I think it's going in the right direction now.
It feels like 2016 was really a year of "finding the game" but now they seem to have a clear idea of what they want the game to be and where they want it to go. The balance is getting better and they've said they're working on features we want like transmog and looking into RNG/tokens (as per pre-morrowind interview).
Anything which involves money is always going to rub people the wrong way, and whilst some pricing and monetising has been insulting it's the nature of the gaming industry and good old corporate America these days.
I'm looking at the Zenimax family as a whole and it's not just ESO which is doing things which are upsetting fans when it comes to money, just look at this weeks news from Bethesda.
The other week I was trying to help someone on Twitter who ended up telling me they refused to buy Morrowind because everyone at ZOS was super rich and didn't need any more money. I don't think people understand that all the money made doesn't go directly into developers wallets and it's not always ZOS who are responsible for unpopular choices.
How is it that they are prioritizing the cash shop, there is literally nothing there that i'd want or hinders my gameplay in any way or form.ArcVelarian wrote: »I have no problem with the game's direction. For me it was a great game when it launched on PC and has steadily improved even further with every major update. I've never had any significant performance issues.
As for the Crown Store, I largely have no interest in the items in it but if there are players prepared to pay the prices asked for fluff then that's fine by me, it all helps to fund the game's ongoing development without coming even remotely close to "P2W". The one exception to my lack of interest in the Crown Store has been the houses, a few of which I have bought in the Crown Store because that's a lot more viable for me than buying them in-game given that I hate the trading system (the one thing I'd change about the game), don't participate in it, and therefore don't have a gazillion gold in the bank. Those purchases have been largely funded by my subscription Crowns in any event. I haven't got excited over Crown Crates, I don't want to buy them so they don't bother me and if others want to buy them knowing perfectly well what they're about then that's fine by me.
A lot of this is down to playstyle. I know there are people with performance issues and balancing concerns etc, but I don't PvP, do competitive PvE or group dungeons, and don't use addons. For my playstyle the game is nigh on perfect as is, and I'm fine with the direction in which it's going. Now, about that trading system...
I somewhat agree with you about the Crown store, but I feel that they are actually prioritizing Crown store a bit too much. I would even call it shameless practice.
Prioritizing the cash shop over actual playable content is what finally killed SWTOR.
SydneyGrey wrote: »You say: "Do you also believe that ZOS has been steering the game off-course?" then the poll asks "Is ZOS going in the right direction?" These contradict each other, because the answers would be different for each question. I understand what you meant now, but it took a minute.
I think they've *mostly* been going in the right direction. They're putting out a lot of good new content, which is awesome. My biggest complaints are the excessive nerfing, the rising prices in the crown store and some aspects of how they're handling the crown crates.