What’s happening to content?

HoundofTara

I feel that the last two years of content have been so lack luster and dull especially for the endgame community.
No 4man arenas, no trifecta/perfecta skins or personalities in dungeons, no solo arenas, no new classes or skill lines, no skins in trials, no new race (Maomer), barely anything to farm aside from the occasional set here and there… what’s going on?
Why is the game feeling like content isn’t rewarding anymore? Why don’t we get arenas or skins anymore? I’m honestly worried, I’ve put so much time into this game the last 6 years and it feels like the devs aren’t caring to add content to keep the game alive and it’s sad to be honest. I’m immensely disappointed and companions are a far cry from good added content btw.
I miss Summerset-Greymoor, it actually felt like I was playing a loved, supported, and living game.

jle30303

There hasn't been a new race since the start of the game, except for Imperials in the Imperial Edition.

Only 2 new classes have appeared since the game came out - Necromancer and Warden. I do think it's a rip-off that they are now sold separately from the content that originally had them bundled in: either they should remain part of the package, or they should become free. I don't know what the reason for not inventing a new class might be, other than possibly "not enough creativity", but also possibly "people who already have the maximum complement of characters would become resentful at not having room for another one of the new class"

Only 2 solo arenas ever, Maelstrom (Wrothgar) and Vateshran (Markarth). Morrowind and Summerset had no Arenas (solo or group) either, nor did the smaller DLCs of Thieves, Dark Brotherhood, Clockwork and Dragonhold, as well as Deadlands and presumably Firesong.

As for 4-person Arenas... Craglorn (originally a DLC, now part of the base game) had Dragonstar Arena, Murkmire had Blackrose Prison... but 4-person arenas are basically the red-headed stepchild of content, they basically *play* like Dungeons - honestly I really don't see much difference in content between, say, Blessed Crucible and Dragonstar Arena (both have the same principle, a bunch of arena contestants that have to be beaten and the goal is to become the Champion), the only difference is that you can't *queue* for DSA.

Really, they should add Dragonstar Arena and Blackrose Prison (and any future 4-person Arenas) to the Queue Finder: but not (because of their length) to the list of dungeons available as a Random.

Skins in Trials? So, Dreadsail Reef doesn't have one, but it does have Body and Face Markings (which can both be worn together, and alongside existing skins, which strikes me as a better deal than having another skin and having to choose between all of them for just one cosmetic appearance "slot"), five titles, and a mount to earn. Rockgrove had face and body markings, four titles and a banner. Kyne's Aegis was the last Trial to have a skin, plus a memento and five titles...

I will admit I found the main quest line of High Isle somewhat short and unrewarding to actually do, basically it's a large DLC marketed at the price of Morrowind (before it went free) or Summerset, with about enough content for... let's say... probably two of the smaller DLCs rather than three of them, although it's got the now-statutory 18 skyshards, 6 delves, 6 world bosses (many of them significantly tougher than a lot of previous world bosses), 3 skill points from the quest line and 2 public dungeons each with a skill point for doing the group event first time (and, unlike all previous public dungeons, also a skill point for each of the one-time dungeon quests.) Western Skyrim was a physically smaller area (and cut out a lot of Central Skyrim - Whiterun, Winterhold and the Pale spring to mind) but it seemed to me to have more actual content crammed in than High Isle, and it had Blackreach too. Blackwood was a bigger area but just felt to me like it had less to do in it, and I was actually disappointed by how un-terrifying the Deadlands was - and how sparsely populated with actual mobs.

And then... don't even bother asking my opinion on Antiquities and the ever increasing rarity of leads, whether it be for mythic fragments (just HOW many Watchlings do I have to kill?) or motif leads (buying the motif from the mall is just not the same since it does not give the antiquity research factoid).

Jim_Pipp

The devs have answered this pretty honestly, but I think we players should keep saying that the last few years have been underwhelming.

The last 2 years of content was mostly produced during the pandemic, and dev's have been open that it was a challenge for them to adjust to home-working, remote teams, and what sounds like a stressful workplace. The last 2 annual messages have said that it made them less productive.

The other huge limitation is their commitment to keeping ESO running on the oldest consoles, so they simply can't add major new systems.

_adhyffbjjjf12

Jim_Pipp wrote: »

The devs have answered this pretty honestly, but I think we players should keep saying that the last few years have been underwhelming.

The last 2 years of content was mostly produced during the pandemic, and dev's have been open that it was a challenge for them to adjust to home-working, remote teams, and what sounds like a stressful workplace. The last 2 annual messages have said that it made them less productive.

The other huge limitation is their commitment to keeping ESO running on the oldest consoles, so they simply can't add major new systems.

[Snip]. I work in a software dev house and have done for 20 years and working from home is perfectly normal and results in higher productivity not less, you travel less, you use teams more rather than going to meeting rooms etc etc. Agree on your other point + the game was never fit for purpose and is in fact a mess (aside from awesome open world content)

They have subs, they should be investing it heavily, sacrificing some short term profits to resolve technical debt AND provide good content, i.e not overpowered sets to keep people farming and buying gold.

[Edited for conspiracy theory]

BlueRaven

ESO is NOT a standalone game. It’s part of the Elder Scrolls line of games. What’s more, it’s a prequel to those games.

A new race can’t just be inserted because they then have to explain why that race disappears from the other ES games.

Maomer are a perfect example of that. If a Maomer becomes Emperor, saves Skyrim, or anything like that. It would become a huge deal lore wise. It would not just be lost to history. Maomer can never become a playable race, never.

The best we can get is sub races of our existing ones.

Besides races like Maomer and Dwemer can be recreated right now, an “official” version is not needed.



My maomer exile.




My "time lost" dwemer.

flizomica

It really feels like the golden days of ESO are over. I think it peaked with Elsweyr, and the last content update that was really meaty was Markarth. I have so many questions about the development currently, as I'm really not used to feeling disappointed with every update reveal, as someone who's played since the beta.

• Is it a budget/resources thing?
• Is it a pandemic thing?
• Is it an old console limitation thing?

I'm really desperate for some sort of content/development roadmap at this point, in terms of their priorities. I would honestly be psyched to hear that the devs are focusing on making meaningful improvements to existing systems and toning down the constant stream of new content. Instead, it feels like current systems constantly have big issues, while only fluff content (e.g. ToT, companions) is added to the game. As some examples:

• A functional group finder tool that's not constantly semi-broken (for instance, two person queues haven't worked for me since circa 2020). Bonus points if it includes options for flexible queues.
• Meaningful improvements to housing, like increased furnishing limits.
• A new reward structure for PvE - please give me reasons to re-run content, like new rewards tied to achievements or rare drops from final bosses.
• Improvements to battlegrounds, including significantly higher rewards for daily randoms (e.g. 10 transmute crystals, like random dungeons), new outfit styles, and improvements to how the outfit styles are currently dropping. Please also re-visit horribly balanced modes and give more options for queue choice.
• Improvements to companions, like increased customization and a removal of the requirement to complete their acquisition quest on every character. The last part basically stops me from engaging with them at all - absolutely no way I am going to repeat the same quest 4 times on 12 characters.
• A combat balance update that focused on refreshing class identity, including improving underused skills and morphs. I really want new tools to play with, instead of every character feeling like a weird hodgepodge of mismatched skills, given the most recent updates.

Some communication from the devs would be fantastic - especially since the promised U35 Q&A remains unaddressed.

Parasaurolophus

HoundofTara wrote: »

I feel that the last two years of content have been so lack luster and dull especially for the endgame community.
No 4man arenas, no trifecta/perfecta skins or personalities in dungeons, no solo arenas, no new classes or skill lines, no skins in trials, no new race (Maomer), barely anything to farm aside from the occasional set here and there… what’s going on?
Why is the game feeling like content isn’t rewarding anymore? Why don’t we get arenas or skins anymore? I’m honestly worried, I’ve put so much time into this game the last 6 years and it feels like the devs aren’t caring to add content to keep the game alive and it’s sad to be honest. I’m immensely disappointed and companions are a far cry from good added content btw.
I miss Summerset-Greymoor, it actually felt like I was playing a loved, supported, and living game.

I support you completely, OP! I was also very upset and angry that the new DLC would be just overland content.

danno8

I feel like the 4 releases a year cadence has ESO in a bit of a rut. The releases are frequent but generally underwhelming. They have only so much time to address issues until new issues are introduced with the next release and it seems like problems are just being left behind to fester in order to maintain the release schedule.

That's how it feels to me anyway.

tonyblack

BlueRaven wrote: »

ESO is NOT a standalone game. It’s part of the Elder Scrolls line of games. What’s more, it’s a prequel to those games.

A new race can’t just be inserted because they then have to explain why that race disappears from the other ES games.

Maomer are a perfect example of that. If a Maomer becomes Emperor, saves Skyrim, or anything like that. It would become a huge deal lore wise. It would not just be lost to history. Maomer can never become a playable race, never.

The best we can get is sub races of our existing ones.

Besides races like Maomer and Dwemer can be recreated right now, an “official” version is not needed.



My maomer exile.




My "time lost" dwemer.

ESO has a lot of conflicting and questionable decisions concerning its lore, maomer as playable race wouldn’t be as gamebreaking as some people think. If you’re really into immersing character race with quest context it would probably be awkward to play as imperial through a lot of quests as they depicted as bad guys and renegades, opposing alliances races on enemy territory, argonians in vvardenfel or dark elves in murkmire (especially if you imagine them as a part of certain houses). The canon art and cinematics already picked 3 main alliance hero races anyway (altmer, breton, nord) so the rest is given to our imagination. As the matter of fact it’s far easier for me to imagine maomer as the hero of tamriel/emperor instead of ork, argonian or wood elf given the roles those races play throughout quests (though that is just from my point of view).

kind_hero

tonyblack wrote: »

BlueRaven wrote: »

ESO is NOT a standalone game. It’s part of the Elder Scrolls line of games. What’s more, it’s a prequel to those games.

A new race can’t just be inserted because they then have to explain why that race disappears from the other ES games.

Maomer are a perfect example of that. If a Maomer becomes Emperor, saves Skyrim, or anything like that. It would become a huge deal lore wise. It would not just be lost to history. Maomer can never become a playable race, never.

The best we can get is sub races of our existing ones.

Besides races like Maomer and Dwemer can be recreated right now, an “official” version is not needed.



My maomer exile.




My "time lost" dwemer.

ESO has a lot of conflicting and questionable decisions concerning its lore, maomer as playable race wouldn’t be as gamebreaking as some people think. If you’re really into immersing character race with quest context it would probably be awkward to play as imperial through a lot of quests as they depicted as bad guys and renegades, opposing alliances races on enemy territory, argonians in vvardenfel or dark elves in murkmire (especially if you imagine them as a part of certain houses). The canon art and cinematics already picked 3 main alliance hero races anyway (altmer, breton, nord) so the rest is given to our imagination. As the matter of fact it’s far easier for me to imagine maomer as the hero of tamriel/emperor instead of ork, argonian or wood elf given the roles those races play throughout quests (though that is just from my point of view).

A new race doesn't change much about the game, it is mostly a skin for your char, and only a tiny fraction play well enough to make the racial bonus meaningful. And even if there would be a maomer emperor or whatever, it doesn't mean anything, because the lore in TES is just the history that was recorded, think about how conflicting is some of the history from one nation to another, or how exaggerated were the ancient poems about large wars like the Trojan War.

Adding new skills or morphs, new ways to customize them and their animation would make much more people happy and will have a larger impact on the game than a race. Same with a new weapon or class. Think spear or battlemage. People want spears since the beta days. It baffles me why they are not doing it, and instead they are constantly busy with combat changes that none asked for and keep releasing uninteresting sets only to add to the inflation of worthless sets.

What annoys me the most is their communication policy. So little info is being released and they engage with the community so little, like they were working on the atomic bomb during WW2. It's very odd in this day and age. The game is not under development, in pre alpha to be so hush about what is in the works. Also, this ivory tower attitude drives off passionate players who would want to contribute with feedback and ideas to the game. It's really hard to understand.

BloodyStigmata

BlueRaven wrote: »

ESO is NOT a standalone game. It’s part of the Elder Scrolls line of games. What’s more, it’s a prequel to those games.

A new race can’t just be inserted because they then have to explain why that race disappears from the other ES games.

Maomer are a perfect example of that. If a Maomer becomes Emperor, saves Skyrim, or anything like that. It would become a huge deal lore wise. It would not just be lost to history. Maomer can never become a playable race, never.

Yeah and the Taesci ruled Cyrodiil, the heart of the Empire, for hundreds without anyone managing to remember what they looked like, the Nords in TES 6 all collectively forgot about their own pantheon and all endings of Daggerfall are cannon.

I think one single sea elf saving Skyrim or all of Nirn several times isn't all that bad, especially when the lore is only going to remember them as the "vestige" anyway, with no specific detail surviving.

Parasaurolophus

I mean much easier. The thread is not about that at all. But eso wants to keep the series recognizable, sometimes sacrificing even logic or lore (hello from Seyda Nin!). Therefore, some new playable races are radical.

Aetherderius

I think, shockingly, they wanted people to enjoy their content and have things actually achievable.

"Can you kill every mob and boss in Veteran new-trial on hard mode with no deaths under 35 minutes?! You'll get a shiny new skin if you do!" And then that skin is covered by armour so only the face and occasionally finger tips show unless you design an outfit specifically to show off 'look I got the skin'.

If they add a new 4-man arena, they've got to plan/design/balance the skill it will affect. And then it will be abused in pvp and it will have to be changed. Same with a new solo. Weapon or class or skill line? Same thing. ESO is an insane balancing act, like carrying 100 plates back to a kitchen. Something will slip, you correct, oh no that's made something else slip, no one cares if you don't smash the 100 plates, but if you do, then you're a terrible company whose game is dying.

Just grind for the new mounts from Rockgrove and Dreadsail Reef. There's like 8 achievement pre-reqs per.

HoundofTara

Aetherderius wrote: »

I think, shockingly, they wanted people to enjoy their content and have things actually achievable.

"Can you kill every mob and boss in Veteran new-trial on hard mode with no deaths under 35 minutes?! You'll get a shiny new skin if you do!" And then that skin is covered by armour so only the face and occasionally finger tips show unless you design an outfit specifically to show off 'look I got the skin'.

If they add a new 4-man arena, they've got to plan/design/balance the skill it will affect. And then it will be abused in pvp and it will have to be changed. Same with a new solo. Weapon or class or skill line? Same thing. ESO is an insane balancing act, like carrying 100 plates back to a kitchen. Something will slip, you correct, oh no that's made something else slip, no one cares if you don't smash the 100 plates, but if you do, then you're a terrible company whose game is dying.

Just grind for the new mounts from Rockgrove and Dreadsail Reef. There's like 8 achievement pre-reqs per.

Look I get if you and plenty of other people can’t get the trifecta and perfecta completes for skins and whatnot but your preference should not dictate the game for people that can, thats selfish and short sighted. Q4 dlcs are always a zone with unlocks all players of any skill level can do, that’s always unchanged. What’s wrong with them having an optional arena added that you don’t have to do for the people that can?

And I full heartedly believe that devs understand balance especially with arena gear so that’s not a very valid or fair to the devs viewpoint. Especially when they can add new 5p or monster sets insead of ability altering arena weapons if they so choose.

HoundofTara

BlueRaven wrote: »

ESO is NOT a standalone game. It’s part of the Elder Scrolls line of games. What’s more, it’s a prequel to those games.

A new race can’t just be inserted because they then have to explain why that race disappears from the other ES games.

Maomer are a perfect example of that. If a Maomer becomes Emperor, saves Skyrim, or anything like that. It would become a huge deal lore wise. It would not just be lost to history. Maomer can never become a playable race, never.

The best we can get is sub races of our existing ones.

Besides races like Maomer and Dwemer can be recreated right now, an “official” version is not needed.



My maomer exile.




My "time lost" dwemer.

I love your lore toons btw.
But how could a maomer saving Skyrim be any crazier than forgotten dragons in Elswyer or anything else that’s forgotten by the time of the main games? How is a Maomer any more wild than a Daedric or spriggan polymorph saving the world? At the end of the day you’re the Vestige not confined to race or class, Maomer fits that mold as well as any.

zombniac

BlueRaven wrote: »

ESO is NOT a standalone game. It’s part of the Elder Scrolls line of games. What’s more, it’s a prequel to those games.

A new race can’t just be inserted because they then have to explain why that race disappears from the other ES games.

Maomer are a perfect example of that. If a Maomer becomes Emperor, saves Skyrim, or anything like that. It would become a huge deal lore wise. It would not just be lost to history. Maomer can never become a playable race, never.

The best we can get is sub races of our existing ones.

Besides races like Maomer and Dwemer can be recreated right now, an “official” version is not needed.



My maomer exile.




My "time lost" dwemer.

Playable Maormer works. Lore states that Maormeri relations with the the Aldmeri Dominion improves to a point where the Maormer have an ALLIANCE at some point with the 2nd AD. However, the Dominion does eventually allow Maormeri outposts on the mainland to be destroyed by Colovia. There's friendly Maormer in multiple zones including Hew's Bane and even a pair of friendly Maormer that have joined the Dragonguard. And there's also a lore explanation for the reason why Maormer are all wiped out but on Pyandonea:

The last documented appearance of the Maormer was in 3E 110 in the War of the Isle. The united alliance of the kings of Summerset and Antiochus Septim, combining the Imperial fleet and the royal navies of Summerset Isle, together with the magical powers of the Psijic Order, succeeded in destroying the Pyandonean invading armada. It was said that the storm brewed by the Psijic of Artaeum so annihilated Orgnum's fleet that he was never again able to muster together enough of a force to dare another battle.



And another point that I keep bringing up on the forums because I care about it so much is that player-made Maormer only vaguely resemble Maormer. Actual Maormer from Summerset and High Isle look so much better! They've got the bluish skin, differently sculptured faces and fin-like ears. My main character is a Maormer and I also use that icy skin and oracle eyes, but it's not good. I'm still looking forward to a proper Maormer skin or race that we can play....

So, in my opinion, adding a playable Maormer race is feasible. And probably the only extra race that being added actually makes a little sense. But if they add a true Maormer skin that's better than Maormer Fish Skin, I'll be happy with that.

Kingsindarkness

I talked about this in another thread but it all boils down to the writing...which is really really bad lately.

I just hope they can turn it around.

FluffyBird

I couldn't care less for endgame content, but I saw nothing to look forward to in the latest ESO Live. Having just watched a dev stream presenting an update for another game that teased new story, characters, locations and events in a way that was actually exciting, I must say, Firesong presentation was bleak. New zone that looks almost the same? An even more disconnected story? They said that the chapter and Q4 DLC could be played in any order, that's concerning. Cheesy effects for harvesting animations? Tiny QoL changes? Meh.

ESO got boring and their cozy "dungeon - chapter - dungeon - story" with set number of delves and bosses, and same dailies and onslaught of sets and motifs every update just makes it worse and more same-y. Couple it with poor writing and I can guarantee that those recurring characters they showed will be just bland shadows of themselves.

There's a couple of games that I greatly enjoy, won't name names as not to anger mods, but I'll give reasons.
One is of respectable age, about a year older than ESO, I picked it up recently, so it may be just its relative freshness that appeals to me, but I love feeling of actual progression and getting stronger, profitable farming (no trash loot here) and devs' explanation of changes and fixes. Didn't level enough to unlock new content that just released though, but (imho) for ESO the ability to jump straight into latest chapters does more harm than good anyway.
The other I've been playing for the better part of it's two years. I came for edgy anime boi and stayed for top-notch overland exploration, captivating story, easy farm (again, no trash loot) and diverse gameplay (event-excusive gameplay too, not "here's your additional drop for doing same stuff, now heck off").

Nothing ESO can't do.

Edit: typos

Ksariyu

I'm pretty 50/50 on this post. I understand the frustration at no new arenas being added. Personally I haven't done half of them but that's more due to lack of players than lack of interest (Might have something to do with the lack of said content?).

As far as other new content goes, there are reasons for its scarcity. A new race? There has literally never been a race besides the 10 we have now in an Elder Scrolls game. Ever. What would make them suddenly decide now is the time to start? A new class? The six we have now are already pretty much indistinguishable besides color. The game's singular core playstyle leaves no room for anything else. This is also true for new weapon types, new arena weapons, and frankly also applies to a new race as well. There's just nothing left to add at a gameplay level until they fix other stuff first. PvP content? We know we're waiting on a backend overhaul which we've already been told will likely not be complete this year.

I 100% agree the current formulaic releases are getting beyond stale. I agree that the content in those releases has been underwhelming (Thus why I haven't purchased one since Murkmire, just an idea for all the other complainers out here). However, I also feel like most of the things people are clamoring for are just as mundane at this point. Why add a bunch of new stuff when the stuff in the game already is either broken or deprecated? They could add so much life to the game just by fixing what's there, and I really hope (Foolishly) that the reason for these last couple chapters is that they've also realized this and are trying to work on it.

zombniac

Ksariyu wrote: »

I'm pretty 50/50 on this post. I understand the frustration at no new arenas being added. Personally I haven't done half of them but that's more due to lack of players than lack of interest (Might have something to do with the lack of said content?).

As far as other new content goes, there are reasons for its scarcity. A new race? There has literally never been a race besides the 10 we have now in an Elder Scrolls game. Ever. What would make them suddenly decide now is the time to start? A new class? The six we have now are already pretty much indistinguishable besides color. The game's singular core playstyle leaves no room for anything else. This is also true for new weapon types, new arena weapons, and frankly also applies to a new race as well. There's just nothing left to add at a gameplay level until they fix other stuff first. PvP content? We know we're waiting on a backend overhaul which we've already been told will likely not be complete this year.

I 100% agree the current formulaic releases are getting beyond stale. I agree that the content in those releases has been underwhelming (Thus why I haven't purchased one since Murkmire, just an idea for all the other complainers out here). However, I also feel like most of the things people are clamoring for are just as mundane at this point. Why add a bunch of new stuff when the stuff in the game already is either broken or deprecated? They could add so much life to the game just by fixing what's there, and I really hope (Foolishly) that the reason for these last couple chapters is that they've also realized this and are trying to work on it.

There's always going to be players complaining about unbalance. I don't quite understand the negative sentiment about adding a new race or class. High Isle is my least favorite expansion thus far and I hope we'll see something soon that adds something fresh into the game.

Suna_Ye_Sunnabe

I would absolutely adore a playable Maormer race. Their lore is incredible!

Auldwulfe

BlueRaven wrote: »

ESO is NOT a standalone game. It’s part of the Elder Scrolls line of games. What’s more, it’s a prequel to those games.

A new race can’t just be inserted because they then have to explain why that race disappears from the other ES games.

Maomer are a perfect example of that. If a Maomer becomes Emperor, saves Skyrim, or anything like that. It would become a huge deal lore wise. It would not just be lost to history. Maomer can never become a playable race, never.

The best we can get is sub races of our existing ones.

Besides races like Maomer and Dwemer can be recreated right now, an “official” version is not needed.



My maomer exile.




My "time lost" dwemer.

The other problem is, what catastrophe happens that so batters the orcs, that by Daggerfall, they are, pretty much, mindless animals .......yeah, there are some you interact with, but the vast majority of orcs in the game are green skin grunties that attack on sight.
In Arena, they are ONLY monsters, there are NONE you can interact with.

Auldwulfe

BlueRaven

Auldwulfe wrote: »

BlueRaven wrote: »

ESO is NOT a standalone game. It’s part of the Elder Scrolls line of games. What’s more, it’s a prequel to those games.

A new race can’t just be inserted because they then have to explain why that race disappears from the other ES games.

Maomer are a perfect example of that. If a Maomer becomes Emperor, saves Skyrim, or anything like that. It would become a huge deal lore wise. It would not just be lost to history. Maomer can never become a playable race, never.

The best we can get is sub races of our existing ones.

Besides races like Maomer and Dwemer can be recreated right now, an “official” version is not needed.



My maomer exile.




My "time lost" dwemer.

The other problem is, what catastrophe happens that so batters the orcs, that by Daggerfall, they are, pretty much, mindless animals .......yeah, there are some you interact with, but the vast majority of orcs in the game are green skin grunties that attack on sight.
In Arena, they are ONLY monsters, there are NONE you can interact with.

Auldwulfe

Well the average bandit or enemy henchmen in eso can be described the same way.

BahometZ

The orcs are what will become of eso players who stick it out for update 80.

zombniac

BahometZ wrote: »

The orcs are what will become of eso players who stick it out for update 80.

I wonder what the game would be like by an update 80.

rpa

It's a corporate entertaining product to make profit. Yearly updates are made to formula with as little work, new ideas and creativity as possible. I guess drive space of average customer is an important limiting factor. No matter how wonderful the content update is if it ruptures too many computers and consoles.

edward_frigidhands

HoundofTara wrote: »

I feel that the last two years of content have been so lack luster and dull especially for the endgame community.
No 4man arenas, no trifecta/perfecta skins or personalities in dungeons, no solo arenas, no new classes or skill lines, no skins in trials, no new race (Maomer), barely anything to farm aside from the occasional set here and there… what’s going on?
Why is the game feeling like content isn’t rewarding anymore? Why don’t we get arenas or skins anymore? I’m honestly worried, I’ve put so much time into this game the last 6 years and it feels like the devs aren’t caring to add content to keep the game alive and it’s sad to be honest. I’m immensely disappointed and companions are a far cry from good added content btw.
I miss Summerset-Greymoor, it actually felt like I was playing a loved, supported, and living game.

I was under the impression they are working on a new and updated engine and server code so they want to limit what they release until that is complete.

edward_frigidhands

Auldwulfe wrote: »

BlueRaven wrote: »

ESO is NOT a standalone game. It’s part of the Elder Scrolls line of games. What’s more, it’s a prequel to those games.

A new race can’t just be inserted because they then have to explain why that race disappears from the other ES games.

Maomer are a perfect example of that. If a Maomer becomes Emperor, saves Skyrim, or anything like that. It would become a huge deal lore wise. It would not just be lost to history. Maomer can never become a playable race, never.

The best we can get is sub races of our existing ones.

Besides races like Maomer and Dwemer can be recreated right now, an “official” version is not needed.



My maomer exile.




My "time lost" dwemer.

The other problem is, what catastrophe happens that so batters the orcs, that by Daggerfall, they are, pretty much, mindless animals .......yeah, there are some you interact with, but the vast majority of orcs in the game are green skin grunties that attack on sight.
In Arena, they are ONLY monsters, there are NONE you can interact with.

Auldwulfe

Those are so cool.

And I completely agree about the races. We can't just introduce new races like that, new customization options are always welcome.

Tsilara

_adhyffbjjjf12 wrote: »

Jim_Pipp wrote: »

The devs have answered this pretty honestly, but I think we players should keep saying that the last few years have been underwhelming.

The last 2 years of content was mostly produced during the pandemic, and dev's have been open that it was a challenge for them to adjust to home-working, remote teams, and what sounds like a stressful workplace. The last 2 annual messages have said that it made them less productive.

The other huge limitation is their commitment to keeping ESO running on the oldest consoles, so they simply can't add major new systems.

[Snip]. I work in a software dev house and have done for 20 years and working from home is perfectly normal and results in higher productivity not less, you travel less, you use teams more rather than going to meeting rooms etc etc. Agree on your other point + the game was never fit for purpose and is in fact a mess (aside from awesome open world content)

They have subs, they should be investing it heavily, sacrificing some short term profits to resolve technical debt AND provide good content, i.e not overpowered sets to keep people farming and buying gold.

That's your experience working from home and with respect to the type of work you do, and who you work with.

What works for you doesn't work for everyone, and its more a introvert's style who can't, nor wants to, deal with people very well or a distracting office, which is another problem in itself.

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FluffyBird

rpa wrote: »

It's a corporate entertaining product to make profit. Yearly updates are made to formula with as little work, new ideas and creativity as possible. I guess drive space of average customer is an important limiting factor. No matter how wonderful the content update is if it ruptures too many computers and consoles.

That would be a lame excuse. That second game I mentioned earlier is also on mobiles and devs there made some magic to still make it fit on most phones. Also, they remove most of the assets for older events, like cutscenes or quest items, because they are mostly not reused. So ESO could give us, I don't know, a fishing event with shiny fishies and fishing rods that play music, let us keep a couple of commemorative furnishings and remove the rest of stuff.

Also, an interesting visual asset can take as much space as a boring one. Voice-over for a well written quest isn't necessarily bigger than for a poorly written one.

Also (2), trying to support as many older/weaker systems as possible is a noble endeavor, but eventually you'll have to let them go and it should never be used as an excuse for bad quality.

merpins

_adhyffbjjjf12 wrote: »

Jim_Pipp wrote: »

The devs have answered this pretty honestly, but I think we players should keep saying that the last few years have been underwhelming.

The last 2 years of content was mostly produced during the pandemic, and dev's have been open that it was a challenge for them to adjust to home-working, remote teams, and what sounds like a stressful workplace. The last 2 annual messages have said that it made them less productive.

The other huge limitation is their commitment to keeping ESO running on the oldest consoles, so they simply can't add major new systems.

[Snip]. I work in a software dev house and have done for 20 years and working from home is perfectly normal and results in higher productivity not less, you travel less, you use teams more rather than going to meeting rooms etc etc. Agree on your other point + the game was never fit for purpose and is in fact a mess (aside from awesome open world content)

They have subs, they should be investing it heavily, sacrificing some short term profits to resolve technical debt AND provide good content, i.e not overpowered sets to keep people farming and buying gold.

Animator/3D artist here. This works fine for everything except animation and 3D art. You need a very beefy machine to do 3D art and animation properly. I'm not saying that ESO requires a beefy machine, but that's part of the reason why professional game studios and animation studios require you to work in-house. The other part of the reason is NDA with private company servers that aren't accessible outside the studio, or proprietary software for animation or 3D art that isn't handed out because it's proprietary.

So it's not unlikely that it wasn't an excuse. Not every 3D animator, renderer, texture artist, 3D artist, has a beefy enough computer to do professional level content in the timeframe that is needed for a studio. For example, I can do professional level animation at home in the same amount of time it would take to do it in the studio. I can do textures, and lighting. Lighting will take a bit longer than in the studio, but not much. The thing for me that's impossible to do from home is rendering; my machine can render one scene at a time. I don't have a render farm like my workplace, so I can't get it done quickly. 24 fps, it takes about an hour per frame. So 1 second of animation takes my rig a day to render. The rigs in my workplace cut that down to a little under half that time per frame, and there's about 50 of them so you can render off tens of minutes of animation in less than an hour. I doubt an MMO from 2014 has the same requirements as a 3D animated feature film in 2022, but it's a good comparison.

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