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

karekiz

No

Or they could just make a good expansion with a nice trials and better raid loot. I mean they did it with Sunspire... It has 3/4 BIS items.

kargen27

No

Most the comments attached to a yes vote seem to be under the impression that if there is no content being created it will somehow mean more troubleshooting and debugging the game. That isn't how things work. Two or more completely different teams with different skill sets and priorities.

Some have mentioned ZoS should do it but won't because chapters make money. It goes beyond that. MMO's survive on new content and old content being repeated. With no new content a lot of players may drift away from the game and that runs the risk they never find their way back. New content is essential to the long term health of the game.

BigBragg

kargen27 wrote: »

Most the comments attached to a yes vote seem to be under the impression that if there is no content being created it will somehow mean more troubleshooting and debugging the game. That isn't how things work. Two or more completely different teams with different skill sets and priorities.

Some have mentioned ZoS should do it but won't because chapters make money. It goes beyond that. MMO's survive on new content and old content being repeated. With no new content a lot of players may drift away from the game and that runs the risk they never find their way back. New content is essential to the long term health of the game.

The art team, sure they could keep popping out Crown Store merch. Everyone else could play some roll in bug testing. But this isn't going to be the focus of ZOS, and won't be. Look at their hiring page. They are focusing on an unreleased project.

Asdara

Yes

rework class, add slot for house, ADD SPELLCRAFTING make the game better

SamanthaCarter

No

They need money so no but pve is boring so we need only pvp dlc for many years

ArchMikem

No

There are already long stretches where I don't play at all. This would just have me leave the game for an entire year waiting. Besides I'm sure the Chapter teams are already about 30% to 40% on the work for 2021's Chapter by now. If they halt now and pick it up later it will be noticeable in the content.

kargen27

No

BigBragg wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

Most the comments attached to a yes vote seem to be under the impression that if there is no content being created it will somehow mean more troubleshooting and debugging the game. That isn't how things work. Two or more completely different teams with different skill sets and priorities.

Some have mentioned ZoS should do it but won't because chapters make money. It goes beyond that. MMO's survive on new content and old content being repeated. With no new content a lot of players may drift away from the game and that runs the risk they never find their way back. New content is essential to the long term health of the game.

The art team, sure they could keep popping out Crown Store merch. Everyone else could play some roll in bug testing. But this isn't going to be the focus of ZOS, and won't be. Look at their hiring page. They are focusing on an unreleased project.

You have the art team. You also have story and other teams. And you have a troubleshooting and debugging team. Thing is more people debugging could cause more problems. A change in one area could pop up a new problem in a seemingly unrelated area. You want to keep the team manageable so it is easier to track everything being done. It isn't cost effective to have a bunch of programmers and design artists playing the game trying to replicate a but. That is why they ask players to test things on the PTS. Unfortunately I don't think that gets the kind of attention from players that is needed. Some do test things but (personal opinion) I think most go there looking for an advantage when the content drops live.

They also count on players to report bugs on the live server. Every online game relies on players to some extent in this way. Might be we are to lethargic when it comes to reporting bugs. I know I get lazy about it sometimes.

BigBragg

kargen27 wrote: »

BigBragg wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

Most the comments attached to a yes vote seem to be under the impression that if there is no content being created it will somehow mean more troubleshooting and debugging the game. That isn't how things work. Two or more completely different teams with different skill sets and priorities.

Some have mentioned ZoS should do it but won't because chapters make money. It goes beyond that. MMO's survive on new content and old content being repeated. With no new content a lot of players may drift away from the game and that runs the risk they never find their way back. New content is essential to the long term health of the game.

The art team, sure they could keep popping out Crown Store merch. Everyone else could play some roll in bug testing. But this isn't going to be the focus of ZOS, and won't be. Look at their hiring page. They are focusing on an unreleased project.

You have the art team. You also have story and other teams. And you have a troubleshooting and debugging team. Thing is more people debugging could cause more problems. A change in one area could pop up a new problem in a seemingly unrelated area. You want to keep the team manageable so it is easier to track everything being done. It isn't cost effective to have a bunch of programmers and design artists playing the game trying to replicate a but. That is why they ask players to test things on the PTS. Unfortunately I don't think that gets the kind of attention from players that is needed. Some do test things but (personal opinion) I think most go there looking for an advantage when the content drops live.

They also count on players to report bugs on the live server. Every online game relies on players to some extent in this way. Might be we are to lethargic when it comes to reporting bugs. I know I get lazy about it sometimes.

Obviously it is more cost effective to have customers who pay for the game find your bugs as opposed having paid employees do it.

The problems with PTS are file sizes, time invested, and a slew or reported issues by some of the best bug hunters in the game don't get addressed with any urgency and frequently make it to live. Then they exist for months, years, or permanently in one iteration or another.

SeaGtGruff

No

Don't stop until the map of Tamriel is filled in.

coletas

i dont mine, im not going to put a € until is playable. Most DLC i have are completely unstarted. Why pay if cant play and there is no customer support

ArcVelarian

No

I'm more in favor of delaying the next chapter by a few months and then having it in beta for at least two months.

idk

No

Zos seemed to do just fine with Summerset and they had the same pace of creating content as they do not. As such there is no logic is Zos taking a break.

Further, Zos already knows from experience what happens when they take a break from creating content. They ceased adding new content for a year to get the game ready for consoles and there was a mass exodus. Some came back but many never did or their return was brief. Not a great business decision to take a break again.

Josira

Other

Does taking a break tick all the boxes as to what it means to be a Vampire?

Elsonso

No

I think that people are under the impression that ZOS taking a "break" next year would mean fixing things, QoL, and performance changes. I think what it means is that most of the dev staff would be diverted to the other game they are working on, to escalate development and shave maybe a year off of that, and we would get 26 server reboots, one every other week, and probably about 10 patches.

baltic1284

Yes

I have to say yes the need scale it back not cause of covid or anything although that does play a part a small part they can do the same work at home they did in the office.
It is mainly look what happened with Greymoor bad launch bad reviews from the player base, over charged for a small area of Skyrim instead of all of the western Skyrim's Western Kingdom according to the lore it had, Falkreath Hold, Haafingar, Hjaalmarch, The Reach (Reachmen having it at this time accurate, still apart of it though.), Whiterun Hold. All we got was Haafingar, well a small apart of it at least not the whole hold itself.
For a pararent year of work for it not much was added to it, and not much showed for it either, seems like they did 2 maybe 3 months of work and pushed it out incomplete. From what some have said there was to be much more to the Greymoor than what we got although i dont put much in that claim as none have answered simple questions for it and seems to be rumor.
Been nice that if you created a Nord you could choose west or east and how they address you what reflect that choice, you can easily include Falkreath in the year long work beyond just a dungeon, and whitrun also and Dawnsatr, and the Hold there yes there wont be much there city wise but imagine how much more open the game would feel and complete also.
If they add more upgrades then yes but if you gonna charge 40 dollars for it then it better be better than the 20 dollar game called Skyrim that ha all of Skyrim missions and all for just 20 dollars on launch. Not the bad job they did on Greymoor, bad launch excuses given team memebers up trying to fix a problem they caused and no idea why ti was caused. Many of the bugs that are in Greymoor reported when testing still there on launch, the Map itself doesnt even look like it belongs the roads why out of proportion to the world map reported not fixed.
I could go on and on and on and on about it but i must stop or the post page be too long to read comfortably.

baltic1284

Yes

BigBragg wrote: »

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.

This is true but the community says no money till fixed they then will have to face it and that is already being felt in game low player numbers and in the company as revenue has dropped. For reasons beyond covid. So eventually they will have to face it and women up or man up and fix the issues and make good changes to what they do and put out.

By the way here are the steam charts represents just Steam players but it does show a change and a trend of what it going on.
https://steamcharts.com/app/306130#1y

rpa

No

They can not stop making new content even if they wanted because income. They could make better quality content if they wanted. I don't believe they can fix performance, so what they do is irrelevant anyway.

idk

No

baltic1284 wrote: »

BigBragg wrote: »

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.

This is true but the community says no money till fixed they then will have to face it and that is already being felt in game low player numbers and in the company as revenue has dropped. For reasons beyond covid. So eventually they will have to face it and women up or man up and fix the issues and make good changes to what they do and put out.

By the way here are the steam charts represents just Steam players but it does show a change and a trend of what it going on.
https://steamcharts.com/app/306130#1y

@baltic1284

What is interesting when someone looks at the Steam Charts for ESO as a business analyst would do it shows continued growth with the exception of three months. Looking through the entire history of that chart before COVID every month has had an increase in player numbers over the same month the year before with the exception of three months in 2019 that coincided with a Blizzard release for WoW.

That is the type of numbers that business analysts like to see as it clearly demonstrates growth. They look at the same month across years to eliminate seasonal fluctuations. Such fluctuations are very much part of MMORPGs. As for COVID, we all know that is an anomaly.

In other words, Steam Charts are showing an increase for ESO.

Celestro

No

As much as some people are talking about Zos killing their game with these tests in PvP, this notion has a significantly higher chance of doing so.

baltic1284

Yes

idk wrote: »

baltic1284 wrote: »

BigBragg wrote: »

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.

This is true but the community says no money till fixed they then will have to face it and that is already being felt in game low player numbers and in the company as revenue has dropped. For reasons beyond covid. So eventually they will have to face it and women up or man up and fix the issues and make good changes to what they do and put out.

By the way here are the steam charts represents just Steam players but it does show a change and a trend of what it going on.
https://steamcharts.com/app/306130#1y

@baltic1284

What is interesting when someone looks at the Steam Charts for ESO as a business analyst would do it shows continued growth with the exception of three months. Looking through the entire history of that chart before COVID every month has had an increase in player numbers over the same month the year before with the exception of three months in 2019 that coincided with a Blizzard release for WoW.

That is the type of numbers that business analysts like to see as it clearly demonstrates growth. They look at the same month across years to eliminate seasonal fluctuations. Such fluctuations are very much part of MMORPGs. As for COVID, we all know that is an anomaly.

In other words, Steam Charts are showing an increase for ESO.

Not what it was before growth wise, dont get me wrong it is getting more players slowly, but still not what it could be if they got there act together.

spartaxoxo

No

No. Quickest way to make me quit for a while tbh. The game's bugs aren't that bad outside of Cyrodiil, tbh. And that's a project they can work alongside the next chapter. Online games will never be bug free anyway

Thannazzar

Yes

Given...

A) I can live any delay to an Imperial Chapter, non enthused by it.
B ) Vampire was brilliant in conception but flawed in execution.
C) I'd rather have a well tested chapter every 2 years than a constantly 'balanced' set of content every patch.

On vampire particularly there was a failure to engage with the player base. If your going to sell a product how about engaging with the customers first ie.

1) ask the players what they like and don't like about the vampire skill line.
2) see what you can accommodate from requests that aligns in vampire lore.
3) develop a set of concepts and share those with players.
4) get and actually listen to feedback.
5) produce changes where the player base is actually bought in.

It appears that ZOS understood that vampirism had to be meaningful. But just ran with internal ideas and aesthetics that failed to address and flew in the face of player requests, then adjusted the lore to fit their vision.

More engagement is key.

SweepsAllClowns

No breaks, just make it more expensive than the previous chapter and overall less content for better profits, just works!

BisDasBlutGefriert

No

MagicAndrej wrote: »

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

Yes, I agree. Definitely! But, I have a nasty feeling that it's not the quest designers, world/dungeon designers, prop makers, or anyone else who is employed working on these chapters faults for such bland content. Especially now, with this pandemic. They aren't exactly working with a full set of paints for next year's masterpiece.

[snip]

There was a video I watched quite a while ago, a "behind the scenes" of a certain studio, with ex employees talking about how it really is working at that place, and how employees literally take days off because they're so stressed out that they are vomiting. You know it's bad when a big named studio has an "in house" psychiatrist working there just to keep these content creators from quitting. Kind of like how there are psychiatrists working in major hospitals that are there for the surgeons, who tried their hardest, and their best, but still couldn't save that child's life....

Can you imagine being a content creator for a game like this, pushed to the extremes over greed, then later reading the community's posts about how their work was garbage? How would you feel?

And I also agree on the other side of things, something needs to be done about quality control. Things have been more than slipping lately.

[Edited to remove Conspiracy Theory/Misinformation]

Rungar

No. The game is in maintenance mode so it has a certain ammount of assets dedicated to it. This is why they went with the yearly themed format. It works like clockwork and is predicable.

Everyone else is working on their new game and i imagine these people are leveraged from time to time to help maintain eso when needed or available. I also imagine that when something backend is made that might enhance eso it is ported over as an improvement

Its actually not a bad thing per se because eso might get systems and talent that wouldnt be available otherwise.

Since zos needs eso to pay for the new game it will ensure regular updates for a long time.

Dark_Lord_Kuro

No

The best thing you may possibly get is the remouval of a dungeon pack

DukeDiewalker

Yes

Doesn't matter tho, the game will be a dead hull by next year with how things are going right now.

Soullise

Yes

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)?

Stop using a pandemic to justify bad writing. Creativity doesn't stop because an invisible menace is around.

Also, the pandemic is THIS year. What about the other chapters?

Rex-Umbra

Other

Chapters give them something to market to attract new and returning players.

I do agree Chapters mostly feel like filler and I have not been really excited for new PvE since morrowind. My favorite dlcs were the first 4 Imperial city, Orsinium, Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood.

I think we need a complete remodel of Cyrodiil to make it more interesting.

Mettaricana

Yes

Rather see them end year long theme and go back to quarterly themes for a bit as i said i another post the story is too weak and unengaging for a years worth of content i mean was there any reason for a redguard themed dungeon unhallowed grave amongst a snow and ice reachmen vampire dlc other than the fact greyhost boss is a redguard... seems like they entire year long chapter coulda fit into Halloween time fall with mad Frankenstein alchemists and lady of thorns all of it. Instead its dragged out over a year. back in January i was excited for vampire stuff by the time greymoor arrived im sick of the theme... the sea giants introduction was actually more engaging than the whole coven and vampire grey host thing. Zos needs to ditch the year long thing badly and secondly they need to let skyrim die enough is enough fan girling that one game im sick of dragons, snow, draugr, vampires, dragon priests, dwemer, nords, and reachmen we've been dealing with the same crap since skyrim launched and relaunched on everything they could put it on then rewind time 1200 years and rammed down our throats again with an even less interesting story slaying vampires, draugr, dwemer ,priests, and reachmen in the middle of 2 billion tons of white fluffy sky bs.