Hello testers, I'd like your help with a project. Cliffnotes are at the bottom.

The unintentional set interactions introduced in 2.5 to the Live server, and Zenimax's response to players using them, have left a worrying gap in approved player behaviors. PTS Templates do not grant access to all possible set combinations, nor even to all updated combinations, nor is it reasonably possible to test all updated NPC's for unintended AI behavior in the presence of new items or skill morphs. There are simply too many combinations.

ToS states:

5.2 Users will not exploit any bug, or abuse any game system (such as the scoring or award systems) in a ZeniMax Game, Service, forum, or other games or services provided by ZeniMax. Users will not intentionally use or share any bug found within any ZeniMax Game, real or fictitious, regardless of whether or not it grants an unfair advantage. You will not directly or indirectly communicate the existence of any such bug to any other user of the ZeniMax Service (in game or on a ZeniMax service).

This section is very clear, even speaking on these forums about any unintended game behavior is an infringing action. Warning other players about bugs, exploits, or unclear game mechanics to avoid cannot be attempted under any means, and bears no distinction from purposefully instructing players to exploit them. The only seemingly correct behavior upon encountering a bug is to immediately report it in-game, ignore any requests to find reproduction steps, and go about your day, even if that bug were an easy method to grant emperorship buffs.

Of course, that's just the indemnifying language of the ToS, in reality there have been frequent episodes of Zenimax asking for, and appreciating, reproduction steps sent to them through their own channels, despite how the agreement reads.

However, Zenimax has taken a hard-line policy recently towards players who display infringing, trackable behavior. Permanent suspensions have been handed out to first time offenders, and so players must be exceedingly cautious when interacting with new content. Tooltips given in this game for abilities and set effects have historically lacked important details, and sometimes have even been misleading. A recent example of a misleading (and detrimental) effect tip is the Minor Slayer effect, which has been found to not grant its stated 5% damage under execute conditions. This was not brought to public attention for months after its introduction in April to Live servers. Under Section 5.2, every player who has worn a set that grants the Minor Slayer effect may have encountered a bugged game behavior, which did not grant them an unfair advantage, and may have their account actioned as a result.

That would be ridiculous, of course, and Zenimax isn't about to ban their entire PvE community over a loss of DPS. It illustrates the point however, that unintentional mechanics can be prevalent without the knowledge or consent of the players who find themselves affected by them.

Only the most devoted ESO players make their way to the official forums, and of that fraction an even smaller slice follow PTS updates and subforums. Most rely on streamers, Youtube channels, and other content creators to translate the information into a useful form. There is a real chance of a bugged behavior from PTS making its way into a new character build on Live servers, without many of the players who might try it being clearly aware of the danger to their accounts. Look at the 2.6.0 Tri-Focus passive rework for lightning staves; to my knowledge, there was no announcement of it being changed to apply once per tick, and there has also been no announcement of it being reverted to its previous, barely-effective state. Was it an experiment by ZoS? Was it intentional, but deemed too powerful? Was it a bug, and if so are staff wielders in danger of being banned for exploiting it? The only way to keep it from happening is to not wear a lightning staff, or to not have points in Tri-Focus, the very first passive a mage would unlock in the tree. Many, MANY players would be detected for performing this behavior before they even had 50 hours in the game, or knew the history of the passive. What about when the Cruel Flurry enchantment was modifying skill strength directly for the DoT duration, allowing players to keep the DoT at its empowered strength for as long as they were able to keep the timer from running out, without re-casting Flurry? How were players to know that wasn't the desired behavior, until Zenimax changed it to require a new Flurry cast on each empowerment? The Elegance set currently empowers Sorceror Overload damage, despite it being an ultimate and not a true light or heavy weapon attack. Are top-tier magicka Sorcerers going to wake up to find themselves banned due to exceedingly quick Maelstrom clears?

The answer to that question is Probably Not. But the problem remains: Metagaming culture strives to find advantageous combinations, using edge cases and unforeseen synergies to gain advantage over less focused players. Inevitably, some of these behaviors will be unintended by the game developers. No modern videogame is bug-free, and if you don't believe that, I suggest perusing some GDQ footage.

For the safekeeping of our accounts, and those of our friends and guildmates, then, I propose a list. Any behavior modified, introduced, or found on PTS 2.6.x which is operating outside its expected or stated conditions should be recorded here, so that players on the Live server may know what NOT to do. Refrain from purposefully naming any Live server conditions which were not changed in 2.6.0 or later, as this is not intended to be an exhaustive bug list, nor an exploit tutorial. The goal is to have clarity, both for our own benefit and hopefully from Zenimax as well, as to whether what we see on PTS is what was meant to happen. If any behaviors from this thread make it to the Live server, it should hopefully serve as a guide and reference for those who wish to remain in good account standing.

Please note, this topic is not intended for, and should not be used for, the discussion of cheating, ban policies, exploiting in general, or other related conversations, as Zenimax has already provided the appropriate forum for them.

Summary: Zenimax's strict bug interaction policy endangers uninformed players, when PTS content makes it to Live. As testers, the best aid we can render is exposure, so that everyone who cares about their account knows what to avoid. Please post anything you notice on PTS which changed from Live, and is not working as it should be. Don't post Live bugs!