ESO in 2024: a dead game? Is it even possible to save it anymore?

[𝒞𝒶𝓉𝓎𝒶♡]

With all the last years low effort content (only Endless Archive was something semi-new, idea taken from another mmo) and the exodus away from the game by both the PVP communities oldschool players and Veteran Trial players, to a point where the ones left meme being the "Last Veteran Trial players", at least at the Trifecta level. The communities have become so small that it is sad when remembers the better times and years.

Is it possible to save ESO anymore? Do the Developers even listen the feedback? Do they even think and see the game as MMO game anymore, or more like just single player "Skyrim Lite"?

It feels they aim to just sell mounts and cosmetics and leveling stuff and Vampire Bites etc (that can get for free in game from other players, but not all new players know these kinds of things and gets milked) to grind money with minimal effort.

I know some have the good old sunk cost fallacy hitting, and feels needless anger rising, when has spent so much money to the game already, that feels the need to defend it in any case, or even attack personally anyone telling truths, even when the game is pretty much abusive to them also and do not respect their spent time and money. Anything you buy (sets, classes, skills in paid content, chapters) can be nerfed up and down from decent to useless every 3 months inverval so there never is a feeling of being respected or being able to relax and plan your goals, just so you buy the next thing that is buffed, on and on, meanwhile not having anything cool farmable even in the game like in other MMO games.

Imagine actually having most stuff in game as rewards and not in cash shop? Yes, that is how it is in most other MMO games. Can say that after played several other mmo games. ESO has been by far nothing but a Cash Shop front, game made to sell you Crowns so you buy cosmetics in a laggy, buggy game with bad performance. Would imagine with all that income they would have fixed at least Cyrodiil during all these years, but nope. They only want your money, not your loyalty as a player, they aim just to get new players that spend before they quit.

Do you feel there is anymore even a chance to turn the course of this game? Or will it just slowly fade away, with every chapter giving small nostalgia to the old ESO andies, but each time less and less, and faster and faster after update comes disappointment and player amounts drop back down and game feels lifeless and broken. Ravaged by greed and incompetence. When it could have been so much more, sad times.

Here is a good Youtube clip from a known ESO content creator Azura, explaining the greedy monetization model and backgrounds of the same points i am talking about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XunPmoW0Yf0

Watch that video before going into some reactive emotional anger towards your fellow gamers. If the ESO's own old fans and players say the same things, you know it's an actual issue. But for sure some gonna again tell any negative feedback is just "trolling" and try to silence.

Good thing we are in Steam forums where can say opinions on important issues that are impacting gaming negatively. And this one is.

How do you feel about this issue personally?

My own solution was to Uninstall ESO and play other mmo games until they fix things, put way more rewards into the game instead of 90% into the cash shop, and actually start giving the game same kind of effort and passion that was still visible during Summerset Chapter times. We as players, as their important customers deserve better.

With love,

Lelu, content creator and gaming news enthusiast

[𝒞𝒶𝓉𝓎𝒶♡]

Originally posted by SPACEWAVER:

Originally posted by Lelu♡:

Only place where can see it's current player numbers is Steam Charts

Steam Charts doesn't account for people playing ESO off-steam.

Take the average number of active players on steam add however many play through website launcher and you got yourself a 3rd spot.

And here comes the "one game andy" fallacy i mentioned, when thinks this stuff with emotions before actual reasoning.. Do your research better. :)

Just check how much OSRS has active players and they actually are showing their player amounts openly.

Now, show me your ESO active players from all platforms from a RELIABLE source? Link please? I am waiting patiently.

Or.. was it the good old "trust me bro" source? Give source data and easy to prove your point, right? Ping me when got your reliable data source.

[Lowbei]

eso already won. horizontal progression dominated.

gg

[󠀡󠀡]

Originally posted by Lelu♡:

Originally posted by SPACEWAVER:

Steam Charts doesn't account for people playing ESO off-steam.

Take the average number of active players on steam add however many play through website launcher and you got yourself a 3rd spot.

And here comes the "one game andy" fallacy i mentioned, when thinks this stuff with emotions before actual reasoning.. Do your research better. :)

Just check how much OSRS has active players and they actually are showing their player amounts openly.

Now, show me your ESO active players from all platforms from a RELIABLE source? Link please? I am waiting patiently.

Or.. was it the good old "trust me bro" source? Give source data and easy to prove your point, right? Ping me when got your reliable data source.

Show me them Guild Wars 2 players.

4k peak?

That's rough buddy :)

Weird kink to write paragraphs about a game that has 500% bigger playerbase than your Guild Wars 2 and spend so much time here instead of the game. Game is boring I get it.

Last part of your $25 dlc after 4 months of content drought turned out to be "fill green meter" and 5 minutes of npc conversations. I hope things improve for your small niche mmo game. Not looking too good in 2023 and 2024.

[ringod123]

Originally posted by zukobach5:

"Weird kink to write paragraphs about a game that has 500% bigger playerbase than your Guild Wars 2 and spend so much time here instead of the game. Game is boring I get it."

GW2 - only on Steam for the last year, available only outside of steam for 9 years.
ESO - on steam for 9 years, available only outside of steam for its first year (which went terrible).

Yeah sounds like a fair comparison.....
You can almost guarantee that GW has 10x the players outside of steam than ESO does simply going by the simple and obvious metrics provided above.

[Lowbei]

Originally posted by ringod123:

GW2 - only on Steam for the last year, available only outside of steam for 9 years.
ESO - on steam for 9 years, available only outside of steam for its first year (which went terrible).

Yeah sounds like a fair comparison.....
You can almost guarantee that GW has 10x the players outside of steam than ESO does simply going by the simple and obvious metrics provided above.

rofl no. gw2 is a ghost town, and eso is thriving.

[ringod123]

Originally posted by Lowbei:

Originally posted by ringod123:

GW2 - only on Steam for the last year, available only outside of steam for 9 years.
ESO - on steam for 9 years, available only outside of steam for its first year (which went terrible).

Yeah sounds like a fair comparison.....
You can almost guarantee that GW has 10x the players outside of steam than ESO does simply going by the simple and obvious metrics provided above.

rofl no. gw2 is a ghost town, and eso is thriving.

ESO is thriving LOL - managed to get 30% of its players back for Gold Road, its 10 year anniversary update, for less than a week :D

[Lowbei]

Originally posted by ringod123:

Originally posted by Lowbei:

rofl no. gw2 is a ghost town, and eso is thriving.

ESO is thriving LOL - managed to get 30% of its players back for Gold Road, its 10 year anniversary update, for less than a week :D

you do know that just making up numbers isnt gonna work right?

not even gonna bother explaining the game client launcher thing lol

eso has more players. it is what it is.

[ringod123]

Originally posted by Lowbei:

Originally posted by ringod123:

ESO is thriving LOL - managed to get 30% of its players back for Gold Road, its 10 year anniversary update, for less than a week :D

you do know that just making up numbers isnt gonna work right?

not even gonna bother explaining the game client launcher thing lol

eso has more players. it is what it is.

Oh i'm the one making up numbers????? LOL

No, don't bother "explaining" the game client launcher thing because all you do is try to pretend that Steam is some little-indie gaming store no one knows about and/or that ESO was SO popular during its documented terrible first year that 99% of the planet bought it (AND STILL PLAY IT) direct through the website leaving 5% of PC players left to buy it through Steam over the next 9 years, you're just dillusional.

[Lowbei]

Originally posted by ringod123:

Originally posted by Lowbei:

you do know that just making up numbers isnt gonna work right?

not even gonna bother explaining the game client launcher thing lol

eso has more players. it is what it is.

Oh i'm the one making up numbers????? LOL

No, don't bother "explaining" the game client launcher thing because all you do is try to pretend that Steam is some little-indie gaming store no one knows about and/or that ESO was SO popular during its documented terrible first year that 99% of the planet bought it (AND STILL PLAY IT) direct through the website leaving 5% of PC players left to buy it through Steam over the next 9 years, you're just dillusional.

oh the irony lol

ignored to avoid the salt

[ILL]

ZOS are greedy and inept.

[󠀡󠀡]

Originally posted by ringod123:

Originally posted by zukobach5:

"Weird kink to write paragraphs about a game that has 500% bigger playerbase than your Guild Wars 2 and spend so much time here instead of the game. Game is boring I get it."

GW2 - only on Steam for the last year, available only outside of steam for 9 years.
ESO - on steam for 9 years, available only outside of steam for its first year (which went terrible).

Yeah sounds like a fair comparison.....
You can almost guarantee that GW has 10x the players outside of steam than ESO does simply going by the simple and obvious metrics provided above.

It doesn't work like that junior. You'd be lucky if GW2's entire population is the size of ESO's steam population alone. GW2 maps are so empty and group finder is deserted. What happened?

Where is this 10x more players outside of Steam hiding? Youtube is dead. Twitch is dead. Reddit has less followers. ESO is making 2 billion revenue compared to 125 million of GW2. Maybe these 10x more players are siphoning money out instead of paying?

GW2 is dead, it can barely compete with SWTOR or Maplestory's numbers. ESO is far out of your reach. Cute comparison though.

[Sassy Robot]

It's a boring game running on an engine that barely works for its own combat system. Every expansion is the same, and provides a fraction of what you get from a WoW or XIV expansion. The crown store is where all the good rewards are, and it's full of traps for new players selling vamp bites and "DLC" that you can get from subscribing. Craft bag is locked behind a sub because they know that for long term players that's the only thing keeping them subscribe.

The questing is balanced atrociously with your avatar's power trivializing the world very quickly, and each new expansion they sell you consists of the same broke, poor scaling.

One measly trial that almost none of the playerbase will ever touch. Some dungeon packs you'll have to pay extra for or subscribe to access. Yet another delve and "public dungeon". Another copy/paste of the dolmen system. More skyshards, because you totally need more skill points...

Need I go on? Anyways, open your wallet, ZOS needs more money.

PS: Scribing and skill appearance will be monetized before you know it.

[󠀡󠀡]

Dead game. Crappy devs. Player counts plummeting. Mediocre expansions.

Avoid at all costs. Traash game. Play WoW instead.

Great advert for Guild Wars 2. Hope it recovers soon, 3-4k player peak is beyond embarrassing.

Equally embarrassing is the fact that OP was for some reason removed from ESO and started her Guild Wars 2 journey in 2023, 11 years after launch. She has all the knowledge of a newborn mmo player in honeymoon phase but already sunk thousand dollars worth of microtransactions so she can claim what a valuable game it is.

She missed the best years of GW2 and subconsciously regrets it. Her chosen method of coping and chosen game for it is, you guessed it, ESO. GW2 barely gets 15% of ESO's player numbers yet "GW2 best, ESO worst hihi!!".

Reality hits hard though, GW2 has 2,749 playing on Steam. Poor guys only receive 5 minute story content once every 4 months with a lot of "fill the green bar with events to continue" filler gimmicks. Luckily, people who try to advocate for dead and washed mmos like GW2 aren't really concerned with reality.

[𝒞𝒶𝓉𝓎𝒶♡]

Originally posted by zukobach5:

Dead game. Crappy devs. Player counts plummeting. Mediocre expansions.

Avoid at all costs. Traash game. Play WoW instead.

Great advert for Guild Wars 2. Hope it recovers soon, 3-4k player peak is beyond embarrassing.

Equally embarrassing is the fact that OP was for some reason removed from ESO and started her Guild Wars 2 journey in 2023, 11 years after launch. She has all the knowledge of a newborn mmo player in honeymoon phase but already sunk thousand dollars worth of microtransactions so she can claim what a valuable game it is.

She missed the best years of GW2 and subconsciously regrets it. Her chosen method of coping and chosen game for it is, you guessed it, ESO. GW2 barely gets 15% of ESO's player numbers yet "GW2 best, ESO worst hihi!!".

Reality hits hard though, GW2 has 2,749 playing on Steam. Poor guys only receive 5 minute story content once every 4 months with a lot of "fill the green bar with events to continue" filler gimmicks. Luckily, people who try to advocate for dead and washed mmos like GW2 aren't really concerned with reality.

I play both FF14 (that is way bigger than ESO) and GW2, yes. That is a known fact since i stream also both games. :)

What "sunk thousand dollars worth of microtransactions"? I have bought only the expansions and gifted expansions to my bestie. Why you are lying about me spending money when not a single microtransaction done. O_o In GW2 can farm in game gold and there is actual in game function to convert it into Gems (GW2 equivalent of Crowns) so can buy cash shop stuff for FREE. Like actually legit free.

I buy free stuff every week by just playing the game (doing the content i love), without spending any real life money. It's nice. Compared to that ESO Crown store and the gifting system people have to trade with is just inferior in all ways. Like actual meme tier at ESO. When gets used to how great GW2 is, no going back. It's SO good, can recommend to anyone who is tired to ESO Crown Store insane prices and how the trading and economy is there.

Kinda weird and creepy to make up lies about how i spend money or how i got "removed" from ESO" when my account is there normally and i could install the game anytime i want and play it, but i just have given up on it and quit, thus it stays uninstalled while i enjoy other games that actually work 100% of time and also respects the players time better. And are actually more fun and also feel like MMO games. (both FF14 and GW2). I just choose not to play games anymore that do not respect it's players. ESO Beta feedback listening etc during years already has shown it pretty much never listens to reasonable feedback. Thus the raiding and pvp community left for other games. All my friends did and so did i.

Try to stick with facts and not come up with lies.

But i do thank you for bumping up this topic again. As i have said before, take note how proper content is done, with facts and actually entertaining posts. :)

Now that i have explained the facts again, and how other games have better and more fair monetization (that does not demand thousands worth of microtransaction like ESO does, apparently for you?)

Since you talk about such sums spent by others smells a lot like reflecting your own situation on others, must be the sunk cost fallacy hitting hard when you do this kind of false information posts.. cannot think of any other explanation. Did the Scamcrooti lied about you having a "lucky aura" and he gave you 4 x Crown Potions and no Apex mount?

I could spend a lot if wanted, with other games i just don't need to, i can just play the game and get free stuff by playing. :) And yes, i have more fun in both FF14 and GW2. It's a nice combo of other having instanced very good raid content and GW2 has very fun open world gameplay and WvW mode of open world pvp on 4 maps, it's like Cyrodiil, but actually works with good performance.

Wish everyone else a fun gaming weekend no matter what games you play, hugsies and kissies!

[Shepherd]

MMOs are in a slump and have been for a long time. FF14 is trash unless you like poorly written soap operas, WoW is outdated, ESO is jank, and the rest aren't even worth mentioning.

I think it's unfair to single out ESO when the entire genre is in the garbage.