This forum is by no means the worst gaming forum on the internet, but the community is riven with division and conflict, between players of different classes, Elites vs Casuals, PvP vs PvE... etc This wouldn't matter at all if Zenimax were the type of developer that has a clear, consistent and uncompromising strategy, that for good or ill, ignored community feedback.

The fact is that Zenimax does attempt to listen to feedback and try to appease the community. This is very much a double edged sword, because whilst Democracy has its merits in giving the common man a voice, it also results in short-term-ism (the lack of a long term strategy towards a desirable end goal even if it maybe unpopular in the immediate future), gives disproportionate influence to those that shout the loudest (and those with the means to influence the masses) and risks evolving into tyranny of the masses where the legitimate interests of minorities are trampled underfoot.

An overly hostile and toxic population also discourages "the authorities", in this case Zenimax, from making bold and optimistic ventures due to the fear of failure and the criticism it would undoubtedly generate. So... I am disappointed by ESOLive from yesterday, I am a even a little angry, but if you really care about this game, then try to help Zenimax make it better for everyone, and not just scream for something that you want and feel entitled to. We should help Zenimax to avoid making poorly thought out knee-jerk reactions to forum complaints that attempt to fix one "problem", but creates two new ones and we should encourage them to be bold and ambitious about the future and invest to make their game better for current and future customers, and not just appease a raging forum community one issue at a time and retain existing ones.

I'll start by doing my bit and address a few of the key conflicts and demands I often see on this forum. I will try to be as objective as possible as somebody who PvPs and PvEs and made the slow journey from super-casual to "relatively hardcore", and has friends and acquaintances from both extremes of the spectrum.

1) PvP vs PvE

There is a toxic minority of (annoyingly loud) PvP'ers and PvE'ers who seem to feel so self-entitled that the game ought to be developed around their precise desires and anything else is a waste of time.

Examples:
I only want to PvP, so give me Maelstorm weapons, Undaunted progression, moar gold, monster sets, armour sets etc! PvE sucks, PvE'ers are scrubs and carebears! Give me moar PvP!!! PvP everywhere!!

Give me a PvE only Cyrodil/Imperial City... how dare people attack me whilst I am farming in the sewers?! PvP'ers are a$$holes! Get rid of PvP from ESO! etc etc etc

Those type of demands do not help anyone and only serves to divide the community, and if anything, gives Zenimax an excuse to not deliver for both sides! "Oh we'd liked to have done PvP Battlegrounds in 2016, but PvE'ers needed a new trial..." No, we should be united in encouraging Zenimax to deliver top quality PvP and PvE content because in order for ESO to truly prosper, it needs a strong PvE and PvP community!

I personally like mechanics that encourage PvP'ers to do some PvE and PvE'ers to do some PvP. They might like it more than they expected! The new monster set merchant should be viewed as a positive for both PvP'ers and PvE'ers because it reduces the rng for both as PvP'ers can buy them with AP and PvE'ers can buy with gold! It shouldn't be a zero-sum game. A win for PvP'ers is not a loss for PvE'ers!

That said, perhaps the requirements for Proxity Detonation and Caltrops is a little too high for PvE'ers to obtain (but please no P2W skilltrees in the crownstore, ever), but I feel that a signficant amount of PvP should be done to unlock them as they are PvP skilltrees. Certain top tier loot should be exclusive to PvP or PvE (for example Maelstorm weapons and a hypothetical "Master Weapon" from some future PvP BG) and remain BoP to encourage players to play both at the highest level. Certain armour sets could also be PvP only or PvE only, but they should either be BoE to allow trading or if BoP, then something functionally similar should be available from both PvP and PvE.

2) Elite vs Casual

Examples:

Nolifer! I bet you live in your mum's basement!

L2P n00b!

First off, just accept that people play ESO for a huge variety of reasons. This is actually a great thing and something Zenimax can be rightly applauded and congratulated for. A broad appeal is healthy for any MMO if it has any chance of longevity and success.

The "elites" are not necessary "no-lifers" with nothing else to do. They are just naturally competitive individuals who take pleasure from overcoming challenges and "winning" whatever they participate in. The casuals are not necessarily stupid or "bad" players, they just don't care about optimal performance because they came to ESO to relax and have fun, not to compared d1ck sizes dps numbers on Manticora. Neither side is more important than the other and the interests of both needs to respected.

Casuals need to stop with the entitlement culture of I paid for this, I should be able to do it even though I can't be bothered working for it! No, you paid for an equal opportunity to complete whatever content you bought, it does not automatically entitle you to all the rewards in such content if you cannot do it. Taking Orsinium DLC as an example... vMA is a tiny part of it. It is meant to be difficult and trials (vet/hard modes at least) should always be exclusive to players of the highest calibre. If you cannot do vMA, you still got all the quests in Wrothgar and nMA!

That said, although the best rewards ought to be tied to the most difficult challenges, casual players should be given some reward for completing easier content. I have no idea why nMA does not drop VR15 Maelstorm weapons like nDSA drops VR13 Master Weapons. I also feel that whilst there is a nice difficulty curve for the Veteran Dungeons from Wayrest Sewers to Imperial City Prison, the gap between nMA and vMA is way too big. Personally I feel that gap should be close by either making nMA harder or adding a middle-difficulty setting for trials, not nerfing vMA, which devalues the achievements of those who have already made the effort to complete it.

3) Classes

Having played Magicka NB, Stam NB, Magicka Sorc, Magicka DK and Stamina DK in both PvP and PvE... it is my observation that the constant QQ on this forum about class imbalances are... over-stated. Of course balance is not perfect... but in PvE every class of both Stamina and Magicka variants can achieve enough dps to complete all PvE content in ESO. Sure some are better at AoE and some are better at single target, some are better in long fights, others are better in bursts... but they can all do everything!

In PvP, Stamina NB and Magicka Sorc are considered the strongest builds in the current meta, whilst Magicka DK is considered gimped. Sure a Stam NB will beat a Magicka DK in the majority of 1v1 encounters assuming equal player skill, but a good Magicka DK can still wreck inferior players of other classes and fighting a half-decent Magicka DK is a nightmare for Magicka Sorcs and often results in stalemate. I have fought with or against extremely dangerous players of both Magicka and Stamina variants of the supposedly weaker classes, including Sanct, Keldurn, Abraxus etc

My point is when you get beaten by a certain class/build, consider that maybe, just maybe, the other guy was just a better player, or he performed better in that encounter... Learn what went wrong and try to do better next time.

Yes some skills needs to be looked at and tweaked, but crying for nerfs often results in the nerf hammer being dropped too hard, and the game swings from one imbalance to another, instead of the surgical improvements needed to achieve a better equilibrium and greater class/build diversity.

I don't presume to be an expert of ESO or game development, but I hope that the above helps in some little way to make ESO a little bit better for all of us.

I'll end with a video that explains the need for player diversity and the challenges in balancing the competing demands of different types of gamers. I don't love every video Extra Credits makes, but I do hope that somebody at Zenimax watches them and some of you may find them interesting too.


Best Wishes to all in 2016.

Hein