General:ESO Orsinium AUA

Posted by u/ZOS_MattF: '''Thanks Guys! We're all done for now. We are really honored to be able to do this, and appreciate the support from everyone. See you in the game!'''

Thanks to everyone for joining all of us today for this Elder Scrolls Online AMA. As you may know, we just launched our second DLC pack, Orsinium, earlier this week on console and are really excited to finally give everyone the opportunity to explore Wrothgar. This update was a labor of love from the team, and we've really enjoyed hearing how much everyone has been enjoying it. We'll be focusing today's AMA on Orsinium and everything in the current patch, but feel free to ask us questions on any topic; we'll be here for the next 90 minutes. Joining me today for the AMA are:

Matt Firor (me), Game Director
Rich Lambert, Creative Director
Jared Carr, Art Director
Brad Derrick, Audio Director
Eric Wrobel, Lead Combat Designer
Mike Finnigan, Dungeon Lead
Zeb Cook, Zone Lead
Bill Slavicsek, Writer-Designer

 
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ZOS_MattF: First!
:ZOS_GinaBruno: noob
:crazmadsci: I think it is hard to be first when you are the creator of the thread. Can you really claim first commenter?
::ZOS_MattF: That is the kind of deep philosophical question that I avoid answering at all costs.

::oh...wait.
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dominoid73 (edited): /u/ZOS_BradDerrick, what a fantastic job the audio team has done with both the SFX and music in both Imperial City and Orsinium. I believe it was mentioned in an ESO Live episode of the possibility of making the new tracks from the game available offline through services such as Spotify or maybe even MP3 downloads. Could you please make that happen? Pretty please?
:ZOS_BradDerrick: With cherries on top? :) Yes, it looks like it's going to happen. Not sure exactly what streaming services it'll be on, but I'm pretty sure you'll be able to buy the thing through iTunes, amazon, etc. ETA December.
::[deleted]: Sound is seriously awesome. The new Orsinium soundtracks are incredible, and the scene with (spoiler) Kurog stabbing that guy had an awesome music cue.
:::ZOS_BradDerrick: Thanks! The audio team put a lot of love into Orsinium, and I think it shows. :)
::alexxxpoling: any chance we could see a soundtrack on vinyl? I know its a long shot
:::ZOS_BradDerrick: Dude...old school! :) Naw...it's not even on CD. mp3 only at this time.
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dominoid73: u/ZOS_EWrobel, could you please tease a few of the proposed skill changes coming in the TG update.
:ZOS_eWrobel: Overall we're looking at buffing some of the less used ability morphs.

:DK - We're looking at making their dots stick to targets longer. Templar - Increasing effectiveness of some of their damage abilities. Sorcerer - Making more active abilities instead of toggles. Nightblade - Morph and passive ability improvements.
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dominoid73: Thanks for taking the time to do this AUA. Although the focus of the AUA is the Orsinium DLC I’d feel remiss if I didn’t try to pick at a few other topics. While you are certainly reserving specific details on the following could you put some of us at ease by re-confirming some coming features previously acknowledged or mentioned. If you want to give specifics please do, but perhaps you would be more comfortable with a short term, mid term, long term development type of answer. Even a “Yay or Nay” would be appreciated. TIA:
Systems:
Justice PVP/Enforcers (Quakecon 2014/Dribblings here and there)
Spell Crafting (Quakecon 2014/ESO Live Confirmation)
Housing (ESO Live Confirmation)
Jewelry Crafting (Guild Summit 2014)
Poison Making (Guild Summit 2014)
ESO Plus “Crafting Bags” (ESO Live)
Barbershop (ESO Live)
Race/Sex Change (ESO Live)
Class Change (Speculation)
Alliance Change (Speculation)
Zones/Areas
Abah’s Landing - TG?
Gold Coast - DB?
Murkmire - Still Adventure Zone?
Clockwork City
Mephala’s Realm
:ZOS_RichLambert: Oops I missed this!

:All of this stuff is still on our development whiteboard. We're picking and choosing from the list as we go, based on what we think is going to have the best impact to the game.

:As for zones - Abah's Landing is absolutely part of the Thieves Guild. I'm pretty sure Matt talked a bit about Dark Brotherhood being along the Gold Coast. :)
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psych107: When will consoles get scrolling combat text?
:ZOS_RichLambert: We're working on it now, for all platforms. Expect it some time next year.
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WanderingThespian: Hello there!

Firstly congrats on Orsinuim. It marks a massive step forward for the game, and is a brilliant piece of both storytelling and in terms of art and design. The Zone is gorgeous.

So my questions are;

#What can we expect in terms of content from Thieves Guild? Have you taken cues from Orsinuim's design?
#There was mention of an Imperial City and Wrothgar Soundtrack. Are we getting those still as I love the new music on both these DLC's.

Many thanks!
:ZOS_MattF: Thanks for the kind words. We are REALLY happy with how Orsinium worked out - every time we make new content, we try to make it better than older stuff.

:#and with that being said, yes, Thieves Guild is the next evolution; it's a ton of fun and already graphically looks even better than Orsinium. I've already said publicly that we are going to continue with auto-leveling players in the zone so everyone can play and have fun together - that will be a common theme for us going forward.
:#We are looking into this, hopefully there will be some news soon. I love having our music on Spotify and iTunes and I really hope we can update it with the awesome music we've added to the game with the last 2 DLCs.
:ZOS_BradDerrick: Thanks for the kind words! Yep...a soundtrack release is in the works, probably available in December. It'll have the music of Orsinium, Imperial City, and a few other chestnuts that have found their way into the game post-launch.
::WanderingThespian: Thank you, Brad! Really really looking forward to another soundtrack of your gorgeous music!
:::ZOS_BradDerrick: Aw shucks... /blush
::Jaconian: Awesome!! I loved the soundtrack from all involved and was hoping that the music from the DLCs would see a release as well.

::Will the albums have additional music that the bards sing (new Makulah song with something to do about Daedra and a male bard I heard a few months back)?
:::ZOS_BradDerrick: No, sorry...no plans to add bard music to the soundtrack at this time.
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LonePirate (edited): Dragonknights are really struggling in the Maelstrom Arena and in Cyrodiil. Are there any plans to improve their woeful plight? BTW, fantastic job on the Orsinium DLC. It deserves all the praise it receives, especially the art, sound and writing departments.
:ZOS_eWrobel: Yup! Buffs are coming. Keep in mind there are class specific leaderboards for a reason. Not all classes are built to be equally effective in all solo situations, we errored on the side of giving the classes unique identities.
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pencilgun: Will the tendency to push crafters into combat continue? Is it part of the plan to punish multi char setups with separate fighters and crafters?

I have largely leveled my group at great expense and time, to find I also have to run Undaunted crap. Is this trend likely to continue?

Is solo play being actively punished?
:ZOS_RichLambert: I'm not sure where "punish solo play" comes from when we just released an entire DLC that was geared around being solo friendly.

:Our goal with Orsinium was to try to have things that solo players and group oriented players could do.
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PatDeeBunny: This was asked in the official forums, but maybe you could answer here…

1st off, great job on Orsinium, it’s been a very enjoyable experience! And now my question:

Could you guys please speak today to the number (or percentage) of active accounts on PC that have characters that have completed veteran Maelstrom Arena, and is the Zenimax team happy with that number? What is the target percentage of accounts that ZOS would like to see completing veteran Maelstrom Arena (and over what time period)?

If you have time, maybe you could then get into how many CP you’re expecting players to have (per class) to be able to complete veteran Maelstrom Arena.

Thanks :-) Great job again on Orsinium!
:ZOS_Finnigan: The Leaderboards are a good indication of the completion for Veteran Maelstrom. In the short amount of time that Maelstrom has been active, we are happy with the amount of players that are able to complete it and I am sure that number will increase as players become more familiar with the encounters and get better gear/more experience under their belt. We don't necessarily have a target % we would like to see complete the Arena more so we have enjoyment and engagement which we measure.

:We balanced to roughly 300 Champion Points at VR16 internally so, we definitely expect there to be a decent completion rate with more.
::PM_ME_SHIRTLESSPUTI: Which poor bastard at ZOS was tasked with clearing vet Maelstrom with a DK?
:::ZOS_Finnigan: One of our testers named Jay did that. It was one of his easiest runs and much like our veteran players that want to get all the points, he did it without buffs.

:::I am not saying there wasn't a bit cursing the designer's names but...
::::Paulingtons: So /u/ZOS_Finnigan, are you the Finnigan of Finnigan's Armour fame? :).

::::If so, what is this armour!?
:::::ZOS_RichLambert: Pretty sure Mike wrote that NPC and quest. ;p
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:ZOS_RichLambert: We put a fix in for a friends list issue for Orsinium. It sounds like that didn't fix all the issues so I'll make sure I go back to the team to investigate. Thanks for the heads up.

:As for your suggestion on an in-game list - console players expect a more global solution. (so does first party hehe)
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TheSpaceWhale: I really, really want to jump in and play Orsinium, and think the new battle-leveling system for DLCs is a great idea in theory, and really helps expand the non-linearity Elder Scrolls is known for. But I haven't hit the level cap yet, so in practice going into any DLC zone means I'll level up and miss the existing content on the faction zones I'm appropriately leveled for. I don't want to miss that content, so I've held off on buying DLCs. Is there any chance of extending optional battle-leveling to existing faction zones to fix that problem (part of VR removal?), or is this just out of the question due to the fact that it would require down-leveling than than just up-leveling?
:ZOS_RichLambert: Totally valid concern - its something we've been talking about for awhile internally. Not plans in the short term though...
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crazmadsci: Woot I'm so excited about this I have quite a few questions...
:ZOS_MattF: Hey crazmadsci - love your twitch ESO streaming; assuming you are the same crazmadsci.
::crazmadsci: yes I am the same Crazmadsci, and I am absolutely honored that you watch the stream. I actually just had a major fan girl moment. I love this game, hope to see it grow and as a response do all that I can through the stream and guide writing. Plus it is incredibly fun and I become a much stronger player when my viewers go.... Why aren't you using X when Y is so much better. But thank you!
:::ZOS_MattF: Keep up the great work!
:::ZOS_RichLambert: I'm still waiting for your questions!
::::ZOS_GinaBruno: She posted them already, refresh and scroll up! ;)
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TKuronuma: 
What were the primary inspirations for the Orsinimum zone in terms of story, character, and environment art?
Will the Trinimac motif be obtainable in-game in the near future? I wish to look as fabulous as the countless enemies that I've slain so far.
:ZOS_ZebCook: When we started Orsinium (aka Wrothgar), I got a short list of requirements from Rich -- "it's about orcs" and "more grounded, more like Skyrim." Oh and some biome art which had already started. It was a pretty blank slate. I wanted to do a main story that was different, not about saving the world from daedra. Players had already done a couple times. I wanted something that was more about orcs, what it meant to be an orc, and was political. Macbeth was an example that got used -- a ruler and his ambitions and family issues. From that I sketched out the framework of the zone, a storyline and rough zone map, along with most of the other locations in the zone for side stories. Once that was all approved it went to the team who added, proposed changes, came up with side characters and generally ran with the idea.
::TKuronuma: What were some more specific inspirations that helped in fleshing out the orc culture? For example, the artifacts that you recover for the museum or the foods that the new recipes are based off of?
:::ZOS_ZebCook: Well, with Lawrence's help we do dig up all the lore we can -- but it's rather thin on orcs. So that leaves the other approach -- we make it up. Museum artifacts were driven by the locations we had in the zone combined with lore where we could use it. Other things were created by the design team, checked with Lawrence (who sometimes had to fix names or suggest an alternative item) and then we go from there.
:ZOS_JaredCarr: Regarding environment design, we really wanted to design a city that looked like it had been built up over centuries, with buildings that are really integrated and connected together. We wanted a lot more vertical traversal. Most importantly, environment design creates the "subtext" for the story. So paying attention to all of the details - props, scaffolding, statues, etc. - helps develop the culture of the Orcs and supports the story.
::TKuronuma: The vertical design of the city is tremendously different and fun to roam about in! Will we see similar verticality in future expansions or revamps?
:::ZOS_MattF: Just wait till you see Abah's Landing!
:::ZOS_JaredCarr: Very glad you like it, the team did a great job.

:::Yes, we learned a lot designing the city and will be applying what we've learned to new zones.
:ZOS_BradDerrick: Not that you asked about audio, but... :P Orsinium is very different from most of the other zones/stories in that magic is not heavily present throughout. So for the audio side of things, it was about capturing the little details in animated fixtures, or ambiences, or maybe a sword fight between 2 NPCs and making sure all the detail is there in the movement. Like when Kurog puts his sword into the ground and hearing that little "clink" or climbing a mountain and hearing the wind, or even just standing in a throne room and hearing the wind go by the open windows. It was a focus on the details, that don’t jump out to a player, but hopefully help set a mood without them even knowing it.
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psych107: Anything in the works to reduce the lag in Cyrodiil?
:ZOS_MattF: This is our #1 PvP-focused dev effort right now. As an active (but really terrible) PvP player, I too run into this problem far too often. It's a complicated one with lots of different factors joining together to degrade performance - i.e. it's not easy, which explains why we haven't addressed it yet. We are working on a fix now involving our physics engine, and we're confident that we can dramatically improve performance, but that's the kind of thing that can introduce new problems if not done properly, so we are being very careful and not rushing it. You should hear a lot more about this after the dust settles from Osrinium launch.
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[deleted]: Crossposting from the other topic.

The bow. What I've heard is that because of the lowered risk in ranged weapons, there's lower reward. I don't full understand that- it's a lot easier in this game to close gaps, given how many of those abilities there are, than to create it. Even still, the bow nerfs seems a little severe. Anyway, enough with the ranting. As devs, what are your current thoughts on the bow? Will it see any changes in the future, or are you happy with where it is?

Also, are there any plans to do a console mod system similar to Fallout 4's?

I hope I don't come off as accusatory or angry, this is a great game and the Orsinium DLC is incredibly well-done. Thank you for taking the time to do this AUA.
:ZOS_eWrobel: Overall we have designed the game to make melee weapons slightly more effective than ranged weapons. You can compare equal level 2h weapons to a staff or bow and notice the weapon damage is higher. This is because melee weapons require a lot more positioning gameplay and incidental damage.

:That said, we are crunching the numbers again for bow and want it to be competitive with staff. Bow is tricky because it has great burst damage with stealth attacks so we may be investigating DoT based solutions if the numbers are low. Also we recently buffed volley and the damage on it is fantastic now.
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Lettigall: Veteran Maelstrom arena for templars and DKs isn't veteran difficulty it's ELITE level, those classes need serious buffing and fast. Can we expect some buffs before next mayor update?
:ZOS_eWrobel: We do have buffs for Templar, DK, and the other classes coming with the TG update. We don't want to rush them out before all of the balance and polish work is done.
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bensor74: Will we be able to interact (PvE-wise) with other alliances in PvE zones without being in a group ? Like seeing them while we do our quests, just like we see players from our alliance.
:ZOS_RichLambert: Not in the near future. It's possible though.
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Korith_Eaglecry: How many Pony Guar did you have to slaughter to Trinimac to get that City built?
:ZOS_Bill_Slavicsek: 6,666. Plus a horker.
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Kipawa: How does the development team envision the role of tanking in ESO? I have always been drawn to tanking roles in any MMO I've played, but this is the only game that actively feels like it's trying discourage tanking. At times I am convinced the next patch notes will read, "complete removal of shields from the game, this was causing unnecessary fun for some people". The stamina regen loss was a heavy blow, one that established, experience tanks can mitigate, but put me with a group of less experienced or low DPS players and I too will struggle as a result. Is this a class role you will re-look at in the future, or are you decidedly happy with what tanking has become? Furthermore, are you looking at any features or QOL improvement to provide more visual feedback to tanking? (problems with tanking currently include not having enough information about what mobs are actually taunted, or how long the taunt debuff has left, taunting just that one specific mob in a cluster of others, but have clipped into its brethren and, as a result, taunting it becomes frustrating, etc.)

Also, I am a fan of vDSA-type dungeons, so I am curious to know if there are any plans to have similar content of the same in future updates.

Finally, a smidge of feedback on a certain boss encounter: Ibomez mechanics are actually very interesting and unique, but lag-type problems, synergy input delays and the rhythm of the encounter make fighting him incredibly frustrating After struggling from PTS to now my teammates still feel we have no hope against him so we've entirely stopped progressing with vICP. We are not fans of these gimmicky mechanics. Planar Inhibitor, Molag Kena, and Lord Dusk are fun though, Ibomez certainly is not.
:ZOS_Finnigan: We have been designing and testing group based mechanics with the current tanking levels internally for a while now. It was challenging to get used to but the changes were made to counteract a lot of the Tanking mechanics that trivialized that aspect of the game. I think we knew that it was going to throw a wrench into the plans players have made but making that aspect interesting was where we landed design wise.

:As designers, Arena type content is a lot of fun to design an implement so, I would hope so. We do not have anything currently planned however.

:Ibomez is an interesting encounter to be sure. There was a lot of iteration involved with that and we try to simulate lag, etc. to ensure the encounters are fun and engaging. That being said, if there is a bug with the encounter, we will definitely take a look and make sure it works correctly. We do also value your feedback as this type of feedback is heavily sought after to inform future design.
::AJL_S: I have to be honest, there is absolutely nothing fun about this encounter. At all. I have zero interest anymore in doing vICP because of this encounter, and only because of this. We have done it, and done it, and done it. Eventually, sprinters and the amount of zombies spawning at once become overwhelming for dps to do anything reasonable. Lag and bombs that won't activate, so I press "E" twice, only find out that it did activate, but couldn't tell because of a delay mean bombs explode under my feet. And that is now one mob I can't clear, plus the other one I could have been moving on to. Clearly, this is not the case for every team in the game, but I'm willing to bet most. Ibomez himself isn't the problem. It's the zombies, and subsequent atros.
:::ZOS_Finnigan: I'm sorry its causing so much trouble. I noted your feedback and we will take a look to be certain.
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Tierney11290: Are there any plans at making the world more immersive or characters more alive such as the use of torches for adventuring, mountain traversing, or idle character movement (generally curious, not promoting my addon ;) )?
EDIT: Also, for a more Orsinium directed question;
What was the "drive" to go to Orsinium for this DLC and not say Murkmire?
:ZOS_Bill_Slavicsek: We wanted to explore an area that hadn't been hit very much before, and Murkmire is certainly in that category. We decided to go with Orsinium first because we had a good story that we wanted to tell. Plus, you know, Orcs.
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Paulingtons: An obvious question and I'm really sorry to ask this, but the information is scant at best.

So /u/ZOS_RichLambert said on the forums that you are not raising Veteran Ranks, this is great to hear! However, I have several VR16 alts that I want to gear and so do many others and his reply was ambiguous, so let me phrase this easily as two questions.

1) Do you have any plans to raise the VR cap before you remove them next year?

2) When VRs are removed next year, can you give us any info on what your plans are? Dropping to level 50? Will any crafting level items (such as Calcinium) be removed? Does this mean AA will drop "max level" items, as well as HRC/vDSA etc?
This info is really needed and will help us plan for the future.
Thanks for doing this guys, loving the community interaction!
:ZOS_RichLambert: No we aren't raising the VR cap before we remove them.

:As for the removal... we're still working on that. We will have more info to share with everyone next year, once we've worked out and finalized things.
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Denali_: How are you planning for the housing project to work? Can you give us a more in depth explanation? Are we going to be able to store items we want to keep in chests in the house? Is it a customizable house?
Also, as someone who hasn't bought any DLC what would you recommend. Buying the individual DLC or buying ESO+?
:ZOS_MattF: We're concentrating on our first 2 2016 DLCs right now (Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood) - expect to see information about housing sometime after that. We're really excited about it, but we need to make sure we concentrate on the task at hand first.

:I recommend ESO Plus - you get access to all the DLC, plus crowns every month. But there's no wrong decision there; purchasing DLC individually is just fine as well.
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makeyurself: My first AUA/AMA! So, two hopefully simples Q's:

#Can you give us anything on new crown items to follow Orsinium (White bears, bear-dog!?!?)
#between the community, lore, and DLCs, I'm constantly coming up with new character ideas, will we see purchasable character slots anytime soon?

Thanks!
:ZOS_MattF: Welcome!

:I will respond with a statement: You are remarkably prescient, on all counts.

:Some of these right take longer to show up in game than others, but all are planned.
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Woeler: How's the new Trial doing in development?
:ZOS_Finnigan: Pretty good actually. We have learned a lot from all previous Group and Leaderboard content that informs our designs.

:We also know that not all players were engaged with a race to the top mechanic for Leaderboards so, we will have a Normal and Veteran version of the new Trial.
::Woeler (edited): Hey, that's great news! Any other details you might be able to reveal or tease? :F
:::ZOS_RichLambert: Veteran mode is going to be hard...
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crazmadsci: Hello ZOS. I am so very pleased that you are doing this and I thought I would put a few of my questions here. I have several questions and comments for just about each of you so please bear with me.

Matt Firor: so far I am absolutely in love with the game and was actually really surprised with how short a quarter really is when you are having fun. I know at quake con this year it was said that content will be release quarterly. Do you think that the development team will really be able to keep up at that fast a pace? Also the bar has really been set high with Orsinium and Imperial City. But we know that the teams have been working on them for over a year. Will we be able to expect new content to be of smaller chunks?

Jared Carr: The art in the new zone has me absolutely breathless. There is so much detail especially on the statues and features of the delves and public dungeons. However my real question is.... There are an incredible amount of bugs for insect parts in the zone. How long did it take to have someone place that many bugs in the zone?

u/ZOS_EWrobel currently the Malestrom arena shows a significant difficultly variation between classes. Being more Sorcs clearing the content and DK being the fewest. Are there currently any plans to chance the balance both in the Arena and in the classes?

Mike Finnigan: Currently Master Weapons for DSA can be looted in Normal DSA at a -1 level of what you would get in Veterean DSA. However in MA players have to complete veteran mode to experience the new ability altering weapons. Are there currently any plans on changing this. Also was there a reason as to why the gear in the dungeon unlike that seen in DSA is BOP and not BOE? I think it is a pity since it could really help the economy in game.

Bill Slavicsek: The story for this zone is my absolutely favorite yet. However I'm curious as to what your team really enjoyed. Do you have a favorite writing moment or quest?

Zeb Cook: All I can say is.... Absolutely Fantastic JOB!
:ZOS_Bill_Slavicsek: We really enjoyed the entire zone. It came together so well and everyone involved did a fantastic job. Personally, my favorite moments (in a sea of favorite moments) include the main story, Narsis Dren, and Rigurt the Brash's story, just because.
::ZOS_Bill_Slavicsek: Oh, and the Museum quest! That one, too!
:ZOS_MattF: Answering my question: Yes, we are definitely planning on hitting a quarterly cadence going forward. Some quarterly content DLCs will be larger than others, obviously, and some will have a higher feature to content ration than others. I totally hear you about Orsiniun - it set a really high bar, but we learn with every DLC we make, so I'm confident we can keep the quality bar high.
:ZOS_eWrobel: We definitely have some buffs in mind for DKs. However the reason we have class specific leaderboards is that some classes are better at different types of combat than others.
:ZOS_JaredCarr: Hey there! Very glad you like the zone. I am assuming you mean placing torchbugs and not error-bugs (we don't put those in on purpose). :) It takes one person between 1-2 weeks to go through a zone and place insects. It's really cool how adding in ambient creatures really adds life to an environment.
::MissBizz: 1-2 weeks? That's crazy! All that fishing bait reminded me of Rivenspire!
:::ZOS_ZebCook: It's 1-2 weeks for all the critters in the zone, not just the bugs (although they are a lot of it).
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NoMaass: Hi guys, first off, great job with the content! I LOVE the new DLC, I think you really hit it out of the park.

I just have a question on crafting and the new sets - are there any plans to make the Trinimac style a motif??
:ZOS_JaredCarr: Yes, there are plans to make the Trinimac style a motif!
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bensor74: I think I've read somewhere that you plan to add a crafting inventory/bank (for components) for the ESO+ members. Is it true ? If so, how well is the development of this feature going ?
:ZOS_RichLambert: Crafting bag is indeed in the works!
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personofsecrets: Greetings Zenimax team. I have a number of questions and even if you can't respond to any of them for any reason, then I still hope you can read them patiently and mull over their significance and consider these ideas.

#How long until the stamina regeneration while blocking nerf is undone? The nerf has been destructive to the role.
#How long until the DK chains bug is fixed?This bug has gone on long enough.
#How long until BOP is removed? Nobody likes the current loot system.
#When is trait changing being implemented? Why haven't items that are already in game code, which allow the crafting of sets such as Vestments of the Warlock or Foitman's Fortune, been implemented yet?
#What are you doing to increase player interest and growth in the number of guilds in the game? So many of my friends aren't interested in the game any longer.
#When will I get to personally be part of a spoken dialogue with game developers regarding the subject of tanking? I always here about these discussions but it is a mystery on how to be part of them.
#Once the stamina regeneration while blocking nerf is removed, then how will you be making sure that new content is friendly for tanks? Imperial City and veteran Maelstrom Arena have been a disaster for tanks.
#When will there be an effort to balance champion points in a way that doesn't advantage stamina builds in the long term? This is something that may have to be done for the long term health of the game. Many of the passives aren't that great anyhow so it would make sense to redo a few things in the champion system.
#Why aren't tanks itemization suggestions being better catered to? Black Rose, Endurance, Lore Warden , Jolting, Glorious Defender, Pariah, Maelstrom Sword & Shield, and several other sets are very poorly designed and are not super useful for tanks. Tanks have spoke up again and again but very little seems to change in a good way as far as itemization or our role is concerned.
#Will you promise not to ruin Dragon Knight tanking when you complete the Dragon Knight update? I am extremely anxious that you will do no good for the role; the stamina regeneration while block nerf is a big deal, but there is also the eruption nerf, molten armor nerf, dragon scales nerf, molten weapons nerf and I'm sure several other bad changes (such as the dynamic ultimate gaining change) that have really harmed the class. I honestly don't trust that the class is going to be put in a good spot and with how tanking was heavy handedly nerfed I am worried for what may happen to my role.
#How do I get more publicity from the community managers with regards to my tanking tournament? I'm sure you are all busy, but I hope that we can work together in order to make something fun happen. Can you please twist Eric's arm into responding to the message that I left on his new forum wall. Good job on making a forum account Eric. I think your forum presence will have a net positive effect (even if you did have a bizarre opinion about tanking that has killed many people's interest in the role).
That is all for now. Thank you.
:ZOS_GinaBruno: Question 11 - Just found your message in my inbox, sorry for the delay! We'll get this promoted for you over the weekend. :)
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nifty2g: Can we please have the formula to what factors into Maelstrom Arena scoring. Possibly a reply here or an official forum post?

Thank you :) it makes competition much more harder to do going in blind not knowing how anything works going against someone who has ran math and got their own secrets to how it works.
:ZOS_Finnigan: For Maelstrom Arena Points...

:Each Arena is worth 30,000pts upon completion Each Unused Sigil is worth 750pts

:At the end of the Arena, the total numbers are added together and than you add in your time score. The rough formula is...

:Score=Points + (Points/Time Bonus)

:Time bonus is the tricky part. We have a target time for each Leaderboard piece of content, for Maelstrom is 1.5hr, and if you come in under that time, your score is increased as above. If you come in over that, your score is decreased proportionally. The behind the scenes nuts and bolts have crazy looking numbers because the server registers time in milliseconds so the actual numbers are bloated.

:There you go though! That's the formula in a nutshell.
::nifty2g: Oh yes, thank you :D
:::nifty2g: u/ZOS_Finnigan one quick question though, there's no such thing as 1 Minute = x amount of points? So far what I've heard the rough estimation is 1 Minute = 2,000 points give or take
::::ZOS_Finnigan: Not exactly, time works like this...

::::(TargetTime-ActualTime)/TimeDivisor=TimeMultiplier which is then multiplied by your Points. If the ActualTime is lower, then you just start subtracting from the points down to the minimum score multiplier.
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Eisotopius: So what exactly is the plan for when Vet Ranks are taken out? I noticed from hovering over my Champion Point bar that it actually lists "Champion Rank" (which might be because of an addon but you never know), so is the plan just to replace Vet Rank with the number of total Champion Points you've earned? Would everything level 50 and up then just be based on that rather than a specific level?
Oh and great job with Orsinium.
:ZOS_eWrobel: Yes we are working on veteran rank removal, no eta yet! The plan involves using champion points instead of veteran ranks. This is great because when you level up a new character, as soon as it gets to level 50 it will be the same effective level as your main character.
::crazmadsci: Is there any idea on what will happen to all of our gear. I have 3 toons holding dungeon, trial, undaunted and BOP gear. Should I just get rid of it or is it worth holding on to?
:::ZOS_eWrobel: Hold onto it! Gear will still be useful.
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FatCat45 (edited): With the changes to the weekly Trials leaderboards only placing 100 players instead of 100 teams, does this coincide with better weekly mail rewards?

If not, may I suggest allowing the weekly coffers to drop items at v16 including the sets found within the trial itself. Such as the Aetherian Archive weekly mails having v16 Storm Knight, Warlock, Necropotence, and Hel Ra weekly mails containing v16 Nikulas, Silks of the Sun, and so on.

With only 100 players allowed to place on the leaderboard now this change would vastly increase the competition to place on the leaderboard and promote trials.
:ZOS_Finnigan: We do plan to offer VR16 rewards for completing the weekly Trial/Arena in Thieve's Guild. We won't be increasing their level but if it is the weekly Trial, you should get gear of your level.
::FatCat45: In my opinion the level scale of the trial is not an important factor, it is the inability to earn max level (v16) items from that trial.

::Whether it be from boss drops, the weekly mail reward, or the weekly undaunted coffer, as long as v16 items are obtainable in some form then it helps bring life back into the 3 existing trials.

::But one more question. What will the loot table be for the updated v16 rewards for existing trials? Will it be the current items but scaled to v16, or will it include all possible sets from the trial like my feedback for it? I would love me some v16 Necropotence and Storm Knight :(
:::ZOS_Finnigan: I believe that is still being discussed but that feedback is great :)
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yell0wd4rt: How is the 64 bit client coming? And what's the status on fixing memory leaks for the Mac client? I'm crashing at least once every hour on my Macbook pro, and every 15'ish minutes if I set foot into Cyrodiil. PVP is unplayable, yet that's the thing I enjoy most about ESO. How soon can we expect a 64 bit client? And when can I PVP again without wanting to rip my hair out?
:ZOS_MattF: 64 Bit client is planned for the Q1 Update (i.e. the next big one). Mac users will see dramatic performance increase when we do this, as well as 64-but windows users. My main gaming machine is Windows, but I'm on the road enough with my Macbook Pro 13 retina that I definitely know what you are talking about.
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Mad_Scientistz: Will the skill changes be balanced around pve or pvp?
:ZOS_eWrobel: It's controversial at times, but we balance for both. We want players to be able to use their abilities in a consistent way between both environments so when you learn to play with certain tactics, that they work the same way for all content. This is part of the reason monsters now gain CC immunity when you hit them with stun attacks. We didn't want players to learn that they could win fights by stunning the same enemy over and over, then go into PvP and get crushed.
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anitajon: What an awesome work about Orsinium ! Quest lines of other areas are nicely done but Wrothgar's main quest is clearly several steps above. Please tell us more about the background of two characters that I want to know more about : Kurog's mother, and Eveli. More specifically, I'd like to know more about the extent to which the mother participated too her son "loosing focus on reality" and getting too "power-hungry", when and how it started, and beyond that, the mother-son relationships in orcish culture, tradition and lifestyle in general. Regarding Eveli, I like her being so hungry for justice and needing a black/white, good/bad vision of things. How does she deal with everything being rather grey-ish in ES-universe ?
:ZOS_Bill_Slavicsek: I don't want to say anything that spoils the story for people who haven't gotten there yet, so this may sound a little cagey. Kurog's mother, Alga, has an interesting relationship with her son. We know that traditional Orc society allows the chief (or king, in this case) to handle war, while his wives take care of the rest of the clan's business. So it's natural that a powerful woman like Alga would make her services available for her son to use. She raised him to become a chief and has been at his side since he returned to Wrothgar. Eveli, on the other hand, is new to the adventuring scene and still kind of idealistic. Will she retain that outlook on life? We'll just have to see as new stories about Eveli devleop.
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bensor74: Gold Coast/Dark Brotherhood : There are some confusions about how this new zone (with Kvatch and Anvil) will be accessible. Since it is part of Cyrodil, in the classic Tamriel map. Will it be like Wrothgar, or will it make the current Cyrodil (the current map of the game with PvP) bigger ?
:ZOS_MattF: It will be like Orsinium - separated from the PvP parts of Cyrodiil, and totally PvE oriented.
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recremen: Yes hello this is Khajiit. First, it must be said the the Orc lands are very beautiful! When the gods shaped the land, did they not spend aching hours painting the dirt, placing the grass, and grouping the flower blossoms just so? Did they not mark out the path if the wandering Chub Loon in grand honking arcs? Did they not make the very winds whistle a music clean and fresh?? Of course they did. It is known.

However! Still many questions remain! First, Men'Do would like to know if there is any way to help that Birkhu fellow who woke Nyzchaleft. Sure, stopping the Dwemer is pretty good start, but he wallows in abject shame and alcoholism! This one wants to pick him up by the boot, dust him off, and help him find work again. Sure he will run out of drinking money someday, yes? Yes.

Second! Many times this one acted too late to save some of his treasured friends, and it is very sad! He could not help close a wound, or snatch arrow from its flight, and now everyone is dead with nobody but Khajiit to cry for them. Surely it is true that we cannot save everyone, but perhaps someday Men'Do can save someone? Maybe by casting a spell, or snatching an arrow? Or maybe this takes away too much drama from our living myths? Maybe this is what the bards call "God Did It"? Khajiit cannot say. Still very good story, however.

Finally! Men'Do hears much of the worshipers of Trinimac and Malacath, but not much of the gods themselves! He heard some    foul    about Trinimac and Malacath, and simply must know if they are true!

Many thank for taking the time to help the people of Nirni come to a better understanding of the world around them.
:ZOS_MattF: (you are awesome. never change).

:Second! Two words: soul gem. You won't be able to save them, but you can bring them back. :)
:ZOS_Bill_Slavicsek: This one thanks you very much!
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MissBizz: Oh yes. Not a question.. but... thank you for the pet goat!  
I mean sure, we do all enjoy PvE and the new content you create for us, but in the end, a lot of people playing a mmo want to prove their strength in PvP which is currently quite impossible, because the pings are absurd. 
We all know that it is in a terrible condition so there is no reason not to talk about it, it can't get any worse, but not talking about it will make more and more players leave eso, which is really sad because it is an awesome game. 
Will Cyrodiil ever be playable again, and is there any actual status on the working-process, if that has happened yet?
:ZOS_MattF: I answered this somewhere in this giant thread already: short story, this is our #1 PvP priority right now, we've identified a problem that leads to really bad performance involving our physics engine. Expect to see more info on it soon, but we have to be very careful with any changes to such a foundational part of the game.

:I know it's frustrating, as I'm in there with you.
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sylance9: The quest line for the house of Orsimer glories is great! Particularly the final quest which tells that the great bear Coldwind will return in a time of Orsinium's greatest need to a Hero of Wrothgar. However at the end of the quest instead of receiving a bear mount, we instead received costumes. This was so well written, why did you remove the ability to get the bear mount through gameplay?
:ZOS_ZebCook: Like the Elder Scrolls, that prophecy is subject to interpretation. It says Coldwind will return but doesn't say just what that means.
::sylance9: Then why in the link below did rich confirm we would be able to earn a mount in game with the coming of Orsinium?

::
:::ZOS_MattF: Like the Elder Scrolls, Rich's comments can sometimes be open to interpretation....
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PhysiquedParrot: Is it to late to get into the game on console, or is everything relatively easy to get used to?
:ZOS_ZebCook: It's never too late!
::PhysiquedParrot: Would either of you be able to direct me to a page about the lastest dlc? Downloading the updates on my ps4 now!
:::ZOS_GinaBruno: You can check this out for starters: 
:ZOS_Bill_Slavicsek: It's never too late. And you can go into Orsinium at any time, so you can even start playing and trying out the newest content pretty much immediately.
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Ye_Olde_Mudder: When you complete rescuing the survivors of the massacre of Bleakrock and help defend Davon's Watch from the ravaging of the evil Turds of Boethiah, you are immediately greeted -mind you in a city that just repelled a siege from evil invaders - by An Orc "Embassador" sitting in the middle of Davon's Watch openly recruiting people to go help out the DC.

If I stood in the middle of Union Square handing out Fair Play for ISIL posters and offering free passage to northern Iraq to help King Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi unify his disparate kingdom and save it from the Evil Western Imperialist Powers, I'd very quickly find myself on an all-expenses tropical vacation to Sunny Guantanamo Bay.

Where are the Ordinators? Why does this evil creature remain ungibbeted?

Do you have any plans to fix this jarring and frankly execrable experience?
:ZOS_ZebCook: Let's just say orcs have chutzpah.
::ZOS_Bill_Slavicsek: They've got vosh balls!
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Praeficere (edited): Evening guys!

Here are a collection of some of the questions from my guiild; some regarding Orsinium, some regarding gameplay.

SPOILERS

Orsinium:

As you must know, Kurog is the undisputed best character that ZOS has ever, and will ever create. He has been described by my guild members as "an absolute boss", "a badass", "indulging", "i love the character but yes, he's indulding ;)", "not exactly kind but he wants the best for his people". When the quest line was coming to a close and.. sigh.. it.. the memory.. it pains me.. When it.. happened, was there ever any plans for a choice in that matter? Because many of us don't mind that Kurog did what he did to our poor character, because he's a badass and would've elevated the Orsimer to a new level and we would've gladly let Kurog be. Infact, we all prefer him to Bazrag... seemed like it was his plan all along...
When having an Orc character, you have the option in the Shatul quest line to become chief, what are the duties of our character? What would he sneakily be doing when we're offline?
Another question of which you will probably be asked many times in this UA: Wolf pets! We heard about them in a previous ESO Live, how are they coming along? Can we expect them soon? Oh and don't forget about the.. raindeer, spider.. rhino things? Enchalidas?
When will we get a netch riding a giant riding a mammoth using siege rams as skates pet?

Non-Orsinium:

Rams. Are guild rams something you would consider? Having a guild crest ontop of the ram... the lovely rainbow that brings down a keep and leads to the death of many. my guild loves rams
Group leaders, is the ability to carry an actual standard or a smaller flag on the back something we can expect? It would be fantastic in Cyrodiil to see the enemy leaders with something distinctive. Of course, you could make this toggleable.

takes note of the 100 questions about Magicka DKs from the guild

And one final question: if one were to order a million pizzas for ZOS, but there could only be one flavour, which would be best?
:ZOS_eWrobel: The pizza is called "supreme" for a reason. But probably just cheese because then all of my cowokers can enjoy it too, even if they do have bad tastes.
:ZOS_Bill_Slavicsek: We discussed a choice, but decided in the end that we wanted everyone to experience the same important change to the world and not try to manage two divergent realities.
::ZOS_Bill_Slavicsek: And King Kurog is one of my favorites, too!
:::ZOS_Bill_Slavicsek: Cheese pizza with meatballs, of course!
::::ZOS_GinaBruno: That sounds pretty tasty. I'd say to add pineapple, but I know everyone here would kill me.
:ZOS_ZebCook: As an orc chieftain, your duties are, shall we say, non-existent. The villagers recognize that you have much better things to do -- and frankly they're only going with the idea because it's custom. You're still an outsider to most of them. You'll need to spend more time shaking hands and kissing babies like a true politician!
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Ye_Olde_Mudder: When you went ahead with Orsinium, was there ever talk of creating a better storyline other than the only one you currently use for narrative which is

$King_Guy calls for help to unify his disparate domain which is opposed by $other_guy?

What makes the Orsinium storyline particularly substandard and unacceptable besides the bog-standard cookie-cutter narrative is that rebuilding Orsinium would be an exceptionally unforgivable crime against all of Tamriel.

A resurgent Orsinium would be something all the races of the world would unite against, and no reasonable person would ever think of helping out unless they were an irredeemably evil creature like a necromancer, cannbal or an Orc.

What made you go with the standard story that you have used three times already instead of a better storyline?

Will we ever be able to do good in the world by instead of helping rebuild that which should remain rubble?
:ZOS_Bill_Slavicsek: Glad you liked it!
::Ye_Olde_Mudder: I did, in fact, not.

::I was an enthusiastic supporter, but Orsinium retroactively negated any and all enthusiasm I had to play the game. Judging by the responses, I guess I am glad I cancelled my sub and uninstalled the game.

::The only good thing was getting King VileTrog's guards to repeatedly kill him.
:::ZOS_Bill_Slavicsek: Sorry you feel that way. My intention is always to create the best story we're able, and that was our goal with Orsinium.

Notes