How to prevent burnout/boredom in ESO?

RT01100111

@MagicAndrej play less and don't do the same thing every time you log on and socialize more.

UGotBenched91

MagicAndrej wrote: »

I don't want to quit, because I overall love ESO, it's just been increasingly hard to log on every day and play.

I'm an end game PvE player which dabbles in PvP. I've also just hit 810 CP and I really don't know what to do anymore. I've got most classes up to level 50, kitted them out etc.

I just don't know what I can do anymore.

Create a new character and explore different areas of the game. That keeps things interesting. The start of a character is always the best part for me especially if I switch between PVE and PVP.

Honestly I don’t know how hardcore PVE people stay sane. Doing the same trial and dungeon over and over again just to get scores or spending hours hitting dummies. How boring. But, that’s just me.

Banana

Take a break. There's less lag

Mayrael

There are few ways:

1. If you burned out with one type of activity try to do something else. I love PvP, but when I feel I'm bored with it, I usually go to do some zone story lines, still have some zones untouched and I do them for the story, paying attention to dialogues, trying to fit in. I don't rush it. Other thing is... housing. I thought that Elder Sims Online will not be something for me, but constructing your own house from scraps awakened my imagaination so much, that I couldn't stop it till I was done. From time to time I create new house look when I find an inspiration.

2. Workout. Nothing refreshes you more than a heavy training at gym, bike ride through wood paths or... session with punching bag or reflex ball. Strech a bit, have a nice warm bath/shower to relax your muscles.

3. Play with your pets. I love my dogs and cat.

4. Play some other games. I like to play from time to time some of my old games, titles from 2000-2005. Got sucked in for 2 weeks while I barely login to ESO.

ZaroktheImmortal

Well don't push yourself into it what do you enjoy about the game? There is a lot to do between questing and what not for me and just to hang out with friends on the game and just well do random stuff I remember coming across two people playing instruments in a town I decided to join in after they asked me if I'd like to join them on dungeon runs to help them out so I did. I once met a guy in a zone who had Bard in his name so I whispered him saying he's quite dedicated to the role then he told me he basis his toons off different pagan deties and that he even had a stam sorc named Thor. I thought that was pretty cool.

Greystag

In the past, I've dealt with burnout by quitting the game for 1-3 months. You won't lose on anything, and keep an eye out for the monthly rewards on Reddit or this forum in case there's something you want. Ideally, you should come back to the game excited and refreshed without beating yourself over having missed out on something you'd like. Lately, monthly rewards haven't even been worth it so I wouldn't worry much.

Try to do it between DLCs too. A new DLC when you're back will excite you more.

Keledus

Quite simple really, dont ''just'' play ESO.

You can't make yourself play one game and nothing else, you'll burn yourself out completely after a couple months to a year.
Play some other games for variation.

also set goals.
My endless goal is all achievements, I always have something to do ingame, However start with something less daunting like completing all zones.

Also dont just stick to doing the same thing all the time, switch up your builds, play other classes, play other builds, try things.
I've spent hundreds of hours in PvP just trying different builds and having a blast and I'm not even a good PvPer.

Try solo all dungeons on vet, it's possible you just need to learn how and succeed etc.
Maybe even make a character where you literally listen to the dialogue and quests in chronological order (It's what I've done when I returned, I made a new character with my favorite class and started to casually quest from the beginning to greymoor all in chronological order without rushing through quests)

And if it really comes to a point where you just cant be asked to play anymore ever, even after taking small breaks, just quit.
Its that simple, I played world of warcraft for over 10 years and at one point I just decided to quit because everytime the ''Lets play world of warcraft'' topic came up I couldn't be asked to even talk about it.

Dont play if you have to force yourself to play, it'll drive you insane.

cheemers

Wandering_Immigrant wrote: »

"If you love something let it go, if it doesn't come back to you it was never meant to be."

Brb gonna go put my newborn out in the field

Scarletblaze

MagicAndrej wrote: »

I don't want to quit, because I overall love ESO, it's just been increasingly hard to log on every day and play.

I'm an end game PvE player which dabbles in PvP. I've also just hit 810 CP and I really don't know what to do anymore. I've got most classes up to level 50, kitted them out etc.

I just don't know what I can do anymore.

get creative and be an eso entrepreneur--start a housing business, carry service, or start your own guild and help players grow!

Goodall

What I tend to do is create my own fun.

You dont have to do everything traditionally you can do what you want. The game gives you the tools its up to you what you do with it.

I got bored doing the same thing in PVP, taking forts defending forts etc etc. So i decided to make my own fun. I decided to make an ORC only pub group where we try different tactics and act differently to what a normal pvp pug group plays

Sometimes I pick a random player in PVE/PVP and act as their bodyguard or healer and follow them where ever they go trying to protect them against all odds.

I also do some casual roleplay where i roleplay as anyone i want. A General of the imperial army? Or a crazy skooma maniac the possibilities are endless. Seeing the reactions of players as you roleplay a certain character you made up is great, and even better when they play along.

You can try and theory craft new PVE/PVP builds try and experiment with not so common builds and see what you can build.

Become a salesman. Buy items from guild traders and try and sell for a profit. Always fun for me exploring trading guild and seeing what juicy items i can sell for a little mark up. Sometimes you lose sometimes you win. It's part of the fun.

ESO is a massive world with endless possibilities its up to you how you play. You dont need to do what 90% of players are doing you can always create your own fun.

Mettaricana

I took an entire 6 month hreak to play no mans sky etc while zos was setting the servers on fire with nerfs during all of dragon guard and scale breaker dlcs. Bout to take another since greymoor high point was the very short lived antiquaties system got the coin now it doesnt make any gold cant sell furnishings bout to pull all my points back out and wait til there is content again

Drammanoth

Crafting I absolutely love. Being an escapee from a drowning ActiBlizz sinking ship, I love how one char can have all the professions, not limited to JUST 2, as it forced people to have more chars. Sure, developing, not to mention maxing them out is another matter. Here, not only can one develop them slowly and steadily, but also get some steady flow of gold. It is also somewhat connected with fashion, for when you want to get all the motives, not only for looks but also for master writs, you need to pay attention to the sources, and what you need to engage in in order to get these – dailies, PvP, questing, trials, etc.

Questing – this is what has attracted me to ESO in the 1st place. In WoW you HAD TO have a guild – a GUILD, not a group – to progress the story. Here, it is only necessary when you do dungeons, trials, etc. There is a HUMONGOUS variety of activities.
I’m no PvPer myself, but I like it how there is a distinction / division between purely PvE and PvP zones. So I can expect to be assassinated when I’m riding - in WoW? Gankers, kids with issues. Never mind killing a 10 lvls lower player when you get NOTHING out of it – killing for fun, or malice.

Exploring – YES! There is no ‘you must not go there, because you will be insta-killed’ by mobs lvls higher than you. You also get some exp for some exploration, and guess what? At the very lowest levels it can boost you. Not to mention teleporting to some guild-mates allows you to discover wayshrines, which otherwise would be very tiring to reach.

markulrich1966

there are events and DLC.
During those I don't have the time to finish "old" sidequests, or to farm the materials I need for crafting and selling (dailies), or to do my crafting surveys, decorate my houses, or hunt skyshards.

And I don't even play dungeons, trials or PVP...

So these tasks I do "in between" events and DLC, and until now when I reached a point of "burnout", already the next event/DLC started.

The achievements I get from the gold I earn help against burnout, too. It is quite satisfying when you finish a house with 700 slots you've been working on since weeks.

What I love most though is to level up new characters, have 30 meanwhile, 12 at cp1163, 12 at cp 603, and 6 below level 50...

Surak73

It's a game, you don't have to play it if you don't enjoy it. They don't pay you for playing, do they?

ImmortalCX

Answer: You quit and get on with your life.

cheifsoap

I've been playing MMOs since UO so that's....23 years? I haven't been able to figure out how to stop burn out. MMO's just do that to you. My suggestion is to play other video games or do something else and ONLY log in to raid until you feel better. Playing the game you're burnt out on to avoid burn out on the game you're playing isn't going to work.

Niaver

What helped me was I stopped carrying about daily quests, events and others things which I felt I needed to do but did no want to. Instead I'm focusing on content I enjoy and try to avoid chores as much as I can, which still can be not easy without crafting bag

Casdha

I just hit the 7 year mark and I've taken a break every year after launch. My most recent one was to play all of The Witcher games and I absolutely loved the 3rd one, missed it due to time spent in this one.

It is inevitable though, every year I get ticked off about something they did to the game, I completely give up around Group Dungeon DLC time, I catch up on other games and I'm back by the chapter release.

In short, If your getting burned out, leave, no one said you have to stay gone. Go, Have Fun!!

madarame_77

To OP. You didn't mention. Did you finish Vas+2, Vcr+3, Hof hm? If not, then you have a loooong way to go.

Emmagoldman

Take a break

For real, if logging in is feeling like work or a task you might as well shift gear and get real work in. Otherwise, try out some new games for a bit and come back in to eso later on

knightblaster

KappaKid83 wrote: »

Take a break, an extended one. I am on about 6 months of not playing and I don't miss it. Try coming back when you feel the itch to play and if it doesn't grab you back then you have just moved on and that is OK too.

Taking a break is a good idea -- do something else, play other games, do other hobbies and so on.

However, you should also stay away from the game's forums while you are on break. If you don't, you likely won't return to the game, because the forums of any game are always disproportionately negative (it's the nature of customers of any product -- the ones who are not happy are the ones who provide feedback very disproportionately to those who are satisfied), and they will fuel one's negativity towards ever coming back to the game.

Magenpie

I so understand this feeling and empathise a lot. It's particularly annoying with mmo worlds, where you love the place, you love your characters, but it's just not scratching that itch for you at the moment and it's become a chore.

Personally, I think it's partly an 'eyeballs' problem (bear with me) as well as a brain problem. Your poor eyeballs are bored of looking at the same old place - the graphics start looking tired, you've seen all the places you want to and the world isn't exciting anymore. And your brain is bored of doing the same old chores and being the same old characters everyday.

I think it's extra difficult if you are focused on one aspect of an mmo, they are meant to appeal to a broad range of players when they are at their best, and so homing in on one kind of playstyle means you can hit the wall hard.

I think what most people are saying is right - take a break. Take the opportunity and dip into another mmo for a bit (I highly recommend Secret World Legends btw - it's free, and the central story is properly flipping [hee hee sorry moderators] amazing.) It doesn't make you disloyal, it's better than getting so fed up with ESO you never want to play it again.

But, if you want to keep playing ESO but do something different, you could set yourself your own challenges. A few months ago there was a discussion on the forums which caused a little kerfuffle because someone wanted ideas/advice about how to travel with world/play the game without killing anything. Lots of people didn't quite understand their point (why play an mmo without wanting to kill things?) but actually, it's just a different way of challanging yourself, puts a different perspective on what you can do with the game, and entertaininly tricky to do, especially when everything out there really wants to kill YOU. Also a fun way of starting a new character and getting to know it.

Probably TL:DR but really I just wanted to say I understand. Try not to let it get you down, a break will mean the game will be fresh as a daisy when you come back to it. Trying something a bit different in the game might broaden your playstyle. Anyway, I hope you get your ESO enthusiasm back sometime soon.

[Edited for minor bypass]

akdave0

I started running vet trials, VMA score runs, VDSA runs, skyshard hunting, etc....
There is plenty in the game to keep oneself busy, free of boredom. If those arent appealing to you, take a break and come back with renewed interest.

Veinblood1965

I ran into the exact same issue. I took a break and came back, new goals. Starting with the newest zones explore every single nook and cranny of each zone, do every quest in each zone and achievement and if anyone ever said they needed help in guild chat or in zone I stop what I'm doing and go help. It's great and I enjoy it!

SeaGtGruff

As others have suggested, take a break if you feel burned out on the game. If you love it, you'll come back to it when you're ready, and it will be waiting for you.

I was recently wondering to myself whether a lot of players are trying too hard to "beat" or "complete" the game.

The thought came to me after watching in zone chat as a veteran player accompanied a novice player through a delve that I was also going through on one of my newest characters, and the novice player was asking their guide, 'So, besides grabbing the skyshard, is there anything else I need to do in here?"

And then I was helping a player by giving them a TP to a zone they didn't have a wayshrine in yet, and it developed that they'd just moved to PC from console and were (at that particular moment) traveling around Tamriel killing the NPCs who'd been marked by Sithis, and were going down some sort of list that described each one's location and habitual route. Got this one; check; now on to the next one!

And then there are always gobs of players running around in certain spots farming XP so they can level up a character as fast as possible-- farming dolmens, farming swarms of zombies on the beach near Sentinel, farming mobs and bosses in a public dungeon, and so forth.

And then there are all of the add-ons that players install that show them where every undiscovered location is on the map, or that puts a giant pointer over every node and chest and lore book and so forth so it won't be overlooked.

And it all makes me wonder how many players besides me are playing the game just to have fun, versus all of the players who seem to be concerned with mastering the game in the shortest amount of time possible through convenient walkthroughs and cheat sheets? Where's the thrill and joy of discovery?

To be sure, my first several months of playing ESO were spent running around Tamriel like a headless chicken, trying to see all of the sights and do all of the quests. But then I settled down into a leisurely routine of performing certain daily tasks, such as daily crafting writs and daily job quests, and a funny thing happened-- I changed my attitude about the other TES games, too.

I started a new game of Oblivion, but took the time to focus on a particular faction or city for a lengthy period and at a slower pace, rather than trying to "finish the game" in a hurry. I started collecting different outfits of non-armor clothing, and would pick a different outfit to wear around town each day.

I started a new game of Arena, but took the time to travel around each province doing things for the townspeople and helping each town's ruler with whatever they needed done, rather than just plowing through the main quest.

In short, I started to see each TES game as a world I could live in from day to day, and not merely as a game that I needed to "beat" or "complete." It's pretty relaxing!

Despite slowing things down, I still suffer from occasion burn-out by doing the same things too much. For instance, I started doing daily crafting writs on all of my PC NA characters save one, as a means of making money; but it's starting to feel like a real drag, so I may stop doing it for a while.

One thing I like about all of the celebrations and events in ESO each year is that they get me to go back to a zone or activity that I haven't done in a while, such as doing the daily jobs in Vvardenfell, or doing the daily jobs in Wrothgar, or participating in the Alliance War in Cyrodiil, or just running around doing silly things like the Snow Bear Plunge or the Lava Foot Stomp. Sure, the events can get old after a week or two; but then they end and I can go back to my usual activities. In the meantime, it's fun to revisit an activity I haven't done in a while.

SweepsAllClowns

I'd donate the amazing NoLoginsForMeAnymore feature if I could, this feature was rewarded to my Xbox EU account with the Wrathstone download so zero logins for 1 year and 4 months after few days! This amazing feature prevents all the burnout effects and also prevents you successfully getting any daily rewards, event tickets, doing writs or any other activity in the game, just works! Some boredom might still occur if you spend hours in the character selection screen, which is the only working part of the account, crashes are still possible in this game mode. However the best part of this genius feature is that you are still able to pay for the ESO+ membership!

TheImperfect

I'm finding the events keep me going and new content, striving for achievements too. I also occasionally play other games inbetween to have a mental break away and because I also enjoy other things.

ArchMikem

Planetside 2, and I just started playing TES:V again. Dont limit yourself to a single game for a while, take turns. Rotate.

NekoN3ko

logout....