Maintenance for the week of August 10:
• NA megaservers for patch maintenance – August 10, 4:00AM EDT (8:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EDT (16:00 UTC)
• EU megaservers for patch maintenance – August 10, 8:00 UTC (4:00AM EDT) - 16:00 UTC (12:00PM EDT)
• NA megaservers for patch maintenance – August 10, 4:00AM EDT (8:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EDT (16:00 UTC)
• EU megaservers for patch maintenance – August 10, 8:00 UTC (4:00AM EDT) - 16:00 UTC (12:00PM EDT)
A mysterious message appears in your in-box... "On Completionism"
Aashiana
✭✭✭
Imagine a morning when all studio employees receive a mysterious e-mail, from a person known only as "The Grand Completionist"...
Here is what it might say...
"For the love of Tamriel, please stop putting things on lists that are not actually achievable ... yet. No achievements, no motifs, no lorebooks, no fragments, no things you haven't even thought up yet. On the day an update goes live with new things, you can put them in THEN. And only then. This is one of the most frustrating pain points that long-time players have - yes, those of us that have been in the game for 10 years, who have friends here we don't want to leave, who love the game and our people enough to stay even when patches are broken and mechanics don't work. We know you're trying as hard as you can to fix them. What we don't understand is why you add things on in-game lists we can't get.
We've been here with you, through thick and thin. We want you to succeed now. We care about the game and its players and we are less interested in flashy things (well maybe) than things that WORK and things we can ACHIEVE. There is nothing we enjoy more than doing all the things, and part of that is actually FINISHING something. The good feeling and yes, the bragging rights, that come from doing all the things is one of the things we love most. It is so frustrating to see achievements or other things in the game that we can't actually get, and even just to spend time figuring out which ones you CAN get is annoying and time-consuming. We'd rather be out playing. Instead we're making lists of stuff we can't get and answering questions in guild-chat about stuff our players can't find.
What's more, this seems to be part of a long-time ZOS strategy, since it happens not once in a while, but every time. If you think this is keeping us in the game, you're wrong. This is not what makes us look forward with anticipation to getting new content. We get that from the streams and content developer previews and PTS. It just frustrates us and adds a pain point we can't ever foresee getting rid of. Please stop. ~tiny daggers dripping blood~"
________________________________________________________________________
Seriously. Our guild, Society of Completionists, are a bunch of end-gamers and others who live to do all the things. We are some of the most experienced players in the game and love to help others. We are the ones that have played every questline in Skyrim AND Tamriel, have every dungeon and trial tick on Pithka's, do a whole zone the day it drops, and all pile on the first day to see how much we can get done. We make spreadsheets, yes. Imagine our annoyance when our spreadsheet of achievements that drop with a new patch has a whole list of ones we can't get. And then there are lorebooks and motifs, that actually take work to figure out if they're in the game or not. The things that are intended to drop and don't are bad enough, but understandable.
In our entire guild, there is ONE person who has actually managed to get all the achievements ONCE before the new ones were added that aren't in the game yet. Please. Such an easy thing to make the game more fun. A sense of completion drives a lot of players and it is not fed by knowing you can never get it because the studio is trying hard to make sure you don't. This just reeks of a management strategy to keep us buying all the things. But It doesn't keep us in the game, it just adds frustration and makes us want to leave every time it happens.
Thanks for listening. We hope this adds one idea to make players happy that wouldn't require a lot of work.
Edited by Aashiana on August 3, 2026 4:25PM Here is what it might say...
"For the love of Tamriel, please stop putting things on lists that are not actually achievable ... yet. No achievements, no motifs, no lorebooks, no fragments, no things you haven't even thought up yet. On the day an update goes live with new things, you can put them in THEN. And only then. This is one of the most frustrating pain points that long-time players have - yes, those of us that have been in the game for 10 years, who have friends here we don't want to leave, who love the game and our people enough to stay even when patches are broken and mechanics don't work. We know you're trying as hard as you can to fix them. What we don't understand is why you add things on in-game lists we can't get.
We've been here with you, through thick and thin. We want you to succeed now. We care about the game and its players and we are less interested in flashy things (well maybe) than things that WORK and things we can ACHIEVE. There is nothing we enjoy more than doing all the things, and part of that is actually FINISHING something. The good feeling and yes, the bragging rights, that come from doing all the things is one of the things we love most. It is so frustrating to see achievements or other things in the game that we can't actually get, and even just to spend time figuring out which ones you CAN get is annoying and time-consuming. We'd rather be out playing. Instead we're making lists of stuff we can't get and answering questions in guild-chat about stuff our players can't find.
What's more, this seems to be part of a long-time ZOS strategy, since it happens not once in a while, but every time. If you think this is keeping us in the game, you're wrong. This is not what makes us look forward with anticipation to getting new content. We get that from the streams and content developer previews and PTS. It just frustrates us and adds a pain point we can't ever foresee getting rid of. Please stop. ~tiny daggers dripping blood~"
________________________________________________________________________
Seriously. Our guild, Society of Completionists, are a bunch of end-gamers and others who live to do all the things. We are some of the most experienced players in the game and love to help others. We are the ones that have played every questline in Skyrim AND Tamriel, have every dungeon and trial tick on Pithka's, do a whole zone the day it drops, and all pile on the first day to see how much we can get done. We make spreadsheets, yes. Imagine our annoyance when our spreadsheet of achievements that drop with a new patch has a whole list of ones we can't get. And then there are lorebooks and motifs, that actually take work to figure out if they're in the game or not. The things that are intended to drop and don't are bad enough, but understandable.
In our entire guild, there is ONE person who has actually managed to get all the achievements ONCE before the new ones were added that aren't in the game yet. Please. Such an easy thing to make the game more fun. A sense of completion drives a lot of players and it is not fed by knowing you can never get it because the studio is trying hard to make sure you don't. This just reeks of a management strategy to keep us buying all the things. But It doesn't keep us in the game, it just adds frustration and makes us want to leave every time it happens.
Thanks for listening. We hope this adds one idea to make players happy that wouldn't require a lot of work.
5
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SerafinaWaterstar✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭do a whole zone the day it drops, and all pile on the first day to see how much we can get done.
Why? Apologies but I just don’t understand this mentality.
And these achievements, are they ones you can’t get at all, or just not at the moment, but will when the related content drops? If the latter, then I have no idea what you are on about.3 -
Aashiana✭✭✭Because we've done the things that came before and we're looking forward to new things to do. Not sure why that should seem strange. When it turns out they actually aren't things we can do yet, it just doesn't make sense. Why put them in before they're doable? It's disappointing.
Some things actually take time to see if they are or they aren't, because the ones that aren't available yet aren't marked. Then people are wasting time trying to find it, searching in game trying to verify that it really isn't findable or doable, and the forums for answers - is it a glitch or is it intended? When can we find it?
It has nothing to do with self-worth, more just frustration. If you're asking why we would go out and do something the first day, it's because we are finished with the existing things and have been waiting. New content is anticipated and enjoyed, but then, it's not there.
Yes, after x years we have done all the story lines usually multiple times, worked on content we may not even like (like PvP) because it's something different to do and has rewards and achievements. At some point you're just waiting for new content, and each bit that drops can be finished in a few days at most.
And some of us are driven by completion. We play all games that way, it's just our style. We like to poke into every nook and cranny of a game and see what's there, and learn to do all the things you can do. Finishing it completely is a thing that matters, not just in games. If you don't care, that's cool, that's your style of playing.3 -
Elvenheart✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭Personally, I like seeing these new achievements pop-up even before they are live in the game because it gives me something to look forward to. Usually I have read the PTS patch notes and know what achievements are going to be added when the next update goes live, so if I end up seeing them early, I’m not confused. But I would definitely be fine with if they could put a little tag on them that said something like “Not yet in game” and then take off the tag when they are actually achievable.Edited by Elvenheart on August 3, 2026 8:13PM2 -
DenverRalphy✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭I don't mind them arriving early. Sometimes I'm even able to use the information to my advantage, because it gives me some insight as to how best to prepare in advance.
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Harv3st✭✭I play eso since post-beta with a completionist play-style also, with finally hitting full achievement bar on last patch.
We're in the same guild as Aashiana and I'm that one person who once hit that milestone
There is only one other person in EU that I know of that also had full achievements last patch.
I understand that this is a minor issue for the majority of the playerbase; but for a good bunch of end-game players and players focused on completionism and collectionists of stickerbook, antiquities, lorebooks & achievements, I believe this is a major painpoint.
I think it would still be okay if the achievements were pre-released a month or two before, but the timeline of the achievements being obtainable creates a huge gap.
To give some examples, the newest dungeon motif drops release after around 6 months after the dungeons first come out. And the night market faction achievements are not obtainable until the NM is active again 2 more times. The mask (unless you've traded cross-faction during the NM trial) and shoulder sets are similarly not available for the next two iterations of the night market.
All of this gaps create only a small amount of time for the achievement bar to be full. I think Kilnerdyne has mentioned the last time all the achievements were available was a couple of years ago before the next patch when it was available.
Similarly, it blocks the full completion of the stickerbook, lorebook and antiquity lead progress too.
I was technically "full" for the last few patches, but could never see it maximum due to unreleased/unobtainable achievements.
Similarly with the lorebooks, there are a good bunch of players who collect them and a megathread - There are so many eidetic memory books that are bugged since ages - but from the most recent patch notes I'm happy that the most of them will finally be fixed.
I understand that a few missing stuff due to being unreleased or bugs is not a huge deal for most, but I believe in the psychological affects that a small difference can make. Making that achievement bar more obtainable would give the drive to completionist-style play to try out newer things (like pvp or trials for those who hasn't played them much or don't bother) and make the push to hit it up full.
In summary, ESO progresses in a good way on making quality of life improvements. It takes some time, but better late than never. I'd like to see the bar being always obtainable to be full - or at least creating a smaller gap in-between, making it available more often to hit it up full.Edited by Harv3st on August 3, 2026 11:11PM3 -
Rishikesa108✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭Because we've done the things that came before and we're looking forward to new things to do. Not sure why that should seem strange. When it turns out they actually aren't things we can do yet, it just doesn't make sense. Why put them in before they're doable? It's disappointing.
Some things actually take time to see if they are or they aren't, because the ones that aren't available yet aren't marked. Then people are wasting time trying to find it, searching in game trying to verify that it really isn't findable or doable, and the forums for answers - is it a glitch or is it intended? When can we find it?
It has nothing to do with self-worth, more just frustration. If you're asking why we would go out and do something the first day, it's because we are finished with the existing things and have been waiting. New content is anticipated and enjoyed, but then, it's not there.
Yes, after x years we have done all the story lines usually multiple times, worked on content we may not even like (like PvP) because it's something different to do and has rewards and achievements. At some point you're just waiting for new content, and each bit that drops can be finished in a few days at most.
And some of us are driven by completion. We play all games that way, it's just our style. We like to poke into every nook and cranny of a game and see what's there, and learn to do all the things you can do. Finishing it completely is a thing that matters, not just in games. If you don't care, that's cool, that's your style of playing.
I completely get your point and I agree.Man did not weave the web of life – he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself3
