Pitiful Website (esp. Forums)

Methanos

If this is in the wrong forum, please move it to General Discussion, because I can't locate it... Although this could be considered a technical problem, since your forum is completely unusable -_-

Having played numerous MMOs - SWG, LOTRO, SWTOR, and more recently Wildstar - I have to say, for a game that is releasing imminently, ESO has the worst website and forums I have ever encountered.

I don't have an issue with the 'minimalist' design, as I know this probably reflects your mantra, minimal UI, etc. but there isn't even a section devoted to the different classes, under Game Guide. How are you expecting to entice people to play ESO without such basic information?

The biggest problem here, however, is this hideously atrocious forum. I don't even know where to begin. It's the most inaccessible, user-unfriendly format I've ever come across. I can only assume you got your QA feedback for it from a bunch of Skooma-addicted Mudcrabs. It was considerably difficult working out how and where to make a post, especially amongst all of the threads in different languages, which should have their own separate forums. And I know it may seem insignificant, but even aesthetically, all of these tonal colours make reading and navigating painful on the eyes/mind.

You can honestly find vastly better forum templates for free anywhere on the internet. Whoever came up with this format isn't worth a cent of what you paid them.

From what I've played, I really like this game, and I'm a big fan of the Elder Scrolls series, so it's such a shame to see a great game paired with a pitiful forum/website like this. Even more so when you consider the amount of competition in the MMO industry. I appreciate you probably think you're only catering for 'Skyrim/RPG fans' here, but you need to get your act together, because your MMO players won't stick around...

pgiambal

I've actually seen worse.

I thought about writing a thread like this, actually worse, because my game wouldn't work at all and there was no known resolution to my problem.

I took matters into my own hands, fixed my own problem, posted the solution... and I have helped at least 3 other people with the same problem enjoy the game.

FWIW, the forum IS working in its own sorta way.

Methanos

Yeah, I guess it is working to its own limitations. It's just so annoying that there's not even a place to discuss what's good/bad about the game in general. Such a bad omen, 4 days before release -_-

pgiambal

Are these kinda what you're looking for? I agree, a more traditional classic forum structure (like early 2000's structure) is easier to use.

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/categories/pve-content
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/categories/crafting
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/categories/skill-lines

Methanos

Well, I'm certainly looking for categories for General Discussion, Suggestions, Website Feedback, etc. They seem to have all of the in-game stuff covered. I mean, there isn't a General Discussion forum, right? Or am I just blind?

Ironically, I want to make a post about how I can't make a post about how bad the forums are

Unfortunately I'm 3-day pre-order, so I thought I'd log into the forums to see what was going on ahead of tomorrow, and then I found this...

Methanos

Oh, and I can't see a Bug Report forum either.

ZOS_MichelleA

Hello, @Methanos‌. Thank you for your feedback on the forum and website; that said, we would like remind everyone to please be constructive when sharing their opinions (whether they are positive or negative).

In regard to a Bug Report forum, we do ask that players please report any issues they find by using the in-game function /bug. The reason for this is because these reports contain additional back-end information (quests, items, etc.) that may help us isolate the issue and resolve it as soon as possible. Thank you!

Methanos

I am being constructive, if a little frank, but the truth hurts.

I want this game to be successful, but with a forum like this, you'll alienate half your MMO players before you've even begun.

Yshaar

The alienation is part of the plan. Didn't you notice that in game too?

I would like to add that this here is your opinion and solely yours, there may be people that agree and join the band wagon of "bring back old and true" and there are people like me, who actually likes this forum quite a lot.

There are bugs and structural problems and I think they should have sorted them out earlier, but oh well...it is just a forum.

I do not need a suggestions or general forum. The suggestion forum was always full of crazy ideas or the same old "housing!!!" posts. Same goes with the general forum, all the trash is there to be found.

Here we have players helping players - end of story. That's all you need, as you need help to cope with the new forum (*snicker*).

There is a paradigm change going on here and you can struggle and fight against it or embrace it.

What are you missing exactly here? Be specific!