Why are players dropping like flies?

Navras · November 2019

Alcast wrote: »

There is always a player drop during non chapter launches. However, this time it seems to be a bit bigger than usual. I think performance and lack of direction in combat changes just turned a lot of people off. Many went to play Destiny 2, WoW or FF14 instead.

I took a break and stop paying ESO + when Borderlands 3 came out and I'm not planning to come back shortly. The main reason is because of performance issues.

While I can adapt to design changes, or nerfs, even if I don't understand or like them, I can't really suffer to spend my always short free time watching loading screens, lagging or waiting 50 minutes in a broken queue (to get even kicked from the server with a deserter penalty).

I'm a software architect and I've been a software engineer for more than 20 years, I feel bad to see how badly designed are few things. I feel really bad about it.

On top of that, I don't like the fact they are still releasing content while scheduling performance fixes for the next 12/16 months. Priority should be given on fixing what is already published. Always. On any software. Point.

Anyhow, I'll give a shot to the game again in the future when they will be able to fix some stuff. Not shortly I guess.

llande · November 2019

coletas wrote: »

during last 6 months I just connect some hours every months to check if its playable, and no, is every month worse. Lag, new bugs and too many skills changes from time to time makes it far from aceptable. In my main guild there is only 1 people that stills play everyday but most of us left the game for being unplayable (Pc/EU)

Well, you can join other's people guilds you know, there are tens of guilds with 450+ members on PC EU. Most of them kick people not selling or not donating, so these are active players. There are hardly any "bugs" in the game, and none that can't be resolved by either abandoning quest or reloading UI. Server load problems have been there during Witches festival, but the reason is there are tons of players in the game. Dragons, wb's and ancors are dying insanely fast cause crowds of players everywhere. Haven't seen that many people playing since two years.

FierceSam · November 2019

Drako_Ei wrote: »

Endgame players are leaving the game.
The people saying "Just adapt like i did" are just casuals

Hmmmm I think you spelt ‘Quitters’ wrong there dude.

Nothing bad about leaving, times change, interests move on and all that. But...players are staying.

You can’t be a player if you don’t play the game.

Mettaricana · November 2019

You kinda answered your own question.
They leaving because dragonguard a whole year of neck breaking buffs followed be quarterly crippling nerfs to the same buffs we just got over and over and over. This year was the eye opener that nothing you like in this game will last. The devs think all that is enjoyed is an exploit or overperforming, wheeler has no friggan clue what he's doing just as badly as wrobel. But after this year many players have just flat out realized zos is incompetent and the crap we are supposed to look forward to will always come with a loaded gun behind it ready to shoot us in the foot the second we get comfortable. I honestly see next year entire being dedicated to undoing all the nerfs of this year (disguised as buffs to the unknowing players) we'll get to the chapter expansion portion here's our new class/craft/trinket/sellingpoint we all cry joy oh joy for the 3 months the fun lasts then they'll spend the next 2 dlcs breaking every little shred of what we like. Rinse and repeat for years to come.

Elsonso · November 2019

befriendlyordie wrote: »

Update 24 killed it .......

That depends on whether you consider the drinking to be the problem, or the hangover. Update 24 is the hangover, but that was caused by stuff leading up to, and including, Update 23.

TequilaFire · November 2019

ThePedge wrote: »

No new endgame PvE content this patch.

Faction Lock discouraging a lot of hardcore PvPers transmutation crystal farmers.

Combat changes require almost all builds/rotations to change just 3 months after they were changed drastically.

In general the updates just haven't been good.

JanTanhide · November 2019

I can say that in the guilds I am in the player base dropped significantly with the last two patches. In my opinion people are sick of these super nerfs and "balancing" constantly going on for PVP.

I have been in this game for over five years and this is the worst I have seen it for the PVE players. I have stopped playing a lot as well and now just do the daily login.

Maybe I'm just burned out with all the massive changes every patch? Time to take a break, at least for me. Been playing No Man's Sky lately and having a lot of fun there.

Hopefully ZOS will pull their head out and upgrade the hardware for the Servers and fix all the bugs and stop these massive changes every patch.

jadarock · November 2019

Canned_Apples wrote: »

i dont know what any of you are talking about. the game is livelier than ever.
the devs have done a great job, and have allowed for a tremendous amount of diverse builds in scalebreaker and even more with the changes made in Dragonhold. I can now play how I want without having to worry about my build not being meta.
these new combat devs clearly know what they are doing and talking about.
I for one, cannot wait to see what they think up next.

Not all of us are rpers so I'm not sure if trolling or serious ...
Their drastic changes tells me something completely different from what you see but hey if you want to sit here with blinders on and sing kumbaya have at it bud

jao0199 · November 2019

Its just sad that ZOS needs to lose a lot of good players to really understand how we feel.

maboleth · November 2019

Alcast wrote: »

There is always a player drop during non chapter launches. However, this time it seems to be a bit bigger than usual. I think performance and lack of direction in combat changes just turned a lot of people off. Many went to play Destiny 2, WoW or FF14 instead.

The big question ZOS has to ask themselves is, why did "SeasonOfTheDragon" not succeed, or did it? They sold more copies than ever before, so I am sure they are actually pretty happy with the $$ performance of this year.

My problem with the "SeasonOfTheDragon" is that it did not manage to retain players, we have the same amount or even a tiny bit less players than last year around this time (according to steamcharts, yes I know its only a tiny population, but it is the only metric we really have to compare numbers).
The moment the Chapter hype was over, everyone ran to other games, ZOS needs to figure out how to keep people happy the rest of the year. Yes Performance and constant changes to combat definitely push people away too, but I still think the biggest problem is lack of good content. 1 Chapter and 3 DLCs with very little content does just not cut it in the MMO scene.

They also need to figure out how to get more people into vet content, most people quit way before they even reach vet content and that should not be the case. There is A LOT of new players, a lot of players that are interested in checking the game out, they usually just do not stick around very long, I hope ZOS can figure it out in the next one or two years. Lack of good rewards for dungeons and their focus on clown store is definitely also an issue.

The biggest problem at the company ZOS itself is, that they just do not have enough resources to actually deal with all the issues that come up. Since 2014 they are constantly trying to fix bugs, stuff you might not even necessarily see but they might waste a lot of resources on it, and then fix 1 bug, 2 new appear. Dungeon/Trial team has around 5 people, of course we can not get more such content, the team is just too small to really push a lot of content out. Same goes for the combat team, it is tiny compared to other companies. And because the numbers seem to be alright for ZOS in terms of $, why hire more? On top of that they are building two complete new teams, one already working on a mobile game and another new team working on a unannounced game.

I still hope that till the next Chaper, they will be done with most combat changes and fps improvements. Because the next Chapter will be when most people will give the game another try.

In one thing I disagree with you Alcast - this game is already HUGE with HUGE potential, dungeons, arenas, cyrodiil, battlegrounds, TONS and TONS of quests and areas to explore. PVP, PVE, Questing - it's there.

Why should new players only focus on the shiny new content? I can somewhat understand veterans that already saw much of the game (I'm a vet and I still have a lot to see and explore in the basegame, let alone chapters/dlcs!).

Take, for example, Clockwork City. The setting, the story is SO good, if you're a new player, that zone alone could offer tons of cool steampunk content and it's a DLC from 2017 (btw, who cares on the age if you're new to the game or didn't explore it before?) and not big as a Chapter thing.

I think the main reason for people to temporary leave is more due to the current tech. problems than the absence of new content - as said, ESO is loaded with all sorts of goodies, rewards, quests, zones, playstyles already. You'd need several lifetimes to see it in its entirety.

And a side note, on PC EU I don't see any lack of people, quite the contrary. And dungeon PUGs are mostly loaded with new <500CP guys (new players). All good IMO.

barney2525 · November 2019

If people are dropping like flies they should stop eating that food.

GrimTheReaper45 · November 2019

I think the last year has been pretty rough and players are burnt out on the combat changes and poor performance.

pod88kk · November 2019

Fatigue from the chopping and changing from patch to patch

wild_kmacdb16_ESO · November 2019

Recent expansion packs have been sort of underwhelming. The story content is fine, but once you finish that in a couple weeks, whats left? Other MMO xpacs typically introduce new level cap which comes with new abilities & skills for their class and also new gear to hunt for. Not saying this is the way to go as power creep is a problem, but there is definitely a feeling of stagnation.

IMO, the next big expansion needs to have the CP rework introduced to spice things up (or if its handled badly, kill the game). Also give us some new skills to play with; even trash mobs have some interesting abilities in the recent DLCs that could be worked into the existing skill lines. Our characters are the heroes of Tamriel and Im getting showed up by some random thug flying into the sky and landing on my head.

Getting tired of using the same stuff since 2014... except now those same skills are much weaker and bland.

Elsonso · November 2019

JanTanhide wrote: »

Hopefully ZOS will pull their head out and upgrade the hardware for the Servers and fix all the bugs and stop these massive changes every patch.

My feeling is that it is not a hardware issue. It is inefficient software. They could double the amount of hardware and the only thing players would notice is... nothing.

As for the changes during updates, I am OK with them as long as the game is still fun to play afterwards.

maboleth · November 2019

wild_kmacdb16_ESO wrote: »

Recent expansion packs have been sort of underwhelming. The story content is fine, but once you finish that in a couple weeks, whats left? Other MMO xpacs typically introduce new level cap which comes with new abilities & skills for their class and also new gear to hunt for. Not saying this is the way to go as power creep is a problem, but there is definitely a feeling of stagnation.

IMO, the next big expansion needs to have the CP rework introduced to spice things up (or if its handled badly, kill the game). Also give us some new skills to play with; even trash mobs have some interesting abilities in the recent DLCs that could be worked into the existing skill lines. Our characters are the heroes of Tamriel and Im getting showed up by some random thug flying into the sky and landing on my head.

Getting tired of using the same stuff since 2014... except now those same skills are much weaker and bland.

As for CP rework, I agree. But saying there's no new abilities and skills - WHAT? Two years before we got Warden class and BGs introduction. Last year we had Jewelry crafting and Psijic skill line. This year we got Necromancer class. Not to mention loads of QoL improvements, from guilds to crafting and rewritten Group finder.

Sometimes I think it's not them, it's you. You become oversaturated and tired, time to play or do something else. Do it. When you return you'll feel invigorated. I had two ESO-rest cases when I didn't play for 4 and 6 months, respectively. Last time I got so mad at ZOS that I wanted to sell my game and characters illegally. Luckily I did not, I learned to appreciate what I have because it's gold. Such a great and huge game. Grass isn't always greener on the other side you know.

idk · November 2019

Faulgor wrote: »

Alcast wrote: »

The moment the Chapter hype was over, everyone ran to other games, ZOS needs to figure out how to keep people happy the rest of the year. Yes Performance and constant changes to combat definitely push people away too, but I still think the biggest problem is lack of good content. 1 Chapter and 3 DLCs with very little content does just not cut it in the MMO scene.

My primary issue in terms of content is that for some reason, none of it has any longevity.

This is pretty much the case with any MMORPG. It is why they have to keep content going to keep the game itself relevant.

Overall Alcast was correct with his entire post. There have been seasonal fluctuations but the population each year was larger for the same months the year before until the past couple months.

I think people were already tired of the regular changes and Zos pumped it into overdrive with implementing this new vision. That, along with Matt Firor placing a low priority on communicating the big picture with these changes like he has been poor about communicating all along has lead to payer fatigue.

I think Alcast hit the nail on the head with hopes that Zos finishes up with these changes before the next chapter because that will bring a lot of people back to the game to see the current state of combat and server performance. If not there will come a time Robert will question who he has running Zos.

idk · November 2019

maboleth wrote: »

Alcast wrote: »

There is always a player drop during non chapter launches. However, this time it seems to be a bit bigger than usual. I think performance and lack of direction in combat changes just turned a lot of people off. Many went to play Destiny 2, WoW or FF14 instead.

The big question ZOS has to ask themselves is, why did "SeasonOfTheDragon" not succeed, or did it? They sold more copies than ever before, so I am sure they are actually pretty happy with the $$ performance of this year.

My problem with the "SeasonOfTheDragon" is that it did not manage to retain players, we have the same amount or even a tiny bit less players than last year around this time (according to steamcharts, yes I know its only a tiny population, but it is the only metric we really have to compare numbers).
The moment the Chapter hype was over, everyone ran to other games, ZOS needs to figure out how to keep people happy the rest of the year. Yes Performance and constant changes to combat definitely push people away too, but I still think the biggest problem is lack of good content. 1 Chapter and 3 DLCs with very little content does just not cut it in the MMO scene.

They also need to figure out how to get more people into vet content, most people quit way before they even reach vet content and that should not be the case. There is A LOT of new players, a lot of players that are interested in checking the game out, they usually just do not stick around very long, I hope ZOS can figure it out in the next one or two years. Lack of good rewards for dungeons and their focus on clown store is definitely also an issue.

The biggest problem at the company ZOS itself is, that they just do not have enough resources to actually deal with all the issues that come up. Since 2014 they are constantly trying to fix bugs, stuff you might not even necessarily see but they might waste a lot of resources on it, and then fix 1 bug, 2 new appear. Dungeon/Trial team has around 5 people, of course we can not get more such content, the team is just too small to really push a lot of content out. Same goes for the combat team, it is tiny compared to other companies. And because the numbers seem to be alright for ZOS in terms of $, why hire more? On top of that they are building two complete new teams, one already working on a mobile game and another new team working on a unannounced game.

I still hope that till the next Chaper, they will be done with most combat changes and fps improvements. Because the next Chapter will be when most people will give the game another try.

In one thing I disagree with you Alcast - this game is already HUGE with HUGE potential, dungeons, arenas, cyrodiil, battlegrounds, TONS and TONS of quests and areas to explore. PVP, PVE, Questing - it's there.

Why should new players only focus on the shiny new content? I can somewhat understand veterans that already saw much of the game (I'm a vet and I still have a lot to see and explore in the basegame, let alone chapters/dlcs!)..

Alcast is referring to the entire player base. Not just new players. Zos has to focus on the entire player base as well for revenue reasons.

Zos is well aware of this from this games history, and I assume Alcast is as well. Zos had not released any new meaningful content in 6 months and announced it would be another 6 months before they added anything more. The exodus was real from serious raiders to more casual players.

However, Alcasts point was more about why this year has been less successful that years past and that is a question Zos needs to answer. Some of there jobs are dependent on that answer.

RedGirl41 · November 2019

My personal thought on this is people don’t want to update and improve each patch. A lot of players think their builds are best and ready for the hardest content when in reality they probably aren’t. People don’t like learning new mechanics or actually progressing so they just wait to buy carries. People also don’t like to learn new rotations or just improve in general which can hold back teams until they quit.

Also for pve a lot of people have gotten annoyed or let down with the fact that dungeons and trials are giving away skins for just completing vet. Nobody on console can get godslayer in vss without mods. Idk I think dlc dungeons should keep the harder achievements (no death, hardmode, speed ) for the skins and personality’s. If people want nice stuff they need to progress and get better. Lots of people want to use one build for ever then it gets nerfed.

Again just my opinion, been playing daily since launch.

Girl_Number8 · November 2019

Zos is pulling their wings off....

Bad game performance that has gotten worse. The Drastic changes that make it to live even after feedback saying not to. Basically no communication of devs with their player-base. Lack of housing space even with ESO+ after all this time. The destruction of fun playing styles in both PvP and PvE.

They should look back to older combat pre MW before they started to chop up class identity for sales.

The Forum should be completely restructured for better feedback. Allowing for better communication where things are civil and positive.

A lot of players are leaving for games that are more stable in performance and the game play. Where they may feel more appreciated as a costumer.

Eso has changed combat so drastically and so often. That most people dread the new dlcs, afraid their beloved classes are going to be gutted.

People are simply upset and rightfully so.

Lots of time and money go into peoples characters and this game, so yeapers they're certainly frustrated and I don't blame them.

coletas · November 2019

lack of content? lol i play since 2014 and still didnt do ANY of the dlcs since morrowind (included). most of them i even didnt started to. Only that one for psijic skill line and i didnt have enough patience for finish It lol problem is that PvP is unplayable. all my friends agree with that (thats the main reason they allí quitted playing, me included) and the only part of the game that is playable (pve overworld) is so stupidily easy, boring, repetitive and no rewarding that seems like a glovo or deliveroo simulator lol new bugs make the game unplayable too. health desynchs, cant swap bar, LA weaving freezes, cant login, login-to-cyro-travel-and-kick, stucked running while loading terrain textures (with a 960 SSD only for the game , 64gb RAM and a 980gtx), queues are infinite... well, just my 2 cents. Game is unplayable so ... we dont play anymore. Eso was a good game and was pretty playable until 2 years ago but now... i dont think the problem for people quitting is lack of content

Jeremy · November 2019

coletas wrote: »

lack of content? lol i play since 2014 and still didnt do ANY of the dlcs since morrowind (included). most of them i even didnt started to. Only that one for psijic skill line and i didnt have enough patience for finish It lol problem is that PvP is unplayable. all my friends agree with that (thats the main reason they allí quitted playing, me included) and the only part of the game that is playable (pve overworld) is so stupidily easy, boring, repetitive and no rewarding that seems like a glovo or deliveroo simulator lol new bugs make the game unplayable too. health desynchs, cant swap bar, LA weaving freezes, cant login, login-to-cyro-travel-and-kick, stucked running while loading terrain textures (with a 960 SSD only for the game , 64gb RAM and a 980gtx), queues are infinite... well, just my 2 cents. Game is unplayable so ... we dont play anymore. Eso was a good game and was pretty playable until 2 years ago but now... i dont think the problem for people quitting is lack of content

Yeah I have to agree.

You can criticize ESO for a lot of things. But a lack of content isn't one of them. That's absolutely one of this game's strengths.

Dr_Ganknstein · November 2019

A lot of the try hards are leaving before the dizzy nerf because they have been crutching on it for years.

b95fister · November 2019

Just because they release new content does not mean it’s not lacking....

I have played since Xbox release when veteran zones rewarded long play times with harder quest and enemies to fight. Now quest are all but meaningless.

I understand they want NEW players buy the game and experience all the NEW content. But once you have done one zone quest they rest are all the same. No progression no growing in power to beat a boss because they all stay the same power......in fact a death hint is ‘level up or get better gear’. When in fact leveling up does nothing or worse if you keep the same gear you are less powerful..lmao

I personally do not purchase these quest only dlc’s as they offer nothing to a long time vet.

New content should be something you WORK toward it should not be like Glenumbra quests.

TLDR

Just becuause there is a lot of content doesn’t mean it’s good content.

KappaKid83 · November 2019

I have noticed myself taking a pretty big break from in-game play since U24 hit. The game itself feels terrible and with the endless bugs that just don't get fixed and the endless Cyrodil lag(I mainly PvP so take that for what it is) I just don't find the same enjoyment to the game I did, even 6 months ago.

svartorn · November 2019

I’ve grouped with a lot of new players lately. On the flip side, lots of people on my friends list haven’t logged on in a long time.

HalvarIronfist · November 2019

siddique wrote: »

So, what's the plan? All the big guilds seem to be disbanding or have disbanded on PS4, I have heard of an exodus pre dragonhold on PC as well. All the veteran players seem to have lost interest or just stopped bothering.

It's getting harder to find a good group to even do vSS. Forget vCR. Yes, there are a few groups running around doing the hardest content but it seems a huge number of population has given way.

Is this the beginning of the end? I've played on PC since 2015 and on PS4 since 2018. Things haven't been so dismal in the past 4-plus years.

P.S, I understand dps dropped considerably this patch making the end game harder than before. But most of that content was being done with even less of a damage output when it came out.

Is it perhaps because of the absolute clueless attitude of ZOS? Like triggering people because they can't figure out what they are doing patch after patch?

I'm just trying to figure out if I should invest more time and money or maybe finally move on and wait for a new Elder Scrolls

Edit: no this is not a I quit thread. I still love this game and hope that I am wrong about my feelings.

As my time being a GM, I've watched player trends more closely. I knew many 'veteran', or 'endgame' players who just got tired of playing not because of burnout, but due to the fact that there was too much change. Change is good, but too much change is not good. I heard many dissatisfied comments about the previous combat team, but never upon the level that I've heard about the current combat team. Whether these arguments were constructive or simply bashing is ultimately irrelevant in the scope of the issue.

In fact, in my own guilds I watched high dps players and 'veteran' runners drop like flies in this figurative sense. They weren't bored, they just didn't want to invest so much time into a build, a rotation, a goal only to find it completely altered and their goals ultimately made harder because very few people could do what they did. (Say, there are people out there still hitting 100k dps. Those people are an abysmal percentage of the total players. I know many long time players who can't reach 20-30k DPS. Then they also feel the brunt of these nerfs and get discouraged further from playing.)

In the terms of population: Earlier this year, I had no trouble finding more than 5-10 people a day who'd whisper me when I posted my zone guild spam, and become active members of my guilds. (I operate one myself, and my other half runs the other guild.) Most of those players are long gone now, and I heard most of the same reasons. These days, It's extremely lucky that I find 5 people to join my guild in a day. That is with the same amount of advertising, multiple forms of it, being on the guild finder and forums.

Does that necessarily mean that population is declining or is down? No, not really. There's plenty of logical explanations against it, but it does paint the picture that less people are playing.

Speaking of ZOS; and this isn't to bash in any way, but these are my thoughts: The base team/design team/gameplay is fine, occasionally there are things I disagree with... (MULTI BIDDING) where it feels like player feedback is completely ignored. (I never saw a soul in support of this, not one. I saw dozens of constructive arguments, yet it was pushed through and broken upon release anyway. REMEMBER EU Economy fiasco.)

The combat team.. or at least the current combat team; My confusion really knows no bounds with some of their decisions. Honestly, what is going on? I enjoy the fact that they've been listening to feedback regarding DK, (for one example.) but in reference to what Alcast had said in one of his streams/videos. This combat team seems to favor a sledgehammer approach, and it's just absolutely insane. Huge buffs to dots one patch, nerf them out of existence the next patch. In my thought process, I considered this as what the combat team has been recently doing:

(Enjoy the Skit

)

"If dots are weak, they need a buff."

"Okay, but how much?"

"Let's start with small increments and wait for feedback. Maybe 5, 10, 15, or even 20 percent"

-Guy at back of room: "BUFF BY 60-80%"

Boss-"SOLD!"

Further push that for the players to test, hear an echoing facepalm as all of the playerbase wonders what in Oblivion is going on.

Players: "Hey, this is too overpowered! If you buff these this much, you're going to start a new meta and here's X amount of data considering why this change is TOO MUCH. Also insert other players bashing and non constructiveness here."

Combat Team: *Arrow in Head* "Did you hear something?"

(Insert few months later)

Combat Team: "Hey guys, these DOTs are way too overpowered, we're going to nerf them out of existence now. Test it for us please!"

Players: "We.... told you.. this 3 months ago!.. Oh well. Let's test it"

Players: "What in Oblivion... These are useless, what did you do!?!"

Combat Team: "Nerfed them to be weaker than they originally were when we decided they needed a buff, so we nerfed it by 80%

"

So, in this displayed PARODY, I think you can see why players may get frustrated. It seems that from what I gather from the players I speak to, they love ESO, but they just can't continue to stomach the wanton decisions that's made about the direction of combat and content in the game. We can tell ZOS all we want to about a decision, but they don't have to listen to us. Will it cost them some players, respect, and income? Probably. But with any influx of new players and or people who just don't care about these issues? It probably evens out.

In epiphany; I'm a tank player. I haven't had to change a THING in YEARS, I could fully gold out multiple sets and by the way the team seems to focus on DPS and rarely healers, I'll be sitting here nice and cozy watching the world burn in my gold tank sets I haven't had to change since.... *Checks calendar* a long.... long time.

KappaKid83 · November 2019

svartorn wrote: »

I’ve grouped with a lot of new players lately. On the flip side, lots of people on my friends list haven’t logged on in a long time.

This is how I feel as well. Lots of 7-21 days without logging in or just logging in to upgrade mounts and do writs and be out. And these are people who would have done every event in years past.

TheValar85 · November 2019

Vlad9425 wrote: »

Because getting nerfed every single patch is getting really old.

Here is the perfect answer for every question related to population questions.

Shantu · November 2019

TheValar85 wrote: »

Vlad9425 wrote: »

Because getting nerfed every single patch is getting really old.

Here is the perfect answer for every question related to population questions.

In addition, "new" content, to a very large extent, isn't really new, but rather a re-skin of previous content. This would bare out the statement by Alcast that the ZOS ESO dev team is just too small with inadequate resources, under the pressure to hammer out new content. So what do dev teams do when they're over-demanded and under resourced? They leverage what has been done before (like putting stripes on the same wolves we've seen forever or re-skinning a clanfear). It just get stale, uninspiring, and uninteresting. True creativity takes a hit and people leave.

So lack of new creativity and absurd nerfs to combat every new patch just leaves people frustrated, annoyed, and searching for better entertainment. It's a concept that ZOS seems oblivious to, particularly the current combat team. They may pat themselves on the back for all there numbers crunching toward a theoretical construct, but in the meantime they're oblivious to the a realization of what players actually find as fun. They've blatantly stated that all these combat changes were made for and audience of elite players busting 100K on a cheesed out trial dummy. The rest of us average players didn't matter...yet we bear the brunt of discontent. Not exactly the kind of development that inspires the vast majority of players to stick around for more.