ESO moving too fast?

Yuffie91 · May 2021

Does anyone else feel yearly expansions are a bit too fast? I love the constant new content but looking at other mmorpgs their expansions usually last 2 years. I'm sort of worried eso is going to run out of content/zones if it keeps up this fast rate of expansions? Not to mention it also makes eso more expensive than other mmorpg if you sub on top of buying an expansion every year(which costs as much as other mmorpg expansions do while those last 2 years).

colossalvoids · May 2021

Well, if you're playing daily it's not the same. Especially when there's no new features you're looking forward to for years you just wait for more and more dlcs/xpac in hopes to finally have something of interest or use.

Yuffie91 · May 2021

colossalvoids wrote: »

Well, if you're playing daily it's not the same. Especially when there's no new features you're looking forward to for years you just wait for more and more dlcs/xpac in hopes to finally have something of interest or use.

I mean more like the expansions could be longer but they could bring out more dlcs for the expansions to avoid content draught maybe?

OutLaw_Nynx · May 2021

You want drought? You want no real content for most of the year?

Go play Red Dead Online…

Yuffie91 · May 2021

OutLaw_Nynx wrote: »

You want drought? You want no real content for most of the year?

Go play Red Dead Online…

Well what will happen if they finish the map in a few years at this rate? They could bring out dlc involving the expansion to make it last 2 years.

Tandor · May 2021

There's still plenty of Tamriel to open up, and that's without going underground, revamping earlier zones, or introducing portals to other dimensions etc.

Skazur · May 2021

DLCs content is normally done after a few hours/days. Except harder achievements - so I wouldn't rate them like "real" addons.
This is from a persistent players pov; as a new player youre expecting hundreds of hours of content and can get the feeling of neverending, fast ordnance.

Yuffie91 · May 2021

Skazur wrote: »

DLCs content is normally done after a few hours/days. Except harder achievements - so I wouldn't rate them like "real" addons.
This is from a persistent players pov; as a new player youre expecting hundreds of hours of content and can get the feeling of neverending, fast ordnance.

Hmm maybe..I feel like there could be a lot more depth in the chapters though, bigger story, more dlc towns/areas. It feels they rush through the zone in my eyes.

Ratzkifal · May 2021

Yuffie91 wrote: »

OutLaw_Nynx wrote: »

You want drought? You want no real content for most of the year?

Go play Red Dead Online…

Well what will happen if they finish the map in a few years at this rate? They could bring out dlc involving the expansion to make it last 2 years.

They said they are going to look into updating older zones once all the blank spots in the map have been filled in. Besides there are quite a few lore locations with no official map yet, like Pyandonea which definitely exists somewhere but isn't shown on any of our maps.
Judging by the current look of the map right now, there is still room for two Redguard expansions, one more Argonian expansion, two Dunmer expansions, two Nord expansions, two Imperial expansions, one Maormer expansion plus/minus however many DLCs are on Tamriel or in a realm of Oblivion with potential expansions set completely in Oblivion. So that is content for another 10 years give or take.
We don't have to worry now about what happens after the entire map gets filled as much as ZOS needs to worry about their year-long stories starting to feel forced because they need to stretch to make different areas thematically tied to one story. The western coast of mainland Morrowind for example is a lot larger than the badly drawn map leads one to believe, but there is also no zone directly attached to it for a DLC. So it would have to be another Daedric realm for Q4 or Solstheim. And the small part between Northern and Southern Elsweyr needs to be filled in at some point but it is completely detached from any other area other than the Khajiiti provinces so when are we going to get that? Sooner or later ZOS will have to get back to making stand-alone DLCs or the quality of their writing will drop.

Chaos2088 · May 2021

Once Tamriel is filled up there are other realms, continents and even other planets within mundus. There is plenty and I mean plenty of other places to go to.

Pauwin · May 2021

Ratzkifal wrote: »

Sooner or later ZOS will have to get back to making stand-alone DLCs or the quality of their writing will drop.

I feel like Year long stories could make sense for another 2/3 years (One Morrowind, one Hammerfell and maybe one full Blackmarsh). You're right they will need to do stand-alone DLCs for places like Solstheim, Tenmar Forest or Blacklight (if that even exists anymore), I think that would be a breath of fresh air for the game

Castagere · May 2021

Wow, the OP must play for hours every day to post this. Or he just doing the main story quest. The game world is massive and I haven't even cleared one zone yet because I'm jumping all over the place exploring.

Wildberryjack · May 2021

I like the yearly schedule. It sure beats 2+ years with not much new being added so by the second year you're bored out of your mind. That is what happens in WoW, they have long content droughts and players leave! They unsub and go play other games and come back (maybe) when they finally release something new. Seems to me you don't want your playerbase doing that, you want them to stay so you don't run the risk of them deciding not to return.

AcadianPaladin · May 2021

I don't worry about the devs outgrowing the map and running out of content.

As far as preferences though, that is really subjective. Frankly I would prefer if the game world grew at a slower pace. I play a lot and ESO is my only game but I play a slow (smell the roses) playstyle and find myself wishing for more time to enjoy the events, new content and still frequently visit the older areas. And I don't even do trials or DLC dungeons (since I can't solo them).

My elf spent a delightful part of yesterday simply walking her mare along the beaches of northern Auridon. With that kind of approach, it takes a lot of time to explore new content. Especially when she can manifest as five other variants of herself, all trying to slowly quest/explore through the game.

Snowstrider · May 2021

I wish ESO had expansions like other MMOs that is large and more game changing

when you look at the price and then look what you get compared to other MMOs you feel a bit sad.

Jeremy · May 2021

Yuffie91 wrote: »

Does anyone else feel yearly expansions are a bit too fast? I love the constant new content but looking at other mmorpgs their expansions usually last 2 years. I'm sort of worried eso is going to run out of content/zones if it keeps up this fast rate of expansions? Not to mention it also makes eso more expensive than other mmorpg if you sub on top of buying an expansion every year(which costs as much as other mmorpg expansions do while those last 2 years).

Nope.

The best thing about this game is the steady influx of new content and the sheer amount of activities to do. It's one of the things that sets it apart from the competition and crucial to its continued success IMHO.

Skazur · May 2021

Yuffie91 wrote: »

Skazur wrote: »

DLCs content is normally done after a few hours/days. Except harder achievements - so I wouldn't rate them like "real" addons.
This is from a persistent players pov; as a new player youre expecting hundreds of hours of content and can get the feeling of neverending, fast ordnance.

Hmm maybe..I feel like there could be a lot more depth in the chapters though, bigger story, more dlc towns/areas. It feels they rush through the zone in my eyes.

Of course. There could be dozens of hours of cool new rp-stuff - I would like that most.
Sadly I dont see this coming. The majority of content until now have had a grindy nature in that zones - doing the dungs and raids 150 times; farming motifs at world events; etc.

If youre not interested in doing the same things on and on youre "done" in some days - so were in the need of regularly new ones.

SeaGtGruff · May 2021

I haven't played any other MMORPGs and am not familiar with them, so can you explain what you mean by "their expansions usually last 2 years"? Is that how long it takes to play the content, or is that how often they come out with new content?

phaneub17_ESO · May 2021

Long expansions can be a gamble if they do well then you keep the playerbase around longer, but if they do poorly you risk the chance of having long droughts and reduced number of active players. WoW Shadowlands right now is kind of a bust and the new content isn't doing anything for me. If a yearly expansion fails it's only for that year, the next year's might recoup the difference... Murkmire, I'm looking at you!

SeaGtGruff · May 2021

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

If a yearly expansion fails it's only for that year, the next year's might recoup the difference... Murkmire, I'm looking at you!

Aside from the fact that Murkmire was a DLC zone expansion rather than a chapter expansion, are you saying that Murkmire was a bust for you, or that it redeemed the previous year's annual DLC zone expansion?

phaneub17_ESO · May 2021

I thought I would like more Argonian content, I didn't find it all that great. Fortunately it was free from the monthly login rewards. The Elsewyr follow up was awesome.

Skazur · May 2021

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

I haven't played any other MMORPGs and am not familiar with them, so can you explain what you mean by "their expansions usually last 2 years"? Is that how long it takes to play the content, or is that how often they come out with new content?

A WoW-AddOn typical comes with new levelcap, a new world to explore, filled with new factions to grind reputation for etc.
And during the months they release some raids, dungeons, even more factions and a narrative questline through all the content with a real final ending for the world.
What keeps players playing is the geargrind. You'd start in each xpac with green crap from quests and end up with absurdly powerlevels.

And in a the next xpac it begins anew.

exeeter702 · May 2021

Yuffie91 wrote: »

Does anyone else feel yearly expansions are a bit too fast? I love the constant new content but looking at other mmorpgs their expansions usually last 2 years. I'm sort of worried eso is going to run out of content/zones if it keeps up this fast rate of expansions? Not to mention it also makes eso more expensive than other mmorpg if you sub on top of buying an expansion every year(which costs as much as other mmorpg expansions do while those last 2 years).

Your first failure is likening eso chapters to full expansions in other games such as wow or 14 which do operate on a bi annual release cadence.

Eso chapters, are FAR less involved and elaborate compared to the aforementioned expansion packs of those games.

With that being said, there is a burn out that comes with this type of content release style for eso, but it is far more nuanced of a discussion that goes into item and set bonus creep and a general situation where the available power options become unwieldy and difficult to balance. Mant people called this put years ago amd we are seeing on display today,l with zos either trying to hide the otherwise very obvious intentions to render older users obsolete or to try and implement more lateral power progression options for characters.

Another aspect of the issue is that there is a very easily identifiable problem formula where the more long term seasoned a player is in game, the less value they actually get out of a chapter release. And the cynic in me understands this to be by design, as catering to new players for which the game is a huge open slate of discovery of content, yeilds to most return in sales. The newer you are to this game, the more you become the target demographic.

But no, moderation is obviously an important thing to remember when indulging in mmos, but the chapter releases in eso are not comparable to traditional "expansions" of other games. You also have to consider the pricing format of eso compared to those games. Eso is not more expensive when you factor in the option sub, of which wow and 14 is sub required. The reason those games can get away with charging 40(ish) dollars for what is objectively more content is because their revenue stream is far less volatile and they can implement content patches throughout that two year time period.

Now, it gets tricky and not exactly easy to compare because if you are an eso plus subscriber you can spend your monthy stipend on dlc ownership but to keep it simple..

Do the math if you want. 2 year release cycle:
14 expansion($40) + 24 months × $13
Eso chapter ($40) x 2 + 4 dungeon dlc packs × $15 + 2 adventure zone dlc x $20

XIV = $352 per 2yrs
Eso = $180 per 2yrs
Eso(with sub) = $440 per 2 yrs

There is more to this obviously but just remeber eso isn't the same as those other mmos, for better or worse.

Jayroo · May 2021

The problem with yearly updates (being pushed by publishers?) is that it pressures the developers and there's a far greater chance for the content to be mediocre.

Solid_Metal · May 2021

in a way it is, and in a way it doesnt

for people who eating contents like nothing else, honestly the content in ESO almost not enough, especially if we talking about quests

now, this also probably contributed by the yearly "chapter" ,why ?, because even if they release new content yearly, the amount of content itself in it is barely enough, its too small compare to other MMO (in this regard WoW) that always released new expansion about every 2 years, but the content in it is humongous, this also the case with GW2, hell, i think GW2 handle expansion the best, they really put the "Expand" in "Expansion", put new system which very interesting, i still remember how good the new mount system in GW2

SeaGtGruff · May 2021

Skazur wrote: »

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

I haven't played any other MMORPGs and am not familiar with them, so can you explain what you mean by "their expansions usually last 2 years"? Is that how long it takes to play the content, or is that how often they come out with new content?

A WoW-AddOn typical comes with new levelcap, a new world to explore, filled with new factions to grind reputation for etc.
And during the months they release some raids, dungeons, even more factions and a narrative questline through all the content with a real final ending for the world.
What keeps players playing is the geargrind. You'd start in each xpac with green crap from quests and end up with absurdly powerlevels.

And in a the next xpac it begins anew.

Oh, my, that seems wearisome just thinking about it. And considering how much ESO's playerbase grumbles whenever there's a change that will require them to start grinding for something all over again, I can't understand why anyone would be happy with that kind of expansion philosophy.

xxthir13enxx · May 2021

To fast!? No idea what y’mean….

I’m still waiting for it to get out of beta testing

Baconlad · May 2021

I've recently come back to tamriel on xbox from pc. New account. New toon. I've completed base game and main story, greymoore and summerset. Working on cyrodiil quests an zone completion before New xpac. There's still all the small dlcs I've never done, alliance rank 50 and every dungeon on normal atleast. Oh yeah and two more whole expacs. Then...on to fishing!

So much content, I'm enjoying my mindless foray into eso pve compared to my structured pvp mindset I had on pc. So many great stories. The storytelling is only getting better.

Orion_89 · May 2021

Yuffie91 wrote: »

Does anyone else feel yearly expansions are a bit too fast? I love the constant new content but looking at other mmorpgs their expansions usually last 2 years. I'm sort of worried eso is going to run out of content/zones if it keeps up this fast rate of expansions? Not to mention it also makes eso more expensive than other mmorpg if you sub on top of buying an expansion every year(which costs as much as other mmorpg expansions do while those last 2 years).

I complete every new big chapter in 2-3 evenings despite of reading every dialog while questing, and do 100% about 1-2 weeks, so I would say It's not fast, It's almost often enough. If there was no events in between, then I would died from the content exhaustion.

Yuffie91 · May 2021

exeeter702 wrote: »

Yuffie91 wrote: »

Does anyone else feel yearly expansions are a bit too fast? I love the constant new content but looking at other mmorpgs their expansions usually last 2 years. I'm sort of worried eso is going to run out of content/zones if it keeps up this fast rate of expansions? Not to mention it also makes eso more expensive than other mmorpg if you sub on top of buying an expansion every year(which costs as much as other mmorpg expansions do while those last 2 years).

Your first failure is likening eso chapters to full expansions in other games such as wow or 14 which do operate on a bi annual release cadence.

Eso chapters, are FAR less involved and elaborate compared to the aforementioned expansion packs of those games.

With that being said, there is a burn out that comes with this type of content release style for eso, but it is far more nuanced of a discussion that goes into item and set bonus creep and a general situation where the available power options become unwieldy and difficult to balance. Mant people called this put years ago amd we are seeing on display today,l with zos either trying to hide the otherwise very obvious intentions to render older users obsolete or to try and implement more lateral power progression options for characters.

Another aspect of the issue is that there is a very easily identifiable problem formula where the more long term seasoned a player is in game, the less value they actually get out of a chapter release. And the cynic in me understands this to be by design, as catering to new players for which the game is a huge open slate of discovery of content, yeilds to most return in sales. The newer you are to this game, the more you become the target demographic.

But no, moderation is obviously an important thing to remember when indulging in mmos, but the chapter releases in eso are not comparable to traditional "expansions" of other games. You also have to consider the pricing format of eso compared to those games. Eso is not more expensive when you factor in the option sub, of which wow and 14 is sub required. The reason those games can get away with charging 40(ish) dollars for what is objectively more content is because their revenue stream is far less volatile and they can implement content patches throughout that two year time period.

Now, it gets tricky and not exactly easy to compare because if you are an eso plus subscriber you can spend your monthy stipend on dlc ownership but to keep it simple..

Do the math if you want. 2 year release cycle:
14 expansion($40) + 24 months × $13
Eso chapter ($40) x 2 + 4 dungeon dlc packs × $15 + 2 adventure zone dlc x $20

XIV = $352 per 2yrs
Eso = $180 per 2yrs
Eso(with sub) = $440 per 2 yrs

There is more to this obviously but just remeber eso isn't the same as those other mmos, for better or worse.

Ff14 is 9 euro's a month. And in wow you can pay for your sub with ingame gold and only have to spend money when an expansion comes out.

Orion_89 wrote: »

Yuffie91 wrote: »

Does anyone else feel yearly expansions are a bit too fast? I love the constant new content but looking at other mmorpgs their expansions usually last 2 years. I'm sort of worried eso is going to run out of content/zones if it keeps up this fast rate of expansions? Not to mention it also makes eso more expensive than other mmorpg if you sub on top of buying an expansion every year(which costs as much as other mmorpg expansions do while those last 2 years).

I complete every new big chapter in 2-3 evenings despite of reading every dialog while questing, and do 100% about 1-2 weeks, so I would say It's not fast, It's almost often enough. If there was no events in between, then I would died from the content exhaustion.

Yes the chapters do not take long to complete. Which is why I feel they are rushing over them. I would have liked to spend more time in Elseweyr but sadly I was done questing after a few hours. This led me to not buy Greymoor as I think 40 euro's is too expensive for a few hours of quests when I'm subbed on top of that..I did buy Blackwood though and looking forward to Greymoor being included in sub

. I feel that maybe if they thought "ok this expansion we have now is going to last 2 years let's put in a lot of quests and more areas to explore" rather then "gogogo we have to pump out another expansion in 11 months"

OtarTheMad · May 2021

Even if ZOS does keep going with this pace they will have content for at least another 10 years with all the areas we have left. If you google ESO Game Map you will see that we have still a lot, it looks like little but look at it this way: I did this in no real order just kind of put years with zones

2022- West Hammerfell, area between Hew's Bane and Alikr. Story DLC is area next to it
23- Morrowind- that far east stretch of land for both
24- Whiterun, story area is Falkreath area not in dungeon DLC
25- Black Marsh- area next to Blackwood, south of Shadowfen for both
26- Nibenay area of Cyrodiil, story area is Central Elsweyr
27- Jehanna area with another plane of existence as either chapter or story.
28- The Pale with the story being in Winterhold
29- Hammerfell/Cyrodiil area between Gold Coast and PvP Cyrodiil
30- Morrowind/Solstheim with another plane of existence
31- Part of Sea Elf island. One of the Summerset islands is story (there are 16 islands in Summerset Isles)
32- Black Marsh- area left with another plane of existence

So with that, we are well into 2032 and that plan only goes to another plane of existence 3 times (these could be anything from Daedric Realms, or Aedric realms or Soul Cairn, Battlespire, etc). They could easily spread this out with the usage of more Planes of Existence. We have been to only 2 I believe with Coldharbour and now Deadlands, just Daedric realms alone you have 16. For anyone confused when reading if I said "story being in" that just means story DLC.