Things you don’t quite like about the game.

RupzSkooma

It will of course be an unpopular opinion here.
The Cantina (A relatively small YouTuber) made a video about how he does not like ESO. I think a lot of points applies to me too.

Despite having one of the best artistic team in this game, a much of the problem arise because it is in a genre that it does not need to be in.With each update they are changing the vision to stray away from what this genre used to shine in.

However doing so it is having the disadvantage of this genre.

For me the one thing that I don’t like about the game is unimmersive world.Despite being so beautiful it is one of the most unlively world I have ever seen in a video game.

IMHO a world is as lively as the NPCs living in it and it does not matter how beautiful or realistic the world looks. My thirst for immersive/lively world have greatly increases from when I were a young adult or even a teen.There was a time when I considered Morrowind and to a larger degree Oblivion world to be immersive but not that much anymore and same for Modrim.But rather a bare minimum.

For me Crusaders Kings III (And it’s upcoming TES mod) is most immersive even though buildings and units are out of scale because each NPC in it have motives and have personality governed by it’s personality traits and stress.They interact with each other just they would with you.

Now I don’t want the same for ESO of course because ESO is not a simulation but still it is miles below even the recent worse mainline TES game.NPCs just stand there and literally the only purpose is to give you quest.And it don’t even give the illusion that the world and the NPCs are alive.

This is a one of the biggest gripe I have about the game and almost all other gripes are because of the genre it is in.

Beside I am really excited for the companion system.

cptqrk

I find the world to be quite alive.

The whole, run in one direction and stumble upon quests things is not something you see in WoW, and to me makes the world feel a lot more alive than the distinct quest area / grind area dynamics you have in other MMOs. Lets be honest tho' if the world was 'full' it would be annoying to have to run through more "Do you know how long I've been looking for you?" and "Adventurer! Come here! I need aid!" prompts.

My gripe is the haphazard questing time lines that have been the result of expansion after expansion. Meeting Abnar Tharn or being Lyris' best investigator before you even know who the 5 are kinda breaks the world IMO.

I know there's a questing timeline thing you can look up, but would love it if ZoS would do something about it.

Starlight_Whisper

😭 that they haven't fixed sugar skulls bug even after months

RupzSkooma

cptqrk wrote: »

I find the world to be quite alive.

The whole, run in one direction and stumble upon quests things is not something you see in WoW, and to me makes the world feel a lot more alive than the distinct quest area / grind area dynamics you have in other MMOs. Lets be honest tho' if the world was 'full' it would be annoying to have to run through more "Do you know how long I've been looking for you?" and "Adventurer! Come here! I need aid!" prompts.

My gripe is the haphazard questing time lines that have been the result of expansion after expansion. Meeting Abnar Tharn or being Lyris' best investigator before you even know who the 5 are kinda breaks the world IMO.

I know there's a questing timeline thing you can look up, but would love it if ZoS would do something about it.

Different strokes for different folks.
I don’t want the areas to be full.In fact Modrim had less number of NPCs in it but the world felt much more alive because each NPCs had a schedule and interact with each other with Immersive Citizen AIO mod.

World being alive and full is much different for me.Even 2 people in a desert can make the world feel more alive than 1000s of NPCs in a city.

Granted my standard of world being alive is too high for this genre.

Casdha

This should draw some criticism

Trying to combine reactive combat with some type of MMO based turn base combat IMHO has been the worst thing about this game.

I can't hit that player because they are dodging all the time --> penalize dodging
That player is jumping all the time --> suggest penalizing jumping
That player is doing too much damage --> nerf sets / combinations
That player can't be damaged --> nerf shields / mitigation
We can't beat these players/ keep getting my tail kicked --> introduce battle spirit

Good grief, leave the game alone and allow folks time to learn how to play.

Also, choose one Reactive or Turn based, you can't do both.

(what I mean by reactive is more like Unreal Tournament or Quake III or whatever is out now with the same style combat)

IMHO I think they wanted to make it reactive but player tracking needs to be way more precise compared to the game they tried to make so it winds up just a mess. That and you get folks who complain because they want to rely on math rather than reflexes. (edit - and vice versa)

BlueRaven

Bosmers lack of stealth.

RupzSkooma

Casdha wrote: »

This should draw some criticism

Trying to combine reactive combat with some type of MMO based turn base combat IMHO has been the worst thing about this game.

Criticisms are awesome and especially for the product we enjoy.As long as it is respectful.

Tandor

Locking trading behind guild membership and making it so that it's really only effective through the use of third party addons is my pet hate about the game. Everything else is top notch in my view, including performance (as a non-competitive player).

colossalvoids

Performance, lack of general direction (bouncing back and forth, also stating goals and going against them in the next patch/sentence).

Poor attention to bug fixes being major pita's or minor visual ones.

Sarannah

1: The DPS difference between new and experienced players. The gap is too wide, and feels too button-smashy.

2: The balancing of the game is mostly done based on PvP. This either has to stop, or has to be completely seperated from PvE. As both PvE and PvP require different endresults. Another problem with this is: You can never balance PvP, so this keeps hurting the game again and again.

3: Empty places, as players keep dragging mobs behind them. A high CP 'unseen' setting should fix this.

Shantu

The game has become a shallow money grab. Everything is about manipulating involvement to increase the odds you'll throw cash at the Crown Store. Any "vision" otherwise is marketing baloney.

TelvanniWizard

Lack of furnishing slots, specially special ones.

Can´t choose Battlegrounds game-mode.

Still don´t have account-wide achievements.

Still don´t have trial group finder.

Lack of many customization possibilities and options.

SilverBride

Negative players who do nothing but complain... yet they are still here.

pdebie64b16_ESO

The RNG, farming specific gear in dungeons/arena's overal takes way to long due of the small drop rate.

drunkendx

SilverBride wrote: »

Negative players who do nothing but complain... yet they are still here.

^That ^

Also TAB targeting mob not doing anything

RupzSkooma

SilverBride wrote: »

Negative players who do nothing but complain... yet they are still here.

Thanks to them their complains made the game from beta quality to what it is now.
If all of them were silent you still be playing the ESO beta.
Criticism of a product is what make progress.

shimm

Lack of yoga pants… and I play the pve stuff to get gear for pvp (Cyrodiil mostly) but at this point Cyrodiil needs a tear down and rebuild to fix the issues, it’s broken. Maybe a completely different (smaller) map.

Mefromnorway

Add new content before fixing bugs. 1 example craftbag been bugget now 2 months and that is 1 reason i pay ESO pluss. When you pay for something suppose to be benefit in game and dont fix it its very bad. Almost a scam.

Lugaldu

RupzSkooma wrote: »

For me the one thing that I don’t like about the game is unimmersive world.Despite being so beautiful it is one of the most unlively world I have ever seen in a video game.

IMHO a world is as lively as the NPCs living in it and it does not matter how beautiful or realistic the world looks. My thirst for immersive/lively world have greatly increases from when I were a young adult or even a teen.There was a time when I considered Morrowind and to a larger degree Oblivion world to be immersive but not that much anymore and same for Modrim.But rather a bare minimum.

For me it's the other way around. I loved TES IV Oblivion, but the world always felt a bit empty, which in ESO is completely the opposite. Everywhere you see innumerable different creatures in the wilderness, in the settlements numerous NPCs and a lot of them have more to say than just "Hello, how are you?".

The only thing that bothers me in terms of immersion - but that's my personal problem as a solo player in a mmorpg - are sometimes other players in certain quest situations, like an "undiscovered or long-abandoned" dungeon which is then filled with other people.

Ringing_Nirnroot

Bot farmers

RupzSkooma

Lugaldu wrote: »

RupzSkooma wrote: »

For me the one thing that I don’t like about the game is unimmersive world.Despite being so beautiful it is one of the most unlively world I have ever seen in a video game.

IMHO a world is as lively as the NPCs living in it and it does not matter how beautiful or realistic the world looks. My thirst for immersive/lively world have greatly increases from when I were a young adult or even a teen.There was a time when I considered Morrowind and to a larger degree Oblivion world to be immersive but not that much anymore and same for Modrim.But rather a bare minimum.

For me it's the other way around. I loved TES IV Oblivion, but the world always felt a bit empty, which in ESO is completely the opposite. Everywhere you see innumerable different creatures in the wilderness, in the settlements numerous NPCs and a lot of them have more to say than just "Hello, how are you?".

The only thing that bothers me in terms of immersion - but that's my personal problem as a solo player in a mmorpg - are sometimes other players in certain quest situations, like an "undiscovered or long-abandoned" dungeon which is then filled with other people.

Yes I totally get that view but for me 1000 brain dead NPC is worse than 10 NPCs which do stuff without you.
Oblivion still didn’t age well, in today’s standard I will say in recent times Crusader Kings III and in the same genre Kingdom comes deliverance.

SilverBride

RupzSkooma wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

Negative players who do nothing but complain... yet they are still here.

Thanks to them their complains made the
game from beta quality to what it is now.
If all of them were silent you still be playing the ESO beta.
Criticism of a product is what make progress.

Feedback is what made the game what it is now. Feedback can consist of pointing out what is bad about the game, but also what is good. And any good feedback about something seen as negative is followed up with potential solutions.

That is very different than just complaining nonstop.

SickleCider

For me right now, it has to do with how the end game is structured so that most encounters feel the same. I'm focusing on trials here, even though I'm aware "end game" encompasses a lot more to many people.

This is how a trial goes:
1. Group of 12 people, way too many, like herding a clowder of cats
2. Tank goes first, stacks adds or turns boss
3. DDs cluster into a blob and push buttons
4. Healers stand slightly behind DDs and tank and push buttons
5. There's a big bad add that is a high priority target, turn and burn
6. Occasionally the blob will have to move slightly in the arena, or perform some brain dead simple task like block or swap weapons
7. Sometimes a few special DDs are elected to go somewhere else so they can run and touch something
8. And always there's a wipe mechanic if someone sets a toe out of line

This is boring. This is SO boring. And each session soaks up so much time and social energy. And the gameplay loop doesn't help: you are doing these trials to get gear to go on to do more trials. I find dungeons and arenas a lot more interesting so good job with those but seriously trials are horrible.

For context: I come from Soulsborne and Monster Hunter games so my idea of what makes an engaging encounter may not be the same as an MMO vet's. I'm aware that they are completely different genres and the mechanics and encounters are not going to be the same, nor should they be. I suppose my thing is that there's a certain amount of mental stimulation and tactility that's wanting for me in ESO that turns trials, which to me ought to be awe inspiring content, into a boring slog. I ALMOST get the feeling I want in a place like Vateshran Hollows on vet. I enjoy that place a ton.

And I know someone is going to say "just don't do trials," but the issue is that there isn't a lot of endgame PVE to choose from, especially which gives out incentive via impressive rewards (blingy furnishings, mounts, titles, etc.).

Sigh.

Okay, thank you for reading that, if you did. I had to get that off my chest after running vet trials all last night without a single complete because idk people. The experience sent a friend into a doom spiral, her toon lying face down in the dirt somewhere in Malabol Tor as I sat beside her and talked her through her frustrations. Then I sent her to bed with chamomile tea. And, now, here we are. 🤣

RupzSkooma

SilverBride wrote: »

RupzSkooma wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

Negative players who do nothing but complain... yet they are still here.

Thanks to them their complains made the
game from beta quality to what it is now.
If all of them were silent you still be playing the ESO beta.
Criticism of a product is what make progress.

Feedback is what made the game what it is now. Feedback can consist of pointing out what is bad about the game, but also what is good. And any good feedback about something seen as negative is followed up with potential solutions.

That is very different than just complaining nonstop.

Complaining non stop doesn’t do anything I agree.
But feedbacks should not be all rainbows either, feedback should consist criticism as well otherwise feedbacks has no value.And it is coming from a software developer.
Criticising a portion of a product is different from de-humanising other people who love/hate the product or the people who made the thing that bring you happiness in the first place.We are all on the same team that want to make the game even better.

Finedaible

There is no longer any class identity, and your class skills don't make a difference because there are better options outside it.

Coincidentally, the grindy skill lines which now have paid unlocks for have become essential to any build (Fighter's/Mages Guild, Undaunted orbs, Alliance Caltrops).

Lugaldu

RupzSkooma wrote: »

Yes I totally get that view but for me 1000 brain dead NPC is worse than 10 NPCs which do stuff without you.
Oblivion still didn’t age well, in today’s standard I will say in recent times Crusader Kings III and in the same genre Kingdom comes deliverance.

I don't think you can compare ESO and Crusader Kings 3 at all, they're two completely different gameplay principles. But everyone has their favorites.

As far as the "aging" of Oblivion is concerned, there are meanwhile so many mods existing that you can really polish the game and it is still great today. In general I have the feeling that people who have grown up with the games of the - let's say - last ten years have a completely different perspective than those who have been playing video games since the 80s or 90s and therefore grew up with something completely different.

RupzSkooma

Lugaldu wrote: »

RupzSkooma wrote: »

Yes I totally get that view but for me 1000 brain dead NPC is worse than 10 NPCs which do stuff without you.
Oblivion still didn’t age well, in today’s standard I will say in recent times Crusader Kings III and in the same genre Kingdom comes deliverance.

I don't think you can compare ESO and Crusader Kings 3 at all, they're two completely different gameplay principles. But everyone has their favorites.

As far as the "aging" of Oblivion is concerned, there are meanwhile so many mods existing that you can really polish the game and it is still great today. In general I have the feeling that people who have grown up with the games of the - let's say - last ten years have a completely different perspective than those who have been playing video games since the 80s or 90s and therefore grew up with something completely different.

That is why I mentioned Kingdom Comes Deliverance, which is in the same genre.I didn’t grew up with Oblivion either rather Morrowind but Morrowind excels at different things than Oblivion.Also Gothic 2 would be another old example.Also CK3 is mostly an RPG but in a different sub-genre.That is why I understand.

This article summarise what I am babling about

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-joy-of-npc-schedules

WuffyCerulei

A) Mount upgrades are not account wide.

And B ) drops in dungeons, trials, etc., are not determined by what you already have collected in your stickerbook.

RupzSkooma

WuffyCerulei wrote: »

A) Mount upgrades are not account wide.

And B ) drops in dungeons, trials, etc., are not determined by what you already have collected in your stickerbook.

A)This man hurts so much.
Reason I think is to sell upgrades in crown store.
B)Agreed but am grateful for the sticker book.
Reason I think is they want us to grind.Being more active.

Lugaldu

RupzSkooma wrote: »

This article summarise what I am babling about

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-joy-of-npc-schedules

Ok now I see what your point is.
So, would I wish the NPCs in ESO had a daily routine? No. Because my encounters with the NPCs in the cities are always very short, as I am constantly jumping from one place to another on the huge map. For me, the feeling wouldn't change much, whether on a short visit to e.g. Alinor I walk past a guard at work or in the tavern at the end of his day. But thats just me.

RupzSkooma

Lugaldu wrote: »

RupzSkooma wrote: »

This article summarise what I am babling about

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-joy-of-npc-schedules

Ok now I see what your point is.
So, would I wish the NPCs in ESO had a daily routine? No. Because my encounters with the NPCs in the cities are always very short, as I am constantly jumping from one place to another on the huge map. For me, the feeling wouldn't change much, whether on a short visit to e.g. Alinor I walk past a guard at work or in the tavern at the end of his day. But thats just me.

I get your point as well, I am a slow gamer XD
Like to get immerse in things and RP/create stories.
But your point is valid.