A Tale of Abandoned DLCs

Scaletho

Yesterday I went to Blackwood. Took a WB daily and went to the boss' place. No one there. I decided not to call a group, but just wait and see how many players will be called to the place by taking the same daily.

After 4-5 hours, no one came.

Days before I went to Fargrave-The deadlands. Same stuff, WB daily. Waited around 3-4 hours, no one came. Basically the same with beautiful N. Elsweyr, S. Elsweyr, Vvaderfell... older regions? You kidding. Almost no one is there.

ESO is a game of forgotten DLCs. Little by little. Launch a DLC, sold it; players come; the stories go for a year or less; next year: another DLC, another region, other characters.

For many new players the solution is to follow the "zeitgeist": leave the old (and some amazing) stories, go to the new regions where most players are.

No "revisiting" stories. No come back to old DLCs or some beloved characters. Abandoned, empty, forgotten.

The sad irony is: if ZOS keep this method for too long, ESO will really vanished into oblivion.

Soraka

Recently went all over trying to clear some surveys out of my inventory. I was surprised how lonely and empty most places seemed.

Lydawobbles

What time are you asking for help? That makes a big difference; especially on weekdays

Billium813

TBF, lots of players are currently zerging Galen since it just released. Now is the best time to run other DLC dailies cause the motif pages will go up in value with no one doing them. Also, are you perhaps on EU? I'm on PC NA and even in old zones, I often see the occasional player every 5 minutes or so. Nothing like 4+ hours!

You're not wrong, but you are also highlighting why I wait to play DLC zones until the NEXT one drops. The zone suddenly becomes less populated and, in my opinion, much more fun to play. Yes, it can make WBs more difficult, but zone chat helps a lot as many players want to come help. You say the old DLCs are barren zones, I say they are better emptier for a better single player experience.

Kiralyn2000

Sounds like any MMO with lots of expansions. Probably even worse in ones with increasing level caps, since the "old" zones are even more useless, with no gear/XP/loot/etc to farm. Just rare collectables & achievements.

Cazador

Billium813 wrote: »

TBF, lots of players are currently zerging Galen since it just released. Now is the best time to run other DLC dailies cause the motif pages will go up in value with no one doing them. Also, are you perhaps on EU? I'm on PC NA and even in old zones, I often see the occasional player every 5 minutes or so. Nothing like 4+ hours!

You're not wrong, but you are also highlighting why I wait to play DLC zones until the NEXT one drops. The zone suddenly becomes less populated and, in my opinion, much more fun to play. Yes, it can make WBs more difficult, but zone chat helps a lot as many players want to come help. You say the old DLCs are barren zones, I say they are better emptier for a better single player experience.

Waiting a year is really nice, especially so you don't have 17 other people in some quests that would be better off as a group or solo instance only.

CrashTest

Because there's nothing to keep players there. Maybe adding nirncrux to the nodes and increasing popular-item (leads, plans, etc) farm spots would help.

Also, whenever a DLC zone is released, the first thing I do is check if it has a convenient crafting area with no loading screen bankers situated in its midst for crafting dailies like Vivec, but so far nothing so I stay in Vivec. I think this small change would greatly increase DLC zone population bc it's the main thing keeping Wardenfell alive.

deleted221205-002626

It has alot todo with bugs atm.. Many arent enjoying playing at all right now with few addons and tanks in particular with the block bugs as brutal as they are.

deleted221205-002626

Theres too many major bugs to list but some are blocking, addons, mail still not functioning correctly, not being able to unequip companions gear ocasonally without relogging, daily quests all over bugged in groups and a general imbalance with classes and gear.

zaria

CrashTest wrote: »

Because there's nothing to keep players there. Maybe adding nirncrux to the nodes and increasing popular-item (leads, plans, etc) farm spots would help.

Also, whenever a DLC zone is released, the first thing I do is check if it has a convenient crafting area with no loading screen bankers situated in its midst for crafting dailies like Vivec, but so far nothing so I stay in Vivec. I think this small change would greatly increase DLC zone population bc it's the main thing keeping Wardenfell alive.

Agree, lots of players in Hew's bane and the gold coast because thief guild and dark brotherhood.

One nice think about the DLC zones is all the skillpoints you get from the main quests

Billium813

Cazador wrote: »

Billium813 wrote: »

TBF, lots of players are currently zerging Galen since it just released. Now is the best time to run other DLC dailies cause the motif pages will go up in value with no one doing them. Also, are you perhaps on EU? I'm on PC NA and even in old zones, I often see the occasional player every 5 minutes or so. Nothing like 4+ hours!

You're not wrong, but you are also highlighting why I wait to play DLC zones until the NEXT one drops. The zone suddenly becomes less populated and, in my opinion, much more fun to play. Yes, it can make WBs more difficult, but zone chat helps a lot as many players want to come help. You say the old DLCs are barren zones, I say they are better emptier for a better single player experience.

Waiting a year is really nice, especially so you don't have 17 other people in some quests that would be better off as a group or solo instance only.

It can be really tough and I still do the dailies... but once your own release schedule is offset by a year it just works for me. It definitely helped that I took like 2 years off and came back already behind.

Suddenly delves are less congested, WBs are tougher (but arguably more fun since you can experience all the mechanics), Wayshrines and paths and cities aren't crowed with people like it's [snip] comic-con. The "small" cities feel better with only like 6-10 people rather than 60.

[edited for profanity bypass]

Lucjan

While the OP certainly has a point, at least on PC EU the situation isn't all that bad from my experience.
I recently started doing dailies in Blackwood and Deadlands for their achievements and Deadlands still has a lot of people. The WB daily is dealt with in a matter of minutes.

Blackwood is indeed a bit more empty, but after 5-10 minutes I just ask in zone chat and usually a couple of people arrive to help within few minutes. Given the great community in-game, almost empty zones don't seem to be that much of an issue to me.

tomofhyrule

I like to do the stories after the rush is done. I think it's finally about time for me to get to High Isle now that most people have moved on, since that allows me to actually see the things I'm supposed to fight without some 300k+ DPS monster blowing through and then complaining that it's all too easy.

Besides, those older zones have dailies for the WBs and delves, and the fewer people doing them, the more expensive those motifs will get. And yes, some WBs are more obnoxious than difficult, either because they're way tf from a wayshrine, or they have incessant adds or stupid mechanics (looking at you, Walks-Like-Thunder and Ri'Atahrashi), so people just don't like doing them in the first place.

But I do have a dream that, if they released a new weapons style (coughSPEARScough), then that would force people to go back to farm the 15th crafting motif AND farm the new weapon from about 3 sets per zone, which would be a really nice way for ZOS to encourage people to go back to older zones.

Billium813

Scaletho wrote: »

ESO is a game of forgotten DLCs. Little by little. Launch a DLC, sold it; players come; the stories go for a year or less; next year: another DLC, another region, other characters.

This entire concept is almost the entire reason I LOVE Antiquities. I often argue that Antiquities is the single best mechanic they ever released and lead farming old DLCs is one of the main reasons I think it's soooo good for the game. A mechanic that gives players a reason to revisit old zones? Yes please.

... and why I hate ToT so much. It's a parasite on development AND gameplay.

SeaGtGruff

Time of day definitely matters, depending on which server you're playing on.

There almost always seem to be players running around in the cities, so calling for help should hopefully bring someone.

I'm not sure whether everyone who accepts the world boss daily in a given zone receives the same boss to kill, otherwise I'm not sure how players could farm all of the world bosses in a given zone by sharing their dailies.

robwolf666

As someone who came to ESO from Oblivion and Skyrim, I've always thought of Elder Scrolls being a solo PvE game, so when I can now run around zones encountering very few other players, I love it, it's like playing a solo game again.

MasterSpatula

Odd, I've had little trouble getting Fargrave WB dailies done. Not as quickly as a year ago, but I still manage running two characters through one each right at dailies reset.

stevenyaub16_ESO

The problem isn't people abandoning themm it's normal to leave a zone you finished. The problem is the lack of new players. When you got so many zones you also have these players spread throughout all of them.

For my personal taste I prefer there being no one around so I don't get other people running round ahead of me ruining my quest experience.

Necrotech_Master

i think its a combination of things

• large number of zones keeping people spread out (base game alone is almost 20 zones if you include starter ones, then theres at least another dozen in dlcs, not to mention all of the content in each zone)
• gear collection reducing the farming need
• gear collection also causing people to focus on other areas
• instances in general (anyone in a delve/dungeon/trial is not in the overland for example)

Parasaurolophus

Zones offer players nothing more than questing. It's high time to admit that overland is just the scenery for a couple of dozen quests. Once you have completed them all, there is no point in returning to the zones.

Kiralyn2000

stevenyaub16_ESO wrote: »

The problem isn't people abandoning themm it's normal to leave a zone you finished. The problem is the lack of new players. When you got so many zones you also have these players spread throughout all of them.

Plus the scaled/non-linear nature of questing means that you don't have a steady supply of new players/characters in the there-aren't-any "low level zones".

AcadianPaladin

There are entirely too many DLC WBs to expect multiple players at each. DLC bosses are too difficult for most players to solo and players know that so they don't even bother checking on them. Contrast that with non-DLC WBs which are much more friendly to solo players. I love fighting non-DLC WBs solo, do so routinely and notice they are not nearly so lonely as DLC WBs after the DLC is no longer new.

As a soloist, I run around a new DLC with lots of other folks turning all the new WBs white on my map. Then I leave the DLC until the crowds are gone and come back to do the quests in peace. For me at least, if DLC WBs were more solo friendly, I'd continue doing them just like I do WBs in all the original zones. Having DLC WBs scale to the number of players fighting them would be lovely and keep them relevant.

alternatelder

Billium813 wrote: »

Scaletho wrote: »

ESO is a game of forgotten DLCs. Little by little. Launch a DLC, sold it; players come; the stories go for a year or less; next year: another DLC, another region, other characters.

This entire concept is almost the entire reason I LOVE Antiquities. I often argue that Antiquities is the single best mechanic they ever released and lead farming old DLCs is one of the main reasons I think it's soooo good for the game. A mechanic that gives players a reason to revisit old zones? Yes please.

... and why I hate ToT so much. It's a parasite on development AND gameplay.

I doubt anyone, or majority of antiquarians stay longer than it takes to get the antiquity. How does that help with old DLCs? Events like the upcoming Skyrim event are what keeps people coming back, or rather, forces them to. But I've never dug up a lead in an old zone and decided I should spend more time there because I missed it.

DMuehlhausen

This is pretty typical. Those are no longer the current expansions. This happens in every MMO or games that constantly send you to new places.

Billium813

alternatelder wrote: »

Billium813 wrote: »

Scaletho wrote: »

ESO is a game of forgotten DLCs. Little by little. Launch a DLC, sold it; players come; the stories go for a year or less; next year: another DLC, another region, other characters.

This entire concept is almost the entire reason I LOVE Antiquities. I often argue that Antiquities is the single best mechanic they ever released and lead farming old DLCs is one of the main reasons I think it's soooo good for the game. A mechanic that gives players a reason to revisit old zones? Yes please.

... and why I hate ToT so much. It's a parasite on development AND gameplay.

I doubt anyone, or majority of antiquarians stay longer than it takes to get the antiquity. How does that help with old DLCs? Events like the upcoming Skyrim event are what keeps people coming back, or rather, forces them to. But I've never dug up a lead in an old zone and decided I should spend more time there because I missed it.

I think you're missing my point a bit. It isn't just running around the zone digging up antiquities, it's also having to go to specific zones for leads that drop from that zone's WBs or Public Dungeon bosses or treasure chests or random monsters or pick pocketing or fishing or node harvesting.

If you want the Snow Treaders Mythic, you need Auri-El Metal Carvings. The lead for this item drops from "Random Monsters" in Bleackrock Isle.
If you want the Bloodlord’s Embrace Mythic, you need Sanguine Doublet. The lead for this item drops from the Village of the Lost Public Dungeon in Coldharbour.

These make players HAVE to go back to these old zone if they want the leads! That's great for creating traffic and reusing content! It completely works to try to solve the issue: "now that I am done with Coldharbour or Bleackrock Isle, why would I EVER go back there again?"

Necrotech_Master

AcadianPaladin wrote: »

There are entirely too many DLC WBs to expect multiple players at each. DLC bosses are too difficult for most players to solo and players know that so they don't even bother checking on them. Contrast that with non-DLC WBs which are much more friendly to solo players. I love fighting non-DLC WBs solo, do so routinely and notice they are not nearly so lonely as DLC WBs after the DLC is no longer new.

As a soloist, I run around a new DLC with lots of other folks turning all the new WBs white on my map. Then I leave the DLC until the crowds are gone and come back to do the quests in peace. For me at least, if DLC WBs were more solo friendly, I'd continue doing them just like I do WBs in all the original zones. Having DLC WBs scale to the number of players fighting them would be lovely and keep them relevant.

i like the challenge of soloing the dlc WBs

the only one i know i definitely cannot solo is the miregaunt WB in murkmire because of the ridiculous healing mechanic

the hardest one ive solod which is actually possible to solo i would say is ri'atarishi in south elsweyr

SeaGtGruff

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

AcadianPaladin wrote: »

There are entirely too many DLC WBs to expect multiple players at each. DLC bosses are too difficult for most players to solo and players know that so they don't even bother checking on them. Contrast that with non-DLC WBs which are much more friendly to solo players. I love fighting non-DLC WBs solo, do so routinely and notice they are not nearly so lonely as DLC WBs after the DLC is no longer new.

As a soloist, I run around a new DLC with lots of other folks turning all the new WBs white on my map. Then I leave the DLC until the crowds are gone and come back to do the quests in peace. For me at least, if DLC WBs were more solo friendly, I'd continue doing them just like I do WBs in all the original zones. Having DLC WBs scale to the number of players fighting them would be lovely and keep them relevant.

i like the challenge of soloing the dlc WBs

the only one i know i definitely cannot solo is the miregaunt WB in murkmire because of the ridiculous healing mechanic

the hardest one ive solod which is actually possible to solo i would say is ri'atarishi in south elsweyr

I also enjoy the challenge of soloing DLC world bosses, although I can solo only certain ones. There's only one boss in High Isle that I know I can solo, a few in Summerset, one in Wrothgar, maybe one in Blackwood, two in Western Skyrim, all of them in Vvardenfell, all of them in Northern Elsweyr, one in Southern Elsweyr, and none in Clockwork or Murkmire or the Deadlands.

Back when Morrowind and Elsweyr were released, I couldn't handle any of their world bosses, so I was very happy the day I was finally able to solo all of them. I used to dread accepting the WB dailies in those zones, but now I love them.

Dr_Con

It's almost like something else was calling peoples attention, a new expansion.

i could be wrong though.

and whenever I'm in one of these zones and i see someone calling for help i usually go, so I would definitely ask for help sometime because i feel others are the same (it's not like calling people to a failing dungeon or trial, usually wb kills are a guarantee)

Tenthirty2

Funny, bcuz I start every day in N. Elsweyr and there are always ppl running around, dragons often in fights.
Sure doesn't seem forgotten when I'm on...

And that is during the week days and evenings when you would expect it to be quieter.
On weekends, steadily busy.

chessalavakia_ESO

I think some of that might be your timing/server.

Some of the zones are pretty dead but, on PC NA I do the Deadlands WB's from time to time and someone generally is either already present or shows up within 10 minutes. (I'd skip doing them if that wasn't the case on most chars because the bosses like their high damage attacks a bit too much for them to be worth trying to solo)

I think you have several factors behind this.

First, for World Bosses specifically, the DLC WB's tend to have increased HP and more annoying mechanics. Sure, it's a challenge the first time but, once I've done it once it's not like I want to do it again.

Another factor is that the majority of the ESO and especially the DLC zones are highly efficient. Virtually every location you find is for a specific quest or is entirely window dressing and you can't get inside which puts a damper on exploring.

ESO also doesn't have much choice which puts a damper on replaying the content and many of the more recent stories haven't been that great which also has an impact on going back.

You also ram into the issue that older items frequently struggle to keep up with newer ones both in stats and value.

Roxxsmom

I still find groups doing dragons in Northern Elsweyr, though maybe fewer have been running them since Galen launched? There could be more soon, then, once people play through the Galen content. I have found I can solo all the Elsweyr daily bosses, which is good since I love Elsweyr furnishings and need the shimmering sands. Sometimes I will run into someone else doing one of the "daily" bosses at the same time, but maybe only about 25% of the time. I tend to play later evenings (West coast US time) and weekends.

I occasionally run into someone in Summerset doing Geysers, but if no one is there it isn't as big a deal since they are very soloable now. I like to make some of those furnishings still, so I do go back to Summerset to do do dailies for the lacquers, which can't be obtained from blowing up any of the item sets from that zone.

That is one thing that puzzles me--the differences in obtaining the unique furnishing/crafting mat for each zone. Summerset: dailies only. Elsweyr: both dailies and occasional item deconstruction, High Ilse rarely from dailies and very occasionally from item deconstruction.

I do think there's an issue for newer players who want to experience the earlier DLC stories and daily rewards, as those bosses are much harder to solo without lots of champion points. I don't know exactly what can be done about it, aside from more of those zone festivals that double resource node yields and increase the rewards for dailies. Dead expansion content zones has been an issue with other MMOs I've played too.