Why is ESO DEAD? Is it the bugs?!

[𝒞𝒶𝓉𝓎𝒶♡]

I stopped playing ESO year ago, mainly due to really bad performance, endless bugs and abysmal "balance updates" (literally worst balance team in any modern mmo game tbh). Still, at that time it did still have a few endgame groups (playing even in the horrible lag), but now.. when went to check the game out, there is like 3 people in big cities and zone maps are empty, can literally hear the crickets.

So, did everyone leave during the Light Attack change update last summer? Did people finally have enough? Even pvp seems to be more dead than ever? Apparently some poorly designed new class is not even enough to bring any positive hype?

What do you think? What is the problem that is killing ESO for you?

IMHO they should have fixed pvp fast and given new pvp battleground maps and modes and modify Cyrodiil map. Like make updated version of the map and so on. But they been just lazy when some of the last few players accept crown crates seasons as actual "content" meanwhile content is like written by 6yr old. *shrug* Only housing andies who like paying 100eur on some laggy & bugged (cannot even fill houses because console memory limitations KEKW) houses seem to like the game?

Game had potential still during Summerset DLC (remember when game was still more fun?), too bad incompetent and greedy devs took the lazy route with minimum effort.

And yes, their "nerfs and buffs" cycle is just to create illusion that you have "content" to do, because you need to grind new meta set/class/weapons instead of the nerfed ones. Every intelligent player saw that for years. Because those balance decisions made no sense, unless just wanted to shuffle the meta every 3-4 months. It's not even fun for anyone. Unless wanna keep people in threadmill with minimal effort put it by devs.

So.. to other ex-ESO players, what made you leave? What was your last draw?

PS. ALSO block bug for how long KEKW?

IF only ESO had professional and good developers like in FF14 and WoW (i don't play WoW, but at least their game mostly WORKS and is not always a bug ridden mess needing emergency maintenances few times a week lmao). In FF14 you get updates that are quality and not only "We apologize for the inconvenience..." when game is always full bugs that make it first and second month of new patch cycle fully broken like on ESO , often both on pvp and pve. X)

[Katzh]

they nerfed the fun out of the game

[Keyrala]

https://steamcharts.com/app/306130

20k people just on steam, i guess they must be un-deads HA HA HA HA HA HAA HAAA HAAAAA!!!

You get it?? because he says it's dead but the game has 20k people just on steam..

NO?? COME ON GUYS!!

[Ashkorne]

I play every day and there are always people milling about.
All my guilds are chatty and active.
Making fat bank on the traders too.

The game isn't dead in any way whatsoever.

Players come and players go, but the game is as steady as always.

See, games like New World have a truly massive hyped push. Streamers get paid thousands to promote the games for a month.

Then once the cheques stop coming in they abandon the game and 90% of the playerbase disappears too.

ZoS doesn't pay streamers to shill the game. They don't need to.

[Nine_Tigers]

No the game is more crowded than ever. It seems they are going to add more servers to keep up because performance in cities is really bad all the time.

[𝒞𝒶𝓉𝓎𝒶♡]

Автор сообщения: Nine_Tigers

because performance in cities is really bad all the time.

And here we have it.

But tbh, performance been bad for YEARS, in cities, in pvp, in trials, last years, even in dungeons and random overland content. It is just bad coding and bad server architecture. And even they replaced servers to new ones (NA and EU pc megaservers), it did not really help.

And it's not even about the amount of people. You can see there is not many instances even on top of others like still was often in the past.

I feel the problem is that the original code was kinda good (it was, Cyrodiil pvp even worked REALLY well even in massive battles, there was no lag in cities or dungeons, ever). Then they most likely lost some code wizard from the original crew, and made changes to the game/code that were not done well. Ever since it's been like whack-a-mole of trying to fix things and then breaking more things everytime they change something of the core.

And imo the game's core was great, there is old saying "if something is not broken, do not try to fix it.." but the combat team has had this weird fetish for years to change things (98% for the worse) that did not need changing. Like some many class/core fundamentals changed and classes/weapons/sets made bland because "We felt the class fantasy of X is X so we totally changed how the class works.." and people mostly hate those changes. Like who asked for them? X)

For years they been making the game for themselves, not for their players. That is the actual issue. And that brings lots of problems.

People can disagree all they want if that's what make them feel better. But you all know it's just massive amount of copium, it's the sunk cost fallacy.. so many spent so many years playing that stopping feels bad already. As said, i played over 5 years myself. First 6 months i felt going back, i was so used to being mentally abused by that game lol. With all the empty promises of "We'll fix the performance, here's our next plans.." and years just go by lol

Amusing also is the PTS, they are using players as free Q&A, and ask for feedback, but never usually listen to any player feedback. Broken sets go through broken, takes usually 6 months to fix some set that makes pvp lame. Or fixing block. Usually breaking it in another way. It's almost comical, if it would not affect the people playing.

Sucks to spend money on a game, where devs can on a whim ruin your favorite classes/core mechanics just because some bicycle helmet wearing combat dev had a "great idea" once again on how to ruin some more class skills.

If they had fired entire combat "balance" team after Elsweyr expansion and kept the game like that without changes, it would have been better game for years already, less pointless up and down changes that make people just fatigued with changing pointless things.

Cannot even on official forums say that combat team is incompetent, because its "bashing or trolling" and you can get banned for it. What kind of protected job they have where can do poor job and no one can even then say it out loud lol? :D That forum is a joke. There can only rp as a khajiit "This one likes fishes and crown crates, ESO best game" or gets banned for asking any real questions lmao.

[𝒞𝒶𝓉𝓎𝒶♡]

And to checkmate anyone who next comes in defending the combat dev team.. i'll give one "glorious" example of how competent that team is:

Remember DK "rework"? Remember when they had a chance to FINALLY (asked for years by the PLAYERS) bringing in Stamina Whip skill (they could have made some cool poisonous whip animation, or even like chain whip type of animation), but what did they come up with? Remember? the infamous POOP FIST. Yes, the let's give DK players a new animation to a skill that looks like, yes, fist made of poop. Brown fist. With even bad functionality. So looked bad and was clunky to use.

Instead of could have had a cool stam whip. But nope. This kind of decision making for years. Not even knowing what their own players want. How can a combat team be so far from what their own players want from the game? Like almost often decisions felt like they changed things out of spite. Like someone there hates their own players.

If someone can explain to me decisions like that, hundreds like that each year. Where they HAD clear things known what players wanted and they had chances to give players what they want.. but nope. "Here, take this poop fist." Meanwhile we are doing 3rd emergency maintenance after the latest update, we apologize for the inconvenience. [insert the "This is fine" meme]

[Luckylancer]

Just don't play it. I don't play it too. Devs started to feel abusive towards me before I finaly quit and it was great.
I sometimes go to forums to gain my dose of toxicity so I won't start playing this mess again. Just don't start. Leave good old memories of your first year or two in ESO in the grave.

[Ashkorne]

Автор сообщения: Luckylancer

Just don't play it. I don't play it too. Devs started to feel abusive towards me before I finaly quit and it was great.
I sometimes go to forums to gain my dose of toxicity so I won't start playing this mess again. Just don't start. Leave good old memories of your first year or two in ESO in the grave.

I think you're the type to leave a game and then spend all your time in the forums complaining about it instead of just moving on with your life.

The game doesn't owe you anything, neither do you owe the game anything. That transaction is over.

Just move on. You'll be happier for it.

[ArcLight]

Автор сообщения: Sofia♡

Автор сообщения: Zayrownd

So you are one of those "pvp dudes" that explains everything, please, if you don't like the game anymore, stop playing it. Btw, you don't even have the game on steam, can you move to the zos forums? there's nothing we can do to "help you"

i already DID stop playing it. I just said i went to check back if any progress happened in a year. But nope. More dead even than year ago lmao.

And nope, i played ESO via it's own launcher.

I was not seeking any "help", just came to said my opinion on what maybe went wrong. I mean, game HAD potential, i give it that, would not had played over 5 years. But it also has poor dev team who handles it like they were a team of kids with grudge against their own player base.

And if you think "pvp dudes" are the problem.. then you should know, ESO was originally marketed for us as a PVP GAME with pvp at it's endgame. It did not even have much pve endgame.

At some point they just realized, that the pve andies will keep buying all the mounts and houses even if the game works poorly. Lagging and bugs, like some 5 person indie company, always takes ages to fix even critical errors. Breaking new things each update that cannot even think how is possible to break those?

Like at any normal company people would have gotten fired already for being that incompetent. In ESO they must be someone relative who protects their poor job quality. Like every work place has that one "special cousin" of the big boss who is bad at everything but cannot just get rid of them because protected by the boss.

That tier of competence is what ESO has.

"Funny" thing more about ESO is, that in all other games usually when big update is about to hit, people are excited about all the new things and hype stuff. In ESO? Everyone are just horrified what they will nerf/break this time and how game is again LESS fun for the next half a year to a year until they start correcting their own mistakes a bit after uproar. When usually no one liked the patch notes. I mean how bad can devs be when usually NO ONE likes their patch notes? When most of them are like darts boards decision based on rng and not made with reason? :D

Answer me that and compare ESO to any other game with professional developers who know what they are doing? And i shall gladly disappear if you give me a good reasoning for it. :)

ESO never really had a Shadowlands or BFA situation. They did some changes that people hated but only %1 of people really cared. You would be suprised at how many people don't read patch notes. Also I have not had lag in ESO then again I dont care for PvP. The classes are pretty terrible but it seems they understand the mistake with Arcanist. Also there is generally alot more stuff to do than other MMO's. I played WoW and while raids are really fun you only really have that and M+ unless you want to grind out mounts or transmogs.

[mysteryman115]

now steam thinks ESO is running despite legitimately exiting the game, wtf?

[Name]

1. Its not fun anymore, waste of time

2. zos uses predatory tactics to milk every penny they can from their players, its so obvious and slimy, Id feel dirty even logging into this game anymore.

3. Woke company - they go in the trash can with all the rest

[Ulfhedinn]

The game is failing its player base very hard. There is no innovation in the title anymore.
This is why its slowly fading out and failing.
Players will play the expansion, then leave, like they do every time. At this point the game only exists to be a money maker on expansions, and to get people like these posting against your frustration, and telling you to leave. Fanboys who cant see that innovation and new changes are needed in games to keep them fresh and interesting and maintain populations appropriately.

The fact is, there are some superficial changes needed to draw some people back, and there are some foundational needs that need to be done and changed in the game,

My personal opinion on why MOST people leave or take VERY long breaks like myself...

1. WW hasnt had a good change in a long time, and for sure needs a rework to his abilities, his character model, his particle effects, and his animations. They are disgustingly bad all around.

2. The animations in the game in general are now tired and boring.
Attack animations need to be updated and made different and more fluid.
Casting animations need to be redone.
Staves and weapons need to be able to be equipped to the back and casts happen from the hands. OR, staff specific spells should be cast from the staff entirely, and only able to be cast if the staff is OFF the players back. This can be done by giving me a 12 slot casting bar for my abilities that are weapon specific and castable spells that can be cast with a weapon in hand.
However my second bar should be for spells that require my hands to be free, and move my weapons ONTO MY BACK.

3. The game needs new running animations. He looks like a stick figure waving his arms and legs back and forth when he runs. Its dopey looking.

4. The story is consistently boring.
They are falling into the same trap that WoW fell into. They are afraid to take chances.
Its always the same thing... you are going to save the world from some God or Daedra. There is a million different ways to tell an epic story. The only time I have seen them deviate from this is the WW story line in The Bretons, and the Vampire expansion. They need to start moving away from Daedra being the issue for a couple expansions, and make PEOPLE and their backstabbing the issue again.

5. Maybe the biggest issue overall is lack of useable skills. This is why I leave after only a week or two every time. The game is BORING to fight with. You simply cast the same six skills over and over and over and over and over. Its absolutely trash gaming. They combat system needs to be redone. I have 12 keys on my MMO mouse, I want 12 skils per bar.

6. They need to find a way to stop people from speed running dungeons and raids. I play a tank... and 99% of the time I cant even keep up with my group because me DPS is literally RUSHING to the end and sometimes beating the dungeon so fast, that my first play through I dont have time to read anything because they will be at the boss by the time that the dialogue is done.
This IMO is a HUGE HUGE issue. Because it makes the game feel empty. Like it only exists for speed runners and farmers. There is no actual endeavor to make the game fun. This can be curbed by making the NPC trash mobs MUCH MUCH MORE DIFFICULT, scaling them to the upper coefficient of the highest level players. And by making them swarm and agro more. So that a team cant just rush through the entire 1/3 of the map and then aoe cast and kill everything.

7. NEXT, following that lack of skills in combat, there should be NO CLASSES. We dont need nor has their ever been a friggin Elderscrolls class system before this game, and its still the biggest tragedy and downer to this game.
You could VERY EASILY put all of the spells and weapon skills out into the world for players to find RANDOMLY or in specific dungeons and raids, and let us create our heroes THE WAY WE WANT making the world a system of exploring dungeons and defeating bosses, and scrying for treasured rare skills and ultimates...
THIS is how these developers should be molding the game.

Instead they are pushing for the same old same old... evrey.... single... expansion release....
I did what 99 percent of you REALLY did this time. I bought the expansion with absolutely NO real expectations of anything truly great to be happening.
And Ill play it, then go away for another year or two until they give me another one. Because the development has gotten consistently more and more lazy on this title.

They will tell you its because its FTP... but dont be fooled, go check the numbers. The average for expenditure by player is pretty nuts. ITs why companies use the model. At this point on average every player has at least quintupled the cost of a game or expansion by the time the next comes out. Its insane. And we dont get an REAL quality of life improvements in patches. Just bland events that they rotate the same in and out every year.
They dont even bother actually talking to us during their showcases anymore. They read off a prompter like an insincere politician, and sell us the script.

AND THAT little fanboys is the reality of this game and to the OP, the reason this game is slowly, dying.

[Tokyo or Bust]

What went on in November 2016 when players went from 6,000 average on steam to 29,000 average over night. Have been there a steady number there ever since even now.

[Haze]

I love TES. I don't know what it is about ESO, but every time I start playing again, I get bored relatively quickly. I think the combat could be a lot better. And this is especially true when you have free to play options, such as Guild Wars 2, where the combat is a lot more refined and versatile.

It's a shame, because the game has some serious potential, but It's just lacking

[ah_puch]

Автор сообщения: Haze

I love TES. I don't know what it is about ESO, but every time I start playing again, I get bored relatively quickly. I think the combat could be a lot better. And this is especially true when you have free to play options, such as Guild Wars 2, where the combat is a lot more refined and versatile.

It's a shame, because the game has some serious potential, but It's just lacking

GW2 combat is really bad though. It's floaty, tab target and skills have cooldowns. Some dps builds require weapon swapping and even weapon swapping has cooldowns on top of skill cooldowns. Skills are tied to weapons and you can't use your favorite weapons if it results in worse dps. You like bows or one handed axes? Too bad you are forced to play a slow two handed greatsword and vice versa. It's so limiting and boring compared to ESO.

Not to mention there is no ranged dps, everyone is forced to stack on top of each other in melee range for buffs. If you don't because for some reason you think you "don't have to" your dps will be so low you will be asked to either stack or be kicked.

There are no roles in GW2. Being a tank in ESO is one of the most fun things ever for me and you can't do that in GW2. Random aggro, no shield, armors have no passives so wearing heavy means nothing. It's just stack in a ball and spam buffs. That's it. That's the GW2 combat.

Plus GW2 doesn't have any endgame, players are forced to repeat same old abandoned PVE content from 2013-2015.

ESO combat is a lot more fluid and fun, if you know what you're doing that is. Seems to me almost every single "eSo cOmBaT bAd" folk are people who only played for a couple of hours and never even reached lvl cap, unlocked full skills or understood the combat.

I have thousands of hours on both games. GW2 devs are really confused and keep making balance changes without releasing any content to use them on. They think they are doing something useful to earn their salary but in the end they just make everything worse for almost every single class both in PVE and PVP.

ESO is just the superior game here without contest. ESO player population is almost tenfold of GW2 for a reason.