I love ESO but it makes me sad to think about what this game could have been

Yo_Langland

I've had a lot of fun but it's really starting to feel like I'm just spending time playing a game that's just a sinking ship that has no chance of not sinking and the crew is just trying to get as much gold into the lifeboat as possible before it goes down for good. It's so frustrating because this game has such amazing content and it's grown so much since it's come out, but it just doesn't play smoothly and everything I read tells me it never will

Narvuntien

Nah don't let the chicken littles of the forums get you down they have been saying that for years and its still going.

Morgul667

Ship is bugged and slow in its path as it is stopping quite often due to loss of power, motor freezings and lots of issues (bugs).

But it is not sinking.

Bhaal5

Got a theory, was beta/launch as good as it got? It took 7 years to make eso, and seems like they trying to desroy it in 7, theyvare doing a pretty good job at that...
3 more years to find out if that theory is true or not though

Jawasa

If you pvp yes. Extrem lagg and no sound for weeks for example. But when i pve i almost Never have any problems.

mirta000b16_ESO

Bhaal5 wrote: »

Got a theory, was beta/launch as good as it got? It took 7 years to make eso, and seems like they trying to desroy it in 7, theyvare doing a pretty good job at that...
3 more years to find out if that theory is true or not though

Beta was so broken that I thought that I had no interest in the game, until it was on a massive sale during one tamriel.

Stats show that players are on a steady rise and the only absolutely game breaking bug right now is infinite loading screens on x-box. The rest are annoyances you can work around, just like in any other MMO. It's not the most bug free MMO that I've played, but those were P2P, so I can't exactly fault a B2P game for that.

Attackfrog

I tried this game at launch and was SO bad. I quit for almost a year.

I came back and have played it somewhat consistently since....and it has only gotten better. And now without MHO to take my time and money, I would say ESO is in my top 5 games right now. It is just doing too well right now to worry about any sort of shutdown or wasting your time.

ZoM_Head

Narvuntien wrote: »

Nah don't let the chicken littles of the forums get you down they have been saying that for years and its still going.

Because it is the truth. Avoiding the truth? Now who is the "chicken littles"?

Rohamad_Ali

AlienatedGoat

Yo_Langland wrote: »

I've had a lot of fun but it's really starting to feel like I'm just spending time playing a game that's just a sinking ship that has no chance of not sinking and the crew is just trying to get as much gold into the lifeboat as possible before it goes down for good. It's so frustrating because this game has such amazing content and it's grown so much since it's come out, but it just doesn't play smoothly and everything I read tells me it never will

Making a game of this magnitude is going to come with problems. No MMORPG escapes that fact.

Don't listen to the "game is dead/game is dying" crowd. It's just doomsayer nonsense from salty people who don't understand MMO development.

Their doomsday threads aren't based in fact: The real fact is the game shows healthy growth and promise, and isn't anywhere near death.

ESO will soldier on, and it will be here for a long time to come.

Turelus

Personally I found I enjoyed the game a lot more when I stopped imagining "what it could be" and started playing it for "what it is".

ESO will never be "my perfect", it's got some issues and yes they're bloody frustrating when you hit them. However it's still at its core a very good game, with a passionate dev team and improving from patch to patch.

There are changes I hate (heavy/light attack changes in Morrowind) but rather than cry about how it ruined my game, I just sucked it up learnt how the game worked now and got on with it. I make sure I play the aspects of the game which give me enjoyment and avoid the ones which upset or frustrate me.

Also try to take everything you read on the forums with a grain of salt. A lot of the complaining has become complaining for the sake of complaining now. People are so set in a us against them and grrr ZOS mindset they're unwilling to accept anything good happening.

boggo

No game has the chance of not sinking.

ZoM_Head

Phage wrote: »

Yo_Langland wrote: »

I've had a lot of fun but it's really starting to feel like I'm just spending time playing a game that's just a sinking ship that has no chance of not sinking and the crew is just trying to get as much gold into the lifeboat as possible before it goes down for good. It's so frustrating because this game has such amazing content and it's grown so much since it's come out, but it just doesn't play smoothly and everything I read tells me it never will

Making a game of this magnitude is going to come with problems. No MMORPG escapes that fact.

Don't listen to the "game is dead/game is dying" crowd. It's just doomsayer nonsense from salty people who don't understand MMO development.

Their doomsday threads aren't based in fact: The real fact is the game shows healthy growth and promise, and isn't anywhere near death.

ESO will soldier on, and it will be here for a long time to come.

Healthy growth and promise does not mean it is good does it? It merely means it attracts a specific crowd. As a day 1 ESO player i find very little to do and content being seriously too easy. The only challenges would be certain speed or no death in end game pve trails. Other than that, you can grab a level 1 character and blast through all content with repetitive go fetch quests and have zero issues dealing decent damage without having a clue or even using sets.

Problems can not be avoided, but when a problem (or problems) persist for months or even nearly 2 years now (in some cases in ESO) and reports sent in and nothing being done, that is either being lazy or not bothered to address it/them.

I agree with you, the game is no where near death and more new players are joining, but just wait till they reach end game content and actually complete everything, it is a different story, that is one of the biggest things the devs should take a serious look into (not fix, there is no "fix" for end gamers). Instead, we get 4 motifs every update, reworked sets (which some of us spent hours and hours trying to get and became obsolete) and the same copy and paste builds for pve (so much for diversity).

There is a reason why i am still in ESO since the 6 month beta, it is a very very good game, but my goodness.....it feels like an absolute mess or clusterfk the majority of the time, which is really sad.

mirta000b16_ESO

ZoM_Head wrote: »

Healthy growth and promise does not mean it is good does it? It merely means it attracts a specific crowd. As a day 1 ESO player i find very little to do and content being seriously too easy. The only challenges would be certain speed or no death in end game pve trails. Other than that, you can grab a level 1 character and blast through all content with repetitive go fetch quests and have zero issues dealing decent damage without having a clue or even using sets.

Problems can not be avoided, but when a problem (or problems) persist for months or even nearly 2 years now (in some cases in ESO) and reports sent in and nothing being done, that is either being lazy or not bothered to address it/them.

I agree with you, the game is no where near death and more new players are joining, but just wait till they reach end game content and actually complete everything, it is a different story, that is one of the biggest things the devs should take a serious look into (not fix, there is no "fix" for end gamers). Instead, we get 4 motifs every update, reworked sets (which some of us spent hours and hours trying to get and became obsolete) and the same copy and paste builds for pve (so much for diversity).

There is a reason why i am still in ESO since the 6 month beta, it is a very very good game, but my goodness.....it feels like an absolute mess or clusterfk the majority of the time, which is really sad.

There is a market for casual MMOs. In 2012 - 2015 this market gap was occupied with Guild Wars 2. Developers made HoT after listening to the complaints of "there's no end game" and "the game is too easy". The game lost a lot of its original fans. Thankfully there was ESO to pick us up.

Each MMO attracts a specific crowd. Nothing wrong with that. Healthy growth would mean that it's good for the specific crowd that it attracts.

Gprime31

Jawasa wrote: »

If you pvp yes. Extrem lagg and no sound for weeks for example. But when i pve i almost Never have any problems.

True, but pvp Don't pay the bills.

Betsararie

That is the fate of all MMOs, and it's not even happening here yet. It's too early to sound the alarm.

Bam_Bam

Bhaal5 wrote: »

Got a theory, was beta/launch as good as it got? It took 7 years to make eso, and seems like they trying to desroy it in 7, theyvare doing a pretty good job at that...
3 more years to find out if that theory is true or not though

Beta /launch was good? Are you high? The game was a wreck at launch.

ChuckyPayne

Not everything is perfect but it is a good game, don't worry about anything just play, and enjoy the game. There are tons of player around you, it is mean to me ZOS doing well.

RobDaCool

Every game could have been better then what it is, especially MMO's.

Peekachu99

This game actually has a variety of content for different types of gamers. Overworld, crafting, and questing for story and casual fans. Organized (or zergling) PVP, Vet dungeons and world bosses for moderate challenges, DLC vets, trials and MSA for experienced players. Roaming in PVP can be added to the high end of the skill set, too. If you’re bored, you’re not challenging yourself. If you’ve competed all the challenges in the game and you’re still bored, then it’s time to check out something else.

Simple, and no need for self-indulgent posts.

zaria

mirta000b16_ESO wrote: »

ZoM_Head wrote: »

Healthy growth and promise does not mean it is good does it? It merely means it attracts a specific crowd. As a day 1 ESO player i find very little to do and content being seriously too easy. The only challenges would be certain speed or no death in end game pve trails. Other than that, you can grab a level 1 character and blast through all content with repetitive go fetch quests and have zero issues dealing decent damage without having a clue or even using sets.

Problems can not be avoided, but when a problem (or problems) persist for months or even nearly 2 years now (in some cases in ESO) and reports sent in and nothing being done, that is either being lazy or not bothered to address it/them.

I agree with you, the game is no where near death and more new players are joining, but just wait till they reach end game content and actually complete everything, it is a different story, that is one of the biggest things the devs should take a serious look into (not fix, there is no "fix" for end gamers). Instead, we get 4 motifs every update, reworked sets (which some of us spent hours and hours trying to get and became obsolete) and the same copy and paste builds for pve (so much for diversity).

There is a reason why i am still in ESO since the 6 month beta, it is a very very good game, but my goodness.....it feels like an absolute mess or clusterfk the majority of the time, which is really sad.

There is a market for casual MMOs. In 2012 - 2015 this market gap was occupied with Guild Wars 2. Developers made HoT after listening to the complaints of "there's no end game" and "the game is too easy". The game lost a lot of its original fans. Thankfully there was ESO to pick us up.

Each MMO attracts a specific crowd. Nothing wrong with that. Healthy growth would mean that it's good for the specific crowd that it attracts.

This, add that you will run out of things to do in any MMO, at that time you either play for social reasons, just play new stuff then released or quit.

Jade1986

I always have these worries too. Instead of focusing on cash shop nonsense, they could release quality content, and THAT I would pay for. How about ....

- Events with wandering bands of bosses and stronger enemies , like IC.
- In game mini games to just pass the time.
- Underwater ruins exploration and MEANINGFUL treasurechests that have more than 20 gold in there.
- More choices during quest dialogues.
- A optimized cyro with pvp events.
- FAR more roleplaying options.

THIS is the result of the cash shop and crown crate nonsense. Companies try to make a quick buck instead of making quality innovative content and fixing the game we already have .

Jarryzzt

1. Given that Zenimax is owned by financial speculators - a private equity fund* called Providence - I a) am absolutely sure that every quarter or even every month ESO's numbers are scrutinized back and forth from a revenues-and-expenses standpoint; and b) am also absolutely sure that if ESO were to suddenly show lower than expected/desired numbers the finance people would have zero qualms about actively interfering in the business (which we, the players, would quickly see in the game).

Since I, for one, haven't spotted any "sudden moves" or radical shifts in revenue/development strategy and philosophy (yes, Morrowind was billed as an expansion rather than a DLC, so maybe they are trying to boost the numbers over a longer period of time)...I don't think that ESO is performing at below whatever Providence's expectations might be.

2. While we have zero idea about number specifics for ESO and ZOS, Providence, as of a year or two ago, had leaked to the press "model" valuation (i.e. numbers in an Excel model vs. actual measurable market price) of Zenimax as a whole (including Wolfenstein and whatever other properties they have) at $2.5 billion. This implies positive cash operating income of...$150-$200 million per year? Not exactly Activision (~10x larger, or at least used to be), but still, not "dying" by any stretch. Although again, that's not exactly ESO-specific, and yes, sometimes private equity guys lie on valuations for multiple and manifold reasons (e.g. showing "good" portfolio values to their own investors in quarterly investor letters).

But again, nothing there to suggest a "dying" game per se.

3. What I will say is that these kinds of MMOs in general are experiencing a sort of a...maturation? Crisis, even? You saw it when WoW lost, per Activision, several million subs over a couple of years, primarily in Asia, as people transitioned to other types of multiplayer games (DOTA, for example). You sort of saw it with TOR which, per Electronic Arts, tried the subscription model, failed, converted to F2P, and now stabilized at a healthy level of - what, a couple of hundred thousand subs? - but not exactly a barn-burner-gang-buster-ten-bagger that one would have hoped for from a Star Wars-based WoW clone.

So yes, longer term these games as a whole, and ESO in particular (sort of riding on the coattails of Skyrim, in a way), face a number of questions viz. their player bases and growth potential and sustainability of revenues and so forth. All of them, as a category, because video game categories can have peaks and, well, valleys.

I personally speculate that the genre may be - saved? rejuvenated? restored to glory? - in future with a much wider introduction of VR systems, and ESO in particular may be among the first to benefit as Fallout 4 VR is coming out in, I think, a few weeks or so? The very short term, in other words. And yes, Bethesda is not quite the same as Zenimax - IIRC the development team was spun out so now there is just a publishing relationship between the two - but if anybody at either Providence or Zenimax has two brain cells to rub together, they have to be paying attention to how Fallout 4 VR fares and possibly having some technical conversations on how Bethesda did this or that behind closed doors. [Certainly they are better positioned to do this than, say, Activision-Blizzard WoW guys. IMO.]

So by the time the technology starts to become truly mass-market (for which you need not only cheaper-and-better but easier to bloody install and operate VR systems, IMO), might we see a renaissance for ESO-type games? Possibly. Quite possibly. But, as I said, I think we need another couple of years for the hardware to come along, and some proofs-of-concept like rave reviews of Fallout 4 VR would help as well...

---

* - to restate something I've said elsewhere, briefly - PE funds make most of their return by "flipping", i.e. buying and reselling, companies at a profit, using debt to finance the bulk of the "buys" thus magnifying the return on their equity. Since companies are generally bought and sold off multiples of "cash operating income" (EBITDA), the number one, numero uno priority of a PE fund viz. its portfolio companies is to a) jack up revenues as high as possible (hello loot boxes!); and b) drive down costs as much as possible (in IT land that usually means outsourcing work to India or having hard caps on development budget and manhours, among other things). Hence my confidence in these people's emphasis on scrutinizing the numbers and interfering at the slightest provocation - their portfolio valuations and ultimate returns are at stake!

FloppyTouch

I feel like people forget how bugged this game was when it came out. It’s has always been terrible, do I have to bring up the quest that would not let you continue the story line?

We dealt with a lot over the years and not much has change for every bug they fix we get a new one.

I still have a blast with this game and keep finding new things to do. Down time sucks bugs and load screen sucks but when the game works which does happen every now and then it’s great.

If ur getting burnt out from the game take a break play something else. When ever I do that I miss eso a lot and then realize how bad other games are.

itehache

I recommend you to not read the forums very often haha Just make your opinion based in your own experience, you say you love the game, well that is what matters.
The forums are a great tool to get information and help, but there are way too many negative posts. I am not saying those posts are wrong, I am just saying that instead of spending your time lurking in here you could just be playing the game you love.
ESO is full of bugs but little by little is getting better. I have a good PC now and I do not experience any lag issues except from very rare occasions. I used to play in a laptop and that was another story xD

Balamoor

Narvuntien wrote: »

Nah don't let the chicken littles of the forums get you down they have been saying that for years and its still going.

Yep pretty much, look at it like this are you really going to take the word of a handful of people that spend 12 to 16 hours a day hating on a video game?

Here is a good example, one my neighbors uses four different forum accounts to hate on the game, if one of the accounts is banned he waits until there is a $9.00 sale and gets a new forum account just to trash the game.

His reasoning behind this? He honestly believes that if ESO is closed Bethesda will make TES VI faster, never mind that they are two separate entities.

That is the kind of nonsense that you see from the forum community, ignore all of the hair pulling, the game is fine, and the business model isn't going anywhere.

MinarasLaure

I don't get how people get the feeling that this game is sinking.
Group finder problems actually tell us that this game is far from sinking.
I started playing almost three years ago, I got 2 chars, and they're both half way there.
I have so many things to do that sometimes I don't even know where to start when I log in.
I've got my house to decorate, my pvp rank to max out, my many sets to transmute, my huge dose of farming for the motifs, my lorebooks to collect, my daily pledges, vMA to farm (thx rng gods...).i mean geez, and I'm not even doing trials as it takes too much time or bg cause I still haven't got a chance to try my builds..
And these guys keep adding stuff seriously.
Haven't finished Morrowind and clockwork city yet...

SolidusPrime

Been playing since launch, and the game has never felt more alive to me. There are people everywhere, and there is almost too much to do.

Grabmoore

People stating, that there is not enough content in ESO just rushed through the game and wonder now Why noone congratz them Now.

Do you people all have 14 maxed out up to date endgame chars and 28k+ achievement points? If no, there you go, if yes congratz. Now get a life.

Radinyn

Game is bad only on forums

altemriel

it is still an awesome and a growing game!! screw the bugs and lags, I love it and I am definitely not alone!!