I'm playing pretty much everything on Master. I drop to adventurer if I need to for some world bosses. If i do solo instances quest content i'll probably raise it o vestige.

I can solo dolmen's on Master, but if i'm not paying attention I will die, which just isn't true on lower difficulties.
I think vestige maybe has too much incoming damage, but I haven't tried to put a build together specifically for vestige overland, which is probably required.

My initial reaction was the damage in vestige is too high while you're out going damage isn't reduced by enough, but now that I think about it if I build to live through the damage that would naturally bring down my damage, which might just be the sweet spot I'm looking for.

Mostly though, while I like vestige, I don't see a lot of point when someone can come along and just 2 shot whatever it is you're fighting.
I'll probably only use vestige in solo instanced quest locations.

BXR_Lonestar wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

OsUfi wrote: »

M0ntie wrote: »

Nobody I have met in game has ever expressed that they wanted overland difficulty.

Not sure how you've managed that, unless you've only been playing a few days. I've met a staggering amount of people on both sides of this argument.

I never heard anyone in game mention it either. Except that one time...

I was chatting in zone and a name I recognized as a supporter of difficulty on the forums started asking in zone things like "Who thinks overland is too easy?" "Who thinks this game is boring?" "Who thinks they should make the enemies harder?". After a few minutes of no one replying they gave up.

Quite literally, only a minority of players were asking for more difficult overland content. Most casual players struggle with more difficult dungeons and trials, so why would they beg for harder overland content? It never made sense. The people who asked for it I'm guessing are people who blow through all of the hard PVE content and then are bored because they don't play PVP, do housing, etc., so they're just looking for another challenge.

I've always said, the people who are asking for harder overland content are really just asking for another more difficult trial.

???

I don't spend much time on vet dungeons at all, especially DLC ones, and the only trial I've ever done is night market.

But even as someone primarily a roleplayer (that still enjoys good builds since I'm also a gamer), there is a vast difference between difficult content and mobs falling dead all around you within 1 second. There are many players who found overland very boring, hence the thread about it with 100s of pages and quite a few comments on here and reddit about people returning now that they can enjoy quests that provide some more excitement than base difficulty.

This seems to me a false dichotomy of thinking players want extreme or zero challenge, when many enjoy something in between.

CameraBeardThePirate wrote: »

BXR_Lonestar wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

OsUfi wrote: »

M0ntie wrote: »

Nobody I have met in game has ever expressed that they wanted overland difficulty.

Not sure how you've managed that, unless you've only been playing a few days. I've met a staggering amount of people on both sides of this argument.

I never heard anyone in game mention it either. Except that one time...

I was chatting in zone and a name I recognized as a supporter of difficulty on the forums started asking in zone things like "Who thinks overland is too easy?" "Who thinks this game is boring?" "Who thinks they should make the enemies harder?". After a few minutes of no one replying they gave up.

I've always said, the people who are asking for harder overland content are really just asking for another more difficult trial.

No, we we're asking for what we were asking for: difficult overland content.

I hadn't played any of the DLC questlines except for Morrowind, Elsweyr, and Necrom (since I got to level a character for those) because questing was too brain dead easy to find enjoyable.

Now I'm having a blast playing through the lines that I skipped. People that wanted harder overland content generally fell into the same category as me: they wanted to play the stories but found the faceroll-easy combat to be boring.

I think many felt like you, at least more than some believe. I wish I waited but as a quester I did them *despite* how boring all the combat was.

There are literally videos of people standing still and letting mobs beat on them while they outheal any damage they do without doing anything at all. I have no idea how anyone finds that very exciting but to each their own.

SilverBride wrote: »

Are you using Overland difficulty?

I've tried all of the difficulty levels for the Golden Pursuits. Vestige didn't seem that bad with my Main, at least until I tried to take on a WB and Group Dungeon boss... which made me rethink my life choices.

One thing is puzzling me though... I thought you were supposed to get higher gold drops for higher difficulties? On Master and Vestige I had no gold drops at all for overland kills, I only had them for bosses, and even then then didn't seem especially increased. (XBEU in Glenumbra)

robwolf666 wrote: »

One thing is puzzling me though... I thought you were supposed to get higher gold drops for higher difficulties? On Master and Vestige I had no gold drops at all for overland kills, I only had them for bosses, and even then then didn't seem especially increased. (XBEU in Glenumbra)

This is what I found here:
https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/69917

It says "many" in-game encounters but not all. It mentions monsters, world bosses, world events etc., but what is included in etc.? What about beasts, such as bears and cats and wolves? Or other types of overland mobs?

Your choice has an impact on the challenge level (and rewards) of many in-game encounters, including:
Overland encounters
- such as roaming monsters, world bosses, world events, etc…
Quest story instances
Zone delves
Zone public dungeons

@ZOS_Kevin May we get some clarification, please?

Just ran seasoned to get up to the Tel-Var reward on the GP. I enjoyed the experience in base game overland, and will probably keep using it for that. Definitely had to be on my toes for solo WB encounters, which is good but not always what I'm looking for. Overall, it's nice to have options, especially when levelling new characters or sub-classed skill lines.

I play on Vestige difficulty with my main character and Seasoned/Master on my toons.

SilverBride wrote: »

SkaiFaith wrote: »

Since it's totally optional I'd encourage to be positive about it and maybe give it a try - this last sentence is to those who have not tried it yet, not to those who tried it and disliked it, obviously.

I admit that I haven't been optimistic about the system but feedback like this is helpful and gives me something to think about.

How about the feedback from the stream where the developers said over a third of players have not only tried the new difficulties but leave them at above normal? And even more this weekend pushed it to vestige

That’s way more than I expected. Did you watch?

BardokRedSnow wrote: »

How about the feedback from the stream where the developers said over a third of players have not only tried the new difficulties but leave them at above normal? And even more this weekend pushed it to vestige

That’s way more than I expected. Did you watch?

That number is probably a lot higher than it would have been if there wasn't a Golden Pursuit with all the objectives requiring difficulty. That's actually a low percentage when we factor in that 70% didn't try difficulty even with Golden Pursuit rewards for doing so.

tomofhyrule wrote: »

I never thought the difficulty was a problem for the stories - the writing was more the issue I had with them rather than the fights themselves. If I want sweaty combat that I need to build for, I’ll go prog trial trifectas. But story? What I need is something well told and not having an obnoxiously flirty stereotype rubbed in my face to treat me like a goldfish.

Here is where I disagree about storytelling and mechanics. I agree the writing itself needs to be improved, but having gameplay where your archnemesis provides no resistance and falls over creates a narrative disconnect in the experience.

I'm not saying it has to be exceptionally difficult, but it's hard to take the stories and threats seriously knowing that the moment you finally confront them it turns out they were a pushover all along.

BardokRedSnow wrote: »

That number is massive when so many players dont even look at eso news to know whats going on at all.

Even if a player wasn't aware of difficulty changes, or didn't read the announcements, every character in game has a Golden Pursuit objective automatically pinned. And every objective required a difficulty level. That would cause many of them to ask questions of other players or look things up.

Their number also doesn't take into consideration how many only used difficulty for the Golden Pursuit and may never use it again.

This is why I consider it a low percentage.

BardokRedSnow wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

BardokRedSnow wrote: »

That number is massive when so many players dont even look at eso news to know whats going on at all.

Even if a player wasn't aware of difficulty changes, or didn't read the announcements, every character in game has a Golden Pursuit objective automatically pinned.

And you assume your casual eso player even pays attention to it, I highly doubt thats the case. All here on the forums sure, reddit, yea, not the people who frequent none of these. Bet many of them dont regularly check to see if new pursuits are up, I dont even until I hear from friends "i just finished my pursuits" and I go oh those are back huh, cool.

Then I finish em asap all in one go so I dont gotta think about it til the next time.

I bet all the players on these forums, every last account ever made, plus all the reddit goers wouldnt even make up a third of players

Casual players pay as much attention to things like Golden Pursuits as any other player. Maybe moreso because casual players are often into a lot of non-combat content.

Regardless of our views, 30% isn't a large number.

BardokRedSnow wrote: »

By definition of being casual no they wouldnt lol, and almost a third of any demographic is usually considered a huge number, especially for something as niche as a difficulty change for content people on these forums claimed everyone just wants to blow through as easily as possible.

I disagree. But we will have to just wait and see how the numbers change over time.

Pepegrillos wrote: »

A lot of people asked for the system, they use and enjoy the system, and therefore the game as well. If you don't like it or don't care for it, just don't use it. The devs design and implement systems for different groups of players all the time. That's good for the game as a whole. There is no point in trying to take a dump on a particular feature or system simply because it doesn't cater to the way you play the game.

100%. I'm sure a far smaller percentage of the entire playerbase does trials or goes for trifectas but that doesn't mean they shouldn't exist or have an audience.

SilverBride wrote: »

There are a lot of factors that can affect the number of players participating that need to be considered. But regardless of any of these, it's too early to know how successful the system will be. I'm sure there will be improvements over time that may draw in more players.

This forum poll actually shows 65% participating so far. (It had been 70% but that number will fluctuate.)

I think the 30% noted in the livestream vs. 65 or 70% on the forums just shows how different the playstyles can be between those invested enough to be here (meaning we are always usually pretty informed about new systems and have opinions) vs. those that just mosey along playing casual without too much concern about what is going on in the game.

I have friends who have had accounts for 6 years that only RP and play with housing that never got past level 5 (they levelled porting to new zone for RP lol) and they of course aren't here, and don't care at all about balance, new content, or anything lol.