Looking Back

Parasaurolophus

To start with - no, I am not leaving the game. I am a big fan of the series, and even if I completely lose all hope, it is important for me to keep my finger on the pulse of the development of a setting I love. However, yes, at this point I may not log into the game for days at a time. I only log in when I have raid time. The rest of the time, I simply do not understand what I am supposed to do in this game. But everything in order.

Back in Wrothgar, I already understood that something was wrong. Very wrong. The fact that such a beautiful and large zone ultimately leaves us with only two trivial dailies seemed completely incorrect to me. But at the time, few people cared, because we had Maelstrom Arena and all the community’s attention was focused on it. Nevertheless, no matter how good it was, it was still just a single instance. And then we all know what happened with the Chapter system. However, throughout the entire history of the Chapter system, we have had only two fourth-quarter DLCs with any kind of high-end content. Tell me, for example, what is the endgame of Dragonhold? Looting a chest? Or the Deadlands?

Yes, we have trials and dungeons. But - and this is an important but - I am a veteran player, and veteran content is simply too easy for me. Finding people who are willing to just run a DLC dungeon hard mode for fun has always been quite problematic. Usually, you would find a few bros who played fairly well, and you would clear content from time to time. Because your friends did not always have the time or the desire to play when it was convenient for you. I had hopes for the Group Finder at release. But I have never been so disappointed in the community. Yes, there were occasional cases where it was possible to clear dungeon hard modes with people from GF, but I can count such cases on one hand.

There are also trials. But this is simply content that you run on a schedule.

I had hopes for the Archive, but it turned out to be probably the worst content of all. Every MMO has similar content like infinite towers and so on. But in ESO it is probably the worst. Boring waves of mobs that are different, but in reality all feel the same. No ability to save progress. Poor buff design. Overall, I reached round 14 two or three times, and I do not want to go there anymore at all.

I loved Battlegrounds. At the same time, I do not consider myself a PvP player at all. So why are BGs one of my favorite types of content, even in their updated version? Because I can simply press a button and get a real gameplay experience. I have to press buttons, be attentive, and make decisions for which I will be responsible.

I came to love ToT. The reason is the same - I get gameplay. At least some kind of gameplay, non-combat, measured. But gameplay nonetheless.

Now everything feels so meaningless. I have tons of resources and gold materials in my bag. At some point, I decided that there was no longer any point in stockpiling even more materials, and I stopped doing crafting dailies. I thought that I would log into the game to complete Endeavors. But soon I started skipping those as well. And then, to my surprise, I realized that I was also skipping events, and even the Golden Pursuits.

And do you know what is the scariest part? The game has not actually changed. We still have the same trivial questing and casual overland. We still have the same dungeons and trials, and they are in no way inferior in quality. The game right now is absolutely the same as it was at the time of Summerset’s release, or any other Chapter in its best years. So why did I lose interest specifically now? Burnout? To some extent. But I still sometimes log into the game, trying to find some fun, and I simply do not find it.

Why did I play all these years? The answer is quite unpleasant for me, but it seems that, to some degree, I enjoyed watching how the largest game in my favorite universe was developing, and simply being part of that. I just wanted to remain relevant in all of this. But when it became clear that The Elder Scrolls Online is now becoming smaller, my personal interest dropped as well. I really thought that the problem was subclasses and poor balance (casting the same beam for the third year in a row cannot help but get tiresome). But that is only part of the problem.

I was always waiting for the game to be able to change, for ZOS to eventually move away from the formula and shower us with content where you actually have to play. But now there are no such hopes.

moderatelyfatman

@Parasaurolophus
It sounds like you've already 'quiet quit' the game. I agree pretty much with all your points here.

Personally, I'm not too worried if the latest content is lacklustre: it won't stop me from creating a new character and going back and enjoying all the old content again. Whether it's a bad new trial, mediocre dungeons or a poorly written story: I can always go back to my favourites as long as the basics of the game are still there.

Sadly, the basics of the game are no longer there with combat and class balance having gone off a cliff. There isn't any more incentive to level a new class to level 50, learn it's unique playstyle and then sign up to a prog group when the answer is 'beam beam beam'.

LPapirius

Got to look back when there is nothing to look forward to. ...or so the saying goes.