Thoughts/review of the new Hearts week event so far?

AllenaNightWood · February 14

being able to hand companion gifts to them when talking to them and get dialogue for it its instead of using it from your inventory is my big ask and maybe tie in Dibella next time to since she also falls into this style

Emeratis · February 14

I think overall the event is okay. The story quests were nice enough overall but I had some gripes that others had about choices and how obvious some plot points were. I'm not a huge fan of companions overall so I hope that future Heart's Week celebrations expand to let us celebrate our favorite npcs. I am somewhat annoyed that dungeons and trials were excluded from Heart's Week reward drops, especially since it's a common grouping activity and the third quest in the chain was related to an adventuring group. I liked the hug emote overall but I really wish it was played less for laughs and felt more genuine. It does give me hope we eventually get multiplayer emotes like hugs in game down the line maybe. Speaking of emotes, the Amulet of the Heart teases interactions that just don't happen? That was disappointing.

So yea, overall mixed feelings, ok start to the event type but would like to see it expanded over time because it sometimes feels unfinished or limited to only showing/expressing certain types of love/group play. I also would like to see title/cosmetic rewards and not just more boxes for the achievements.

AzuraFan · February 14

Emeratis wrote: »

I I am somewhat annoyed that dungeons and trials were excluded from Heart's Week reward drops, especially since it's a common grouping activity and the third quest in the chain was related to an adventuring group.

I was surprised when I completed a dungeon and didn't receive a box. Since they're group activities, I would have expected boxes if they're completed with a group or a companion.

heaven13 · February 14

I'm quite enjoying this event. The new quests seem well designed, the delivery of the achievement boxes is roleplay friendly (a hidden admirer as the sender), I appreciate that playing with a real player or companion are both options. Maybe it's because I don't usually visit the Impresario in Craglorn so not sure if the additional stalls and life happening around there is actually not unique to this event but it felt really lively and fitting in-world. The purple rewards also feel pretty good compared to purple boxes in other events that are more inventory annoyance than actual reward.

Overall, I think it's been a nice addition to the game.

katanagirl1 · February 15

I enjoyed the new quests, especially the big hug at the end!

The GP was good too, a nice variety of things to choose from. The furnishing items were fantastic! Please do this more often. I would have loved even more flower vases.

The reward boxes though…the sources and cooldowns are a big downer. I was really looking forward to this event. I spend a lot of my time in Cyrodiil and trials and don’t have much opportunity to level up companions. I am still leveling Azandar and haven’t started Zerith-var yet. I thought I would be able to run public dungeons to level them up and get reward boxes, but a big fat no. No reward boxes from public dungeons. I have to sit at a delve boss or a world boss and wait five minutes to get a shot at a box, and then sit for five minutes more for the next, the amount of leveling my companion gets there is negligible. Not to mention that boring, stale mechanic for events has been going on for years. Why do you keep doing this?

Even farming mats and chests has a horrible drop rate. Like two boxes per hour.

I can spend mind-numbing hours grinding in public dungeons getting no reward boxes but leveling my companion or hours of mind-numbing hours of afk at world bosses to get reward boxes. Getting both would still be not fun but at least would be something. So far it’s been mostly get my tickets and log off.

Why can’t participating in events be fun?

Misty · February 15

FlameDark wrote: »

Misty wrote: »

My experience has been a nightmare with this event. First I could not find the darn event. I'm a new player and don't know the maps and no proper instruction in how to get there are given. I spent days traveling overland to find it. And why did they not unlock the wayshire at that location?
And secondly the quest to kill Ariana at-fara is near impossible. She spawns ever 10 minutes but only takes one shot to kill her so only one player can kill her at a time resulting in you having to que and wait a few hours for your turn.
Not fun.

For future events, you can "buy" the holiday quest in the crown store. It's free, but it will begin the quest and tell you exactly where to go for the rest. I do believe if you follow the marker it will show you where to go even if you dont have the wayshrine (boat, cart, ect).

I did and I did. I followed those markers time after time but always ended up lost. What I am going to so I don't get lost in the future is download a map with every place marked. One, I will know I'm going and two, it will help me learn where everywhere is.

scrappy1342 · February 15

Misty wrote: »

FlameDark wrote: »

Misty wrote: »

My experience has been a nightmare with this event. First I could not find the darn event. I'm a new player and don't know the maps and no proper instruction in how to get there are given. I spent days traveling overland to find it. And why did they not unlock the wayshire at that location?
And secondly the quest to kill Ariana at-fara is near impossible. She spawns ever 10 minutes but only takes one shot to kill her so only one player can kill her at a time resulting in you having to que and wait a few hours for your turn.
Not fun.

For future events, you can "buy" the holiday quest in the crown store. It's free, but it will begin the quest and tell you exactly where to go for the rest. I do believe if you follow the marker it will show you where to go even if you dont have the wayshrine (boat, cart, ect).

I did and I did. I followed those markers time after time but always ended up lost. What I am going to so I don't get lost in the future is download a map with every place marked. One, I will know I'm going and two, it will help me learn where everywhere is.

if you are not in the same zone as the place your quests points to, the quest markers can become completely useless pointing to all the different boats, etc that could possibly take you there. if you open your quest journal (J), select the quest and then hit M, it will zoom in on the actual target you need to get to in that zone. if it's event related, like this situation, then you can open your guild roster and port to someone in the zone to get fairly close.

AzuraFan · February 15

katanagirl1 wrote: »

The reward boxes though…the sources and cooldowns are a big downer. I was really looking forward to this event. I spend a lot of my time in Cyrodiil and trials and don’t have much opportunity to level up companions. I am still leveling Azandar and haven’t started Zerith-var yet. I thought I would be able to run public dungeons to level them up and get reward boxes, but a big fat no. No reward boxes from public dungeons. I have to sit at a delve boss or a world boss and wait five minutes to get a shot at a box, and then sit for five minutes more for the next, the amount of leveling my companion gets there is negligible.

Story from this morning: I decided to go into the Whalefall delve in High Isle to get my event tickets. I need a lead that drops from hunter mobs in that delve, so I figured I'd kill hunters on my way to the boss, get my tickets, and then continue killing hunters until I got the lead or got bored.

In I go. Nobody else is in the instance, which is great. Kill one hunter - get good loot, no lead. Kill the next hunter. Get good loot, no lead. Reach the delve boss. Kill him, get my tickets and loot. Leave down another path, there's another hunter. Kill him.

I get 20 gold.

Okay, I think I know what's happening. Kill the next hunter, which is literally 20 seconds away from where the other guy was. Kill him.

20 gold.

Okay, so now I know that the delve boss and those two hunters are on the same 5-minute cooldown for decent loot, even though ZOS placed them within 1 minute of each other. I've run into this idiotic scenario in PDs too. So I move on, get to a third hunter that's about 20 seconds away.

20 gold.

Okay, so there are five hunters in this delve. Two seem to be on their own individual timers - when they spawn, you kill them, you get good loot. That's great.

But in this small delve, three of the hunters and the delve boss share the loot cooldown.

So, I have two choices. I can spend my gaming time waiting around for 5 minutes between killing each of them, so that's 15 minutes to kill all four, or I can log out and go play a game that doesn't say, "Gotcha!!! Hahaha!!! You killed two things we placed really close together within 5 minutes, so no good loot for you, sucker!!!!!" Loot is being withheld because I'm progressing through a delve at a normal pace, killing stuff where the designers placed them.

I ported out to Leyawiin and logged off.

I had time this morning to play more. I would have been happy to continue killing hunters until I got the lead or got bored. What I'm not willing to do is waste my time in an empty delve apart from me, waiting 5 minutes between killing stuff because whoever designed this doesn't want to reward players for playing the game, and apparently thinks waiting around is riveting and fun gameplay that will keep a player in the game. Sorry, but no.

Seriously, what is with all the cooldowns and waiting around in this game?

ETA: Okay, so went back into Whalefall this morning (the next day) to get my tickets and kill some hunters, and I discovered that the hunters aren't on a loot timer. They just give crappy loot. They're "dangerous foes", yet they give 19g or 20g when you kill them. I guess I got lucky yesterday when the first two I killed gave me good loot. After that, it's not surprising that I thought there must be a loot timer. given how bad the reward is for killing these guys. Loot timers are bad where they happen, especially in PDs where they place bosses close together and then you can't kill more than one every 5 minutes if you want decent loot. It just wasn't the case here. Still crappy when you're looking for the lead and killing these guys gives you essentially nothing. And cooldown timers of five minutes are still terrible for bosses.

wolfie1.0. · February 15

I think my only two complaints are that I wish the event were 2 to 3 days longer and tried to cover at least 2 weekends.

The second is that if you and your group members are not in the same instance/zone it doesn't count for drops.

Mik195 · February 15

I like this event. Since I have a new character, its nice that there are tons of recipes and furnishing plns dropping and none of the junk you get in other events (like sparklers, mudballs, swallowing swords from New Life and those annoying dog fragments).

I also really like the short duration and the fact that the golden pursuit can be done in a day so I don't have a list of chores for days to deal with.

Pcgamer · February 15

Great event, i really like it a lot. I love the companion gifts, they are a very cute addition. I enjoed the quest stories and all the decorations around the towns are lovely.

Zos can be proud of this event , love it 💕

Katahdin · February 15

Very disappointed about the trash trait gold rings I got on the 3 accounts I did the event with.
Would have been nice to upgrade at least ONE of my companions with a good ring but RNGesus said NO!

Also the companion gifts, too rare: 3 accounts and didnt get enough to do that achievement on one of them

liliub17_ESO · February 15

AzuraFan wrote: »

...

I had time this morning to play more. I would have been happy to continue killing hunters until I got the lead or got bored. What I'm not willing to do is waste my time in an empty delve apart from me, waiting 5 minutes between killing stuff because whoever designed this doesn't want to reward players for playing the game, and apparently thinks waiting around is riveting and fun gameplay that will keep a player in the game. Sorry, but no.

Seriously, what is with all the cooldowns and waiting around in this game?

Cool down timers, like these events and Pursuits, artificially (temporarily) inflate player numbers. Plain and simple.

The timers can have importance for game play so that folks don't simply farm the <whatever> for hours on end, reaping maximum reward every time. But at the end of the day, it's all pixels and only affects a statistically small number of players (I'm guessing on deduction, no data points to offer).

Events and Golden Pursuits act in the same manner. Sure, they may add new things for new players and/or a respite from bandits and dragons. But, using myself as an example, I've pretty much quit the game due to the continued ignoring of player feedback, broken game elements, skill imbalances, etc. And then I saw one of the Pursuit rewards was the stuffed floppy cat furnishing. I don't give a fat rat's patoot about the rest, actively dislike the emote, but that stuffed cat lured me back in. The player count was artificially, temporarily, raised by one. Imagine the increase for those who may have logged in for free crates.

At the end of the day, it's all about numbers.

AzuraFan · February 15

liliub17_ESO wrote: »

Cool down timers, like these events and Pursuits, artificially (temporarily) inflate player numbers. Plain and simple.

I wasn't asking seriously, even though I said seriously. I was complaining in a, "Seriously, what's with all the snow lately?" way.

I don't see golden pursuits and events as cooldown timers. They're time-limited, which is different. A cooldown timer is an artificial period of time that you have to wait to do something, like the 5-minute spawn time for WBs and delve bosses, or having to wait to get more than gold for killing something.

I agree that cooldown timers can have their purpose, but they're way overdone in this game. And if they're going to have loot cooldowns, don't make it five minutes and then place mobs that share the timer within 30 seconds of each other. That's just being mean to players who are simply progressing through a PD or a delve and not trying to farm anything. If they must be there, five minutes is too long.

As for keeping people in game to inflate numbers, it had the opposite effect on me this morning. There are a lot of great games out there. There's no reason to spend my gaming time sitting around waiting for something to happen when I could be having fun actually doing stuff in another game.

liliub17_ESO · February 15

@AzuraFan - I meant that cooldown timers as well as events and Pursuits, not lumping them all in the same pot.

Destai · February 15

After playing a bit more, I can provide some closing thoughts.

The event itself I didn't care for. Out the gate, I'm really over the ultra frilly stuff. It's just not my thing. I didn't really make a concerted effort to complete the Golden Pursuit or event quest line because of that. Just my personal taste, not necessarily a criticism of the event itself. I'm sure some people love it.

For actual criticism, the rewards were just bogged down by confusion and odd decisions. Things like the tickets being paired with the reward boxes, the focus on delves (and subsequently waiting around for respawns - not fun), and even some of the language in the event articles just did the event a big disservice. For a while, I wasn't clear where to even get the reward boxes if I didn't want to wait for delve boss respawns. It’s just disappointing that we’re still seeing issues with rewards. It feels like there's some odd decisions made and teams struggling to figure out what's fun. It feels like the focus is on micromanaging the drops with cooldowns and other controls.

That being said, I did enjoy my time with the event due to the bonuses on rapport. A few days in, I decided that would be my focus and came up with a strategy for getting that done. I managed to get all but Bastian's rapport maxed, which is sitting oh-so-close to Companion. I honestly wouldn't mind another week just to wrap up Bastian. All-in-all, it was a productive event for me once I decided the event rewards weren't relevant to me.

Displaced_Salad · February 15

The event concept, etc, seems to be light-hearted and fun but suffers from the same issues as most other events: lack of forethought and trouble-shooting after launch.

The event literally encourages pick-pocketing, yet gifts and citations garnered from this activity are not able to be banked or stored, because they cannot be laundered or sold to a fence. Gifts cannot be given. And no one seems to be keeping tabs on that issue during a limited time event.

Also, after all this time, and so very many protestations to the contrary over years, each instance is sent en masse to ONE boss. True or not, it feels like another chance to engender some goodwill that instead becomes another tick in the "we don't listen to players" column. A little thing, perhaps, but little things add up.

Emeratis · February 15

I personally have not had trouble with my loot drops during this event but I do find it perplexing that a lot of group content is excluded. I did complain in my original post about dungeons and trials being excluded felt unfair, but public dungeon bosses, bastion nymics, etc are also excluded and it's just weird....why? IA was included which makes it feel even more strange some of the other options didn't make the cut.

scrappy1342 · February 15

AzuraFan wrote: »

liliub17_ESO wrote: »

Cool down timers, like these events and Pursuits, artificially (temporarily) inflate player numbers. Plain and simple.

I wasn't asking seriously, even though I said seriously. I was complaining in a, "Seriously, what's with all the snow lately?" way.

I don't see golden pursuits and events as cooldown timers. They're time-limited, which is different. A cooldown timer is an artificial period of time that you have to wait to do something, like the 5-minute spawn time for WBs and delve bosses, or having to wait to get more than gold for killing something.

I agree that cooldown timers can have their purpose, but they're way overdone in this game. And if they're going to have loot cooldowns, don't make it five minutes and then place mobs that share the timer within 30 seconds of each other. That's just being mean to players who are simply progressing through a PD or a delve and not trying to farm anything. If they must be there, five minutes is too long.

As for keeping people in game to inflate numbers, it had the opposite effect on me this morning. There are a lot of great games out there. There's no reason to spend my gaming time sitting around waiting for something to happen when I could be having fun actually doing stuff in another game.

totally agree. never understood why they do this in eso. nor do i care to. as far as i know, no other games i have ever played use these kind of invisible timers. they adjust drop rates and that seems to be good enough. yeah, sometimes you are going to get someone super lucky who gets 2 of something in a row, but that's not going to break the game. sometimes you'll get someone who goes way longer than expected without getting the thing. but you get that with these invisible debuff timers anyways. they just keep going longer than they knew they needed to. this is a big reason of why eso was never going to be my main game.

AzuraFan · February 16

liliub17_ESO wrote: »

@AzuraFan - I meant that cooldown timers as well as events and Pursuits, not lumping them all in the same pot.

Yeah, I see the commas now.

Misty · February 16

scrappy1342 wrote: »

Misty wrote: »

FlameDark wrote: »

Misty wrote: »

My experience has been a nightmare with this event. First I could not find the darn event. I'm a new player and don't know the maps and no proper instruction in how to get there are given. I spent days traveling overland to find it. And why did they not unlock the wayshire at that location?
And secondly the quest to kill Ariana at-fara is near impossible. She spawns ever 10 minutes but only takes one shot to kill her so only one player can kill her at a time resulting in you having to que and wait a few hours for your turn.
Not fun.

For future events, you can "buy" the holiday quest in the crown store. It's free, but it will begin the quest and tell you exactly where to go for the rest. I do believe if you follow the marker it will show you where to go even if you dont have the wayshrine (boat, cart, ect).

I did and I did. I followed those markers time after time but always ended up lost. What I am going to so I don't get lost in the future is download a map with every place marked. One, I will know I'm going and two, it will help me learn where everywhere is.

if you are not in the same zone as the place your quests points to, the quest markers can become completely useless pointing to all the different boats, etc that could possibly take you there. if you open your quest journal (J), select the quest and then hit M, it will zoom in on the actual target you need to get to in that zone. if it's event related, like this situation, then you can open your guild roster and port to someone in the zone to get fairly close.

It's something I never really bothered with until now. I would just wander from quest to quest and never really went hunting for a specific place on the map. This however has taught me a lot about navigating the map so there is that.

GuardianV · February 16

I've really been enjoying this. What I have really liked about this even is that it was not an event that felt like a checklist of tasks to do so much as a way to help with the hard tasks you were already going to do, or maybe considering not doing because of the time involved. This reminds me of the event that made completing the Master Angler easier by curating fish pulls. I really like this type of event.

metheglyn · February 16

Overall I've enjoyed this event. I found the quests enjoyable and I like that they aren't repeatable. I also like that ZOS did something new--particularly the hug at the end of the quest chain. I think it being only a week long is nice, too, and overall it feels to me like a very relaxed, no stress type of event. The pursuit that went with it was easily and quickly accomplished and I liked all of the rewards.

My only disappointment is that I've found very few of the companion gifts and that only the purple ones elicit any reaction from the companions. I was really looking forward to giving Bastian some nice gifts. I mean, the others, too, but mainly Bastian.

Bithabus · February 16

I have 11 tickets and I can't loot just one. There is nothing to buy for one ticket. Now I'm stuck going into next event below the ticket cap. :-(

Desiato · February 16

I check the forums now and then to see if ZOS will offer a true overland hard mode instead of a character debuff they have planned and saw this thread so decided to share my feedback.

I thought everything was very cringe from afar and it just confirmed to me that ESO will have nothing to offer me moving forward.

I hate the gift box culture in this game. I think many modern gamers have become literal loot addicts to the point it completely overshadows actual gameplay.

shadyjane62 · February 16

Got the crates on first day on both accounts. Haven't bothered with it again.

Solo player, I don't group and no companions other than Tanlorin that I activated to do one quest.

Not complaining just stating not my cup of tea.

Ingel_Riday · February 17

Just finished the four quests today. I really liked this event. A lot.

Honestly, I get why ZOS does events... but they almost never let up. It's just an endless barrage of FOMO and daily chores, with maybe a week or two to detox between them. For how many years now? Three? Four? I've lost count. It feels like a while.

I would love a month without any event whatsoever. Won't happen, haha.

But this... this was darned close to an event vacation and I loved it. Four competently built and well-tested quests with a definitive story arc, followed by NO DAILIES!!! WHOO. You did the event. It's done! Just do a world boss with a companion each day for your gold crate and then go about your business. Heaven. Bliss.

I loved it! Gave me time to play my magicka dps frost warden alt (who I'll deeply miss when he inevitably gets changed into a gopher-summoner in Update 51. Being a cryomancer is an absolute hoot) and do a bunch of random story quests. I had a great time. Even picked up a few companions on him for giggles. I had fun. Genuine fun. Wholeheartedly happy, "would recommend to others," fun.

I don't even have any valid criticisms to offer at this point. I guess... I rolled my eyes and laughed when the wizard-woman in quest three said: "Caught a pickpocket trying to rob me, so I froze them in a block of ice. They were stuck in it for two weeks." Now there were multiple pickpockets? Or did you not get to ask the pickpocket his/her/zem's gender identity before freezing him/her/zem, so you're trying to avoid assuming gender identity lest you somehow magically hurt the thief's feelings? Oh ugh... it's that one, isn't it? Now I'm thinking about my actual country and the late 2010s / early 2020s while cringing.

But that was it, and who cares? That was all I had to grumble about in an otherwise marvelous time. 11/10. Would do again.

Kallykat · February 17

I'm glad I got to hug Kuzam-jo. He looks soft.

I like that decorations for events are spread around the world these days. In-game event cues are nice.

I'm not sure why a priest of Mara is so cool with Sanguine crashing the party.

I've received gloves for 4 days now and will not be able to collect the whole outfit on my own. Please curate the style page drops for events.

That is all.

whitecrow · February 17

I kept getting sashes and after I finally bought the breeches, I got that.

HedgeHugger · February 17

Bunch of annoying fetch quests. Kill a delve dweller. Fetch a person.
Made worse by being grouped with my OH made the fetch quests go all screwy and wouldn't allow me to finish unless I logged out and in again. Some things counted for both. Some looked like they counted for both, but didn't really.
I wish there was consistency in being grouped when questing. Especially when being encouraged to group up!