Player retention poll: When did you join ESO?

DTStormfox

In November 2012, we all got excited when the first announcement was made for The Elder Scrolls Online. Since then, the game has changed in many ways. Some people didn't like the changes, some did. Personally, I have been around since 2014 in one of the final beta invite waves. I am just curious to see for how long you have been around.

And while you are at it, what is your most memorable moment in the game and why?

MissAethe

2019

I didn't join until Elsweyr's release, because the online reviews of the game were and still are, horrible.

When I did join, I hated ESO a lot. It doesn't explain anything, there was story I could tell I was missing, but where it started me in the brand new Story/DLC/Zone, without letting me choose the original story and starting zone, I was handling content I didn't feel I was able to handle. It became a really bad point where I almost said "forget this" and went to do something else.

Eventually after extensive research and a ton of Youtube beginner guides, I went to where I should have been starting and I grew to actually love this game.

It kind of sucks because I know people have had my exact experience (newbies fighting harrowstorms? Not good) and quit entirely without looking back, so I wish ESO would re-organize that better. At least give a choice between starting at the true beginning or the new dlcs, jeez.

Tandor

2014 [Beta tester, release year]

I've played my first account since PC launch although I wasn't in the beta, and my second account from 2015, both continuously with ESO+. I play other games as well but haven't taken any actual breaks from ESO. For me it's not so much a case of memorable moments as a straightforward 100% consistency of quality in both non-competitive content and performance.

Nordic__Knights

2015

my ps4 account is an release day account and i moved to pc 3/2020

1TAM AS IT MISSED UP THE GAME I ONCE LOVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

wheresbes

2014 [Beta tester, release year]

"I'll never, ever play an MMO!" (sometime later) "Elder Scrolls Online?! Sign me up!"

Started in 2014 during closed beta, I've stuck around until my laptop died (a couple of years I think) and back in 2020 on the XBOX.

I originally got the XBOX for my daughter, I had no hope of being able to play on that thing myself (20+ years k/m player) but I found I can actually smash buttons almost alright on the controller, so I'm here to stay.

The most memorable in-game moment back then was feeling powerful as a magblade

The most memorable recent one was my first Scalecaller Peak run (normal, PUG); two of us were new to the dungeon, each of us was making an effort to perform well their role, we died at most once to bosses, we left feeling we've actually learned something. Also, that was the only time I received a "great job" on my tank. Maybe they were just overexcited that they actually got a real tank, nonetheless, I'll always brag about that now ahaha

Davor

I bought the game on Day One release and only played it a month and deleted it since I HATED it. I usually don't like to use the word hate, but yeah, it did not feel like an Elder Scrolls game to me at all. No way in hell I am going to pay a monthly fee to play that garbage. Sorry to anyone who like it on launch. I am not saying you are wrong, but it was garbage to me.

I came back again when it was on Xbox. I like it for a bit and quit again. Don't recall when I came back again, but it "clicked" some how to me and I started enjoying ESO. I even got ESO+ because I like how the company actually tried to get money from me and worked for it instead of thinking I would just throw money at them like they were god or something.

UGotBenched91

2015

Started on Xbox in 2015. I’m now on PC. I miss many things of this game before one Tamriel ( feeling of progression and difficulty of overland took a nose dive) and how popular PvP under level 50 used to be.

Varana

2014 [Beta tester, release year]

Although my answer is seriously misleading.
I joined in 2014 but only played for a few weeks.
I came back with One Tamriel, again for a few weeks.
I have only been playing consistently since Morrowind.

Raideen

2017

Tandor wrote: »

I've played my first account since PC launch although I wasn't in the beta, and my second account from 2015, both continuously with ESO+. I play other games as well but haven't taken any actual breaks from ESO. For me it's not so much a case of memorable moments as a straightforward 100% consistency of quality in both non-competitive content and performance.

How can you honestly say there is 100% consistency of quality in both non competitive content and performance? I mean take a look at this thread. Lots of people feel 180 degrees opposite of you. Have you not encountered any of the issues in game that folks complain about daily?
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/556002/how-would-you-rate-zenimax-online-studios-performance-in-2020/p1

Housing is sub-par in regards to quality. Interiors do not match exteriors, not just in housing but in the world. Go visit the clothing station in Solitude. First take note the wall left of the door, now go inside and take note of this wall. Are we in the Tardis? This also plagues most of the homes. There is so much INCONSISTANCY in the quality of housing, I am flabbergasted that the phrase can even be mentioned in the same sentence as housing.

Hair not showing under hats.
Outfits not being consistent in their dye color.
People crashing when using a crafting station.
People crashing when zoning from wayshrines.
People crashing when zoning out of a home.
The current Crown Crate dwarven light and beam emitter thing can not be used in any way but straight ahead. Try to adjust them and the beam/light go off in the opposite direction, it's hilarious something this obvious made it to live.
People dismounting for no reason in some areas of the game.
I mean man the list goes on and on.

Larcomar

2019

Nov 2019. Similar experience to a cpl of other people here. Game started me in Morrowind and very nearly quit early on. The tutorial was *horrible* - it bugged out first time round and I was swinging at that woman for like 3 or 4 minutes before it recognised that I'd knocked her down. It was laughable. The rest wasn't much better.

Eventually found my way to Vukhel guard, got on the main quest and started liking it after a bit. Hit 810 a few months ago, have leveled up 8 toons and even got quite heavily into pvp after I burned out on vet pledges, which is a first for me. Only did eso+ for three months - got annoyed paying to get DLCs in my RND queue - but have bought the other chapters on sale.

Not sure how long I will stay in the game now Im max level. I'm never been into stuff like raids / trials. I thought my "end game" might be pvp, but with the recent changes to pvp group size and the ban on solo players cross healing, I'm spending less and less time in Cyro. If there was a vet mode / difficulty slider for overland questing, I'd probably turn to that - I love the huge world there is to explore but it gets boring when you can literally one shot everything.

coop500

2017

Technically, December 2016 but it was so close to the end I figured it'd be best to go with 2017

Hallothiel

2015

Bloody hell. Did not realise was sooo long!!!

For all it’s faults, I do love this game. Obviously.

Dark_Lord_Kuro

2015

Console release on ps4
I remember passing whole evening downloading and the playing the wailing prison for the first time before going to bed

And then exploring the massive world during the next months. I remember wiping at shadowrend on normal, remeber trying to enter cryp of heart with the 5 other peple that were standing by the door and then wondering why only 3 of us were in the instance

A few week after the imperial city i stopped playing for a few month comming back between the thieve guild and the dark brotherhood dlc after learning a friend of mine was playing

I stuck around with eso plus since i came back with that friend

eleuthera91

2015

I joined in 2015, when they eliminated the monthly fee to play the game... but I had a bad PC, so I couldn't play it... I returned to ESO in October 2018 (just in time to grab the free Psijic Villa XD) and I actually play since then!

Nairinhe

2017

Saw a streamer playing it with friends (or was it YT?), thought "meh, MMO"
Some time later gave it a try during free trial and play almost every day since then.

orion_1981usub17_ESO

2014 [Beta tester, release year]

I was the 17th person to create a forum account, however I didn't get into the first closed beta and had to wait tell the second one. I still remember times before the game was out and theory crafting website like tamriel foundry. Of course, after beta I did not play again tell console release a year later, since I had already decided to play on playstation. I warned pc folks that they were suckers playing the first year on pc, and was proven right by one tamriel update. Of course the shady business practices then had nothing on say fallout 76 money grabbing.

I still love ESO, always will like all the old games I fondly remember... lineage 2, planetside, DAOC, and ever quest. Can't wait to see what's next.

Viewsfrom6ix

2020

Wow, I feel young. Started in June 2020 and most memorable moment was finishing vBC2 HM as a cp300ish and the cp810 tank said this was a best PUG he had.

adriant1978

2014 [Beta tester, release year]

Was in one of the first, possibly the first, open betas and have played the released game since early access. My interest in games tends to be sporadic though and I haven't played solidly for the last 6 years.

Nord_Raseri

2015

Started soon after it came out on ps4. Didn't start playing fervently until a year later. Memorable moment: after a break, being dragged into tanking Hel Ra before ever stepping foot in a dungeon. It was drunk trial night, and I went for the "golden skyshard".

tuxon

2015

MissAethe wrote: »

When I did join, I hated ESO a lot. It doesn't explain anything, there was story I could tell I was missing, but where it started me in the brand new Story/DLC/Zone, without letting me choose the original story and starting zone, I was handling content I didn't feel I was able to handle. It became a really bad point where I almost said "forget this" and went to do something else.

It kind of sucks because I know people have had my exact experience (newbies fighting harrowstorms? Not good) and quit entirely without looking back, so I wish ESO would re-organize that better. At least give a choice between starting at the true beginning or the new dlcs, jeez.

We are trying to explain to ZOS for a few years in a row already that neglecting the Cold Harbour start for new characters was a terrible decision. At least let us choose.
Cold Harbour is still the best start for new characters anyway imho.

StarOfElyon

2018

I started at Summerset.

rpa

2015

Tried it at 2015, found it tedious and boring then. Gave it a retry late 2018 and have been casually playing since while waiting someone release something good with acceptable service.

Vevvev

2015

When Tamriel Unlimited came out is when I started playing ESO. I did miss the 2017 anniversary cause I got burned out, but when I made my return I stuck with the game ever since.

Stamicka

2015

I started on console release day. My most memorable moment is winning my first encounter in Cyrodiil. For some reason I used to panic and my heart would race whenever I got into a fight with someone. I died in almost every encounter I got into for the first few weeks, but I stuck through it and started to kill others. 2015-2017 Cyrodiil was the most fun I ever had in any game. I still occasionally play, but I haven’t been happy with the game for about 2 years now.

DarcyMardin

2013 [Beta tester]

As soon as I heard about an ESO MMO, I was thrilled since I loved the Elder Scrolls games. I was playing LOTRO at the time ESO was announced. I started here in 2013 as a beta tester and was immediately entranced. The game was buggy, there were no add-ons yet, and hardly anything was well-explained, although one did plunge directly into the main story with the Prophet, which was epic.

Most memorable moment would probably be the first time I saw the anchor and chains slamming down at a dolmen—those things still impress me, so many years later. And there was so much to explore and so many well-designed quests in the original content—a lot better than I’d encountered in most other games. (I don’t find that as true of the recent content).

I did not much care for the original locking of content areas by faction, though. We had to create new characters in each faction simply to see the other two-thirds of the game. This led to me having alts, right from the start, and slowing progress on my main since I wanted to see everything. (I’m an explorer-type gamer). So I was happy when One Tamriel rolled out.

I’ve played this game for many happy hours, and there are still plenty of things I haven’t done. I do get frustrated sometimes over various things like performance, crashing, and some of what I regard as needless or senseless changes, but in general, it’s been a very positive experience.

NskDen

2013 [Beta tester]

Veteran is here

Scardan

2020

I was curious how the rest of Tamriel looks like.

SeaGtGruff

2017

The first time I ever heard about ESO, I declined to purchase it because in general I didn't like the idea of online games, and in particular I resented games you had to buy up front but pay a monthly subscription to actually play.

In 2016 I decided to buy TES3:Morrowind and TES4:Oblivion on Steam, even though I already had non-Steam versions of them, partly for the ease of installing and playing on multiple computers, and partly because I didn't have all of the expansions for Oblivion and about the only way to get them was to buy the special Steam version of the GOTY edition.

Replaying Morrowind and Oblivion got me interested in the earlier games, so I gave Arena another try and figured out how to play it, which got me interested in ESO. So in 2017 I bought the special edition of Skyrim to get all of the expansions, along with ESO Gold Edition (the base game plus the Guilds & Glory four-pack) and the ESO Morrowind Digital Collector's Edition.

I'm not sure I would have bought ESO if it had still required a subscription, and for the first year and a half I resisted the idea of subscribing, but by the end of 2019 I'd grown tired of having to shuffle inventory between my main and several mules just to be able to get the attachments from my daily crafting mails, and then again after doing my daily writs. I was also playing on both servers by then, so subscribing was a nice way to get access to all the DLCs I was missing on the PC EU server.

I imagine I'll continue playing ESO until they shut down the servers or I die, whichever comes first. And I intend to maintain my annual subscription as well, because it's so much nicer than having to shuffle inventory around all the time.

kapachia

2017

Morrowind release. Was not interested in MMORPG. Wanted to continue Skyrim experience. Only did solo contents until CP 300 ish with one character. Started doing dungeons / trials after that. Mostly doing Cyrodiil and collecting items now.

tomofhyrule

2019

I avoided ESO for the longest time since I really dislike multiplayer games, especially those where I'm playing with random people over the internet. I'm a huge TES fan, so I've been going through a lot of withdrawal since Skyrim was almost 10 years ago now, and TES6 isn't coming for ages.

Once I saw I could do the content alone, I decided to finally start up. That was around July-ish 2019.

Ended up finding a nice guild and learning how to do a lot of the group stuff, so it really isn't anywhere near as scary as I thought it'd be. There's still a lot more I want to do in game as well, so I'll be playing for a while. Probably until Bethesda finally finishes TES6 (and I hope they make something worthy of Skyrim).

Eventually got ESO+ around the end of 2019 since I was enjoying the game and the DLC zones, and haven't looked back.

...now if only the Crown Store would start offering some of this content I've missed...

Gilvoth

2013 [Beta tester]

i started back when this forum was on bethesda website, they deleted that forum and made this new one for us when betas started. sometimes the devs spoke with us on that forum, but when we came here it slowed down. it was awesome to think what was going to happen in eso because we didn't know all the problems and exploits that held and now dominate the game would happen.