Avoid this game (warning to new players)

[vovik86]

I recently tried ESO again and was so disgusted by the direction it has taken that I wanted to leave a warning so hopefully no one else makes the mistake of buying this garbage in its current state. ESO has always been pay to win... unrestricted storage, access to all DLCs as soon as they're released if you pay a monthly fee. In other words you have to pay 15$/month if you don't want to run weaker suboptimal builds and use your characters as storage banks. I've found ways around this but it's very tedious. It gets worse, though. ESO also changed how loot works to make it much more grindy. Now you have to run the same dungeon up to 30 times (more if you're unlucky) if you decide to use a weapon that you can't craft. There's no other way to get loot that's dropped in dungeons and only the final boss drops weapons. Even players from eastern MMOs would consider this level of grind inhumane.

The worst part is recently they changed TOS to allow them to sell your user data. And in usual bethesda anti-consumer fashion (think fallout 76) they are very secretive about it. And if you ask too many questions they will ban you (again, think fallout 76). Pretty sure I'm still banned from posting about this on official forums but it doesn't really matter. Any post on their forums that hurts their bottom line immediately gets locked and deleted anyway... I mean, it's bethesda so why would you expect anything else?

I actually bought this game on steam when it came out years ago called ESO: Tamriel Unlimited but that's no longer in the store so I can't leave a review. Feel free to copy+paste my little rant and post a review if you own the current version of ESO. I still can't believe how predatory this game has become.

[Space is the Place]

This thread will be closed, the same as the one explaining how to close your ESO+ subscription. THis ain´t the best place for criticism.

That being said, as a 5 year old player with close to 9k hours on the game, everything said by OP is real.

This game is Pay To Win: Yes. No matter if you "explore", clear areas, do questing, dungeons, trials, decorating houses... everything is just worst and not completed as long as you don´t pay. Even belonging to the thieves guilds and dark brotherhood, a completely vanilla feature for all TES games where guild are joinable, it´s tied to paying.

The TOS clearly states they can sell your data: Yes. Another real fact, this one it´s even far less subjective because it´s an actual point in the TOS, no argument about it.

As for the first response... yeah, its funny, the ones of us capable of liking a game but still see it´s flaws and the ones defending this game even after terrible decisions by the devs are always at each others throats, both sides have people who exagerated. This time though? Nope, OP is 100% correct on the critics he´s making of the game, and in fact those are pretty big complains plenty of people, so I would ignore the messages in the style of "OP is crazy becuase I said so", specially when the critics made are factaul like in this case.

EDIT: Still waiting on any "defender" to explain the huge raise in negatuve reviews in the latest months, taken the game from "generally positive" to "mixed" in less than a single month... but no worries, "everything is fine TM"

[He11y^]

If you on modern Windows OS it already collected everything from you,since it's basically a one big data miner,unless you heavily tweak it to the bones.Also your shiny smartphone (ofc if you have one) do that as well.

Eastern MMO comparision? - Do you know what 0.1% drop rate means,because thats about it and in this case you will need to kill last boss not 30 times but 3000.

Spent 0 money in last 5 years,absolutely everything was bought (including last chapter) for in game gold,which i don't even farm,sure definataly p2win.

Game turned to sh*t in terms of balance and gameplay,thats the main reason and have nothing to do with examples you mentioned.

[Space is the Place]

Originally posted by tfmf:

Eastern MMO comparision? - Do you know what 0.1% drop rate means

Not to deflate your story, but TESO keeps a secret about drop chances HOWEVER some players have decided to messure it themselves. And most of them have come to the conclusion that TESO has a lower than 0,01% drop chance for anything really interesting, sooooo....

[widukind]

Chromium grains are a good example for that.

[Gilver Redgrave]

Funny.
I said this game is P2W like 2 years ago and got flamed for it. Now that it has become so obvious you cant deny it anymore no matter how much copium you take all agree. Maybe people should have listened years ago but well.

Of course is a game P2W that locks the new and of course Meta gear behind a new DLC aka Paywall. I dont know how people could deny that for so long. The signs that this game will take the direction it currently takles where there years ago. People always complain when it is to late.

[Elendir Blue]

I am using Meridia's Blessed Armor (base game set) and Ironblood (set I farmed during free trial ESO+ in very old DLC dungeon). Only newer set I use is Void Bash (farmed during free trial ESO+)

I can screw any tower monkey or ball group I meet (except ball group Nova). So carrying old gear is in no way disadvantage and any set is available for anybody during free ESO+ trials (2x a year).

@Space is the Place you tried to show yourself as master ESO player in different thread, yet your skills are obviously limited, if you think that ESO is P2W.

[Gilver Redgrave]

Originally posted by Elendir Blue:

I can screw any tower monkey or ball group I meet (except ball group Nova). So carrying old gear is in no way disadvantage and any set is available for anybody during free ESO+ trials (2x a year).

Good luck in PvP.

Also your argument is because you got stuff for free its not P2W ? Pretty sure when Warden came out it was broken as hell and dominated PvP and people payed for it. Later the DLC (Morrowind) was given for free so Warden is not P2W ? So because people got stuff for free later completely negates the advantage people that purchased the DLC had before ? Makes no sense.

[CLAVE]

Originally posted by Elendir Blue:

I am using Meridia's Blessed Armor (base game set) and Ironblood (set I farmed during free trial ESO+ in very old DLC dungeon). Only newer set I use is Void Bash (farmed during free trial ESO+)

I can screw any tower monkey or ball group I meet (except ball group Nova). So carrying old gear is in no way disadvantage and any set is available for anybody during free ESO+ trials (2x a year).

@Space is the Place you tried to show yourself as master ESO player in different thread, yet your skills are obviously limited, if you think that ESO is P2W.

lol a fkn tank talking about pvp, you are just wasting space in your alliance, and can't kill ♥♥♥♥ either

[AzhureDragon]

yawn......same crap being said, different day.

[Shepherd]

I paid a 15$ a month sub for Everquest in 1999, not really blowing my mind now. The only difference is back then if you didn't pay the subscription you couldn't play at all.

You can't have your cake and eat it too. Either enjoy the free version or pay up for the premium content.

[Kissing Fish]

Originally posted by vovik86:

I recently tried ESO again and was so disgusted by the direction it has taken that I wanted to leave a warning so hopefully no one else makes the mistake of buying this garbage in its current state. ESO has always been pay to win... unrestricted storage, access to all DLCs as soon as they're released if you pay a monthly fee. In other words you have to pay 15$/month if you don't want to run weaker suboptimal builds and use your characters as storage banks. I've found ways around this but it's very tedious. It gets worse, though. ESO also changed how loot works to make it much more grindy. Now you have to run the same dungeon up to 30 times (more if you're unlucky) if you decide to use a weapon that you can't craft. There's no other way to get loot that's dropped in dungeons and only the final boss drops weapons. Even players from eastern MMOs would consider this level of grind inhumane.

The worst part is recently they changed TOS to allow them to sell your user data. And in usual bethesda anti-consumer fashion (think fallout 76) they are very secretive about it. And if you ask too many questions they will ban you (again, think fallout 76). Pretty sure I'm still banned from posting about this on official forums but it doesn't really matter. Any post on their forums that hurts their bottom line immediately gets locked and deleted anyway... I mean, it's bethesda so why would you expect anything else?

I actually bought this game on steam when it came out years ago called ESO: Tamriel Unlimited but that's no longer in the store so I can't leave a review. Feel free to copy+paste my little rant and post a review if you own the current version of ESO. I still can't believe how predatory this game has become.

YAAAWN

People have always been *unhappy with the direction of the game* (since 2014)

#nothingtoseehere
#whatelseisnew
#constantperenialwhining
#cryharder

[ah_puch]

Originally posted by Basil.ThreeKings:

YAAAWN

People have always been *unhappy with the direction of the game* (since 2014)

#nothingtoseehere
#whatelseisnew
#constantperenialwhining
#cryharder

No son, since Aug 2022. Get off that copium, you seem to be confused on dates and overall what's been going on

[EggBread]

From my experience, this game isn't Pay To Win in any shape or form, but it is "Pay To Fully Enjoy." For instance, certain dungeons are locked behind ESO+ paywall, you can't fully enjoy Housing without ESO+ or a ton of Crowns, you essentially can't craft or level professions without ESO+, and many luxurious cosmetics are paywalled. Which is a shame, because as a person who REALLY enjoys crafting, cosmetics, and housing I feel like i'm being shafted. But, that doesn't mean the game is Pay To Win.

You can very well dump thousands of hours into this game exploring its thousands of quests, storylines, builds, characters, dungeons, and whatever else all without subscribing. Not to say you won't feel pressured to subscribe now and then, you will, but i've put 200+ hours into the game without subbing. I'm just simply not at a point to where I benefit from a subscription. The game does have a monetization problem, but other than that it's fine.

[Gilver Redgrave]

Originally posted by EggBread:

From my experience, this game isn't Pay To Win in any shape or form, but it is "Pay To Fully Enjoy."

Gear is Paywalled unless you get DLCs for free in some shape or form. Dungeon gear cant be sold or traded there is no way of getting those items except purchasing the according DLC.The Accessory Crafting Table is also locked behind a paid DLC.


One of the biggest reason for the current ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ESO recieves is PvP. The Devs ignored PvP for far to long now. Hell it took them like months fixing how broken Warden was and i believe Warden is still pretty broken. And thats where the P2W comes in. Who do you believe is paying the bills ? Its the PvP people. They get each DLC where new P2W stuff is handed out so they stay relevant. They Pay for new broken classes so they stay relevant. As you yourself just said you dont feel the need to pay because you mostly play the PvE content.

So yeah PvP players pay the bills and at the same time those players are being shafted.

[Aku]

Yes, now you can't even get world boss drops since they changed it so the top damage dealers get the loot, and all the high CP levels camp at the bosses everyone wants. But I still play the game and wouldn't tell new players to avoid it. There is a ton of content that you can enjoy with the different campaigns. Just doing the zone stories that are all connected into an overarching story about the Three Banners War is a massive game unto itself. Then of course you have the main campaign and all those DLCs. ESO is worth it for that.