PTS Update 24 - Feedback Thread for Southern Elsweyr

ZOS_GinaBruno

This is the official feedback thread for Southern Elsweyr. Specific feedback that the team is looking for includes the following:

• How many quests did you complete?
• Which areas did you explore?
• What’s the favorite and least favorite content you encountered?
• Was it clear you could rebuild the Dragonguard Sanctuary? Did you know what you needed to do to accomplish that?
• How did the amount of daily quests required to unlock the new tiers feel?
• Do you have any other general feedback?

James-Wayne

Heads up!

Currently the only way to get to the new zone is by buying one of the homes and then exiting through the door otherwise there is no wayshrine to access, not even in the towns like Wayrest where it says you can, they take you to Northern zone instead.

Whoops!

Carbonised

I'm sorry to say, but this is the least excited I have ever been for a DLC release from you (zone DLC, not counting dungeon packs).

Southern Elsweyr/Pellitine is nothing but a copy of Anequina/Northern Elsweyr, with a couple handful, 10-14 at the most, unique objects and furniture items that are supposed to represent the "difference" between this zone and Northern Elsweyr. All small zone DLCs have had a unique look and appearance, especially Murkmire and Clockwork were very unique and had a ton of speciality items and a ton of furniture recipes. This zone is nothing but reused assets from the Northern chapter. I can't tell the difference between Senchal and Rimmen, they look exactly the same, because they ARE the same, it's the exact same assets and models.

This feels like you chopped up a zone and tried to present it to us as 2 zones instead of one. Sure, it's saving you dev resources to not have to make completely new assets for this zone but simply reuse the ones from this year's chapter, but it also makes my enthisuasm for the DLC and the zone extremely minimal. It provides nothing new that the chapter didn't already provide, apart from a storyline which will be over in a day or two at the most.

I suppose this marks the future for us then, from now on there will be no more 2 zone DLCs every year, but only 1, chopped up in a "large" part and a "small" part. Time to consider if it's really worth paying for it then.

phantasmalD

Uhmm, that gap between Southern and Northern Elsweyr is really awkward. I guess the team is trying to save Torval and Corinthe for a later (possibly Mane focused) DLC? Still, it's a really bizarre shape and size.

This year hasn't really been the Season of Dragon but rather the season of false advertisement, first announcing the Chapter as Elsweyr even tho it was only like 60% of Anequina (since the other 40% was already in the game as part of Reaper's March). And now this DLC is Southern Elsweyr, even tho it's only like 50% of Pellitine.

The thing that really bother me the most tho is that there's no land connection between Southern Elsweyr and any other parts of Tamriel (Anequina, most importantly). No deep, secret smuggler tunnel, deserted mountain pass or long coastal trading route. This really kills the feeling of a large unified Elsweyr.

Also, please stop using impassable mountain ranges as borders for every single zone, mix things up a bit. I'd rather have a slaughterfish infested rivers or artifical man-made walls cutting a province in half rather than these unimmersive mountains bisecting them into isolated valleys.
That being said, since I know you won't redesign the zone now I'm just gonna say this: if you ever go and make a third Elsweyr DLC using the leftover area don't you dare make it a valley, it's perfectly set up for a plateau, being between two mountain ranges.

RaddlemanNumber7

Do you have any other general feedback?

Glyptodons have only 7.6k health and they sometimes drop leather scraps. They're going to get slaughtered. An easy shoot-on-sight target.

Seeing as they're so big and heavily armoured couldn't you give them say 760k health. At least then we'd be able to enjoy their presence more in Southern Elsweyr.

Aliyavana

This goes under world bosses.

The boss, Iratan the Lightbringer, species name is unknown. Clearly he is a daedra and his species was introduced with wrathstone when king narilmor transformed into the symphony of blades. The questgiver Bruccius Baenus calls it a Meridian guardian, with the word guardian notably not capitalized. if this wording is its species name, the word guardian should be capitalized. If not, please give the daedra a species name.

Shantu

With the nerf slaughterhouse you call combat, I could care less about Southern Elsweyr. This absurd.

Cireous

I don't see a feedback thread for the new Dragon changes. Perhaps no feedback is needed on them because you guys are already certain they are awesome, and you're right... they are.

Whatever devs are continuing to work on the dragons, they're my favorite ones. I love you guys.

So, getting to it, I especially appreciate the extreme weather changes matching the element type of the dragon. It's so incredibly immersive/transportive, even more so at night. All the pretty colors! As a support player, I am loving this new debuff hitting the players (whatever the purple animation is surrounding our bodies). It allows for me to feel a lot more useful as it seems to require quite a bit of continuous healing to heal through. Most of the dragon mechanics are one shot in nature, so at least with this, I have stuff to do. I am also happy to see that even the fire dragon fights have changed and are more deadly/fun.

I have chased a few dragons around and it's much more immersive than the static sitting dragon experience. They don't fly very far away, so there is no real annoyance to it all. I feel this was a very thoughtful adjustment.

All I can hope for, is that the team working on these dragons will eventually expand this type of content into further reaches of the game. You guys are doing an incredible job of creating an epic Overland experience, even though I know it doesn't seem like that when there are 30+ people attacking at once. But those numbers are obviously going to change with a little time.

SydneyGrey

My feedback is there is no way to get there. No quest starter. No wayshrine. No boat from any of the other provinces.
Might want to check that.

*Edit* I was able to get there by buying that house in southern Elsweyr like someone else mentioned, but that was the only way.

RaddlemanNumber7

SydneyGrey wrote: »

My feedback is there is no way to get there. No quest starter. No wayshrine. No boat from any of the other provinces.
Might want to check that.

*Edit* I was able to get there by buying that house in southern Elsweyr like someone else mentioned, but that was the only way.

There is a "Bandaari Caravan" in each of the Alliance capitals that goes to the docks in Senchal. I just used one to travel there from Mournhold on a character that hadn't yet been to S. Elsweyr.

calexus1986

Questline has a major bug.

Final quest CANNOT be completed. Won the fight against the dragon then go back and speak to crew, then sai sahan, then it says talk to Nahfahlaar - He's not there, so unable to complete final quest.

James-Wayne

phantasmalD wrote: »

Uhmm, that gap between Southern and Northern Elsweyr is really awkward. I guess the team is trying to save Torval and Corinthe for a later (possibly Mane focused) DLC? Still, it's a really bizarre shape and size.

This year hasn't really been the Season of Dragon but rather the season of false advertisement, first announcing the Chapter as Elsweyr even tho it was only like 60% of Anequina (since the other 40% was already in the game as part of Reaper's March). And now this DLC is Southern Elsweyr, even tho it's only like 50% of Pellitine.

The thing that really bother me the most tho is that there's no land connection between Southern Elsweyr and any other parts of Tamriel (Anequina, most importantly). No deep, secret smuggler tunnel, deserted mountain pass or long coastal trading route. This really kills the feeling of a large unified Elsweyr.

Also, please stop using impassable mountain ranges as borders for every single zone, mix things up a bit. I'd rather have a slaughterfish infested rivers or artifical man-made walls cutting a province in half rather than these unimmersive mountains bisecting them into isolated valleys.
That being said, since I know you won't redesign the zone now I'm just gonna say this: if you ever go and make a third Elsweyr DLC using the leftover area don't you dare make it a valley, it's perfectly set up for a plateau, being between two mountain ranges.

I said the same thing for Murkmire, they really need to design the zones in such a way that they are all connected. Really depressed about that small gap!

James-Wayne

calexus1986 wrote: »

Questline has a major bug.

Final quest CANNOT be completed. Won the fight against the dragon then go back and speak to crew, then sai sahan, then it says talk to Nahfahlaar - He's not there, so unable to complete final quest.

Also the quest prior to this there was two Nahfahlaar dragons sitting next to each other, one was a mute thou.

RaddlemanNumber7

When we look out from Senchal docks is that water and the cliffs surrounding it supposed to be Topal Bay? It's tiny. Wouldn't some mist fading into a distant horizon be better. At least it might preserve the illusion of Topal Bay's great size.

kind_hero

I hope this DLC (in base form) is free for those who purchased the Elsweyr chapter. I say this because the story of the chapter ends in this DLC, not within the chapter, like it should be. Also, if you haven't bought Elsweyr, you can't finish the quest line, which is a major part of this DLC, am I right?

So, the feedback should start from there...

Otherwise, @Carbonised has described well some of the issues with this DLC. I think the people involved in doing the story and the zone are doing a great job and it is thanks to them that I keep playing despite the fact that I dislike where the combat is going and how poorly housing and furnishings are being developed for some time. Even though the zone looks great, I can't overlook the reuse of assets from Rimmen and the overuse of mould everywhere, even in the restored buildings.

I am glad this story arc is over and I really hope your team will learn from this year's mistakes, because otherwise I will not give this game an other chance next chapter.

One more thing.. when are we going to be able to hide shoulders or other pieces or armor? You keep postponing this simple request!

RaddlemanNumber7

How many quests did you complete?

Almost as many as are currently available I think. Got the 16 story quest achievement.
I did at least one of each daily, except the Dragon hunt. Only managed 1 Dragon kill before the Dragons seemed to vanish completely.
Didn't find all the tapestry scraps or book pages. Missed one of those 4 pirates somewhere.
Finding tapestry pieces is a bit too hard to do in 3 days, despite the clues. Alfiq are easy to overlook, and I discovered tapestry pieces only when I accidentally got an interaction prompt for them. They're not sufficiently visible.

Which areas did you explore?

Nearly everywhere, I think, except the island with the green dome and the closed off bits of the dragonguard base.

What’s the favorite and least favorite content you encountered?

Favourite was the final fight in "The Dragonguard" quest. It felt epic.

Least favourite is "The Deadliest Prey" questline. The characters and the plot are unconvincing. I don't get why the hunters are hostile when I have a token making my character a bona fide member of the hunt.

Was it clear you could rebuild the Dragonguard Sanctuary? Did you know what you needed to do to accomplish that?

I think I only knew about that from reading the patch notes. I don't remember seeing anything about it in-game. This may be because we can't complete "The Dragonguard" quest though.

How did the amount of daily quests required to unlock the new tiers feel?

No dragon kills = no progress so far.

Do you have any other general feedback?

Amazing landscape. So much to explore. So much to find. Love it.
Most of the quests I really enjoyed doing.
Overall, very good. Lots of fun.
But...
It feels a bit incomplete - no unique furniture or food, no motif drops on the Senchal dailies.
We were told Pelletine is culturally distinct from Anequina, but I didn't feel that coming through.
The city feels empty and almost silent. Not many NPC's, and lots of them with no dialogue.
The supposed isolation of Senchal, and the Imperials there, is unconvincing seeing as it's a sea port, and the Niben estuary and Leyawiin are practically within spitting distance.
Where is the Dominion, the Mane and the rest of the Khajiits? I don't remember anyone even mentioning them.
And the Soul Burst, what's that? Are we all supposed to have forgotten?
This DLC seems very disconnected from the context created by the rest of the game.

WhiteCoatSyndrome

The timeline is screwed up. The plot portrays Nahfahlaar as an old ally of the Dragonguard. One of the load screens indicates that this started with Ja'darri back in the reign of Reman I.

PROBLEM: We have record of the Dragonguard hunting Nahfahlaar and actively trying to break him away from mortal protectors for the purpose of killing him in 2E 369 So after he was supposed to buddies with our dragon-slaying friends and before the events in ESO. And no where is it explained why Nahfahlaar doesn't try to kill us or flee as soon as he finds out we're supposed to be Dragonguard. I went through the entire story quest looking for hand waves or explanations; nothing.

Also, although unrelated, we still have no concrete explanation for how we're supposed to be 'rebuilding' the Dragonguard when there are active agents elsewhere in Tamriel at this time. And they are apparently quite organized.

@ZOS_LeamonTuttle I believe you are the appropriate party to tag for this.

UnseenCat

James-Wayne wrote: »

Heads up!

Currently the only way to get to the new zone is by buying one of the homes and then exiting through the door otherwise there is no wayshrine to access, not even in the towns like Wayrest where it says you can, they take you to Northern zone instead.

Whoops!

I was briefly stumped too, but there should be a cart in the capital city of your alliance that will take you there.

For my AD character, for instance, it was in Elden Root. Highlight the quest in your journal and go to your alliance capital. It should have an indicator on the compass and map.

This_0ne

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

This is the official feedback thread for Southern Elsweyr. Specific feedback that the team is looking for includes the following:

• How many quests did you complete?
• Which areas did you explore?
• What’s the favorite and least favorite content you encountered?
• Was it clear you could rebuild the Dragonguard Sanctuary? Did you know what you needed to do to accomplish that?
• How did the amount of daily quests required to unlock the new tiers feel?
• Do you have any other general feedback?

1. I think almost everything
2. I tell you what i am not explore. It's Torval and Corinth (big disappointment that decided to remove them for maybe any dungeon dlc or any terrible way)
3. I so interesteed to complite main quest on my native language. It look realy interested. But bad that there is no new arena or the like
4. I can't finished main quest because it baged maybe. (Big good? guy just left me)
5. not sure i can answer
6. I just want to say again about Torval and Corinth where i cant walk.

umagon

The clue for Kesta's tapestry scrap could use some rewording. The location isn't overlooking the tower the scrap's elevation is actually lower than the base of the tower. It's bit misleading.

RaddlemanNumber7

Season Finale Spoiler:

Great joke, guys. The super-villain's island explodes at the climax of the season finale and we don't get to see it because the hero is asleep. A classic piece of comedy, even better than Nocturnal's low-res frock. Is this going to become some sort of running gag?

ectoplasmicninja

So far, I've only done the main quest, including the end quest involving the island, and one daily (from Dirge).

I have no idea how to rebuild the Dragonguard Sanctuary. The only indication that it might be possible is that locked door behind which the map tells me is the armory. I've run around inside the Sanctuary and spoken to everyone I can but I haven't seen anything or heard any relevant dialogue.

The final battle in the end quest involving the island proved to be extremely buggy. (I made bug reports about this, but I'll reiterate the disaster.)

Tharn says he will cast a shield at one of the grapple posts to protect you from all the green stuff all over the arena. He did it, I grappled to it, and stood inside it fighting the enemies. When the prompt to use my fancy dragon mask powers came up, no button prompt came with it. Pressing X did nothing. So I couldn't use the power, so the adds spawned endlessly.

I decided to die to see if that helped. When I respawned (I tried both on the spot and at wayshrine, which turned out to be just inside the door), there was no shield, and still the green stuff all over the arena. The dragon stayed on his perch for five minutes or so doing nothing, then landed, I attacked him some more, he went back to his perch for another five minutes, etc. There were no more shields for the rest of the fight, and no mobs either. I would just run back to the entrance platform and stand on it out of range of the green stuff and wait. Tharn told me about forcing him to land, but I could not see any way to do that. He also maintained the green energy spewing from his mouth animation the entire time he was on the ground even when he wasn't actually performing his breath attack. The fight took about 20 minutes.

The particle effects from that battle (the glowy spikes and the aerial trails) stayed on me for quite some time. They still appear on me randomly when I port into different areas. I am not wearing the Mask hat collectible.

Ozby

The only dragon i saw was in the story quest , I was hoping for more Dragons to do in southern Elsweyr like daily ones like in northern Elsweyr so I was disappointed there were none.

I only did the very first quest but so far the story looks interesting and fun.

The zone itself is pretty but what a nightmare to get around in with all those horrible mountains and cliffs in the way all the time.

I really don't like that Northern and Southern Elsweyr don't join, does not make any sense to me at all.
The map had a distinct Murkmire feel to it imo, I do love the new wildlife could really do with more stuff like that in your future content, rather than just recycling old ones.

I didn't go to far in as I want some things to be new to me when it goes live. I do hope this DLC has a lot of quests and achieves to fill my time as it doesn't seem to have much else.

dagrdagaz_5912

The mold inside and outside buildings in Senchal.

The uninhabited damaged and deserted ones, fine.

The habited ones
With clean Elsweyr furniture inside and then moldy wals, just doesnt look good or match imho.
How about loose only the mold inside habited buildings.

James-Wayne

• How many quests did you complete?
I have completed them all except the final quest which I think is because I used my NA character and I haven’t done the prologue quest for Southern Elsweyr. I say a quest icon appear above Sai head but then it disappeared. The quests were all very well done, I believe it was the same team that did Summerset which is why they were so good. There wasn’t very many quests thou, it felt very light on compared to other DLC’s.

• Which areas did you explore?
I went everywhere except final island (I will not be redoing it all on a template character, will just wait for live version). I enjoyed the height levels of the zone and the lush environment but I couldn’t stand the textures on the cities, I think they could have done a better job at making the city look over run with jungle and in ruin. Although the look of the zone was nice it was designed very poorly in terms of not including the rest of Elsweyr. If you didn’t have the time to build the middle of Elsweyr with quests and characters then you should have included it on the map but perhaps walled the area off so you couldn’t get in there. That way the whole zone would be complete and if you wanted to return to that area down the track by way of our mini DLC you could.

• What’s the favorite and least favorite content you encountered?
The quests, including characters and voice overs were my favorite. The poorly designed zone was the biggest let down, I’m so upset about that and have doubts that future DLC zones will be done justice.

• Was it clear you could rebuild the Dragonguard Sanctuary? Did you know what you needed to do to accomplish that?
Hahaha no it was definitely not clear. I mean Sai mentioned it in convo but after that there was no direction on how to achieve it. If it goes live like this I think this will be a big part of content that most players just don’t do. Players and more so casual players that come back for DLC content do not want to have to grind for extra content. Grinding is bad. Grinding is poor design. Don’t do it. Ever.

• How did the amount of daily quests required to unlock the new tiers feel?
I have no idea because I wasn’t about to blindly delve into that, could have been 10 could have been 100. I have no idea. I certainly didn't feel like I was rebuilding the place... do I need to do dailies for that? I don't see how doing dailies can help rebuild the place and bring people to the area.

• Do you have any other general feedback?
Fix the zone map… PLEASE!!! Even if just close the gap on the Tamriel map I will be somewhat happy, it’s an eyesore and makes my immersion mind depressed.

RaddlemanNumber7

ectoplasmicninja wrote: »

The particle effects from that battle (the glowy spikes and the aerial trails) stayed on me for quite some time. They still appear on me randomly when I port into different areas. I am not wearing the Mask hat collectible.

I hope this "particle effect" isn't just a bug, and we get to keep it. It's visible on other players, so it's not just a local graphics glitch. I've tried lots of things to see if it stops happening, but it doesn't.

I like it, a lot. Although we can't remove it I do not think it is obtrusive. I find it aesthetically pleasing It's pretty. It's also an indelible mark of our character's achievement for all to see. I'm hoping it is the first sign of a longer multi-season questline starting. Perhaps the blessing of a particular Divine that our character carries forward into "The Year of the ???". This year all started with Abnur Tharn hoping he could find a way to stop the 3 Banners war, maybe it will turn out that he did.

Aisleyne

I'm also experiencing the particle effects after finishing the Finale quests. I very much hope it is a bug. I know everyone has different tastes, but I find it really unattractive. It persists for about 40 seconds every time I zone/load anywhere which I find jarring. It really isn't something I want to see on all my characters all the time. If it's not a bug, I hope they can confine it to the Dragonguard Sanctum. If not, they should make it a toggle or only present when wearing the mask because seeing it constantly really discourages me from wanting to complete the story on my actual characters.

RaddlemanNumber7 wrote: »

Although we can't remove it I do not think it is obtrusive. I find it aesthetically pleasing It's pretty. It's also an indelible mark of our character's achievement for all to see.

I just wanted to respond to this by saying that while I do not find it aesthetically pleasing, I do recognize that it was a nice effect that had its place in the story. It was great in there. But in my opinion, it is obtrusive in other areas. I could deal with it being present in the Dragonguard HQ because it at least fits in there. I don't feel in fits in across all of Tamriel though.

Araneae6537

Please do make the particle effect optional outside of the story instance! I really don’t like glowy particle effects on my characters and even avoid using abilities or armor sets that create visuals I don’t like. I know that some people like these effects so it’s great to create rewards they will appreciate but please make this and ideally armor visual effects optional — perhaps a toggle in settings like there is for mount upgrades.

RaddlemanNumber7

This is what I'm seeing on my Khajiit template. He is the largest possible Khajiit, all body sliders pushed all the way to the right. The aura seems to fit his body shape very well, especially on his head. I like it very much.

ZOS_JasonBarnes

Hey everyone,

The effects should go away after the quest. We're investigating why they're sticking around and looking to get it fixed!

RaddlemanNumber7

ZOS_JasonBarnes wrote: »

Hey everyone,

The effects should go away after the quest We're investigating why they're sticking around and looking to get it fixed!

Sadness