I like and find it overall too easy still, but the question of the purpose arises. What are the rewards exactly or the ultimate goal? it is not clear to me yet. Mobs drop no gold, and we only get old sets, which I only appreciate in the way of filling my sticker book.
Maybe the purpose soon reveals itself now where I have all 3 artifacts and can supposedly delve deeper.
Tzirzhalir wrote: »heimdall14_9 wrote: »Tzirzhalir wrote: »So Night market is catered to 5% of players(uh, elitists-cough) while the 95% (normal folk)suffer. What an intriguing idea. I can see why the "seasons" era is nothing more than a cover for maintenance mode and in 5 years from now this game will be down the toilet and will no longer be around. It's not about getting good, it's about having an "event" that caters to all of the community.
in 10 years this the 1st event for VETERANS think on that number and for 10 of them players has been asking for harder overland and a VET LEVEL playground like old day crag was ..
Yes, 95% suffer and 95% will leave and say why am I doing this? To receive cheap rewards and get sucked into FOMO golden pursuits. Looking at this from a third person perspective ZOS are clearly in chaos and have bad leadership and are frantically trying to save a dying horse but during their twitch streams they seem so positive and happy... which is a lie. Everything is fake because they all know the truth, ESO is on it's last legs and ZOS will now hunt down and manipulate new players because they are blind to their ugly truths. You and I Sir Crowley are considered old players who have been around since 2015 and know how this organization operates. I, personally have been flogging this dead horse (ESO) and I have finally realized that it is time to walk away and focus on real life and ignore this blatant manipulation and extortion from this company. The greed tactics are obvious, ESO used to be a beautiful and a fun game where communities supported each other because we felt secure in a structured environment, it's now chaos, the same chaos of a dying system. "SEASONS" is just a word to say we are in maintenance mode and following from maintenance it will go into administration and will end. ESO's death is on every member leading and directing from ZOS, it's on them entirely. After 11 years, having capped CP, having many experiences good and bad in ESO I have unsubscribed and uninstalled. WE THE PEOPLE have the POWER to walk away and to realize we are not going to be "played" by this organization any longer. Without us - your player base - You ZOS will cease to be anything but the real identity of your real life personalities that being living under this motto - we actually despise our player base and go out of our way to be supremely toxic to them by creating content which makes them unhappy. Night Market is an embarrassment as was last years "Solstice" and it will continue going down until it's completely destroyed.
Tzirzhalir wrote: »heimdall14_9 wrote: »Tzirzhalir wrote: »So Night market is catered to 5% of players(uh, elitists-cough) while the 95% (normal folk)suffer. What an intriguing idea. I can see why the "seasons" era is nothing more than a cover for maintenance mode and in 5 years from now this game will be down the toilet and will no longer be around. It's not about getting good, it's about having an "event" that caters to all of the community.
in 10 years this the 1st event for VETERANS think on that number and for 10 of them players has been asking for harder overland and a VET LEVEL playground like old day crag was ..
Yes, 95% suffer and 95% will leave and say why am I doing this? To receive cheap rewards and get sucked into FOMO golden pursuits. Looking at this from a third person perspective ZOS are clearly in chaos and have bad leadership and are frantically trying to save a dying horse but during their twitch streams they seem so positive and happy... which is a lie. Everything is fake because they all know the truth, ESO is on it's last legs and ZOS will now hunt down and manipulate new players because they are blind to their ugly truths. You and I Sir Crowley are considered old players who have been around since 2015 and know how this organization operates. I, personally have been flogging this dead horse (ESO) and I have finally realized that it is time to walk away and focus on real life and ignore this blatant manipulation and extortion from this company. The greed tactics are obvious, ESO used to be a beautiful and a fun game where communities supported each other because we felt secure in a structured environment, it's now chaos, the same chaos of a dying system. "SEASONS" is just a word to say we are in maintenance mode and following from maintenance it will go into administration and will end. ESO's death is on every member leading and directing from ZOS, it's on them entirely. After 11 years, having capped CP, having many experiences good and bad in ESO I have unsubscribed and uninstalled. WE THE PEOPLE have the POWER to walk away and to realize we are not going to be "played" by this organization any longer. Without us - your player base - You ZOS will cease to be anything but the real identity of your real life personalities that being living under this motto - we actually despise our player base and go out of our way to be supremely toxic to them by creating content which makes them unhappy. Night Market is an embarrassment as was last years "Solstice" and it will continue going down until it's completely destroyed.
agelonestar wrote: »Another exceedingly boring post from one of the "learn to play" brigade.
Very few people want this level of content. Most want the kind of new content we had with Chapters (zones, stories, quests, and other content in keeping with Elder Scrolls lore). That isn't to say there shouldn't be a balance and we can't do things in a different way from Chapters, but when a majority of players won't play the content because it's too frustrating, too difficult, too boring..... what's the point of it?
ZoS current direction is all wrong.
agelonestar wrote: »Very few people want this level of content. Most want the kind of new content we had with Chapters (zones, stories, quests, and other content in keeping with Elder Scrolls lore). That isn't to say there shouldn't be a balance and we can't do things in a different way from Chapters, but when a majority of players won't play the content because it's too frustrating, too difficult, too boring..... what's the point of it?
ZoS current direction is all wrong.
agelonestar wrote: »Another exceedingly boring post from one of the "learn to play" brigade.
Very few people want this level of content. Most want the kind of new content we had with Chapters (zones, stories, quests, and other content in keeping with Elder Scrolls lore). That isn't to say there shouldn't be a balance and we can't do things in a different way from Chapters, but when a majority of players won't play the content because it's too frustrating, too difficult, too boring..... what's the point of it?
ZoS current direction is all wrong.
Tzirzhalir wrote: »heimdall14_9 wrote: »Tzirzhalir wrote: »So Night market is catered to 5% of players(uh, elitists-cough) while the 95% (normal folk)suffer. What an intriguing idea. I can see why the "seasons" era is nothing more than a cover for maintenance mode and in 5 years from now this game will be down the toilet and will no longer be around. It's not about getting good, it's about having an "event" that caters to all of the community.
in 10 years this the 1st event for VETERANS think on that number and for 10 of them players has been asking for harder overland and a VET LEVEL playground like old day crag was ..
Yes, 95% suffer and 95% will leave and say why am I doing this? To receive cheap rewards and get sucked into FOMO golden pursuits. Looking at this from a third person perspective ZOS are clearly in chaos and have bad leadership and are frantically trying to save a dying horse but during their twitch streams they seem so positive and happy... which is a lie. Everything is fake because they all know the truth, ESO is on it's last legs and ZOS will now hunt down and manipulate new players because they are blind to their ugly truths. You and I Sir Crowley are considered old players who have been around since 2015 and know how this organization operates. I, personally have been flogging this dead horse (ESO) and I have finally realized that it is time to walk away and focus on real life and ignore this blatant manipulation and extortion from this company. The greed tactics are obvious, ESO used to be a beautiful and a fun game where communities supported each other because we felt secure in a structured environment, it's now chaos, the same chaos of a dying system. "SEASONS" is just a word to say we are in maintenance mode and following from maintenance it will go into administration and will end. ESO's death is on every member leading and directing from ZOS, it's on them entirely. After 11 years, having capped CP, having many experiences good and bad in ESO I have unsubscribed and uninstalled. WE THE PEOPLE have the POWER to walk away and to realize we are not going to be "played" by this organization any longer. Without us - your player base - You ZOS will cease to be anything but the real identity of your real life personalities that being living under this motto - we actually despise our player base and go out of our way to be supremely toxic to them by creating content which makes them unhappy. Night Market is an embarrassment as was last years "Solstice" and it will continue going down until it's completely destroyed.
It took you until the nightmarket to say this?
heimdall14_9 wrote: »Tzirzhalir wrote: »heimdall14_9 wrote: »Tzirzhalir wrote: »So Night market is catered to 5% of players(uh, elitists-cough) while the 95% (normal folk)suffer. What an intriguing idea. I can see why the "seasons" era is nothing more than a cover for maintenance mode and in 5 years from now this game will be down the toilet and will no longer be around. It's not about getting good, it's about having an "event" that caters to all of the community.
in 10 years this the 1st event for VETERANS think on that number and for 10 of them players has been asking for harder overland and a VET LEVEL playground like old day crag was ..
Yes, 95% suffer and 95% will leave and say why am I doing this? To receive cheap rewards and get sucked into FOMO golden pursuits. Looking at this from a third person perspective ZOS are clearly in chaos and have bad leadership and are frantically trying to save a dying horse but during their twitch streams they seem so positive and happy... which is a lie. Everything is fake because they all know the truth, ESO is on it's last legs and ZOS will now hunt down and manipulate new players because they are blind to their ugly truths. You and I Sir Crowley are considered old players who have been around since 2015 and know how this organization operates. I, personally have been flogging this dead horse (ESO) and I have finally realized that it is time to walk away and focus on real life and ignore this blatant manipulation and extortion from this company. The greed tactics are obvious, ESO used to be a beautiful and a fun game where communities supported each other because we felt secure in a structured environment, it's now chaos, the same chaos of a dying system. "SEASONS" is just a word to say we are in maintenance mode and following from maintenance it will go into administration and will end. ESO's death is on every member leading and directing from ZOS, it's on them entirely. After 11 years, having capped CP, having many experiences good and bad in ESO I have unsubscribed and uninstalled. WE THE PEOPLE have the POWER to walk away and to realize we are not going to be "played" by this organization any longer. Without us - your player base - You ZOS will cease to be anything but the real identity of your real life personalities that being living under this motto - we actually despise our player base and go out of our way to be supremely toxic to them by creating content which makes them unhappy. Night Market is an embarrassment as was last years "Solstice" and it will continue going down until it's completely destroyed.
good point i myself hadn't been playing in over 6 weeks ( not even logging in ) due to ADD-ONS making the game to easy , there being nothing challenging and flat out being bored of the game , NM has no add-on support and is a challenge ive now put in 19 hrs in two days and plan to play the whole of the weekend only because the NM is here and fits what ive been wanting for over 10 years , ESO TO BE CHALLENGING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tzirzhalir wrote: »So Night market is catered to 5% of players(uh, elitists-cough) while the 95% (normal folk)suffer. What an intriguing idea. I can see why the "seasons" era is nothing more than a cover for maintenance mode and in 5 years from now this game will be down the toilet and will no longer be around. It's not about getting good, it's about having an "event" that caters to all of the community.
I just want to chime in and point out how, short sighted, that jab is. Just because people enjoy the gameplay of the game, are practiced enough to do veteran difficulty content regularly, doesn't mean they're this cabal of toxic and horrible people that want to ruin things for you. This content being difficult isn't a personal attack against people who enjoy casual content, the tier of which dominates the vast majority of the game as every single overland zone caters to this group, it's to give people who enjoy higher difficulty content something else to enjoy. It is explicitly stated to be designed for groups in the announcement post, and to me it felt more like a combat theme park, a veteran difficulty public dungeon featuring a collection of recognizable bosses with some extra chaos thrown in. I adore that, because for players like me the only alternative to this content is to re-run the same dungeons and trials over and over again, content I've done to death, and having content of a similar caliber to engage with is refreshing, rather than being forced to just stay in my corner.
No event will cater to all of the community, ever, housing event's don't cater to everyone, pvp event's don't cater to everyone, new player onboarding event's don't cater to everyone, so why must the zone that was explicitly stated to be designed for groups cater to players who only know overland questing, and story final bosses who are defeated with the synergy key? This games combat goes well beyond that, and it is refreshing to have content that respects that potential, rather than just being more content designed to be steam rolled.
Tzirzhalir wrote: »Tzirzhalir wrote: »So Night market is catered to 5% of players(uh, elitists-cough) while the 95% (normal folk)suffer. What an intriguing idea. I can see why the "seasons" era is nothing more than a cover for maintenance mode and in 5 years from now this game will be down the toilet and will no longer be around. It's not about getting good, it's about having an "event" that caters to all of the community.
I just want to chime in and point out how, short sighted, that jab is. Just because people enjoy the gameplay of the game, are practiced enough to do veteran difficulty content regularly, doesn't mean they're this cabal of toxic and horrible people that want to ruin things for you. This content being difficult isn't a personal attack against people who enjoy casual content, the tier of which dominates the vast majority of the game as every single overland zone caters to this group, it's to give people who enjoy higher difficulty content something else to enjoy. It is explicitly stated to be designed for groups in the announcement post, and to me it felt more like a combat theme park, a veteran difficulty public dungeon featuring a collection of recognizable bosses with some extra chaos thrown in. I adore that, because for players like me the only alternative to this content is to re-run the same dungeons and trials over and over again, content I've done to death, and having content of a similar caliber to engage with is refreshing, rather than being forced to just stay in my corner.
No event will cater to all of the community, ever, housing event's don't cater to everyone, pvp event's don't cater to everyone, new player onboarding event's don't cater to everyone, so why must the zone that was explicitly stated to be designed for groups cater to players who only know overland questing, and story final bosses who are defeated with the synergy key? This games combat goes well beyond that, and it is refreshing to have content that respects that potential, rather than just being more content designed to be steam rolled.
Then why was a golden pursuit put on NM if it wasn't catered for everyone? It's new content, EVERYONE will do it. ZOS need to understand that they cannot cater to 5% of their community while the 95% suffer. That is literally imploding their game. You can defend it all you want. NM is a mistake. Go and read other posts that are 95% against NM. Like I said Seasons is just a quirky word for maintenance mode. If you watch the live stream they clearly say that NM is for group content then in the next few seconds they say it's for EVERYONE to enjoy. Watch it. He clearly states joining a group isn't required after just saying it is group focused. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/A5TR4kuoWVU perhaps you can understand the logic because I certainly do not.
Tzirzhalir wrote: »Tzirzhalir wrote: »Tzirzhalir wrote: »So Night market is catered to 5% of players(uh, elitists-cough) while the 95% (normal folk)suffer. What an intriguing idea. I can see why the "seasons" era is nothing more than a cover for maintenance mode and in 5 years from now this game will be down the toilet and will no longer be around. It's not about getting good, it's about having an "event" that caters to all of the community.
I just want to chime in and point out how, short sighted, that jab is. Just because people enjoy the gameplay of the game, are practiced enough to do veteran difficulty content regularly, doesn't mean they're this cabal of toxic and horrible people that want to ruin things for you. This content being difficult isn't a personal attack against people who enjoy casual content, the tier of which dominates the vast majority of the game as every single overland zone caters to this group, it's to give people who enjoy higher difficulty content something else to enjoy. It is explicitly stated to be designed for groups in the announcement post, and to me it felt more like a combat theme park, a veteran difficulty public dungeon featuring a collection of recognizable bosses with some extra chaos thrown in. I adore that, because for players like me the only alternative to this content is to re-run the same dungeons and trials over and over again, content I've done to death, and having content of a similar caliber to engage with is refreshing, rather than being forced to just stay in my corner.
No event will cater to all of the community, ever, housing event's don't cater to everyone, pvp event's don't cater to everyone, new player onboarding event's don't cater to everyone, so why must the zone that was explicitly stated to be designed for groups cater to players who only know overland questing, and story final bosses who are defeated with the synergy key? This games combat goes well beyond that, and it is refreshing to have content that respects that potential, rather than just being more content designed to be steam rolled.
Then why was a golden pursuit put on NM if it wasn't catered for everyone? It's new content, EVERYONE will do it. ZOS need to understand that they cannot cater to 5% of their community while the 95% suffer. That is literally imploding their game. You can defend it all you want. NM is a mistake. Go and read other posts that are 95% against NM. Like I said Seasons is just a quirky word for maintenance mode. If you watch the live stream they clearly say that NM is for group content then in the next few seconds they say it's for EVERYONE to enjoy. Watch it. He clearly states joining a group isn't required after just saying it is group focused. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/A5TR4kuoWVU perhaps you can understand the logic because I certainly do not.
The question is, why should 95% of ESO's community sit in THEIR corner while 5% are entitled to enjoy Night market?
Tzirzhalir wrote: »Tzirzhalir wrote: »Tzirzhalir wrote: »So Night market is catered to 5% of players(uh, elitists-cough) while the 95% (normal folk)suffer. What an intriguing idea. I can see why the "seasons" era is nothing more than a cover for maintenance mode and in 5 years from now this game will be down the toilet and will no longer be around. It's not about getting good, it's about having an "event" that caters to all of the community.
I just want to chime in and point out how, short sighted, that jab is. Just because people enjoy the gameplay of the game, are practiced enough to do veteran difficulty content regularly, doesn't mean they're this cabal of toxic and horrible people that want to ruin things for you. This content being difficult isn't a personal attack against people who enjoy casual content, the tier of which dominates the vast majority of the game as every single overland zone caters to this group, it's to give people who enjoy higher difficulty content something else to enjoy. It is explicitly stated to be designed for groups in the announcement post, and to me it felt more like a combat theme park, a veteran difficulty public dungeon featuring a collection of recognizable bosses with some extra chaos thrown in. I adore that, because for players like me the only alternative to this content is to re-run the same dungeons and trials over and over again, content I've done to death, and having content of a similar caliber to engage with is refreshing, rather than being forced to just stay in my corner.
No event will cater to all of the community, ever, housing event's don't cater to everyone, pvp event's don't cater to everyone, new player onboarding event's don't cater to everyone, so why must the zone that was explicitly stated to be designed for groups cater to players who only know overland questing, and story final bosses who are defeated with the synergy key? This games combat goes well beyond that, and it is refreshing to have content that respects that potential, rather than just being more content designed to be steam rolled.
Then why was a golden pursuit put on NM if it wasn't catered for everyone? It's new content, EVERYONE will do it. ZOS need to understand that they cannot cater to 5% of their community while the 95% suffer. That is literally imploding their game. You can defend it all you want. NM is a mistake. Go and read other posts that are 95% against NM. Like I said Seasons is just a quirky word for maintenance mode. If you watch the live stream they clearly say that NM is for group content then in the next few seconds they say it's for EVERYONE to enjoy. Watch it. He clearly states joining a group isn't required after just saying it is group focused. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/A5TR4kuoWVU perhaps you can understand the logic because I certainly do not.
The question is, why should 95% of ESO's community sit in THEIR corner while 5% are entitled to enjoy Night market?
tomofhyrule wrote: »next patch, the 5% is going to be sitting in their corner with no new content whatsoever, while the 95% get three different solo questlines as content drops.
It’s almost like there will be something for everyone over the course of the year, just not all at once.
heimdall14_9 wrote: »For years, the veteran community has been vocal about the lack of meaningful challenge in the open world. Since the removal of the original Veteran Craglorn difficulty and the shift to One Tamriel, much of the game's non-instanced content has become something you can breeze through without a second thought. The Night Market finally changes that, and it’s exactly what the game needs.
The Return of the "Skill Check"
The Night Market isn't just "harder"—it’s mechanically demanding. We have spent years asking for content where:
Mistakes Matter: If you miss a block, fail to dodge-roll a heavy, or mess up your positioning, you actually die.
Tactics Over Power: It isn’t just about having the highest DPS; it’s about using skill-based fighting tactics to survive something that can easily kill you if you slip up.
Engagement: You can't just "heavy attack" your way through while half-asleep. You have to be present and active.
Bridging the Gap
While I understand the frustration from more casual players, we have to recognize that the vast majority of ESO is designed to be accessible to everyone. The veteran community needs a place where their builds and their years of practice actually feel necessary.
The Night Market feels like a nod to the old-school difficulty where the world felt dangerous. It provides a sense of accomplishment that has been missing from the "overland" experience for a decade. If you want the rewards and the glory of the Market, you should have to earn it through skill.
tomofhyrule wrote: »next patch, the 5% is going to be sitting in their corner with no new content whatsoever, while the 95% get three different solo questlines as content drops.
It’s almost like there will be something for everyone over the course of the year, just not all at once.
Two questlines, one with 6 quests, the other one with 8. That's 7 hours of content perhaps. I mean, I appreciate it, and I agree that there's different types of content for different playstyles this year (not for everyone, nothing new for ToT, for example). But it's not a huge amount. Well, perhaps next year with what ever Winterhold content we will get.
tomofhyrule wrote: »tomofhyrule wrote: »next patch, the 5% is going to be sitting in their corner with no new content whatsoever, while the 95% get three different solo questlines as content drops.
It’s almost like there will be something for everyone over the course of the year, just not all at once.
Two questlines, one with 6 quests, the other one with 8. That's 7 hours of content perhaps. I mean, I appreciate it, and I agree that there's different types of content for different playstyles this year (not for everyone, nothing new for ToT, for example). But it's not a huge amount. Well, perhaps next year with what ever Winterhold content we will get.
We can also look at what people aren’t getting this year, since we are getting mathematically less than previous years.
Dungeon folks are not getting new Dungeons. At all. All they get instead is an event zone with trial-esque enemies where most bosses are copypasted from before (the “Dungeons” in the Market are single boss encounters, not dungeons). But no new dungeon stories, no new dungeon sets, and only one monster helm accessible
Zone folks are not getting a new zone this year. At all. They’re instead redoing Glenumbra and adding Dynamic Encounters instead of new delves/WBs/incursions.
Story folks are not getting a bunch of sidequests. They are getting two questlines instead of one, and the Favors and Rumors systems are more taking the place of the sidequests we normally get. They might be about the same amount of content altogether though - after all, Solstice’s zone story and sidequests were about that long.
Trial folks are the only ones who are getting more than they had before. But they only get one trial a year - now they get a trial *and* a new mini-Trial in the Market
As for those who like Companions, Tribute, or levelling new Classes, it’s yet another year of “no.” But none of that happened in 2025 either. I do hope that we’ll get a new Class very soon after these refreshes are done, which is also a great excuse for a new Companion.
And then there’s the red-headed stepchild group that is the only group of players who will have less content in 2026 than they did in 2025: the PvPers. Vengeance is not for the high level PvPers, but they will be removing all non-Grey Host campaigns for it to work… which means PvPers who favor Blackreach or Ravenwatch will actually lose their content, and even the ones who use those as a waiting room for Grey Host will now lose that. I foresee incredibly long GH queue times, and a lot of people afking into walls at base so they don’t have to queue… and preventing others from coming in.
So yes, all players are also getting less in 2026 than they did in 2025. Again, it’s spread out, where really only the PvP community getting shafted, but story and trial players not losing much.
agelonestar wrote: »Very few people want this level of content. Most want the kind of new content we had with Chapters (zones, stories, quests, and other content in keeping with Elder Scrolls lore). That isn't to say there shouldn't be a balance and we can't do things in a different way from Chapters, but when a majority of players won't play the content because it's too frustrating, too difficult, too boring..... what's the point of it?
ZoS current direction is all wrong.
Tzirzhalir wrote: »Tzirzhalir wrote: »So Night market is catered to 5% of players(uh, elitists-cough) while the 95% (normal folk)suffer. What an intriguing idea. I can see why the "seasons" era is nothing more than a cover for maintenance mode and in 5 years from now this game will be down the toilet and will no longer be around. It's not about getting good, it's about having an "event" that caters to all of the community.
I just want to chime in and point out how, short sighted, that jab is. Just because people enjoy the gameplay of the game, are practiced enough to do veteran difficulty content regularly, doesn't mean they're this cabal of toxic and horrible people that want to ruin things for you. This content being difficult isn't a personal attack against people who enjoy casual content, the tier of which dominates the vast majority of the game as every single overland zone caters to this group, it's to give people who enjoy higher difficulty content something else to enjoy. It is explicitly stated to be designed for groups in the announcement post, and to me it felt more like a combat theme park, a veteran difficulty public dungeon featuring a collection of recognizable bosses with some extra chaos thrown in. I adore that, because for players like me the only alternative to this content is to re-run the same dungeons and trials over and over again, content I've done to death, and having content of a similar caliber to engage with is refreshing, rather than being forced to just stay in my corner.
No event will cater to all of the community, ever, housing event's don't cater to everyone, pvp event's don't cater to everyone, new player onboarding event's don't cater to everyone, so why must the zone that was explicitly stated to be designed for groups cater to players who only know overland questing, and story final bosses who are defeated with the synergy key? This games combat goes well beyond that, and it is refreshing to have content that respects that potential, rather than just being more content designed to be steam rolled.
Then why was a golden pursuit put on NM if it wasn't catered for everyone? It's new content, EVERYONE will do it. ZOS need to understand that they cannot cater to 5% of their community while the 95% suffer. That is literally imploding their game. You can defend it all you want. NM is a mistake. Go and read other posts that are 95% against NM. Like I said Seasons is just a quirky word for maintenance mode. If you watch the live stream they clearly say that NM is for group content then in the next few seconds they say it's for EVERYONE to enjoy. Watch it. He clearly states joining a group isn't required after just saying it is group focused. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/A5TR4kuoWVU perhaps you can understand the logic because I certainly do not.
agelonestar wrote: »Very few people want this level of content. Most want the kind of new content we had with Chapters (zones, stories, quests, and other content in keeping with Elder Scrolls lore). That isn't to say there shouldn't be a balance and we can't do things in a different way from Chapters, but when a majority of players won't play the content because it's too frustrating, too difficult, too boring..... what's the point of it?
ZoS current direction is all wrong.
Just to add to this...
ZOS spent the first 10 (11?) years putting out zones with stories and delves and such. Because of that, they attracted and retained predominantly the type of player who enjoys that type of content, and a lot of those players prefer to solo/duo. Sure, there are players who only PvP or do arenas/dungeons/trials, and players who won't craft unless they're in a group. But a significant portion of the playerbase enjoyed the game and stuck around because of chapter (and story DLC) releases, and a significant number of those players only play solo or in a duo.
IOW, since ESO came out, ZOS released content on a regular schedule that attracted solo players, players interested in ES lore, and players who enjoy playing in a duo (often couples). And there are players who see ESO as a sort of comfort game - stress-free gaming.
The reason a lot of players are angry or upset about the NM is because it feels like a betrayal. ZOS set up a certain expectation content-wise, and perhaps unintentionally built a large solo/duo playerbase. The NM feels like a slap in the face. People that have supported the game for years are suddenly shut out of a major event.
I'm not trying to say the Night Market shouldn't have been released, or that it's unfair that it's not a good match for the majority of the playerbase. I'm fine with the Night Market event. I'm not participating, but that doesn't bother me.
I just wanted to point out that nobody should be surprised, including ZOS, that a playerbase they built over 10 years with annual chapters and story DLC (and dungeon DLC too) isn't a good match for a zone that requires other players, meta builds, etc. to complete. I'm certainly not surprised. The complaints were to be expected.
Of course, there will be solo/duo players who try it and enjoy it. But it misses the mark for most of the large story-focused, solo/duo crowd that ZOS built over the years. It's like when a writer is loved for their vampire stories, and suddenly they release a crime story. Sure, some will try it out and love it, but most people will be upset and not be interested. It's a case of "know your audience," or in this case, "know your playerbase."
Anyway, I guess ZOS will crunch the participation numbers and decide whether zones like this make sense in the future. Maybe there are a ton of players participating. We don't know how many instances exist at one time. On the other hand, if the numbers are low, or the NM is mostly dead in a couple of weeks, maybe they'll consider it a failed experiment and not do it again. Time will tell.