katanagirl1 wrote: »

I still say the last player should be able to do things like chests and lorebooks without getting booted.

moderatelyfatman wrote: »

This is just one fat man's two cent rant during his lunch break.
So, Steam player numbers are the lowest in seven years and many guilds discords are so quiet now that a sparrow's fart would set their ears ringing. And this year's Season of the Worm Cult dlc is currently holding the beer for the Big Mac in the shrinkflation stakes.

So where does ESO go from here?
I think the possible directions can be found in two MMOs: Aion and Guild Wars 2.

Down, down and even further down: AION

Admittedly I've never played this MMO and, given the current numbers, you've probably never played it either. But when the current population is less than 1% of the peak, you know that the next big dlc is not around the corner.
From what I've heard from the impeccable source known as youtubers, Aion is definitely in maintenance mode: they occasionally release some new content but it's mostly recycled assets. The only really new items are from the in-game cash shop.
Rumour has it that the game is making enough money from a few hundred whales, buying everything the moment it appears in the shop, to keep the servers running.

OR

... From the ashes, like a phoenix: Guild Wars 2

So, a base game MMO comes out and the next year it is followed by nothing. The following year and the year after are the same. Player numbers peak but over the next four years start to go into long term decline as rumour takes over about the game being in maintenance mode.
But behind the scenes the devs worked their lower posteriors off, rewrote parts of the code and numerous zones to allow characters to glide. They then released a new expansion where the maps were fully 3D and required to explore the full verticality. It completely changed the game exploration dynamic as high above you entirely different adventures were occuring amongst the tree tops while you fought on the forest floor.
After that they released an expansion every year or two with some really massive innovations. They brought in mounts that could jump, swim or fly.
They also introduce new class specialisations that changed the way you could play your class.
And the players came back, brought friends with them and the game was better than ever.


So where do I think ESO is headed? I believe ESO's current direction is trending towards the Aion model with declining player numbers and an ever-increasing reliance of a small number of whales to keep things afloat.

But can ESO reverse this and come back bigger and better than ever like Guild Wars 2? Absolutely, but it won't be easy.
The biggest elephant in the room is Microsoft. If Microsoft only wanted ZOS for their IP (namely Elderscrolls 6, Fallout etc) and see WoW as their premiere fantasy MMO, then we're up the Ganges without a paddle.
But if Microsoft see ESO not as a rival to WoW but an alternative, then things will be much brighter. It still won't be easy because when Guild Wars 2 went quiet, the game was left in a pretty decent place regarding class balance and general performance, two issues which are plagueing ESO.

So, what do people think?

gamergirldk wrote: »

Just need to be removed altogether.