I'd like to the new boss ask his dev team to VPN outside of the US and see how the game plays.

Thanks for introducing yourself Joseph, and I wish you the best in leading this part of an amazing franchise.

Seeing your background and the choices being made from Microsoft , A live services (ops) director at the helm; this does make me think there'll be a massive shift in content produced for the game which we've already seen abit of since the content release schedule changed and the sort of lack of/mediocre content in 2025. More maintenance / lifecycle focused rather than massive content drops/chapter like content.

I hope you can turn things around for the better; and deliver on the promise of people first, game always.

If you're reading this; please fix the EU servers lol, they've been horrible lately.

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Stamicka wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Balancing decisions are not "mistakes", as much as we wish they were considered mistakes.

Crown Store prices being too high or low than intended or character data being copied from the PTS to Live are "mistakes", and those were swiftly repaired as ZOS owned up to those mistakes with compensation.


Some more clarification from ZOS on what exactly constitutes a "mistake" would be appreciated for future clarity. Otherwise we could say any unfavorable change was a mistake and we'd be complaining to ZOS for months to remedy something that they don't consider to be a mistake.

Any decision, even if well meaning, can be seen as a mistake given time if the decision has negative consequences. That's the thing, we see performance worsen and populations decline as a result of many of the decisions made. In retrospect those decisions can now be seen as mistakes. I just wish those mistakes were acknowledged and made right, that's all I'm asking for.

Can you give a list of mistakes here for ZOS to review? Phrasing them as "many of the decisions made" is not specific enough — how would ZOS know what mistakes they've made?

By reading recurrent forum posts discussing common issues that arose and are still in the game (i.e. posts that are made almost weekly). No reason to list them here when they’re plentiful in general discussion.

Not sure many seriously doubted if ESO is here to stay but the issue players are having is the direction of the game, both narrative and mechanical sides of it. Saying we're the same company isn't staying much as the company and design changed drastically throughout the years and it's more helpful to know if the team is doubling down on what's going on in recent five-ish years or we're up for some meaningful changes this time.

"#ESOfam"

Nice to meet you! Love this game and excited about any upcoming content!!

If you do good work the game will thrive

I appreciate the letter, but would’ve preferred something more personal like Jo posting something here himself. Hard to feel like it's Jo when CMs are editing it. IMO, you guys really need to move from rehearsed and polished letters like this, to more candid communication. Still, there was some good information and comments.

There were also some things that caught my eye in that article, and warrant a response.

People first, game always.

That's a nice slogan, but what does it actually mean? Which people and which circumstances will this apply to? I'm assuming this is a "customer first" kind of slogan. If so, this is a welcome change. Is this something that CS and moderators teams will be embracing? There's room to improve on feeling gratitude from ZOS that we're your customers.

Turn square corners*—integrity is our guiding light in all we do.

Can we get some examples where integrity guided a decision? Example where it’s often not: the crown store. IMO, having a system where so many utilities (armory and outfit slots) are character bound, timed deals, and RNG crates doesn't seem like integrity is the guiding light. Feels like the guiding light is creating enticing products. There’s also quite a few items that target vulnerable new players. Based on previous streams, I don't feel like this feedback was well received. I certainly haven't any changes made.

Own our mistakes and make repairs quickly.

Aside from some of the reversals in U47, I can’t think of many times where repairs were done quickly. And even more, I'd love to see a list of what you guys actually consider mistakes.

I think there's a tone problem. It feels like when mistakes are made, we're still being talked at, rather than talked with. The anniversary year had some really big issues with events, and I don't feel like they were handled in the warmest fashion. It seems like in a lot of those circumstances, we get this paternalistic tone from CMs, rather than gratitude and honest reflection. Imagine going to a restaurant, they mess up your order, you send it back, and they give your order back 45 minutes later and say, "be grateful we didn't kick you out".

When you guys "own your mistakes" - will that reflection be community facing?

Get a little bit better every day by being open to feedback and focused on learning.

The subtext here feels like it's "we weren't open to feedback before, but are now". In any case, that's great. There's a lot of areas where you not only need to be open to feedback, but act on that feedback. Combat changes is the big one, so's the crown store. The issue isn't just being open to feedback, it's engaging the feedback. That's always been the bigger issue IMO.

I wish you guys well in learning, sounds like there's going to be a lot of upskilling. Please just take it slow with changes while that confidence is built. Truly hope there's some much needed culture changes.

In any case, looking forward to the future. Hope ESO's around another 10 years!

Good luck and best of wishes to the members of the ZOS team there - and those sadly, who are not/soon won't be.

I'm hoping that we can see fundamental engine modernisation in the game, if it's going to be set up to last decades. Still in 2025 ESO can't run a world map like the one of Skyrim in TES V - with high mountains and deep valleys - and in 225, it really should be capable of doing that. And umm actual swimming beneath the surface.

Not a word, I guess, about the reason the old head left, the massive cuts to the studio. Makes it pretty useless to me.