Mik195 wrote: »

If ZOS decides to do content like this in the future, it would be better if it was free content. Holding paid content hostage isn't a good look.

DenverRalphy wrote: »

tomofhyrule wrote: »

DenverRalphy wrote: »

tomofhyrule wrote: »

DenverRalphy wrote: »

tomofhyrule wrote: »

DenverRalphy wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

code65536 wrote: »

Serious question: Who cares?

I care and many others care. We can't access the rest of the content we paid for until this is over.

Then do something about it. Push the bar along.

And you have actual physical proof that contribution does matter?

Not “ZOS says it does,” that’s not proof. I mean how many points does each quest give and how many points are needed to advance?

You know, like we have on our XP bars.

I have about as much proof as you or any naysayers have that participation/contribution doesn't matter.

However we do have proof that participation doesn’t matter.

1) The goalposts were moved several times at the beginning of the event. You don’t ever see them stop a marathon in the middle and say “actually, the finish line is moving now to some unspecified place.”

2) The event literally cannot fail. Even in the circumstance where everyone decided not to grind, the event would have to complete and allow people access to the other side. Otherwise that is a major lawsuit for not delivering content that was purchased.

But instead of drinking the Kool-aid and lapping up this division between servers that ZOS is so keen on, maybe you could go help out underperforming servers yourself. Be the person bringing connection and hope into the world, instead of the one driving division.

You keep going back to the beginning of the event when that graph showed the changes to progress at the beginning.

All that proves is that they were able to ensure that Phase 2 couldn't complete until U48 landed on consoles. The console servers were negatively affected more than the PC servers during those adjustments, yet everybody only seems to recall that PC servers were adjusted. Those adjustments can easily be explained as ZOS dialing in the metrics for the formula they're using to calculate across all servers.

So no. You have no proof of any fix occuring beyond ensuring the first place server didn't get there before Nov 12th.

And you think that they have a psychic on staff to accurately predict the playerbase’s desire to keep grinding a month out? Especially when they have demonstrably not been able to predict player sentiment when they are actively told on PTS that something will be bad for the game?

<condensed for brevity>

Look, “just go in and grind to do your part for your server!” is a call to work. Not play. None of us wants to get home after a long day of work to relax and… work more. If the event requires players to pay to do a job, it is a dumb event and anyone who expects people to pay for the privilege of doing a job is functionally
stupid. Full stop. No amount of of you or anyone else trying to convince people otherwise will make them want to work for free (and actively slighting the other servers for being behind will make them want to do so even less).

We have players who already complain that the standard 13-day events are too long. And the answer was… to have an event that requires grinding that is now on day 30 and counting? We have players who feel that events are too grindy and unrewarding, and the answer was… to make the event boxes drop even less and have a bar that’s always in your face to ask for more grinding? We have players who already say the community feeling is gone, and the answer was… to pit the servers against each other so we have people talking smack about other servers?

So fine, let’s operate under your assumption that both regions have the same goal (which is unlikely, especially since it is known that XB really doesn’t have a gaming foothold outside the US in the first place, so there’s no way that the install base for XBEU could match XBNA). We can still see that all NA servers are behind the respective EU. Maybe that’s something ZOS should look into - is there a reason NA isn’t as active? Do they have fewer active accounts (if so, why not give them a lower target like they did for PC vs XB)? Do they feel like they don’t want to pay for the privilege to work (if so, why not modify it so each quest gives more points to the final)? Or does NA just feel slighted by ZOS recently (I mean, it’s not like they had their anniversary event cancelled and they all miss the last day of tickets every event and they only get their characters for the first two most unpolished weeks every PTS cycle, while all EU has to deal with is that maintenances are just before their primetime so if they go long it can extend into their primetime)?

The point still stands: this event requires people to pay ZOS to be able to grind something, and now it’s set such that we can’t get what we paid for unless enough people (who are not being paid) decide to do unfun things like grinding. Previous events had all servers work together to reach a goal (not to mention said goal being much more rewarding). This one drives division, gives less, and the fact that the rest of the content is right there and just turned off because ZOS wants it off just make it all seem hollow.

Yes, people stopped caring. And that’s not an ‘us’ problem. That’s a ZOS problem. Because if people don’t care, then they’re not going to pay for the privilege of doing this again. We already know that there are people who are not going to buy next season’s pass specifically because of how bad this one went. This event, if the goal is to keep driving annoyance, is only going to make fewer people buy the next one. Do ZOS’s employees really think that this is going to be good for their bottom line in the future?
…so really that means that if the bar’s not moving, then all of the ZOS glazers who think this is great should be the ones logging onto the underperforming servers to push them along, because if it goes too long and the players start leaving and Microsoft pulls the plug… well, then your game ends too, no matter how much fun you’re having with the empty grind.

And all of that is irrelevant. Nobody's contesting how poorly planned and designed the WW event is. Players have two options.. push the bar, or sit back and wait.

peacenote wrote: »

For the question asked in the topic of the thread, I think that's answered in this article. Specifically the text (emphasis mine): Unlike the other phases, which last a variable length of time depending on player successes and mobilization, the third phase lasts one week from when the Writhing Fortress is first completed on a given server, bringing the event to a close after that period. This is your chance to bring down the Writhing Wall for good (and to earn a unique title!), so be ready to dive in when it becomes available.

So yes, it would seem that, regardless of whether it's fixed/planned progress intended to drum up the feeling of competition between the servers, or a real and accurate counter of progress in an attempt to create competition between the servers (I'm not going to debate which it might be, here), PCNA's week of Phase 3, like all of the other servers, launches not on a specific date but when that server finishes Phase 2. Which means if PCNA is last, it will indeed be the only server in Phase 2 until it reaches Phase 3 while the others may have already advanced.

code65536 wrote: »

Every day, I do one siege camp, which takes care of both the camp quest and the souls quest (tip: if you do a heavy attack you'll get way more souls and you'll always get all 15 souls from a single camp), and then I do one crafting quest. And I'm done with the event for the day. 5-10 minutes is all it takes.

This is what I do, too. I honestly thought that the progress meters would have been balanced on an assumption that most current active players on the server will do one set of the quests per day, maybe with a little inflation built in so that incredibly enthusiastic players couldn't push progress too quickly if they repeat the quests or do them on multiple characters.

The thing about all of the events with progress meters is I just can't imagine they will ever fail. The only event where I was mildly motivated to do extra was the one where you picked an outcome and which reward we received depended on what the community chose more often. I now can't remember the details of what the rewards were, but I do remember wanting to "help" the reward that I felt was more interesting.

Anyway, I haven't felt this event has been a grind, and I'm not worried about all of the servers eventually advancing to Phase 3. I know they will, even PCNA. And I guess I play too much group content because I'm also not concerned about how long it takes to unlock the rest of Solstice. It's not a limited time season pass, so once unlocked, I have until the game shuts down to explore that content, so I'm in no rush. I'm at least one area behind already. I understand others might feel differently, but just putting another perspective out there.

kevkj wrote: »

Personally, I have chosen to aid the Worm Cult in evading the sanctions placed upon them by the Stirk Fellowship. I have been diverting my daily crafted war supplies to the other side of the Writhing Wall through third party merchants in Murkmire. I don't think it's fair to completely evict cult members and daedra from the great island of Solstice. Many of them have made a home on the island, and what the Stirk Fellowship intends to do contravenes the terms set out by the Chalman Accords of 2E 583. After all the former Lead Steward of Tamriel once said to us, "You belong" and I believe that extends to non player characters as well. As Soul Shriven, is it really our place to aid one Daedric worshipping faction against another (Meridia vs Molag Bal)? The slowed progress of the siege on PC NA is very encouraging to me, an inspiring reminder that America is the Land of the Free unlike other parts of the world. Together, I believe PC NA-ians can come together to rally against this unjust siege; yet another imperialist act by the Stirk Fellowship leaders (#FreeElsweyr #FreeOrsinium #FreeBlackMarsh). If we must sacrifice our access to Eastern Solstice then so be it! The ability to travel freely is a privilege and not a right which I think many of us forget. Our ancestors did not so frivolously soil the earth of various locales and were content to be born, live and die within an hour's walk. Will we really let our thirst for these so called "achievements" blind us to the injustice of the war we are fighting? I truly hope the Writhing Wall stands strong on PC NA for millennia to come.