I very much agree with you OP. I quit my ESO+ for the first time and got my FFXIV copy out again cause there is no Gearissues in FFXIV PvP. (PvP is completely seperated from PvE)

In ESO you have to Gear your char new every few months, if you have multiple chars, you easily have to dump millions of Gold. I stopped playing multichar and focussed on 1 but still i am soooooo tired of having to get new gear every time a bigger patch hits.

ESO also feels more and more like a job with things are being designed in a way that makes you think you HAVE to do them.
I prefer the Lore, the races and the setting of the Elder Scrolls Series but man, i also loved World of Warcraft to bits once and now i havent touched it in years because of to many bad decisions. Also the Crown Store: every few days we get stuff they want us to pay 20 bucks+ for but the Servers are 10 years old.

All in all MMO's are on a downward path, at least in my opinion. Every Time a new game gets out, i am not excited cause the first question that pops up in my head is: "How are they going to monetize-ruin this?"

FFXIV is somewhat fine for the moment, it got heavily casualized since it re-released wich made it a bit dull and it doesnt keep me buisy for long, but at least the Devs are honest and do whatever they can to please those who enjoy the current version of the game.

Coatmagic wrote: »

I have to ask:
Do you understand that Vylaera commented on U35 being balanced around the top tier dmg dealers (the 5%)
and how U35 is hurting the mid tier player base (which it is) and that you (Kevin) have (inadvertently?) just referred
to 95% of the player base as roleplayers?
Please clarify, because if that is how ZoS views their playerbase then there are more serious disconnect issues than anyone realizes.

I don't read it that way at all. He was responding to OP and what she described in her post and her gaming story. The use of "roleplayer" is completely innocuous. Nor is it in any way offensive. It was a nice post where the developer team engaged the community in a positive way. @Vylaera thanked him for the response and did not take offense either. I understand and share some of your frustration with recent changes but have to (respectfully) disagree with you on this one.

source: https://mmo-population.com/r/elderscrollsonline

We are having an impact on Zos. Look at the data, they are down from 400k to 200k, and look at the dates. The game is still healthy, but it has taken a hit. It seems a large number of people are taking a step back from the game, including myself. Looking at the last 5 years, this is a large decrease (5 year data not shown). If these trends continue, it will affect their pocketbook. Normally, I would say it is holiday time but the 5 year data indicates it is not. This data is also post Covid bubble, Feb 2020 to Dec 2021. I hope this gets their attention.

EdmondDontes wrote: »

Now days I feel like I'm playing a game that only looks like the game I started playing 8 years ago. PvP has been gutted and PvE is just a bunch of companions running around now. It's like it's not even the same game anymore in way too many regards.

This, I feel exactly like this. I log in and everything seems just like when I started. I engage in combat or read any of the skill descriptions and it's another game.

Lumsdenml wrote: »

PDarkBHood wrote: »

source: https://mmo-population.com/r/elderscrollsonline

We are having an impact on Zos. Look at the data, they are down from 400k to 200k, and look at the dates. The game is still healthy, but it has taken a hit. It seems a large number of people are taking a step back from the game, including myself. Looking at the last 5 years, this is a large decrease (5 year data not shown). If these trends continue, it will affect their pocketbook. Normally, I would say it is holiday time but the 5 year data indicates it is not. This data is also post Covid bubble, Feb 2020 to Dec 2021. I hope this gets their attention.

I'd be a bit skeptical of that source. ZOS have always been very guarded as far as their population numbers, and I'm not sure how accurate a 3rd party would be at keeping population numbers without the help of ZOS. I would trust Steam Charts much more as far as accuracy. It is 1st party information, and this shows a steady build from 2017 with a drop off from "the covid bubble". Steam also shows population flat in the last 30 days, so I don't think that this is nearly as big a deal to the overall population as some would like you to think.

Steam chart is going down with every day. Few days ago it was +600, yesterday it was +92 and today its +12. The real drop will be seen after Midyear Mayhem event as this is one of most liked (and hated) events and after U35 goes live.
But yeah, it wont be that big if u look at overall population of the game. It will be big if u look only at PvP and endgame community. 1k out of 16k is maybe not that big of a deal for some ppl (for me it is tho as those are mainly players who played for years) but 1k out of maybe 2k? Thats a half of that community....
We need to wait until this goes live for real numbers tho, but it doesnt look good anyway.

There are eso discord servers that have evolved into FF discord servers over the past few weeks. At this point, I don't know if even a complete reversion of u35 could stop the trend. It is too late, ZOS missed their chance. All trust is lost.

W0lf_z13 wrote: »

Lumsdenml wrote: »

PDarkBHood wrote: »

source: https://mmo-population.com/r/elderscrollsonline

We are having an impact on Zos. Look at the data, they are down from 400k to 200k, and look at the dates. The game is still healthy, but it has taken a hit. It seems a large number of people are taking a step back from the game, including myself. Looking at the last 5 years, this is a large decrease (5 year data not shown). If these trends continue, it will affect their pocketbook. Normally, I would say it is holiday time but the 5 year data indicates it is not. This data is also post Covid bubble, Feb 2020 to Dec 2021. I hope this gets their attention.

I'd be a bit skeptical of that source. ZOS have always been very guarded as far as their population numbers, and I'm not sure how accurate a 3rd party would be at keeping population numbers without the help of ZOS. I would trust Steam Charts much more as far as accuracy. It is 1st party information, and this shows a steady build from 2017 with a drop off from "the covid bubble". Steam also shows population flat in the last 30 days, so I don't think that this is nearly as big a deal to the overall population as some would like you to think.

id agree with lums on the trustworthyness of a 3rd party reading.... downside to steam info though is that its only for a portion of the population since a lot of people including myself do not play from steam so it wouldnt take us into count

Hey, sir! Yeah, it's a small sample size, but I think it's the best we have and probably somewhat representative of the overall population...
And, honestly, it just looks like that chart hasn't had any new data since 7/20. Population exactly the same for a week? Unlikely.

W0lf_z13 wrote: »

Lumsdenml wrote: »

PDarkBHood wrote: »

source: https://mmo-population.com/r/elderscrollsonline

We are having an impact on Zos. Look at the data, they are down from 400k to 200k, and look at the dates. The game is still healthy, but it has taken a hit. It seems a large number of people are taking a step back from the game, including myself. Looking at the last 5 years, this is a large decrease (5 year data not shown). If these trends continue, it will affect their pocketbook. Normally, I would say it is holiday time but the 5 year data indicates it is not. This data is also post Covid bubble, Feb 2020 to Dec 2021. I hope this gets their attention.

I'd be a bit skeptical of that source. ZOS have always been very guarded as far as their population numbers, and I'm not sure how accurate a 3rd party would be at keeping population numbers without the help of ZOS. I would trust Steam Charts much more as far as accuracy. It is 1st party information, and this shows a steady build from 2017 with a drop off from "the covid bubble". Steam also shows population flat in the last 30 days, so I don't think that this is nearly as big a deal to the overall population as some would like you to think.

id agree with lums on the trustworthyness of a 3rd party reading.... downside to steam info though is that its only for a portion of the population since a lot of people including myself do not play from steam so it wouldnt take us into count

definitely not representative of the whole population, but it is a good cross section, as players are still players regardless of where they play, so the steam chart can be representative of player attention and retention broadly for the entire game.

Youyouz06 wrote: »

_Zathras_ wrote: »

Vylaera wrote: »

Just to wrap up my thoughts, this game is extremely frustrating and I, and many others, are tired of it. Between sledghehammer changes, damage reductions without adjusting content, constant developer micromanagement of things that don't need to be micromanaged, arbitrary changes, and arbitrary design philosophies. It's a perfect storm all at once with U35 and I, and a lot of other people, are just exhausted with it.

I totally hear you. My breaking point was U33. It is everything that you summed up quite thoroughly, as well as the degree of blatant, glaring contempt towards the community that ended that toxic relationship.

At the end of the day, you are the master of what you do. Your loyalty is to you, not a business entity that just wants your money.

The gaming industry is lacking someone with foresight at the moment.
Perhaps with some luck, a person who wants to put the product first will appear again and we'll at least have 10 years of 'good gaming'.

No Man Sky.

Lumsdenml wrote: »

PDarkBHood wrote: »

source: https://mmo-population.com/r/elderscrollsonline

We are having an impact on Zos. Look at the data, they are down from 400k to 200k, and look at the dates. The game is still healthy, but it has taken a hit. It seems a large number of people are taking a step back from the game, including myself. Looking at the last 5 years, this is a large decrease (5 year data not shown). If these trends continue, it will affect their pocketbook. Normally, I would say it is holiday time but the 5 year data indicates it is not. This data is also post Covid bubble, Feb 2020 to Dec 2021. I hope this gets their attention.

I'd be a bit skeptical of that source. ZOS have always been very guarded as far as their population numbers, and I'm not sure how accurate a 3rd party would be at keeping population numbers without the help of ZOS. I would trust Steam Charts much more as far as accuracy. It is 1st party information, and this shows a steady build from 2017 with a drop off from "the covid bubble". Steam also shows population flat in the last 30 days, so I don't think that this is nearly as big a deal to the overall population as some would like you to think.

I think they are guarded about numbers because they have been dropping steadily.

they have a habit of making people who dont cater to the meta not fit in as well..
la and ha nerfs is just more fuel to that fire..

It appears that ever since the Greymoor launch there has been a negative shift with the culture of ESO that has been continuing to digress little by little.

Vylaera wrote: »

Caribou77 wrote: »

I really appreciate the clarity and thoughtful detail OP provided here, which seems to resonate with many long-time ESO players.

Virtually every response I’ve read about U35 states that these changes are making content more difficult for casual/new players, which is the exact opposite of the dev team’s stated goal for U35.

They must have known that lowering dps and slowing down/spreading out the damage over much longer time, as well as reducing damage of light and heavy attacks, would make it more difficult to complete content (dungeons, trials, etc.).

So, what could another goal/motive be?

Doubling the tick time of all DOTS and removing scaling from light and heavy attacks will significantly reduce the number of calculations the server needs to make per second.

Maybe corporate told them to find solutions for the chronic lag that has plagued ESO that do not involve investing in new server architecture and recoding to save expense.

Does this seem plausible?

Why else foist big changes that no player wants?

If it is for performance reasons then the team is in a pretty impossible situation.

Do they say "we're making these changes for performance reasons" and then incur the wrath of the players demanding they fix the servers rather than gut the complexity of the game's combat?
Or do they say "We would like to make these changes for accessibility etc." and still incur the wrath of the players for gutting the complexity of the game's combat?

It's a lose/lose for the combat team. Seems like if the reasoning is for performance that they'd try literally anything else first than mess with the good formula they have.

I really am still hopeful they rethink their plans to change how combat works..... the combat is what has kept me here playing since 2015 on a daily basis.... currently I main a MagCro for pve and i LOVE the constant keeping track of timers and things while watching for mechanic queues... it keeps my adhd busy .... the thought of having to use a spammable just ... meh

Lumsdenml wrote: »

Vylaera wrote: »

Lumsdenml wrote: »

Vylaera wrote: »

Lumsdenml wrote: »

Vylaera wrote: »

. I, on the other hand, the other 95% of the playerbase, cannot do that. So now my off meta build that I was able to have decent fun with in some midgame challenging content, am now locked out of that due to sledgehammer balance philosophies from the combat team,

Just curious, but what is your dps on the pts? You said you are around 50k on live, what is your parse on pts?

I'll be honest, I haven't tested on the PTS yet because both the classes I play, Sorc and Warden, git hit the hardest, and I was just really apathetic about it that I didn't even want to see what state they were in.

50k on my ice warden, 52k to be exact but only after dummy humping for like 2 hours trying to optimize as best as I could.

I was able to reach 80k on my magsorc current Live patch with crystal weapon, which was very nice and the first time I've gotten that high. But that was ignoring my RP preferences and just optimizing best I could. Realistically my dps on my magsorc is about 60k since I hate pets.

I was holding out hope for week 3 that the light attack changes would be reversed and that sorc and warden would be brought back to life, but neither of those things happened. I may log in to do some tests but the apathy has set in for me. Plenty of people are there testing now that I trust to honestly relay the extent of the damage that was done to damage.

You know, it is possible that your dps will not change as much as you think. Everyone's playstyle is different, and you won't really know how these changes will affect you until you, personally, test your character in that environment.

That's true. However, half my damage on my warden came from DOTs, which were nerfed into the ground. Another big chunk was from weaving LAs, which also were nerfed into the ground. U35 basically targeted specifically everything that I use to source my damage and nerfed it.

My sorcs also use DOTs, and of course, big chunk of damage from LA weaving.

So, let's say that your DPS is nerfed by 20% (which is the higher end of what I've seen people reporting) and you go from 50k to 40k. What content can you not do with that? I'm pulling 30-35k dps and can do all vet dlc dungeons (never tried vet trials, so no idea) and you said you don't do trials. I'm just unsure how these changes will effect what you do in the game.

It's very difficult to tell due to how many variables have changed, but I did do a parse on the pts just now.

>trial buffs were buffed
>my gear is better, gold quality armor and jewelry, using the perfected master's staff, which I don't have on Live, only nonperfected
>oakensoul also got nerfed, but possibly actually buffed for the purposes of trial dummy parsing? Dummy gives majors which were previously redundant with the ring, now the ring gives minors which stack with the dummy?




Very hard to tell given the changing variables but it's def a damage nerf which puts me even lower than I was.

Parasaurolophus wrote: »

Jazraena wrote: »

Parasaurolophus wrote: »

Hawco10 wrote: »

Agree with the OP. I have played since beta. I’m casual and I have zero issue with end game players who are really good at this game. Good for them I say.
It’s like ZOS devs are saying “You think you know what you want, but you don’t, we do”
I’m at my limit with this game. I really am. Tired and fed up of the constant tinkering with my quality of life in game. Why can’t you leave us alone to play the game ? Instead, every few months, nerf this, change that, drop this, add that.
Honestly, enough is enough.

Can you give an example of what changes you were affected by?

Mate.

Every. Single. Major. Change. They often affect thematic off-meta builds far harder than meta setups, in particular if some seemingly irrelevant niche set that you build around suddenly has it's entire functionality changed.

Could you please give an example? As a main damage dealer, I don't see big changes in sets. Yes, and getting the necessary sets today is not a problem at all.

a lot of RP/theme builds tend to focus around more on the skills, not the gear

and the skills are whats getting hammered right now