May be coming back, would like a as close to neutral view from a long term player if possible.

Alexandrious

Just a few questions, I know, you all probably get these every other page. But I would like to know the state of the game how it is since over 9 months from now. As well as how long it takes to grind a champion point if that extra leveling system is still in the game compared to when it was first released and then updated to now. As well as a point in the right direction for a Dragon Knight Tank build or at least, pointers on how they are made now since it was very different back then. Thank-you for your time.

starkerealm

If you have remaining Silver and Gold content... not too bad. If you don't, grinding CP is not going to be fun.

As for the game as a whole... I'm a bit more disillusioned. Everything went to the IC. Vet 15 and 16 gear requires some serious grinding (v16 gear takes between 100-150 mats), and the V15/V16 mats are (basically) IC exclusive. So if you don't like PvP, or have issues with getting into it, due to load times? Yeah there's some problems. Also the two new motifs are both gated behind heavy grinds.

iTzStevey

Champions points are gained quite easily, cyrodiil quests will net you atleast a few a day. As for DK tank buildsyou shoukd look up lefty lucy,he seems to be doing pretty well on his DK. If I'm honest though....don't come back,the game is a right state at the minute and you would get more fun out of watching paint dry.

Hope that helps

Swindy

I'm not DK nor tank nor Pvp.
Having said that I've killed 3-4 DC Pvp in IC in one day, even though I'm in the buff campaign for my Pact (sly little TV farmers lol), and I'd not even seen any in Cyro in weeks.

CP points seem to come at 1 every 4 hours to me just solo Pve & farming in IC or Cyro, much slower in Craglorn...they're certainly not a grind at present. I'm not in any groups so I'm not getting named bosses or the new gate treasure in IC either.

Alexandrious

starkerealm wrote: »

If you have remaining Silver and Gold content... not too bad. If you don't, grinding CP is not going to be fun.

As for the game as a whole... I'm a bit more disillusioned. Everything went to the IC. Vet 15 and 16 gear requires some serious grinding (v16 gear takes between 100-150 mats), and the V15/V16 mats are (basically) IC exclusive. So if you don't like PvP, or have issues with getting into it, due to load times? Yeah there's some problems. Also the two new motifs are both gated behind heavy grinds.

Silver and Gold content? If I recall, before my partner raged quit cuz she was playing a Templar and at the time Templars were broken, specifically with two handers not connecting attacks, we were past the main storyline...the Nord side I believe, she was a Nord, I an Imperial, we were in some instance solo dungeon at the Redguard lands, we were both VR4. I heard grinding to max champion points would take over 20k hours of game time straight grinding if you had no exp boosts, is this true?

Alexandrious

iTzStevey wrote: »

Champions points are gained quite easily, cyrodiil quests will net you atleast a few a day. As for DK tank buildsyou shoukd look up lefty lucy,he seems to be doing pretty well on his DK. If I'm honest though....don't come back,the game is a right state at the minute and you would get more fun out of watching paint dry.

Hope that helps

oh that sucks =/ I been a elder scrolls fan since Arena, I was hoping they would have made the game alot better by now.

starkerealm

Alexandrious wrote: »

Silver and Gold content?

Cadwell's Silver, and Cadwell's Gold. Basically the overarching wrapper quests for playing the second and third alliances. So, if you're Pact, then Covenant quests are Silver, and Dominion's are Gold.

Alexandrious wrote: »

I heard grinding to max champion points would take over 20k hours of game time straight grinding if you had no exp boosts, is this true?

Should be closer to 3.6k hours, spread out over about 10 years. Which... yeah, that's not really more reasonable. Sorry.

I mean, I honestly want to be more positive, but between the ramp up in grinding, and the horrific load times I'm experiencing, it's kinda sapped my enthusiasm.

a.skelton92

iTzStevey wrote: »

Champions points are gained quite easily, cyrodiil quests will net you atleast a few a day. As for DK tank buildsyou shoukd look up lefty lucy,he seems to be doing pretty well on his DK. If I'm honest though....don't come back,the game is a right state at the minute and you would get more fun out of watching paint dry.

Hope that helps

Why would that help? In what universe is that helpful in any way??

To be honest with you OP, come back and give it a shot. I am having lots of fun, IC is is incredibly fun, as for CP etc it is actually quite easy at the mo, even for the likes of folk like me who are not on jobseekers allowance and housing benefit like the rest of the population seem to be. And to be fair, expect a bit of a grind.. As is the way of ANY mmo to reach the top. Why wouldnt it be bit of a struggle? All those that actually ENJOY the game appreciate that you have to actually put effort into progression.

How can someone who plays a game possibly say to someone else "dont come back the game is a right state at the minute and you would get more fun out of watching paint dry".. Doesnt exactly make his statement very credible does it? HE is still playing the game so it cant be that bad, same goes for anyone that sits there saying "its crap".

The forums is where all the pessimists and the lazy lurk, so if you want any kind of encouragement then this place is the worst place to seek it because your seeking answers from the likes of people who think there should be an insta 50 option.

Paradox

The devs have stopped caring about much of anything, from what we've seen recently with their handling of the community... You know... Not saying anything about anything or doing anything to fix issues that the patch gave us.

Definitely go back for a bit and feel it out. Might be fun for you, but the game is going downhill fast. Wouldn't invest too much.

lathbury

I say come back try the new content I never enjoyed cyrodiil but have had a blast in the IC. also if you havent tried dragonstar arena thats a blast and the 2 new vet dungeons add some much needed challenge. However its not perfect there are still class balance issues and the new gear and motifs are a grind to obtain.

tiamak

a.skelton92 wrote: »

The forums is where all the pessimists and the lazy lurk, so if you want any kind of encouragement then this place is the worst place to seek it because your seeking answers from the likes of people who think there should be an insta 50 option.

^^ This! (Apart from the "insta 50 option" thingy.)

Not all people on the forums are grumpy, a lot give helpful comments, post decent builds, are constructive etc. While this suggests that there are at least some people who enjoy the game and like to exchange with others about it, the ratios seem to be biased in the following sense: given that a player posts in the forums, it is more likely that she or he does not enjoy the game than it is without the precondition. This is not a good basis for a neutral assesment.

Personally, I like the IC patch although I get owned in PvP on a regular basis. I'd say, you should just check it out for yourself and aim at a personal oppinion. Here are some thoughts:

If you're up for the highest gear available in the game, be prepared to spend a lot of time collecting either mats (for crafting v16) or trophies and currency (for reward sets). If you're content with v15 gear, you'll get to this much easier. That being said, some guild mates already have all the things to craft/buy their v16 gear, but simply cannot decide with all the new sets.

If you like poker, roam around the IC with a lot of Tel Var stones in your pockets. You'll love the thrill of this. And soon enough, you'll find out how good your hand really was.

If you're a tank, there are some massive changes with ressource management. As with the overall oppinion on the patch, the forum community is split with respect to those changes. But, there are some tank builds that seem to work and be fun to play. Deltia's website, among many others, is a very good starting point to develop your own build.

At the end of the day, like I said above, you won't get around making your own mind about the patch. The base game changes are available to you even if you don't own the DLC. Apart from buying access to the IC in the crown store, you could also just subscribe for a month, check out the whole DLC, and then decide whether to stay or not.

ChaosWotan

I whine a lot here in the forum, but will still recommend the game to others. Outdoors Cyr is the same. The new graphics, however, is great. The game is beautiful now. No other mmo like it.

When ESO learns from the mistakes of IC and get a better reward system which encourages pvp, the game will be even better. Until then, if you like pve, find an IC campaign controlled by your own faction, and farm to you puke.

The Axe campaign will probably get much more pvp action when the other campaigns end.

DK got a stam regen nerf, but DK and templars are very good. Sorcs too. NB is still L2P.

Many of the old-timers continue to play, and that indicates that we think the game will evolve and get better with new DLCs.

Alexandrious

Ill have to think on this, to get that best gear, IC you said? Sounds like a open PVP environment that has to be controlled in some way, im not sure how it works, but from what you explained, it instantly reminded me of the nightmares that was the best endgame gear during the release months of Aion, where you had to farm in PVP contested zones for many, many hours to have a chance in getting the best PVE armor.

I love PVP, but dont like being forced to, or even avoid it while farming in a open pvp area and from the looks of it, their is some sorta risk to it, to be able to get the best gear. My partner will definitely not like that either.

Ill have to think on this....seems like a mistake from the devs.

ChaosWotan

If you like pve, IC is the game for you now. There are so many new campaigns that you can find one controlled by your faction. Treat the occasional non-npc as a boss or something. After hours of grinding it is refreshing to discover a non-npc in a campaign dominated by your own faction.

IC is mainly a disappointment from the viewpoint of pvp. Many who only played pve before now enjoy IC. They like the surprising element of pvp lite. IC at its best is a great rush. Besides that it's probably one of the worst pvp expansions ever, if Im allowed to exaggerate a bit.

ESO is catering to so many playstyles and interests that you have to check out yourself if you like it now. Perhaps you will love it.

I rather play this game than other mmos, but on the other hand: im spending time on this forum here, not IC...

melianos

You can also try the Justice System, thieving and reselling stuff

I like it, not enough to only do that, but spending an hour now and then stealing stuff is quite fun.
By the way, you only get experience when you sell stuff stolen, if you get caught before selling and give the items back you don't get anything (but trouble).

Jitterbug

iTzStevey wrote: »

Champions points are gained quite easily, cyrodiil quests will net you atleast a few a day. As for DK tank buildsyou shoukd look up lefty lucy,he seems to be doing pretty well on his DK. If I'm honest though....don't come back,the game is a right state at the minute and you would get more fun out of watching paint dry.

Hope that helps

I'm sad to admit that this is pretty true... Although I will say this:

If you are coming back to dip you toes in the water, level an alt, and take your time, the game is every bit at beautiful and awesome as it always was.
If you come back to speed to v16 and grind out the new stuff it's, well, a little harsh. I actually did play the IC on my main for a bit but decided to reroll to my old main (vr1), level him up and hope that once I get there they will have fixed a lot of the stuff.

Cherryblossom

Alexandrious wrote: »

Just a few questions, I know, you all probably get these every other page. But I would like to know the state of the game how it is since over 9 months from now. As well as how long it takes to grind a champion point if that extra leveling system is still in the game compared to when it was first released and then updated to now. As well as a point in the right direction for a Dragon Knight Tank build or at least, pointers on how they are made now since it was very different back then. Thank-you for your time.

As I have been backwards and forwards into this game since launch I can understand why you left 9 months ago.

It would help if you let us know the reason why you left, it may be the reason for leaving are still in the game!

Things are on a gradual improvement, some bad things remain and some bugs you will remember. But overal the game is much better than it was 9 months ago.
Leveling is much easier with increased XP and Lower amount required for Vet ranks. They have improved the mobs and made them slightly harder, but generally it's still fairly easy to PVE.
PVP would seem to of improved, not much lag, but this could be the IC effect where people are distributed in different areas, so we now don't get quite as big battles in Cyrodill!
With the latest changes people are still finding their feet when it comes to Builds, but the usual cookie cutter builds are starting to be produced, DK's are not quite as OP as they once were but still incredibly strong - on this note it would seem that the balance is a lot better now, but this may be due to the Damage reductions in PVP...

LameoveR

"May be starting serious business, would like meticulous analysis from a long term business analyst if possible."
Homebrew analysts to the rescue!

terrordactyl1971

It's free to play, so just put the disk in and try it yourself.

Far better than asking the opinions of the many trolls, whiners and people with agendas on these forums. Of course, at least 50% of people here are reasonable adults.

Alexandrious

I tend to like playing a Tank build in both PVE and PVP, would DK still accomplish this optimally, or would Templar fare better?

Slurg

No mandatory sub anymore, so giving it another try costs nothing but your time.

They've nerfed DKs significantly in the past 9 months tho - you might want to try another class out.

Alexandrious

Hmm....

tactica

My first thought is if you quit before, you'll quit again. Sorry, but just being honest. Was it really just your friend leaving that made you walk away?

Game still has bugs, different ones, but bugs nonetheless. ZoS is still changing things, tweaking, tuning and the 1.7 change for Imperial City was a huge sweeping change... all characters had to respec... abilities changed, PVP damage / shields / healing changed... instead of seeing zerg fest parties in Cyrodil, same groups moved to Imperial City to Cyrodil is empty (that's either good or bad depending upon your perspective - if you just want to do delves / dungeons, shards, lorebooks and dailies - its a great thing... if you want to pvp in cyrodil, not so much.)

My second thought is, the game and world, conceptually the fiction are fun, things that were fun before, still are. The story, the dungeons the end game loot quests and gaming with friends cooperatively are all still there. Dungeons now scale up to vr16 instead of vr14... champion points system is still there... enlightenend bonus's are there if you haven't played... and its a very enjoyable ride and relatively stress fee loot fest to game with friends...

My next thought is ZoS is still making changes, and they are not all for the better, this is frustrating for anyone vesting large amounts of time into a game like this. When they make sweeping environmental changes and you are VR1-7 and you used to be able to hold your own in an area, but now you can't after the change, because mobs got harder and you got weaker... your perseption is that something was taken away... something was lost... they explain damage curves, end game, vr16 quest and boost to power as you increase... but, you can't help but feel a bit betrayed... last week, pre-patch, you could solo "OVER THERE" now, you can't... so... that speaks to the thought process, design and decision making of the folks at the helm of the bus. I've now lost all but one of the friends who I started playing this game with on console, down to just two of us who started back in June / July... picked up new friends along the way... but the folks who put countless hours in along the way just started to get fed up with the grind to get to end game and grind to find components and grind to find gear and grind to find recipes (see the theme)... That takes me to my next point.

The grind is real. They seem to be on a path to add more, not less. VR15/VR16 grind got worse, not better. Psijic Ambrosia recipe is an RNG waiting game and doing writs, the process to find and wait for that isn't terrible actually... however, the process to find perfect roe is a grind and a half... it blows bad... go fish for an hour, tell me how many fish you skin and how many perfect roe you pull up... then, think about the 3-4 months with 3 characters that it took doing writs with max provisioning to get that Psijic Ambrosia recipe together... and you ask yourself... really, couldn't have made the perfect roe a bit easier to come by... really? This is the pay off... hours and hours of fishing? LOL... maddening... The process to find the new glass armor is atrocious... ZoS has been beaten pretty horribly over the Imperial City patch / DLC for just how many hours of grinding it takes to achieve the glass set... its just silly if not absurd. It didn't have to be that way.

They mixed Imperial City PvE content in with PVP content... so, new quest line which is fun... and new vendors, and a couple new PvE dungeons to be encountered... but... its behind a PVP wall. So, you have to wait to get into Cyrodil, (right now, that can quite literally be hours in the evenings and on the weekends... its atrociously long wait times... 4 hours last weekend was not unheard of!) then you have to navigate through Imperial City, avoid the zerg'ing mobs... and gankers... and groups who are blocking doors... etc, to do your quest... then there's the grind for Tel'Var stones - a new economy piece to be used in Imperial City, which must be again grinded... so you can obtain the good VR15/VR16 gear.

Back to Dungeon scaling... undaunted challenges are still in and if you have time to squeeze those in, they are still enjoyable. You now have a fully scalable set of dungeons to champion... however, they made the decision to increase the max level cap by two levels... so, there are now VR16 versions of all that gear to be had - really cool if you never had a chance to get it... but, anyone who had VR14 gear from these dungeons, just kinda got poo'd on... those folks, especially if they were sitting on full sets... now get to go back to it, if they want to upgrade. ZoS did not offer a move forward or auto upgrade for anyone that had previously earned max gear... is that kind of a kick in the teeth to anyone sitting and performing max level end game content prior? You decide... VR14 footmans, martial knowledge, monster dungeon sets, you name it... it is all trumped now by new VR16 stuff... there's more than one player that feels, the decision to add levels and more gear just added (more grinding)...

To me, the saving grace in this game is undaunted and dungeons... maybe even dragonstar arena. Honestly, without those end game PvE small group concepts, I would have already quit the game. When you boil it down, building a character up, to be able to roll with buddies, have a beer and take on some end game content with reasonable degree of confidence, not to much burden, have some laughs and have a chance at some nice gear is FUN... and fun is all I'm after. There's a very delicate balance at play and with every new grind mechanic and PVP overlap to PvE, *any developer* will chisel away at fun for *me and those like me.*

Alexandrious

Moonshadow66 wrote: »

Alexandrious wrote: »

Just a few questions, I know, you all probably get these every other page. But I would like to know the state of the game how it is since over 9 months from now. As well as how long it takes to grind a champion point if that extra leveling system is still in the game compared to when it was first released and then updated to now. As well as a point in the right direction for a Dragon Knight Tank build or at least, pointers on how they are made now since it was very different back then. Thank-you for your time.

I'm sorry to say that, but you sound like a reporter for a magazine.
Are you.. a reporter for a magazine?^^

No im just polite when needed.

The reason me and her quit, well, she quit, I wanted to keep going but had to agree with her, is cuz I was a OP DK, and she was a broken UP Templar, but that was half of it. Her two hand sword attacks were buggy and had hit detection problems, we would run into gamebreaking bugs time and time again that prevented us from completing mainline progression quests even leading up to the 3rd silver area we eventually got to. I ended up basically carrying her mostly, swapping between Tank DK and Caster DK whatever I felt like doing for that week. Eventually we got to a solo instance, where I entered a room about 10 seconds before her, and instantly it cleared the quest we were working on in there for me due to someone just at that moment, killing the needed solo boss mob for it. Thus she was put in a different pocket instance from me when she entered because she still needed the kill. But due to two hand templars being buggy and broken at the time, she could not solo it at all, and I could do nothing to help her, that was basically her boiling point there and quit the game.

Also, somehow, someway, she would find the missing textures, the pink boxes with question marks, and every single non-collision spot, falling thru the world. She was literally a bug magnet.

Now I noticed the game had a graphics overhaul of some sort? And alot of changes, though it seems Zenimax made alot of poor decisions even after all this time, likely not listening to its playerbase and being busy with Fallout 4 with Bethseda. I told her that if this was any other game, if it was not "Elder Scrolls" it would have died within a year due to bad decisions, and I guess bad decisions did indeed happen. What I was hoping for was that Zenimax would wake up and start listening to its playerbase, and make good, reasonable design decisions.


So, now I gotta ask this, She plays a dps, preferably Two handers, I play a Tank. I play a Imperial she plays a Nord, can anyone, at all, give us any advice as to what class would work best for these two specifics? Id rather stay a tank, shed rather stay a Nord who uses a Two hander, likely, as a Templar still. If DK is nerfed to hell and cannot measure up to the other three as far as Tanking goes then please, dont sugar coat it, just tell me in detail the how and whys, honest, experienced, opinions, that is what we want.

Acrolas

Lightninvash wrote: »

do what you do best quit this post for 6 months and come back and see if the mood has changed

Yeah, honestly I'm surprised he didn't necro-bump his old coming-back thread.
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/1685746/

And there's the whole,

"Now thanks to this, I wasted 100 dollars, I love elderscrolls, I really, really do, I played all 5 of em, but at least the Molag bal statue is cool, they didnt *** that up. So have fun with your broken game, now im gonna get dragged into wildstar by my girl, ugh. -_-"
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/813001/#Comment_813001


So now that you're back from Wildstar and the game is still broken, I guess you're just going to do what your girl tells you to do. So maybe she should be the one doing the research.

Blackt00thGrim

OP: as you can see, there are many garbage opinions on these forums, with a healthy dose of trolling. I will tell you that DK is still the best tank in the game, and Imp is probably the best choice. Stam templars are in a good spot in pve as well, with nord being a good choice. 2h is completely viable, with a good execute and self heal. There are top level builds available for both play styles.

There is a ton of vitriol on these forums, which is why I rarely take part. I'm seriously tired of the new trend of haters who play telling people not to come back. Haters gonna hate, but I will throw in my two cents to say the game is worth a shot. It's not without it's flaws, but there's fun to be had. These forums are a bi polar nightmare for trying to get solid info from.

Alexandrious

Blackt00thGrim wrote: »

OP: as you can see, there are many garbage opinions on these forums, with a healthy dose of trolling. I will tell you that DK is still the best tank in the game, and Imp is probably the best choice. Stam templars are in a good spot in pve as well, with nord being a good choice. 2h is completely viable, with a good execute and self heal. There are top level builds available for both play styles.

There is a ton of vitriol on these forums, which is why I rarely take part. I'm seriously tired of the new trend of haters who play telling people not to come back. Haters gonna hate, but I will throw in my two cents to say the game is worth a shot. It's not without it's flaws, but there's fun to be had. These forums are a bi polar nightmare for trying to get solid info from.

Thank-you for your display of reasoning, logic and maturity. I hope the basement dwellers that has been attempting to troll will learn from your example. This is the info I needed.

If anyone else would like to pitch in thoughts and opinions for this, please do so. Thank-you.

Mighty_oakk

Acrolas wrote: »

Lightninvash wrote: »

do what you do best quit this post for 6 months and come back and see if the mood has changed

Yeah, honestly I'm surprised he didn't necro-bump his old coming-back thread.
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/1685746/

And there's the whole,

"Now thanks to this, I wasted 100 dollars, I love elderscrolls, I really, really do, I played all 5 of em, but at least the Molag bal statue is cool, they didnt *** that up. So have fun with your broken game, now im gonna get dragged into wildstar by my girl, ugh. -_-"
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/813001/#Comment_813001


So now that you're back from Wildstar and the game is still broken, I guess you're just going to do what your girl tells you to do. So maybe she should be the one doing the research.

Lol awesome 4 u

Alexandrious

Heres a new question. Weapons and armors, did they release anything new or unique looking for at least endgame sets? Or is it all still retextures of the same armor, with maybe an extra plate there, or a extra accent here or a fifth horn up there?

Makkir

Alex, there is a zerg of players who suffer from MMO ADHD and continually jump from game to game with high expectations. People have put this game up on a pedestal for some reason and give a hard time. To be honest, after playing some 20+ MMOs I feel a bit of relief having finally found a game on which I can retire and focus. The game is beautiful, relatively smooth, and not so complex I feel miles behind if I don't log in every day. It has it's lag and bugs, but if you can move past that, the game is great for the price.

ZOS_Kelly

Hello Everyone!

We understand that people are going to disagree from time to time, but please remember to keep your comments respectful at all times on our forums, even when you disagree with others. Insults or other disruptive behavior do not help further discussion and can move a thread off topic quickly. We encourage sharing opinions, but we ask that they are constructively stated when doing so, as this will help keep the discussion on track.


Thank you!
ZOS_Kelly