Maelstrom Arena PTS Challenge

Dymence · October 2015

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys, just wanted to let you all know that we're currently discussing options (we promise the intent wasn't to troll everyone). What if we pushed out the contest by a week, so the dates would be Oct 19-Nov 1? While only EU characters will be copied, you'll still be able to use VR16 templates. Thoughts?

Why don't you do a EU character copy on Oct 19th and another NA character copy on Oct 26, and make the event run from Oct 19-Nov 1?

Or leave the NA character copy on for now and postpone the EU character copy to Oct 26? EU people (myself included) will be bummed not being able to play our own character yet, but this is the most fair option if you ask me.

Fat_Cat45 · October 2015

Now's my time to shine and complete vet maelstrom with the bugs. Guaranteed spot for free Orsinium! You all will remember my name!!

anitajoneb17_ESO · October 2015

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys, just wanted to let you all know that we're currently discussing options (we promise the intent wasn't to troll everyone). What if we pushed out the contest by a week, so the dates would be Oct 19-Nov 1? While only EU characters will be copied, you'll still be able to use VR16 templates. Thoughts?

I won't participate (even if I did I wouldn't make it to the leaderboards anyway) but I'd say, given the situation : make everyone participate (EU with copies/templates + NA with templates) and give everyone access to everything : all traits researched, max craft everywhere, all skill points unlocked, all wayshrines unlocked, a good stock of all crafting mats including alchemy and cooking ingredients, all recipes, all available VR16 sets, etc...

That would make everyone "even" + you (ZOS) would have the benefits of all real power builds tested against each other. Costs nothing, makes everyone happy, and it's not like PTS results will cause lasting imbalances in the game, it's all wiped anyway.

Valrien · October 2015

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys, just wanted to let you all know that we're currently discussing options (we promise the intent wasn't to troll everyone). What if we pushed out the contest by a week, so the dates would be Oct 19-Nov 1? While only EU characters will be copied, you'll still be able to use VR16 templates. Thoughts?

Could you allow templates to craft the gear they need in that case?

SleepyTroll · October 2015

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys, just wanted to let you all know that we're currently discussing options (we promise the intent wasn't to troll everyone). What if we pushed out the contest by a week, so the dates would be Oct 19-Nov 1? While only EU characters will be copied, you'll still be able to use VR16 templates. Thoughts?

Why didn't you think about it before starting the event? I know for a fact you guys have known since last Wednesday that this patch wouldn't have the fix. You had a week to notice this wasn't good timing.

ZOS_RichLambert wrote: »

There's a bug with monster mitigation we found and are fixing.

We are working to get it fixed for the next PTS patch.

-rich

Once again I'll bet my bottom dollar you knew this wasn't going to be in the patch, because you had your patch for this week laid out and it didn't fit in the schedule. @ZOS_RichLambert. Yet you still decide the community will be so happy to have this challenge this week.

Anyways next week is better then this week, even if we don't get our copy's its better then these two huge bugs. Waiting till the Update goes live would be a cool way to kick off the launch of the DLC

Paulington · October 2015

Valrien wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys, just wanted to let you all know that we're currently discussing options (we promise the intent wasn't to troll everyone). What if we pushed out the contest by a week, so the dates would be Oct 19-Nov 1? While only EU characters will be copied, you'll still be able to use VR16 templates. Thoughts?

Could you allow templates to craft the gear they need in that case?

I remember @ZOS_GinaBruno saying a while ago that for some technical reason they can't provide templates with all traits etc researched.

All in all the PTS is lacks so many quality of life things we need to test effectively.

Fat_Cat45 · October 2015

Fat_Cat45 wrote: »

Now's my time to shine and complete vet maelstrom with the bugs. Guaranteed spot for free Orsinium! You all will remember my name!!

Well, I tried and made it to arena 8 final boss again. The obstacle between me and free Orsinium

Trying to deal with adds while doing 50% damage, being unable to properly target those totems, and increased resource costs makes for a bad time on boss wave of arena 8

Elijah_Crow · October 2015

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys, just wanted to let you all know that we're currently discussing options (we promise the intent wasn't to troll everyone). What if we pushed out the contest by a week, so the dates would be Oct 19-Nov 1? While only EU characters will be copied, you'll still be able to use VR16 templates. Thoughts?

Gina,

That's likely the best solution, however it really won't work for me as the set pieces I use aren't available on Template Characters.

You will obviously see a huge difference when the EU server is able to use their own character for this. Not really fair to the players on the PC NA, but I don't suppose there is any fix due to timing.

Good thoughts but the only real fix would have been to push out the mitigation and ability cost changes today. Once that didn't happen, there isn't really any way to fix.

abhimat1999rwb17_ESO · October 2015

Have you guys thought about saving the progression made in veteran maelstrom arena? Because not everyone will have the time to sit and play that for hours. I think normal arena is saved if we logout would be wonderful to have that feature in vet too.

Soleya · October 2015

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Unfortunately we are not able to have NA and EU characters copied at the same time due to technical limitations - this has always been the case.

I'm guessing the limitation is database storage size?

Why not just copy the first 4 characters on EU and NA, so we all have at least 4 characters we are familiar with to play. Most people have their mains as one of the first they made.

Or another suggestion, why not only copy people who've actually logged into the PTS server at some point. This would reduce the database needs of all the players who are copied but aren't playing on PTS at all.

Sadly the template characters don't really give us a good feel for how things are working out. At least not for me anyway. My V16 Template on PTS for IC, felt gimped compared to my character on live, even though they had full V16 end gear vs my live having V14.

Fat_Cat45 · October 2015

Slayer9292_ESO wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Unfortunately we are not able to have NA and EU characters copied at the same time due to technical limitations - this has always been the case.

I'm guessing the limitation is database storage size?

Why not just copy the first 4 characters on EU and NA, so we all have at least 4 characters we are familiar with to play. Most people have their mains as one of the first they made.

Or another suggestion, why not only copy people who've actually logged into the PTS server at some point. This would reduce the database needs of all the players who are copied but aren't playing on PTS at all.

Sadly the template characters don't really give us a good feel for how things are working out. At least not for me anyway. My V16 Template on PTS for IC, felt gimped compared to my character on live, even though they had full V16 end gear vs my live having V14.

The limitation is overlapping character names. User ID's are unique and can not be the same on any server. However, character names are not unique and can also be on any server.

Example: On NA I have a character called "Fat Cat". Me claiming that name does not remove it from EU character name pool. Someone on EU then makes a character called "Fat Cat". When PTS rolls around they do NA copy and my "Fat Cat" goes to the PTS. When they do EU copy, they need to delete my version of "Fat Cat" to allow the EU character of "Fat Cat" to get on the PTS.

Soleya · October 2015

Fat_Cat45 wrote: »

Slayer9292_ESO wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Unfortunately we are not able to have NA and EU characters copied at the same time due to technical limitations - this has always been the case.

I'm guessing the limitation is database storage size?

Why not just copy the first 4 characters on EU and NA, so we all have at least 4 characters we are familiar with to play. Most people have their mains as one of the first they made.

Or another suggestion, why not only copy people who've actually logged into the PTS server at some point. This would reduce the database needs of all the players who are copied but aren't playing on PTS at all.

Sadly the template characters don't really give us a good feel for how things are working out. At least not for me anyway. My V16 Template on PTS for IC, felt gimped compared to my character on live, even though they had full V16 end gear vs my live having V14.

The limitation is overlapping character names. User ID's are unique and can not be the same on any server. However, character names are not unique and can also be on any server.

Example: On NA I have a character called "Fat Cat". Me claiming that name does not remove it from EU character name pool. Someone on EU then makes a character called "Fat Cat". When PTS rolls around they do NA copy and my "Fat Cat" goes to the PTS. When they do EU copy, they need to delete my version of "Fat Cat" to allow the EU character of "Fat Cat" to get on the PTS.

Couldn't they just append characters to the names using a script when copying? So instead you would be "Fat Cat NA" or something like that and someone from EU would be "Fat Cat EU". Really don't care if my name has extra characters on the PTS. It's the setup and gear I'd want to test.

Fya0713 · October 2015

@ZOS_GinaBruno ....... so you're doing a Maelstrom Arena contest....when the mobs are taking less than HALF the damage they should be, the massive resource bug is still not fixed, you JUST broke the game's audio 100% in today's patch, and I just experienced a bug where the mobs in round 1 wouldn't even spawn.....I exited the dungeon, exited out of my game, relogged, resetting the dungeon, and no mobs would spawn......this post really grosses me out. Why would you say "starting today, Oct. 12, we're having a Maelstrom Arena contest" (or whatever the exact wording is), when today, on Oct. 12, the Arena is bugged to the point where, unless you're hacking, it's impossible to complete?

[Moderator Note: Edited per our rules on Trolling & Baiting]

Zinaroth · October 2015

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys, just wanted to let you all know that we're currently discussing options (we promise the intent wasn't to troll everyone). What if we pushed out the contest by a week, so the dates would be Oct 19-Nov 1? While only EU characters will be copied, you'll still be able to use VR16 templates. Thoughts?

EU currently has some of the best PvE players so that wouldn't be fair towards your NA brethren. Favorizing EU over NA? Unheard of...

code65536 · October 2015

The best solution is probably to postpone it by one week. Do the EU copy next week. Then the week after that, do another NA copy. So both EU and NA have one week each of their main characters, and we won't have to make EU wait an extra week to test the other content with their main.

ZOS_GinaBruno · October 2015

Just to update, we're still exploring our options including potentially being able to copy over some NA characters, but it's likely we'll push this out a week so the two major bugs with monster mitigation and ability costs will be addressed. That said, Veteran Maelstrom Arena will still be quite difficult to complete (as is intended).

We'll give you another update tomorrow as our options become more solidified. Thanks for your patience, all.

danno8 · October 2015

Do an EU copy this week, like on Wednesday. So they get a week and a half of testing time (including presumably a fix on Monday), then recopy NA players on the 26th so they get a wekk of testing with the fix also.

It's not a perfect solution as EU will have 1 week less total time of testing, but at least both sides of the ocean will get a week with the proper damage/resource use.

Rock <---- ZoS ----> Hard Place

nikolaj.lemcheb16_ESO · October 2015

Just make it two contests, one for US one for EU. The US will have lower rating but only competing against others who fight at the same conditions.

lonewolf26 · October 2015

nikolaj.lemcheb16_ESO wrote: »

Just make it two contests, one for US one for EU. The US will have lower rating but only competing against others who fight at the same conditions.

I'm not sure this would work. With the current state of the game, room 8 is nearly impassible. You need to complete the trial to appear on the leaderboard.

SleepyTroll · October 2015

Copying over some NA characters? How is this fair?

Nifty2g · October 2015

Move this challenge to live when the bugs are fixed seems unfair NA has pretty much no chance but EU get to compete without the bug

asneakybanana · October 2015

Nifty2g wrote: »

Move this challenge to live when the bugs are fixed seems unfair NA has pretty much no chance but EU get to compete without the bug

LOL. So you have to buy orsinium to compete in the arena challenge that as a reward gives you a free copy of orsinium. Love it.

Glantir · October 2015

Why you dont add a vendor, lets call him Steve, Steve will have all armor, jewelry and weapons of the game (maybe except the Maelstrom drops)in his inventory and will give this items for 1 gold to the players on the PTS.

Nifty2g · October 2015

asneakybanana wrote: »

Nifty2g wrote: »

Move this challenge to live when the bugs are fixed seems unfair NA has pretty much no chance but EU get to compete without the bug

LOL. So you have to buy orsinium to compete in the arena challenge that as a reward gives you a free copy of orsinium. Love it.

Obviously prizes would be different, but to hold a competition when no one can beat it seems a bit outlandish

asneakybanana · October 2015

Nifty2g wrote: »

asneakybanana wrote: »

Nifty2g wrote: »

Move this challenge to live when the bugs are fixed seems unfair NA has pretty much no chance but EU get to compete without the bug

LOL. So you have to buy orsinium to compete in the arena challenge that as a reward gives you a free copy of orsinium. Love it.

Obviously prizes would be different, but to hold a competition when no one can beat it seems a bit outlandish

I totally agree. It seems that it got even worse with this patch. now the stupid high damage dot poison things on stage 7 dont have telegraphs anymore so it pretty much hope and pray you dont walk in the wrong place lol.

Fecius · October 2015

Well, I guess NA players have nice ping without character copy and EU players have bad ping with character copy. I guess it's fair!

Gilliamtherogue · October 2015

asneakybanana wrote: »

Nifty2g wrote: »

Move this challenge to live when the bugs are fixed seems unfair NA has pretty much no chance but EU get to compete without the bug

LOL. So you have to buy orsinium to compete in the arena challenge that as a reward gives you a free copy of orsinium. Love it.

The prize is the crown equivalent of Orisinium, not Orsinium itself.

MikeB · October 2015

Us console scrubs all have to pay for the DLC so what are you all crying about? At least you get a chance to win, I have 0% chance because I play on console. Suck it up buttercup and do what ZoS has planned instead of crying

Zinaroth · October 2015

MikeB wrote: »

Us console scrubs all have to pay for the DLC so what are you all crying about? At least you get a chance to win, I have 0% chance because I play on console. Suck it up buttercup and do what ZoS has planned instead of crying

We paid to polish the game for a year before it was released for you guys, you're welcome.

ZOS_GinaBruno · October 2015

Unfortunately the dev we need to talk to in order to solidify our options has been out sick, so we're just waiting for him to get back into the office. Hang tight, we'll get this straightened out. Sorry for the confusion.