@ZOS_Kevin
This midyear mayham was too short and it also was noticeably less fun. I played in Cyrodiil every day during the event and between the addition of Vengeance and the removal of trade bars from Whitestrake's the event felt hardly any different than Cyrodiil on any random day, except for Blackreach also having longer queues.
My activities this event were the same as last time, thematic group runs every day (all pets/all stealth/all beams/etc), so the experiences are directly comparable. It just wasn't as exciting because you ended up fighting the same people again and again like on a normal day in Cyrodiil. You used to have more variety during Mayham.

Furthermore Imperial City's performance during the event reached a new low, with not just the usual lag but regular freezes, likely caused by the presence of a singular ballgroup (on multiple days).

Please seriously reconsider the downgrading of Mayhem to a quarterly event that fails to get enough people excited for it to be a success.

Week felt a little short to me too. I was wanting to keep going with it. Could be worth trying 2 weeks?

I agree it was way too short because the Vengeance test locked us out of PvP if we didnt participate for 8 days, making it that much harder to progress in Veterancy. So this double exp/ap event only just about made up for that.

And not to mention we were potentially locked out for a time during this event because the Evergloam campaign wasn't there from the start of the event.

I think at least a 1 or 2 day extension could have done wonders!

I'm glad it's only a one-week(end) event; I did some unhealthy amounts of box farming, and I'm simply exhausted and already suffering from event fatigue. I will probably sleep most of the day.

It felt shorter, I agree, but it is seven-days now, so it cannot feel longer than usual... Perhaps this disappointment with a shorter duration will wane once we get to experience a few more WSM every three months? Also, aren't we getting more days of it overall? It used to run from Thursday to Tuesday, so 24 days per year, and now we will have 28 days. And frankly, it bothers me more to have to wait six full months for this event.

The only issue I have is the removal of trade bars. I don't think it was warranted; I understand that ZOS wanted to appease the noooooo-I'm-forced-to-PvP crowd, but players are now forced to PvP more than ever with the Veterancy system, so keeping trade bars wouldn't hurt that much IMHO. Undaunted should have them too; maybe reduced to some symbolic amount, and in PvP earned only once so players don't feel forced to go to the IC where most ganking occurs. New style pages every three months is a bit too much to ask, I'm afraid.

LadyGP wrote: »

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

LadyGP wrote: »

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Just to clarify here, the goal is to bring Whitestake's Mayhem back quarterly.

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

As suggested, doing it 4 times a year is great but why not start on friday and have it run until sunday the following week so we get 1 week + another weekend.... having 2 full weekends in would really help working ppl

We try to have all events start and stop on Wednesday and the goal with this event going forward is to keep it to a week. Additionally, events requires team members to be around to start/stop events as well, so that is why we normally do not start/stop events on the weekend. If we can avoid it, we would like our team members to enjoy their weekends as well.

All that being said, we can get this feedback over to the events team for their consideration.

Wait, this isn't something that is scripted and requires human input to start/stop.....?

Are we spinning up/down the servers and pushing stuff to prod just for these "events"?

I mean this with a lot of respect, no wonder so much breaks every time the camp ends/events start/stop.

- xCatGuy

There are scripted elements. However, we still need folks around to make sure things are working as intended before and after an event starts and before and after an event ends.

Again, I mean this as respectfully as possible as a dev myself, having to have people "sit there and watch" to make sure things don't break........

Man.. thats mind blowing to me for a studio this size.. thats the reason given as to why we can't have it overlap on the weekend for players.

Especially when you consider the rewards/leaderboards/pop lock bars break almost every single time the campaign ends/reset.

- xcatguy

This WSM started without additional servers, and it became necessary to enable an extra campaign. Evergloam was added like two days into the event, so if it started on Friday, for example, then action would be required during the weekend, when the influx of players is much more significant and there would be many more players suffering long queues while waiting for a solution. I mean, it's not just waiting for things to break; it's also keeping an eye and reacting fast if something like a lack of servers must be remedied.

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

LadyGP wrote: »

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

LadyGP wrote: »

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Just to clarify here, the goal is to bring Whitestake's Mayhem back quarterly.

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

As suggested, doing it 4 times a year is great but why not start on friday and have it run until sunday the following week so we get 1 week + another weekend.... having 2 full weekends in would really help working ppl

We try to have all events start and stop on Wednesday and the goal with this event going forward is to keep it to a week. Additionally, events requires team members to be around to start/stop events as well, so that is why we normally do not start/stop events on the weekend. If we can avoid it, we would like our team members to enjoy their weekends as well.

All that being said, we can get this feedback over to the events team for their consideration.

Wait, this isn't something that is scripted and requires human input to start/stop.....?

Are we spinning up/down the servers and pushing stuff to prod just for these "events"?

I mean this with a lot of respect, no wonder so much breaks every time the camp ends/events start/stop.

- xCatGuy

There are scripted elements. However, we still need folks around to make sure things are working as intended before and after an event starts and before and after an event ends.

Again, I mean this as respectfully as possible as a dev myself, having to have people "sit there and watch" to make sure things don't break........

Man.. thats mind blowing to me for a studio this size.. thats the reason given as to why we can't have it overlap on the weekend for players.

Especially when you consider the rewards/leaderboards/pop lock bars break almost every single time the campaign ends/reset.

- xcatguy

Honestly IF the devs have to sit there and watch this event anyway, wouldnt it be more fun for everyone if the devs could spawn it at random times as a giant boss type monster that just wrecks havoc and creates more chaos on all sides during a big battle? Imagen a dev jump into a big siege as mehrunes dagon or a giant dragon lol

No. The servers are laggy enough we don't need some /dev command drop in items in game (I doubt the engine is even setup to do that to be honest).

aetherix8 wrote: »

I'm glad it's only a one-week(end) event; I did some unhealthy amounts of box farming, and I'm simply exhausted and already suffering from event fatigue. I will probably sleep most of the day.

It felt shorter, I agree, but it is seven-days now, so it cannot feel longer than usual... Perhaps this disappointment with a shorter duration will wane once we get to experience a few more WSM every three months? Also, aren't we getting more days of it overall? It used to run from Thursday to Tuesday, so 24 days per year, and now we will have 28 days. And frankly, it bothers me more to have to wait six full months for this event.

The only issue I have is the removal of trade bars. I don't think it was warranted; I understand that ZOS wanted to appease the noooooo-I'm-forced-to-PvP crowd, but players are now forced to PvP more than ever with the Veterancy system, so keeping trade bars wouldn't hurt that much IMHO. Undaunted should have them too; maybe reduced to some symbolic amount, and in PvP earned only once so players don't feel forced to go to the IC where most ganking occurs. New style pages every three months is a bit too much to ask, I'm afraid.

LadyGP wrote: »

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

LadyGP wrote: »

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Just to clarify here, the goal is to bring Whitestake's Mayhem back quarterly.

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

As suggested, doing it 4 times a year is great but why not start on friday and have it run until sunday the following week so we get 1 week + another weekend.... having 2 full weekends in would really help working ppl

We try to have all events start and stop on Wednesday and the goal with this event going forward is to keep it to a week. Additionally, events requires team members to be around to start/stop events as well, so that is why we normally do not start/stop events on the weekend. If we can avoid it, we would like our team members to enjoy their weekends as well.

All that being said, we can get this feedback over to the events team for their consideration.

Wait, this isn't something that is scripted and requires human input to start/stop.....?

Are we spinning up/down the servers and pushing stuff to prod just for these "events"?

I mean this with a lot of respect, no wonder so much breaks every time the camp ends/events start/stop.

- xCatGuy

There are scripted elements. However, we still need folks around to make sure things are working as intended before and after an event starts and before and after an event ends.

Again, I mean this as respectfully as possible as a dev myself, having to have people "sit there and watch" to make sure things don't break........

Man.. thats mind blowing to me for a studio this size.. thats the reason given as to why we can't have it overlap on the weekend for players.

Especially when you consider the rewards/leaderboards/pop lock bars break almost every single time the campaign ends/reset.

- xcatguy

This WSM started without additional servers, and it became necessary to enable an extra campaign. Evergloam was added like two days into the event, so if it started on Friday, for example, then action would be required during the weekend, when the influx of players is much more significant and there would be many more players suffering long queues while waiting for a solution. I mean, it's not just waiting for things to break; it's also keeping an eye and reacting fast if something like a lack of servers must be remedied.

Yeah - I fail to see the logic here. The fact it failed to start with additional servers was a human oversight if we are being honest and that goes to my bigger problem... everything around pvp is reactionary and has been for years.

You don't need a person to spin up more camps when queues get long.. thats something that the most basic auto-scaler can handle (studios have been doing this for ages). These kind of things are scripted/automated and run on their own. If a human is going in and manually enabling/disabling camps... well we are living in the stone ages in this game.

For the sake of an argument.. if it's 4 times a year... there are enough people in the studio where you could be like alright... you're on call/working this weekend for this event.. and they alternate. Is it annoying - yes - I hate being on call on the weekends and having to handle my clients stuff.. but thats life in the industry sometimes.

My initial point still stands - this stuff.. the kick off.. the reaction to problems.. the scaling.. all should be automated. There is ZERO reason a human needs to sit there behind the keyboard and push buttons.

(Don't they work remote in some cases too.... so they could just do that from home).

- xcatguy

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

What about a mayhem long weeked friday till monday every 2 months vs 1 week

I'd venture to guess it's not just a "someone has to be in the office" but more about.. "it has to be x day because that is the day we do xyz so in order for this event to happen it needs to happen on this day in line with all these prerequisite triggers/events."

TLDR it sounds like there may be "some" scripting involved but it all happens behind the scenes with a lot of manual human effort to kick off said things.

Yes Midyear PvP event would die out during the 2nd week, but during the weekdays and because there were so many campaigns.

This time we didn't and we had vengence instead. 2nd weekend would always be full of PvP. Specially for those with work who doesn't have much time during weekdays. I still think Midyear should be a 2 week event as us PvPer doesn't really get that many events even if it should be quarterly.

I much prefer 2 weekends.

ceruulean wrote: »

Venegeance was fun. Insane zerg fights and lots of AP. People dying to players and siege.

Normal BG, Cyrodiil and IC are boring. DK+sorc meta is yawn. Ballgroups that never die. Sorcs that run away or play WW and run away. Double AP is not gonna make imbalanced PvP more fun. When no one dies, no one gets AP. 2x of 0 is still 0. BGs hardly give AP for the time investment, it's like 5x slower than Cyrodiil.

You're conflating a lot of issues into one thing - that honestly isn't even relevant to the conversation.

GH needs to be balanced.. they ignored ball groups for ages and now are really paying the price for it (I say this as someone who lead/ran with ball groups for 5+ years).

On paper... the upcoming changes to battlespirit should make Ball groups a bit more tame. I'm excited for that change.

For the record - tons of people die in GH.. I think you're saying "when you get no kills".. you get no AP.. which also is far from the truth.

I had over 100 boxes to open just from a night and a half of playing MYM this last go.. and I didn't get a ton of kills.

- xcat

LadyGP wrote: »

ceruulean wrote: »

Venegeance was fun. Insane zerg fights and lots of AP. People dying to players and siege.

Normal BG, Cyrodiil and IC are boring. DK+sorc meta is yawn. Ballgroups that never die. Sorcs that run away or play WW and run away. Double AP is not gonna make imbalanced PvP more fun. When no one dies, no one gets AP. 2x of 0 is still 0. BGs hardly give AP for the time investment, it's like 5x slower than Cyrodiil.

You're conflating a lot of issues into one thing - that honestly isn't even relevant to the conversation.

GH needs to be balanced.. they ignored ball groups for ages and now are really paying the price for it (I say this as someone who lead/ran with ball groups for 5+ years).

On paper... the upcoming changes to battlespirit should make Ball groups a bit more tame. I'm excited for that change.

For the record - tons of people die in GH.. I think you're saying "when you get no kills".. you get no AP.. which also is far from the truth.

I had over 100 boxes to open just from a night and a half of playing MYM this last go.. and I didn't get a ton of kills.

- xcat

Did you do the killing as a solo player or were you in a group? If you were in a group, your groupmates kills count for you. And of course, it's nice to do the "killing" with a resto staff, as undergeared pugs die to Vicious Death and log off as they realize they get 0 AP. Hey, at least it advances the queue and shuffles in more clueless players to farm.

Sounds like a case of rich get richer, poor get poorer. Oops, I meant ballgroups get all the AP and everyone else doesn't.

No one wants AP if the rest of it is boring

MasterSpatula wrote: »

(except for the tomatoes, apparently, who had dominant numbers on all campaigns at all times I was on).

You can thank the latest mainline TES games for primarily focusing on the playable races which happen to belong to the red faction in ESO.

Hey, at least when TES VI releases, unless it's set in Murkmire, we'll get to see an influx of new players on a different faction, right?