Infinite Archive makes me want to quit ESO

Bo0137 · May 29

I don't understand it, sorry.

You want to follow the meta. The meta has tolls. The meta changes all the time, that's what make them... meta.

Stop following the meta if it is making you not enjoy the game. Games are supposed to be all about fun. If it starts to feel like a job, you are doing something wrong.

We have perfectly fine gear that will survive any content in the game. Night mother's gaze and hunding's rage are two sets that have been in ESO since 2014 iirc. Who is there to say they are worthless? You can absolutely do any content in the game with these sets.

Callosum · May 30

I don't mind a grind, and I don't mind that the meta sets aren't easy to obtain. What I do mind is having to clear the first two arcs over and over again every single run. They're so easy that they become boring rather than challenging.

I simply don't have the time to push deep into the content regularly, which means I'm stuck replaying the same trivial early stages instead of engaging with the parts that actually test my build and skill.

A simple solution would be to let players unlock arc skips. For example, every time you reach a certain milestone, you permanently unlock the ability to start one arc higher. To keep rewards balanced, each skipped arc could provide a small increase in drops or rewards.

That would completely solve the issue for me. It would let me spend my limited playtime testing builds and progressing through meaningful content based on skill rather than repeatedly grinding through the same easy opening sections.

SolarRune · May 30

Personally don't mind grind (having tried to get gear before it was curated) but I do loath the IA gameplay with a passion, I just find it the most boring thing in the game, would prefer to run 30 crags than do IA. (I know others love it, to each their own). Maybe the next NM needs to have the class sets rather than the overland sets dropping from it.

Roztlin45 · May 30

IA is ok, especially on rainy days (bored, or in between events). The problem I find is the grind through early level trash mobs. After you complete each Arc, and certainly the first one, you should be able to fast forward to the real action. Make a cycle or Arc 1 ,2, or 3 an achievement and once you earn that, then you should be able to start later in that progression. The tradeoff would be the points also start at zero just like in the beginning. That way people could scale past the easy first Arc if they choose to.

CatalinaWineMixer2 · May 30

Id rather see them institute a dps cap to remove Dps metas than change the Infinite Achive

Callosum · May 30

Roztlin45 wrote: »

IA is ok, especially on rainy days (bored, or in between events). The problem I find is the grind through early level trash mobs. After you complete each Arc, and certainly the first one, you should be able to fast forward to the real action. Make a cycle or Arc 1 ,2, or 3 an achievement and once you earn that, then you should be able to start later in that progression. The tradeoff would be the points also start at zero just like in the beginning. That way people could scale past the easy first Arc if they choose to.

This

Elvenheart · May 30

CatalinaWineMixer2 wrote: »

Id rather see them institute a dps cap to remove Dps metas than change the Infinite Achive

I wouldn’t mind them making ways to start at later arcs if you’ve achieved some milestone as as long as it was just optional and you could still start at arc one if you wanted to

Gabriel_H · May 30

Elvenheart wrote: »

CatalinaWineMixer2 wrote: »

Id rather see them institute a dps cap to remove Dps metas than change the Infinite Achive

I wouldn’t mind them making ways to start at later arcs if you’ve achieved some milestone as as long as it was just optional and you could still start at arc one if you wanted to

So, starting at later arcs would make it extremely difficult to complete, as you wouldn't have visions. Anything Arc 5 & beyond really needs at least one Focussed Effort.

ZOS could of course award visions for arcs that have been skipped. Lets keep with the Arc 5 example. So you start at Arc 5 with 20 random Visions, which means Arcs 1 to 4 are pretty meaningless, so we may as well shutter those. So the start point was Arc 5 becomes Arc 1, the difficulty is increased, offset by Visions and the Arc is still the same comparative level as the original Arc 1. So what's changed?!

SaffronCitrusflower · May 30

BardokRedSnow wrote: »

Frayton wrote: »

BardokRedSnow wrote: »

The push to make everything purchasable and tradable is killing the game, almost nothing out feels earned. Majority of the motifs available are just rng from dungeons and purchasable from a guild store etc. Aside from trial trifecta stuff, and the ic motifs there is very little you have to get in the game where you look at someone else and say dang he's him, he earned that.

This isnt even a particularly hard thing to do, as you can gain a piece of your class gear just by doing the first full level of IA, rinse and repeat. If anything the game needs more stuff you have to earn, like with the NM monster sets. More not less, we have enough convenience as is, and none of it is necessary to have for any piece of content regardless.

Boring grind is killing the game. It's not that IA is difficult. It's that it is extremely boring to the point where I just logoff, and I'm not the only one who feels this way.

I have never met another player in the game in all my guilds and Discord servers who's excited over IA. It's the exact opposite. Whenever IA is mentioned, there's always complaints and groans.

If there are actually people who enjoy IA, then good for them. I'm willing to trade them stuff I got from the ESO content I enjoy for their time doing what they enjoy. It's a win win situation, and we both continue playing ESO. This is the suggestion I have for ZOS when I ask for tradable IA gear.

This is the problem with these forums. Y'all enjoy this echochamber and assume because of the reception here, or your casual guilds, that it is the wider opinion of the community. I enjoy IA, your opinion is subjective.

This is an MMO, most of the community doesn't visit the forums as forums are outdated. They're useful and I prefer it to reddit, but I grew up using them. Most people have not.

Too many here state their opinion as objective truth. Truth is the content y'all describe as grindy or challenging in the case of NM, and yea sometimes IA also for the dragons or a certain boss otherwise I've seen recently etc, others are clearing very easily and very quickly. Like this comment here:

CatoUnchained wrote: »

BardokRedSnow wrote: »

From what I see in this thread and the forums in general is, people want instant gratification for every last piece of content there is. This is an mmo, antithetical to the type of game you are playing.

Your interpretation is flawed. If we have to spend literally hundreds of hours on a certain segment of content the content should at least be new, not recycled. This isn't like a PvE main expecting to get PvP rewards while never playing PvP.

Ridiculous, absolute hyperbole. I have spent a lot of time in IA for fun, and getting my dk sets, getting the IA buffs for future runs in case more gear was released there etc. I have all the content there aside from the weekly new stuff thrown in of course, and even the sets from other classes just by accident of playing, as well as the motifs. There's no way I've spent even 100 hours in there much less hundreds.

Your mileage may vary and thats the whole point. The idea that IA is boring and too grindy is not universal, many solo players love it, and just like I said for NM which is group content specific, it has a place, especially in an MMO which is designed around the concept of grinding content for gear.

Your opinion is taken into consideration of course but when I see comments thrown around like "My guilds dont talk about X excitedly so it must be bad" and "hundreds of hours of grinding" hyperbole or not and the like I tune it out pretty much immediately, its very disingenuous. Especially for content with gear you DO NOT NEED.

It's not hyperbole though. It really does take hundreds of hours in IA to get even one complete set. It's probably over 1000 hours to get all the sets. (I don't know, because I don't waste my time in IA and never will. But I've done it enough to get 2/3rds the pieces of one set, and it's been over 50 hours to do that)

DenverRalphy · May 30

A year back (maybe two?), there was a huge thread on the subject of whether a save or checkpoint system would be good for the game.

I can't remember specifically, but I think it wound down with treating IA like the other arenas where you could exit, then re-enter at any future time at the same progress point as when you left. The idea of checkpoints with random visions was tossed around too, but I seem to recall that being a questionable solution as players could then cheese the checkpoint by just re-entering until they rolled favorable visions.

It was a heated thread for a while. Viewpoints and opinions changed back and forth.

SaffronCitrusflower · May 30

reazea wrote: »

ItsNotLiving wrote: »

The little mini bosses should drop your classes gear first then overland gear when your class is done.

Every drop in IA should drop IA gear ONLY. No overland sets should drop in IA. Only IA gear should drop in IA.

Every time I get an overland piece of gear in IA a lose a little bit more respect for ZOS because it shows they have no respect for me and my time.

Couldn't agree more.

Every drop in IA should be an IA set piece. No overland sets should drop in IA from any source. Every source should drop IA gear.

Lord_Hev · May 30

SaffronCitrusflower wrote: »

BardokRedSnow wrote: »

Frayton wrote: »

BardokRedSnow wrote: »

The push to make everything purchasable and tradable is killing the game, almost nothing out feels earned. Majority of the motifs available are just rng from dungeons and purchasable from a guild store etc. Aside from trial trifecta stuff, and the ic motifs there is very little you have to get in the game where you look at someone else and say dang he's him, he earned that.

This isnt even a particularly hard thing to do, as you can gain a piece of your class gear just by doing the first full level of IA, rinse and repeat. If anything the game needs more stuff you have to earn, like with the NM monster sets. More not less, we have enough convenience as is, and none of it is necessary to have for any piece of content regardless.

Boring grind is killing the game. It's not that IA is difficult. It's that it is extremely boring to the point where I just logoff, and I'm not the only one who feels this way.

I have never met another player in the game in all my guilds and Discord servers who's excited over IA. It's the exact opposite. Whenever IA is mentioned, there's always complaints and groans.

If there are actually people who enjoy IA, then good for them. I'm willing to trade them stuff I got from the ESO content I enjoy for their time doing what they enjoy. It's a win win situation, and we both continue playing ESO. This is the suggestion I have for ZOS when I ask for tradable IA gear.

This is the problem with these forums. Y'all enjoy this echochamber and assume because of the reception here, or your casual guilds, that it is the wider opinion of the community. I enjoy IA, your opinion is subjective.

This is an MMO, most of the community doesn't visit the forums as forums are outdated. They're useful and I prefer it to reddit, but I grew up using them. Most people have not.

Too many here state their opinion as objective truth. Truth is the content y'all describe as grindy or challenging in the case of NM, and yea sometimes IA also for the dragons or a certain boss otherwise I've seen recently etc, others are clearing very easily and very quickly. Like this comment here:

CatoUnchained wrote: »

BardokRedSnow wrote: »

From what I see in this thread and the forums in general is, people want instant gratification for every last piece of content there is. This is an mmo, antithetical to the type of game you are playing.

Your interpretation is flawed. If we have to spend literally hundreds of hours on a certain segment of content the content should at least be new, not recycled. This isn't like a PvE main expecting to get PvP rewards while never playing PvP.

Ridiculous, absolute hyperbole. I have spent a lot of time in IA for fun, and getting my dk sets, getting the IA buffs for future runs in case more gear was released there etc. I have all the content there aside from the weekly new stuff thrown in of course, and even the sets from other classes just by accident of playing, as well as the motifs. There's no way I've spent even 100 hours in there much less hundreds.

Your mileage may vary and thats the whole point. The idea that IA is boring and too grindy is not universal, many solo players love it, and just like I said for NM which is group content specific, it has a place, especially in an MMO which is designed around the concept of grinding content for gear.

Your opinion is taken into consideration of course but when I see comments thrown around like "My guilds dont talk about X excitedly so it must be bad" and "hundreds of hours of grinding" hyperbole or not and the like I tune it out pretty much immediately, its very disingenuous. Especially for content with gear you DO NOT NEED.

It's not hyperbole though. It really does take hundreds of hours in IA to get even one complete set. It's probably over 1000 hours to get all the sets. (I don't know, because I don't waste my time in IA and never will. But I've done it enough to get 2/3rds the pieces of one set, and it's been over 50 hours to do that)

Extreme hyperbole actually though lol. I helped multiple friends farm IA casually, got them 1 and a half maxed out class sets that they were wanting speedrun style in just 10 hours total split between 2 - 3 days on average.

I maxed out 100% all class sets and 2 different torc of the last ayleid king full lead sets just playing IA for the content and never thinking of chasing anything. It only feels like a long 1000 hour grind because you need to desperately chase a meta.

Total vindication for me next patch. I'm chilling with my 100% all class sets ready to continue repping my pureclass enthusiasm as I ALWAYS have. I've been running wrathsun for over a year. Running pyrebrand for over a year even with the nerfs still outparsing people. Running corpseburster before corpseburster ever became recognized meta. Was even heavy attack sorcing with monolith lul. Wearing aerie cry for a roleplay bow build. All of it getting uber-buffed via a flat 30k -
40k dps inflation with class masteries + TLC buffs next patch based on my parses on pts compared to live. Way ahead of all the content clout chasers and their click-bait. ¯\(°_o)/¯

Peeps didn't want to wear these sets when they were underperforming. Now there's content-farmers instructing people that they are "good" and so they have to farm them now but are expected to just get it done in a day

? I guess it's not like trial gear someone can pay a raid to feed all the sets for several millions of gold. Enjoy the grind! Absolutely NEED to be meta!! If you're not meta your parses will suddenly plummet by over 50%. So everyone needs to rush powergrind the meta IA sets -right now- it's imperative!

Frayton · May 30

SaffronCitrusflower wrote: »

reazea wrote: »

ItsNotLiving wrote: »

The little mini bosses should drop your classes gear first then overland gear when your class is done.

Every drop in IA should drop IA gear ONLY. No overland sets should drop in IA. Only IA gear should drop in IA.

Every time I get an overland piece of gear in IA a lose a little bit more respect for ZOS because it shows they have no respect for me and my time.

Couldn't agree more.

Every drop in IA should be an IA set piece. No overland sets should drop in IA from any source. Every source should drop IA gear.

I'm surprised that IA doesn't drop IA gear from all bosses. This would go a long way in alleviating the extreme grind issue.

Gabriel_H · May 30

SaffronCitrusflower wrote: »

It's probably over 1000 hours to get all the sets.

Not even close. 72 pieces per class, 7 classes, 3 pieces per first 2 arcs, 45 mins per run.

(((72 x 7) / 3) * 45) / 60 = 126 hours

Edit For Context: It took me about 250 hours to get all 3 codex entries for each antiquity.

Gabriel_H · May 30

Frayton wrote: »

SaffronCitrusflower wrote: »

reazea wrote: »

ItsNotLiving wrote: »

The little mini bosses should drop your classes gear first then overland gear when your class is done.

Every drop in IA should drop IA gear ONLY. No overland sets should drop in IA. Only IA gear should drop in IA.

Every time I get an overland piece of gear in IA a lose a little bit more respect for ZOS because it shows they have no respect for me and my time.

Couldn't agree more.

Every drop in IA should be an IA set piece. No overland sets should drop in IA from any source. Every source should drop IA gear.

I'm surprised that IA doesn't drop IA gear from all bosses. This would go a long way in alleviating the extreme grind issue.

Not for someone who doesn't have all the overland sets.

Frayton · May 30

SolarRune wrote: »

Personally don't mind grind (having tried to get gear before it was curated) but I do loath the IA gameplay with a passion, I just find it the most boring thing in the game, would prefer to run 30 crags than do IA. (I know others love it, to each their own). Maybe the next NM needs to have the class sets rather than the overland sets dropping from it.

On point.

There seems to be an assumption here that anyone who loathes the IA grind must want everything handed to them, must be casual, or must not want to earn anything.

That's absurd in the least, sloppy thinking, and can be easily disproven by the fact that there are players who spend a lot of time to play and clear the hardest ESO content also think the IA grind is wretched.

BretonMage · May 30

I mean, casual players don't like the later arcs, and hardcore players don't like the early arcs ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

DenverRalphy · May 30

Gabriel_H wrote: »

SaffronCitrusflower wrote: »

It's probably over 1000 hours to get all the sets.

Not even close. 72 pieces per class, 7 classes, 3 pieces per first 2 arcs, 45 mins per run.

(((72 x 7) / 3) * 45) / 60 = 126 hours

Edit For Context: It took me about 250 hours to get all 3 codex entries for each antiquity.

Yep. Essentially 18 hours per class for 100% stickerbook. And that's not even taking into account recycling Archival Fortunes for set boxes. Which cuts it down even further.

It's definitely a bit of a grind. But it's doable. And it's not hundreds (plural) hours, let alone 1000.

[edit] Though if a player is looking to complete all 7 classes, and the player stops at Arc 2 Tho'At instead of Arc 3 Marauder, it is admittedly a rather long haul that could end in an ugly cry upon completion.

Frayton · May 30

Bo0137 wrote: »

I don't understand it, sorry.

You want to follow the meta. The meta has tolls. The meta changes all the time, that's what make them... meta.

Stop following the meta if it is making you not enjoy the game. Games are supposed to be all about fun. If it starts to feel like a job, you are doing something wrong.

We have perfectly fine gear that will survive any content in the game. Night mother's gaze and hunding's rage are two sets that have been in ESO since 2014 iirc. Who is there to say they are worthless? You can absolutely do any content in the game with these sets.

Valid points especially about the meta toll. I've paid it many times before because meta is what I enjoy, but this time I think it's too much. The reward doesn't match the effort for me, so I just logoff ESO. I don't have to be meta, but I think it's fun to be optimized while running the hardest content ESO offers.

On the upshot for gear sellers, they're probably going to make bank selling their IA drops.

Elvenheart · May 30

Gabriel_H wrote: »

Elvenheart wrote: »

CatalinaWineMixer2 wrote: »

Id rather see them institute a dps cap to remove Dps metas than change the Infinite Achive

I wouldn’t mind them making ways to start at later arcs if you’ve achieved some milestone as as long as it was just optional and you could still start at arc one if you wanted to

So, starting at later arcs would make it extremely difficult to complete, as you wouldn't have visions. Anything Arc 5 & beyond really needs at least one Focussed Effort.

ZOS could of course award visions for arcs that have been skipped. Lets keep with the Arc 5 example. So you start at Arc 5 with 20 random Visions, which means Arcs 1 to 4 are pretty meaningless, so we may as well shutter those. So the start point was Arc 5 becomes Arc 1, the difficulty is increased, offset by Visions and the Arc is still the same comparative level as the original Arc 1. So what's changed?!

I’ve made it to Arc 5 a few times before running out of playtime. At some point, I might like to start at Arc 5 and just see how much further I can get. But a lot of times I just want a nice relaxing casual experience in the IA earning fortunes for furnishing plansso I would definitely want to be able to start at Arc 1 if that was the mood I was in,

ToddIngram · May 31

reazea wrote: »

ItsNotLiving wrote: »

The little mini bosses should drop your classes gear first then overland gear when your class is done.

Every drop in IA should drop IA gear ONLY. No overland sets should drop in IA. Only IA gear should drop in IA.

Every time I get an overland piece of gear in IA a lose a little bit more respect for ZOS because it shows they have no respect for me and my time.

IA would be bearable if every drop was IA gear. Mixing in overland sets everyone already has is a kick to the crotch and makes IA just an insult to have to play.

ToddIngram · May 31

Lord_Hev wrote: »

SaffronCitrusflower wrote: »

BardokRedSnow wrote: »

Frayton wrote: »

BardokRedSnow wrote: »

The push to make everything purchasable and tradable is killing the game, almost nothing out feels earned. Majority of the motifs available are just rng from dungeons and purchasable from a guild store etc. Aside from trial trifecta stuff, and the ic motifs there is very little you have to get in the game where you look at someone else and say dang he's him, he earned that.

This isnt even a particularly hard thing to do, as you can gain a piece of your class gear just by doing the first full level of IA, rinse and repeat. If anything the game needs more stuff you have to earn, like with the NM monster sets. More not less, we have enough convenience as is, and none of it is necessary to have for any piece of content regardless.

Boring grind is killing the game. It's not that IA is difficult. It's that it is extremely boring to the point where I just logoff, and I'm not the only one who feels this way.

I have never met another player in the game in all my guilds and Discord servers who's excited over IA. It's the exact opposite. Whenever IA is mentioned, there's always complaints and groans.

If there are actually people who enjoy IA, then good for them. I'm willing to trade them stuff I got from the ESO content I enjoy for their time doing what they enjoy. It's a win win situation, and we both continue playing ESO. This is the suggestion I have for ZOS when I ask for tradable IA gear.

This is the problem with these forums. Y'all enjoy this echochamber and assume because of the reception here, or your casual guilds, that it is the wider opinion of the community. I enjoy IA, your opinion is subjective.

This is an MMO, most of the community doesn't visit the forums as forums are outdated. They're useful and I prefer it to reddit, but I grew up using them. Most people have not.

Too many here state their opinion as objective truth. Truth is the content y'all describe as grindy or challenging in the case of NM, and yea sometimes IA also for the dragons or a certain boss otherwise I've seen recently etc, others are clearing very easily and very quickly. Like this comment here:

CatoUnchained wrote: »

BardokRedSnow wrote: »

From what I see in this thread and the forums in general is, people want instant gratification for every last piece of content there is. This is an mmo, antithetical to the type of game you are playing.

Your interpretation is flawed. If we have to spend literally hundreds of hours on a certain segment of content the content should at least be new, not recycled. This isn't like a PvE main expecting to get PvP rewards while never playing PvP.

Ridiculous, absolute hyperbole. I have spent a lot of time in IA for fun, and getting my dk sets, getting the IA buffs for future runs in case more gear was released there etc. I have all the content there aside from the weekly new stuff thrown in of course, and even the sets from other classes just by accident of playing, as well as the motifs. There's no way I've spent even 100 hours in there much less hundreds.

Your mileage may vary and thats the whole point. The idea that IA is boring and too grindy is not universal, many solo players love it, and just like I said for NM which is group content specific, it has a place, especially in an MMO which is designed around the concept of grinding content for gear.

Your opinion is taken into consideration of course but when I see comments thrown around like "My guilds dont talk about X excitedly so it must be bad" and "hundreds of hours of grinding" hyperbole or not and the like I tune it out pretty much immediately, its very disingenuous. Especially for content with gear you DO NOT NEED.

It's not hyperbole though. It really does take hundreds of hours in IA to get even one complete set. It's probably over 1000 hours to get all the sets. (I don't know, because I don't waste my time in IA and never will. But I've done it enough to get 2/3rds the pieces of one set, and it's been over 50 hours to do that)

Extreme hyperbole actually though lol. I helped multiple friends farm IA casually, got them 1 and a half maxed out class sets that they were wanting speedrun style in just 10 hours total split between 2 - 3 days on average.

I maxed out 100% all class sets and 2 different torc of the last ayleid king full lead sets just playing IA for the content and never thinking of chasing anything. It only feels like a long 1000 hour grind because you need to desperately chase a meta.

Total vindication for me next patch. I'm chilling with my 100% all class sets ready to continue repping my pureclass enthusiasm as I ALWAYS have. I've been running wrathsun for over a year. Running pyrebrand for over a year even with the nerfs still outparsing people. Running corpseburster before corpseburster ever became recognized meta. Was even heavy attack sorcing with monolith lul. Wearing aerie cry for a roleplay bow build. All of it getting uber-buffed via a flat 30k -
40k dps inflation with class masteries + TLC buffs next patch based on my parses on pts compared to live. Way ahead of all the content clout chasers and their click-bait. ¯\(°_o)/¯

Peeps didn't want to wear these sets when they were underperforming. Now there's content-farmers instructing people that they are "good" and so they have to farm them now but are expected to just get it done in a day ? I guess it's not like trial gear someone can pay a raid to feed all the sets for several millions of gold. Enjoy the grind! Absolutely NEED to be meta!! If you're not meta your parses will suddenly plummet by over 50%. So everyone needs to rush powergrind the meta IA sets -right now- it's imperative!

The people that make excuses for ZOSes horrible game decisions of late are what make this possible and what's going to kill the game. It's just like the PvE version of a vengeance discussion.

ToddIngram · May 31

Gabriel_H wrote: »

Frayton wrote: »

SaffronCitrusflower wrote: »

reazea wrote: »

ItsNotLiving wrote: »

The little mini bosses should drop your classes gear first then overland gear when your class is done.

Every drop in IA should drop IA gear ONLY. No overland sets should drop in IA. Only IA gear should drop in IA.

Every time I get an overland piece of gear in IA a lose a little bit more respect for ZOS because it shows they have no respect for me and my time.

Couldn't agree more.

Every drop in IA should be an IA set piece. No overland sets should drop in IA from any source. Every source should drop IA gear.

I'm surprised that IA doesn't drop IA gear from all bosses. This would go a long way in alleviating the extreme grind issue.

Not for someone who doesn't have all the overland sets.

Overland sets can be purchased from vendors for chump change.

BardokRedSnow · May 31

SaffronCitrusflower wrote: »

BardokRedSnow wrote: »

Frayton wrote: »

BardokRedSnow wrote: »

The push to make everything purchasable and tradable is killing the game, almost nothing out feels earned. Majority of the motifs available are just rng from dungeons and purchasable from a guild store etc. Aside from trial trifecta stuff, and the ic motifs there is very little you have to get in the game where you look at someone else and say dang he's him, he earned that.

This isnt even a particularly hard thing to do, as you can gain a piece of your class gear just by doing the first full level of IA, rinse and repeat. If anything the game needs more stuff you have to earn, like with the NM monster sets. More not less, we have enough convenience as is, and none of it is necessary to have for any piece of content regardless.

Boring grind is killing the game. It's not that IA is difficult. It's that it is extremely boring to the point where I just logoff, and I'm not the only one who feels this way.

I have never met another player in the game in all my guilds and Discord servers who's excited over IA. It's the exact opposite. Whenever IA is mentioned, there's always complaints and groans.

If there are actually people who enjoy IA, then good for them. I'm willing to trade them stuff I got from the ESO content I enjoy for their time doing what they enjoy. It's a win win situation, and we both continue playing ESO. This is the suggestion I have for ZOS when I ask for tradable IA gear.

This is the problem with these forums. Y'all enjoy this echochamber and assume because of the reception here, or your casual guilds, that it is the wider opinion of the community. I enjoy IA, your opinion is subjective.

This is an MMO, most of the community doesn't visit the forums as forums are outdated. They're useful and I prefer it to reddit, but I grew up using them. Most people have not.

Too many here state their opinion as objective truth. Truth is the content y'all describe as grindy or challenging in the case of NM, and yea sometimes IA also for the dragons or a certain boss otherwise I've seen recently etc, others are clearing very easily and very quickly. Like this comment here:

CatoUnchained wrote: »

BardokRedSnow wrote: »

From what I see in this thread and the forums in general is, people want instant gratification for every last piece of content there is. This is an mmo, antithetical to the type of game you are playing.

Your interpretation is flawed. If we have to spend literally hundreds of hours on a certain segment of content the content should at least be new, not recycled. This isn't like a PvE main expecting to get PvP rewards while never playing PvP.

Ridiculous, absolute hyperbole. I have spent a lot of time in IA for fun, and getting my dk sets, getting the IA buffs for future runs in case more gear was released there etc. I have all the content there aside from the weekly new stuff thrown in of course, and even the sets from other classes just by accident of playing, as well as the motifs. There's no way I've spent even 100 hours in there much less hundreds.

Your mileage may vary and thats the whole point. The idea that IA is boring and too grindy is not universal, many solo players love it, and just like I said for NM which is group content specific, it has a place, especially in an MMO which is designed around the concept of grinding content for gear.

Your opinion is taken into consideration of course but when I see comments thrown around like "My guilds dont talk about X excitedly so it must be bad" and "hundreds of hours of grinding" hyperbole or not and the like I tune it out pretty much immediately, its very disingenuous. Especially for content with gear you DO NOT NEED.

It's not hyperbole though. It really does take hundreds of hours in IA to get even one complete set. It's probably over 1000 hours to get all the sets. (I don't know, because I don't waste my time in IA and never will. But I've done it enough to get 2/3rds the pieces of one set, and it's been over 50 hours to do that)

if you take hundreds of hours to get one set, I recommend playing something else. This aint for you.

If you're a tank only I guess and have no friends to do damage for you, THEN I could see this, or a healer same thing... but that is a personal problem at that point, not a problem with IA.

Gabriel_H · May 31

ToddIngram wrote: »

Gabriel_H wrote: »

Frayton wrote: »

SaffronCitrusflower wrote: »

reazea wrote: »

ItsNotLiving wrote: »

The little mini bosses should drop your classes gear first then overland gear when your class is done.

Every drop in IA should drop IA gear ONLY. No overland sets should drop in IA. Only IA gear should drop in IA.

Every time I get an overland piece of gear in IA a lose a little bit more respect for ZOS because it shows they have no respect for me and my time.

Couldn't agree more.

Every drop in IA should be an IA set piece. No overland sets should drop in IA from any source. Every source should drop IA gear.

I'm surprised that IA doesn't drop IA gear from all bosses. This would go a long way in alleviating the extreme grind issue.

Not for someone who doesn't have all the overland sets.

Overland sets can be purchased from vendors for chump change.

So, they need to grind gold.

Gabriel_H · May 31

DenverRalphy wrote: »

Gabriel_H wrote: »

SaffronCitrusflower wrote: »

It's probably over 1000 hours to get all the sets.

Not even close. 72 pieces per class, 7 classes, 3 pieces per first 2 arcs, 45 mins per run.

(((72 x 7) / 3) * 45) / 60 = 126 hours

Edit For Context: It took me about 250 hours to get all 3 codex entries for each antiquity.

Yep. Essentially 18 hours per class for 100% stickerbook. And that's not even taking into account recycling Archival Fortunes for set boxes. Which cuts it down even further.

It's definitely a bit of a grind. But it's doable. And it's not hundreds (plural) hours, let alone 1000.

[edit] Though if a player is looking to complete all 7 classes, and the player stops at Arc 2 Tho'At instead of Arc 3 Marauder, it is admittedly a rather long haul that could end in an ugly cry upon completion.

Don't forget that doo-dad stops giving you collectible pieces as a quest reward once you have all of them, and gives a gear coffer instead.

Barthezz · May 31

Sit, respectfully

Cloudtrader · May 31

I like the Infinite Archive as it is. I would like to see some more rewards and some different puzzles added, but I disagree with a lot of people in this thread that seem to want a huge overhaul.

Frayton · May 31

Cloudtrader wrote: »

I like the Infinite Archive as it is. I would like to see some more rewards and some different puzzles added, but I disagree with a lot of people in this thread that seem to want a huge overhaul.

What better rewards could IA have?