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

SpiritKitten

What I want from this MMO:

• a large variety of repeatable activities to do (writs/dailies/dungeons/trials/antiquities/maps/surveys/etc...)
• a large variety of one-time quests (I am doing the zone stories in order and the other quests whenever I want to visit a zone)
• housing (shopping/farming recipes and decorating), but NEEDS a furniture crate to store furnishings!
• thieving/assassinations (farming recipes and furnishings, and just for lolz)
• selling things in the guild vendor is fun once sold, love to get those money mails, but I have inventory issues so pls work on that
• rebuilding my character build is dead last on my list of fun things to do (farming transmutes is beyond a chore especially when for a random daily normal you group me CP 1500 with char levels 35? are you paying me to babysit? No? Then why do you think I want to waste my time in an unfun boring dungeon run?)

This is such a great MMO already because I can switch up on the fly and do whatever I feel like doing at the moment. Needs some fixes. You can change up your release schedule, sure, I don't care about any of that...just keep giving me stuff to do and I'm good.

Billium813

SpiritKitten wrote: »

thieving/assassinations (farming recipes and furnishings, and just for lolz)

Critically neglected. Thieving and treasures and the Brotherhood are just a joke at this point.

heaven13

They also said AwA was a highly requested feature but they implemented it so poorly that I’m a bit cynical about how they may handle other highly desired systems.

Destai

AScarlato wrote: »

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.

I'm with you on this concern. On one hand, great they're pacing themselves better. On the other, I worry what it took to get there. There's got to be a business reason behind a lot of this, especially business process changes. I hope it's not the result of decreasing development resources.

boi_anachronism_

Nyxenwhite wrote: »

Overland difficulty scaling would make sense with “reutilizing existing zones” and a new system.
Battle pass? Trial finder? Earnable mounts?

I doubt cross platform would be a thing, sounds like it would resume in a giant mess.

No matter what it is, it sounds like big things. I hope ZOS does not over-promise and under-deliver.

Overall, i’m happy that ZOS seems to be scaling down on overland quest content and that there seems to be a strong push on bug fixes and playability improvements planned.

Edit: alot of us are still in the Q&A waiting room.

Cross platform won't happen. Partly because pc add-ons put console at such a major disadvantage when I comes to things like farming for example. They can load pins for nodes and chests among others and they can upgrade PCs as they go where as console is limited by the system we are on.

mauser12k

What does this mean for ESO+ subscribers? When the game moved from fully subscribed to the current model we were told that there would be the 4 regular content releases per year, but reading this it seems there's only 1 (the chapter we have to pay for seperately) dlc included within our subscription for the year, the rest of the features seemingly being open to everyone who plays the game. Is ESO+ disappearing? Are we paying for nothing much more than the craft bag from now on? Will we be reimbursed because we're getting less bang for our buck than previous years?
This year has been very poor in terms of customer care - the bugs, the changes to the gameplay which has forced numerous peeps out of the game becuase it is just not enjoyable any more, the lack of improvement in Cyrodil performance to name but a few. Are we really to believe that next year things will improve to the point that we still want to be here?
Don't get me wrong, I love ESO and the community, but there's only so much frustration and lack of care that we can take. I want to play the game and invest my time in it but you are making it so difficult to do so. And to ask me to pay on top of all that for ESO+ just doesn't seem worth it.
Win us back ZOS. Do what you said you would do years ago and fix things. Listen to your audience.

DinoZavr

Let me skim over three last years retrospectives altogether, please.

STUDIO DIRECTOR’S LETTER: 2020 RETROSPECTIVE: https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/59387
COVID remote work complications. This was difficult experience for Devs, indeed, but pandemics brought a lot of new players because of lockdowns.
Priority of "updates and patches are smooth" after disastrous U26 (Greymoor) deployment. had not U36 (Firesong) introduced serious bugs in 2022?

STUDIO DIRECTOR’S LETTER: 2021 RETROSPECTIVE: https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/cn/news/post/61335
Planned hardware upgrades: implemented only for PC/NA (not much noticeable at the year end) postponed for 2023 for EU
Companions implemented. Good for RP, not serious for hardcore content.

STUDIO DIRECTOR’S LETTER: ESO’S 2022 RETROSPECTIVE & THE FUTURE: https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/63363
Card game not mentioned at all. Was it symptomatic?
Spaghetti code strikes back in U36 (yep, players had noticed that in U36), remember U26?
Changing priority to repeatable content from new content (this promise sounds good)
Q4 change into introducing a new system (well, it was four years since Elsweyr+Dragonhold cadence, novelty approaches are welcome)
Planned hardware upgrades (see 2021 retrospective)
Fanfest in US. Very good, if this would somehow resemble EVE Online ones with massive Q&As and just communications between Devs and Playerbase.


Official Forum discussions of Matt's letters:
2020 https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/556720/official-discussion-thread-for-studio-director-s-letter-2020-retrospective/p1
2021 https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/593266/official-discussion-thread-for-studio-directors-letter-2021-retrospective/p1
2022 https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/623804/studio-director-s-letter-eso-s-2022-retrospective-the-future/p1

what all these 3 discussions have in common:
- players yell for the better communications. and, unfortunately, no noticeable progress happens for years. U35 Q&A is also welcome. Better (very) late than never.
- players ask for new PVP Content, no new PVP content for 4 years so far (Rich commented on one of his streams: "performance fixes first, new content second", performance in Cyrodiil declines, making populated campaigns a ghostland inbetween PVP events)
- players ask Developers to read and react to PTS Feedback (many many bugs reported there go live, thus undermining the very purpose of PTS)
- players notice performance decline (and frequent mentions of the word "Cyrodiil" seem to be not welcome)
Most of these concerns are not addressed enough, dear Matt.

what major trend do i see from reading all these 3 discussions:
- a growing loss of trust. Many promises went postponed or forgotten, burdened by a severe lack of communications. Should become the top priority. Trust is a priceless asset.

@ZOS_MattFiror
Thank you for your letters.
Developers do a lot of works. Art Team does nearly flawless and amazing job. New Zones aesthetics and uniqueness are adorable. Kudos for that.
Performance deserves a lot better, really. So do newly introduced, revived old, and antique known for years bugs. Fight this entomology, maybe?
Forum mods nowadays are removing any criticism constructive or not, which do not help to resolve issues' root causes at all.
A simple refusal of critical issues discussions do not cure them issues away.
Please, make re-gaining playerbase trust, love and respect the major priorty for the upcoming years. Your game is for people, not for Technical Brilliancy Achievements Museum, isn't it?

May i, please, beg for only one thing:
COMMUNICATIONS. COMMUNICATIONS. COMMUNICATIONS.
PLEASE!
Or do i ask for too much?

Thanks and Merry upcoming winter holidays.
Stay safe, all!

colossalvoids

DinoZavr wrote: »

Let me skim over three last years retrospectives altogether, please.

STUDIO DIRECTOR’S LETTER: 2020 RETROSPECTIVE: https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/59387
COVID remote work complications. This was difficult experience for Devs, indeed, but pandemics brought a lot of new players because of lockdowns.
Priority of "updates and patches are smooth" after disastrous U26 (Greymoor) deployment. had not U36 (Firesong) introduced serious bugs in 2022?

STUDIO DIRECTOR’S LETTER: 2021 RETROSPECTIVE: https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/cn/news/post/61335
Planned hardware upgrades: implemented only for PC/NA (not much noticeable at the year end) postponed for 2023 for EU
Companions implemented. Good for RP, not serious for hardcore content.

STUDIO DIRECTOR’S LETTER: ESO’S 2022 RETROSPECTIVE & THE FUTURE: https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/63363
Card game not mentioned at all. Was it symptomatic?
Spaghetti code strikes back in U36 (yep, players had noticed that in U36), remember U26?
Changing priority to repeatable content from new content (this promise sounds good)
Q4 change into introducing a new system (well, it was four years since Elsweyr+Dragonhold cadence, novelty approaches are welcome)
Planned hardware upgrades (see 2021 retrospective)
Fanfest in US. Very good, if this would somehow resemble EVE Online ones with massive Q&As and just communications between Devs and Playerbase.


Official Forum discussions of Matt's letters:
2020 https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/556720/official-discussion-thread-for-studio-director-s-letter-2020-retrospective/p1
2021 https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/593266/official-discussion-thread-for-studio-directors-letter-2021-retrospective/p1
2022 https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/623804/studio-director-s-letter-eso-s-2022-retrospective-the-future/p1

what all these 3 discussions have in common:
- players yell for the better communications. and, unfortunately, no noticeable progress happens for years. U35 Q&A is also welcome. Better (very) late than never.
- players ask for new PVP Content, no new PVP content for 4 years so far (Rich commented on one of his streams: "performance fixes first, new content second", performance in Cyrodiil declines, making populated campaigns a ghostland inbetween PVP events)
- players ask Developers to read and react to PTS Feedback (many many bugs reported there go live, thus undermining the very purpose of PTS)
- players notice performance decline (and frequent mentions of the word "Cyrodiil" seem to be not welcome)
Most of these concerns are not addressed enough, dear Matt.

what major trend do i see from reading all these 3 discussions:
- a growing loss of trust. Many promises went postponed or forgotten, burdened by a severe lack of communications. Should become the top priority. Trust is a priceless asset.

@ZOS_MattFiror
Thank you for your letters.
Developers do a lot of works. Art Team does nearly flawless and amazing job. New Zones aesthetics and uniqueness are adorable. Kudos for that.
Performance deserves a lot better, really. So do newly introduced, revived old, and antique known for years bugs. Fight this entomology, maybe?
Forum mods nowadays are removing any criticism constructive or not, which do not help to resolve issues' root causes at all.
A simple refusal of critical issues discussions do not cure them issues away.
Please, make re-gaining playerbase trust, love and respect the major priorty for the upcoming years. Your game is for people, not for Technical Brilliancy Achievements Museum, isn't it?

May i, please, beg for only one thing:
COMMUNICATIONS. COMMUNICATIONS. COMMUNICATIONS.
PLEASE!
Or do i ask for too much?

Thanks and Merry upcoming winter holidays.
Stay safe, all!

Amen.

blue_peaceful_Manticore

"Q3: Focus on Quality-of-Life improvements and bug fixes. "
Don't forget to fix Block please!!!!

OtarTheMad

I think this is a good move in the long run. I will miss the year-long story but this move helps us and also the devs. It also means that the map will be filled up slower which is good if they plan on this game being around in 10 years.

I do have a concern that was brought up in the post by mauser12k. What does this mean for ESO+? Surely the Q3 bug fixes are free and the Q4 system I assume will be either free or really low-cost DLC and free to ESO+. I could be wrong obviously. So does that mean a change to ESO+? Maybe the chapter comes with a "free to ESO+" part? Do we still get the past Chapters when buying them or is this a reset? This concerns me a bit.

Overall this seems promising. I understand that the pandemic and the issues brought on after with shipping delays and out-of-stock/back order issues that those all really, really f'd up ZOS' plans and weren't something that could be planned for. I do hope that the change to the format means that the Chapter is meatier in terms of content. I completely understand and agree that this year had to be thinner, along with other past years because of the performance stuff but that was getting old. Truthfully, even though I understand why it was thinner and agreed with that, doesn't mean I could justify buying High Isle when, to me, it was just lore, questing, and meat shields. That's fun and all but not worth $30-$50, not with todays inflation issues.

Alinhbo_Tyaka

I hear a lot of the same platitudes that have repeated time and again. I'll consider it more FUD until I see concrete actions from ZOS.

I like the idea of dropping the year long story if it means a return to the style of Morrowind or Summerset. I am however concerned by the comment that too much emphasis was being placed on questing and there is going to be a redirection. Greymoor and Blackwood were light on open world content in my mind. So much so I did not purchase High Isle and have no intentions of ever doing so (I also wouldn't go bragging about ToT as it was the final nail in the High Isle coffin for many of us). If this redirection means the continuation of light or less open world and quest content then I will not be purchasing the next chapter either. I'm not a strict quester and do most of the end game content but with so many of the content rewards being throwaway items the story is about the only things that sticks in my memory when looking back on what made the release good.

I don't PvP but notice nothing was said about it other than listing an ancient accomplishment. I think you are selling a lot of the player base short by not addressing the lack of new PvP content and failure to make any real progress on Cyrodiil's performance issues.

I hope that ZOS really has listened. I hope you have started to think more from the perspective of what would engage the players rather than what I see as the "Here is what we like to play and you will love it to" attitude that took so many other games over the cliff of mediocrity. However as I stated above this is not the first time ZOS has said we will do better next time and failed to make the fundamental culture changes needed to accomplish the change. So ZOS it is on you. Show me that ESO is serious about getting back to its high point of 4 - 5 years ago.

KlauthWarthog

EnKor wrote: »

"Q3: Focus on Quality-of-Life improvements and bug fixes. "
Don't forget to fix Block please!!!!

Yeah, Q3 of 2023 sounds like a reasonable target for that, considering the high degree of quality we have seen lately.

SpiritKitten

mauser12k wrote: »

What does this mean for ESO+ subscribers? When the game moved from fully subscribed to the current model we were told that there would be the 4 regular content releases per year, but reading this it seems there's only 1 (the chapter we have to pay for seperately) dlc included within our subscription for the year, the rest of the features seemingly being open to everyone who plays the game. Is ESO+ disappearing? Are we paying for nothing much more than the craft bag from now on? Will we be reimbursed because we're getting less bang for our buck than previous years?
This year has been very poor in terms of customer care - the bugs, the changes to the gameplay which has forced numerous peeps out of the game becuase it is just not enjoyable any more, the lack of improvement in Cyrodil performance to name but a few. Are we really to believe that next year things will improve to the point that we still want to be here?
Don't get me wrong, I love ESO and the community, but there's only so much frustration and lack of care that we can take. I want to play the game and invest my time in it but you are making it so difficult to do so. And to ask me to pay on top of all that for ESO+ just doesn't seem worth it.
Win us back ZOS. Do what you said you would do years ago and fix things. Listen to your audience.

But don't we get double the bank space and double the furnishing limit too? That plus the craft bag is worth it to me, plus we get discounts on the crown store, and some other goodies.

The DLC access is a mixed blessing and a curse (see random normal dailies).

blktauna

Faulgor wrote: »

It's just too bad everyone will be playing Starfield next year!

I won't be. They can keep their space stuff.

I agree with many folks here, I am reserving judgement until some actual results happen.

luen79rwb17_ESO

Ok ZOS, so with these "highly requested" features you better be talking about these:

- New class
- New weapon, pref magicka based
- Spellcrafting
- Pokemon-like atronach scavenger system with atronach tournaments in pokemon stadiums all around tamriel
- A nereid companion

AzuraFan

SpiritKitten wrote: »

But don't we get double the bank space and double the furnishing limit too? That plus the craft bag is worth it to me, plus we get discounts on the crown store, and some other goodies.

Sure, but it still means we'll be paying the same amount for less stuff. I'd like information from ZOS about ESO+. Will there be a reduction in the subscription price? Or will something new be added to ESO+ to make up for what's being taken away?

Tandor

SpiritKitten wrote: »

mauser12k wrote: »

What does this mean for ESO+ subscribers? When the game moved from fully subscribed to the current model we were told that there would be the 4 regular content releases per year, but reading this it seems there's only 1 (the chapter we have to pay for seperately) dlc included within our subscription for the year, the rest of the features seemingly being open to everyone who plays the game. Is ESO+ disappearing? Are we paying for nothing much more than the craft bag from now on? Will we be reimbursed because we're getting less bang for our buck than previous years?
This year has been very poor in terms of customer care - the bugs, the changes to the gameplay which has forced numerous peeps out of the game becuase it is just not enjoyable any more, the lack of improvement in Cyrodil performance to name but a few. Are we really to believe that next year things will improve to the point that we still want to be here?
Don't get me wrong, I love ESO and the community, but there's only so much frustration and lack of care that we can take. I want to play the game and invest my time in it but you are making it so difficult to do so. And to ask me to pay on top of all that for ESO+ just doesn't seem worth it.
Win us back ZOS. Do what you said you would do years ago and fix things. Listen to your audience.

But don't we get double the bank space and double the furnishing limit too? That plus the craft bag is worth it to me, plus we get discounts on the crown store, and some other goodies.

The DLC access is a mixed blessing and a curse (see random normal dailies).

Not to mention the value of the crowns that are included in the subscription.

joergino

Is there any particular reason why we should start trusting anyone from ZOS now? It would be nice to believe the things he wrote, but this year has been so abysmally bad, I find it really hard to put any trust in yet another assembly of words.

DuckFayth

I'm glad we got some acknowledgement and see that there will be at least some adjustments going forward. It's been clear that there were struggles meeting the demanding release schedule that has defined the last several years not so much because of a lacking team but because of a challenging environment that started suddenly in March 2020 and has continued to affect the world since.

My concerns are that while there's promises to do better and the beginning of a plan, I don't see much of how the team will adjust, and that at surface level there's no plans for those adjustments for the first two quarters of the year. I'm disappointed by the June release date for the chapter, I feel like it would benefit from a 2-3 weeks longer PTS and slightly delayed release. That would really help instill confidence that time is being made for the right things. If Q3 will be focused on QoL and bugfixes anyways why not hold out a little longer and avoid the same mistakes? If U36 didn't get enough time to properly QA and release in a proper and whole playable experience how will the players have confidence an entire chapter is getting the time it deserves? The easiest answer to that, to me at least, would be building in more wiggle room.

My final question is what happened to the re-architecture? We haven't seen any sort of update on this since about October (source below), and it feels like if the team knew anything they would provide it in such a letter as this. I know the pvp crowd, and to a lesser extent some of the pve crowd, has been holding their breath over the server hardware but there was supposed to be so much more.

Last update I know of from the server re architecture: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/617464/code-rewrite-server-re-architecture-is-there-any-update-on-this
Original Post about the re architecture: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/595442/eso-pvp-update-updated-june-2022/p1

Jaraal

jaws343 wrote: »

" will contain one of the most requested new features."

Interesting, only a handful of things to choose from I think.

You mean, like all of those people who requested account wide achievements as it was implemented?

React

DuckFayth wrote: »

I'm glad we got some acknowledgement and see that there will be at least some adjustments going forward. It's been clear that there were struggles meeting the demanding release schedule that has defined the last several years not so much because of a lacking team but because of a challenging environment that started suddenly in March 2020 and has continued to affect the world since.

My concerns are that while there's promises to do better and the beginning of a plan, I don't see much of how the team will adjust, and that at surface level there's no plans for those adjustments for the first two quarters of the year. I'm disappointed by the June release date for the chapter, I feel like it would benefit from a 2-3 weeks longer PTS and slightly delayed release. That would really help instill confidence that time is being made for the right things. If Q3 will be focused on QoL and bugfixes anyways why not hold out a little longer and avoid the same mistakes? If U36 didn't get enough time to properly QA and release in a proper and whole playable experience how will the players have confidence an entire chapter is getting the time it deserves? The easiest answer to that, to me at least, would be building in more wiggle room.

My final question is what happened to the re-architecture? We haven't seen any sort of update on this since about October (source below), and it feels like if the team knew anything they would provide it in such a letter as this. I know the pvp crowd, and to a lesser extent some of the pve crowd, has been holding their breath over the server hardware but there was supposed to be so much more.

Last update I know of from the server re architecture: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/617464/code-rewrite-server-re-architecture-is-there-any-update-on-this
Original Post about the re architecture: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/595442/eso-pvp-update-updated-june-2022/p1

Matt (mistakenly?) refers to the re-architecture as "multi threading" work in today's post. He references the November 17th update from GinaBruno when speaking about the work, and says that it will begin deployment in Q2 (and will be released in chunks across following patches).

It is confusing that Matt is referencing a difficult to find update from Gina that is buried pages deep in a player made thread, when in reality these updates should be coming in pinned posts as "announcements".

Matt did after all promise us periodic updates in last year's "January PVP post", which he never delivered upon

Katlefiya

Let's hope the "big new system" will not be just a difficulty slider for overland content. Sigh.

Elsonso

mauser12k wrote: »

What does this mean for ESO+ subscribers? When the game moved from fully subscribed to the current model we were told that there would be the 4 regular content releases per year, but reading this it seems there's only 1

This is why I was wondering whether this system that they release in 4Q is going to be base game. If it is a required DLC purchase, then ESO Plus will only suffer for the YouBreakItYouFixIt quarter. Unless they charge Crowns for the fixes.

Jaraal wrote: »

jaws343 wrote: »

" will contain one of the most requested new features."

Interesting, only a handful of things to choose from I think.

You mean, like all of those people who requested account wide achievements as it was implemented?

Is that guy even still playing anymore?

spartaxoxo

luen79rwb17_ESO wrote: »

Ok ZOS, so with these "highly requested" features you better be talking about these:

- New class
- New weapon, pref magicka based
- Spellcrafting
- Pokemon-like atronach scavenger system with atronach tournaments in pokemon stadiums all around tamriel
- A nereid companion

Who's asked for those last two? I think it will be something more broadly requested.

Dark_Lord_Kuro

spartaxoxo wrote: »

luen79rwb17_ESO wrote: »

Ok ZOS, so with these "highly requested" features you better be talking about these:

- New class
- New weapon, pref magicka based
- Spellcrafting
- Pokemon-like atronach scavenger system with atronach tournaments in pokemon stadiums all around tamriel
- A nereid companion

Who's asked for those last two? I think it will be something more broadly requested.

Him obviously😆

James-Wayne

So, you're saying we could be getting more systems I will have to dig out my class system overhaul plans and repost...

you said most requested feature is coming? Spellcrafting? PvP Content? Interesting!

TaSheen

blktauna wrote: »

Faulgor wrote: »

It's just too bad everyone will be playing Starfield next year!

I won't be. They can keep their space stuff.

Makes two of us. I don't play anything but TES games and some high fantasy RPGs (not that there are many at this point - no I do NOT play FF, SO not my sort of world).

Carcamongus

Oh, and another thing... more emphasis on repeatable content, right? Stuff players can keep doing for years and all that. What comes to mind when I think of repeatable stuff is grinding. Just because people keep doing it doesn't mean they're having fun, e.g. antiquities being nice, but that infamous Murkmire lead being, well, not nice. So, will it be something new that's fun to do, thus rewarding on its own, or just more grinding?

Meanwhile, somewhere else, RNGeesus's reaction:

Fontecc

Is the ESO+ monthly fee decreasing?

Don't get me wrong, this may be what the game needs, but only Q1 dungeons will provide new content to the subscription. The rest is the expansion which we pay for separately and new base game updates. The new system for Q4 is a dillema: it may be free or not, but it would be weird to pay for just a skill line like Spellcrafting or the Antiquity system... Even then, the year-long cost of ESO+ would vastly surpass the usual cost of a class (system/skill-line in this case) upgrade and a dungeon pack.

The ideal solution would be adding the Q2 expansion to ESO+, it would be fair from a consumer standpoint. You could still have your Collector's Edition upgrade or preorder bonuses separately and yeah, everyone would have their cake.

Stamicka

React wrote: »

DuckFayth wrote: »

I'm glad we got some acknowledgement and see that there will be at least some adjustments going forward. It's been clear that there were struggles meeting the demanding release schedule that has defined the last several years not so much because of a lacking team but because of a challenging environment that started suddenly in March 2020 and has continued to affect the world since.

My concerns are that while there's promises to do better and the beginning of a plan, I don't see much of how the team will adjust, and that at surface level there's no plans for those adjustments for the first two quarters of the year. I'm disappointed by the June release date for the chapter, I feel like it would benefit from a 2-3 weeks longer PTS and slightly delayed release. That would really help instill confidence that time is being made for the right things. If Q3 will be focused on QoL and bugfixes anyways why not hold out a little longer and avoid the same mistakes? If U36 didn't get enough time to properly QA and release in a proper and whole playable experience how will the players have confidence an entire chapter is getting the time it deserves? The easiest answer to that, to me at least, would be building in more wiggle room.

My final question is what happened to the re-architecture? We haven't seen any sort of update on this since about October (source below), and it feels like if the team knew anything they would provide it in such a letter as this. I know the pvp crowd, and to a lesser extent some of the pve crowd, has been holding their breath over the server hardware but there was supposed to be so much more.

Last update I know of from the server re architecture: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/617464/code-rewrite-server-re-architecture-is-there-any-update-on-this
Original Post about the re architecture: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/595442/eso-pvp-update-updated-june-2022/p1

Matt (mistakenly?) refers to the re-architecture as "multi threading" work in today's post. He references the November 17th update from GinaBruno when speaking about the work, and says that it will begin deployment in Q2 (and will be released in chunks across following patches).

It is quite confusing, given that ESO received a "multi threading" update in a touted performance patch years ago, which did nothing for performance. Since this "server re-architecture" has been touted as the savior for server performance, I certainly hope it is more significant than more multi-thread work. Even more confusing is that Matt is referencing a difficult to find update from Gina that is buried pages deep in a player made thread, when in reality these updates should be coming in pinned posts as "announcements".

Matt did after all promise us periodic updates in last year's "January PVP post", which he never delivered upon

ESO's multi-threading work did have noticeable benefits on the game's performance, but only for the client side. I noticed huge FPS improvements almost everywhere I went in game. I do not think that Matt is mistaken here, they are doing multi-threading work on the server side this time. There are no inconsistencies here. This is exactly what Matt said in the initial post:

ZOS_MattFiror wrote: »

In short – just like we did for the client a year or so back when we introduced multithreaded rendering to increase client frame rates – we are going to rearchitect our server.