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Re: Concerns About ESO’s Future Direction and Solo Player Experience
- Does ZoS have plans to turn ESO into something like a Dark Souls-style game?
- Do they have any plan to push solo players out of the game?
Admittedly, I only looked at page 1, but... Anyone else insta-thought: "wait...Dark Souls is the most solo game ever"?
I don't mean to be disrespectful but the way you've put it can sound incongruent to some.
SkaiFaith
14
Re: Concerns About ESO’s Future Direction and Solo Player Experience
Point 1
Point 2
So… are solo players excluded?
✔ From the core gameplay loop? Yes. The entire progression loop — bosses → keys → Gilded → Ordeal — is group‑only.
✔ From the rewards? Yes, indirectly. You can earn Favor solo, but at a tiny fraction of the speed and with massive difficulty spikes.
✔ From the intended experience? Absolutely. The zone is literally described as a “group‑focused PvE world”
The uncomfortable truth
ESO has always had:
There is no normal mode.
No scaling.
No solo‑friendly version.
No alternative path.
If you don’t group, you simply cannot participate in the main loop.
This is why so many players, especially casuals, solo mains, and accessibility‑focused players, feel pushed out.
yes: solo players are excluded
So how do these two things fit together?
They don’t. It’s like saying: You can play your way…except here, where you must play our way.
Night Market is the first time ESO has:
It’s a hardcore‑only event zone inside a game that advertises freedom.
4. Why this contradiction exists
Because: Marketing wants ESO to stay “play your way” They can’t change the slogan. It’s the identity of the franchise.
IT'S WRONG!
THIS IS ESO
Go anywhere, do anything, and play your way in The Elder Scrolls Online, the award-winning online RPG set in the Elder Scrolls universe.
Go anywhere, do anything, and play your way in The Elder Scrolls Online, the award-winning online RPG set in the Elder Scrolls universe.
Point 2
So… are solo players excluded?
✔ From the core gameplay loop? Yes. The entire progression loop — bosses → keys → Gilded → Ordeal — is group‑only.
✔ From the rewards? Yes, indirectly. You can earn Favor solo, but at a tiny fraction of the speed and with massive difficulty spikes.
✔ From the intended experience? Absolutely. The zone is literally described as a “group‑focused PvE world”
The uncomfortable truth
ESO has always had:
- normal dungeons
- normal trials
- normal arenas
- normal world bosses
- normal story content
- Night Market breaks that 10‑year rule.
There is no normal mode.
No scaling.
No solo‑friendly version.
No alternative path.
If you don’t group, you simply cannot participate in the main loop.
This is why so many players, especially casuals, solo mains, and accessibility‑focused players, feel pushed out.
yes: solo players are excluded
So how do these two things fit together?
They don’t. It’s like saying: You can play your way…except here, where you must play our way.
Night Market is the first time ESO has:
- no normal mode
- no solo‑friendly version
- no scaling
- no alternative path
- no accessibility options
- no “play your way” philosophy
It’s a hardcore‑only event zone inside a game that advertises freedom.
4. Why this contradiction exists
Because: Marketing wants ESO to stay “play your way” They can’t change the slogan. It’s the identity of the franchise.
IT'S WRONG!
Athory
16
Re: Concerns About ESO’s Future Direction and Solo Player Experience
The difficulty for a “solo” solo player is somewhere between a soloing a Harrowstorm, where you can take a DPS and slot a self heal and a soloing a Dragon, where a self heal, purge and building tanky are needed.
For a player that doesn't want to group but is happy to run with zerg, self heal is the only real change.
Yes the Night Market is hard soloing/running with a small zerg but no more difficult than than a DLC trial, in my opinion.
I have never understood the mentality of not changing a Toon to suit where and what role. I wouldn't take my DPS in to PvP and expect to do well, likewise a Tank/Healer to DPS.
Yes the NM is hard and it's good that it is. It's very popular, going by my friends and guilds, as the list shows well over 75% in the NM, with many more players online.
I've said it before but the main problems are that some vocal players expectations didn't match the reality of the toughness and the need to actually, for once, do mechs!
If the NM is not for you, that's a shame, as it's great to work together and help others achieve things that seemed out of reach before. There are many people that are doing tough content for the 1st time and finding it's not as bad as they were told and small build changes make a massive difference to their enjoyment.
I don't do housing, RP, fashion and the like but I don't come to the forum bashing ZOS and players for using and enjoying it, that seems a bit petty to me, but each to their own, I guess.
For a player that doesn't want to group but is happy to run with zerg, self heal is the only real change.
Yes the Night Market is hard soloing/running with a small zerg but no more difficult than than a DLC trial, in my opinion.
I have never understood the mentality of not changing a Toon to suit where and what role. I wouldn't take my DPS in to PvP and expect to do well, likewise a Tank/Healer to DPS.
Yes the NM is hard and it's good that it is. It's very popular, going by my friends and guilds, as the list shows well over 75% in the NM, with many more players online.
I've said it before but the main problems are that some vocal players expectations didn't match the reality of the toughness and the need to actually, for once, do mechs!
If the NM is not for you, that's a shame, as it's great to work together and help others achieve things that seemed out of reach before. There are many people that are doing tough content for the 1st time and finding it's not as bad as they were told and small build changes make a massive difference to their enjoyment.
I don't do housing, RP, fashion and the like but I don't come to the forum bashing ZOS and players for using and enjoying it, that seems a bit petty to me, but each to their own, I guess.
Re: Concerns About ESO’s Future Direction and Solo Player Experience
Nemesis7884 wrote: »All these arguments about the [snip] market shouldn’t even exist.
- ZOS could simply add a normal mode as well, and the entire problem would be solved.
Of course, people would still find reasons to complain about the [snip] market, that’s normal.
But making it Hardcore-only for every single player is 100% wrong.
Why is this so hard to understand? ESO has always had a normal mode.
Why is that suddenly impossible?
No one is “against ZOS” for adding a Hardcore mode. Does anyone understand this point?
Players like me are against ZoS for removing the normal mode.
- I personally don’t like games with this level of difficulty. I simply don’t enjoy them.
- You love it? Great. Enjoy it.
But respect both sides. I respect yours, you should respect mine. It’s not complicated.
You love Hardcore? Perfect. You can enjoy the Market.
But why can’t I enjoy the Market too in a normal, solo-friendly experience, the same way ESO has always allowed?
- I don’t force anyone to play normal mode or help casual players in normal trials.
- So why are you "forcing me" to go play in Hardcore?
How is this even a real argument?
You don’t like normal trials? Fine — go Vet, go Vet HM, avoid casual groups. All good.
I don’t like the [snip] market being Hardcore-only.
What alternative do I have to enjoy the event?
Does anyone understand this?
How can you not?
Again:
If NO ONE, not even ZOS, forces Hardcore players to go help in normal trials…
Why are you (and ZOS) forcing normal casual/solo players to go play in Hard Mode? Just why?
I really, really understand all your points about “new group content, hardcore welcome, blah blah.”
It’s all 100% fine. I have absolutely no problem with that.
But....
Why do casual/normal/solo players have to go THAT hard? Why are we being pushed into difficulty we never asked for?
Why??
What on earth are you not understanding about this point?!
nobody is pushing you into anything you dont want - the night market was from the beginning laid out as a harder group zone and not as a solo content
ZOS: "Explore the Night Market:
Pledge to one of three factions and discover a world brimming with mystery and danger in ESO's first ever event zone. Encounter new characters, quests, and rewards in this challenging group-focused PvE world."
... challenging...group focused...
Did you really read everything I said? Read it again.
Did you misunderstand something?
What exactly are you trying to argue here?
that the night market was ALWAYS advertised as a group zone - never anything but so to complain that its not solo friendly make no sense - thats like complaining that trials arent solo friendly...
and sorry but the night markets overland content is also faaaaar away from "hardcore" ... the bosses are way easier than vet hardcore dungeons and bosses...if you have a 12 men group you will go through all of those bosses except a very few or the skirmishes like a hot knife through butter...
this on top of the fact that the nr one complain of eso players was the lack of difficulty in overland why we get an additional difficulty mode...
And on the solo content - again - enough solo content will release this year and we never got solo content in q1 also in the past...
Re: Concerns About ESO’s Future Direction and Solo Player Experience
I don't share this worry at all, given we have a road map which already shows that this isn't the case..
That's my feedback for this thread!
That's my feedback for this thread!
FIX GAME WHEN?
Seriously when will this crap be fixed for PVP?
This DK "META" is really getting old.
This DK "META" is really getting old.
ADawg
3
Re: Why isn't there a normal Night Market mode?
You enter the normal mode by opening the group finder and joining others.
Issues with heavy attacks in NM?
I know that HA has been bugged for a long time (as in failing to fire unless recast). However, in NM the issue seems to be much worse for me. Quite often HA fails and even the usual remedy (roll dodging) does not fix the issue. So, my toon just stands there twitching as I try to fire one. Anyone else having the same issue?
Re: Issues with heavy attacks in NM?
There seems to be an issue with direct attacks in general. Some mobs will just randomly become immune to anything but AoEs
Re: Concerns About ESO’s Future Direction and Solo Player Experience
- Does ZoS have plans to turn ESO into something like a Dark Souls-style game?
- Do they have any plan to push solo players out of the game?
To answer the core questions asked:
Q: Does ZoS have plans to turn ESO into something like a Dark Souls-style game?
A: No.
Q:Do they have any plan to push solo players out of the game?
A: No.
Just following up here generally. We hear the feedback from solo players about the Night Market content. We want to follow up with just few things.
We have no intention of pushing solo players out of the game. However, we started this year off by noting that we were going to try some new things. Night Market is one of them. While we always provide group players with trials, we also wanted to try something different. This was not to alienate solo players, but rather to add a new way to play. That being said, we do hear the feedback and have passed that on our teams for future consideration, especially for when Night Market comes back later in the year. Remember, part of the ethos of this event is to add to it over time.
As several have noted in this thread as well, we have a roadmap that is publicly available. The point of the roadmap is to showcase the content we have coming throughout the year. As is noted on the roadmap and current PTS testing, we have plenty of solo friendly content as well. Thieves Guild and Sheogorath Questlines, Favors system, Rumors system, Two Solo Dungeons, Sage's Vault, and the list can keep going. And that is all on top of existing content. We also understand that not every piece of content will be for everyone, and that is okay.
We know this may come off as a contentious statement, but it does bare repeating. While we are an Elder Scrolls game, we are also an MMO. Storytelling and the heart of solo adventure will always be an important part of ESO. However, some of our event/ event zone content will be focused on encouraging group play. It is the nature of the genre. Additionally, we know just like there are players who come for solo content, there are also players who come for group content and challenging group content. So we want to make sure we are providing new things for them as well.
We'll close with this. Last year, we saw many threads throughout the year asking us to address content and find new ways of renewing the gameplay experience, both in variety and challenge. We are in the first passes of this now with items like Night Market going live. But we will have content throughout the year to address both solo and group play within the community. The feedback is helpful to steer us on the right track. So thanks to everyone, both solo players and group players, who have given their constructive feedback regarding the Night Market. The team is taking a look at what can be done during this current running and what can be adjusted for the next run of the Night Market.
Amen.
