What is the player opinion of the state of the game?

iiRenity · February 13

Hi everyone. So, I've been a long time ESO player. I enjoyed PVE and PVP (Cyrodil/IC). I took a hiatus from the game after my disappointment in the High isle release, as well as a few other aspects of the game. I am not here to make any complaints, but to give a better understanding of my complaints---chapter stories began feeling stale post-Elsweyr; the state of pvp; the state of the trade economy; and the drastic changes to classes that seemed to be happening every other month, making gear useless. So, I do what I do whenever I get frustrated with a game and I put it down for a while. I am tentatively considering returning, but I am curious to see what the general mood and opinion of the ESO community is.

Do you feel things have improved since High Isle? Worsened? What are you thoughts on the state of Cyrodil and Imperial City if you're a PVPer? What are your thoughts on the 2024 Global Reveal? What is currently the biggest issue in the game needing to be addressed? Has the communication between the devs and the players improved?

TLDR: Inactive player wants to hear the thoughts of the active players on state of the game.

sharquez · February 13

Things have been picking up. there was a two-year low story wise with Blackwood and High Isle but it seems like we are past it with necrom.

IC always has something going on in it now. It's not dead anymore for some reason which I welcome. Excited for mayhem as always.

Cyrodiil is the same as always good sometimes bad mostly. Dungeons have been fantastic.

Infinite Archive was fun (and lucrative $$) but YMMV, it's a whole different style of build for that place than what most are used to. will be back in it when it gets expanded on.

Excited for Scribing I have measured but optimistic expectations.

No comment on dev and player communication i still feel like I'm on thin ice so I'll just shut my mouth.

Brakkish · February 13

The good still outweighs the bad. Isn't that the pivot point for anything?
It is for me anyway; still enjoyable; but not perfect.

Necrotech_Master · February 13

my personal opinion is that the game still seems fine to me

they had a brief test in cyro where they greatly increased the population caps, which was very enjoyable even with the slightly worse lag, but they just reinstated the pop caps that were there after the test ended which sometimes feels like theres not a lot of fights going on in the map, just 1-2 big battles

IC is still usually pretty low pop unless its an event, though i do still see it get into the 2 bar pop range on occasion

im looking forward to the scribing system, might be able to configure a skill to be able to fill in a spot of a weapon or guild skill line that i felt was lacking

Pixiepumpkin · February 13

COMMUNICATION
I think the commuincation has improved. Kevin tonight has even given greater context to some threads and expressed thanks to the community for the feedback.

PVP
I don't play cyrodill. I really prefer WoW style battlegrounds (two factions, head to head) type PVP, so even BG's in ESO are meh. I never liked RvRvR and wish that DAOC type PVP would just go away. Its not been good since DAOC, I don't think it ever will. So I cant give any greater context here.

CHAPTERS
I loved High Isle, thought the chapter was good. Necrom is not really my flavor, but I love the arcanist class. I feel that Arcanist embodies exactly how an ESO class should play out as it really maintains its class fantasy and does well even with just class abilities. I do feel like the Televanni zone and Apocropha zone are a bit dead. I rarely see people there.

GEAR
Gear change is an inevtiable thing in MMORPG's, so I am not really phaed by that. They are nerfing the Tormenter set and that has a lot of folks upset, I share their concern.

GLOBAL REVEAL
Global reveal was good, and I think scribing could be a fun thing in game...but I think it may take a few years for it to mature as more is added. I am not sold on it with the initial offerings (as I don't really play "weapons" in game, I like class abilities).

PERSONAL LIKE
I am really enjoying the group finder, especially for Trials. My wife who has played since 2014 had her FIRST trial the other night. She had a lot of fun. So I think thats a step in the right direction.

PERSONAL WISHES
As far as issues I have:
• Still waiting on a factotum personality
• Still waiting on another clockwork DLC
• Still wanting another magicka based weapon
But these are just personal desires and hopes so.

iiRenity · February 13

sharquez wrote: »

Things have been picking up. there was a two-year low story wise with Blackwood and High Isle but it seems like we are past it with necrom.

IC always has something going on in it now. It's not dead anymore for some reason which I welcome. Excited for mayhem as always.

Cyrodiil is the same as always good sometimes bad mostly. Dungeons have been fantastic.

Infinite Archive was fun (and lucrative $$) but YMMV, it's a whole different style of build for that place than what most are used to. will be back in it when it gets expanded on.

Excited for Scribing I have measured but optimistic expectations.

No comment on dev and player communication i still feel like I'm on thin ice so I'll just shut my mouth.

Thank you for your input! I won't ask further on the dev/player communication from you. I'm definitely not wanting to stir up drama, just looking for some good perspective--which you have provided! Has the lagging in IC/Cyrodil improved any? I'm happy to hear it's more populated!

iiRenity · February 13

Brakkish wrote: »

The good still outweighs the bad. Isn't that the pivot point for anything?
It is for me anyway; still enjoyable; but not perfect.

Definitely. At the time I put the game down in 2022 I found, for me personally that the bad outweighed the good. Obviously my opinion and what I value in the game will be different from everyone, we all have unique preferences. I was curious on what the player base felt at the moment. Thank you for letting me know its still holding up for you!

sharquez · February 13

Dont worry about drama or whatever I dont even know why i said anything. XD

IC is mostly lag-free never had issues, Cyrodiil on off times performs decently too but peak can be a slide show if your in the area with ball groups running around. I'm PC NA in the north east so your milage may very

iiRenity · February 13

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

my personal opinion is that the game still seems fine to me

they had a brief test in cyro where they greatly increased the population caps, which was very enjoyable even with the slightly worse lag, but they just reinstated the pop caps that were there after the test ended which sometimes feels like theres not a lot of fights going on in the map, just 1-2 big battles

IC is still usually pretty low pop unless its an event, though i do still see it get into the 2 bar pop range on occasion

im looking forward to the scribing system, might be able to configure a skill to be able to fill in a spot of a weapon or guild skill line that i felt was lacking

Thank you for your input! I just finished watching the global reveal and the Scribing System seems really interesting. Not sure how it's going to work exactly, but it'd be interesting to see what skills can be made for the different classes.

chessalavakia_ESO · February 13

From a casual perspective, I would say the game is transitioning from a game that you play much of the year towards a game where you play a couple months a year and maybe log in a bit more if you have a horse that needs leveling or want the daily login.

iiRenity · February 13

Pixiepumpkin wrote: »

COMMUNICATION
I think the commuincation has improved. Kevin tonight has even given greater context to some threads and expressed thanks to the community for the feedback.

CHAPTERS
I loved High Isle, thought the chapter was good. Necrom is not really my flavor, but I love the arcanist class. I feel that Arcanist embodies exactly how an ESO class should play out as it really maintains its class fantasy and does well even with just class abilities. I do feel like the Televanni zone and Apocropha zone are a bit dead. I rarely see people there.

GEAR
Gear change is an inevtiable thing in MMORPG's, so I am not really phaed by that. They are nerfing the Tormenter set and that has a lot of folks upset, I share their concern.

Gear change isn't terrible, but I remember there was like a period of a few months where they were like nerfing almost every set while they were adjusting to the new CP system, as well as some class changes. That was more of my concern. I'm glad to hear dev and player communication has improved! Is the Arcanist more of a DPS/Tank/Heals class?

Lumsdenml · February 13

iiRenity wrote: »

Hi everyone. So, I've been a long time ESO player. I enjoyed PVE and PVP (Cyrodil/IC). I took a hiatus from the game after my disappointment in the High isle release, as well as a few other aspects of the game. I am not here to make any complaints, but to give a better understanding of my complaints---chapter stories began feeling stale post-Elsweyr; the state of pvp; the state of the trade economy; and the drastic changes to classes that seemed to be happening every other month, making gear useless. So, I do what I do whenever I get frustrated with a game and I put it down for a while. I am tentatively considering returning, but I am curious to see what the general mood and opinion of the ESO community is.

Do you feel things have improved since High Isle? Worsened? What are you thoughts on the state of Cyrodil and Imperial City if you're a PVPer? What are your thoughts on the 2024 Global Reveal? What is currently the biggest issue in the game needing to be addressed? Has the communication between the devs and the players improved?

TLDR: Inactive player wants to hear the thoughts of the active players on state of the game.

I think the game is a lot more stable than it was a few years ago. The server refresh has done much to improve the performance in Cyrodiil (I play Ravenwatch NA). In fact, I have experienced zero lag in that campaign since server refresh. The wide sweeping changes to combat also seem to be a thing of the past, as there have been just minor adjustments since U35. The economy is what it is, frankly, and I don't see it changing anytime in the future. PC NA prices are pretty crazy, but on the flip side, it's not hard to make money, either, so it honestly isn't that big of an issue. The Necrom story was actually very good, with ZOS actually adding new lore to the game (as opposed to just fleshing out rumors and lesser documents aspects of already existing lore). The population has also been on the rise this winter, posting a 25% gain on average players in the last 3 months (per steam charts). With the addition of spellcrafting light and a hint and some new pvp content coming this year, I'd say jump on in.

GooGa592 · February 13

iiRenity wrote: »

Pixiepumpkin wrote: »

COMMUNICATION
I think the commuincation has improved. Kevin tonight has even given greater context to some threads and expressed thanks to the community for the feedback.

CHAPTERS
I loved High Isle, thought the chapter was good. Necrom is not really my flavor, but I love the arcanist class. I feel that Arcanist embodies exactly how an ESO class should play out as it really maintains its class fantasy and does well even with just class abilities. I do feel like the Televanni zone and Apocropha zone are a bit dead. I rarely see people there.

GEAR
Gear change is an inevtiable thing in MMORPG's, so I am not really phaed by that. They are nerfing the Tormenter set and that has a lot of folks upset, I share their concern.

Gear change isn't terrible, but I remember there was like a period of a few months where they were like nerfing almost every set while they were adjusting to the new CP system, as well as some class changes. That was more of my concern. I'm glad to hear dev and player communication has improved! Is the Arcanist more of a DPS/Tank/Heals class?

If you heard dev communication with the player base has improved, you heard wrong. ESO is still a top down, take it or leave it situation. If anything the communication has decreased. Most people don't bother with the PTS anymore because their feedback is either never acknowledged or outright ignored.

And if PvP in Cyrodiil is your thing, the pop cap has been reduced to 60/faction and it's still laggy during big fights. So don't bother asking a PvP player how things are progressing. During the 2024 global reveal they clearly stated that there will be nothing for cyrodiil in 2024 as well.

If casual questing is your thing, with no competition in fights, then ESO is still decent. But if you like the game for it's combat, mechanics and competitiveness, then you'll agree that ZOS is taking ESO in the wrong direction and in a hurry.

Lumsdenml · February 13

GooGa592 wrote: »

iiRenity wrote: »

Pixiepumpkin wrote: »

COMMUNICATION
I think the commuincation has improved. Kevin tonight has even given greater context to some threads and expressed thanks to the community for the feedback.

CHAPTERS
I loved High Isle, thought the chapter was good. Necrom is not really my flavor, but I love the arcanist class. I feel that Arcanist embodies exactly how an ESO class should play out as it really maintains its class fantasy and does well even with just class abilities. I do feel like the Televanni zone and Apocropha zone are a bit dead. I rarely see people there.

GEAR
Gear change is an inevtiable thing in MMORPG's, so I am not really phaed by that. They are nerfing the Tormenter set and that has a lot of folks upset, I share their concern.

Gear change isn't terrible, but I remember there was like a period of a few months where they were like nerfing almost every set while they were adjusting to the new CP system, as well as some class changes. That was more of my concern. I'm glad to hear dev and player communication has improved! Is the Arcanist more of a DPS/Tank/Heals class?

If you heard dev communication with the player base has improved, you heard wrong. ESO is still a top down, take it or leave it situation. If anything the communication has decreased. Most people don't bother with the PTS anymore because their feedback is either never acknowledged or outright ignored.

And if PvP in Cyrodiil is your thing, the pop cap has been reduced to 60/faction and it's still laggy during big fights. So don't bother asking a PvP player how things are progressing. During the 2024 global reveal they clearly stated that there will be nothing for cyrodiil in 2024 as well.

If casual questing is your thing, with no competition in fights, then ESO is still decent. But if you like the game for it's combat, mechanics and competitiveness, then you'll agree that ZOS is taking ESO in the wrong direction and in a hurry.

This response, I feel, is rather misleading. The devs absolutely listen to feedback... they just aren't going to listen to EVERYONE'S feedback. One example is the complaint that there are not enough earnable mounts in the game, and in the last several additions to the game they have added mounts. They also stated that they ARE adding something to PVP, and I'm not sure how the "combat, mechanics and competitiveness" decreasing is quantified, as most people that i know believe that the combat is some of the most exciting and fluid combat in MMOs.

GooGa592 · February 13

Lumsdenml wrote: »

GooGa592 wrote: »

iiRenity wrote: »

Pixiepumpkin wrote: »

COMMUNICATION
I think the commuincation has improved. Kevin tonight has even given greater context to some threads and expressed thanks to the community for the feedback.

CHAPTERS
I loved High Isle, thought the chapter was good. Necrom is not really my flavor, but I love the arcanist class. I feel that Arcanist embodies exactly how an ESO class should play out as it really maintains its class fantasy and does well even with just class abilities. I do feel like the Televanni zone and Apocropha zone are a bit dead. I rarely see people there.

GEAR
Gear change is an inevtiable thing in MMORPG's, so I am not really phaed by that. They are nerfing the Tormenter set and that has a lot of folks upset, I share their concern.

Gear change isn't terrible, but I remember there was like a period of a few months where they were like nerfing almost every set while they were adjusting to the new CP system, as well as some class changes. That was more of my concern. I'm glad to hear dev and player communication has improved! Is the Arcanist more of a DPS/Tank/Heals class?

If you heard dev communication with the player base has improved, you heard wrong. ESO is still a top down, take it or leave it situation. If anything the communication has decreased. Most people don't bother with the PTS anymore because their feedback is either never acknowledged or outright ignored.

And if PvP in Cyrodiil is your thing, the pop cap has been reduced to 60/faction and it's still laggy during big fights. So don't bother asking a PvP player how things are progressing. During the 2024 global reveal they clearly stated that there will be nothing for cyrodiil in 2024 as well.

If casual questing is your thing, with no competition in fights, then ESO is still decent. But if you like the game for it's combat, mechanics and competitiveness, then you'll agree that ZOS is taking ESO in the wrong direction and in a hurry.

This response, I feel, is rather misleading. The devs absolutely listen to feedback... they just aren't going to listen to EVERYONE'S feedback. One example is the complaint that there are not enough earnable mounts in the game, and in the last several additions to the game they have added mounts. They also stated that they ARE adding something to PVP, and I'm not sure how the "combat, mechanics and competitiveness" decreasing is quantified, as most people that i know believe that the combat is some of the most exciting and fluid combat in MMOs.

They specifically said that nothing for PvP until Q4, and that it won't be Cyrodiil related. ZOS has done nothing but scale back Cyrodiil PvP since it's inception. The original pop cap was 600/faction I think. Now it's only 60/faction. That's why que times are so long now. If they're using the new hardware for Cyrodiil, why'd they lower the pop cap again?

Lumsdenml · February 13

GooGa592 wrote: »

Lumsdenml wrote: »

GooGa592 wrote: »

iiRenity wrote: »

Pixiepumpkin wrote: »

COMMUNICATION
I think the commuincation has improved. Kevin tonight has even given greater context to some threads and expressed thanks to the community for the feedback.

CHAPTERS
I loved High Isle, thought the chapter was good. Necrom is not really my flavor, but I love the arcanist class. I feel that Arcanist embodies exactly how an ESO class should play out as it really maintains its class fantasy and does well even with just class abilities. I do feel like the Televanni zone and Apocropha zone are a bit dead. I rarely see people there.

GEAR
Gear change is an inevtiable thing in MMORPG's, so I am not really phaed by that. They are nerfing the Tormenter set and that has a lot of folks upset, I share their concern.

Gear change isn't terrible, but I remember there was like a period of a few months where they were like nerfing almost every set while they were adjusting to the new CP system, as well as some class changes. That was more of my concern. I'm glad to hear dev and player communication has improved! Is the Arcanist more of a DPS/Tank/Heals class?

If you heard dev communication with the player base has improved, you heard wrong. ESO is still a top down, take it or leave it situation. If anything the communication has decreased. Most people don't bother with the PTS anymore because their feedback is either never acknowledged or outright ignored.

And if PvP in Cyrodiil is your thing, the pop cap has been reduced to 60/faction and it's still laggy during big fights. So don't bother asking a PvP player how things are progressing. During the 2024 global reveal they clearly stated that there will be nothing for cyrodiil in 2024 as well.

If casual questing is your thing, with no competition in fights, then ESO is still decent. But if you like the game for it's combat, mechanics and competitiveness, then you'll agree that ZOS is taking ESO in the wrong direction and in a hurry.

This response, I feel, is rather misleading. The devs absolutely listen to feedback... they just aren't going to listen to EVERYONE'S feedback. One example is the complaint that there are not enough earnable mounts in the game, and in the last several additions to the game they have added mounts. They also stated that they ARE adding something to PVP, and I'm not sure how the "combat, mechanics and competitiveness" decreasing is quantified, as most people that i know believe that the combat is some of the most exciting and fluid combat in MMOs.

They specifically said that nothing for PvP until Q4, and that it won't be Cyrodiil related. ZOS has done nothing but scale back Cyrodiil PvP since it's inception. The original pop cap was 600/faction I think. Now it's only 60/faction. That's why que times are so long now. If they're using the new hardware for Cyrodiil, why'd they lower the pop cap again?

Can you link that info on the 60/faction pop cap, please?
I'm not a dev, nor do I have any other inside info, and the only thing I can speak to is my own experience. I play in Ravenwatch, and have experienced zero lag since server refresh. I assume you are talking about GreyHost?
Regarding the new new Cyrodiil content, I said that is misleading because you said "So don't bother asking a PvP player how things are progressing. During the 2024 global reveal they clearly stated that there will be nothing for cyrodiil in 2024 as well" which gives the impression that they are doing nothing for PVP. I agree they said nothing for Cyrodiil, but there are planning on new PVP content. I just wanted to make that clear, that is all.

tomofhyrule · February 13

A lot of this comes to personal preference. Yes, there are a lot of people here on the forums who will claim "DEAD GAME" every minor change, and another large faction who will absolutely go down with the ship. It's really what you find appealing yourself.

As to more specifics of what's gone on since you left...

The stories have been all over. I personally thought High Isle's story was the worst pile of garbage I've ever had the misfortune of playing, but Galen's line was great. It just took me literally a year to psych myself up to do the epilogue because I hated the High Isle story so much. Necrom's story was much better, however, and I did enjoy it.

The Scribes of Fate dungeons (Bal Sunnar and Scrivener's Hall) are great - the dungeon team has been consistently putting out bangers. Bal Sunnar's story took me a few runs to get into it, but it was really a cool story once you wrapped your head around it. The dungeon does suffer a bit from 'visual overload and visual distraction as mechanic' though, particularly on the first boss. However, both are good challenges and I really enjoy them, but then again dungeons are my thing.

The Arcanist class is stupid fun. Granted, it can come off as a laser rave at times, but it's obvious that the devs really took their time with it. I really love playing my Arcanist. Like the other DLC classes, it's got its three lines set as pretty well one-per-role, but there does feel like there's a lot of synergy there. Arcanist DPS is currently a bit overtuned and is reminiscent of the original Oakensorc release, but it's a very low-APM way to get high DPS, which is getting a minor nerf coming (but one that's deserved). I play mine more as a support, and it's also very useful there.

The Infinite Archive added last fall was a lot of fun as well. The class sets are take-or-leave, but I really like seeing the older bosses coming back and it was a lot more fun than I anticipated.

As for your other specifics:

PvP is still there, and it's still at the point where everyone uses the same meta. We do know there's something PvP-related coming in Q4 this year, but otherwise it's mostly been new Rewards sets. Everyone has a different story about lag and population, which makes me think that local connection is the most important thing - I rarely have PvP lag, but then again I don't go in that often because I swear there's an addon that highlights when I'm in PvP that brings the entire map to my location. It's become a guild in-joke that Yellow and Blue will both detach from the final emp keep specifically to find me at Farragut farm and kill me on repeat.

Trading is still what it always was. I'm in a guild and use TTC to price motifs from dungeons, but I can't be bothered to go flipping things and give my life to it. I just buy my raffle tickets weekly and go on.

The combat system actually settled down a bit post U35, but that's about to pick right back up with U41 coming soon. The next patch will give major overhauls to status effects and will also end up removing the bread-and-butter of the Necromancer's kit. It's a... questionable choice, even for someone like me who doesn't play Necro at any kind of a high level. No-pet Sorc is getting a bone thrown to them though.

I will say that I can't remember the last time I changed my gear around. Granted, I tank so Yol/TT is my go to, but even my DPS friends are mostly sticking to the latest Trial gear in some fights, but going back to older gear for others.

Personally, I'm still here. Yes, there have been some gamebreaking bugs (there was one that hit me on Necrom's release that took almost two months to fix, preventing me from playing any story content at all), and yes, the communication is as it's always been despite promises to change (but Kevin's been great!). I'm excited for the new stuff because I enjoy playing many aspects of this game, so I can always find something to do. And even when I do get frustrated, I have other games to play to cool off a bit so I can come back.

I feel like it's a very personal thing as to whether it's worth it or not. You could ask ten different people and get ten different answers. But I think your view also will end up being a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy - if you think it's not worth coming back, you're gonna see a lot of negatives. But if you're interested in seeing the new stuff, you'll likely see some fun new things. Either way, I'd suggest checking it out and seeing how you feel rather than relying 100% on what anyone says. And I see you say a lot about PvP - we're getting another MYM event coming up in the next week or so.

TaSheen · February 13

I loved Blackwood and High Isle. I really disliked Western Skyrim and all the vampire crap. Necrom's okay - I don't mind Mora, and it sounds like I'm going to really enjoy Gold Road/Skingrad/West Weald (was one of my favorite areas in Oblivion).

I don't pvp at all. Can't speak to that. I also don't do group content, as my only connection (other than dial-up) is satellite, and the mega-ping is just horrible. So I solo what I can, in crafted and overland sets. I do have a lot of fun in this game, so it suits me quite well.

YMMV of course!

Necrotech_Master · February 13

Lumsdenml wrote: »

GooGa592 wrote: »

Lumsdenml wrote: »

GooGa592 wrote: »

iiRenity wrote: »

Pixiepumpkin wrote: »

COMMUNICATION
I think the commuincation has improved. Kevin tonight has even given greater context to some threads and expressed thanks to the community for the feedback.

CHAPTERS
I loved High Isle, thought the chapter was good. Necrom is not really my flavor, but I love the arcanist class. I feel that Arcanist embodies exactly how an ESO class should play out as it really maintains its class fantasy and does well even with just class abilities. I do feel like the Televanni zone and Apocropha zone are a bit dead. I rarely see people there.

GEAR
Gear change is an inevtiable thing in MMORPG's, so I am not really phaed by that. They are nerfing the Tormenter set and that has a lot of folks upset, I share their concern.

Gear change isn't terrible, but I remember there was like a period of a few months where they were like nerfing almost every set while they were adjusting to the new CP system, as well as some class changes. That was more of my concern. I'm glad to hear dev and player communication has improved! Is the Arcanist more of a DPS/Tank/Heals class?

If you heard dev communication with the player base has improved, you heard wrong. ESO is still a top down, take it or leave it situation. If anything the communication has decreased. Most people don't bother with the PTS anymore because their feedback is either never acknowledged or outright ignored.

And if PvP in Cyrodiil is your thing, the pop cap has been reduced to 60/faction and it's still laggy during big fights. So don't bother asking a PvP player how things are progressing. During the 2024 global reveal they clearly stated that there will be nothing for cyrodiil in 2024 as well.

If casual questing is your thing, with no competition in fights, then ESO is still decent. But if you like the game for it's combat, mechanics and competitiveness, then you'll agree that ZOS is taking ESO in the wrong direction and in a hurry.

This response, I feel, is rather misleading. The devs absolutely listen to feedback... they just aren't going to listen to EVERYONE'S feedback. One example is the complaint that there are not enough earnable mounts in the game, and in the last several additions to the game they have added mounts. They also stated that they ARE adding something to PVP, and I'm not sure how the "combat, mechanics and competitiveness" decreasing is quantified, as most people that i know believe that the combat is some of the most exciting and fluid combat in MMOs.

They specifically said that nothing for PvP until Q4, and that it won't be Cyrodiil related. ZOS has done nothing but scale back Cyrodiil PvP since it's inception. The original pop cap was 600/faction I think. Now it's only 60/faction. That's why que times are so long now. If they're using the new hardware for Cyrodiil, why'd they lower the pop cap again?

Can you link that info on the 60/faction pop cap, please?
I'm not a dev, nor do I have any other inside info, and the only thing I can speak to is my own experience. I play in Ravenwatch, and have experienced zero lag since server refresh. I assume you are talking about GreyHost?
Regarding the new new Cyrodiil content, I said that is misleading because you said "So don't bother asking a PvP player how things are progressing. During the 2024 global reveal they clearly stated that there will be nothing for cyrodiil in 2024 as well" which gives the impression that they are doing nothing for PVP. I agree they said nothing for Cyrodiil, but there are planning on new PVP content. I just wanted to make that clear, that is all.

as far as im aware there is no official record of the current pop caps

the ESO support website used to say the cap was 1800 players (600 per faction), but that is from a long time ago

people also been assuming the pop cap was lowered further than what it was after the pop cap increase test, which i seen no proof of either (it seems to me to be about what it was before the tests, which is what they said it would be changed to after the test concluded)

i hope the plan is to increase the pop cap again at some point, as it felt a lot more big fights happening at any one time instead of 1 or 2 big battles

moo_2021 · February 13

oak ring is really great for pvp

armory saves me from having to train more than 7 characters.

no interest in IA or more nightmarish dungeons. I have only one character left for pledges.

new chapters and cities look good and get better and better

DrNukenstein · February 13

Characters have so much base power that in the context of all the options available to a build a good pvp build isn't specialized at all. It's a stat monster that heals, deals, mitigates and sustains it all too.

It's killing/killed the pvp scene depending on who you ask, and there's no sign of any plans on reversing it. They may finally be adding new PVP content this year, but until they make builds specialize instead of optimizing stat density it's going to be more of the same. More stalemates, more ape strong together.

WiseSky · February 13

I like the game.

Dax_Draconis · February 14

My opinion is that the PvE questing is great, and the overland enemies are appropriate for new players. The dungeons however are broken. The default is to speed through them as fast as possible without any time to listen to the dialogue or to even open a chest without being pulled to the next boss. That's not good or healthy for the game when first timers don't even get to play the dungeons as intended and have to be inconvenienced to form a special group to do so.

Otherwise, I am still enjoying the game.

dinokstrunz · February 14

COMMUNICATION
Same old same old really, just look at the recent combat changes, zero acknowledgement, nothing based on player feedback for the past several updates. ZoS just does what ZoS just wants to do really. Real pity as they have a great combat system but waste it with garbage design choices.

PVP
I've played PvP right from the start, it has its ups and downs. Currently the game is experiencing some really stale combat thanks to the overwhelming abundance of free damage available to players (status effects & proc sets) are extremely heavy in use. No CP no proc campaign (Ravenwatch) is practically a dead campaign on PCEU. Battleground queues are becoming longer with the invisible MMR system & awful group system working at odds against each other. Group queues for Battlegrounds are ill advised unless you can bare the outrageous waiting times.

Chapters
The last chapter (Necrom) was much better in terms of content but the last several were pretty bad especially High Isle, that chapter was dry, awful story, nobody gave a flying monkeys about the card game. Blackwood was very whatever. If future chapters can provide like Necrom did then perhaps they will do quite well.

Gear
A lot of the more recent gear sets are really either terrible or a complete power creep. A lot of sets have made the games hybridization push much more of a paint point since everyone practically runs the same boring sets as there have been a lack of changes to the obvious sets that need it. Looking at you Rallying Cry, like how has sets like that not been nerfed, so overstated its ridiculous.

Global Reveal
Eh they didn't really delve too much into the new stuff that most people want to hear about which is slightly worrying.

Overall
Overall the game is just pretty boring at the moment, nothing feels fresh or fun anymore, from what I hear about end game its not doing great. A lot of people are tuning out or waiting for fresh updates to bring them back to the game. Just a whole not a lot of reason to play ESO as of right now.

I just hope ZoS can get their act together and improve this game because I love it so much but I really have my doubts everything will be just another same old same old. 10th anniversary would be a bad year for ZoS to fail to deliver as usual.

uniqpy · February 14

The direction of the game is towards the casual majority. Which isn’t bad for the health of the player count but definitely leads to fatigue for veterans.

There are some major positives:
• Overwhelming amount of good content
• Server Lag issues seem fixed
• Still a great community
• Good player count
• Set changed and Class changes no longer as radical with each patch

And some major negatives:
• Questionable monetisation in the crown store
• Lack of in-game rewards
• Neglect of PVP for the most part
• Lack of content creators
• Constructive criticism being deleted by ZOS

Overall i think ESO is an amazing game and have sunk thousands of hours in, i love pvp & pve. The devs do also seem to be starting to listen to the community with scribing and in-game earn-able custom actions coming in the next chapter. I’d recommend it to most people. Give it another go.

Jestir · February 14

The game continues a steady downward trend when it comes to the player base and, from appearances at least, effort to improve the game from the developers.

Absolutely nothing we have been shown about what is to come this year seems like it will change anything about it. I really hope that I am proven to just be a Debby downer and the we get blown away with what is to come, but it looks like a wimper of a 10th anniversary year so far.

And again Even though I said that, Necrom/last year was probably the best expansion/year content wise (unless you look at PvP) for the game in a good bit and I'm hoping that this absolute nothing burger of a Q1 patch gets forgotten about for a good reason after Gold Road releases.

Destai · February 14

I think the game is in a great place, feature rich, and has a promising year ahead.

colossalvoids · February 14

I'd go with your questions directly as don't want to moan about the game I don't enjoy as much anymore as I'm pretty happy about my broken ESO addiction, ty zos at least for that.

I'm mostly dungeons/arenas main nowadays, lost interest in trials somewhere before Blackwood patch. Was doing primarily trifecta progs and joining newer players learning runs to lend a hand. PvP wise I'm not consistent being on for couple days and off for months now, whilst being pretty frequent before Elsweyr and enjoying it a lot. Balance and performance issues were apparent before but game lost it's charm at the time for me to cut on my time.

Since HI things didn't changed much, overall PvP performance is way better it ever was on pceu, but balance wise I'm lagging behind on metas severely and have no motivation to catch up as everything is too tanky for my taste.

Reveal was underwhelming as they took a system everyone was craving for and watered it down seemingly, will see if that's how it is in actuality but seems like. On a PvP feature I don't trust them enough to be happy in advance. Too many years and too many broken promises, it seems like they deliberately doing things that people don't want at times lol.

You won't believe but communication is probably even worse now, even after myriads of promises about improving it since said Elsweyr.

Zos needs a lot of stuff but for some reason I'm at opinion that it's too late already as people who made the community the better and brighter place are long gone and are in better places nowadays.

agelonestar · February 14

Things have been improving significantly.

Necrom was a real return to form in terms of gameplay and content while game performance is the best it’s been in years.

I would dearly love to see Cyrodiil and PVP in general get some much-needed love - and it’s honestly criminal that it’s taken this long - but that’s really my only serious gripe right now.

PS…. well….. except I’d like to have more furnishing slots in my houses 😉

Thee_Cheshire_Cat · February 14

i see people discussing everything but one thing... Role-Play.

This is a passionate and important thing to me, and it makes me a little sad to see people passing over, that this is a role-play game.

i'm not entirely referring to the 'RP' the developers are offering in their quests and storylines, but more so what they are offering in the open world- or, not offering.

The fact there are SO MANY chairs in the open world that you CANNOT sit on, is just mind-blowing to me. Why can't they code in the ability to use them, unless they are obstructed? Places should be designed with role-players in mind.

Beds, that characters can't lie on, this seems to have been an ongoing issue for people for a long time now and still, it goes untouched.

Fine-tuning character customization, placing things where they make sense so we can use other things too, (like the briar rose tattoo thing... can't use that with glowing eyes...) Tattoos- the full body monstrosities that people may like to use only certain pieces of, the choice for that...

Emotes, bathing emote, for example, other sitting emotes that are available in game for the NPCs, what about us? The ability to sit in a chair AND drink or laugh- would be nice, for starters.

A dedicated RP server.... Come on, that should have been standard a LONG time ago. It's like a footwear shop that doesn't offer footwear, but is throwing everything else at you in hopes you don't notice they don't offer what is in the actual name.

This is just stuff off the top of my head. i feel after ten years the game could be doing better for role-players. We are a loyal type of people, though we may not carry the numbers of the other types of players, we are a valuable base that i feel are being overlooked for all the other stuff.

Priyasekarssk · February 14

It’s like cat on the wall to me. I am feeling it’s slowly dying and a miracle needed to reverse the trends. Amount of fixes/improvements each release is way too slow. Also, I feel chapters upgrade won’t worth the money. Majority won’t care about crown store. But need to reduce prices for chapter upgrades/Eso plus. Respect value for money for essential items. Get more players playing. Always revenue is important than profit. Inventory management really pisses people off. Still one good big release can change the state of the game. Game won’t die because of amount of PVE content. The craze of new eso releases is long dead.