Tamriel One opinion, direction of ESO

Cencewolf

I wanted to take the opportunity to weigh in on this whole “Tamriel one” update… Ok, in truth I really wanted to take the chance to write this up because I find this game is somewhat important to me. Like all games I find a continued interest in I have noted that now, more than ever the individual player (if given any actual thought) can anticipate that one meager second in the coming future where it becomes clear that this game no longer offers any incentive in which to log on thus killing any desire to do so. I have played a lot of games. I am not pretending that means a whole lot to anyone reading this but as a community member I have always taken the time to express my opinion when I see a clear problem or future issue that may very well be a make or break on the decision to continue playing or find other venues. Not just for myself but a lot of others as well. No I am not pretending that my opinions represent the greater majority, in fact the opposite. I do intend to outline these obvious issues (for your entertainment if nothing else) but also to offer my opinion on possible future direction. I hope you all brought your Valkyn Skoria hats. Let the flaming begin!

So when is this critical moment when a subscriber suddenly has an epiphany or a sudden awakening to the grim reality of eventual expiration that provokes an individual change? In drug Rehab of course, or in this case Grahtwood. Your standing at a crafting station brewing health and weapon Crit potions so that you can spend all night on the front lines of Cyrodil because after all why not? You got all the gear you want for your build, you did the undaunted pledges which you ensure is well established by giving a short nod of your elaborate helm over your right shoulder to the gawking young newcomer trying to figure out how to open his inventory. After a brief chuckle you shrug indifferently and continue mashing mountain flower into the sad remains of a dragon-thorn weed. “Ah another success” the potion completes with a bright light emanating from within the glass orb. Your victory within Sanctum Ophidia is correctly reflected in the glinting gold of your Vicious Ophidian jewelry set which is surely accented by the dull glow of your Maelstrom weapons as you stand idly at your hobby desk. Truly you are the best of the best, you are “Truly Legendary”. But…I can’t help but to point out, “who isn’t?”

This latest expansion has truly trivialized almost All aspects of an “MMO” or “MMORPG” (I find the definition of both to be equitable. Anyway, the following tasks have been diminished or degraded to the point of being just comical. Once a great feat or something someone needed to make some time for and show an ounce of dedication is now simply hilariously easy… Listed in the order in which I am personally annoyed from least to greatest…
• Harvesting Resources
• Farming Gold
• Farming BIS (best in slot) end game gear

Harvesting Resources:
After the update all zones will scale thus the resources in all of the zones will scale directly to the player collecting them. I hope you didn’t save up a bunch of Rubedo/Rubidite or Ancestor Silk thinking they would be worth anything because guess what. These assuredly will not hold any value. It’s a simple question of Supply and Demand. The market takes another hit any everyone can get/make all those crafted sets with very little effort/dedication.

Farming Gold.
After the update the development team saw fit to address a concern on behalf of the community relating to a lack of in-game currency or simply “gold”. I guess players felt like gathering currency was difficult??? (I can’t imagine why, it was certainly farmable before) but now with the undaunted pillaging and god forbid 10k per trial run (granted a veteran trial run) but let’s be honest, those that can run vet trials do so over, and over, and over, and over which will no longer be required either,..(cough) see below.

The BIS gear farming.
For whatever reason the dungeons themselves have undergone a huge change. Helms drop 100% of the time, Jewelry from Trials WILL now drop from the end-dungeon mob, and drop rates increased. Further, all those gear sets that one aspires to collect/keep on hand can now be single-farmed simply by looking up by zone where one goes to “farm” said set by way of dungeons/Delve bosses/Overland Bosses. As if it wasn’t easy enough before, with very little trouble (maybe the most of which will be spend jumping into a trial excursion to get your gold Jewelry drops which will be guaranteed? ( can’t say I remember if they were 100% or not) so ill take the social hit on that issue, but seriously its getting bumped up A LOT.

​You might have realized by now that my tone has a condescending nature that somehow making things “easier” is the “wrong direction” in my opinion, and you would be exactly correct. I am not looking for an easy game that allows the user an easy success, with instant gratification. What makes my gear unique is what other players strive to accomplish, not simply “welfared” out to everyone to promote “a happy environment where we will never encourage a player to do something outside of their personal no-touch zone” I would suggest this does the opposite. When there exist’s no reason to do these dungeons then the dungeons simply will not be done. I will honestly miss the days where one has to do dungeons repeatedly in order to get that rare drop that will improve one’s character (that is we are doing yes? Playing a game built on character advancement over story based advancement?)

​I am most certainly curious what the corporate basis was for the philosophy “give the players everything they want without the need to work toward it”, what kind of a “Lifespan” is given to the individual player. I would suggest it’s not more than 2 months, Long enough to start a new character on a new account, have those neighborhood kids that advertised the game third hand help level them up to level 50, and get them all geared out only to realize that there is really nothing left to do. From a business perspective this makes sense to me. (I would buy stock in the company directly under this mindset). Think about it, someone gets interested in the game, and buys a copy to play. (is not required to have a pay-per-month subscription but does have the option if they so choose) During their tenure they remain interested enough to buy all the expansions, at the end of their career they are not more than a few months in, have spent their fill on the DLC and discontinue playing the game making bandwidth space for more newcomers. This works for the stockholders but does not work for long-life gamers like myself.

In conclusion I hope that this isn’t simply overshadowed by the marauding hordes of millennial children advocating for a “World of Warcraft” like community where there is no way to loose, get set back, or incur any real hardship. I honestly feel these games need a REAL death penalty (and no, what we have now is far from adequate) Further this post touches very little on the PVP issues… There’s enough to fix about PVE including the wealth of bugs without going into the PVP aspect of a 3 party war. Certainly hope that at least one person gets something out of it, if not at least ill feel I have done my communal duty. For my part, I will not respond to trolls/insults and the like. I have more important things to do like …well ill figure something out. I understand that some will take offense or feel compelled to object wrathfully, in my experience as soon as you say something that threatens someone’s welfare they get very vocal, very quickly. I got my barrier up now, flame on!

-Cence!

cjthibs

TL;DR: Please make ESO more grindy, like one of those really cool Korean MMO's.

bedlom

Wow what a load of BS.
As soon as you used the tired old expression "WOW kiddies, crying" you lost all credibility and any voice IMO

jakeedmundson

"you know you don't have to be here, right?"

disintegr8

I had to stop reading the post as my right hand was reaching for the razor with thoughts of slashing my wrists..... You are submitting a post on a game forum, not writing an essay for a school exam.

KingYogi415

WoW catered to the fleeting complaining causuals then got surprised when all the vets left.

Sad to see ESO do the same thing.

Peekachu99

By all accounts, they jacked up the HP, difficulty and one-shottiness of all the four man "end game" content (overtuned it in some cases), and added new versions to farm for twelve or so instances. Combined with the increased loot distribution and varied sets in each region, I fail to see how the game is any less grindy or "easier" than before.

If anything, there's even MORE carrots to chase and a higher point of entry for low CP or casual players. Oh, and let's not forget that most of what you want will drop in Prosperous or Training. I appreciate the effort you put into the post, but your opinion is quite skewed. Maybe step away from ESO for a while, see if that gives you perspective and allows your enjoyment to return. Honest advice, I'm not trolling.

Personally, I'm thrilled to dig into OneT after piddling around with it on PTS. (PS4>PS4 Pro version for me.)

Cencewolf

I am very happy to chase those carrots pika, i am hoping your right. A game needs substance, and a game built on character competition requires a degree of dedication by which to weed the fields in order to cultivate the crop.

You are correct as well, there were a few good changes, like pve content we have not explored yet.

jedtb16_ESO

um..... no

and that is my considered opinion

stevepdodson_ESO888

Cencewolf wrote: »

I am very happy to chase those carrots pika, i am hoping your right. A game needs substance, and a game built on character competition requires a degree of dedication by which to weed the fields in order to cultivate the crop.

You are correct as well, there were a few good changes, like pve content we have not explored yet.

could you please elaborate on what PVE content has been added that we have not explored yet? To me just flicking the switch from "normal" to "vet" does not make new content (unlike previous normal/vet versions of the group dungeons which actually did have a different and continuing story line with new mobs and bosses) and constitutes a shoddy and lazy approach to the game's development.

Having said this, it just might make you even more disillusioned with the state of things.

But essentially all One Tamriel has done is awaken in a lot of people the realisation that all this game has become now is one long endless grind, and until (when or even if) they ever add further full zones (I still hold my hopes out for Vvardenfell here) that is all there is left to do.

Oh I think I've upset myself now *sniff sniff sob sob*

alexkdd99

I agree. Anytime a game becomes too easy to obtain all the best gear it becomes too boring to play. Now whether or not one Tamriel will do that or not for me is yet to be seen as I am on console. As for the patch notes and others reactions it does seem you are mostly correct.

Every once in awhile I will go play diablo 2 starting from scratch of course. But as soon as I have amassed everything I could want with 20 mules holding extra valuables, the game suddenly gets extremely boring and I quit very soon afterwards.

I don't believe this is the type of game that can survive without a fair amount of grinding involved, but this is just my opinion.

Cencewolf

Thanks Alexdd99... careful with the opinion though.. Some people dont like it 8)
I however, appreciate it. Lets continue voicing regardless of what game we choose to be involved with.

nimander99

TL;DR Change is bad mmmmkay

STEVIL

i gotta say i love to contrast this with the threads about how hard it is for players to survive now with scaled up content in 1T.

newtinmpls

Well I like the fact that you did express your thoughts and experiences.

They differ from mine, which is good, how boring would it be if we were all the same.

Cencewolf wrote: »

Your standing at a crafting station brewing health and weapon Crit potions so that you can spend all night on the front lines of Cyrodil because after all why not? You got all the gear you want for your build, you did the undaunted pledges which you ensure is well established by giving a short nod of your elaborate helm over your right shoulder to the gawking young newcomer trying to figure out how to open his inventory.

I'm one of the people who would hear that comment in chat (although I generally don't do alchemy, so in my case I'd be stitching at a clothier's table), and start a conversation and encourage said wet-behind-the-ears fellow vestige or potential hero. I find that is one of the fun parts of the game. Last week I made a whole blue set for a "teenth" level person I shared an undaunted run with, and later in the week they whispered me to say how they were doing. It was really nice.

Cencewolf wrote: »

Your victory within Sanctum Ophidia is correctly reflected in the glinting gold of your Vicious Ophidian jewelry set which is surely accented by the dull glow of your Maelstrom weapons as you stand idly at your hobby desk. Truly you are the best of the best, you are “Truly Legendary”. But…I can’t help but to point out, “who isn’t?”

Me.

Aside from hating and fearing trials and grinding and farmin (and the combination means I'm just not going to go there, so I anticipate NEVER having any maelstrom weapon - and I am okay with that) I have accumulated in my 2 years of playing 2 accounts exactly NO legendary items. Well, I have some tempers and kutas, but I have not ever used them other than to borrow them to a friend who was crafting and get some back later.

Cencewolf wrote: »

I am not looking for an easy game that allows the user an easy success, with instant gratification. What makes my gear unique is what other players strive to accomplish, not simply “welfared” out to everyone to promote “a happy environment where we will never encourage a player to do something outside of their personal no-touch zone” I would suggest this does the opposite. When there exist’s no reason to do these dungeons then the dungeons simply will not be done. I will honestly miss the days where one has to do dungeons repeatedly in order to get that rare drop that will improve one’s character (that is we are doing yes? Playing a game built on character advancement over story based advancement?)

In order to address this idea - the very basic idea of "why am I playing this game" it is necessary for me to state that I come to this MMORPG after years (well, to be honest decades) of pen-and-paper tabletop RPGing.

It's always been hard to explain the appeal of that sort of gaming to someone who doesn't do it, because often the first question they ask (assuming it's "like a boardgame") is: How do you win?

In an RPG you don't "win". You just keep on playing it for the fun of playing it, for the interaction with other characters, for the continuity of stories and adventure.

So for me "top gear" is not appealing - because that's not what I enjoy.

I enjoy the process of playing. The frustration of messing around for hours (no, seriously hours) at the dye station because no two colors seem to "take" the same way on different items, and Hisa Ni Caemaire (my Altmer Sorc - see my sig for more details) will NOT be seen in public looking other than her best.

I enjoy the long long time it took my Orsimer Battlemage Mol gro Durga to apologize to his beloved Breton Templar (and now wife) Fianna Kingsley when early in their partnership she thought he was (while disguised and infiltrating a situation) flirting with one of the Necromancers (he wasn't, he totally wasn't, but she still brings it up every so often).

Describing the "lifespan" of someone's game play you suggest it takes

Cencewolf wrote: »

level them up to level 50, and get them all geared out only to realize that there is really nothing left to do.

Oh pish tosh.

I LOVE going back to kill the Whisperer in Spindleclutch again and again (you never really can kill a daedra, so that's a logical repeat quest to me).

My sorrowful Dunmer refugee from House Dres tries to make amends to the slavery she supported by rescuing citizens from IC.

Among the group I play with, many of us have the "Maw of the Infernal" helm/set, and we all tend to call him "Dave" (if you ever watched "Kids in the Hall" think of a few rousing choruses of "these are the Dave's I know"). Anyway, any time one of my characters has that set, I always think of it as the "same" Dave the Daedroth.

Anyway, using that set (accidentally, forgot I had it on) in the undaunted thing where you defeat the "lava queen" with my spankin' new healer, with a Pug group, I found out (had never noticed this before) that when my healer was hangin' in the back, and some nasty bad guy came to bug her, low and behold Dave would come trotting over from where ever he had been to attack the person in question.

How sweet!

Of course this led to a recognition of his hidden noble and chivalrous nature and now we have been calling him "Davidicus Immortus"

Anyway.... not bored yet.

Not "done" yet.

.

bottleofsyrup

One Tamriel*

LaiTash

Agreed. Since OT is out i have that feeling of being doomed to win no matter what. I just hope to keep some interest in ESO until one of the upcoming sandbox MMOs are out.

acw37162

Do you enjoy yourself when you play the game?

Yes or No

None of what you mentioned has a direct impact on how you play, what you play, or when you choose to play. What your listed shows a lot of exeistential comcern over how other play and how difficult it is or is not for them compared to you, all and all not very altruistic.

If the answer to the above question is yes continue to play a game you enjoy.

If No;

Take a vacation , take a break, try a different game or none of those.

Also a TL/DR when you decide to make a word explosion would be appreciated.

BFT88

TLDR, srsly?