Collection of Critical Failures in 2022

React

It is my opinion that zenimax is completely failing us. These failures are not just limited to combat bugs; they include failures to communicate, failures to make good on promises they've made, failure to listen to community feedback on massive balance changes, failure to properly QA their content, etc. Feel free to add to this list if there are other things that have occurred in 2022 which you'd identify as "critical failures". Hopefully this post will serve as a point of reference for things that NEED improvement going forward, and as a reminder of how the community has been treated over the past year.

• Simple things like mask drops keep releasing broken, in the exact same manner. Takes them weeks to push a patch out just to enable the drop.
  
• Cosmetics like the rune priests weapons and soulrazer weapons, which are crown gem specific and not cheap to get, release with the VFX completely bugged - meaning that not a single person even bothered to equip them after designing them.
  
• Leads for multiple mythics being bugged on launch across multiple patches, which have then taken weeks/months to fix. This is a basic addition to the game and absolutely should have been tested and caught by QA before launch.
  
• Amidst probably one of the worst years in history for PVP, zenimax cancelled the double tel var event for 2022. This event was seemingly replaced with a "bonus double exp event" awarded for extra completion of the pathfinder community achievement.
  
• With U35, somehow the "stuck in combat" bug in cyrodiil became exponentially worse. It had been insignificant for the year prior, but is so prevalent now that I often need to run across the map on foot multiple times each evening that I play.
  
• U35 changes hit the PTS, and the community informs zenimax that they have absolutely missed their intended goal of "increasing accessibility" through lowering the ceiling/raising the floor. They barely respond to any of this feedback, and the patch goes live with most of the failed changes included, which results in a huge number of endgame players leaving the game. They promise us a Q&A about their reasoning behind these combat changes, which still has not materialized four months and an entire patch later.
  
• They bugfix the "bashes clearing inputs" bug, which causes the "block drop" bug. After a month of having the block drop bug, stating multiple times that they needed to properly test the fix and that is why it took a month, they release a patch where they revert the fix to the "bashes clearing inputs" bug in order to fix the "block drop bug". However, they introduce a new bug to PC simultaneously which fully disables block in certain instances. This bug has apparently been on console since the patch launched, so they undeniably ignored multiple bug report threads from console players about this bug. Now they are saying it will be at least 2-3 more weeks until they can fix a core function like block, resulting in 6-8 weeks where block was unreliable. Meanwhile the "bashes clearing inputs bugs" has been reintroduced on purpose.
  
• They release U36, and several main quests are bugged and cannot be progressed. There is a world boss in the new zone that has an attack that instantly crashes everyone nearby and rolls their game back.
  
• U36 also brings some of the most consistent and widespread crashing we've seen in years, resulting in @ZOS_RichLambert 's "apology" where he claims that they'll do better, while giving us a free guar pet for our troubles.
  
• They try to fix siroria with a patch included in the U36 launch, but this causes siege to break and never despawn, fully breaking cyrodiil. This also causes the dragonknight 500k+ dps standard bug, and the warden exponentially healing budding seeds bug.
  
• They promise us a code rewrite that will take "most of 2022", which they claim will fix performance in cyrodiil and also allow them to make changes without breaking other things, while also specifically claiming that they'd update us periodically on the project throughout the year. They say that this code work will prevent them from adding any PVP content at all until it is complete. On November 17th, GinaBruno gives us our first update on the code rewrite in 11 months. This update says that the code rewrite "is ongoing", and will be released "in pieces across multiple patches in 2023", but that replacing the servers is their first priority. The current ETA for console servers being replaced is "sometime after the EU server", which means sometime after march/april 2023. If this is accurate and they cannot release any part of the code rewrite before replacing all severs, it means the earliest we can see a part of this code rewrite will be Q2/Q3 2023, 6-9 months later than the initial speculative date of Q1 2023. This also means that assuming they still intend to add no PVP content while this is in progress, by Q1 2023 there will have been four years since the last PVP content was added in the form of one BG map.
  
• They replaced the PCNA servers in 2022, which resulted in an astronomical cyrodiil performance increase, despite the developers specifically stating that it would not help the performance whatsoever. One developer even stated live on stream that "the issue isn't the servers, or we would have replaced them years ago". Now about 6-7 months have passed, and the server performance on PCNA has degraded back to nearly pre-replacement levels, and is nearly unplayable each night in the pop-locked PVP campaigns. They have not acknowledged that the performance is degrading even once.
  
• There is no developer or studio head accountability whatsoever, anywhere. The only public facing zenimax employees that speak with us at all are @ZOS_GinaBruno and @ZOS_Kevin , who both are wonderful and greatly appreciated, but who also cannot give us any substantial information about the BTS stuff that actually matters at this point. The forums are patrolled by ban/censor happy moderators, who delete anything even slightly critical or controversial about the game or it's management, which furthers the general opinion that the players are resented by zenimax.
  
• We have the creative lead who has made multiple snarky/dismissive tweets about community concerns over the years, and who was the subject of a massive controversy that resulted in the "January PVP update" post from @ZOS_MattFiror , which has failed to materialize into any changes or improvements in 11 months.
  

mandricus

I would add to the list the new jabs animation with the vampiric motif reskin used as spear model (forgotting in the meantime to update the companion's animation accordingly) and the new flurry animation, and the overnerf to jabs, burning light proc and power of the light that completely killed the Templar class.

Katheriah

Very good overview. Thank you!

React wrote: »

• We have the creative lead who has made multiple snarky/dismissive tweets about community concerns over the years, and who was the subject of a massive controversy that resulted in the "January PVP update" post from @ZOS_MattFiror , which has failed to materialize into any changes or improvements in 11 months.

Dont forget the streaming incident with mrs. creative lead. I know I won't.

FluffyBird

An impressive compilation, which, honestly, prompted me to try and remember things ZOS did right this year. You know, to balance the disappointment a bit.

Jaimeh

I also hope it doesn't get deleted, it's good to have a short outline of current issues for reference. I would also add waiting for a couple of leads to be fixed for a month after the DLC release.

dragonlord500

I agree that Zos has failed its player base on many levels and we should get a proper compensation for tolerating all this.

the Compensation I think should be is about 8000 seals of endeavors total for everyone. the reason being because this was the year of hell for elder scrolls online and this caused a massive up and down with the player base and many have left the game for obvious reasons.

Zos has entirely failed to communicate that absolute fact and have made great strides to even so much as to cover it up.

right now Elder scrolls online is suffering so I hope the next DLC will blow all our frustrations out of the ocean entirely.

Soraka

Katheriah wrote: »

Very good overview. Thank you!

React wrote: »

• We have the creative lead who has made multiple snarky/dismissive tweets about community concerns over the years, and who was the subject of a massive controversy that resulted in the "January PVP update" post from @ZOS_MattFiror , which has failed to materialize into any changes or improvements in 11 months.

Dont forget the streaming incident with mrs. creative lead. I know I won't.

Great write up, OP. Also seconding quoted.

DinoZavr

December 2023: 2022 was not that bad, afterall

Troodon80

Katheriah wrote: »

Very good overview. Thank you!
Dont forget the streaming incident with mrs. creative lead. I know I won't.

Soraka wrote: »

Great write up, OP. Also seconding quoted.

Wasn't that the "massive controversy" listed as the last bullet point? Or is that a different massive controversy?

Oakenaxe

I like your posts because they are direct, well written and say what needs to be said. Serious but respectful. I totally share the frustrations, and I haven't played in a while because my affection for this game was shattered by the company. I have been restraining myself from commenting too much for I fear ending up getting a little too aggressive, given how baffled I am with certain things. Anyway, thanks for expressing well what a lot of us want to say. I'm certain we all come from a place of love for this game, and we all hope things can get better.

ZOS: you can, and must, do better.

Xandreia_

i could add so many more things but i don't want yet another warning on my account lol, The "we will do better" line is getting just as old as the "we are looking into it" one.

At this point i don't think i could ever play another zos/bethesda game ever again, id be avoiding them like the plague.

The constant bad management of communications (lack of) isn't a great look for any company associated with ESO. The way customers are treated is quiet honestly disgusting.

I do hope some dev sees this post and doesn't go delete happy, at some point they need to hear what the player base thinks and actually take it to heart rather than a snide comment that says "well... thanks for that nugget"

Jaraal

Let’s not forget the attempt to “reduce obscene damage numbers” that has failed, as well as the promised reduction of the skill gap and increased accessibility….. both of which have actually gotten worse since Update 35.

joergino

Troodon80 wrote: »

Katheriah wrote: »

Very good overview. Thank you!
Dont forget the streaming incident with mrs. creative lead. I know I won't.

Soraka wrote: »

Great write up, OP. Also seconding quoted.

Wasn't that the "massive controversy" listed as the last bullet point? Or is that a different massive controversy?

Yes, that was the "massive controversy".

FluffyBird

DinoZavr wrote: »

December 2023: 2022 was not that bad, afterall

Starpulsechic

Great post @React

You’d think at some point they would do an emergency live stream to actually talk to their customers by this point over all those matters

Soraka

Troodon80 wrote: »

Katheriah wrote: »

Very good overview. Thank you!
Dont forget the streaming incident with mrs. creative lead. I know I won't.

Soraka wrote: »

Great write up, OP. Also seconding quoted.

Wasn't that the "massive controversy" listed as the last bullet point? Or is that a different massive controversy?

Yeah I think so, you're right.

React

Jaimeh wrote: »

I also hope it doesn't get deleted, it's good to have a short outline of current issues for reference. I would also add waiting for a couple of leads to be fixed for a month after the DLC release.

Great point. Leads being bugged and not dropping from the sources they are supposed to is absolutely unacceptable, and is something that should have been caught by QA 100%. I'll add that on.

Dekrypted wrote: »

A clear and concise write up.

I'd like to add that backlash being over nerfed to the point where templars have no burst ability nor is another area where zos has failed. It is a perfect representation on top of the many other examples of how players go out of their way to go onto the pts and provide cleat feedback and it is ignored.

Hope the thread doesn't get closed, but I will take any chance I can get to plug that backlash and it's respective morphs does nothing in pvp

I personally believe the reason that they fundamentally changed PL/POTL is because they could not figure out how to fix the bugs with the old version. The new PL is definitely too weak currently, and templar has been overnerfed as a result of this change and the jabs change. It needed adjustments, but they went overboard on the offensive side without touching any of the defensive things, relegating the class to a pure support/tank/execute spammer.

dragonlord500 wrote: »

I agree that Zos has failed its player base on many levels and we should get a proper compensation for tolerating all this.

the Compensation I think should be is about 8000 seals of endeavors total for everyone. the reason being because this was the year of hell for elder scrolls online and this caused a massive up and down with the player base and many have left the game for obvious reasons.

Zos has entirely failed to communicate that absolute fact and have made great strides to even so much as to cover it up.

right now Elder scrolls online is suffering so I hope the next DLC will blow all our frustrations out of the ocean entirely.

If they were going to compensate us for the lost time, I too would like to see it in the form of crowns/seals/gems or ESO+ months. I'd forgo any compensation if they would simply start giving us regular development updates from the developers themselves, though.

Hoghorn

don't forget the u33 "broken port" debacle

AinSoph

mandricus wrote: »

I would add to the list the new jabs animation with the vampiric motif reskin used as spear model (forgotting in the meantime to update the companion's animation accordingly) and the new flurry animation, and the overnerf to jabs, burning light proc and power of the light that completely killed the Templar class.

Don't forget the other spear related abilities like shards, javelin, gap closer, and the ult still using base spear design.

PingTheAwesome

AND they want to push for accessibility....without talking to ANY of their disabled playerbase to hear what our suggestions are or what would actually help us.

Destai

React wrote: »

It is my opinion that zenimax is completely failing us. These failures are not just limited to combat bugs; they include failures to communicate, failures to make good on promises they've made, failure to listen to community feedback on massive balance changes, failure to properly QA their content, etc. Feel free to add to this list if there are other things that have occurred in 2022 which you'd identify as "critical failures".

• Simple things like mask drops keep releasing broken, in the exact same manner. Takes them weeks to push a patch out just to enable the drop.
  
• Cosmetics like the rune priests weapons and soulrazer weapons, which are crown gem specific and not cheap to get, release with the VFX completely bugged - meaning that not a single person even bothered to equip them after designing them.
  
• U35 changes hit the PTS, and the community informs zenimax that they have absolutely missed their intended goal of "increasing accessibility" through lowering the ceiling/raising the floor. They barely respond to any of this feedback, and the patch goes live with most of the failed changes included, which results in a huge number of endgame players leaving the game. They promise us a Q&A about their reasoning behind these combat changes, which still has not materialized four months and an entire patch later.
  
• They bugfix the "bashes clearing inputs" bug, which causes the "block drop" bug. After a month of having the block drop bug, stating multiple times that they needed to properly test the fix and that is why it took a month, they release a patch where they revert the fix to the "bashes clearing inputs" bug in order to fix the "block drop bug". However, they introduce a new bug to PC simultaneously which fully disables block in certain instances. This bug has apparently been on console since the patch launched, so they undeniably ignored multiple bug report threads from console players about this bug. Now they are saying it will be at least 2-3 more weeks until they can fix a core function like block, resulting in 6-8 weeks where block was unreliable. Meanwhile the "bashes clearing inputs bugs" has been reintroduced on purpose.
  
• They release U36, and several main quests are bugged and cannot be progressed. There is a world boss in the new zone that has an attack that instantly crashes everyone nearby and rolls their game back.
  
• U36 also brings some of the most consistent and widespread crashing we've seen in years, resulting in @ZOS_RichLambert 's "apology" where he claims that they'll do better, while giving us a free guar pet for our troubles.
  
• They try to fix siroria with a patch included in the U36 launch, but this causes siege to break and never despawn, fully breaking cyrodiil. This also causes the dragonknight 500k+ dps standard bug, and the warden exponentially healing budding seeds bug.
  
• They promise us a code rewrite that will take "most of 2022", which they claim will fix performance in cyrodiil and also allow them to make changes without breaking other things, while also specifically claiming that they'd update us periodically on the project throughout the year. They say that this code work will prevent them from adding any PVP content at all until it is complete. On November 17th, GinaBruno gives us our first update on the code rewrite in 11 months. This update says that the code rewrite "is ongoing", and will be released "in pieces across multiple patches in 2023", but that replacing the servers is their first priority. The current ETA for console servers being replaced is "sometime after the EU server", which means sometime after march/april 2023. If this is accurate and they cannot release any part of the code rewrite before replacing all severs, it means the earliest we can see a part of this code rewrite will be Q2/Q3 2023, 6-9 months later than the initial speculative date of Q1 2023. This also means that assuming they still intend to add no PVP content while this is in progress, by Q1 2023 there will have been four years since the last PVP content was added in the form of one BG map.
  
• They replaced the PCNA servers in 2022, which resulted in an astronomical cyrodiil performance increase, despite the developers specifically stating that it would not help the performance whatsoever. One developer even stated live on stream that "the issue isn't the servers, or we would have replaced them years ago". Now about 6-7 months have passed, and the server performance on PCNA has degraded back to nearly pre-replacement levels, and is nearly unplayable each night in the pop-locked PVP campaigns. They have not acknowledged that the performance is degrading even once.
  
• There is no developer or studio head accountability whatsoever, anywhere. The only public facing zenimax employees that speak with us at all are @ZOS_GinaBruno and @ZOS_Kevin , who both are wonderful and greatly appreciated, but who also cannot give us any substantial information about the BTS stuff that actually matters at this point. The forums are patrolled by ban/censor happy moderators, who delete anything even slightly critical or controversial about the game or it's management, which furthers the general opinion that the players are resented by zenimax.
  
• We have the creative lead who has made multiple snarky/dismissive tweets about community concerns over the years, and who was the subject of a massive controversy that resulted in the "January PVP update" post from @ZOS_MattFiror , which has failed to materialize into any changes or improvements in 11 months.
  

Fantastic post, @React.

For me the core issue is a lack of engagement with the community. I just don't see the kind of engagement that's to be expected from a company of this caliber. The Q&A is a great example - I'm incredibly disappointed that no one can update us and are flat out ignoring requests for updates from many sources. I'd have hoped that with the addition of Kevin, there'd be more active conversation here. That hope has not been realized.

What we do get is one-off replies where CMs disappear immediately after. I always get the sense that they check-in here once in a while and drop us a line. I can understand that from Jessica, but it gets harder to understand with Gina and especially Kevin. Even with a dedicated forum manager, we still cannot get back and forth conversation in posts. It's not to say that bugs are going completely unacknowledged, but that acknowledgement seems to be more one-off. I want to believe that's the result of corporate processes. Regardless of why, the impact is still felt to the detriment of this community.

I could live with the bugs if there were adequate framing and warmer community management. We need engagement.

DigiAngel

Let's not forget how they rigged the parsing dummies after U35. ZOS is a terrible company....it's why I haven't played since U35...and will not ever spend on this game, or this company.

PingTheAwesome

joergino wrote: »

Troodon80 wrote: »

Katheriah wrote: »

Very good overview. Thank you!
Dont forget the streaming incident with mrs. creative lead. I know I won't.

Soraka wrote: »

Great write up, OP. Also seconding quoted.

Wasn't that the "massive controversy" listed as the last bullet point? Or is that a different massive controversy?

Yes, that was the "massive controversy".

I missed this and wish I hadn't. Deets?

React

PingTheAwesome wrote: »

joergino wrote: »

Troodon80 wrote: »

Katheriah wrote: »

Very good overview. Thank you!
Dont forget the streaming incident with mrs. creative lead. I know I won't.

Soraka wrote: »

Great write up, OP. Also seconding quoted.

Wasn't that the "massive controversy" listed as the last bullet point? Or is that a different massive controversy?

Yes, that was the "massive controversy".

I missed this and wish I hadn't. Deets?

The short of it is that sometime around last december/january, Rich Lambert was live streaming with his wife. There were people in his chat asking about PVP performance, and his wife eventually responded to those questions/complaints by mock-crying and saying "wah wah wah, if you don't like it go PVP somewhere else".

This was obviously received very poorly received by the community, as even though she is not directly affiliated with zenimax, her words seemed indicative of the communications that likely happen behind closed doors between her and Rich.

Shortly after this, we received the "January PVP update" post from Matt firor, which is still pinned and visible here in General. Most people seem to agree that this was likely a "damage control" post in response to the outrage caused on Rich's stream, and this is reinforced by the fact that nothing written in that post has materialized. Matt did not update us periodically as he promised, the code rewrite that was estimated to take "most of 2022" is now seemingly not going to be finished anytime during 2023, and the "special rulesets for cyrodiil" never came. We got battlegrounds 25% bonus AP/forced single gamemode events, which are practically a slap in the face to the community in comparison to what we expected. Amidst all this they cancelled 2022's double telvar event as well.

Wolfshade

No no guys, i think you missunderstood there a lot. Matt promised to tell great storys. You remember:

"Looking ahead to 2022, we will continue to do what we do best: tell great stories and keep the ESO train running."
https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-gb/news/post/61335

Overall i think he got right in what ZOS is best about and what they did even in 2022, ...tell great story`s!

Katheriah

Ah yeah you're right. I didn't connect the stream fail to the pvp post because somehow it missed the apology for what happened on stream. But hey at least we know their true feelings and that's worth something I guess.

PingTheAwesome

Wolfshade wrote: »

No no guys, i think you missunderstood there a lot. Matt promised to tell great storys. You remember:

"Looking ahead to 2022, we will continue to do what we do best: tell great stories and keep the ESO train running."
https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-gb/news/post/61335

Overall i think he got right in what ZOS is best about and what they did even in 2022, ...tell great story`s!

I tell great stories in my classroom. I don't need to be fed that here. If they can't meet their promises, they need to outwardly say so and also keep their word that they would tell us about the promises that need adjusting.
You seeing a pattern here, or is that just me?

Wolfshade

If you learn that at your class, you are propably the perfect gamedeveloper in future years. Keep busy with that...

RevJJ

Not everyone will agree with this, but the way they implemented account wide achievements (and then retconned the reason for it to “performance improvement”) alienated a lot of players and caused a very big divide in the player base. Especially because they ignored 90+ pages of feedback.

Carcamongus

React wrote: »

It is my opinion that zenimax is completely failing us. These failures are not just limited to combat bugs; they include failures to communicate, failures to make good on promises they've made, failure to listen to community feedback on massive balance changes, failure to properly QA their content, etc. Feel free to add to this list if there are other things that have occurred in 2022 which you'd identify as "critical failures". Hopefully this post will serve as a point of reference for things that NEED improvement going forward, and as a reminder of how the community has been treated over the past year.

• Simple things like mask drops keep releasing broken, in the exact same manner. Takes them weeks to push a patch out just to enable the drop.
  
• Cosmetics like the rune priests weapons and soulrazer weapons, which are crown gem specific and not cheap to get, release with the VFX completely bugged - meaning that not a single person even bothered to equip them after designing them.
  
• Leads for multiple mythics being bugged on launch across multiple patches, which have then taken weeks/months to fix. This is a basic addition to the game and absolutely should have been tested and caught by QA before launch.
  
• Amidst probably one of the worst years in history for PVP, zenimax cancelled the double tel var event for 2022. This event was seemingly replaced with a "bonus double exp event" awarded for extra completion of the pathfinder community achievement.
  
• U35 changes hit the PTS, and the community informs zenimax that they have absolutely missed their intended goal of "increasing accessibility" through lowering the ceiling/raising the floor. They barely respond to any of this feedback, and the patch goes live with most of the failed changes included, which results in a huge number of endgame players leaving the game. They promise us a Q&A about their reasoning behind these combat changes, which still has not materialized four months and an entire patch later.
  
• They bugfix the "bashes clearing inputs" bug, which causes the "block drop" bug. After a month of having the block drop bug, stating multiple times that they needed to properly test the fix and that is why it took a month, they release a patch where they revert the fix to the "bashes clearing inputs" bug in order to fix the "block drop bug". However, they introduce a new bug to PC simultaneously which fully disables block in certain instances. This bug has apparently been on console since the patch launched, so they undeniably ignored multiple bug report threads from console players about this bug. Now they are saying it will be at least 2-3 more weeks until they can fix a core function like block, resulting in 6-8 weeks where block was unreliable. Meanwhile the "bashes clearing inputs bugs" has been reintroduced on purpose.
  
• They release U36, and several main quests are bugged and cannot be progressed. There is a world boss in the new zone that has an attack that instantly crashes everyone nearby and rolls their game back.
  
• U36 also brings some of the most consistent and widespread crashing we've seen in years, resulting in @ZOS_RichLambert 's "apology" where he claims that they'll do better, while giving us a free guar pet for our troubles.
  
• They try to fix siroria with a patch included in the U36 launch, but this causes siege to break and never despawn, fully breaking cyrodiil. This also causes the dragonknight 500k+ dps standard bug, and the warden exponentially healing budding seeds bug.
  
• They promise us a code rewrite that will take "most of 2022", which they claim will fix performance in cyrodiil and also allow them to make changes without breaking other things, while also specifically claiming that they'd update us periodically on the project throughout the year. They say that this code work will prevent them from adding any PVP content at all until it is complete. On November 17th, GinaBruno gives us our first update on the code rewrite in 11 months. This update says that the code rewrite "is ongoing", and will be released "in pieces across multiple patches in 2023", but that replacing the servers is their first priority. The current ETA for console servers being replaced is "sometime after the EU server", which means sometime after march/april 2023. If this is accurate and they cannot release any part of the code rewrite before replacing all severs, it means the earliest we can see a part of this code rewrite will be Q2/Q3 2023, 6-9 months later than the initial speculative date of Q1 2023. This also means that assuming they still intend to add no PVP content while this is in progress, by Q1 2023 there will have been four years since the last PVP content was added in the form of one BG map.
  
• They replaced the PCNA servers in 2022, which resulted in an astronomical cyrodiil performance increase, despite the developers specifically stating that it would not help the performance whatsoever. One developer even stated live on stream that "the issue isn't the servers, or we would have replaced them years ago". Now about 6-7 months have passed, and the server performance on PCNA has degraded back to nearly pre-replacement levels, and is nearly unplayable each night in the pop-locked PVP campaigns. They have not acknowledged that the performance is degrading even once.
  
• There is no developer or studio head accountability whatsoever, anywhere. The only public facing zenimax employees that speak with us at all are @ZOS_GinaBruno and @ZOS_Kevin , who both are wonderful and greatly appreciated, but who also cannot give us any substantial information about the BTS stuff that actually matters at this point. The forums are patrolled by ban/censor happy moderators, who delete anything even slightly critical or controversial about the game or it's management, which furthers the general opinion that the players are resented by zenimax.
  
• We have the creative lead who has made multiple snarky/dismissive tweets about community concerns over the years, and who was the subject of a massive controversy that resulted in the "January PVP update" post from @ZOS_MattFiror , which has failed to materialize into any changes or improvements in 11 months.
  

Great post, great list. Correct me if I'm mistaken, though, but you forgot to add the persistent instability that followed the release of Ascendant Tide: crashes, slow loading times and other problems that took a long while to be mitigated.

SkaraMinoc

@React Can you add the following bullet point?

• Deathmatch Queue (September 2021 to March 2022): Whenever a player queued for Deathmatch, it forced 11 players from the Random queue to also play Deathmatch. This meant the overwhelming majority of Random battleground games ended up being Deathmatch. They never hotfixed the issue. Instead, they looked at the data 3 months later which showed that Deathmatch did not significantly increase Battlegrounds participation. This was expected because not everyone wants to play Deathmatch for months on end. Instead of running a proper test, the Deathmatch queue was removed entirely and now we're stuck with Random queue only.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/591672/random-bgs-are-broken-still-give-nearly-all-deathmatch
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/590289/so-its-still-deathmatch-only
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/598529/only-deathmatch-battlegrounds
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/7419947/#Comment_7419947
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/7488351#Comment_7488351