I am enjoying the Writhing Fortress and want to see it Memorialized

SilverBride · November 16

I was frustrated with how long and tedious Phases 1 and 2 were, but Phase 3 has been fun! I have run the Writhing Fortress on 3 characters so far. The first time I was kind of lost but I am starting to figure out what is going on now and having a good time!

I really don't want to see it go away and would love if it was turned into a dungeon that tells the story of the wall and how the citizens of Tamriel banded together to bring it down. This way new players can see what happened before and others can have a memory of the event.

It deserves to be memorialized!

SummersetCitizen · November 16

I disagree.

Maitsukas · November 16

SummersetCitizen wrote: »

I disagree.

Can you elaborate on why the Writhing Fortress shouldn't remain permanent?

Grendalism · November 16

I’d just like the fortress to actually work!

TheDarkRuler · November 16

I think the fortress could become an instanced 12 player daily.
I hated the "zerg feeling" when it opened because you were just swarming the enemies 10 vs 1.

Erickson9610 · November 16

TheDarkRuler wrote: »

I think the fortress could become an instanced 12 player daily.
I hated the "zerg feeling" when it opened because you were just swarming the enemies 10 vs 1.

I'm in the opposite camp. I really liked seeing all those people doing the content at the same time.

Though, I don't think the Writhing Fortress should stay up. It'll outstay its welcome and few people would want to play it in the future. It's a shame that this content won't stick around, but I think it's for the better.

Danikat · November 16

I agree.

There is supposed to be some sort of replacement to ensure the story still makes sense after the event ends, but I'd really like the fortress to be kept too. It seems a shame that the one part of the event players are enjoying (when it works!) is up for the shortest amount of time and then removed from the game.

Sarannah · November 16

Don't think they could make adjustments to the fortress and keep it alive in PvE. Making it into a dungeon or trial would mean ZOS would have to remove the grand feeling it gives when running it. In my mind it would make more sense to change it into a large scale BG.

Just posted this in the feedback thread:

sarannah wrote:

-PvP: After the event, change the writhing fortress into a new 50 vs 50 PvP battleground(similar to alterac valley in that other mmo). Where one group has to defend the fortress, and another has to breach it by clearing the entire path to it and destroying the stone at the end(defenders win by capturing the attacker's flag at the start of the path). Defenders can portal to the action but always spawn back at the fortress and do have a respawn timer so the attackers have a small window to push forward. With some changes this would be perfect, many flags to capture/re-take, some midway spawn points for the attackers, portals to get to the action, linking the east and west sides to create one path to the fortress, change the siege stages somewhat into more player vs breaching environment, change the west bridges so players can create and destroy them depending on being attacker or defender, keep the mobs but do not let them respawn, remove the major PvE bosses, etc. In my mind this would make for a perfect new alterac valley type BG in ESO.

SilverBride · November 16

Sarannah wrote: »

Don't think they could make adjustments to the fortress and keep it alive in PvE. Making it into a dungeon or trial would mean ZOS would have to remove the grand feeling it gives when running it. In my mind it would make more sense to change it into a large scale BG.

I don't see how it would translate to a battleground. The wall event has nothing to do with the alliances battling each other, but rather with the citizens of Tamriel working together for a common cause. Also, many players do not PvP. I can't imagine how long it would take to fill a 50 vs 50 (100 players total) queue.

As for not wanting to lose the grand feeling when running in, they could have NPCs fighting Daedra in the background all around us to make the fight appear larger and more intense.

BergisMacBride · November 16

I’ve had a blast completing it on my different accounts/chars and learn something new each time. Only bugged once on the last boss when he went awol. Took about 10 minutes to convince everyone to suicide so he would reset, then it worked just fine.

The harvester boss got abit tedious after a few runs but otherwise it seemed well designed and structured.

I think keeping it around permanently in some form would cause it to grow old/stale and it would be empty most of the time. What I’d like to see is for ZOS to bring it back periodically as part of a zone or themed event with new rewards/achievements.

AzuraFan · November 16

Unless there's an absolutely amazing incentive to keep running it, the fortress would go the way of a lot of incursions and world bosses. Nobody will be doing it.

It could undergo a transformation to tone it down, but then it might not be as fun for those enjoying it. And again, if it requires grouping and there isn't a really good incentive to do it, nobody will be doing it. We've seen this time and time again, and I don't see why the fortress would be any different.

SilverBride · November 16

All content is used less as newer content is introduced. That's why I think a dungeon, rather than a trial would be better because it would require less players.

They could incentivize it by adding set pieces or leads etc. like they do with other dungeons.

Corporea · November 16

I'd like to give a shout out to the team responsible for the Fortress. I loved it. I was confused at first when I entered one of the bugged instances, but once I got in a new one, it was truly epic and a lot of fun. I appreciated seeing a lot of different mechanics from trials, cyrodill and arenas. I though it really pulled many elements together and made them feel fresh. So, thanks! I had a blast!

Syldras · November 16

They should have it return as part of an event at least. They do those zone events all the time, so why shouldn't it reopen if there's another Solstice event some day?

The only thing they need to do is fixing the bugs, and somehow ensure that all people get to experience more or less the whole thing - no way to run into it when the side bosses are already killed and only the final boss is left. Maybe have a countdown for it to start, every full hour or so? They already have a countdown thing implemented in game, the wait between phase 2 and 3 showed that.

Maythor · November 16

I have yet to actually play a full instance or one without having various bugged bosses in it. Seems my RNG does not reach to seeing this content fully before it goes away forever, so the only response I'd give is that I'd like it to stick about so that it can be fixed so I can actually get what I paid for!

Gabriel_H · November 16

SilverBride wrote: »

All content is used less as newer content is introduced. That's why I think a dungeon, rather than a trial would be better because it would require less players.

They could incentivize it by adding set pieces or leads etc. like they do with other dungeons.

Would make an excellent 4-man. Tank to hold the adds, and two DDs each on one type of ballista, and healer saving everyone.

Adds would need a significant power boost though, as they would do ~0 dmg to a fully kitted tank as is.

Sarannah · November 16

SilverBride wrote: »

Sarannah wrote: »

Don't think they could make adjustments to the fortress and keep it alive in PvE. Making it into a dungeon or trial would mean ZOS would have to remove the grand feeling it gives when running it. In my mind it would make more sense to change it into a large scale BG.

I don't see how it would translate to a battleground. The wall event has nothing to do with the alliances battling each other, but rather with the citizens of Tamriel working together for a common cause. Also, many players do not PvP. I can't imagine how long it would take to fill a 50 vs 50 (100 players total) queue.

As for not wanting to lose the grand feeling when running in, they could have NPCs fighting Daedra in the background all around us to make the fight appear larger and more intense.

I'm not a PvPer either, but the entire zone how large it is and how it is set up screams battleground to me. Can you imagine the fun and chaos of 50 vs 50 players battling it out in the floating islands area... grappling around, fighting everywhere. Or bridge fights where one side builds a bridge and the other side overwhelms them and destroys the bridge while some players are still battling on there. Even to me as a PvE'er something like this sounds fun! (Getting 100 players to go into such an instance might be an issue, or maybe players will love this making it easy to fill up. In that other game, players loved something like this!)

Anyways, just an idea! But the writhing fortress zone itself should stay in the game, but I personally would not like it if this area lost the feeling of grandeur around it. Not to mention, PvPers have wanted something new for a long time!

Gabriel_H · November 16

Sarannah wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

Sarannah wrote: »

Don't think they could make adjustments to the fortress and keep it alive in PvE. Making it into a dungeon or trial would mean ZOS would have to remove the grand feeling it gives when running it. In my mind it would make more sense to change it into a large scale BG.

I don't see how it would translate to a battleground. The wall event has nothing to do with the alliances battling each other, but rather with the citizens of Tamriel working together for a common cause. Also, many players do not PvP. I can't imagine how long it would take to fill a 50 vs 50 (100 players total) queue.

As for not wanting to lose the grand feeling when running in, they could have NPCs fighting Daedra in the background all around us to make the fight appear larger and more intense.

I'm not a PvPer either, but the entire zone how large it is and how it is set up screams battleground to me. Can you imagine the fun and chaos of 50 vs 50 players battling it out in the floating islands area... grappling around, fighting everywhere. Or bridge fights where one side builds a bridge and the other side overwhelms them and destroys the bridge while some players are still battling on there. Even to me as a PvE'er something like this sounds fun! (Getting 100 players to go into such an instance might be an issue, or maybe players will love this making it easy to fill up. In that other game, players loved something like this!)

Anyways, just an idea! But the writhing fortress zone itself should stay in the game, but I personally would not like it if this area lost the feeling of grandeur around it. Not to mention, PvPers have wanted something new for a long time!

Why choose?! They could do a PvE one, a PvP one and keep the origial. Just give them all different entrances - or a shared entrance with an additonal starting room with 3 doors.

SilverBride · November 16

It may also make a fun arena, but my favorite idea is still a dungeon.

colossalvoids · November 16

Whilst I don't see a point in removing it (though it should be heavily nerfed as with time it would become a usual wasteland) all the praise that the third phase is getting seems like just an effect of the previous phases being abysmally bad experiences, so people are fine and happy with literally anything different from it, also depending if they joined mid encounter or were lucky enough to get a fresh instance without any issues the first try. Was aware of the issues so fished for good one myself the first time but still a bit puzzled what's new people have experienced there which isn't available anywhere else in the game. Huge piles of players were at the dragon hunt event, sieges are an every day endeavour in Cyro and PvE-wise present in the same exact fashion in Lep Seclusa dungeon, the lava-crossing came from Vateshran solo arena, etc. Overall it's okay, but that's a bit of a stretch to call it something innovative or grand.

If that thing took a lot of development time and resources I'd be rather concerned about the future of dungeons, arenas and trials we'll be getting next.

Necrotech_Master · November 16

yeah i would say the writhing fortress overall was the best part of the entire wall event, the first 2 phases honestly we could have done without, or just added them as normal dailies to the zone

xR3ACTORx · November 16

Sarannah wrote: »

Don't think they could make adjustments to the fortress and keep it alive in PvE. Making it into a dungeon or trial would mean ZOS would have to remove the grand feeling it gives when running it. In my mind it would make more sense to change it into a large scale BG.

Just posted this in the feedback thread:

sarannah wrote:

-PvP: After the event, change the writhing fortress into a new 50 vs 50 PvP battleground(similar to alterac valley in that other mmo). Where one group has to defend the fortress, and another has to breach it by clearing the entire path to it and destroying the stone at the end(defenders win by capturing the attacker's flag at the start of the path). Defenders can portal to the action but always spawn back at the fortress and do have a respawn timer so the attackers have a small window to push forward. With some changes this would be perfect, many flags to capture/re-take, some midway spawn points for the attackers, portals to get to the action, linking the east and west sides to create one path to the fortress, change the siege stages somewhat into more player vs breaching environment, change the west bridges so players can create and destroy them depending on being attacker or defender, keep the mobs but do not let them respawn, remove the major PvE bosses, etc. In my mind this would make for a perfect new alterac valley type BG in ESO.

To be honest getting 100 players into pvp these days seems like a challenge.

SeaGtGruff · November 16

I know I'm in the minority on this, but I actually enjoyed Phases 1 and 2, and am still enjoying those quests-- although I'm not doing 24 of them a day on any characters anymore.

I think the invasions at the siege camps are pretty fun-- maybe not as much fun to try to solo, especially after Phase 2 started and the bosses were apparently given steroids, but fun nonetheless.

My first experience with Phase 3 was disappointing and confusing, although I think my confusion was largely due to all of the instances I got into being bugged in one way or another.

My second experience-- which was on a different server (PCNA)-- went smoothly from the get-go, so it was a lot more fun for me, but I still felt pretty clueless about much of what was happening.

I went into my third experience-- back on PCEU-- with high hopes based on my positive experience on PCNA, but it ended up being impossible to find a working instance, and after an hour or more of no luck, I gave up so I could go do the things I enjoy doing in the game. But I tried again later that day and everything went smoothly, which was a lot of fun.

I've run the Writhing Fortress two more times-- a total of three times on each server-- and so far have encountered no more bugged instances. I'm getting to see and experience much more of the action, since there are places where you can go one way or another and participate in different fights. It's also nice to go in again having figured out things you hadn't understood in previous run-throughs.

As for the idea of keeping it in the game, I'm divided about that. Part of me thinks it might get old pretty fast and abandoned by a lot of players, but another part thinks it might be fun to do run-throughs every now and then. Much of the design is very simple, such as firing ballistae at a giant boss, as opposed to fights that a lot of "end-game" vet players might consider as interesting enough to do on a semi-regular basis. The primary attraction if it right now seems to be that it (supposedly) isn't going to be available anymore after a week, so players are wanting to experience it while they can, and get all of the rewards from it. (I have been getting great drop rates for the Shards of Writhing Bone from the chests that appear after killing the three bosses, and was able to finish earning the caltrops skill style, so I do feel like the rewards are good in that respect.)

Plus, it was billed as a one-time event, so making it a permanent addition to the game might elicit a lot of skepticism and complaints from some players.

SilverBride · November 17

I don't want it permanent as it is now. It would be too difficult to get enough players together to complete and takes about 45 minutes to run through. But I would like to see it used in some manner as a memory of the experience and to preserve the story.

BardokRedSnow · November 17

Seems like a lot of long time fans are afraid of something different, whereas other fans are thirsty for zos to try new things.

The writhing fortress was an excellent example of this, and phases 1-2 were not, they were awful, most everyone agrees.

Judging from the poll I made in another thread, if it wasn't for that dogwater event, people would have overall enjoyed Solstice content. I did, after phase 3, the quests were very fun and well written, even in the main quest.

Writhing Fortress and beyond is pretty much when I finally started having fun and being more optimistic. I agree whoever is designing the events for eso though needs to be replaced or told to at the very least add better loot... its horrendously bad game design and this was probably the worst event Ive seen in a while, especially with blocking the rest of the A1 content in the game.

I agree that they honestly need to go back to their chapter style format, nothing was wrong with it. Can tweak it, augment it, but if they can't make events fun from beginning to end, they shouldn't tie them in with dlc ever again.

Recent · November 17

Got it finally

SilverBride · November 17

@Recent I just ignored my quest journal and followed the group around to all the objectives. At the very end there is an item we need to click and the screen goes white. Then there is a portal that takes us back to the camp to turn it in and use the lens to destroy the wall.

SilverBride · November 17

Recent wrote: »

Got it finally

Awesome!

StihlReign · November 17

Yeah the Fortress is awesome, lotta fun, will be nice to run it a few more times after it's repped. Since it's going away I hope it comes back periodically bigger and better each time. The chaos was good, great learning curve, good mechanics. Pathing could use some improvement with clearer prompts but overall very good. Beautiful interior design.

Looking at the updated map, an event stretching from the Central Siege camp to Gristmong Hold...if the devs could pack that valley with NPC swarms—giving us one crazy battle to break through...

They could really load that valley full of npc hordes and have us fight our way in...starting at the Central Siege camp, through the valley, through the camps, across the bridge and end at a port to the Fortress. Or just load the area with a lot more npc spawns...its a fun area.

I really like the Solstice map, the design is nice with a lot of depth and it has great transitions, beach to the mountains ftw. If the Fortress has to go, maybe some bosses could escape and become WWB throughout Solstice (for a chance at 16,000 Seals of Endeavors), that might be fun and would keep the zone heavily visited (maybe set some paths near the main camp for more chaos).

Not sure they'll keep it but it's fun and it has a lot of potential.

twisttop138 · November 17

Syldras wrote: »

They should have it return as part of an event at least. They do those zone events all the time, so why shouldn't it reopen if there's another Solstice event some day?

The only thing they need to do is fixing the bugs, and somehow ensure that all people get to experience more or less the whole thing - no way to run into it when the side bosses are already killed and only the final boss is left. Maybe have a countdown for it to start, every full hour or so? They already have a countdown thing implemented in game, the wait between phase 2 and 3 showed that.

I agree it should return maybe for an event next year (a much shorter, better event) I'm very disappointed it was not a private instance trial esque thing but this way more people get to experience it.

I thought about it though. Zos never does a one and done. They are the king of reskins. Don't trip next year is the season of the waking flame! Where we will continue the epic story of the ambitions! The waking flame is back and sister celdina is cooking up trouble. Travel to a new secret pocket plane of oblivion that looks exactly like fargrave but totally isn't. Nobody knows about this place, like no one. Except all the people that live here. And the redguard cultural exchange. Dragon is up to his old tricks again and boy is he hot under the collar. There's a gigantic wall made of fire separating the two halves of the island..eherm..I mean plane of oblivion. Made up of soul fire crystals. You must gather the stirk fellowship for one last ride as you build siege camps and build a ladder to burn through the burning wall. Once through you'll attack a fortress. The burning fortress. Take that down and you get access to the other half of the island...oh man ...plane of oblivion.

Cut me some slack guys I'm just the intern.

Manager claps. See story team. This is how it's done, you're not an intern anymore. You're head of content. And bug fixes.

Elvenheart · November 17

twisttop138 wrote: »

Syldras wrote: »

They should have it return as part of an event at least. They do those zone events all the time, so why shouldn't it reopen if there's another Solstice event some day?

The only thing they need to do is fixing the bugs, and somehow ensure that all people get to experience more or less the whole thing - no way to run into it when the side bosses are already killed and only the final boss is left. Maybe have a countdown for it to start, every full hour or so? They already have a countdown thing implemented in game, the wait between phase 2 and 3 showed that.

Nobody knows about this place, like no one. Except all the people that live here. And the redguard cultural exchange.

Hehehehehe 😂