They’ve been annoyingly secretive about it.

My reading is that the patch drops on the 27th, which is the expected day based on a standard PTS cycle. They do only say PC, so assuming standard cadence, the console patch should be on 12 November.

Since the wall event is starting for all servers simultaneously, it should be getting to phase 3 for all around the same time, and console not even getting the patch until mid November suggests the plan is that phase 3 will not even start for any servers until around then.

There is also the Pursuit active through 26 Nov, so maybe that’s their intended date to finish phase 2 and start phase 3.

I assume it will work like the previous community events where we didn't have any information on numbers required to complete it, just a progress bar on a web page showing percentage progress, which was updated every few days.

Which means how the event progresses is entirely up to ZOS. Yes it's a community event tracking our progress, and yes they probably do want to do it genuinely, and have the data to do that. For example they could set the target so if 70% of people who bought the Content Pass complete the activity each day and 50% of people who didn't buy it but do log in daily do the base game part it will complete just in time for consoles to get the patch.

But equally if initial participation is much higher than they expected they could increase the requirements, or if it drops off dramatically after the first few days because everyone's got the rewards they wanted and lost interest they could drop the requirements for the second week so it looks like steady progress.

(They'd also never admit it if hardly anyone was playing the event and it would take months to get close to the goal, they'd just lower the requirements or increase the progress bar a bit at a time regardless of how many people did it, but I doubt that will be a problem because people will want their individual rewards, whether or not they care about the story.)

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

We will have some additional communication about the Writhing Wall Event later this week and how it works with Seasons of the Worm Cult, Part 2. We are finalizing details on our end before announcing, but we will have more info very soon.

People have been pretty clear that the "more info coming soon" approach is really unwanted and frustrating. The higher-ups should know that by now and provide you better information. I'm sure you don't enjoy being greeted by these kinds of responses all the time, but it feels like that message just isn't being understood.

It's a bit discouraging that we're less than a month out from the two of the biggest highlights of the year - in an already content-light year - and details still aren't ironed out. Genuinely asking - why? What is there to figure out? Haven't you guys been working towards this all year?

If this event flops - which I'm now concerned it will - I can't imagine next year is going to be good for the game.

tomofhyrule wrote: »

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

We will have some additional communication about the Writhing Wall Event later this week and how it works with Seasons of the Worm Cult, Part 2. We are finalizing details on our end before announcing, but we will have more info very soon.

Hi Kevin, please understand that the below is not directed at you at all. We all on the forums think you are incredible and are so happy that you are willing to talk with us whenever you can.

However, please inform your bosses that they’ve been trying this “we can’t say anything yet but we’re super excited to give you details soon!” game for a while now, and it has been almost consistently backfiring since Update 43. The players are frustrated, and I can’t imagine that this is going to bode well for predictions of how well next year’s content is going to sell.

They really need to consider a big reveal event for January at the absolute latest, and they need to give us actual concrete things we can look forward to, not just Mean Girls-esque promises of secrets to come. Many of the players are done spending their hard-earned money on promises that don’t even pan out.

Yeah this is nonsense.

They just had a Twitch livestream event (that got announced just 24 hours in advance which is also bizarre) about the Wall event and the next update but without actual useful details beside 'look how pretty this is'.

Now we get an announcement that there soon will be an announcement for an event that is about to take place within 2 weeks. An event that has been announced as 'the biggest community server event in ESO history' since March.

Come on...this is becoming a bit ridiculous with all the 'we can't tell you, we have details soon'. Aren't these things roadmapped out? ZOS knows about this event probably since last year. Yet we still know basically nothing. This is not the way you make people buy a premium year pass when there is no clear roadmap and everything is hush hush all the time.

Destai wrote: »

If this event flops - which I'm now concerned it will - I can't imagine next year is going to be good for the game.

Honestly, this is not even an “if” anymore.

We’ve seen it on PTS - it’s a story quest (that they accidentally activated early), a series of dailies, a set of dolmen-like world events, a new world boss in phase 2, and then a new public dungeon-like thing to start phase 3. It’s a bit more than a standard zone event, but that’s exactly how it’s going to feel. But the fact it looks like they intend it to be an over-a-month-long thing completely suggests people will get bored of it quickly. People already say that the standard 13-day events we have feel too long at the end.

If it were sold as a standard event, it’d go well. But it’s been hyped all year as this huge thing. The expectations players have are now impossibly high, and they’re mostly fed up. Heck, it was difficult for PTS testers to even test phase 3 in the first place since there were so few people on PTS this round because many of the normal testers are just over everything.

There is no way this event could possibly live up to the hype. And the biggest issue is that that’ll be the capstone feature of the year and will be what colors our entire feeling of how 2025 was for ESO. The vibes the players have going into New Life are going to have a major impact on how much they intend to financially support ESO in 2026

tomofhyrule wrote: »

We’ve seen it on PTS - it’s a story quest (that they accidentally activated early), a series of dailies, a set of dolmen-like world events, a new world boss in phase 2, and then a new public dungeon-like thing to start phase 3. It’s a bit more than a standard zone event, but that’s exactly how it’s going to feel. But the fact it looks like they intend it to be an over-a-month-long thing completely suggests people will get bored of it quickly. People already say that the standard 13-day events we have feel too long at the end.

Thanks for the insight, definitely not prioritizing the game then. All of that sounds like repackaged assets that would otherwise make up a standard zone's features.

tomofhyrule wrote: »

If it were sold as a standard event, it’d go well. But it’s been hyped all year as this huge thing. The expectations players have are now impossibly high, and they’re mostly fed up. Heck, it was difficult for PTS testers to even test phase 3 in the first place since there were so few people on PTS this round because many of the normal testers are just over everything.

Personally, I didn't have high expectations. TBH, I didn't really know what to expect. I've been in GW2 the last month and seeing just their basic zone events really raised the bar for me. I try to meet this game where it is, but it's just not holding up against other games for me any longer.

tomofhyrule wrote: »

There is no way this event could possibly live up to the hype. And the biggest issue is that that’ll be the capstone feature of the year and will be what colors our entire feeling of how 2025 was for ESO. The vibes the players have going into New Life are going to have a major impact on how much they intend to financially support ESO in 2026

For sure. I don't see myself diving into NLF at this point. I'm definitely not spending on the game anymore, and haven't for some time.

valenwood_vegan wrote: »

Totally. I don't pre-purchase things before I know what I'm getting, so I had been waiting to see if it might be worth picking up the content pass on sale later in the year, but I gave up after the last livestream that wasted my time with zero details and spent that money on another game. Going by the activity level in my guilds and what people are talking about lately (hint: not the wall event, pretty much anything BUT eso), I'm far from the only one who feels this way.

I’m definitely one of those people who has no problem preordering stuff and buying cosmetics to support the games I like, but after this year…

I’m rethinking things now. I was already holding my nose when preordering Solstice.

I don’t want to be a single-issue player, but I don’t really know what they could even announce outside of “new Class coming!” that would make me preorder next year’s at this point. We’ll see what they have in offer… assuming they even deign to say what’s coming. I hope for the best, but hope only goes so far. I’ve been burned enough times this year.

If they want my money next year, I need my Artificer.

This uncertainty of what customers will be receiving and when they will be receiving it, combined with all the Oct-Nov-Dec holiday festivities and all that entails is probably gonna end up more frustrating for players than anything. People plan time off, travel, and have other things going on at the end of the year.

At first you would think it is hard to fail at communication every time, but somehow ZOS has consistently done it. So, I am not surprised at all again at ZOS own failure. Just more wait-and-see BS we get all the time from them. This new season pass has been a failure to me. I really hope they get their act together.

Stay safe

This is very confusing.

Event starts on October 13. It is supposed to be a competition between servers.
New update, with the other part of the zone drops on October 27 - FOR PC!
Console update 2 weeks later in November.

So, what if a console server manage to break the wall in October?

For me it seams that this is not a competition at all. They can't let us break the wall until after the update or we are stuck in limbo for some time...

iGuavaTH wrote: »

This is very confusing.

Event starts on October 13. It is supposed to be a competition between servers.
New update, with the other part of the zone drops on October 27 - FOR PC!
Console update 2 weeks later in November.

So, what if a console server manage to break the wall in October?

For me it seams that this is not a competition at all. They can't let us break the wall until after the update or we are stuck in limbo for some time...

This is my theory: since ZOS will be controlling the numbers on the backend, it really seems like they're trying to make each phase last about 2 weeks-ish. That would mean that they're going to be fudging the numbers enough so that no server is going to make it to phase 3 until after console gets the update and then we can all break it around the same time.

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Hi All, just wanted to follow up here. We have announced a livestream for tomorrow, which should outline details about the event. We have that information noted here. This is what I was alluding to in my earlier post. We were locking in the timing for sharing the livestream info. So that is why I could not share earlier.

We will also have an article for the event detailing everything next week.

Thanks, Kevin.

I really wish you would've led with that bit of detail. I just don't see the value in alluding to anything, it's clear that people will assume the worst. Just be upfront about these things; just say that to start. Again, ZOS as a whole - you included - need to stop holding your cards so close to your chest. It's just vexing at this point.