A Coincidence?

Cyber10 · August 2022

High Isle was released on June 6th for PC and June 21st for console, which was not that long ago. I think ZOS is guilty of some dishonesty and deception with Update 35 and the timing suggests they did not want to hurt the sales of HIgh Isle. PTS v 8.1.0 was posted on July 11, which was just over a month after the PC launch and just over three weeks after console launch, which means they had these changes planned for a while, but kept it quiet to keep High Isle sales up. ZOS knew if they tried this anytime leading up to the High Isle release date, sales would be low and the expansion would under-perform. Console players didn't even have a month before ZOS announced the sweeping changes, but it was just long enough that if you pre-orderd High Isle your window to request a refund had passed. ZOS knew what they had planned and it seems very odd that they would release such a massive change on the heals of a big expansion like High Isle unless they had worked on it for some time. Why didn't they release these combat changes as part of the High Isle expansion instead of immediately after if their goal was to help new players with accessibility? It would be logical to make these so called accessibility changes with the launch of High Isle to draw in new players instead of a month later when players already rebuilt around new sets. It seems very suspicious to me.

VaranisArano · August 2022

Well, yes, holding the combat changes back for this patch was intentional. The stated reason in the Update 34 Combat Preview was thus:

ZOS_Gilliam wrote: »

. We’d like to say now that since this is the big Chapter of the year, we’re continuing with last year’s approach where we slow down on the large-scale combat changes since there’s already a lot of new systems and features to take in. That being said, we still have quite a few smaller adjustments coming, focusing on the usual bug fixing and hitting outliers that are problematic for the game.
[...combat notes follow...]
As mentioned earlier, these aren’t extensive to the list of changes coming as many bug fixes and specific item set or abilities are receiving targeted adjustments as usual. Our hopes are that these changes are less turbulent than previous year’s Chapters regarding combat and how you interact with it, so you can take some time to enjoy the rest of the wonderful world that Tamriel has to offer.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/602819/update-34-combat-preview

Now, I will leave it to your judgment whether or not there is also an unstated monetary consideration at work here, and not merely the desire to preserve players from the turbulence of adapting to a new Chapter's changes AND nerfing DPS at the same time.

I will just note that since Summerset, the Chapters have tended to launch with a fair number of buffs to certain builds and then the nerfs come out in the DLC patches like Murkmire and Scalebreaker. And of course, Mythic Items tend to start out very powerful at launch and then get nerfed back one or two patches later after players bought the content in order to get them.

At this point, it's a pattern that ZOS likes to give players three months to play around with their shiny new Mythic/sets/classes before they use the Live data on how players are using them to nerf those things. That's exactly what the Devs said happened with Oakensoul, after all.

Jaraal · August 2022

Is it coincidental that the most despised base game armor set that will be released with Update 35 will require you to purchase High Isle to counter it?

redspecter23 · August 2022

I was here when Morrowind hit and all the changes made at the same time certainly tarnished the release for some. ZOS learned a lesson from that, though it's not necessarily the one the players would have hoped for.

remosito · August 2022

makes sense to me to add major combat changes to updates that have the least new content..

jecks33 · August 2022

marketing strategies

redlink1979 · August 2022

Why they keep releasing OP/broken gear sets/mythics that always need a later re-balance?
Sales, friend. Sales.

Dawnblade · August 2022

remosito wrote: »

makes sense to me to add major combat changes to updates that have the least new content..

I'd rather have a chance to see and test all the major additions AND changes before spending any money and committing to a new chapter.

I'd also like to see very few changes outside bug fixes and tweaks in-between chapters.

But of course, then more people could vote with their wallets and just not buy the chapter and unsub for a while if the changes were truly terrible - so I don't expect them to do such a thing.

VaranisArano · August 2022

remosito wrote: »

makes sense to me to add major combat changes to updates that have the least new content..

Well, it would if they didn't wind up walking back or drastically changing a fair number of those three months down the line. Like Scalebreaker ->Dragonhold.

We're gonna see something similar with Lost Depths -> Firesong as the Devs play whack-a-mole with all the pain points from this update after it goes Live.

These aren't just "one big change and done" updates, unfortunately.