Not necessarily in this order:

1) Subclassing
2) The 2025 content pass
3) The marketing team cannot be described without using bad words
4) PTS feedback being ignored

Subclassing should have been tested & balanced more before it was released. Read that again. And then read it again. Let it soak in, ZoScrosoft. Because subclassing should have been tested & balanced to a deeper degree before it was released. It feels like it was rushed out the door, and judging by so much of the other content released in the last couple of years, I think it was.

I want to like subclassing, I really do. On paper it could be great. In its current state, it needs attention.
My roster of 14 characters that I put time, effort & materials/sets into building only to now play about 3 of them -- and that's to save on armory slots for the most part. I could narrow that down to one or two -- based on race alone, and race is minor in this iteration of ESO.

And races? Ugh...maybe another time...

The 2025 content pass was low value for the price. If you do this again in 2026, you're going to have a problem. That was a mess. Your spreadsheets might tell you something else, but 8000 Seals of Endeavor didn't stop the bleeding. Use your monitors!! The answer is right in front of you. Write off the 2025 content pass as a mistake and move on.

The marketing team. We all know it's you. I can't even get frustrated with the devs anymore. It feels like the marketing team couldn't be more out of touch with the playerbase and the game. It feels like you don't "get" ESO or its players. At. All.

All that aside, I'd like to get on my soapbox to cry out that more players need to get on the PTS and give feedback. I would like to see more variety in playstyles & skill levels on the PTS. Since it's "up to us" as a community to participate in the PTS thing, we need more people willing to get involved and provide feedback.

...but here's the onion; that becomes a pain point when the team(s) ignore some of the most important PTS feedback from valued creators in the community. Big oof.

There's a downswing in content creators for ESO, so take the hint; start listening to them. Most of them (not all) are more in touch with the game than corporate is. Why does it feel like corporate is completely blind to this?

It feels like ZOS gave up on the few ESO content creators that were/are out there. And to those hanging in there, probably by a thread, thanks -- and we (the players) hope you never stop doing your thing.

I love this game, and I love all my friends that I play with -- ESO is what brought us together.
It shouldn't be the thing that drives us apart (and right now that's only because we can't all agree on an alternative lol...)

Come on, ZOS. Do a thing.

I play a lot less than I used to. The most general thing I can say is that the writing has declined. Like many I feel that Elsweyr was the last great expansion and it's been a gradual slide since then. The stories are not as engaging as they used to be. There is too much agenda pushing without regard to actual quality. I've also noticed a decline in voice talent. Why do so many of the women sound like squeaky teenage girls now?

Zerith-var is the best thing they've put in the game in ages. His story was engaging, the character has a great personality and voice actor. I subscribed again just to get him and was not disappointed. Whoever wrote or developed him should be given more work.

whitecrow wrote: »

I've also noticed a decline in voice talent. Why do so many of the women sound like squeaky teenage girls now?

Or that one new follower that sounds like a Temu Bart Simpson. Awful. Just awful.

I quit again last summer because full build PvP is beyond repair, past the point of no return. I log in a few times for Vengeance PvP "tests" every 3 months. I'll play more when it goes live.

Finedaible wrote: »

One issue I see with current chapters (I guess we should call them major updates now?) is how previously cherished characters from the base-game zones like Eveli, Jakarn, and Darien (and even Razum-dar, Vanos siblings, Stibbons, Skordo, etc.) have significantly devolved from their original appearances. The two major offenders are Eveli with Blackwood chapter and Jakarn with High Isle; There was absolutely no conceivable reason why either of those characters should return for the chapter they were brought back for. They just do not behave at all like they did in the original zones. I often found myself why Jakarn of all people was even privy to such sensitive information regarding the peace talks, and I half suspected him to be collaborating with the enemy, which would have been a crazy plot twist all things considered.

I also think bringing back Lyris and Sai Sahan was one of the worse writing decisions in ESO ever since it devalued all player agency in that great base-game story.

Skordo's voice is an absolute joke now. Did he suffer a battle injury to his head?

Agreed about bringing Companions back. Fortunately neither of them were ones I ... chose in the earlier story.

Pixiepumpkin wrote: »

What caused my wife and I to quit? Subclassing.
What will bring us back? Remove subclassing.

Is it the system itself or zos's incredibly poor management of balancing it that is the problem?

For one thing, bugs.

For months I and a few others have had mouse acceleration issues with no fix.

I have no interest in playing the game when I can't even look around without the camera flipping out on me.

ToddIngram wrote: »

My #1 pain point by far is customer relations.

ZOS has the PTS and all these threads asking for feedback, but they won't even revert the god awful jabs animation after years of complaints. They went with 2 team BG's in spite of being told what a disaster it would be. They changed almost nothing with U35, which drove off project vitality and most of the end game PvE trial community that was creating most of the tutorials and offered training for those willing to put in the time. Then there is vengeance and subclassing, which sure look like efforts to take ESO to official maintenance mode.

All of these shoot yourself in the foot actions by ZOS could have been avoided if they listened to their customer base. Then there is the layers and layers of "customer service" AI interactions it takes to deal with an actual live person at ZOS and how heavy handed the AI moderation is in game and on this forum.

For me it all comes back to customer relations that got us where we are today. It feels like the end of the movie when we're all on shore waving goodbye as the ship we got here on sails away into the sunset.

It's like ZOS decided to totally ignore customer feedback when they released U35. It's been a pretty sharp decline in player population since then. And I'm just flabbergasted that ZOS has said they're going to refuse to support normal live Cyodiil going forward. What happens when a company says they're not going to support the product they're selling? .....

Cooperharley wrote: »

...What's the point of investing in a game that's heading downhill knowing it may be wasted? Would you invest in a stock that's been progressively going down and down in value knowing the people in charge are steering the ship in that direction? No you wouldn't. You'd invest elsewhere.

That's the slippery slope we seem to be facing. Less engagement means less profit, resulting in less investment by the company.

Ei8htba11 wrote: »

Cooperharley wrote: »

...What's the point of investing in a game that's heading downhill knowing it may be wasted? Would you invest in a stock that's been progressively going down and down in value knowing the people in charge are steering the ship in that direction? No you wouldn't. You'd invest elsewhere.

That's the slippery slope we seem to be facing. Less engagement means less profit, resulting in less investment by the company.

If that's how this all plays out - then fine, it's on them. They've had a decade of feedback and funding from players. During that time, we've had countless unwanted changes, PR fiascos, streamers pushed away, class rep programs ended, and countless bugs and performance issues. All packaged with lacking communication, until this year.

They want to fund the fixes now - cool, go ask Microsoft for funding. I don't fault anyone for saying, "I'm not spending a dime until things are better". Personally speaking, I've played the game for almost a decade, and I'm not confident that our revenue is being used wisely or towards projects I would enjoy. Increasingly thin releases and increased monetization don't exactly invite me to keep spending. If they're worried about engagement - which they should be - then decouple marketing just a little and focus on the lacking rewards. I don't see that happening.

2026 is their year to fund their own improvements and show us they can truly listen. If 2026 somehow proves to be better than the last few years, I'll return and be the big spender I once was. If it's another year where the season pass is just quests in existing zones, and the main content throughout the year is events, then I'll play the bare minimum, if at all. If it's a year where they don't pace changes based on PTS feedback, then that slippery slope's going to accelerate.

Same thing that always makes me quit: the trading system.

The thing I most enjoy in ESO is housing. But to feed the habit I need to buy things. Since I won't join a guild, I effectively can't sell my stuff so the game becomes an endless gold generating grind and eventually I just thing "yeah, this is a waste of my life for not much reward".

(And, yes, some people will say "just join a guild". I won't, and I know I'm very much not alone. So I just quit the game instead. People are different and complaining that not everyone sees things the same way doesn't really get any of us anywhere.)

Friends to play with. They all left after the hybrid BS build meta was introduced.

moderatelyfatman wrote: »

whitecrow wrote: »

I play a lot less than I used to. The most general thing I can say is that the writing has declined. Like many I feel that Elsweyr was the last great expansion and it's been a gradual slide since then. The stories are not as engaging as they used to be. There is too much agenda pushing without regard to actual quality. I've also noticed a decline in voice talent. Why do so many of the women sound like squeaky teenage girls now?

Zerith-var is the best thing they've put in the game in ages. His story was engaging, the character has a great personality and voice actor. I subscribed again just to get him and was not disappointed. Whoever wrote or developed him should be given more work.

Bad writing and bad new content is bad, but it doesn't stop us from going back and enjoying the old content.
However, bad combat and gameplay does.

Oh god, 1000% times this. I decided to go back to do some old content and it doesn't matter where I go. The recent animation changes have made me stutter, clip, freeze, etc. even in old content I enjoy. For the first time in a long time I stopped logging in

Ive been asking for a drive through Taco Bell in Cropsford for years so i can get my chilitos while not having to dismount my Dwarven Wolf. They refuse... so I stop... boundaries.

moderatelyfatman wrote: »

Bad writing and bad new content is bad, but it doesn't stop us from going back and enjoying the old content.
However, bad combat and gameplay does.

Still they can't keep the playerbase interested for years with old content alone.