Additional Non-Veteran Campaigns for PS4 and Xbox One North America: Hestra and Tavia (2PM'ish EST)

ZOS_BrianWheeler · June 2015

Greetings all!

We have been monitoring the Cyrodiil queues and have just introduced a few new 5-day Non-Veteran campaign for all Xbox One and PlayStation 4 players in the North American Region around 2 PM EST! These campaigns are titled Hestra and Tavia! Empress Hestra was the ruler who brought High Rock into the Empire of Cyrodiil and Empress Tavia was the consort of the Reman III, last Emperor of the Second Empire.

Please note there’s currently an issue in-game stating that this campaign is 90-day and open to everyone; this is strictly a visual error, and will be fixed in our next patch.

We will continue to monitor the campaign populations and introduce more if necessary.

Have fun gang, and we’ll see you on the battlefields of Cyrodiil!

Enodoc · June 2015

Hey Brian, just wanted to check, is Versidue-Shaie still the only extra campaign on the EU console servers? Thanks!

ZOS_BrianWheeler · June 2015

As it stands now yes, but we have been monitoring the EU servers as well and will open more as needed (which may occur soon as space in Chillrend and overall queues appear to be increasing a bit ).

lzGod · June 2015

Hi Brian, these new campaigns are helping the long queue waiting time? I mean Blackwater is always full and I'm in a queue waiting 1000+ and always waiting hours just to get in PvP. I saw that Hestra and Triva are full too but I don't the queue for that. Is it possible that more non-veteran campaigns can be created?

Thanks, Michael

ZOS_BrianWheeler · June 2015

We may add more campaigns but for now, the best suggestion we can give players queueing for Blackwater is to reassign, or use the guest pass to one of the newly created Campaigns.

Across the board, PS4, Xbox, EU and USA, Blackwater Blade has the highest queue time\players in queue during primetime hours.

Wheelhouse413 · June 2015

ZOS_BrianWheeler wrote: »

We may add more campaigns but for now, the best suggestion we can give players queueing for Blackwater is to reassign, or use the guest pass to one of the newly created Campaigns.

Across the board, PS4, Xbox, EU and USA, Blackwater Blade has the highest queue time\players in queue during primetime hours.

The first time you reassign it should be free, right? AFAIK I had only chosen Blackwater (last Friday/Saturday - whenever I first joined any campaign), and last night I tried to change my home campaign to one of the new 2, and it said it would cost me 15,000 Alliance Points. As I only had 9800, that wasn't possible.

I haven't set a guest campaign because, frankly, I don't understand the convoluted system this game uses. I figured guesting would let you play in any other campaign for AP, but reading forums it seems you only have one you can guest on?

It doesn't help that all the newly added campaigns are mislabeled (only people who know about the forums will know that), and you can't see queue times for them. I am reluctant to choose one, as I don't want to make another 15k AP mistake.

As for helping the queues, at least for Blackwater Blade on NA PS4, the new servers have not helped at all. I was able to get in last Saturday and Sunday (don't remember the wait time), but not after work on Monday or Tuesday (I queued late in my play sessions these 2 nights). Wednesday and last night I queued as soon as I got into ES (around 11:45 pm EST - I work 2nd shift), and Weds night I got in around 1:30 am, Thurs night was just after 2 am). All other new (and mislabeled) 5 day non-vet campaigns were full for my faction (AD) from midnight to 2 am (did not check any of them once I got into Blackwater).

Also - it's implied that you can change campaigns for free when the current one is over. What is the timeframe for this? When I logged off Weds night/Thurs morning, there was something like 9 hours left in the campaign (that time would put it either when I'm OMW to work or just having gotten to work), but when I got home, the next one had already started, and no cheaper (than 15k) option to switch existed.

Would love to switch my home one to one of the new ones, but no idea which one has the smallest queue for my play time, and not sure why I must pay 15k (I haven't switched yet to my knowledge) or when the end time frame is. And don't quite understand (or understand the point of) guest campaigns. Alliance PVP has been pretty fun when I get in, but most of the time I am unable to get in.

ZOS_BrianWheeler · June 2015

If you choose to switch your Home campaign at the end of the campaign, you can do that anytime before the campaign is over and it will switch you to the one you choose.

Example: You're currently assigned to Blackwater Blade and it has 4 days left. You can choose to change your Home assignment right now at a cost of 15,000 AP. You can also choose to reassign at the end of the campaign and choose which one to go to, let's say Haderus. In this case, when Blackwater Blade ends in 4 days, you'll be auto switched to Haderus.

Enodoc · June 2015

ZOS_BrianWheeler wrote: »

If you choose to switch your Home campaign at the end of the campaign, you can do that anytime before the campaign is over and it will switch you to the one you choose.

Example: You're currently assigned to Blackwater Blade and it has 4 days left. You can choose to change your Home assignment right now at a cost of 15,000 AP. You can also choose to reassign at the end of the campaign and choose which one to go to, let's say Haderus. In this case, when Blackwater Blade ends in 4 days, you'll be auto switched to Haderus.

And that costs 5,000 AP, right?

MrSuplex · June 2015

Enodoc wrote: »

ZOS_BrianWheeler wrote: »

If you choose to switch your Home campaign at the end of the campaign, you can do that anytime before the campaign is over and it will switch you to the one you choose.

Example: You're currently assigned to Blackwater Blade and it has 4 days left. You can choose to change your Home assignment right now at a cost of 15,000 AP. You can also choose to reassign at the end of the campaign and choose which one to go to, let's say Haderus. In this case, when Blackwater Blade ends in 4 days, you'll be auto switched to Haderus.

And that costs 5,000 AP, right?

In your example about switching campaigns with 4 days left or "at the end of the campaign", is there a difference in switching cost?

Right now I am trying to switch from Blackwater Blade, but it says it will cost me 15,000 Alliance Points. The first switch should be free considering how confusing this system is and the fact that we only had one non-veteran campaign to join when the game first launched.

ZOS_BrianWheeler · June 2015

Switching at the end of a campaign duration is cheaper than "right now" switching, and as @Enodoc pointed out, it currently costs 5k instead of 15k. Again, the switch to your Home Assignment won't occur until the end of the Campaign you're currently "home'd" (new word TM) in.

MrSuplex · June 2015

The consequences of choosing the home campaign are not explained well, and it seems to me that the first switch should be free. This is compounded when you consider that we had no real choice other than to pick the single (extremely crowded) Blackwater Blade campaign if we didn't want to deal with veteran players.

How long does a campaign last as "finished" so that I can get the discounted rate to switch? I'd like to actually play on my home server and not wait 2 hours in a queue.

Enodoc · June 2015

MrSuplex wrote: »

The consequences of choosing the home campaign are not explained well, and it seems to me that the first switch should be free. This is compounded when you consider that we had no real choice other than to pick the single (extremely crowded) Blackwater Blade campaign if we didn't want to deal with veteran players.

How long does a campaign last as "finished" so that I can get the discounted rate to switch? I'd like to actually play on my home server and not wait 2 hours in a queue.

It's not very long I don't think, somewhere around 5 minutes or so. The best thing to do is to select the option to change at the end before the actual end.

Wheelhouse413 · June 2015

ZOS_BrianWheeler wrote: »

Switching at the end of a campaign duration is cheaper than "right now" switching, and as @Enodoc pointed out, it currently costs 5k instead of 15k. Again, the switch to your Home Assignment won't occur until the end of the Campaign you're currently "home'd" (new word TM) in.

Since this isn't ever explained in-game, I'll let people know how this works on the PS4.

Let's say you are part of the Blackwater Blade campaign and are tired of the 2+ hour queues and want to switch. Your one option is to select another campaign and use square to click "join".

As the only choice is the 15,000 one, the game does not inform you that you can change for any other cost or at any other time. This is incredibly poor on the part of the interface.

Your next screen is a confirmation screen of some kind, and only on your NEXT (3rd) screen do you actually have the option to choose now or at the end of the campaign.

This game does an incredibly bad job of giving out useful information (not just with regards to Alliance Campaigns, but that's what this forum section is).

While as of today's patch, it seems that Juilek, Versidue-Shae and Rislav are partially labeled correctly (they show as non-veteran, but no indication is given to how long they last or when they will be done, as they are all listed as "done"), Hestra and Tavia still show as 90 day normal campaigns with no special rules (this very thread says they are non-veteran 5 day - I assume this thread is correct). But as of 2 nights ago, no one in BB that I talked to (I was in a party with 8 of the top 10 players, including myself, at the time) knew there was another non-veteran campaign. It may come as a surprise to you guys at ZOS, but most console players don't have a habit of checking online forums, so they didn't know about the posts.

AFAIK, there is no free transfer - no one I've talked to was able to make one. Supposedly the 1st one is free, but, well, my first one cost me 15k (because I had no idea where the "end of campaign" option was, so waited til after the last BB campaign ended, as I was 10th for AD in scoring with 5 hours to go and didn't want to risk losing the reward).

When I was choosing which campaign to switch to, there is a nice lack of information, as you can't see the scores of any of them (or when they'll end, or who owns what, or really anything other than the current population). I chose Rislav as it looked the most balanced at my play-time. It had a queue for AD and EP at time of choosing, with DC 2 bars full. But I get in and AD has nearly twice the score of EP and DC combined, and all 6 scrolls, with an emperor at a then 1 day, 20 hour reign. I'm AD, and that's not remotely interesting to me (I'd like a tightly contested campaign). It says I have 31 guildees in it, but as I see no way to find out WHICH ones are there, that's a pointless bit of info.

And as the voice chat only lets you be in EITHER guild OR party, any guildee that's in the campaign just shows as "Cryodil" and is not in guild chat (because like good players they are in party chat).

Logging in after the patch, we (AD) have every keep on the map and are fighting red just outside the Gate of Ghartok.

I really don't see the point of being in this campaign.

I gather the idea behind the guesting option is to let you check out other campaigns (or PvP when yours is full), but it seems you have to choose one (with no information) and it costs AP to change your guest campaign as well? Could someone detail the costs of this? The game sure isn't going to tell me, and I'd rather not waste AP again trying the various campaigns.

arogantznrb19_ESO · July 2015

Wheelhouse413 wrote: »

ZOS_BrianWheeler wrote: »

Switching at the end of a campaign duration is cheaper than "right now" switching, and as @Enodoc pointed out, it currently costs 5k instead of 15k. Again, the switch to your Home Assignment won't occur until the end of the Campaign you're currently "home'd" (new word TM) in.

Since this isn't ever explained in-game, I'll let people know how this works on the PS4.

Let's say you are part of the Blackwater Blade campaign and are tired of the 2+ hour queues and want to switch. Your one option is to select another campaign and use square to click "join".

As the only choice is the 15,000 one, the game does not inform you that you can change for any other cost or at any other time. This is incredibly poor on the part of the interface.

Your next screen is a confirmation screen of some kind, and only on your NEXT (3rd) screen do you actually have the option to choose now or at the end of the campaign.

And if you don't have 15K you don't even get the third screen so I have enough to change ar the end of the campaign but I don't get the option to do so.

Enodoc · July 2015

arogantznrb19_ESO wrote: »

Wheelhouse413 wrote: »

ZOS_BrianWheeler wrote: »

Switching at the end of a campaign duration is cheaper than "right now" switching, and as @Enodoc pointed out, it currently costs 5k instead of 15k. Again, the switch to your Home Assignment won't occur until the end of the Campaign you're currently "home'd" (new word TM) in.

Since this isn't ever explained in-game, I'll let people know how this works on the PS4.

Let's say you are part of the Blackwater Blade campaign and are tired of the 2+ hour queues and want to switch. Your one option is to select another campaign and use square to click "join".

As the only choice is the 15,000 one, the game does not inform you that you can change for any other cost or at any other time. This is incredibly poor on the part of the interface.

Your next screen is a confirmation screen of some kind, and only on your NEXT (3rd) screen do you actually have the option to choose now or at the end of the campaign.

And if you don't have 15K you don't even get the third screen so I have enough to change ar the end of the campaign but I don't get the option to do so.

@ZOS_BrianWheeler You may need to have a rethink over how switching at the end of the campaign duration is presented on consoles if it's hard to access and not actually possible without 15,000 AP anyway.

Rosveen · July 2015

Enodoc wrote: »

arogantznrb19_ESO wrote: »

Wheelhouse413 wrote: »

ZOS_BrianWheeler wrote: »

Switching at the end of a campaign duration is cheaper than "right now" switching, and as @Enodoc pointed out, it currently costs 5k instead of 15k. Again, the switch to your Home Assignment won't occur until the end of the Campaign you're currently "home'd" (new word TM) in.

Since this isn't ever explained in-game, I'll let people know how this works on the PS4.

Let's say you are part of the Blackwater Blade campaign and are tired of the 2+ hour queues and want to switch. Your one option is to select another campaign and use square to click "join".

As the only choice is the 15,000 one, the game does not inform you that you can change for any other cost or at any other time. This is incredibly poor on the part of the interface.

Your next screen is a confirmation screen of some kind, and only on your NEXT (3rd) screen do you actually have the option to choose now or at the end of the campaign.

And if you don't have 15K you don't even get the third screen so I have enough to change ar the end of the campaign but I don't get the option to do so.

@ZOS_BrianWheeler You may need to have a rethink over how switching at the end of the campaign duration is presented on consoles if it's hard to access and not actually possible without 15,000 AP anyway.

The first change should be free in any case.

PhxOldGamer68 · July 2015

@Wheelhouse413 @ZOS_BrianWheeler PS4

My home campaign is Rislav as well with EP. In June, the campaign was well rounded with all 3 factions almost equal and lots of good fighting back and forth. The map was well divided by all 3 factions.

The past 2 weeks, AD has conquered the entire map as you stated. EP and DC never have a single bar, while AD always has 1 bar or 2 bars. I go in and if I find 20 EP players attacking the nearest keep, we're always losing because AD players outnumber us. They come from the other keeps and surround us. The only way we get AP is defending our home keep. And the only way AD players get AP is to attack our home keep and get driven back. Pretty repetitive over an hour of fighting.

The last several days, I go in 5-10pm PT and all I hear are crickets. Another player travels in, looks around, sees me, and then travels out.

Rislav ended yesterday. I have 13K and cannot change because I don't have 15K. So it's not free even if the campaign has ended. I need more AP, but no one is playing in Rislav.

I love PVP, but the map not resetting is most likely the cause of players not returning to Rislav - and other campaigns that are dominated by a faction. Destiny resets every Tuesday night. ESO should reset every week as well. I don't mind getting those screen prompts saying I need to log off in 10 minutes for maintenance. It's for a good cause.