ESO Event Design, Rewarding Players or Burning Them Out?

Digibrax · 10:58AM

It’s just a grind, some folks don’t mind the hamster wheel

How do you even get 3 gold boxes?
I only get 2 and 1 blue from quest givers. Although, I don't have Solstice, only base game.
If that is the case, average player gets even less...

Nemesis7884 · 11:37AM

It’s just a grind, some folks don’t mind the hamster wheel

The one thing this event has managed is me considering if i should get back into warhammer lol

Elrond87 · 12:07PM

I hate it, but I’ll keep playing the rest of the game

i have not touched anything to do with the event, just seems a waste of time

DragonRacer · 12:48PM

I hate it, but I’ll keep playing the rest of the game

Yeah, I'm incredibly over this event. Especially since I have a million of the Phase 1 blue and purple furnishing plans, but still zero purple plan drops for Phase 2 (but a million of the blues).

At this point, I just do my bare minimum three gold boxes daily and then go do other stuff in the game.

The only grind I think might be more disappointing - purely by observation - are the folks who want the Sovereign Sow pet from Jester Festival who didn't get it the first year it dropped (when fragments were more plentiful). After the first year, the fragments were reduced to a CHANCE to drop (within the rest of the bloated loot pool) only from the one daily gold box, not even a chance in the purple boxes you can then farm. I have seen posts over the years from people who want the pet and can't get it because it's so buried within a one week event once a year. One was a father whose daughter wanted it and *maybe* he'll have finally unlocked it for her in another 10 years... when she's about to head off to college.

That's why I give no more than bare minimum effort to events.

liliub17_ESO · 1:10PM

AzuraFan wrote: »

None of the above. For me, there is no grind. I do what I need to do to get 3 gold boxes/day and that's it.

(I think the RNG in this game is brutal and burns people out.)

Agreed.

I didn't spring for the season pass because, well, if something sounds too good, it generally is. And this event was hyped as the best thing ever ... which it turns out to not be. So I'm limited to what I can do at Stirk - two gold and at least five blue boxes a day on one toon since there is no way you can convince me to spend what little leisure time I have of my real life in a such a tedious, unrewarding grind on two ESO+ accts NA/EU.

Drop rates are ludicrously low from what I'm experiencing and hearing, and vitrified souls seem rarer than hen's teeth.
While I did manage somehow to find the keys to the Coldharbor Estate on one of my new EU girls a few days into the event, for the most part, it's been the same motif/crafting patterns over and over -or- fodder that the merchants sigh and reluctantly take to add to their growing inventories of other adventurers' fodder from this "event". Pretty sure if you could ask them if this event was rewarding or abysmal, they'd have an opinion not very favorable, either.

Syldras · 1:21PM

I hate it, but I’ll keep playing the rest of the game

Apart from the bugs and the drop rates I still think this would have been an okay event if they had introduced it like every other normal zone event they did. The main problems are the way they hyped it, and locking content we've already paid for (and that's completely ready to be played - they just don't give us access yet) behind it.

frogthroat · 1:24PM

liliub17_ESO wrote: »

Drop rates are ludicrously low from what I'm experiencing and hearing, and vitrified souls seem rarer than hen's teeth.

That was in phase 1. Now in phase 2 both fetch quest drops are plentiful. (Vitrified souls and the ichor/fat/sap drops.) Even the haj mota pet fragments are surprisingly plentiful in phase 2.

Now the problem is caltrops bone style fragments. I actually started grinding again in the beginning of phase 2 and when I combine the caltrops fragments from both of my accounts I have a massive two (2) of them. 23 to go...

Onomos · 1:28PM

I hate it, this grind makes me want to uninstall

I've never been this disillusioned with this game. I've gotten bored before and taken time away, but I keep coming back. This unbearable event is destroying my will to keep supporting this game with my time and money.

twisttop138 · 2:02PM

I hate it, but I’ll keep playing the rest of the game

It's not the event totally. It's everything. I'm not burned out, I'm disappointed. This year has been such a a bad showing, and it points at more disappointment to come. They did a terrible job overall. Solstice is a pitiful excuse for a zone, while nice looking as always, the reused assets are glaring. The lack of side quests or interesting stories is apparent. It feels like they got part way done with a Q4 dlc back when we actually got those and threw it in a drawer for a rainy day. Then they asked us to pay more for it. The event? Not much to say that hasn't been said really. It's just not good. It could've been. It's a cool idea. Then we have game breaking combat issues that, yay, I'll get to start experiencing today as a PS5 player. Poor balance.a myriad of issues all pointing to something I don't think we're going to like for next year.

I love the game. I have a blast raiding and doing content with my team and guild mates. I'm just sad that this is where we're heading and I hope they blow us away next month with the letter.

rothan117 · 2:14PM

I hate it, this grind makes me want to uninstall

Very quickly burned me out. Do one crafting quest per day and that is it. Does not help that I found the associated GP pet and mount to be one I do not even want in my collection. Mostly stopped playing and spend my time on other games.

BXR_Lonestar · 3:11PM

I hate it, but I’ll keep playing the rest of the game

Event burnout is real. I was grinding out this event at the start, but after the Witch Festival dropped, I couldn't grind both events, so I cut way back and I just did my gold boxes for each event and moved on.

The prizes really aren't worthwhile IMO. I'm not big on housing, so the blueprints aren't worth the grind, there's no difference-making food recipe that is worth the grind, the motifs are meh, I've already gotten the house. I'm just not seeing the need to grind. I'd rather play PVP, do endgame PVE, or enjoy other aspects of the game.

tomofhyrule · 3:27PM

I hate it, but I’ll keep playing the rest of the game

I did all 24 quests the first day on my main just to check them out. After that, I dropped the QM dailies and just did the six crafting ones since they were easy and enough souls/camps to get my daily Stirk Fellowship motif page.

But, like last year’s anniversary event, ZOS put in a nice reward with a 0.00002% drop rate and pretended grinding was content.

I was seeing everyone get the house but me. It was infuriating to come to the forums and see people say “oh yeah, I got in on 3 different accounts within the first week and I only do the gold boxes.” I started to go harder on the camps because there’s a chance it could drop there. And then as we finally got to phase 2, I was going back up to all 24 quests to try to get that [snip] house, along with a bunch of other camps I was doing for free.

I finally got it. And as expected, that meant my daily load is now the three golds and that’s it. And I’m so burnt out by this stupid event and kinda ESO in general right now… and instead of it ending, we have another event coming up before it’s over, and then the end-of-year grindfest before the annual Director’s letter telling us how this was the best year ever and that they can’t wait to tell us what empty-grind-in-place-of-content they will have at some point in the future.

ZOS has lately come up with the idea that, instead of adding reasonable rewards, events would drop literal trash with a minuscule chance of something really good. This is not fun, especially if you’re not favored by RNGeesus (but it’s great if you are). It’s really easy for people who get the rare drop quickly and without much effort to say “well just don’t grind!” but those people need to acknowledge that they didn’t need to grind because they got carried by luck early. Not everyone is blessed that way.

kind_hero · 3:42PM

I hate it, but I’ll keep playing the rest of the game

@Furyous with two accounts and so many characters, no wonder you are burned out! Sure, it's your play style, but I wouldn't invest so much effort, even if I would be paid, it's so boring!

I am one of those average players who play these events on one character (two if I really like the tasks and the rewards).

For me, playing only my main (which I play for 11 years), Phase 1 was enough, and slightly too much. I continued doing the grind in Phase 2, only to unlock the tent from the achievement vendor, having given up on the house or other things like caltrops style.

I don't know what the devs really thought this event will be. My guess is they didn't have much choice, and some things are forced on them, for reasons I fail to understand. Perhaps they gather alot of data with such an event, and this data might be useful to Microsoft or some other project. But I am 100% they got the message that people do this for the drops, and are not really having fun. I don't think devs who say that play ESO alot are doing these dailies for the zillionth time.

When I log in, I check the bar on Solstice, and get a bit sad because this thing is prolonged much more than needed. I would really like to continue with the story and explore the zone. Problem is... I have kind of got fed up with Solstice by now, with everything related to this chapter. I have more fun doing older content on an alt, or just farming mats.

From my point of view, this 3 phase event was a big mistake. One phase would have been more than enough.

P.S. Ah.. and I want to add that events are fun... however, they should be easy to complete. One event I like is New Life, because it takes little effort to get the tickets, and if you want to do the other quests, there are plenty to chose from. I hate grinding. I keep saying the player should be able to work for the type of reward they want. The ticket system is a step in this direction, but it needs rework.

ellmarie · 3:51PM

I hate it, but I’ll keep playing the rest of the game

I don't feel I'm getting rewarded much.

Ingenon · 3:54PM

It’s just a grind, some folks don’t mind the hamster wheel

There are days that I just do enough to get three gold boxes. Separately I have talked with a few players who are leveling an alt by doing siege camps. Kind of like folks do with Alik'r dolmens.

shadyjane62 · 6:02PM

I hate it, this grind makes me want to uninstall

I stopped playing a while ago as I could no longer understand the strategy of this event. I could not even tell you where the Writhing Wall is as I did not waste my money on this whatever it is season.

Enough said. I am leveling a bunch of alts for the dailies and do writs. I can wait for New Life.

Furyous · 6:06PM

I hate it, this grind makes me want to uninstall

Mathius_Mordred wrote: »

You chose to farm this even on two accounts for utterly pathetic rewards rather than go do something else, and it has affected you adversely; well, whose fault is that?

So let me get this straight, you’re saying if I don’t like the content I paid for, I should just walk away and pretend the investment never happened.
That’s like dropping $95 on a premium dinner, being served three courses of cold potatoes, and then being told it’s my fault for expecting quality.

I’m not the problem for noticing the food is garbage.
The problem is charging premium prices and delivering slop, then blaming the customer for daring to call it out.

redlink1979 · 6:18PM

I hate it, but I’ll keep playing the rest of the game

There's no point in griding for the blue boxes.
You get nothing special out of them just a type of loot you can earn by playing "normally".
So I just pick the golden boxes, since day1 of phase 1.

Sailor_Palutena · 6:38PM

I hate it, this grind makes me want to uninstall

I'd vote for the second option, but since I already have done all the PVE, I'm out of options. I will finish this expansion and if the next year "chapter" is just another small island with generic story, I'll give it a break.

langewapper · 6:57PM

It’s just a grind, some folks don’t mind the hamster wheel

I used this event to level up 2 alts , only 3 gold and 2 blue each , so it was easy
i dont care about the rewards as a long time player al my houses and chests are full of it
i only hope they wont do this every time , one time in a year is enough
and yes i still like this game because you dont have to do it if you dont like it

Marto · 7:08PM

I hate it, but I’ll keep playing the rest of the game

I think ZOS made the huge mistake of thinking a bigger, longer event was a good idea to begin with.

Events were already as big as they needed to be.

Events were already as long as they could be without feeling tedious. And as rewarding as they could be before the FOMO made players feel anxious.

Even if the Writhing Wall event was perfect. Even if the devs had managed to perfectly match their vision. Even if it magically included all of the suggestions people have made... I doubt anyone would've enjoyed it for 6-8 weeks.

code65536 · 7:40PM

tomofhyrule wrote: »

I was seeing everyone get the house but me. It was infuriating to come to the forums and see people say “oh yeah, I got in on 3 different accounts within the first week and I only do the gold boxes.” I started to go harder on the camps because there’s a chance it could drop there. And then as we finally got to phase 2, I was going back up to all 24 quests to try to get that [snip] house, along with a bunch of other camps I was doing for free.

I finally got it. And as expected, that meant my daily load is now the three golds and that’s it.

I'm one of those people who got it multiple times... on my third and fourth accounts (multiple times, as in, they've gotten chalices too after getting the house). Main and second accounts, though, haven't seen a single thing--no house, no chalice. So I get the whole, "watching everyone around you get it" bit, since that's the boat my main and second accounts are in.

But I'm not bothered by this. Why? Because the house is not a limited-time event exclusive. You can get the house at any point in time. Yea, it costs a million gold, but in the context of housing, a million gold isn't that much.

Think of it this way: monster mask pages go for a million (used to be way more before IA sold them). I'll do a number of runs when they come out, and if I get one, that's great. If I don't, then, well, guild traders exist. But I don't want to grind that dungeon to death for it. This house thing is really no different.

(Also, I suspect that the drop rate from the camps themselves is very low. Yea, I've seen screenshots from people who got it from the camp chest so I know it's possible, but anecdotally, everyone I know who has gotten it got it from a gold box.)

Jaimeh · 8:32PM

I hate it, but I’ll keep playing the rest of the game

I've decided to fight the FOMO, just do 3 gold boxes per day and get what I get, otherwise I'd have a miserable time in the game. I'm doing other activities I enjoy in the meantime, I don't want to grind through the RNG layers in the drops.

Rebooting · 8:46PM

I hate it, but I’ll keep playing the rest of the game

I gave up on the "Grinding Wall Event", as I feel I am being ripped off, first zos takes my money, then they want to make me work/grind to access the full content some day.

No Thank You!

Like that wasn't bad enough, rewards are Drip Drop RNG crumbs, not worth the effort.

I also feel players who already own the house are penalized, absolutely no incentives.

All this event has done was for me to disengage and play less, as most of the other people I know have done the same.

Varana · 9:08PM

I hate it, but I’ll keep playing the rest of the game

Furyous wrote: »

Mathius_Mordred wrote: »

You chose to farm this even on two accounts for utterly pathetic rewards rather than go do something else, and it has affected you adversely; well, whose fault is that?

So let me get this straight, you’re saying if I don’t like the content I paid for, I should just walk away and pretend the investment never happened.
That’s like dropping $95 on a premium dinner, being served three courses of cold potatoes, and then being told it’s my fault for expecting quality.

I’m not the problem for noticing the food is garbage.
The problem is charging premium prices and delivering slop, then blaming the customer for daring to call it out.

Calling them out on it - oh, absolutely do, and with fervour. The forums are full with feedback like this.

But to be honest, what you described in your first post sounded more like getting served three courses of cold potatoes, and then you forcing it down your throat even if you hate it. But why? Once you see that the second and third course is the same slop, just walk away.

francesinhalover · 9:21PM

It’s just a grind, some folks don’t mind the hamster wheel

honestly, it was alright, like... we have so many days to do the golden pursuit and having something to make me log in was nice, i met some nice people and even did event content with them.
This having in mind i didn't have the expansion.

Now... there isn't a reason to login, especially with all the issues the latest patch brought.

I will say however i think the rewards should had been better... and no, i didn't get the house.

Rebooting · 9:28PM

I hate it, but I’ll keep playing the rest of the game

Varana wrote: »

Once you see that the second and third course is the same slop, just walk away.

Exactly

laniakea_0 · 9:43PM

I hate it, but I’ll keep playing the rest of the game

I only do 1 character (PC EU) and usually not much more than the gold boxes and since the start of phase 2 I have gotten 14 shards. I think that should make it clear that the blue boxes have hardly any drop chance at all and it's almost all from the gold boxes. hence, a lot of that grind you've described simply doesn't exist. however, I also think it's unnecessarily low and takes too long, but it's definitely not even close to borderline impossible.