Official Discussion Thread, "Work Hard To Earn Bonus Rewards During Zeal Of Zenithar"

BergisMacBride

@ZOS_Kevin

Regarding the limitations on master writs:

I understand the desire not to have tons of writs accumulated for months spammed during the event, but why not a compromise? 7 per day is pretty darned meager and really decreases engagement of the event among a lot of players. I'd suggest limiting the number to around 25 for all master writs per day.

karthrag_inak

BergisMacBride wrote: »

@ZOS_Kevin

Regarding the limitations on master writs:

I understand the desire not to have tons of writs accumulated for months spammed during the event, but why not a compromise? 7 per day is pretty darned meager and really decreases engagement of the event among a lot of players. I'd suggest limiting the number to around 25 for all master writs per day.

Why? Why have a limit? The players who can do many hundreds of writs have -earned- the ability to do so. They still have to provide the writs themselves, be able to actually do them (often meaning they are 9 trait and know many motifs - khajiit's motif knowledge is easily worth over 100 mil gold - he knows every motif in game right now except a few pages of Ancestral Breton), and have all the materials for them, which often costs around 1k-2k gold per voucher. It is not like anything is done or given for free here.

One would think, with how restrictive the rewarding has become, that these boxes were gifting massive delightful fortunes of treasure. This of course is absurd. The gifts in each box rarely exceed the worth of the vouchers from even just a purple sealed writ, let alone the cost of doing the writ in the first place.

So why are so many folks salty about this stupid change? What is the point of all these complaints?

The point is that this event WAS the only event that favored and rewarded advanced crafters since the game began. Not cyro pvpers, not group dungeoning, not battleground-ers, but crafters, and the more advanced, the more rewarded. Those among us who had invested so much time and effort into a particular game style were finally recognized.

Does that mean that folks who complain are just whiny elitists who are losing their lollis? Khajiit thinks not. Khajiit thinks that for the first time in this game, a particular segment of the population was recognized, rewarded for what they do in game, and at least in Khajiit's case, made to feel somewhat special for being what he is.

Is this not what we all want from this game? A few moments to be recognized and feel special for how we play? Do we not all deserve this? Or is that just reserved for the 110k dps folks who can breeze through vet dungeon and trial triefectas and get all those sparkly skins and mounts and other rewards within a week of the content's release?

And now? "Oh no, that was not the dev's intentions or expectations". Which translates to, "oops, your play style is not, in fact, valued".

disintegr8

Why force people to run with guild mates?

Not everyone is, or wants to be, in a guild.

Durnik

"Each time you defeat a world boss while grouped with a player who is in at least one of your player guilds"
+
While doing the same thing. Simply grouping with someone didn't work.

Cathmor

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

bring it in line with team expectations

This statement makes me feel like i'm a lab rat, or worse, like i'm at work.

To me it sounds so that game is not for us, it's for the Team, and we are their playthings.

That might explain a lot that happens.

laniakea_0

disintegr8 wrote: »

Why force people to run with guild mates?

Not everyone is, or wants to be, in a guild.

the whole point of this event was to have a guild focused event. people have been asking for this for many years! there's still plenty you can do without being in a guild just like there is plenty to do for PvE players during Whitestrake's.
sure, there is room for improvements but there is nothing wrong with the concept.

Kelinmiriel

A limit to boxes is not unreasonable. Many other events actually have a 50 box per day limit - it's not stated, but some people run into it. (I'm not sure if that's per character or per account; I'm not one of those people who runs into it.)

Even if it's per account, wouldn't all you dedicated, hard-working crafters be happier being able to earn 50 purple boxes per day, than 7? The event runs 13 days (12 if you're on NA and not willing to suffer for that annoying 4-hour partial day), which would let you get 600-650 boxes.

aussie500

Well I am very disappointed Zenithar is not going to generously reward my hardworking crafters as he has done in past years, I will just settle for doing a quest to get my tickets on my 3 accounts. If they get lucky and one of my guilds do an event I will class that as an extra bonus.

VaranisArano

Four_Fingers wrote: »

Why am I getting CP10 food recipes in boxes on a CP2000 character?
My account can never be CP10 again.

Sell those to completionists.

<.<
No, I totally never spent way too much gold on a recipe I'd never use just for the dopamine hit of completing a list...
Nope.
>.>

ThatsMySweetroll

Are you guys able to confirm if the passions muse fragments will be coming back with an event? usually they hang around until all 4 are available (the pet is still there and a new outfit fragment). But I missed the last fragment for the personality and its not up in the event shop anymore?

karthrag_inak

@ZOS_Kevin This event has really been ruined.

It is the 2nd day of event. Account has 20 fully leveled 7-prof master crafters, and they each can get ... 1 box for doing event things, unless they group and fight or steal and get lucky. 1 Account-wide crafting box for dailies and 7 account wide for sealed writs - you realize that much more is given as reward for doing much less crating from the Anniversary event, right?

If this were any other event, say a PVP event, with the possibility for only 1 box for doing the primary focus of event, folks would be burning things down.

laniakea_0

ThatsMySweetroll wrote: »

Are you guys able to confirm if the passions muse fragments will be coming back with an event? usually they hang around until all 4 are available (the pet is still there and a new outfit fragment). But I missed the last fragment for the personality and its not up in the event shop anymore?

all fragments of a year will be available during the New Life Festival.

Necrotech_Master

laniakea_0 wrote: »

disintegr8 wrote: »

Why force people to run with guild mates?

Not everyone is, or wants to be, in a guild.

the whole point of this event was to have a guild focused event. people have been asking for this for many years! there's still plenty you can do without being in a guild just like there is plenty to do for PvE players during Whitestrake's.
sure, there is room for improvements but there is nothing wrong with the concept.

not so much anymore for this event when other sources of boxes are incredibly limited (8 between daily and master writs, and 1 from honest toil quest)

where someone in a guild can go farm WB for 12 hours and get hundreds of boxes

shalalaA7X

Smaxx wrote: »

My biggest complaint for this event would be the fact there's now not just one but two style sets to complete (16 pages total, if I'm not wrong; compared to previously typically 7-10 or so). Combined with the fact not even the golden box guarantees a stile page drop this feels massively over-scaled when you compare the number of things to get (or buy) and the number of ways to earn boxes without farming for hours (or the number of tickets to get) – and that's (at least for me) not fun. Whether it's farming crafting writs for hours or world bosses for hours. Style pages shouldn't be just simple "login bonuses", but I also think there should be a chance to get them within a reasonable time per day that still leaves you to do things you want to do.

To make it worse some events you are limited to one of these style pages a day. Are you with zenithar? I haven’t had any friends tell me they got two of the new style pages on the same day. If you are limited to one a day that is an issue with there being 16 style pages and only 12 days (13 if you participate in the time between reset and end) so definitely not enough time to get all of them. @ZOS_Kevin is there a daily limit on style pages for this one?

Does anyone know if you can get a second kwama miner or ashen Militia on a day or if it only gives you last years high rock. (I didn’t even see it mentioned in the post but I know a couple guild mates mentioned getting those after their current year style page)

Ashryn

Why is it so egregious for people to be 'spamming' writs? Didn't they work to gather the crafting supplies they will need? Doesn't it still take time and effort? Why is it so dreadful for them to get these reward boxes in number when the chances of even getting anything very useful are pretty slim as it is?

LunaFlora

Kelinmiriel wrote: »

@ZOS_Kevin ? Could we please get an answer about whether the 2021 collectibles fragments will continue to be available in future events?

Since Zeal of Zenithar has started already, people need to know so they can decide how to spend their tickets.

Thanks!

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/632766/pts-patch-notes-v9-0-2

Philius Dormier, the Impresario’s Assistant, is revamping his inventory to source some retired collectibles from previous years.
He will have the Unstable Morpholith pet fragments from 2021, as well as fragments for the Deadlands Firewalker personality from the same year.
His inventory will change slightly with the season, much like the Indrik vendor at the Belkarth Festival grounds, so check back with him frequently if you missed something from that year or the current offerings aren’t to your liking.

according to these pts patch notes the fragments should change with the seasons just like the indriks.

Zachary_Shadow

laniakea_0 wrote: »

disintegr8 wrote: »

Why force people to run with guild mates?

Not everyone is, or wants to be, in a guild.

the whole point of this event was to have a guild focused event. people have been asking for this for many years! there's still plenty you can do without being in a guild just like there is plenty to do for PvE players during Whitestrake's.
sure, there is room for improvements but there is nothing wrong with the concept.

There is nothing wrong with the concept, absolutely. I think rewarding group play is needed for events like this. The issue that many players like myself have with this event is they gutted ways for solo players to be able to gain boxes, at least at the rate that grouped players will now be able to gain them. The game highlights its "play how you want" style, but for an event that is tied to the "God of Commerce" to have been nerfed for crafters and solo players so much, the event doesn't bear weight to the game's main highlight. Yes, they should reward group play, but not if it means forcing it upon players who might not enjoy playing in groups/guilds. There needs to be options for the unlimited box farming and right now, as a solo player, your only option is tied to a small RNG chance from stealing, a major nerf from ways crafters were able to farm said boxes.

laniakea_0

@Zachary_Shadow indeed. but I can also see why they don't want people hording Master Writs all year long. you should definitely get boxes for all daily writs per character and at least a fixed amount of master writs per day. but maybe not an indefinite amount. instead there should be a kind of progression system with incremental reward boxes during the event. e.g. after completing the intro quest, you can gain an item. as long as this item is active during the event, it will track your progress for certain activities. it would be a lot like how endeavors work. it could also be tied to a difficulty increase as your progression advances (in that case it would also have to reset every day). for example, one thing you can do for honest toil is gain a level up. this could be replaced with a fixed amount of XP you have to gain. that amount increases every time you reach that goal. similarly, you could dig up 1 treasure chest or an antiquity but after that you would have to do 2. that way you could also include a lot more activities than the 3 Honest Toil offers right now.

LunaFlora

laniakea_0 wrote: »

@Zachary_Shadow indeed. but I can also see why they don't want people hording Master Writs all year long. you should definitely get boxes for all daily writs per character and at least a fixed amount of master writs per day. but maybe not an indefinite amount. instead there should be a kind of progression system with incremental reward boxes during the event. e.g. after completing the intro quest, you can gain an item. as long as this item is active during the event, it will track your progress for certain activities. it would be a lot like how endeavors work. it could also be tied to a difficulty increase as your progression advances (in that case it would also have to reset every day). for example, one thing you can do for honest toil is gain a level up. this could be replaced with a fixed amount of XP you have to gain. that amount increases every time you reach that goal. similarly, you could dig up 1 treasure chest or an antiquity but after that you would have to do 2. that way you could also include a lot more activities than the 3 Honest Toil offers right now.

if we got a reward box for every daily crafting writ for every character that'd
pretty much make it Jubilee 2 which is what zos probably doesn't want

laniakea_0

true, but this only offers a fraction of what's in the anniversary box and you don't get them for every daily either. should be fine.

WhiteCoatSyndrome

Ashryn wrote: »

Why is it so egregious for people to be 'spamming' writs? Didn't they work to gather the crafting supplies they will need? Doesn't it still take time and effort? Why is it so dreadful for them to get these reward boxes in number when the chances of even getting anything very useful are pretty slim as it is?

I want to second this. I gather ZOS wants people to log in on a regular basis; previous dev commentary has complained that people only log in when there is new content. Decisions like this is why.

If people want to hoard Master Writs for this event, that means they have to log in every day and complete the regular Crafting Writs to get those Master Writs. With the current setup, they have no incentive to keep doing this once they have about two weeks’ worth of Master Writs, which might be trivially short depending on how many crafting characters they have and how good or bad their RNG is.

blktauna

I'm really unhappy with the turn this has taken. Why on earth did you guys have to change a fun event so drastically? If you want to ADD guild requirements, the ADD things to do. Don't REMOVE.

Well looks like another event where I just get the tickets and two boxes. My crafters are very sad.

The only benefit is that I'm not put out by these constant login issues and I have no reason to be on.

tincanman

laniakea_0 wrote: »

@Zachary_Shadow indeed. but I can also see why they don't want people hording Master Writs all year long. ....

Master writs get hoarded anyway: any event that doubles xp, for example, is a usual time, outwith this event, to use up those hoarded master writs. In the case of double xp events they're used to quickly level characters or skills. There's never been any issue with those hoarded master writs being used during those events.

For this event there's absolutely no reason why the master writs couldn't function as they did last year except for some incredibly poor and short-sighted decision making.

Ditto with the crafting dailies.

tincanman

The huge irony is that solo players really only have stealing - which is the very antithesis of Zenithar, lorewise - as a poor option to participate.

Zachary_Shadow

Ashryn wrote: »

Why is it so egregious for people to be 'spamming' writs? Didn't they work to gather the crafting supplies they will need? Doesn't it still take time and effort? Why is it so dreadful for them to get these reward boxes in number when the chances of even getting anything very useful are pretty slim as it is?

At first, I did understand their reasoning behind wanting to stop people from "spamming" writs, but you brought up an excellent point that I honestly forgot about and that's because writs still take up materials. I do understand ZOS reasoning from a game development standpoint; however, the fact is writs still cost lots of materials, especially legendary ones. Yes, writ vouchers are nice, but isn't the point of an event to incentivize players to play more? To bring players back who might have taken a break? I feel this nerf wasn't well thought-out and was a hurried patch to force players into playing other content, despite there being other events that highlight/incentivize players to do that content. I think it's great they added other ways to gain boxes if players don't enjoy crafting/stealing, but to have nerfed it for so many other players and having the only guaranteed way to gain unlimited boxes from grouping with guild members is such a punch in the gut that doesn't make sense. If anything, this event brought more use to master writs and wanting to complete them instead of having them stuffed away in the bank. I truly hope ZOS takes all the feedback into account and reverts this unnecessary nerf for a favorite event.

At the very least, if they are so against "spamming" of writs, perhaps meeting us in the middle where each character can do seven master writs for seven boxes could be a "middle of the road" situation. It would not only incentivize players to level up their alts into crafters but also reward said players for being such master crafters. It wouldn't be as great as it once was, but I feel this change would at least make more sense than the one they implemented.

laniakea_0

tincanman wrote: »

The huge irony is that solo players really only have stealing - which is the very antithesis of Zenithar, lorewise - as a poor option to participate.

I think the stealing is fine, actually. sure, it doesn't celebrate Zenithar, quite the opposite in fact, but the implication is that you're stealing from hard working citizens that did earn it.

WhiteCoatSyndrome

tincanman wrote: »

The huge irony is that solo players really only have stealing - which is the very antithesis of Zenithar, lorewise - as a poor option to participate.

My headcanon is this is revenge from the Celestial Thief. Consider: after she risks herself to (successfully!) warn and rally the mortals to save Craglorn from the Serpent, here come Zenithar’s priests camping on her front door very loudly decrying thievery. No acknowledgment of the hard work she put in to save Nirn, just an attempt by Zenithar’s minions to steal any acknowledgment of the stars.

First Emissary Rohais has been giving those priests the stink eye for a while now.

Vanathi

How about fixing the queue issue so those of us who are paying customers can participate in the event!?

Displaced_Salad

Vanathi wrote: »

How about fixing the queue issue so those of us who are paying customers can participate in the event!?

I'll see that raise you: How about actually increasing and MONITORING server performance and capacity during events, especially those combined with free plus and a free release on Epic? Not one single solitary event has gone off without a hitch under whatever counts as normal circumstances. How about ZOS stop pointing at the "we don't guarantee services" line when they keep having monumental muck ups on a regular basis. Not being able to provide the advertised service doesn't fall under that clause when you knowingly sell a product you cannot provide.

blktauna

I've lost 2 days of tickets already becuse of this nonsense.