State of the Game Address

Valfodr · May 2014

ruze84b14_ESO wrote: »

I do not feel the current guild mechanics, quest system or lack of drive to AvAvA will earn a loyal playerbase. If Zenimax can improve this in a quick manner, with good communication, they will see that playerbase become loyal.

You're probably right about retaining a small, loyal player base but I would rather see a significantly larger player base, one this game is worthy of. But based off current server pops I feel it might already be too late. You know as well as I do (judging from your insightful remarks) that an MMO's life-span is limited. And subscription-based MMO's really have 3 cycles in terms of notable customer growth.

Cycle 1 is the first month of launch, where players experience the game for the first time and a large portion quit unless major faults are patched quickly. WoW has instilled this horrible notion of impatience; common players do not realize the struggle between developer and publisher deadlines and expect MMO's to be perfect on release date. These players that unsub on first month might keep tabs on the game and return once they deem it satisfactory, while some will be so dejected that they never return.

Cycle 2 is expansions / large content updates.

Cycle 3 is when the MMO becomes F2P.

I want to see Zenimax / Bethesda reach the highest turnover possible to accelerate the development cycle and extend the lifespan of this game. I know they can't reach this potential with a subscription model.

Keep the box cost, remove the sub, implement a cash shop.

This is what I truly believe.

And do not fear the cash shop

It can be catered to sell player content, convenience, cosmetic items and 'perhaps' content access (races etc) - These are things that do not sway pvp balance greatly and will definitely reach large sales amounts.

silent88b14_ESO · May 2014

Oceanic players are good customers. Their population share may very well be more profitable to provide for than ten times as many call-of-duty players full of gripes and discontent. Most folks posting around here make me ashamed of American culture.

silent88b14_ESO · May 2014

Keep the box cost, keep the sub, open a cash shop worth browsing.

spwalsh87b14a_ESO · May 2014

Needs more smaller scale pvp options...

Kenboy5 · May 2014

Why is this game so antisocial? Grouping is pointless, slows you down; spawning is awkward, needs relogs to SOMETIMES work, and Armys invading citys while guards chill and are totally incompetent for a 2014 80$ game is kinda a letdown, id advise ANYONE reading this if you havnt already- cancel your sub- and wait about 2-3 more years for them to TRY to fix this massive letdown.

Ser Lobo · May 2014

Valfodr wrote: »

I want to see Zenimax / Bethesda reach the highest turnover possible to accelerate the development cycle and extend the lifespan of this game. I know they can't reach this potential with a subscription model.

Keep the box cost, remove the sub, implement a cash shop.

This is what I truly believe.

And do not fear the cash shop It can be catered to sell player content, convenience, cosmetic items and 'perhaps' content access (races etc) - These are things that do not sway pvp balance greatly and will definitely reach large sales amounts.

While a recognize turnover is an essential part of the business (the average player spends a maximum of three months in ANY game before moving on to newer content), I also point back to those 'Golden Era' MMO's you so quickly dismissed. Those MMO's are still around, while countless others (subscription or Free-to-Play) are gone.

Neither model has proven more successful than the other. Both sides have champions, and losers best left forgotten. Pay-to-play MMO's have a longer track record and the most overall success (World of Warcraft and EverQuest both broke and hold records). Free-to-play MMO's have shown more basic profitability, especially combined with managing house churn (Turbine, Perfect World) and must-have cash shops.

And I do fear cash shops. A cash shop, on it's own, cannot succeed as the sole means of keeping a company afloat, unless the items within are enough of a draw to keep players spending. Regretfully, roleplayers and 'digital barbie' types (of which I am both) don't make up the majority of online gamers. Competitive players drive the online marketplaces.

So as has been proven in any game with a cash shop (subscription or not), the methods to attract players WILL creep into the 'money equals competitive power' area.

EvE Online (which I have been playing since 2003) even had an outright player revolution over the introduction to it's cash shop. And while I'm not die hard against cash shops (I love to spend money on my hobbies, and I would immediately buy inventory bags or player housing in ESO if they added it), I recognize that it has an effect on the game.

A company can either develop more content to keep their subscribers entertained, or they can develop more content to keep their subscribers spending in their cash shop. Regretfully, I've yet to see any company do both simultaneously, successfully. And that's counting World of Warcraft (paid expansions and a low-level cash shop) or Guild Wars (paid expansions and a dedicated cash shop).

KerinKor · May 2014

Valfodr wrote: »

And do not fear the cash shop It can be catered to sell player content, convenience, cosmetic items and 'perhaps' content access (races etc)

Yup, indeed, that's what Turbine said when LOTRO went hybrid .. the reality today shows it's a lie.

It's what Trion said when Rift went hybrid .. the reality today shows it's lilkely a lie.

Fact is, as was well written up in a recent blog which I sadly didn't bookmark, no F2P MMO can survive on 'fluff' alone, especially one designed and released as P2P.

LOTRO shows quite clearly and Rift is heading down the same road, when a 'store' hits an MMO the game's design philosophy changes and it becomes the means to 'drive' Store sales: the Helm's Deep expansion was riddled with this, something that was entirely predictable based on what preceded it.

A post-F2P ESO will NOT BE the one you currently love and want to see prolonged.

KerinKor · May 2014

Kenboy5 wrote: »

id advise ANYONE reading this if you havnt already- cancel your sub- and wait about 2-3 more years for them to TRY to fix this massive letdown.

Because those still playing are incapable of figuring out for themselves whether or not they want to carry on an need you to tell then, right?

Of course, if everyone took your advice there'd be no game in 2-3 years time .. guess logic isn't a strong point of yours.

steveb16_ESO46 · May 2014

I am enjoying this game way too much to cancel the sub. It's good now and will get better and better as issues are fixed and new content developed. It should not have been launched in the condition it was but there's nothing can change that.

Laura · May 2014

Kenboy5 wrote: »

Why is this game so antisocial? Grouping is pointless, slows you down; spawning is awkward, needs relogs to SOMETIMES work, and Armys invading citys while guards chill and are totally incompetent for a 2014 80$ game is kinda a letdown, id advise ANYONE reading this if you havnt already- cancel your sub- and wait about 2-3 more years for them to TRY to fix this massive letdown.

I'm going to cancel my sub just because you advised it.

wait no I'm not - you're an idiot.

spwalsh87b14a_ESO · May 2014

Are there any plans for additional PvP areas such as a Battleground or Arena style?

"At this point in time, there are no such plans. We want the focus to remain on the War of Three Banners in Cyrodiil for now."

Read more on TESO Elite: http://www.tesoelite.com/2014/05/qa-greg-roth-zone-lead-scrolls-will-foretell/#ixzz318u1RHYh

LAME.......

frwinters_ESO · May 2014

It really stinks to see people so angry over a game that has been out for just about a month. No one has patience anymore. Give the company a break! No MMO has ever launched with all of the content they wanted at a launch. Everyone forgets the goal of a company is to make a game people will enjoy and pay for. If you pay attention in business classes ZOS has investors they have to answer too and sometimes you have to release a game before its fully ready to start a revenue stream. I am sure they wanted to have Craglorn and more end game content implemented before launch, but it wasn't in the cards. Try putting your feet in the shoes of a developer who has his own bosses telling him what to do even if he may not want to do it. If you bow out now and take away your support you could be missing out on something better. People who complain about content are the ones who post the most on these forums. I would imagine you represent a very small amount of the population. We have already seen polls on other forums about who will keep there subs after the first 30 days. Its a lot.

Relax! Breathe! Have a little confidence! If 15 bucks a month is to much for you to afford, then go find a job. Then you will play games slower cause you have to work and realize rushing through content sucks!

legiont666ub17_ESO · May 2014

It's because gamer crybabies want perfection on release they won't stand for anything less. Some of them cry because they have nothing else to do they don't get outside don't have jobs and still live with there parents. On the other hand the players that do have jobs and lives cry just as hard when they get home to play there one hour of game time. The fact of the matter is not one of you could make a better product on release i couldn't either for that fact but for some reason it has to be perfect because you spend 60+15/month for it. nothing is perfect on release you can say other games were but none of the were so don't argue to me about it if you can't stand that the game has bugs leave and come back later when you feel satisfied that the game is fixed to your liking. Which probably won't happen because most of you probably read the crap people post on forums as fact. When in fact half of it is true and the other half is just someone whining because there bad and can't quite figure out why.

lotharlocnar_ESO · May 2014

Lol, legion666up17_ESO and frwinters_ESO aren't on the subject at hand, they are seemingly crying about people on the forums rather than the subject of the forum itself, that indicates to the rest of us educated ones that ignorance has infiltrated the internet as well as these forums and people can not or refuse to adhere to a standard forum topic. This post concerning them is a fine example of getting off topic and I apologize!

Back to the subject at hand, Buying the game as a collector's edition (the physical one) I sort of expected bugs to be minimal. I played all of the beta tests and saw the problems the MMO would have had if they'd released the game early. Unfortunately after launch 90% of the bugs remained. This to me signified a loss in concern and even respect for people who bought the game.So far the PvP is terribly unbalanced, it takes way too long to ride to a battle (5 mins to get there and die within 10 secs or so if one is actively fighting in it.) Vampire, ULT abilities= problematic. The pvp problem is almost opposite of Rift MMO combat problem with the OP problems included (spawn fast,get into battle fast,die fast like lemmings) I am happy to see spawn points cannot be camped as in Rift. I use Rift because it was the last MMO I played for years on end, and they're devs won't fix the pvp there either. It seems there is a common denominator here however, Once a games out and pvp has been established as not the focus of the game, PvP is on the back burner and possibly gets an expansion but not a balance fix and the MMO goes f2p as the PvPers leave for greener pastures.GW2 won game of the year for a reason, ok, many reasons, but I saw the balance of their pvp system and figured that was the way MMOs should do it.As evidently many others did as well. I guess next on down the road we will see some stability on quests and cosmetic items going up for sale and maybe even a new race, but the pvp here as it is is broke.

Hecubusprimeb14_ESO · May 2014

I can't Launch the GAME without using an IP Anonmizer, the Launcher gets stuck on LOADING, downloading an initial manifest over and over again, perpetually. I live in Alaska, for some reason your patch servers like to send me corrupt files, necessitating a redownload of said manifest file(s) over and over again. Your Tech service has been through the ringer with me and it has led nowhere.

how about fix that issue. I have read enough forum entries to discover that this is not a problem just associated with me.

everything was fine for me until your EASTER Patch, than this.

file: 061b8d0af8fa3d892fdc9723a00d5d6ccff18f5a.patchmanifest

In the Host.... directory under ProgramData directory.

Gravord · May 2014

Good job fixing Bat Swarm!

Cogo · May 2014

Gravord wrote: »

ruze84b14_ESO wrote: »

Gravord wrote: »

You are mistaken. Its not a hate. I like most aspects of this game and intend to continue playing it. But lack of dev response on official forum for so long time is disturbing while issue remain in game pushing more ppl to stop play it. And there is still no date for when patch is rolling out, to at least partially take care of this problem.

So you make your complaint starting late Saturday into Sunday? Do game designers not have weekends? Are they somehow slaves to gamers, forced to work for no pay and no days off?

And who has more priority? Gamers like me, who can't change characters and who still experience load failure when going through doorways? Macintosh gamers who can't PvP at all due to a memory leak? European gamers who have such severe ping that they can't do many boss fights?

What about players who cannot complete their main quest, or are missing items from inventory slots, or the botters who fill up local channels and server resources with spam?

What about their 'four-to-six week' content release promises, for those players who have already met VR10 and are even now bored, because they don't care a bit about PvP and are wanting that new content?

.

@Gravord

Hiya, I been playing ESO since the 5 day early launch. Still only level 31 though I play every day and don't have any alts. Been building a guild, and a damn good one. Also since our guildbank works scaringly good among our members, I have a lot of management to do on a daily bases.

I have been reading quote a bit of your posts. You get complaints about you, but I think that's mostly simply because you speak your mind and what you think is right (shouldn't everyone do that?)

I've noticed in a few posts that people "gang up" on you only because you are well stated and tell how it is from another view then mostly the people who wants ESO to turn into warcraft. These people have the highest "risk" to leave the game anyway (Good!). These forums needs every type of personality and view in order to get the best picture as possible so Zenimax can, as you clearly stated, Priorities. So far I am VERY impressed that Zenimax have NOT given in to the whiners. Well.....The Doshia quest maybe, but everyone isn't perfect.

Funny enough, when you ask (not accuse) what a person did to improve their game when they fail at something, dungeon, quest or what not, unless it is a confirmed bug, I don't think I ever seen an answer other then "I am unsubing"
I don't think I have seen a single complaint about how bad dungeons, instances/quests/exploring/tradeskill is when they have OTHER people they trust to group it with? Like a guild or friends, or a bit of both? Because then it would work just fine lol! Sure, the phasing makes it harder in early levels to find eachother, but again, I am stating what I think is why. As you level, there is an AI in the engine that puts people who met, grouped, are friends, in the same instance. They even said this feature would be in the game before BETA!

Also, I highly doubt we would have an almost lag less Megaserver without phasing. Again, I am just drawing from my experience, but even if we all are in the same server, our data is on different Virtual machines, which in turn dont need to coordinate 1 million players, but maybe 50 each.

I have not seen ONE complainer about lag saying how nice it is to move around almost seamless and lagless in the world at most times

I don't think your posts are negative, even when I don't agree with them.

In my view, you are just stating valid questions. Most which are adressed in Patch 1.1.

I think you guessed it, but the DEVS most likely didn't want to answer these posts here and there with anwers they had then, but are changed now.
If you look at the updated patch 1.1 which they posted an OUTSTANDING list over, I am sure they have other things in there, like making guildbank easier.

But why warn goldsellers about this, or even state it if they don't know yet if it will work. Without working or being affiliated in any way with the gamemakers . I have over 20 years experience in IT, specialiced in datacenters that deliver "services", and that tells me Zenimax is working on the guildbank issue. To be able to stack, to get longer reports. There was even someone who mentioned that it would be nice to know what guildstore and what item was sold! THAT part I know is not a problem to introduce, but maybe Zenimax is aware of possible new threats they need to counter before fixing a problem with another problem.

I have to correct you in this post. I am swedish and apart from bank "lag" (I highly suspect that's not lag, but a security for the bank somehow), chat lag...not just Euros get that, its on all Megaservers if I understood correctly, and in the updated patch 1.1, they did say something about limiting tells to people to 250 something? A silly number for the regular player, but feks up for goldsellers. I have little to no lag when I am playing, and that can be well over 12 hours a day. In primetime.

YES, zoning into Cyradriil takes a while, but when I get there, it's as lag less for me as out in the world.

Maybe I am lucky with a good system and isp? But I don't believe 100% of the problem lays in moving the EU datacenter to Germany. (They are doing that btw...just no timeplan yet. Business I bet. 24/7 datacenters that can handle specific software isn't like buying a desktop computer :-p)

You mention goldsellers at times.

Would you agree that the biggest problem with goldfarmers/sellers is not the poor, starving person across the globe....but the fat players sitting here and GOING to goldsellers sites and BUYS gold?

I might be to much of a businessman, but without demand, you have no product. Sure, these pesky goldfarmers pops up IN ALL online multiuser games! I dare ANYONE to tell me any MMORPG that's been completely free from these vermin. Sure, in the Ultima online and the everquest era, it wasn't gold spam, it was EBAY.....mostly started by the PLAYERS whom either wanted to buy accounts/items or sell em.

And people who keep yelling at Zenimax to "fix" the goldspammers, they have the right to express that. But the best tool they have are themselves. Report (Takes max 30 seconds in the game). TALK to your friends in game about how stupid it is to buy gold from these...people. And I don't CARE how impossible it would be for them to play if they didnt buy 20k gold from some site that more then likely will steal both their creditcard details, game ID and personal email.

Of course Zenimax needs to be their own police here and they already shown they can and have taken actions that have worked (I don't care if someone is unhappy they cant camp the same boss for hours and get phat lewt...the goldspammer/bot is far more important then someone who is to lazy to just explore a bit. Sure, quests gives good exp, sometimes loot or even a skillpoint, but they dont have tiiiiime, or something. Also, when you bought this product, one of the MAIN features was just that...point in a general direction and move there...you will find something...maybe nice and shiny or growling and hairy.

Go explore then, there are tons of stuff to pick up and SELL TO REAL PLAYERS. Who knows, maybe they understand that interacting with the player world is more then half the game then?

Am I wrong in strongly believing that if no one bought gold, there would be wastly less goldspammers?

You may wonder why I adressed all this to you? You would more then likely be able to say what my post is about, in a much smaller post :-p. Maybe not so diplomatic, but this is actually quite serious for some, or most players. We spend hours, days here. Meeting and getting to know people that becomes close friends, so people like myself tend to ramble on before I get to the point.

Please keep up your posts. Your "critisism" is far more quality in then that joker on youtube who sees bad in everything.

Gravord · May 2014

Sadly new problem occur, multiboxer, reported by plenty ppl but still in game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4MnpCrA3mo&feature=youtu.be

roadhog37_ESO · May 2014

pvp pvp pvp pvp pvp....blah blah blah. WHats happening to the rpg aspect of these games? The game doesnt need open world pvp...go play CoD on your console. Devs if you start catering to the idiots who cry for open world pvp and quicker leveling you will lose your core players and then yes this will be a f2p game.

human151 · May 2014

I am so sick of the pvp crybabies. Go play COD.

The PVPers are the same people that dont even bother listening to the quest givers or other characters and AOE grind and rush to end game then complain because end game does not meet their expectations...

coreymj78 · May 2014

keondre.branchcub18_ESO wrote: »

forums dead, economy dead, company dead, game soon to be dead.

You're an idiot that apparently just likes to post idiotic things.

coreymj78 · May 2014

Note to everyone: Stop complaining about the issues that are most important to YOU. They are doing all they can to attack all the issues one at a time and in a priority that makes sense. If that priority doesn't make sense to you just because your particular issue isn't being addressed first, then just stop for a second and recognize why that is not possible and try to be patient.

frwinters_ESO · May 2014

human151 wrote: »

I am so sick of the pvp crybabies. Go play COD.

The PVPers are the same people that dont even bother listening to the quest givers or other characters and AOE grind and rush to end game then complain because end game does not meet their expectations...

I do both PvP and PvE but when it comes to a successfull Mmo its known that good PvP will help support the backbone of the game. Gamers are competitive. Whether its the first person to reach max level, get all the achievements and gear in PvE world, or the first person to be Emperor, get all the top PvP gear, have the largest Guild in Cyrodil and constantly beats down the enemy.

Calgrissom · May 2014

Gravord wrote: »

Sadly new problem occur, multiboxer, reported by plenty ppl but still in game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4MnpCrA3mo&feature=youtu.be

How is this a problem? If someone can afford multiple copies and has the rig to run them why is it and issue? You can easily do this as well. Download IS boxer This isn't exploiting at all.

coreymj78 · May 2014

legiont666ub17_ESO wrote: »

It's because gamer crybabies want perfection on release they won't stand for anything less. Some of them cry because they have nothing else to do they don't get outside don't have jobs and still live with there parents. On the other hand the players that do have jobs and lives cry just as hard when they get home to play there one hour of game time. The fact of the matter is not one of you could make a better product on release i couldn't either for that fact but for some reason it has to be perfect because you spend 60+15/month for it. nothing is perfect on release you can say other games were but none of the were so don't argue to me about it if you can't stand that the game has bugs leave and come back later when you feel satisfied that the game is fixed to your liking. Which probably won't happen because most of you probably read the crap people post on forums as fact. When in fact half of it is true and the other half is just someone whining because there bad and can't quite figure out why.

Word.

Enkshar · May 2014

I would love to see a new thread from Zos with an update of what they are currently doing. Theres almost no info from ZOS of what to expect other than knowing that Carglon is coming and patch 1.1 should bring a lot of fixes, but thats its

coreymj78 · May 2014

steveb16_ESO46 wrote: »

I am enjoying this game way too much to cancel the sub. It's good now and will get better and better as issues are fixed and new content developed. It should not have been launched in the condition it was but there's nothing can change that.

Same here. I only make suggestions rather than bash the devs. Only immature idiots do that. Down with the haters. We don't need them in this community anway. there are plenty of people enjoying the game and playing the game rather than spending all their time bashing on the forums.

bg22 · May 2014

Calgrissom wrote: »

Gravord wrote: »

Sadly new problem occur, multiboxer, reported by plenty ppl but still in game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4MnpCrA3mo&feature=youtu.be

How is this a problem? If someone can afford multiple copies and has the rig to run them why is it and issue? You can easily do this as well. Download IS boxer This isn't exploiting at all.

How big of a loser to you have to be to buy digital friends to run around w/ you in Cyrodiil tho? haha

Anyway, the latest patch.... Why is nothing being done about broken passives? Why do I continuously have to relog for my Nightblade passives to function?

Nylan · May 2014

I like the game, I know it will expand and improve, and Im glad the QQ'ers are cancelling. Chat is cleaning up nicely.

Chryos · May 2014

Not sure where I can post this so the Dev's can see this so I'll put it here:

For us folks who want to play a harder version of ESO. Could we get switch ( a one time button) that allows us a harder ruleset? I'd like an xp loss punishment for death., you you have read my previous post titied "Bring back old school xp loss..."

Maybe those of us could get some kind of prestige title that shows we play "hardcore style".

Just a thought.