Is Overland Content In 2023 Good?

[LastRaidBoss]

I have over 2000 hours since beta in eso but ended up quitting a couple years back due to the lack of difficulty in the overland. All the solo and group arenas scratched my itch and so did the 12 player trials.
I mean even the newer vet hardmode dungeons was challenging for the most part. But one thing that always made me not wanna play was what 80% of the game is, Overland questing and zone completion in a beautiful world with fully voice acted dialog was how ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ boring the overland pve was everything was a joke and dies within 2 hits.
Making the quest bosses feel underwhelming and formulaic in a way. Therefor everything I do and build up to in the main dlc stories just feels so meaningless when it feels like I'm killing a disabled man that's blind and currently in hospice.
Just makes my mind numb and I almost fall asleep playing overland but I want it to be good because it's great looking and the quests are decent for the most part too, but the wet paper towels we call overland pve is just demotivating to play imo.

I Understand MMOs are full of casuals now days sure but I'm only 27 and ain't that far gone yet, let us younger gamers enjoy something too.

I Love MMOs and I play some of the hardest ones. Solo OSRS Raids and WoW Mythic tiers if you know you know but probably not due to the casual playerbase that is eso.

Add what diablo IV (♥♥♥♥ game btw just using as a reference) has a world tier from 1-4 where as you get better at the game you get small bonuses like 5% more gold or idk an aura that glows a little indicating you play on a harder difficulty.

This games playerbase has been shrinking so much and that's because ZoS doesn't want the more Veteran players that want more challenging content to enjoy the main part of the game for many Overland zones.

This game suffers from what many mmos do and that is the difficulty isn't what we though it was when we was 12 playing on our families Box monitors with dial up. The majority are way better at games and lose interest if it's just mind numbing to play.

[marstinson]

Overland content has not become any more difficult over the past couple or three years. If you were not playing when Blackwood released, then there's a good argument to be made that companions made it easier. If that's a deal-breaker for you, then I'd strongly recommend taking a pass on returning.

[Hayley]

ESO is an MMORPG.

[The Presence]

I would say it has become easier and more accessible over the years barring a couple of exceptions when it comes to soloing certain things like world bosses.

[MugHug]

Originally posted by The Presence:

I would say it has become easier and more accessible over the years barring a couple of exceptions when it comes to soloing certain things like world bosses.

I feel the same and I have played every expansion, etc. since Day 1 launch.

[MugHug]

Originally posted by Hayley:

ESO is an MMORPG.

Well, that ties the answer down to some measurable specifics. Imagine no-one reading the thread will not know that.

[Janmarqu Chato]

Originally posted by Hayley:

ESO is an MMORPG.

lol srsly? omg kk thx

[MugHug]

Originally posted by Tes O.:

Originally posted by Hayley:

ESO is an MMORPG.

lol srsly? omg kk thx

It is ok as it takes longer for some to understand then others :)

[DAVY]

It's not very ElderScrolls if that's what you're implying. Zones are very small, but they tend to follow a very simple, if not deliberately centralized, formula:

>Only one major city as a hub. Everything else does not highlight on the map, or is a village being invaded by undead/daedra
>One zone you have to pay extra money for, because it's a DLC dungeon beyond the new zone DLC
>Linear travelling, as most mountains are just border props made to divide zones
>There's probably yet another realm be it in some netherworld or underground that is more of a tacked-on zone rather than an extension of the existing one. This one is longer than the surface realm
>NPCs never sell anything other than cheap ingredients that you can find in barrels.
>The captain of the defending army is typically a woman

"See that mountain? You can't climb it."
-Hodd Toward

[MugHug]

Originally posted by Roadie:

Overland content and questing are among the best in the industry, it's why many consider ESO to be a single player game with an MMO tacked onto it. Every quest is voice acted, and generally have great writing. The Overworld region bosses are pretty great as well.

Overland has always been the strength of ESO. It's the PvP and Endgame stuff that gets criticized.

Having played both ESO and Guild Wars for years I find Guild Wars offer as much. Maybe not voice overs but questing that is just as good. Both can be played solo for much of the content and some that cannot (for your typical player).

Not sure if I like the hint of solos being forced to group for some of the normal questing, that I see in the new expansion.

[Ashkorne]

No mmorpg has "hard" overland content. Not one.
People who want dark souls can play darks souls.
They tried a "hard" mmo once and players complained until they nerfed it. (WildStar)

Vanilla WoW was badly designed, it wasn't "hard." It was their first attempt and it shows.

[Nain]

Originally posted by Roadie:

Overland content and questing are among the best in the industry, it's why many consider ESO to be a single player game with an MMO tacked onto it. Every quest is voice acted, and generally have great writing. The Overworld region bosses are pretty great as well.

Overland has always been the strength of ESO. It's the PvP and Endgame stuff that gets criticized.

i have to disagree with this one.

it may be "the best" if you consider shallow things like voiceacting and great writing (sidequests are generally better written then anything else in this game due to their shorter nature), but the main issue with overland questing is the abysmal easy difficulty.

not a single quest is really rewarding, when you can just plow through it naked and unarmed.
this only gets worse when the writers make the bad thing in the current quest as something big and dangerous, but then have a dissapointing endfight.
there are many examples, like that pale man in western skyrim etc.

eso has one big strenght, and that is BUILDUP. each overlandquest has a nice buildup, making things exciting, with solid voicework to really sell you the illusion.

where it fails is the PAYOFF.

and i get it, its due to the nature of the game, as an mmo it has to make things accessible for all types of players. from casual clara to elite edgar, the content has to be doable.
thats where the payoff is always so dissapointing from a gameplay perspective.

if i have to compare it with other games (even those mmos that you can consider single player), then overland is NOT the best in the industry.

dont get me wrong, i enjoy the game, and i do more questing then i do endgame, but i am not going to sugarcoat this glaring issue with the game.

[Nain]

Originally posted by Ashkorne:

No mmorpg has "hard" overland content. Not one.
People who want dark souls can play darks souls.
They tried a "hard" mmo once and players complained until they nerfed it. (WildStar)

Vanilla WoW was badly designed, it wasn't "hard." It was their first attempt and it shows.

you could consider some of the zones in lord of the rings online, especially when played on level, to be "hard", but it also depends on the class you are using and other factors.
but yeah, in general you are correct.
mmos cannot be considered hard because they have to cater to all players.

lotro did add landscape (overland) difficulty modes now to their retail servers, where players can tune it to their liking. it debuffs you and adds annoying effects to make the experience harder, albeit artificially.

[Tarnished]

Many forget the "Elder Scrolls" from a game called "The Elder Scrolls Online". Those games were single-player and meant to be played solo.
A lot of us come from those games and like the "Elder Scrolls" experience more than the MMO one.
I believe it's one reason Companions were a big success. We want to play alone mostly, we want to play Elder Scrolls mostly, even if the next real Elder Scrolls is years away.

[nzguzzi]

It is fun enough, some of the DLC is amazing. The whole Elsweyr DLC set with the dragon quest is so cool, though the gear sets are bit redundant.
Necrom is very cool, probably my favourite, High Isles was bit boring but saw a few players everywhere I went.
High Isles and Necrom also have companions, Necrom probably the better choice for story/companions/usable armor sets.
Unless you chasing META, standard stuff will get you a 100K damage parse.
Picking up antiquities skill also very helpful for some great builds.

[RemingtonSteal]

Fully agree with you. I played since beta and quit like 4 years ago. Amazing game with painfully easy overland questing. This makes all those zones and voice acted quest and DLC just not worth doing. There no sense of accomplishment. It's like reading a book and changing the page, the gameplay could be done while wearing no gear, to me it's just ridiculous. World tier system that would let you reset the world's quest at higher difficulties and rewards would give a great ensentive to solo or even group quest and enjoy the stories in the game. Imagine getting to a point where group questing is a valid option difficulty wise. I would jump back in a heart beat. And for the folks that love boring and page turner gameplay with can stay lower wold tiers