A Tale of Abandoned DLCs

Marto

This is exactly why events like the upcoming Greymoor one exist.

This is also why the New Life holiday event takes place in half a dozen different cities. Why prologue quests for upcoming DLCs take you to different locations. And why the entrance to homes and dungeons is often in a different zone from the recently released one.

It's to encourage you go out and explore old areas, stumble into some quests or NPCs you don't remember, and go play a quest or two.

Kappachi

This only happens for the first week of a new DLC drop when all the people who pay into the game farm the new zone to sell/acquire new plans/motifs/rare drops/etc.

All zones in this game are far more populated than you can say about zones for like Final Fantasy XIV, World of Warcraft or Guild Wars 2 even, and Guild Wars 2 is also a scaled game... ESO is the only game I see players in every zone and if you make a call for help to zone chat then someone will come, it helps you can share dailies. Not only that, but treasure maps and scrying takes you back to older zones and maybe you'll hang around a bit and do the dailies while you're there already, I do anyways, it's things like this that make no zone in the game DLC or base game dead at any point, I have never seen a truly "dead" zone in this game yet.

Carcamongus

Chapter zones have 6 WBs, so it's harder to find enough people to take on one. DLC zones, though, have only 2. I haven't had much trouble killing bosses in the Deadlands, though the number of players who gather there is certainly way below what you'd find in Galen.

A group finder feature to locate people to tackle specific WBs could alleviate this problem. I often see many people in older zones, but with chat dead except for guild ads, you'd think the whole place's empty.

Kappachi

Carcamongus wrote: »

Chapter zones have 6 WBs, so it's harder to find enough people to take on one. DLC zones, though, have only 2. I haven't had much trouble killing bosses in the Deadlands, though the number of players who gather there is certainly way below what you'd find in Galen.

A group finder feature to locate people to tackle specific WBs could alleviate this problem. I often see many people in older zones, but with chat dead except for guild ads, you'd think the whole place's empty.

It's not hard at all, give a shout and someone will join provided you have the quest to share, people don't typically take on world bosses for no reward from what I've seen.

Hapexamendios

After I've done all the quests, gotten achievements and leads and sticker booked armor, there really is no reason for me to go there.

FlopsyPrince

tomofhyrule wrote: »

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.

Try to fight a harrowstorm with 3 "normal" players. They health regen faster than you can damage them.

That is NOT a great approach for making people want to do now old content.

AzuraFan

AwA has affected this too. Some players (myself included) are no longer playing alts because of it. So we're not at the WBs or the harrowstorms or the dragons with our alts, doing achievements.

Morgaledh

Nothing new here. I can remember in WoW, how Shattrath City was a massive hub of activity... until Lich King came out and everything moved to Dalaran. A few months after that, Shattrath was a ghost town, and it never recovered. Every now and then, a later quest would send you back there, as if Blizz was reminding you (and itself) that it was there.

Older expansions always die a slow death; they aren't interested in the old material in the business offices, it's all about new product.

I, of course, love the empty zones in ESO - the fewer of those sprinting idiot head-canon npcs with gaudy, day-glo armor and a train of pets, followers, etc. sprinting right along with them. If only delves had remained instanced like in beta. But that's a wish that will never come true.

Jaraal

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.

Account wide achievements also contributes to the emptiness, as players are no longer going back to redo content on their alts, as they did before. ZOS killed a lot of the motivation to revisit old content in one fell swoop with the U33 changes.

rpa

I have 9 chars, all lv50, fat horse and all gear crafts levelled. I took a long break from late 2021 and AWA and bunch of combat changes happened during that. I've set craft related CP for all but still have not bothered to reassign skills and distribute combat related CP for 8 of em. Of ourse my procrastination is only my own fault but I do not see much incentive to bother with alts any more beyond writs.

me_ming

Scaletho wrote: »

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.

you should go to Gold Coast. lol. It's almost a ghost town. Literally. Do they even still drop the Dark Brotherhood motif?

PrimusTiberius

The first thing I do when a new DLC drops, is hit all the Wb's, then I hit the dungeons and trials for the gear. After that, the main rush to finish the main story is just about over and I can do the questing in peace.

It is a shame the other DLC's are ghost towns and it would be great if ZOS could find a way to incentivize players to return to these areas. Unfortunately, it seems of late that ZOS's main priority is to get players to purchase loot boxes, break down the the useless goods for crown gems for acquiring shinny little trinkets.

Cadbury

I just wait until they do an event that happens to include certain DLC areas. That's when those less-populated areas spring to life. This is why I like the upcoming Dark Heart of Skyrim event, as it gives me an excuse to run around fighting the WBs and Harrowstorms in The Reach and Western Skyrim. That way, I can just follow the crowd and tag anything I've missed.

Kite42

I just don't see this. I play evenings Hong Kong time (PC NA) and there's always people around, and surely this is a deadish time?

I've been cursed by the RNG gods for leads for the Markyn ring in Fargrave, but I've never had to wait for someone to help with a world boss.

Veinblood1965

I think it has to do with so many expansions and too many with small intervals in between releases. There are only so many players playing total and so many playing at any given time. NA PS4 for instance is almost dead in many zones during the day but in the evening people running around all over the place.

Oh but the good news is there are like 15 bots per player in the newby zones on PS4. If you lack for companionship just go to one of those zones and follow a few of the level three mag sorcs around with their pets.

Mesite

It's like real life. New estates are built so younger families move to the new estates, and the old ones become full of old people who rarely go out. It's an honest reflection of real life. Very cleverly planned.

agelonestar

To me, this is exactly why ZoS should rethink the release schedule.

I don't know that we need yet another set of four DLC dungeons per year, or a mini-DLC following on from a Chapter.

I'd love it if ZoS spent some time in existing zones, doing something to update them and give everyone a reason to go back to them. There's so much scope for expanded or new delves, changes to world bosses, adding roving bosses, new quest lines.... you name it really.

Nestor

In my experience, you need to do a Zone announcement for World Bosses. Most people in older zones are not farming WB but will have their quests. So, they will come if you ask, but are not going to Camp a WB.

Destai

I feel like I've seen this in most MMOs. It happens - the current expansion has most people's attention, some zones are more attractive, some zones become nostalgic or adopt some weird cultural quirk like being the go-to zone for dueling or recruitment. The rest get forgotten by most.

This is where I really appreciate events, despite how rote they feel at times, because it gives players a reason to go somewhere they've forgotten about. I wouldn't mind seeing "zone of the week" events, especially for smaller DLCs and base, where you get double XP and stickerbook drops or something.

Antiquities also gives older zones a bit of life support.

SerafinaWaterstar

Jaraal wrote: »

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.

Account wide achievements also contributes to the emptiness, as players are no longer going back to redo content on their alts, as they did before. ZOS killed a lot of the motivation to revisit old content in one fell swoop with the U33 changes.

Yep.

Unless you are sad like me & ignore AwA and use the ESO app to see what alts have done & thus drag them round old zones…….😁

Tornaad

I've pondered about this for a while and while I would like to see them revisit old zones, I would rather see them fill out all of Tamriel before they go back to an old zone.

FlopsyPrince

Jaraal wrote: »

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.

Account wide achievements also contributes to the emptiness, as players are no longer going back to redo content on their alts, as they did before. ZOS killed a lot of the motivation to revisit old content in one fell swoop with the U33 changes.

People weren't there before AWA.

Maitsukas

Carcamongus wrote: »

A group finder feature to locate people to tackle specific WBs could alleviate this problem. I often see many people in older zones, but with chat dead except for guild ads, you'd think the whole place's empty.

There used to be an option to group up for a Zone's Overland content before the group finder was redesigned with Update 8 (Orsinium).

Old UI:

Billium813

Zuboko wrote: »

I've pondered about this for a while and while I would like to see them revisit old zones, I would rather see them fill out all of Tamriel before they go back to an old zone.

It's unfortunate. I remember hearing in the Mike Finnigan interview with ESOU how making changes to the base game is almost impossible. It's easier to design a completely new zone or dungeon or instanced thing, rather than go back and touch the house of cards that is the base zone or some older DLC zone/mechanic. It's why we will never see a new skill line and it's MUCH more likely that we will see a new class. It's all about compartmentalization and that is the folly of design. It's easier and safer to add onto a game, rather than make changes to improve or integrate into what exists! There is WAY less risk in development; less to rebalance, less to break and upset players over. It's easy, it's safe... and it's boring and creates parasitic design and mechanical paths that lead no where and become stale... they add content that doesn't necessarily improve the core gameplay loop but just bloats the game. They create the treadmill where all the new content is in the latest release and once you finish with the old stuff, there is no reason to go back. Nothing connects or integrates, it just exists... like a carnival ride that everyone has been on 100 times so no one stands in line anymore.

Dragonredux

Tbh this game does old content better than most mmos. Most zones become barren wastelands after the expansion is over and the next one releases. At least in ESO I see a few people in the zones regularly. One of the perks of a horizontal progression system.

Of course if each zone has a niche it helps longevity. I come back to Elsweyr because the dragon fights are fun personally despite its flaws. I know others does it for mats, leads, etc.

brylars

When you look at the troubles we have had with each DLC over the years, are you really surprised? I am not going back to High Isle myself. This year has been one big hassle when gaming is supposed to be a fun hobby. I have been too busy to play over the last couple of months and recently my computer died. I used to log in daily. I actually don't miss the game. I miss the people but not the game itself. It has lost its spark. It's just another game now. Unless they put ESO in the same priority as Starfield, there is no point in staying with this franchise. Why would I play a new game from this company if the old ones are being neglected?

DP99

I've experiencing this as well on PCNA, trying to get the 30 WB dailies done in Blackwood, and it's extremely difficult now because there's just no one around anymore. I'm at about halfway through them, but it's going to take much longer to get them all now with it being such a dead zone since Firesong relapsed.

So, I'm mostly just resolved myself to do what everyone else does and just get everything thing done in Galen now while I can while everyone is there. I hate it, but, if that's what has to be done, then that's what has to be done.

Natakiro

I agree that the previous areas are less populated by a large degree, especially with an event or new area release, but I don't mind; I actually prefer exploring and taking on content solo, so soloing WBs is enjoyable (unless ones with mechanics that you can't solo or are just tedious to, like B'Korgen, Walks-Like-Thunder, Wuyuvus, Unmaker, etc), then I just avoid those or see if anyone else is there; if not, I ask in zone and usually get someone to help, especially if I have a daily to share. I tend to do as many WB dailies every day as I have the free time to.

Regarding Dragons and Harrowstorms, there always seems to be people willing to jump in if I start a dragon or ask in zone; I could solo if I had to, but it isn't worth the time, and, even if I don't ask in zone, someone will see the marker and show up - I've gotten a dragon down to like 70% and thought to try to solo out of curiosity, but someone else started fighting it. Now, Harrowstorms are much harder to solo, those Lost Souls gather quick; I've never been able to pull it off, end up with a bunch of big adds from the other pikes and you get a swarm of them coming after you. The lowest amount of people I have done them with is just me and one other person; we both knew the mechanics, so it wasn't bad at all. However, a lot of the time, you will show up at one and there are a billion adds rampaging with most of the people there neglecting to focus on the Lost Souls and Pikes.

Anyway, regarding population, High Isle can be pretty dead, I was the only one at a vent this morning; it's this year's mainland, but is barren due to Galen. It's just the way games tend to be; a large portion are doing the newest content.

I would really like to see WB and delve dailies added to base-game zones; would give me a reason to go there. The only time I visit base zones is if looking for a lead or a treasure map. Like, today, I went to Rivenspire, which is one of my favorite base-game zones, just love the look, but I was only there to grab that music box lead from a WB then left after getting it. I'd love to continue my zone-hopping WB sprees into base zones, would be a nice change of scenery and a way to appreciate the older content.

FlopsyPrince

brylars wrote: »

When you look at the troubles we have had with each DLC over the years, are you really surprised? I am not going back to High Isle myself. This year has been one big hassle when gaming is supposed to be a fun hobby. I have been too busy to play over the last couple of months and recently my computer died. I used to log in daily. I actually don't miss the game. I miss the people but not the game itself. It has lost its spark. It's just another game now. Unless they put ESO in the same priority as Starfield, there is no point in staying with this franchise. Why would I play a new game from this company if the old ones are being neglected?

That is a great risk they are facing if they are really prioritizing a new MMO against this one. It will likely cost them far more than many in the business side think.

SeaGtGruff

Billium813 wrote: »

Zuboko wrote: »

I've pondered about this for a while and while I would like to see them revisit old zones, I would rather see them fill out all of Tamriel before they go back to an old zone.

It's unfortunate. I remember hearing in the Mike Finnigan interview with ESOU how making changes to the base game is almost impossible. It's easier to design a completely new zone or dungeon or instanced thing, rather than go back and touch the house of cards that is the base zone or some older DLC zone/mechanic. It's why we will never see a new skill line and it's MUCH more likely that we will see a new class. It's all about compartmentalization and that is the folly of design. It's easier and safer to add onto a game, rather than make changes to improve or integrate into what exists! There is WAY less risk in development; less to rebalance, less to break and upset players over. It's easy, it's safe... and it's boring and creates parasitic design and mechanical paths that lead no where and become stale... they add content that doesn't necessarily improve the core gameplay loop but just bloats the game. They create the treadmill where all the new content is in the latest release and once you finish with the old stuff, there is no reason to go back. Nothing connects or integrates, it just exists... like a carnival ride that everyone has been on 100 times so no one stands in line anymore.

I'm thinking maybe you misunderstood what he was talking about, because they add new stuff to old zones all the time.

When Summerset came out, they added Jewelry crafting stations to just about all of the earlier zones.

When Murkmire came out, they added new daily quests (picked up and turned in in Stormhold) in several of the original base game zones.

When High Isle came out, they added Tribute tables and NPCs to just about every zone.

So they can definitely "touch the house of cards" to add new content to the old base game zones.

On the other hand, I imagine they can't go back and easily make extensive fundamental design changes to existing zones. But they can and do add new content that connects and integrates new zones with the old zones.