Why Eso beats other mmos?

Voxicity

All other MMO's suck

Beastnas

I think what sets ESO apart is the consistency of the whole package, where the art, gameplay, story, even the menus come together for that distinct Elder Scrolls feel. Just about everything feels like it "fits", rather than some arbitrary game system.

MarrazzMist

In ESO there’s a landscape for every mood, and there’s plenty of reason to go and explore even after nearly 4 years of play. It would be odd to leave this game, that carries many important fictional stories.


Althouhg minor thing, I deeply appreciate how game deals with sexes. It’s refreshing!

CherryCake

The crown crates.

Robo_Hobo

The lore, the storylines, and the combat. The graphics also help a lot, but in saying that I'm not too picky in that regard.

I like just how massive the lore is, mostly in part of it being a franchise built on over a decade. I love reading and learning more about it, maybe not much as I used to be a few years ago, but there's still new things I learn almost daily, and the books I decide to read almost always captivate me to read it all.

The quests are nice too, characters are usually pretty good, with some special ones being even more so. It's always nice to see a recurring character that I liked and get to ask what they've been up to. The plots of the main storylines are nice too, and even in a lot of the side quests I can feel for the characters involved, and the choices sometimes are pretty difficult to make on a moral standpoint. I like that sometimes you choose what you think is a good choice, but the consequences turn out to be unexpected. I may feel bad for regretting the choice I made, but it's nice that not everything is always going to lead to a happy ending, it makes the ones I do make feel better. I remember the Duke of Camlorn berating me for when I denied him the chance to see his family one last time because he was a werewolf, and I chose to trap him in hopes that a cure might be found. I'd wondered if I made the right choice to not let the werewolf hunter save him, so I was real happy when later on in the story there was a cure. Although it would have been nice to be able to talk to the Duke after camlorn was saved and know that he got the cure Xd

As for the combat, I appreciate the lack of individual ability cooldowns. Those in other mmos always made combat less fun for me. Also, Although it is a controversial opinion, I like that there are things like weaving and animation cancelling, it adds another layer of skill in combat. Not something you need to be able to complete any content, but there to allow for improvement of player skill beyond stats and strategy. One thing I do miss in eso combat though, also a controversial opinion, is the difficult quest bosses and overland enemies. I do like the effects of One Tamriel in a lot of ways, but I miss when I felt a sense of threat from those encounters, but I understand why it had to be done. It would be nice if some big quest bosses could have a hard mode like dungeons do, and/or an optional mode of limiting the player's strength when in certain quest areas, like disabling CP or something.

Getern

seipher09 wrote: »

In your opinion what is the reason this game beats the other mmorpg games out there?

It doesn't.

Rawkan

It's better at some things, this is the case for all MMO's. There's no perfect imo.

Jade1986

The combat and lore for me. Most other mmos are lore basic . And when I say that, warcraft for example pretty much started from scratch ignoring the rts games, guild wars also is new lore, wildstar was new lore, ff14 is like all other ff games where the lore is new for the game. This game has history behind it, the combat is fresh and fast ( if you bother to do more than light and heavy attacks ) the art is great. The only things that irk me are the allowance of certain add ons and the lag in cyro. That and we are in desperate need of mini games!

Lord_Draevan

ESO's my favourite MMO for a few reasons, setting aside that it's an Elder Scrolls game and that I love the series:

1) Block/Dodge/Interrupt/Heavy attacks are usable by anyone, and aren't abilities. This makes combat way more engaging for me.
2) Armor and weapon skills aren't class/race restricted. This allows for way more variety than if, say, Two-Handed was only available to DKs and Templars or Light Armor only to Sorcs and Wardens.
3) The Alliance War. I rarely PvP in MMOs, yet I've spent nearly 3/4 of my time playing ESO in Cyrodiil. Even though the lag is terrible, I keep coming back for more.

WanderLost

I've always played a healer in other MMOs, but I love how ESO builds some survivability into the classes so that the healer's role can be to maximize dps and sustain alongside keeping health topped up. Even though I find that people are less appreciative of healers in ESO (maybe because they can mostly keep themselves alive), it's just a lot more fun to heal in ESO than other MMOs. You feel more tied in to the group and big fights.

The storylines are pretty awesome too.

Elsonso

madeeh91rwb17_ESO wrote: »

@Radinyn
I actually want ZOS to takeover the control of elder scroll from Bethesda Game Studios. Their art is downright jaw dropping.
A constantly being made elder scrolls world with huge social aspects gives me wet dreams.

They can even reuse all the dialogue/content/story/quests with a little single player tweaks.
And keep a mega server on, giving an option to players to turn it into a regular MMO.

You know It will sell like nothing ever did. You know you'd love it

Personally, the more I play ESO, the less interested I am in TES 6. I know a lot of people are thinking that ESO is a finger to scratch the Elder Scrolls itch until BGS gets done with whatever "distraction" they have that prevents them from working on a real game. I thought that at one point, too. I will probably buy TES 6, but if it is like Fallout 4, it will be a short-lived disappointment. BGS seems to be "innovating" in a direction that isn't really interesting, or not implemented well. In a game the size of ESO, that can be overlooked (Housing) but in a game the size of Fallout 4, it cannot be.

Denyiir

No lag

KingJ

Only MMO on xbox.The other neverwinter and its p2w.

mikecrci

Because this game has no glaring, obvious shortcomings like the other ones do.

As an example: I tried playing that Final Fantasy XIV the other day. I immediately noticed that nothing in the game is voice acted, so it just feels weird playing in an environment where nobody spoke. Silence in an MMO is weird. Not even background crowd noise. It felt like I was playing a cheap phone app game. And also, the combat is that terrible, tab-based, timer thing. I don’t even know what to call it. But it sucks. Stopped playing after 20 minutes, and instead went back to ESO.

The only other MMO I play on my PS4 is Elite Dangerous. While it’s an awesome space sim MMO, here’s the glaring drawback: you can’t leave your ship and explore anything on foot. So I can only play the game in short spurts every once in awhile because it will get boring if you play it too long.

ESO you can enjoy for hours upon hours because of the varied content, there are no “WTF!?” drawbacks to the game’s design, and it gets most things right.

Foxic

For me its the combat system. I like it much more than any other mmo out right now.

dday3six

I don’t believe ESO is better. I think it latched on to a fanbase and is milking brand loyalty. I think a lack of choice on console helps sustain ESO, but once players start to collectively revolt against mircotransactions and loot crates (to the betterment of all gaming) ESO will fall further into obscurity.

coop500

mikecrci wrote: »

Because this game has no glaring, obvious shortcomings like the other ones do.

As an example: I tried playing that Final Fantasy XIV the other day. I immediately noticed that nothing in the game is voice acted, so it just feels weird playing in an environment where nobody spoke. Silence in an MMO is weird. Not even background crowd noise. It felt like I was playing a cheap phone app game. And also, the combat is that terrible, tab-based, timer thing. I don’t even know what to call it. But it sucks. Stopped playing after 20 minutes, and instead went back to ESO.

The only other MMO I play on my PS4 is Elite Dangerous. While it’s an awesome space sim MMO, here’s the glaring drawback: you can’t leave your ship and explore anything on foot. So I can only play the game in short spurts every once in awhile because it will get boring if you play it too long.

ESO you can enjoy for hours upon hours because of the varied content, there are no “WTF!?” drawbacks to the game’s design, and it gets most things right.

Pretty much all of this, ESO is the only MMO I can stand to play too. Plus it has the most freedom of any MMO I heard of.

eso_lags

@coop500 archeage has more freedom, much more.

I dont know that i agree with the OP.. Eso is good for newer players so thats why it might be popular but thats not the best thing.. Eso feels like everyone gets a trophy at this point. It has some good things and so do other mmos.

if you want to read more

Archeage has a vast open world with no load screens while having great combat, however getting end game gear is such a nightmare that it turns people away. Guild wars 2 has a great pvp design where you can hop in straight away and have all your skills unlocked (in pvp only) so that you can play, granted you wont have the gear or skills that others do but you can play.. Even a game like OaCO (a cell phone based mmo) was really good with combat and certain things in the game design. You can tame mounts in that game, if you work towards it, so that you have some things to feel unique... like a mount that you traveled far and waited a long time to tame, and beat others to getting it.. Or gear.

What im saying here is for me i want to have a game that rewards players for being competitive and playing a lot, while giving you unique things (mounts gear etc) that not everyone can get, and allowing you to beat other players who didnt work as hard as you have. While also letting casual players have fun and become competitive.. Eso has the under lv 50/no CP campaigns, and that is good to let new players experience things, however i think ESO needs more than end game trials to separate people who want to work hard for things and people that dont. Gear that stands out in look and what it does. The gear in eso is so plain, easy to get, and similar. But with the nerf on vma/master weapons, it seems they are going in the opposite direction. Eso does a lot for new players and casuals, i think it should do more for competitive players.

I guess my answer to the OPs question is that i dont think it beats every other mmo out there, but it probably beats some because it is so casual friendly. The thing is, you can be casual friendly while rewarding the players who want to work really hard by themselves or with a couple friends, eso lacks this in a major way that could easily be fixed. Plus it has a lot of good content, but again its casual content.. Back in the day if you saw someone with the maw skin or flawless title you knew that person was pretty damn good at the game.. I think that is gone now, everything in pve is to easy and pvp is just a zerg fest.. I think competitive players need more, and they need to fix the damn lag so we can actually try and play competitively again..

Asha_11_ESO

I like it a lot because of:

• The stories, lore, everything is voice narrated, some characters even remember you and insult you or give praise. (I love the insults more).
• It's darker, has more adult themes, stories, and content.
• The graphics and world environment, atmosphere, and music.
• Can play any build you want if you don't care about min-maxing.
• Clean, minimal UI, no dbm, limited combat log/meters.
• I like the combat system, plus it doesn't feel mind-numbingly slow (like FFXIV does for example).
• Account-wide bank, cps, can craft decent gear and share across characters.
• Costumes, dyes, housing, companions.
• Easy travel system. Any race any faction. One Tamriel.

coop500

itzTJ wrote: »

@coop500 archeage has more freedom, much more.

I dont know that i agree with the OP.. Eso is good for newer players so thats why it might be popular but thats not the best thing.. Eso feels like everyone gets a trophy at this point. It has some good things and so do other mmos.

if you want to read more

Archeage has a vast open world with no load screens while having great combat, however getting end game gear is such a nightmare that it turns people away. Guild wars 2 has a great pvp design where you can hop in straight away and have all your skills unlocked (in pvp only) so that you can play, granted you wont have the gear or skills that others do but you can play.. Even a game like OaCO (a cell phone based mmo) was really good with combat and certain things in the game design. You can tame mounts in that game, if you work towards it, so that you have some things to feel unique... like a mount that you traveled far and waited a long time to tame, and beat others to getting it.. Or gear.

What im saying here is for me i want to have a game that rewards players for being competitive and playing a lot, while giving you unique things (mounts gear etc) that not everyone can get, and allowing you to beat other players who didnt work as hard as you have. While also letting casual players have fun and become competitive.. Eso has the under lv 50/no CP campaigns, and that is good to let new players experience things, however i think ESO needs more than end game trials to separate people who want to work hard for things and people that dont. Gear that stands out in look and what it does. The gear in eso is so plain, easy to get, and similar. But with the nerf on vma/master weapons, it seems they are going in the opposite direction. Eso does a lot for new players and casuals, i think it should do more for competitive players.

I guess my answer to the OPs question is that i dont think it beats every other mmo out there, but it probably beats some because it is so casual friendly. The thing is, you can be casual friendly while rewarding the players who want to work really hard by themselves or with a couple friends, eso lacks this in a major way that could easily be fixed. Plus it has a lot of good content, but again its casual content.. Back in the day if you saw someone with the maw skin or flawless title you knew that person was pretty damn good at the game.. I think that is gone now, everything in pve is to easy and pvp is just a zerg fest.. I think competitive players need more, and they need to fix the damn lag so we can actually try and play competitively again..

There's more to freedom then just wandering, though it is a good chunk.

Marabornwingrion

ToRelax wrote: »

2. the dynamic combat system

Yeah, heavy attacks are sooo dynamic.

Vizier

It's because of the character balance... :-/

Apherius

itzTJ wrote: »

@coop500 archeage has more freedom, much more.

I dont know that i agree with the OP.. Eso is good for newer players so thats why it might be popular but thats not the best thing.. Eso feels like everyone gets a trophy at this point. It has some good things and so do other mmos.

if you want to read more

Archeage has a vast open world with no load screens while having great combat, however getting end game gear is such a nightmare that it turns people away. Guild wars 2 has a great pvp design where you can hop in straight away and have all your skills unlocked (in pvp only) so that you can play, granted you wont have the gear or skills that others do but you can play.. Even a game like OaCO (a cell phone based mmo) was really good with combat and certain things in the game design. You can tame mounts in that game, if you work towards it, so that you have some things to feel unique... like a mount that you traveled far and waited a long time to tame, and beat others to getting it.. Or gear.

What im saying here is for me i want to have a game that rewards players for being competitive and playing a lot, while giving you unique things (mounts gear etc) that not everyone can get, and allowing you to beat other players who didnt work as hard as you have. While also letting casual players have fun and become competitive.. Eso has the under lv 50/no CP campaigns, and that is good to let new players experience things, however i think ESO needs more than end game trials to separate people who want to work hard for things and people that dont. Gear that stands out in look and what it does. The gear in eso is so plain, easy to get, and similar. But with the nerf on vma/master weapons, it seems they are going in the opposite direction. Eso does a lot for new players and casuals, i think it should do more for competitive players.

I guess my answer to the OPs question is that i dont think it beats every other mmo out there, but it probably beats some because it is so casual friendly. The thing is, you can be casual friendly while rewarding the players who want to work really hard by themselves or with a couple friends, eso lacks this in a major way that could easily be fixed. Plus it has a lot of good content, but again its casual content.. Back in the day if you saw someone with the maw skin or flawless title you knew that person was pretty damn good at the game.. I think that is gone now, everything in pve is to easy and pvp is just a zerg fest.. I think competitive players need more, and they need to fix the damn lag so we can actually try and play competitively again..

I agree with what you said ,and i think i can post my picture again:


Of course it's very nice from them to give us these rewards, they could just put the same price on the DLC and don't put any customization rewards if they wanted to .
If i remember correctly they said that they wanted us to show both reward at the same time with Horn of the Reach release ( chaman skin and hat ) , i agree with them, but if they want us to do this they need to make the rewards " unique " ,not better than those in the crown store ,just" unique". ( ex : Vmol/Vhof/Vas skin currently )
the Bloodroot forge skin for exemple ... is clearly engame content related ... this is sad. I'm not against the Crown store, and i never said that an Engame player should look better than someone who spend money on the game cause it's thank to them than the game is still alive.
And It's not because we are what we can call " Engame players " that we spend night talking about theory crafting ect ... we also love these customization rewards, and it's sad to see that some don't worth to be wear anymore like the hat from Bloodroot forge not because it's ugly, just because someone who spend cash on the crownstore can also pretend to have done all the bloodroot forge achievements.

So, for me it's part of the " sad things " on Eso ( there is also bots ... gold seller ect in this categorie),
But i love this game for:

• the stories ( We really see that they took time to do this , and it's cool ! )
• Tamriel ( just look in your screenshot ,you probably have some beautiful one,)
• the housing ( even if their is a limit to your creativity , you can do good things)
• The achievements ( + and - , i like to get them all , but i also hate this cause i'm maniac and can't create alts just because of this xD)

madeeh91rwb17_ESO

@lordrichter
Indeed.
Which is why I still haven't even finished FO4.
It looks like a rusty ^^^^ anyway.

But I have now begun to think that this constantly being constructed model is great for elder scroll.
Heck even skyrim has now started to get *official* mini DLCs/Crownstore items after all these years. Let that sink in for a momment.

Anyway, think Borderlands 2, but bigger, way bigger, with more socialization options, and a PvP system.
If ESO was more like borderlands in all the regions outside of Cyrodil. With players' own PCs handling most of the processing in an instanced world that primarily only sends RNG requests for loot/resource nodes to server, with you being able to see zone chat and your group mates. And rest of the multiplayer interaction limited to certain zones(cities). With an option to go full MMO on the mega server for those who are really into that kind of stuff.
It could have been far far bigger than its current size.

Tandor

SirAxen wrote: »

FearlessOne_2014 wrote: »

Bbsample197 wrote: »

it caters to casual more than any mmo, i mean eso has probably the most single player content for an mmorpg

Sorry but you must have not met the failure in progress MMO that is GW2. Which actually rewards players greatly just showing up or losing.

ESO does have a lot of single player content for an MMORPG.

My personally reason why I think ESO beats the others. The good amount of decent quality content we have here. Also ESO rewards players who interested in improving. Also ESO's graphics are stunning to say the least. ESO also has no sort of P2W or advance market system. Plus the fact that it's set in the TES world. And the fact the other MMORPGs just completely blows far a PvP is concerned.

I actually agree with this. I think the term 'casual' is silly, but GW2 is absolutely more 'casual' than ESO.

Yes, but it isn't remotely in the same "MMORPG" league as ESO. Like its predecessor before it compared to the other MMORPGs around at the time, GW2 is a "MMORPG-lite" game and only ever intended as such. That's not a bad thing, by any means, but it means there isn't a direct comparison between GW2 and ESO even for casual players. GW2 is more comparable to say Rift, in my view.

I agree with your reasons for ESO's success, other than in respect of the PvP of which I have no experience - although I do note from this forum that very many PvPers have been complaining about poor PvP performance and balance for over three and a half years now but are still playing it so that must count for something!

Elsonso

TotallyNotVos wrote: »

For me its the combat system. I like it much more than any other mmo out right now.

Definitely. ESO combat is very dynamic and fast moving, and always has been. Tactical position becomes important, as does moving relative to your target.

In a certain other MMO that is being discussed in another thread, the combat is much less dynamic. That game has a combat history that is basically not much more than standing in one spot and pressing the right number keys in the right order. When I went back to play this game, which has not happened in years, it took a long time to get used to standing there playing whack-a-mole with my number keys.

Doctordarkspawn

Bbsample197 wrote: »

it caters to casual more than any mmo, i mean eso has probably the most single player content for an mmorpg

LOOOOOOOOOOOL

Yeah, no, I can definately despute that. Most of the balance changes have been anti casual, and the overland will only hold for like two weeks. If the game wants to -retain- the casuals it's doing it poorly.

This game didn't really beat other MMO's. It filled a nieche. A reticle combat, fast paced action game is what it was when it was released. That, more than anything, is what got many many people involved, along with the elder scrolls name.

It was easily adapted to a controller, easily picked up and understood, and most of all it was -engaging-. Active rotation with aiming is far better at grabing attention than just pressing a sequence of keys until the bad thing is dead.

Since then, the dev team have done they're best to slow the combat system down with the sustain changes and heavy attack emphasis. And thus, the game has died. Interest is down, playerbase is down. Sales are down. The game is essentially surviving on it's Single Player Content, going to places the elder scrolls series has never seen before, in order to keep afloat, because if nothing else elder scrolls fans want to see that.

Casuals are the only audience geting anything out of the actual game anymore. That is why the entire machinery of ZOS is catering to them. Because the changes the devs have made have slowed the game down, and ZOS has never particularly been great at saying 'mea culpa'.

Runschei

Most of my armor doesn't look like a freaking bikini. That's why.

Morgha_Kul

For me, there are several things.

First, it's Elder Scrolls. I've been playing these games since Arena.

Second, the layout of the game world. What I mean by this is that it doesn't fall into the trap of laying an unrealistic carpet of enemies every 2 steps (see Lord of the Rings Online for an example of this). Here, enemies are placed in a logical way, making it possible to move around more freely.

Third, I can go ANYWHERE. This is something I asked for MANY times in many games, based on what I saw in the original Morrowind (ES III). A mudcrab there was the same wherever I went. The world was CONSISTENT. Since One Tamriel, THIS world is also consistent. Now, they went a step further (possibly too far), and made it possible for starting characters to go literally anywhere and take on any foe (See the Vivec story for an example of this), which might be a bit unrealistic, but it opens up the game world in a way no other MMO has ever done.

Fourth, the game LOOKS incredible. It's been carefully crafted by talented artists, and it really shows. Now, there are lots of games out there today that have great graphics, and honestly, some of the animations here are pretty poor (Staves, walking, etc), but overall, it's a fantastic experience.

Fifth, the VOICE ACTING is excellent (with a handful of exceptions). It goes a long way to helping us become immersed in the game.


Now, where can the game improve?

First, I'd like to see more downtime activities. Right now, we can craft, but that's about it. I'd like to see some non-combat skills, some romance options, some more affordable, useful housing, and so on.

Second, I'd like to see some of the areas we saw in other games. For example, Fang Lair (from Arena), or Dagoth Ur.

Third, I'd like to see some better control over the appearance of our crafted items... but I gather something like this is in the works.

Fourth, I'd like to see the weak animations tweaked. Walking, for one, and all the staff animations. I've talked about this before, so I won't get into it here.

I'm sure I could come up with more, but the great thing is how trivial these things are. The game is arguably the best MMO on the market today.

Elsonso

Doctordarkspawn wrote: »

Since then, the dev team have done they're best to slow the combat system down with the sustain changes and heavy attack emphasis.

The heavy attack and sustain things are not deal breakers for a casual player, particularly new ones that don't have an agenda. I have said time and time again that new players don't even notice the heavy attack meta, and resources are, and always have been, something that just needs to be managed. New players manage it all the time. They are chronically out of resources, and always have been. They deal with it. Along the way, the game incrementally removed that need to manage resources, but only for the higher level characters. This spoiled an entire generation of players in this game, who have to change how they think about resources. New players don't have to do this.