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

[𝒞𝒶𝓉𝓎𝒶ꨄ]

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

[󠀡󠀡]

Originally posted by Lelu♡:

Originally posted by Roadie:

Look at the player counts. Even Helldivers 2 is doing better, and that game is basically on life support from Sony fumbling it so hard.

ESO is dead.

I see your comments about ESO lately been rather critical about the game.. i remember it being way different perspective for you. But at least even then you were polite in your replies and not went in unhinged rage like some "one game andies" when they get tribalistic immediately if someone has any critical feedback about their "one and only game" even if the critical feedback has legit reason to be said.

So just curious, and wanna ask, what changed your mind? Did you hit some of the technical issues me and others been talking about of ESO performance and spaghetti code and bad server infrastructure and integrity (whole working of the game so badly in so many ways that it can often be source of more frustration than just simple having fun as gaming SHOULD be) failures it has?

In any case, based comment and also true. You know as me now, that the game had great potential to be one of best MMO games (even still could have, if the game was moved to under different and competent Dev team that could turn the ship around, now it feels like abandoned ship that is only used to milk as long as can with minimal effort and they do not fix much issues anymore) but they are treating the game so badly, same as their customers.

No one seems to matter to them and it shows in the numbers and trends and has created this sad atmosphere where some people have just sort of "accepted" they get milked by Devs even if they get abused because they are still addicted to the game and mostly play because of the nostalgia from the "good old times". I also played my last year there just because of the nostalgia and because my friends played. And when they did quit, i did also. Enough was enough. Could not give monetary support to such company anymore to whom they do not feel like making the game to the players, but more like bare minimum cash shop loot box gamble where "content" is new Crown Crate Seasons, meanwhile in other games actual content is content.

But when i started to play other games, i noticed i was actually having fun again while playing. Only then i realized how much ESO had normalized the lag, bad performance and general suffering (from bad combat decisions from Combat Dev team) because in other games i actually had FUN again and was not all the time either directly angry, frustrated or at least passive aggressive sort of due to whatever login issues, crashes, getting kicked off from server when near keep with combat in Cyrodiil because server cannot handle even 15-20 people in combat. It used to be able to handle 100+ way better, now it's a shadow of it's former self, both in PVE and PVP (cyrodiil), it's just sad.

Some people just gets always angry when someone tells truths. Because it hurts to admit. So they blame people like me for posting truths. Of course when i did quit the game, it did sting because i had also spent money in the game, quite amount in 5 years actually.. but for too long i wished they would fix the game as promised, but it never happened. And still has not, so my decision was right. Sometimes it's better to just leave and try other games. If they somehow magically fix things in future (what i doubt tbh, if it did not happen in last 5 years, doubt it ever will) can always return. But better spend that waiting time in other games that do not have the frustrating issues.

Gaming is supposed to be fun and not feeling of torment each time reads latest patch notes and thinks a trained platypus could do better job with balancing, class & skill changes than the current team does. It's just minimum effort and milking anymore sadly. I loved the game when it was at it's peak (for me), but it was just time to move on when got the feeling the Devs did not care about their players at all. Literally felt more like hated by them (especially as Cyrodiil player).

Enough rant for this time. I wish you all my friends a great day no matter what games you are currently playing! :UDG_Heart:

How is your Guild Wars 2 doing with its 4k players? Must be quiet down there eh? If only you have started the game a bit earlier instead of when it was 11 years old

[󠀡󠀡]

ESO Gold Road Steam Reviews btw:

RECENT REVIEWS: Mostly Negative (32)
ALL REVIEWS: Mixed (146)

Not a very good look to be honest, when reads the reviews of players who bought it and are disappointed for the quality and poor amount of content. Most saying it is not worth the cost. So here we are, even reviews say what this topic has been saying for months.

Guild Wars 2 Secrets of the Obscure reviews btw:

RECENT REVIEWS: None
ALL REVIEWS: Mixed (77)

Not a very good look to be honest, when reads the reviews of players who bought it and are disappointed for the quality and poor amount of content. Most saying it is not worth the cost. So here we are, even reviews say what this topic has been saying for months.

SoTo came out in 2023. That's it? Only 77 reviews since August of 2023? How small is the population?

Gold Road came out in June 2024 and already have double the amount. For reference, Necrom came out in June 2023 and has 264 reviews. Once again, GW2 only has 29% of ESO's players. That is sad.

I hope you and the other 3-4k players are having fun, majority of the mmo world couldn't care less about a dead game like GW2. They feel absolutely defeated and passive aggressive and next best option is to whine about other games which are far bigger and superior than GW2 on different media outlets. That's just sad.

[𝒞𝒶𝓉𝓎𝒶ꨄ]

Originally posted by Roadie:

Every time they release new content, it blatantly shows how much less they care about the game over and over.

You can only disrespect your player base so many times before they all quit. And it looks like that's exactly what's happening.

Game is dead. There's an ocean of better games to play.

I agree fully.

Good thing we have other actually working choices to play until (if ever) ESO Devs can change things, i doubt it because last years they have not really shown big interest in doing anything actually good for the future of the game anymore, they seem.. whats the word in english.. complacent? to just sort of milk with minimal effort and fix only if something totally gamebreaking comes, like something in Crown Store goes broken.

But it IS possible if they can swap the positions who are in charge of actual decisions and obviously the combat team and the one calling the shots about content, quality and they would start to make the game again for the players, not act as cash shop front only with minimal effort. It will even then take some years to get their reputation back after it being lost so badly for many of their most loyal old customers sadly. I wish they would, but cannot help the feeling of them just sort of having abandoned it, if that makes sense? Like they clearly have focus on their next MMO game already.

So many feels the low effort. There is just no more of the love and creativity that still could feel some years ago. Even writing feels AI level. But at least we all have memories of the good old times and can move on, where can again have NEW good times! So it's not all bad when can find new things to enjoy in other games. :)

I wish you and others happy summer days and weekend no matter what games you are all playing!

This week personally have spent most gaming hours doing Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous playthrough (well still at earlyish levels), it's such a fun and good crpg. ^^

[󠀡󠀡]

Good thing we have other actually working choices to play until (if ever) ESO Devs can change things, i doubt it because last years they have not really shown big interest in doing anything actually good for the future of the game anymore, they seem..

Too bad you've only started GW2 in 2023, a game that was launched in 2012 and had it's golden era in 2012-2019. You missed out by 4 years. You don't even comprehend what you have missed or what you're even trying to champion here.

Gives you something to do I guess until GW3 comes in a few years. ESO will be here. Everything you spent in GW2 will go to waste, including your weekly 500 quid cash shop purchases.

Things must be REALLY boring if you're spending so much time on a game forum you hate instead of playing either of these games. We understand, game only has 3k players on Steam, not exactly qualified for a proper mmo experience with empty group finders and dead maps and non existent map chats.

[𝒞𝒶𝓉𝓎𝒶ꨄ]

Originally posted by Senoka:

I think ESO's combat held it back for me. It felt clunky in so many ways. It's like this weird fusion of hack and slash with tab target issues. People go on about weaving and animation cancelling. That stuff is the bane of a combat system. If you have to use little unintended like that to feel effective then maybe they failed with the combat from the beginning. This game shouldn't have even tried to be like a tab target mmo. Elder Scrolls games aren't known for trying to keep up 12 button rotations and you know most players came from the single player games. It got too far from it's roots and become something awkward and less satisfying.

Oh yeah and the predatory gambling and FOMO. F*ck that forever.

Yeah the loot boxes are and have been an issue for long.. they are costly, have really bad drop chances, there is no easy gold to crowns IN GAME currency change option if would grind gold and just buy free crates all day long, but having to use scam-risky and expensive player to player Gifting mode when ZOS could just make in game conversion that would be safe for all. But they do not want to, even some other games have this option, because it would be good for the players, not for ZOS, since some players would rather grind gold and not swipe real world money.. that is how i do it in GW2 right now, i buy everything for free with gold i get by just playing normally the content i like, it's great there. ^^ Wish many other games would have so great system. There i don't mind the boxes, since anyone can just play and get them for free easy without any effort and with in game conversion.

And yeah, combat Devs did ruin the ESO combat slowly but surely during years, the performance is worst in the game all in all. Personally i always liked the weaving and animation canceling, WHEN it worked smoothly (no bad lag day lmao), but ESO server from moon response time and server side reacts made Cyrodiil playing just endless source of frustration.

I wonder how will the next ES game, the single player be even at this rate, yes it's done by Bethesda, but same IP and based on how Starfield was.. oh well. I wish it will be good and not Starfield but in ES universe.

Anyways, time has gone for ESO. They are just milking until their new main focus game is out.

People rather play Skyrim and other older single player titles than ESO currently, sad times. At least those got fun mods. :) Can even say at least those are fun to play in general and most often works and not just frustrating combat with endless issues, any day and week can happen anything, some week it's crashes, some weeks it's insane lags, some weeks it's connection issues, some weeks some bug makes some dungeon unable to do or raid to complete, some weeks it's all of those combined, true despair, always something.

[Tensar]

deadgame

[Reame]

Originally posted by zukobach5:

ESO Gold Road Steam Reviews btw:

RECENT REVIEWS: Mostly Negative (32)
ALL REVIEWS: Mixed (146)

Not a very good look to be honest, when reads the reviews of players who bought it and are disappointed for the quality and poor amount of content. Most saying it is not worth the cost. So here we are, even reviews say what this topic has been saying for months.

Guild Wars 2 Secrets of the Obscure reviews btw:

Imagine comparing GW2 and ESO on steam lol. 99% of GW2 players are outside of steam, because the game exist longer than steam release. ESO is on steam from day1 basically.

[MajBludd]

Originally posted by mikaeliby:

The game is absolutely FULL with people of all levels and builds, running around doing all sorts of stuff. Packed. I´m level 48 now, and have only played a fraction of all the quests. Tried PVP like four times. Sort of fun, but I rarely enjoy that type of gaming.

you have to ask what part of the game they play when they say its dead or dying. that tells the tale. End game trial groups ive heard have dropped off a bit and pvp is slowly being killed off by the devs intentionally or unintentionally, idk.
pve looks to still being going strong.

[MajBludd]

Originally posted by Roadie:

Game's dead. Get over it.

is it? what did you main, pvp or pve?

[velevitka23]

I don't agree at all, I play on European server and there are plenty of people here. I'm rarely completely alone, there's always someone even in the most obscure zones.

Although, I must admit that sometimes I feel that there should be much more players for such popular franchise but I don't really mind either. I prefer when the game isn't too crowded, at least I know that game isn't full of bots.

[moo]

It's not dead, not in terms of "boohoo no people play" because there are quite the numbers. But it lost a lot from its charm once devs decided - or rather suits above them who have no idea what gaming is - to turn it into korean-like-shiny-sparkly-getmorecosmeticsforcash-etc crap. Bugs not fixed for years. Players' feedback falling on deaf ears. Blatant gameplay issues making it to live server after being pointed out on PTS. No real difficulty in overland and then trials that are impossible unless you have fully dedicated group. No longer solo friendly if you want to achieve anything aside from quest rewards. Cash shop being maintained better than servers alone. Boring writing after Elsweyr - seriously, that was last good chapter, well written and with memorable characters. Buff/nerf/buff/nerf cycle that really gets old in any MMO. Nothing fresh, nothing to look forward to, well ok arcanist is quite a fun class but it's last year thing. I'm just randomly throwing pain points, no particular order. After 7.5k hours in ESO I finally stopped chasing the rabbit, stopped playing group content for achievements because I have enough of them and people got extremely toxic and elitist (ESO community used to be so mature and civilized...), stopped subscribing or buying crowns, haven't even bought Gold Road, will wait till it's available in ESO+ and then maybe resubscribe. And it's not my fatigue, I can easily play for hours, always finding stuff to do but it's just... not the same, seems abandoned in terms of quality and the studio focusing only on milking as much money as they can for shiny pixels that bring 0 value to the gameplay. Nothing exciting about it but the game is not dead. It's just... different. More boring than ever.

[󠀡󠀡]

ESO lost a lot of trust and it's charm since the 2022 update 35 changes, regained back with an awesome 2023 but now losing everything they have gained in 2024 due to low quality chapter and bad changes.

Reminds me how Guild Wars 2 went full R after 2021 and never recovered. Poor lads have maybe 30 minute new content once every 4 months and that's it.

[Ember]

Originally posted by Roadie:

ESO is ranked as one of the most disliked MMOs on the market.

Only people still playing are hopeless copers who wouldnt know a good game if it slapped them across the cheek.

ESO is a bad game, is losing players by the hundreds, just accept it and move on.

EDIT: Falliut 76 is considered a failure and even that game has more daily players than ESO.

Are you ok brother? A brief look at your post history shows that youve posted that the game is dead literally hundreds of times on this forum. Dozens on this very thread.

I find it strange that people make this claim, while I see cities full of people everywhere, and do nightly raids. A lot of players use the games original launcher, like me for instance. Any zone I go to, any world boss I run into, usually has people there to fight it with. The game is in no way anywhere close to dead.

Feel better soon!

[𝒞𝒶𝓉𝓎𝒶ꨄ]

Originally posted by Ember:

Originally posted by Roadie:

ESO is ranked as one of the most disliked MMOs on the market.

Only people still playing are hopeless copers who wouldnt know a good game if it slapped them across the cheek.

ESO is a bad game, is losing players by the hundreds, just accept it and move on.

EDIT: Falliut 76 is considered a failure and even that game has more daily players than ESO.

Are you ok brother? A brief look at your post history shows that youve posted that the game is dead literally hundreds of times on this forum. Dozens on this very thread.

I find it strange that people make this claim, while I see cities full of people everywhere, and do nightly raids. A lot of players use the games original launcher, like me for instance. Any zone I go to, any world boss I run into, usually has people there to fight it with. The game is in no way anywhere close to dead.

Feel better soon!

You wouldn't get it.

I think the opposite, that Roadie has found a just cause, to put on a shiny armor of a true forum Paladin, take up that trusty sword and shield, and Smiting Evil with great justice! And by Evil i mean ZOS and ESO, what they have become the last years. Of course the Smiting is with sharp words in this case as it's always for me also, but Roadie has impressed me. A true paragon of tenacity and unbreakable will!

Has also made me giggle a few times while i enjoy my morning coffee and read all the forums topics, there has been some golden comments for sure, even i have enjoyed them and i mean.. i'm kinda known around here. :P I hope this arc is a new permanent thing and brings us all more of Roadie classics. ^^

With that said, wishing you all a fun sunday of relaxing & gaming no matter what games you are playing!

[Tensar]

Originally posted by Ember:

Originally posted by Roadie:

ESO is ranked as one of the most disliked MMOs on the market.

Only people still playing are hopeless copers who wouldnt know a good game if it slapped them across the cheek.

ESO is a bad game, is losing players by the hundreds, just accept it and move on.

EDIT: Falliut 76 is considered a failure and even that game has more daily players than ESO.

Are you ok brother? A brief look at your post history shows that youve posted that the game is dead literally hundreds of times on this forum. Dozens on this very thread.

I find it strange that people make this claim, while I see cities full of people everywhere, and do nightly raids. A lot of players use the games original launcher, like me for instance. Any zone I go to, any world boss I run into, usually has people there to fight it with. The game is in no way anywhere close to dead.

Feel better soon!

We don't say the game is dead because there is no players. But because how updates are going. We see the devs don't care much about this game anymore, they just milk the whales in lootbox, they don't put quality in updates and dlcs...

The only players who continue to play this are old ppl who will never change game. They dig their own grave in a deadgame, digging a grave for the game too because they accept every bad things added to the game, and they don't care if the game become better or not.

And when we know they are making an other mmo it explain everything.