I know we're all wearing this topic out by now, but I'd like to share my experience and what recently became clear to me on why this event seems to be struggling and has such a widely negative response.
(warning, this is long)
The main problem this event has (besides the genuine feedback I've seen that the spawn rates are too quick and there's some bugs) is definitely the player base. It's not that it's too hard, it's not that you have to group with people and can't play solo, etc.
Let me give a little background about myself so you know where this is coming from: I have been playing this game since around 2015 and I absolutely love this game, it's one of my all time favorites. I have an embarrassing amount of hours. That being said, I've mainly always been a solo player because I have social anxiety, I'm very shy, and I feel awful if I'm holding anybody back. This game is my chill game, the one I play to have fun with no pressure or expectations, where I get to go my own pace. Once I started doing dungeons, I solely played healer for years because it's where I felt most comfortable and confident in my ability to help the team. I've done a few normal trials, several vet dungeons, and no vet trials.
I've been growing more comfortable in joining random groups in the GF lately and tried my hand at the NM. I joined a random group as a healer. It was not the best experience, mainly because the group seemed to have already been in the middle of something and I basically just joined into an endless: let's die and respawn constantly, Nobody even knows what the hell is going on or what the objective even is and nobody explains. It was incredibly messy with zero coordination and no fun.
(Even with that crappy experience, I'm not blaming the design of the night market event. This was clearly a problem with the group. Obviously, if things were at least a little bit coordinated, it would have went much smoother and been a lot more fun. I don't blame these players though and I'm not saying they're bad, there was just a serious lack of coordination/communication and was probably just bad luck on my part with the GF.)
The biggest thing a lot of players are complaining about is that this is an event that requires group making. I understand where some people are coming from as a shy person who usually likes to go at it alone. Being a part of a group can be daunting sometimes, but being in a group really isn't the problem here. It's the players in those groups.
Here's an example I was met with recently that made me think about this issue:
I have recently made a necro tank. I have never played tank before because it felt like too much pressure and like it was the hardest role for me. I don't like being center of attention basically. But it was my goal to try, to get comfortable, to just say fuck it and dive in and learn despite making inevitable mistakes...
The other day, I tanked a dlc dungeon (normal) that in general I've never even played before. But I had a good build and good tank sets too, so I had confidence that in NORMAL MODE this could go smoothly even though I wasn't familiar with the dungeon. The entire dungeon was a cake walk up until the last boss. My team wiped twice, I was the last alive wondering why they were just suddenly blowing up so quick. It only took those 2 wipes and both the dps immediately left... I was concerned, definitely questioning my tanking ability, wondering if I did something wrong. The healer was still there and I asked them "Should I be doing anything different? I've never tanked this dungeon before." And the healer said I was fine and the dps were not following the mechanics, that the mechanics could ultimately be skipped if their dps was high enough though. (Mind you, these dps were levels 2000+ and definitely knew how to play the game because their dps was actually good the entire dungeon until the last boss when they decided to ignore the mechanics). I was relieved that I wasn't missing something, but confused as to why experienced dps would just bail after a couple of wipes in a normal dungeon. We got new ones very quickly and finished the boss fight, and these dps straight up annhilated the boss in less than 10 seconds to where they didn't need the mechanics like the healer said.
This made me realize why something like the night market would have such mixed reviews. It's players like these particular dps (who ig rage quit a normal dungeon even though they were the problem) who make group based events like the NM so unappealing to a lot of players. That is why we tend to go at it solo in fear of encountering toxic players. And a large group of people that are complaining probably are these toxic players, who don't want to do mechanics and actually try at something.
I feel like a lot of the players that are complaining aren't at least willing to give it a genuine try. I'm not trying to sound mean but this ego fragility goes both ways. It shows in the lvl 2000+ dps who just rage quit in a NORMAL dungeon and don't stick around to at least see if trying the mechanics will work. And it shows in someone like me who was too scared to be in groups in fear of letting others down.
Sorry this was so long, but I wanted to give my personal thoughts on this. Even though I can never get a group to play this event so I'm probably just gonna miss out, I'm genuinely happy for all the players who group regularly (and actually have friends to play with 😭). I agree that ESO needed something like this, even if I don't get to experience it. And I'm looking forward to more!
p.s. Tanking is so BADASS I've been missing out 😭