QUESTION: DOES ZOS, ESPECIALLY THE COMBAT TEAM, LISTEN?

I've seen this question pop up time and again. I've seen plenty of examples where they listen, and two very vivid examples stand out. I was going to add a quick third example to include another relevant area of interest, where player suggestions for Argonian racial passives became a roadmap for their upgrades over time (you might remember me from those two dozen main threads on the topic ) but it's too messy to clearly flesh it out from snippets of lots of different posts. Anyway, you probably have examples, too. Feel free to share!

This isn't a "Hey, bruh, prove me wrong!" thread nor a "Shut up 'cause ZOS does listen, behold my *** knighty goodness" thread. Just stating something that most players know yet people like to ignore when they get frustrated: ZOS actively listens to and regularly acts on our suggestions, including Wrobel and his team.

EXAMPLE ONE:

In an October 2015 post I wrote:

Artful Dodger (medium armor)

2 pc Max Stamina
3 pc Weapon Damage
4 pc Weapon Damage
5 pc All AoE damage taken and dealt by the wearer is reduced by 40%.

Concept: Again, the 2pc to 4pc bonus is filler and can be altered, and the exact number for the 5 pc piece is open for debate. The idea here is that to give a counter to zergs spamming AoEs. And because your own AoE is reduced, it can't be co-opted and used by those same spammers against others.

From the Thieve's Guild Update in March 2016:



A weapon damage bonus was replaced by stam regen and the more useful 40% was reduced to 20% but otherwise...

That same idea had also been shared in another player's thread Wrobel visited and where he asked what we would like to see in terms of PvP sets. Is it possible their team came up with it independently? Of course! But it would be a heck of a coincidence. Now this isn't about my idea, it's just that this particular addition to the game caught my attention for some reason. Next up is someone else's feedback that just happened to appear in the game after being suggested.

EXAMPLE TWO:

And then there is this: the new Ritual of Retribution morph was something a player suggested in comment #913 in an official feedback thread for Templars...

Radburn wrote: »

With Rune Focus & Cleansing Ritual in mind here are a couple more suggestions:

Rune Focus > Rune Control - Provides CC immunity while inside the 5m radius

Cleansing Ritual > Ritual of Flame (replace extended) - same synergy, Purges 1 debuff, Heals every 2 seconds, burns up to (6-10) enemies within for flame damage every 2 seconds, burning enemies are snared and movement speed reduced by 40% {emphasis added}

Now try and come into my house *pumps shotgun*

Others endorsed the idea. What's interesting is that the Ritual change was proposed during TG testing and it was introduced for the first round of DB testing. That's fast in game development terms.

RESULTS/DISCUSSION

So yeah, they listen, but that doesn't mean they do everything suggested. The way players frequently determine whether or not ZOS listens is as follows:

If there is a lot of feedback on something *you* want from in-game reports, official forum posts, Reddit threads, and other sources that is workable within the parameters and priorities of the design and production schedule at ZOS, and that something is then implemented, then ZOS listens.

If there is a lot of feedback on something *you* want on the one or two public spaces you look at, but it doesn't match the majority of the overall feedback received or it isn't workable within the parameters and priorities of the design and production schedule at ZOS at this particular time, and that something therefore isn't implemented, then ZOS never listens.