800k people don't seem to mind difficult overworld

Vhozek · October 2021

I think we should sit back and take a second look at this game's overworld to make it more interesting and exciting. Bumping up the mob difficulty seems to be a good start. I really doubt many people would complain. The only issue is that it can't just be done as a lone update but rather paired up with a sort of re-launch or massive event advertising the game. What do you think? What else could be implemented to make leveling exciting and not just a delay to end-game content? Because that's basically what it is, it's just a delay not even a challenging obstacle.

RevJJ · October 2021

Oh, is it that time of the week again already?

Hamish999 · October 2021

How about no.

Vylaera · October 2021

All they need to do is add mechanics to NPCs, not increase their damage or health. The reason the overland is boring is because they just stand there and let you kill them, take 5 seconds visually telegraphing any kind of attack that would do any significant amount of damage, and they don't try to avoid your AOEs or strategize a good way to attack in groups.

even if every overland enemy had the same mechanics and the only variation was in boss fights, it would be better than the mind numbing overland content we have currently

AVaelham · October 2021

If they do something like selecting the difficulty like it is in Destiny 2 (normal, hardmode etc.) then sure. If you mean overall, then no, questing and overland are supposed to be easy, accessible and relaxing. Fighting 2-3 trash mobs for half an hour sounds unrealistic anyway.

Watchdog · October 2021

Not unless it is a different mode, which I would love to see.

Overland difficulty is fine for casual exploration and questing as it is.

Lady_Galadhiel · October 2021

Nice to see nothing did change in this forum,still same subjects over and over each week.

FeedbackOnly · October 2021

BroughBreaux wrote: »

All they need to do is add mechanics to NPCs, not increase their damage or health. The reason the overland is boring is because they just stand there and let you kill them, take 5 seconds visually telegraphing any kind of attack that would do any significant amount of damage, and they don't try to avoid your AOEs or strategize a good way to attack in groups.

even if every overland enemy had the same mechanics and the only variation was in boss fights, it would be better than the mind numbing overland content we have currently

This is the answer in my opinion.

Audrena · October 2021

BroughBreaux wrote: »

All they need to do is add mechanics to NPCs, not increase their damage or health. The reason the overland is boring is because they just stand there and let you kill them, take 5 seconds visually telegraphing any kind of attack that would do any significant amount of damage

And with the sort of latency that players in countries like Australia have to deal with, that's pretty much necessary.

Ishtarknows · October 2021

Overland fighting teaches nothing about group content mechanics, so you'll have someone taking 10 minutes to light attack spam /heavy attack a world boss to death thinking they're great and that translates fine into group (harder) content. There needs to be something to allow players to prepare for more difficult content and questing isn't it.

WhyMustItBe · October 2021

I think they should just create multiple instances of the world based on different configurations.

For example, look at WoW's War Mode setting. If you turn it on, you only see people in the world who have it turned on. ESO could enable this to let people who want to engage in open world anywhere-PVP to play with like-minded people as only people who had it on would be in the instance shards where PVP was enabled in open world.

Likewise, it would enable them to add a difficulty slider which people have been asking for since One Tamriel went live. Basically the same thing, turn it on and you will only run into people who also have their slider set to that difficulty level.

This would additionally reward people playing at the highest difficulty as there would be less people competing for grind spots, but you could easily change loot tables for the various instanced modes as well.

LalMirchi · October 2021

I'm curious about the title for this thread."800k people don't seem to mind difficult overworld"

Where does the figure 800k come from?

WhyMustItBe · October 2021

LalMirchi wrote: »

I'm curious about the title for this thread."800k people don't seem to mind difficult overworld"

Where does the figure 800k come from?

It is probably a reference to the number of people playing New World on Steam, which I intentionally ignored since it would be a terrible metric to compare the new game shiny fad-factor of a title out for 1 week to a game which has been running 8 years with a stable, healthy, and generally expanding player base.

six2fall · October 2021

Ishtarknows wrote: »

Overland fighting teaches nothing about group content mechanics, so you'll have someone taking 10 minutes to light attack spam /heavy attack a world boss to death thinking they're great and that translates fine into group (harder) content. There needs to be something to allow players to prepare for more difficult content and questing isn't it.

It's called normal trials & vet dungeons. You dont use overland to learn how to do the hardest content

santhoranb16_ESO · October 2021

At complete overland overhaul would be very welcome, but is extremely labor intensive for ZOS.
I for example would prefer less mobs, but harder , difficulter and longer fights. The timeframe for completing the quest should stay the same or for walking through a delve/public dungeon, but it should feel much more challenging (in less fights but more interesting fights).

That would be for me the optimal dream outcome of such an overhaul: its not taking longer but its more interesting.

Akali · October 2021

I agree with people saying overland is just fine, that being said, an option for difficulty offering better loot/rewards would be outstanding.

Nothing wrong with offering people some choice!

TX12001rwb17_ESO · October 2021

Apparently people do not like the Vestige being powerful.

Jack-0 · October 2021

It’s just so boring, the current difficulty completely undermines and ruins immersion in the stories for the quests for well geared/more experienced players.

“Only you, oh great and powerful hero, can save us from this simply dreadful threat!”

*boss dies before it’s finished its dialogue*

Keep how it is now as normal mode, no need to upset the people who prefer it this way, but having a hard mode option would be nice for those that would enjoy it and get more out of it.

AVaelham · October 2021

Jack-0 wrote: »

It’s just so boring, the current difficulty completely undermines and ruins immersion in the stories for the quests for well geared/more experienced players.

“Only you, oh great and powerful hero, can save us from this simply dreadful threat!”

*boss dies before it’s finished its dialogue*

Well the Vestige is supposed to be a powerful being/mortal, not your average mercenary. But yeah, some boss mobs should be a tad tougher, at least to deliver their dialogue lol

temerley · October 2021

There’s a magical world where danger lurks in every corner, they’re called imperial city and cyrodiil.

Prof_Bawbag · October 2021

Where were these 800k mythical people when Craglorn was difficult? Still in their bed?

_adhyffbjjjf12 · October 2021

BroughBreaux wrote: »

All they need to do is add mechanics to NPCs, not increase their damage or health. The reason the overland is boring is because they just stand there and let you kill them, take 5 seconds visually telegraphing any kind of attack that would do any significant amount of damage, and they don't try to avoid your AOEs or strategize a good way to attack in groups.

even if every overland enemy had the same mechanics and the only variation was in boss fights, it would be better than the mind numbing overland content we have currently

Think of overworld is a big instance in memory with 200 people all playing at the same time, all firing skills, event triggers, farming, NPC scripting and pathing, seeing and interacting with each other. This is why overworld is mmorpg's don't have deeply scripted behaviours, and instances have been for 5 players on average since 2000.

Personally I would like to see mobs hitting harder, with scaling being a bit more aggressive, simply % based on CP level would be a welcome boost.

Prof_Bawbag · October 2021

Akali wrote: »

I agree with people saying overland is just fine, that being said, an option for difficulty offering better loot/rewards would be outstanding.

Nothing wrong with offering people some choice!

So what people are wanting is better loot, not more challenging content? Your argument is parroted here a lot. It almost always comes down to the rewards. Surely if the content was enjoyable, the rewards are secondary. but that never seems to be the case. People almost always start by saying they want more difficult content and come the end of their argument, focus solely on the rewards.

So it's not too difficult to assume it's not really about the difficulty, people just want better rewards.

Mandragora · October 2021

Lady_Galadhiel wrote: »

Nice to see nothing did change in this forum,still same subjects over and over each week.

And they do it for exactly the same reason...

jad11mumbler · October 2021

I'd love an option for more difficult content.
Overland is too easy to the point its just boring.

Story quests become meaningless when the Big bad of the main quest, and even minor quests, dies in one shot.
Craglorn and the concept of adventure zones were great until they nerfed it because of people saying it was too difficult.
When they have mechanics, then it just becomes a boring wait to do the mechanic, burn it down to the next percentage of health where you then have to repeat the mechanic. Ala one of the story bosses in the Deadlands. It just isn't fun either way as it is.

priestnall.andrewrwb17_ESO · October 2021

I like(d) Craglorn - I like the option of challenging “endgame” overland content for those ppl who can’t / don’t want to raid or PVP. Even now Craglorn is still the hub for most PUG recruiters. It’s a nice zone… I want another zone that focuses on slightly challenging single player, optional small group content. I always find myself heading back there to grind XP because of the mob placement.

vingarmo · October 2021

It’s not like eso player base minded difficulty of overworld in state it was initially implemented with vet zones at least as i recall it wasn’t the major point why players criticize eso at launch. But there was a lot questionable design decisions like segregation of player base per alliance and forcing to complete long quest chains in order to slowly level up and unlock whole tamriel. While one tamriel addressed these complaints it’s also dumbed down overland difficulty to a point where lvl 1 character could do any quest without breaking a sweat thus making it “new player friendly”. Ever since every new chapter is new starter island to sell for new players and 1 trial to attract raiding community, mini dlc as continuation of chapter story plus some gimmick to sell for seasoned players and dlc dungeons in between. With such heavy content separation between casual and hardcore it always puzzles me why there was so few attempts to create middle ground for these 2. New players bored from linear quests with no progression and vets got tired running same dungeons and trials.
Personally I would prefer if next dlc or chapter brought challenging solo daily quests where mobs and bosses have some intricate mechanics with varying rewards (not just motifs or new op sets) which rivals those you get from crafting writs.

Alarde · October 2021

If the same subject show up in the forum again and again, it's because people actually want it. Overland challenge is absolute trash in ESO, looks like a bunch of paid actors who fall on the ground as soon as you wave at them, like a fake martial arts video.

I can't remember a single MMO i've played with overland content done like this. When people picture that change they immediately think questing and exploration will take a hit, or that newer players will suffer the most. The truth is, RPGs do that. You're supposed to catch up with the challenge ahead and that's cool. Seeing your character being able to sneak a whole delve to get an item at the end without facing any enemies is pointless today. Actually using Blade of Woe to clean a camp of bandits? What a waste of time in a game where everything has 30k HP and dies to 3 light attacks.

Even if you're one of the people who actually enjoys this somehow, consider that others suggesting this are doing so not to benefit their loot drop or efficiency or anything, they actually want a way to play the game in a harder difficulty, even if it's a toggled feature.

If this feature kicks in i will probably finally consider questing after 5 years playing this.

BlueRaven · October 2021

We will soon have the armory system. Make an overland questing build without cp and poor gear. There you go, an optional harder overland.

Mobs will hit harder and appear to have more hp.

But rewards are “not good enough” you say? Then I would suggest trying out one of the solo arenas where you have access to rewards many overland players will never see. You can even try doing them without cp for an added challenge.

seldomseenkd · October 2021

"88.2% of statistics are made up on the spot." -- Vic Reeves.

xgoku1 · October 2021

500k people enjoy waiting in queues!