why is ESO the best MMO?

Medivh50

Little history, I started playing WoW way back when (05). I was in the military and deployed to Iraq. I was a truck driver and in between convoys my buddy and I would head over to the internet cafe and play WoW. So holds a special place in my heart. After the military, I would drift away and back to WoW. I have played most of the other major MMO games but always found myself coming back. However, I believe I have finally broken that chain and in its place is ESO.

For me the reason that it is the best MMO out there has 1st start with the fact that it is the Tamriel world. Also, and this one is major is the world building. I have never felt so immersed in an MMORPG's world like I do in ESO. And 3rd has to be the community. It is one of the best out there in gaming. Those are my major reasons why this game is at the top. What is yours?

Amethyst_Unearthed

I too started in WOW and i loved it but the elitist community that developed by 2007 when i was playing was way too much for me on the server i played on. Only thing i miss from WoW is the tanking mechanics and the detail/effort involved in a fight inc aggro lol... aside from just that and flying mounts i too think ESO is best, ive tried every one i had the option too and most were ditched after a few log ons 😆.

_Zathras_

At around the time you were playing WoW, I was bouncing between it and EQ2. Before that, it was EQ, then DAoC. For myself, those were the core MMO's that really cemented my love for the genre, and taught me a lot of skills that I think are missing in more modern MMO's. After that period, it was LoTRO, RIFT, and FFXIV.

So, I've been around a bit. I don't know if ESO is The Best, but right now it works for me quite well.

My current state of online play is solo, and casual. That doesn't mean I don't love complexity or challenge, or depth. ESO fills those nicely, with a wheelbarrow full of other offerings that I didn't know I would love until I experienced them: like stealing.

As an explorer/crafter, this game really satisfies that itch. I can make all of my own gear, but also easily buy fun other sets that drop throughout the world (or farm them), and then use that to wander the world and dip into the many nooks and crannies I find. The world really does reward you for looking in odd places.

Thank you for the positive post! Happy holidays.

Toxic_Hemlock

Best is at best subjective.

I personally think it is at the top of my list due to many reasons. Those being the lore, the voice acting, the casual nature of it, and not being overly pay to win (crafting bag). Sure you can go all hard core if you want to, but you can also sit in a city or small town and just RP if that is your thing.

Most quests are bite sized and can be done even by the most time limited players in many cases. They listen to their players more than many games do.

All in all I think it is the best MMO currently because the game has come a long way and I look forward to see where it is heading.

HyekAr

Well it is in TOP10, yes. But best.. there is huge competency and sometimes ESO is surviving thanks to dificulties and VPN needs to play asian MMOs

Medivh50

I totally agree, this is a subjective topic. For me this game seems to get better and better as it gets longer in its life. I too have player others. GW2 and LotRO are my too other highly reguarded games. However, ESO is still top. The subcription program here is, in my opinon, the best in any of these games. The crafting bag of course, but the unlocked DLCs, and crowns; great!

ZOS still has a lot of bugs to work out. I know in the last 2 or years, they have start to address some. I say "address" loesly here. But the game is getting better and better. Cant wait to see what the next DLC is. REDGUARD!

Muttsmutt

because the rest are worse.

gariondavey

I also started wow in 2006, quit in 2010 before cata, played on some burning crusade private servers for a few years from 2013 to 2015, league of legends from 2014 to 2016, and finally eso from 2017 until present.
I do think eso is the best mmo I have played (granted I've only played 2 others). The pvp, when it works, is awesome. The intellectual property is incredible. The game is beautiful and massive. Voice acting is great. Quests interesting. Crafting and theorycrafting very enjoyable.

Eso has the potential to completly dominate the mmo scene. What holds it back is performance. I've been saying this for years.

Improve performance and you will have more players than you could anticipate, @ZOS_Kevin

Ermiq

Because of ~3010 hours played (have counted them recently out of curiosity via the /played command on each character).
The only other MMORPG I've played comparatively long enough was Allods Online (I believe only Russians here have heard about that game). Spent like 2 years there, mostly because of the guild mates and advanced guild-based content. And the story was interesting.
Then tried WoW (it was Warlords of Draenor time). Leveled to cap, farmed some mounts, then simply got bored and quit. Mostly because nothing in the lore&story got me actually. It was just a complete mess when I was going through the zones and quests all from different timelines and had no idea at all what was going on.
Also played some GW2 and FF14.
Dropped GW2 because eventually I got a strong feeling that the devs really dislike Russians for some reason (based on one of the in-game races: a mole-rat race).
In FF14 I just got tired of trying to suppress the vomiting impulses every time I saw some of their abominations ... cute anime creatures ... abominations, yes, that was the correct word.
In ESO I almost instantly got into the lore and atmosphere. Never was a fan of TES games and never played through any of them, but ESO has made me a fan. And along with the quests and world it has really great PvE activities and pretty fun PvP.

mocap

ESO has a lot of variety content: several PvP types (Cyro, BG, Imp, duels), 4-12 man normal/progressive repetitive content (dungeon, trials) with 3 different roles to play mutliplied by 5 classes, solo arenas and ofcuz 2200+ fully voiced story quests.

And a lot of non-combat content: trading, housing, antiques, ton of collectibles (mounts, pets, skins, motifs etc), crafting, fishing, guilds&social, achivements.

Nice and non-specific (anime, cartoon, etc) graphics on top of that with pretty low system requirements and non-targeting combat makes ESO one of the best MMO atm, that's for sure.

Grandchamp1989

It's the only one I have played and I don't plan to change.
Love the Elder Scrolls universe.

Sylvermynx

I started TES with Arena at release in 1994 and played each of the later games in the series as they released. I love the world and the lore. I've played Skyrim for around 10k hours, and ran across mention of ESO in spring of 2018. Started playing ESO in June 2018, still here, still love it.

Prior to ESO, I played WoW from early 2006 until early 2013, then left it behind forever, moving to RIFT from 2013 to 2016, again leaving it forever at that point. Those are my only previous MMOs (MMOs aren't primarily my favorite form of entertainment outside of fantasy - I don't play other genres of games, no sci-fi, etc. and NO Final Fantasy, ick.... my daughter loves it, but it's SO not my thing!)

ESO has the sort of non-static world I enjoy - without the need to mod and remod, say, Skyrim with player created content. For right now, ESO fits me fine.

Feljax

I started playing WoW at release and played on and off for over 12 years. ESO finally broke the cycle for me as well. Nowadays, I don't have time to play for hours and hours on end like I used to. I really like that I can build my characters the way I want to and have lots of opportunity for soloing. I don't do much in terms of group PvE and thankfully, I don't have to. I love healing in BGs (I did in WoW too). I wish they'd figure out how to get more game types going as the latest changes mean it's almost always deathmatch. I've been soloing more lately because of that. Still having a blast though.

In short, great quality story line, awesome character customization, solo friendly for us who now have kids and not as much time to play as before.

aurelius_fx

first of all the lore aspect, going through previous titles and having the opportunity to travel through tamriel entirity sounds really alluring

second was how the overall atmosphere felt way more grounded compared to other mmos with their nonsensical flying sci-fi mecha vehicles and giant gaudy characters that glow and have giant wings by the side of regular armored knights, hopefully ESO wont ever get as intrusive and hurt my eyes as much, visual clarity is terribly underrated

Medivh50

I feel in the next few years, ESO will need visual update. The game overall still feels a little white washed to me.

Blinx

I wouldn't call it the best, but definitely the most accessible

techyeshic

There have been so few AAA titles released for MMOs and then when there is one, they decide to go ahead and be a grinder like the indi MMOs out there already. And they might as well be as they have no experience with running a successful game.

etchedpixels

For me it's the story telling and questing.

ESO is (nowdays at least) visually pretty weak, and the engine is really showing the age (no flying, diving, climbing trees etc) and the combat is somewhat meh but the other MMOs I've played that had those things also came with a game lore that felt it was written by a ten year old, and quests with no story line that mostly consisted of "kill me 10 of X for randomly spurious reason", something that's not exactly advanced since Akalabeth in 1979.

The game I'm waiting for is Avowed, because Pillars of Eternity is probably one of the few other games with a lore and storytelling in the same league.

Chips_Ahoy

I think there is no BEST MMO but I do believe that ESO is the least bad.

Or at least after several years without significant changes this is how I feel about the game right now.

The game needs an urgent change, 7 years without changes in ESO+ and the interface looks old very outdated.

XXX

rs/osrs are the best mmos for me but eso comes on the second place. I hated my time playing wow, everything especially the world felt so shallow and lifeless, extremely toxic community etc.

mickeyx

For me its best because of how active player base is. Even 7 year old content is relevant. Every zone has some kind of activity with players running around and you never feel alone. For me that's what constitutes a MMORPG. This is the best PVE MMO i have ever played in terms of activities and healthy community. Every other older MMO i played feels dead in comparison.

SilverBride

Because it has a huge range of activities to enjoy so everyone can find something they like.

WiseSky

This is the Best MMO in the Universe PERIOD

Pixiepumpkin

i like wow more. i play eso soemtimes but eso is too much grind and too expensive if u collect mounts and pets

eso performance is bad too and pvp performance makes playing hard cause spells dont go off

Mojmir

it had a chance too be, still not the best

carthalis

Love ESO and it is the only MMO have I been playing consistently over the last number of years, the mythology and the world of Tamriel has me hooked, I enjoy the quests and many aspects of the game including the crafting and housing.

EQ2 is definitely in the top as well for me, loved that game so much, and then it all seemed to go downhill when SOE sold everything off and not been back since, but many happy memories of playing EQ2. Also played Star Wars Galaxies which was an amazing open world until again SOE butchered it with its now infamous NGE. The Matrix Online was another amazing game with live events to progress the story which originally started out with Monolith/Warner Bros then sold to SOE and then eventually closed down City of Heroes/Villians was brilliant if you were into into creating your own superheroes and I spent far too much time in the character customisation. Also played Myst Online, as a fan of the Myst games this was a fascinating way to take things in a differemt direction and the people at Cyan are so passionate about the world sadly I don't think Ubisoft cared that much and dumped it. Played LOTRO from beta and really enjoyed that as well to walk and quest in the world was really cool

Lots of great memories over the years playing mmo's, chatting and questing with people from around the world, made some really good friends were we've gone from game to game.

Tornaad

In my opinion ESO is the best MMO because it is the only one based in the Elder Scrolls universe.

Toxic_Hemlock

Sylvermynx wrote: »

I started TES with Arena at release in 1994 and played each of the later games in the series as they released. I love the world and the lore. I've played Skyrim for around 10k hours, and ran across mention of ESO in spring of 2018. Started playing ESO in June 2018, still here, still love it. snip...

Ah yes I still remember the days I spent in Arena remaking the same character over and over again doing the first "dungeon" just to see if I got a really powerful leg up gear; back when a horse was an actual accomplishment. I must have spend years playing Morrowind and Daggerfall too. As for Skyrim and Oblivion I lived in those worlds as I have no idea the amount of hours, but I do remember I was just happy to get home from work!

ESO seems to be holding true to the lore in most cases, and I do realize ZOS needs to make a buck, but the mounts and such are IMO getting a bit over the top. My main hope currently is that micro$oft doesn't totally ruin the game through the cash shop.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

My love of all things ES aside, it is the combat system that keeps me coming back. I would have left long ago if the combat was the autoattack version we see in most other MMOs, or worse, what barely passes for combat in Skyrim.

Vevvev

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

My love of all things ES aside, it is the combat system that keeps me coming back. I would have left long ago if the combat was the autoattack version we see in most other MMOs, or worse, what barely passes for combat in Skyrim.

Feel like that's me as well. Even Guild Wars 2 with it's action based combat is still tab targeting where after selecting the target you can just kinda point your camera anywhere and all your attacks will be directed at them. In ESO if I tab target someone I still gotta keep my reticle on them if I want my attacks to land making the combat system far more engaging as a result. The lore, visuals, housing, RP potential, open world PvP, and other systems are the sprinkles on top.

jedtb16_ESO

why is eso the best mmo?

because i play it,