What do you think is causing eso "not more fun with friends"?

Lyserus

ESO is the only MMO game I play, so maybe I don't know much about MMOs in general, but one thing we can agree on is that ESO is not something you can have more fun playing with friends, it's more like a solo game. (When I say this I'm comparing it with games like sea of thieves etc, not the same type of game I know but ESO is just, well, let's say there is no point to get friends together and play together)

What do you think caused it? I guess ZOS was trying to make a change by giving out Craglorn delves, but that did not turn out well, but is it because of craglorn is not rewarding enough, or some other reasons?

Kel

It IS more fun playing together with rl friends

I always personally have more fun with my friends, whether it's questing, dungeons, trials....but especially in PvP.
This can actually be worse in other MMO's.
Take the faction divide in WoW. If your friends prefer a race that's in the other faction then the race you prefer, you can't interact with them at all in game, except to kill them in PvP. In my opinion, with faction loyalty immersion aside, that's far more anti "play with your friends" then ESO could ever be.
At least in ESO, the only time your race/faction interferes with playing with your friends IS IN PvP, and that can be mitigated with the any race, any faction perk.

AlnilamE

It IS more fun playing together with rl friends

Are we even playing the same game?

Like sure, questing is not something you need other people for, but questing in general is better done solo if you want to pay attention to the story. But there are a ton of things you can do with friends, like world bosses, dungeons, PvP, general exploring, fishing, you name it.

Anysra

It IS more fun playing together with rl friends

It's fun if you play with a RL friend, doing quests or dungeons n stuff. But not at all. See, my friend doesn't like all that waiting and doing stuff I LIKE. That makes my game also boring because he is complaining for ALL actions I do. So, i'd actually like to play alone. I can do whatever I want and don't hear my friend yelling through the mic "FAM WHERE U AT I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR 2 YEARS". I was doing some outfit stuff for 2 SECONDS. Or, we're on a group just two of us, and he tells me; Hey ehm, what should we do? So I come with something he is like NO that's boring. I mean, sure it is fun. But ESO is way too complicated game if you want to play with friends. I mean, not ESO. It's ALL MMORPG's.

Shooter games? Team up and go kill. Simple. MMO? Every player do have it's playstyle. Some do want Grind, some do want kill or do Cyro. I do like ALL stuff but it limits my fun because of my friend.

Ragged_Claw

It IS more fun playing together with rl friends

Get a bunch of friends on discord, get very drunk and then take on some Vet HM content. Hilarious! Seriously though I get that overland PvE is too easy with other people, but then it's not hard to solo either since 1T. I am a traditional lone wolf so it can be refreshing to actually join with other people for a while and do some dungeons, IC stuff, fishing, sky-shard collecting or just farm Dolmens whilst judging everyone else's skills and fashion sense Although I love the fact that (mostly) I am not forced to group to clear content.

teiselaise

It IS more fun playing together with rl friends

Everything except maybe wanking and cutting your stick off is more fun with friends. Or well, those 2 activities may of course be fun too if you're with the right kind of friends.

Aesthier

It IS more fun playing together with rl friends

Being older making friends in video games is not as appealing to me as it used t be.

Not to say I don't still make some it's just that I don't look for it as much as I used to and my hectic schedule often makes it more difficult to have a regular playtime in which to meet those I enjoy playing with.

On top of that due to the job, I worked the last 20 years in which I moved around a lot I have only 2 really close friends in real life. One of those just isn't into the same type of games I am into and the other currently has a rough schedule almost opposite of mine.

That being said, however, I really do enjoy playing with someone I know and can share in-game experiences with. The joy of overcoming those in-game challenges with close friends never really went away.

Over the last 20 years or so of playing MMO's I have come to realize that the community plays a larger part of how inclusive or exclusive a game is sometimes even more so than the mechanics the developers create. As a game ages, its community is less supportive as a whole and begins to develop large divides between those who are more skilled or have more experience and those who are new or less skilled.

There isn't anything wrong with that, it is just something that develops as MMO's age.


Do some games have mechanics that lead to a greater need for participation in mass? Certainly and some games less, however, ESO still has plenty of content that requires group participation for "new players" and as far as long-time experienced players they simply outgrew that requirement.

The social mechanics are still here its just that the community decides how much time they as a whole want to put into those mechanics and develop new relationships to replace the ones lost.

Voxicity

Other, please specify

Picked the wrong option

But I have way more fun playing with friends

Perhaps your problem is that you don't have any friends to play with?

Betsararie

I quest with people all the time. You practically need to

DRAGON_KILLER_HUNTER

I dont know what world you are living, but for me eso is hella fun with friends

SugaComa

Other, please specify

The problem is quest drops ...

Say I do a question my own then a friend is on it later and he struggling and asks for help

So I join them, I can't see the quest markers or sometimes the enemies

Apart from solo quests when grouping up we should get instanced into the crown's sessions so we can do their quests, also with each person in group enemies should get a multiplier making them harder n more challenging

Tasear

Other, please specify

#SupportGuildSystemUpdates2018

DanteYoda

Problems with combat system caused it

Friends are over rated..

Sparr0w

Other, please specify

Friends are scrubs

Nah but the quests really aren't co-op, sure you can blast through them with a friend but can't co-op them unlike group quests/events.

Turelus

It IS more fun playing together with rl friends

Personally I find it much more fun with friends.

When I came back to the game after a break I had no friends playing any more, no guilds and just did solo questing and farming which got dull fast.
Now I have a number of friends who returned and made new ones who I do content with almost every night, without them I probably would have left the game again.

Jameliel

Other, please specify

I had three friends who tried it. They all quit. Shrug...I plod on by my lonesome=)

Deep_01

Other, please specify

Weak synergy or combo-able abilities

DeadlyRecluse

It IS more fun playing together with rl friends

Lyserus wrote: »

one thing we can agree on is that ESO is not something you can have more fun playing with friends

We cannot agree on this.

Zordrage

Most of my Friends prefer to play Animeish/Cartoonish looking MMORPGs or FPS....

Klixen

For me, the most appealing thing about ESO is how solo friendly it is.

I will always be a single-game player at heart and ESO is the closest thing to a single-player MMO I've ever played. That's why I play it.

I don't think I'm alone. MMO's are becoming more casual and solo friendly (because game developers have learned that's what most people want).

And it's not just an Anti-social thing. The gaming demographic has changed. Gamers are older now, they have jobs and kids. They might be the most social people in the world, but they just don't have the time to devote to group content anymore.

I think that's why ESO is so popular. It appeals to people who don't have much time to play and to 'hardcore' players who spend hours playing.

So by all means, add more group focused content (if that's what some people want), but don't change the core game to be more group focused. That will just drive people away.

GreenhaloX

Other, please specify

PvP..

Kiralyn2000

Other, please specify

What is this "play with friends" thing you speak of?

(Sea of Thieves looked kind of interesting, but alas, you need other people to play it from the articles I've seen. Watching a Kotaku vid of some guy trying to sail the solo ship.... ick.)

greenmachine

It IS more fun playing together with rl friends

I absolutely have more fun playing ESO with my friends, both RL and friends I've met in game. I think they make conscious efforts to enable this, for example using megaservers instead of having 100 different realms in each region, like WoW does (or used to do at least, it's been awhile since I played WoW.) I would be happy to hear they are considering more features to enable and enhance group play and camaraderie between players.

Imhotep71

It IS more fun playing together with rl friends

So you admittedly lack any other point of reference for MMOs but yet think this game isn't more fun with friends. O. K.

You're entitled to your opinion. You're wrong but still entitled to that.

In guessing if you really think this you are doing it wrong.

Eyro

The quests and overland are too easy and no co-op is needed

I think the overland content is just to easy. Hey look a group of 2 mobs you one shot one I’ll one shot the other.... and as someone else pointed out no way to actually tell what quest the people in my group are doing.

Now I do think they have done a good job putting in more bosses which do encourage you to group up. But really there isn’t a whole lot of reason to do them unless you are on a daily quest. Of course most of them stand still in a very specific location so you don’t have to worry about accidently having to need help... how very boring.

I know people will bring up the failure of craglorn. But that was a failure in design. First gate content behind quest and make it so unless you are on exactly the same quest step at the same time, you can’t work together. Then nerf all the rewards so they are worse then you get in easier content... last wonder why no one groups up to go there... well played Zos you destroyed your own area.

DaveMoeDee

Other, please specify

I have no idea what coop fans would want since I prefer playing RPGs solo.

Questing will always be worse grouped because grouping makes people rush through dialogue. Since so much effort was put into voicing all characters, it lends itself to solo questing. Coop is great for mindless slaughter or tactical combat. It isn't good for narrative.

There are dungeons and PvP for grouping. That is enough for me.

Rickter

I think its entirely dependent on the content. I can say that questing specifically is a chore in any mmorpg you play. Well, i take that back: its usually pretty awesome leveling with one other person - i did that in two other mmorpgs and it was really fun. We saw some crazy stuff, and took on quest levels we shouldnt have and laugh about it to this day.

anything more than 2 and it turns into a patience murdering chaotic mess of everyone at a different point in their quest.

ESO especially had this "instancing" problem early on that i dont think was fully addressed - you literally could not quest with friends as areas would become "phased" to "reflect the decisions of your character".

sounded good on paper i suppose.

I will say, after playing about 3 hours of TERA, recently - ESO is still the best in the biz when it comes to quest structure and overall game design.

Guarlet

Lyserus wrote: »

ESO is the only MMO game I play, so maybe I don't know much about MMOs in general, but one thing we can agree on is that ESO is not something you can have more fun playing with friends, it's more like a solo game. (When I say this I'm comparing it with games like sea of thieves etc, not the same type of game I know but ESO is just, well, let's say there is no point to get friends together and play together)

What do you think caused it? I guess ZOS was trying to make a change by giving out Craglorn delves, but that did not turn out well, but is it because of craglorn is not rewarding enough, or some other reasons?

Uhh.... what? No we can't all agree on that lol, please stop making assumptions for everyone. It IS more fun for me with friends. I only tend to stay for the long term in MMOs if I find a (raiding) guild with great people, and I've found one in this game I really like.

Not sure what all the fuss is about. ESO has something for everybody, whether they prefer playing solo or with friends.

Knootewoot

Other, please specify

Because i lack time I usually don't complain about being able to solo most of the stuff. But...

Overland is to easy for most part. I do like to do dungeons with guildies and I think it is major fun if people don't aim for speedruns and take their time and don't rage quit.

Crafting in this game is to easy. You can master all on one character. I loved games like SWG or Vanguard where you at least had to choose one or maybe two branches you would be able to master. The road was long and hard (took me 2 years dedicated crafting to be master carpenter in Vanguard) and not many people had alts with other crafting branches.

This way you make people depended on each other or guildies. ESO crafting is very easy to master. Only researching traits takes a long time (but still takes no effort).

So the interaction for PvE with other players is almost zero if one chooses for this (except vet dungeons and trials).

I find social interaction in PvP way better in this game then in PvE if you try to achieve something. Even in some guilds, and is the reason i am only part of one guild. (imho one of the friendliest i seen on the server)

Eyro

The quests and overland are too easy and no co-op is needed

Rickter wrote: »

I think its entirely dependent on the content. I can say that questing specifically is a chore in any mmorpg you play. Well, i take that back: its usually pretty awesome leveling with one other person - i did that in two other mmorpgs and it was really fun. We saw some crazy stuff, and took on quest levels we shouldnt have and laugh about it to this day.

anything more than 2 and it turns into a patience murdering chaotic mess of everyone at a different point in their quest.

ESO especially had this "instancing" problem early on that i dont think was fully addressed - you literally could not quest with friends as areas would become "phased" to "reflect the decisions of your character".

sounded good on paper i suppose.

I will say, after playing about 3 hours of TERA, recently - ESO is still the best in the biz when it comes to quest structure and overall game design.

I wanted to love Tera so much. I loved its content. The Bams, everything about the Combat system. But I could not suffer through anymore of that questing. It hurt my heart.

Stovahkiin

It IS more fun playing together with rl friends

It is more fun with friends, regardless of whether you actually know them irl. I don’t think I would have stuck with ESO for this long if I hadn’t found a great guild to hang with on literally my first day of playing. ESO’s single player content is pretty decent, but it isn’t enough to keep me entertained on its own.