2022: ESO's Worst Year, A Retrospective

CP5

Lauranae wrote: »

Katheriah wrote: »

Lauranae wrote: »

What i know, is that the staff working for us, do it. With the tools and the rights or permissions they l
Personally, i would rather thanks the team for sticking with us, as we are starting to be a quite a negative crowd.
I would not feel motivated to do my job under such pressure.

That's some really nice sentiment and all, but as you said it... It's a job. If you look at the last patch you saw some bugs that should not have gone live. Like sieges that would never go away. It's gamebreaking in PvP and nobody even noticed it. Makes you wonder if they really care. What do their QA testers do all day?!

ESO is a product and not a cheap one. I have been supporting the game with ESO+ and buying all chapters on release. What I'm trying to say is most negative people don't hate the game, we love what the game can and should be.

If you're selling a product, people expect it to work. You can have a bad launch. A chain of bad launches with issues that take a month or longer to fix is getting less acceptable. Add the horrible communication from ZOS and you can expect torches and pitchforks.

I am not saying nothing bad happened and they did nothing all great.

I say that negativity accumulated is enough. You can complain, and explain and even yell and express your anger BUT at the end when there is only that, and the forum is becoming only that, i say its too much.

At some point, if ESO gives you so much anger, you know what to do. I did it on other games. (I dont point YOU sorry if my sentence is not well made - i speak in general)

And baring people to say that they had no problems because you had, is part of the problem. You want to voice your argument but you dont let those who do not have issues express themselves.

So at this point, this is again a unique voice, the negative one, that want to be heard and to silence the others.

---
When ESO had those huge issues with bank and items vanishing at launch, i left the game as i was mad. Shortly but i did it

It's a long-standing trend that ZOS tends to drag their feet on issues unless there is a large community outcry. Without continued pressure issues linger far longer than they should have any right, and if people just stop talking about the issues and either suffer through it or leave those issues won't be fixed and will only be made worse with additional problems added on down the road. Out of a love for the game and a desire to see it succeed, people rightfully speak up about the issues they have in hopes that the problems they have will get addressed. Being silent doesn't work, and even if those who are making noise now do leave, the continued problems will only cause others to keep the discussions going until something changes, either with the issues being fixed or, not.

Snamyap

FeedbackOnly wrote: »

Katheriah wrote: »

Also, for the people that did enjoy the game this year. What do you usually do ingame?

Because for many endgame content performance has just been adding extra challenges and not in a fun way. It's really annoying if you should be getting the achievement you worked towards, but on 5% boss HP the game decides to drop block and your tank dies.

And I'm not even speaking about PvP. That has just been horrible.

It has to be solo players.

The group finder is still bugged taking over 10 mins to find dps replacements

I don't understand how people can't empathize we absolutely got less people playing now and others definitely had glaring performance issues.

How is this okay?

As a die-hard solo player it also wasn't a great year for me. I love questing, I love stories, in theory, but it's soooo laughably easy that it's hardly memorable. It's all finished in a couple of days and then it's months waiting for new content. Lady Arabelle and Jakarn were the most annoying lead npcs ever. I also like to do dungeons solo, but I find it harder and harder to find a reason to do them beyond the first run. Just filling the sticker book with sets I probably won't use ever? No meaningful rewards, anything cosmetic that is remotely desirable is stuffed in the crown store, or worse, crates. I donno, something is missing, or was lost along the way somewhere. It's mostly a lack of alternatives that still makes me log on.

Edit: gold. What's the point of gold. I got around 10 million I think. No idea what to do with it really. Just buy motifs and housing stuff? Is that the whole point of the economy?

OhDios

Lauranae wrote: »

Katheriah wrote: »

Lauranae wrote: »

...

So at this point, this is again a unique voice, the negative one, that want to be heard and to silence the others.
.

If this is a unique voice, why arent we heared? and if we are, why they dont take in consideration what we are asking for?
This game is a business, and they monetize their player base, if it increases then they increase their income, if not it decreases.
Shouldn't They give the customer what the customer asks for?

propertyOfUndefined

Adding my 2 cents...

Back in August, I took a break from the game to focus on closing on a new home for my family, followed by a pretty difficult move from our old apartment. Before then, I was playing daily -- at least an hour a day -- more on weekends. We wrapped up the move in early september, and when I finally had time to play again, I realized I just didn't miss it the way I thought I would.

For me, what I loved most about the game since I started playing in 2015 was how flexible the combat system felt. It allowed me to think up new and interesting builds that nobody had thought of before. Unfortunately, I feel like patch after patch, we lose more and more of that. It's probably an unpopular opinion here, but I feel like in an attempt to pacify whiny players who complained endlessly about what they perceived as "imbalance" (which I often perceived as "build creativity"), the combat system I loved is becoming bland and overly homogenized. Instead of seeing build diversity like I used to, I see all the same classes relying on the same skills, sets and stats.

This past week, I signed on again for the first time in months. My daughter started playing again because the house she'd been waiting over a year for (the antiquarian themed one) was finally available. I came on to see how she was decorating it, and decided to hop on to a battleground as well. I'm not going to lie -- It was fun, and I will probably hop on from time to time to play a match or 2. That said, I doubt I'll be re-subbing at this point. There's just nothing new to keep a theorycrafter like me interested enough. Sure, my bank and inventories are full, but I won't be experimenting with new items anyway.

Give us a new class or skill line... maybe some new combat mechanics? Anything that opens up new build possibilities, and I promise I'll be sinking hours into the game like I used to, and needing that inventory and bank space too!

skyrimfantasy

One thing I've seen tossed around over the whole year was who's throwing the money at ZOS. First it was RPers say they are the biggest money throwers when AWA was announced, at some point it was End Gamers say they throw the most money or PVPers give ZOS money more money than other players, now this thread says Casuals are the biggest money throwers. Which one of those is true? None of them, all of them? We have no way of actually knowing, we aren't privy to their metrics.

Vonnegut2506

When U35 hit the PTS and I got to see what was coming, I quit playing as much. When it made it to live with very little improvement, I quit playing altogether. I uninstalled the game and haven't played since and probably won't play again. So I agree completely, 2022 was by far the worst year for ESO. It made me give up a 6-year daily habit that I really enjoyed. The game right now is not fun, and unless they drastically change direction it will only get worse.

Psiion

Greetings all,

After editing and removing some posts, we'd like to leave a reminder to keep discussion on topic and respectful. The forums are a place for everyone to share their thoughts about all things ESO but we ask that members refrain from personal comments about others. Per the Community Rules:

"It’s okay and very normal to disagree with others, and even to debate, but provoking conflict, baiting, inciting, mocking, etc. is never acceptable in the official The Elder Scrolls Online community. If you do not have something constructive or meaningful to add to a discussion, we strongly recommend you refrain from posting in that thread, and find another discussion to participate in instead."

Moving forward, please keep the Community Rules in mind.

Vrienda

Agree with most of that except for Oakensoul. Imo Oakensoul is the best thing they’ve ever introduced to the game for combat. I love playing one-bar classes because of how clunky weapon swapping felt. It’s been YEARS since my DK was this fun for me.

TwinLamps

cmetzger93 wrote: »

I enjoyed it. Your opinion is subjective

Fun fact. Your opinion is also subjective.
And so is mine.

Card game killed it for me

TaSheen

TwinLamps wrote: »

cmetzger93 wrote: »

I enjoyed it. Your opinion is subjective

Fun fact. Your opinion is also subjective.
And so is mine.

Card game killed it for me

Well, I don't have any use for the card game, but the game's certainly not dead for me. I hope you find something to make the game fun for you again.

Azphira

Can you believe it? Tales of Tribute! In your own homeland! What are you going to do?

jaws343

FeedbackOnly wrote: »

https://steamcharts.com/app/306130#All
October 2018 18,229 players
October 2019 21,527 players
October 2020 33,807 players
October 2021 29,949 players
October 2022 22,010 players

Not wading into the rest of the OPs post, but this player count info is practically meaningless.

You know what happened in 2020 and 2021? A ton of people suddenly had more time to play video games and were unable to leave their homes to do anything else. So, the game went up to unsustainable player numbers.

What happened in 2022? People were finally getting back to some semblance of normal. The fact that player counts are back down to pre pandemic numbers isn't a some gotcha about the games' success.

AzuraFan

I agree 1000% regarding the way AwA was implemented. I've hardly touched my alts since that change went live. I wish they'd take another look and scale it back so only achievements that require a set number of items (do the daily WB quest in a zone 30 times, that sort of thing) are account-wide. At the very least, make the map unique to each character. Anything other than what they have now.

I understand that it's too late for existing characters, but I've love to see some changes for new ones. It would give me a reason to create another alt. MMOs need replayability to maintain a healthy population.

I'm still enjoying the game. Apart from AwA, the type of content I do hasn't been all the much affected by the patches that have killed the game for others. But I think ESO is starting to go stale. They need something fresh in the next chapter or the game will go into a death spiral. This is especially true given that Starfield is being released in 2023. Most single-player TES (and Fallout) players will check it out, and if it's good, ESO better have something beyond the tired old zone formula to keep those players logging in every once in a while, or the game could be in serious trouble.

LesserCircle

It hurts having to deal with some changes they made, forever. As I said in a post I made some time ago, these changes feel like they take more from us than they give.

FeedbackOnly

jaws343 wrote: »

FeedbackOnly wrote: »

https://steamcharts.com/app/306130#All
October 2018 18,229 players
October 2019 21,527 players
October 2020 33,807 players
October 2021 29,949 players
October 2022 22,010 players

Not wading into the rest of the OPs post, but this player count info is practically meaningless.

You know what happened in 2020 and 2021? A ton of people suddenly had more time to play video games and were unable to leave their homes to do anything else. So, the game went up to unsustainable player numbers.

What happened in 2022? People were finally getting back to some semblance of normal. The fact that player counts are back down to pre pandemic numbers isn't a some gotcha about the games' success.

We can't use that excuse forever. People said they would leave and apparently 7000 people did as they promised. This only steam too.

Quality Assurance has gone down as proof we gotten 2 letters of apology.

We are here to say thus year was the worse but we are still here. We just want better.

Don't take away added something meaningful for combat to balance all the drastic gameplay level changes of this year

YandereGirlfriend

jaws343 wrote: »

FeedbackOnly wrote: »

https://steamcharts.com/app/306130#All
October 2018 18,229 players
October 2019 21,527 players
October 2020 33,807 players
October 2021 29,949 players
October 2022 22,010 players

Not wading into the rest of the OPs post, but this player count info is practically meaningless.

You know what happened in 2020 and 2021? A ton of people suddenly had more time to play video games and were unable to leave their homes to do anything else. So, the game went up to unsustainable player numbers.

What happened in 2022? People were finally getting back to some semblance of normal. The fact that player counts are back down to pre pandemic numbers isn't a some gotcha about the games' success.

This would be a convincing explanation... IF we didn't have a direct counterexample of the trend in the form of Final Fantasy 14.

That game is evidently doing something VERY right because they currently pull twice the number of players that they did back in early 2020. Meanwhile, we managed to lose all of the new players and are right back to where we before the pandemic. So our game is, at best, treading water while a close peer is thriving.

Personally, I feel as though ESO really needs to make a substantial splash with the next Chapter (though ditching the Chapter model for less frequent, higher-impact expansions would be even more welcome) to arrest some of this malaise. If events set up to be a 2022 replay, with another feature-light expansion and no clear (or popular) roadmap for the game's overall direction, then I fear that the negative inertia of the game will continue - and possibly even accelerate.

FeedbackOnly

YandereGirlfriend wrote: »

jaws343 wrote: »

FeedbackOnly wrote: »

https://steamcharts.com/app/306130#All
October 2018 18,229 players
October 2019 21,527 players
October 2020 33,807 players
October 2021 29,949 players
October 2022 22,010 players

Not wading into the rest of the OPs post, but this player count info is practically meaningless.

You know what happened in 2020 and 2021? A ton of people suddenly had more time to play video games and were unable to leave their homes to do anything else. So, the game went up to unsustainable player numbers.

What happened in 2022? People were finally getting back to some semblance of normal. The fact that player counts are back down to pre pandemic numbers isn't a some gotcha about the games' success.

This would be a convincing explanation... IF we didn't have a direct counterexample of the trend in the form of Final Fantasy 14.

That game is evidently doing something VERY right because they currently pull twice the number of players that they did back in early 2020. Meanwhile, we managed to lose all of the new players and are right back to where we before the pandemic. So our game is, at best, treading water while a close peer is thriving.

Personally, I feel as though ESO really needs to make a substantial splash with the next Chapter (though ditching the Chapter model for less frequent, higher-impact expansions would be even more welcome) to arrest some of this malaise. If events set up to be a 2022 replay, with another feature-light expansion and no clear (or popular) roadmap for the game's overall direction, then I fear that the negative inertia of the game will continue - and possibly even accelerate.

Exactly it's okay to say this year sucked compared to others.

We want to see it better in 2022.

Something meaningful for chapter this time. Game game was okay but we want true combat addition. This statement echos on all social media with eso.

If you want us engaged in already existing things then add a group finder for dragons, geysers, harrow storms those obvious group quests like in gold cost

I love this game but don't want another year like this one.

TaSheen

YandereGirlfriend wrote: »

jaws343 wrote: »

FeedbackOnly wrote: »

https://steamcharts.com/app/306130#All
October 2018 18,229 players
October 2019 21,527 players
October 2020 33,807 players
October 2021 29,949 players
October 2022 22,010 players

Not wading into the rest of the OPs post, but this player count info is practically meaningless.

You know what happened in 2020 and 2021? A ton of people suddenly had more time to play video games and were unable to leave their homes to do anything else. So, the game went up to unsustainable player numbers.

What happened in 2022? People were finally getting back to some semblance of normal. The fact that player counts are back down to pre pandemic numbers isn't a some gotcha about the games' success.

This would be a convincing explanation... IF we didn't have a direct counterexample of the trend in the form of Final Fantasy 14.

That game is evidently doing something VERY right because they currently pull twice the number of players that they did back in early 2020. Meanwhile, we managed to lose all of the new players and are right back to where we before the pandemic. So our game is, at best, treading water while a close peer is thriving.

Personally, I feel as though ESO really needs to make a substantial splash with the next Chapter (though ditching the Chapter model for less frequent, higher-impact expansions would be even more welcome) to arrest some of this malaise. If events set up to be a 2022 replay, with another feature-light expansion and no clear (or popular) roadmap for the game's overall direction, then I fear that the negative inertia of the game will continue - and possibly even accelerate.

Well.... I can't even look at FF. Does not at all fit my game style. My daughter plays it.... some. But she gets irritated about various things (she emails me, but I have no idea what she's on about). She doesn't play ESO, because she has never had the interest in the series.

Somehow, I just don't feel as if equating FF to ESO has much relevance - I know a number of other people who play FF, but they're seriously into anime and so they have zero interest in ESO.

Bottom line for me is TES (including ESO) is the only CRPG franchise I personally have any interest in - and that interest is ongoing since 1994 when Arena released. I'm fully enjoying ESO, and don't expect that to change any time in the future.

Of course, at some point the servers will go dark. I do hope that TES VI is out before that happens.

FeedbackOnly

TaSheen wrote: »

YandereGirlfriend wrote: »

jaws343 wrote: »

FeedbackOnly wrote: »

https://steamcharts.com/app/306130#All
October 2018 18,229 players
October 2019 21,527 players
October 2020 33,807 players
October 2021 29,949 players
October 2022 22,010 players

Not wading into the rest of the OPs post, but this player count info is practically meaningless.

You know what happened in 2020 and 2021? A ton of people suddenly had more time to play video games and were unable to leave their homes to do anything else. So, the game went up to unsustainable player numbers.

What happened in 2022? People were finally getting back to some semblance of normal. The fact that player counts are back down to pre pandemic numbers isn't a some gotcha about the games' success.

This would be a convincing explanation... IF we didn't have a direct counterexample of the trend in the form of Final Fantasy 14.

That game is evidently doing something VERY right because they currently pull twice the number of players that they did back in early 2020. Meanwhile, we managed to lose all of the new players and are right back to where we before the pandemic. So our game is, at best, treading water while a close peer is thriving.

Personally, I feel as though ESO really needs to make a substantial splash with the next Chapter (though ditching the Chapter model for less frequent, higher-impact expansions would be even more welcome) to arrest some of this malaise. If events set up to be a 2022 replay, with another feature-light expansion and no clear (or popular) roadmap for the game's overall direction, then I fear that the negative inertia of the game will continue - and possibly even accelerate.

Well.... I can't even look at FF. Does not at all fit my game style. My daughter plays it.... some. But she gets irritated about various things (she emails me, but I have no idea what she's on about). She doesn't play ESO, because she has never had the interest in the series.

Somehow, I just don't feel as if equating FF to ESO has much relevance - I know a number of other people who play FF, but they're seriously into anime and so they have zero interest in ESO.

Bottom line for me is TES (including ESO) is the only CRPG franchise I personally have any interest in - and that interest is ongoing since 1994 when Arena released. I'm fully enjoying ESO, and don't expect that to change any time in the future.

Of course, at some point the servers will go dark. I do hope that TES VI is out before that happens.

FF is a top level MMORPG just like ESO. It's a fair equivalent to show retention is a problem ESO.

TaSheen

FeedbackOnly wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

YandereGirlfriend wrote: »

jaws343 wrote: »

FeedbackOnly wrote: »

https://steamcharts.com/app/306130#All
October 2018 18,229 players
October 2019 21,527 players
October 2020 33,807 players
October 2021 29,949 players
October 2022 22,010 players

Not wading into the rest of the OPs post, but this player count info is practically meaningless.

You know what happened in 2020 and 2021? A ton of people suddenly had more time to play video games and were unable to leave their homes to do anything else. So, the game went up to unsustainable player numbers.

What happened in 2022? People were finally getting back to some semblance of normal. The fact that player counts are back down to pre pandemic numbers isn't a some gotcha about the games' success.

This would be a convincing explanation... IF we didn't have a direct counterexample of the trend in the form of Final Fantasy 14.

That game is evidently doing something VERY right because they currently pull twice the number of players that they did back in early 2020. Meanwhile, we managed to lose all of the new players and are right back to where we before the pandemic. So our game is, at best, treading water while a close peer is thriving.

Personally, I feel as though ESO really needs to make a substantial splash with the next Chapter (though ditching the Chapter model for less frequent, higher-impact expansions would be even more welcome) to arrest some of this malaise. If events set up to be a 2022 replay, with another feature-light expansion and no clear (or popular) roadmap for the game's overall direction, then I fear that the negative inertia of the game will continue - and possibly even accelerate.

Well.... I can't even look at FF. Does not at all fit my game style. My daughter plays it.... some. But she gets irritated about various things (she emails me, but I have no idea what she's on about). She doesn't play ESO, because she has never had the interest in the series.

Somehow, I just don't feel as if equating FF to ESO has much relevance - I know a number of other people who play FF, but they're seriously into anime and so they have zero interest in ESO.

Bottom line for me is TES (including ESO) is the only CRPG franchise I personally have any interest in - and that interest is ongoing since 1994 when Arena released. I'm fully enjoying ESO, and don't expect that to change any time in the future.

Of course, at some point the servers will go dark. I do hope that TES VI is out before that happens.

FF is a top level MMORPG just like ESO. It's a fair equivalent to show retention is a problem ESO.

I don't see that. Games are individualized by their "styles". If there are a lot more anime players than "traditional" type players (TES is pretty traditional), then yes FF will have more "retention" or "expansion". I don't see how you can compare such different game styles.

FeedbackOnly

TaSheen wrote: »

FeedbackOnly wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

YandereGirlfriend wrote: »

jaws343 wrote: »

FeedbackOnly wrote: »

https://steamcharts.com/app/306130#All
October 2018 18,229 players
October 2019 21,527 players
October 2020 33,807 players
October 2021 29,949 players
October 2022 22,010 players

Not wading into the rest of the OPs post, but this player count info is practically meaningless.

You know what happened in 2020 and 2021? A ton of people suddenly had more time to play video games and were unable to leave their homes to do anything else. So, the game went up to unsustainable player numbers.

What happened in 2022? People were finally getting back to some semblance of normal. The fact that player counts are back down to pre pandemic numbers isn't a some gotcha about the games' success.

This would be a convincing explanation... IF we didn't have a direct counterexample of the trend in the form of Final Fantasy 14.

That game is evidently doing something VERY right because they currently pull twice the number of players that they did back in early 2020. Meanwhile, we managed to lose all of the new players and are right back to where we before the pandemic. So our game is, at best, treading water while a close peer is thriving.

Personally, I feel as though ESO really needs to make a substantial splash with the next Chapter (though ditching the Chapter model for less frequent, higher-impact expansions would be even more welcome) to arrest some of this malaise. If events set up to be a 2022 replay, with another feature-light expansion and no clear (or popular) roadmap for the game's overall direction, then I fear that the negative inertia of the game will continue - and possibly even accelerate.

Well.... I can't even look at FF. Does not at all fit my game style. My daughter plays it.... some. But she gets irritated about various things (she emails me, but I have no idea what she's on about). She doesn't play ESO, because she has never had the interest in the series.

Somehow, I just don't feel as if equating FF to ESO has much relevance - I know a number of other people who play FF, but they're seriously into anime and so they have zero interest in ESO.

Bottom line for me is TES (including ESO) is the only CRPG franchise I personally have any interest in - and that interest is ongoing since 1994 when Arena released. I'm fully enjoying ESO, and don't expect that to change any time in the future.

Of course, at some point the servers will go dark. I do hope that TES VI is out before that happens.

FF is a top level MMORPG just like ESO. It's a fair equivalent to show retention is a problem ESO.

I don't see that. Games are individualized by their "styles". If there are a lot more anime players than "traditional" type players (TES is pretty traditional), then yes FF will have more "retention" or "expansion". I don't see how you can compare such different game styles.

One game keep it's players after pandemic died down while another barely gained any.

You can love the game , but it's true people left because their were a lot of issues this year.

Wanting better isn't wrong to ask

Ragnarok0130

jaws343 wrote: »

FeedbackOnly wrote: »

https://steamcharts.com/app/306130#All
October 2018 18,229 players
October 2019 21,527 players
October 2020 33,807 players
October 2021 29,949 players
October 2022 22,010 players

Not wading into the rest of the OPs post, but this player count info is practically meaningless.

You know what happened in 2020 and 2021? A ton of people suddenly had more time to play video games and were unable to leave their homes to do anything else. So, the game went up to unsustainable player numbers.

What happened in 2022? People were finally getting back to some semblance of normal. The fact that player counts are back down to pre pandemic numbers isn't a some gotcha about the games' success.

Looking at those numbers from a business development standpoint it looks as if the player numbers are returning to pre-pandemic levels as you stated. On the surface that might seem logical and even okay, but 2020 and 2021 were really the equivalent of a 2 year "free weekend" bump with the number of people who tried out/played ESO for an extended time period while locked down. The real take away from that data is that the large amount of people who were happy enough to play ESO while locked down for two entire years were not convinced enough by the current product offering and quality to continue to play ESO when they were given other options as the world opened back up. To me that is a failure in business development because ZoS failed to maintain any significant portion of their new customer base.

jaws343

FeedbackOnly wrote: »

jaws343 wrote: »

FeedbackOnly wrote: »

https://steamcharts.com/app/306130#All
October 2018 18,229 players
October 2019 21,527 players
October 2020 33,807 players
October 2021 29,949 players
October 2022 22,010 players

Not wading into the rest of the OPs post, but this player count info is practically meaningless.

You know what happened in 2020 and 2021? A ton of people suddenly had more time to play video games and were unable to leave their homes to do anything else. So, the game went up to unsustainable player numbers.

What happened in 2022? People were finally getting back to some semblance of normal. The fact that player counts are back down to pre pandemic numbers isn't a some gotcha about the games' success.

We can't use that excuse forever. People said they would leave and apparently 7000 people did as they promised. This only steam too.

Quality Assurance has gone down as proof we gotten 2 letters of apology.

We are here to say thus year was the worse but we are still here. We just want better.

Don't take away added something meaningful for combat to balance all the drastic gameplay level changes of this year

I don't see how pointing out that an increase of 10k players in 2020, compared to the previous year increase of 3k, and then a slow decline in 2021 as things started opening and people got shots, and then a drop off that went down to more normal levels of players in 2022, is using "that excuse forever".

You can't sit here and say the game adding 10k players in 2020 was because of the game quality. Just like you can't sit here and say the opposite was because of game quality.

The pandemic had a very obvious impact on player numbers and the only way your conclusions that people are leaving the game more than any other year due to quality would be if the numbers dip further a year from now.

FeedbackOnly

jaws343 wrote: »

FeedbackOnly wrote: »

jaws343 wrote: »

FeedbackOnly wrote: »

https://steamcharts.com/app/306130#All
October 2018 18,229 players
October 2019 21,527 players
October 2020 33,807 players
October 2021 29,949 players
October 2022 22,010 players

Not wading into the rest of the OPs post, but this player count info is practically meaningless.

You know what happened in 2020 and 2021? A ton of people suddenly had more time to play video games and were unable to leave their homes to do anything else. So, the game went up to unsustainable player numbers.

What happened in 2022? People were finally getting back to some semblance of normal. The fact that player counts are back down to pre pandemic numbers isn't a some gotcha about the games' success.

We can't use that excuse forever. People said they would leave and apparently 7000 people did as they promised. This only steam too.

Quality Assurance has gone down as proof we gotten 2 letters of apology.

We are here to say thus year was the worse but we are still here. We just want better.

Don't take away added something meaningful for combat to balance all the drastic gameplay level changes of this year

I don't see how pointing out that an increase of 10k players in 2020, compared to the previous year increase of 3k, and then a slow decline in 2021 as things started opening and people got shots, and then a drop off that went down to more normal levels of players in 2022, is using "that excuse forever".

You can't sit here and say the game adding 10k players in 2020 was because of the game quality. Just like you can't sit here and say the opposite was because of game quality.

The pandemic had a very obvious impact on player numbers and the only way your conclusions that people are leaving the game more than any other year due to quality would be if the numbers dip further a year from now.

Ragnarok0130 wrote: »

jaws343 wrote: »

FeedbackOnly wrote: »

https://steamcharts.com/app/306130#All
October 2018 18,229 players
October 2019 21,527 players
October 2020 33,807 players
October 2021 29,949 players
October 2022 22,010 players

Not wading into the rest of the OPs post, but this player count info is practically meaningless.

You know what happened in 2020 and 2021? A ton of people suddenly had more time to play video games and were unable to leave their homes to do anything else. So, the game went up to unsustainable player numbers.

What happened in 2022? People were finally getting back to some semblance of normal. The fact that player counts are back down to pre pandemic numbers isn't a some gotcha about the games' success.

Looking at those numbers from a business development standpoint it looks as if the player numbers are returning to pre-pandemic levels as you stated. On the surface that might seem logical and even okay, but 2020 and 2021 were really the equivalent of a 2 year "free weekend" bump with the number of people who tried out/played ESO for an extended time period while locked down. The real take away from that data is that the large amount of people who were happy enough to play ESO while locked down for two entire years were not convinced enough by the current product offering and quality to continue to play ESO when they were given other options as the world opened back up. To me that is a failure in business development because ZoS failed to maintain any significant portion of their new customer base.

As a person that said above. Something is still wrong no matter how you look at it.

It's okay though, the first step is acceptingly that and moving on to the future

Suna_Ye_Sunnabe

Agree on all points.

SilverBride

TaSheen wrote: »

cmetzger93 wrote: »

I enjoyed it. Your opinion is subjective

Ditto. Been a really good year in ESO for me.

Same for me.

HappyTheCamper

I think they definitely need to drop Q4 dlcs. They always get rushed out and typically break the game more than the other 3 releases, the maps are small and can be beaten in like 2 days, they’re no longer adding arenas or trials to it, and they’ve given it away for free like 3 of the last 5 years so they’re not even making money off it business-wise.

Edit: and people near-unanimously don’t enjoy the year-long stories anymore. We want the stories to be wrapped up in June OR something more grand like Morrowind-Clockwork-Summerset.

NeKryXe

Funny! I loved the mythics and the card game. Both things that made me return and playing more than everything else after Wrothgar and Clockwork.

Maybe you should take a break. I did that with Elsweyr, specially Southerm that I didn't enjoy at all. But here I am again, very motivated by mythics and cards and rebuilding all characters.

It's impossible to make everybody happy. It'll never be perfect, but from my point, it was a very good year for ESO.

FeedbackOnly

NeKryXe wrote: »

Funny! I loved the mythics and the card game. Both things that made me return and playing more than everything else after Wrothgar and Clockwork.

Maybe you should take a break. I did that with Elsweyr, specially Southerm that I didn't enjoy at all. But here I am again, very motivated by mythics and cards and rebuilding all characters.

It's impossible to make everybody happy. It'll never be perfect, but from my point, it was a very good year for ESO.

Losing at least 7 thousand players isn't a good year for ESO especially when other mmorpgs gain like final fantasy

TaSheen

HappyTheCamper wrote: »

I think they definitely need to drop Q4 dlcs. They always get rushed out and typically break the game more than the other 3 releases, the maps are small and can be beaten in like 2 days, they’re no longer adding arenas or trials to it, and they’ve given it away for free like 3 of the last 5 years so they’re not even making money off it business-wise.

Edit: and people near-unanimously don’t enjoy the year-long stories anymore. We want the stories to be wrapped up in June OR something more grand like Morrowind-Clockwork-Summerset.

Actually I love the year long story arc. And I have friends who play who do also. So my anecdotal experience is just as valid as yours, yes?