Do you like having surprise in-game events?

Bradyfjord

Yes

I don't mind events. I don't usually bother with them in any game, but I do like the ambience that it provides in making the game feel more lively.

markulrich1966

No

as everybody is doing writs now, the chance to find others doing worldboss dailies is even worse than usual.
Xbox EU, and now NA as well.

Was looking forward this weekend for these dailies with my lowlevel toons, now I'm back grinding writs, something that makes gameplay far less enjoyable for me.
Might take a complete break tomorrow.

Snamyap

Don't really care either way, really.

Khenarthi

No

I like planning my time ahead so I hate surprises.

This event is pretty innocuous and I can play a couple of hours each day as usual, but I'd be very resentful of a surprise event if I missed it due to having other things booked for that same time.

SammyKhajit

No

It’s nice to have surprise events but this one has family which is number 1 priority followed by work. A bit more advance notice on “surprise” events would be nicer.

Also, this one feels a bit cynical about this particular surprise, given all the AWA issues.

agelonestar

No

I like the current event but I would prefer to have some notice so I can plan - not everyone can just jump into the game whenever they like and need to plan their gaming time around RL activities.

It’s also hard for guilds to plan activities alongside an in-game event if they have no notice.

Sheezabeast

No

I will be brutally honest. This was an extremely thinly veiled attempt to put a bandaid on a gaping, spurting wound. You have to be aware of the outcry of the community regarding the PTS outcries of negative feedback, issues with AWA errors, and how many people objected to it not being pushed back, and yet you ignored a 90 page board and then gave us a QnA that said it was for performance. PERFORMANCE! And now we have an extremely unstable game, with tons of things broken, horrid load times and log in queues, and you decide to have AN EVENT during it????'

I tried to do Deadlands and Markarth dailies today. It took 4 minutes to enter ONE DELVE. When switching characters, it sits on the character load screen so long, it pops to the log out due to inactivity screen. The game is in NO STATE for an event!

This pity event to distract us from this horribly executed patch is awful. If and when I can log, I'll farm what I can, but in the future....just don't.

vesselwiththepestle

No

I would prefer an event calendar instead of "surprise events".

Gargath

Yes

I love surprising in-game events, this one with double harvesting is really great.
Who wouldn't like to get 14 mats from single node instead of 7 .
And it's open for everyone, not only the subscribers...

Norgh

Yes

Yes please I am all for nice ingame suprises.

Xarc

Yes

I think surprise is OK when the impact isnt so huge. When it's a little surprise, it's good
If you plan to make a surprise about something people could regret because they missed it, it will not be a good idea.

emilyhyoyeon

Yes

I like them as long as they're relatively minor events when they're random, but I can see how a lot of people wouldn't like them.

Olauron

I vote "yes" for a surprise event such as Explorer's Celebration.
I vote "no" for a surprise event with tickets and unique (unobtainable in other way in a reasonable time) rewards.

captainwolfos

No

I like to know things in advance.

rpa

No

Before I went to break I felt there was too much dailies and events already and more chores would not be a pleasant surprise.

Arunei

I wanted to post something else I thought of.

We already have a BUNCH of events every year as it is. In fact, we have so many events that we've had years pass where we haven't seen X or Y event, and we're having to roll events together into a single one to account for the fact that we have so many DLCs that need 'celebrating' now. IC no longer gets its own event now and instead is part of the Year One Celebration now, for example.

Surprise events, therefore, should not only be ones with tickets and rewards that can only be earned during those events, they also shouldn't a) happen do often as to bog us down with MORE events, since I'm pretty sure we have events more often then we don't, and b) shouldn't replace actual events where we get tickets and stuff (this should be obvious, though).

Also, surprise doesn't mean absolutely no warning as much as it means unexpected. You can still have surprise events while giving a heads-up if the event is still one we aren't expecting during a time we aren't expecting.

Northwold

Yes

Yes. I think it's rather nice to be playing normally and suddenly to discover that you're getting rewards, rather than seeing the game's entire population of players descend on one place purely for an event.

Elsonso

No

Aren't all ESO events surprise events?

I mean, yes, we know they are coming, and can frequently pin them down to a month, but we basically find out about them as "news" somewhere on the order of a week before they happen. Not everyone gets the news immediately. Surprise!

Y'all are 8 years old, now. Time to drop the act like you don't know what you are doing or when you are doing it. This worked when you were new and trying to figure out things. Now, it just gives the appearance that you are making things up as you go, or worse, actually don't know what you are doing. I doubt that either of those is true, so time to address that.

Get your house in order for your regular events, then sit back and contemplate special unannounced "surprise" events.

• Publish your event dates, start and end, at least a month ahead. For starters, you can publish the month's dates at the same time you do the monthly Crown Store Showcase. The two go hand in hand. After you get comfortable with that, you do a monthly announcement with the next 2 months. For bonus community points, the next 3 months. I would suggest 6 months or a year, but let's not get too crazy.
• If dates have to change, that is information that is communicated at least 1 week ahead. Surprise! If it is within the 1 week, and it is not a catastrophic emergency, then move the other thing.
• Make sure everyone on your communication team knows the dates and has a reliable resource to find them, if they do not.

When that is in place and firing on all cylinders, then it will be easier to fit surprise events into the schedule. It will also help control event fatigue by having too many events too close together.

tsaescishoeshiner

The rarity of the surprise double exp/harvesting events is part of what makes the surprise potentially disappointing. If people feel like they'll miss out if they don't plan for the event and take advantage of it, it can make them feel unprepared and wasteful.

If they happened once every 1-2 months, it's more like "Maybe I'll take advantage of this, and it'll be back soon anyway." But if we feel like the next one is far away or might never come, it's a missed opportunity.

I was excited to hear about the one this weekend, and am using it to help a new player level. But it's also the weekend after new DLC, and there are a lot of items to farm this weekend, too, so it's a conflict.

It does fill up some space between other events, which is nice.

Scaletho

Yes

Occasional surprise events creates a good "this is new" atmosphere and helps to avoid some boring playing.

Double materials are the best imho.

xXSilverDragonXx

Yes

You could schedule a surprise (as in it wasn't on the calendar) event after all the lag and login issues are worked out. We happen to have two big events coming up, but you could add an explorer event right after that. Then people won't be mad the missed it or about the bugs they are experiencing which right now that would probably just bother them more. An event when they can't log would actually upset people more. Double XP when they can't do dungeons if that is something they do for xp would be really annoying. But if you say 'hey, we get this is ruining people's gameplay, so we are going to try to make up for it with this event we are now putting on the calendar on such and such date," that might help. Of course, there are people who will always be upset and think you are trying to buy their goodwill, and nothing you do aside from fixing things or changing them back will matter.

joerginger

No

vesselwiththepestle wrote: »

I would prefer an event calendar instead of "surprise events".

Definitely agreed. Also, the current "event" is anything but an event. There is absolutely nothing "eventlike" going on in the game right now.

Which reminds me again of the strange things that almost all the events in this game are. None of them has anything special going on, but at least a few of them have their own special quests (which obviously aren't all that special anymore either). Most of the events are mere sales promotions with some extra rewards.
I play one other MMO and the difference between what is called an event in that game and in in this game is enormous.

joseayalac

Yes

I guess it depends on the kind of event, but this one doesn't drop event tickets, I like having this kind of event as a surprise!

gariondavey

No

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

regular events like ones with tickets should not be surprises

i dont necessarily consider the "explorers event" an event because it does not provide the same benefits as an event as compared to other past ESO events (no tickets, no impressario)

when i used to play city of heroes this type of "event" would be nothing more than say a "double xp weekend", which is still appreciated, but should not be elevated to the level of "event" such as the holiday ones

My thoughts exactly. So idk if I should have clicked yes or no

Cantankerous_Kuma

Yes

As long as it is like this event and just double xp, nodes, maybe AP etc. and not one and done never to return again items or counting towards the limited number of event tickets we get a year etc, I think extra events are great.

I like this one a lot in particular because it let's me do whatever I want, whereas the scheduled events have all recently started to become hyper-focused (have to do 1 specific activity for tickets, reward boxes, etc. without other options to earn the stuff).

majulook

No

Every time I log on i see announcements, why not use them to give players notice on events a few days prior to event start?

Sturmfaenger

No

I would like an option "it depends" - so I voted no instead.
Small events like the explorer days right now are alright as a surprise event.
What I loved was when ZOS gave an overview about the major events of the next three months.
Yes, jesters will be eventually followed by the eso birthday event, but it would be nice to know the date in advance. I like to be informed, and I like to be prepared.

kamimark

No

I like events that actually work and don't bring the servers down. If that means planning ahead more, do that.

newtinmpls

No

I said 'no' but I'm quite split on this issue.

Overall, non-ticket events are fine and enjoyable if done in an impromptu manner.

The timing of this one (and some similar ones in the past) makes it "feel" like an apology but without taking responsibility - and yes I know that at a minimum different departments are likely responsible for say the roll-out of "an even" and "a massive upgrade/update".

I would have appreciated this event more if it was overtly presented as a sort of apology/sympathy offering.

I would also say that any "special items" in the crown store - it would be nice to have as much notice as possible, as some folks do not have a generous budget, and may need time to tweak things.

Arthtur

Well im in the middle. Im not a big fun of surprises but i dont mind them. The thing is this event right now seems more like "forget about the problems and have fun" istead of fun "surprise".