ESO and it’s feeling of lack of progression

UGotBenched91

So, after logging in today I made the secession to take a break from ESO. Lately, I haven’t been enjoying the game as much and the original feeling of excitement and awe is gone.

For me the game lacks certain progression.

One Tamriel introduced a world where anyone can go and explore with friends no matter what level or CP. Now that’s a cool concept and I can appreciate it’s the positives but for my play style it also adds negatives. The game lacks any progressive feel of exploring the world. I never feel like I need to get stronger to explore new areas because I don’t. I’m cp 360+ with good gear and can go anywhere and things die all the same.

Also, gear lacks progression. In games I like leveling to work towards the goal of unlocking that next gear piece. Usually the higher the level gear, the more detailed and stronger it looks. But, not here. The outfit system lets you have any look at any level and CP 160 makes any gear wearable. I understand a lot of people like that aspect but I’m just not one of them. For me it’s disappointing to do trials ( considered the hardest PVE content) to be awarded armor that is ultimately lack luster looking and that I could put on my level 4 character if I have the style unlocked.

Anyway, just need a break and thoughts I’d share some perspectives from a player who has enjoyed the game but is seeking something more.

price101610

The progression is completing harder content, getting better at pvp, unlocking new trophies, motifs, plans, etc. If you only quest and do overland then you are ignoring the aspect of the game that allows you to progress harder and harder content for more achievements and rewards. And no, craftable gear isn’t going to cut it for the hardest content, so you have to get progressively better gear from progressively harder content. I think I have beat the hell out of the word progressive to prove my point.
P.S. skins are the aesthetic aspect of the game that rewards you with better looks for harder content

idk

Price is correct. The progression is to tackle the more challenging content. Without that any other progression is meaningless.

Further, the gear progression I have seen in other games is artificial. Players quickly progress to the content that meets their skill level and get geared up and are done. Additionally, ESO offers a significantly greater choice of gear.

VaranisArano

ESO does not have much in the way of vertical progression after CP 160. If chasing after powerful gear, treasures, and high level rewards so you can feel stronger is your jam, ESO probably won't scratch that itch.

In contrast, ESO practices horizontal progression. Past a certain point, you'll see small improvements and sometimes lose progress due to nerfs until you grind back to whatever is the new best in slot gear for the current meta. This can be a good thing - you'll never outlevel old content and you'll rarely be too far behind the curve on new end game content. It can also be a bad thing - its easy to get trapped in a cycle of waiting for new content, then frantically grinding out the meta to play the new content, until you burn out.

I find that making progression feel satisfying is largely about the goals one sets for oneself.

Deathweeps

This is a "good-bye" post which will more then likely be taken off the forum even though it is your opinion and is valid. Thank you for your thoughts and perspective becasue it is importnat, but I'm sure ZOS doesn't find this constructive lol because it points out flaws from a player's perspective. I have been here since the beginning as well, the gameplay is awesome I think but there are several major things lacking which are being addressed slowly considering their reflection of a supposed 15 million subscribers. That's a lot of money for this slow of fixes in my opinion.

Taleof2Cities

UGotBenched91 wrote: »

For me it’s disappointing to do trials ( considered the hardest PVE content) to be awarded armor that is ultimately lack luster looking and that I could put on my level 4 character if I have the style unlocked.

Did you actually do progressive Trials and hard mode (HM) clears, @UGotBenched91?

It's an honest question.

The forums gets a lot of posts from players that want more challenging content ... yet don't participate in the challenging content that already exists in the game.

MaleAmazon

There are some things you can do to progress;

-PvP.

-Soloing World Bosses.

-Housing.

-Fishing.

-Jumping up to the top of places and throwing mudballs on all high elves, then screaming 'you look more like a dunmer to me'.

I agree about world progression though. I play Pillars of Eternity sometimes, and one concept I like with it is that beneath your castle, there is a giant labyrinth filled with deadlier and deadlier monsters as you descend. Diablo 1 was kind of like this, also. It works well because it is advertised - you´re not going to stumble into it.

I´d like it if there was one piece of 'solo RP hard experience' like this in ESO. We have vMA but that´s a trial. Well, here´s hoping. (And arguably, the antiquities system is a step in that direction).

I guess at the moment they are focused on other things like standardizing skills and performance improvements. I really hope we will see added difficulty down the line, might make me resub.

And the OP made me think... I really miss the days of exploring new areas after having worked hard to gain access to them. It was something I loved as a child playing Nintendo 8-bit and 16-bit... games like Zelda, Kid Icarus, Willow...

Oh the memories...

RogueShark

It's a different kind of progression. It's vertical progression versus horizontal progression.

Look at WoW for example: you have your specific class/spec gear each raid tier and that's basically it. Once the new expansion or raid tier comes out, everything you have is obsolete. So more grinding. Older content also becomes obsolete: you end up being able to solo old raids.

In ESO, old trials like HRC and MOL are still relevant and farmed for gear. Old content remains a form of progression and each year we receive new content that adds to progression without making last year's content completely meaningless.

Granted, once you've cleared everything to the level you're capable of or want to, the content seems to dry up... but that same can be said for vertical progression as well.

Everest_Lionheart

MaleAmazon wrote: »

There are some things you can do to progress;

-PvP.

-Soloing World Bosses.

-Housing.

-Fishing.

-Jumping up to the top of places and throwing mudballs on all high elves, then screaming 'you look more like a dunmer to me'.

I agree about world progression though. I play Pillars of Eternity sometimes, and one concept I like with it is that beneath your castle, there is a giant labyrinth filled with deadlier and deadlier monsters as you descend. Diablo 1 was kind of like this, also. It works well because it is advertised - you´re not going to stumble into it.

I´d like it if there was one piece of 'solo RP hard experience' like this in ESO. We have vMA but that´s a trial. Well, here´s hoping. (And arguably, the antiquities system is a step in that direction).

I guess at the moment they are focused on other things like standardizing skills and performance improvements. I really hope we will see added difficulty down the line, might make me resub.

And the OP made me think... I really miss the days of exploring new areas after having worked hard to gain access to them. It was something I loved as a child playing Nintendo 8-bit and 16-bit... games like Zelda, Kid Icarus, Willow...

Oh the memories...

I’m soloing 4man dungeons to scratch the difficulty itch while I get my characters setup for veteran and hm trials because my CP is t there yet to run with those groups and I’m still missing some gear because I trial maybe 1-2 nights per week maximum. Eventually I will try some base game dungeons on vet mode but some of them I’m beating by the skin of my teeth on normal. I should also note I’m going into these dungeons blind as I haven’t cleared them in 4man content either and I’m not using a guide, just rolling through and figuring it out for myself.

I’m from the old school days myself. I was so proud of myself when I found the red ring in the original legend of Zelda and was surprised when I beat them game and it hit you with the second quest! Zelda with the original game+ back in the day only minus all your equipment and skills!

Ryuvain

You should be happy progression doesn't work like other games imo. You just get to the top and sit there bored.

Here there's so much world, questing, crafting, farming, gear runs, and other stuff I can just randomly do that puts the other mmos I've played to shame.

Getting stronger through sets and points was more fun than 1-shotting all older content so easily. All subjective though.

Darkenarlol

i prefer ESO altoholic frindly system to the one

where you farm for 6 months just to find that all your gear is turning

into outdated trash next week and you have a brand new 6 month

to farm just to...i hope you've got the idea

Ratzkifal

People new to ESO often think the phrase "fashion is the true endgame" is a joke, but it's quite true. Since difficulty scales to your level (or rather you scale to the difficulty) it all feels the same unless mechanics are involved.

This is why you need to set your own goals and follow them.
Once you have mastered combat, the next goal is often fashion and housing. Fashion often asks you to clear certain content again unless you are willing to cough up some money while housing is more about having the materials, gold or again crowns.

The good thing about the way things are now is that ESO will never go away. You can always return to this game after years and pick right up where you left off or jump straight into the latest content that rekindled your interest. And if your friends have kept playing all this time, then no matter. You can still do stuff together without weighing each other down or feeling like you aren't being challenged.

I much prefer this to being level-gated.

Kurat

UGotBenched91 wrote: »

So, after logging in today I made the secession to take a break from ESO. Lately, I haven’t been enjoying the game as much and the original feeling of excitement and awe is gone.

For me the game lacks certain progression.

One Tamriel introduced a world where anyone can go and explore with friends no matter what level or CP. Now that’s a cool concept and I can appreciate it’s the positives but for my play style it also adds negatives. The game lacks any progressive feel of exploring the world. I never feel like I need to get stronger to explore new areas because I don’t. I’m cp 360+ with good gear and can go anywhere and things die all the same.

Also, gear lacks progression. In games I like leveling to work towards the goal of unlocking that next gear piece. Usually the higher the level gear, the more detailed and stronger it looks. But, not here. The outfit system lets you have any look at any level and CP 160 makes any gear wearable. I understand a lot of people like that aspect but I’m just not one of them. For me it’s disappointing to do trials ( considered the hardest PVE content) to be awarded armor that is ultimately lack luster looking and that I could put on my level 4 character if I have the style unlocked.

Anyway, just need a break and thoughts I’d share some perspectives from a player who has enjoyed the game but is seeking something more.

At least you can still get more cp and use it. I'm cp1200+ and may as well be 2200, it makes no difference. I wish they would do something about cp already.

YandereGirlfriend

Try PvP!

Beating an opponent is likely the most direct sort of "progression" that you can find in the game.

Once you gain basic competency, focus on trying to improve your K/D ratio or, if you are more support-oriented, you can always (always!) keep experimenting with new ways (builds and playstyles) to optimize group survivability or damage output.

And best of all: in PvP the content literally creates itself each and every day when you log on! No more waiting for a new dungeon or trial, you instead get a new experience guaranteed simply by PvP'ing.

It's also a vast resource-sink if you are interested in spinning up alts for new classes or builds. If you end up with many alts and many different build orientations, then you will find so many more sets potentially useful to you, which helps defeat the "Well I have the meta PvE sets, now what?" feeling that you've current acquired.

Anyway, try it out and stick with it even if you die a lot at the beginning. It's worth it in the end!

Athyrium93

I kind of see both sides of the issue, I wish there was some stuff that had a bit more vertical progression, but at the same time the best part of eso is that it is horizontal progression, personally I wish we had a couple vet zones, maybe at 300cp that dropped the same gear as other zones just at higher rarities or something like that, just to scratch the itch of super challenging quest content

dem0n1k

Progression for me in ESO is all about achievements & Alliance ranks on certain of my characters.
I really do NOT want to grind for more/better gear.. so over that!

Runefang

There are so many ways to progress in this game beyond your level. Achievements, PvP ranks, titles, skins and yes even gear. Unless you’re kitted out in PFG/Thrassians/VMA/MS or whatever your PvE class meta is you’ve got a ways to go.

Rukia541

I only agree with hard content rewarding cooler looking stuff, armor and weapons are so tame in ESO, they really need to add more effects and better skins. It doesn't have to be on the level of GW2 or FF14 where a player is a strobe light but we all don't need to be looking like peasants.

Dracane

The problem with gear lies withing the fact that ESO's gear includes no stats and thus, no randomness at all. You drop a piece of gear and that's it, farm done. In nearly every other game, you have secondary stats on your gear that can vary and be different on the same piece of gear.

I personally think ESO has the most boring and least motivating gear system of any game I have played thus far. Well, it's dull in basically all Elder Scrolls games. It's ESO's biggest weakness for me and the fact that the entire overworld is streamlined so that everyone can easily roll over it.

It would be exciting if gear was made a bit more complex and more interesting. You are right that there is no motivation. I am motivated by improving my house and pvp and because I can also enjoy the smaller things. ESO is hard hardcore western. As streamlined and as casualfriendly and as superficial as possible. Yet something keeps me and I am not sure what that is.