Is ESO going into "Maintenance" mode soon?

Kingsindarkness

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Hey All, wanted to chime in quickly here. We are not going into maintenance mode. We've got more stuff on the horizon to keep everyone in Tamriel busy for some time. The team is excited to share more when we're ready, but until then, we have Firesong up next.

Wouldn't be great if a post like this would reassure players instead of making them post eight more threads about how the game is dying?

@ZOS_Kevin most of us appreciate the effort though.

Ghaleb

Kingsindarkness wrote: »

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Hey All, wanted to chime in quickly here. We are not going into maintenance mode. We've got more stuff on the horizon to keep everyone in Tamriel busy for some time. The team is excited to share more when we're ready, but until then, we have Firesong up next.

Wouldn't be great if a post like this would reassure players instead of making them post eight more threads about how the game is dying?

@ZOS_Kevin most of us appreciate the effort though.

Well, I can plan vacation and romantic getaways with my girlfriend for the next year. But if she will come home with the “we gotta talk”-face, all plans are moot.

Kingsindarkness

Ghaleb wrote: »

Kingsindarkness wrote: »

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Hey All, wanted to chime in quickly here. We are not going into maintenance mode. We've got more stuff on the horizon to keep everyone in Tamriel busy for some time. The team is excited to share more when we're ready, but until then, we have Firesong up next.

Wouldn't be great if a post like this would reassure players instead of making them post eight more threads about how the game is dying?

@ZOS_Kevin most of us appreciate the effort though.

Well, I can plan vacation and romantic getaways with my girlfriend for the next year. But if she will come home with the “we gotta talk”-face, all plans are moot.

Don't see what that has to do with a video game or what I said....no need to re-explain.

SaffronCitrusflower

Kingsindarkness wrote: »

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Hey All, wanted to chime in quickly here. We are not going into maintenance mode. We've got more stuff on the horizon to keep everyone in Tamriel busy for some time. The team is excited to share more when we're ready, but until then, we have Firesong up next.

Wouldn't be great if a post like this would reassure players instead of making them post eight more threads about how the game is dying?

@ZOS_Kevin most of us appreciate the effort though.

Most people have been around long enough to know promises from ZOS are meaningless given the five years plus of the "we're working on it" statements regarding cyrodiil and other game bugs such as the stuck in combat bug.

We are at the point where the only thing that will sway opinions of those of us that have been around since the beginning are results.

History matters in this discussion.

Kingsindarkness

SaffronCitrusflower wrote: »

Kingsindarkness wrote: »

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Hey All, wanted to chime in quickly here. We are not going into maintenance mode. We've got more stuff on the horizon to keep everyone in Tamriel busy for some time. The team is excited to share more when we're ready, but until then, we have Firesong up next.

Wouldn't be great if a post like this would reassure players instead of making them post eight more threads about how the game is dying?

@ZOS_Kevin most of us appreciate the effort though.

Most people have been around long enough to know promises from ZOS are meaningless given the five years plus of the "we're working on it" statements regarding cyrodiil and other game bugs such as the stuck in combat bug.

We are at the point where the only thing that will sway opinions of those of us that have been around since the beginning are results.

History matters in this discussion.

I dunno...I think that it would be much easier and cheaper for Zenimax to say: The war is over Cyrodil and Imperial city are now PVE areas, and Arena is now the PVP game.

That is the first thing I would have done, but they are still trying to breathe life into that DAOC style PVP while the community they are doing it for is basically giving them the finger.

Some of the top voices in the community have even said at this point nothing they do will be enough...but they still work on it.

I wouldn't do jack for someone that hated me...but I'm not a corporation.

Oh and I've been here since Beta one...I joined the forums late.

Destai

Kingsindarkness wrote: »

SaffronCitrusflower wrote: »

Kingsindarkness wrote: »

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Hey All, wanted to chime in quickly here. We are not going into maintenance mode. We've got more stuff on the horizon to keep everyone in Tamriel busy for some time. The team is excited to share more when we're ready, but until then, we have Firesong up next.

Wouldn't be great if a post like this would reassure players instead of making them post eight more threads about how the game is dying?

@ZOS_Kevin most of us appreciate the effort though.

Most people have been around long enough to know promises from ZOS are meaningless given the five years plus of the "we're working on it" statements regarding cyrodiil and other game bugs such as the stuck in combat bug.

We are at the point where the only thing that will sway opinions of those of us that have been around since the beginning are results.

History matters in this discussion.

I dunno...I think that it would be much easier and cheaper for Zenimax to say: The war is over Cyrodil and Imperial city are now PVE areas, and Arena is now the PVP game.

That is the first thing I would have done, but they are still trying to breathe life into that DAOC style PVP while the community they are doing it for is basically giving them the finger.

Some of the top voices in the community have even said at this point nothing they do will be enough...but they still work on it.

I wouldn't do jack for someone that hated me...but I'm not a corporation.

Oh and I've been here since Beta one...I joined the forums late.

I do feel sorry for ZOS at times. People begged left and right for difficulty options, then U35 made some content nearly impossible. I'm sure there's challenges with feedback - some nuance gets missed, especially trying to gather all the feedback and have it be understood, etc.

I think some of the content creators voiced valid concerns about rewards and accessibility. There's always going to be people who will love to hate the game, and I'm sure that wears on the ZOS folks, it would anyone. But what I see more than anything is: Devs propose changes, players say "yeah but what about this approach", and devs see only part of the picture and give partial compromise (U35 was a great example of this), players then feel like their feedback was for naught.

So yeah, history does matter. I've seen countless bugs reported in early PTS cycles make it live, months long issues where players have to beg for an update, so I can understand why people take any comforting words with a grain of salt - especially when they're short quips. Maybe that's all they can fit in, whatever, but I think the lack of detail we're given puts ZOS in that catch 22.

I do agree on Cyrodiil. I'd sunset it as a PVP zone personally, and I enjoy it regularly. They have a lot of lore-friendly ways to give players PVP fixes - especially given how many Daedric realms allow for such activities.

Regardless, I'm always excited about what's next.

WrathOfInnos

I don't think it's maintenance mode, but I do wonder if we're seeing the long term effects of attempting to collaborate on a complex project while working from home. Anyone know if the dev team is back in the office?

There was a sharp drop in the quality and quantity of new content when covid hit in Spring 2020, and everyone was working from home. Kyne's Aegis still feels unfinished to this day, and we have not seen a new class or active skill line since 2019. It's no coincidence that the new systems are largely minigames that could be developed in isolation (scrying, excavation, ToT), and have no real effect on ESO gameplay or balance. We continue to get filler material (hybridization, skill timer remix, DPS and health nerfs) to keep players occupied, but not really anything new of substance.

I'm still hopeful we'll see it pick up again soon.

Amottica

WrathOfInnos wrote: »

I don't think it's maintenance mode, but I do wonder if we're seeing the long term effects of attempting to collaborate on a complex project while working from home. Anyone know if the dev team is back in the office?

There was a sharp drop in the quality and quantity of new content when covid hit in Spring 2020, and everyone was working from home. Kyne's Aegis still feels unfinished to this day, and we have not seen a new class or active skill line since 2019. It's no coincidence that the new systems are largely minigames that could be developed in isolation (scrying, excavation, ToT), and have no real effect on ESO gameplay or balance. We continue to get filler material (hybridization, skill timer remix, DPS and health nerfs) to keep players occupied, but not really anything new of substance.

I'm still hopeful we'll see it pick up again soon.

We can hope that a return to the working together shows an improvement in the quality and quantity of the work. The stream I recently watched had Gina noting it was the first they had done in the studio together since COVID.

Kingsindarkness

WrathOfInnos wrote: »

I don't think it's maintenance mode, but I do wonder if we're seeing the long term effects of attempting to collaborate on a complex project while working from home. Anyone know if the dev team is back in the office?

There was a sharp drop in the quality and quantity of new content when covid hit in Spring 2020, and everyone was working from home. Kyne's Aegis still feels unfinished to this day, and we have not seen a new class or active skill line since 2019. It's no coincidence that the new systems are largely minigames that could be developed in isolation (scrying, excavation, ToT), and have no real effect on ESO gameplay or balance. We continue to get filler material (hybridization, skill timer remix, DPS and health nerfs) to keep players occupied, but not really anything new of substance.

I'm still hopeful we'll see it pick up again soon.

I'm pretty sure most everyone is back in the office unless management has found out that working from home is more productive like with me and my wife's companies.

That just can't be true for a game developer...but hey Zenimax put out multiple expansions during the pandemic, and yeah I know there are going to be snarky replies to what I just said but those folks hated the game and developers before the pandemic.

But anyway ...looks like this thread has gone about as far as it can...no minds have been changed just page after page of venting....which is good...I guess...