ESO PTS Update

ZOS_JessicaFolsom · January 8

Hi everyone! Following our ESO 2026 Reveal, we’d like to share with you how the PTS – and your valuable participation – will continue to play an integral role in ESO’s future.

What We Heard from You
Last September, we sent out a PTS survey with the goal of getting some additional data on how our players engage with the ESO PTS, motivations, and where there are opportunities to improve the PTS experience. These were the main takeaways:

61% of all survey respondents have taken part in the PTS at least once. Of the remaining participants, interest in participating was split with the main reasons for not participating being not understanding how to join, the PTS not being offered on consoles, and not wanting to spoil future content.
72% of all survey respondents cited getting to see new content early as the main motivating driver for PTS participation, with supporting the game and helping shape the future of the game following with 47% and 43% respectively.
Overall satisfaction with the current PTS experience is mixed, with 11% of respondents who have participated in the ESO PTS at least once feeling very satisfied, 46% feeling somewhat satisfied, 27% feeling somewhat dissatisfied, and 17% feeling very dissatisfied.
The main things survey respondents would like to see change with the PTS experience are more consistent dialogue with the dev team during the PTS (71%), and to see bugs identified on the PTS fixed/patched more quickly (38%).

We agree there are opportunities to improve the feedback loop and overall communication and transparency for our PTS participants. (And overall, too!)

Context on the PTS and How We Use Your Feedback
Before we get into next steps, we’d like to pause here and take a moment to explain how the PTS fits into our development pipeline for ESO. First and foremost, the purpose of the PTS is for us to get hands-on feedback and identify bugs in a live environment before the content goes out onto the live PC and console servers. It is our last stop in the development pipeline before launch. (We also recognize that our players would like a chance to give feedback on content earlier than that “last stop” – more on that a little later in this message.) This is a critical step, as some issues only surface in live environments.

The PTS also allows us to see how players will engage with content and gather valuable data in a live environment ahead of launch. For example, the Dungeons & Trials team will often watch livestreams of new dungeon and trials runs while the content is on the PTS. That real-time, hands-on experience feedback is critical.

As noted above, we also use the PTS to identify things that may be bugged or otherwise not working as intended or resulting in the experience we want. As issues/bugs come in, we prioritize them. We consider scope, impact, ease of the fix, and severity when assigning bug priority. The complexity of an issue and what is needed to resolve it is also a factor. If something is deemed a blocker for launch, for example, it gets higher priority for fixing than a low-impact visual bug. We always try to fix as many things as possible in each update and PTS and live incremental patches, but this is why some things may get fixed before others.

Feedback is another area where the PTS provides us with critical insights. Due to where the PTS falls within our development pipeline, there are limits to how quickly we can respond to feedback, as many of you have noted. There are risks associated with making significant pivots to address feedback that would require complex changes, especially a few weeks before launch. This type of feedback is still valuable; it also takes time to address in the right way, and changes are likely to come after launch or beyond, depending on the scope and complexity. We are exploring options to begin getting your feedback much earlier, ahead of the PTS.

We’ve been discussing how we can best address these challenges with both the timing, the longstanding community desire to be able to give feedback earlier, and the other survey takeaways from above. Below are some things we’ll be trying out, starting with the Update 49 PTS on January 12:

Begin increasing overall dev team presence on the PTS forums during PTS cycles, with a goal to engage, answer questions, and better acknowledge bug reports.
Provide a high-level summary of the main PTS topics we are seeing from you each week, and what we’re doing with them. (This is not intended to take the place of patch notes, and we’re aiming to do it on Thursdays or Fridays during PTS cycles.)
Check in with you after a major PTS cycle concludes to see how we’re doing with our PTS-specific communication, with a short survey.
While the PTS is generally the last step before launch, we are exploring opportunities to put some content on the PTS well before the scheduled release to allow for longer feedback cycles. This is what we did with Vengeance, for example. When we do this, we will let you know with messaging along the lines of “This content is for testing and not yet confirmed for release.”

Setting Expectations for How You Can Best Help Us
When it comes to how you can best help us on the ESO PTS, reporting bugs, letting us know about things that don’t seem to be working as intended, and providing hands-on feedback about how changes and new content feels will continue to be what we need most.

For reporting bugs, we recommend /bug in-game as the primary approach. A daily report of all /bug reports goes to the dev team leads and QA, and this guarantees it gets into our bug tracking pipeline. If you have screenshots or video to share, reporting the bug on the PTS forum is best since you cannot attach assets to in-game /bug reports.

Lastly, we are taking steps to share what we’re working on and are considering for the future of the game earlier than in years past. This is a fundamental shift for the studio, placing a renewed importance on communication, trust, and collaboration. You may have seen some of this shift begin to take shape late last year with things like our Vengeance Testing & Cyrodiil Community Update and Class Identity Refresh article. Moving forward, you’ll see more of this in the way of livestreams, articles, interviews, and more dedicated to sharing early plans and development updates with you, paired with opportunities to share your thoughts with us. Also, due to how things will be released over time with Seasons versus the previous four big quarterly drops, some upcoming content – like the Night Market – will be on the PTS farther ahead of its launch than before.

We believe all the above will begin moving us in the right direction and enact some meaningful positive changes with our ESO PTS experience and the overall dev-community feedback loop. It’s important to us that you feel like your time on the ESO PTS is valued, and that you understand what we’re doing with your feedback and bug reports. We’re trying some new things here and while this is just the start, that’s where your input and continued collaboration will help ensure we’re on the right track.

Thank you everyone. We look forward to forging the path ahead for ESO with you. If you have any questions about anything you read in this message, please drop them as a reply in this thread. We’ll answer as many as we can.

LunaFlora · January 9

this is a good post.
i am glad to read this,
especially that you will do
- PTS feedback summaries during cycles,
- more dev engagement,
- and a check-in afterwards,
it will help to feel like our feedback is seen and used.

only thing i still want to know, since updates will launch at the same time now,
will PlayStation and Xbox ever get to test on a dedicated testing server too?

Galagladi Dragonblood · January 9

Will be there still the seperation of NA being first and EU later?

tomofhyrule · January 9

...

...

wow.

I'm actually speechless.

This is a massive W

Kudos to the team. I was already quite excited to come on on Monday to check out the new DK stuff and see how it's going (there are already some things I'm noticing in the article posted, but I'm saving full thoughts until I can actually see and feel it), but this alone makes me think that PTS may actually have a purpose now

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Below are some things we’ll be trying out, starting with the Update 49 PTS on January 12:
Begin increasing overall dev team presence on the PTS forums during PTS cycles, with a goal to engage, answer questions, and better acknowledge bug reports.

Provide a high-level summary of the main PTS topics we are seeing from you each week, and what we’re doing with them. (This is not intended to take the place of patch notes, and we’re aiming to do it on Thursdays or Fridays during PTS cycles.)

Check in with you after a major PTS cycle concludes to see how we’re doing with our PTS-specific communication, with a short survey.

While the PTS is generally the last step before launch, we are exploring opportunities to put some content on the PTS well before the scheduled release to allow for longer feedback cycles. This is what we did with Vengeance, for example. When we do this, we will let you know with messaging along the lines of “This content is for testing and not yet confirmed for release.”

It is getting a bit harder to be pessimistic about the direction of the game if this is what we're seeing. Thank you.

SummersetCitizen · January 9

It’s easy to emphasize communication now, after output and player engagement have clearly declined. This kind of engagement would have mattered far more during ESO’s peak, not as an afterthought as the game shifts into a live-service maintenance phase.

We’ve seen similar communication promises before, and they often failed to translate into meaningful change. The Season of the Worm Cult launched with issues that were widely reported in advance, yet still shipped largely unchanged. That history makes it difficult to view this as a genuine commitment to player feedback rather than an attempt to manage ongoing dissatisfaction.

Improved communication is welcome, but without demonstrable follow-through, it risks feeling reactive rather than sincere.

Barto92 · January 9

It's cool but this still doesn't motivate me to download 120gb alongside the main game. I'm almost certain players complained about it in the survey.

Destai · January 9

Amazing post. I'll probably respond to more things later, but really happy to see things listed out here.

XimTheBard · January 9

This is really well done and a huge step in the right direction.

Especially giving us longer periods of time to give feedback to changes.

I think longer PTS cycles will be very important for these class changes to give us the time to thoroughly test them to see if anything is overtuned or missing the mark. To try to avoid having to make these updates when they're actually live.

Personally I'd shoot for a month PTS cycle for the class changes, but logistically I'm not sure how feasible this is.

gabbo1928 · January 9

One of the recurring themes I see after new content launches, are forum complaints about bugs, pointing to earlier forum posts from during the PTS cycle, pointing out the same bugs at that time, which were never fixed before launch.

There is also usually an official post at some point that tracks known issues. It might be helpful to lead with that sort of post, maybe at the same time the patch notes are posted, while the servers are still offline. Something like "These issues were identified during the PTS cycle, but could not be addressed before launch. The team is working on resolving them as quickly as possible."

I'm sure no dev wants to be pointing out their own bugs on launch day, but... a) we know it has to happen eventually anyway, b) it may save ZOS from a flood of identical reports about problems they're already aware of, and c) it shows that testing feedback during the PTS cycle was not ignored, it simply could not be resolved before launch.

All of that being said, if ZOS can adhere to the goals they've set forth in this post, it is a step in the right direction.

ZOS_GinaBruno · January 9

Galagladi Dragonblood wrote: »

Will be there still the seperation of NA being first and EU later?

That is currently still the plan, yes. On our end, we really need to be able to test both databases during a PTS cycle just to confirm there are no issues with either. We understand the separate copies are not ideal and are open to looking at other options that still meet our needs, but we do need to be able to test both NA and EU and are not able to do both copies simultaneously.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom · January 9

LunaFlora wrote: »

only thing i still want to know, since updates will launch at the same time now,
will PlayStation and Xbox ever get to test on a dedicated testing server too?

That's a great question and one I asked as well when we first heard we were moving toward simultaneous releases on all platforms. While it's something we'd love to extend to our console players someday, it's a bit more complicated than just flipping a switch to allow console players access to the PTS server. As the PTS is built now for PC, it's a separate client download even though it uses the same patcher as the PC EU and NA servers. This would mean splitting our build pipeline further, and asking our console players to download an additional client, which isn't ideal or realistic. There may be additional technical hurdles as well. It's possible this is something we could revisit when crossplay comes online in the future.

SummersetCitizen wrote: »

It’s easy to emphasize communication now, after output and player engagement have clearly declined. This kind of engagement would have mattered far more during ESO’s peak, not as an afterthought as the game shifts into a live-service maintenance phase.

We’ve seen similar communication promises before, and they often failed to translate into meaningful change. The Season of the Worm Cult launched with issues that were widely reported in advance, yet still shipped largely unchanged. That history makes it difficult to view this as a genuine commitment to player feedback rather than an attempt to manage ongoing dissatisfaction.

Improved communication is welcome, but without demonstrable follow-through, it risks feeling reactive rather than sincere.

This is valid, @SummersetCitizen and we recognize it's on us to make good on what we're saying and work toward improving. We'll give this a shot with the upcoming PTS cycle - starting with these small steps - and evolve as needed and based on everyone's feedback.

And @gabbo1928 yes, we're aligned. As part of our conversations about how we can improve the overall PTS experience for our players, the topic of bug reporting did come up. Great suggestions, thank you!

Soarora · January 9

I’m glad to hear that our pain points are being addressed with such precise communication! My biggest pain point though is still how time consuming it is to set up a character on the PTS (such as having to dig through boxes to get crystals and upgrade mats, dig through boxes to unlock sets, dig through boxes to get a house, dig through the crown store for a merchant and a transmute station, sell all the basic gear to the merchant, reconstruct all the gear, while spamming the transmute crystal…). I’m very much hoping this gets addressed at some point this year.

MurkyWetWolf198 · January 9

Any chance console will gain access to PTS cycles?

LunaFlora · January 9

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

LunaFlora wrote: »

only thing i still want to know, since updates will launch at the same time now,
will PlayStation and Xbox ever get to test on a dedicated testing server too?

That's a great question and one I asked as well when we first heard we were moving toward simultaneous releases on all platforms. While it's something we'd love to extend to our console players someday, it's a bit more complicated than just flipping a switch to allow console players access to the PTS server. As the PTS is built now for PC, it's a separate client download even though it uses the same patcher as the PC EU and NA servers. This would mean splitting our build pipeline further, and asking our console players to download an additional client, which isn't ideal or realistic. There may be additional technical hurdles as well. It's possible this is something we could revisit when crossplay comes online in the future.

thank you Jessica, it is nice to know you asked it as well.
The explanation for *why* it is not currently possible is helpful!

i expected it would not be possible currently, but Crossplay might make it possible.
Though i am looking forward to Crossplay regardless of whether or not PTS gets expanded to Consoles.

tomofhyrule · January 9

Soarora wrote: »

My biggest pain point though is still how time consuming it is to set up a character on the PTS (such as having to dig through boxes to get crystals and upgrade mats, dig through boxes to unlock sets, dig through boxes to get a house, dig through the crown store for a merchant and a transmute station, sell all the basic gear to the merchant, reconstruct all the gear, while spamming the transmute crystal…). I’m very much hoping this gets addressed at some point this year.

Yes, please.

I remember when the templates started with everything unlocked, so you could start a template and then jump in. Recently, it’s a whole 5-hour process of opening endless boxes (and then having to empty your inventory every other time) just to unlock things, and then you could finally go testing. That extra time barrier is extremely frustrating.

It would be great to go back to having everything unlocked at creation of a template.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom · January 9

Soarora wrote: »

I’m glad to hear that our pain points are being addressed with such precise communication! My biggest pain point though is still how time consuming it is to set up a character on the PTS (such as having to dig through boxes to get crystals and upgrade mats, dig through boxes to unlock sets, dig through boxes to get a house, dig through the crown store for a merchant and a transmute station, sell all the basic gear to the merchant, reconstruct all the gear, while spamming the transmute crystal…). I’m very much hoping this gets addressed at some point this year.

Yes, template pain points - especially the time needed for set-up, like you mention - are also something we're aware of and investigating options to improve them.

monkiie · January 9

Community and player feedback has fallen on deaf ears for years. I will believe it when I see it.

Moonspawn · January 9

@ZOS_GinaBruno and @ZOS_JessicaFolsom
The thread regarding Battlegrounds was closed in the middle of the discussion: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/681012/future-of-battlegrounds/p1

I was just about to bring evidence that the matchmaking we have right now is likely the best we'll ever have. We have yet to solve the flaws of two-teams BGs, and we had only just started discussing the flaws of 4v4v4. How can the thread have ''run its course''?

Cooperharley · January 9

W ZOS

Y'all keep cooking. 2026 going to be awesome!

Eurymachos · January 9

tomofhyrule wrote: »

Soarora wrote: »

My biggest pain point though is still how time consuming it is to set up a character on the PTS (such as having to dig through boxes to get crystals and upgrade mats, dig through boxes to unlock sets, dig through boxes to get a house..

... Recently, it’s a whole 5-hour process of opening endless boxes (and then having to empty your inventory every other time) just to unlock things, and then you could finally go testing. That extra time barrier is extremely frustrating.

It would be great to go back to having everything unlocked at creation of a template.

I recently started playing in EU for the sole purpose of having a house already setup with crafting stations etc. in PTS when PTS is copied from EU. I guess I'll find out how much of a convenience it actually is later on in this PTS cycle.

Ngā mihi,
Eurymachos

React · January 9

This all sounds very good, and I appreciate that the team is finally taking the time to implement these necessary communication and transparency improvements.

What waits to be seen is whether the team will actually revert/walk back unwanted changes that are received with overwhelmingly negative feedback, though. There are many examples historically of changes being implemented after the community practically begged for them not to go live. Things like cast time ultimates, the jabs animation change, and the recent animation memory reduction come to mind.

If the studio is still unwilling to walk back bad decisions, this whole testing process will continue to hold little value.

Destai · January 9

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hi everyone! Following our ESO 2026 Reveal, we’d like to share with you how the PTS – and your valuable participation – will continue to play an integral role in ESO’s future.

OK, diving into this after rewriting an integration. The joy. Thanks for putting this all together, I know it's a lot of work, but seeing things like this made me reverse course on leaving the game. This stream and its follow ups have really been quite demonstrative of the new leadership and philosophies guiding the ship now.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Before we get into next steps, we’d like to pause here and take a moment to explain how the PTS fits into our development pipeline for ESO. First and foremost, the purpose of the PTS is for us to get hands-on feedback and identify bugs in a live environment before the content goes out onto the live PC and console servers. It is our last stop in the development pipeline before launch. (We also recognize that our players would like a chance to give feedback on content earlier than that “last stop” – more on that a little later in this message.) This is a critical step, as some issues only surface in live environments.

I've asked this a few times before, so forgive me if it's already been answered, but I'll ask again:

Is ZOS prepared and willing to pull something from release if it's poorly received on PTS? Two moments stand out - U35 and U46. Those IMO were moments someone should've said, "it's not worth the backlash and technical debt". Didn't happen, it's in the past, but those were formative experiences for a lot of us. If we get to the point where let's say the DK redo is pure uproar (apt, lol) - are you guys prepared to pump the brakes on releasing it? It's seemed like the preference has been "sort it out after release", treating the uproar quite carelessly. I have the perception that's the influence of the former creative director, but curious about where we are now.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

The PTS also allows us to see how players will engage with content and gather valuable data in a live environment ahead of launch. For example, the Dungeons & Trials team will often watch livestreams of new dungeon and trials runs while the content is on the PTS. That real-time, hands-on experience feedback is critical.

One thing I would like to see going forward is Devs on stream. Dungeons and Trials - but seeing a team playthrough their own mechanics with our feedback as the ambiance. I think that's powerful. If someone like Finn is struggling with a mechanic or something, it's telling.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

As noted above, we also use the PTS to identify things that may be bugged or otherwise not working as intended or resulting in the experience we want. As issues/bugs come in, we prioritize them. We consider scope, impact, ease of the fix, and severity when assigning bug priority. The complexity of an issue and what is needed to resolve it is also a factor. If something is deemed a blocker for launch, for example, it gets higher priority for fixing than a low-impact visual bug. We always try to fix as many things as possible in each update and PTS and live incremental patches, but this is why some things may get fixed before others.

This may be my job's influence talking here - but will that priority be communicated during or after the PTS? In my world, we do a lot of T-shirt sizes, risk assessments for any given fix, so I'm just curious what that looks like.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Feedback is another area where the PTS provides us with critical insights. Due to where the PTS falls within our development pipeline, there are limits to how quickly we can respond to feedback, as many of you have noted. There are risks associated with making significant pivots to address feedback that would require complex changes, especially a few weeks before launch. This type of feedback is still valuable; it also takes time to address in the right way, and changes are likely to come after launch or beyond, depending on the scope and complexity. We are exploring options to begin getting your feedback much earlier, ahead of the PTS.

Again, what are we going to do if we're having another U35? This makes it sound like PTS is really too late, even if the feedback is acknowledged and detailed in summaries and other artifacts. How is the team going to handle situations where it's abundantly clear there's a disconnect between the solution and how it will actually play out. Again, U35 is the masterclass in how to not do an update, where the combat team proposed changes that were head-scratching (being gentle here). Sure, they walked some of it back, but it was still alarming that some of the things were proposed at all, let alone went live.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

We’ve been discussing how we can best address these challenges with both the timing, the longstanding community desire to be able to give feedback earlier, and the other survey takeaways from above. Below are some things we’ll be trying out, starting with the Update 49 PTS on January 12:
Begin increasing overall dev team presence on the PTS forums during PTS cycles, with a goal to engage, answer questions, and better acknowledge bug reports.

Provide a high-level summary of the main PTS topics we are seeing from you each week, and what we’re doing with them. (This is not intended to take the place of patch notes, and we’re aiming to do it on Thursdays or Fridays during PTS cycles.)

Check in with you after a major PTS cycle concludes to see how we’re doing with our PTS-specific communication, with a short survey.

While the PTS is generally the last step before launch, we are exploring opportunities to put some content on the PTS well before the scheduled release to allow for longer feedback cycles. This is what we did with Vengeance, for example. When we do this, we will let you know with messaging along the lines of “This content is for testing and not yet confirmed for release.”

So how many testing cycles do you have internally?

In my field - ERP payroll consulting - I help shape our testing phases. We have functional/unit testing, SIT (System Integration Testing), and UAT (User Acceptance) phases. I would liken the PTS cycle to a UAT, which is when the product is more or less done.

Usually when there's some early solution, whatever it is, it goes through Development and then functional testing where we compare it against requirements. Then we have 2 or 3 phase of SIT, and then months long UAT phases, then code freeze, then go-live. Obviously most issues come out during UAT.

What I see here as an opportunity is bringing in feedback during more-or-less a SIT phase. So you'd have to expose the solution earlier on, which sounds like you guys are making some headway towards, and be prepared descope whatever it is. Of course, I recognize that changes other code branches, so just an overall idea.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Lastly, we are taking steps to share what we’re working on and are considering for the future of the game earlier than in years past. This is a fundamental shift for the studio, placing a renewed importance on communication, trust, and collaboration. You may have seen some of this shift begin to take shape late last year with things like our Vengeance Testing & Cyrodiil Community Update and Class Identity Refresh article. Moving forward, you’ll see more of this in the way of livestreams, articles, interviews, and more dedicated to sharing early plans and development updates with you, paired with opportunities to share your thoughts with us. Also, due to how things will be released over time with Seasons versus the previous four big quarterly drops, some upcoming content – like the Night Market – will be on the PTS farther ahead of its launch than before.

This is huge, and I can't thank you guys enough. I'm sure it's a lot of new processes to engineer.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Thank you everyone. We look forward to forging the path ahead for ESO with you. If you have any questions about anything you read in this message, please drop them as a reply in this thread. We’ll answer as many as we can.

Thanks again!

Destai · January 9

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

LunaFlora wrote: »

only thing i still want to know, since updates will launch at the same time now,
will PlayStation and Xbox ever get to test on a dedicated testing server too?

That's a great question and one I asked as well when we first heard we were moving toward simultaneous releases on all platforms. While it's something we'd love to extend to our console players someday, it's a bit more complicated than just flipping a switch to allow console players access to the PTS server. As the PTS is built now for PC, it's a separate client download even though it uses the same patcher as the PC EU and NA servers. This would mean splitting our build pipeline further, and asking our console players to download an additional client, which isn't ideal or realistic. There may be additional technical hurdles as well. It's possible this is something we could revisit when crossplay comes online in the future.

SummersetCitizen wrote: »

It’s easy to emphasize communication now, after output and player engagement have clearly declined. This kind of engagement would have mattered far more during ESO’s peak, not as an afterthought as the game shifts into a live-service maintenance phase.

We’ve seen similar communication promises before, and they often failed to translate into meaningful change. The Season of the Worm Cult launched with issues that were widely reported in advance, yet still shipped largely unchanged. That history makes it difficult to view this as a genuine commitment to player feedback rather than an attempt to manage ongoing dissatisfaction.

Improved communication is welcome, but without demonstrable follow-through, it risks feeling reactive rather than sincere.

This is valid, @SummersetCitizen and we recognize it's on us to make good on what we're saying and work toward improving. We'll give this a shot with the upcoming PTS cycle - starting with these small steps - and evolve as needed and based on everyone's feedback.

And @gabbo1928 yes, we're aligned. As part of our conversations about how we can improve the overall PTS experience for our players, the topic of bug reporting did come up. Great suggestions, thank you!

I'm willing to meet you guys where you are now. Happy to see things I've long asked for start happening, same with other people's requests. It's nice. It's welcome. I've spent thousands on this game, it's been my comfort food for a decade. But the last few years have tested that.

I'm sure the answer is delicate. But I think it needs to be asked - is it because of new leadership? I'm sure I'm not alone in this, but I didn't exactly feel like the previous leadership was open to feedback. We saw it on their streams, both professional and personal. Those things stick with you.

And I know you CMs can only do so much, can only say what you're authorized to say, and if devs cooperate. There's been times where it felt like people were begging poor Kevin for answers on something and we never heard anything. It's hard not to feel like we were ignored in those moments or if the CMs were muted by management. The U35 Q&A was one of them.

In the spirit of transparency, I think it'd be good to get that insight. Not right away, but some point soon you know.

Izanagi.Xiiib16_ESO · January 9

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom

Thanks for the update, sounds like some good changes coming will look forward to seeing the increased dev presence, even if it's just a 'bug report received' or 'we're looking into this'.

One thing I'd suggest is that now we have the Reconstruction system it would be way better to simply make use of this system on PTS templates.

Keep the Crafting and Material boxes etc but all the gearsets could simply just be 'known' by template characters and then players can reconstruct their desired sets instead of having to dig through boxes and retrait etc.

It would clear a lot of the inventory mess on templates up and make things faster to test imo. (especially considering the transmute crystal total will be increasing).

Soarora · January 10

Izanagi.Xiiib16_ESO wrote: »

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom

Thanks for the update, sounds like some good changes coming will look forward to seeing the increased dev presence, even if it's just a 'bug report received' or 'we're looking into this'.

One thing I'd suggest is that now we have the Reconstruction system it would be way better to simply make use of this system on PTS templates.

Keep the Crafting and Material boxes etc but all the gearsets could simply just be 'known' by template characters and then players can reconstruct their desired sets instead of having to dig through boxes and retrait etc.

It would clear a lot of the inventory mess on templates up and make things faster to test imo. (especially considering the transmute crystal total will be increasing).

It used to be like that and I will continue complaining until its returned haha. Ideally, the craft bag would also be pumped full of materials and some way of having either infinite transmute without spamming the geode or a bigger infinite transmute geode (or free reconstruction, but not sure if that poses a problem for live launch to potentially have free reconstruction leak to live).

Syldras · January 10

Barto92 wrote: »

It's cool but this still doesn't motivate me to download 120gb alongside the main game. I'm almost certain players complained about it in the survey.

It's indeed a problem that it takes so much disc space. Are there any plans (and is it technically feasible, most of all) to reduce installation size for PTS in the long term?

ZhuJiuyin · January 10

I'd like to know, how important is feedback on combat balance in the official priority list? Of course, bug fixing should undoubtedly be the highest priority, but combat balance shouldn't be too low either, because combat is the reason many players play MMOs. I believe many players participate in PTS to test new builds and combat balance, as evidenced by the volume of feedback on past combat balance posts. However, this is precisely what players criticize most, because much feedback on combat balance goes unanswered. For example, the concern raised during the U46 PTS regarding the extra damage provided by Grim Focus. Or, most class sets are too weak, failing to satisfy players' fantasies of class power.

And some obviously bad animations, such as the Monolith of Storms set, which has neither Storm nor Monolith, only a few lightning rods—the name doesn't match the animation, and that's not the worst part. Due to the animation issues, the damage frequency of this set isn't the described 2 seconds, but often delayed to 3-4 seconds. This has yet to be addressed or fixed.
Link

ESO_Nightingale · January 10

Am i still cool to post my frost warden feedback notes? Does anyone still read those?

Turtle_Bot · January 10

Glad to see this update regrading feedback and PTS.

Skeptic in me is still of the mindset of "believe it when I see it", but I will concede that the reveal stream and the recent posts/threads and surveys have been a marked improvement on the communication front.

1 thing I gave feedback on (both in the survey and on a few threads on the forums here) was that (I felt) that the character limit within the in-game /bug or /feedback sections was too limiting, like trying to explain a complex theoretical problem in-depth over a single tweets worth of characters, it's difficult to actually include all the details, hence why so many come to the forums to give feedback where there is much more space to properly lay out details that may (or may not) be important.

I just want to add that for the following point:

Below are some things we’ll be trying out, starting with the Update 49 PTS on January 12:
Begin increasing overall dev team presence on the PTS forums during PTS cycles, with a goal to engage, answer questions, and better acknowledge bug reports.

For proposed balance changes and the combat balance team especially will need to be on the ball here, as this specific aspect (combat balance) is where (imo) the majority of the player base's complaints have been regarding the issues surrounding feedback.

Radiate77 · January 10

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

Am i still cool to post my frost warden feedback notes? Does anyone still read those?

I still read them, @ESO_Nightingale.

ZOS would be wise to deep dive into your old threads leading up to our Winter’s Embrace rework.

Turtle_Bot · January 10

Radiate77 wrote: »

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

Am i still cool to post my frost warden feedback notes? Does anyone still read those?

I still read them, @ESO_Nightingale.

ZOS would be wise to deep dive into your old threads leading up to our Winter’s Embrace rework.

As do I.

I would also hope that ZOS would also read over past threads for every class (and yes I will be somewhat bias here and hope they would also read over my own past threads (at least the attempted constructive parts of those threads before they got derailed by a select few trolls) regarding sorcerer, especially leading up to the Storm Calling rework).