I see a lot of negative comments on here I even make a few check my rants about the lack of communication on EU downtime. However this is because I think people are more likely to post about thier gripes and well the server was down so what else was there to do lol. So having said that I'm going to attempt to write about the reasons I think the game is headed in the right direction.
1. regular content updates with a schedule. There are undoubtedly those on the forums that remember the massive content drought for PC players while console launch was priority. Now it seems we have a set schedule of decently sized reasonably priced DLC's to look forward to. While I appreciate IC wasn't to everyone's tastes Exclusive PVPERS and exclusive PVEers seem to have been equally underwhelmed. The group of guildies who I regularly group with or hang on ts with have had some of our best moments in game in the sewers fighting uphill battles outnumbered by zergs and somehow prevailing or laughing as someone accidentally pulls the wandering boss on to our small group.
Also the challenge of the 2 new dungeons that were introduced with this update was a very welcome change of pace. I was sad to see the nerf to the difficulty however I appreciate others deserve a shot at the loot and honestly most of the achievement based players already had them and this has just made it faster to farm my last few divines scathing pieces.
Also it's not like us achievement orientated players dont have a new challenge in the shape of VMA. Which brings me on to the latest update. I can not say how much I love this zone. It feels more sandboxy more TES and actually looks more skyrimesque (probably a word) than eastmarch or the rift. The fact they included shareable world boss dailies was a genius move as I had my concerns about what my guildies would do together with the old trials not scaling and pledges taking 10 mins. These give us the opportunity to get a handful of us together and have a laugh.
The story is great and have enjoyed running into old NPC acquaintances along the way. The new sets introduced are fun and for the most part endgame viable without breaking the base game. Even the music score and new creatures in this zone are great pocket mammoths are awesome.
2. Base game changes first and foremost the introduction of a CP cap and catch up mechanism was IMHO essential to ensure the longevity of this game. I say this even though I am in the burnt zone between catch up and cap. The introduction of new ways to obtain motifs like pledges,writs and PVP was a welcome change it wasn't perfectly implemented with glass for eg but they admitted that apologised and have learnt from it and listened to players opinions on the subject. Even little things like shield dyeing while not massive was something that had been asked for since dyeing was introduced.
3. Better (not perfect communication) How many times before rich lambert took over did we see top figures on the forums or on eso live? his first day I think there were 4 lurks and I saw one today in a thread about equipment traits. Also we recently had a game breaking bug with a nb ability again it was fixed with 24hrs for the EU at least with gina bruno and rich lambert letting us know.
4. Trying maybe not always succeeding to create a balanced fun game for all class and roles. remember snipe spam infinite dodge roll perma blocking and a few others. while I'll admit we have wrecking blow spam and the stamina regen has hurt PVE tanks the intention to correct these things was IMHO the right thing. the execution may not always agree with everyone but the intent is correct. the fact eric wroble is on every other eso live demonstrates that they are aware of issues and making an effort to correct them.
5. Bug fixing I touched on it earlier but recently they have got a lot better at fixing things quickly rearming trap,refreshing path and others. previously there had been these type of things like caltrops siege immunity left in for far to long while goblin horse surfing warranted a timely fix. News today is they even seem to have nailed down the load screen boss.
6. Lets cut the current headshed some slack they inherited a lot of problems but seem to be pushing the game in the right direction and more importantly communicating more and listening more to players. Yes there are still problems with itemisation and balance still a few persistent bugs but I honestly believe the games future is looking a lot better than it has at any time since it launched.
Edited by lathbury on November 13, 2015 11:04AM