Overland Content Feedback Thread

Maintenance for the week of February 17:
· [COMPLETE] PC/Mac: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – February 19, 4:00AM EST (9:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EST (17:00 UTC)
· [COMPLETE] Xbox: NA and EU megaservers for patch maintenance – February 19, 4:00AM EST (9:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EST (17:00 UTC)
· [COMPLETE] PlayStation®: NA and EU megaservers for patch maintenance – February 19, 4:00AM EST (9:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EST (17:00 UTC)
· [COMPLETE] ESO Store and Account System for maintenance – February 19, 4:00AM EST (9:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EST (17:00 UTC)
  • SilverBride
    SilverBride
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    spartaxoxo wrote: »
    Kevin stated this in December of 2024

    I don't see this as vague as all.

    Kevin stated that they will have more information to share next year (2025), but the letter says these experiments may be in 2025 and beyond.

    So there will be more information to share in 2025 but it does not guarantee that the experiment will start in 2025.

    We can speculate all we want but there have been no concrete timelines for which experiments will be started when.
    Edited by SilverBride on January 29, 2025 9:59PM
    PCNA
  • valenwood_vegan
    valenwood_vegan
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭
    Ah thanks. Sorry if that had been recently posted somewhere else in here, I've ignored this thread for a year.

    I still don't see any indication that overland changes are occurring in April. But not particularly interested in arguing about that, was just looking for any official information.

    I certainly look forward to finding out what changes are in store and when.
    Edited by valenwood_vegan on January 29, 2025 9:56PM
  • spartaxoxo
    spartaxoxo
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Ah thanks. Sorry if that had been recently posted somewhere else in here, I've ignored this thread for a year.

    I still don't see any indication that overland changes are occurring in April. But not particularly interested in arguing about that, was just looking for any official information.

    I certainly look forward to finding out what changes are in store and when.

    April is the big reveal stream where we'll get more details about the stuff in the letter alongside some other things, including new zone content.

    These reveals come right before a PTS.

    Assuming it follows the same pattern as every other reveal we've had, then it will be up shortly after the stream. We'll know more details then but they haven't told us this will work differently.
    Edited by spartaxoxo on January 29, 2025 10:04PM
  • Damico
    Damico
    ✭✭✭
    Updating and posting my Overland wish list since it's buried in the mud within this thread.

    Things I would love to have while questing in overland:
    1. I want to make use of all the games combat mechanics for smart gameplay where failing to do so has consequences, not dead in one hit consequences, but I should absolutely know when I've made a mistake. I want to feel like a badass during proper combat flow with mistakes reinforcing proper play, not one-shotting bosses in an anticlimactic fashion. Combat outside of bosses should also be engaging of course.
    2. I don't necessarily want extra rewards, but I do want rewards balanced around the additional time to kill for the median player so the players time isn't being wasted.
    3. I want all this in a separate instance from those who chose to stay in an unmodified overland, which should remain the default. I don't want someone coming over and one-shotting my fights, this leads to the same problem. This would also make the reward difference exploitable. I understand that I may run into fewer players, that is fine.
    4. As for difficulty, story bosses feeling like current world bosses would be a good spot for me, world bosses feeling like raid bosses may be too extreme. This might be more difficult to implement, but if world bosses scaled to nearby player count up to that of raid bosses, that would be exciting.

    All of this would also make "veteran overland" an excellent co-op experience. I've tried to introduce multiple people to the game and it never really sticks because the only thing they could do in a group at the time were dungeons and we all know how dungeons typically go when we're looking for transmutation crystals. Endless 2 player dungeons don't instill enough intrinsic motivation for me or my play group. More difficult, instanced overland content is nice, but does not help make older story and quest content relevant to those looking for a challenging adventure.
    Edited by Damico on January 30, 2025 7:47PM
  • AlexanderDeLarge
    AlexanderDeLarge
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Woah, my yearly check-in on The Elder Scrolls Online was a pleasant surprise. I had almost given up on the game entirely. Seems like the game is headed in a positive direction and being given a much needed shakeup to a yearly release cadence that outstayed its welcome. Pretty optimistic about the game if/when they adequately address my primary concern (lack of difficulty in questing/overland).

    Tried to play World of Warcraft retail recently and it was unapproachable due to decades worth of currencies, disjointed main story questing and abandoned systems. TESO for all its faults aged rather nicely and I think the game has a long life ahead of it if they can address the difficulty. People can moan all they want about the combat system being clunky but I think many would be willing to get over their combat system grievances if the questing experience were more engaging than it currently is.

    I was ready to settle for a debuff memento but anything beyond that would be much appreciated. I've been playing a lot of The Lord of the Rings Online recently and that's a game that has a landscape difficulty system that un-trivialized a lot of content in the game and made it extremely fun.
    https://lotro-wiki.com/wiki/Landscape_Difficulty
    Edited by AlexanderDeLarge on February 2, 2025 6:55AM
    Difficulty scaling is desperately needed. 10 years. 7 paid expansions. 22 DLCs. 40 game changing updates including A Realm Reborn-tier overhaul of the game including a permanent CP160 gear cap and ridiculous power creep thereafter. I'm sick and tired of hearing about Cadwell Silver&Gold as a "you think you do but you don't"-tier deflection to any criticism regarding the lack of overland difficulty in the vast majority of PvE content being sold.

    "ESO doesn't need a harder overland" on YouTube for a video of a naked level 3 character w/ no CP allocated AFKing in front of a bear for a minute and a half before dying if you don't believe me change is needed.
  • spartaxoxo
    spartaxoxo
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    I was ready to settle for a debuff memento but anything beyond that would be much appreciated. I've been playing a lot of The Lord of the Rings Online recently and that's a game that has a landscape difficulty system that un-trivialized a lot of content in the game and made it extremely fun.
    https://lotro-wiki.com/wiki/Landscape_Difficulty

    The landscape difficulty slider in that game is accomplished with just a debuff fyi. When I personally say debuff slider, I'm talking about something along the lines of that thing. I agree it seems perfect for this game and I also note that it is already similar to how they do things in the single player games.
    Edited by spartaxoxo on February 2, 2025 7:18AM
  • ChaoticWings3
    ChaoticWings3
    ✭✭✭
    spartaxoxo wrote: »

    The landscape difficulty slider in that game is accomplished with just a debuff fyi. When I personally say debuff slider, I'm talking about something along the lines of that thing. I agree it seems perfect for this game and I also note that it is already similar to how they do things in the single player games.

    To be honest the foundation is there to be implemented in ESO as well since they already have a scaling algorithm as you level up. Hearing about this months ago led me to discussing a shrine that would have different levels of difficulty you could select. Overall I'm still hoping something like this gets implemented as it would help players enjoy the game more at their own pace.
  • disky
    disky
    ✭✭✭✭✭

    To be honest the foundation is there to be implemented in ESO as well since they already have a scaling algorithm as you level up. Hearing about this months ago led me to discussing a shrine that would have different levels of difficulty you could select. Overall I'm still hoping something like this gets implemented as it would help players enjoy the game more at their own pace.

    Personally I'd rather they use a simple menu system, for three reasons:

    - it maintains consistency with instanced content, meaning it would follow a similar format to how the player selects Veteran mode for dungeons and trials
    - it's more easily accessible in the field if you find that you need to adjust wherever you are, without the need to return to wherever the interaction point would be
    - it's more time-consuming and resource-intensive to conceptualize and implement a system which follows the lore of the game

    I understand the desire for a more immersive system but I don't feel like this particular function requires it, and it wouldn't follow similar established mechanics.
  • Damico
    Damico
    ✭✭✭
    disky wrote: »
    Personally I'd rather they use a simple menu system, for three reasons:

    - it maintains consistency with instanced content, meaning it would follow a similar format to how the player selects Veteran mode for dungeons and trials
    - it's more easily accessible in the field if you find that you need to adjust wherever you are, without the need to return to wherever the interaction point would be
    - it's more time-consuming and resource-intensive to conceptualize and implement a system which follows the lore of the game

    I understand the desire for a more immersive system but I don't feel like this particular function requires it, and it wouldn't follow similar established mechanics.

    That makes the most sense to me, having a veteran option in the same select screen as every other veteran option seems the most intuitive.
    Edited by Damico on February 3, 2025 1:38PM
  • SilverBride
    SilverBride
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    They have already decided what they are going to try. What they need to do now is just tell us instead of making us wait until April to find out what their plan is. All waiting is doing is keeping things stirred up.
    PCNA
  • disky
    disky
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    They have already decided what they are going to try. What they need to do now is just tell us instead of making us wait until April to find out what their plan is. All waiting is doing is keeping things stirred up.

    It's no secret that ZOS has tried a lot of things which don't actually address the interests of players, and the whole reason this thread exists is for the purpose of discussing what we would like to see happen in overland. I think it makes sense to never shut up about the ideas that work best for players, especially if there is still potential that whatever is coming isn't necessarily going to be what challenge-motivated players have been asking for all this time.

    Also, I do think that substantive discussion is necessary, but notably, I want this to remain the biggest thread on the forum because it is absolutely the issue that is most important to me in ESO, and the sheer size of it is a message to ZOS that overland deserves attention.
    Edited by disky on February 4, 2025 7:18AM
  • SilverBride
    SilverBride
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    This is the biggest thread because it's been pinned for 3 years and 3 months. The whole reason it even exists is because as is stated in the opening post, "The increase in weekly threads around this issue has caused some users to have a negative experience on the forum overall".

    I'm my opinion, keeping this going has created a much more negative experience than the previous multiple threads ever did. All I want at this point is for them to do their experiment then shut this thread down and put an end to what I consider a very negative forum experience.
    PCNA
  • colossalvoids
    colossalvoids
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    [snip] If you do enjoy the game that's amazing, others also want the chance to experience the same once in a while, nothing strange about it.

    [edited for baiting]
    Edited by ZOS_Icy on February 4, 2025 5:29PM
  • SilverBride
    SilverBride
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    They already have a plan they are going to announce in April. Making suggestions now will probably have little to no effect on that. All we can do at this point is wait and see what this experiment is and whether it not it becomes a feature.

    Because for me, the longer this thread goes on the more negative it gets from having it pushed over and over to change the game I love into something that will completely ruin it for those of us that have stuck with it all these years.
    Edited by SilverBride on February 4, 2025 5:49PM
    PCNA
  • disky
    disky
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    This is the biggest thread because it's been pinned for 3 years and 3 months. The whole reason it even exists is because as is stated in the opening post, "The increase in weekly threads around this issue has caused some users to have a negative experience on the forum overall".

    I'm my opinion, keeping this going has created a much more negative experience than the previous multiple threads ever did. All I want at this point is for them to do their experiment then shut this thread down and put an end to what I consider a very negative forum experience.

    The fashion thread has been posted for seven years and though it's still quite active, it has two thousand fewer posts than this one does. It's not just due to the fact that it's been pinned for a long time. If overland were fine, we wouldn't still be here. Overland has remained a hot topic for players because it's still unsatisfying for a lot of us and we have a lot to say about it.

    To be honest, I wouldn't get your hopes up for this thread being shut down once ZOS implements whatever it is they're working on, because I think overland is going to remain controversial for some time afterward.
  • kind_hero
    kind_hero
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭
    I am a veteran player, playing since the beginning.

    What I don't like about the overland mobs is that: they are either too many, either too weak or both.

    I wouldn't mind to face harder mobs when I am doing the quests. I remember that before the CP system, some fights or mini bosses were quite hard for me as a new player. Such an example was Falchu the werewolf, which was quite difficult at that time for a low level, since it was in Glenumbra, an early game zone.

    However, I would mind having to grind through difficult mobs just to harvest materials, get from A to B for the 1000th time etc, in an area where I completed the quests that involve those mobs. Having some mobs neutral is great, but that can't apply everywhere, and having multiple layers in a zone will make hard for new players to team up with veterans or just quest in groups.

    I don't understand why the devs didn't make portal incursions like the ones in Blackwood/Deadlands feature more harder mobs. I think the issue is that most of these mobs, normal or 10x stronger, are quite dumb, so just having bullet sponges won't make fights more interesting. I also think that people will get bored pretty quickly if a skeever has the stats of troll from the current game. We would just waste more time to do chores or events.

    So, I believe having optional Blackwood like portals to hardcore random instances is better than buffing all the overland content. What I would change regarding the overland content is having less mobs outside quest areas or places of interest, and making the remaining mobs a bit harder and more smarter, to use a wide range of abilities other than the classic snare or "torch it" volley.
    [PC/EU] Tamriel Hero, Stormproof, Grand Master Crafter
  • SilverBride
    SilverBride
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    The fashion thread has nothing to do with gameplay. It is merely a place to show off outfits.

    I hope they close this thread down, and the sooner the better. Nothing new has been brought to the discussion in a very long time, and it is honestly creating a very negative experience for me and I suspect others as well.
    PCNA
  • BananaBender
    BananaBender
    ✭✭✭✭
    The fashion thread has nothing to do with gameplay. It is merely a place to show off outfits.

    I hope they close this thread down, and the sooner the better. Nothing new has been brought to the discussion in a very long time, and it is honestly creating a very negative experience for me and I suspect others as well.

    I don't see what closing this thread would accomplish. That wouldn't stop the discussion around overland content. If a certain topic or discussion is causing you discomfort you can simply not partake in it. There are a bunch of discussions here which I won't take part in either because of the topic or the people.
  • SilverBride
    SilverBride
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Asking to change the game into something that may cause me to have to leave the game I've been happily playing and supporting by subscribing for many years is why I continue to fight against that happening.
    Edited by SilverBride on February 4, 2025 9:06PM
    PCNA
  • BananaBender
    BananaBender
    ✭✭✭✭
    Asking to change the game into something that may cause me to have to leave the game I've been happily playing and supporting by subscribing for many years is why I continue to fight against that happening.

    But that will continue happening none the less because that is the direction a lot of people want the game to head. Splitting the conversation into multiple new threads wont change that
  • SilverBride
    SilverBride
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    My point is that presenting the same suggestions over and over when they have announced an experiment they will tell us about in April is not productive and is only keeping things stirred up. They have already decided what they want to try and we just have to wait now and see what it is and how it goes.
    PCNA
  • spartaxoxo
    spartaxoxo
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Live Service games always change. It's inevitable. The point of the forums is to give feedback about the game. Most of that feedback on every video game forum is changes people want to see in the game.

    If someone has a negative experience from reading others merely asking for changes, then they probably should stick to positive threads. If there aren't any, they can make them.

    Fighting against all changes on principle, rather than against specific changes that would make the game worse for you, is just going to make yourself and others unhappy. The whole purpose of this thread was to make this topic take less space on the forums. This way it was easier to ignore for those whom the topic creates a negative experience. And those who wish to discuss it could continue to do so. The devs could see this topic was something a lot of players were passionate about.
  • SilverBride
    SilverBride
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    I feel it is appropriate to ask to close a 3 year old topic that is being addressed with an experiment that will be announced in April.

    But as long as this thread is active, I will continue to advocate against changes that will ruin overland and the story for many players.
    Edited by SilverBride on February 4, 2025 9:48PM
    PCNA
  • BananaBender
    BananaBender
    ✭✭✭✭
    I feel it is appropriate to ask to close a 3 year old topic that is being addressed with an experiment that will be announced in April.

    But as long as this thread is active, I will continue to advocate against changes that will ruin overland and the story for many players.

    This thread isn't solely about the difficulty in overland as every thread made about overland gets moved here. If you think this conversation has been had over and over again, you can choose not to take part in it. Just because they have announced that the developers are looking to experiment with difficulty doesn't mean they don't want additional feedback on overland as a whole.

    Again, I just don't see what closing this thread would accomplish? Next week someone is going to make a post about this same topic and then we are going to have this whole conversation again about the difficulty. Just because you think the conversation is finished isn't justification to lock this thread and remove everyone's ability to comment about anything to do with overland content.
  • SilverBride
    SilverBride
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    I feel that it is appropriate to want to see this debate resolved and this thread closed. Especially when the overwhelming majority of posts are by the same small handful of posters giving the same feedback repeatedly.

    They have announced an upcoming experiment that they have decided to test. Anything we say before that happens is really irrelevant right now.
    PCNA
  • spartaxoxo
    spartaxoxo
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ZOS_Kevin wrote: »
    We will keep the thread open as we haven't implemented overland changes yet. But we will monitor and follow up when relevant information on overland is shared.

    They already addressed closing the thread when they first announced the upcoming overland changes.
  • BananaBender
    BananaBender
    ✭✭✭✭
    I feel that it is appropriate to want to see this debate resolved and this thread closed. Especially when the overwhelming majority of posts are by the same small handful of posters giving the same feedback repeatedly.

    They have announced an upcoming experiment that they have decided to test. Anything we say before that happens is really irrelevant right now.

    But this is not going to be resolved, because there are so many people with so many different views about this topic. Even with people who want to increase the overland difficulty, the question remains by how much etc.
    This whole topic is so subjective that viewing it as a debate is completely pointless because by doing that you are just setting yourself up for disappointment, since there is never going to be a resolution. I would call this rather a discussion than a debate. Just because a mod says that this conversation is finished, doesn't mean that it is. It will naturally come to an end when people are no longer posting about it and everyone has said all they have to say, not when someone decides that it's over for everyone.

    I just don't see how feedback would be irrelevant just because they are working on an experiment. Just because they are working on it doesn't mean that everything is set in stone with every possible variable taken into consideration.
  • SilverBride
    SilverBride
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    It may never be resolved but that doesn't mean we have to keep it open so the same exact feedback can be given over and over and over forever. And that is all this thread is and has been for a very long time now.

    What they do is ultimately up to ZoS, but it is not unreasonable for me to ask.
    Edited by SilverBride on February 4, 2025 10:59PM
    PCNA
  • spartaxoxo
    spartaxoxo
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    But this is not going to be resolved, because there are so many people with so many different views about this topic. Even with people who want to increase the overland difficulty, the question remains by how much etc.

    Yup. This is true too. A lot of this thread is just debating between a slider vs a separate instance. Both of those things are from people who want a change and want it to be optional but disagree very strongly on HOW that should be done.

    There's a lot to discuss even among people who agree with some basic underlying principles.

    ETA
    We'll have more and better discussions come April, certainly. There's a lot to unpack once they give us more details on the upcoming changes.
    Edited by spartaxoxo on February 4, 2025 11:09PM
  • BananaBender
    BananaBender
    ✭✭✭✭
    It may never be resolved but that doesn't mean we have to keep it open so the same exact feedback can be given over and over and over forever. And that is all this thread is and has been for a very long time now.

    So the exact same feedback will be posted as a separate new thread. Locking a thread wont stop people wanting to talk about the subject. It wouldn't be any more new or refreshing if the posts were made into a new thread, so locking this one would accomplish nothing. If you think the conversation has run its course, you can just decide not to participate. I'm sure the devs have already heard your view and even if some new person shows up with a disagreeing point of view, so what? These forums are to provide feedback to the devs, not for changing someone else's opinion, we've seen multiple times that it doesn't work no matter how much proof you show them.
Sign In or Register to comment.