Writhing Wall Event – Consolidated Messaging Thread

Sarannah · November 15

The writhing fortress was a lot of fun and is really cool. Enemies to kill everywhere, the loot chests dropping the same loot as siege camps, the major bosses. Fights were a bit chaotic with all the siege stages, but still very fun!

I can see why this writhing fortress public dungeon is going to be removed and why it has such a tight time window to complete, as with too few players this would be a pain to complete after the event.

Takes a bit of time to figure out what is happening and what is going on, which is worth it!

PS: Ran the fortress three times. The first time was a bugged instance of the west boss(east boss was already down), but that did give me the time to see what is going on and how the instance works. The second and third runs were without issues and I got to see all the bosses(east on the first working run, west on the second working run).
PPS: For those who have issues with navigation, check the map, use the blue portals, and follow the roads! This will usually point you to where you need to go.

Varana · November 15

And then again here:

Keep the Fortress open after the event.

Don't go through with this absurdly stupid idea of removing content from the game for no discernible reason whatsoever.

Malyore · November 16

Varana wrote: »

And then again here:

Keep the Fortress open after the event.

Don't go through with this absurdly stupid idea of removing content from the game for no discernible reason whatsoever.

I've been taking a break from ESO for a few months. I did not buy the solstice chapter at all, as I did not have confidence or fun from ESOs recent chapters.

And I'm glad I didn't buy it. It would suck to pay money for game content, to then have that game content removed. I'm keeping away from this one.

Any time I think about coming back to ESO– due solely to missing my character– I like to hop on the forums to see how poorly things are going in the game. Makes me a lot more comfortable staying away. With people saying the fortress is fun, it sounds a little intriguing... but there's no way I would buy the entire chapter to participate in to-be cut content for less than a week.

Eternity_Was · November 16

Hey, does anyone know how to get the barrier buster achievement shown on the event overview? I have the other three showing complete (caltrops, pet, and whatever the fourth on was).

I finished the helping skodo quest, completed the fortress and turned it in back at the camp and it’s no longer in my journal under quests. The barrier buster achievement and momento still shows unachieved.

AzuraFan · November 16

Eternity_Was wrote: »

Hey, does anyone know how to get the barrier buster achievement shown on the event overview? I have the other three showing complete (caltrops, pet, and whatever the fourth on was).

I finished the helping skodo quest, completed the fortress and turned it in back at the camp and it’s no longer in my journal under quests. The barrier buster achievement and momento still shows unachieved.

Not sure if this is it, but did you turn in the story quest to Prince Azah?

Blood_again · November 16

After playing all 3 parts of the event, I want more things like that. But there were cons.

+ Daily quests fit for at least 2 activities (crafting and killing mobs) were good.
+ Phase two surprised crafters with a bit more variety, and that was good too.
+ I especially love the variety of locations available for kill-n-loot quests. Being able to do every quest in a new zone by choice has made it way better than doing the New Life event quests for example.
+ Changes in lens effects were just necessary, and they were on place. Watching that something is slightly changes was a special kind of slow fun

- 40+ days was grindy, really grindy. I know, it is about letting all the players participate, but well it was close to exhausting.
- Having haj mota parts instead of bone shards in box loot is irritating. It should've been cut by the achievement (collected haj mota - no parts of it until the caltrops style is collected) or divided among quests (lenz give shards, mats give mota for example), but not like that. Just check the prices of bones and mota parts on guild traders to see the difference in amount supplied.
- Blocking the Undaunted (Bolgrul) quests with daedra resp is a wrong solution. Some new chapter event shouldn't block a daily routine for non-participating players for a month. It is totally wrong. At least make the daedra resp 1 of 2 times, so players could kill their delve boss after 2-3 attempts, but don't block the progress. If you want to block it, then block the Bolgrul too, make him say that all the Undaunted went to Stirk or whatever. The current way is not a solution but a gameplay bug.
-/+ Souls and mats drop for daily quest was horrible at start. Thank you for fixing it on fly.

+ Siege camps mechanic is nice. It distributes the players on the first step, if there are too many participants, and concentrates them on the final step. At the same time, it allows killing mobs group by group doing it solo without being overwhelmed. It is a great solution after W-Skyrim world event problems. Thank you!
+ Styles, recipes etc in the list of world event rewards are cool.
+ Bosses are challenging but doable. I was glad to see good old friends from the imperial sewers among the besiegers. Has that two-hand swordsman resigned? I miss him

+ Two bosses in the central camp is an interesting solution. I'm not sure if it is a good idea for after-event rotation, but I like it at the moment.
- Souls drop from the camp mobs is still unobvious or buggy. I can obtain zero souls from 4 waves I killed solo, but if I manage to use that shred pinion I will have souls from mobs I didn't even touch (I'm not in a group).

+ Fortress encounters are great. I wish to run that kind of trial for 12 players. Shoot a boss with ballistas, split the group to open the way to each other, bring ballista ammo for friend... That was cool! Please make it a real trial.
+ While I barely like the coldharbour style, the design of the fortress is nice. Please pass my love to the designers of the final chamber after the titan battle. Those Giger-like vibes warmed the oldman's heart

+ The connection between the low and high paths that allows players to jump down or jump up is a great solution. That allows the instance to be soloable (if somebody has to), which is good.
+ I'm glad to see Vateshran mechanics back in the game. Maelstrom ones in the dungeon... Now this... Sweet nostalgia. Thank you!
- Joining the run in the middle is just painful. Yes, it enforces those few who started it in a small amount... but it makes the full run like just a lucky coincidence. It is not fair. Please give me an option to choose between a full run or joining in the middle maybe?
- It is buggy. At least two places have bugs that block the progress. Yes, I know it is very dynamic, and so many players, and so on. But please test it. I jumped in tens of instances during the day and about a half times I ended up in the bugged ones. Some players just sit there and moan in a zone in despair. There is no such thing that kills the fun more than a blocking progress bug.
- The protection ball mechanic is not explained well enough. You can see the Vateshran veterans from the start, yes. But many players just avoid the plasm or die there with no clue how to manage it. I don't know a good way to do it: make an npc eat those red berries or something else. Just a fact - it is not clear enough for players. Not like shoot-n-pull.

+ Stirk quests as a way to participate aside of Solstice - it is just great. Well, it is even more grindy than Solstice. You can not see any progress but the progress bar on the web page. Anyway, players got their quests, their loot and their fun. It is way better than any previous chapter event.
- Stirk players kill two delve-boss-difficulty mobs and get the crown. Wait, what?! We worked on ballistas till our palms bled, my friends have fallen dead to the lake of dirty plasm, we fought for each meter of that fortress against countless daedra to get this crown! Now that guy got the same for delve-like quest. Omg!

-/+ Ghishzor, who is it? I heard something about it, but didn't meet it neither in besieged camps nor in the fortress. Probably it is some kind of scary tale for the magical Argonians? Jokes off, really, this boss is totally cut from the event. While the battle was fun, the boss as it is should've been integrated better.

M0ntie · November 16

I finally got to defeat the wall, after first getting a bugged instance that was stuck at 7%. This time I got to defeat the side sections. It was great! The mechanics were fun, the scenery is awesome.
Such a shame that ZoS has to shoot themselves in the foot by such buggy content, and then not having staff working who can fix the bugged instances.
And please make the drop rate for the caltrops effect higher!

Emeratis · November 16

Wanted to wait til the wall was overall done to give my feedback so here it is.

For positive stuff I don't have much but I still want to put out that I like the idea of zos trying new things and shaking things up, even if those things don't succeed. Trying new things keeps the game from getting stale, even if some of those things flop. The Writhing Fortress part of the event is beautiful and interesting overall and the part of this I enjoyed the most (second place going to free extra craft loot a day). While I did not like the execution, I also think there is room for multiphase events in eso in the future if they are done differently and I would not mind seeing them (could even test the waters for giving zones proper weather/seasonal systems down the line and making it feel more lived in?).

Now for the negative, which some has been said by others and some has not. Gonna break it into parts/pain points:

Expectations vs Reality and Flawed Design-I don't know if the people who made the event are out of touch with the community or miscommunicated, but this event was extremely hyped up and did not deliver, but also seemed to do things that players have either explicitly or implicitly expressed they did not want to see in game for years.I know other mmos have them, but part of the appeal of eso for me is that the content is always there to play at your pace story/lore wise. I can take a break for a month or a year like I have in the past and return with everything waiting for me to continue. I specifically play eso over other mmos because I don't like gated exclusive content and the like. Similarly, ESO has had a strong marketing of #ESOFAM for years and a focus on community and togetherness. All prior fall events were collaborative, but this one was suddenly competitive. It feels like whoever was pushing this was either testing the waters on future things (which if so, most of us don't want these, it's not that kind of game) or did not understand these would go poorly. It did not help early frustrations on design that the race seemed heavily skewed and was adjusted multiple times to achieve certain results in a way that made it feel unfair/meaningless on who did what first.
Reward vs Punishment-The event's reward structure missed the mark. u48 coming along and having nothing to do patch day vs the usual patch day account management and a handful of leads felt very bad. Many players, myself included, felt like we couldn't play the content we paid for because of this event. It did not help that most of the daily event quests were buggy or felt like chores, making the wait for Eastern Solstice feel more bitter. I had a lot of friends and guildies comment on burnout and frustration with the event boxes as per point one, they were playing the Writhing Wall like every event prior to it in recent history that has a specific system of loot expectation and not getting the results they had come to know.
Bugs-I know bugs are inevitable, but a limited event will fall under far more scrutiny and this event had many unacceptable bugs for limited content. From fetch quest droprate to entire instances having mobs disappearing, these are not nearly as funny or acceptable when the content is on a time limit or gating progress. I also am angry about two bugs in particular that unlike the more popular ones got no ZOS feedback. We asked you multiple times in multiple threads about Watcher Zvarbin and Scamp Champion Doov's bugged spawning with no answer. We also have had multiple issues with lorebooks tied to this event and one was fixed if you abandoned the quest and restarted it while the other seems to be unobtainable currently by anyone who has the seasonal pass. We already have expressed frustration with books that have been bugged for years in multiple threads and the fact these books are tied to limited event quests is extra frustrating. I wanted to focus on these two bugs because I did not want to retread ground with other posters but also to say some bugs have been ignored entirely where even a word of "we're aware" would have been nice. I also think especially because it's temporary, the Writhing Wall being as buggy as it is for so many is a massive problem.
Clarity-This event's information and communication has sometimes been confusing and contradictory. As I stated above, there were things not ever acknowledged, there has been some general confusion on how the event operates and what is permanent vs temporary, and other general confusion. While zos has gotten better at communicating than in prior years, they also need to continue to work a ton on communication and transparency. This event, by design or by bugs or by overhyping or a few other things has broken a lot of people's trust. Trust is something that needs to be built up. As I've come to the forums to check on bugs/info for the Writhing Wall and from talking to friends and guildies, a lot of people are wary about next year's content due to how poorly this event landed. It would be appreciated to have at least some sort of post-wall comment from zos given how this event landed and how it ended up going for a lot of people. I know some people enjoyed the event but most I personally saw did not, and while at times I saw the vision, I too did not find this event overly enjoyable.

Again, didn't want it to be super negative but there were a few things I needed to get off my chest about this event.

spartaxoxo · November 16

I managed to get into a mostly fresh instance of the Writhing Wall. It is one of the coolest things I have ever done in ESO. I'm so happy that I got to do it but annoyed others may not be able to. And also. I couldn't help but think....why are you guys taking away one of the coolest and most innovative things you've done in years???? 1 week that's shortened by the bugs is not enough time with this super fun public dungeon. I hope it's brought back someday even if you nerf it a little and remove the title just to keep the original title exclusive. Just let us do this again someday. It's so cool!

redlink1979 · November 16

Please fix PS EU - the infernium doesn't goes to the gate making it impossible to reach the boss (left side)

Sarannah · November 16

Some other things I have been thinking about:
-Reduce the siege camps spawns back to one, as barely anyone is doing them anymore.

-Add more loot chests in the writhing fortress, for all of the minor victories/checkpoints. To make it more rewarding to keep running the fortress.

-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.

Sol_1983 · November 16

This whole Wall event felt like a fever dream to me, as if I’d stepped into this ugly, boring, alternate version of ESO built on perpetual grinding, players competing against each other, and… a crown as the ultimate reward.

I remember when ESO was about questing, lore, exploring the world, and running fun group content. It really felt like an Elder Scrolls game, and I’m pretty sure that’s what drew a whole generation of players to ESO in the first place. But now it seems that ZOS (Microsoft) is changing that essence, turning it into something that will eventually kill the game.

If this is what ESO is going to look like moving forward, I won’t be buying any more content passes. Yikes.

LalMirchi · November 16

The concept of creating similar events like The Writhing Fortress as an occasional mass-event is great, minus the buggy implementation.

Maythor · November 16

I've not managed to see the whole of the Fortress fight, not sure if I have the motivation to keep trying.

I've seen multiple bugged and borked and empty instances and seen about half of the right hand side fighting .. apart from that I've only really seen the final boss fight, and had the joy of trying to get people to die to restart it .. every single time I've seen it!

I appreciate people saying it's fun, but it seems like such a slog to even try to see the place in action.

Threemoons · November 17

Finished the questline and got the crown, but no "Breach the Wall" (or whatever it is) achievement? Bugged? EDIT re-did it but quest was gone from journal, went into castle, NO memento or achievement. Gah.

sleepy_worm · November 17

Why was this rollout so buggy? I expect a certain amount of this with any ESO content drop, but Eastern Solstice/Writhing Wall felt different.

L1re · November 17

Phase 1-2 were an absolute nightmare. Super grindy, crap rewards, super static. No reason to pay money for anything like that.

I am also super confused why the wall is down after I did the zone quest today, where you're investigating the north and south pass. I thought the writhing fortress was supposed to take the wall down? Confusing story design.

Then I went into the writhing fortress, which was honestly the most frustrated I have ever gotten with ESO in 5 years of playing and >2000h. I was thrown into the middle of an already ongoing run. On top of that the infernum was bugged and I had NO idea what the f was going on and what I was supposed to do... I was SO MAD at ZOS for putting something so incredibly buggy out after such a terrible chapter (phase 1 and 2). Never paying money again for something like that.

The 2nd run of the fortress was ok. I got to start from the beginning, but still have no idea what really progressed some of the steps on the mission.
The idea of working together as a bigger group felt good, I liked that. The ballistas we're bugged at times though. Like always, there was no desirable in game reward for finishing it.
On top of that I can't finish the mission. The quest marker says I'm supposed to meet someone at the camp, but there's no one.

I would give the writhing fortress a 4 out of 10, the whole event an 2/10 and the likelihood of paying for another chapter after this is 0/10 (after I have preordered every single chapter for the last 5 years). Sorry ZOS, That was simply very poorly executed and you lost a loyal customer.

SpiritKitten · November 17

L1re wrote: »

Like always, there was no desirable in game reward for finishing it.
On top of that I can't finish the mission. The quest marker says I'm supposed to meet someone at the camp, but there's no one.

There's two chests.

daim · November 17

AzuraFan wrote: »

Eternity_Was wrote: »

Hey, does anyone know how to get the barrier buster achievement shown on the event overview? I have the other three showing complete (caltrops, pet, and whatever the fourth on was).

I finished the helping skodo quest, completed the fortress and turned it in back at the camp and it’s no longer in my journal under quests. The barrier buster achievement and momento still shows unachieved.

Not sure if this is it, but did you turn in the story quest to Prince Azah?

I'm sure this is answered somewhere but because ESO forum search is what it is I'm asking:
If I don't do the main quest but have completed "Helping the war effort" and wall public dungeon event (and got the crown as a reward) - can I complete the main quest after the event and get the Barrier Buster achievement done ?

Somewhere it was said the main quest can be done after the event but I'm not sure if it's official.
It's all so very confusing.

wolfie1.0. · November 17

Regarding the phase 3 Fortress....

First time in...

No mobs on one entire side, got to other side and players were mostly through the second boss? No idea.

Got to final boss thing and its just fight endless mobs while others spam siege...

Felt like a zerg pvp run in Cyrodiil...

My feedback regarding the fortress. Honestly it should be a more controlled instance. I can see how its somewhere between a trial and normal public dungeon but, like it has the worst aspects of both. You need a group to complete it, but you can join in and miss 99% of what's happening and still get credit....

I dont feel like I EARNED the title on both accounts I can get it on. and that bugs me. And with AWA in play the ONLY way I feel like I can actully do that is if I drop another $50 on a season pass on another account within the next few days....

And in all honesty, its just not worth it.

CamrynDarkstone · November 17

I did the Writhing Fortress and the Journal says "return to the Fellowship Camp and talk to Skordo." But he doesn't appear where his quest marker says he is. In another thread I read that there is a workaround involving dropping a quest, but I do not have that quest so I cannot drop it. What now?

Prince Azah is also not where his quest marker says he is for "The Deep Tombs of Xul-Haj." Apparently I am stuck on both quests.

LootAllTheStuff · November 17

CamrynDarkstone wrote: »

I did the Writhing Fortress and the Journal says "return to the Fellowship Camp and talk to Skordo." But he doesn't appear where his quest marker says he is. In another thread I read that there is a workaround involving dropping a quest, but I do not have that quest so I cannot drop it. What now?

Prince Azah is also not where his quest marker says he is for "The Deep Tombs of Xul-Haj." Apparently I am stuck on both quests.

Try again after the hotfix is in place?
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/684144/writhing-wall-event-hotfixes#latest

blktauna · November 17

Prince Azah is for those who did the zone quest.

if it doesn't finish, try with an alt toon.

CamrynDarkstone · November 17

CamrynDarkstone wrote: »

Prince Azah is also not where his quest marker says he is for "The Deep Tombs of Xul-Haj." Apparently I am stuck on both quests.

Yes! Skordo did appear after the hotfix, thanks! ...However, Prince Azah still is not where his quest marker says he is.

DenverRalphy · November 17

CamrynDarkstone wrote: »

CamrynDarkstone wrote: »

Prince Azah is also not where his quest marker says he is for "The Deep Tombs of Xul-Haj." Apparently I am stuck on both quests.

Yes! Skordo did appear after the hotfix, thanks! ...However, Prince Azah still is not where his quest marker says he is.

@CamrynDarkstone

Yeah, the questmarker for that one is odd, as it has you running right for him. But the moment you get to the camp it's telling you to go, when the objective changes to "talk to Prince Azah" the questmarker suddenly moves to a completely incorrect location. @Jaimeh posted a comment in the following link that has a screenshot of where you need to go to find him.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8392366/#Comment_8392366

CamrynDarkstone · November 17

DenverRalphy wrote: »

CamrynDarkstone wrote: »

CamrynDarkstone wrote: »

Prince Azah is also not where his quest marker says he is for "The Deep Tombs of Xul-Haj." Apparently I am stuck on both quests.

Yes! Skordo did appear after the hotfix, thanks! ...However, Prince Azah still is not where his quest marker says he is.

@CamrynDarkstone

Yeah, the questmarker for that one is odd, as it has you running right for him. But the moment you get to the camp it's telling you to go, when the objective changes to "talk to Prince Azah" the questmarker suddenly moves to a completely incorrect location. @Jaimeh posted a comment in the following link that has a screenshot of where you need to go to find him.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8392366/#Comment_8392366

Yes! That worked. Thank you!

ZOS_JessicaFolsom · November 18

Hello! We've posted an update here for everyone, and wanted to note it here as well in our consolidated messaging thread. Thanks!

spartaxoxo · November 18

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hello! We've posted an update here for everyone, and wanted to note it here as well in our consolidated messaging thread. Thanks!

Since you'll be unable to extend the event (for now), can you please confirm the end date/time for each server since they're all different? Does the time that we got the message about how the wall would start in 19 hours count against our 7 days or is it 7 days from when it started?

DenverRalphy · November 18

spartaxoxo wrote: »

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hello! We've posted an update here for everyone, and wanted to note it here as well in our consolidated messaging thread. Thanks!

Since you'll be unable to extend the event (for now), can you please confirm the end date/time for each server since they're all different? Does the time that we got the message about how the wall would start in 19 hours count against our 7 days or is it 7 days from when it started?

It's supposed to be 7 days from the moment it was completed for the first time.

As well, there's an in game timer. You can see it when viewing solstice on the map..

spartaxoxo · November 18

DenverRalphy wrote: »

spartaxoxo wrote: »

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hello! We've posted an update here for everyone, and wanted to note it here as well in our consolidated messaging thread. Thanks!

Since you'll be unable to extend the event (for now), can you please confirm the end date/time for each server since they're all different? Does the time that we got the message about how the wall would start in 19 hours count against our 7 days or is it 7 days from when it started?

It's supposed to be 7 days from the moment it was completed for the first time.

As well, there's an in game timer. You can see it when viewing solstice on the map..

Did not know that! Thanks 🙏🏿