ESO 3 Years Later: Why I’m Still Playing Elder Scrolls Online

Fexelea

So I thought I'd share how ESO has progressed for me from launch to Morrowind. It's a long read, but maybe you guys will find it interesting!

Here's the article! (quite long it's been 3 years)

Video version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcj9u9zG5cg

TL;DR

So, having gone through the 3 years of ESO history in as few paragraphs as possible, I look back and what I see is a company that did give me what I needed in incremental upgrades. Many players fear that the monetization system of the Crown Store will push the game towards microtransaction hell as it inches closer and closer to Free to Play. So far, I have been very satisfied, and in the three years I have played I have bought a grand total of 1 thing from the Crown Store: A vendor assistant during the One Tamriel set gold rush. To me, this means that players don’t necessarily need to use the store or spend money to get great value out of the game, and if you’re willing to put in the time or effort you can obtain the same rewards with gameplay or simply by farming gold and purchasing from other players.

During all this time, many changes have been done to the main class I play, and many times for the worse, but still enjoyed the game for it’s many opportunities. I quested and explored until there was not one undiscovered location in all of Tamriel. When PvE got boring, I went into Cyrodiil and helped win campaigns and get myself delicious gold jewelry gear. When PvP got bad because of a class nerf I didn’t like, I immersed myself in the DLCs, completed all the veteran dungeons and pledges, found every lorebook. When I got tired of walking aimlessly, I returned to Cyrodiil to find the new Town mechanics had changed spawns and all for the better. When that became stale, I went back to Anchors and Dungeons and farmed gear or traded with others to fill my gold coffers to purchase a house. All of this and I still have motifs to finish, trials to master, and fish to catch! I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon.

So Morrowind is just around the corner, and given the care Zenimax has taken of the game, and how they have kept me around for this long simply by slowly adding activities and making sure I always have something to do, I am genuinely excited and hoping they can keep this up and the store out of the way for another 3 more years! If you haven’t given ESO a try yet, I strongly recommend you do. The game has never been better than it is now, and it shows very few signs of slowing down.

Castielle

That was a lot to narrate, but a good summary of all the good things ESO has done over the past 3 years

Cas

SilverWF

TL;DR means 'short summary' but not the 'wall of text'

Astarana

Great article!

Rikkof

well, u didint said WHY?
wasnt that the point mof ur OP tho?
i am waiting

Fexelea

@SilverWF that is a short summary compared to the actual article

@Astarana ty!

@Rikkof I did

...[ ]...All of this and I still have motifs to finish, trials to master, and fish to catch! I...[ ]... don’t see myself stopping anytime soon...they have kept me around for this long simply by slowly adding activities and making sure I always have something to do, I am genuinely excited and hoping they can keep this up and the store out of the way for another 3 more years!...

Doctordarkspawn

HAH. Care.

S'why PVP is officially a steaming pile of crap due to poisons and the resource nerf, along with PVE due to the DPS loss which it was quite dependent on, yeah? Such care and forethought put into the game.

Rikkof

Doctordarkspawn wrote: »

HAH. Care.

S'why PVP is officially a steaming pile of crap due to poisons and the resource nerf, along with PVE due to the DPS loss which it was quite dependent on, yeah? Such care and forethought put into the game.

pvp is trash because NB ganker
#notmywallet

Astarana

The point is, the game is changing so you learn something new and you go do something else. You have ton of choices of what to do and where to go. Learn new mechanics, learn new skills, stop complaining. Yes it is not perfect, but nothing is.

Fexelea

Astarana wrote: »

The point is, the game is changing so you learn something new and you go do something else. You have ton of choices of what to do and where to go. Learn new mechanics, learn new skills, stop complaining. Yes it is not perfect, but nothing is.

Qft

Publius_Scipio

ESO is a good game, it's fun. I think Morrowind is a success. Vvardenfell is awesome. I haven't been bored running around there and the quests so far haven't been a drag to sit and listen through. Been a while since that's been the case for me.

ZOS took what they learned from their success with Wrothgar and raised the bar further. Vvardenfell is sized right, feels intuitively populated, the tiny bit I've had a chance to explore feels natural and organic, not cookie cutter running from place to place, and the music is the best in game to date. It's definitely a zone that ZOS can continue to add to in the future (i.e. Sheogorad region).

Only thing I can say is I wish I could explore more ancestral tombs and dwemer ruins at this time.

Fexelea

@Publius_Scipio I should probably get to work on a Morrowind review... but I've been making the maps for Vvardenfell and trying to make quest lists etc! haha

How do you feel about not being able to buy this with crowns?

Publius_Scipio

Fexelea wrote: »

@Publius_Scipio I should probably get to work on a Morrowind review... but I've been making the maps for Vvardenfell and trying to make quest lists etc! haha

How do you feel about not being able to buy this with crowns?

Crowns are actually real $USD anyways, so crowns would just be an extra unnecessary step. I think you meant purchase vs included in the $15 a month ESO Plus subscription. But contrary to some of the preliminary reviews and complaints, whether you think the content is good or not, Morrowind has a lot of new content so I see why ZOS calls it a chapter (expansion).

dpencil1

@Fexelea Just want to say thanks for this. I watched the video and found it fun and informative. I joined when ESO went B2P, so I've taken a lot of things for granted that weren't in the game before that point. It's amazing to see how much ESO has grown over the past 3 years!

GawdSB

I'm a year in taking a break tbh.

Fexelea

@Publius_Scipio I meant that people who are ESO Plus have crowns (I have like 12000) and we have to pay only with cash, we cannot use the crowns we got from being VIP.

I wasn't very thrilled about that, but well, I'm probably gonna buy the banker

@dpencil1 Thank you for watching! I'm really happy you found it informative. To be honest, a lot of the good changes they have made are taken for granted by me too, so this was a good self-reminder xD

IcyDeadPeople

Nice article and my compliments on the great job with your fextralife website. I believe it is the most up to date and helpful source for detailed ESO info.

Fexelea

IcyDeadPeople wrote: »

Nice article and my compliments on the great job with your fextralife website. I believe it is the most up to date and helpful source for detailed ESO info.

Thank you so much!

It makes me very happy that it's useful - we put a lot of our time into it, part of loving and playing the game!

Avran_Sylt

Glad to see that you're enjoying the game, and enjoying the continual evolution of it. Refreshing to see someone who can relax and be taken on the ride that is an ever changing product, rather than berating the developers for change at every step of the way. (Which I'm sure I can be accused of in some areas, heh.)

Also, love that wiki.

Epona222

SilverWF wrote: »

TL;DR means 'short summary' but not the 'wall of text'

LOL, no offence intended, but if you think that in the spoiler tag was a wall of text, you should try a book sometime - horrifying number of words LOL

EDIT: (I just want to make it absolutely clear that I am just making a joke, which is not intended at anyone's expense).

Fexelea

Thank you for the kind words @Avran_Sylt

Galwylin

Well, how about that. That video was in my new things to watch on YouTube this morning. I did watch it and I'm happy for you.

Now I'm not sure questing for dyes would be all that interesting to me. And as someone mentioned Orsinium above, I'm wondering why they didn't take what they learned there and go further in Morrowind. Actually seemed they went backward from that. Just me, I guess. And if the latest patch is what people find enjoyable and fulfilling in a game, how can I say they are wrong. That's just not my life and I'm sort of glad of that.

nimander99

Wow! Walk down memory lane for me.

Tandor

I've only read the summary but I agree very much with the OP's positive take on the game. I've loved playing ESO since PC launch and still have vast amounts of content to do despite having no interest in some aspects like PvP and trials. It's definitely my main MMO home for the long term.

Reading the many negative comments as well as some positive ones on the forums while lots of players are simply playing the game does remind me that while some of the views on the game are down to the game itself, many of the views are down to the attitude of the players.

Fexelea

@Galwylin I'm sure that Zenimax will have to make more amendments and rectify mistakes. And yes I don't necessarily quest for dyes or titles, but I do small things like go out of my way to sell 4,000 gold at each outlaw's hideout to get achievements like "Dragon's Hoard"

@Tandor
"many of the views are down to the attitude of the players"

Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at, change! - Indeed

Galwylin

Fexelea wrote: »

@Galwylin I'm sure that Zenimax will have to make more amendments and rectify mistakes. And yes I don't necessarily quest for dyes or titles, but I do small things like go out of my way to sell 4,000 gold at each outlaw's hideout to get achievements like "Dragon's Hoard"

Oh, I do wort of the same thing. I have to remind myself to get rid of bounty only in the hideout. I haven't been playing almost a year myself and I've seen them go from way up here to way down there of late. If it was worse in the past, I don't see how people stuck with it or why. I'm already playing another game mostly now. I think its because I'm okay that things happen in a game but don't lie to me for money. That's really my issue at the core. Money.

Fexelea

I do hope they don't go the full microtransaction route... I know the game will eventually go F2P, and that's usually where the freefall begins, but some games have managed to keep it in check (guild wars?)

BossXV

Was a great vid, we need more stuff like this

Fexelea

Thank you BoxxXV