What keeps you playing?

Saphayla

I've been wondering about this for a while. What makes so many people interested in the game enough to keep playing?

Solo content is extremely easy and is more about just listening to NPCs and their stories than actual gameplay (let alone challenging gameplay, unless you deliberately make yourself weak)

Group cotent is all well and good, but once you've done it a couple times there's not much left to explore.

Trying to do group content as fast/well as possible may be entertaining to some players, but it isn't for me (and I imagine it's similar for many people)

PvP requires you to be serious and knowledgeable about the game - casual play won't get you far. You have to know all the different attacks (and boy, there are many of them), best gear sets, etc. so it's a similar story to being best at group content

Geekgirl

For me it's character advancement between quest lines. So we're talking: crafting, the assorted guilds, and achievements.

This game has been good about releasing more content really religiously. It's enough for me to play through and stay engaged and interested in the game.

I play kind of slowly, so I maybe do run through quests as fast as others do. I also try to do all of the side quests, not just the main ones.

Are you finding that you're going through content too quickly? Are you a Plus Subscriber/have the DLCs and new Chapters? (Trying to get a feel for where you are.)

I guess I never felt content to be a big issue (or rather, finding something to do).

It doesn't help, I suppose, that I'm kind of addicted to Fishing and that takes a lot of time and furniture crafting, which takes a lot of harvesting...

And lastly... are there people you game with often? I find that my connection to a game really hinges on my connection with other players of that same game. Which platform/server do you play on?

MartiniDaniels

Testing builds and honing my chars, stockpiling treasures in the house. Also vet PUGs and random BGs are always exciting and inpredictable. Stalking Cyro escapin’ from zergs etc etc

xenowarrior92eb17_ESO

Fishing.

goldenflameslinger

Guilt

Saphayla

Geekgirl wrote: »

Are you finding that you're going through content too quickly? Are you a Plus Subscriber/have the DLCs and new Chapters? (Trying to get a feel for where you are.)

I used to grind through the zones to get to level 50 quickly, but over time I thought "...Why am I in such a rush to get to level 50? There is nothing special waiting for me there", and instead started taking things slower, listening to NPC dialogue, and so on. So, right now, I don't think I'm doing content too quickly.

As for ESO+, I am not a subscriber. I mostly buy DLCs through the Gift System, but even DLCs I have already bought, like Orsinium and Thieves Guild, have been sitting on my account for several months and I have no drive to do anything related to them.

Geekgirl wrote: »

I guess I never felt content to be a big issue (or rather, finding something to do).

It's not lack of content to do that bothers me, it's lack of content that I find to be interesting or rewarding. The whole game feels like an endless grind. Grind to level 50 so you can start aquiring good gear and do veteran content. Grind dungeons/trials to get good gear to help you with even harder content. Do even harder content to... I don't know. I suppose some people just enjoy being the best? I'm not like that, though. It takes far too much time and effort to really be the best, and the kinds of playstyles that I enjoy (Khajiit Sorcerer Healer, for example) it is pretty much impossible to truly be the best.

Geekgirl wrote: »

And lastly... are there people you game with often? I find that my connection to a game really hinges on my connection with other players of that same game. Which platform/server do you play on?

I play on the EU server. I don't really play the game with anyone; I have one friend I met through ESO, but nowadays he pretty much only comes online to claim the daily reward and to play with furniture in his house.

This isn't so much about me, however. I am willing to accept that, perhaps, I've simply done most of what can be done in this game and am desperately searching for new, interesting content that simply isn't there instead of simply leaving the game. However, I'm about three weeks away from the anniversary of me discovering ESO, while some people have been playing it since 2014 and still do, so I'm mostly just curious what on earth keeps them occupied.

NeroBad

Atmospehere, Achievemnt hunting, collecting things. I like to listen to the quest stories also.

mxxo

I like all parts of the game: story, pve, pvp, just recently completed Master Fisher. And so there is so much left for me to do..

But there are things that would make me stop playing:

- fps goes down further, more and more bugs
- if cash shop continues into a bad direction, like with the dwarven spider
- kinda forced things like grind for this grind for that, kinda forced events.. let´s say when the balance of work & fun is not given anymore
- and i dont like things like twitch drops, twitter stuff... for some that might be a good thing, but i dont want a game telling me, what i have to do in my freetime, if this kind of development increases further i would leave

Olen_Mikko

Nothing anymore

Saphayla

Geekgirl wrote: »

I'm kind of addicted to Fishing

xenowarrior92eb17_ESO wrote: »

Fishing.

mxxo wrote: »

I just recently completed Master Fisher.

What is this all about? Fishing is one of the most boring things in the game. You just click a button twice to get a fish, and you repeat it several thousand times to get every fish. That's one of the worst things in the game, where it takes an absolutely insane amount of time to do something that really is nothing more than a bit of text below your name, which many players don't even notice.

LoganEso

Solo - questing (vMA not that easy), a bit RP, some grinding for BIS gear, trying different classes, dungeons, trials, helping beginners, merchant stuff, housing, some PVP.

You can also do more with players, guilds, discord. Meeting new people can also be rewarding in itself.

This game has quite a few aspects to enjoy in. Not that hard to enjoy the game for a couple of years.

jlmurra2

I'm still having fun.

Kadoin

jlmurra2 wrote: »

I'm still having fun.

Me too, except I like being punished for playing and this game seems to hand it out very often this patch. I guess I can enjoy the next week with my brothers...

Biro123

Just PVP.
I don't like repeating group content, and overland questing is gamebreakingly easy.

mxxo

Saphayla wrote: »

Geekgirl wrote: »

I'm kind of addicted to Fishing

xenowarrior92eb17_ESO wrote: »

Fishing.

mxxo wrote: »

I just recently completed Master Fisher.

What is this all about? Fishing is one of the most boring things in the game. You just click a button twice to get a fish, and you repeat it several thousand times to get every fish. That's one of the worst things in the game, where it takes an absolutely insane amount of time to do something that really is nothing more than a bit of text below your name, which many players don't even notice.

In the beginning i did it only for the dyes you get. And i really hated it. I played some fishing games before and i played black desert where fishing is much more. While fishing in ESO i started to think: Why? It is so boring. You have to do nothing then to wait to press a button. You can´t really chat in between, because time for long answers is not given. It makes no sense to fish in groups because holes are empty so fast (and when you have only a few holes for a certain type of fish you really want them for yourself ;D). But then i started to like it and the reason is, because it is that simple, it forces you to relax. You really learn to become more patient. And once you are in that state you realize how beautiful it is ;D In my opinion.. it adds another level of perception to the game.

theyancey

I play it because I enjoy it. I started with beta. Played since with taking a few breaks now and then. Just resubbed for another 6 months so ZOS is stuck with me for a bit.

profundidob16_ESO

AudioVisual art keeps me playing. That part is done so well I can't find it in any other game. Beautiful music and and the voiceovers everywhere creating immersion and making everything coming alive. The animations of blocking and hitting things with weapons or casting spells and the way they connect with your target. Then finally the visual fidelity of all this running in 4K resolution at 80-120fps with reshade mod maxed out its just really beautiful and fast.


Unfortunately the game mechanics and 'challenge' aspect are the complete opposite and suck bigtime. It's all drop down dead easy and trivialized and the healing role doesn't have a proper meaning anymore in the current state of the game.

The only content that still gets me thrilled is doing a brand new released DLC dungeon on vet and hardmode/achievements

Gandrhulf_Harbard

Erm, well to be honest I haven't logged in for several weeks, I don't even think I have the client up to date.
I cancelled my Sub maybe 3 or 4 weeks ago.

The one thing in the game I do enjoy - Housing is still effectively broken - I have used my full item allowance on Mournoth Keep and I have just ONE room complete, one room half complete, one room a quarter complete, and outside half complete.

The need to raise the item cap at least 300% of what it is now.

All The Best

Kimba_Do

For me, I play because I enjoy the game. I mostly solo, having been turned off on group play because everyone seems to want to run through the content just as fast as they can, and will usually boot someone that actually wants to do the questing. Sure, it's not hard anymore, but it's still fun.

Myself, I can't stand pvp, in this or any other game I've tried so far. It is the main reason I don't play Eve anymore. Thus, I don't care a whit for what meta is currently on top, or what is the 'must have' gear, I have the sets I need and they are tailored to how I want to play. After all, I'm the one paying for my account, I'm the one that purchased my copy of the game, therefore I'm the one that determines how I play. Seems pretty straightforward, actually.

John_Falstaff

Friends.

Many things about the game and how it evolves get to me, vast imbalances, chaotic changes seemingly made without any vision, neglect to equality of races and classes, neglect to bugs. But then I didn't sample everything yet, and sharing it with the good friends makes playing the game so much more enjoyable.

GreenhaloX

Usually, it's just keep on going and increasing the CP numbers as well as trying to max out mount training and other skills needed to be max for all toons. However, crapshoots with so much crashes and bugs that have been occurring with this jacked up arse Murkmire patch have derail those pursuits and continued playtime of this game for awhile (again.)

Jimmy

Two things keep me playing:
1.) My love for the Elder Scrolls Universe
2.) The time I've already spent in my character progression, and my desire to keep progressing.


In that order.

resdayn00

PvP, endgame PvE, achievement hunting, upcoming content, housing, events and my network of friends. There is always something to do. Of course there are days when I just grab the daily reward and be done with it, but when you’re really into the game, it’s hard to lose focus. If I was a casual player, no idea.

Cously

PVP, my guild.

MartiniDaniels

Topicstarter problem is that he tries to play ESO like single-player game. For me those overland content (quests) exists mostly as illusion of world depth.. until you try and finish them it all looks like some mystery, some unknown adventure you miss playing multiplayer activities.. but when you decide to complete it, it’s 80% probability of generic pointless quest to run for 3 house, kill 10 mobs, free 5 captives, kill 100k hp “boss”, receive miserable reward.
DLC zones are better, but still there are enough nonsense and generic content there.. so if you do only such content you’ll become bored eventually and will decide to quit.

Anotherone773

My wife, she forces me to play...sometimes at butter knife point. Seriously my wife is part of the reason. She likes the housing and farming nodes and other stuff. But this is her first real game and she isnt very good at the rest of it( and doesnt have a lot of interest in doing most of it solo) so i do most of the grunt work on her characters like make them gold level crafting and collect blueprints there are some weeks i spend more time on her account than my own. ( she plays 2- 6 hours a week herself)

I also like the fact that most of the game is multiplayer solo game. A lot of things i can do solo and sometimes i just dont have the energy to interact with other people. I thought about going back to my beloved Eve a few times but it requires a lot more people interaction than ESO and i just dont have that kind of energy for people lately. So i tinker on this one usually solo as a way to relax before bed.

Mettaricana

Prayer and hope that oneday we get rid of wrobel hire a team who doesn't make more bugs that they fix and that some day the game will exceed expectations for fun content and meaningful leveling and combat... that or game gets bought out by some other company who gives a crap about its direction

valeriiya

Stockholm Syndrome

AcadianPaladin

What keeps me playing is an overall decent combat system and an open game world of massive scale. I'm a single player medieval fantasy open world RPG player and, frankly, can't find a good match at this point (outgrew the smaller scale of Oblivion/Skyrim). So ESO is filling that gap - for now. No game is perfect and the fact that ESO is multiplayer is a drawback (primarily due to the balance fetish that seems to infest MMOs).

My character enjoys 'living her life' in Tamriel. She hunts, quests, fishes, chases butterflies, and rides her horse (at a walk) along beaches and along jungle trails. She does sometimes duo with a compatible friend and sometimes runs pug dungeons - beyond that she is too butterfly flighty to coordinate her schedule with the desires of others for more formal grouping arrangements.

'End game' for her is primarily soloing most alliance zone WBs and soloing some of the easier normal (alliance zone only) group dungeons. Thankfully, some of this content is soloable by an experienced, reasonably skilled character who sets their mind to it.

D0PAMINE

Idk

Salvas_Aren

I swore an oath to maraud the remains of this war-ravaged empire. This includes proper treatment of PCs and NPCs equally.