I would just like to start and stay that this is not a rant about how bad this game is. I have played this game since release. I have also kept a close eye on the forums and have seen a varying range of comments from, no problems, I have some but the game is still good, this game is a pile of......
Last night I started to think where I would place this game. I have been playing games for at least 40 years, I still remember my parents getting me a spectrum 48K with the rubber keys. MMO's are something I have played for the last 10 years and all of them have had their own irritating quirks. With this game I started of without any real issues. Over the last couple of weeks though the issues have been surfacing, long loading times, lag, combat issues, issues with quests. I am not sure if this is a reason but it does seem a lot worse when I hit the veteran levels. Any way I thought I would put some issues and thoughts for some constructive debate. Some of them may have already been discussed and apologies for that.

Is the game to linear?

I am still unsure on this one. When I first started I enjoy the questing and the vary nature of them was quite refreshing. I also liked the way you could stumble on quests as you explored. The main quest lines are structure and feel linear, but isn't that the case with most MMO's. My take on this is the feeling of linearity. The other MMO's I have played before are the same but I never got the feeling of being push down a route. I think it may have been the feeling of not really knowing the route to take, it does seem quite obvious in EOS. I know all MMO's you level through completing areas but this time it feels forced and not organic. Plus the feeling of some solo play taking a bigger roll over PVP can generate a more linear feel. This is not to say solo play is not good, in fact a prefer this. The problem is for this to work, in my eyes, is how open world your game is. This is where ESO has some issues with its level of how open it is. I also think having three factions which are at war with each other but on one continent can limit the open world environment. You have almost guaranteed a structure path and how the areas have to be. This is based on story arc and the limitation of just having one area for PVP.

Should the game been like Skyrim?

Yes and no in my view. The feeling I wanted was that complete feeling of an open world, where you can do everything. I thought we could get this from ESO but I still have not got that feeling. I stated in the above about wandering and stumbling on quests which is ok but there is no feel of openness. When an area is a complete its as though you have completed a level and that's it.. Even to the point where you can solo instances. I know other MMO's can be like this but to get a feel of openness maybe some of the quests should have been area wide. The feeling I get is the quest structure is just to get you to the next level. This is a reward but not in the sense of the game feeling truly open world. If the quests had links to others areas and not just to the one you need to get to the next level. If PVP had been included and some other form of quest structure for areas not in your faction that would have help also. I just feel being told I am disguised so the other faction will not notice me, again feels structured.

Crafting

I think the crafting is good but does anyone feel any achievement with it. I just feel that all I need to do is deconstruct to level and collect crafting items depending what area I am at. Due to the fact that there is no crafting skill tree or you get better by training it feels sort of empty. In fact it becomes more of a grind than an experience. Again, this could also make the game feel less open world but more level and area based.

PVP

I have enjoyed the way PVP has been, but that is coming from someone who prefers solo. I like the way you can just drop in, when it loads, to the PVP portion of the game and play PVP. For me it has been good, I find PVP hard sometimes, especially grouping, just for the fact I don't want to mess up. This game allows me to PVP not in a group but it manages to make me feel part of a group. I do believe the game though should have included PVP in all areas. Like I said in the above comments, this makes for a more open world.

In reflection I am still playing ESO and enjoying it. There are issues which need to be solved. Should they have been on release? I have to say yes. I want this game to succeed and everyone will have varying views on what they want from the game. I just want a stable game which I get a feeling of satisfaction from. I want that feeling of "Oh God, I thought I had only been on this for an hour". Even though I enjoy the game, I haven't had that moment, I turn off because I am tired or a little bored. Should I say that, maybe but its the truth. I also think they need to get there act together currently there is a lot of fire fighting. Cannot see how they can release an update which can cause even more issues. Surely they must see this is not helping them or the community at large. I know how bad releases can be, due to the fact I used to work for the UK Civil Service IT Department. They had some rip roaring releases and that was for State Software.

I see a number of posts calling for heads, have we got to that point yet, I am not sure. We certainly have got to the state where they should be getting together to discuss all these issues, and maybe bang some heads together. In fact I thought that might happen before the release of the update. Maybe it hasn't yet...!