Should I buy ESO on Steam?

gamerguy757

Kwik1 wrote: »

Been playing since Steam first started carrying ESO and I can count on 1 hand the amount of times I couldn't log in because of steam. ZOS has needed to fix it on their end a few times, but that was ZOS's fault and not steam.

Also, ESO+ is paid through Steam and you can NOT use steam gift cards for it, it must be a debit/credit card, and that is my only gripe.

And as for catching up, the only issue will be crafting if you had max crafters. The time it takes to get crafting max is insane (although I still love the system) but it is made much easier now with scrolls to reduce your time by a day.

Don't forget to look into Minion and get your addons, that is the REAL game changer for PC!!!

There’s only 2 add on I want and that is the add on that shows where books, shards, and chests are.
The other is the one that changes the way your inventory looks. What and how do I add them

SydneyGrey

I play through Steam. Problems with it are rare, but they can happen. Pretty rare, though.

RT01100111

@gamerguy757 Yes.

TineaCruris

Should you buy ESO in it's current state? Answer: NO

Should you buy any game through steam? Answer: Probably a bad idea. No reason to involve a third party in the transaction, and it's another layer to access the game that could have issues.

Kwik1

gamerguy757 wrote: »

Kwik1 wrote: »

Been playing since Steam first started carrying ESO and I can count on 1 hand the amount of times I couldn't log in because of steam. ZOS has needed to fix it on their end a few times, but that was ZOS's fault and not steam.

Also, ESO+ is paid through Steam and you can NOT use steam gift cards for it, it must be a debit/credit card, and that is my only gripe.

And as for catching up, the only issue will be crafting if you had max crafters. The time it takes to get crafting max is insane (although I still love the system) but it is made much easier now with scrolls to reduce your time by a day.

Don't forget to look into Minion and get your addons, that is the REAL game changer for PC!!!

There’s only 2 add on I want and that is the add on that shows where books, shards, and chests are.
The other is the one that changes the way your inventory looks. What and how do I add them

Get the addon manager Minion and it makes addons easy to install and easy to update.

Just remember that the addon folder is not in your steam directory, it is under your "my documents" folder.

InAMinute

gamerguy757 wrote: »

InAMinute wrote: »

I brought ESO on Steam in April 2019, mainly because I wasn't intending to get it, I was just looking for something to play (it was cheap ). Since then I have brought both expansions to come out as well as subscribing and all of these I brought directly from ZOS.

These has been no problems playing through Steam, as far as I am aware, all the times I couldn't log in was due to a general problem with the server and not something related to Steam and I have played nearly every day since I started. The game has been perfectly playable the whole time.

As pointed out by others, I don't have to log in each time I play, I am automatically logged in. registering my copy on the ESO web site was simple and allows me to buy anything new directly, which I assumes means that Steam don't get a cut.

It seems like people who just started don’t have problems as those who had the Steam/ZOS login merger occurring during.

What do you mean register it on the website?
Also how does ESO+ work with steam?

You need to have an account on the main ESO website (not your forum account). Click on 'Account' at the top, third from the left. In there, there is a section for linked accounts and you can sign in using your Steam logon (it redirects to a Steam page so ZOS don't get your details). Once done you can buy anything you want from the ESO website and it is reflected in your Steam account.

I pay for my ESO+ on the ESO web site and not through Steam. Also any crowns and expansions can be brought here and they all turn up in game.

SeaGtGruff

idk wrote: »

Steam users have had major issues with not bel able to log into ESO for hours at a time when everyone else could.

A lot of people say this, but I don't think that all of the times it was claimed to be true were valid cases.

What I mean is, yes, there were (I think) 2 or 3 cases a couple of years ago when I couldn't log in, and when I looked on the forum people were saying that the problem was only affecting Steam users-- although apparently ZOS did something on their end to fix it, so was it Steam's fault or ZOS's? I was only out of the game for an hour or so, but the problem had started before I first tried to log in on those days, so while it affected me for only an hour or so, it did affect others for longer.

On the other hand, there have also been cases when some people were having problems logging in, and people in the forums were claiming that the problem was only affecting Steam users, yet some of the people who were having the problem were posting that they were not using Steam. In some of those cases I had no trouble logging in through Steam, while in other cases I did-- but at least some non-Steam users were having trouble, too.

A lot of people are very quick to jump the gun and assume that if someone can't log in even though other people can, then the person having trouble must be on Steam. They'll say, "Are you on Steam? I'll bet you're on Steam. You need to ditch Steam!" And often the person will answer back, "I'm not on Steam!" And often Steam users will say, "I'm on Steam and it's working fine for me." But it's like the Steam-haters are willfully deaf and blind to those responses.

So, based on my own observations, I must conclude that Steam takes a lot of unwarranted flak from the Steam-hating crowd.

Note, I'm not saying there aren't good reasons for purchasing the game directly from ZOS rather than from the Steam Store. Nor am I saying that you (@idk) are a "Steam-hater." I'm just saying I think some of the stated reasons are either overblown ("You'll have frequent login problems!") or designed to appeal to people's fears ("If Steam bans you for a DRM violation, you'll lose your ESO account, too!"). Uh, (a) no you won't, at least not nearly to the extent that people claim; and (b) so don't commit any DRM violations in the first place. JMO.

gamerguy757

What’s a good SSD size for ESO? I have a 256gb. If I use this SSD just for ESO, will that work?

Ri_Khan

If you see yourself getting involved with the PTS go with a 500. 250 with this game and OS requirements doesn't leave a lot.

gamerguy757

Ri_Khan wrote: »

If you see yourself getting involved with the PTS go with a 500. 250 with this game and OS requirements doesn't leave a lot.

And if I just want to play normally? Like I don’t have time to do the PTS. I let the YouTube’s do that lol.

ImmortalCX

The_Camper wrote: »

Steam is fine. You'll get the rare login bug once a year or so. other than that, no difference in direct client and steam login. Since you already have a gift card for the full price+ some upgrades, it's a no brainer to go for steam.

Little bit of advice, if you are planning to buy all the chapter+ DLC upgrades, get them on steam sales OR third party websites which are much cheaper. then activate the code through ESO website and it will activate for your steam version without an issue. I got greymoor for $20 at the launch itself.

IMO, if you are not planning on buying ESO+, you can buy all the DLC for gold.

With all the addons, I think the need for eso+ is reduced.

gamerguy757

ImmortalCX wrote: »

The_Camper wrote: »

Steam is fine. You'll get the rare login bug once a year or so. other than that, no difference in direct client and steam login. Since you already have a gift card for the full price+ some upgrades, it's a no brainer to go for steam.

Little bit of advice, if you are planning to buy all the chapter+ DLC upgrades, get them on steam sales OR third party websites which are much cheaper. then activate the code through ESO website and it will activate for your steam version without an issue. I got greymoor for $20 at the launch itself.

IMO, if you are not planning on buying ESO+, you can buy all the DLC for gold.

With all the addons, I think the need for eso+ is reduced.

I always play ESO+ for the crowns dlc craft bag all that. Can’t play without it

Kwik1

gamerguy757 wrote: »

ImmortalCX wrote: »

The_Camper wrote: »

Steam is fine. You'll get the rare login bug once a year or so. other than that, no difference in direct client and steam login. Since you already have a gift card for the full price+ some upgrades, it's a no brainer to go for steam.

Little bit of advice, if you are planning to buy all the chapter+ DLC upgrades, get them on steam sales OR third party websites which are much cheaper. then activate the code through ESO website and it will activate for your steam version without an issue. I got greymoor for $20 at the launch itself.

IMO, if you are not planning on buying ESO+, you can buy all the DLC for gold.

With all the addons, I think the need for eso+ is reduced.

I always play ESO+ for the crowns dlc craft bag all that. Can’t play without it

I second this.

The crafting bag is the number one reason I love ESO+ and will only play with it, the crowns are a nice freebie for me as well.

SpacemanSpiff1

no. it's just adding one more thing that can (and has) go wrong with actually connecting to the game.

dennissomb16_ESO

gamerguy757 wrote: »

What’s a good SSD size for ESO? I have a 256gb. If I use this SSD just for ESO, will that work?

If all you are putting on it is ESO then it is plenty big enough

Pevey

NOOOOOO, don't do it.

This is coming from a pretty big fan of Steam. I own hundreds of games there, will rage against EPIC or Ubisoft or whatever exclusives that require their own launcher and won't run just through Steam. So all of that being said, DO NOT BUY THIS GAME THROUGH STEAM, that is my two cents.

Reason 1: A lot of the things I like Steam for, like the social aspects, downloading and updating the game for you, etc, this game already has. the launcher will give you the latest news and keep you up to date without you hunting updates.

Reason 2: If you play this game long enough, there WILL be times that everyone else is able to play, but Steam users are locked out. The very first time this happens, you will wonder why you bought this on steam when you had the chance to have it be independent of steam.

Reason 3: If you play the game a lot and want to continue playing a long time, buying direct does more to help ensure the financial health of the game. Steam takes a 30% cut. So buying direct means more dollars to support the game at no additional cost to you.

gamerguy757

Okay so let me ask this.
I have other games through Steam. Had them for 4 years. In those years I’ve only had 1 issue where Steam stopped working.
So I don’t want to come off as rude, but what is the real chance of these login issues occurring?
I mean lots of people here are saying they use Steam eso and never have a problem. Others say that it happens but they make it seem like it happens every single day or week.
Is it like Xbox where if Xbox went down we couldn’t play?
My question is do these steam issues happen as often as it’s made out to be or is it really a “play it by year” thing?

SgtPepperUK

gamerguy757 wrote: »

Okay so let me ask this.
I have other games through Steam. Had them for 4 years. In those years I’ve only had 1 issue where Steam stopped working.
So I don’t want to come off as rude, but what is the real chance of these login issues occurring?
I mean lots of people here are saying they use Steam eso and never have a problem. Others say that it happens but they make it seem like it happens every single day or week.
Is it like Xbox where if Xbox went down we couldn’t play?
My question is do these steam issues happen as often as it’s made out to be or is it really a “play it by year” thing?

In the last 15 months since I returned to ESO, I've had zero log in issues due to Steam. I've had log in issues but those have affected Steam and non-Steam users alike (the big ones being around the launch of Elsweyr and Greymoor).

Kwik1

SgtPepperUK wrote: »

gamerguy757 wrote: »

Okay so let me ask this.
I have other games through Steam. Had them for 4 years. In those years I’ve only had 1 issue where Steam stopped working.
So I don’t want to come off as rude, but what is the real chance of these login issues occurring?
I mean lots of people here are saying they use Steam eso and never have a problem. Others say that it happens but they make it seem like it happens every single day or week.
Is it like Xbox where if Xbox went down we couldn’t play?
My question is do these steam issues happen as often as it’s made out to be or is it really a “play it by year” thing?

In the last 15 months since I returned to ESO, I've had zero log in issues due to Steam. I've had log in issues but those have affected Steam and non-Steam users alike (the big ones being around the launch of Elsweyr and Greymoor).

Seems like all the people talking about login issues on steam seem to have a beef with steam.

In the last 2 years I have had 0 log in issues through steam.

Before that I had a couple but they were ZOS's fault and not steams.

Hippie4927

gamerguy757 wrote: »

Okay so let me ask this.
I have other games through Steam. Had them for 4 years. In those years I’ve only had 1 issue where Steam stopped working.
So I don’t want to come off as rude, but what is the real chance of these login issues occurring?
I mean lots of people here are saying they use Steam eso and never have a problem. Others say that it happens but they make it seem like it happens every single day or week.
Is it like Xbox where if Xbox went down we couldn’t play?
My question is do these steam issues happen as often as it’s made out to be or is it really a “play it by year” thing?

As I said in a previous post, I have been playing through Steam for more than 6 years and have had only one login issue in those six years. That was 2 years ago and no issues since. I don't know why Steam gets such a bum rap. 😕

TooWeak2Live

A lot of BS goes on around this. All of it is either completely fake, misdirected, or highly overplayed.

"Steam users can't log in!" Dude, I have 15000 hours logged in ESO according to Steam, and there were exactly 2 times I couldn't log in... because ZOS broke Steam logins during an update. There have been a lot more times that the NA server was just completely borked.

"Steam slows down the game!" No it doesn't, period. The game itself doesn't even communicate with Steam, only the launcher does.

"The game doesn't update properly through Steam!" This has absolutely nothing to do with Steam. ZOS occasionally (but rarely) screws up their patch manifests and it can affect any player.

"Steam deleted my game!" You did something dumb, own it.

"Steam takes a cut!" Cry me a river. GameStop takes an even larger cut when you buy a physical copy, I don't see you arguing to boycott GameStop. And given that ZOS can't be bothered to fix any of the serious bugs and performance issues--nay, they keep getting worse--I completely fail to see why I should care about them getting more money.

The truth is the game works as well on Steam as on any other platform. Of course it's ridiculously buggy regardless.

gamerguy757

TooWeak2Live wrote: »

A lot of BS goes on around this. All of it is either completely fake, misdirected, or highly overplayed.

"Steam users can't log in!" Dude, I have 15000 hours logged in ESO according to Steam, and there were exactly 2 times I couldn't log in... because ZOS broke Steam logins during an update. There have been a lot more times that the NA server was just completely borked.

"Steam slows down the game!" No it doesn't, period. The game itself doesn't even communicate with Steam, only the launcher does.

"The game doesn't update properly through Steam!" This has absolutely nothing to do with Steam. ZOS occasionally (but rarely) screws up their patch manifests and it can affect any player.

"Steam deleted my game!" You did something dumb, own it.

"Steam takes a cut!" Cry me a river. GameStop takes an even larger cut when you buy a physical copy, I don't see you arguing to boycott GameStop. And given that ZOS can't be bothered to fix any of the serious bugs and performance issues--nay, they keep getting worse--I completely fail to see why I should care about them getting more money.

The truth is the game works as well on Steam as on any other platform. Of course it's ridiculously buggy regardless.

You seem to know your stuff really well!!

Question.
For a pc, does it matter if I download ESO on an SSD or HDD?

Stupid me got a 100gb SSD 4 years ago and it’s used for the OS.
Is there really a difference?

idk

SydneyGrey wrote: »

I play through Steam. Problems with it are rare, but they can happen. Pretty rare, though.

While it may be rare the impact has been high when it happens. I remember a number of lengthy outages that only effected Steam users.

It really makes no sense to add an additional layer for something to break when there is no real benefit to it.

TineaCruris

gamerguy757 wrote: »

TooWeak2Live wrote: »

A lot of BS goes on around this. All of it is either completely fake, misdirected, or highly overplayed.

"Steam users can't log in!" Dude, I have 15000 hours logged in ESO according to Steam, and there were exactly 2 times I couldn't log in... because ZOS broke Steam logins during an update. There have been a lot more times that the NA server was just completely borked.

"Steam slows down the game!" No it doesn't, period. The game itself doesn't even communicate with Steam, only the launcher does.

"The game doesn't update properly through Steam!" This has absolutely nothing to do with Steam. ZOS occasionally (but rarely) screws up their patch manifests and it can affect any player.

"Steam deleted my game!" You did something dumb, own it.

"Steam takes a cut!" Cry me a river. GameStop takes an even larger cut when you buy a physical copy, I don't see you arguing to boycott GameStop. And given that ZOS can't be bothered to fix any of the serious bugs and performance issues--nay, they keep getting worse--I completely fail to see why I should care about them getting more money.

The truth is the game works as well on Steam as on any other platform. Of course it's ridiculously buggy regardless.

You seem to know your stuff really well!!

Question.
For a pc, does it matter if I download ESO on an SSD or HDD?

Stupid me got a 100gb SSD 4 years ago and it’s used for the OS.
Is there really a difference?

I think ESO runs better on an SSD.....but doesn't everything? I think I noticed a benefit when I upgraded to an SSD.

By the way, SSD's cost about 25% of what they did 4 years ago for the same capacity.

gamerguy757

TineaCruris wrote: »

gamerguy757 wrote: »

TooWeak2Live wrote: »

A lot of BS goes on around this. All of it is either completely fake, misdirected, or highly overplayed.

"Steam users can't log in!" Dude, I have 15000 hours logged in ESO according to Steam, and there were exactly 2 times I couldn't log in... because ZOS broke Steam logins during an update. There have been a lot more times that the NA server was just completely borked.

"Steam slows down the game!" No it doesn't, period. The game itself doesn't even communicate with Steam, only the launcher does.

"The game doesn't update properly through Steam!" This has absolutely nothing to do with Steam. ZOS occasionally (but rarely) screws up their patch manifests and it can affect any player.

"Steam deleted my game!" You did something dumb, own it.

"Steam takes a cut!" Cry me a river. GameStop takes an even larger cut when you buy a physical copy, I don't see you arguing to boycott GameStop. And given that ZOS can't be bothered to fix any of the serious bugs and performance issues--nay, they keep getting worse--I completely fail to see why I should care about them getting more money.

The truth is the game works as well on Steam as on any other platform. Of course it's ridiculously buggy regardless.

You seem to know your stuff really well!!

Question.
For a pc, does it matter if I download ESO on an SSD or HDD?

Stupid me got a 100gb SSD 4 years ago and it’s used for the OS.
Is there really a difference?

I think ESO runs better on an SSD.....but doesn't everything? I think I noticed a benefit when I upgraded to an SSD.

By the way, SSD's cost about 25% of what they did 4 years ago for the same capacity.

Any recommendations on an SSD?

gamerguy757

Also is there really that big a difference in performance?

idk

CMDR_Un1k0rn wrote: »

OP, the game runs fine through Steam.

I got it on Steam for exactly the same reason as you. I was given a gift card on Christmas 2018 and decided to try ESO shortly after the Elsweyr announcement in early 2019.

Steam is not as bad as people make out. They are just paranoid, in my book.

If Steam was so terrible it would not be the biggest games platform on PC, period.

Yes, the game runs fine with Steam when it runs. However, the fact remains that there have been long downtimes for Steam players trying to log into Steam that did not affect the rest of us. I am talking downtime that lasted most of the day.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/429285/i-cant-login-with-my-steam-account-again
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/447858/why-steam-players-cant-log-in-need-simple-explanation-for-eso-cummunity
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/395789/internal-error
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/494147/login-error-unable-to-initialize-connection-to-steam-pc-na-server

That is just from a quick search. I do like the second post in the last thread where they say, "when you THINK that they fixed the Steam problems for good" and that they cannot log in.

So when I say buy it via Steam at your own risk there is solid reasoning for that. There no zero reason to put a pointless middleman between our PC and the game, but it is you're choice.

TheRealPotoroo

If you buy the game on Steam some of that money to Steam for adding absolutely no value. For better or worse, if you buy it through Bethesda you're at least paying all your money to the game company.