When Was ESO at It's Best?

jad11mumbler · January 4

2015

2015, pre-one tamriel.

Vet ranks, zones were at a set level, PvP dlc, Wrothgar released, as a dlc before chapters were tacked on.

katanagirl1 · January 4

2019

I had to vote for this because of the Elsweyr chapter. It was the best new content with the dragon fights. I was able to find furnishing plans there and make a good amount of gold. Since then it’s gotten worse and I now make more gold from daily crafting writs than anything else, which is not much.

There are things in the game that are better now, like scrying and companions, but the hybridization changes to combat have really killed it for me.

RebornV3x · January 4

2016

I would say 2016 to roughly 2018 was ESO's golden era. So Imperial City to Murkmire with around Wrothgar to 1.9 being the best BUT... I have to say ESO in 2023 going into 2024 is probably in its best state its been since One Tamriel dropped. Its sad that most people have given up on the game and moved on I really hope we get something for the 10th anniversary to get people back into the game.

Udrath · January 4

2017

Summerset and everything before

Turtle_Bot · January 4

2022

I voted for 2022 (early 2022, before the U35 mega nerfing and before the savage werewolf proc meta of U34) because U33 was the last time no-pet sorc (as a class) felt fun to play because resto staff was good enough to give sorc some viable heals allowing sorc to build something other than proc builds or pets and keep up with the top classes of that time.

There was a time in 2018 or 2019 (I think) where the game was very fun to play as well, but that seems like a distant memory now...

kaushad · January 4

2016

I picked 2016 for two guild zones, but I also count Orsinium, Clockwork City and Murkmire in that period.

ApoAlaia · January 4

2022

2023 has brought stuff that I find enjoyable and some very good QoL improvements (I cannot overstate how much I like master crafting stations for instance) however U35 was a watershed moment for me.

It had an immediate detrimental impact on my overall enjoyment of the game and I can't say it has recovered to pre-U35 levels.

James-Wayne · January 4

2014

After beta and day 1 of launch for the first 6 months was easily the highlight for me, such a massive world back then and overland was actually challenging... plus its when Craglorn was great!

KlauthWarthog · January 4

2022

Aside from some bumps on each update since launch (Morrowind having a lot of very big bumps), the game has progressively improved over the years... until they purposely made it worse with U35.

Ye_Olde_Crowe · January 4

2023

For me? Now. The more territories to explore, the better.

gvgisdi · January 4

2022

Pre nerf oakensoul was the best

Stamicka · January 4

2016

Lumsdenml wrote: »

Brakkish wrote: »

Any prior years for me.

Keep in mind while reading, I'm listing these items as seen through the lense of a player who's played since 2014 and absolutely remembers population state then, watched it's continual decline through the years, and to its current state today.

Are you trying to say that the population at game launch was the high point, and it has been in a continual state of decline since then? There are always people who just throw out statements and people assume that they are true. Here are the population numbers from December (just picking a month, but it shows a trend) from steamchart. Now before you try to pick this apart with the argument "steam is just a small part of the overall population" I'll say I know that, but there are enough people on steam to accurately represent trends...

2014 - 843.5
2015 - 3,271.0
2016 - 9,664.4
2017 - 11,648.3
2018 - 12,020.5
2019 - 12,472.2
2020 - 17,804.6
2021 - 17,003.8
2022 - 14,037.7
2023 - 12,263.1

Now, it has pulled back from 2020's December high, however, my guess is that whatever they have planned for the 10th anniversary, it will pull people back in...

It's not the actual numbers that matter in my opinion, it's who these people are. If the new players are mostly solo oriented Elder Scrolls players with little desire to engage in the MMO aspects of ESO, then it doesn't make the game feel any more alive. Brakkish is right that the game used to feel more alive, even if the game had a smaller population numerically back then, most of those people were MMO players and as a result made the game feel more alive.

Think about it, Cyrodiil used to hold 3 to 6 times more people than it does now. On top of this, there were more Cyrodiil campaigns that were full and active during most of the day. Now even with such small population caps Gray Host only fills in the afternoon, Blackreach doesn't get much population at all. I remember big dueling tournaments with many entries and a thriving PvP community.

I remember raiding in the 2016-2017 era as well. It wasn't just one team dominating all the scores, there were multiple teams on every platform that would compete with each other and that were considered good. Besides them however, there were many progression teams, I remember the craze that the maw skin brought and how many people were trying to get it.

So yea the people interested in social activities like dungeons, trials, PvP, and the overall general MMO crowd is greatly diminished in ESO making the game feel more dead. There may be more players on the game, but if they are out solo doing zone quests or decorating their houses, you won't see them and they won't make the game feel more alive.

Aelorin · January 4

2018

Summerset, but I might be biased since I'm an Altmer fanboy!

The physical colletor's edition was also stil very good with a beautifull statue of Mephala and a book!

IZZEFlameLash · January 4

2015

2015 for me. All classes had their unique niche skills and themes back then. Now, it is just a competition of who can spam more procs with their friends or who can be a better discount DPS NB in PvP.

mocap · January 4

When you were able to spam multiple Energy Orbs. Something around 2018, yes. There were indeed somewhat fewer negative posts on forum.

autocookies · January 4

2020

deleted

amapola76 · January 4

2018

2018 was the high water mark for me. Summerset was a big part of it. But there were other areas to explore that were either new or new to me. Clockwork City, Wrothgar, the TG and DB questlines...

Brakkish · January 4

Lumsdenml wrote: »

Brakkish wrote: »

Any prior years for me.

Keep in mind while reading, I'm listing these items as seen through the lense of a player who's played since 2014 and absolutely remembers population state then, watched it's continual decline through the years, and to its current state today.

Are you trying to say that the population at game launch was the high point, and it has been in a continual state of decline since then? There are always people who just throw out statements and people assume that they are true. Here are the population numbers from December (just picking a month, but it shows a trend) from steamchart. Now before you try to pick this apart with the argument "steam is just a small part of the overall population" I'll say I know that, but there are enough people on steam to accurately represent trends...

2014 - 843.5
2015 - 3,271.0
2016 - 9,664.4
2017 - 11,648.3
2018 - 12,020.5
2019 - 12,472.2
2020 - 17,804.6
2021 - 17,003.8
2022 - 14,037.7
2023 - 12,263.1

Now, it has pulled back from 2020's December high, however, my guess is that whatever they have planned for the 10th anniversary, it will pull people back in...

I was in the midst of responding when I determined my reply would be a copy/paste of @Lags post. https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8019234/#Comment_8019234

I echo this.

nickl413 · January 4

2016

Nothing beats adventuring through the unknown in my first play through and assaulting the keeps in 24 man groups.

Additionally, 2016 was before the constant bi-polar nerfing and buffing and pointless changes that have come to characterize the game for me. It began in 2017 when Morrowind dropped and has not stopped since.

IndorilArwynLlethran · January 5

2014

2014. when it was only two non-combat pets, two horseys, a lot of things to learn and explore, no justice system, old provisioning and old bridgefights. and all the bugs and lags could be said as "the game is just new".

ValarMorghulis1896 · January 5

2019

Elsweyr!

Uvi_AUT · January 5

2023

Since the game never changes I vote 2023. But its just like 2014-2022 (minus the horrible CP12-Grind before Championtrees).

SeaGtGruff · January 5

2023

As far as content-wise, I feel like the game is always going to be at its best in the current year, since each year we get more content to enjoy.

As far as performance, I've experienced performance issues from the very beginning-- end of August 2017, IIRC (after the release of Morrowind but before the release of Clockwork City)-- but my experience dramatically improved after my old hard drive crashed and I got a new computer, which was a little over two years ago IIRC, which suggests to me that a lot of the problems may have been on my end. Performance has been degrading again for me during the last year or so. So as far as performance, I'd say 2021, but possibly due to what was going on at my end.

As far as combat, my characters took a blow to their DPS (which was already very mediocre to poor by the average player's standards) back when they first made changes to the resource costs of using most skills as well as to resource recovery rates-- I forget which update that was, but it's been several years now. But I managed to adjust to those changes and got back to my previous level of play. Update 35 had almost no discernable impact on my main characters, but one of the updates after that caused my stamblade main to suffer. Now, once again, I've either managed to adapt or else things got readjusted, so my level of play is currently about as good or better as it's ever been.

As far as the level of playerbase satisfaction, I don't know that that's ever been great, but it has definitely taken some hits at certain times, such as right before U35 (due to complaints and doomsaying related to the PTS) and right after. That hasn't been the only time, though-- and sometimes it almost seems like some players are forever looking for something to complain about and start a riot over. So as far as the playerbase and their feelings about the game, I really have no idea when the game was "at its best."

Danikat · January 5

2018

It's hard to pick a year exactly. For me it has to be after One Tamriel (October 2016) because that's when the game finally started to feel like an Elder Scrolls game to me and before they stopped doing zone DLC in 2023, but that's a long period.

I picked 2018 because although the Morrowind chapter itself ended up good the marketing discouraged me - it was so heavily reliant on nostalgia for TES III that I was worried ZOS were reluctant to do anything new or original, but then we got Summerset which took us to a part of Tamriel which hadn't been seen since Arena, and therefore was mostly unexplored (because of the limitations of Arena) and whilst there are some issues with how it was portrayed I was very happy to see that.

Elseweyr was the place I really wanted to see (especially because it's one of the provinces I think is unlikely to ever get it's own game) but by then they were tying dungeon DLC into the chapter stories, back to nostalgia-farming with the dragons and I wasn't a fan of the heavy necromancy theme.

Having said that I am looking forward to finding out what we get this year.

Izanagi.Xiiib16_ESO · January 5

2014

I think if more of the players who actually played the early years were still around this poll would be a lot different, unfortunately the worst years of the game drove 90% of them away.

Kendaric · January 5

2017

IndorilArwynLlethran wrote: »

2014. when it was only two non-combat pets, two horseys, a lot of things to learn and explore, no justice system, old provisioning and old bridgefights. and all the bugs and lags could be said as "the game is just new".

Well...actually it was 3 or 4 horses

(I think Pinto, Sorrel and Midnight horse + the imperial one if you had access to that)

What was definitely better in 2014 was : No clown store. No flashy mounts/pets/skins.

Danikat · January 5

2018

Izanagi.Xiiib16_ESO wrote: »

I think if more of the players who actually played the early years were still around this poll would be a lot different, unfortunately the worst years of the game drove 90% of them away.

I played the betas, then bought the game in February 2015, shortly before Update 6. (I timed it so my free month would run out right when the game switched to buy-to-play).

I kept checking the forum and news about the game throughout 2014 hoping for an update that would make it worth the purchase price + subscription and instead found out they were dropping the subscription because the game was so unpopular. Then I found a copy for £12 and decided it was definitely worth that much.

I've never regretting skipping that first year, and as I said in my post wouldn't pick any point before October 2016 as my favourite, because for me One Tamriel was the best thing to ever happen to this game. (I think it's kind of a shame they'd already used the name Tamriel Unlimited, because it would have fit that update much better.)

Since it's a public poll you can see the forum profiles and therefore join dates of the people who voted. People who voted 2023 as the best year joined in:
2013 - x3
2014 - x3
2015 - x3
2016 - x3
2017 - x5

I'm not going to go through the entire poll but you can if you like. Incidentally it seems the forum lists votes in order of account creation, so the oldest accounts are always to the left in the list.

Izanagi.Xiiib16_ESO · January 5

2014

Danikat wrote: »

Izanagi.Xiiib16_ESO wrote: »

I think if more of the players who actually played the early years were still around this poll would be a lot different, unfortunately the worst years of the game drove 90% of them away.

I played the betas, then bought the game in February 2015, shortly before Update 6. (I timed it so my free month would run out right when the game switched to buy-to-play).

I kept checking the forum and news about the game throughout 2014 hoping for an update that would make it worth the purchase price + subscription and instead found out they were dropping the subscription because the game was so unpopular. Then I found a copy for £12 and decided it was definitely worth that much.

I've never regretting skipping that first year, and as I said in my post wouldn't pick any point before October 2016 as my favourite, because for me One Tamriel was the best thing to ever happen to this game. (I think it's kind of a shame they'd already used the name Tamriel Unlimited, because it would have fit that update much better.)

Since it's a public poll you can see the forum profiles and therefore join dates of the people who voted. People who voted 2023 as the best year joined in:
2013 - x3
2014 - x3
2015 - x3
2016 - x3
2017 - x5

I'm not going to go through the entire poll but you can if you like. Incidentally it seems the forum lists votes in order of account creation, so the oldest accounts are always to the left in the list.

The PVP at the start of the game in 2014 was some of the most fun and unique experiences in any MMO i've played. The sheer number of players and chaos of everyone being so new to the game, the bugs etc. by 2015 the lag had already started to set in due to the lighting and anti bot patch. Also the PVE competition was actually quite interesting back then too Sanctum actually took a while for players to clear and had a lot of guilds competing.

Unfortunately I think most of the early players from those times will have had their forum account banned if they don't play as there was a lot of complaining and banter which lead to a lot of forum suspensions / bans so this will further diminish the pool of players.

Don't get me wrong there are some other good years to play ESO in and I would go back to them if I could but overall the most exciting times of the game were with that 'new' experience. Going back to a 2014 version now wouldn't be as good as players would know all the problems and exploit them to a far greater degree.

gariondavey · January 5

2018

2018 because we had a massive bg population, hadn't lost so many experienced end game pvpers and pvers to the 3 big patches which lost tons of players: 2019, 2021, 2023, and the previous chapters and dlc were all great: summerset, morrowind, cwc, wrothgar. Cyro populations were massive and caps were like 500 or so.

miloflipper · January 5

2023

Now is the best time. So much content, so many players, such fun and diverse things to do in the game. Makes my head spin lol