Official Discussion Thread for "Battle For The Writhing Wall Event Info"

ZOS_Kevin · October 8

This is the official discussion thread for, "Be a Part of History Together during the Battle for the Writhing Wall Event"

"Battle the Worm Cult together with your server to advance the war effort and unbar the way to a new region in a special one-time event."
Website For Battle For The Writhing Wall

LunaFlora · October 8

that is a useful detailed post, thanks!

also that artwork is beautiful. Darien in the center looks great and it is cute that Raz brought Ja'khajiit Raz with him

wolfie1.0. · October 8

So im confused. Will dailies from the siege camps and other related quests persist beyond the event?

LonePirate · October 8

wolfie1.0. wrote: »

So im confused. Will dailies from the siege camps and other related quests persist beyond the event?

Yes. In the fourth paragraph from the bottom, it says rewards apart from the Wall Breaker title will be available from the camp daily quests after the event has ended.

Enodoc · October 8

LonePirate wrote: »

wolfie1.0. wrote: »

So im confused. Will dailies from the siege camps and other related quests persist beyond the event?

Yes. In the fourth paragraph from the bottom, it says rewards apart from the Wall Breaker title will be available from the camp daily quests after the event has ended.

I think it's only specifically the Siege Camp daily quests (which are this zone's version of World Events) that will continue to exist, so not Mirmal's Delve Dailies or the Dailies for Vitrified Souls etc. Would be good to get clarification on that though. I wonder if there's a minimum period for each Phase so that players have a chance to partake in everything, as I could potentially see Phase 1 and 2 going by too fast to contribute if it doesn't have a minimum duration.

Would also like to know if the Writhing Fortress instance is specific to the event period, or if that will remain open as a Public Instance once the event is finished. Thanks!

msetten · October 8

What is not clear to me is this section:

You can find Midconjurer Mirmal on the islands of Stirk or Solstice, and he requires Vitrified Souls from Daedra native to Coldharbour in all phases.

Does Midconjurer Mirmal give quests that asks you to acquire Vitrified Souls? Or do you need Vitrified Soul to be able to get a quest from Mirmal? (I assume the first, but the wording makes it someone unclear)

A few more questions:
1. Are these daily quests one daily quest per character or can you get can more quests from the same quest-giver?
2. Are there different quests per quest giver that can be shared between group members like a most of zone daily quests?
3. Can you even do the daily quests on multiple characters?

Looking forward to this unique event, but hopefully you can clear up some these questions.

Maitsukas · October 8

msetten wrote: »

What is not clear to me is this section:

You can find Midconjurer Mirmal on the islands of Stirk or Solstice, and he requires Vitrified Souls from Daedra native to Coldharbour in all phases.

Does Midconjurer Mirmal give quests that asks you to acquire Vitrified Souls? Or do you need Vitrified Soul to be able to get a quest from Mirmal? (I assume the first, but the wording makes it someone unclear)

It's actually Orinde Glenuvon that gives this quest.

@ZOS_Kevin could that be fixed in the article?

L_Nici · October 8

Won't there be a sale? This year we did not even have a summer sale outside of Steam for the Content Pass, it would certainly get a few more people to buy the Pass for the Event, if it was on sale during it.

DenverRalphy · October 8

After leaning into the "Which server will finish first?" promotional hype, I'm still curious how they expect the console servers to stand a chance with PC servers potentially (and likely) getting a 2 week head start on phase 3 .

I really really want this event to be a success, with minimal or no major hiccups along the way. A lot of resources and manpower went into it, and I want it to be worth it.

tomofhyrule · October 8

DenverRalphy wrote: »

After leaning into the "Which server will finish first?" promotional hype, I'm still curious how they expect the console servers to stand a chance with PC servers potentially (and likely) getting a 2 week head start on phase 3 .

Considering that phase 3 won’t be able to start until phases 1 and 2 are done, it seems the plan is that phase 3 won’t even be up for any server until after the console U48 patch drops around 12 November.

The fact that the associated Golden Pursuit goes until the 26th of November suggests that Phase 3 (which they say is only one week) will be closer to the end of November, which is after U48 will be out on all servers.

ZOS_Kevin · October 8

Maitsukas wrote: »

msetten wrote: »

What is not clear to me is this section:

You can find Midconjurer Mirmal on the islands of Stirk or Solstice, and he requires Vitrified Souls from Daedra native to Coldharbour in all phases.

Does Midconjurer Mirmal give quests that asks you to acquire Vitrified Souls? Or do you need Vitrified Soul to be able to get a quest from Mirmal? (I assume the first, but the wording makes it someone unclear)

It's actually Orinde Glenuvon that gives this quest.

@ZOS_Kevin could that be fixed in the article?

This should be fixed now. Thanks for the catch.

tomofhyrule · October 8

I would like to add something that has been bothering me for some time regarding the stories though.

The artpic used is gorgeous and I really like it… but anyone would be able to recognize the central figure as a character who has died (twice, by now) in the game. And there he is front and center in the promo art.

The team did the same thing with Ithelia in the Gold Road reveal: we were given 6 months to do the story before the team just dropped the massive “there’s a new Daedric Prince!” spoiler in a reveal.

In both cases, it’s expected that 1) all players have played the story within a few months of the Chapter/Pass dropping, which means that it’s expected that 2) all players have the disposable income to buy the (not available as DLC yet!) Chapter/Pass. This really is reading almost as a punishment for not budgeting in a $50 expansions, which is questionable in this economy.

Even beyond money, I usually prefer to wait to do the stories in the first place since I like to take my time and do it lore-appropriately, which means that I don’t like having to hear things like “we must be the first people to enter this tomb in centuries” while some Arcanist is running ahead and beaming everything down before I can even get the dialogue. I wait to do the stories until I can have quieter zones and more immersive experiences… which now means that ZOS themselves is giving me the “wait, you didn’t do it in two weeks? You don’t matter, here’s the spoiler.”
(If anyone’s wondering, I have already done the Solstice story so this wasn’t a spoiler for me. But I have friends who have not been able to buy Solstice for one reason or another, so ZOS just dropping one of the major spoilers of the last quest is a bit awkward)

With the old Chapter model, the Q4 story did tie into the Q2 story, but it could stand on its own. We never ended up with a case where the Q4 reveal straight up spoiled the Q2 story. And now that’s happened twice, both times before the Q2 story went to DLC so it still had to be an exclusive Chapter purchase. Even before that, we had standalone stories like Wrothgar and Murkmire that didn’t rely on anything, or the longer Daedric War arc that again kept all three stories as interconnected but separate stories and revealing one did not require spoiling the other.

I am just pointing this out as a direction I am not a fan of. I know people have been talking for ages about wanting to move the timeline ahead, but I do not like the idea of that leading to an ESO that essentially requires you to keep up (and pay upfront) every time like that. Not everything needs to depend on everything else because standalone stories are possible, and even if it was awkward at times, we have seen that spoiling the first part of a story is not necessary for hyping the second part.

Sarannah · October 8

This event is very confusing/complicated(atleast seems to be)... which daily quests count for which stage? Like, do the crafting dailies count? Do world boss dailies only count in the second stage? Do world boss dailies from other regions than solstice count? How many dailies do count per person/player/account for the event? Also, where are the camps for the daily quests located? How do we know when to move on to stage two of the event(like some players may not realize there are stages or that stages are finished and just keep doing the stage one dailies)? Are the dailies for the different stages in different locations? The article states killing daedra and cultists counts for the event, is this all deadra/cultists? Does this include daedra and cultists for which there are no quests(does farming coldharbour daedra help with the event progress)? What happens if we do not unlock phase three, does that mean no eastern solstice access?

Don't get me wrong, this event seems fun. But this all seems WAY too complicated, especially for a one-time event.

Enodoc · October 8

Sarannah wrote: »

This event is very confusing/complicated(atleast seems to be)... which daily quests count for which stage? Like, do the crafting dailies count? Do world boss dailies only count in the second stage? Do world boss dailies from other regions than solstice count? How many dailies do count per person/player/account for the event? Also, where are the camps for the daily quests located? How do we know when to move on to stage two of the event(like some players may not realize there are stages or that stages are finished and just keep doing the stage one dailies)? Are the dailies for the different stages in different locations? The article states killing daedra and cultists counts for the event, is this all deadra/cultists? Does this include daedra and cultists for which there are no quests(does farming coldharbour daedra help with the event progress)? What happens if we do not unlock phase three, does that mean no eastern solstice access?

Don't get me wrong, this event seems fun. But this all seems WAY too complicated, especially for a one-time event.

I think I can answer some of these based on PTS - it's specifically the Event Dailies that count, not all Dailies. The Event Dailies can be picked up from Sunport Rampart Camp on Solstice (if you have the Content Pass) or from Stirk Fellowship Camp on Stirk (if you don't have the Content Pass).

The event stages are shown in the event UI and on the webpage. The dailies are the same for all phases of the event (Phase 2 technically unlocks more dailies, but they come from the same place), so as long as you're doing the dailies from Sunport Rampart Camp or Stirk Fellowship Camp, they will all count.

I don't know the answer to the Daedra and Cultists question, that's a good question which would be nice to have clarification on.

It won't be possible to not unlock Phase 3. ZOS will just move the goalposts if necessary.

Syldras · October 8

tomofhyrule wrote: »

I would like to add something that has been bothering me for some time regarding the stories though.
The artpic used is gorgeous and I really like it… but anyone would be able to recognize the central figure as a character who has died (twice, by now) in the game. And there he is front and center in the promo art.

I think I've seen you in the PTS forum, but since I'm not sure whether you have already played the second part of the story or not, I'm going to put it in spoiler tags (if you haven't played it yet, just ignore my post):

I can fully understand why they designed the promo pics like that: Part 2 is basically a Darien story. There's not much beyond that, to be honest - at least that's my impression from playing the story on PTS - twice. We have no new lore on the Worm Cult or anyone, really, it's all centered on Darien, what's happening to him and his feelings. Which I, personally, found disappointing. Not that the parts on his situation were badly written - they weren't; but if one's not particularly interested in Darien as a character, it's not that much of interest for a whole story. I found it boring, especially considering what could have been made of it.

But generally, I agree with your post.

Finedaible · October 8

Will the Writhing Fortress public dungeon/instance still be a thing that is available after the event ends? Or is this gone forever?

DenverRalphy · October 8

tomofhyrule wrote: »

DenverRalphy wrote: »

After leaning into the "Which server will finish first?" promotional hype, I'm still curious how they expect the console servers to stand a chance with PC servers potentially (and likely) getting a 2 week head start on phase 3 .

Considering that phase 3 won’t be able to start until phases 1 and 2 are done, it seems the plan is that phase 3 won’t even be up for any server until after the console U48 patch drops around 12 November.

The fact that the associated Golden Pursuit goes until the 26th of November suggests that Phase 3 (which they say is only one week) will be closer to the end of November, which is after U48 will be out on all servers.

The bolded is what ZOS is refusing to acknowledge or confirm. @ZOS_Kevin had stated that he'll look into it. But silence on the topic since.

During the stream, they said that the battle is intended to take a month to complete. But in my experience, the ESO playerbase is uncannily efficient at completing objectives in a mere fraction of the time intended. And the "Which server will be first" promotional hype is sure to encourage that. I can already see PSNA completing Phase 2 before U48 lands on consoles.

Syldras · October 8

Finedaible wrote: »

Will the Writhing Fortress public dungeon/instance still be a thing that is available after the event ends? Or is this gone forever?

They said it will be available for 1 week after the final boss has been defeated by players for the first time.

tomofhyrule · October 8

DenverRalphy wrote: »

tomofhyrule wrote: »

DenverRalphy wrote: »

After leaning into the "Which server will finish first?" promotional hype, I'm still curious how they expect the console servers to stand a chance with PC servers potentially (and likely) getting a 2 week head start on phase 3 .

Considering that phase 3 won’t be able to start until phases 1 and 2 are done, it seems the plan is that phase 3 won’t even be up for any server until after the console U48 patch drops around 12 November.

The fact that the associated Golden Pursuit goes until the 26th of November suggests that Phase 3 (which they say is only one week) will be closer to the end of November, which is after U48 will be out on all servers.

The bolded is what ZOS is refusing to acknowledge or confirm. @ZOS_Kevin had stated that he'll look into it. But silence on the topic since.

During the stream, they said that the battle is intended to take a month to complete. But in my experience, the ESO playerbase is uncannily efficient at completing objectives in a mere fraction of the time intended. And the "Which server will be first" promotional hype is sure to encourage that. I can already see PSNA completing Phase 2 before U48 lands on consoles.

That’s assuming that the bar is 100% based on in-game progress, and isn’t just being completely manipulated behind the scenes. Grinding out dailies (which everyone will do) isn’t going to make the bar move any faster if the thing controlling the bar is when ZOS wants it to flip over.

Makes sense though - it would be… unwise to force an underpopulated server like XBEU to have to wait for 6+ months to get the same amount of quests done as PCEU.

DenverRalphy · October 8

tomofhyrule wrote: »

DenverRalphy wrote: »

tomofhyrule wrote: »

DenverRalphy wrote: »

After leaning into the "Which server will finish first?" promotional hype, I'm still curious how they expect the console servers to stand a chance with PC servers potentially (and likely) getting a 2 week head start on phase 3 .

Considering that phase 3 won’t be able to start until phases 1 and 2 are done, it seems the plan is that phase 3 won’t even be up for any server until after the console U48 patch drops around 12 November.

The fact that the associated Golden Pursuit goes until the 26th of November suggests that Phase 3 (which they say is only one week) will be closer to the end of November, which is after U48 will be out on all servers.

The bolded is what ZOS is refusing to acknowledge or confirm. @ZOS_Kevin had stated that he'll look into it. But silence on the topic since.

During the stream, they said that the battle is intended to take a month to complete. But in my experience, the ESO playerbase is uncannily efficient at completing objectives in a mere fraction of the time intended. And the "Which server will be first" promotional hype is sure to encourage that. I can already see PSNA completing Phase 2 before U48 lands on consoles.

That’s assuming that the bar is 100% based on in-game progress, and isn’t just being completely manipulated behind the scenes. Grinding out dailies (which everyone will do) isn’t going to make the bar move any faster if the thing controlling the bar is when ZOS wants it to flip over.

Makes sense though - it would be… unwise to force an underpopulated server like XBEU to have to wait for 6+ months to get the same amount of quests done as PCEU.

They said in the stream that each server has its own thresholds to complete to move the progress bar based on active player population.

Rohamad_Ali · October 9

Looking forward to seeing this live.

Elvenheart · October 9

My question is centered around this:

“Those who see the war through till the very end can also earn the “Wall Breaker” title. To earn this reward, you must complete the Writhing Fortress during Phase 3 of the event.”

It’s my understanding this phase will last for seven days, and it cannot be soloed. So is it considered completed by your character if you go through the limited time dungeon with a group and kill the final boss any time during that seven-day period, even if another group has made it to the final boss before you, likely on the first day it’s available? And then there’s this:

“Upon the first completion of the Writhing Fortress dungeon, Eastern Solstice is unlocked for all 2025 Content Pass owners on the server.”

So, based on this, the very first group that gets to the end of this limited time public dungeon and kills the final boss, again most likely on the first day, opens the other side of the island for everyone else on Solstice, whether we have gone through it and killed the final boss and gotten the limited time title or not?

wolfie1.0. · October 9

Elvenheart wrote: »

My question is centered around this:

“Those who see the war through till the very end can also earn the “Wall Breaker” title. To earn this reward, you must complete the Writhing Fortress during Phase 3 of the event.”

It’s my understanding this phase will last for seven days, and it cannot be soloed. So is it considered completed by your character if you go through the limited time dungeon with a group and kill the final boss any time during that seven-day period, even if another group has made it to the final boss before you, likely on the first day it’s available? And then there’s this:

“Upon the first completion of the Writhing Fortress dungeon, Eastern Solstice is unlocked for all 2025 Content Pass owners on the server.”

So, based on this, the very first group that gets to the end of this limited time public dungeon and kills the final boss, again most likely on the first day, opens the other side of the island for everyone else on Solstice, whether we have gone through it and killed the final boss and gotten the limited time title or not?

That's disappointing if its the case. I would have preferred if it were the "first time each player completes it for the first time"

Mostly, because the way these things work generally in ESO, the first clear wont just be on day 1, it will be within the 1st hour or less after its live, and most players will miss out.

This is one reason I dont like one and done events.

Finedaible · October 9

Syldras wrote: »

Finedaible wrote: »

Will the Writhing Fortress public dungeon/instance still be a thing that is available after the event ends? Or is this gone forever?

They said it will be available for 1 week after the final boss has been defeated by players for the first time.

Thanks @Syldras I think this might be the first time I pass a 'chapter' up then.

The more they reveal about this season pass and how a lot of the usual content we used to get with a chapter is being shifted into this limited-time FOMO event/dungeon that is never returning just doesn't sit right with me. None of this seems worth the extra admission fee. I think I would be more inclined to support ZoS if there was some kind of assurance that long-standing Quality of Life issues would be resolved in a timely manner with a solid roadmap for QoL and direction of the game next year but... There's just too much uncertainty in this new model, and the quality has not increased this year. It would be one thing if ESO was a true free-to-play game where there is no subscription and no pressure to release content, but I already pay for an ESO+ sub, and asking me to pay up another fee to experience a temporary fortress/dungeon for a few achievements during an indeterminate time-frame... just seems absurd. I got two weddings to attend in Nov and Dec beyond the usual holiday family gatherings so it's unlikely I will even get to experience what I paid for if I bought into the season pass anyway. Kind of glad I didn't now.

Just not feeling it this year. I hope they can right this ship in January.

wolfie1.0. · October 9

Also, honest feedback here. Having content only available for one week and then its gone for good just seems like a waste. Imo its too short and should be longer. I can see 2 weeks or longer making sense. But one is too short, even with fomo in play its going to be missed.

Elvenheart · October 9

My thoughts are that once the seven day window is passed, they should leave the Writhing Fortress open redone as a normal public dungeon just without the special bosses just related to the seven day event.

tomofhyrule · October 9

I will definitely say that making an entire trial-esque Public Dungeon that will be playable for one week is a strange choice indeed.

The idea of entire content pieces being permanently shut down is not exactly player-friendly in the first place, but especially in the light of 2025 being a very light year in terms of content (and a lot of the player resentment around the 2025 Season Pass deals with the higher price for the Pass as opposed to previous Chapters and the fact that there's less content included), the fact that a fair amount of the dev time went specifically to something that will only exist for a single week instead of something players could enjoy for a while seems... especially awkward.

Fischblut · October 9

I don't like spoilers in promo images too

I am still 4 chapters behind story-wise, so suddenly seeing Darien in news article takes away from my future quest experience. I could rush main story of Solstice if this is a must for this event, but I wish to play all stories in proper order

I didn't even start the Solstice quest line yet. Does it mean that I will miss out this zone transition quest, or will it be a part of main story even after Wall event ends? I'm referring to this part of the news article:

Furthermore, at the start of the Battle for the Writhing Wall event, Prince Azah (found in the Sunport Rampart Camp) will grant a new story quest, titled “Crossing the Wall,” to those who have completed the Seasons of the Worm Cult Part 1 questline. Crossing the Wall serves to continue the Seasons of the Worm Cult story from Part 1 into Part 2. If you wish to continue the saga in Eastern Solstice, be sure to complete this quest first!

I also agree that removing special Public Dungeon after the event is sad decision

Make the Wall Breaker title exclusive to the event and limited-time, that is understandable. But let people enjoy this Public Dungeon afterwards at their leisure too, please. Camp dailies stay, so why the dungeon can't?

twisttop138 · October 9

tomofhyrule wrote: »

I will definitely say that making an entire trial-esque Public Dungeon that will be playable for one week is a strange choice indeed.

The idea of entire content pieces being permanently shut down is not exactly player-friendly in the first place, but especially in the light of 2025 being a very light year in terms of content (and a lot of the player resentment around the 2025 Season Pass deals with the higher price for the Pass as opposed to previous Chapters and the fact that there's less content included), the fact that a fair amount of the dev time went specifically to something that will only exist for a single week instead of something players could enjoy for a while seems... especially awkward.

You know Tommy, you make a good point. In this content light year, with so much uncertainty as to what comes next. Making this large set piece a 7 day only thing seems irresponsible. People are getting bored. My main raid team just had our last trial last night. We're on hiatus until more content comes down the pipe. It sucks man. How many of my guild just won't come back. I think they should take this thing, after 7 days and make it a trial. Put in a vet and hm for it and let it stay. Leave the normal version how it is. We all know even if it says 12 people it'll probably only need 4. Why waste a whole cool thing. I sometimes can't get my head around what they're doing in there.

Edenprime · October 9

Are there three or four glorious coffers available from the four available dailies? On PTS the Quartermaster Nurwalne's quest also gave a golden coffer, but the article only mentions the other three quest givers and their loot tables. @ZOS_Kevin

ZOS_Kevin · October 9

Edenprime wrote: »

Are there three or four glorious coffers available from the four available dailies? On PTS the Quartermaster Nurwalne's quest also gave a golden coffer, but the article only mentions the other three quest givers and their loot tables. @ZOS_Kevin

We issued a correction for this in the article. It should be four, rather than three.