Open Letter to the Community and Zenimax

Rickter · April 2016

All i can say @crazmadsci is this:

Keep fighting the good fight.

The negativity, the bickering, the elitism - thats mmo 101. Expect it. Thats coming from someone who has played 18 mmos in his day.

You said youre a GM of a prominent guild right? Yeah so am i come check us out: www.esorequiem.us

Your best bet is to shape that community with dedicated strong leadership and set the example you want your community to follow. You cant be in the game all the time, so surround yourself and build a leadership staff that cares about your community.

As far as twitch streamers? Thats fairly new. At least for me. I didnt see anyone streaming swtor when it first came out. Sure as hell not WoW or rift or FFXIV. So i wouldnt set your expectations to high on that. So what if zos does notice you? You stream for fun right? You stream for the commjnity you love right? Then why do you care if zos bats an eye.

Im not going to keep going but what i can say is the ones that see the bigger picture, the ones that have invested in more than the content this game has to offer, the ones that matter basically, are enjoying the game and loving the experience and keeping this game a beautiful place.

Cheers to all my guildies that have kept me logging in for the last 169 days /played and has made my guild a truly special environment.

Inklings · April 2016

I'm very disappointed that this letter did not ONCE address the concerns of the fishing community. When are we going to start caring about the Anglers and stop pretending they dont exist! /s

For real though, i'm finally glad you posted this. I know a lot more then most people about what went on behind the scenes for the last few weeks regarding this letter, and know how much it means to you. You and i don't always agree on the direction we think ZoS should be taking but we both always want whats best for the game and the community. I really hope more people in the community read this and understand how much more beneficial it is to the game to tackle its issues in this type of polite and constructive manner.

SirAndy · April 2016

Gidorick wrote: »

What about in your native language? Does the color "pink" bring up thoughts of hopefulness, cheer and positivity? Do you have another word to describe something as being "the color of a rose" other than the word "pink"?

@Gidorick
Many years ago when i was still living in Germany, i knew a really old lady with the name of "Rosa Schlüpfer".

Not joking, that really was her name.

Xjcon · April 2016

X3ina wrote: »

To the OP, i believe u should stop wearing pink glasses cause this game (i love it + there is nothing to replace it atm) is kinda big dissappointment. U still can get a lot of fun by quests. dungeons, trials, pvp etc BUT if you're mediocore player.
For top tier players: if u want to be one of the best in your role and class get ready to changing your real life and move into this game. Because every piece of gear is earned by endless grindfest (easiest one is vmsa master weapons (in theory, because u don't need any1 there xD)).
I'll give u a little example: Molag kena !!! - more than 100 runs, completed all the achievements related to this dungeon Vwgt and ... got zero headpieces (on sorcerer). Same goes to Vmsa.
Even if you're lucky enough to get them ... in 10 runs, that is only 2 pieces of 11 needed . Then u have to grind dailies because u need that monster set shoulder, Apart from this u have to grind another dungeon Vicp to get "mythic" scathing mage divines pieces. Why "mythic" - because grind is real. By the time u complete this 2 sets and one of the proud owners of the new master weapon u have to grind another thing called moondancer (arcane jewelry in gold quality).
Now lets count the time needed (as optimists we'll think that u'll get all pieces in 10 runs( but i know and everyone knows that it will never happen) with a really good and motivated group without sudden afk, crashes etc). Vwgt x 10 about 15-25 minutes each = 250 minutes including coffee and smoke breaks; 10 x dailies 8-10 minutes each = 100 minutes; Vmsa x 10 about 50-55 minutes per run = 550 minutes; Vicp x 10 x 5 about 25-30 minutes to complete = 1500 min (x 5 because u want 5 pieces right ?); 10 x weekly runs about 8-15 minutes depending on which trial is weekly (lets assume that u have 5x v16 characters and its AA/HRC only) = 80 min. Total time required to do this little ... not even a grinding ... 2480 min which is about 41 hours 20 minutes only. Pfffff, its not even a challenge for a nolifer toptier jerky grindbot will think most of u. But we have a real life and a family aswell xD (i even have a cat lol). This kind of action is reqiured to get 1 character up to date, but what if u have more ? Step two: most of the players is more than casual which can be seen even by the blind when Vicp or Vwgt is gold daily. So if u have no replacement for a missing person u'll start facecontrol (link achievement etc). Even when your friendlist is totally online u can't force them to do the dungeon that u want (democracy). Step three: god blessed RNG of this game ... i think there is no point to write my personal thoughts or feelings about this one. This is related to this patch realms only, when they introduce new patch u have to grind from the beginning cause meta is changing.
PvP ... i like pvp but lags are unbearable. The only plus i see there is that now u can get proxy det or whatever skill u need in 1 day + little extra money from selling VD pieces.
DLCs: Craglorn - was super duper great its true, new challenges like trials made most of us aiming to the best score forcing to change builds/tactics ... to become a better player.
IC - big grind zone for pveers in pvp area (Cracked Wood Cave 2). Most sets are BoP so money is made only from selling motifs and mats. Two new dungeons (grind is required) with little increased complexity.
Orsinium - Strange zone ... beautiful but aimed for solo players ... in MMO nothing else to say.
Thieves Guild - nothing important here (if you're not aiming for vMoL). I believe can't be sold without new trial.
P.s.: English is not my native language so feel free to point mistakes in my ...short answer

I agree with so much of this post. The grind is real, and some gear even gets gated behind things some players can't complete. I think most gear being BOP is due to gold farmers being a major problem for all MMORPG'S. Your thoughts about the time frame it takes to get gear is on the short side I think, as many people find their luck with RNG is absolutley horrible.

I log on daily and still sub but with the way things keep going I'm not sure I want to anymore. What's the future of ESO now? Are we to expect the meta to change every quarter? For me that's going to be the straw that breaks the camels back.

Autolycus · April 2016

@crazmadsci
We have played together, we've chatted, and we have mutual friends. Although we may not have grown on a personal level to be the 'tightest and bestest' of friends over the last couple of years, you should know you've had my respect since the day I met you. I read your letter from start to finish. I sincerely wish that we could all take a deep breath and share in the mindset which you have portrayed in this letter. I've been preaching the same stuff for some time now too, and so have others. Sure, I'm just as guilty of bouts of nerdrage as the next guy/gal, but at the end of the day, those of us who are still here are here because we love this game, the community, and the experience.

No amount of hate, bashing, cynicism, or disdain is going to change that. Players will come and go; as you said, "old blood friends from launch are fewer and far between as the old generation is running out of patience." I see this happen week to week. I see it happening on the broader scale, or the community at large. I see it happening even within my guild only. This is the nature of MMOs, at least in general. And while it may be sad to see our friends move on to something else, the ESO community does not disappear simply because of a "shift change."

It is for this reason that I share in your sentiment, as it pertains to investing time and effort into the newer, budding portions of the community. It is my honest belief that those of us who have been playing for a year or two truly do have a lot of valuable insight and advice to offer. So many people fail to realize that there is value in talking to people, watching streams, and reading these lengthy posts (I'm guilty of them too, clearly). This value is either diminished or completely concealed by the popular mentality that "elitists" (a term which I personally despise) and streamers are only out for themselves, or their own playstyle, or other "elitists" and streamers.

I wish I could single-handedly show you all that this is not true, but that's simply idealistic. I've seen a lot of hate and rage directed specifically at other players and streamers, making claims and over-generalizing about one or more persons' agenda and ulterior motives, simply based on a particular aspect or attitude that someone had in a stream or post. I get what you guys are saying; I understand why you get these impressions, but what you see on a particular day isn't always the end-all, be-all of what someone truly represents. Like I said, I'm guilty of bouts of nerdrage too. I am absolutely certain there are people out there who legitimately hate my guts because I was probably a bit of an ass to them once. That doesn't mean I hate that player or what they represent. It means I'm human.

We live in an era of instant gratification. Everything is so quick and responsive anymore. We can check virtually everything we want and need with the click of a button, more or less. We can find answers to problems in a matter of minutes, when only a couple of decades ago it would have taken weeks to do the same thing. But here's reality for you all: not everything happens overnight, or instantly. I know so very many of us know and understand this, but we have to learn to have some patience. These things will come in due time; there is no sound logic that justifies the concept that ZOS "hates" its players. That simply doesn't make any sense. Sure, there is a business side to it, and many of us understand that, but claims like this are meaningless in the grand scheme. Dwelling on thoughts such as this isn't going to speed up the process of getting what you want out of this game. They want it to succeed just as much as we do, and we're going to get there a lot quicker if we stop snapping at each other, and start working together to give ZOS what it needs to make necessary changes.

Go out and ask any long-term player why they are still playing this game. I guarantee that the vast majority of them, if not all, will say it's for the community. I know this, because I've asked so many of them myself, or I've seen evidence that suggests it is true. Yes, even for those guys/gals that you may think are full of nothing but rage and narrow-minded nonsense. Those people wouldn't be here still today if that was truly the case. Personally, I know I wouldn't still be here if the only factor was the game itself. Because as craz mentioned, so many of us from "day one" have lost patience. But the reason I stay is the same reason I joined the ESO community to begin with: for the community itself. Anyone who has developed a lasting relationship with someone from their guild knows exactly what I mean by this.

While some people are out there streaming, managing large guilds, showcasing and teaching by mass marketing & such, there are others here who are doing the same things, but without the broad appeal. One thing that streamers and non-streamers have in common is their love for the community and their desire to see the game succeed. Is that not why we are all here? Do we not all want to see success, rather than failure? We waited anxiously for this game for years. How are we doing justice to that level of dedication, when we are constantly at each others' throats about stuff we can't control? Take a deep breath, my fellow nerds. It's time we stopped trashing on each other, and started working together to expedite the process of getting this game back in order. I truly believe it will be there, and I remain hopeful where many others have given up. The only way to know for sure if it will fail or succeed is to see it through, and giving up on it, hating on each other, etc. is only reinforcing the negatives that will drive this into the ground.

Craz - I could elaborate on my own opinions regarding a great deal of what you said. But the truth is, I'm almost completely in agreement with all of it, from the way we treat each other, to the specific aspects of this game you addressed, both from a company/business perspective, and from a deeper, community-oriented perspective as well. I think you did a fantastic job outlining what matters most here. Kudos to you, I hope things remain pleasant for you going forward.

crazmadsci · April 2016

Autolycus wrote: »

@crazmadsci
We have played together, we've chatted, and we have mutual friends. Although we may not have grown on a personal level to be the 'tightest and bestest' of friends over the last couple of years, you should know you've had my respect since the day I met you. I read your letter from start to finish. I sincerely wish that we could all take a deep breath and share in the mindset which you have portrayed in this letter. I've been preaching the same stuff for some time now too, and so have others. Sure, I'm just as guilty of bouts of nerdrage as the next guy/gal, but at the end of the day, those of us who are still here are here because we love this game, the community, and the experience.

No amount of hate, bashing, cynicism, or disdain is going to change that. Players will come and go; as you said, "old blood friends from launch are fewer and far between as the old generation is running out of patience." I see this happen week to week. I see it happening on the broader scale, or the community at large. I see it happening even within my guild only. This is the nature of MMOs, at least in general. And while it may be sad to see our friends move on to something else, the ESO community does not disappear simply because of a "shift change."

It is for this reason that I share in your sentiment, as it pertains to investing time and effort into the newer, budding portions of the community. It is my honest belief that those of us who have been playing for a year or two truly do have a lot of valuable insight and advice to offer. So many people fail to realize that there is value in talking to people, watching streams, and reading these lengthy posts (I'm guilty of them too, clearly). This value is either diminished or completely concealed by the popular mentality that "elitists" (a term which I personally despise) and streamers are only out for themselves, or their own playstyle, or other "elitists" and streamers.

I wish I could single-handedly show you all that this is not true, but that's simply idealistic. I've seen a lot of hate and rage directed specifically at other players and streamers, making claims and over-generalizing about one or more persons' agenda and ulterior motives, simply based on a particular aspect or attitude that someone had in a stream or post. I get what you guys are saying; I understand why you get these impressions, but what you see on a particular day isn't always the end-all, be-all of what someone truly represents. Like I said, I'm guilty of bouts of nerdrage too. I am absolutely certain there are people out there who legitimately hate my guts because I was probably a bit of an ass to them once. That doesn't mean I hate that player or what they represent. It means I'm human.

We live in an era of instant gratification. Everything is so quick and responsive anymore. We can check virtually everything we want and need with the click of a button, more or less. We can find answers to problems in a matter of minutes, when only a couple of decades ago it would have taken weeks to do the same thing. But here's reality for you all: not everything happens overnight, or instantly. I know so very many of us know and understand this, but we have to learn to have some patience. These things will come in due time; there is no sound logic that justifies the concept that ZOS "hates" its players. That simply doesn't make any sense. Sure, there is a business side to it, and many of us understand that, but claims like this are meaningless in the grand scheme. Dwelling on thoughts such as this isn't going to speed up the process of getting what you want out of this game. They want it to succeed just as much as we do, and we're going to get there a lot quicker if we stop snapping at each other, and start working together to give ZOS what it needs to make necessary changes.

Go out and ask any long-term player why they are still playing this game. I guarantee that the vast majority of them, if not all, will say it's for the community. I know this, because I've asked so many of them myself, or I've seen evidence that suggests it is true. Yes, even for those guys/gals that you may think are full of nothing but rage and narrow-minded nonsense. Those people wouldn't be here still today if that was truly the case. Personally, I know I wouldn't still be here if the only factor was the game itself. Because as craz mentioned, so many of us from "day one" have lost patience. But the reason I stay is the same reason I joined the ESO community to begin with: for the community itself. Anyone who has developed a lasting relationship with someone from their guild knows exactly what I mean by this.

While some people are out there streaming, managing large guilds, showcasing and teaching by mass marketing & such, there are others here who are doing the same things, but without the broad appeal. One thing that streamers and non-streamers have in common is their love for the community and their desire to see the game succeed. Is that not why we are all here? Do we not all want to see success, rather than failure? We waited anxiously for this game for years. How are we doing justice to that level of dedication, when we are constantly at each others' throats about stuff we can't control? Take a deep breath, my fellow nerds. It's time we stopped trashing on each other, and started working together to expedite the process of getting this game back in order. I truly believe it will be there, and I remain hopeful where many others have given up. The only way to know for sure if it will fail or succeed is to see it through, and giving up on it, hating on each other, etc. is only reinforcing the negatives that will drive this into the ground.

Craz - I could elaborate on my own opinions regarding a great deal of what you said. But the truth is, I'm almost completely in agreement with all of it, from the way we treat each other, to the specific aspects of this game you addressed, both from a company/business perspective, and from a deeper, community-oriented perspective as well. I think you did a fantastic job outlining what matters most here. Kudos to you, I hope things remain pleasant for you going forward.

WOW, incredible read and i honestly could not say things better myself. Thank you for your kind words and like you, I agree with everything that you said.

I've made lasting relationships in this game and even am meeting a few of my friends for the first time at my Wedding in June after playing with them in game for the past 2 years. Nothing can replace this community.

I am personally not thinking of change in 3 week, 3 months. My thoughts my mind and my work is thinking in terms of years because honestly the day one players are becoming more rare but how many WoW players do you know started day 1 that play still today? This game is going to last for years and i'm going to help it get there.

Inarre · April 2016

MissBizz wrote: »

Anzriel wrote: »

Inarre wrote: »

Korah_Eaglecry wrote: »

Inarre wrote: »

Septimus_Magna wrote: »

crazmadsci wrote: »

@Inarre I am honestly scared of how this community is directing the future development of the game. The largest voices on the forums, youtube, streams are mostly all negative.

Most streamers focus on the pvp aspect of the game.

The pve side of the game is also lacking. There's only 1 trail and 1 solo instance that give v16 rewards for example. Why not scale vDSA, AA, Hel Ra and SO to v16? There are also many dungeons that just have a normal mode, why arent veteran modes added for these dungeons?

This has been talked over in other threads. Since we will see removal of vet ranks most likely they would rather invest resources into that project, rather than redo all of the trials and dungeons to make vet and vet 16 content that will just become irrelevant in the next update.

Honestly in my opinion that would be a poor business decision on their part and a valid choice to criticize if they went ahead and spent resources on updating those when they could invest those resources in much needed other areas.

PVP is a valid point, one that has been made many times by others, and there are other problems as well, however I can see the sense in what ZOS has chosen to do here. We will just have to be patient.

Vet Dungeons arent going anywhere though. They may be renamed but they will continue to exist because while the ranks will be gone, the attribute points and skill points will not. Nor with the hundreds of CP points that parallel that leveling. Players will still need more challenging content to confront post level 50.

Vet dungeons will exist but I imagine there will be changes to those also since the very thing that makes them "vet" no longer exists.

Again just pointless changes when the whole system will be revamped a few short months.

I assume/hope the changes won't affect dungeons much. instead of being vet 16 they'll just be scaled for 160 CP and still be essentially the same.

That is my guess. Instead of "veteran" meaning "for veteran rank" it will probably just mean "harder" or "once you have complete the normal one".

I hope both of you are right, but I imagine they will have to at the least take a look over to make sure that their transition for CP scaling matches, and not sure but possibly they will change the term "veteran". Perhaps transition is much easier than I assume... Could very well be. Still, I would far rather see ZOS do this transition once and do it right, rather than there be problems. Until then I will give them the benefit of a doubt that they know more about the coming changes than I do, and that they are investing their time and resources into worthwhile ventures.

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO · April 2016

NobleNerd wrote: »

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO wrote: »

Korah_Eaglecry wrote: »

wharf wrote: »

I agree with the Toxic Lord FENGRUSH. It's a lot easier to be positive about this game coming from a PvE perspective when you've actually had updates and are noticed by ZosE. After being ignored and labeled as toxic the only course of action is to quit or be loud enough to be noticed which is what I think many PvP streamers have resorted to. Nothing will change if Zos isn't able to accept criticism without closing threads or refusing to acknowledge very popular threads that are about subjects they don't wish to address.

Keep drinking that Zose Kool Aid OP.

LMAO yes. ZOS is totally ignoring the PvP community. Its not like they regularly acknowledge the issues in Cyrodiil. Its not like they agreed to go forth with making Arena styled Small Scale PvP for the small minority that threw temper tantrums in order to get their way. Its not as if ZOS has agreed to institute dueling.

I mean. They are SOOOO ignoring that section of the community.

The entire first DLC as well.

YOu mean the DLC that was originally planned and announced to be added when it was a sub game? The DLC that was suppose to be in the game and be part of the original game design?

Yes, thanks ZOS for putting it on the back burner because of console so we had to pay for what was suppose to be in the game "shortly after launch".

Well regardless of that the first DLC after the switch was geared toward the PVP crowd. They touted it as a time for pvp to "get some love" and that us PVE people could just sit and spin until Orsinium came out.

Xjcon · April 2016

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO wrote: »

NobleNerd wrote: »

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO wrote: »

Korah_Eaglecry wrote: »

wharf wrote: »

I agree with the Toxic Lord FENGRUSH. It's a lot easier to be positive about this game coming from a PvE perspective when you've actually had updates and are noticed by ZosE. After being ignored and labeled as toxic the only course of action is to quit or be loud enough to be noticed which is what I think many PvP streamers have resorted to. Nothing will change if Zos isn't able to accept criticism without closing threads or refusing to acknowledge very popular threads that are about subjects they don't wish to address.

Keep drinking that Zose Kool Aid OP.

LMAO yes. ZOS is totally ignoring the PvP community. Its not like they regularly acknowledge the issues in Cyrodiil. Its not like they agreed to go forth with making Arena styled Small Scale PvP for the small minority that threw temper tantrums in order to get their way. Its not as if ZOS has agreed to institute dueling.

I mean. They are SOOOO ignoring that section of the community.

The entire first DLC as well.

YOu mean the DLC that was originally planned and announced to be added when it was a sub game? The DLC that was suppose to be in the game and be part of the original game design?

Yes, thanks ZOS for putting it on the back burner because of console so we had to pay for what was suppose to be in the game "shortly after launch".

Well regardless of that the first DLC after the switch was geared toward the PVP crowd. They touted it as a time for pvp to "get some love" and that us PVE people could just sit and spin until Orsinium came out.

And that was certainly an interesting time. What you say about the way the PVP community told the PVE community to do was exactly right. It's a game as a whole yet the community wants to divide itself......

rotaugen454 · April 2016

Xjcon wrote: »

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO wrote: »

NobleNerd wrote: »

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO wrote: »

Korah_Eaglecry wrote: »

wharf wrote: »

I agree with the Toxic Lord FENGRUSH. It's a lot easier to be positive about this game coming from a PvE perspective when you've actually had updates and are noticed by ZosE. After being ignored and labeled as toxic the only course of action is to quit or be loud enough to be noticed which is what I think many PvP streamers have resorted to. Nothing will change if Zos isn't able to accept criticism without closing threads or refusing to acknowledge very popular threads that are about subjects they don't wish to address.

Keep drinking that Zose Kool Aid OP.

LMAO yes. ZOS is totally ignoring the PvP community. Its not like they regularly acknowledge the issues in Cyrodiil. Its not like they agreed to go forth with making Arena styled Small Scale PvP for the small minority that threw temper tantrums in order to get their way. Its not as if ZOS has agreed to institute dueling.

I mean. They are SOOOO ignoring that section of the community.

The entire first DLC as well.

YOu mean the DLC that was originally planned and announced to be added when it was a sub game? The DLC that was suppose to be in the game and be part of the original game design?

Yes, thanks ZOS for putting it on the back burner because of console so we had to pay for what was suppose to be in the game "shortly after launch".

Well regardless of that the first DLC after the switch was geared toward the PVP crowd. They touted it as a time for pvp to "get some love" and that us PVE people could just sit and spin until Orsinium came out.

And that was certainly an interesting time. What you say about the way the PVP community told the PVE community to do was exactly right. It's a game as a whole yet the community wants to divide itself......

I am mostly PvE, but I am hoping the PvP community gets some lag fixes and content soon, as I think they deserve it. I wish them well, and hope they have the patience to see it happen (and that it does happen).

Loralai_907 · April 2016

-_- hmmmm.......... all of this just became VERY interesting to me......

maboleth · April 2016

+1 from me. As a massive Elder Scrolls fan, I came here relatively late (late December 2015), because I had prejudices about ES being an MMO and I didn't want to pay for a monthly subscription (I generally dislike subscriptions).

But no matter what frustrated naysayers said, I have always been more than impressed with this game. Just how mindbogglingly big and deep it is. How much care and thought was well put into every centimeter of this game. Sure, the honeymoon time didn't last forever. I've encountered its problems and drawbacks. But still, nothing that keeps me away from the game. Far from it. In fact, I regularly submit the feedback and bug reports - it's nice to hear from you that Zenimax do actually care. I've too noticed they also included the "praise" option in the bug reports, so they surely need good feedback too. If anything, to know they are on the right track.

So keep up the good work gals and guys! All of you - Zenimax & Community.

K4RMA · April 2016

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

rotaugen454 wrote: »

I hope that the devs and management are giving the OP some thought, as it is a well-constructed look at how things were and are. I'm hoping to see one of them jump in here and acknowledge it.

We certainly are. Craz was kind enough to send this to us directly - quite a few of us here have read it in full, and we appreciate all the thought and care that went into it. We've already had some discussions with her, and internally among the team, on how and what we can improve.

The end of an era? Today do things change? Find out next time on ESO Live!

WillhelmBlack · April 2016

Whatevz. Just enjoy it as it is. It's broke as sh!t but it's not getting fixed tomorrow.

Props to OP though.

Xjcon · April 2016

rotaugen454 wrote: »

Xjcon wrote: »

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO wrote: »

NobleNerd wrote: »

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO wrote: »

Korah_Eaglecry wrote: »

wharf wrote: »

I agree with the Toxic Lord FENGRUSH. It's a lot easier to be positive about this game coming from a PvE perspective when you've actually had updates and are noticed by ZosE. After being ignored and labeled as toxic the only course of action is to quit or be loud enough to be noticed which is what I think many PvP streamers have resorted to. Nothing will change if Zos isn't able to accept criticism without closing threads or refusing to acknowledge very popular threads that are about subjects they don't wish to address.

Keep drinking that Zose Kool Aid OP.

LMAO yes. ZOS is totally ignoring the PvP community. Its not like they regularly acknowledge the issues in Cyrodiil. Its not like they agreed to go forth with making Arena styled Small Scale PvP for the small minority that threw temper tantrums in order to get their way. Its not as if ZOS has agreed to institute dueling.

I mean. They are SOOOO ignoring that section of the community.

The entire first DLC as well.

YOu mean the DLC that was originally planned and announced to be added when it was a sub game? The DLC that was suppose to be in the game and be part of the original game design?

Yes, thanks ZOS for putting it on the back burner because of console so we had to pay for what was suppose to be in the game "shortly after launch".

Well regardless of that the first DLC after the switch was geared toward the PVP crowd. They touted it as a time for pvp to "get some love" and that us PVE people could just sit and spin until Orsinium came out.

And that was certainly an interesting time. What you say about the way the PVP community told the PVE community to do was exactly right. It's a game as a whole yet the community wants to divide itself......

I am mostly PvE, but I am hoping the PvP community gets some lag fixes and content soon, as I think they deserve it. I wish them well, and hope they have the patience to see it happen (and that it does happen).

I also hope PVP gets some fixes and more content, I enjoy PVP right up untill it becomes incredibly laggy. I also enjoy PVE. I never understood why the community wanted to poke at eachother, one calling the other carebears.

Anzriel · April 2016

Xjcon wrote: »

rotaugen454 wrote: »

Xjcon wrote: »

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO wrote: »

NobleNerd wrote: »

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO wrote: »

Korah_Eaglecry wrote: »

wharf wrote: »

I agree with the Toxic Lord FENGRUSH. It's a lot easier to be positive about this game coming from a PvE perspective when you've actually had updates and are noticed by ZosE. After being ignored and labeled as toxic the only course of action is to quit or be loud enough to be noticed which is what I think many PvP streamers have resorted to. Nothing will change if Zos isn't able to accept criticism without closing threads or refusing to acknowledge very popular threads that are about subjects they don't wish to address.

Keep drinking that Zose Kool Aid OP.

LMAO yes. ZOS is totally ignoring the PvP community. Its not like they regularly acknowledge the issues in Cyrodiil. Its not like they agreed to go forth with making Arena styled Small Scale PvP for the small minority that threw temper tantrums in order to get their way. Its not as if ZOS has agreed to institute dueling.

I mean. They are SOOOO ignoring that section of the community.

The entire first DLC as well.

YOu mean the DLC that was originally planned and announced to be added when it was a sub game? The DLC that was suppose to be in the game and be part of the original game design?

Yes, thanks ZOS for putting it on the back burner because of console so we had to pay for what was suppose to be in the game "shortly after launch".

Well regardless of that the first DLC after the switch was geared toward the PVP crowd. They touted it as a time for pvp to "get some love" and that us PVE people could just sit and spin until Orsinium came out.

And that was certainly an interesting time. What you say about the way the PVP community told the PVE community to do was exactly right. It's a game as a whole yet the community wants to divide itself......

I am mostly PvE, but I am hoping the PvP community gets some lag fixes and content soon, as I think they deserve it. I wish them well, and hope they have the patience to see it happen (and that it does happen).

I also hope PVP gets some fixes and more content, I enjoy PVP right up untill it becomes incredibly laggy. I also enjoy PVE. I never understood why the community wanted to poke at eachother, one calling the other carebears.

It's a mix of things. Both pvpers and raiders have kind of just been sitting waiting for things to get better for quite a while, so frustration is a large part of it. Left some players feeling as if they're fighting over scraps. Also some people in both the pve and pvp community seem to be insecure. Pvpers with viewing themselves as a "more skilled minority" that are more willing to take risks but don't have the raw numbers of the pve community. The pve community that lashes out, affectionately referred to as "carebears", are generally those too afraid to really pvp in game, so they do it on the forums where it's less scary. Neither of these groups that bash people on the forum are a majority. They just tend to be the loudest. The majority of the game is fine with letting pvpers or pvers get what they want or need, it's just the spoiled brats and the insecure wanna be bullies that come to the forums to do that nonsense.

Gidorick · April 2016

SirAndy wrote: »

Gidorick wrote: »

What about in your native language? Does the color "pink" bring up thoughts of hopefulness, cheer and positivity? Do you have another word to describe something as being "the color of a rose" other than the word "pink"?

@Gidorick
Many years ago when i was still living in Germany, i knew a really old lady with the name of "Rosa Schlüpfer".

Not joking, that really was her name.

So tell me @SirAndy ... was it true? I mean.. I KNOW you know.

Stravokov · April 2016

Im sorry, but a company that produces an excellent product will ALWAYS sell itself. there are so many issues with the game that drive players away. way to many bugs and imbalances that hinder your experience to the point of frustration.

The community can repair itself, but Zenimax needs to be aggressive about solving problems, maintaining communication with their community on serious issues, and most importantly they need to follow through on their promises. the word for that is called Integrity.

They promised us the PvP portion of the justice system and tossed it aside because they felt it was to hard to balance after promoting it via videos. they did the exact same thing with the Spell Craft system, told us they were replacing the Veteran system with the Champion system, then raised the Veteran ranks 2 more levels... (now rather than having one system, we have TWO systems widening the competitive gap between players!) if you cant follow through on your promises, your going to be labeled and viewed as a company we cannot trust or depend on.

I regret purchasing the Theives guild DLC personally, the patch came with a slew of bugs and content that lasted me two days of casual game play, thats it. im sorry but that does not justify the price i payed (just over $18 dollars) for an unfinished product.

I too have started since beta and lately i cant even push myself to log on. to me the product reflects the company, comprised of it's short comings and failed deliveries over the course of 2 years. as it stands i personally don't believe anything they announce until i see it take effect on the live server. i wont invest into a company that cant follow through on simple business ethics that every other gaming company out there seems to be able to provide their customers. there is absolutely no excuse for it.

hoaxburnrwb17_ESO · April 2016

crazmadsci wrote: »

Lately for the past several months I’ve become more and more disappointed and experiencing rising concern in both the community that plays ESO and Zenimax itself, leading to this open letter to Zenimax.

I have currently been waiting patiently, submitting feedback, diving significantly into how the game works, and participating in a few Zenimax meetings to ensure as a player I can do the best I can for this game I love so much to ensure its future. However sometimes the deeper I go the more scared I am of how things actually work in the game.

When I started to play this game and many original player base fully believed in Paul Sage’s mentality of you are paying for the value and attention to detail the game provides. Understanding its rocky launch and game impeding bugs, bots etc. I was part of the community that waited patiently.

Even when the announcement of console launch as delayed a year in order to ensure that the console community didn’t have to deal with the issues PC has having I applauded Zenimax on the move. I even agreed and supported console transfer thinking that was a very fair way to give people access to the game they have waited years for. Since that time I was impressed with the detail and amazing content released in Craglorn, 1.3 and the vast overhaul to the guild system. Armor dyes, guild trader. Repeatability with the undaunted enclave, Zenimax even invited some of the most influential guilds at the time to a guild summit to showcase what we can expect for the future of this game highly regarding our input. This thus leads all the way to January of 2015…

I will never forget the day when Zenimax announced that ESO will officially being going from a Pay to Play system to a Buy to Play system. I even skipped class that day to watch the ESO live stream and interview Paul Sage gave about how new content is implemented changed and how players should not be feeling that ESO will not be converting into a Pay to Win situation at all. That was never a concern for me.

Immediately my fellow streamers and friends went into high alert knowing that a B2P system will drastically change the feel and everyday life of the ESO community. Many of our fellow youtubers and streamers stated they are on “high alert” to see what is to come. We didn’t give up or walk away from the game but decided to fully embrace the new community and show them the game we love and wait and see what happens.

Leading up to the launch of console I’ve never seen the ESO community prosper more with a rising growth in community and hype leading to millions more to play the game I love so much. Everything was going absolutely great indicating so much promise until our first major DLC Imperial City.

Everyone was so ecstatic the 1st major content release to help improve one of the most popular areas of the game and also one of the most buggy, PvP. It has been constantly repeated the PvP is the most difficult area to develop for and debug. This has also been an area that has seen polar opposite opinions in response of positivity and negativity. Many believe it to be one of the best areas of content releasing with an incredible conclusion to the story of Molag Bal and opening a door to what the storyline has to offer for the rest of Tamriel. However a very vocal portion of the community feel that it has become one of the largest areas of disappointment. Influencing Cyrodiil Population Caps and just being a spoon feed area for PvErs and having zero impact to the war in Cyrodiil at all. This different approach of PvP drastically impacted the approach and usage of many abilities in game leading to the ever so vocalized issue of lets say it “Class Balance.”
Zenimax, the unintended and unanticipated usage of abilities and their application of imperial city was something you couldn’t fully predict. Sure many things had to be fixed fast in order to make Imperial City playable and not just turn it into make a Magicka NB kingpen.

What I believe really happened with this patch was not the class balance issues or the disappointment for Cyrodiil but it lead to a merge of both the PvE and PvP worlds into one. The ESO community, learned that if you can be vocal enough things can change. Yes I believe has led to unparalleled damage more than anything else in the history of the game so far. Players have officially turned on each other saying that the PvE world gets all the attention of the maternal ZOS office and the PvP community continuously gets short sited.

Over and over I’ve seen these two areas and communities in the game bicker like little siblings and stop thinking about what the life is like in the other area of the game. How their play style is altered without seeing the larger picture. Believe me, I am someone that can definitely agree with this and fall victim to it as a PvE healer and rarely enter Cyrodiil.

What are the consequences to this? Players have stopped adapting to the game and are determined to play and maintain the lifestyle and playstyle they prefer more and stop at nothing and are even cut throat to maintain it. I’ve read and answered the question too many times to count in PTS streaming…” Is my X build nerfed with this patch?” The answer I always give is that Zenimax is doing the best they can to provide game balance. I honestly believe that there is a decent amount of balance in the game with Magicka vs Stamina and each class being a better choice depending on the situation. Sure not every class is best in Cyrodiil because you can’t always win. There is always going to be a rock, paper scissors victor but that is the way of life.

ESO community, BREATHE, it will be ok. Sure I’m frustrated with some silly phrasing of skills or lack of adaptation to changed content. For example how confusing it is that Radiant Oppression ability states “Burn an enemy with a ray of hoy fire, dealing # Magic Damage over 2.8 seconds” wait it isn’t Fire Damage? But the ability states that it deals Holy Fire and Burns them. Even though the new CP changes with Thieves Guild it doesn’t matter if it is Magic or Fire damage due to the passive of Elemental Expert. But let’s be fair wording on things like this could make things easier in so many ways and educating the community on how damage, tools tips and abilities are impacted and calculated.

As of March 17, 2015 ESO went B2P and released the crown store and changed 1 subtle thing the mount system. You no longer need 3 mounts in the game 1 for speed in Cyrodiil to run from point A to B faster or to try to get the world record speed run in HRC by getting to the door faster. You no longer feed the pain of having your horse called “love handles” accidently active and didn’t go to stablemaster to change it and are running slower than all of your fellow players and get laughed at for your leaderboard AA runs. The mount system now allows each player to have a riding skill and level each category for Capacity, Stamina and Speed up to 60. You no longer need to pay 42K for a horse just to get those 10 extra precious points in a category because you can only level your horse 50 times. In a year players in zone chat, guild, and on my life streams still ask me what means and why it costs more for the Bay Dun Horse, Brown Paint Horse and Midnight Steed. Why can’t we change the tool tip of these mounts to no longer say things like “This energetic mount was bred for speed and agility and is well-liked by battlefield scouts”. Yes the Bay Dun used to be the tan horse of speed but Zenimax wanted to make it so with the crown store mounts are purely just skins to look differently so you can pay money in the crown store and immediately have our speed and capacity of our old mounts.

It has even been told that using the console UI interface in the PC version of the game tells players of integrated voice chat that is only available on console.
These examples are just a few of how the attention to detail which was a prime example of what is so great about the game but how the quick push of new content is slowly leaving residues of unchanged things behind.

Since the Imperial City DLC the community was blessed with Orsinium which in my honest opinion one of the absolute best pieces of content Zenimax has ever released (pat yourself on the back ZOS). The story is incredible, repeat-ability is still more active than anything else in game to date. The end of this DLC honestly had me hooked for the next year of this game alone to see what is going to happen in regards to the future story of Tamriel. Even vet Malestrom Arena took me 3 months to clear, I cried when I couldn’t beat it and I cried when I beat it. To date it is one of my favorite things to do and I am a significantly better player overall in the game. However again the sibling fighting has happened again, with the PvP community in an uproar. “Why does PvE have all the love?” “Why can’t they fix Cyrodiil?” etc you know the story and arguments I don’t need to repeat them.

For the most part I think the game was doing much better with the release of Orsinium and I have been happy. However the largest issue is the rising Toxic nature of the online community through the public forums and especially ESO live chat. ESO twitch streams even have developed a toxic viewership in some situations where I’ve even been personally attacked for being happy in the game. Why should I be yelled at for being delusional or a terrible player having run in PvE and taking months to get my 1st clear in vMSA? These things have not just happened towards myself but also have led to incredible voices in the community to participate less than ever before. There are less ESO streams and even less than our low regular viewership of ESO on twitch.

Now lets go to the most recent DLC in the game of Thieves Guild. One of the most anticipated releases of content to embody a piece of some of the best memories for Elder Scrolls games in history. For the most part many players are enjoying the content but see a significant amount of bugs especially associated with the rush 64 bit client to the game. I am ok with changes in the game classes and champion system. However my rising concern is the already documented promised rate of content every quarter. Is making promises of things like the 64 bit client forcing Zenimax to release things before they are ready? That is my deepest fear. Will we ever actually see the removal of the veteran ranks? Will this removal be catastrophic as to how the game actually functions.

Matt Firor cheers to you! Honestly you were living up to the example of the originally launch of the game saying we want to release content right. There is no ETA, no ETA, no ETA on this or that thing. There shouldn’t be a timeline on content releases so that way Zenimax’s team can get stuff right and make sure future content is bug free and fixing old content. This is an example of exactly what this game needs. Sometimes having more unknowns might be better for us until we get a routine down.

So what is my biggest concern about the game? Why am I not complaining about AoE Caps? I’m not talking about Cyrodiil I am talking about mutual respect and intimacy between the ESO community and Zenimax.

Things that used to be a part Zenimax as interactions with the community and no longer exist.
• Tamriel Town Crier
• Guild Spotlight
• Player Spotlight
• Hosting members on the community through ESO live
• Community Events on ESO live
• Community Ambassador Program
• Tales of the dead

These things listed above were reasons why I fell in love with Zenimax as a company. The Tamriel Chronical was one of my favorite reads at all time which hosted and showcased some of the incredible work of the community. It gave way to finding new incredible content of information before I really started writing my own.
The guild spotlight from day 1 of creating Ethereal Army my officers have always said this was a goal. Let’s be good enough that we get spotlighted on the official ESO forums! It did wonders to showcase the cool events the spotlighted guild did giving other guilds ideas and was wonderful for recruitment. I am actually a player who joined Mostly Harmless specifically because of how I appreciated and looked up to what the guild stated they did of crowning one of the 1st emperors for launch.

Player spotlights featured players with their unique builds giving a perspective on how players have fun without the need to feel like they are doing a cookie cutter build that is the mandatory meta.

Personally I wouldn’t know anything about the RP community if it wasn’t for the Zenimax team doing a personal interview with the Human Floyd. I loved when ZOS brought in new people to talk and discuss the game. Bringing in Beyond Infinity to clear DSA. Elloawendy and Deltiasgaming to showcase the undaunted pledges. It really brought contributors of the player base together with the developers and create all these really great programs.

Currently the coolest thing the Community Ambassador program forum post has a running gambling series on how long it can be before another post happens. The community amabassador program was a great way for us the community to thank our incredible contributors and give them a symbol of respect.
These are just a few I have listed of things Zenimax used to do and now no longer does that really didn’t just feel like a company selling boxes of a game to make money but build intimate relationships, foster creativity and inspire developers for new content.

These aspects although not directly profitable to Zenimax took tremendous strides to foster incredible friendships with Zenimax and its community. These friendships lead to collaboration of guilds, players and communities in ways that brought us together.

Instead I am currently witnessing the B2P and Pay to Play communities merging inside the game and are spending less and less time actually communicating with each other. Many guilds have stopped using Teamspeak all together and even ask the concecpt of asking to use a VOIP software of anykind on PC is laughed at for dungeons.

Even the skill set of players I am commonly finding is extremely inconsistent. Going from Beginner to advanced with very few in the intermediate stages. In most situations queing as a healer for PvE Random dungeons with the new group finder I do not know if I have to spam heals due to people constantly standing in the stupid or become pure DPS because the team is so talented we don’t even need a healer or tank.

Attempting to give even advice in a dungeon group from an experienced player as myself can come off as rude, arrogant, or conceded and players become defensive. The worst experience is to group just kicking other player because they are a light armor sorc tank which isn’t the meta.

I’m personally finding it more enjoyable to play with guilds of players who are just now experiencing the game for the first time. I would rather run a dungeon with new players to add a bit of difficulty to it due to the raise of veteran ranks and champion points things have just gotten a bit too easy.
So now what? All of these things can the game come back? Is the population of the game suffering?

In my honest opinion although I do not know the direct numbers ESO has never had a stronger population with money from the Crown store bringing in more money than ever before. I personally am even counting down the hours until the assistants or purchasable in the crown store. Yes I’m commonly finding that my old blood friends from launch are fewer and far between as the old generation is running out of patience for the promised changes to come, however new players are coming in daily we as a community just need to foster, inspire and inform them of the incredible vast potential and playability this game actually has.
What is the conclusion to this? Well Zenimax,

You have come a long long way over the past 2 years are you are approaching your Birthday for the launch of ESO on PC. I cannot image the time of political red tap you as a company have to go through. In attempting to launch a game and rebrand yourself. I know that many of your workforce is no longer there and people have had to step up and wear many hats for different jobs. However I implore you to bring back the canid conversation and intimate interaction that made you stand out and be great as a company. Showcase what people like some addon developers who have inspired new UI elements into the game. Bring in community ambassadors like Miss_Bizz to ESO live and get them to talk about their experiences.

We currently have no idea as to what is coming beyond Dark Brotherhood. When are we going to continue the story for what happened with Orsinium?
Make it easier for players to enjoy the game and make it not feel as much as a grind. Honestly I feel like doing something as simple as telling us the total value of Achievements in each category and providing a percentage would pull players into doing content again wanting to get a 100% completion and not just see a bar being filled. Can we earn so many achievement points and choose our own armor dye? There are some achievements I can only dare to dream to get but would love the colors. Can you make the super rare dyes 1000 cashable achievement points? Something as easily as seeing the end in site such as “Oh man I only need 10% more to complete all crafting in the game!” This will have players itching to go back and complete areas of the game that they might have missed.

Collectible trophies over the 2 years of playing this game on my main character I have yet to actually complete any of those achievements. Increase the drop rate so players can enjoy those colors too. Currently these trophies are just vendor garbage with some dropping so often and others I can only dream to find.
Show support for your contributors, community members, guilds, and players again. Showcasing groups or even retweeting a great photo from the ESOreddit feed can go a long way. I’m not saying that ZOS should make a new supporter the public face of ESO but there are some really great streams, videos and guides that have never seen the light of day.

I feel that a lot of aggression from the community is coming from frustration sure of bugs and unhappy about changes to their playstyle but due to a lot of our communication networks being cut off over the past year has really made the community as a whole feel the need to be louder about it for fear of not being heard. Opening up those avenues could really make people feel less neglected and calm down. I have friends and players to this game that still cannot maintain an activate invitation code on the official forums and would be incredible people for discussion.
Provide short and long term rewards for all aspects of gameplay. Currently this is the area of the game where PvE is excelling with both daily undaunted pledges, trials weekly rewards, and all time leaderboards all available as a goal for serious players to strive for long term. Or just doing your undaunted pledge for the day and get your key for a short term fix.

One very true opinion was actually brought up to me by my fiancée was the fact that he is worried he could never be end game elite PvP again due to losing edge and not being able to afford 6 hours a day to wage a war in Cyrodiil. Yes you can go in for 10 minutes but you may never find a fight. Currently most emperors are not just based on skill level but the amount of time that you can devote to becoming crowned. If the PvP had more of a short term play reward system such as quick AP gains, dueling, arenas, or ways to get some of the new gear without having to spend hours of farming in Cyrodiil I believe it would appease a good deal of the PvP community and help the PvE community transition into Cyrodiil more and grow the population in those campaigns.

In terms of game balance I would highly consider reducing the attribute point % return to a third of its current value. Currently players see a minimum of 3K difference in Magicka, Stamina and health alone just from spending CP in the Constellation system. This would change the attribute points gain 11% instead of going all the way to 33%. The diminishing return system of the game is incredibly noticeable even within 50 Champion points and can be felt significantly in a dungeon group of someone brand new. Even between CP cap of 501 and players with only 70 CP it is a massive impact difference influencing gear choice as well as majorly impacting healing and damage output. I think that this will help a lot at making it feel a whole lot overwhelming of the enormous grind to come with the removal of veteran ranks. My biggest fear is that players will eventually have polar opposite of 3600 Champion Points and players with non will never be able to see those players damage output as reachable.

Please inform the community about how the game works. How crit, damage mitigation, abilities and all the gears and bolts can also go a long way for players. Tell us what inspired the story of Camlorn. Will we ever find the Staff of Chaos to use as a teaser in a quest? Who is the poor sap that put in all the insects in Wrothgar (seriously he deserves a raise). Most monster information on their strengths, weaknesses, and abilities can only be found through serious digging of previous patch notes if we are lucky enough to be told changes to these creatures.

There are significant avenues Zenimax could pursue that would drastically improve the game while also being extremely profitable. Could ZOS ever publish a series of strategy guides they could sell on quest walkthroughs for each zone? What about a crafting strategy guide? These things could go seriously a long way. I know I would spend hundreds of dollars for Zenimax endorsed strategy guides as a console player.

As for the question does Zenimax even support the current ESO streams, well from recent activity large scale twitch streams such as Towelliee have been inexplicably endorsing the game and being hosted by ZOS twitch making many ESO streams unhappy. Personally good for ZOS any publicity to improve the game and community of the game is merited. Honestly I do not think that the current ESO streaming community is professional enough or mature enough to give Zenimax any reason to endorse the ESO regulars. I am not surprised endorsement either officially or unofficially no longer happens for streams. My only frustration for ZOS feature streams such as DANGELUSRAWKS is that Terms of Service violation with over half of his views are botted is a series area of concern for me. Does it matter if the viewer count isn’t actually true?

I have spent a long time sitting watching and waiting to defend myself against streams that have attacked me for trying to be supportive of Zenimax. However with the current direction this game is taking the negative discussion in game Zone chat and the feeling of complete alienation for attempting to put out content to this community has left me inspired to write this incredibly long letter.

To the community:

Is all the negative nature and hate on the forums merited? Sure promises have been made that have not been kept for this or that reason. You can take it personally and leave or passionately take it out on the poor moderators on our official forums that have nothing to do with the programming. Or you can attempt to do something about it. If you are an expert I urge you to write anything even a sentence of expert knowledge you have about the game. Make youtube videos, stream, make websites, share your work. Meet new people. However please don’t attack those who don’t’ fit your play style. Don’t harass the RP community, PvE and PvP stop hating each other. I know for the old player population this is a waste of breath.

Be constructive in your forums posts, use facts. Sure sometimes you put a lot of thought and effort into a post and it looks like no one reads it but they do do care. Zenimax is passionate about their projects and will continue to work hard. Rome was not built in a day, Edison took many attempts before he created the lightbulb. With the rebranding of ESO, release on console delay and considerable downsizing of ZOS from PC launch this are not as easy as you think they are.
Sure I’m annoyed and frustrated. Lag is starting to permeate every area of the game not just on PvP. I am worried about hardware maintaining growing population, and yes the population is growing.

However the largest suggestion for the community is for the new incoming players, Don’t rush to the end game. Honestly enjoy the game take your time. If you rush through the end you miss the incredible story throughout. There is a learning curve, just because you are v16 and the same gear as someone it does not mean that you are going to produce the same effect. Also don’t take everything you read and watch on the internet and believe it. Everyone is passionate about this game in one degree or another.

Thank you

wow. I read about 3 paragraph of this.. I clap those who read all this ****... I was a beta tester and I got my monkey, I bought the game but couldn't really enjoy it because of my low performing graphics card. when the game went f2p i came back and it looked really beautiful with a better graphics card. however i couldn't stay much because i was into swtor pvp. now that the swtor is dead i decided to dedicate my time to eso. never once have i felt only because i play a game or have been playing a game for 2 years and record myself playing a game to post it youtube that i contribute in making this game better. im not a dev, i don't code games. but i have tested game engines and let me tell its extremely hard to make a game. from design to coding to animation its brutal to get things right. don't think for once u part of making the game better for others unless you are there looking at every line of code, doing every animations, brain storming new ideas and improving game issues only because you

P.S. This letter I have written this and submitted through proper channels and have received a reply but I believe the Community should read this.

crazmadsci wrote: »

Lately for the past several months I’ve become more and more disappointed and experiencing rising concern in both the community that plays ESO and Zenimax itself, leading to this open letter to Zenimax.

I have currently been waiting patiently, submitting feedback, diving significantly into how the game works, and participating in a few Zenimax meetings to ensure as a player I can do the best I can for this game I love so much to ensure its future. However sometimes the deeper I go the more scared I am of how things actually work in the game.

When I started to play this game and many original player base fully believed in Paul Sage’s mentality of you are paying for the value and attention to detail the game provides. Understanding its rocky launch and game impeding bugs, bots etc. I was part of the community that waited patiently.

Even when the announcement of console launch as delayed a year in order to ensure that the console community didn’t have to deal with the issues PC has having I applauded Zenimax on the move. I even agreed and supported console transfer thinking that was a very fair way to give people access to the game they have waited years for. Since that time I was impressed with the detail and amazing content released in Craglorn, 1.3 and the vast overhaul to the guild system. Armor dyes, guild trader. Repeatability with the undaunted enclave, Zenimax even invited some of the most influential guilds at the time to a guild summit to showcase what we can expect for the future of this game highly regarding our input. This thus leads all the way to January of 2015…

I will never forget the day when Zenimax announced that ESO will officially being going from a Pay to Play system to a Buy to Play system. I even skipped class that day to watch the ESO live stream and interview Paul Sage gave about how new content is implemented changed and how players should not be feeling that ESO will not be converting into a Pay to Win situation at all. That was never a concern for me.

Immediately my fellow streamers and friends went into high alert knowing that a B2P system will drastically change the feel and everyday life of the ESO community. Many of our fellow youtubers and streamers stated they are on “high alert” to see what is to come. We didn’t give up or walk away from the game but decided to fully embrace the new community and show them the game we love and wait and see what happens.

Leading up to the launch of console I’ve never seen the ESO community prosper more with a rising growth in community and hype leading to millions more to play the game I love so much. Everything was going absolutely great indicating so much promise until our first major DLC Imperial City.

Everyone was so ecstatic the 1st major content release to help improve one of the most popular areas of the game and also one of the most buggy, PvP. It has been constantly repeated the PvP is the most difficult area to develop for and debug. This has also been an area that has seen polar opposite opinions in response of positivity and negativity. Many believe it to be one of the best areas of content releasing with an incredible conclusion to the story of Molag Bal and opening a door to what the storyline has to offer for the rest of Tamriel. However a very vocal portion of the community feel that it has become one of the largest areas of disappointment. Influencing Cyrodiil Population Caps and just being a spoon feed area for PvErs and having zero impact to the war in Cyrodiil at all. This different approach of PvP drastically impacted the approach and usage of many abilities in game leading to the ever so vocalized issue of lets say it “Class Balance.”
Zenimax, the unintended and unanticipated usage of abilities and their application of imperial city was something you couldn’t fully predict. Sure many things had to be fixed fast in order to make Imperial City playable and not just turn it into make a Magicka NB kingpen.

What I believe really happened with this patch was not the class balance issues or the disappointment for Cyrodiil but it lead to a merge of both the PvE and PvP worlds into one. The ESO community, learned that if you can be vocal enough things can change. Yes I believe has led to unparalleled damage more than anything else in the history of the game so far. Players have officially turned on each other saying that the PvE world gets all the attention of the maternal ZOS office and the PvP community continuously gets short sited.

Over and over I’ve seen these two areas and communities in the game bicker like little siblings and stop thinking about what the life is like in the other area of the game. How their play style is altered without seeing the larger picture. Believe me, I am someone that can definitely agree with this and fall victim to it as a PvE healer and rarely enter Cyrodiil.

What are the consequences to this? Players have stopped adapting to the game and are determined to play and maintain the lifestyle and playstyle they prefer more and stop at nothing and are even cut throat to maintain it. I’ve read and answered the question too many times to count in PTS streaming…” Is my X build nerfed with this patch?” The answer I always give is that Zenimax is doing the best they can to provide game balance. I honestly believe that there is a decent amount of balance in the game with Magicka vs Stamina and each class being a better choice depending on the situation. Sure not every class is best in Cyrodiil because you can’t always win. There is always going to be a rock, paper scissors victor but that is the way of life.

ESO community, BREATHE, it will be ok. Sure I’m frustrated with some silly phrasing of skills or lack of adaptation to changed content. For example how confusing it is that Radiant Oppression ability states “Burn an enemy with a ray of hoy fire, dealing # Magic Damage over 2.8 seconds” wait it isn’t Fire Damage? But the ability states that it deals Holy Fire and Burns them. Even though the new CP changes with Thieves Guild it doesn’t matter if it is Magic or Fire damage due to the passive of Elemental Expert. But let’s be fair wording on things like this could make things easier in so many ways and educating the community on how damage, tools tips and abilities are impacted and calculated.

As of March 17, 2015 ESO went B2P and released the crown store and changed 1 subtle thing the mount system. You no longer need 3 mounts in the game 1 for speed in Cyrodiil to run from point A to B faster or to try to get the world record speed run in HRC by getting to the door faster. You no longer feed the pain of having your horse called “love handles” accidently active and didn’t go to stablemaster to change it and are running slower than all of your fellow players and get laughed at for your leaderboard AA runs. The mount system now allows each player to have a riding skill and level each category for Capacity, Stamina and Speed up to 60. You no longer need to pay 42K for a horse just to get those 10 extra precious points in a category because you can only level your horse 50 times. In a year players in zone chat, guild, and on my life streams still ask me what means and why it costs more for the Bay Dun Horse, Brown Paint Horse and Midnight Steed. Why can’t we change the tool tip of these mounts to no longer say things like “This energetic mount was bred for speed and agility and is well-liked by battlefield scouts”. Yes the Bay Dun used to be the tan horse of speed but Zenimax wanted to make it so with the crown store mounts are purely just skins to look differently so you can pay money in the crown store and immediately have our speed and capacity of our old mounts.

It has even been told that using the console UI interface in the PC version of the game tells players of integrated voice chat that is only available on console.
These examples are just a few of how the attention to detail which was a prime example of what is so great about the game but how the quick push of new content is slowly leaving residues of unchanged things behind.

Since the Imperial City DLC the community was blessed with Orsinium which in my honest opinion one of the absolute best pieces of content Zenimax has ever released (pat yourself on the back ZOS). The story is incredible, repeat-ability is still more active than anything else in game to date. The end of this DLC honestly had me hooked for the next year of this game alone to see what is going to happen in regards to the future story of Tamriel. Even vet Malestrom Arena took me 3 months to clear, I cried when I couldn’t beat it and I cried when I beat it. To date it is one of my favorite things to do and I am a significantly better player overall in the game. However again the sibling fighting has happened again, with the PvP community in an uproar. “Why does PvE have all the love?” “Why can’t they fix Cyrodiil?” etc you know the story and arguments I don’t need to repeat them.

For the most part I think the game was doing much better with the release of Orsinium and I have been happy. However the largest issue is the rising Toxic nature of the online community through the public forums and especially ESO live chat. ESO twitch streams even have developed a toxic viewership in some situations where I’ve even been personally attacked for being happy in the game. Why should I be yelled at for being delusional or a terrible player having run in PvE and taking months to get my 1st clear in vMSA? These things have not just happened towards myself but also have led to incredible voices in the community to participate less than ever before. There are less ESO streams and even less than our low regular viewership of ESO on twitch.

Now lets go to the most recent DLC in the game of Thieves Guild. One of the most anticipated releases of content to embody a piece of some of the best memories for Elder Scrolls games in history. For the most part many players are enjoying the content but see a significant amount of bugs especially associated with the rush 64 bit client to the game. I am ok with changes in the game classes and champion system. However my rising concern is the already documented promised rate of content every quarter. Is making promises of things like the 64 bit client forcing Zenimax to release things before they are ready? That is my deepest fear. Will we ever actually see the removal of the veteran ranks? Will this removal be catastrophic as to how the game actually functions.

Matt Firor cheers to you! Honestly you were living up to the example of the originally launch of the game saying we want to release content right. There is no ETA, no ETA, no ETA on this or that thing. There shouldn’t be a timeline on content releases so that way Zenimax’s team can get stuff right and make sure future content is bug free and fixing old content. This is an example of exactly what this game needs. Sometimes having more unknowns might be better for us until we get a routine down.

So what is my biggest concern about the game? Why am I not complaining about AoE Caps? I’m not talking about Cyrodiil I am talking about mutual respect and intimacy between the ESO community and Zenimax.

Things that used to be a part Zenimax as interactions with the community and no longer exist.
• Tamriel Town Crier
• Guild Spotlight
• Player Spotlight
• Hosting members on the community through ESO live
• Community Events on ESO live
• Community Ambassador Program
• Tales of the dead

These things listed above were reasons why I fell in love with Zenimax as a company. The Tamriel Chronical was one of my favorite reads at all time which hosted and showcased some of the incredible work of the community. It gave way to finding new incredible content of information before I really started writing my own.
The guild spotlight from day 1 of creating Ethereal Army my officers have always said this was a goal. Let’s be good enough that we get spotlighted on the official ESO forums! It did wonders to showcase the cool events the spotlighted guild did giving other guilds ideas and was wonderful for recruitment. I am actually a player who joined Mostly Harmless specifically because of how I appreciated and looked up to what the guild stated they did of crowning one of the 1st emperors for launch.

Player spotlights featured players with their unique builds giving a perspective on how players have fun without the need to feel like they are doing a cookie cutter build that is the mandatory meta.

Personally I wouldn’t know anything about the RP community if it wasn’t for the Zenimax team doing a personal interview with the Human Floyd. I loved when ZOS brought in new people to talk and discuss the game. Bringing in Beyond Infinity to clear DSA. Elloawendy and Deltiasgaming to showcase the undaunted pledges. It really brought contributors of the player base together with the developers and create all these really great programs.

Currently the coolest thing the Community Ambassador program forum post has a running gambling series on how long it can be before another post happens. The community amabassador program was a great way for us the community to thank our incredible contributors and give them a symbol of respect.
These are just a few I have listed of things Zenimax used to do and now no longer does that really didn’t just feel like a company selling boxes of a game to make money but build intimate relationships, foster creativity and inspire developers for new content.

These aspects although not directly profitable to Zenimax took tremendous strides to foster incredible friendships with Zenimax and its community. These friendships lead to collaboration of guilds, players and communities in ways that brought us together.

Instead I am currently witnessing the B2P and Pay to Play communities merging inside the game and are spending less and less time actually communicating with each other. Many guilds have stopped using Teamspeak all together and even ask the concecpt of asking to use a VOIP software of anykind on PC is laughed at for dungeons.

Even the skill set of players I am commonly finding is extremely inconsistent. Going from Beginner to advanced with very few in the intermediate stages. In most situations queing as a healer for PvE Random dungeons with the new group finder I do not know if I have to spam heals due to people constantly standing in the stupid or become pure DPS because the team is so talented we don’t even need a healer or tank.

Attempting to give even advice in a dungeon group from an experienced player as myself can come off as rude, arrogant, or conceded and players become defensive. The worst experience is to group just kicking other player because they are a light armor sorc tank which isn’t the meta.

I’m personally finding it more enjoyable to play with guilds of players who are just now experiencing the game for the first time. I would rather run a dungeon with new players to add a bit of difficulty to it due to the raise of veteran ranks and champion points things have just gotten a bit too easy.
So now what? All of these things can the game come back? Is the population of the game suffering?

In my honest opinion although I do not know the direct numbers ESO has never had a stronger population with money from the Crown store bringing in more money than ever before. I personally am even counting down the hours until the assistants or purchasable in the crown store. Yes I’m commonly finding that my old blood friends from launch are fewer and far between as the old generation is running out of patience for the promised changes to come, however new players are coming in daily we as a community just need to foster, inspire and inform them of the incredible vast potential and playability this game actually has.
What is the conclusion to this? Well Zenimax,

You have come a long long way over the past 2 years are you are approaching your Birthday for the launch of ESO on PC. I cannot image the time of political red tap you as a company have to go through. In attempting to launch a game and rebrand yourself. I know that many of your workforce is no longer there and people have had to step up and wear many hats for different jobs. However I implore you to bring back the canid conversation and intimate interaction that made you stand out and be great as a company. Showcase what people like some addon developers who have inspired new UI elements into the game. Bring in community ambassadors like Miss_Bizz to ESO live and get them to talk about their experiences.

We currently have no idea as to what is coming beyond Dark Brotherhood. When are we going to continue the story for what happened with Orsinium?
Make it easier for players to enjoy the game and make it not feel as much as a grind. Honestly I feel like doing something as simple as telling us the total value of Achievements in each category and providing a percentage would pull players into doing content again wanting to get a 100% completion and not just see a bar being filled. Can we earn so many achievement points and choose our own armor dye? There are some achievements I can only dare to dream to get but would love the colors. Can you make the super rare dyes 1000 cashable achievement points? Something as easily as seeing the end in site such as “Oh man I only need 10% more to complete all crafting in the game!” This will have players itching to go back and complete areas of the game that they might have missed.

Collectible trophies over the 2 years of playing this game on my main character I have yet to actually complete any of those achievements. Increase the drop rate so players can enjoy those colors too. Currently these trophies are just vendor garbage with some dropping so often and others I can only dream to find.
Show support for your contributors, community members, guilds, and players again. Showcasing groups or even retweeting a great photo from the ESOreddit feed can go a long way. I’m not saying that ZOS should make a new supporter the public face of ESO but there are some really great streams, videos and guides that have never seen the light of day.

I feel that a lot of aggression from the community is coming from frustration sure of bugs and unhappy about changes to their playstyle but due to a lot of our communication networks being cut off over the past year has really made the community as a whole feel the need to be louder about it for fear of not being heard. Opening up those avenues could really make people feel less neglected and calm down. I have friends and players to this game that still cannot maintain an activate invitation code on the official forums and would be incredible people for discussion.
Provide short and long term rewards for all aspects of gameplay. Currently this is the area of the game where PvE is excelling with both daily undaunted pledges, trials weekly rewards, and all time leaderboards all available as a goal for serious players to strive for long term. Or just doing your undaunted pledge for the day and get your key for a short term fix.

One very true opinion was actually brought up to me by my fiancée was the fact that he is worried he could never be end game elite PvP again due to losing edge and not being able to afford 6 hours a day to wage a war in Cyrodiil. Yes you can go in for 10 minutes but you may never find a fight. Currently most emperors are not just based on skill level but the amount of time that you can devote to becoming crowned. If the PvP had more of a short term play reward system such as quick AP gains, dueling, arenas, or ways to get some of the new gear without having to spend hours of farming in Cyrodiil I believe it would appease a good deal of the PvP community and help the PvE community transition into Cyrodiil more and grow the population in those campaigns.

In terms of game balance I would highly consider reducing the attribute point % return to a third of its current value. Currently players see a minimum of 3K difference in Magicka, Stamina and health alone just from spending CP in the Constellation system. This would change the attribute points gain 11% instead of going all the way to 33%. The diminishing return system of the game is incredibly noticeable even within 50 Champion points and can be felt significantly in a dungeon group of someone brand new. Even between CP cap of 501 and players with only 70 CP it is a massive impact difference influencing gear choice as well as majorly impacting healing and damage output. I think that this will help a lot at making it feel a whole lot overwhelming of the enormous grind to come with the removal of veteran ranks. My biggest fear is that players will eventually have polar opposite of 3600 Champion Points and players with non will never be able to see those players damage output as reachable.

Please inform the community about how the game works. How crit, damage mitigation, abilities and all the gears and bolts can also go a long way for players. Tell us what inspired the story of Camlorn. Will we ever find the Staff of Chaos to use as a teaser in a quest? Who is the poor sap that put in all the insects in Wrothgar (seriously he deserves a raise). Most monster information on their strengths, weaknesses, and abilities can only be found through serious digging of previous patch notes if we are lucky enough to be told changes to these creatures.

There are significant avenues Zenimax could pursue that would drastically improve the game while also being extremely profitable. Could ZOS ever publish a series of strategy guides they could sell on quest walkthroughs for each zone? What about a crafting strategy guide? These things could go seriously a long way. I know I would spend hundreds of dollars for Zenimax endorsed strategy guides as a console player.

As for the question does Zenimax even support the current ESO streams, well from recent activity large scale twitch streams such as Towelliee have been inexplicably endorsing the game and being hosted by ZOS twitch making many ESO streams unhappy. Personally good for ZOS any publicity to improve the game and community of the game is merited. Honestly I do not think that the current ESO streaming community is professional enough or mature enough to give Zenimax any reason to endorse the ESO regulars. I am not surprised endorsement either officially or unofficially no longer happens for streams. My only frustration for ZOS feature streams such as DANGELUSRAWKS is that Terms of Service violation with over half of his views are botted is a series area of concern for me. Does it matter if the viewer count isn’t actually true?

I have spent a long time sitting watching and waiting to defend myself against streams that have attacked me for trying to be supportive of Zenimax. However with the current direction this game is taking the negative discussion in game Zone chat and the feeling of complete alienation for attempting to put out content to this community has left me inspired to write this incredibly long letter.

To the community:

Is all the negative nature and hate on the forums merited? Sure promises have been made that have not been kept for this or that reason. You can take it personally and leave or passionately take it out on the poor moderators on our official forums that have nothing to do with the programming. Or you can attempt to do something about it. If you are an expert I urge you to write anything even a sentence of expert knowledge you have about the game. Make youtube videos, stream, make websites, share your work. Meet new people. However please don’t attack those who don’t’ fit your play style. Don’t harass the RP community, PvE and PvP stop hating each other. I know for the old player population this is a waste of breath.

Be constructive in your forums posts, use facts. Sure sometimes you put a lot of thought and effort into a post and it looks like no one reads it but they do do care. Zenimax is passionate about their projects and will continue to work hard. Rome was not built in a day, Edison took many attempts before he created the lightbulb. With the rebranding of ESO, release on console delay and considerable downsizing of ZOS from PC launch this are not as easy as you think they are.
Sure I’m annoyed and frustrated. Lag is starting to permeate every area of the game not just on PvP. I am worried about hardware maintaining growing population, and yes the population is growing.

However the largest suggestion for the community is for the new incoming players, Don’t rush to the end game. Honestly enjoy the game take your time. If you rush through the end you miss the incredible story throughout. There is a learning curve, just because you are v16 and the same gear as someone it does not mean that you are going to produce the same effect. Also don’t take everything you read and watch on the internet and believe it. Everyone is passionate about this game in one degree or another.

Thank you

P.S. This letter I have written this and submitted through proper channels and have received a reply but I believe the Community should read this.

WOW. this is longer than all the lore books in tamriel combined.. Honestly I don't know what you're talking about the game is doing better now than ever before.

Nyteshade · April 2016

@crazmadsci You're awesome, you're stream is awesome and I love how you try to keep up the community with such a great attitude. I got your back dear

Having said that I could not agree with you more. ZOS has really pulled back from fostering the community as they used to. ESO had that"thing" about it, that thing that I remembered from games of old...that warm fuzzy welcoming feeling, almost a family feel to it. Much of that has disappeared for me and I rarely check the forums due to the negativity.

Also certain pvp streamers were just so dang negative all the time. Most of them have moved on (thank you B&S and BD) so that might help. I think initially ESO attracted the old school MMO crowd who are used to community and know what it takes to keep that feeling alive. The F2P and B2P people are newer to the genre and bring that FPS aggression to the MMO scene and it is toxic. Go to ANY MMO forum today and it's typically a nasty place.

I've learned to keep yo myself, ignore chat, and just go solo some content for a while then log off.

Anyway, keep it up and see you on stream

NS

PS I'll be interested in what comes of this, as far as maybe bringing some folks together to make something happen for ourselves. Count me in if that's the case.

hoaxburnrwb17_ESO · April 2016

Xjcon wrote: »

rotaugen454 wrote: »

Xjcon wrote: »

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO wrote: »

NobleNerd wrote: »

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO wrote: »

Korah_Eaglecry wrote: »

wharf wrote: »

I agree with the Toxic Lord FENGRUSH. It's a lot easier to be positive about this game coming from a PvE perspective when you've actually had updates and are noticed by ZosE. After being ignored and labeled as toxic the only course of action is to quit or be loud enough to be noticed which is what I think many PvP streamers have resorted to. Nothing will change if Zos isn't able to accept criticism without closing threads or refusing to acknowledge very popular threads that are about subjects they don't wish to address.

Keep drinking that Zose Kool Aid OP.

LMAO yes. ZOS is totally ignoring the PvP community. Its not like they regularly acknowledge the issues in Cyrodiil. Its not like they agreed to go forth with making Arena styled Small Scale PvP for the small minority that threw temper tantrums in order to get their way. Its not as if ZOS has agreed to institute dueling.

I mean. They are SOOOO ignoring that section of the community.

The entire first DLC as well.

YOu mean the DLC that was originally planned and announced to be added when it was a sub game? The DLC that was suppose to be in the game and be part of the original game design?

Yes, thanks ZOS for putting it on the back burner because of console so we had to pay for what was suppose to be in the game "shortly after launch".

Well regardless of that the first DLC after the switch was geared toward the PVP crowd. They touted it as a time for pvp to "get some love" and that us PVE people could just sit and spin until Orsinium came out.

And that was certainly an interesting time. What you say about the way the PVP community told the PVE community to do was exactly right. It's a game as a whole yet the community wants to divide itself......

I am mostly PvE, but I am hoping the PvP community gets some lag fixes and content soon, as I think they deserve it. I wish them well, and hope they have the patience to see it happen (and that it does happen).

I also hope PVP gets some fixes and more content, I enjoy PVP right up untill it becomes incredibly laggy. I also enjoy PVE. I never understood why the community wanted to poke at eachother, one calling the other carebears.

meh open world pvp sucks, to much zerg here a lil zerg there. zerg bombs go off. buff magicka builds and stam builds get jelly fishing.

what we need is a good 8v8 arenas less lag. the only reason this game lags is because to many of you are in cyrodiil. with a good ol 8v8 not only do skillz come into play but you get no lag

*hint* *hint*

crazmadsci · April 2016

Nyteshade wrote: »

@crazmadsci You're awesome, you're stream is awesome and I love how you try to keep up the community with such a great attitude. I got your back dear

Anyway, keep it up and see you on stream NS

PS I'll be interested in what comes of this, as far as maybe bringing some folks together to make something happen for ourselves. Count me in if that's the case.

The air of change is in the air. IF you want to hear what has happened to me and what i'm doing since i originally wrote this letter and how i'm trying to bring together the community to foster change come by the stream on Monday. A lot of things are happening!

P.S thanks for the support

NBrookus · April 2016

I have never watched a stream and never heard of this streamer. I'm mostly in agreement with the OP and appreciate the sentiment.

But we don't need highlighting fan art and highlighting random players. Just come play with us. Experience the game from the player perspective. It's okay if you aren't a good player. If I knew that Friday from 1-5 eastern, Arthur, Alice and Amy from accounting were going to be queuing for random dungeons, I'd totally be there.

americansteel · April 2016

too many words for me, Nerf developer paychecks problem solved.

attn to detail is lacking,

poor dlc with problems that makes existing issues worse

class imbalance

good post but too d a m n long.

player_klaus · April 2016

well written and thought out post. i have to agree with a lot of points you made.

but

-when i read, they wont fix movement speed bug until next major patch...

...they lost everything that was left in me, willing to support them.

RinOkumara · April 2016

LilyOra wrote: »

Wait, aren't you the same streamer that came onto my stream one day when I just started out and trash talked Deltia after I suggested to someone in chat to check his builds (you said something about him stealing builds). I remember asking you politely to not talk badly of other streamers etc in my chat.

That was the first negativity I experienced from the community tbh. Sorry, I don't mean to bash you, you are a great streamer and have done alot for the PVE communitiy, but sometimes you also need to look inwards. We all do.

Back then Deltia did steal builds (vokul especially) and that was awful of him

Eirikir · April 2016

Preyfar wrote: »

MissBizz wrote: »

This game can be very confusing to new players as there is a lot to learn, there needs to be correct information being sent to these players, not old tooltips that no longer speak true to the mounts, or completely incorrect loading screen tips.

New players in Cyrodiil trying to figure out how to leave is one of the most confusing ones yet. The entire Cyrodiil tutorial is pretty bad in general, and doesn't really introduce players to PVP well.

The first time I went into a PVP zone it took me 3 days to figure out how to leave. True story.

LiquidSchwartz · April 2016

This is very well thought out and positive. Thanks for the post and read. Really enjoyed reading something not that wasn't super negative for once. Hopefully the bigger streamers check this out as well that have been leaving the game or talking poorly of it.

Affenbaron · April 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6TEMjye44I

Sinbaar · April 2016

@crazmadsci what you explained and wrote there? I totally have your back, my whole guild has your back and our guild alliance has your back. We aare totally with you there. Good Job, Mate! I really hope Zenimax reads closely