Studio Director’s Letter: ESO’s 2022 Retrospective & the Future

Mellirus

This got me excited about the next year for ESO. I'm avoiding to have any expectations just yet, but genuinely looking forward to learning more about it in January. Keep it up, guys

Luke_Flamesword

I really like this direction - there was indeed too much devs time on quests which are important, but you make them once quickly and there is not much to do later. So I'm really looking forward for more gameplay features and activites for many endgame hours of joy We also have a lot of dungeons now so one new DLC for them per year is good enough, if we will get a lot of QoL changes and sone nice features in second half of year.

Just please, don't dissapoint us, because last year was really hard and I was personally lost some heart for this game, maybe next year will fix it. I hope so!

Rondur_Sidriel

I am relieved that you are moving away from the year long story structure. That was starting to make ESO too predictable and unexciting in my opinion. I'm looking forward to where the in-person event will be in NA, and for more details on the Q4 system. I would hope that it has something to do with large scale PVP.

Destai

TechMaybeHic wrote: »

I think it's long overdue to slow down the new content cadence and work on cleaning existing stuff up. Hopefully it means less new ridiculous set pushes as well.

I am a bit concerned as it seems the wording for the code rewrite is being referred to as multi-thread work. Sounds different than what I understood it to be. Maybe I'm misreading

This is why folks like @ZOS_GinaBruno and @ZOS_Kevin need to coordinate with development leadership and get official threads going on these items. They can tell us something is happening once or twice a year - cool - but when the lingo changes it makes an already murky topic worse. Would be nice to have official, living language around these, along with frequent updates on whatever milestones are being reached.

Suddwrath

Nice words.

However, we have received many, many nice words in previous director letters. It is past time to follow up these words with actions. To be frank, the whole "trust us" messaging is not going to work this time. The trust has been lost and can only be earned back through actions, not nice words.

Ratzkifal

React wrote: »

I have to say, this letter feels like more of the same. More "trust us!" and "we can do better". A brief acknowledgement of U36 without going into any specifics, no acknowledgement of U35's poorly received changes, no acknowledgement of the unfinished hybridization that consists of very few remaining factors and is far overdue, no mention of compensation for the 8 weeks we have had a core combat feature broken, no mention of the lack of communication that the community has been complaining about non-stop.

It is very concerning that you acknowledge the PC NA server performance increase, but not the fact that it has degraded back to how bad it was before the server was replaced. Every single night since U36 when the campaigns start to fill, PC NA's cyrodiil campaigns become so laggy that they are unplayable. The performance was nearly flawless after the replacement, so this has been crushing for those of us that thought we could finally enjoy a playable cyrodiil.

Is there going to be any GENUINE PVP content in 2023? I do not mean a feature like destructible bridges or a "daedric artifact" that just causes lag in cyrodiil. Will there be new maps, new formats, new systems, or a rework to old content (IC, Cyro) in 2023? February marks four years since the last PVP content was added to the game, in the form of one single BG map. We are starving for content. @ZOS_MattFiror

I'm very glad to see that the code rewrite was mentioned, and that we can expect to see the first portion rolled out in Q2. I hope that this results in the performance improvement that we were told it would.

It's good to hear that the current expected ETA for every server to have it's server hardware replaced is march. This is much sooner than what we expected based on the previous communications we had.

I think it is good that you're breaking away from the more structured patch cadence. I hope this allows for more timely bugfixing and balance changing, and for older content to receive the reworks that much of it needs (especially in regards to PVP).

I wish I could say that this letter gives me confidence, but at this point words alone will no longer do it. I love ESO and I want nothing more than to see this game flourish, and I truly hope that ZOS is capable of facilitating that in 2023.

This. Very well said.
The only thing I want to add to this is that the new content schedule, while I appreciate the chapter being a complete story again, is that I am very much concerned this is just a nice way of saying "we are cutting content in half".
No Q3 and Q4 DLC anymore to focus on quality of life improvements and new long term systems? That sounds good, but as was already said, this only sounds as good as players are willing to trust in these words. Who is to say these improvements are actually going to happen?
We have had years of broken promises and underwhelming experiences now, so why should we trust that when you are saying that you are cutting content in half to focus on QoL and systems that you are actually going to deliver on this and not just cutting content in half for the sake of slowly reducing the attention ESO receives in favor of whatever other IP it is you are working on?
I would be very concerned if I was still as invested in ESO as I was 2 years ago.

Remathilis

With less zones and dungeons per year, maybe we can look at older zone sets again. Last year had 4 monster sets, 12 overland sets, 12 dungeon sets, 12 crafted sets, and 4 trial sets and of them, only a few made any changes to builds in PvP or PvE. The rest was chaff for the sticker book.

Maybe we can look at other stuff made obsolete and improve them. Give people new reasons to run old content again.

YandereGirlfriend

While there are still huge issues that remain unresolved, I am actually pretty pleased with this letter.

Moving away from the year-long stories is important, as is finally swinging back in the direction of adding systems (preferably combat systems) to the game after such a long period without them.

I am hopeful that SPELLCRAFTING or A NEW CLASS are what is being alluded to for the final content release of the year.

Dark_Lord_Kuro

Im not happy
Now i get interesting content only once a year now.
Im in the camp of dislike repeating content so only the q2 chapter will be interesting.
This is a nice way to say "we are cutting the ne content by 50%

Oh well, more time to play something else

Ratzkifal

Dark_Lord_Kuro wrote: »

Im not happy
Now i get interesting content only once a year now.
Im in the camp of dislike repeating content so only the q2 chapter will be interesting.
This is a nice way to say "we are cutting the ne content by 50%

Oh well, more time to play something else

Ideally the Q2 chapter will now last you the entire year until you run out of things to do. But I totally get the same feeling that it won't. Q4 DLCs have often been better than their respective chapters too. At least we can now purchase the chapter and actually get the end of the story again rather than being forced to pay for the DLC or ESO+ to finish it.

Soraka

Looking forward to the changeup away from year long. Tentatively hopeful things go as you say.

Mik195

Wrll, its been a good run. Sounds like 2023 will be the end for me, but I'm glad that all the people who want a hard game will be there to support the game.

I can do quests, but have never been able to complete a dungeon other than the first 15(?) that unlock and I'm fairly sure "repeatable" content doesn't include Vaults of Madness difficulty. I've never finished an arena, only have two mythics because of the dungeon problem. So not happy that the only part of the game that I don't fail at is being downgraded.

Kingsindarkness

My fear is that the so-called 'Archs" are just going to be small uninteresting stories like Summerset was...and the filler content will be boring Dalies and Dungeon Runs you do over and over, (and over) because they think they have to please the vocal minority.

We can look for meager offerings of actual content, more screaming of "Fake Tank" and obsessive rants about the particularities of dailies. as the actual player population (folks that never visit the forums) Bleed off into other games.

So Basically Matt you're changing again you wanted ESO to be an "immersive world"...but this week it's just another Video game with a bunch of Dalies and repeatable content for the OCD crowd

Thanks for making up my mind on whether to stay or go.

AScarlato

As others hinted at, to me this is a little concerning and seems like less content under the guise of listening to feedback for the monotony of the year-long adventure.

From this I see one less Dungeon DLC, meaning 2 less dungeons next year, meaning 2 less quest stories given Q3 is now QOL and bug fixes." While those are needed, I'd prefer hearing that Zenimax has the staff and resources to work on this year-round and not need a Quarter where this is all they do.

The Q2 full story might mean just one zone, not the two we get in a year now. The new system is now coming in Q4 rather than in Q2 with the expansion. If the Q2 story is the same length as what we get now in Q2, this is a net loss.

I guess we will wait and see but this doesn't look great to me. I do really love ESO though, so I hope this means that we get more and higher quality content the quarters we do get something...but...this isn't immediately promising to me.

DirtyDeeds765

All of this sounds great, promising, and refreshing. The same gameplan every years gets stale. A new system sounds great. A bigger, more detailed chapter sounds great. Very happy to hear the hardware upgrades are coming sooner than expected for *all". Also very happy to see the re-architecturing is still in progress and on the way soon. It's good that other aspects of the game are being improved and expanded upon so the game is varied and balanced (ToT, antiquities, companions, and the like that people complain about are good because they provide something for everyone and helps the population and health of the game and while they may not seem like the best content in the short term, ESO is a LONG TERM marathon of a game that we'll be playing for decades to come and these seemingly niche systems are necessary and good).

Lastly, even with all that was said in the letter, I am very much hoping alot of effort and time is still put into questing and the lore. I can understand ramping down a bit and would even be okay with downscaling on questing for a year to bring up other aspects of the game. But let's not let this be the start of the downfall of questing and lore in the game. I am firm in that a *massive* part of ESO should always be prioritization of questing and lore.

Thanks alot guys.

@DirtyDeeds765

HappyTheCamper

Wel considering we almost had a French Revolution for ESO between devs and fans, I think this is refreshing. I’ll remain cautious as well, but I think this letter is a littler more clear about plans than usual.

The transparency complaints from fans, I think, are starting to get to the devs. Which is reassuring.

Parasaurolophus

Kingsindarkness wrote: »

My fear is that the so-called 'Archs" are just going to be small uninteresting stories like Summerset was...and the filler content will be boring Dalies and Dungeon Runs you do over and over, (and over) because they think they have to please the vocal minority.

We can look for meager offerings of actual content, more screaming of "Fake Tank" and obsessive rants about the particularities of dailies. as the actual player population (folks that never visit the forums) Bleed off into other games.

So Basically Matt you're changing again you wanted ESO to be an "immersive world"...but this week it's just another Video game with a bunch of Dalies and repeatable content for the OCD crowd

Thanks for making up my mind on whether to stay or go.

Well... You're right to some extent I guess. But look at it differently. You said about the immersive world, but ESO will never be compared to solo games due to its genre features in its immersiveness. Look what happened as a result of such a politician? We are ghost locations, empty, with nothing to do after completing quests. More systems and replayability sounds to me like ZoS wants to focus more on the MMO aspect of the game.

Punches_Below_Belt

When I originally subscribed I expected all future content to be free. That was quickly dashed against the semantics of chapters vs dlc’s. Then ZOS started giving away the fourth quarter content to everyone. Now the third quarter content is free for everyone? So the only content my subscription makes me eligible for is two dungeons in the first quarter?

Kingsindarkness

Parasaurolophus wrote: »

Kingsindarkness wrote: »

My fear is that the so-called 'Archs" are just going to be small uninteresting stories like Summerset was...and the filler content will be boring Dalies and Dungeon Runs you do over and over, (and over) because they think they have to please the vocal minority.

We can look for meager offerings of actual content, more screaming of "Fake Tank" and obsessive rants about the particularities of dailies. as the actual player population (folks that never visit the forums) Bleed off into other games.

So Basically Matt you're changing again you wanted ESO to be an "immersive world"...but this week it's just another Video game with a bunch of Dalies and repeatable content for the OCD crowd

Thanks for making up my mind on whether to stay or go.

Well... You're right to some extent I guess. But look at it differently. You said about the immersive world, but ESO will never be compared to solo games due to its genre features in its immersiveness. Look what happened as a result of such a politician? We are ghost locations, empty, with nothing to do after completing quests. More systems and replayability sounds to me like ZoS wants to focus more on the MMO aspect of the game.

Yeah, the problem is they have a huge population that is here because they are or should I say "were" different....now they are becoming just another crappy MMO that is up against much better MMO's.

Their uniqueness will be lost because they made the same mistake so many devs make...ignoring their numbers and "listening to the fans" (Like SWG did with NGE) But it will make the content creators happy....in about a year they can double or even triple their output of ESO is Dead/Dying videos.

RaddlemanNumber7

Looks to me like a fancy way of saying that they're going to be delivering less of everything.

KAT0MI

From my understanding of the letter I felt like I wanted to speak up on one point that may be a big concern with the upcoming development roadmap.

The point specifically would be the repeatable story quests. Now this isn't a new thing as I really loved the Murkmire Pre-Story quests (and the dragonguard training pre story) however the main issue I had that made me stop playing them, was because of the daily limit of quests I can do with one character. Sure I can switch toons and continue playing other quests but this 50 quests daily limit per character would definitely need to increased or be removed.

Story over multiples chapters
I have always loved your handling of the Vvardenfell/Clockwork/Summerset storyline and I am really excited to return back to that formula. Maybe even show progress with older chapters like Vivec City building up one of its Cantons or some sort of development of time passing. It would add to the beauty and immersion of the story telling of older chapters. This new roadmap also opens each new map to have multiple cities to host guild traders (like Vvardenfell and Summerset) and more player friendly layouts like Vivec city and Alinor for us crafters. I am cautiously optimistic and hopeful in the direction the team will be making.

I don't mind the half a year wait for the next chapter but a bit of News hype may attract more players to return (or like me when I was a new player and just heard you will be releasing Vvardenfell for ESO). Don't make us wait till April to find out about our next chapter.

PS. I just want to say my favorite races and lore in Elder Scrolls is dark elves and Maormers. So any companions, skins, even chapters I would really appreciate.

Kikazaru

I genuinely believe their decision to walk away from the "Year long story" will do so much good for them. I really do!


If not.... I can't even fathom what to think of them by that point.

opaj

I'm mostly here for the story content, but I'm happy for a move away from the year-long storyline. Most of my favorite stories in the game are self-contained (Wilderking arc in Greenshade, Thieves Guild, Murkmire) or quasi-self-contained (Summerset). With the yearlong stories, I either wait until the end of the year and play it all at once, or I play it throughout the year and end up forgetting important details.

If the latter half of the year is focused on quality of life and system improvements, I hope the team takes a moment to closely look at how the game onboards players into the various storylines. Maybe go back and tweak some of the old dialogue/stories to be a bit more responsive if you do play them "out of order." (Let's take Rivenspire and the Reach, for example. The story works if you play Rivenspire -> Reach, or if you play Reach and never touch Reach. But if you play Reach and then go back for Rivenspire, certain key characters act like strangers to the player.)

Aaaand I'm trying not to get my hopes up about spellcrafting. I've always believed this would be a nightmare to balance, but this feature would be a dream-come-true for me!

LadyHeloise

Very glad the year long structure is being changed - it had got tired and it must be very limiting in terms of story telling. Also very much like bigger story arcs, so hoping that this change will give the writers more space to write more interesting things. Less linear please. . Setting time aside in the year for fixing things also makes sense.

Hopeful.

Tandor

I'm fine with the proposed changes in principle, but as always the devil is in the detail. One person's quality of life improvement may be a game-breaker for other people (think account-wide achievements), while one person's much requested feature may be of no interest to other people (think card games). Meanwhile it's often not the idea that is unwelcome to some players but rather the way it is implemented (again, think account-wide achievements).

So I'll wait and see...

Tornaad

I'm actually excited about this.
Q1 dungeon
Q2 big massive story
Q3 bug fixes and qol
Q4 new systems

And muli year story lines

Destai

RaddlemanNumber7 wrote: »

What is a "tentpole system"?

Something like Antiquities that isn't confined to one zone, but integrated throughout the whole game.

K9002

One of the most requested features and dedicating Q4 to new systems and groundwork for future additions... Could it mean that solo story mode for dungeons is on the list of things to implement in foreseeable future?

Punches_Below_Belt

I don’t think I could have taken 4 years of the Dagon ambitions.

The_Lex

I will reserve judgment until I see some action on your part. We've heard this type of thing before on the forums, including statements made during ESO Live events.

Time to show up, ZOS.