I have to agree here - I was skeptical about the archive and still have some issues with it (particularly the lack of being able to save progress in any way... so the time I have available to game, which isn't available to me in long, uninterrupted blocks... acts as a bit of a hard limit to my potential progress).

But I'm enjoying it more than I expected to and I think it could be the best thing they've added in a while if ZoS sticks with it and works the issues and bugs out / continues to add to and update it further in the future so it stays fresh.

it was almost the opposite for me, i actually was really excited for this game mode reading about it on PTS, and was not disapointed

i thoroughly enjoy the random bosses, the buff select, and especially those avatar verses (the ones you get after you have a full set of visions)

i feel like it is also a good practice/challenge for the character as it increases over time with each arc, im always really excited when im able to make it past arc 4

i primarily been running on a tanky dps so i can try to get further faster, but it does get difficult without a full tank (i have no doubt i could clear arc 4 solo with one of my tank toons, but that would take twice as long as running with a dps toon)

my think one of my fastest records is end of arc 5 in 2 hours 45 min

I’m glad to hear that you’re enjoying it more than you expected! I wasn’t sure what to expect and thought I might suffer through it for leads (as versus worse suffering through other means, lol), but I’m actually enjoying it and it’s inspired me to experiment with my characters’ builds agaian.

SilverBride wrote: »

I've had to do this a few times because I tend to make judgements about new features before actually trying them. I did this with ToT, saying I'd never even try it, then I did and loved it (but eventually the ranking system drove me off).

Now I've done it again with the Endless Archive. I wasn't even going to try it but my curiosity got the best of me and it was nothing like I expected. I was picturing an arena type setting so I enjoy that we move through the area rather than standing in one spot waiting for a new wave of mobs. I also love the little side portals we can go in for little mini games.

I still don't see me going very far unless they put in a save because I won't sit for hours on one activity, but yea... I am once again eating my words. Thankfully my friend who knew I would do this was kind enough to not point it out.

I often feel the same before new features are added to the game. Usually they don't add too much gameplay experience (antiquities, companions) while they soak up a huge amount of grinding time -> boring, not why I play this game...

It is also why I never tried ToT until I recently had to recover at home from a surgery. After all I have to say it is a fun card game and enjoyable while getting all the achievements completed. I think the same can be applied for the endless archive, you won't be there for all eternity if you look for full completion.

The only thing I am worried about is every new DLC coming out: every time they add more ToT and companion stuff, the grind for every new patch to complete it becomes longer and longer... Let's hope this will not be the case (like less companions or ToT collectibles).

Thanks @ZOS_Kevin

I knew I probably wasn't the only one that does this and wanted to let others know it was very much more engaging than I had initially thought it would be.

I guess my experience has been the opposite. By way of context, this is from the viewpoint of someone who soloes base game dungeons and the odd world boss but is really best described as a casual player although fully committed to the game since launch.

When it was first announced in a broadcast as an "endless dungeon" I was indeed excited, as I am about most new features (apart from ToT as I knew I have simply never connected with ingame card games, although I gave it a try which simply confirmed my expectations).

That excitement for EA was increased when I read that it was for everyone and no, the marketing didn't read like that related to the fact that it wasn't going to be behind a paywall, rather that it was something everyone could get into and enjoy.

So I was well impressed with the idea of a dungeon style mini-game that you could run through endlessly, and I checked it out on the PTS. There I found it was a grinding arena, starting at a level that depending on RNG could be set anywhere from delve to trial level, with no opportunity to save or use checkpoints and with only 3 lives before you're kicked back to the start to run it all over again with a different difficulty level depending on the RNG so far as each cycle boss was concerned, and with the bosses randomly generated such that learning and practicing their mechanics was pretty difficult for anyone who hadn't encountered them before.

The forum feedback (both on PTS and here) has been significantly underwhelming, with casual players reporting they can't even get through Arc 1, and veteran players complaining they don't want to have to get through the lower Arcs each run, and punctuated with a lot of "git gud" advice to anyone who struggles with it but who may not want, for perfectly legitimate reasons, to devote a lot of out-of-game time to watching You Tube videos and reading long guides on how to counter the 68 bosses with build changes that can be made instantly on PC with the press of an add-on button. What console players will make of it all will be interesting to see!

Underlining a lot of players' frustrations with it is the early announcement by ZOS in the PTS patch notes that it was all fitting in well with their expectations for "the intended audience", yet still there is no clarification as to what "the intended audience" actually is. Maybe it is just aimed at the endgame community, which I'm fine with, they deserve additional challenging content - but if that's the case then it was grossly misrepresented in the marketing. If, on the other hand, it was aimed at a broader playerbase then the balance is all out of kilter and it needs to be thoroughly reviewed.

So my pre-PTS views were extremely positive, but my experience on PTS dashed that positivity and I haven't bothered with it at all since it went Live. I guess the degree of success or otherwise will be revealed to ZOS in their data logs, and it would certainly be interesting to know in due course whether the actual metrics live up to their expectations. I guess the only clue we'll get on that will come with the nature of any changes that are forthcoming.

Totally agree, it's a fun addition to the game! I love that it's ever changing with different bosses, though it takes a bit of time to get to the later arcs - but fun nonetheless ^^

I really like it, i've been enjoying running it solo on my sorc even though the class set is trash.

that said, it takes too long. it's soooooooo long.

According to the achievements a "vet" clear is end of arc 4, but that's like 2 hours.

For me personally Arc 3 is where it starts to get interesting / challenging. So we're about an hour in at this point.

As far as I can see one of 2 things needs to happen. Either cut an entire cycle or 1 stage from each cycle so it's just trash then boss. Cutting a cycle means cutting a vision from each arc which might upset the balance too much where cutting a stage has no real impact since verses don't matter.

I don't know what the solution is honestly, I just know it takes too long per attempt.

One other change I would make is to allow people to finish the stage they are on when their threads run out instead of immediately booting them. It's too hard to learn how to deal with the Arc bosses when it takes you that amount of time to get to them and then you're like "ok, that's a one shot mechanic. gotcha. guess i'll try again tomorrow."

If the first problem is addressed, then possibly the second problem is less of an issue? I dunno.

I would be pleased more than enough with ability to buy a "save" verse or something clearing my score but allowing to log off for a day to come back later and start right where I've bought it.

Too add. This is actually unhealthy. By putting this time investment into the mechanics (as in unlimited) players are going to spend too much time sitting and can cause harm to themselves. There are plenty of cases where people have literally died for sitting too long playing a game. I remember one player a long time back that died because of playing Skyrim marathon sessions.

Ok I found it. And I was incorrect about the game she played. Search nexus mods for “fishing in Skyrim” scroll down and read about the author warning. Here is the part about why she died.

Kiersten died from something called Deep-Vein Thrombosis (DVT), which is a blood clot you get from sitting in one position for too long. Gamers are at high risk for DVT - she died after playing MW3 for 11 hours. The only warning sign she had was a cramp in her leg. Two hours later, she was dead.

Tigertron wrote: »

Too add. This is actually unhealthy. By putting this time investment into the mechanics (as in unlimited) players are going to spend too much time sitting and can cause harm to themselves. There are plenty of cases where people have literally died for sitting too long playing a game. I remember one player a long time back that died because of playing Skyrim marathon sessions.

Except you literally get spawned in every new area in EA outside of the starting ring, so if players want to get up they can. There's no "well now that you've started, you absolutely cannot stop no matter what." There is always an opportunity to put the controller down or to step away from the keyboard.

Edit: Not to mention you are literally sitting playing the game anyway, so if you're doing EA until you drop, it'd be the same as someone who spends hours doing node farming or spends hours decorating their house.

SilverBride wrote: »

I would like to see some kind of save. Maybe one that expires after a set amount of time so players can get up and stretch their legs and take care of real life things without losing all their progress. If they return before the save expires they are allowed to continue where they left off. If they don't then they start fresh again.

How much time are we talking about here? Minutes? Hours?

I am assuming a lot of minutes, or hours? You got a few minutes before the game realizes you aren't there and logs you out. Not enough time?

And this is why I'll never stop reminding people to have a bite first before taking judgement.
Because what exactly are you forming an opinion on if you haven't had the experience yourself.

SilverBride wrote: »

NoticeMeArkay wrote: »

And this is why I'll never stop reminding people to have a bite first before taking judgement.
Because what exactly are you forming an opinion on if you haven't had the experience yourself.

Well I've done that twice now and hopefully have learned my lesson.

No worries. I'm honestly glad you adressed it openly on the forums. Hopefully more people will follow your example instead of posting yet another "Please nerf XY" right before a newly released game mode makes it past it's first 24 hours after release or before people even tried it. The "I didn't try it because people told me not to." make me sad for the people who spend their time on creating the thing in question. In this case: The Endless Archive.