ESO & ZOS Q&A Information (London Elsweyr Press Event Info)

Beardimus

Faulgor wrote: »

Turelus wrote: »

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.

What's Nightmare mode? Even harder stages beyond hardmodes for current group content?
I'd rather have a statement about a veteran difficulty for overland PvE content, because that has been a topic of discussion for a long time ...

Agreed.

kongkim

#1 Thx a lot. Really good post

Cinbri

Anything about future of battlegrounds as competitive pvp platform?

Vapirko

Turelus wrote: »

zyk wrote: »

Is Rob Garrett our new effigy?

I hope not because he's a really sound guy. He was very open and honest with answers to questions I posed, at no point did I feel I was getting the "marketing reply" to things I asked him.

As for the ZOS not fixing things but just making more content. I stand by what I have said where these are frustrating issues, but clearly they're not so bad we don't play the game. Just because they're going to keep working on content doesn't mean they're not going to continue doing bug fixes.
In the grand scheme of things the issues we have that frustrate probably are pretty minor, not an excuse for them to ignore them but they shouldn't require an entire patch to fix them.

We play because there really aren’t any viable alternatives especially when it comes to PvP in an MMO setting. But that doesn’t mean that the issues aren’t prevalent enough to the point where many of us have usubbed or have days where more often than not we just log out after a short period of time because it isn’t worth the frustration. We keep coming back because we love the elder scrolls and because we love what the game was built on, not because the issues “aren’t that bad.” Honestly it seems a bit slimy of ZOS that they do in fact take advantage of the passion of its dedicated player base.

thedude33

grannas211 wrote: »

You guys know what Pay to Win means right? Because I think some people do not. P2W would imply there is something in the crown store that gives you an unfair advantage buy simplying buying something that you couldnt get otherwise. First, you have to already have found the skyshards on a different toon sounds like and two, you can simply go find them. Its Pay for convenience.

Please stop the P2W nonsense

Zos could announce they are adding eye tattoos to the crown store and people would scream it's a P2W purchase.

I think some people are itching for a chance to say P2W anytime they can. Like for me, any time I can use the word brouhaha in a conversation I take it.

thedude33

zyk wrote: »

More of the same.

- low priority for fixing bugs
- high priority for pumping out new content to sell
- monetization of what should be basic qol
- low priority for enthusiasts
- high priority for occasional players who probably stay subbed all year
- no apparent desire to make a great game, this is only about $$$$

They're going to make a fortune selling Skyshards to new Necromancers. Distasteful and disappointing.

Is Rob Garrett our new effigy?

Hate to break it to you, the world, in general, is all about money, especially a commercial enterprise.

FleetwoodSmack

Vapirko wrote: »

Turelus wrote: »

zyk wrote: »

Is Rob Garrett our new effigy?

I hope not because he's a really sound guy. He was very open and honest with answers to questions I posed, at no point did I feel I was getting the "marketing reply" to things I asked him.

As for the ZOS not fixing things but just making more content. I stand by what I have said where these are frustrating issues, but clearly they're not so bad we don't play the game. Just because they're going to keep working on content doesn't mean they're not going to continue doing bug fixes.
In the grand scheme of things the issues we have that frustrate probably are pretty minor, not an excuse for them to ignore them but they shouldn't require an entire patch to fix them.

We play because there really aren’t any viable alternatives especially when it comes to PvP in an MMO setting. But that doesn’t mean that the issues aren’t prevalent enough to the point where many of us have usubbed or have days where more often than not we just log out after a short period of time because it isn’t worth the frustration. We keep coming back because we love the elder scrolls and because we love what the game was built on, not because the issues “aren’t that bad.” Honestly it seems a bit slimy of ZOS that they do in fact take advantage of the passion of its dedicated player base.

Hoenstly, I'd further your statement...

But I know they're just going to tell us these;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr9Oubxw1gA

Turelus

Wing wrote: »

I hope this means there looking into the DLC dungeon and the fact that only a dozen people can / are doing them?

That's the feeling I got, they also mentioned the recent balance pass on dungeons as a way to remove some of the barriers to people completing them. Mostly just repeating what Finn had already stated on the forums.

ezio45 wrote: »

I have mixed feeling on the guy. I dont think he is a bad guy but I also get the impression he is very out of touch with what the community wants.

At least if he is responsible for some of the changes we have seen of late. The comment about how they are balancing the classes bothers me alot. It makes me go over the combat decisions since he has been at the position. If this is the reason we have seen such broad stroke changes to class abilities by certain "rule sets". Im not a fan of these types of changes and feel it hurts the classes more than it help anyone. The classes are not all the same and what might need a nerf on one class maybe be fine on another.

This is a hard one because I don't want to speak on behalf of ZOS and put words in their mouth they never said etc.
All I can say is that from my speaking with Rob and Rich both seemed very in touch with what the community wanted. Not once did a question/issue come up and them have no idea what was being asked.
However I also get the sense that whilst they know everything we want, they still need to produce a game for everyone and they're looking at things from their point of view, one which has access to player numbers, completion statistics etc. Like it or not us vocal complainers on the forums are the minority of their player base, and even on here we find people who don't encounter the same bugs which we might consider "the most important thing in ESO right now"

As for skill balance, Wheeler or the Class Reps would probably be the best people to get information from regarding what's happening. Rob's comments to me came off more akin to "rather than just nerf X because everyone screams nerf X, we're looking to see if X is because of Y other reasons and solving X and Y at the same time" hopefully that makes sense.

FleetwoodSmack wrote: »

That bug excuse though...

"Rob used Dodge. It wasn't very effective."

Again, they're not saying they're not going to fix bugs, they just at this time don't feel it's worth halting the games development to solve them.

Cinbri wrote: »

Anything about future of battlegrounds as competitive pvp platform?

Sorry didn't ask about this personally and it didn't come up in the round table I was in.

Hotdog_23

First thanks for all the information. My thoughts on all of this.

Communication and Organization
It is good to know that they are reading the forums. I can completely understand if they are not responding to them. Just nice to know we are being heard. Be nice if they could at least be a way they could at least show they have read the comment. Such as read by developer beside the insightful, agree and awesome at the bottom of the post.

Rob Plays Console
That is great to hear. The UI differently needs some love and help.

Rob Actively Reads the Forum
Again nice to see please add the read by developer as I mentioned above. Just know we are being heard. I don’t expect a response 99% of the time but acknowledgment would be nice.

Confirmation on Rob’s Role at ZOS
There has to be one grandmaster and Rob is ESO’s. Personally I think he and his team is doing a fantastic job overall. Not perfect but hey who among us is? There is always room for improvement. Never be content always strive to be more.

No Plans for Changes in Racial Passives
Didn’t really think there would be since they just changed them.

Alliance Change and Separating Alliances
Sounds encouraging.

Little Things Team
No comment, interesting idea though.

Slowing Down Content Releases and the Great Fix Patch
I am glad they are not planning on slowing down content. I would think that if they did a “great fix patch” we forum warriors would still be unhappy.

Balance Mentality/CP Changes
As I have said before I liked the slow increases. Slow it down to 9 quarter instead of 30 until 900. Hate to be the one to make the decision on what to do with CP and balance changes as it will be difficult to do.

Account Wide Things
Account wide skyshards is a good thing and not P2W in my mind. Adding mages guild line would be awesome as it is a pain to do on consoles again and again. Maybe just allow us to read the books that we can buy once we have completed that achievement on another character. But let only those characters that are on your account read them for credit.
How about an overall achievement score that totals all our points across our account?

Separating PvE/PvP Skills “Play The Way You Want” Confirmation

As difficult as it is to balance I am glad they balance them together. Looking at the Necromancer skill line I can see a lot of stam and mag morphs for skills. I wish they would expand this to the other classes slowly as they balance the game. Say one skill at a time for each class until they are comfortable with the balance.

Choosing Starting Story/Tutorial
Nice idea not sure if I would us it but more options here is a good thing I believe.

Guild Update
Nice to see the updates planned. One change that would help is if they could make some way to transfer a GM to another player in the absent of the GM for an after period of time. Some guilds die as the GM and officers quit or move on.


Nightmare Mode
Indifferent about this. In a way I can see people wanting this but not sure how it would work in a MMO with other players around. Plus as a reward I do not want them to give the top 10% of player’s even better gear to separate the player base. Still not sure if I like the imperfect and perfect gear options now in the CR and BRP.

Too Many Sets/Slower Set Release
I don’t mind the news sets being released but bank/bag space/storage chest needs to expand to deal with it.

Spell Crafting
Indifferent about it and don’t except it come out until they release the Skyrim part of the map if ever. Balance would be a “nightmare mode” to balance for sure.

Underwater Gameplay
Don’t care about it personally.

Guild Trader Burner Guilds
Good that they see it as a problem.

Zone Graphics Update
Don’t really except to see an upgrade in this area until the consoles come out so that changes can affect PC’s and the new consoles at the same time.

kind_hero

@Turelus That's a lot of interesting info, but you haven't asked anything about housing/new furnishings or crafting. Really? Lots of people are into these game areas, there is a whole economy related to crafting mats, furnishings, blueprints, writs and vouchers, yet there is none asking the devs about these topics.

Turelus

kind_hero wrote: »

Turelus That's a lot of interesting info, but you haven't asked anything about housing/new furnishings or crafting. Really? Lots of people are into these game areas, there is a whole economy related to crafting mats, furnishings, blueprints, writs and vouchers, yet there is none asking the devs about these topics.

It isn't an area of the game I am active in so I didn't really talk about it. Might have been something others bought up in conversations or round tables though.
If I attend any other events with ZOS staff I can ask about them in future.

SantieClaws

kind_hero wrote: »

@Turelus That's a lot of interesting info, but you haven't asked anything about housing/new furnishings or crafting. Really? Lots of people are into these game areas, there is a whole economy related to crafting mats, furnishings, blueprints, writs and vouchers, yet there is none asking the devs about these topics.

Not to mention we all had very limited time in our travels and conversations.

We did the best we could with that time but Tamriel is simply too big and too complex to address every possible area of activity.

Housing wise this one she saw a small apartment at a tavern and was unable to pass through the gates of what she assumes was a house - Jode's Peace or Rest or something similar this one she thinks it was called.

This one did not see any unusual crafting nodes or ingredients. The furnishings out around in the world were stunning - beautiful bubblers and cushions and the like. This one did not herself loot any new recipes in her short travels though.

Yours with paws
Santie Claws

zyk

Turelus wrote: »

Communication 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.

It's ironic that this is your first point in one of many posts and videos from players who have had different levels of direct interaction with ZOS recently. I would say this has all been a terrible form of communication and managing expectations -- essentially through unconfirmed hearsay.

ZOS isn't really trying to improve communication, they're trying to improve messaging by getting more influential players on their side through events and information leaks.

Turelus

zyk wrote: »

Turelus wrote: »

Communication 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.

It's ironic that this is your first point in one of many posts and videos from players who have had different levels of direct interaction with ZOS recently. I would say this has all been a terrible form of communication and managing expectations -- essentially through unconfirmed hearsay.

ZOS isn't really trying to improve communication, they're trying to improve messaging by getting more influential players on their side through events and information leaks.

It's my first point because it's one of the first things I spoke about and one of the things I feel most strongly about.

Of course ZOS is going to invite influencers and press to events to give them a taste of new things to talk about. These are the people who positively support their game and grow their community.

Turelus

Something else I just remembered.

Crafting Writs in Houses
Not planned at all. ZOS still wants reason for players to return to or be in towns, so taking activities from those towns away and putting them in houses wouldn't fall in line with this.
Other examples were how you can't repair gear, or use guild banks with the followers because they still want people going back to towns.

GlorphNoldorin

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.

For me this really hurt. Can he really say that about pvp? I really disagree about this. If they get asked this alot then they should more than consider it.

MartiniDaniels

Turelus wrote: »

Something else I just remembered.

Crafting Writs in Houses
Not planned at all. ZOS still wants reason for players to return to or be in towns, so taking activities from those towns away and putting them in houses wouldn't fall in line with this.
Other examples were how you can't repair gear, or use guild banks with the followers because they still want people going back to towns.

Koronach

Tommy_The_Gun wrote: »

"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."

In that case, I have no plans to purchase Elsweyr. It is as simple as that.

Exactly the same, not only are some of the passive changes crap but totally break ESO's lore. I fail to see how they can claim the want to preserve established lore but don't know the lore.

Morgul667

I have not seen anything hype

Leogon

MartiniDaniels wrote: »

In short - ZOS is working actively on new content for crown store, all other issues are "looked at and under consideration" but without any real plans to be fixed.

FleetwoodSmack

Turelus wrote: »

FleetwoodSmack wrote: »

That bug excuse though...

"Rob used Dodge. It wasn't very effective."

Again, they're not saying they're not going to fix bugs, they just at this time don't feel it's worth halting the games development to solve them.

Did you read what you wrote? Let's break down how contradiction works in English. You first said...

"Again, they're not saying they're not going to fix bugs"

Okay. So they're going to fix some bugs.

"they just at this time don't feel it's worth halting the games development to solve them."

This is the same BS answer we've been fed since before the Imperial City. This is a direct contradiction to the statement above because it promotes bug complacency. The difference is, they're just having you say it now instead of them because they don't care. You cannot change my mind on this, nor the several people having a go at you for this. It's just further proof these community programs don't work.

FleetwoodSmack

GlorphNoldorin wrote: »

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.

For me this really hurt. Can he really say that about pvp? I really disagree about this. If they get asked this alot then they should more than consider it.

He doesn't care about it. None of them do.

Chicharron

zyk wrote: »

Turelus wrote: »

Communication 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.

It's ironic that this is your first point in one of many posts and videos from players who have had different levels of direct interaction with ZOS recently. I would say this has all been a terrible form of communication and managing expectations -- essentially through unconfirmed hearsay.

ZOS isn't really trying to improve communication, they're trying to improve messaging by getting more influential players on their side through events and information leaks.

Why invite someone who will only criticize in a negative way when you can invite people who see the game more cheerful and positive and with a high possibility of attracting new customers.

Besides, it is clear that Z does not care much about the feedback if it can not be monetized, or at least that is the impression i have of them and i do not think it is bad, they are here to make money, it is not charity.

My favorite company is Nintendo, and what i like about Nintendo is that they give a sh*t about what their clients want, they do what they want.Sometimes works, sometimes not.

Chicharron

.

WitchyWarrior

GlorphNoldorin wrote: »

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.

For me this really hurt. Can he really say that about pvp? I really disagree about this. If they get asked this alot then they should more than consider it.

EXACTLY!
Their attitude towards this is disappointing.
However it is not surprising. It's just sad to actually read it.
I get they want new players because new players bring them more money.
But do they see how that looks to the players that have been here since the beginning? I already got the feeling that we do not matter to them since they already got us, but wow.

I don't understand why they can't do both. Keep with the new content like they are going to but also do larger fixes/patches.
So many people here say that the people who do the new content are not the same people who do bug fixes so it's not like they would be taking man power away from the new stuff, right?
Or is it because the New stuff will more often than not cause additional problems?
I mean, it's not like they can say they want to wait to fix things until everything is released so they can make sure it's all compatible because new content is an ongoing thing.

Yes, they are a business. But that seems like a Shady as F business practice to ignore previous paying customers who more than likely are stilling paying zos money because of ESO+.
Seriously. This really irritated me reading their attitude towards "higher level" playing.
I honestly don't know most of the issues out there in PVE, but for PVP the issues are bit more than a skill or mechanic being "wonky".
WOW

Diundriel

how can i imagine that factions lock cause as a pvper on all factions that kinda sounds horrible
… sounds horrible to all that smallscale on the factions that have lowest Population and best opportunity to have outnumbered fights

Blacknight841

Just out of curiosity, i would suggest these questions for next time. How long ago did Rob start playing on console? Is he the only one that owns a console at ZeniMax? Trader UIs took 5 years to add a search bar to it. I guarantee the first time he searched for a master writ he had the thought "how do i filter just writs.. wait i can't". Did he skip over the starting zones entirely, or did he just ignore the vast army of bot farmers sitting on nodes or walking in endless loops? How many farmers have come up and opened a trade window to dump endless supplies of mats into the screen?

It can't be that xbox is the only console with these issues.

Lyserus

How exactly does skyshard unlock works?

If I purchased it, will it become account wide on all my characters? one of the character? a new character? or all new characters created after purcahse? and does it unlock future skyshards if I unlocked those in a later date?

And if this becomes a thing can we expect motif and recipes account wide?

Sylvermynx

Lyserus wrote: »

How exactly does skyshard unlock works?

If I purchased it, will it become account wide on all my characters? one of the character? a new character? or all new characters created after purcahse? and does it unlock future skyshards if I unlocked those in a later date?

And if this becomes a thing can we expect motif and recipes account wide?

It's only unlocked for any character who has a zone achieve for them as I understand it. Fortunately for me, I don't want it anyway - because there's no way in hell I'm getting a zone achieve.... mega-ping.... no can do delves, dungeons....

Elsonso

.

Lyserus wrote: »

How exactly does skyshard unlock works?

If I purchased it, will it become account wide on all my characters? one of the character? a new character? or all new characters created after purcahse? and does it unlock future skyshards if I unlocked those in a later date?

And if this becomes a thing can we expect motif and recipes account wide?

Details have yet to be revealed. I agree with what Silvermynx said. It sounds like it will be per character. It also sounds like new alts will be able to buy it out of the box. New accounts will not benefit from it. I expect that it may be the case where characters have to re-purchase additional skyshards after new ones have been discovered on a character.

Bottom line: It is not clear how it is going to work.