What is happening to the players levels in this game, and was ESO really ever advertised?

NeoXanthus

I have been playing sense the beta and I see less players every day. I am a member of three player guilds one is very small the other two are quite large 100+ members. The larger guilds a few months ago were very active more than 30+ different people on at any one time. It is crazy how many people are just not playing anymore. Is Zenimax doing anything to retain subscribers at a minimum, or doing anything to get new ones? One of my friends I have played a different computer game many years ago with did not even know this game existed until I turn him on to it. At first that tells me he is living under a rock however I know this is not the case. In contrast I personally remember when Skyrim first came out the advertisement campaign for that was awesome. It is was crazy what people even outside the TES gaming community were saying “I took an arrow to the knee” and “fus ro dah.” Just recently at work I have a picture of my home gaming machine as my work desktop background. Anyway one of my co-workers asked me what games I play. I told him right now I play only one game and it is “ESO”. He asked me what is “ESO.” I told him Elder Scrolls Online. He then asked is it like Skyrim? Then I thought to myself I found out about ESO pre beta through the Skyrim Nexus mod community news. Not TV or movie theater advertisement like I did when Skyrim came out. This got me thinking was this game ever really advertised?

Gedalya

*Yawn*

The attrition of guilds is not unique to ESO; I've moved between a number of guilds as the activity of players in them wax and wane. Overall though ESO is doing fine; growing in fact if numbers published by third-party organizations are to be believed.

NeoXanthus

Gedalya wrote: »

*Yawn*

The attrition of guilds is not unique to ESO; I've moved between a number of guilds as the activity of players in them wax and wane. Overall though ESO is doing fine; growing in fact if numbers published by third-party organizations are to be believed.

Outside of my own personal guild’s attrition rates there are just fewer players in general. I really started to notice this in the past three weeks.

Armitas

Come to think of it the only reason I know about ESO was a friend told me it was coming out while I was playing Lotro with him. He linked me a trailer vid of the gameplay and I was hooked.

Other than that I would have never known about the game besides my subscription to game informer magazine.

Sighlynce

You know what, you're right... I found out the same way you did through Skyrim Nexus mod community . I remember watching tv when the Skyrim commercial came on for the first time - I was sold !! It became my favorite game ever ! Bought all the DLC s and became fan of the modding community. If Skyrim came out with more DLC, I'de probably buy it ! If ZOS is relying only on gaming sites and the internet to sell ESO they are definitely missing a large community of potential gamers. I think they would be suprised at how many of the pc single rpg players have never even thought about investing in an mmo but would if they knew about ESO.

Cazic

I haven't noticed any decrease in players really. There was some discussion about how if you're in the Cadwell's silver and gold portion of the game you may see less people in the regular questing zones. Many are doing PvP, or in Craglorn, or have chosen not to pursue those areas of the game in order to keep them fresh for alts... something like that.

So I don't think there's any issues with the overall population. But, I do agree the game has lacked good advertising so far. Would be cool to see an ESO commercial or something out there to draw more players in.

Nestor

NeoXanthus wrote: »

I have been playing sense the beta and I see less players every day.

One thing to keep in mind, if your in the VR Ranks doing Caldwells Quests, then you will see less people. In the Leveling Zones, the populations seem down a bit from the first month, but still quite a few people in the banks. I use the Leveling Zone Banks to gauge the numbers on line, not the rosters in a Guild.

WraithAzraiel

I charge you to go to Reaper's March if you're a Dominion player. You'll have to swim through the crowds to move.

stefan.gustavsonb16_ESO

The population thins out pretty strongly the farther into the VR zones you get. Later zones in Cadwell's Gold feel almost empty. In the lower level zones I still see plenty of players, though. Did you by any chance move into veteran ranks a few weeks ago?

I can still find help with dolmens and world bosses from random passers-by in VR1-5, but the zones are definitely less populated than level 1-50. In VR6-10 I often ask in vain for help in zone chat. I have learned to expect to solo everything, except for some world bosses which are simply too tough. In those cases, I either ask my guild mates for help, ask around more persistently in zone chat, or just leave it. I'm somewhat of a completionist, but I won't lose any sleep over a missed world boss or anchor here and there.

Dagoth_Rac

Guild leaders need to be very proactive with purging inactive players and recruiting new players. Players come and go. That is the nature of a subscription game. Even the most successful MMO would look like it is bleeding players if the Guild leaders are not actively managing it.

Basically, the question isn't, "Does my guild have less active members than in April?" The question is, "Can we not find new players to replace the ones that left?".

LunaRae

I was in Halls of the Dead (EP - Eastmarch) the other day getting skill point + skyshard on my V14 and it was LOADED with people grinding / questing. This zone is so dated if you played the game back on launch and yet there are still people in here. When I see dead zones to me (dated) but still see players that makes me think the game is doing just fine.

As someone else said guild memberships change over time and unless you're in a really active/strong guild with strong leadership you can find it becomes very quiet quickly and you need to move on.

thesilverball_ESO

Cazic wrote: »

There was some discussion about how if you're in the Cadwell's silver and gold portion of the game you may see less people in the regular questing zones.

Agreed. I see tons of folks in the starter zones. I just finished Cadwell's Gold and it was empty of people, especially the last zone. It was a lonely place. I'm guessing folks are either grinding in Craglorn or have rolled new alts.

Aeratus

It's pretty clear to me that player levels are nothing like they were back in May or June.

I've been playing through low level zones on an alt, and I've had to solo the dolmens because there was nobody else around.

Reaper's March doesn't have the population it used to be. Back in May, there were multiple instances of reapers (that is, if you were grouped with someone you wanted to trade with, he could be invisible due to being in a different instance). I've not seen multi-instancing in Reapers in a long time.

Craglorn main town is less populated than it was back in August.

zinoviy22b14_ESO

I just resubed last week and picked up on my VR2 nightblade. I don't see many people in zone but when I ask for public dungeons or world bosses 3 to 5 people show up. I friended some and they whisper me when they need help and vice versa. I'm now heading into VR6 stuff.

Gillysan

It's funny how things are being called dated in a game that is barely over 6 months old.

The answer is yes, a lot of people have left, but the question is incomplete. What kind of people left? One guild I'm in came in swinging hard for pvp, about 200 members. Practically all gone now, they all rushed to max level. The handful of people that still log on are still leveling up.

jeevin

Gillysan wrote: »

It's funny how things are being called dated in a game that is barely over 6 months old.

The answer is yes, a lot of people have left, but the question is incomplete. What kind of people left? One guild I'm in came in swinging hard for pvp, about 200 members. Practically all gone now, they all rushed to max level. The handful of people that still log on are still leveling up.

This is the reason none of my friends play any more. We wanted to pvp and when we realized we needed to reach VR10 to be on the level, one by one everyone left. Raising the cap twice already has killed any idea they will come back.

Now we have the Champion grind to look forward to. The balance is bad enough now, just wait until players grind their way to victory. New players won't stand a chance. Serious pvp needs balance to be successful and this game just can't get it right.

Tapio75

There are some pre expansions stuff going on at WOW... i think many are there doing that. I think it is temporary and after Draenor has been done players will ccome back.

Resueht

Also, remember schools are back in session now/midterms are around the corner. I'm sure that a large number of players have some sort of school commitment.

I notice there is a rather large increase in players on weekend too, so not sure if you are comparing weekday numbers or weekend numbers.

Bloodfang

Tapio75 wrote: »

There are some pre expansions stuff going on at WOW... i think many are there doing that. I think it is temporary and after Draenor has been done players will ccome back.

There won't be much increase sadly..Not because I doubt they will come back from WoW, but because I doubt many people left ESO for WoW anyway..

Perhaps minority did, it's just that WoW is so numbed down for the past 5 years, and the next expansion is just making it even worse.. I wouldn't count WoW in top 3 mmos currently..

But hey they still have 7mil subs (less than 3mil probably in the west). They will continue to do well as long as they have so dated graphics..

JessieColt

Also keep in mind that in the USA school is now back in session. Summer months will usually have more people on line during the day (USA time zones) because of those who are out of school but not working the same hours as school hours.

Starting back in August I began seeing more people on line during the evening and later hours (USA) than prior to that.

As the general population levels, you will begin to see more of those higher level people in Craglorn or PvP, or on with lower level characters in the starting zones as they level up alts.

Months ago Craglorn wasn't available, so the only way to level was through Cadwell's Silver and Gold.

Now there are other options.

Users can be in 5 guilds, so comparing guild population isn't a really good way of determining the player base.

It is very possible that people in multiple guilds are seeing the same players age out passed 1-2 months offline.

If you could only ever be in 1 guild, and 50 guilds are reporting large numbers of aging out players, then yeah, there might be a concern.

Only Zos has access to the account numbers along with concurrency (the average number of players online at any given time), and they do not release those numbers since they are a privately held company.

pecheckler

Just want to say that the only thing keeping me from re-subscribing (again, for the 3rd time) is the lack of players. Each time I have resubscribed since June I log in, see maybe 4 people at the bank and 2 at a crafting station, and then maybe 1 other player in 30 minutes of questing in VR 3-6 zones. That is just unacceptable to me when 45 days after launch there were literally dozens of players in and around the banks and crafting stations and always enough players to complete boss and dolman objectives, even off-peak hours.

These types of population problems have always plagued MMO games, and I thought ESO was going to truly fix that with megaserver tech. Instead it doesn't appear to have helped, and then ironically guild wars 2 implemented the same megaserver design for zone instances and it brought about new life to a game previously suffering from empty zones.

I just hope that the decision to silo the Xbone and PS4 editions of ESO is reversed and we can play with others cross-platform as FF14 has so flawlessly made happen. The population problems would be resolved by the large influx of console players. And please let native controller support for PC happen while they are at it. Pinnacle Profiler only works so well. A relaxing story oriented MMO like ESO is perfect for play with a controller on the sofa.

Gillysan

jeevin wrote: »

Gillysan wrote: »

It's funny how things are being called dated in a game that is barely over 6 months old.

The answer is yes, a lot of people have left, but the question is incomplete. What kind of people left? One guild I'm in came in swinging hard for pvp, about 200 members. Practically all gone now, they all rushed to max level. The handful of people that still log on are still leveling up.

This is the reason none of my friends play any more. We wanted to pvp and when we realized we needed to reach VR10 to be on the level, one by one everyone left. Raising the cap twice already has killed any idea they will come back.

Now we have the Champion grind to look forward to. The balance is bad enough now, just wait until players grind their way to victory. New players won't stand a chance. Serious pvp needs balance to be successful and this game just can't get it right.

I didn't like how the level cap was being raised as well. However, I'm v7 (v6 last time I was in pvp) and I think there is a lack of understanding of pvp here and what vet ranks actually do for your character. You can still pvp without being max level. Understanding your classes possibilities and limitations is extremely productive. Despite all the bugs, performance Cyrodiil issues, broken skills, and imbalance that gooey stuff between your ears is your best weapon.

Your friends simply lacked understanding and imagination. Same with mine of course.

jeevin

Gillysan wrote: »

This is the reason none of my friends play any more. We wanted to pvp and when we realized we needed to reach VR10 to be on the level, one by one everyone left. Raising the cap twice already has killed any idea they will come back.

Now we have the Champion grind to look forward to. The balance is bad enough now, just wait until players grind their way to victory. New players won't stand a chance. Serious pvp needs balance to be successful and this game just can't get it right.

I didn't like how the level cap was being raised as well. However, I'm v7 (v6 last time I was in pvp) and I think there is a lack of understanding of pvp here and what vet ranks actually do for your character. You can still pvp without being max level. Understanding your classes possibilities and limitations is extremely productive. Despite all the bugs, performance Cyrodiil issues, broken skills, and imbalance that gooey stuff between your ears is your best weapon.

Your friends simply lacked understanding and imagination. Same with mine of course.

[/quote]

I agree that you can pvp and have fun even at VR1. But players that are serious about pvp want to be on a level playing field. They want to hit cap, get geared and max their character with their ultimate build for their play style. There is a sizable difference from VR1 all the way to VR14 from one skilled player to another.

Put it this way. If you come to ESO for the pvp, you smash out 1-50 and go straight to pvp expecting to be essentially capped and ready to min/max your build. Then realize ahhhh noooooo, I have to smash out VR1 to VR10. Then the cap gets raised even before you get there. The game just becomes too much work to get to where you want to be. It's not worth the effort when there are other polished games that you can jump straight into.

Nerouyn

NeoXanthus wrote: »

Is Zenimax doing anything to retain subscribers at a minimum, or doing anything to get new ones?

There are things working against them here.

Eg. the faction / race lock.

With the upcoming spellcrafting changes I know someone who would like ESO. But they'd almost certainly want to play a race outside my faction. So I probably won't say anything.

I had trouble enough with that on my own. After trying each faction a bit I found I really liked the Pact - love Glenumbra - but don't care for their race options. The Breton racials are nice but humans are a bit vanilla for my tastes and orcs... too smelly.