Update on the "Weekend PVP events" from the January PVP update - 25% AP in BGs and 2x EXP in cyro/IC

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ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hi everyone,

While all the aforementioned backend work is still ongoing, including sourcing the new hardware for PC EU and console megaservers, we did want to share a couple changes coming to PvP that will be going into Update 35.

First, we’re implementing some tech that will allow us to easily activate special Battleground weekends, without requiring any server downtime to start or stop. The plan will be to feature a single game mode over several days and also grant 25% increased AP while participating.

Outside of these recurring Battleground features, we’re also planning to increase the amount of XP you can earn doing various types of PvP activities within Cyrodiil and Imperial City including killing monsters and other player characters, or completing quests in these areas.

We look forward to testing everything out in the next PTS cycle so we can officially kick these off once Update 35 launches.

I want to start this thread by pointing out that the last actual PVP content that was released was in February of 2019 in update 21, in the form of a single BG map. It has now been 3 years and four months since we got PVP content, and according to the January PVP update, we will not be receiving any PVP content for AT LEAST the next 6 months. I obviously do not speak for the entire community when I say this, but in my opinion four years without PVP content is beyond ridiculous. PVP is an entire facet of the game that was heavily advertised at launch and basically been neglected ever since.

With this in mind, it is beyond disappointing to find out 6 months later that the "weekend PVP events" we were told could happen have turned out to be 25% AP in battlegrounds and double EXP in cyrodiil and imperial city. The vast majority of PVP players are far over the effective EXP cap, and outside of PVP there are ways to earn EXP that vastly outweigh any potential EXP you could earn in PVP. This is a complete non-incentive for the audience these events were for, and feels like a slap in the face to many of us. At the very least, double AP should be enabled as a weekend event in IC/Cyro. Furthermore, the imperial city celebration event could just be enabled during weekends instead - double telvar & key fragments, with increase drop chance on items from molag bal. These types are events are what everyone expected and has been waiting for.

The 25% AP in battlegrounds is nice, but a huge portion of the community doesn't even play battlegrounds. Also, why was such a low modifier chosen for these events? You already earn far less AP in battlegrounds than what is possible in open world, so 25% is hardly an actual incentive for players to go in there.

I really hope zenimax reconsiders what they're doing with these weekend events, as today's update has honestly been one of the most disappointing things I've read on the forums since January.

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_BrianWheeler @ZOS_RichLambert

LeifErickson

Why is it that cards gets a competitive ladder but not battlegrounds? They could at least at a competitive battlegrounds queue, preferably two teams.

xDeusEJRx

They're gonna give you ap for flipping flags and running away from the enemy in bg's next

SkaraMinoc

React wrote: »

I really hope zenimax reconsiders what they're doing with these weekend events, as today's update has honestly been one of the most disappointing things I've read on the forums since January.

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_BrianWheeler @ZOS_RichLambert

No offense to the people you mentioned but I want to see someone who PvP's daily to have leadership in these matters.

acastanza_ESO

Honestly, did they just remember they promised us something here this morning?

I can't think of a single reasonable excuse for coming up with something so absolutely pathetic after half a year.

geonsocal

well it could be worse...

we could all still be dealing with constantly being stuck in combat years after this glitch (now a feature) first began...

I imagine a lot of zos' behaviors/actions are number based to what will be most profitable - my feeling is cyrodiil is simply not that big a money maker for them...

what we hear is corporate communications, what we are experiencing is something very different...

neferpitou73

SkaraMinoc wrote: »

React wrote: »

I really hope zenimax reconsiders what they're doing with these weekend events, as today's update has honestly been one of the most disappointing things I've read on the forums since January.

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_BrianWheeler @ZOS_RichLambert

No offense to the people you mentioned but I want to see someone who PvP's daily to have leadership in these matters.

Are there even any devs who PvP regularly?

DrSlaughtr

neferpitou73 wrote: »

SkaraMinoc wrote: »

React wrote: »

I really hope zenimax reconsiders what they're doing with these weekend events, as today's update has honestly been one of the most disappointing things I've read on the forums since January.

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_BrianWheeler @ZOS_RichLambert

No offense to the people you mentioned but I want to see someone who PvP's daily to have leadership in these matters.

Are there even any devs who PvP regularly?

I actually wondered that the other week when I watched them live streaming playing the new trial.

React

neferpitou73 wrote: »

SkaraMinoc wrote: »

React wrote: »

I really hope zenimax reconsiders what they're doing with these weekend events, as today's update has honestly been one of the most disappointing things I've read on the forums since January.

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_BrianWheeler @ZOS_RichLambert

No offense to the people you mentioned but I want to see someone who PvP's daily to have leadership in these matters.

Are there even any devs who PvP regularly?

No. As far as I am aware, none of the developers play PVP at all. The only one I know that actually has done PVP combat is Gilliam, and the last time I saw him was during the PVP event like 8-9 months ago.

Pepegrillos

React wrote: »

No. As far as I am aware, none of the developers play PVP at all. The only one I know that actually has done PVP combat is Gilliam, and the last time I saw him was during the PVP event like 8-9 months ago.

You can find Gilliam in bgs somewhat regularly (few times a week). He has a nightblade in high MMR.

Stamicka

It’s very hard to incentivize PvP at this point, I’m not sure that increasing the rewards from special events would even help. People are sick of the balance, the ridiculous mythics, the backsliding performance, the list goes on. PvP is such a bad experience that I wouldn’t even touch it for 1000% bonus AP. This is coming from a long time PvP lover. I can’t imagine how new players or PVE mains feel. ZOS needs to drastically improve the PvP experience because it’s a much bigger issue than solely performance.

neferpitou73

React wrote: »

neferpitou73 wrote: »

SkaraMinoc wrote: »

React wrote: »

I really hope zenimax reconsiders what they're doing with these weekend events, as today's update has honestly been one of the most disappointing things I've read on the forums since January.

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_BrianWheeler @ZOS_RichLambert

No offense to the people you mentioned but I want to see someone who PvP's daily to have leadership in these matters.

Are there even any devs who PvP regularly?

No. As far as I am aware, none of the developers play PVP at all. The only one I know that actually has done PVP combat is Gilliam, and the last time I saw him was during the PVP event like 8-9 months ago.

Well there's our event: Dev weekend PvP streams.

React

Stamicka wrote: »

It’s very hard to incentivize PvP at this point, I’m not sure that increasing the rewards from special events would even help. People are sick of the balance, the ridiculous mythics, the backsliding performance, the list goes on. PvP is such a bad experience that I wouldn’t even touch it for 1000% bonus AP. This is coming from a long time PvP lover. I can’t imagine how new players or PVE mains feel. ZOS needs to drastically improve the PvP experience because it’s a much bigger issue than solely performance.

It isn't hard at all to incentivize PVP. What PVP players want is fun, engaging fights against a wide variety of players, in a wide variety of locations - with meaningful AP/telvar gains to augment the experience. All they need to do to make this happen is enable the IC celebration or MYM bonuses for their "weekend events". I don't know why they decided to take this route where they're apparently "laying the groundwork" i.e writing code to enable some new bonuses that literally nobody asked for or wants.

neferpitou73 wrote: »

React wrote: »

neferpitou73 wrote: »

SkaraMinoc wrote: »

React wrote: »

I really hope zenimax reconsiders what they're doing with these weekend events, as today's update has honestly been one of the most disappointing things I've read on the forums since January.

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_BrianWheeler @ZOS_RichLambert

No offense to the people you mentioned but I want to see someone who PvP's daily to have leadership in these matters.

Are there even any devs who PvP regularly?

No. As far as I am aware, none of the developers play PVP at all. The only one I know that actually has done PVP combat is Gilliam, and the last time I saw him was during the PVP event like 8-9 months ago.

Well there's our event: Dev weekend PvP streams.

Honestley? I would absolutely love to watch the developers play PC NA pvp on weekend evenings. Witnessing their experiences with the balance and environment and being able to talk directly with them about the game would be the most amazing communication the PVP community has gotten, ever.

Stamicka

React wrote: »

Stamicka wrote: »

It’s very hard to incentivize PvP at this point, I’m not sure that increasing the rewards from special events would even help. People are sick of the balance, the ridiculous mythics, the backsliding performance, the list goes on. PvP is such a bad experience that I wouldn’t even touch it for 1000% bonus AP. This is coming from a long time PvP lover. I can’t imagine how new players or PVE mains feel. ZOS needs to drastically improve the PvP experience because it’s a much bigger issue than solely performance.

It isn't hard at all to incentivize PVP. What PVP players want is fun, engaging fights against a wide variety of players, in a wide variety of locations - with meaningful AP/telvar gains to augment the experience. All they need to do to make this happen is enable the IC celebration or MYM bonuses for their "weekend events". I don't know why they decided to take this route where they're apparently "laying the groundwork" i.e writing code to enable some new bonuses that literally nobody asked for or wants.

neferpitou73 wrote: »

React wrote: »

neferpitou73 wrote: »

SkaraMinoc wrote: »

React wrote: »

I really hope zenimax reconsiders what they're doing with these weekend events, as today's update has honestly been one of the most disappointing things I've read on the forums since January.

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_BrianWheeler @ZOS_RichLambert

No offense to the people you mentioned but I want to see someone who PvP's daily to have leadership in these matters.

Are there even any devs who PvP regularly?

No. As far as I am aware, none of the developers play PVP at all. The only one I know that actually has done PVP combat is Gilliam, and the last time I saw him was during the PVP event like 8-9 months ago.

Well there's our event: Dev weekend PvP streams.

Honestley? I would absolutely love to watch the developers play PC NA pvp on weekend evenings. Witnessing their experiences with the balance and environment and being able to talk directly with them about the game would be the most amazing communication the PVP community has gotten, ever.

Currently there are tons of gankers everywhere and lots of broken one bar builds. Not to mention that Pop locked Cyrodiil still feels somewhat empty and most players will actively try to avoid you at all costs if you find them. Also on most platforms/ servers, performance is still horrible. It doesn’t matter how much AP they offer, people are sick of PvP in its current state. Even with double AP, for me and many others PvP is just not worth it. Keep in mind that many people who show up during Whitestrakes Mayhem really only care for other rewards, not the double AP.

You’re right that PvPers want fun and engaging fights, but that’s exactly why double AP won’t help. The current meta is not fun, and most people simply don’t want to fight you. Some serious balancing and PvP improvements need to happen.

MetallicMonk

I'm glad they took a year to brainstorm this groundbreaking level of content; truly ZOS you are innovators with unheard of creativity.

Sluggy

React wrote: »

It isn't hard at all to incentivize PVP. What PVP players want is fun, engaging fights against a wide variety of players, in a wide variety of locations - with meaningful AP/telvar gains to augment the experience. All they need to do to make this happen is enable the IC celebration or MYM bonuses for their "weekend events". I don't know why they decided to take this route where they're apparently "laying the groundwork" i.e writing code to enable some new bonuses that literally nobody asked for or wants.

This 'laying the groundwork' is such nonsense anyway. It shouldn't take nine months to implement a simple configuration that can be adjusted live. This alone tells me at least one of the following: They don't care about this aspect of the game and the only reason they haven't removed it is because it would actually be too much work to bother, they don't have any people to put to the task (it literally shouldn't take more than two people to accomplish this kind of thing in any project), and/or the code base is *actually* so poorly maintained that it *actually does* take nine months in which case they have a whole world of problems that are beyond solving at this point! I wouldn't rule out the possibility of all three.

I'll be honest, I held out hope for a long time even when the community was calling out the lack of effort years ago. The point at which I finally realized it was true was when they re-instated the 'low-proc' campaign in Ravenwatch. The most minimal effort I would expect from them would be a simple popup window saying 'Hey, Check your gear. Some stuff won't work now. Here's a link to the official list'. Instead, there is zero notice at all. The list does actually exist but they didn't even bother to get it right or keep it up to date. So yeah. Minimal efforts aren't even taken. What am I supposed to think? Clearly management does not care and they do not want people putting even a minute more effort into this stuff than they deem absolutely needed, and even then it falls short.