Welcome Back Weekend: 4/16 – 4/20

LocaButt · April 2015

Beginning my 80 GB journey. Have not played since beta. Better be worth it...

Pallmor · April 2015

mmmm.....bacon

borkyborkborkb14_ESO · April 2015

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

DeathDealer19 wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Starting next week, on Thursday April 16th at 10:00AM EDT, we will be kicking off our Welcome Back Weekend. During this event, anyone who played the game during beta but did not purchase a copy of ESO will be invited to play the game for free until Monday April 20th at 10:00AM EDT.

The Welcome Back Weekend event isn’t just for people who played the beta and didn’t purchase the game, though. We’ll have activities for you, our active players, too!
ESO Orienteering Challenge
Put your navigation skills to the test, and you can win your very own Bristlegut Piglet pet!

Welcome Back Weekend Sweepstakes
Everyone who plays during Welcome Back Weekend – whether you currently own the game or not – will be entered into our sweepstakes to win some great prizes.

Fan Livestream Event
We’ll be hosting some of our most talented and dedicated ESO livestreamers on Twitch all weekend.

We’ll have additional details on each of these events next week, and also plan to update the Crown Store with some new and exclusive items, so be sure to keep an eye on our website.

If you plan on livestreaming or running any live in-game events during our Welcome Back Weekend, let us know and we’ll be sure to promote them! We’ll need all event details by this Friday, April 10th at 12:00PM EDT.

Finally, if you’re a member of a guild, be on the lookout for any returning members or even new players that need a helping hand. Consider running a recruiting, or new-player event! And if you do, be sure to tell us about it in this thread so we can help spread the word.

We’re excited to welcome everyone back to Tamriel next week, and hope to see you all during the weekend!

Love this idea but you guys might want to look into making the game available for them to download a day or two early. Downloading the entire game client can take a while for some people. don't want them to spend the whole welcome back weekend looking at a download bar

Anyone eligible to participate in Welcome Back Weekend can begin downloading now.

As long as your willing to waste an hour looking for the f'n link... I've stopped looking...

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/1733544/#Comment_1733544

stefan.gustavsonb16_ESO · April 2015

This feels like they are saying "Welcome back, only not really, we stopped caring long ago".

I'm not saying that's what they mean, but this failure to provide a clear enough download link could be turning a lot of people away at the door. It doesn't take much for people to give up on a game they already decided once not to buy.

Takhistis · April 2015

Really can't wait for some kind event that gives rewards to anyone participating

maryriv wrote: »

derpsticks wrote: »

Can you highlight somehow that DC is looking for more recruits? We are in more need than EP and AD.

Sorry, as along as Rawl'Kha exists and all DC town wayshrines are all over the map you can forget DC getting any love

Sorry, never been to Rawl'kha, but whats so special about it?

MissBizz · April 2015

Takhistis wrote: »

Really can't wait for some kind event that gives rewards to anyone participating

maryriv wrote: »

derpsticks wrote: »

Can you highlight somehow that DC is looking for more recruits? We are in more need than EP and AD.

Sorry, as along as Rawl'Kha exists and all DC town wayshrines are all over the map you can forget DC getting any love

Sorry, never been to Rawl'kha, but whats so special about it?

@Takhistis The bank is RIGHT beside the wayshrine in Rawl, as well you practically run into the guild traders as you come in from the wayshrine... vendors and crafting stations are all very close. It's just a super handy town. Also is always really busy due to this, so zone chat is booming and the guild traders there are high end (err.. super expensive). It's a really convenient town.

camokitten_ESO · April 2015

I had trouble finding the download link. In the email I received the instructions said it should be in my account info on the site - it wasn't there.

Anyway, found it yesterday (i think)...and installed. Now I keep getting an error message that says there's a metafile missing and that I need to do a repair. It went through this three times with only an install option. I finally just now got the repair option on the button. Here's hoping it works.

NovaMarx · April 2015

I have a question

I think the whole "Welcome Back" thing is a great idea.

BUT, why are so few eligible for prizes?!
I couldn't help but notice that, when looking at the terms and conditions for the "prizes" that you can win in this period, you have limited who can win immensely! It's pretty much just North America and Europe, and you have only chosen a handful of countries in Europe

Unless I have misunderstood something...
I live in Europe too, but in Denmark, and I find it kind of a bummer/annoying to find out that our German neighbors are in the lottery but not us

There are only a few prizes, so it's not a big deal now. But I hope that in the future you will include more (preferably ALL) of your customers, especially when it comes to online prizes (physical prizes will of course always have some limitations).

Other than that, it's all good

Oh, and how about some events on the EU server?

dawnhawk · April 2015

NovaMarx wrote: »

It's pretty much just North America and Europe

No - it's pretty much the USA and Europe. Us Canucks aren't allowed in either.

Zershar_Vemod · April 2015

I feel bad for those coming back and seeing how much the game has gone downhill in quality.

m12d12_ESO · April 2015

Did todays patch effect Champion Points? On my day off, I have played for about 12+ hours, at v14, questing heavily and I have only earned 1 champion point. At normal rate of play - people will be ready for retirement by the time they earn a significant amount of points.

Seriously. I ask is this going to be the new norm or just a bug?

voyager132 · April 2015

I got it installed by letting the install run all evening and today while I was at work, but it definitely took 6+ hours.

Got home thinking I'd give it a shot with an open mind now that the monthly fee is scrubbed, and it's not letting me login. After about 45 minutes of monkeying with trying to find a fix for the login (clearly it's let me log in to post on the forums, but not into the play server) issue, I think I'm pretty close to done with giving it a third chance.

Jammer480 · April 2015

Hello Gina, I did not receive a survey so when I saw your post in the forum that everyone who registered for the beta was to receive a survey and I immediately tried to login to my account. I had registered for the beta last year but hadn't been active for awhile, and it appears like my account was deleted.I would love to take part in the beta so if there is any way to add me to the list, I would be eternally appreciative.Thanks in advance for any think you can do.

Beast85 · April 2015

I checked the WB weekend. the elegible countries are not as many as i expected... just to be clear i live in Italy which it seems that's not comprehended on that list...
It's not that i was sure of winning but the fact that me (as some other) have 0 chances to win makes me feel sad (using sad because that's how i feel, not angry or something awful...
I think that when i spent 80€ that by the time i bought it the conversion €/$ was around 1.20-1 (so i'll let you do the math

) i was sure that you accepted my money as you accepted dollars, so why we are not included in that list? just an info, not more, i don't want anything, really, i had a few minutes to spend on this thread so i asked.
Considering my country policy are *smart* (was going to say something different but that could be very offensive) as the one who are leading us, i would not be surprised to see that you actually can't give us digital goods for free.

Anyway i do really enjoy how you CPRed the game and bought it back to life, the work is really far to be finished and the idea of the WB weekend is great

didn't got why the beta account got 500 crowns for free while the one who bought the game got nothing more than what we had. still no biggie

thank you for taking the time to read, or maybe not have fun, see you in game!

dafox187 · April 2015

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

Great idea!
AND then....console beta info afterwards?

beta info already out for those who signed up

NovaMarx · April 2015

dawnhawk wrote: »

NovaMarx wrote: »

It's pretty much just North America and Europe

No - it's pretty much the USA and Europe. Us Canucks aren't allowed in either.

I find it so odd that they have chosen such a select few. I really really hope, like I wrote earlier, that next time they decide to hold this type of large scale event that it will actually be LARGE, and include everyone!

Trying not to be annoyed, but I am a subscribing member, and kinda feel like I'm not being appreciated

MissBizz · April 2015

@dawnhawk I think us canucks are eligble..

2. ELIGIBILITY
All participants must be 18 years of age or older at the time of entry (the “Required Age”), must possess a valid form of identification and be a legal resident of (i) one of the 50 United States (or the District of Columbia) excluding the territories, military installations and commonwealths, (ii) Canada, (iii) the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria or the Netherlands, or (iv) Australia or New Zealand. All applicable federal, national, state, provincial and local laws and regulations apply. Void where prohibited, restricted or taxed by law. Excluded from eligibility are officers, directors, employees, agents and representatives of the Sponsor, each of its respective parent, affiliated or related companies, agencies, suppliers of the materials and services related to this Giveaway, and members of any immediate families (defined as parents, siblings, children and spouses, regardless of where they live) or households (whether or not related) of such officers, directors, employees, agents and sales representatives.

Except we have to answer a math question.. lol

Residents of Canada Only: Before being declared a winner, each selected entrant must first correctly answer without assistance of any kind, whether mechanical or otherwise, a time-limited mathematical skill-testing question to be administered at a mutually convenient time by telephone.

dawnhawk · April 2015

@MissBizz Can you link those rules? It looks like they have some inconsistency happening.

The ones I see are these:

All participants must be 18 or older at the time of entry, must possess a valid form of identification, and a legal resident of (i) one of the fifty United States (or the District of Columbia) and excluding the territories, military installations and commonwealths; or (ii) the member countries of the European Union to enter, and verification may be required before a winner is announced. Verification of age and residency requirements may be required before the winner is announced. All applicable federal, national, state, provincial and local laws and regulations apply. Void where prohibited, restricted, or taxed by law.

Source: http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/165088/

I would be totally cool with a math question - that's normal with our contest laws.

MissBizz · April 2015

@dawnhawk it appears there are different rules for the orienteering challenge and the giveaways. We were talking about two different parts of this weekend I guess.

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/164913/welcome-back-weekend-giveaway-official-rules?_ga=1.62001326.32136656.1412859036#latest

The rules I looked up are actually for the random giveaways and sweepstakes as seen in the blog post (crowns, nord figurine etc.)

http://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/2015/04/13/welcome-back-weekend-kicks-off-this-week

dawnhawk · April 2015

@MissBizz - That explains it. You got my hopes up though.

Though now I really wonder why the different rule set. We were thinking we were excluded due to a legal requirement but what would exclude us from "contestA" but not "contestB"?

Oh well. C'est la vie!

MissBizz · April 2015

dawnhawk wrote: »

@MissBizz - That explains it. You got my hopes up though.

Though now I really wonder why the different rule set. We were thinking we were excluded due to a legal requirement but what would exclude us from "contestA" but not "contestB"?

Oh well. C'est la vie!

@dawnhawk I imagine it has something to go with the "giveaways" not needing any "skill" (and therefore is random, and considered a sweepstakes)... and the orienteering challenge would be called a "contest" (because it involves "skill") which I imagine would have different laws/rules in each country. Long story short.. blame legal mumbo jumbo

dawnhawk · April 2015

@MIssBizz - I don't think the "skill" would be it - “any contest, lottery, game of chance or skill, or mixed chance and skill, or otherwise [disposing] of any product or other benefit …” is actually grouped together in the Competition Act.

MissBizz · April 2015

dawnhawk wrote: »

@MIssBizz - I don't think the "skill" would be it - “any contest, lottery, game of chance or skill, or mixed chance and skill, or otherwise [disposing] of any product or other benefit …” is actually grouped together in the Competition Act.

Yeah, I'm not totally sure. Although I'm pretty sure there is some deep legal reasoning for it - I don't know what it is though.

dawnhawk · April 2015

Heh No worries @MissBizz - I'm just one of those people who's job it is to analyze things to death so you give me a "puzzle" and I toy with it like a sore tooth.

I've also run up against the competition act more times than I care to count - used to be IT for a group of Casinos...

don't recommend it.

lathbury · April 2015

welcome back to the returning folks looking forward to running some dungeons etc with some fresh faces.

Xjcon · April 2015

....

Inventive_Exile · April 2015

Perhaps you could have made sure your servers could handle the load before having an event to draw in more people? I've never had lag problems before today and the game is literally unplayable. It's 2am and I can't even log into the server. I think I'll sit this weekend out. And PoE launches it's beta for the new patch on Monday. Foolhardy would be a nice adjective for this event with the current server stability. When you create problems for the players, they have a million other games to choose from. Game developers need to develop some freaking patience for making money.

Dekkameron · April 2015

Auldjohn wrote: »

I hope that Bosmer flag is made out of skin or something!

kingbeowulf · April 2015

Gidorick wrote: »

kingbeowulf wrote: »

Although I enjoyed the BETA immensely, I will not be participating in the welcome-back festivities. I can't justify re-installing Windows 7 or purchasing Windows 8 just to download 80GB of game client and data. I could try emulation under WINE, but with a measly Athlon64 X2 5200+ and Nvidia aGTX660, its not worth the aggravation.

Now, for a proper native Linux client, I'd toss handfuls of cash toward Bethesda/ZOS.

Don't you think this is an unreasonable thing to expect? How many MMOS have a native Linux client? How many customers would this realistically gain them? I would think that most Linux users who are also gamers have a decent windows machine or at the VERY least, dual boot.

There are quite a few native Linux MMORPG clients out there: Heck, even Ultima Online has one. It is just a shame that Bethesda et al do not wish to tap into that market. You'll find quite the eclectic mix of online MMO titles here: http://www.lgdb.org/games (about 51 so far).

There are millions of Linux desktop users, many also gamers. We are just hard to count since we don't have an OS that "dials home" and we believe in a bit of privacy and security. I do not go online with my Win7 install, which exists exclusively for Oblivion and Skyrim, due to the need to update scan the OS constantly. I am am not about to go into Windows' dismal stability record...

It is interesting to note, given this "welcome back weekend," how ESO now has a new payment/subscription model. How soon before its just freemium like DDO and Neverwinter?

nerevarine1138 · April 2015

kingbeowulf wrote: »

Gidorick wrote: »

kingbeowulf wrote: »

Although I enjoyed the BETA immensely, I will not be participating in the welcome-back festivities. I can't justify re-installing Windows 7 or purchasing Windows 8 just to download 80GB of game client and data. I could try emulation under WINE, but with a measly Athlon64 X2 5200+ and Nvidia aGTX660, its not worth the aggravation.

Now, for a proper native Linux client, I'd toss handfuls of cash toward Bethesda/ZOS.

Don't you think this is an unreasonable thing to expect? How many MMOS have a native Linux client? How many customers would this realistically gain them? I would think that most Linux users who are also gamers have a decent windows machine or at the VERY least, dual boot.

There are quite a few native Linux MMORPG clients out there: Heck, even Ultima Online has one. It is just a shame that Bethesda et al do not wish to tap into that market. You'll find quite the eclectic mix of online MMO titles here: http://www.lgdb.org/games (about 51 so far).

There are millions of Linux desktop users, many also gamers. We are just hard to count since we don't have an OS that "dials home" and we believe in a bit of privacy and security. I do not go online with my Win7 install, which exists exclusively for Oblivion and Skyrim, due to the need to update scan the OS constantly. I am am not about to go into Windows' dismal stability record...

It is interesting to note, given this "welcome back weekend," how ESO now has a new payment/subscription model. How soon before its just freemium like DDO and Neverwinter?

A few things:

1. Out of those 51 games listed on that database, only two of them were games I've even heard of. Now, I love indie/retro titles as much as the next guy, but this is hardly a burgeoning market for developers.
2. There may be "millions" of Linux users, but according to every piece of data available (which, granted, isn't much), they account for 1.5% of the desktop user population. And only a portion of that 1.5% will be playing games on their rig.
3. You clearly have a number of reasons for choosing to use Linux. But as someone who clearly understands the advantages Linux brings, you must also be aware of the drawbacks, namely that most developers don't code their programs for your OS. This really can't be a new development for you.