Studio Director’s Letter: ESO’s 2023 Retrospective & the Future

boi_anachronism_ · December 2023

Warhawke_80 wrote: »

For some reason what I got out of the letter was....

"were not going to cut story completely out but our focus is going to be on Raids/PVP and other group content."

Which to me is basically asking me to find another game

They havent added to pvp in 5 years... They make no mention of adding to it. I honestly dont see where you are getting that from. Eso is heavily balanced towards story content objectively and statistically. Archive is a historic anomaly as far as devoting a full quarter to anything pve group related. Usually its a couple dugeons and one new trial a year. Beyond that its always been new zones and overworld content.

Warhawke_80 · December 2023

boi_anachronism_ wrote: »

Warhawke_80 wrote: »

For some reason what I got out of the letter was....

"were not going to cut story completely out but our focus is going to be on Raids/PVP and other group content."

Which to me is basically asking me to find another game

They havent added to pvp in 5 years... They make no mention of adding to it. I honestly dont see where you are getting that from. Eso is heavily balanced towards story content objectively and statistically. Archive is a historic anomaly as far as devoting a full quarter to anything pve group related. Usually its a couple dugeons and one new trial a year. Beyond that its always been new zones and overworld content.

You're not wrong....it's just me reading between the lines, in my defense the way he wrote it made it easy to add ones own context....I dunno, I just have a very hard time taking that at face value....which is a me thing, I guess...

agelonestar · December 2023

Necrom was the best launch since Summerset, no doubt. Good content, zone felt "complete" and I didn't feel like it was so buggy, or for so long, that it was in poor shape. In fact, quite the opposite.

I'd like to see better performance in Cyrodiil - it's about time PvP was shown some love in terms of both content and lag.

That said, credit where it's due - This year has been a good one with some pretty good decisions!! More like this, please

TonyH196 · December 2023

I seem to recall Rich saying that once the hardware was replaced, they would start showing more love to the PVP side of the game. Well, there was changes this year, let's see what next year (2024) has to give us, Lore and Tamriel are not the only deciding factors in the coming year. Here is to hoping that the PVP'ers see some love this coming year

Elsonso · December 2023

TonyH196 wrote: »

I seem to recall Rich saying that once the hardware was replaced, they would start showing more love to the PVP side of the game. Well, there was changes this year, let's see what next year (2024) has to give us, Lore and Tamriel are not the only deciding factors in the coming year. Here is to hoping that the PVP'ers see some love this coming year

Actually, I think that Rich said that they didn't expect the hardware to provide that much performance. Instead, they were working to improve the server software, what we now know was the multithreading work. I also don't remember him making any promises, but merely saying that they would wait and see.

We can't go back and look, as the streams are gone (as far as I know), so the above is based entirely on memory. No intent to distort what he said, just trying to relate it as best I remember.

Tyrant_Tim · December 2023

Elsonso wrote: »

TonyH196 wrote: »

I seem to recall Rich saying that once the hardware was replaced, they would start showing more love to the PVP side of the game. Well, there was changes this year, let's see what next year (2024) has to give us, Lore and Tamriel are not the only deciding factors in the coming year. Here is to hoping that the PVP'ers see some love this coming year

We can't go back and look, as the streams are gone…

https://wccftech.com/elder-scrolls-online-shadow-over-morrowind-qa-creative-director-talks-necrom-chapter-community-requests/

TaSheen · December 2023

I'm all for seeing some stuff for pvp. No, it wouldn't be anything I personally would care about - but I still have TONS of stuff to do and play in the pve game, so fair is fair: it's pvp's turn (actually, MORE than pvp's turn!)

So here's hoping!

Elsonso · December 2023

@Tyrant_Tim Thanks. That is not far from how I remembered it. It is not the source I was talking about, but it is close enough.

Notice he talked about "performance" and not "hardware". The distinction is important. From other comments, I do recall that performance was linked more to software work, and less to hardware work.

Check out Firor's 2022 missive for an example where they discuss software rework and why they are doing it. That summed up information that was already known.

Firor did not mention software rework this year. Just "reaping the rewards" from the server hardware refresh, which did not fill me with encouragement. I am very familiar with the premise that increased hardware power only masks software performance problems. It does not fix them.

Maybe it is enough. We won't find out until January.

gariondavey · December 2023

React wrote: »

Starting off by stating "we are all reaping the benefits of the new server infrastructure" is misleading. The game performs terribly during prime time in cyrodiil, as it always has. The brief respite we saw in mid 2022 dwindled off completely by the beginning of 2023, and there has not been a single developer acknowledgement of that yet.

Implying that patches are now releasing with fewer issues than in the past is also misleading. There are numerous combat bugs introduced every patch, and U40 might be one of the worst yet. This has only gotten worse over time, going back years now. Core combat bugs being introduced and then not being fixed for 3-6 months is commonplace still, and totally unacceptable.

With not a single mention of the future of performance in ESO apart from "some non-customer facing hardware swaps", and zero mention of PVP, the future looks grim for those of us who care about these things.

Q1 2024 marks 5 years without PVP content, for the record.

[edited for bashing]

Exactly this.

Please, zos, hire someone to be a pvp dev. This complete abandonment of pvp has gone on far too long.

This letter was completely out of touch with reality.

In attempts to not be overwhelmingly negative, necrom was indeed a big improvement compared to the previous 4 chapters, and the name redacted archive clearly had a lot of effort behind it, so good job on those 2 things.

Nebs · December 2023

Firor mentions the Necrom's story leaving off on a cliffhanger, but it felt more like half of the story ro me.
Instead of getting the rest of the story as part of the DLC that I can freely enjoy thanks to ESO+, am I going to have to pay for an entire chapter to finish this story? Seems like a lousy way to try bullying me into getting the next chapter and I'm not liking it.
They replaced the rest of the story with literal recycled content and a bunch of garbage sets, and said having to endure less of that content with increased currency drops was worth my ESO+.

The past year has also felt like one of the worst performing I've ever experienced. My internet isn't great, but I don't think I've ever been kicked so much and suffered such horrible latency before 2023. I get kicked so consistently I had to stop running trials with my friends.

I see 103 errors virtually every time I play for more than 30 minutes in a day, and every time I try connecting with 12 players, whether it be in trials or Battlegrounds.

Bo0137 · December 2023

I'm wholeheartedly pleased with ESO in 2023. And this letter makes me even more excited for ESO's 10th anniversary!
Necrom is the best expansion to date to me, and I've played every single story content of the game. The Infinite Archive feels really fun and rewarding. The art direction (motifs, style pages, maps, environment) is absolutely gorgeous. They are hinting towards latin america localization. I feel satisfied. Let's hope for even greater things in 2024!

method__01 · December 2023

so,its now 1 chapter per year and no DLC? rest releases will be dungeons ?do i understand correctly ?
maybe zos can publish how many players are doing the daily archive quest and/or how many got there and never went back?
cause i dont like where all this is going.....

Destai · December 2023

method__01 wrote: »

so,its now 1 chapter per year and no DLC? rest releases will be dungeons ?do i understand correctly ?
maybe zos can publish how many players are doing the daily archive quest and/or how many got there and never went back?
cause i dont like where all this is going.....

I believe that he was saying there'd be more systems like IA. Sounds like they're shifting focus to repeatable, rewarding content like that and dungeons. What kind of content do you like?

As for IA, I've stepped foot in it once. Had a neutral response to it, prefer doing dungeons, but it's still good content. I'd like to see more like it.

Elsonso · December 2023

Destai wrote: »

method__01 wrote: »

so,its now 1 chapter per year and no DLC? rest releases will be dungeons ?do i understand correctly ?
maybe zos can publish how many players are doing the daily archive quest and/or how many got there and never went back?
cause i dont like where all this is going.....

I believe that he was saying there'd be more systems like IA. Sounds like they're shifting focus to repeatable, rewarding content like that and dungeons.

That is what I expect he meant, too. Probably another 4Q system, like this year.

What turns me off about Infinite Archive is the tractor pull competiton. I can go through dungeons and beat on monsters, but I just want to do that. I don't want to feel like I have to beat my last score, or that it gets progressively harder until I quit.

When I do Infinite Archive, I usually stop before I get to the end of the first Arc. It really isn't content I feel like doing for more than 15 or 20 mins. It is rather boring, actually.

method__01 · December 2023

I believe that he was saying there'd be more systems like IA. Sounds like they're shifting focus to repeatable, rewarding content like that and dungeons. What kind of content do you like?

As for IA, I've stepped foot in it once. Had a neutral response to it, prefer doing dungeons, but it's still good content. I'd like to see more like it.

imo ESO is about stories,quests and exploration,dungeons and trials just keep some small percentage not to seek other games
now zos wants to cut of or reduce content to minimum,or add more content like archives, its their game but my decision if im going to keep pay-cause i wont sub for content i dont play or care
tbf,i spend more time playing F76 and only log do the dailys,performance has taken a huge dive with Necrom and pvp have the lowest pop ive seen since 2016

TaSheen · December 2023

method__01 wrote: »

I believe that he was saying there'd be more systems like IA. Sounds like they're shifting focus to repeatable, rewarding content like that and dungeons. What kind of content do you like?

As for IA, I've stepped foot in it once. Had a neutral response to it, prefer doing dungeons, but it's still good content. I'd like to see more like it.

imo ESO is about stories,quests and exploration,dungeons and trials just keep some small percentage not to seek other games
now zos wants to cut of or reduce content to minimum,or add more content like archives, its their game but my decision if im going to keep pay-cause i wont sub for content i dont play or care
tbf,i spend more time playing F76 and only log do the dailys,performance has taken a huge dive with Necrom and pvp have the lowest pop ive seen since 2016

I dont' do any group content. I'm old, my reflexes are crap, and my satellite ping means I'm always at +750 ms. I'm not interested in asking people to put up with all that just to do content I don't really have any interest in anyway. I really only like questing.... if they cut that too far, I'll go back to Skyrim.

They've got a year. When my subs start expiring next year, I'll decide where I'm going from here.

AzuraFan · December 2023

TaSheen wrote: »

I dont' do any group content. ... I really only like questing.... if they cut that too far, I'll go back to Skyrim.

They've got a year. When my subs start expiring next year, I'll decide where I'm going from here.

Same. I tried going without ESO+ for a couple of months and it was doable but too fiddly for me, so I resubbed for a year. PvE (questing, non-vet soloable content, and a system like antiquities) is also my bread and butter in the game. I'll see how it plays out next year in terms of the content they release, and I'll make a decision from there.

I like that they're introducing systems that give players something to do beyond the chapter releases, because let's face it, the main quest / side quests in a chapter can be completed in a week. I'm hoping for at least one new system that will appeal to me, otherwise there just won't be anything for me to do.

Braffin · December 2023

AzuraFan wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

I dont' do any group content. ... I really only like questing.... if they cut that too far, I'll go back to Skyrim.

They've got a year. When my subs start expiring next year, I'll decide where I'm going from here.

Same. I tried going without ESO+ for a couple of months and it was doable but too fiddly for me, so I resubbed for a year. PvE (questing, non-vet soloable content, and a system like antiquities) is also my bread and butter in the game. I'll see how it plays out next year in terms of the content they release, and I'll make a decision from there.

I like that they're introducing systems that give players something to do beyond the chapter releases, because let's face it, the main quest / side quests in a chapter can be completed in a week. I'm hoping for at least one new system that will appeal to me, otherwise there just won't be anything for me to do.

It's quite the opposite for me. I enjoy doing group content and it's encouraging, that zos is finally listening and trying to remove the predominant imbalance in favor of overland content, which evolved over the last few years. If this direction continues I see myself spending more money in the crown store (I already did so this year, because I was pleased overall) as well as recommend the game to friends (most of them stopped playing years ago because of the above-mentioned imbalance).

Of course I also enjoy casual solo content from time to time and hunt for antiquities for example. This systems are in fact expanded with almost every single update (we got a bunch of new leads with U40).

Really, there is absolutely no reason why a single specific audience should be catered to, while others have to endure neglection for years (PvPers for example).

So yeah, some will leave (at least for a time) while others will join or return to the game. That's not unusual for long-lasting games like MMOs.

AzuraFan · December 2023

Braffin wrote: »

Really, there is absolutely no reason why a single specific audience should be catered to, while others have to endure neglection for years (PvPers for example).

So yeah, some will leave (at least for a time) while others will join or return to the game. That's not unusual for long-lasting games like MMOs.

Agreed.

It won't bother me if ZOS has decided to move away from story content and focus on group and vet content. I'll just go play something else.

(on the subject of antiquities, yes, we get new leads with each update, but many of them are gated behind group/vet content. For players like myself who love antiquities but play solo, the leads don't extend gameplay by much.)

Braffin · December 2023

AzuraFan wrote: »

Braffin wrote: »

Really, there is absolutely no reason why a single specific audience should be catered to, while others have to endure neglection for years (PvPers for example).

So yeah, some will leave (at least for a time) while others will join or return to the game. That's not unusual for long-lasting games like MMOs.

Agreed.

It won't bother me if ZOS has decided to move away from story content and focus on group and vet content. I'll just go play something else.

(on the subject of antiquities, yes, we get new leads with each update, but many of them are gated behind group/vet content. For players like myself who love antiquities but play solo, the leads don't extend gameplay by much.)

Understandable. I didn't play eso for several years myself besides being around from the very beginning (well, excluding beta), because I wasn't satisfied with the direction of the game. Especially the neglection of group content and more challenging content pushed me away from the game (as well as most of my friends and guildies).

I still think we all would benefit, if content were made for all players instead of yoyoing from one extreme into the other. But as long as zos and parts of the community are thinking it's better to shrink the playerbase than split them into casual/veteran in general (because that's exactly what's happening), I have no hope for changes in this regard.

It will be less overland content for the forseeable future, simply because it only caters to a fraction of the whole playerbase and a lot of other areas suffered (or still suffer -> PvP) for too long now.

FluffyBird · December 2023

I, for one, was here for the story content, because it's an Elder Scrolls game. Even in dungeons most fun was to duo them with a friend for the story.

ClowdyAllDay · December 2023

Araneae6537 wrote: »

YetAnotherLinuxUser wrote: »

I haven't played it but i have played along side many who have played it and i can say unequivacally, i hate arcanist and all it's green swirlie triggering 1st person vieew hating nonsense. I am glad i have never bought it. If i get arcanist in some future upgrade that i do purchase i will certainly send a support ticket to have it removed from my account.

I hope for something better for their 10th anniversary year and look forward to what that may be.

NOw i wil have a gander at that letter...

Not every class will be for everyone. I usually like a lot less visual effects and played Nightblade a lot (until DPS on that class was ruined for me with grim focus permaglow) but I do enjoy Arcanist as something different.

I agree with both of you. I think arcanist is just awful & i think not every class is for everyone which is why i dont play necro. I don't hate necro though, i just dont find it appealing. arcanist however is just awful.

Eyr0n · December 2023

While I understand this letter is mainly written for the corporate over at zenimax/ Microsoft, it does not reflect the reality of the situation.

Indeed the new hardware has brought a bit if better performance, but as patches roll it seem to slowly degrade..
The patches this year, and especially the chapter launch have been smoother than what we saw on previous years but they still brought their share of bugs , some of witch we mentioned during pts cycles..
We might have gotten new players in some area of the game, but there is a big issue with player retention, I cant count of many of my raiding friends and pvp friends have left the game in the past year because of the lack of love for theses parts of the game.

Overall ESO is still my favorite game to play, but really hope next year brings some love for PvP as its been 5 years without any new addition, 7 without any major novelties.

To finish on a better tone : a huge thanks to the devs who keeps this game running and do their best to improve it, and a huge thanks to eso community for being the way it is !

Happy holidays everyone

Elsonso · December 2023

ClowdyAllDay wrote: »

Araneae6537 wrote: »

YetAnotherLinuxUser wrote: »

I haven't played it but i have played along side many who have played it and i can say unequivacally, i hate arcanist and all it's green swirlie triggering 1st person vieew hating nonsense. I am glad i have never bought it. If i get arcanist in some future upgrade that i do purchase i will certainly send a support ticket to have it removed from my account.

I hope for something better for their 10th anniversary year and look forward to what that may be.

NOw i wil have a gander at that letter...

Not every class will be for everyone. I usually like a lot less visual effects and played Nightblade a lot (until DPS on that class was ruined for me with grim focus permaglow) but I do enjoy Arcanist as something different.

I agree with both of you. I think arcanist is just awful & i think not every class is for everyone which is why i dont play necro. I don't hate necro though, i just dont find it appealing. arcanist however is just awful.

The neon green and beam weapon is a little over the top. That much is for sure. However, the class is mechanically interesting and requires a different way of thinking that the the typical ESO class. I find it better than Necromancer simply because it feels like the player is in better control.

JerBearESO · December 2023

For PvP, I do not think we need just new maps for BGs.... we need a 3v3 or 4v4 game mode. Three teams has long ruined the structure of BGs and its about time we allow for a classic 2 team setting. I feel 3v3 would be best as requiring few players would help queue times, then simply have the rounds fast paced, like target maybe 8 minutes tops, and it would be perfect.

This is honestly all I want this year, and I have seen many in the past ask for it as well

Soraka · December 2023

Elsonso wrote: »

@Tyrant_Tim Thanks. That is not far from how I remembered it. It is not the source I was talking about, but it is close enough.

Notice he talked about "performance" and not "hardware". The distinction is important. From other comments, I do recall that performance was linked more to software work, and less to hardware work.

Check out Firor's 2022 missive for an example where they discuss software rework and why they are doing it. That summed up information that was already known.

Firor did not mention software rework this year. Just "reaping the rewards" from the server hardware refresh, which did not fill me with encouragement. I am very familiar with the premise that increased hardware power only masks software performance problems. It does not fix them.

Maybe it is enough. We won't find out until January.

Weren't they working on a software thing and gave up on it or something? Or was that different than the recoding thing that was supposed to help.

ETA
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/637691/server-multithreading-update-july-2023

OtarTheMad · December 2023

Soraka wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

@Tyrant_Tim Thanks. That is not far from how I remembered it. It is not the source I was talking about, but it is close enough.

Notice he talked about "performance" and not "hardware". The distinction is important. From other comments, I do recall that performance was linked more to software work, and less to hardware work.

Check out Firor's 2022 missive for an example where they discuss software rework and why they are doing it. That summed up information that was already known.

Firor did not mention software rework this year. Just "reaping the rewards" from the server hardware refresh, which did not fill me with encouragement. I am very familiar with the premise that increased hardware power only masks software performance problems. It does not fix them.

Maybe it is enough. We won't find out until January.

Weren't they working on a software thing and gave up on it or something? Or was that different than the recoding thing that was supposed to help.

ETA
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/637691/server-multithreading-update-july-2023

This is what I am confused about too because I thought that the re-architecture was either dropped or renamed in favor of leaning on the multithreading.

However, in a post over in the Alliance War section Brian Wheeler updates us on the population cap test and mentions that part of the test was “stressing server architecture overall.” So basically what in the actual crap is going on?

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/648108/cyrodiil-population-cap-testing#latest

Elsonso · December 2023

OtarTheMad wrote: »

Soraka wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

@Tyrant_Tim Thanks. That is not far from how I remembered it. It is not the source I was talking about, but it is close enough.

Notice he talked about "performance" and not "hardware". The distinction is important. From other comments, I do recall that performance was linked more to software work, and less to hardware work.

Check out Firor's 2022 missive for an example where they discuss software rework and why they are doing it. That summed up information that was already known.

Firor did not mention software rework this year. Just "reaping the rewards" from the server hardware refresh, which did not fill me with encouragement. I am very familiar with the premise that increased hardware power only masks software performance problems. It does not fix them.

Maybe it is enough. We won't find out until January.

Weren't they working on a software thing and gave up on it or something? Or was that different than the recoding thing that was supposed to help.

ETA
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/637691/server-multithreading-update-july-2023

This is what I am confused about too because I thought that the re-architecture was either dropped or renamed in favor of leaning on the multithreading.

However, in a post over in the Alliance War section Brian Wheeler updates us on the population cap test and mentions that part of the test was “stressing server architecture overall.” So basically what in the actual crap is going on?

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/648108/cyrodiil-population-cap-testing#latest

Regarding "stressing the server architecture overall", keep in mind that he called out stressing the server hardware specifically just before that.

"Your participation greatly helped in stress testing the new server hardware, which was replaced earlier this year, and stressing the server architecture overall."

I just wish Firor had updated everyone about the re-architecture stuff. Less reason to be trying to fill in the blanks with guesses and speculation.

Tandor · December 2023

Elsonso wrote: »

@Tyrant_Tim Thanks. That is not far from how I remembered it. It is not the source I was talking about, but it is close enough.

Notice he talked about "performance" and not "hardware". The distinction is important. From other comments, I do recall that performance was linked more to software work, and less to hardware work.

Check out Firor's 2022 missive for an example where they discuss software rework and why they are doing it. That summed up information that was already known.

Firor did not mention software rework this year. Just "reaping the rewards" from the server hardware refresh, which did not fill me with encouragement. I am very familiar with the premise that increased hardware power only masks software performance problems. It does not fix them.

Maybe it is enough. We won't find out until January.

I agree. As I recall, ZOS reported when the new server hardware was provided that it wouldn't make much if any difference to performance, it's purpose was to future-proof the servers for additional content. The software improvements were intended to help with performance.

Yuji34 · December 2023

"It's going to be great, and we have some new systems that I think everyone will want to hear about. I'm not going to spoil it now, but you should definitely look out for the Global Reveal announcement and mark your calendars!"

Overland difficulty system ?