Should ZoS take a break from making a chapter next year?

MagicalLija

I'm going to say it:
Morrowind and Summerset, beautiful amazing DLC's with great fun stories and characters. Introducing my favourite Class which I've made so many memories on the Warden. And Summerset introduced an amazing new zone, really pretty with lots of amazing quests.

Now when we look at Elsweyr and Greymoor, it feels incredibly rushed.

Here's my opinions why:

• The music (Especially in Greymoor) is way too themed around battles with little to no exploration soundtracks.
• The stories are great in concept, but are executed quite badly in both chapters, and I found myself mostly not caring about dialogue because it felt like filler/uninteresting.
• I wasn't too attached to any characters seen in either of the chapters as I did for the previous ones.
• Greymoor's sets seem unbelievably boring and quite frankly useless for most content.
• Once you've done antiquities there is no reason to level up a different character + very limited amounts of rewards. (Also a grindfest)
• Vampires were also great but at the same time feel extremely weak in most scenarios apart from Solo PvE.

And so on and so forth. But what I'm proposing, is we have a year where it will feel a little stagnant but at the same time will hopefully kick ZoS back into the same gear they were in when they made Summerset and Vvardenfell's expansions. I wouldn't mind kind of "Vanilla" themed dungeons which they could release without any particular theme in order to keep the meta shifting. But even with the most recent expansion, I have seen barely 10 people in Zone chat wanting to do the new trial for the gear.

EDIT: I definitely still enjoyed the 2 newsest chapters. I'm just saying they've progressively been getting less enjoyable.

ClawOfTheTwoMoons

Yes

I'd love a break from dlc chapters and have a whole update focused on improving QoL and stuff of that nature but unfortunately; that doesn't sell, and it's all about the bottom line.

pdeb360

Yes

Make it playeble again. Then return to making new content.

CrazYDunm3r

Yes

Quality over quantity

NotaDaedraWorshipper

Since I'm hoping the next one will be Cyrodiil and several things point to it, I'm gonna say hell naw! I've been waiting on it.

Although, I do wish they will put effort into it, because the chapters do feel weaker and weaker.

DarkPicture

They will not stop making new chapters and dlc no matter what. The reason is chapter and dlc makes money and u cant deal with it

Rungar

Zos charges $50 for a chapter and i imagine its their best income stream. Its also their best tactic to bring players back for a while. They would be crazy to stop making them.

Chuck_Finley

No

There is a global pandemic that has forced a lot of adjustment and scaling back for pretty much every industry. I know the other games I'm looking forward to this year are also saying Covid has drastically impacted their workflow and just moving everyone into home offices isn't the same as the collaborative environment so deadlines have been pushed back, plans changed, getting voice actors in the studio isn't as easy as it used to be. etc. etc.

I mean I liked Greymoor myself, hoped it would be better but still liked it. But come on, in your reasons why you felt Greymoor was rushed you don't mention the global pandemic that has impacted every game studio (that I follow at least)?

Malthorne

Yes

If it means ZOS will have a chance to really focus on QOL and then be able to create a truly epic experience in the next years chapter then I am all for it.

Sylvermynx

Other

On the fence on this one. While a "stagnant" year might offer some time to polish up some of the issues so many of you are having, those issues might turn out to be code that the current team can't even begin to unscramble much less fix without making things worse.

And I'm pretty sure there are a LOT of people who would turn to other games as a result of no new content in this one.

In my personal view, I enjoyed Summerset, hated Morrowind, and LOVE Elsweyr. Haven't touched Greymoor, and not going to any time soon so no opinion on it other than that I'll probably enjoy antiquities, and I haven't any use at all for vampires, werewolves, and the Reach folks.

dinokstrunz

Yes

It's painfully obvious that Greymoor has the lowest quality of all the chapters released so far. I doubt ZoS will ever stop creating new content any time soon but the games performance doesn't seem to be getting any better. If anything the game has become less playable each time apply so called "improvements".

The biggest problem with ZoS is the lack of communication and the design choices for the fixes. They always seem inept at actually locating the real problems with the game and double down on disappointing unlikable changes (see cast times and cooldowns of ultimates and abilities). On top of the misfiring fixes you have confusing and strange balance adjustments which most end up leaving the most experienced players scratching their heads.

It always seems that what ever ZoS do it'll always be met with scathing criticism most of which is probably justified and the general community seem to be turning on ZoS given the direction of the game. The future for ESO is very questionable given the situation this game is in, from pve to pvp, very few people are happy with this game nowadays. There are very small minority who want this game to fail but if you're even remotely away of everyone going on in ESO you have to admit things aren't looking great.

CyberOnEso

No

The chapter will be already far in development. These things aren't made in months, artists don't just wait around while we play through the current chapter before starting work on the next one.

I would expect by this point the zone of the next chapter is already mostly complete. You can't expect artists and world builders to just wait around to see whether the players will want a new chapter or not.
The quest designers will have already spent months, probably the best part of this year working on the upcoming chapter. You expect them to stop development because you think QoL should come first? The people working on QoL, combat or systems need to work to match the deadlines already set.
You can't expect the artists or quest designers to lose their jobs because you think the trial sets are lackluster. No, they have content to make and deadlines to hit, and if they don't the game will die. You have to put out new content, because if they wait too long people like you will complain that the game is dead because there hasn't been enough new content.

MagicalLija

Chuck_Finley wrote: »

There is a global pandemic that has forced a lot of adjustment and scaling back for pretty much every industry. I know the other games I'm looking forward to this year are also saying Covid has drastically impacted their workflow and just moving everyone into home offices isn't the same as the collaborative environment so deadlines have been pushed back, plans changed, getting voice actors in the studio isn't as easy as it used to be. etc. etc.

I mean I liked Greymoor myself, hoped it would be better but still liked it. But come on, in your reasons why you felt Greymoor was rushed you don't mention the global pandemic that has impacted every game studio (that I follow at least)?

I 100% understand the pandemic. But we started seeing the downgrade from Elsweyr.

richo262

Other

Release an Argonian themed year, where the first half is new content, but they tie it into existing content. 2nd Half of the year is purely QOL / Bug fixes.

Q1 - Argonian themed Dungeons
Q2 - Argonian Chapter
Q3 - Ruins of Maz/Cradle of Shadows
Q4 - Murkmire.

This would require the Chapter to go into detail the significance of the Mazatun and the Amber.
This would require the Chapter to have a feud in the Shadowscale to justify Cradle of Shadows.
This would require the Chapter to have the protagonist the Ayeleid in a similar fashion to Murkmire.

As Q3/Q4 has already been done that would leave the 2nd half of the year to really hammer out netcode, bug fixes, QOL upgrades. Or invert the order to what ever is best, either way 2 quarters of the year would be freed up. Existing story content would also be wound into an overarching story rather than just being piece meal.

As for $$, they will still release a chapter. They'd just need to find a crown sink for Q3/Q4.

A trial in the Ayeleid memory environment would be awesome.

RebornV3x

Yes

I think they need some quality of life updates and revamp some base game zones I say for go a dungeon dlc and just polish up the game a little.

Sarannah

No

Chapters are the best thing ZOS keeps adding to the game. Well, besides new races and classes.

Michae

Other

I'd say it would be nice if they focused on smaller stories again, similar to ones in Guilds dlcs or Wrothgar. You don't have to always save the world or a region from some ancient evil, sometimes it's nice just to have some local adventure in a smaller scope.

KappaKid83

Yes

Should they, yes, will they, no.

Thechuckage

Yes

The quality of the game is falling off, like due in no small part to the pace of releases they've decided to set.

Artists, writers and such can keep creating and refining. But slapping out new stuff before its working as intended isn't helping.

Inarre

No

I liked Greymoor questing, much more than Elsweyr. I think some of this is just pure personal bias.

NordSwordnBoard

Yes

In another thread for a different game, this quote was used and still applies:

"In Hollywood...Remember kids, it's not important if its of high quality, only if it makes money."

Mark Hamill

Rungar

NordSwordnBoard wrote: »

In another thread for a different game, this quote was used and still applies:

"In Hollywood...Remember kids, it's not important if its of high quality, only if it makes money."

Mark Hamill

You can always tell when someone has a decent understanding of the world. Their expectations are always low.

Playboy_Shrek

I really want them to go back and add trials/dungeons to old maps and zones that are lacking

redgreensunset

Other

If you honestly think an MMO is going to stop putting out new content idk what to tell you as that is the major source of income both on its own and in getting new playes on board. So yeah, not going to happen.

Ascarl

Other

I think they could skip DLC dungeon only expansions. In my humble opinion there are more that enough dungeons. They should rather breathe that life into unused dungeon sets and fine tune the old dungeons. There are already so many sets in this game.

TineaCruris

Yes

ZOS should have one mission; fix performance.

Performance is the one and only issue ZOS has to deal with right now.

MajThorax

Other

I still want new content to keep me excited but I could live with fewer dlcs. One zone and one dungeon DLC would be enough.

Red_Feather

Other

A new system to make achievement points highly sought after. I think that will increase game livelihood more than any DLC zone.

TwinLamps

Other

If they do the elsweyr job I would be glad to get next chapter in 2021
If they do it greymoor style I would not be preordering it for sure.

Lord_Eomer

No

You can fill empty pockets with your $$$ ESO is F2P just purchased one time and play, they need to upkeep cost one way into another or ESO will die...

BigBragg

Do I think they should and focus on much needed repairs? Absolutely.

Do I think they will stop one of the strongest driving forces in their revenue stream that causes players to return pushing subscriptions and various Crown Store purchases? Fat chance.