The Night Market Grind, Dead Zones, and Boss Loot

Gabriel_H · May 14

There are complaints about the re-gridning of keys in the Night Market, from myself included. I believe that ZOS intent on the re-grind was to keep players enagaged with the overland so that there would be people always there to group with. It's a good idea, but had the downside of a grind that feels like a job.

Yet, there is a mechanism that would achieve the goal of keeping players in the overland, and could also be extended into other zones (that are now dead) giving newer players an easier time as there would be people there to group with or assist on the harder things like WBs and PDs. The mechanism that already exists - Bosses dropping trade bars.

If ZOS were to increase the amount dropped it would keep players engaged in the Night Market overland. Not to be greedy there could be a cooldown and/or cap imposed on the number that can be earned in a given week/month/season this way. Something like 1 for a Brazen, 5 for an Argent, 10 for a Calamitous and 20 for a Skirmish. This would give all players a meaningful reward

Extending this out into the other zones and tailoring the amount dropped depending on whether it is Base Game or Chapter/DLC would be a reason for players to return to those zones en-masse. Something like Base Game; WB 2, PD Boss 1, PD Group 3 and doubling that for the (what are) more difficult Chapter/DLC ones.

They could even run bonus events for certain zones if they want to drive engagement to a specific area.

(Numbers are for example purposes only)

katanagirl1 · May 15

It might help since it seems that once you get the splinters for each boss, the loot drop after that is just decon fodder and sellable treasures, not much of a reward.

The roaming bosses drop trade bars already.

I don’t agree on extending it to anything other than NM zone, until the NM closes.

Sluggy · May 15

Yeah. I'm not really sure how they should handle this one, honestly.

It's reminiscent of Diablo2's keys for the Pandemonium event. But in that case, many players often can get other worthwhile things while farming for the keys and doing it efficiently usually only takes a couple minutes per run and can be very targeted. That game also allows for trading of all items which is why it's often even worth it for some players. Finding some casually allows for them to trade for highly sought items while saving other players time not having to farm keys. However, that last option is entirely dependent on how interwoven the player trade economy is with the core gameplay in the first place and wouldn't really work in ESO's case.

I agree. It's a neat thought and a decent idea on paper but in practice it doesn't seem interesting and just gatekeeps even being able to attempt the trial - something which is by it's very nature a trial-and-error process to complete.

Apollosipod · May 15

About halfway through the climb to 5k I decided I'd stop when I opened the vault. Now I'm at 4k and I don't even know if I care now. The idea of going back and repeating NM for another faction is absurd to me. The content has some things I like, but the reward is non-existent for the time and effort and does not reward my time. I can only get so much Mother's Sorrow. And the fact that every boss is a reused dungeon boss...eh

Reginald_leBlem · May 16

I tried forming a pug group in an attempt to get a friend who's been on vacation their relics and it was terrible. We were in there forever and only managed to get the relic from Skittering.
Friend is feeling discouraged and likely isn't going to finish getting the relics.... which means no dungeons, and no trial.

Foxtrot39 · May 16

Making keys stack would be a good start

AScarlato · May 16

Apollosipod wrote: »

About halfway through the climb to 5k I decided I'd stop when I opened the vault. Now I'm at 4k and I don't even know if I care now. The idea of going back and repeating NM for another faction is absurd to me. The content has some things I like, but the reward is non-existent for the time and effort and does not reward my time. I can only get so much Mother's Sorrow. And the fact that every boss is a reused dungeon boss...eh

I think I'm at 12K favor but they are going to have to be very creative with amping up rewards for me to do this again.

Hopefully they find things to keep this motivating.

Adding Guild Trader from the house would be a start but outside of new sets or different house items I'm curious what might interest people.

I did make okay money selling Portents but that market seems to have slowed a lot and if it's the same ingredients it probably won't pick up that much next time unless a mass glut of new players join, which seems iffy.

tsaescishoeshiner · May 17

Night Market is packed. I see so many people on my friends and guild lists in there at any time I'm online. Group Finder is full of LFG postings that fill up.

Each Night Market instance has a low player count, so you may not run into other people or be the same place as the 1 large group in your instance.

Vaqual · May 17

There is some truth to this, but also I see a lot of complaints stem from doing too much at once. The NM will be still around for quite some time. Going through it all at a more relaxed pace, I haven't really felt nagging issues

MidniteOwl1913 · May 18

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

Night Market is packed. I see so many people on my friends and guild lists in there at any time I'm online. Group Finder is full of LFG postings that fill up.

Each Night Market instance has a low player count, so you may not run into other people or be the same place as the 1 large group in your instance.

Tonight PSEU the finder was totally empty, not a single listing for well over an hour. And then only one.

frogthroat · May 18

Trade bars is an excellent idea. Even if ZOS wants to keep the key grind, it could be like antiquities, where after digging it up 3 times you can just purchase the antiquities. Once you done the keys 3 times, it's permanently open for you.

I still keep going back since I think it's fun, but recognise that once you have everything you need from there, there's not much to draw you back in. In fact, the key grind might make you avoid it eventually. Trade bars would, if not fix, at least alleviate the fatigue.

MidniteOwl1913 · May 18

I have found the whole relic thing frustrating. The splinters need a group, but it's hard to follow the group until you have the relic and can use the same paths.

So it hard to get the thing because you need the thing to move with the group.

I don't think this was very well thought thru.

rockDokRock · May 18

MidniteOwl1913 wrote: »

I have found the whole relic thing frustrating. The splinters need a group, but it's hard to follow the group until you have the relic and can use the same paths.

So it hard to get the thing because you need the thing to move with the group.

I don't think this was very well thought thru.

I played NM pretty hard when it came out, I got all the keys so I can do the dungeons now, got all the relecs , was doing dailies then I just stopped. I hesitate before I teleport into NM or look for a group and don't bother. I dunno, just not really into it as it seems like alot of work for... well, not much reward. having 10 trade bars drop is zero incentive for me but I also dont' really suffer from FOMO (Trade tome points, I've not even looked at my objectives because I just don't care, I'll pick up points as I just play is the way I see it).

The NM has a few flaws.

- You join a group, you have to die several times just to catch up with them... why?
- Constant fighting. You can't do anything without having to have pointless fight after pointless fight from these silly mobs that respawn so quickly; I don't know how that is supposed to be a positive for your "experience", it's just irritating. It almost feels like IA in disguise.
- The little mini quests; I did a load of them to start with until I saw what the purple loot boxes had... wow, that's so not worth it.

It's a cool idea and I'm happy to see something being doing with Fargrave (I like the zone). But I'm struggling to even do the dungeons at this point. I did join a dungeon group in the finder but one of the guys didn't have keys... <sigh>... so I left the group. I don't think I've tried since.

ZOS_Icy · May 18

Greetings,

With there already being a thread opened on this subject here, we're going to go ahead and close this one down.

The Elder Scrolls Online Team