Is there still a lot of new players / players doing older content in ESO right now?

TweFoju · August 1

So i am thinking of playing again after more than 3 years of non active, and i still have tons and tons of older maps that still needs a completion ( dolmens, dungeons, group activities, bosses )

just wondering if olders areas from previous expansions are still alive for us to find groups to do old stuffs?

divnyi · August 1

Dolmens on lots of locations are still active.
And whatever they named "group activities" in old zones is perfectly soloable without any issue.
Bosses can be tough sometimes, if you have a daily just ask in zone and share quest to others.

TaSheen · August 1

I would say it depends on which server/platform, and specifically what time of day you would be playing. PC is all I know about - EU is always busy during peak which is when I'm on there; NA is slower but still reasonably busy, since I play there off peak.

Right now, things might be slower due to northern hemisphere summer - I'm not a fan of summer so I'm not out doing anything I don't have to do, but others have vacations, do stuff with kids, etc (no kids thankfully, and I'm retired so I pretty much get to do what I want to do when I want to do it....)

dk_dunkirk · August 1

I've been slowly working through the god-awful number of the "do 30 of these boring and repetitive things for an achievement" missions. The thing that strikes me is there are almost always other people doing the bosses and running around in the dungeons. It may only be one other, but other people are doing these things too. Maybe like me, they're trying to make up the content after coming to the game "late." Maybe they're farming the things that drop from the daily coffers. Maybe they just enjoy playing the game that way. Once I'm through this, I plan to start over at the top of the story missions on my "main alt" for the skill points. Anyway, my point is that the "old" content is still being played. I see it every day. A couple of these missions are tough to do without help, like getting a Nymic group together. I finally soloed the last one I needed. On the other hand, I can't solo the Northern Elsewyr dragons. I don't know how I'll ever get the leads from the Graven Deep and Coral Aerie secret bosses to finish the mythic achievements for Necrom, now that the world has moved on to Gold Road. But I'm digressing.

Stafford197 · August 1

Overall it’s a no. You’ll have a hard time with finding players naturally doing most things in older content.

For dolmens, Alik’r Desert has a constantly farming dolmen group that can be joined. Sometimes this can occur in other zones too. Might be able to hop in before the Dolmen ends to snatch a complete.

Group Dungeon-wise, there’s no one doing those out in zones anymore. You can however queue up to run dungeons, but most likely you will need to queue for a Random dungeon to form a group. Choosing a specific dungeon to queue for will never work unless the dungeon is either brand new, or part of the Daily Pledges (three dungeons per day have a daily quest from the Undaunted Enclave, 2 base game and 1 DLC).

World bosses-wise, you’ll be soloing most of them. Occasionally you can find a message in zone chat of someone needing help at a world boss here and there. You could ask in zone chat for help too, maybe you’d have to wait some time, but eventually a player might show up. Also with the Antiquities system, a bunch of world bosses have specific gold lead drops which can encourage players to maybe show up to farm the boss.

A handful of Events pop up around the year which causes specific DLC zones to have double drops from Daily Quests amongst a few other bonuses, so those are times when you can find lots of people in an otherwise dead zone. This doesn’t happen for base game zones though.

Also some zones have bot accounts constantly farming nodes, particularly low level starter zones such as Betnikh, Bleakrock, Stros m Kai, but also more zones like Bal Foyen, and certain portions of Grahtwood and Alikr Desert too. So the world won’t be completely empty lol, just for the wrong reasons.

There is a group finder which spans all activities so you may want to look into using that. Also I definitely recommend joining a guild because they’ll be able to help you with many things.

Lastly…. The game is very easy. You can kill most things while wearing no gear with only a few abilities. If you can’t get a group for most things, you’ll probably be able to solo them anyway. It’s mainly actual group activities like the Group Dungeons and some World Bosses that you’ll need help with. Dolmens, Delves, anything Overland etc should be easy.

BXR_Lonestar · August 1

I just finished Cadwell's gold on my main character after playing the game since 2016ish, and now I'm starting work catching up on DLC areas like High Isle, Galen, etc. I still see a bunch of people in these areas, even though they're older and less relevant.

Bo0137 · August 1

I really believe ESO's server structure does some magic to put "enough" players on the same layer. For example, if the layer allows 10 people and there are 15 players on the map, it will put 7 in one layer and 8 in the other. That's they way I view it. Because there is always people everywhere, the world feels very alive, even in old zones

opalcity · August 1

I still see people on pseu doing earlier quests - and even if there aren't just put a shout out in chat. I was just tidying up my inventory in vivec, about to log out, and a low level player asked for help with a world boss. Seven of us turned up to help.

Kesstryl · August 1

I think it depends on the time of day because during EST evenings I see plenty of people in base game zones.

LunaFlora · August 1

i do base game daily quests sometimes so yes.
mainly Mages Guild and Fighters Guild quests for public dungeons and dark anchors.

i also occasionally go to old dlc zones for daily quests or for thievery.
Or for trying to get antiquities

tsaescishoeshiner · August 1

I usually encounter other players doing older quests when I play them, especially main quests for old zones. Each zone actually has multiple "instances" with a separate group of players and a separate zone chat. So as long as anyone on your server (EU/PC/platform) is in that zone, you'll be with other players. Sometimes you might be the only one doing a dolmen or specific world boss there--can always ask zone chat for help.

CrashTest · August 1

There's always someone even in the middle of nowhere, but the base game zones are busier than the DLCs.

OsUfi · August 1

PC EU there are people everywhere at all times.

SilverBride · August 1

Stafford197 wrote: »

Overall it’s a no. You’ll have a hard time with finding players naturally doing most things in older content.

I find the exact opposite on PCNA. I have 3 characters that are still working on clearing the base game zones and some of the earlier DLCs and I run into other players everywhere I go. Zone chat is alive and it doesn't seem to matter what time I'm on, it's always lively.

Tandor · August 1

I suggest anyone concerned about being able to complete base game content such as world bosses, dolmens, dungeons and even delves makes a point of keeping an eye on Endeavours. Aim to complete those things when they are either daily or weekly endeavours and there will be no lack of players to play alongside.

SkaiFaith · August 1

Companions and Scribing Scripts give a reason to return to base game Fighters, Mages and Undaunted guilds dailies. Those locations at least should still be relevant.

majulook · August 1

I believe lots new players, but not most are trying to speed level to 50 and start getting CP.

I see lots of low level players in the original starting zones and other places. They could be long time players working on alts, but I would think those payers would mostly be speeding to get those characters to 50.

EdjeSwift · August 1

If anything, you'll find DLC (not chapter) zones more empty than the base game/chapter zones because sans ESO+ they require further purchase.

SeaGtGruff · August 1

I probably spend more time in the base game zones and older chapter and DLC zones thanI do in the newer zones. It's nothing against the newer zones, just simple statistics, since I enjoy running around everywhere in the game and there are many more older zones than there are newer zones. I don't understand why players would want to stop going to a zone just because they already "cleared" it.

El_Borracho · August 1

If you are running a newer PVE DD build, especially an Arcanist, almost all of the older group content is soloable. I did all of the group content, delves, world bosses, those incursion/white portal bosses, camps, etc. including all of Skyreach in Craglorn with my Arcanist with zero problems

Rkindaleft · August 1

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

I probably spend more time in the base game zones and older chapter and DLC zones thanI do in the newer zones. It's nothing against the newer zones, just simple statistics, since I enjoy running around everywhere in the game and there are many more older zones than there are newer zones. I don't understand why players would want to stop going to a zone just because they already "cleared" it.

This is entirely subjective but I don't run around Greenshade or Malabal Tor unless I specifically have something to do there (like antiquities) and would much rather my time spent running around Summerset or the Reach because the base game zones are lacking textures and are much less visually rich compared to anything released since like 2017.

I was running through Eastmarch the other night doing a treasure map and while the base zones probably still look nice objectively, houses and snow textures look way worse than they do in Western Skyrim, the rocks don't look as nice, the NPC outfits are all base game boring.

Bradyfjord · August 2

My brother and I duo a lot of content like older dungeons and arenas. We can even sometimes pull off a vet dungeon, but it's slow.

Depending on your champion points and build, there is a lot of old content you could solo.

Stafford197 · August 2

SilverBride wrote: »

Stafford197 wrote: »

Overall it’s a no. You’ll have a hard time with finding players naturally doing most things in older content.

I find the exact opposite on PCNA. I have 3 characters that are still working on clearing the base game zones and some of the earlier DLCs and I run into other players everywhere I go. Zone chat is alive and it doesn't seem to matter what time I'm on, it's always lively.

That’s fine if that’s your experience. But it’s certainly mot mine, especially in terms of zone chat.

Outside of the major city hubs, zone chat is dead… unless you count bot accounts advertising certain bannable services every 10-20min to be a lively zone chat.

SeaGtGruff · August 2

Rkindaleft wrote: »

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

I probably spend more time in the base game zones and older chapter and DLC zones thanI do in the newer zones. It's nothing against the newer zones, just simple statistics, since I enjoy running around everywhere in the game and there are many more older zones than there are newer zones. I don't understand why players would want to stop going to a zone just because they already "cleared" it.

This is entirely subjective but I don't run around Greenshade or Malabal Tor unless I specifically have something to do there (like antiquities) and would much rather my time spent running around Summerset or the Reach because the base game zones are lacking textures and are much less visually rich compared to anything released since like 2017.

I was running through Eastmarch the other night doing a treasure map and while the base zones probably still look nice objectively, houses and snow textures look way worse than they do in Western Skyrim, the rocks don't look as nice, the NPC outfits are all base game boring.

As I said, "and older chapter and DLC zones." Summerset was the second-ever chapter, released 6 years ago, and Markarth was released nearly 4 years ago, so I consider them to be "older content" (as per the title of this thread) rather than "newer content," especially given that there have been 4 new chapters released since the Markarth DLC.

I agree that the chapters and DLCs generally have better graphics than the base game zones do, although right now I'm not able to fully appreciate the difference because I have the game set to "Low" graphics quality to help it run better on my PC. In the near future I should a better PC to run the game on, but even on my current PC there are certain zones which are, simply put, more visually "stunning" than most of the base game zones, and Summerset is definitely up there near the top, if not at the top-- not necessarily because of the graphics being of a higher quality, but just because of how beautiful the zone is.

Anyway, it's been my experience that there are still plenty of players in the "older content" zones, which was what the OP was concerned about. For instance, I see a lot of other players whenever I visit Stonefalls, Glenumbra, Stormhaven, and all of the other base game zones-- possibly because some of them can't access anything beyond the base game and Vvardenfell yet, but whatever the reason, there seem to be plenty of players still doing the "older content."

SilverBride · August 2

Stafford197 wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

Stafford197 wrote: »

Overall it’s a no. You’ll have a hard time with finding players naturally doing most things in older content.

I find the exact opposite on PCNA. I have 3 characters that are still working on clearing the base game zones and some of the earlier DLCs and I run into other players everywhere I go. Zone chat is alive and it doesn't seem to matter what time I'm on, it's always lively.

That’s fine if that’s your experience. But it’s certainly mot mine, especially in terms of zone chat.

Outside of the major city hubs, zone chat is dead… unless you count bot accounts advertising certain bannable services every 10-20min to be a lively zone chat.

I'm not talking about bots advertising. I'm taking about players chatting with each other. I was questing in Auridon today and players were chatting almost the entire time.

What server are you on?

FlopsyPrince · August 2

SilverBride wrote: »

Stafford197 wrote: »

Overall it’s a no. You’ll have a hard time with finding players naturally doing most things in older content.

I find the exact opposite on PCNA. I have 3 characters that are still working on clearing the base game zones and some of the earlier DLCs and I run into other players everywhere I go. Zone chat is alive and it doesn't seem to matter what time I'm on, it's always lively.

What does "run into" mean. I see some people running past, but not many doing the same things I am. Some are there for Mages Guild or Fighters Guild dailies, or even the Undaunted daily, but not much of the questing.

SeaGtGruff · August 2

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

Stafford197 wrote: »

Overall it’s a no. You’ll have a hard time with finding players naturally doing most things in older content.

I find the exact opposite on PCNA. I have 3 characters that are still working on clearing the base game zones and some of the earlier DLCs and I run into other players everywhere I go. Zone chat is alive and it doesn't seem to matter what time I'm on, it's always lively.

What does "run into" mean. I see some people running past, but not many doing the same things I am. Some are there for Mages Guild or Fighters Guild dailies, or even the Undaunted daily, but not much of the questing.

I know you weren't addressing me, but I regularly see other players doing the older content in base game zones. I can't be certain about whether or not they're doing specific zone quests, miscellaneous quests, or quests in the Main Quest, Fighters Guild, Mages Guild, etc. But, for example, tonight while I was in Grahtwood to play a ToT match, a player called for help with the Lady Solace world boss. When I rode to help them, two or three additional players joined in before the fight was over. And likewise, whenever I decide to fight the world bosses in other base game zones-- Glenumbra, the Alik'r Desert, Bangkorai, the Rift, etc.-- I almost always encounter other players who join in. Edit: The same is also true when I happen to be in a delve or public dungeon in the base game zones. I realize that some of them might be there to farm Antiquity leads, but whatever the reason, they are there doing older content.

Edit #2: Also, the other night I decided to get back to questing on one of my two newest alts (created last year), and I was in Stonefalls doing the zone storyline quest at Vivec's Antlers (just west of Ebonheart). I saw maybe half a dozen other players there, presumably doing the same quest I was since I can't imagine why else they'd be there. And even if I happen to go to one of the starter zones, I see players who appear to be questing there.

ghastley · August 2

Well, there's me, at least. I am leveling up characters on a second account without ESO+, so those are the only zones I can reach.

And I don't appear to be alone. I tried to solo a World Boss the other day, and got help before it went down. Maybe that's the answer; try to do things solo, and other players will turn up!

Elsonso · August 2

Stafford197 wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

Stafford197 wrote: »

Overall it’s a no. You’ll have a hard time with finding players naturally doing most things in older content.

I find the exact opposite on PCNA. I have 3 characters that are still working on clearing the base game zones and some of the earlier DLCs and I run into other players everywhere I go. Zone chat is alive and it doesn't seem to matter what time I'm on, it's always lively.

That’s fine if that’s your experience. But it’s certainly mot mine, especially in terms of zone chat.

Outside of the major city hubs, zone chat is dead… unless you count bot accounts advertising certain bannable services every 10-20min to be a lively zone chat.

I see a lot of people on XBox. In the starting zones, there are more bots farming Ore than players, and I do see the G, O. L.. D sellers. (Aside: if ZOS can't block this sort of thing, they aren't even trying) Outside of the starting zones, where there are fewer bots, I see lots of players doing content, like quests. I recognize where players stand at certain points in quests that I am familiar with. They are talking to a quest giver or NPC that I cannot see.

Console text chat has always been sparse, except for Guilds, and the guilds I am in are pretty chatty. I see a lot of commerce and guild ads chat in Zone. I have voice chat turned off, since I really don't care that Mom wants the trash taken out now, or the Wife/Husband is scolding the kids/dog/cat.

old_scopie1945 · August 2

I am forever starting new characters and find the base zones no problem. It helps if you have a few CP points as well. The quests and general activities are very new player friendly and delves are a breeze. You can come across underpopulated dolmens which may be a problem to solo, likewise world bosses. Base game dungeons are not a problem in a group. Once you are CP 160 with some half decent sets and a few CP points to your name you are up and running. Base zone and crafting sets are good enough for questing. BTW if you start a new character you only get base game daily dungeons up to level 45. So get stuck in and have fun.

zaria · August 2

majulook wrote: »

I believe lots new players, but not most are trying to speed level to 50 and start getting CP.

I see lots of low level players in the original starting zones and other places. They could be long time players working on alts, but I would think those payers would mostly be speeding to get those characters to 50.

Agree, I tend to park new alts at the stable and do RND until 50. If I quest I do it with an cp alt who need skillpoints or I just want to redo quest.