After more than 4.000 hours having played this game, I can't recommend this game. Let me explain why.

There are a lot group dungeons in the game, but they all are pointless, because there are a lot people who run like crazy through them because they are only there for leveling up or for an event, which is needed for the rewards of the event. Don't think you get time to do the quest in the dungeons and follow the lore of the dungeons. Because you can't, thanks to the majority of players who just rush to them. There are chests and heavy sacks in the dungeons, but also they are pointless, if you are lucky you can loot a heavy sack, but for chests? Before you have opened the chest, you are already pulled into the next boss fight. And no there will be no communication about it, because the rushers are in a hurry. And there is no option to run dungeons on your own until you are a high level player, but you need the skill points you earn by doing the quest for dungeons just when you are low level. And wouldn't it be fun to know the lore at the start?
And the worst thing which happens a lot in dungeons is that a lot of people are so badly in a hurry, that they take a class like Tank or Healer while they are a DPS and can't heal or tank at all. They change their class so they are faster in a dungeon. Good luck when you are new to the game! Also in trials people try to skip as much as possible.

This rushing behavior does also have consequences for events, people go like crazy for the rewards at the start of the event, while you do get enough time for completing them. But when the ending of the event comes nearby, no one does the required content anymore, so it does take much longer to complete the event because of waiting times, searching for people who want to help you out.

Stay away from the Crown Store, it is a really bad scam! You can buy loot boxes, you don't know what you get and mostly you get trash items. You can trade them for an in-game currency like Gem Stones and that sounds nice but it isn't. For example a mount costs 400 Gem Stones, when you get a mount double it will be automatically turned in for Gem Stones, but you only get 5 Gem Stones for a mount which costs 400 Gem Stones, that's not nice but a scam. There are only in-game currencies shown, so it is never clearly how much money you actually are spending in the Crown Store. For example a house is 14.000 Crowns which do cost you €35,= and after you buy the house you find out that you get far too few slots to decorate it properly. So was that worth your money? And if you do want to buy in the Crown Store read the description very well, there are items which only work on one character and not account wide!!! For example when you like to glamour your gear, you can buy extra slots for real money (expensive) but it will work only on one character!!!

PVP: I like what they have done with the siege weapons, but that's all about it. As a new player you will have not one chance to stay alive over there. Gear is everything in PVP that gives you a fair chance for not getting one shotted over and over again. There was a test a few weeks ago where all players were equal, that was the best experience I have ever had.

Another point I want to make is that the game really demands that you log in daily. Otherwise you miss out on your daily rewards and leveling your mount even slower. (Of course they sell riding lessons in the Crown Store for a lot of real money) It takes 180 days to fully level your mount and that's per character!
And speaking of content that is per character, you can get different companions, but for every character you create you have to follow the exact same quest line over and over again, which are usually really boring and way too long. What is nice is that when you have them leveled to the max, the extra skill you get from them works on every character. The same goes for wayshrines you previously found on another character, you will also have to find them all again on your slow mount. And so the game quickly starts to feel like a job rather than a game you play for relaxation.

When you are playing in the EU during daytime there is a lot of downtime for all kinds of maintenance's even on public holidays! ZOS does not take European players into account. The duration of a maintenance will take most of the time 5 hours, but can be longer.

Is it all bad? No, the lore in the game is good There is a lot to do in the game. If you want to start this game just take your time, the game is really overwhelming for new players and with the upcoming update it won't be easier for new players. Try to find a nice guild, with friendly players, you will need them! Play the game for free! Don't pay a monthly subscription for it, It is not worth it. You get double inventory space and an unlimited crafting bag, but that's really not needed for just playing this game and you are not focused on something like housing or crafting. The game is huge and not all content is immediately playable (most is) as a free player but it will eventually be added to the base game and therefore free to play. Your patience will be rewarded.

I've been playing for a year now, I did play a lot... But also I have cancelled my subscription. From now on I will play this game for free casually with the friends I have made and do all the solo-able content like the stories.
This was my personal opinion, feel mad if you disagree with my opinion.

unwashed permavirgin userbase,, costs way more than its worth. play literally anything else

I'm not tryina live that MMO lifestyle.

Buy game then need to have like 5 subscriptions to play. No thanks

Give the Crafting bag to base game, i would be playing this game if it not was for the ESO+ . people wouldn't mind buying DLCs every now and then.

get rid of that unnecessary headache.
give the players some freedom.
the more money you ask the less players wanna keep playing...

It's like the Elder Scrolls but very empty and soulless

Better than anything Bethesda has made in about 19 years.
I would recommend it (on sale)... But... Like all other MMOs, the premium shop is overpriced. They charge $25 for ONE name-change token.
The game itself is playable. But they've still got very predatory financial practices, seeking to pinch every penny out of every possible person for any reason or desire or want or need...

Certain features (like crafting, especially at a large scale and for writs) are clearly designed to be done only with a plus membership. It doesn't seem like they even tried to balance it for non-members.

They throw a lot of useless crap in your inventory which is confusing, not well designed... (If you get the right mods and have the know-how, you can know which ones are useless enough to delete/sell/give away and not bother storing.) Probably intended or at least left alone because there's SOME chance a sucker will buy a 10 slot increase to inventory or bank for $10 worth of crowns instead of the miniscule amount of gold in-game it costs. Also the increased demand for the storage upgrades even with gold slows a lot of players down, incentivizing premium purchases and membership subscriptions.

I can't recommend it for those reasons, the clear BS. But, if you can look past that, it's actually got a lot of positive sides to it.

It's kind of like navigating a minefield, but the journey is arguably worth it. Much more-so than many other MMO's IMO.

Though of course it still has your standard MMO's dated design of: "Pop a potion or consumable (or equip an armor set with XP boosts) before turning in repeatable quests and/or grinding a dungeon or boss or whatever, to get a 150% boost to rewards and xp and blah blah blah" Just your typical lazy dated design. God forbid they balance a competent cohesive progression system that inherently values your time without having to jump a million and one hoops to maximize your efficiency, which may meet or exceed the expected progression, who the hell knows. The devs probably even don't. Just more items, more consumables, more buffs, more (boring ass) stuff to do and account for, more = more good.

I wouldn't recommend anyone get pressured to invest money in memberships or anything in this game. Only if it's a convenience you think is worth your time and money, and if this is that kind of game for you. There are arguably many better things to spend that money on. And I feel a bit guilty even saying I situationally recommend this product given the amount of predatory practices and mistakes people can make on it, especially without good financial prudence. (To reiterate though, it's not all that different from your standard MMO's scumminess as far as I can tell.)

I guess that's that then. If you aren't good with finances, stay clear from this game. If the minor inconveniences the game throws at you tempts you to buy a membership... Or spend money on some terribly priced upgrade... This isn't the game for you. Save yourself, your time, and your money. (There are simply going to be some activites, some features that you are not not TECHNICALLY locked out of but they're really tedious to manage without a Plus subscription.)

If you are responsible with your time, your money, etc... Go for it. It's not bad at all. The game isn't well-designed FOR the consumer in many aspects (which is why I can't recommend it generally,) but if you can hold your own, and are willing to learn what the traps are and when and how to avoid them, how to take alternate routes... It's got some fun and worthwhile content to offer. That which would make the general time investment worth it, even with all the negatives (assuming you didn't fall for them.)

I decided to poke my head back in and see how it was going. The answer is poorly. The game itself is pretty fun, I enjoyed getting up to around lvl 10 in the early zones. Goofing around, killing cultists, bandits, ya know, elder scrolls stuff. Decided to go see how much it would be to catch up on the past expansions, so I can slowly quest through them over time.

I am uninstalling the game now. Its a combination of ungodly expensive, confusing, and stupid. DLC and Content packs are separate things? Some dlc is only on the crowns store, not on steam, some of the content packs on steam may or may not include the DLC from the crown store? What the ♥♥♥♥ is happening? Does the sub include everything? No apparently not, it does not include one of the content packs and 2025 stuff, which, is that a DLC, or a pack, or something new and exciting and different that isn't included in anything?

I give up, ♥♥♥♥ you, I'm just going to mod skyrim again.

I can't recommend this game anymore with the direction it's going. It's purely a cash-grab at this point. Content pass, ESO Plus (basically just storage pass), outdated graphics, and never-ending bugs that the devs neglect. This game was a lot of fun but now it's just bland. Sad times for MMOs...

From the Support team when trying to use the Family Sharing feature

Thank you for contacting The Elder Scrolls Online Team. My name is Clinton, and I will be assisting you today.

I understand you have an issue with being unable to log in to The Elder Scrolls Online via Steam.

If your Steam account doesn't own the game, you will not able to log in to the game on Steam. We do not supported Steam Library Sharing. If you owned the game on another Steam account, please ensure you log in to the game using the correct ESO account linked to that Steam account.

Please let us know if you have other questions or issues, we will be happy to assist.

Regards,
Clinton
The Elder Scrolls Online Team