There will Never be an ESO 2

Hymzir

Dagre2 wrote: »

other than guild wars 1 into guild wars 2, i haven't seen any mmorpg style games where it would make sense to make another instead of just 'upgrading' or changing the one you currently have.

Hymzir wrote: »

But even bigger issue, is the ever accumulating amount of catch up that new players will face. There will come a point where getting into the game will be way too much of a bother for anyone to worry about. And Skyrim will be so far in the past, that it wont generate new fans for the IP itself. They will just play and invest in some trendier and more current live service thing. There might still be enough old timers around at that point, to justify keeping the lights on for several more years, but development of new stuff will stop at some point. It just wont offer as good margins as developing some brand new stuff to sell to a wider audience. And the new stuff wont come with all the baggage of the old one, and can benefit from all the improved tech that will come available in the future.

only those that are only focused on end game. any TES fan will likely have an enjoyable journey to the end game instead of obsessing about end game from the day they start. obviously i can only speak for myself and those i know, but in no way did i ever start playing eso just to rush through to the end. I haven't been playing that long and i still have hundreds of hours ahead of me before i even consider starting the typical mmorpg end game thing. this will be even more true to new players that have never even stepped foot in an mmorpg type game before.

as for the visuals, they're pretty good in eso. the style gives itself a lot more time before they have to adjust and they wouldnt' be the first mmorpg type to add higher resolution textures to the game.

i wouldnt' generalize new players. there's just as many gamers out there that prefer gameplay than there are that obsessed over visuals and i'd say there's more that enjoy the journey than obsess over end game, especially new players that haven't been tainted by end game yet.

that said, a new player may be more inclined to jump into the new thing rather than the old thing but would it be worth it to put a massive amount of resources into a new mmorpg over adding more to a current one? if it was i'd say there's quite a few companies out there that would have done it by now. guild wars 1 certainly qualifies as one that made the right decision releasing 2, but something like wow? rift? i wouldn't even consider a second mmorpg. eso? probably not, while i'd jump all over a new TES single/coop game. new shiny graphics wouldn't draw me into it. graphics are the last thing i consider when it comes to gaming, that's what tv is for. then again, i'm from the atari days and played a MUD for over 2 decades, so what do i know.

my bet is, a new TES singleplayer/coop(lets hope) game would draw in more folks than an eso2

No, no, no, no, am not talking about rushing to endgame, whatever that is - it sure aint dungeon grinding or trials for me at least. If anything, my endgame is PVP. Housing used to be it, but that is way too grindy to really bother with anymore. Terhe are way better options out there to scratch the building itch.

And yes, of course, TES fans will have fun just exploring Tamrilando, the Elder Scrolls Theme park with it's myriad rides and attractions. But that's the thing, most TES fans come from playing the single player games. It's been 10 years since we had one of those. When will we get the next installment? Not in years. I suppose there are purely ESO fans out there too, but... I bet they are a minority. And I just don't see the narrative side of ESO as something that will be attracting new fans to the game as such. It's the MMO stuff and the side activities that get new people to invest in this thing.

And that is where the catch up thing occurs primarily. I mean, I suppose the quests themselves have some of this too, seeing as how stupendous amount of them there are by now. And they follow pretty limited set of structural forms - ESO is an MMO, and that limits the sort of quest structures that you can use. The faces of the actors change, the story is different, but the actual gameplay all boils down to few eternally repeating patterns. And that gets old, quest fatigue is a real thing, and ESO has a lot of samey quest to slog though. It doesn't help that nothing in the world ever really changes. No matter how many quest you go though. Or how many places you save or liberate form the baddies. The baddies will still be there the next item you pounce through.

But the real things, that discourage new players to even start with, are all that other stuff - each expansion adds more and more of stuff to chase after, to keep the veterans constantly occupied and doing stuff. You got motifs to collect, achievements to chase, collectibles to grind and bazillion recipes to find. And most of these have a mind numbingly dull grind associated with it.

And what about the ancillary grinds, like Psijics and antiquities skill lines, and the thieves guild heists and dark brotherhood assassinations to do? And if you want to get into housing... Oh boy... Good luck with that, hope you have infinite free time to burn.

It's all that stuff, that keeps getting added to the game, to keep those who have already played though all the previous bits occupied till the next expansion comes along, that I'm talking about, not about some mad rush to the end.

I've had this conversations with new players who took a look at all that stuff to do and said "Yeah... I'm a gonna take a pass on that. Just do the narrative quests, enjoy the story and see the sights, but no way am gonna do all of that stuff." They hop aboard when a new chapter is released, play for a week or two, do the quests and the story and then look at all the grindy bits and decide they got other things to do. And when the next chapter or DLC is released, they may return to play for a week or two, or they might've migrated to a new game altogether.

While such players do add money to the till, their contributions will not justify the cost of keeping the servers running. An MMO needs to retain their players and keep them busy with stuff, to get them to sub or to commit to recurring cash shop spending. People, who only visit for few weeks a year, might buy the latest cosmetic bling in the cash shop to spice their gaming experience a bit, but they do not provide steady revenue.

And it's not as if the endless grindy checklists of things to do are only affecting new players. Even veterans are starting to feel the drain of grinding dailies for yet another motif they will never ever use. Or scouring the same public dungeon for collectible drops for days on end for yet another thing to gather dust in your collections tab. So why even start grinding for it if you aren't ever gonna use it? Just for completions sake? This is doubly true in the eyes of new players who have no sunk cost fallacy to muddle their decision making process. When the game is new and fresh, the idea of completing it, beating it, of finishing all the content seems more doable and it's easier to commit to it. But when you look, as a new player, at all the stuff there is in ESO, you realize that you will never complete even half of it. Once you say no to one thing, it's easier to say no to all the rest too.

The devs themselves have remarked, on more than one occasion, about how ESO is not a traditional MMO. That they have lot of these seasonal players who come back when a new expansion is released to play through the new quests and stories. And how they also leave once they've finished the non-MMO portion of the new content. There are more than enough TES fans for this to make business sense, but I wonder how long that will last.

As for the graphics... YEah, they are still fine. Showing their age for sure, but more than passable. But will they still be okay 4 years from now? For veterans of the game, yes. for those who already have a large vested interest in the game, sure. But what
How about new players? The graphics wont impress them, the game wont look "cool", and 4 years form now Skyrim will be 14 years old game. Chances are that those potential newbies have never played an Elder Scroll game in their life and have no real attachment to the IP. Will ESO still look cool enough for them to try it out? Well, that will depend a lot on the competition. If there aint any other game in town, then yeah, ESO will still attract some amount of new players. But if one of the upcoming challengers hits it big... Not so much, I dare say.

Also, the current visuals are clearly influenced by the look and feel of Skyrim. ESO has lot more in common with that game that it has with say Oblivion. Visually speaking that is. What happens when TES6 finally trudges along and once again totally re-invents how Tamriel looks and feels? And will do it in much higher fidelity than ESO can. That is the game that people will be looking to play in an MMO format, and ESO will not offer them that. Unless ZOS invests a radical amount of money into totally redoing the graphic engine and all the assets used by the game. Which I doubt will happen.

Of course only time will tell what will happen. I just don't' think it likely that ESO will continue to trudge along for decades to come. WOW will, but that thing has certain factors going for it that ESO doesn't. Most of all being the fact that it was the one that defined the genre, the one that South Park parodied, and which has become part of the larger popular culture. ESO... Not so much. It's a popular and successful game making heaps of money, but part of the popular culture it is not.

And even more importantly it isn't a living world, it isn't the sort of game where players create their own content and stories. It's not a world in which they "live". It's a theme park with a set of rides they visit. And eventully those rides will look dated, and the world itself will become a bloated heap of confusing things. We already have it to an extent, with actual guides popping up so newbies can navigate the mess that is the story line of ESO. The whole time never moves, and all zones are locked to their events never to change, can't be extended forever.

But even with all that said, the sky is not falling. ESO is doing okay at the moment. Some say that the latest chapter was a flop and maybe it was compared to previous ones, but I think ESO is doing fine right now. Still more than enough people around to justify the expense of running it. And I really do not see any reason to expect ESO to be shutdown in the next 3 years. Of course, a lot can happen in three years, and it depends what other games come to market, and on how Bethesdas fortunes fare. Starfield is not directly linked to ESO, but if it is a great game, then people will wait for TES6 with renewed interest, which will help ESO to maintain it's player base. If Starfield is another 76 then... People will stop waiting for TES6 and some other IP may arise and take the spot in their hearts, which will mean they are less keen on maintaining their investment in ESO.

As I said, only time will tell. I'll 'prolly hang around til the end in any case. I have enough interest in the IP itself to justify that. Though I am transitioning to one of those seasonal players who just does the stories and ignores the rest. Especially if a better option for PVP should arise in the near future.

Oh, and one last thing to add, before I give rest on this topic - If and when ESO 2 will appear, it will be different from the original. It will be set in a different time, maybe the great war, maybe in the era of TES6 itself, and might differ in scope and approach to the current one. But as long as Elder Scroll IP itself retains the interest of the people, it will make financial sense to offer a live service version of it. And at some point they will have to offer a more modern option for their customers. I just hope TES6 itself wont be the thing that replaces ESO. That would suck Molag's balls.

NoireJin the Witchking

Marcus_Aurelius wrote: »

Usually new tech means better things, here things are deteriorating every time new content is added.
Groups reduced to 12 for performance problems, lag everywhere, bugs not being patched up .....

I really don't see the engine getting better, sometime I think they live in their own world.

Think?? You're right. They do.

NoireJin the Witchking

Elsonso wrote: »

Marcus_Aurelius wrote: »

I really don't see the engine getting better, sometime I think they live in their own world.

Yeah, I tend to agree with this. I am surprised by Firor's statement that they are "tearing down the engine, one room at a time, all the time" (Wondering when they are going to put those rooms back in the game... LOL )

It seems to me that they keep running into the limits of the engine and pulling back. Blackwood seems like a perfect example of places where they could have done something, but pulled back due for technical reasons. Starting with Greymoor, the major cities are separate spaces because the game cannot handle them being part of the zone. That sort of thing.

100% This, this game is like on the cusp of something amazing. Great storytelling, amazing voice acting, beautiful graphics and a combat system that can be so great if they put time into it and what i assume a better engine.. They have the barebones of a great system but the feeling of "pulling back" is so prevalent. That it makes the game feel very unpolished.

We haven't gotten cloaks, actual new game systems or new weapons for years now (making meele magicka viable isnt a good change, its more of a back handed change to make people shut up about new weapons) or even new type of of mount from what i think is pulling back due to engine limitations. Unless they want ESO to become the new SWTOR when impactful MMOs do come out i think they should really start evolving and adapting their game. Story/RP is all well and good, but game systems engage players and make them return. Look at SWTOR and their story focus effort. OFC its apples to apples comparison but its close.

Luckylancer

ArchMikem wrote: »

Well if they really are rebuilding the Engine little by little every update then there really is no need for a whole new game, at least for the near future.

Performance get worse and worse every year.

Iccotak

Hymzir wrote: »

Dagre2 wrote: »

other than guild wars 1 into guild wars 2, i haven't seen any mmorpg style games where it would make sense to make another instead of just 'upgrading' or changing the one you currently have.

Hymzir wrote: »

But even bigger issue, is the ever accumulating amount of catch up that new players will face. There will come a point where getting into the game will be way too much of a bother for anyone to worry about. And Skyrim will be so far in the past, that it wont generate new fans for the IP itself. They will just play and invest in some trendier and more current live service thing. There might still be enough old timers around at that point, to justify keeping the lights on for several more years, but development of new stuff will stop at some point. It just wont offer as good margins as developing some brand new stuff to sell to a wider audience. And the new stuff wont come with all the baggage of the old one, and can benefit from all the improved tech that will come available in the future.

only those that are only focused on end game. any TES fan will likely have an enjoyable journey to the end game instead of obsessing about end game from the day they start. obviously i can only speak for myself and those i know, but in no way did i ever start playing eso just to rush through to the end. I haven't been playing that long and i still have hundreds of hours ahead of me before i even consider starting the typical mmorpg end game thing. this will be even more true to new players that have never even stepped foot in an mmorpg type game before.

as for the visuals, they're pretty good in eso. the style gives itself a lot more time before they have to adjust and they wouldnt' be the first mmorpg type to add higher resolution textures to the game.

i wouldnt' generalize new players. there's just as many gamers out there that prefer gameplay than there are that obsessed over visuals and i'd say there's more that enjoy the journey than obsess over end game, especially new players that haven't been tainted by end game yet.

that said, a new player may be more inclined to jump into the new thing rather than the old thing but would it be worth it to put a massive amount of resources into a new mmorpg over adding more to a current one? if it was i'd say there's quite a few companies out there that would have done it by now. guild wars 1 certainly qualifies as one that made the right decision releasing 2, but something like wow? rift? i wouldn't even consider a second mmorpg. eso? probably not, while i'd jump all over a new TES single/coop game. new shiny graphics wouldn't draw me into it. graphics are the last thing i consider when it comes to gaming, that's what tv is for. then again, i'm from the atari days and played a MUD for over 2 decades, so what do i know.

my bet is, a new TES singleplayer/coop(lets hope) game would draw in more folks than an eso2

No, no, no, no, am not talking about rushing to endgame, whatever that is - it sure aint dungeon grinding or trials for me at least. If anything, my endgame is PVP. Housing used to be it, but that is way too grindy to really bother with anymore. Terhe are way better options out there to scratch the building itch.

And yes, of course, TES fans will have fun just exploring Tamrilando, the Elder Scrolls Theme park with it's myriad rides and attractions. But that's the thing, most TES fans come from playing the single player games. It's been 10 years since we had one of those. When will we get the next installment? Not in years. I suppose there are purely ESO fans out there too, but... I bet they are a minority. And I just don't see the narrative side of ESO as something that will be attracting new fans to the game as such. It's the MMO stuff and the side activities that get new people to invest in this thing.

snip - continued

So to summarize
ESO doesn't offer what the main line series has and the only reason the game is still around is because of the desire for an Elder Scrolls game.

So when ES6 comes out people will leave ESO en-masse and the MMOs days are numbered.

Which will leave the MMO in a position to possibly cancel and for the devs to make something more like Fallout 76 (plays like Fallout but with Friends) but for Elder Scrolls - a proper "Skyrim Online" that people wanted - as opposed to the Theme Park MMO set in TES we have right now that just doesn't satisfy that itch.

---

Funny that you mention Skyrim and Oblivion though - The combat system was inspired by Oblivion's combat more than skyrim, hence the spellcasting system.

What I think will happen is that Bethesda & ZOS will do cross marketing campaigns. I can definitely see this happening with ES6 release going side to side with an ESO chapter. Same goes for ES6 expansions.

I just don't see ESO 2 happening because the idea of losing everything you worked for and everything you have played - for an online game - is massively unappealing

---

colossalvoids

"So when ES6 comes out people will leave ESO en-masse and the MMOs days are numbered"

Tbh I don't think that people going away for couple of months at max going to kill eso or even hurt it long term. Single player titles aren't infinite experience compared to MMOs so same players will return to get more elder scrolls experience after completing new sp title number of times, at least I can surely say it for myself.

Yet es6 might be not the same as previous titles and have some co-op element and such but I seriously doubt it would be a competition for the same players, only a reason to lack of new players coming. (if eso would proceed to dissatisfy mmo crowd)

RaddlemanNumber7

We will never escape from the bad decisions made at the start of the game. The Three Banners War, and the stupid Alliances will scar this game forever more

mb10

If they ever do a sequel, it needs to be on 1/2 cross play servers max.
6 servers across platforms atm splits the player base so much and many parts of the world feel so empty Espc on console

Luke_Flamesword

We will never escape from the bad decisions made at the start of the game. The Three Banners War, and the stupid Alliances will scar this game forever more

I don't think so, some day there will no place in map for new interesting chapters and they will create old zones in new versions, probably in another Era (time travel!). There is no reason to not do it - we can have 2E and for example 3E/4E Tamriel. Then we can have full Cyrodiil as PvE chapters without touching original one

Iccotak

RaddlemanNumber7 wrote: »

We will never escape from the bad decisions made at the start of the game. The Three Banners War, and the stupid Alliances will scar this game forever more

I actually like the three banners war

Janus_Cruenti

Iccotak wrote: »

So to summarize
ESO doesn't offer what the main line series has and the only reason the game is still around is because of the desire for an Elder Scrolls game.

So when ES6 comes out people will leave ESO en-masse and the MMOs days are numbered.

---

I don't think that would happen. As people already pointed out, with the more and more time passing since Skyrim, the less (new) players will play ESO because of Skyrim. I consider myself a huge fan von the TES series in general, who coincidentally also likes MMOs. The group who would dissapear (permanentely) after the release of TES:VI would be those that only played ESO as "replacement" for a single player game or for the lore. Many of these players probably left already since they either got dissapointed (ESO is not a Skyrim Online as we all know) or they experienced everything/are sesional players who won't stay for the MMO-party. So I don't think the long term impact on ESO would be too much since those who will leave for TES:VI permanentely probably left already - or like in my case, also got interested in the MMO party of the game. In the last case, it is very likely that those players would come back after a while.

So I don't see the risk for ESO in loosing players because of TES:VI. In the long run it might just become hard to get new players to join (reasons why got already explained in-depth by other posts here). But for now, ESO is doing well, and I doubt that will change at least not for the next 3 years.

Elsonso

ArchMikem wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

Marcus_Aurelius wrote: »

I really don't see the engine getting better, sometime I think they live in their own world.

Yeah, I tend to agree with this. I am surprised by Firor's statement that they are "tearing down the engine, one room at a time, all the time" (Wondering when they are going to put those rooms back in the game... LOL )

It seems to me that they keep running into the limits of the engine and pulling back. Blackwood seems like a perfect example of places where they could have done something, but pulled back due for technical reasons. Starting with Greymoor, the major cities are separate spaces because the game cannot handle them being part of the zone. That sort of thing.

Actually that's not entirely true. A little bit of out of bounds exploring back in Greymoor revealed the "instance" of Solitude was actually still in the overworld map. In truth they created a copy of Solitude and placed it WAY out in the very Southeast corner of the zone map, far from the boundary, but still in the same instance. The doors to Solitude just teleport you there.

Makes me wonder if Leyawiin and Markarth are exactly the same, and there's copies of the cities way out of bounds somewhere.

Yup. I recall that about Solitude and assume it is the same for Leyawiin. By placing the Leyawiin and Solitude spaces at a distance from the rest of the zone, they can use the distance between them to create a separate space where the players can be in the same channel, but what they do does not appear on the client and has much less impact on the server interplayer communications.

My thought is that they do this because the game cannot handle them being right there in the zone. They have to be off in a separate space so that they don't drag down the game.

Another reason would be to avoid having a city in the zone that is too large. For example, cities like Leyawiin and Solitude can be bigger on the inside than they are on the outside. Many buildings in Tamriel are like this, so why not cities, too?

Elsonso

Iccotak wrote: »

So when ES6 comes out people will leave ESO en-masse and the MMOs days are numbered.

That depends on what BGS/Bethesda/XBox want to do with TES 6.

If it is like Skyrim, it will be an entirely different thing. People will be able to get their Elder Scrolls fix from another direction. We are well past the place where there is only one Elder Scrolls game in play at a time.

On the other hand, who knows what is going to happen in the years before TES 6 is released. ESO may have run its course by then, anyway.

Hymzir

Iccotak wrote: »

Hymzir wrote: »

No, no, no, no, am not talking about rushing to endgame, whatever that is - it sure aint dungeon grinding or trials for me at least. If anything, my endgame is PVP. Housing used to be it, but that is way too grindy to really bother with anymore. Terhe are way better options out there to scratch the building itch.

And yes, of course, TES fans will have fun just exploring Tamrilando, the Elder Scrolls Theme park with it's myriad rides and attractions. But that's the thing, most TES fans come from playing the single player games. It's been 10 years since we had one of those. When will we get the next installment? Not in years. I suppose there are purely ESO fans out there too, but... I bet they are a minority. And I just don't see the narrative side of ESO as something that will be attracting new fans to the game as such. It's the MMO stuff and the side activities that get new people to invest in this thing.

snip - continued

So to summarize
ESO doesn't offer what the main line series has and the only reason the game is still around is because of the desire for an Elder Scrolls game.

So when ES6 comes out people will leave ESO en-masse and the MMOs days are numbered.

No, that's not quite what I said, so your summary is not accurate. It's the context in which I said the thing that matters. It was posted as reply to something someone else had posted earlier, and I was remarking that there are a lot of TES fans that play ESO. It is a thing and it used to be a really big thing for the game.

In fact, it is thanks to the strength of the IP that ESO survived the dark times after it's launch. You can go back and look at vids and news and stuff posted back in late 2014 early 2015. The general consensus was back then that ESO was a flop. But it battled on, added some much needed new features and re-invented itself and flourished. And eventually grew to be one of the top dogs in it's genre.

Interest was rekindled in ESO thanks to those changes, and interest was rekindled in it being an MMO, not just a TES spin off. Bun now, several years later, it is starting to show it's age. My assessment is, that most new players come to check the MMO side of the game, not the TES side. New players come to the game because it is one of the top MMOs currently, not because it is associated with the TES IP. And they stay because they enjoy the MMO features it offers, not because they have a strong attachment to the narrative and lore ESO offers. There might be some who stay due to the stories, but I doubt they are a big portion of the player base.

However, fast forward few years into the future, and who knows what the situation will be. That depends on the competition on offer at that time. When ESO will be over a decade old, and is showing of it it's age, it might not be quite as good at attracting new players as it currently is. As others have noted in this thread, there is an ever growing pile of features that people expect from a modern game, features that ESO is lacking and will prolly never have. Like capes, just to name something of the top of my head (and I don't personally even care about capes. but they seem to be a big deal to plenty of people) I doubt ESO will ever get capes and cape physics, it would require redoing the animation system and the meshes involved. Just not a reasonable expenditure of resources. Another would be furnishing slots - if the games still stuck at the current level of item limits 4 years from now, it will not bode good for housing in ESO.

So 4 or 5 years from now, there will be more modern games on offer, and ESO will be at a disadvantage when fighting for new players. TES6 will still be couple of years away, and when it will finally launch, Skyrim will be over 15 year old game. There will be a whole new generation of eager players looking for an MMO who have never even played a TES game before. In that market, ESO will not be pulling new players due to lore and stories and the world. It must rely on it's features as an MMO, and on that front it will look clearly dated. That's just the cruel nature of time - things change and new stuff gets invented, and nothing lasts forever. If TES6 is a smashing hit, it might bring new players to ESO. However, going by past experience, TES6 will be such a marked change from previous iterations, that ESO will not scratch the online itch of people coming from TES6 the same way it managed to offer that to people who came to ESO due to TES5.

But with all that said, ESO does currently provide a way for TES fans to get some new Elder Scroll content into their lives. It is not the only thing that supports ESO, but it is a factor, and denying that is being blind to the obvious. How big that part of the player base they are is anyone's guess. I personally don't think that they are the major faction playing the game these days. Most people are here due to the MMO features the game offers, not due to it taking place in Tamriel. A good example of this are those regular threads asking for the inclusion of a dwarf race. Obviously no TES fanboy is ever gonna be asking for Dwemer to be a playable thing. It's just not something that fits the lore. But to those, who look at ESO as just another fantasy world, the absence of traditional dwarves looks odd, hence the steady stream of request for adding them.

When TES6 finally is released, I do firmly believe that ESO is gonna go into its end of days phase. Not becasue TES 6 itself, but because of it simply being really old game at that point, and the market having changed, and there being other competing games that look more interesting to new MMO players. And yeah, some of the veterans, who do play ESO to get their Elder Scroll fix, will migrate to TES6, but it alone will not mean that ESO ends. (Also keep in mind that Todd has stated in interviews that they are keen to come up with ways to add recurring spending to their single player titles. That he sees it as flaw that there is no revenue generated by their titles between launches of new games. So TES6 will have some sort of recurring spending scheme attached to it, of that I have no doubt. What that will be in practices, and will it offer a competing live service, is anyone's guess.)

Do note that even in it's end of days phase, I see no reason why ESO wont linger around for several years more on life support mode. It just means that new content wont be pushed out quarterly, and the IP holders will be looking for a new and fresher way to make money with the property. There might be no new content, but the lights will stay on as long as it generates enough money.

Which will leave the MMO in a position to possibly cancel and for the devs to make something more like Fallout 76 (plays like Fallout but with Friends) but for Elder Scrolls - a proper "Skyrim Online" that people wanted - as opposed to the Theme Park MMO set in TES we have right now that just doesn't satisfy that itch.

Oh, I agree. That is certainly a possibility with a fair chance of becoming a reality. Just as a side, as of late, I've been playing Conan Exiles, and while it is attached to the IP, it doesn't really have much to do with Conan as such. It feels like Conan and looks like Conan, but is essentially just another Multiplayer Survival Game at heart. Now I doubt TES would go in that direction, but who knows. Maybe some sort of new colonies sort of game, like a new Invasion of Akavir as a setting, with base building and marshaling your troops being a big part of it. With more emphasis on dynamic maps and player generated content. Who knows. I certainly don't want the current Tamrilando to be replaced with yet another theme park. I've had quite enough of that experience already, and am in no hurry to repeat it.

Funny that you mention Skyrim and Oblivion though - The combat system was inspired by Oblivion's combat more than skyrim, hence the spellcasting system.

But on this I don't. I do not see any hint of Oblivion's combat and spellcasting in ESO. Besides, the core of Oblivions magic was Spellcrafting, not healing with your stamina and attaching magical abilities to weapon skills.

I just don't see ESO 2 happening because the idea of losing everything you worked for and everything you have played - for an online game - is massively unappealing

But you will eventually lose all of it. ESO is not gonna lastfor ever. I don't see it ending within the next 4 years, but at the same time I do not see any real reason to believe ESO will be a thing 10 years from now. I may be proven wrong, and will obviously update my projections depending on how things proceed in the future. But that is my take on how thing currently stand in the field. My current analysis points to TES6 release being the crucial point in time. ESO will be too old to compete at that point, and TES6 will offer a new fresh look on Tamriel (and in much higher fidelity too), and using that as a starting point for a new live service scheme certainly seems eminently reasonable, to me at least. I just hope it wont be TES6 itself, and that it will retain the solo play features and full moddability of it's predecessors.

In the end, it will be a balancing act on the part of ZOS. Continuing the service and providing new content for veterans vs. the possibilities that a fresh start offers. And it will be the same for veterans of ESO too. At some point you might feel the yearning for a new clean fresh start. And when the engine is too dated to compete with newcomers, and the number of veterans dwindles to a critical point, they will scrap this one and do something else. That's all I'm saying. And until we come to that point, their official stance will always be: "Everything is fine! Never better!! The game thrives and will be around for years and years and years. So step right up and invest your money and buy our stuff!!!!" That's just the nature of the beast.

Iccotak

OP was updated with full episode!

xeNNNNN

Sarannah wrote: »

Good, making an mmo2 is the worst thing that could happen to any mmo. MMO's are not like regular games, if only players would understand this.

MMO's are meant to evolve, not to get replaced. Not to mention, noone would spend money on either game anymore. As making a second version, would imply there would be even more versions after the second version. Meaning all spendings on any of the versions would become worthless.

Yep, economically its a colossal waste of resources to make a brand new game because not only would it necessitate the creation of a new engine (which will take years) its also hundreds of staff that need to be hired while the original staff maintain the original game while the new one is built, its a colossal and frankly pointless undertaking.

The engine is "ok" its the lack of optimisation that is the problem. The engine and the servers. Particularly the servers and increase in latency server side can cause a decrease in frames quite dramatically as the server is sending and receiving the data you input through actions in order for you to engage in combat, dialogue, use your inventory, log your actions and so forth. Its mind boggling for just one player then consider millions and suddenly the strain of the servers is understandable.

But they must do better, its 2021 - not 2001. Invest in better hardware, get better results.

master_vanargand

ESO is evolving.
Therefore ESO2 is not needed.
But the server needs to be new.

francesinhalover

At one point we had to stop adding new animations to the game for six months because it would just run out of memory on those devices if we had.

just remove some , and remaster attack animations

Klad

Nor should there be. ESO will change along with the times.

Amottica

When I look at the map I see so much space in Tamriel left for expanding. It seems so unnecessary, and more importantly a little pointless, to reboot and start over again so early. Heck, FF14 is older than ESO, and based on how many copies Zenimax said it has sold ESO is just as popular when compared to FF14 when it was the same age.

Red_Feather

Other games I play have rebuilt the games bit by bit over the years instead of replacing them. Warframe and Path of Exile are two of them. They look and feel quite different with their graphics and game systems organically changing over time. Division and Destiny are going that route now too!

Supreme_Atromancer

Iccotak wrote: »

OP was updated with full episode!

The last couple of minutes of that interview are interesting. I don't want to be sensationalist or make up stories that aren't there but its interesting to follow the idea "ESO is taking up all resources but we've been hoping to work on this new IP we've been hiring for" - through to some logical conclusions, especially in the context of the very particular way Matt tends to answer questions about ESO's future.

Nisekev

And this is a good thing.

cmetzger93

Good, it would be a slap in the face for people to lose all of their achievements and cosmetics. If they could integrate cross save/play between pc and Xbox and add havoc cloth physics, new models, textures and animations over time it would be good as new

Rex-Umbra

They just need to keep upgrading the engine and soon start revamping oldest base game areas especially busy cities.

LightningWitch

Mr. Compares Apples with Oranges wrote:

It's like... when is Netflix 2 going to launch? Right? We're a service... that people log into every day and play. As long as they're doing that, there's no reason to do a 'Version 2.'

Netflix doesn't run on an engine. It runs on web code, and you can bet Netflix is running "Netflix 13" right now, and not "Netflix 1", especially now that its user base has changed from simple web users to platform and device users.

ESO is not a damn service. It's an MMO. A game.

A service is ESO+ which many of us gladly pay for only to be given a broken game in return. Enough to leave? No, but absolutely enough to be annoying.

That they're "breaking the engine down" all the time is problematic on many levels. [snip]

[snip] Many of us have been here for 7 years, and this isn't just a game to us. It's an investment, both with money and time. How people play is just as much a part of the reward as the game itself.

Yet this guy clearly thinks we should be content with this, knowing so many of its players have an issue with it, along with these "changes" that make no damn sense and force people to review if it's worth staying.

NOT A SINGLE PERSON I STARTED PLAYING WITH 7 YEARS AGO IS PLAYING TODAY.

Not a single one. They left the game long ago, [snip]

I stuck with it hoping it would get better. In some regard, it has. The game today is vastly different than release, but it's still a problem when trying to do what we want.

[snip]

This just ruined my day.

[edited for bashing]

PrimusTiberius

It there is, it won't be on the PS4 /PS5

Klad

ESO is not a damn service. It's an MMO. A game.

No it is a Online Role Playing game confirmed by the developers and the industry. It's a MMO like The Division is a shooter

A service is ESO+ which many of us gladly pay for only to be given a broken game in return. Enough to leave? No, but absolutely enough to be annoying.

Yeah folks with your opinion certainly won't leave...yet you rail, scream ballistically, and go Barmy constantly..it weakens your sincerity. The more rational among us feel that this is rage for rage sake.

That they're "breaking the engine down" all the time is problematic on many levels. It's saying, "We don't want to invest in 2.0 because everyone seems happy with what they have."

"Problematic" is twitter label that has no real meaning, also you do realize that games like WoW and Final Fantasy XIV do the exact thing that Zenimax does? Blowing the companies money on a nebulous 2.0 version of a launched game...it's much more intelligent to continue iteration of the current engine. This game looks and plays nothing like 1.0, and 8.5 will look and play nothing like 6.9

What a magnanimous attitude to have. Many of us have been here for 7 years, and this isn't just a game to us. It's an investment, both with money and time. How people play is just as much a part of the reward as the game itself.

Yet this guy clearly thinks we should be content with this, knowing so many of its players have an issue with it, along with these "changes" that make no damn sense and force people to review if it's worth staying.

Well at least you didn't say it's a home and a family.. dude, it is what it is...Toilet paper is an investment of money and time, and unlike this game it's a tangible investment. No one put a gun to your head and said: "Play seven years or else."

NOT A SINGLE PERSON I STARTED PLAYING WITH 7 YEARS AGO IS PLAYING TODAY.


Not a single one. They left the game long ago, pissed off at the constant lies (free DLC forever!), the greed ($35 dollars for a horse?! Now with gambling!), and of course, the game breaking/changing annoyances.

Not a single person I started WoW, FFXIV, and SWTOR with at launch plays today either, and 75% of my guild in ESO is still here some take breaks and come back others are like clockwork every day...why is your experience more valid than mine?

I honestly wish I had the willpower to walk away from this circus of greed and disregard for the players, but I'm just too foolish to continue hoping for the best. I've spent years earning what I've done in the game.

This speaks volumes guy...I don't think this game is the root of your anger. You really should not be participating in activities that gets you this worked up...it's not healthy.

I'm going to stop here...because I think this thread is going places. I wish you luck in whatever you decide to do but let me leave you with this,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok5l26Fs0LI

If you keep playing in paying at a game that makes you this bonkers..it isn't really the games fault anymore.

Take care.

Iccotak

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wy8rYq5t9o

Top Comment on the Youtube Video of the Interview

ESO is just on fire man these expansions are great it scratches the itch til ES6

Tethilia

Nobody tell em, but in 10 years there will be an ESO 2. The whole game is themed around a Horker invasion and you have to ally various clans of Horkers to defeat other clans and hopefully save Tamriel. It will be called Elderscrolls Online 2, The Horkening!