population

Dazin93

It's to be expected that there would be a population bump as most people that left the game would probably try it again since they didn't have to pay a subscription anymore. However, if they left after Sept 14 they will have logged back into a game with no new content added since, and a game that is still lacking in depth and quality end game experience.

I don't expect many of those players to stay around long, and quite frankly do not anticipate an influx of new PC players either. In PvE terms there isn't much of an end game to pursue and it certainly doesn't provide many rewarding or meaningful items. In PvP, lag is still a major issue and the gap between character power/capability will continue to widen due to the Champion system discouraging any new players.

It's ironic that some people are so opposed to XP potions that favor people who are willing to pay to have a chance of being competitive, yet are advocates of a system that rewards people for exploiting grind spots and maintaining an insurmountable advantage.

Ashigaru

spoqster wrote: »

Every serious gamer I have ever discussed ESO with is waiting for Imperial City. Small scale PVP done right will be the money maker for this game.

It's not without reason that Dota and Counter Strike are so high up, and that Fifa is so popular. People enjoy fair, quick and easy to get in/out games.

They need kill counters, leaderboards and leagues. Yes, leagues. In an MMO like ESO meta gaming and player skill result in huge power divides. With PVP leagues everyone can play competitively at their skill level.

If they don't release Imperial City or some other kind of Arena type PVP content, this game will never be as popular as they hoped.

So you think that a que system for a pvp arena thing would actually work, they cant even get the LFG que to work. Even if they did put arenas in people would be so pissed about the que it would be a moot addition.

driosketch

How ever many there are, there are way too many parked in Rawl. Takes forever to zone in there at times.

twev

marcel.hirschb16_ESO wrote: »

Well, the game is in the steam Top10 sellers for 8 days now. And is the only game besides GTA5 which is full priced and without a sale-offer in this list. Steam population got up from approx. 1,5k to about 5k and is growing daily.
Steam reviews have been overwhelmingly positive since the start of TU (63% positive before; 88% after TU)

Make up your own mind, but the game is more than healthy, I would even say crowded, in the last days when you look at the cyrodiil queues and the population in the pve areas.

That doesn't mean the game is healthy, or that the buyers are devoted enough to stick around while Z sorts out the servers and lags.

Many of those people are buying the game for a combination of 2 reasons:
1.) They trust the brand hype based on prior experience, or perception from the adverts they saw around launch (which is why many of the people who bought it at launch did).
2.) The expectation of playing the game they envision described in #1 - with no monthly subscription fee. They waited until now, and here they are.

Many people invested in the game at launch along with a 3 or 6 month prepay sub, and bailed anyway. Some of these new players will have less invested, and less reason to become loyal subjects when the servers hit the fan.

Seraphyel

IcyDeadPeople wrote: »

If the profile pages are sequential, it appears there are at least ~4.9 million accounts for this forum. Not entirely sure, but I believe you need a copy of the game for that.
.

No, Beta accounts. Beta had 5 million players. Release game didn't even reached more than 1 million. Funny, isn't it?

Zershar_Vemod wrote: »

Allegedly there were "Around 1 million subscribers" before TU launched.

That's just daydreaming. Get serious. Before TU there were less than 15k players playing Cyrodiil, there were nearly no campaigns on maximum players.

RainfeatherUK wrote: »

Some of you game bashers are awfully negative, the numbers are nowhere near that bad. The game is actually doing well atm infact! Alot of people hyped for console and many anxious redditors/forums and console gamers waiting to go.

That's just wrong.

Look at some websites selling the console version, the preorders are nearly non existing. It's rank +50 on presales on PS4 / XOne on most Amazon websites right now. That makes it one of the least popular games on those consoles.
______

As already mentioned, it was obvious that the first weeks of TU are filled with new players and returning players. The issue here is they won't stay.

Moiskormoimi

Seraphyel wrote: »

IcyDeadPeople wrote: »

If the profile pages are sequential, it appears there are at least ~4.9 million accounts for this forum. Not entirely sure, but I believe you need a copy of the game for that.
.

No, Beta accounts. Beta had 5 million players. Release game didn't even reached more than 1 million. Funny, isn't it?

Zershar_Vemod wrote: »

Allegedly there were "Around 1 million subscribers" before TU launched.

That's just daydreaming. Get serious. Before TU there were less than 15k players playing Cyrodiil, there were nearly no campaigns on maximum players.

RainfeatherUK wrote: »

Some of you game bashers are awfully negative, the numbers are nowhere near that bad. The game is actually doing well atm infact! Alot of people hyped for console and many anxious redditors/forums and console gamers waiting to go.

That's just wrong.

Look at some websites selling the console version, the preorders are nearly non existing. It's rank +50 on presales on PS4 / XOne on most Amazon websites right now. That makes it one of the least popular games on those consoles.
______

As already mentioned, it was obvious that the first weeks of TU are filled with new players and returning players. The issue here is they won't stay.

All of this times ten. It's superficial inflation. There's nowhere near the amount of people in the starting zones as there was at launch, but there are considerably more then say, a month or two ago. But it won't last as there isn't enough incentive to make them stay. The Crown Store will have to start going towards p2w because of financial need. Which in that case, people should just wait for Black Desert. It has everything you want and more from an mmo, and due to the Korean nature of the game, it will likely have a p2w cash shop as well.

Rosveen

Seraphyel wrote: »

IcyDeadPeople wrote: »

If the profile pages are sequential, it appears there are at least ~4.9 million accounts for this forum. Not entirely sure, but I believe you need a copy of the game for that.
.

No, Beta accounts. Beta had 5 million players. Release game didn't even reached more than 1 million. Funny, isn't it?

This really is telling. Beta accounts went over 4 mln, the newest accounts (March 24th) are at 4.9 mln. But honestly, I think it's a pretty good score considering that almost all of us playing at launch joined during beta - and many people who bought the game later also still had their old beta accounts.

Majic

Out Of Steam

Others have mentioned it, and I agree that Steam is probably not a very useful indicator of ESO population, but for anyone interested, here's a link:

Steam Charts: The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited

There has definitely been an increase, but the sample size is still pretty small, and I suspect that even with a Steam offering, most new customers are buying the game directly from ZOS, so make of it what you will.

Subjectively, both my brother and I, who reactivated our subscriptions in February after the B2P announcement was made, have noted what seems to be a definite uptick in player activity at population centers since March 17, but given the nature of megaservers, that doesn't necessarily mean anything definitive.

Still, there does seem to be a correlation, and I hope ESO's appeal continues to grow.

psufan5

Troneon wrote: »

I doubt it's even hitting 10,000-30,000 players active at same time.

Probably more like 5,000-8,000 active players. If that.

Probably dropping like a stone with all the performance and lag issues in PVP.

hahaha this guy.

Genomic

amber_picchiottino_ESO wrote: »

Seraphyel wrote: »

IcyDeadPeople wrote: »

If the profile pages are sequential, it appears there are at least ~4.9 million accounts for this forum. Not entirely sure, but I believe you need a copy of the game for that.
.

No, Beta accounts. Beta had 5 million players. Release game didn't even reached more than 1 million. Funny, isn't it?

Zershar_Vemod wrote: »

Allegedly there were "Around 1 million subscribers" before TU launched.

That's just daydreaming. Get serious. Before TU there were less than 15k players playing Cyrodiil, there were nearly no campaigns on maximum players.

RainfeatherUK wrote: »

Some of you game bashers are awfully negative, the numbers are nowhere near that bad. The game is actually doing well atm infact! Alot of people hyped for console and many anxious redditors/forums and console gamers waiting to go.

That's just wrong.

Look at some websites selling the console version, the preorders are nearly non existing. It's rank +50 on presales on PS4 / XOne on most Amazon websites right now. That makes it one of the least popular games on those consoles.
______

As already mentioned, it was obvious that the first weeks of TU are filled with new players and returning players. The issue here is they won't stay.

All of this times ten. It's superficial inflation. There's nowhere near the amount of people in the starting zones as there was at launch, but there are considerably more then say, a month or two ago. But it won't last as there isn't enough incentive to make them stay. The Crown Store will have to start going towards p2w because of financial need. Which in that case, people should just wait for Black Desert. It has everything you want and more from an mmo, and due to the Korean nature of the game, it will likely have a p2w cash shop as well.

Yes, and this worries me. I want this game to succeed, but ZOS just aren't creating a product that is going to be able to compete in the long term with other games. They seem to be focusing on the details, which is laudable, but missing the big picture. And that is to make it fun and engaging to the widest audience possible. Now, you die hards who've stuck with them since the beginning may say that you find the game engaging. I'm sure you do, but the thing is the majority didn't, as evidenced by how poorly the game did over the last year, and with the current direction of the game (e.g. near endless CP hamster wheel) most people will leave the game and it will be back to the poor population of a few months ago, but without any sub revenue. The company has to make money of course, so this means their other revenue source will be ramped up like crazy - the cash shop.


I'd suggest the biggest fans of this game need to start being a little less resistant to ideas that have been repeated again and again, like an auction house and informative UI, if you actually want the game to ultimately succeed. You may not like, even hate some of the ideas, but you need to realise that these ideas will appeal to a larger crowd. Your choices, if you want to stay with this game, are these; a failing game with a runaway cash shop, or you need to embrace some major changes that you may find unappealing, in order to breathe life into this game and make it a thriving, long-lived world.

And ZOS needs to add more fun content, simple as that. Dynamic events, special in-game giveaways and competitions, and of course more actual content that is fun and has more substance than just grinding or quest chains.

fromtesonlineb16_ESO

Seraphyel wrote: »

IcyDeadPeople wrote: »

If the profile pages are sequential, it appears there are at least ~4.9 million accounts for this forum. Not entirely sure, but I believe you need a copy of the game for that.
.

No, Beta accounts. Beta had 5 million players..

ZOS only ever said they had had 5m APPLICANTS, they never said as far as I know 5m actually got into the test, I seriously doubt they could have done otherwise the horrible server load problems that happened on launch day and in the weeks after would've crippled the beta test sessions entirely.

fromtesonlineb16_ESO

Uviryth wrote: »

spoqster wrote: »

Every serious gamer I have ever discussed ESO with is waiting for Imperial City. Small scale PVP done right will be the money maker for this game.

It's not without reason that Dota and Counter Strike are so high up, and that Fifa is so popular. People enjoy fair, quick and easy to get in/out games.

They need kill counters, leaderboards and leagues. Yes, leagues. In an MMO like ESO meta gaming and player skill result in huge power divides. With PVP leagues everyone can play competitively at their skill level.

If they don't release Imperial City or some other kind of Arena type PVP content, this game will never be as popular as they hoped.

[...]

Amazingly, the world's largest MMO with a mix of PVP and PVE is largely centred around 'arenas'. YOU may not like them but "is what kills mmorpgs" is clearly laughable. WOW's player numbers even at the levels they are now are way higher than ZOS can ever dream of.

Whether a large number of players actually prefer large-scale PVP is a debate worth having, however ZOS have proved entirely incapable of delivering server tech. capable of supporting it so we'll have to wait for some other MMORPG to see.

EVE shows massive online battles are possible but of course the tech that does that kills FPS and other aspects which while not being a massive problem in the kind of battles in that game would make PVP in games like ESO impossible.

[Moderator Note: Removed moderated quote]

Seraphyel

RainfeatherUK wrote: »

God I hate everything you said soooo much I would like to punch a kitten right now.
Arenas ans Smallscale-BS is what kills mmorpgs. They are incredibly dull an boring and only promote the newage-McDonaldscrowd of Shooterkiddies and other Losers.
....
I´m sorry if that was too rough, its just I hate Arenas and planned PvP in mmorpgs with a burning passion. I´m so happy that *** isnt in ESO.

You may be right but ESO is lacking diversity. Cyrodiil is just catering to a tiny amount of players although it just seems to be great (but isn't).

The huge siege battles are something for hours to play but short time (PvP) content is just missing.

fromtesonlineb16_ESO wrote: »

Uviryth wrote: »

spoqster wrote: »

Every serious gamer I have ever discussed ESO with is waiting for Imperial City. Small scale PVP done right will be the money maker for this game.

It's not without reason that Dota and Counter Strike are so high up, and that Fifa is so popular. People enjoy fair, quick and easy to get in/out games.

They need kill counters, leaderboards and leagues. Yes, leagues. In an MMO like ESO meta gaming and player skill result in huge power divides. With PVP leagues everyone can play competitively at their skill level.

If they don't release Imperial City or some other kind of Arena type PVP content, this game will never be as popular as they hoped.

God I hate everything you said soooo much I would like to punch a kitten right now.
Arenas ans Smallscale-BS is what kills mmorpgs. They are incredibly dull an boring and only promote the newage-McDonaldscrowd of Shooterkiddies and other Losers.
....
I´m sorry if that was too rough, its just I hate Arenas and planned PvP in mmorpgs with a burning passion. I´m so happy that *** isnt in ESO.

Amazingly, the world's largest MMO with a mix of PVP and PVE is largely centred around 'arenas'. YOU may not like them but "is what kills mmorpgs" is clearly laughable. WOW's player numbers even at the levels they are now are way higher than ZOS can ever dream of.

Whether a large number of players actually prefer large-scale PVP is a debate worth having, however ZOS have proved entirely incapable of delivering server tech. capable of supporting it so we'll have to wait for some other MMORPG to see.

EVE shows massive online battles are possible but of course the tech that does that kills FPS and other aspects which while not being a massive problem in the kind of battles in that game would make PVP in games like ESO impossible.

Arenas are awful but they are a big part of WoW and its success. Even all those tournaments around competitive PvP are just very popular.

Necrelios

spoqster wrote: »

Every serious gamer I have ever discussed ESO with is waiting for Imperial City. Small scale PVP done right will be the money maker for this game.

It's not without reason that Dota and Counter Strike are so high up, and that Fifa is so popular. People enjoy fair, quick and easy to get in/out games.

They need kill counters, leaderboards and leagues. Yes, leagues. In an MMO like ESO meta gaming and player skill result in huge power divides. With PVP leagues everyone can play competitively at their skill level.

If they don't release Imperial City or some other kind of Arena type PVP content, this game will never be as popular as they hoped.

This plus making any current PvP content stable enough to actually play could go a huge way in regaining or expanding the player base. MMO's are about having fun interactions with other players and building a sense of community. I have so many fond memories built from MMO's in the past, learning to PvP with my small groups by dueling, and riding into battle together knowing your team has tour back. These are aspects which draw many players and I think it is really worth ESO's looking at this.

Nightscar

The way I look at it is..
Who cares lol
If your having fun does it really matter what the population is?
If I personally cared about the population of a MMO I would go play WoW lol
Sit back and enjoy it man!

Liea

Attorneyatlawl wrote: »

Lag has been improved vastly as of the 2.0 patch and improved upon in the incremental ones since.
1-50(vr1), then 13 more to get to vr14 aka level 63).

Do you mean to say lag has 'improved' in that it has increased or that it has declined? Because if you really believe that lag has gotten less after patch 2.0, then you obviously must be playing a different game than I do - and most other players in-game and on the forums.

Drachenfier

ESO needs to do whatever SWTOR did...that game has been (at least on my server, Harbinger) very heavily populated since it went F2P.

nimander99

1mirg wrote: »

Steam wrote:

http://store.steampowered.com/stats

CURRENT PLAYERS
3,772

PEAK TODAY
5,117

Based on that, the game isn't doing so well. I been keeping track on the current player count and they lost quite alot of active player after the first month of launch.

FF 14 ARR is only 1k more than ESO on that list, so i think its safe to say we can infer absolutely ZERO value from this list as ARR has over 3 mil subscribers.

Steam is for Dota, everyone knows this, the rest is Dota players taking a break and trying other games

Necrelios

Nightscar wrote: »

The way I look at it is..
Who cares lol
If your having fun does it really matter what the population is?
If I personally cared about the population of a MMO I would go play WoW lol
Sit back and enjoy it man!

Without population, there is no income. Without income, the company dies, and the game dies. Without the game, you can't play anymore no matter how much you enjoy playing with yourself.

Rosveen

fromtesonlineb16_ESO wrote: »

Seraphyel wrote: »

IcyDeadPeople wrote: »

If the profile pages are sequential, it appears there are at least ~4.9 million accounts for this forum. Not entirely sure, but I believe you need a copy of the game for that.
.

No, Beta accounts. Beta had 5 million players..

ZOS only ever said they had had 5m APPLICANTS, they never said as far as I know 5m actually got into the test, I seriously doubt they could have done otherwise the horrible server load problems that happened on launch day and in the weeks after would've crippled the beta test sessions entirely.

Look at account numbers. I joined in February and I'm 3 mln, last beta accounts are above the 4 mln mark, but it's hard to say who was in beta and who in early access because exact join dates aren't showed.

whvice

just to remind some debaters here, there is a reason why 5 million players appeared during beta but not 1 month into launch until to date, and also why ESO was forced to drop the monthly subscription model.

& in my humble opinion this is all thanks to people who keep blindly defending things that can be improved on by spewing "EVERYTHING IS GREAT U JUST DUN KNOW THE GAME" to critics

nimander99

EVERYTHING IS GREAT U JUST DUN KNOW THE GAME