Drop last generation consoles

seebra

I'm probably going to get some hate for this thread but ZOS should start considering dropping last generation consoles because it holds game back. I'm not saying that they should do it immediately
but holding them indefinitely is bad for pc users. When it happens we could start seeing big things happening such as new classes, animations, skill trees etc. High isle gave us TOT because of console limitations.

edit: Also to clarify this, I'm not blaming console users for this.

beer781993

They should consider fixing the game on last gen consoles. People on Ps4 don't see some enemy zones in trials. They also don't see adds spawning fast enough.

We don't accept ps4 players in our trifecta prog guilds because of this. They get freezes and die randomly which is ridiculous...

Btw console graphics and animations have nothing to do with PC.... They could always improve graphics on PC and leave it lower on consoles.

But what do we expect we still can't block half the time .... They aren't doing anything besides implementing more bugs.

UnassumingNoob

Agree. I play console.time to move on

LordRukia

I agree supporting a 10 year old console clearly limits the game but I don't think its a valid excuse for zos making a card game, that was just poor decision making on top of the fact they put 0 effort into it. This is some maintenance mode level quality here. I've played mobile card games with full voice acting & animations not to mention far superior mechanics. I wouldn't have liked it either way but they could have at least tried.

robwolf666

I see, so the people who bought and supported the game on console long before the Next Gen came out should simply be abandoned? There's loyalty to a player base for you. They would most likely lose a lot of players if they did that, there's a lot of people out there on last gen who can't find, or afford, a next gen console. (I used to play on XB1 until I was lucky enough to get my hands on a Series X)

spartaxoxo

You wouldn't be be getting anything new this year besides Tales. They are working on rewriting the baseline code and replacing the servers. It's a massive project that would be monopolizing their time regardless. They haven't added new things mostly because adding anything to Cyrodiil that's intensive will kill performance even more significantly.

To use a metaphor, ZoS is working a bakery. Their roof is about to collapse, their fridges are all broken, and they're out of butter. The butter issue will eventually have to be solved, but it's the least of the problems.

Perhaps in 2024, they should re-evaluate. But, it's not the time now. Consoles are scarce right now, so their old console base can't easily get them even if they want to. They can't just lose like 1/2 and 2/3rds of their income so casually. And ZOS has bigger issues to finish sorting anyway.

jtm1018

seebra wrote: »

I'm probably going to get some hate for this thread but ZOS should start considering dropping last generation consoles because it holds game back. I'm not saying that they should do it immediately
but holding them indefinitely is bad for pc users. When it happens we could start seeing big things happening such as new classes, animations, skill trees etc. High isle gave us TOT because of console limitations.

edit: Also to clarify this, I'm not blaming console users for this.

Are pc and console on the same server?

Does performance on console server greatly hampers pc server?

Do console and pc server cross play?

Cant they develop eso any further if they dont drop last gen console? Is that really the case? Did they officially said this? Like, "last gen console is dragging down eso, we cant develop eso any further if we dont cut off those last gen console"

seebra

robwolf666 wrote: »

I see, so the people who bought and supported the game on console long before the Next Gen came out should simply be abandoned? There's loyalty to a player base for you. They would most likely lose a lot of players if they did that, there's a lot of people out there on last gen who can't find, or afford, a next gen console. (I used to play on XB1 until I was lucky enough to get my hands on a Series X)

At some point games need to move or they are at disadvantage. For example when wow first came out, people can't expect to play it still on the same computer. I think late 2023 or early 2024 gives people enough time to get new console or pc.

seebra

jtm1018 wrote: »

seebra wrote: »

I'm probably going to get some hate for this thread but ZOS should start considering dropping last generation consoles because it holds game back. I'm not saying that they should do it immediately
but holding them indefinitely is bad for pc users. When it happens we could start seeing big things happening such as new classes, animations, skill trees etc. High isle gave us TOT because of console limitations.

edit: Also to clarify this, I'm not blaming console users for this.

Are pc and console on the same server?

Does performance on console server greatly hampers pc server?

Do console and pc server cross play?

Cant they develop eso any further if they dont drop last gen console? Is that really the case? Did they officially said this? Like, "last gen console is dragging down eso, we cant develop eso any further if we dont cut off those last gen console"

Devs has said that it limits them. I'm at bed atm but I can search it tomorrow.

alternatelder

seebra wrote: »

jtm1018 wrote: »

seebra wrote: »

I'm probably going to get some hate for this thread but ZOS should start considering dropping last generation consoles because it holds game back. I'm not saying that they should do it immediately
but holding them indefinitely is bad for pc users. When it happens we could start seeing big things happening such as new classes, animations, skill trees etc. High isle gave us TOT because of console limitations.

edit: Also to clarify this, I'm not blaming console users for this.

Are pc and console on the same server?

Does performance on console server greatly hampers pc server?

Do console and pc server cross play?

Cant they develop eso any further if they dont drop last gen console? Is that really the case? Did they officially said this? Like, "last gen console is dragging down eso, we cant develop eso any further if we dont cut off those last gen console"

Devs has said that it limits them. I'm at bed atm but I can search it tomorrow.

They never said this. You're basically twisting what was actually said. Maybe look it up before posting the claim.

Hapexamendios

This isn't even a valid option as far as I'm concerned. Between the lack of available next gen consoles and the economy tanking I think it will be a year or two until it is.

FluffWit

Hapexamendios wrote: »

This isn't even a valid option as far as I'm concerned. Between the lack of available next gen consoles and the economy tanking I think it will be a year or two until it is.

Ps5's finally widely available. And you can get an xbox for $250.

I do agree about not doing it right now but even if you're planning on doing it in, say, Q1 2024 you need to make the decision now so the devs know they don't have to worry about the old hardware when they're working on the game in 2023.

FluffWit

robwolf666 wrote: »

I see, so the people who bought and supported the game on console long before the Next Gen came out should simply be abandoned? There's loyalty to a player base for you. They would most likely lose a lot of players if they did that, there's a lot of people out there on last gen who can't find, or afford, a next gen console. (I used to play on XB1 until I was lucky enough to get my hands on a Series X)

You get to keep playing, you just don't get any updates. Just like Rockstar did with GTA 5.

It's time to upgrade your hardware man. If you can't afford a ps5 check out the Series S, it's a fantastic little machine for half the price.

Amottica

Not likely to happen until the number of players that remain on the old console drop to low enough levels, so it does not hurt revenue much.

Hapexamendios

FluffWit wrote: »

Hapexamendios wrote: »

This isn't even a valid option as far as I'm concerned. Between the lack of available next gen consoles and the economy tanking I think it will be a year or two until it is.

Ps5's finally widely available. And you can get an xbox for $250.

No, they're not. Not everywhere has the same situation.

disintegr8

Availability of PS5 is still limited in some countries and they still start at $650 AUD in Australia. Just a guess but I'd suggest that the majority of ESO console players are still on last generation consoles.

And no way am I going to spend that sort of money to play an old game. ESO would have to undergo some really dramatic changes (read new content) and improvements for me to even consider buying a PS5 just to keep playing it. Improved graphics does not count.

jtm1018

Hapexamendios wrote: »

This isn't even a valid option as far as I'm concerned. Between the lack of available next gen consoles and the economy tanking I think it will be a year or two until it is.

Exactly this, I cant buy a ps5 in my area, Manila Philippines. I'm sure as hell not gonna buy for $1000, yeah bleep them.

Molydeus

alternatelder wrote: »

seebra wrote: »

jtm1018 wrote: »

seebra wrote: »

I'm probably going to get some hate for this thread but ZOS should start considering dropping last generation consoles because it holds game back. I'm not saying that they should do it immediately
but holding them indefinitely is bad for pc users. When it happens we could start seeing big things happening such as new classes, animations, skill trees etc. High isle gave us TOT because of console limitations.

edit: Also to clarify this, I'm not blaming console users for this.

Are pc and console on the same server?

Does performance on console server greatly hampers pc server?

Do console and pc server cross play?

Cant they develop eso any further if they dont drop last gen console? Is that really the case? Did they officially said this? Like, "last gen console is dragging down eso, we cant develop eso any further if we dont cut off those last gen console"

Devs has said that it limits them. I'm at bed atm but I can search it tomorrow.

They never said this. You're basically twisting what was actually said. Maybe look it up before posting the claim.

It was said though, in an interview with Matt Firor on a widely-watched stream. You can look up the YouTube video easily.

DMuehlhausen

seebra wrote: »

I'm probably going to get some hate for this thread but ZOS should start considering dropping last generation consoles because it holds game back. I'm not saying that they should do it immediately
but holding them indefinitely is bad for pc users. When it happens we could start seeing big things happening such as new classes, animations, skill trees etc. High isle gave us TOT because of console limitations.

edit: Also to clarify this, I'm not blaming console users for this.

I think, honestly, most would agree with you, but they aren't going to drop a sizeable portion of their money making playerbase.

Paulytnz

Too soon, they will need to wait until Last gen console players only make up about 1-5% minimum of the console player base, and that would have to be the case for both Playstation and Xbox.

They really can't afford to kill off such a big part of the console player base right now. Maybe 2-3 years from now when all the shortage of chips worldwide has been fixed.

That's just my opinion of course, but it will happen sooner or later, that or they will kill the servers or release a ESO 2. Will be interesting to see which happens first.

YandereGirlfriend

Yes, this needs to happen at some point in the near-future.

MidniteOwl1913

Pushing out older consoles before the PS5 can be bought by just walking into a store and picking one up at retail would be a terrible thing to do.

LikiLoki

Perhaps it's time to abandon consoles in general. This device has an expiration date like a phone: if you purchase a console, then be ready to change it as quickly as your mobile phone

Paulytnz

LikiLoki wrote: »

Perhaps it's time to abandon consoles in general. This device has an expiration date like a phone: if you purchase a console, then be ready to change it as quickly as your mobile phone

Nonsense, consoles last a LOT longer than phones/tablets. They might even last just as long as a PC does before it needs upgrading. There's all this talk about the game not being better because of consoles yet no one even thinks of the old PC's that are running the game which may also be to blame.

We have no statistics of how many PC players are playing on machines that are 5+ years old. They could limit the game just as much as an old gen console may. Yet no one ever bothers to talk about that.

rauyran

Simple way to do it is not to release new chapter content on old consoles. They can keep playing the existing content but new content can take advantage of better systems.

Dr_Con

Dust used to be a wildly popular F2P game on PS3, but they were unable to drop the PS3 contract for some reason and had to close it, resulting in some of the worst backlash I can remember... but they never went to PS4 with it. Had they gone to PS4, players would have been less upset.

If they are unable to update their TOS/contract to use next gen consoles and discontinue support for previous gen consoles, then they should consider continuing support for older consoles. I would hope the agreement includes something about this- it should be user responsibility to get the game to work on their machine when the machine gets outdated or is obscure (similar situation: Linux)

Danikat

I suspect the OP is also underestimating the number of PC players with older or lower spec machines. Relatively few people actually buy the best gaming machines available and most only upgrade them when they have to - when something stops working or they literally can't run a new game even on the lowest settings.

Apparently the Xbox Series X or PS5 is equivalent to a PC with an i5-9600 or Ryzen 7 3700X CPU and a Radeon RX6700 XT or Geforce RTX 3070 GPU. So basically bumping up the specs to match the newest consoles would make the game unplayable for anyone who didn't buy a good gaming PC in the last 2-3 years and it wouldn't surprise me if that includes a significant chunk of ESO's PC players.

I did buy a new PC earlier this year and even then the consoles are slightly better than it (i5-2600K CPU and RTX 3060 Ti GPU). That's not a coincidence - I already had a PS5 and didn't want to get a 4K monitor so I picked cheaper components that don't support 4K, but it's not like I had to go out of my way to do that, it's a recommended model from one of those custom build places. (I did swap out a few parts, but nothing relevant here, mostly changing the case to includen a disk drive and getting rid of some of the novelty lights.)

I suppose they could compromise and continue offering slightly lower specs on PC which are still an increase over the current minimum, but any change is going to exclude some people and ZOS may well decide keeping the game available to as many people as possible is more important than a different type of rebalancing.

amig186

Agreed, or just keep the big updates for PC and current gen consoles that can handle them. Might not be fair, but it's better than nobody getting anything, or everyone getting scraps. The game isn't in the best state right now, and it will only get worse if there aren't any substantial additions next chapter.

Kiralyn2000

Danikat wrote: »

IApparently the Xbox Series X or PS5 is equivalent to a PC with an i5-9600 or Ryzen 7 3700X CPU and a Radeon RX6700 XT or Geforce RTX 3070 GPU. So basically bumping up the specs to match the newest consoles would make the game unplayable for anyone who didn't buy a good gaming PC in the last 2-3 years and it wouldn't surprise me if that includes a significant chunk of ESO's PC players.

Yeah, PC MMOs tend to want to keep their system requirements down, because it gives them the widest pool of potential customers.

(I'm playing on a computer I built in 2020, on a budget. Ryzen 5 3600, RX 570. Runs ESO at 1080p, high, 60+fps. I'm pondering a GPU upgrade for this winter or next spring, depending on what/when AMD announces the RX 7600 models. Either that or a current RX 6650 XT, i.e. a bit less than a 3060 Ti.)

Ingenon

Danikat wrote: »

Apparently the Xbox Series X or PS5 is equivalent to a PC with an i5-9600 or Ryzen 7 3700X CPU and a Radeon RX6700 XT or Geforce RTX 3070 GPU. So basically bumping up the specs to match the newest consoles would make the game unplayable for anyone who didn't buy a good gaming PC in the last 2-3 years and it wouldn't surprise me if that includes a significant chunk of ESO's PC players.

If ZOS is going to drop the prior generations of consoles, then they should bump the minimum PC specs to be equivalent. Anyone with a PC less capable than listed above should also be prevented from running the newest releases. /S

Actually, ZOS should do what I expect they are doing now, and raise the required specs to run ESO on both console and PC when most of the player base has the hardware to support it.

Dr_Con

Another thing I forgot to mention is the disparity between active players and active subscribers. If they retire old consoles, they'd be dropping a lot of money per month in revenue from people who don't even play the game anymore. If you look at WoW numbers, they have 10x more subscribers than they do active players, I wouldn't be surprised if the proportion of players who are subbed on console vs the number players active is also largely different as well.

In a perfect world, it would be 1:1 subs to active players, if not a smaller number of subs to active players due to the f2p nature of the game, but I know someone who quit the game like 3-5 years ago but remained subbed until last year. I convinced him to log in and he had over a hundred thousand crowns. I wouldn't be surprised if there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of players like this.