For a 10 year anniversary event this was disappointing

FelisCatus · April 22

The ESO 10-year anniversary event felt underwhelming for several reasons. First, the abysmal drop rates made it more about mindlessly grinding the same world boss or world event, or fishing holes. 200+ times with no guaranteed drop. I know it was not just only me who spent countless hours grinding, only to receive lacklustre rewards or none at all. As the drop we all really wanted likely never dropped.

Second, the event lacked excitement and originally—where were the fireworks, surprises, and wonder? I think the event should've been themed more about the original main quest and reminding us why we're the vestige in the first place and how it all started 10 years ago. Maybe a reason to return to the long neglected zone of Coldharbour? Instead, it felt like another mundane event where you're either logging in just for tickets then logging out again or you're just grinding mindlessly for a carrot that is on a stick so long you'll never get to taste it. Maybe give everyone who logged in for the event a free house or of had one of those community metres like in lesser events where everyone had to work together to get cosmetics, housing, unique rewards, etc. Maybe something as simple as giving out a stack of endeavours (enough for a radiant apex mount) or a large amount of crowns (maybe 10k, 1k for each year) to all players for something as monumental as the 10th anniversary would've felt more celebratory.

Third, the Thieves Guild DLC, while nice for newbies, offered little for seasoned players with thousands of hours in the game. For a veteran like me, I own all the DLC either through outright purchase or through ESO+ and I'm sure this is true for most veteran players. So it's great giving out the Thieves Guild as a DLC, but if you already own it, then you didn't really get anything. Which is quite typical, as new players are catered to, but the veteran ones are usually left in the dust. In summary—no epic quests, unique cosmetics locked behind an insane grind, no real heartfelt nods to customer loyalty. Not even a big graphical update or anything. The game is 10 years old and it shows. In the end, the ESO 10-year anniversary felt like a missed opportunity, leaving players hoping for more joy and less grind.

Whilst I'm sure the live event in the Netherlands was great for those that went, the vast majority of players couldn't go, and I felt like ZOS focused more on the live event instead of the digital event (which you know is the actual game). Unless you are a well known content creator or a newbie player, this event didn't really offer much I feel.

I don't mean to sound negative, but this is just my opinion as a player since 2015. I'd be curious to know what others think.

BlueRaven · April 22

They claim they are stretching the celebration out over the coming months, but if this was the kick off there is cause for concern.

This was a shockingly poorly planned event.

(Edit: fixed a typo.)

Elvenheart · April 22

BlueRaven wrote: »

They claim they are stretching the celebration out over the coming months, but if this was the kick off their is cause for concern.

This was a shockingly poorly planned event.

Agreed, and very disappointing.

xclassgaming · April 22

especially since some of us are missing half of it....

FelisCatus · April 22

BlueRaven wrote: »

They claim they are stretching the celebration out over the coming months, but if this was the kick off their is cause for concern.

This was a shockingly poorly planned event.

You know it's bad when zone anniversary events get significant rewards that are accessible to everyone but the grand decade anniversary event felt like your average holiday event or guild event. At least with High Isle, Summerset and Greymoor anniversaries we got some significant rewards. Like giant houses.

EdjeSwift · April 22

FelisCatus wrote: »

You know it's bad when zone anniversary events get significant rewards that are accessible to everyone but the grand decade anniversary event felt like your average holiday event or guild event. At least with High Isle, Summerset and Greymoor anniversaries we got some significant rewards. Like giant houses.

I think this is exactly where a disconnect is between the Anniversary Celebration and the Jubilee. I don't think the Jubilee was this big 10th anniversary celebration people are making it out to be, it's just the Anniversary Event which we've had every year since 2016 just with a different coat and a few new drops.

I was looking at the "Celebration" roadmap they're pushing and their 15 month plan, it's spotlights and limited in-game showings, the Jubilee isn't even on the roadmap. From their own roadmap what we have in-game this month is the Free 2 Play event, the Thieves' Guild Spotlight and the the Prologue Quest.

Elvenheart · April 22

To me, it feels like most of their efforts went into the kickoff anniversary event in Amsterdam, an event some people paid to attend and journeyed there at their own expense while certain others were flown there and put up in hotels by ZOS for their contributions with content creating, etc., while the in-game anniversary event was poorly thought out with iconic items locked behind a horrible grind, tons of unhappy players in zone chat that went unheard, and a number of players locked out of the event by the unfortunate accident involving the PTS. This is how I’m going to always remember the 10th anniversary event I experienced for my favorite game. So disappointing.

Suddwrath · April 22

With this "Celebration" stretching out over 15 months, I foresee event fatigue and burnout overshadowing any feelings of celebration.

FelisCatus · April 22

EdjeSwift wrote: »

FelisCatus wrote: »

You know it's bad when zone anniversary events get significant rewards that are accessible to everyone but the grand decade anniversary event felt like your average holiday event or guild event. At least with High Isle, Summerset and Greymoor anniversaries we got some significant rewards. Like giant houses.

I think this is exactly where a disconnect is between the Anniversary Celebration and the Jubilee. I don't think the Jubilee was this big 10th anniversary celebration people are making it out to be, it's just the Anniversary Event which we've had every year since 2016 just with a different coat and a few new drops.

I was looking at the "Celebration" roadmap they're pushing and their 15 month plan, it's spotlights and limited in-game showings, the Jubilee isn't even on the roadmap. From their own roadmap what we have in-game this month is the Free 2 Play event, the Thieves' Guild Spotlight and the the Prologue Quest.

What do you think is next to come and do you think it'll be any good? I don't have high hopes knowing ZOS' track record.

joergino · April 22

"Disappointing" is putting it mildly. This event has certainly taken me one more step closer to finally uninstalling this game and never even thinking about it again.

The grind for the new motifs is an utterly bizarre thing to put into the game as a "reward" for a celebration event to say the least. Since I personally had neither the motivation, the time nor the optimism that anything good could possibly be the result of spending entire days or weeks doing horribly boring and utterly unenjoyable activities, it was clear right from the start that I would most likely finish this event with not a single grind reward.

But I did waste some time on the grind nevertheless and at least I got the fishing thing after about a hundred tries or so. But four more items and two of them from world bosses? This has got to be an extremely sick joke. After all we have been told again and again that there are millions upon millions of players playing this game, yet only twelve out of these millions are DPS-selected to even get any loot from a boss - and then RNG decides whether any of these lucky twelve gets any of the event motifs.

Elvenheart · April 22

joergino wrote: »

"Disappointing" is putting it mildly. This event has certainly taken me one more step closer to finally uninstalling this game and never even thinking about it again.

The grind for the new motifs is an utterly bizarre thing to put into the game as a "reward" for a celebration event to say the least. Since I personally had neither the motivation, the time nor the optimism that anything good could possibly be the result of spending entire days or weeks doing horribly boring and utterly unenjoyable activities, it was clear right from the start that I would most likely finish this event with not a single grind reward.

But I did waste some time on the grind nevertheless and at least I got the fishing thing after about a hundred tries or so. But four more items and two of them from world bosses? This has got to be an extremely sick joke. After all we have been told again and again that there are millions upon millions of players playing this game, yet only twelve out of these millions are DPS-selected to even get any loot from a boss - and then RNG decides whether any of these lucky twelve gets any of the event motifs.

I wish I could give this an agree, an insightful, and an awesome. But since I can only do one, I hit agree.

EdjeSwift · April 22

FelisCatus wrote: »

What do you think is next to come and do you think it'll be any good? I don't have high hopes knowing ZOS' track record.

I really don't expect much to be honest, ESO is my comfort game, it's the game I come back to after other games die down in my interest. The various spotlights make me think more free DLC+mini-events tied around said DLC.

I'm a simple man, give me a functional server and something to do(yes grind included in that) and I'll keep coming back. I've seen enough games shutter their doors over my gaming life to not appreciate a good game while it's around.

SilverBride · April 22

joergino wrote: »

"Disappointing" is putting it mildly...

...The grind for the new motifs is an utterly bizarre thing to put into the game as a "reward" for a celebration event to say the least.

I completely agree.

I have never in all my years of playing felt such disappointment in anything, and to be honest I am more than a little angry. This event should have been fun and rewarding and full of activities such as special anniversary quests, etc. But instead I am nearing 600 world boss kills seeking one style page...

What bothers me most is the complete lack of acknowledgement for those of us that have brought attention to how bad this has been, let alone doing anything to alleviate the situation.

JonnAndCo · April 22

For me, the fiasco with the PTS/Locked accounts cast a shadow over everything. Even so, I would like to say I appreciate their efforts to reimburse these accounts. As for the event itself, I have no issues. I didn't really care about the style pages, and over all they have been pretty generous this year.

FelisCatus · April 22

JonnAndCo wrote: »

For me, the fiasco with the PTS/Locked accounts cast a shadow over everything. Even so, I would like to say I appreciate their efforts to reimburse these accounts. As for the event itself, I have no issues. I didn't really care about the style pages, and over all they have been pretty generous this year.

They give us crumbs and we call them generous. Whilst they hoard the whole loaf we are lucky to get the scraps.

KS_Amt38 · April 22

Well for me, I actually enjoy the coffers we got with that many motifs. I dont care about the low drop rates for some unique dressings, as i am not bothered grinding for it.
But I would be really pissed if I was locked out due to the PTS Fiasco, despite the really good compensation (which is definetely not too much).

TKo_ROUSE · April 22

Hey if they actually unban us Thursday. That’s 10 days banned for 10 year anniversary! So at least there will be a meaning behind it.

anitajoneb17_ESO · April 22

The celebration is, in my humble (and wannabe logical) opinion, NOT meant for rewarding players in-game. It's a PR thing meant for attracting more players, articles, buzz... like "if the game has been lasting that long, it must be good somehow, let's give it a try".
I for one am quite happy with the way it is celebrated ingame, I'm not asking for more. I've been playing since 2014 with little to no interruptions.
I feel grateful to ZOS for providing whatever it took for the game to be still more than alive, and wish it to last as long as it can, 10, 20, 30 more years ? is fine by me.
(edit : typos)

SilverBride · April 22

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

The celebration is, in my humble (and wannabe logical) opinion, NOT meant for rewarding players in-game.

Well it should be.

FelisCatus · April 22

SilverBride wrote: »

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

The celebration is, in my humble (and wannabe logical) opinion, NOT meant for rewarding players in-game.

Well it should be.

The celebration is mainly for content creators, newbies and the ZOS staff so they can pat themselves on the back whilst giving themselves an excuse to fund a holiday to Europe.

anitajoneb17_ESO · April 22

SilverBride wrote: »

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

The celebration is, in my humble (and wannabe logical) opinion, NOT meant for rewarding players in-game.

Well it should be.

From an emotional / moral point of view ? Maybe.
From a financial / business / marketing point of view ? No. (developers do not live on love and fresh water - as we say in french -, they have rents to pay, etc... like all of us)
and what keeps the game alive ? Not the few bunches of veterans like me / us.. but NEW players.
I've stopped subbing for a couple of years (after having subbed for quite a few years) .. so I understand that if the game's still there, it's due to marketing strategies aimed at new, subbing players, and not oldtimers like me.
Besides, I truly enjoy this year's anniversary.

FelisCatus · April 23

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

The celebration is, in my humble (and wannabe logical) opinion, NOT meant for rewarding players in-game.

Well it should be.

From an emotional / moral point of view ? Maybe.
From a financial / business / marketing point of view ? No. (developers do not live on love and fresh water - as we say in french -, they have rents to pay, etc... like all of us)
and what keeps the game alive ? Not the few bunches of veterans like me / us.. but NEW players.
I've stopped subbing for a couple of years (after having subbed for quite a few years) .. so I understand that if the game's still there, it's due to marketing strategies aimed at new, subbing players, and not oldtimers like me.
Besides, I truly enjoy this year's anniversary.

I heavily disagree, the new players aren't keeping it alive they just maintain the illusion of activity in zones. However the end game scene has vastly decreased. It's a lot harder to PUG content even with the group finder as there are less experienced players.
I love the group finder but it doesn't fix the issue of lack of experienced players. There are a lot less experienced people in guilds now so there are less people to teach mechanics to newer players.

There is a massive shortage in tanks, new players don't fulfil this role because it takes a long time to learn and you often get a lot of abuse if you mess up. You can even see DPS is being made easier with mythics and the arcanist class because new players don't want to invest time into weaving (nor should they it's a terrible system).

The veteran players are the ones that will stick with you in a diehard way if you're good to them and them alone will keep the game going. The new players come and go just to spice things up and sure they'll probably spend more than a veteran player who will find ways to grind for it however it is unlikely that new players will be long time subscribers of ESO+ it is unlikely that new players will own all the DLC or login everyday.

In short catering to new players is short sighted. It's a temporary fix but it masks the problem. No good comes from alienating your loyal longstanding players.

Elvenheart · April 23

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

The celebration is, in my humble (and wannabe logical) opinion, NOT meant for rewarding players in-game.

Well it should be.

From an emotional / moral point of view ? Maybe.
From a financial / business / marketing point of view ? No. (developers do not live on love and fresh water - as we say in french -, they have rents to pay, etc... like all of us)
and what keeps the game alive ? Not the few bunches of veterans like me / us.. but NEW players.
I've stopped subbing for a couple of years (after having subbed for quite a few years) .. so I understand that if the game's still there, it's due to marketing strategies aimed at new, subbing players, and not oldtimers like me.
Besides, I truly enjoy this year's anniversary.

They could’ve done both. This could’ve been a wonderful PR opportunity AND an event that rewarded existing loyal players. Nothing at all is wrong with them wanting to advertise 10-year-old game and drawing in new players, but not at the expense of players who have been with the game, some from the beginning, players who have contributed to that $2 billion they are so proud they made. They ignore and alienate those players to their future detriment. I wonder how many more billions they’ll make over the next 10 years?

FelisCatus · April 23

Elvenheart wrote: »

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

The celebration is, in my humble (and wannabe logical) opinion, NOT meant for rewarding players in-game.

Well it should be.

From an emotional / moral point of view ? Maybe.
From a financial / business / marketing point of view ? No. (developers do not live on love and fresh water - as we say in french -, they have rents to pay, etc... like all of us)
and what keeps the game alive ? Not the few bunches of veterans like me / us.. but NEW players.
I've stopped subbing for a couple of years (after having subbed for quite a few years) .. so I understand that if the game's still there, it's due to marketing strategies aimed at new, subbing players, and not oldtimers like me.
Besides, I truly enjoy this year's anniversary.

They could’ve done both. This could’ve been a wonderful PR opportunity AND an event that rewarded existing loyal players. Nothing at all is wrong with them wanting to advertise 10-year-old game and drawing in new players, but not at the expense of players who have been with the game, some from the beginning, players who have contributed to that $2 billion they are so proud they made. They ignore and alienate those players to their future detriment. I wonder how many more billions they’ll make over the next 10 years?

With the way they're going I'll be surprised if more vets don't get burnt out and quit, I only login for events now, that's it. Not much for endgame players to do except repeat content. Can't even enjoy PvP when it's so broken.

FlopsyPrince · April 23

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

The celebration is, in my humble (and wannabe logical) opinion, NOT meant for rewarding players in-game.

Well it should be.

From an emotional / moral point of view ? Maybe.
From a financial / business / marketing point of view ? No. (developers do not live on love and fresh water - as we say in french -, they have rents to pay, etc... like all of us)
and what keeps the game alive ? Not the few bunches of veterans like me / us.. but NEW players.
I've stopped subbing for a couple of years (after having subbed for quite a few years) .. so I understand that if the game's still there, it's due to marketing strategies aimed at new, subbing players, and not oldtimers like me.
Besides, I truly enjoy this year's anniversary.

What would it have cost the devs to be more generous? That is a bad argument. Making more drops would increase the enjoyment and cost them very little.

They will not attract as many new players if they don't make the long term ones more rabid about playing the game.

Sure, the celebration in Europe may have been good for some, especially content creators, but that is not what the game is ultimately built on.

Though I remember when Warcraft was losing focus and ESO was rarely pushed as a replacement, which shows they are missing something.

Poss · April 23

I had no issues with the event. The anniversary event is by far my favourite

Only gripe I have is the fact you had to spend event tickets for a mediocre looking birthday mount that I only wanted for the achievement

DigiAngel · April 23

Heh....EVERY event is a disappointment for me...every single one. I've NEVER had an event end thinking "wow I got some good stuff"...ever.

Same old tired handful of style sheets....a few useful items....one or two that I'll make some gold from, and the rest is mountains of useless garbage. EVERY. SINGLE. EVENT.

I've set my expectations accordingly for years; I expect nothing.

Reginald_leBlem · April 23

It just baffles my mind they took the time and effort to create a system where you can do achievements to unlock free items in the crown store and then just didn't use it for their 10 year event.

The style pages should have been in the crown store and unlocked via playing the game in a way that celebrated various zones and stories.

Seraphayel · April 23

I liked it, had a lot of fun and for me it was exactly what was advertised, a free loot spectacle. I find it absurd that players want free Crowns, enough Endeavours for an Apex mount or whatever. Some ideas here are just so unrealistic that people are not disappointed by ZOS in the end, they’re disappointed by their sky high expectations.

Shara_Wynn · April 23

So far this 10 year celebration I have gotten:

More free crown crates, seals of endeavors, pets, costumes, mementos, emotes, houseguests and mounts than I think have ever been given away as daily login rewards.

Wrothgar DLC
3 x Associated costumes
1 x Associated mount
1 x Associated pet

Theives Guild DLC
1 x associated mount
A choice of very generous weekly endeavors

As such I think ZOS has been very magnanimous.

The actual anniversary holiday event, I think most can agree, was a tale of two halves. The half that got and the half that didn't.

However, the giveaways thus so far have been very lavish I feel, and as the year progresses (ZOS claiming a year of celebrations to commemorate 10 years of The Elder Scrolls Online), I am sure there will be more to come.

TKo_ROUSE · April 23

Shara_Wynn wrote: »

The actual anniversary holiday event, I think most can agree, was a tale of two halves. The half that got and the half that didn't.

Fixed it for you:
The half that got (banned) and the half that didn't (get the style page drops)

Jokes aside: before this event I do agree things were going pretty well. The increased monthly rewards were welcome. I hope they keep that up in the future.