React wrote: »

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Hi all, I wanted to share some info we posted in another thread today. You can find the link here: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/7754649/#Comment_7754649

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

One of our main priorities right now is upgrading the remaining server hardware which is still ongoing and on track - we'll have an update on the timeline before the end of the year. We have also been working on the re-architecture we originally mentioned earlier this year. It's worth noting this isn't a single item that will go into an individual update, but contains many smaller pieces that will be released over multiple updates starting next year.

Thanks for sharing.

We need better communication on this project going forward, and it should be the developers or someone like matt/rich stepping up to provide this communication. The only approximate completion date the community had over the past 11 months has been "the end of 2022" since the project was estimated to "take up much of 2022" in the January post by Matt Firor. Now that we're being told it won't be complete until (likely) the end of 2023, it feels like we were misled. Waiting an entire additional year after just having waited a year, is something many people simply will not do. Does this mean that there will be no PVP content in 2023, either?

This could have been avoided if we had just been given the updates we have been begging for.

Good question, and one I wondered too.
@ZOS_Kevin do you know the answer to this?
Thank you for posting that link/update!

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Just wanted to follow up here. Unfortunately, we don't have any additional information to share at the moment. Though we do want to highlight that we are passing on your feedback and asks on to the team.

And we do want to highlight that the intention is not to misled anyone. We've stated this a few times now, but it warrants repeating. This is a delicate process that we do not want to mess up. These take time, and while we would love for everything to be complete now, that is not the case given the message shared. However, we will pass on the ask for clarification on PvP content. We just don't have that info right now to share.

Thanks for your communication Kevin. I do appreciate your presence on the forums and everything that you do. But to be clear, it's not the fact that it isn't done right now that is misleading, to me at least. It is the fact that in January, we were told it would take "much of 2022", and then there was radio silence until today when we were told it likely won't be done until the end of 2023.

If we were given concrete updates about the project once a month, or once every 3 months even, there would be so much less confusion and disappointment. Even if those updates were to say "the project is going to take longer than we expected, here is why". If the community received actual, tangible insight into this work, they would be so much less concerned that we are being strung along waiting for something that might never actually happen.

I'll link it below, but I did mention in another comment that @FrankonPC (better known as "Isthereno1else") did a wonderful video recently talking about this exact lack of communication and why it is so harmful to the community and the future of ESO. In this video they draw an excellent comparison to a similar low-period in Path of Exile, where the developers released an awful patch with no communication and severely damaged their relationship to their players. Following this, one of the head developers made time to spend hours with various top community representatives and content creators talking about the questions the players had, to better understand their frustrations and also to explain where the choices behind the patch came from.

We almost had something similar to this with the U35 Q&A, but that was seemingly brushed aside with no explanation as to why - furthering the feeling that the community is being misled.

https://youtu.be/xeKj4V8vkVY

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Just wanted to follow up here. Unfortunately, we don't have any additional information to share at the moment. Though we do want to highlight that we are passing on your feedback and asks on to the team.

And we do want to highlight that the intention is not to misled anyone. We've stated this a few times now, but it warrants repeating. This is a delicate process that we do not want to mess up. These take time, and while we would love for everything to be complete now, that is not the case given the message shared. However, we will pass on the ask for clarification on PvP content. We just don't have that info right now to share.

Thank you for the follow-up, @ZOS_Kevin. Is there any chance of something similar to what react is mentioning (where the devs met with community representatives in that other game to help with game direction and player disappointment)?

We used to have a class representative program but that got shut down. I feel like there are some very knowledgeable players in this community who would love the opportunity to meet with zos devs.

Many people love the potential this game has, but have felt let down a lot over game direction the last few years. We want to see this game flourish. It would be great for the company, and it would be great for the community.