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Blackwood Event Progress Bar: BRAVO Alt-o-holics & Players!

  • Gambino108
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    SeaGtGruff wrote: »
    The problem with that theory is that the only way to prove it is by the majority of the playerbase to agree not to work toward the goal at all to see how it affects the progress bar, and continue to refuse to work toward the goal until the deadline fails with the progress bar below 100%-- and the playerbase will never let that happen, so your theory is essentially unprovable.

    Yes but surely its common sense. ZOS can't announce a community event with a reward and then enable any parameters where it could possibly fail.

    It would be them acknowledging not enough people are playing their own game to complete their event. Self sabotage of the most stupid proportions. The marketing and event team would be down the job centre by end of the day.
    Göllum - PC-EU
  • Jaimeh
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    Gambino108 wrote: »
    The progress bar is just a marketing tool.

    There's never a chance we won't reach the end goal and ZOS refuse to hand out any rewards and say we all failed.

    That's why the progress is arbitrary. It's a basic age old marketing trick to get people to participate.

    Yep, there's never actual numbers, I don't think they'd let the event fail.
  • Gambino108
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    Jaimeh wrote: »
    Yep, there's never actual numbers, I don't think they'd let the event fail.

    The other problem with showing number's is that ZOS need to make sure the bar doesn't hit 100% till at least the last day or day before the end of event.

    If they introduced numbers which we could actively effect and watch increase, then they lose control of the bar progress and the length of the event is no longer in their control.
    Göllum - PC-EU
  • lordxyrax_ESO
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    Gambino108 wrote: »
    The progress bar is just a marketing tool.

    There's never a chance we won't reach the end goal and ZOS refuse to hand out any rewards and say we all failed.

    That's why the progress is arbitrary. It's a basic age old marketing trick to get people to participate.

    LIES!!! Next you're gonna tell me wrestling is fake. Shame on you.
  • SeaGtGruff
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    This event is already a success in one respect-- it's getting me to move all of my characters from Vivec City to Leyawiin for the daily crafting writs. :)

    I'm planning to do the Blackwood Pathfinder achievement on one alt per server per day, so it won't be much of an imposition on my daily play routine.
    I've fought mudcrabs more fearsome than me!
  • Celephantsylvius_Bornasfinmo
    Celephantsylvius_Bornasfinmo
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    Gambino108 wrote: »
    SeaGtGruff wrote: »
    Hotdog_23 wrote: »
    Wow, figured we would start out higher than that.

    That depends on how high they set the bar. (And no, I don't think that the whole idea of the bar existing at all is a marketing gimmick; I think they really do set some sort of goal for themselves and the playerbase.)

    It's a gimmick for the fact that it will reach 100% regardless of what we all do. There is no situation where we don't succeed, we aren't congratulated as a community by ZOS for contributing, and the Rewards aren't gifted to us for taking part.

    Oh hi Golum! *waves*

    Yeah I'm feeling a bit more disgusted everyday at the moment. I don't know what to do really...if it was a general (non dlc) event, sure I think it would far better for the community.
  • amapola76
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    Gambino108 wrote: »
    The progress bar is just a marketing tool.

    There's never a chance we won't reach the end goal and ZOS refuse to hand out any rewards and say we all failed.

    That's why the progress is arbitrary. It's a basic age old marketing trick to get people to participate.

    I agree with you, up to a point. If we all fully bought into that, and no one participated, thinking we were too smart to fall for that trick, then below a certain participation point, ZOS might decide it's not worth it. I mean, they'd still likely give us the rewards for that event, but then not bother with future events.

    So there's no gain in being overly cynical about it. The community events are usually fun, the rewards are great, and so we might as well dive in and enjoy.

    Your point is a good reminder, though, that we shouldn't be overly anxious about whether we will make the goal or not. If you need to go to work, or read your kid a bedtime story, or just get a decent night's sleep, instead of grinding out your tenth alt, then it's all good, you're not letting down the team.
    Edited by amapola76 on September 30, 2021 8:25PM
  • CaffeinatedMayhem
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    Youyouz06 wrote: »
    You'll probably get to the end percentage either way. I can't see our producer denying it at the last minute and dealing with the reactions.

    I still don't have Blackwood and cannot participate (choice), but I am a bit confused why Blackwood has an event only shortly after being released..wouldn't it be an anniversary that would be more fitting?

    For several years now there has been a Chapter event around this time after release. There will an Anniversary event in 2 years.

    P.S. My 10 alts that already have Pathfinder say "you're welcome" :P 7 more to go!
    Edited by CaffeinatedMayhem on September 30, 2021 9:04PM
  • Enemy-of-Coldharbour
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    I just got a call at work from my neighbor and she informed me that the fiber optic hub (Spectrum) for my town is somehow damaged and the entire town is without TV and internet; and might be for days. I'm gonna lose so many event tickets! I was so looking forward to going home today and participating in the new event. I was most looking forward to buying the new furnishing pack: Steam Bath Serenity and doing a little decorating. :'(

    Is there a way to get lost event tickets in a situation like mine?

    @ZOS_Kevin
    Silivren (Silly) Thalionwen | Altmer Templar | Magicka | 9-Trait Master Crafter/Jeweler | Master Angler | PVE Main - Killed by U35
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  • Xorxe
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    Well in Warframe there was an event with gifting other players gifts on Christmas with progress bar and rewards and all the usual marketing. And we didnt reach the goal at the time, so they extended the event for one week but still no go, so another extension of one week, and then miraculously we did 20% in one day :-) Yeah maybe some marketing ploy to spend more on gifts longer or pure incompetence, who knows. But it was hilarious :-)
  • Kitziboo
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    This is only my second community event and I really enjoyed the last one. I started early and have completed Pathfinder on around eight of my 19 characters so far (getting flashbacks to the week I spent getting them all both companions).

    Only my two mains have completed Blackwood as a zone so far. Dailies are ready to turn in for most of them and I’m now working through completing the event starter for everyone and ensuring they have completed all WBs at least. The hard part is fitting in resource gathering as well.

    I was hoping that Sweetwater Cascades was going to be the prize but as it’s for sale, I bought it furnished, my first notable crown house and I’m looking forward to making it a home as soon as the event finishes. So excited!


  • Dark_Lord_Kuro
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    Gambino108 wrote: »
    Jaimeh wrote: »
    Yep, there's never actual numbers, I don't think they'd let the event fail.

    The other problem with showing number's is that ZOS need to make sure the bar doesn't hit 100% till at least the last day or day before the end of event.

    If they introduced numbers which we could actively effect and watch increase, then they lose control of the bar progress and the length of the event is no longer in their control.

    Durring the elsweyr event we reached 200% in only a few day
    The skyrim one was in less than half of the even
    Only the summerset one needed most of the event
  • Hurbster
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    Gambino108 wrote: »
    The progress bar is just a marketing tool.

    There's never a chance we won't reach the end goal and ZOS refuse to hand out any rewards and say we all failed.

    That's why the progress is arbitrary. It's a basic age old marketing trick to get people to participate.

    LIES!!! Next you're gonna tell me wrestling is fake. Shame on you.

    It's still real to me, dammit.
    So they raised the floor and lowered the ceiling. Except the ceiling has spikes in it now and the floor is also lava.
  • Prof_Bawbag
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    Meh, like Blackwood doesn't really have anything that interests me, even at half off. Combined with some of ZoS's recent decisions and customer support interactions I just cant be bothered to purchase anything from them atm.

    It will be interesting to see how they break this chapter up once it hits the crown store. Other chapters had classes (though I'm not sure if summerset was broken up), but this has nothing. The companions aren't even worth 500 crowns.

    I have Blackwood but only because I moved over to xbox and bought the base game blackwood version with the other chapters, at half price or there's about. Would never have purchased this as a standalone purchase. There's nothing in this that isn't in the Orsinium "dlc". They're obviously struggling with how to best market these things if companions were the best they could muster up. Companions are also utterly useless to those who more or less spend their time in cyrodiil. i can see why a lot of people gave this a hard pass.
  • aussie500
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    Well that progress bar would feel more rewarding if they updated it a bit more frequently.
  • Gambino108
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    Durring the elsweyr event we reached 200% in only a few day
    The skyrim one was in less than half of the even
    Only the summerset one needed most of the event

    Yes, so you are saying that the community event has succeeded each time. Some ahead of schedule? Even better, that's great participation and shows a healthy population of players!! Good job marketing and event team!!

    BUT...the initial point made was that they will never allow us to FAIL. No matter if we do 18 characters each with Pathfinder achievement etc etc or we do 1 Character each. It's going to end at 100% regardless.

    Göllum - PC-EU
  • ghost_bg_ESO
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    I just got a call at work from my neighbor and she informed me that the fiber optic hub (Spectrum) for my town is somehow damaged and the entire town is without TV and internet; and might be for days. I'm gonna lose so many event tickets! I was so looking forward to going home today and participating in the new event. I was most looking forward to buying the new furnishing pack: Steam Bath Serenity and doing a little decorating. :'(

    Is there a way to get lost event tickets in a situation like mine?

    @ZOS_Kevin

    you can only hope for mobile antennas are not affected and tether internet from your phone... have used this option couple of times when my isp had problems and when traveling.
  • zaria
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    I still remember the Summerset event... I think we started off at 14% for that one. 22% is a definite improvement. Also-- this is the first player base event where contributions are counted once per character, not once per server--which means the number of contributions we're trying to hit is probably an order of magnitude bigger than anything before. I think we're off to a great start :)
    Yes, many will use the event to get the skill points on multiple alts anyway.
    Grinding just make you go in circles.
    Asking ZoS for nerfs is as stupid as asking for close air support from the death star.
  • Danikat
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    Xorxe wrote: »
    Well in Warframe there was an event with gifting other players gifts on Christmas with progress bar and rewards and all the usual marketing. And we didnt reach the goal at the time, so they extended the event for one week but still no go, so another extension of one week, and then miraculously we did 20% in one day :-) Yeah maybe some marketing ploy to spend more on gifts longer or pure incompetence, who knows. But it was hilarious :-)

    Something similar happened in Guild Wars 2, they introduced a new type of content called Dragon Response Missions and each set had an event in the first week where if players did them enough and traded in the tokens they got it unlocked some bonus rewards for everyone. The first time it happened most people didn't really understand how it worked or that the bonus event was only running for 1 week so we didn't complete it and missed the last reward. The later ones succeeded and I know more people had caught on to the idea by then but it might also be that the devs lowered the requirements to make sure it didn't fail again.

    (They've done a lot of those bonus events with a bar tracking community progress and giving out bonus rewards based on how everyone does, but that's the only one I remember failing.)

    I think the difference here though is that it's marketing for Blackwood: if this event fails it could be interpreted as Blackwood hasn't sold very well and even the people who own it aren't willing to do even the most basic content which doesn't send a great message to people considering buying it or considering getting into ESO in general. It's a much bigger risk for ZOS if it fails, so there's more of an incentive to make it easily achievable or even just fake it.

    Of course there's no way for us to prove how it works. Even if the bar showed actual numbers and updated in real time there would be no way to know if it was really tracking progress or if it was programmed to go up periodically or being manually updated by someone at ZOS. We either trust them and complete the event or we assume it's fake and don't bother, but as someone else said unless the vast majority skip it that doesn't prove anything.

    For what it's worth I think I've already done the achievement on 1 character but if not I'm going to finish it off and I'll do it on a second one who is in the map anyway, I might do a 3rd if I have time but that's unlikely this week.
    PC EU player | She/her/hers | PAWS (Positively Against Wrip-off Stuff) - Say No to Crown Crates!

    "Remember in this game we call life that no one said it's fair"
  • Fennwitty
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    Setting up an event for advertising which has real hard numbers and criteria for completion that can fail is a marketing 'rookie mistake'.

    It makes sense you'd set a real goal sure. If your goal was to measure actual participation and punish the players for not doing enough.

    Done by savvier marketing groups, you would of course have internal thresholds of what would constitute 'success'. Because part of the marketing campaign is still to show the marketing works to get player interest. Internally. So you can reasonably know when an event is successful in drumming up real interest.

    If those thresholds are met early, the event might be 'allowed' to succeed early. Though also a chance it's kept dark to participants in order to appear like a close race and drum up even further interest.

    The second part of the equation about the reward, is a separate marketing issue. What does it look like if the players don't get the reward? If this is a marketing 'community participation' thing, failure means the community didn't participate. Is that the message a rational company would send? That it's 'dying' etc.? Of course not.

    Edited by Fennwitty on October 1, 2021 2:12PM
    PC NA
  • Celephantsylvius_Bornasfinmo
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    Youyouz06 wrote: »
    You'll probably get to the end percentage either way. I can't see our producer denying it at the last minute and dealing with the reactions.

    I still don't have Blackwood and cannot participate (choice), but I am a bit confused why Blackwood has an event only shortly after being released..wouldn't it be an anniversary that would be more fitting?

    For several years now there has been a Chapter event around this time after release. There will an Anniversary event in 2 years.

    P.S. My 10 alts that already have Pathfinder say "you're welcome" :P 7 more to go!

    Yeah I've done them in the past :)
  • jaws343
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    34% now.
  • amapola76
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    I'm curious, is anyone running Blackwood tour groups like they did with the original Summerset Pathfinder event? That was half the fun, in my opinion.

    Some of the more creative "tour guides" went all out on giving some local color as the group ran around, although even the more taciturn guides provided a real service! I found it particularly useful since I wasn't a member of any guilds yet at that point, even though I had been playing since Vvardenfell, so I couldn't just travel to my fellow guildies to unlock the wayshrines.

    I might be willing to do it myself later this weekend, if anyone ends up needing it, but I probably won't have time until Sunday. I'm afraid my tour will be a little more bare bones, though; I'm still not that familiar with Blackwood, as even though I prepurchased, I literally never went there before yesterday.
  • Blood_again
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    Gambino108 wrote: »

    Yes, so you are saying that the community event has succeeded each time. Some ahead of schedule? Even better, that's great participation and shows a healthy population of players!! Good job marketing and event team!!

    BUT...the initial point made was that they will never allow us to FAIL. No matter if we do 18 characters each with Pathfinder achievement etc etc or we do 1 Character each. It's going to end at 100% regardless.

    Then you would've been planning your arguments more carefully.
    Proves against your prediction about "100% a day before the end" have shown that you even hadn't checked the previous events flow before doing second part of your forecast. This fact drops a shadow on the whole speculation about biased progress bar, don't it?
  • Mik195
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    I just got a call at work from my neighbor and she informed me that the fiber optic hub (Spectrum) for my town is somehow damaged and the entire town is without TV and internet; and might be for days. I'm gonna lose so many event tickets! I was so looking forward to going home today and participating in the new event. I was most looking forward to buying the new furnishing pack: Steam Bath Serenity and doing a little decorating. :'(

    Is there a way to get lost event tickets in a situation like mine?

    @ZOS_Kevin

    If you've got a data plan that will support it and can find a free trial for Game Pass Ultimate, ESO is available in the cloud and it kinda works. I don't know if I'd try the delve quest, but you could probably get your one hit in on the world boss.
  • SammyKhajit
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    I just got a call at work from my neighbor and she informed me that the fiber optic hub (Spectrum) for my town is somehow damaged and the entire town is without TV and internet; and might be for days. I'm gonna lose so many event tickets! I was so looking forward to going home today and participating in the new event. I was most looking forward to buying the new furnishing pack: Steam Bath Serenity and doing a little decorating. :'(

    Is there a way to get lost event tickets in a situation like mine?

    @ZOS_Kevin

    You have a neighbor who calls you at work to let you know internet is down? Very nice neighbor indeed.
  • wolfie1.0.
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    Fennwitty wrote: »
    I'll do it at least with one character JUST IN CASE there's some spaghetti-code that accidentally blocks receiving the reward if you never participated.

    And I assume it's related to a dye or something on its own.

    It's based solely on blackwood ownership. If 100% is reached then anyone who owns blackwood after we reach 100% will still get rewards.
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