I've been a fan of The Elder Scrolls ever since TES4:Oblivion came out. TES3:Morrowind and TES5:Skyrim cemented it for me, although I never really dug into the lore and actually knew very little about Tamriel and the rest of Nirn. While playing Oblivion, the provinces of High Rock, Skyrim, Morrowind, Hammerfell, Black Marsh, Summerset Isles, Valenwood, and Elsweyr were just some unknown regions beyond Cyrodiil which were occasionally mentioned in books or conversations between NPCs. Playing Morrowind gave me a glimpse of the world outside of Cyrodiil, and playing Skyrim opened up a bit more of Tamriel to me, but I was still largely in the dark about everywhere else.

I tried to play TES:Arena back when it was rereleased by Bethesda as a free download, but gave up after maybe 10 minutes of sheer torture due to not understanding the controls and not liking the graphics. I even put the games aside for a few years as I played other games and focused on other interests. Then I decided to purchase the Game of the Year editions of Morrowind and Oblivion on Steam in 2016 because I'd started playing Skyrim again (and because I didn't have all of the expansions for Oblivion yet), and purchased the Special Edition of Skyrim in 2017 to get all of the Skyrim expansions. I also grabbed the free download of Arena again in 2016, learned the controls, and came to appreciate that game as well.

After completing a couple of playthroughs of Arena, I decided to investigate the rest of the series, I saw advertisements for TESO:Morrowind and decided to get TESO. It turns out that I'd heard about it back in 1994, but back then I was firmly against the idea of online games, especially if they required having to pay a monthly fee just to play a game I'd already purchased in a store. Since TESO no longer required a subscription, I decided to grab TESO:Morrowind while it was on sale, along with the Guilds & Glory DLC bundle. I think Horns of the Reach was just out, too, but I didn't get it because I was still very much against the idea of the Crown Store; I also resisted getting Clockwork City when it was released a few months later. However, it didn't take long before I was addicted to TESO, so I eventually decided to buy a Crowns pack during a sale so I could pick up Horns of the Reach, Shadows of the Hist, and Clockwork City. I even bought the Collector's Editions of the first four DLCs when each of them went on sale-- to get the extras that came with them-- despite already having them via the Guilds & Glory bundle.

For me, each game in the series has reinforced my desire to play the other games, and I basically wanted to be able to travel from one game's province to the provinces of the other games. Arena helped open up the whole of Tamriel to me, although it left me dissatisfied due to the bland sameness of each province as imposed by the limitations of its game engine and the restrictions of the technology (i.e., RAM and storage space) of its day. TESO has done what Arena could not-- let us visit each of the provinces of Tamriel (and beyond), and give each of them a unique and exciting character and flavor. I know that some players don't particularly care for the environments or storylines of certain zones and provinces, but I love all of them. I can spend hour after hour just running around the zones without any definite plans, because I think the game world is so nice to look at and I have so much fun fighting mobs and bosses.

There is still a huge amount of content that I haven't completed, let alone touched, particularly dungeons, arenas, and trials. The base-game dungeons which can be completed by a single player are a lot of fun for me, and I've completed a few of the other dungeons-- and even one of the trials-- with groups of other players, so I do expect to get to the rest of them eventually, but there's no rush as long as I'm still enjoying everything else. I'm not much good at PvP, but I do enjoy going to Cyrodiil and the Imperial City, and it would probably be very easy for me to just focus on Cyrodiil full-time were it not for everything else I love doing in the game.

I'm actually playing TESO a bit less these days, not because I've grown bored with it or don't enjoy it as much, but because I finally started playing TES2:Daggerfall and have become hooked on it. I'm also continuing to play Arena, Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim, and played Battlespire for a while before getting stuck on the second level. But that doesn't stop me from playing TESO; it merely cuts into my daily ESO playtime a bit.

One of the things I absolutely love about TESO is how it connects the other ES games together. It's more than just being able to roam from one province to another at will; it's also the way that specific monsters or animals reappear in TESO. To give an example, there are Wormmouths in Craglorn and Vvardenfell. Um, okay, whatever. Except, the only other ES game that's ever had Wormmouths in it was The Elder Scrolls Travels: Shadowkey, a game for the Nokia N-Gage which only a few ES fans have probably ever played (I certainly haven't). And better yet, TESO has locations from Shadowkey which haven't appeared in any other ES games, such as Earthtear Caverns and Loth'Na Caverns. Players who've never played Shadowkey might not even be aware of those connections, but it's just one example of how TESO connects with the other games in the series. One could say that TESO is like a love letter to ES fans.

@SeaGtGruff - Daggerfall is a GREAT game! I would actually have added it to my "stable" of TES games I still play, except for one rather large problem (for me) - I can't play in first person, and Daggerfall doesn't have anything but....

I guess I need my optometrist to come up with something in the way of glasses to "fix" my vertigo issues so I can play in FP....

Hmmm. I wonder how hard he'll laugh....

OtarTheMad wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

@SeaGtGruff - Daggerfall is a GREAT game! I would actually have added it to my "stable" of TES games I still play, except for one rather large problem (for me) - I can't play in first person, and Daggerfall doesn't have anything but....

I guess I need my optometrist to come up with something in the way of glasses to "fix" my vertigo issues so I can play in FP....

Hmmm. I wonder how hard he'll laugh....

Have you checked out Daggerfall Unity? It looks pretty good, basically upgrades Daggerfall to the Unity engine.

Also, some of the devs that worked on that game moved on and they are currently making another game with others called Wayward Realms. Honestly, the game sounds great.

I did try Daggerfall Unity. It's still FP, and my vertigo just can't deal with FP at all - yes, the graphics are actually much better, but it's the FP that's a problem. I'll check out Wayward Realms though!

@Brakkish Thank you for a positive thread!

I'm here because I love the story.

And I love that there is a wide variety of activities to choose from. One minute I can be running through the Infinite Archive fighting a Marauder and the next I can be placing fluffy colorful pillows in a house, and enjoying both equally.

I love the community. Just yesterday someone in zone chat was commenting that ESO has a more friendly and helpful community than most other MMOs.

And I love the good guilds I've have the pleasure of being part of, and the good friends I've made along the way.

There is more but these are things that stand out to me.

Because of Elder Kings II mod for Crusader Kings III. Also based on BGS recent track record including Fallout 4, TES VI might be mediocre at best and abysmal at worst.
It is the best game right now to get Tamriel lore. And this game looks really beautiful on 4K ultra settings with reshade.

I'm still here because:

-The game is awesome, and no other game is even close to ESO.
-The game has sooooo much content, there is always something to do.
-The game keeps geting systems(and content) constantly added to it: latest examples are Tales of Tribute and Infinite Archive.
-The voice acting is superb, I can't go back to a game without it.
-Housing is awesome!
-Outfitting is quite good!
-Game plays very smooth, without any crashes/disconnects/etc. (I know some players experience these)
-Often fun events, especially community events(though they need to find a better way to do these after AwA).
-Mostly a great and helpful community.

My pain points:
-PvP based balance: Has destroyed so many things I like, from fun abilities getting nerfed into oblivion, to fun sets getting nerfed into oblivion, and as a tank main always getting the short end of the stick due to these nerfs mainly being survival/tank nerfs. Every single time!
-Always short on character slots/storage slots/inventory slots. So no way to keep/use new and existing outfits and constumes, or create new character looks/ideas without deleting the old ones. (No, I do not want to create another account and not have access to everything I have collected over the years.)

My absolute and maybe quit points:
-Dungeonfinder speedrunners/fake roles. This actually locks me out of that content completely, as I am not playing the game to have terrible experiences. Has already caused me multiple times to consider quitting.

Am still here because I need a game to chill solo aside of my main and ESO is perfect for that.

For me, to be in ESO gives me a feeling of full freedom: I don't care about achievements and don't feel any sort of pressure. I do only that what I feel to do based on mood of the moment. I couldn't have that elsewhere than in ESO and I'm thankful for that.

I find ESO very enjoyable and relaxing.

Can't get into Cyrodiil after 13:00 EST without a 30+ minute queue now, so the game is only available to me half the day now. ZOS has shut me out of the part of the game I play for half the hours in the day.

Treeshka wrote: »

Feels like i am doing Aetherian Archive.

Jokes aside. There is one main reason Escapism.

Are you like the firstmages, seeking power?

WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE??

I'm not.
I'm currently piping in another mmo.

Just checking forums for info about global reveal to see if any improvements to PvP beyond lowering population caps in Cyro.
--3 banners war-- presently feels almost like 2groups vs 2groups vs 2groups, not war.

/shrug not that it really matters. I've played enough mmos in my time that I do not have pure fanboy loyalty to any one company, I just go where it is --fun to me--.

BECAUSE OF YOU

Story, characters, exploration, the amazing artwork.

And, of course, the friends I made along the way.