Did summerset sold badly?

Emmagoldman

"Bombed" is way too hyperbole.
Jewelry crafting was released along with 2h weapons counting as two weapon piece instead of one, which was a massive change.

Cloudrest also had 2 meta sets for pve, so whether or not you are into questing or high elf story lines, there was a massive incentive on the pve end

I think in terms of releases, it also offered the best money making opportunity. Jewelry prices were absolutely insane.

So bombed, for sure not

Amottica

New player here for context.

Not long ago I saw someone post that the cost of chapters has increased each year. If Summerset did not sell well it would make sense that, at the very least, Zenimax would not have increased the cost as I expect they have an interest in selling the chapters.

VaranisArano

I recall hearing that they switched to the "year-long stories because when Murkmire came out, players were like "What does this have to do with elves I was questing with?"

And so the Devs decided they liked tying all the releases together. Some more info here: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/487021/confirmed-more-year-long-story-style-content-coming-after-elsweyr-please-no-you-can-do-better/p1

As for dragons, I blame GOT for that.

tsaescishoeshiner

Western Skyrim and The Reach didn't give me any nostalgia at all. Despite having the same map and terrain from TES:V, the visuals and gameplay are totally different, and the characters & plots weren't similar—even comparing the Rada al-Saran fight to the Lord Harkon one.

Obviously, Morrowind and Greymoor piqued the interest of a lot of people who played other TES games or are nostalgic, and I'm happy more people started playing to check it out—it almost helped me convince some friends to check out ESO because of the familiarity. But critiquing ESO content as "milking nostlagia" falls flat because that says little about the actual content or quality of the game content. Also ... Skyrim and Morrowind are in Tamriel, so it's fairly inevitable that we'd revisit them.

Chaos2088

Think its more covering old ground/getting people to buy content they feel connected to, so they stick around for more. And spend more money, this game is a product at the end of the day. Gotta make the £££ $$$.

Don't think they are just going to go down the nostalgia route for all future content, but its clever to get people into the game if content is a gateway to some reminder of good gaming days for some people. When they add the middle of Skyrim in gunna loose it!!! hehe

But they are running out of places that are like this. Very much looking forward to future content to places we havent been to. (looking at you Hammerfell for next year) Also cannot wait to see where we are heading once Tamriel is all filled up.

hcbigdogdoghc

Chaos2088 wrote: »

Think its more covering old ground/getting people to buy content they feel connected to, so they stick around for more. And spend more money, this game is a product at the end of the day. Gotta make the £££ $$$.

Don't think they are just going to go down the nostalgia route for all future content, but its clever to get people into the game if content is a gateway to some reminder of good gaming days for some people. When they add the middle of Skyrim in gunna loose it!!! hehe

But they are running out of places that are like this. Very much looking forward to future content to places we havent been to. (looking at you Hammerfell for next year) Also cannot wait to see where we are heading once Tamriel is all filled up.

2022: Whiterun
2023: Shiverimg Isles
2024: Dawnstar
2025: Skingrad
2026: Winterhold
2027: Apocrypha
2028: Bravil
2029: Solstheim
2030: Soul Cairn

Destai

I mean Summerset couldn't have done so bad - it's more populated than Elsweyr and certainly Greymoor at any given time, in my experience. I think a lot of people still hold Morrowind and Summerset above the subsequent expansions. I recall it receiving some awards for some of its progressive stories, too.

jircris11

hcbigdogdoghc wrote: »

Something I've read before is that the reason behind ZOS going full on nostalgia trips the past few years is because Summerset (their only "original" chapter) bombed.

So now ZOS won't explore any new regions anymore and only revisit explored areas in TES to the point of rehash the same storylines.

Is this true?

Elswyre is also original as we have never actually been there in tes games.

Iccotak

The Reach actually felt very refreshing, the Reachmen culture really made that zone unique and interesting - much better than Western Skyrim

Iccotak

hcbigdogdoghc wrote: »

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

hcbigdogdoghc wrote: »

Hurbster wrote: »

Elsweyr?

Dragons, in your own homeland!!! What are you going to do?

Which does not mean that Elsweyr was not an "original" chapter. If you'e going to argue that "original chapter" means totally original, with no type of content that's been seen before in other games, then nothing in ESO is original given that the base game, every DLC, and every chapter contains races, creatures, and places which have appeared in other ES games.

Every single mainline TES game transformed the series into something new, every game introduced something totally new and overhauled the universe, except ESO.

Yeah there are some nostalgia in the mainline games too, but these are easter eggs at most (like serious how much oblivion do you see in skyrim's marketing?) unlike ESO where nostalgia is literally at the forefront and the no.1 marketing attraction

ESO is the biggest game this far, yet with 7+ years they are still in the single player game's shadow.

Because what people wanted was Skyrim Online - what they got was an MMO set in TES. The class system itself is still a topic of controversy.

so ZOS has been trying to make ESO as much like the single player games as it can be - hence why they're adding companions.

But being an MMO inherently holds it back from aspects of the single player franchise

Tandor wrote: »

In my view the way to create a multiplayer Elder Scrolls game is to create a CRPG based in Tamriel with full regard to the lore of TES and run it online with multiple people who can play on the same server but with total freedom as to how, or even if, they interact with those around them.

Neither playing it alone while soaking up the atmosphere of having others around you, nor playing it directly with others in groups and guilds detracts from the fact that ESO is a multiplayer Elder Scrolls game.

What it isn't is Skyrim Online, but then it's not Arena Online, Daggerfall Online, Morrowind Online or Oblivion Online either, and those TES games were all significantly different from each other so you can't take the game system from any one of them and say "that's the TES game system and ESO should be like it".

ThorianB

I pre purchased summerset and played it the day it dropped it was busy as hell for the first 6 months and until this day still is quite busy. This sounds like someone was trolling you with something akin to " ESO is dying!".

YandereGirlfriend

Mojmir wrote: »

hcbigdogdoghc wrote: »

Something I've read before is that the reason behind ZOS going full on nostalgia trips the past few years is because Summerset (their only "original" chapter) bombed.

So now ZOS won't explore any new regions anymore and only revisit explored areas in TES to the point of rehash the same storylines.

Is this true?

its like hollywood and the redos of old movies. equally bombing.

Indeed. And game studios.

Production costs are simply too high to take a risk on creativity. It's safer for your shareholders if you simply rehash what is known to have worked before.

Radiance

There was a SummerSet Chapter event not too long after it came out that required a certain number of players to complete the Points of Interest achievement to reach 100% Cooperation and unlock the Grand Psijic Villa and I got my Psijic Villa so it couldn't have done too badly...

spartaxoxo

It was probably was one of their better selling chapters though? Like Jewelry crafting was a big deal and everyone wanted the trial sets and the place was really highly populated. And the very next expansion, they once again went somewhere they hadn't gone in Elysweyr. .

Where do people come up with this stuff? They only had so many unexplored places to go, the franchise has been around for nearly 30 years.

Oblivion, Morrowind, and Skyrim all released near landmarks of their original release dates and were huge games for the franchise. Making sure they released during those time frames is likely a main reason for their release order, not anything to do with Summerset and Elysweyr sales.

Morrowind released 15 years prior to it's eso counterpart in 2017
Skyrim released 9 years prior to Greymoor in 2020. They probably would have waited until this year but Oblivion had the bigger milestone.
Oblivion is at the 15 year mark this year

zaria

redsaaryn wrote: »

Just because summer set failed doesn't mean that all original zones will all fail! Look at north and south elsweyr! They are 100% original! And they were huge successes

If Summerset sold badly I think its more because of other games or that Morrowind was more of an event as the first chapter with Morrowind and warden.

Elsweyr did well, its also not so much area not in Oblivion or Skyrim left on the map. South of black march and Hammerfell.

hands0medevil

IMO best chapter so far in every aspect - story, map and locations design, music

Danikat

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

Western Skyrim and The Reach didn't give me any nostalgia at all. Despite having the same map and terrain from TES:V, the visuals and gameplay are totally different, and the characters & plots weren't similar—even comparing the Rada al-Saran fight to the Lord Harkon one.

Obviously, Morrowind and Greymoor piqued the interest of a lot of people who played other TES games or are nostalgic, and I'm happy more people started playing to check it out—it almost helped me convince some friends to check out ESO because of the familiarity. But critiquing ESO content as "milking nostlagia" falls flat because that says little about the actual content or quality of the game content. Also ... Skyrim and Morrowind are in Tamriel, so it's fairly inevitable that we'd revisit them.

I think it's more the marketing than the content itself which comes across as overly focused on nostalgia.

When Morrowind was announced I quickly got sick of the marketing because it seemed like it was all "Look! It's Morrowind! Just like you remember! Wouldn't you love to play Morrowind again? Wasn't it great?" and it just left me feeling like I was being asked to pay again for something I already have on my computer just because it's now part of a bigger game.

I was pleasantly surprised by the map and the story when it hit the PTS and that's what convinced me it was worth buying, because it wasn't just like game I already had. Greymoor had the same problem with marketing that seemed to focus entirely on playing up the similarities to Skyrim with a little bit of "vampires are cool right?" thrown in.

Since I hope ESO will eventually include all of Tamriel (and hopefully other parts of Nirn) I do want them to go back over the areas which have been in previous games, but I always find myself more excited about places we haven't seen before (or at least not since Arena which was so different it's like seeing them for the first time) and it's a bit frustrating when it seems like Zenimax is falling back on nostalgia based marketing whenever they can.

Lugaldu

Aside from the fact that the whole "Summerset was selling bad"-story is probably a hoax, I personally don't think there's too much built on nostalgia. It has already been said several times that there are enough zones that you couldn't play in older TES parts. For example, I only played TES III-V and so all deserts, tropical areas, swamps and Summerset Isles are completely new and exciting for me. And in Western Skyrim, too, I actually didn't have any nostalgia, only when I went to Solitude for the first time and saw Black Reach again. And of all the screenshots and videos I've seen so far, not much will remind you of TES IV Oblivion in the new Blackwood chapter either. Not even the iconic Oblivion gates that suddenly popped up everywhere in TES IV look similar. And I think that's actually sad, I was looking forward to go through such a gate like this in good times, then heading towards the towers, fighting to the top, destroying the sigil stone... and back.

LalMirchi

because Summerset (their only "original" chapter) bombed.

I'm doing my crafting writs every day in Summerset and it's crowded. Is there real evidence showing that Summerset sold badly?

peacenote

hcbigdogdoghc wrote: »

Something I've read before is that the reason behind ZOS going full on nostalgia trips the past few years is because Summerset (their only "original" chapter) bombed.

So now ZOS won't explore any new regions anymore and only revisit explored areas in TES to the point of rehash the same storylines.

Is this true?

I don't think it's true. You can often tell when people started in the game by where they sit when they are idle. I go back to Deshaan because I started in beta and am EP. A LOT of people I know are always in Summerset, and I pay attention to this because I use the PC mod to more easily travel to guild mates. The other place I always see people is Vvardenfell so it's always been my impression that those were the two most popular releases.

WeerW3ir

[snip] summerset were the best expansion for being unique, for closing down the whole eso story and for having the most balanced gameplay. everything what came after it. from since lizardtoyland, was a mess and fanservice ^^

[edited to remove baiting comment]

Celephantsylvius_Bornasfinmo

I'm not so certain it bombed.

-Jewellery crafting
-Psijic Skill Line
-The beginning of the Indrik era, no?
- VCR (Cloud Rest)

It's a pretty zone, it's big, I didn't enjoy questing there that much, but the raid is good. Some may say it was the direct continuation of the pay walled end game abilities, maybe that's what is a bit bitter in their mouths.

starlizard70ub17_ESO

RedMuse wrote: »

Hurbster wrote: »

Elsweyr?

That's what i was about to say.

Cat people, living in an area a lot like the SW Asian highlands, high on drugs 50% of the time, practicing a strange Shinto like religion based on the moons. Nothing original there.

LettuceBrain

TelvanniWizard wrote: »

It is the only chapter I didn't buy, mainly because my opinions on the architecture.

Altmer architecture is one of my favorites so I can't agree with you.

I like it and own it. I really like the aesthetic of it and I like the Altmer so...

Lixiviant

Please, more events with the older areas! Sucks to visit an area where is is absolutely deserted and nobody wants to do any WB or dungeons. And, I thought Summerset was a beautiful addition to the map.

SpacemanSpiff1

that title

RedFireDisco

Summerset was the most beautiful setting in the game.

Sevn

hcbigdogdoghc wrote: »

Something I've read before is that the reason behind ZOS going full on nostalgia trips the past few years is because Summerset (their only "original" chapter) bombed.

So now ZOS won't explore any new regions anymore and only revisit explored areas in TES to the point of rehash the same storylines.

Is this true?

Something I've read before, the moon is made of blue cheese, is this true?

I just don't get some people. You think everyone who plays ESO has played all the SP games? Only one I tried was Skyrim and I hated it, almost didn't try ESO because of that floaty combat system.

Every region is new to me and I'm sure I'm not the only one who plays ESO despite not having played the other games.

Point of fact, it's not their only "original" chapter either.

maboleth

hcbigdogdoghc wrote: »

Something I've read before is that the reason behind ZOS going full on nostalgia trips the past few years is because Summerset (their only "original" chapter) bombed.

So now ZOS won't explore any new regions anymore and only revisit explored areas in TES to the point of rehash the same storylines.

Is this true?

Whatever is the case, but Summerset DLC, speaking of new assets - was THE most complex "chapter" they ever did. Just building the Alinor was a huuuge task. Even though I enjoy Skyrim/Reach more and also Elsweyr's great canyons, I understand that they were much easier to build than Summerset.

Similar to CWC. CWC was the last totally new DLC released for ESO.

I don't know the numbers, but this newest Oblivion chapter seems totally re-hashed. Should have been included in the Subscription/DLC. I really don't know how they plan to attract new sales based on pretty much same assets used in the zone.

This is also the first time I won't be buying it during pre-purchase, but will wait for big sales.

Suna_Ye_Sunnabe

Summerset was the only chapter I truly experienced hype for, and wasn't disappointed. It's still to this day got bis gear, jewelry crafting, and the psijic questline, as well as boasting one of the most populated zones. That bizarre rumour you heard about it "bombing" was likely just thrown out by someone who either didn't like the zone or was frustrated with the devs.