ESO Forum Improvement Survey

wilykcat

I edit my posts because I'm very picky when it comes to writing, expecially with word choices.

Here's my full feedback about this:
I hope that the changes to the forums will not end up badly and or that no big changes will happen to the forums. I also hope that they read everyone's feedback and the forum metrics carefully. I really like the forums just the way they are now.

The only forum improvements I hope are very minor like bug fixes, new category icons for mobile version of the website, and more strict moderation.

The categories are good because I can easily find what specifically I'm looking for. They help keep the forums neat and organized. Its not chaotic like social media. I always create my posts in the proper categories so others will be able to find those and it makes the moderators' job easier.

I've been on some other online game forums and they will have twice or 3 times as many categories compared to the eso forums, each one of those categories are actively getting views and new posts. There isn't really such thing as a dead category on online forums but instead some are less popular. That doesn't mean it should go away. If a subcategory isn't used often and it's similar to another subcategory that also isnt being used, then those will likely be merged.

Freilauftomate

Like the questions about how often i play and if i am in a guild...

I had to pick "i play once a month" and "i am in no guild". But there is no question about why that is. I used to play every day. Until i reached a point where i saw more problems with the game than reasons to play. My trading guilds are closing one by one, because everyone quits playing (and the top spots are still way too expensive for some reason). My pvp guilds are all dying because nobody wants to play anymore. I left my pve guilds long ago because i don't want to play buggy dungeons and trials with no good rewards.

I would really like to play ESO more often, after they fix it. But it seems like that's never going to happen.

Elsonso

NeuroticPixels wrote: »

wilykcat wrote: »

Big unknown changes is my worst fear and its happening here. This kind of stuff gives me severe anxiety because I have autism.

Nothing is happening. At least, not yet. No one knows what the future holds.

Per what Kevin said, it took them the summer just to make a survey. I am not holding my breath that a forum change will happen any time soon.

wilykcat wrote: »

I edit my posts because I'm very picky when it comes to writing, expecially with word choices.

I edit a lot, too. Forgot to say something, said something that could be misinterpreted, spelled some word wrong that changes the whole sentence, grammar problems... the list goes on and on. I should proof-read before I post, but I rarely do.

Freilauftomate wrote: »

Like the questions about how often i play and if i am in a guild...

I thought the guild line of questions was interesting, as it is seemingly unrelated to the forum. Caught me off guard.

FantasticFreddie

Freilauftomate wrote: »

Like the questions about how often i play and if i am in a guild...

I had to pick "i play once a month" and "i am in no guild". But there is no question about why that is. I used to play every day. Until i reached a point where i saw more problems with the game than reasons to play. My trading guilds are closing one by one, because everyone quits playing (and the top spots are still way too expensive for some reason). My pvp guilds are all dying because nobody wants to play anymore. I left my pve guilds long ago because i don't want to play buggy dungeons and trials with no good rewards.

I would really like to play ESO more often, after they fix it. But it seems like that's never going to happen.

I assumed the guild question was to gauge if people not in guilds rely more on the forums for information

rpa

Had some trouble opening the survey link with Waterfox. (Had to edit the url!)

Elsonso

FantasticFreddie wrote: »

Freilauftomate wrote: »

Like the questions about how often i play and if i am in a guild...

I had to pick "i play once a month" and "i am in no guild". But there is no question about why that is. I used to play every day. Until i reached a point where i saw more problems with the game than reasons to play. My trading guilds are closing one by one, because everyone quits playing (and the top spots are still way too expensive for some reason). My pvp guilds are all dying because nobody wants to play anymore. I left my pve guilds long ago because i don't want to play buggy dungeons and trials with no good rewards.

I would really like to play ESO more often, after they fix it. But it seems like that's never going to happen.

I assumed the guild question was to gauge if people not in guilds rely more on the forums for information

Maybe it is to help gauge potential spread of information into the game from the forum. There are people on here right now commenting that the current event is not well described in the game and players need to get information from other sources. Guilds are one of those.

Soarora

FantasticFreddie wrote: »

Freilauftomate wrote: »

Like the questions about how often i play and if i am in a guild...

I had to pick "i play once a month" and "i am in no guild". But there is no question about why that is. I used to play every day. Until i reached a point where i saw more problems with the game than reasons to play. My trading guilds are closing one by one, because everyone quits playing (and the top spots are still way too expensive for some reason). My pvp guilds are all dying because nobody wants to play anymore. I left my pve guilds long ago because i don't want to play buggy dungeons and trials with no good rewards.

I would really like to play ESO more often, after they fix it. But it seems like that's never going to happen.

I assumed the guild question was to gauge if people not in guilds rely more on the forums for information

I think it could also be a question of if the forums is made of antisocial solo players or group players, though antisocial solo players could be in 5 trade guilds.

Four_Fingers

The intro to the section on guilds stated they wanted to get to know info on us as players not about forum.

virtus753

Four_Fingers wrote: »

The intro to the section on guilds stated they wanted to get to know info on us as players not about forum.

Many questionnaires ask for demographic information so they can group data different ways. If they want to group data by age group, they can do it because they asked us our age. If they want to group data by guild membership, they can also do that now too. In a survey that is designed to gauge opinions on the forum, I would expect the answers to every question will be used somehow to interpret the data they will get from questions more clearly pertinent to the topic.

Four_Fingers

I only point out that is the section where they ask player demographic info.
Without making an overcomplicated explanation.

Zodiarkslayer

Finally!!!!!
I almost gave up hope.

FantasticFreddie

Also we need fewer categories for no other reason than I am sick of stuff getting yeeted into the abyss.

And at least half the time it's not even the RIGHT abyss

Ingenon

FantasticFreddie wrote: »

Also we need fewer categories for no other reason than I am sick of stuff getting yeeted into the abyss.

And at least half the time it's not even the RIGHT abyss

Well, if they are just trying to get rid of something, any abyss is a good one.

Soarora

I remembered something I didn’t include in my survey. It’d be nice if it were easier to find old patch notes. The PTS patch notes for previous cycles get buried and the patch note section of the forum is jumbled up with minor patches and different platforms.

Tandor

No problem running the survey on a desktop through the second link.

Why oh why did the end question have to be in the form of a single line window rather than a box? You say be as thorough as you like so it can't be to keep things brief, can it?

I don't know what support there would be for it, but I suggested a forum or locked topic in which every week a developer would describe what he/she had done while playing the game in the previous week. It would provide an insight into what active experience the team have of playing the game. I also complained about the level of moderation and called once again for different identification in the forum margins for developers/community staff and moderators.

Jaraal

Link is broken for me. Win 10 Chrome.

nightstrike

Jaraal wrote: »

Link is broken for me. Win 10 Chrome.

It's just prefixed with "denied:". Remove that and it'll work.

Bo0137

Hi Kevin! The feedback I want to give is that you do a marvelous job here at the forums! You are always very kind and helpful!

Tenthirty2

@ZOS_Kevin poll worked well for me, Win 10 laptop with Firefox. Thank you for doing this!

Tenthirty2

wilykcat wrote: »

I edit my posts because I'm very picky when it comes to writing, expecially with word choices.

Here's my full feedback about this:
I hope that the changes to the forums will not end up badly and or that no big changes will happen to the forums. I also hope that they read everyone's feedback and the forum metrics carefully. I really like the forums just the way they are now.

The only forum improvements I hope are very minor like bug fixes, new category icons for mobile version of the website, and more strict moderation.

The categories are good because I can easily find what specifically I'm looking for. They help keep the forums neat and organized. Its not chaotic like social media. I always create my posts in the proper categories so others will be able to find those and it makes the moderators' job easier.

I've been on some other online game forums and they will have twice or 3 times as many categories compared to the eso forums, each one of those categories are actively getting views and new posts. There isn't really such thing as a dead category on online forums but instead some are less popular. That doesn't mean it should go away. If a subcategory isn't used often and it's similar to another subcategory that also isnt being used, then those will likely be merged.

This is a good post, well organized and points are clear.
I get the anxiety about a fav forum being shuttered, I was on the Fo76 forums from the beginning and right until the very last post (IIRC I think I got the second to last post before shutdown LOL)
That sucked, it was a huge community resource that was lost.

That is not what is happening here with the ESO forums, they mentioned early in the year that they were looking for feedback from the players to IMPROVE the forum experience, reorganize the content to make it easier to find and more accessible.
If they had plans to shut down part or most of the forum they wouldn't be doing this survey, trust me, I've seen it.

Breathe in and exhale, these forums are a HUGE asset to the ESO brand, they aren't going anywhere

Elsonso

Tenthirty2 wrote: »

This is a good post, well organized and points are clear.
I get the anxiety about a fav forum being shuttered, I was on the Fo76 forums from the beginning and right until the very last post (IIRC I think I got the second to last post before shutdown LOL)
That sucked, it was a huge community resource that was lost.

I thought that Bethesda moved their forums to Discord. I never followed them there, so I don't know if that is still the case, and I never followed the Fallout forums on any venue.

Discord isn't the ideal platform for anything and I only use it when a situation comes up that requires it. I am on a lot of Discord servers, and getting all those channels so that the annoyance level is minimized without losing the usefulness is busywork. Hopefully, ZOS never goes that route.

Tenthirty2

Elsonso wrote: »

Tenthirty2 wrote: »

This is a good post, well organized and points are clear.
I get the anxiety about a fav forum being shuttered, I was on the Fo76 forums from the beginning and right until the very last post (IIRC I think I got the second to last post before shutdown LOL)
That sucked, it was a huge community resource that was lost.

I thought that Bethesda moved their forums to Discord. I never followed them there, so I don't know if that is still the case, and I never followed the Fallout forums on any venue.

Discord isn't the ideal platform for anything and I only use it when a situation comes up that requires it. I am on a lot of Discord servers, and getting all those channels so that the annoyance level is minimized without losing the usefulness is busywork. Hopefully, ZOS never goes that route.

You're right about them switching to Discord but I never considered that a "forum", more like a hot mess for anything but live streams.
There is also the Fo76 Reddit, which is ok. Certainly a better platform for a game forum than Discord but still not a good replacement for an actual forum as far as content sharing and consumption.

VaranisArano

Thanks for the survey.

The only question I felt was potentially unclear was about the Dev Tracker.

I am aware of the Dev Tracker.

However, as a mobile user, there is no way to navigate to the Dev Tracker through the mobile interface without a workaround like searching for it or saving the link. As a result, I don't use the Dev Tracker except once in a blue moon.

Certain aspects of these forums like the Dev Tracker, Participated Discussions, and the Report feature either aren't available or don't work on the mobile site. I don't know how much that is ESO's fault or a fault inherent to Vanilla Forums software

virtus753

Tenthirty2 wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

Tenthirty2 wrote: »

This is a good post, well organized and points are clear.
I get the anxiety about a fav forum being shuttered, I was on the Fo76 forums from the beginning and right until the very last post (IIRC I think I got the second to last post before shutdown LOL)
That sucked, it was a huge community resource that was lost.

I thought that Bethesda moved their forums to Discord. I never followed them there, so I don't know if that is still the case, and I never followed the Fallout forums on any venue.

Discord isn't the ideal platform for anything and I only use it when a situation comes up that requires it. I am on a lot of Discord servers, and getting all those channels so that the annoyance level is minimized without losing the usefulness is busywork. Hopefully, ZOS never goes that route.

You're right about them switching to Discord but I never considered that a "forum", more like a hot mess for anything but live streams.
There is also the Fo76 Reddit, which is ok. Certainly a better platform for a game forum than Discord but still not a good replacement for an actual forum as far as content sharing and consumption.

Discord has a forum-like feature with discussion threads, which is relatively new (about a year old, iirc). One of my guilds uses it for a general game help channel, and it seems to work fairly well. I know Bethesda, Amazon Games, and Ubisoft all moved their forums to Discord in the past couple years as well (May/June 2021, May 2023, and April 2023, respectively), but at least the first two don’t seem to have made any use of the forum format for their discords. I’m not on the Ubisoft discord and can’t speak to that. As a result, the discussions are indeed very messy, with everyone talking over each other, questions going unanswered, little in the way of organization (beyond big categories like General vs Bugs, etc.).

So it’s not that Discord doesn’t offer forum-like formatting - though I will still always prefer an actual website, no question - but that these companies aren’t making use of it when they switch.

ETA: I see Bethesda is now actually using this format but only for specific things like Bug reports. General is still a complete mess, though.

i11ionward

Hello, is it just me that the placement of the last and next buttons is annoying? I wish they were swapped. I would like this button layout:
<first><previous><current><next><last>
Or move last and first to some other place.
Where can I find the Dev Trackers button in the mobile version? I only found out that there is a dev tracker when I saw a link in something post.
P.S. I use the forum mainly from my mobile phone.

Carlos93

I wish there was a new section to brainstorm and discuss improvements that can be added to the game in the future.

Another point that I would like to see added to the forum would be to have more tools available to create new discussions, polls, etc.

TaSheen

I'm not at all sure that vanilla provides a mobile interface, or if they do if it's any good. @VaranisArano could probably tell you for certain.

VaranisArano

i11ionward wrote: »

Where can I find the Dev Trackers button in the mobile version? I only found out that there is a dev tracker when I saw a link in something post.
P.S. I use the forum mainly from my mobile phone.

As far as I know, there is no way to navigate to the Dev Tracker in the mobile version (I'm on Chrome).

You can get there if you know the link or Google "eso dev tracker" or whatever, but there's no "button" for it the way there is for Recent Discussions. It's not even listed in the Community Home page.

Northwold

Just an observation. I hope people posting here with their gripes are actually completing the survey because that is what the survey is for!! If they're giving us an outlet to say what we think, we should be using it, rather than repeating what we've already said in the past within the forums themselves.

Destai

i11ionward wrote: »

Hello, is it just me that the placement of the last and next buttons is annoying? I wish they were swapped. I would like this button layout:
<first><previous><current><next><last>
Or move last and first to some other place.
Where can I find the Dev Trackers button in the mobile version? I only found out that there is a dev tracker when I saw a link in something post.
P.S. I use the forum mainly from my mobile phone.

I agree! I created a thread on that a while ago; always seemed out of order for me.