Well good to know other opinions... I loved Orsinium for example but was never interested in TG, however now it annoys me to see that there are some boxes I cant open in PvE unless I have the dlc.
Do you actually get decent loots out of that?

Is it mostly played in a desert ? Because that isnt much my cup of tea, but if it isnt I might reconsider.

Like it alot so far. Special the sneak zone.

I just use it to Harvest at Hews Bane.. i didnt buy it and i will not buy... and after this month cancel my ESO PLUS...

Stange thing is that instead of developers "develop the game" They like break it... I still have hope for this game till the Brotherhood will come...

AND ZOS need to communicate with players really more ...

GaldorP wrote: »

The number of loading screens was a bit high in the main quest line of Wrothgar already (I know it, I completed it 7 times so far ), but in Hew's Bane it feels like you get a loading screen every 2-3 minutes average. And each and every time you need to go (back) to the Thieves Den: Port to Abah's Landing Wayshrine *long loading screen n°1*, walk 30 meters to the Thieves Den entrance *long loading screen n°2*. With missions that require you to go back there every 5-10 minutes that's a lot of time spent on loading screens (and right now there's a lot of players in Hew's Bane so the loading screens are longer). Would have been really nice to have an option to return directly to the Thieves Den, for example (like a wayshrine or a quest item that can teleport you there directly).

I am not sure why they have two zones (and two loading screens) coming into the Thieves Den from the city. That whole extra little tiny zone seems like a waste. I do think they should revise the game so we enter directly into the Thieves Den when coming from Abah's Landing, either by eliminating that little interior zone or by merging it with the Den zone.

The loading screen from Abah's Landing to the Den anti-chamber zone is about 4 seconds and the one to the Den is about 3 seconds. It takes me 20 seconds to get from the exterior cell to the Den interior at the fence, including the jog from the ladder to the hidden door. Coming from Hew's Bane through the exterior entrance takes me about the same time, with most of it jogging through the Den to the fence area. It does take a lot longer to EXIT the Den to Abah's Landing, about 35-38 seconds from the fence to the exterior, with most of that difference coming from the chain ladder leading to Abah's Landing (12-15 seconds, 3-4x longer). This time is likely repeated for each entry into Hew's Bane and Abah's Landing from interior cells and other locations.

ZOS might be able to optimize the "entering the world" loading screen because I figure a lot of things are being done during that time. The more things they do, the more opportunity to optimize.

It would be nice if Lua could be used to measure loading screens, but I suspect they have metrics in the client to send that information back to them. Lambert probably has some query he can run that shows numbers for loading screen times. (Just a note for @ZOS_RichLambert to say I found that FPS & Latency chart on ESO Live pretty interesting and if it is possible to share that sort of information in threads that comment on those sorts of metrics, it might help. I get that it takes time to compile and present that information in a consumable manner.)

GaldorP wrote: »

Concerning the Thieves Guild skill line:

It makes stealing slightly easier and minimally more profitable. It's a bit too much of a closed system, in my opinion; only synergizes with the Legerdemain skill line and stealing/pickpocketing which is a system that has no rewards apart from gold (and there's other ways to make just as much gold), stolen clothing items (vanity items), and a few achievements (I think 3 or 4 unlock a new color for dyeing and only 1 offers a title and that one can easily be earned by anyone who owns the DLC in about 1-2 hours). The sets that can be earned from TG quests are designed to help your character doing these same quests, but older, existing sets are actually more helpful.

ZOS is always stingy on loot and gold rewards. If the Thieves Guild DLC and skill passives presented a clear advantage for loot and gold, that would be all the mechanical players do to earn gold. They would be the favored target of farming until the next DLC came along, or they "nerfed" it. They really need to make sure that there is a way to get "just as much" loot and gold using other game systems, especially across DLC.

The rewards for Thieves Guild should be gold, vanity items, and achievements. The skill line should work with Legerdemain and it should be a closed system. I can't see a reason to mix with class and weapon skills, racial passives, other guild skills, or crafting directly.

GaldorP wrote: »

Concerning the new trial:

It feels like 50% of the DLC is the new trial which, unfortunately, is mostly just for hardcore raiders (most difficult trial yet) and there is no system that gets new players into raiding. I think it would be helpful if there were a system that invites new players (that are not pro raiders yet) to do trials.

Unless I am mistaken, the "most difficult" Trial is only in Veteran mode and the Normal mode trial is not like this. I think this might be the Trial for new raiders to start in. I do agree that they should go back to the other trials and split them into Normal and Veteran modes so there is some variety at the low end.

My general comments:

I did not expect it to be as large or offer as much as Orsinium. I expected it to focus on thievery, and it does. It provides daily objectives, which is very welcome and should be extended to the Fighters Guild and Mage's Guild. It has a main quest that is not trivial. They surprised me by making the DLC span the world instead of limiting it to the one zone. The city of Abah's Landing is more than I expected. Hew's Bane is a little greener and wetter than I think it should be, and the low tabletop rock formations showcase the limitations and bugs in character jumping and climbing. I like both of the delves and they present new thoughts and ideas that require different thinking. I like that the skill line is passive and limited to the DLC so that ownership of the DLC is not required. Loading times into the exterior zone could be improved. I have not assessed the sets because they introduce sets faster than I can evaluate them, but my thought is that DLC sets should be options and not OP. If the new meta is a DLC set, they are doing it wrong (from game play view, not business view).

I'm passing on the Thieves Guild DLC. As much as I love that particular part of ESO lore, I don't think the content is worth it. I'm sure it's fun and somewhat different, but I knew the content itself was going to be shallow. Hopefully they don't completely shred the Dark Brotherhood...

I am loving the TG dlc. Thanks to the outlaw motif, my armor now fits my type of character. I love the missions requiring me to sneak and not get caught. It is a play style I have been denied up until now thanks to all the giant sword wielding quest rushers that prevented it in the past.

I finally feel like I am playing an Elder Scrolls game. I love it so much, I bought it even though I am a subscriber. Congrats to ZOS for a great dlc.

At the very least, this DLC/Thieves Guild passives give a purposeful use for the Legerdemain skill line that was just kinda sitting there before Thieves Guild.

I agree that there are almost a discouraging number of loading screens in the T.G. quests though.

The TG quest line was a waste of programming time with all the other issues with the game.

I don't want to sit in a basket and hide. If they find me I want to confront them and fight. But no, I cant do that. The dumb programmers make me run to find another basket to hide in so don't die. Should of given us soul gems as a reward instead of a pet. What a waste of a time and a DLC that could of been awesome.

I can understand the thieves aspect with sneaking and hiding. Some people probably enjoy this, I don't. I would think this type of game play interests 30%, maybe 40% of the people. So the TG is useless to the other 60%.

Why cant we fight NPC's and defend ourselves? This would of made this so much better.

If the next DLC is this bad, I will be looking for a new game. It is a shame as I love this game and have been here since June. If they keep putting out this kind of content and not resolving the existing issue I will be gone.

i love the new DLC and even wrote a mail to zos telling them so.

aside from the usual bugs and load screens we've all come to loathe, the TG DLC is finally making the game feel like a true role playing game instead of an endless grind for gear and repetition over and over which was making me a bit sour to be honest.

I also really like that the skill line has nothing to do with increasing possible dps to even more insane levels and focuses solely on being a thief. which is kinda the point.

loved the storyline too. in wrothgar I felt like I was just wandering through the quests with no real impetus. just more quests like the plethora of others I've done for the Tamriel Hero title. here though there was a lot more immersion with sneaking, pilfering and subterfuge.

I encourage zos to continue in this vein for future DLC's.

I like that we finally get new content and often but i wish we got a huge expansion with new gameplay elements,Race,classes and dramatic changes

HighT3chR3dn3ck wrote: »

Oh yeah, and what a stupid concept of "sneak" zones as part of the story that add to your bounty.

Other players bring NPCs over to me and bring me out of stealth, which gives me a bounty. Which is not my fault. Great game design ZOS. Just super smart to allow other people into your story instances. Really makes me feel like a thief when there's 10 other people sneaking around.

Can you imagine the additional strain on the servers this would bring adding separate instances for everyone..

I only paid the minimum for it with crowns bought on sale, after IC and Orsinium wasn't expecting much anyway.
I enjoyed the somewhat lackluster story as it is one of the better in the game although the game did crash at a crucial part of the story telling on the very last mission which made me miss the entire ending (*thumbs up* awesome work there zos, thanks for that = sarcasm), I don't enjoy the fps drops which have affected every zone since its release, I don't enjoy the sound issues it's caused in many of the quests since release, I don't enjoy the hews bane layout and actively avoid it at all costs as the engine we have really wasn't built for climbing or jumping effectively.
I constantly find ramps etc that snag my character so find myself bunny hopping most of the time if I ever do have to enter the city, the layout is so bad in fact that I port to a different zone completely if I need to bank or decon anything.
The heists are pathetic, there's no stealth or planning involved, if you want to do it within the ridiculously short time limit just spam cloak or down invisibility potions, the guards and traps are mostly broken, the time reduction when detected is also broken so just run through and kill everything as you'll make more from completely clearing the heist area of mats than you will from whatever piece of purple garbage rngesus rewards you with (they're supposedly working to fix these issues so... "soon" would be my guess on a timeframe for that, crappy rewards probably won't be included in that fix though).
The area outside of the city looks pretty big on the map until you realise there's a huge cliff barrier blocking you from entering half of it and with monsters to annoyingly grind through every few steps you take it gives the impression they don't want you exploring too much out there in case you discover how half assed it is.
We did get a smuggler "assistant" though so yayy, I personally won't ever use her as her 35% cut is a gouge and she won't go pay a bounty off for you so is as pointless as the ones they're charging £80 for.
Thieves troves and heist board rewards are silly, I don't even bother looking in troves anymore (green recipe, white sash and some lockpicks to fence anyone??) although the heist board rewards do sometimes save me the cost of a fence for covetous countess.
I've heard the trial is quite good but I don't do trials as most of my guildmates from the two I pve/pvp in quit this game after IC, I might join a new guild someday to try it but meh I'm not too fussed about sets anyway so there's no hurry.
Overall it kept me entertained for a few hours so was worth the small amount I ended up paying for it, I'd feel robbed if the price was higher or crowns not on sale though.

Concerning the new trial:

It feels like 50% of the DLC is the new trial which, unfortunately, is mostly just for hardcore raiders (most difficult trial yet) and there is no system that gets new players into raiding. I think it would be helpful if there were a system that invites new players (that are not pro raiders yet) to do trials. Make the old trials easier, for example, and offer good rewards (XP and raid sets that make those players stronger for the more difficult raids). Let people who like to do that level exclusively by doing trials in random groups! It's a huge problem in ESO that all rare dungeon drops you don't get at max level become more or less worthless in a few hours.

Edited by GaldorP on March 26, 2016 4:38AM

This is a very good idea and should of been incorporated to make TG worthwhile for people that just like to kill stuff.
Is there anything EVER anygood in thieves Tboxes other than maybe a purple clemency? treasure chests in open world and in dungeons are a joke, I don't even bother with them anymore unless it is a drop.
This game really needs an overall refresh and a new development team. It is all over the map and not in a good way.

HighT3chR3dn3ck wrote: »

They come out with a DLC that buffs all Magicka (even though it's Thieves Guild which classically sneaking has to do with stamina, just sayin'), The DLC story quest line is by far the worst yet, especially since I have to complete bounty board missions just to increase my Thieves Guild rank; which so far has usually involved me having to pickpocket 30 people. TERRIBLE!!!!

I just don't understand how you can take a franchise like Elder Scrolls, with the most robust history, incredible lore to draw from, and you create this steaming pile of poo.

This DLC literally has nothing to offer. It's going to barely help me get Black Market Mogul faster. Unbelievable. Truly.

Did you play the Orsinium update? I would criticize that much harsher than TG personally. I don't necessarily disagree with you on some points, just wanted to add in my opinion there.

I don't find it to be unreasonable to have to do side quests to gain access to main story quests. It's pretty typical of ES games to force you to make a reputation for yourself before any particular guild or individual will trust you to certain tasks. Take the TG in Skyrim, for example, where you had to do a series of quests that involved breaking and entering, pickpocketing, etc. before they sent you to do a particular "main" quest. Is it done perfectly? Nah of course not, but that doesn't make it bad imo.

We share a common perspective as it pertains to TG being a purely magicka-oriented update, in terms of class balancing. This has been largely disappointing for a great number of people. The argument I would make here is that it is unjust to criticize the actual content with lack of routine balancing. These are done by separate teams, at separate times, and ultimately are rolled out at the discretion of whoever is in charge. It's not because the devs hate us that they are ignoring stamina. It's either because they need more time to figure it out, or that they were told not to. So I wouldn't judge the TG so harshly, even though I agree with you. We'll have our day yet!

I'd suggest that there's more to the TG content that is worthwhile than you elude to. Personally, I found the heists to be quite enjoyable, particularly because I can do them with my friends. The side quests are quite lucrative for someone who has max Legerdemain. Compared to other money-making alternatives, it's not the top method on the list. However, if you enjoy this kind of thing, there isn't a whole lot in terms of better options. I can crank out one of these pickpocketing quests in 5-10 minutes (unless I'm ranting in TS like usual) and it affords me a few thousand gold each time.

We share a common perspective as it pertains to TG being a purely magicka-oriented update, in terms of class balancing.

Wait. Maybe I'm misunderstanding your point, but one of the primary activities in TG is stealth which requires stamina resources.