Dynamic Encounters: The Siege Camp Problem

Gabriel_H · July 10

Back during the Writhing Wall, I would turn up to a Siege Camp and watch the enemies melt. This was due to the sheer number of players and their damage. After the Writhing Wall Event finished (early), I still needed some fragment drops. So I was still doing Siege camps, usually only a few of us, sometimes solo. They were challenging, and they were fun. I noted at the time that ZOS should have lowered the instance cap for the event to give the fight more meaning.

That advice has clearly gone unheard, because here we are again with Dynamic Encounters. These are complex and well scripted fights, giving a real sense of urgency, having to require complex tactics and co-ordination - All rendered utterly meaningless by the sheer number of players and their damage. Players do not get to see the complexity, they don't get to see the scripting, there is no sense of urgency, it simply looks like any other overland fight against a pack of bandits where enemies just melt.

This isn't just a dis-service to players, it's very much a dis-service to the designers.

tsaescishoeshiner · July 10

They can't really cap it and have it be fully in overland. I think it'll get way better once it's no longer brand new, as people won't do them once they unlock the new skill styles and style pages. In fact, I think the vampire one will be hard enough that it may actually fail.

playsforfun · July 10

Gabriel_H wrote: »

Back during the Writhing Wall, I would turn up to a Siege Camp and watch the enemies melt. This was due to the sheer number of players and their damage. After the Writhing Wall Event finished (early), I still needed some fragment drops. So I was still doing Siege camps, usually only a few of us, sometimes solo. They were challenging, and they were fun. I noted at the time that ZOS should have lowered the instance cap for the event to give the fight more meaning.

That advice has clearly gone unheard, because here we are again with Dynamic Encounters. These are complex and well scripted fights, giving a real sense of urgency, having to require complex tactics and co-ordination - All rendered utterly meaningless by the sheer number of players and their damage. Players do not get to see the complexity, they don't get to see the scripting, there is no sense of urgency, it simply looks like any other overland fight against a pack of bandits where enemies just melt.

This isn't just a dis-service to players, it's very much a dis-service to the designers.

I agree, I thought this was supposed to scale with the amount of people doing it but seems everything dies so fast including the bosses.

It's a great idea if it were actually challenging but it feels like a tick the box exercise which you have to wait around for ages for cause you don't have a spawn timer.

Gabriel_H · July 10

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

They can't really cap it and have it be fully in overland. I think it'll get way better once it's no longer brand new, as people won't do them once they unlock the new skill styles and style pages. In fact, I think the vampire one will be hard enough that it may actually fail.

They can cap it regardless of Overland. They can lower the zone cap temporarily to say 24 or 36. They choose not to.

Lekjih · July 10

Siege camps are now decently challenging because next to no one does them. Why bother tinkering with caps when a week and a half from now, people will have got their werewolf and scion pieces and will be bored doing them. Changing for the short term excitement is extra work.

playsforfun · July 10

Lekjih wrote: »

Siege camps are now decently challenging because next to no one does them. Why bother tinkering with caps when a week and a half from now, people will have got their werewolf and scion pieces and will be bored doing them. Changing for the short term excitement is extra work.

Think it will take longer than a week & half to get the upgrade gem for the new mythic, I don't know anyone who has dropped it yet

Gabriel_H · July 11

Lekjih wrote: »

Siege camps are now decently challenging because next to no one does them. Why bother tinkering with caps when a week and a half from now, people will have got their werewolf and scion pieces and will be bored doing them. Changing for the short term excitement is extra work.

There are multiple ways that already exist that can address this. There is already a system in game that reduces player damage. Why isn't that being applied and scaling with the number of players? They have already shown they can cap instances at lower numbers for the direct purpose of not rendering content meaningless (Night Market). They already have tasks/objectives that are behind portals/doors that have lower caps. The list goes on.

Lekjih · July 11

playsforfun wrote: »

Lekjih wrote: »

Siege camps are now decently challenging because next to no one does them. Why bother tinkering with caps when a week and a half from now, people will have got their werewolf and scion pieces and will be bored doing them. Changing for the short term excitement is extra work.

Think it will take longer than a week & half to get the upgrade gem for the new mythic, I don't know anyone who has dropped it yet

Or the granny eel pie recipe. But a lot of people won't bother grinding either of those.

Again, it doesn't need regulating, it will fix itself in the next week and a half. Capping population on a base game zone where beginners come through means needing more of those zones. They've said they're heavy weight zones. It's not worth frying the servers for a problem that won't last.

PoveusRonin · July 11

I guess we should just sit back and watch everything explode instead of offering opinions and feedback on content that comes out the way people are telling others the content is fine, just wait.

If ZoS sees the issues now, future content can be adjusted for smoother gameplay. This will make players happier and maybe slow down the trickle that gets fed up and leaves due to bugged/unfun content.

But hey, it doesn't need regulating...

Lekjih · July 11

It's not that people can't have opinions, it's that I have one too and it's different. This is a forum, both sides should be able to discuss these things and their reasonings.

Given that the servers have strain even just during ordinary events, doubling or tripling the current number of Auridon, Stonefalls and Glenumbra instances feels unwise. Gabriel has already mentioned Night Market, and he's right, they have the tech to do it... and they didn't. Logically there's a reason for that, and given what they have said about spinning up instances for challenge difficulty and why everyone is in the same zone, it's probably the same reason they haven't split the player bases for events that start every 30 minutes