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ESO Live comments on housing forum from Cullen Lee

Zypheran
Zypheran
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I think it is worth bringing attention to this here in case you missed it in ESO Live last Friday. System designer Cullen Lee was giving a house tour of the new Elinhir Arena on the PTS. During the tour he mentioned that one of the influences behind this houses creation was from the feedback that players in the community gave around wanting to have an arena. He also noted that practically every suggestion is read by the team responsible for housing. He admitted they don't comment on the threads but rather "lurk".
I think this is good to hear. Sometimes it can be frustrating for those of us who love housing in this game to feel sometimes like our suggestions are not being listened to but it was promising to hear from a dev that they read so much of our feedback.
Perhaps it would help to see some comments from you guys on the housing forum every once in a while to remind us all that this feedback is being heard.
All my housing builds are available on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf3oJ_cxuu01HmWZJZ6KK6g?view_as=subscriber
I am happy to share the EHT save files for most of my builds.
  • Earrindo
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    I suspect folks here would be less inclined to assume the worst if there was even one, actual, typed acknowledgement of their awareness of housing as a feature of the game.

    It's great that they lurk, I get it.
    But frankly, their implementation of requested housing items is sporadic at best, and ZERO mention of housing feature/QoL improvements in the pipeline encourages negativity and despair.

    I am not asking for frequent dev responses to every single housing thread, but some sort of real response as to their position on the development of housing would go a long way to assuaging the decorating communities fears that housing was simply implemented as is and then left to rot, raking in as much cash as they can manage with limited time crown only houses.

    I am dedicated to housing, but between the slot limits, rarity of dropped furnishings/plans, and dearth of new and interesting houses, it's hard to maintain faith that they are working on anything at all.
    @ZOS_GinaBruno if this could be passed on to the housing team, any sort of a proper response would be deeply appreciated.
  • Zypheran
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    We used to get at least a bit more interaction when ZOS_Holden was around but I see that that rep has not been active since Oct2018.
    All my housing builds are available on YouTube
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf3oJ_cxuu01HmWZJZ6KK6g?view_as=subscriber
    I am happy to share the EHT save files for most of my builds.
  • Turelus
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    Zypheran wrote: »
    We used to get at least a bit more interaction when ZOS_Holden was around but I see that that rep has not been active since Oct2018.
    Yeah I think those reps kind of fizzled out as an idea/attempt of extra communication from ZOS.
    Although personally I never found they gave much more than generic "that's really good please show us more" replies.

    From what I know many devs read the forums actively, they just don't post. You can check a lot of ZOS staff profiles on the forums to see when they've been online.
    @Turelus - EU PC Megaserver
    "Don't count on others for help. In the end each of us is in this alone. The survivors are those who know how to look out for themselves."
  • Shadow_Akula
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    I’ll believe what he said when furnishings and houses that people have been asking for, for a while start appearing in game, or at least until the relevant threads start getting responses such as “we’ll take these ideas into consideration” or “I’m sorry we are not willing to use these ideas because...”
  • Aurie
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    Why is it so hard for ZOS to react to our posts and give even a brief reply? The only impression it gives is that they just can't be bothered. So-called 'lurking' is not satisfactory.....we all know they do read every post, even if only to make sure that we conform to their forum terms and conditions. One infringement and they are right on it. That's clearly not too much trouble for them.

    Out of the very many MMOs I've played, ESO is by far the worst at communicating with the playerbase. It doesn't show them up in a good light.
  • Wildberryjack
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    Aurelle1 wrote: »
    Out of the very many MMOs I've played, ESO is by far the worst at communicating with the playerbase. It doesn't show them up in a good light.
    I take it you've never played WoW then.

    Really these guys can't reply to every thread and what are they going to say anyway, "that's an interesting idea" 10,000 times? And if they reply to a few then everyone else will be crying why didn't they reply to theirs too or cry about being "ignored".

    The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls. ~Pablo Picasso
  • Jaimeh
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    I’ll believe what he said when furnishings and houses that people have been asking for, for a while start appearing in game, or at least until the relevant threads start getting responses such as “we’ll take these ideas into consideration” or “I’m sorry we are not willing to use these ideas because...”

    I don't think it's the fact they are not listening, but what they are filtering out depending on business. People have been asking for smaller homes for a long time, but it seems every new house is more extravaggant than before (I guess to justify those prices). It's great to have those, but I wish we got small/medium house options as well.
  • Earrindo
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    Jaimeh wrote: »
    I don't think it's the fact they are not listening, but what they are filtering out depending on business. People have been asking for smaller homes for a long time, but it seems every new house is more extravaggant than before (I guess to justify those prices). It's great to have those, but I wish we got small/medium house options as well.

    What is unfortunate is the way they seem to interpret requests though.
    For example, we have asked for:
    A dwemer themed house
    smaller houses
    a snowy house

    and instead of doing the sensible thing (a proper dwemer home, perhaps large/notable, a wider variety of normal smaller houses and a manor in the wilderness of Eastmarch/Wrothgar) we get 1 house that verges on useless. A "small" frost covered dwemer home that looks HUGE but has a tiny item count. And the combination of themes didnt really work out great. Its too monotone to really feel dwemer (I associate dwemeri architecture with the brass metal they use, which cant be seen in the new house due to frost) The cavern is too huge around it for it to feel small or cozy. And it is underground/in a chasm, so it doesnt really feel like a snowy house at all, it just feels cold.

    Anyway, rant aside, more communication, direct communication, would be much appreciated. Decorating and housing communities tend to be really wholesome, but I feel that this one could really use some actual commentary from the devs.
  • MornaBaine
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    Even if not direct communication here, it'd be great to see a monthly housing newsletter from the devs. So we know what they ARE seeing and planning on doing. With as much money and time as this feature demands from those of us who are into it you'd think we'd at least rate that much.
    PAWS (Positively Against Wrip-off Stuff) - Say No to Crown Crates!

  • NoTimeToWait
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    Earrindo wrote: »
    What is unfortunate is the way they seem to interpret requests though.
    For example, we have asked for:
    A dwemer themed house
    smaller houses
    a snowy house

    Yep, the same goes for a lighthouse. Players asked for it for a long time, but I don't think many of them were expecting, that it would be snowing there. Many were hoping for some analogue of the Gold Coast Lighthouse.

    Though, I admit, that a snowy house in a snowglobe was a neat idea. Just, come on, why should it be a lighthouse, of all things!

    It seems like devs try to put a lot of requests into a single house (I don't know, to reduce development costs maybe instead of designing multiple houses). And in the end they get a very specific house that doesn't reach most of its potential audience.
    Edited by NoTimeToWait on February 14, 2019 12:38PM
  • Earrindo
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    Precisely.
    If they'd released 3 medium sized homes, each according to the frequent requests, I imagine they'd have made more money.
    I would happily buy 2 homes with cohesive themes that are lovely to look at, rather than 1 house that tries to tick too many boxes all by itself.
  • Solariken
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    They read comments eh? Then why do we still not have access to placeable wayshrines?
  • rexagamemnon
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    1 farm/ranch house please
  • anadandy
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    MornaBaine wrote: »
    Even if not direct communication here, it'd be great to see a monthly housing newsletter from the devs. So we know what they ARE seeing and planning on doing. With as much money and time as this feature demands from those of us who are into it you'd think we'd at least rate that much.

    This. Heck I'd even settle for a quarterly update. Just something to know we're not just shouting into the wind.
  • Alinhbo_Tyaka
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    I think if they could distill the player requests into a ranking survey it would at least show they are listening and would give them a better idea of player priorities.
  • Aurie
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    Aurelle1 wrote: »
    Out of the very many MMOs I've played, ESO is by far the worst at communicating with the playerbase. It doesn't show them up in a good light.
    I take it you've never played WoW then.

    Really these guys can't reply to every thread and what are they going to say anyway, "that's an interesting idea" 10,000 times? And if they reply to a few then everyone else will be crying why didn't they reply to theirs too or cry about being "ignored".

    I have indeed played WoW, but didn't hang around the forums so cannot comment....the game itself was enough (read into that what you will).

    I take it you never played many other other MMOs, the forums of which had plenty of communication with their players. They didn't seem to find it a problem, and had no difficulty thinking of appropriate replies. And no the forums were not full of whiners crying about their posts being ignored. The whole tone was a lot more grown up than that.
  • Zypheran
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    Perhaps what is needed, in the absence of any communication from devs, is one or two housing reps. People who would sign a NDA so the devs could show them future plans and then these people could push for our list of requests to be included or indeed challenge the devs to explain why for example, they are releasing a new rock with the next DLC when there are so many other things being requested.
    They could then agree a certain amount of information with the devs that CAN be shared with the community. I'm sure it wouldn't be a breach of secrecy just to say that there are 3 homes coming out with Elsweyr, 2 medium, 1 huge, 2 Khajiit themed etc and this many of our top 50 requested items are coming out.
    I'm sure also an NDA would still allow scope to give quarterly feedback around features and issues with housing.. such as slots and category management.
    Sometimes I feel that by the time a house goes to PTS it's too late and very little change will be made at that point.
    Edited by Zypheran on February 15, 2019 7:38AM
    All my housing builds are available on YouTube
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf3oJ_cxuu01HmWZJZ6KK6g?view_as=subscriber
    I am happy to share the EHT save files for most of my builds.
  • TwIsTeDReDQuEeN
    TwIsTeDReDQuEeN
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