Is ESO in maintenance mode now?

FelisCatus

We've been witnessing a decline and degradation in the quality of ESO chapter's I'd say since Summerset-Elsweyr (Those were the best chapters along with Morrowind but after that in my opinion it went downhill). Chapters are now lacking a wow factor. You've all seen everyone crying out for a new class or combat orientated skill line to spice up combat/rotations and choice. We're now receiving very small/lackluster or generally non-requested (that many seem to feel should be free updates than a chapter DLC). "major features" in the form of minigames (antiquities or ToT) as the main chapter/yearly feature. Instead of new classes or weapon/guild skill lines.

Have the devs lost their muse or are they (which is the most probable) held back by the limitations of consoles.? Couple that with the disaster of U35/balancing fatigue. We're told server upgrades are to come but yet we wait and we still have neglected content like PvP. Communication between devs/players is also near non-existent and there is very little clarity or correspondence as to what their grand plans are regarding balancing/class identity/nerfs/combat changes etc.

My question to all of you is do you think ESO has entered maintenance mode? I made this poll because I feel these questions need to be asked. There is no intent to troll or stir up drama. I genuinely want to gauge what the community thinks and I hope the devs see this.

tonyblack

No

Not yet. As much as I don’t like direction of the game and each year seems less heavy on content than the last one ESO devs still doing quite a lot compare to something like SWTOR, which drop some small mini quests here and there, maybe some raid or dungeon with huge delays and no guarantee of them releasing any of it at all. When the game starts cutting exiting pattern of yearly expansions dropping dungeons or zone dlcs then we could assume it’s entering “maintenance mode”.

bridgetrose

Other

I haven't played long enough to have gotten to all the content. What I have played I've enjoyed quite a bit.

Ariordin

No

The pandemic clearly forced them to develop new processes in how they created content. I don't think its a coincidence that we got Leyawiin as the Dev's first all Work From Home zone... Using assets from two already established zones (cyrodiil and blackmarsh) probably saved them some time.

Any time a company has to kind of reinvent how they communicate internally you're going to see fluctuations from the norm. So while the last few chapters haven't been quite the highwater mark as Elswyer was... it doesn't mean the game is suddenly in maintenance mode... It means they should rethink this 'yearly story' thing they've been doing. Its getting old and repetitive.

maintenance mode is a dungeon a year while all the dev time is thrown at lockboxes. Not 4 releases a year.

Blinx

Yes

I want to say no, because I like this game, but it sure feels like it to me.

Marto

No

Not even close. The moment we start to get less than 4 DLCs per year, maybe. But only maybe.

Remember that quests, zones, and story are the "meat and potatoes" of ESO. It's what the vast majority of the budget is spent on. New assets, music, animations, setpieces, and millions of dollars worth of voice acting.

Trials, dungeons, minigames, and even things like classes are just side things. We could go years without these, and ESO development would still remain more or less the same as it was before.

It's true that the budget and scope of 2022 is a tad smaller than previous years, but not by much. Half of the NPCs you talk to have 1-2 lines instead of the usual 3 (But that could be easily offset by how many more lines of dialogue main story characters have. Lady Arabelle has a new line every 30ft of movement. It's nuts.)

And it's natural for the development of new assets to slow down over time. It'd be a bit silly to not reuse the dozens and dozens of jungle plants already made when creating a new jungle biome. And even then, Amenos is mostly new and unique.

It's good and healthy for MMOs to have slow years, and big years. We as consumers may think and feel that more content = better, but that's far from reality. There's legitimate creative reasons to have less content like trials or arenas. And there's development constraints that are impossible to work around. If it takes 18 months to create 12-months-worth of content, that means you're going to need 6 months of 0 content, or 12 months of reduced content.

I hope the reduced scope of 2022 is just a 1-time thing. Getting their engineers to work on server improvements, their game designers to work on long-term health and balance, and their artists to work on less strenuous things like ToT. All in preparations for more robust features like classes in the future.

ZOS has been telling us for years they can't add more Cyrodiil features or robust animations and systems until performance and stability improve. I don't think they are lying. I'm sure they'd love to be less restrained by the engine and servers. What developer wouldn't? Bethesda may be a corporation trying to sell products and make money, and you should always be concious and wary of such, but ZOS is still a creative studio dedicated to creating games, to creating art.

Aardappelboom

Other

They are working on the server rewrite, so no but I get that progress on that is invisible for us a'd has an impact on features, hence we're seeing a lot of QOL updates and not a lot of "big" stuff. We'll have to see.

LesserCircle

No

It's really not, we're getting new content at the same rate as always.

spartaxoxo

No

No. Obviously not. People disliking new content is not the same thing as not getting new content. Go look at what's been happening at Overwatch for a couple of years and come back and tell me this game is in maintenance mode. Or any other game actually in maintenance mode. It is obviously incorrect to say this game is in maintenance mode when there's a constant cadence of new content.

We got less content, sure. But objectively, this game has also released far more new content than is typical for a game in maintenance mode, and at its regular update cadence.

Fenris_Arainai

No

ESO pops fresh content several times a year, regularly. This by definition means it's not in the maintenance mode.

opalcity

No

I am not a fan of polls with an agenda or obvious bias.

This feels like just another 'eso is dying' thread with a different skin and some 'it's all console's fault' sprinkled in.

Dragonnord

No

Absolutely not!

In the last two years, even with the world pandemic, we have had:

- 2 full main stories seasons
- New zones, new enemies, new stories, huge amount of quests and misions, delves, world bosses and so
- New sets, mythic items, new motifs and styles, mounts, pets, houses, huge amount of new furniture and cosmetics, and so
- A lot of PvE and PvP festivals and events
- 4 DLC's
- 8 new dungeons (TC, BDV, TDC, RPB, CA, SWR, GD and ERE)
- 2 full heavy mechanics trials (RG and DSR)
- 2 new Companions
- Tales of Tribute card game
- PvP performance improvement after severl years of lag
- Update to the equipment drop system (curated drops)
- Update to the combat system

And I am surely missing a lot of other stuff that can also be listed above.

Clearly ESO is not in maintenance mode.
 

Danikat

No

Maintenance mode doesn't mean "this game isn't getting the kind of updates I want to see" it means what it says: literally no updates beyond the bare minimum required to keep the game online.

For example here's the updates Guild Wars 1 has had in the past year:

• Update -- May 11, 2022: Server maintenance build
• Update -- April 14, 2022: Game routing tables updated to provide access to new datacenter in Seoul, Korea.
• Update -- March 30, 2022: Server maintenance build.
• Update -- August 30, 2021: Fixed a bug where players with their territory set to Japan were prompted to enter a CD key but it was improperly rejected.
• Update -- August 24, 2021: Fixed a server crash, Fixed a bug where players with their territory set to Japan could not enter a CD key.

https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Game_updates

That is a game in maintenance mode. It's still online and still playable but it has not had any new additions in years and it's more likely to go offline than get new stuff added to it. I've been dissappointed with the size of recent chapters too, but to suggest ESO is in maintenance mode is absurd.

spartaxoxo

No

Danikat wrote: »

That is a game in maintenance mode. It's still online and still playable but it has not had any new additions in years and it's more likely to go offline than get new stuff added to it. I've been dissappointed with the size of recent chapters too, but to suggest ESO is in maintenance mode is absurd.

Perfect example of a game that is ACTUALLY in maintenance mode. People might not like Tales of Tribute, and it's certainly up for debate if it was a quality update or good for the games a whole, but it's factually a brand new game mode that plays entirely different than anything else in the game before with ongoing support. That's not the kind of thing that gets added to a game in maintenance mode. Disliking it doesn't make it stop existing.

A game in maintenance mode isn't going to add new content, for the most part (except maybe skins/cosmetics to pay maintenance costs). If it does, it will be stuff like a map with reused assets or the same game mode they already have with slight tweaks to rulesets. They aren't developing entirely new content. It doesn't happen.

DragonRacer

No

So long as they are still adding new maps/zones, chapters, and additional content like that (whether it serves your tastes or feels smaller or not), the game is not really in maintenance mode.

Maintenance mode is basically, say, Red Dead Online currently. Where the game dev has literally come out and said "no more major new content updates will happen, everyone's on GTA VI now", auto-generated repeated dailies recycle so one has something to do daily (like Seals of Endeavor, basically), and a month-long "event" is held (which really is just bonus cash awarded for doing things for a particular role for a month, like an Explorer's Event, basically, down from when events would change on a weekly basis).

When ESO stops adding new chapters and zones, and does absolutely nothing but maintain the servers, maybe fix a bug or two (which introduces more bugs), and does nothing for fresh content outside of auto-generated endeavors/dailies/pledges, THEN it will be in maintenance mode.

BlueRaven

Other

In general, the game is still going along well(ish).

But the fact they have essentially abandoned the Mac client while not officially saying they abandoned the Mac client, is a troubling sign that they are starting to cut corners and are hiding it as best they can.

kind_hero

Yes

Dragonnord wrote: »

Absolutely not!

In the last two years, even with the world pandemic, we have had:

- 2 full main stories seasons
- New zones, new enemies, new stories, huge amount of quests and misions, delves, world bosses and so
- New sets, mythic items, new motifs and styles, mounts, pets, houses, huge amount of new furniture and cosmetics, and so
- A lot of PvE and PvP festivals and events
- 4 DLC's
- 8 new dungeons (TC, BDV, TDC, RPB, CA, SWR, GD and ERE)
- 2 full heavy mechanics trials (RG and DSR)
- 2 new Companions
- Tales of Tribute card game
- PvP performance improvement after severl years of lag
- Update to the equipment drop system (curated drops)
- Update to the combat system

And I am surely missing a lot of other stuff that can also be listed above.

Clearly ESO is not in maintenance mode.
 

I wonder if we are playing the same game or if you are playing since the beginning. Because if you do, it is very hard to compare oranges and apples or chapters like Morrowind, Wrothgar or Summerset with the last three chapters.

They do release content, that's not for debate, but the quality of it compared with what has been done before. A card game or a companion system is not a major feature like a new class or skill line that has major impact on how the game is played.

Most of the list you did is made up of features that should be considered QoL updates, like the curated drops, improvements to lag or combat, or at best should be considered normal, free, base game updates (festivals, card game, sets, items and collectibles). We are talking about a MMO game, which by definition has to constantly add items, collectibles, events, gear changes, etc. DLCs should have at least an area that feels like a game+ not like another starting zone for the base game.

We all love this game, and I think it's good to have a bit of healthy debate. Which could be very easily shorted by some communication from the lead dev team. I don't understand the lack of communication.

Lady_Galadhiel

Yes

Danikat wrote: »

Maintenance mode doesn't mean "this game isn't getting the kind of updates I want to see" it means what it says: literally no updates beyond the bare minimum required to keep the game online.

For example here's the updates Guild Wars 1 has had in the past year:

• Update -- May 11, 2022: Server maintenance build
• Update -- April 14, 2022: Game routing tables updated to provide access to new datacenter in Seoul, Korea.
• Update -- March 30, 2022: Server maintenance build.
• Update -- August 30, 2021: Fixed a bug where players with their territory set to Japan were prompted to enter a CD key but it was improperly rejected.
• Update -- August 24, 2021: Fixed a server crash, Fixed a bug where players with their territory set to Japan could not enter a CD key.

https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Game_updates

That is a game in maintenance mode. It's still online and still playable but it has not had any new additions in years and it's more likely to go offline than get new stuff added to it. I've been dissappointed with the size of recent chapters too, but to suggest ESO is in maintenance mode is absurd.

I do not play GW2 but from what people told me, they just announced a new update which will be coming sometime November I think, about class balance changes. Didnt it get new content this year called End of Dragons or am I mistaken?

Lady_Galadhiel

Yes

Lady_Galadhiel wrote: »

Danikat wrote: »

Maintenance mode doesn't mean "this game isn't getting the kind of updates I want to see" it means what it says: literally no updates beyond the bare minimum required to keep the game online.

For example here's the updates Guild Wars 1 has had in the past year:

• Update -- May 11, 2022: Server maintenance build
• Update -- April 14, 2022: Game routing tables updated to provide access to new datacenter in Seoul, Korea.
• Update -- March 30, 2022: Server maintenance build.
• Update -- August 30, 2021: Fixed a bug where players with their territory set to Japan were prompted to enter a CD key but it was improperly rejected.
• Update -- August 24, 2021: Fixed a server crash, Fixed a bug where players with their territory set to Japan could not enter a CD key.

https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Game_updates

That is a game in maintenance mode. It's still online and still playable but it has not had any new additions in years and it's more likely to go offline than get new stuff added to it. I've been dissappointed with the size of recent chapters too, but to suggest ESO is in maintenance mode is absurd.

I do not play GW2 but from what people told me, they just announced a new update which will be coming sometime November I think, about class balance changes. Didnt it get new content this year called End of Dragons or am I mistaken?

Nevermind, you ment GW1 not 2, my bad.

spartaxoxo

No

BlueRaven wrote: »

In general, the game is still going along well(ish).

But the fact they have essentially abandoned the Mac client while not officially saying they abandoned the Mac client, is a troubling sign that they are starting to cut corners and are hiding it as best they can.

They did say discuss that....2 years ago.

ESO will continue to run on Intel-based Macs, and we will support it as long as there is a large enough Mac user base to warrant it. While it will be technically possible to run ESO via x86 emulation on the new Macs, expect a subpar gaming experience that we will not officially support.

https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/59187

ETA

There's a thread on Reddit about why it recently stopped working here. It's not an official statement but players explaining the tech issues, as the devs official statement back then is still the core reason now and their statement still stands.

https://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/wvd7sg/well_i_guess_mac_players_are_just_***_eso/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

BlueRaven

Other

spartaxoxo wrote: »

BlueRaven wrote: »

In general, the game is still going along well(ish).

But the fact they have essentially abandoned the Mac client while not officially saying they abandoned the Mac client, is a troubling sign that they are starting to cut corners and are hiding it as best they can.

They did say discuss that....2 years ago.

ESO will continue to run on Intel-based Macs, and we will support it as long as there is a large enough Mac user base to warrant it. While it will be technically possible to run ESO via x86 emulation on the new Macs, expect a subpar gaming experience that we will not officially support.

https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/59187

ETA

There's a thread on Reddit about why it recently stopped working here. It's not an official statement but players explaining the tech issues, as the devs official statement back then is still the core reason now and their statement still stands.

https://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/wvd7sg/well_i_guess_mac_players_are_just_***_eso/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

Yes. I know that but the Mac client issues go well beyond that.

Controller support is not yet implemented even though it’s all but built into the macs own client. Apple itself has the code basically done for games and literally every game available for the Mac on steam have controller support.

thedavidventer wrote: »

I've been reporting this issue since 2019, along with links to Apple's Developer Documentation on HOW TO Fix it but the ESO devs flat out ignore the issue and support pretends that it *should* be working.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/520104/gamepad-input-is-broken-in-eso-on-macos#latest

Every time I play, I send a support ticket notifying the devs that the issue is still not fixed, and I include a link to the Apple Developer documentation for the Game Controller framework each time. They simply ignore it.

If the devs ever care to actually do their job and actually support macOS (as they claim); please fix this!

Here's the link (again): https://developer.apple.com/documentation/gamecontroller

Even on Intel chips, the cities in the newer zones cause immediate client crashes that cause the Mac OS itself to fail. It will take several fries to get into cities in the newer zones. (The issue basically started happening with southern elsweyr and beyond.) No fix yet implemented.

When was the last time you saw any mac centric bug fixes?

There is a lot more, but it goes beyond the intel/“M chip” issue.

spartaxoxo

No

BlueRaven wrote: »

When was the last time you saw any mac centric bug fixes?

I don't know but I haven't checked with them. I wouldn't expect much of anything they don't consider game breaking though, as that post is essentially saying that the MAC's are going to get limited support and only for as much as it makes sense.

Dragonnord

No

kind_hero wrote: »

Dragonnord wrote: »

Absolutely not!

In the last two years, even with the world pandemic, we have had:

- 2 full main stories seasons
- New zones, new enemies, new stories, huge amount of quests and misions, delves, world bosses and so
- New sets, mythic items, new motifs and styles, mounts, pets, houses, huge amount of new furniture and cosmetics, and so
- A lot of PvE and PvP festivals and events
- 4 DLC's
- 8 new dungeons (TC, BDV, TDC, RPB, CA, SWR, GD and ERE)
- 2 full heavy mechanics trials (RG and DSR)
- 2 new Companions
- Tales of Tribute card game
- PvP performance improvement after severl years of lag
- Update to the equipment drop system (curated drops)
- Update to the combat system

And I am surely missing a lot of other stuff that can also be listed above.

Clearly ESO is not in maintenance mode.
 

I wonder if we are playing the same game or if you are playing since the beginning. Because if you do, it is very hard to compare oranges and apples or chapters like Morrowind, Wrothgar or Summerset with the last three chapters.

They do release content, that's not for debate, but the quality of it compared with what has been done before. A card game or a companion system is not a major feature like a new class or skill line that has major impact on how the game is played.

Most of the list you did is made up of features that should be considered QoL updates, like the curated drops, improvements to lag or combat, or at best should be considered normal, free, base game updates (festivals, card game, sets, items and collectibles). We are talking about a MMO game, which by definition has to constantly add items, collectibles, events, gear changes, etc. DLCs should have at least an area that feels like a game+ not like another starting zone for the base game.

We all love this game, and I think it's good to have a bit of healthy debate. Which could be very easily shorted by some communication from the lead dev team. I don't understand the lack of communication.

You don't liking what they release doesn't mean they are in maintenance mode.
 

Four_Fingers

No

Always with the console bashing.
You do realize there are low end PC out there as well.
Neither has anything to do with quality of content.

rpa

No

You'll know it's really in maintence mode when combat stops metamorphosing every 3 months.

RagnarSw

Four_Fingers wrote: »

Always with the console bashing.
You do realize there are low end PC out there as well.
Neither has anything to do with quality of content.

I mean you are right, but there is a good reason for it. Quite literally anytime something is brought up the developers go to excuse of why it can't be done are last gen consoles still need to be supported. It is quite literally the developers who are putting the target for harassment on older console users so they can have a scapegoat.

Amottica

No

Far from it. They wouldn’t be replacing hardware and reworking the base code of the game was in maintenance mode. Content would slow down drastically as well and it hasn’t.

Four_Fingers

No

RagnarSw wrote: »

Four_Fingers wrote: »

Always with the console bashing.
You do realize there are low end PC out there as well.
Neither has anything to do with quality of content.

I mean you are right, but there is a good reason for it. Quite literally anytime something is brought up the developers go to excuse of why it can't be done are last gen consoles still need to be supported. It is quite literally the developers who are putting the target for harassment on older console users so they can have a scapegoat.

They said that in response to things like furnishing limits and other things that require more memory because of both console and minimum PC specs.
If they would spend some time optimizing and cutting out bloat even that could be worked around.

Kingsindarkness

No

If Everquest isn't ESO certainly isn't.

That being said...the writing in the latest Expansions and DLC's is atrocious, the expansions aren't fun, the characters are irritating (Call me little Mortal one more freaking time!) the stories are boring and there really isn't much of a reason to log in if you don't raid or do dailies.

I get it..game developers love to raid...the problem is only a very small part of your customers do too.

FFXIV has it's issues (for me mainly it's just too culturally different to be enjoyed) but they can write interesting stories...why can't ESO?

It just seems to me like ESO has more or less turned into Crown Store: the game, and honestly there isn't too much there to waste my money on.

I think the writing team might be burned out...maybe some fresh blood with different ideas would shake things up...no one wants allegory of todays issues, it's used as a cudgel even when we use the Bathroom these days... but 5th century Europe is rife with possibilities so is the Persian empire of the same period....

Stop making us some Mary Sue's yes person, you have been doing it since Summerset...it's degrading and ..what was that word? Oh yes boring.


Make me excited to log in again like I was when Orsinum was out.

Ingenon

No

Nope. ESO is doing 4 releases this year, with new zone quests, dungeons, trial, world bosses, delves, and volcanic vents. They added a mini-game (Tales of Tribute). I think the new trial and 4 person dungeons are very good.

I'm fine with folks saying they prefer Summerset, or Morrowind, or whatever prior year release.

You will know when this game goes into maintenance mode, when the 4 releases per year stops.

NoxiousBlight

Yes

I vote yes, but I am not sure I would call it "maintenance mode." It is more in "we will never deviate from the the formula again mode so don't get your hopes up for actual cool changes."

Really need someone in the ZOS leadership to shake things up. ESO has completely stagnated. While I think we will keep getting the bare minimum of new content, the days of inspired updates seem to be behind us.

For example, in the latest stream, one of the "features" they showed us was the ability to purchase new animations. I mean, come on now. In most MMOs that would be a few short sentences in the patch notes and people would love it. But in ESO they have so little to show us that they have highlight in the ESO live. And putting markers over mobs? Okay cool, but that is an MMO 1.0 feature. This isn't the hype up feature that they think it is.

Add that stuff in by all means - it is neat - but give us some real gameplay updates. The live stream just screamed mediocrity the entire time. So disappointed with what ESO has become the last 2 years.