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)

[Umbreon™]

Instead of feeding the fire of "how could you say it's dead? impossible because that's terminologically wrong", I'll go with the thread.

It's the complete lack of difficulty in the game. Not really pvp, bugs and so on. Nobody has any reason to ever improve further at the game at one point, when the pve content is so braindead easy you can complete it while barely paying attention.
Want to hear something really funny? You can use lvl 1 crafted gear (even your weapon), take off all your passive skills, remove all your champion points that are beneficial to combat, and just play pve content effortlessly. If you know how to play, you'll sweep regardless. It's insane.
ESO is literally balanced around you being a new player or you not understanding how it works. The moment you understand things, it falls flat. We desperately need a difficulty toggle so that we don't need to gimp our builds in order to see a semblance of challenge.

Also, I know that ESO is *made* for the story and not much else, but honestly I've been playing for so long and seen so much content that by now the absolute lack of difficulty has left me wanting for a lot more. Playing through greymoor while my character had a fully fleshed out build felt horrible. I played through morrowind afterwards with lvl 1 gear and it was better, but still not quite so different, because it was simply still too easy.

Btw, the playercounts are nowhere near as high as they used to be. Keep in mind a good chunk of the daily players are just people doing their writs on 18 characters each on two different accounts. To say ESO is bustling with activity is very ignorant of your surroundings within the game, or you just keep a certain headcanon that the game has a wholesome community that will surround you and shower you with love if you so much as take a step.

[Deklend]

I don't believe the OP made a quite honest post but I will air some grievances about why I'm kind of turned off of the game at the moment.

Necrom. They teased for months a new feature that players had been asking for "for years", hinted at addressing the issues players had with both game issues and how the developers interact with the community, especially the PvP crowd(and no, I'm not a PvPer by any means). They did this somewhat bigger than usual hype train for this year's announcement and new chapter...and then it was Necrom. The "new feature" was yet another reskinned sorcerer class, like we didn't already have enough with Necromancer, Warden, or the now heavily nerfed Sorcerer class.

They could have made a Dwemer themed class and chapter. They could have done Blackmarsh with a Hist themed class. They even could have done a Cyrodil expansion with a Pilgrim or Agent themed class. But no, they gave us more of the same low effort nostalgia bait that leans on Morrowind and Skyrim, and they had to water down an existing base game class to do it.

[𝒞𝒶𝓉𝓎𝒶♡]

Originalmente postado por Deklend:

I don't believe the OP made a quite honest post but I will air some grievances about why I'm kind of turned off of the game at the moment.

Necrom. They teased for months a new feature that players had been asking for "for years", hinted at addressing the issues players had with both game issues and how the developers interact with the community, especially the PvP crowd(and no, I'm not a PvPer by any means). They did this somewhat bigger than usual hype train for this year's announcement and new chapter...and then it was Necrom. The "new feature" was yet another reskinned sorcerer class, like we didn't already have enough with Necromancer, Warden, or the now heavily nerfed Sorcerer class.

They could have made a Dwemer themed class and chapter. They could have done Blackmarsh with a Hist themed class. They even could have done a Cyrodil expansion with a Pilgrim or Agent themed class. But no, they gave us more of the same low effort nostalgia bait that leans on Morrowind and Skyrim, and they had to water down an existing base game class to do it.

While the original post i made had sort of counter-satire (from what some ESO players do on other mmo discussions areas, for whatever reason (i guess bored in their game? so rather troll other forums).. the later posts on this some topic did well enough explain my reasonings also. And many agree, or have their own view but still the main pain points are there, common for many.

1. The combat "balance" team is really incompetent. They are making pointless changes way too often, 4 times per year. Even the few times they had a bit more FUN update, they broke it after that.. well, apparently "just because" for no good reason. Other than changing things so their group has a job i guess? But they apparently have no idea what players want or think would be cool, hype and fun things. It's like some devs who are 50yr old (nothing against older people), just are making the game with poor ideas that are not fun or cool. Just following formulaic model, same every year, just a bit re-skinned, both the story, dungeons and crown crate mounts. All the same, just slightly different color.

2. As above, but sprinkle in MINIMUM effort. Anything that get's done with minimum effort. Like content for them is made by nerfing and buffing classes and sets, so people treat THAT as new content, since they have to then grind new (same old) sets and upgrade them with gold mats. Yay, exciting. Not.

3. Performance. [Insert maniacal laughter that turns into crying] No need to explain more of this.

And yes, as said, i AGREE with you. Even the new class they made was boring and NOT what players would have wanted or thought as super cool. Not even much hype. It's just a sort of bland hybrid of sorcerer/warden/necro with almost similar passives and greenish color theme. Hype much? Nothing to be excited about. ZOS seems really bad with creative ideas. Whoever has those ideas and approves them.. have some serious budget/scuffed people, compared to other studios. Or at least, STEAL all the most fun ideas from other games. No need to re-invent the wheel if you are good at combining ideas from others. Best companies does that also on top of their own creative work.

But most often, what separates good products and ideas is that there is some passion and that the devs care about their players enough to wanting to bring them the best and most fun product they can. It's like they have forgot they are making this game for their players. Now it feels like passionless front to sell crown crates and make money. Soulless and without much creativity. Everything follows the same formula as previous year. Same amount of delves, same amount of re-skinned world bosses. Same re-skinned story again i bet. With some "plot twist" that everyone knows after first 30 minutes.

I feel like ZOS needs new creative director and lead devs (and combat team, kick out Wheeler and "Gilliam the Rogue" and throw their balance work into trash bin, they destroyed enough of the classes and the game already). They have been tired for years. Need new and hungry lead devs who got passion and actually also understand what their players want. Because the game has potential, even still. If someone would take the reigns and turn the ship around towards success.

And yes, there actually COULD be a Cyrodiil expansion. But no LOW effort again. Would be nice if they changed the whole map to be a winter map for example, for deep winter time. They could change it into a PVE zone, yes, there i said it (as a pvp player). Huge "new" pve zone, with some world class changes there so plenty of new places and happenings to see. The 1v1v1 pvp war could end there, but pve people would have new pve threats to deal with and also scheming. Imagine Game of Thrones type of intrigue, but without pvp this time. Pve people would love it. The zone would "rebuild", during some patches they could add new things on the map to show progress players have made. Like once a year thing to add some new village or place of interest with a new quest, new mythic and so on. Imagine a crafting related mythic.

AND pvp could be moved to a new zone (yay, something new for pvp people), like a group of newly found islands, with riches and minerals that all alliances would want, so there would be the new "privateer" war, 24/7 wars on islands, peninsulas, some fights on massive sailboats (imagine pirate ship type of battles), forts on islands and mountain areas. Could use imagination to make really fun routes, caves, beaches, towers for sieges, underground city with some pve dangers (and bonuses) lurking there, a few cthulhu tier tentacle demons and whatnot also, that would take a full party to fight them. With tanks and healers. Zone could be big, but slightly less riding time between action hot spots than was on Cyrodiil. It would be perfect. Also allowing a "privateer" status, so they would be sort of pirates. Where some players would be outside all the usual alliances, so all alliances could attack them also.

That way all the legit "ballgroups" could do their thing as privateers and not affect the score for those others who play more casually and want to have chill fun and competition. Win-Win for everyone. Each campaign also top 100 ranked privateers could get some tokens and something that could be traded for cool outfits/styles. What all we do for fashion, right? Or gold or potions/consumables as side options also. I mean those burn a lot during comms raids lol. Yes, it would take some extra effort to create extra rewards. But hey, time for that low minimum effort is gone. Do some damn effort or don't bother at all lol

I can throw some ideas like this right here right now outta my cute ass for hours and hours.. but some "Professional" devs cannot get anything done in 10 (TEN) years except low minimum effort re-skinned stuff. Sad. With actually passionate leaders the game could be a masterpiece. Alas.. it was not meant to happen. :/

[DigiAngel]

I stopped soon after U35...the dreaded light attack nerf.

[ArcLight]

Originalmente postado por 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.

really? I thought Elswheyr and vanilla was alot different/better. THe Greymoor was the most generic one.

[Zayrownd]

Originalmente postado por DigiAngel:

I stopped soon after U35...the dreaded light attack nerf.

it never got implemented...

[Ghoul Hunter]

Originalmente postado por ah_puch:

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.

To be fair, have you ever played Vermintide 2? That's easily one of the best melee combat systems currently invented.

The swing animations actually have a hit box, so you don't just put the crosshair on the enemy. You have to actually understand the dynamic of the swing. Which direction is it going? Line it up. Headshots are a nice skill factor that separates the inexperienced from the vets. It's very satisfying to one shot an elite, that would normally take like 3 heavies to kill. You'd have to use heavies btw, because lights generally don't penetrate armor.

You can mix heavies and lights for different attack patterns, making some that actually beat the default combos. It's creative and great fun to learn a new combo that isn't readily noticeable. Weapons have unique features too, like flails can go around shields. Long weapons have increased reach, so you can zone an enemy. Some weapons can block and attack at the same time. Some weapons are all about staggering your opponents repeatedly, so your teammates can attack safely.

Then there's the realistic health system, where getting hit actually kills you. There's barely any form of healing, so you better get good at dodging, you know? Mmmm, then there's reactive blocking and parrying. There's nothing like keeping 10 dudes at bay, and knowing when one is going to sneak by and stab you, but you instinctively parry it. Damage negated at barely any stamina cost, because of the parry. That's one of those high skill things.

This is not an MMO, btw. Don't expect skill bars and general MMO tropes. It's more of a fps fighting game.

Gotta keep up on the latest and greatest fantasy combat, my friend, because ESO is objectively primitive by today's standards. Just saying.

[My Farts smell like Roses]

Dead? The game is doing great. I like it to be honest. Voice over for all quests and most quests branch off to other quests like a story. Way more fun then WOW if you ask me.

[My Farts smell like Roses]

Umm I see people all over the place game is doing fine

[ah_puch]

17k concurrent players on Steam alone is dead? GW2 has 3k in comparison

[henkkass]

I dont think its dead,many people running around. I dont have any lag or bugs and i play with weak pc. My graphic card is about 8 years old.. still this game runs great

[Umbreon™]

Originalmente postado por ah_puch:

17k concurrent players on Steam alone is dead? GW2 has 3k in comparison

people don't really play GW2 via steam except for new players and the few people that really want to keep everything on steam

[Ashkorne]

Originalmente postado por Umbreon™:

Originalmente postado por ah_puch:

17k concurrent players on Steam alone is dead? GW2 has 3k in comparison

people don't really play GW2 via steam except for new players and the few people that really want to keep everything on steam

ESO on console is also insanely popular too, so it's not just PC revenue that ZoS are relying on. Also not everyone connects via Steam so there's that to consider.

Plus while it's not officially supported on either Mac or Linux I know people play on those systems too.

[ah_puch]

Originalmente postado por Umbreon™:

Originalmente postado por ah_puch:

17k concurrent players on Steam alone is dead? GW2 has 3k in comparison

people don't really play GW2 via steam except for new players and the few people that really want to keep everything on steam

So? The exact same applies to ESO. ESO also has thousands of ps and xbox players as well. It's funny how many excuses gw2 fans can generate to justify how tiny their game is compared to ESO. Not only that but being in maintenance mode they convinced themselves they "don't even need endgame" to cope. That's what happens when people run out of defence mechanisms when a game is abandoned.

Originalmente postado por Ghoul Hunter:

This is not an MMO, btw. Don't expect skill bars and general MMO tropes. It's more of a fps fighting game.

Gotta keep up on the latest and greatest fantasy combat, my friend, because ESO is objectively primitive by today's standards. Just saying.

Okay? We're comparing mmos here. In what world ESO is "objectively primitive"? Seems like that's just your subjective opinion and never heard of that from anyone else either. Funny for how "primitive" it may be, it's still much better than GW2's floaty tab target combat

[Spiritwind]

I quit reading on the first sentence. Just because you quit playing, does not mean ESO is dead. There are still tons of people that play.