planned as not enough people are clearing the current content to warrant it, they want to address the current game balance and accessibility first.
Rich also commented people don’t want to run content for the sake of content and there would need to be a reward system in place for this.
Waiting on Previous Request
I asked about if there was plans to deal with this during the round table, Rich said it was there for a reason (and one we can agree is a good one) however it’s not ideal and they would like to address it.
Too Many Sets/Slower Set Release
I asked if ZOS had considered slowing down the set releases as they do so many updates, Rich said they still had a lot of ideas so they didn’t worry about running out of them any time soon, so it seems there will not be slowing down the number of new set releases.
Spell Crafting
Not actively being worked on. They want to address other issues/system before adding this to the game.
Underwater Gameplay
Rich doesn’t really care for it, Rob wanted to say no because it’s a no, but as always he would rather say not something they’re looking as they should never say no without knowing the future (but let’s all be honest, it’s a no). Kai also commented that they did an ESO Live on this in the past and why it's not likely to happen.
Guild Trader Burner Guilds
They’re aware of the issue, they agree it’s not ideal and are trying to think of a way to best address it.
Zone Graphics Update
Asked in the Q&A about updating the graphics for old zones they mentioned it’s something that comes up a lot and there are members of the art/world teams who would love to do this. I don’t remember the reason why they said it hasn’t/isn’t happening right now however.
If you have any other questions feel free to ask and I will answer what I can.