Whenever there's a merger...

FloppyTouch

... it usually means the death of an MMO, not saying ESO is done just saying from my 15 years of playing mmorpgs when they merge servers or alliances it's bc many people are leaving and it's to give the illusion that the game is still populated and buzzing when it's really not.

I love OT for the same reason everyone one else does it brought life to the game but is it artificial life? I see forum post about how it feels like launch but that's what it was like with just ur faction and feels the same with all three jammed together. I wonder how bad is the game doing and did the population drop that much?

Should I really care about this? I think I should based on my history with mmorpgs this just sounds like a last ditch effort to seem relevant.

Does anyone else have history with mmos and seen this before right before the death of the game?

SlayerTheDragon

I think it had more to do with the housing design - allowing people to have a house in any faction/area.

But what you say about launch - it is true.

hrothbern

FloppyTouch wrote: »

... it usually means the death of an MMO, not saying ESO is done just saying from my 15 years of playing mmorpgs when they merge servers or alliances it's bc many people are leaving and it's to give the illusion that the game is still populated and buzzing when it's really not.

I love OT for the same reason everyone one else does it brought life to the game but is it artificial life? I see forum post about how it feels like launch but that's what it was like with just ur faction and feels the same with all three jammed together. I wounded how bad is the game doing and did the population drop that much?

Should I really care about this? I think I should based on my history with mmorpgs this just sounds like a last ditch effort to seem relevant.

Does anyone else have history with mmos and seen this before right before the death of the game?

As I understand the history of ESO:
One Tamriel, a wide open world, everybody able to play with everybody else, was already in the minds of ZOS when they launched the game in 2014, also because of the huge succes of Skyrim.

The reason we did not have OT from launch was because the original ESO concept dated from 2012, before the succes of Skyrim.

So... I wouldn't worry about that merging

Digiman

Fortunately this game didn't have many shards with separated populations from the beginning like WoW and SWTOR has. So population drops weren't the issue.

The issue with the game was separating everyone into 3 alliance causing a huge fracture in who you would find in zones. That has changed along with the group content in the world now really requiring another player and not four. Because of this people feel less intimidated about waiting in an area late game because people are doing newer content.

With the fact you can get champion points in any zone (the end game exp) plus scaled loot people are finding reasons to check out older zones to do content with people.

One tamerial did the right thing but sticking the larger group content in group dungeons instead of delves and world bosses.

There are still a few bugs and class need rebalancing along with sets but things are bright now.

Down side is the dueling lag, ZoS hasn't addressed that yet but craglorn is populated which is a good thing.

Digiman

Should mention you can still do group content with 4+ players in the overworld but it's not longer gated to 4+ players to clear it. Just makes it easier.

FloppyTouch

I had no clue that OT was planned to happen and I agree that this is a great step to make this game better in the long run. I just seen this happen and fail many times. I guess time will tell.

P3ZZL3

Pretty sure from Launch people where asking for the factions to be able to play with each other. Could be wrong though

Cryptical

hrothbern wrote: »

FloppyTouch wrote: »

... it usually means the death of an MMO, not saying ESO is done just saying from my 15 years of playing mmorpgs when they merge servers or alliances it's bc many people are leaving and it's to give the illusion that the game is still populated and buzzing when it's really not.

I love OT for the same reason everyone one else does it brought life to the game but is it artificial life? I see forum post about how it feels like launch but that's what it was like with just ur faction and feels the same with all three jammed together. I wounded how bad is the game doing and did the population drop that much?

Should I really care about this? I think I should based on my history with mmorpgs this just sounds like a last ditch effort to seem relevant.

Does anyone else have history with mmos and seen this before right before the death of the game?

As I understand the history of ESO:
One Tamriel, a wide open world, everybody able to play with everybody else, was already in the minds of ZOS when they launched the game in 2014, also because of the huge succes of Skyrim.

The reason we did not have OT from launch was because the original ESO concept dated from 2012, before the succes of Skyrim.

So... I wouldn't worry about that merging

If the original eso concept was from 2012, then it actually did come after the release of skyrim, which was 11/11/2011.

kylewwefan

Well, only ZOS has the real numbers, so everything is speculation.

Don't know what platform or alliance you're on, but PS4 NA DC has never felt empty or barren in Wayrest. Now it's a bit overpopulated. Belkarth is madhouse.....orsinium was fairly emptied out last night.

First in a long time Scourge wasn't pop locked.

hrothbern

.

Cryptical wrote: »

hrothbern wrote: »

FloppyTouch wrote: »

... it usually means the death of an MMO, not saying ESO is done just saying from my 15 years of playing mmorpgs when they merge servers or alliances it's bc many people are leaving and it's to give the illusion that the game is still populated and buzzing when it's really not.

I love OT for the same reason everyone one else does it brought life to the game but is it artificial life? I see forum post about how it feels like launch but that's what it was like with just ur faction and feels the same with all three jammed together. I wounded how bad is the game doing and did the population drop that much?

Should I really care about this? I think I should based on my history with mmorpgs this just sounds like a last ditch effort to seem relevant.

Does anyone else have history with mmos and seen this before right before the death of the game?

As I understand the history of ESO:
One Tamriel, a wide open world, everybody able to play with everybody else, was already in the minds of ZOS when they launched the game in 2014, also because of the huge succes of Skyrim.

The reason we did not have OT from launch was because the original ESO concept dated from 2012, before the succes of Skyrim.

So... I wouldn't worry about that merging

If the original eso concept was from 2012, then it actually did come after the release of skyrim, which was 11/11/2011.

yeah... the long awaited 11/11/11
what an excitement.... I saved up holidays for the year end

But you are right with the dates: the first thoughts from Zenimax for ESO are several years before Skyrim.
Still I remember info that only early in 2012 full throttle was given on the project.

Birdovic

Does anyone else have history with mmos and seen this before right before the death of the game?

Not "right before the death of the game", but it happened. And it came paired with the introduction of Endgame Gear in the Crown st- I mean Item-Shop. Oh and this endgame gear, you could get it from Crown Cra- I mean, Gambling Boxes of course.

Edit:
But I think in ESO's case, its different. I think, as someone before me mentioned, One Tamriel's introduction is tied to the coming Housing Update, so people from all alliances can get houses wherever they are, whenever they want.

vyndral13preub18_ESO

I disagree with your idea that mergers mean death. Most of the MMOs i have played have had mergers at one point or another. And all of them are still out there able to be played. Some of them still get regular updates and expansions.

I think the whole merger thing is an overblown thing usually pressed by people unhappy with the game.

If you are having fun keep playing, and keep supporting the games you enjoy.

FloppyTouch

vyndral13preub18_ESO wrote: »

I disagree with your idea that mergers mean death. Most of the MMOs i have played have had mergers at one point or another. And all of them are still out there able to be played. Some of them still get regular updates and expansions.

I think the whole merger thing is an overblown thing usually pressed by people unhappy with the game.

If you are having fun keep playing, and keep supporting the games you enjoy.

I agree with you totally maybe not death of game but all the ones I played only the hard core ppl still play mainly bc they invested so much money into game. I guess death to me is a game having no new ppl and old ppl dropping off at a slow rate

Abeille

Although I saw many MMOs die, I only have been present for one merger, and it was GW2's merger. It happened to GW2 a couple of years ago. It was a completely unnecessary merge because you already could guest in other servers, and it ruined the unofficial RP server. I disliked the change very much. A little later, they released an expansion pack and made the base game (with several restrictions) free. As much as I didn't like the changes, the game is still going strong.

In ESO, taking into consideration the size of the world, I think the merge is not to give an illusion the game is thriving, but actually to clear out the impression that it is not. Seeing only 1/3 of the population in such a huge world gave the false impression that the game had few players.

I think it is not that much that population dropped more than expected, it is more that people have a reason to go to all the maps now. I was here during launch, it was packed, yes... On the starting areas. As people leveled, they spread out, and as they reached the higher levels, the starting areas had much less people and the "middle areas" were left empty. Veteran areas had very little people. I'm not saying there wasn't a population drop - there totally was, especially after the first month. But even before 1T, I could see that there are way more players now than on the first year (excluding maybe the first month). But of course, this is merely my personal impression. I don't have any numbers to back it up.

Also, ESO was in production for 7 years before it was released. It was being made since a little after Oblivion was released, and way before Skyrim. That's why its initial concept was more cartoonish and bright, because Oblivion was the latest TES back then.

wenchmore420b14_ESO

Just to maybe help this conversation. Here is a recent interview/article on the history and development of ESO over the years. Hope it sheds some light..Huzzah!
http://www.polygon.com/features/2016/10/14/13285014/elder-scrolls-online-one-tamriel-skyrim-mmo

Thank you @Lysette who originally posted this. Kudos!

Elsonso

FloppyTouch wrote: »

... it usually means the death of an MMO, not saying ESO is done just saying from my 15 years of playing mmorpgs when they merge servers or alliances it's bc many people are leaving and it's to give the illusion that the game is still populated and buzzing when it's really not.

I love OT for the same reason everyone one else does it brought life to the game but is it artificial life? I see forum post about how it feels like launch but that's what it was like with just ur faction and feels the same with all three jammed together. I wounded how bad is the game doing and did the population drop that much?

Should I really care about this? I think I should based on my history with mmorpgs this just sounds like a last ditch effort to seem relevant.

Does anyone else have history with mmos and seen this before right before the death of the game?

ESO is not a typical MMO, and many have argued since launch that One Tamriel, or something like it, was a required feature of the game. The Cadwell Zones were an abomination from the start. They were obviously tossed in as a last minute "end-game" thing. (If not, then shame on ZOS).

The main "alliance" thing that ZOS did not get right with One Tamriel is that there should be repercussions for HIGH RANKING alliance soldiers when in ENEMY territory. That, however, would separate players in PVE, and that is not what One Tamriel is about.

Is One Tamriel a sign that the game is dying? No. It is actually a sign that ZOS is finally starting to think about the game in a better light. Not perfect, far from it, but leaps ahead of what it was.

purple-magicb16_ESO

Players have been asking for this for a long time. I don't think it has anything to do with some sort of damage control.

dsalter

main reason they merged is because they spread out TO much. because of 3 alliances, which all had tons of zones many of which became pointless after the champion point system landed.

CapnPhoton

I know what you mean as I have seen it before too and it worked to combine 2 or more populations, sort of like refugees But ESO was still really populated in most regular zones, at least on Xbox. However, the zones used for Cadwells were not so. This way of redistributing the existing population (without dumping another server into it) has actually made it seem like its overflowing. But I think the way it is now will be more appealing to people.

Beforehand I was concerned about the lag from dueling (something I don't participate in). But it isn't that bad. I think people need to check their network settings.

Integral1900

Judging from released stats, which are rare as chickens teeth, and a drop of inside knowledge from a friend that works on another mmo the general rule is that the larger the core population gets the longer the game lives because the social equation becomes more stable.

The core population is the part of an mmo that can freely interact with each other and that remains for prolonged periods even if they only play intermittently, if there is one thing that hurts mmo games it's barriers between players, I know the dedicated faction players may not like the idea but it is true. One tamriel will put some players of but the silent majority will most likely grow albeit slowly.

After that you have to feed the fire. Remember that players capable or with enough spare time to run elite content will always be a drop in the bucket, hence the current difficulty levels. Anyone who has played a good number of dungeons with pick up groups knows full well why the normal dungeons are set the way they are. In today's market some like brutal challenge but across the gaming industry the opposite is true. Most people in the developed world are at least mildly frustrated with their everyday lives, when they play they aren't looking for a challenge or more stress, they are looking to be awesome, to be heroes.

As long as ZOS keeps this in mind, and provides content for the bulk of the players as well as stuff for the elites to break their teeth on this game may last a very long time. Which is good, as there ain't another out there that I want to play and over the last couple of years I've done a lot of hunting

Mephilis78

Keep in mind that these are mega servers. Idk, it's more popular than these forums would suggest, considering the gang of loud voices that simply hate the game/devs/studio or every aspect at once. Also keep in mind that we're still separated into 3 mega servers and 3 platforms ( I believe that makes it the equivalent of a pc MMORPG with 9 different servers).
Console will see a big dip in users in about a week ,(especially Xbox one) because of Skyrim SE, that could last anywhere from a week to a couple months.