Wall event - missable one-time story?

Danikat · April 10

One of the things announced as part of the new season pass is the "Writhing Wall Event" which sounds like it's going to be like the community events they've done previously, but actually part of the story.

Does that mean part of the story is going to be a one-time event which we'll be unable to play later on? So anyone who doesn't play the story in the first year, or anyone taking another character through it later on will be missing a significant event?

The livestream made a lot of noise about being open to feedback and on the off-chance that's being acted on I'd like to say now there should be a permanent quest verison of this for anyone going through it later so they're not stuck with a broken, disjoined story that's missing one of it's main events.

Edit: This has gotten an official answer:

licenturion wrote: »

They updated the FAQ with this today. This was also a question I had.

Q. If I’m unable to participate in the Writhing Wall event later this year, will the story between Seasons of the Worm Cult Parts 1 and 2 still make sense?
A. The best way to experience the Writhing Wall event will be to play it when it happens as certain Solstice zone elements are only available for a limited time. However, if you miss the event, we’ve written the Solstice zone main story in a way that it connects the Seasons of the Worm Cult Parts 1 and 2 story. There is an additional quest that is separate from the Writhing Wall event that will be available in the Solstice zone once the event goes live. This quest will continue to be available even after the Writing Wall event ends, and it bridges the overall story.

Source: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8304599/#Comment_8304599

I am happy they thought about people who like to replay stuff or join later.

Varana · April 10

"Late summer" is also prime holiday season. Unless they count the second half of September as "late summer", a lot of people will miss this.

Tommy_The_Gun · April 10

if I understood correctly, it is a part of the new "main quest" and at some point you will have to go behind the wall - so you will need to destroy it. I do hope that it will be just a on-time event, so once it is finished - it is finished forever and if you will play like 3 years from now it will be just "go the the quest marker" and there will be nothing blocking your path since the wall will be gone by then. Still... kinda sucks and does not make sense from a narrative point.

Grizzbeorn · April 10

Writhing Wall, not Writing Wall. Please keep graffiti out of Solstice; it has enough to deal with.

WhiteCoatSyndrome · April 10

I have concerns about this as well. 😕

Danikat · April 10

Tommy_The_Gun wrote: »

if I understood correctly, it is a part of the new "main quest" and at some point you will have to go behind the wall - so you will need to destroy it. I do hope that it will be just a on-time event, so once it is finished - it is finished forever and if you will play like 3 years from now it will be just "go the the quest marker" and there will be nothing blocking your path since the wall will be gone by then. Still... kinda sucks and does not make sense from a narrative point.

Unless they update a lot of the story leading up to that point it's not going to make any sense. I assume the first half of the story is going to cover the fact that we can't get to the Worm Cult's base because they've got a huge magical wall blocking off that side of the island and if that culminates in the game suddenly telling you 'actually it's fine, just go to this quest marker for the next step' it will make no sense, and also means a major story beat will be missing.

I'm not saying I want them to constantly re-run the event or that people playing the story in future should have to wait weeks to continue the quest to mimic waiting for the event to finish, but I'd like an equivalent of that part of the story. If for example the event requires us to clear this zone's version of dolmens and how many times it's done on each server is tracked to determine when the wall comes down, the permanent quest version could be that you have to complete 1 dolmen, or each one in the zone once or something and then you're told that's weakened the wall enough to get through.

tomofhyrule · April 10

I have to say that I’m a but nervous about how this will work.

I tend to wait to do stories until things settle down a bit so I can see everything that happens without having Matriarchs flapping in my face (and now we’ll be able to see a lot more of them). But will this essentially force us to do the story within the first week so we can get it?

HappyTheCamper · April 10

My guess is that It’ll be like the regular September celebration event that follows a new chapter, measured with a meter bar, but instead of rewards you’ll get early access to Q4?

alternatelder · April 10

I didn't get my concern answered in the other thread about this. If someone, as mentioned above, decides to hold out a bit to do the story, then they miss out on it-especially this huge community involved part, that's how seasonal content works in just about every game with a seasonal model. But the way Kevin answered as they apparently confirmed, "you keep all content"....!? That doesn't answer the question about the story, does it go away when the new season hits?...If not, then what is the point of moving to a seasonal model??

Danikat · April 10

HappyTheCamper wrote: »

My guess is that It’ll be like the regular September celebration event that follows a new chapter, measured with a meter bar, but instead of rewards you’ll get early access to Q4?

That's what it sounds like.

Which is fine for people who are up to that point in the story when the event is running, but my concern is what if I want to take a new character through that story a year from now? Or a new player starts and wants to play stuff in order so it's long past the event by the time they reach that zone? Do they just miss out on a chunk of the story because it was part of a one-time event?

Arunei · April 10

I believe they said in the after show that you can still do the story afterward, because once you buy the pass, content is available permanently. Rich had mentioned that people would still be able to complete the storyline, just at different times than others if they aren't doing it in real-time with other players. Iirc they didn't specify how the wall itself will be handled, like if it'll be a scaled thing or something NPCs will help you with, but they did say people will be able to complete the storyline.

JeroenB · April 10

This is a concern of mine as well. I've been playing since 2021, but I'm still catching up on plenty of story content and zones: one of three Alliance storylines, Murkmire, and three Chapters to go. Recently I've been completing old Chapters in a rush when they re-ran the associated special events, though this has meant doing things out of order, which feels somewhat unpleasant.

licenturion · April 10

Steam now has a policy where future content has to be outlined clearly

They say this:
- Team up with your fellow adventurers and fight as one to breach the Writhing Wall as part of a one-time, major in-game event
- Explore the second half of the new zone and bring the Seasons of the Worm Cult saga to its ultimate conclusion.

So there is only 1 zone that we get to explore half first. Not 2 zones like people keep saying in the ESO+ discussions

And they also label this as a one-time event. So just like all other ESO events, the wall and the NPC's will be gone when the event ends.

I don't think they will rewrite the story for this. This reminds me a bit of Sea Of Thieves. During an event players got to decide the fate of a very important outpost and that outpost got totally visually changed in the game world forever. This is pretty typical for MMO games though. New World, WOW and many others got core changes to fit the current narrative.

AzuraFan · April 10

To me, it sounded like it's a one-time event. Rich was saying how the community would have to work together to bring down the wall, and wondered which server would do it the fastest.

licenturion · April 24

Danikat wrote: »

Tommy_The_Gun wrote: »

if I understood correctly, it is a part of the new "main quest" and at some point you will have to go behind the wall - so you will need to destroy it. I do hope that it will be just a on-time event, so once it is finished - it is finished forever and if you will play like 3 years from now it will be just "go the the quest marker" and there will be nothing blocking your path since the wall will be gone by then. Still... kinda sucks and does not make sense from a narrative point.

Unless they update a lot of the story leading up to that point it's not going to make any sense. I assume the first half of the story is going to cover the fact that we can't get to the Worm Cult's base because they've got a huge magical wall blocking off that side of the island and if that culminates in the game suddenly telling you 'actually it's fine, just go to this quest marker for the next step' it will make no sense, and also means a major story beat will be missing.

I'm not saying I want them to constantly re-run the event or that people playing the story in future should have to wait weeks to continue the quest to mimic waiting for the event to finish, but I'd like an equivalent of that part of the story. If for example the event requires us to clear this zone's version of dolmens and how many times it's done on each server is tracked to determine when the wall comes down, the permanent quest version could be that you have to complete 1 dolmen, or each one in the zone once or something and then you're told that's weakened the wall enough to get through.

They updated the FAQ with this today. This was also a question I had.

Q. If I’m unable to participate in the Writhing Wall event later this year, will the story between Seasons of the Worm Cult Parts 1 and 2 still make sense?
A. The best way to experience the Writhing Wall event will be to play it when it happens as certain Solstice zone elements are only available for a limited time. However, if you miss the event, we’ve written the Solstice zone main story in a way that it connects the Seasons of the Worm Cult Parts 1 and 2 story. There is an additional quest that is separate from the Writhing Wall event that will be available in the Solstice zone once the event goes live. This quest will continue to be available even after the Writing Wall event ends, and it bridges the overall story.

Source: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8304599/#Comment_8304599

I am happy they thought about people who like to replay stuff or join later.

spartaxoxo · April 24

AzuraFan wrote: »

To me, it sounded like it's a one-time event. Rich was saying how the community would have to work together to bring down the wall, and wondered which server would do it the fastest.

Yeah. This is the main reason I ended up buying the content pass. I actually do like this sort of FOMO event but I don't believe they should have tied it to the dungeons. I would not have renewed Plus if I hadn't renewed it already. So, they have about a year for myself personally to turn Plus around with whatever their plans are or I'll swap to Content passes only. If those aren't worth it either in the future because this particular zone content as part of a transition means we won't get much future zone content...then I won't buy those either.

Pevey · April 24

Edit: The post below taken from the FAQ explains better.

Tommy_The_Gun · April 24

Danikat wrote: »

They updated the FAQ with this today. This was also a question I had.

Q. If I’m unable to participate in the Writhing Wall event later this year, will the story between Seasons of the Worm Cult Parts 1 and 2 still make sense?
A. The best way to experience the Writhing Wall event will be to play it when it happens as certain Solstice zone elements are only available for a limited time. However, if you miss the event, we’ve written the Solstice zone main story in a way that it connects the Seasons of the Worm Cult Parts 1 and 2 story. There is an additional quest that is separate from the Writhing Wall event that will be available in the Solstice zone once the event goes live. This quest will continue to be available even after the Writing Wall event ends, and it bridges the overall story.

Source: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8304599/#Comment_8304599

I am happy they thought about people who like to replay stuff or join later.

Tbh. I understand that they are trying something new... but events like this in MMOS are actually nothing new. In fact it is something old. And, lets just say that there is a reason why something like this does not happens in MMORPGs any more (or at least it is very rare). Especially for ESO which is marketed mostly towards TES players and single player crpg games (it is one of those MMORPGs that u can play solo). Personally, I think that they are making a mistake with this idea. It will simply not work well in ESO and will only leave bad taste for most players. Also.... weren’t they saying that ESO is supposed to be a 2nd world you escape to ? To relieve stress & forget about RL for a second ? Well using FOMO in a role of mcguffin is probably worst thing you can do if you want players to feel save & "at home" in your game. Players have to play on their own terms & not be driven by artificial goal you force upon them.

sans-culottes · April 24

Tommy_The_Gun wrote: »

Danikat wrote: »

They updated the FAQ with this today. This was also a question I had.

Q. If I’m unable to participate in the Writhing Wall event later this year, will the story between Seasons of the Worm Cult Parts 1 and 2 still make sense?
A. The best way to experience the Writhing Wall event will be to play it when it happens as certain Solstice zone elements are only available for a limited time. However, if you miss the event, we’ve written the Solstice zone main story in a way that it connects the Seasons of the Worm Cult Parts 1 and 2 story. There is an additional quest that is separate from the Writhing Wall event that will be available in the Solstice zone once the event goes live. This quest will continue to be available even after the Writing Wall event ends, and it bridges the overall story.

Source: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8304599/#Comment_8304599

I am happy they thought about people who like to replay stuff or join later.

Tbh. I understand that they are trying something new... but events like this in MMOS are actually nothing new. In fact it is something old. And, lets just say that there is a reason why something like this does not happens in MMORPGs any more (or at least it is very rare). Especially for ESO which is marketed mostly towards TES players and single player crpg games (it is one of those MMORPGs that u can play solo). Personally, I think that they are making a mistake with this idea. It will simply not work well in ESO and will only leave bad taste for most players. Also.... weren’t they saying that ESO is supposed to be a 2nd world you escape to ? To relieve stress & forget about RL for a second ? Well using FOMO in a role of mcguffin is probably worst thing you can do if you want players to feel save & "at home" in your game. Players have to play on their own terms & not be driven by artificial goal you force upon them.

Time-limited events have been a part of MMORPGs for a very long time, so this doesn’t feel especially unusual. The FAQ also makes it clear that the Writhing Wall isn’t required to follow the full story, and that there’s a bridging quest available for those who miss the event.

That seems like a reasonable compromise. It’s something for players who enjoy logging in during events without locking anyone out of the bigger narrative. If someone prefers to skip it or misses it, then that’s fine, too. But that’s different from being forced into anything.

Elvenheart · April 24

My luck, each day after the event goes live I’ll do whatever I have to do to contribute to bringing down the wall - and then one day when I’m at work in the middle of the day, the wall will come down and I’ll miss it. 😢

Desiato · April 24

I might find this event interesting if I wasn't already completely sick of ZOS constantly trying to engineer how people play via promotions.

I don't care about a single reward I've received from golden pursuits. I only resent that it is an annoyance I can't turn off. Yet I hate the constant reminder that TIME IS RUNNING OUT!!!!! Even though I don't care, it's still stressful. Why can't I opt out?

I miss how I played ESO in 2015. I would log in and ask myself "what do I feel like doing today?" Or maybe I didn't log in at all because I didn't feel like it and there was absolutely nothing to lose by doing so.

Danikat · April 24

licenturion wrote: »

Danikat wrote: »

Tommy_The_Gun wrote: »

if I understood correctly, it is a part of the new "main quest" and at some point you will have to go behind the wall - so you will need to destroy it. I do hope that it will be just a on-time event, so once it is finished - it is finished forever and if you will play like 3 years from now it will be just "go the the quest marker" and there will be nothing blocking your path since the wall will be gone by then. Still... kinda sucks and does not make sense from a narrative point.

Unless they update a lot of the story leading up to that point it's not going to make any sense. I assume the first half of the story is going to cover the fact that we can't get to the Worm Cult's base because they've got a huge magical wall blocking off that side of the island and if that culminates in the game suddenly telling you 'actually it's fine, just go to this quest marker for the next step' it will make no sense, and also means a major story beat will be missing.

I'm not saying I want them to constantly re-run the event or that people playing the story in future should have to wait weeks to continue the quest to mimic waiting for the event to finish, but I'd like an equivalent of that part of the story. If for example the event requires us to clear this zone's version of dolmens and how many times it's done on each server is tracked to determine when the wall comes down, the permanent quest version could be that you have to complete 1 dolmen, or each one in the zone once or something and then you're told that's weakened the wall enough to get through.

They updated the FAQ with this today. This was also a question I had.

Q. If I’m unable to participate in the Writhing Wall event later this year, will the story between Seasons of the Worm Cult Parts 1 and 2 still make sense?
A. The best way to experience the Writhing Wall event will be to play it when it happens as certain Solstice zone elements are only available for a limited time. However, if you miss the event, we’ve written the Solstice zone main story in a way that it connects the Seasons of the Worm Cult Parts 1 and 2 story. There is an additional quest that is separate from the Writhing Wall event that will be available in the Solstice zone once the event goes live. This quest will continue to be available even after the Writing Wall event ends, and it bridges the overall story.

Source: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8304599/#Comment_8304599

I am happy they thought about people who like to replay stuff or join later.

Thanks for the update. It's good to know they have thought about this and the story is intended to work without the event.

icapital · April 24

Tommy_The_Gun wrote: »

Danikat wrote: »

They updated the FAQ with this today. This was also a question I had.

Q. If I’m unable to participate in the Writhing Wall event later this year, will the story between Seasons of the Worm Cult Parts 1 and 2 still make sense?
A. The best way to experience the Writhing Wall event will be to play it when it happens as certain Solstice zone elements are only available for a limited time. However, if you miss the event, we’ve written the Solstice zone main story in a way that it connects the Seasons of the Worm Cult Parts 1 and 2 story. There is an additional quest that is separate from the Writhing Wall event that will be available in the Solstice zone once the event goes live. This quest will continue to be available even after the Writing Wall event ends, and it bridges the overall story.

Source: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8304599/#Comment_8304599

I am happy they thought about people who like to replay stuff or join later.

Tbh. I understand that they are trying something new... but events like this in MMOS are actually nothing new. In fact it is something old. And, lets just say that there is a reason why something like this does not happens in MMORPGs any more (or at least it is very rare). Especially for ESO which is marketed mostly towards TES players and single player crpg games (it is one of those MMORPGs that u can play solo). Personally, I think that they are making a mistake with this idea. It will simply not work well in ESO and will only leave bad taste for most players. Also.... weren’t they saying that ESO is supposed to be a 2nd world you escape to ? To relieve stress & forget about RL for a second ? Well using FOMO in a role of mcguffin is probably worst thing you can do if you want players to feel save & "at home" in your game. Players have to play on their own terms & not be driven by artificial goal you force upon them.

Nah, I disagree. I left a comment on another post about this. I welcome these types of limited time events. This is an MMORPG not single-player RPG. The world is supposed to have a level of persistence AND change. Leaving the world static makes no sense.

When I defeated molag and closed the planemeld, I did not expect to continue seeing dark anchors all over the place. It's silly and breaks storyline continuity.

These limited time events add a much needed flavor of "dynamic" elements to the game. And they even give the best of both worlds where for those who miss out on the event, the storyline will maintain its integrity.

WoW doesn't do that...so I think the ESO way of deploying this makes way more sense.

In the future, I hope they continue to add Tamriel-wide limited time events that give older zones new reasons to visit them especially for those who have 100% them already. Heck, if they copy the chained GW2 events where the playerbases contributions can determine where the event goes that would be sweet too.

I imagine a not so distant season in ESO where we have a Tamriel-wide event where the alliance will need to band together and work on defeating a new big bad. If they don't hit X, chain linked Y event happens which maybe devastates certain zones etc. until the desired result is met idk.

Just glad Zeni is willing to experiment!

heaven13 · April 24

Desiato wrote: »

I might find this event interesting if I wasn't already completely sick of ZOS constantly trying to engineer how people play via promotions.

I don't care about a single reward I've received from golden pursuits. I only resent that it is an annoyance I can't turn off. Yet I hate the constant reminder that TIME IS RUNNING OUT!!!!! Even though I don't care, it's still stressful. Why can't I opt out?

I miss how I played ESO in 2015. I would log in and ask myself "what do I feel like doing today?" Or maybe I didn't log in at all because I didn't feel like it and there was absolutely nothing to lose by doing so.

I completely agree. And this isn't unique to ESO. I've noticed more and more and more games are adding tasks and limited events and passes and 500 other things that try to lock you into that game being your primary game. Hell, even Sims has added stuff like this to the current title and it's 100% a single player game. But the companies can't sell things if you're not playing so better lock the playerbase in and keep them there are long as possible.

I, too, miss gaming from a decade ago where fun was allowed and my presence as a metric was a little more subtle.

old_scopie1945 · April 25

The way I read it is 'done and dusted'. It is an event that requires cross server involvement over time to complete. It is that big, so I can only see it being a one off event. I cant see how it can be achieved by a single player or a small group. That is unless they intend to scale it down in future, but they gave no indication of that.