Is it worth coming back to ESO in 2024?

OWLTHEMAD

I have a lot of good memories with this game. Started playing back when Orsinium dropped. . . and really got into it during morrowind. I felt like this game peaked at summerset. Never enjoyed the game more than back then. Elseweyr was great. . . but I noticed a trend beginning to form with development and classes. Each patch my class got less and less fun (nightblade for reference) It kept getting worse. and worse. I kept thinking next patch, next patch, we will finally get a real buff. Never really felt like it. But I persisted. I had friends and PvP was still fun. . .night blade shenanigans were always a blast. . . but then pvp performance started to get worse and worse. . . Sometimes I would go into cyrodil or battlegrounds, and I would just sit and wait because the population or queues were so unpopulated due to lag. . . and just in general the experience just kept getting worse and worse. I felt like veteran players were disrespected in favor of attracting new players. . . the game play became less and less fun, new mechanics tended to be brutal but unintelligent with tons of one shots. . . Et cetera. The game just kept getting worse. My friends I played with for years couldn't take it and drifted away from the game. . .and then eventually I did.

in spite of it all. . . I dearly miss this game still. but. . . I know I miss what it was.

So my question is, in light of all this. . . Is the game worth coming back to in 2024? Have they improved. . . anything? Is cyrodill playable or a laggy mess? Have nightblades received some legitimate love with out completely demolishing their playstyle? Have other classes? If I come back, is my build for both pvp and pve each going to change drastically with each patch? Is battlegrounds at least populated? How are the new quests? Are they mind numbingly easy still? Or do they make up with it with actual decent story telling like we had back in Orsinium? How is pve and the new dungeons and Trials? How is Pvp? Any new updates on that front that aren't strictly performance based? Any new maps? modes?

I miss this game and am thinking about starting over fresh on pc. . . but if returning is just gonna make me feel bitter about what it used to be, I will bury it for good.

Surragard

If you've spent this much time debating it I'd probably just log in and play and see what you think :-)

The one thing I do find hard about ESO is any time you take a break you probably need to alter your build when you come back because the patches and balancing are frequent. There are plenty of guides online to help you out though if you're looking to get back in.

Sluggy

I also found Summerset to be my favorite patch and I have to admit that this year seems in some ways to be the... how to put it... least disappointing patch since then? I'm not super excited about anything. But at the same time there's very little that makes me go 'ugh'. I even think some of the stuff they've added is cool (even if some is also busted (literally in some cases, figuratively in others). I don't really do PvE anymore so I can't say how that is these days but there's tons of zones and new dungeons if that's your thing. Some of the zones seem a bit meh but that's coming from a person that never really liked the 'quests' or 'exploration' this game offers. Overall if you temper your expectations you'll probably find you can enjoy yourself.

If you're into Cyrodiil then that's a bit of a mixed bag. Performance is significantly better than it was a couple of years ago. There are still times when the server hamster catches fire while lying upside down but it's not like before where the game literally just didn't function all night long. In some ways things feel a bit exciting and interesting (unpopular opinion - I think the CP 2.0 was a vast improvement over the old system for PvP) but there's also some nonesense that rreally I just don't know how to justify (pull sets are rampant and oboxious). Again, temper your expectations and accept that this is probably the best it was, best it is, and best it ever will be and you'll probably find some fun in it.

What have you got to loose? You own the game already. Pop in for a night and try things out.

LunaFlora

you should play the game and see if it's worth it by yourself as nobody else can know if it's worth it to you.

i love the stories after Orsinium, but others don't.
If you think quests were easy years ago you will probably still think the same as zos wants everyone to be able to do story quests.
And they aren't adding Veteran Overland.

some trials are fun and some less.

PvP gets a new feature in update 44 this year's 4th quarter, no idea what it is yet besides that it is not Cyrodiil related.


We got the Arcanist class in 2023 with the Necrom chapter, it has Apocrypha magic which is very green. it has a nice channel attack called Fatecarver.

this year we got Scribing in the Gold Road chapter which added 11 grimoires which are skills you can customise.
here's ESO Hub's Scribing simulator to see how the skills can be customised.
https://eso-hub.com/en/scribing-simulator?combination=,,,,

both features are popular in pvp, i think, so maybe you'll like them too

OWLTHEMAD

Okay, so for added context guys. . . I no longer have an xbox, so my old xbox version of the game may as well not be a thing.

I need opinions, because If i get back into the game that means reinvesting in it on pc. A pricy thing.

Right now I'm trying to see if I get a really good response, or a really bad response. IF I get even a maybe response overall. . . I might buy the game. Just trying to see how the overall committed player base feels. The vets you might say.

OWLTHEMAD

I'll also add, that to do so means buying a second hardrive for my pc so there is that as well. . .

EdjeSwift

OWLTHEMAD wrote: »

Okay, so for added context guys. . . I no longer have an xbox, so my old xbox version of the game may as well not be a thing.

I need opinions, because If i get back into the game that means reinvesting in it on pc. A pricy thing.

Right now I'm trying to see if I get a really good response, or a really bad response. IF I get even a maybe response overall. . . I might buy the game. Just trying to see how the overall committed player base feels. The vets you might say.

If you're starting over, the price of entry is low. Base game ESO goes on sale quite often, a frugal shopper can probably get in the door for less than 10 for the base game.

Grab a cheap copy, dive in. Xbox and PC ESO are different beasts, so even kicking it off at level 1 and starting over may feel like a different game. If you enjoy it then grab Gold Road collection and only be missing out on the DLCs.

Desiato

If you're coming back for PVP, don't bother. It's still a disaster that zos barely pays any attention to.

ESO is very good at being an ultra-casual pve "online rpg". It scales well from casually playing it like a single player game if one enjoys tes quests to mid-tier pve raiding. Hardcore pve raiders may find the ceiling too low and will quickly run out of new things to do.

You don't want a hard drive for pc gaming, you want an ssd. Ideally, one would want their os on an ssd too. Maybe you're confusing terms, but if you have a pc with only an hdd, it might not be the best gaming device.

I returned last year after being away for several years. I didn't plan on returning, but it was decent enough to draw me back in. Most of the same problems the game had when I last played still exist, but I accepted them when I returned. If one can't let go of past grievances, they should avoid eso. I play differently than I used to because pvp is still broken in so many ways.

ESO must be played with a light heart. If you're still attached to a particular class, you might not have a good time. NBs are currently considered one of the best pvp classes and can do well enough in pve dps, but aren't considered optimal. The arcanist class dominates pve raiding dps. They don't have the highest ceiling against single targets, but they are the easiest to play. In the end game, nb is considered a healing class atm.

But as others have said, no one can really answer this for you. If you're not motivated enough to play eso without encouragement from strangers, I wouldn't dive into pc gaming if hardware upgrades are required just for eso. However, if you're motivated to get into pc gaming anyway, buying the base game and subbing to eso+ for a month isn't an expensive gamble.

BlackRaidho

I did. Since i left late 2020 :

- ESO still broken as possible.
- PVP is worst than ever (Stupid bombers, procsets everywhere, CP makes combats impossibles, latency, etc etc...).
- Storylines are... Meh...
- Same content every year since Summerset (differents locations but whatever, every year feel the same : what's the difference between a Volcanic Vent, a Harrowstorm and a Geyser please ?).
- Less content than ever (this year is the worst i ever seen, feel like a game taking the path of a shutdown in a couple of years).
- Clearly, i'm already bored.

Ilumia

OWLTHEMAD wrote: »

I have a lot of good memories with this game....

...The game just kept getting worse. My friends I played with for years couldn't take it and drifted away from the game. . .and then eventually I did.....

...in spite of it all. . . I dearly miss this game still. but. . . I know I miss what it was...

...I miss this game and am thinking about starting over fresh on pc. . . but if returning is just gonna make me feel bitter about what it used to be, I will bury it for good.

This.
A lot of what you've written sums up how I feel about eso.
I want to recommend eso, but I just can't justify it. Definitely not worth the money and time. Not even if you get it on sale. I think you're just likely to miss how the game used to be.
I've been playing since the beta, with breaks sometimes. But this time I don't think I'll ever resub, and return. All the other times I felt 'time for a break for now, see you later eso'. But not this time. Too many parts of the game feel neglected, and too many changes haven't been good. Don't get me wrong, it's not all bad at all, I just think the needle points too much in the wrong direction, and too few things are happening to make up for it.

From the things you write that you used to enjoy, I don't think this is the game for you.

DoofusMax

I am so not a fan of these "is it worth it" questions since I don't and can't know what makes something worth it to you and the results of the sort of straw poll you'll get here are going to be strongly biased by the sample providing responses (generally more active players for whom playing is already worth it). All in all, "is it worth it" questions tend to generate much more heat than light.

So here's my short and well-considered response: play and decide for yourself.

Here's the longer response, but still trying to be well-considered. First, Quakcon is starting in a few days. Since you're changing platforms to PC, you will probably be able to pick up the base-game for ~$6 and it won't get any cheaper than that unless Epic or someone does a freebie game-of-the-week promo. You can pick up the released chapters in the collection at a small discount during Quakecon. I'd guess that the Gold Road Collection will probably be somewhere around $40, but wait for the sale or an official announcement for the exact price. I'll add that the collection can be had significantly cheaper around the holidays, so it's more a question of whether the wait is worth the savings (dunno - is it?).

I haven't generally experienced major issues with lag on PC (I'm geographically near the NA servers). I've had really high pings intermittently, even in PvE areas, but it's broadly tolerable and usually settles back down to <100 within a few minutes and >200 is very rare. PvP zones are a whole other consideration and I'm not a PvP'er, so I'll leave that issue to those who deal with it more frequently than I do.

The meta changes with every update. It doesn't often change drastically, but you'll find more than a few people who complain about the changes after every update. The most recent change to get under people's collective skins was nerfing Necromancers in Update 41 (I think). I just took it in stride rather than putting my Necro into cold storage and I think the worst I had to say about it was "well, that bites" and just kept playing. I still main a Nightblade, but actively play all seven classes. They're all fun in different ways and they always have been, regardless of updates.

To your question about stories (you've already done up through Elsweyr, it seems), it's not as good as it used to be. Orsinium, Morrowind, Summerset, and Elsweyr were all excellent (l'm not a fan of Greymoor, but it's more about style and Skyrim burnout than story). Blackwood was decidedly "meh" and High Isle's story wasn't much better. I absolutely love High Isle's geography/scenery and the sound team never gets anywhere near enough love for their work, but the story was pretty darned close to forgettable. Necrom has a few jaw-dropping plot points (they're well and truly spoiled by this time, but I'll leave it at that in case you don't want them) and I haven't done enough with Gold Road to comment on its story, but it's the conclusion of Necrom's story. I can't say that I'm a fan of the West Weald zone other than a goodly chunk of the eye-candy scenery (and the sound - more love for the sound team), but I'm not totally put off by it, either. World Events have a bit of a different mechanic to them, but I've had a good time with them, which is more than I can say for Greymoor's Harrowstorms.

Blackwood added a companions system to the game, with High Isle and Necrom adding more companions. There are two more coming with this year's Q4 update and I'm guessing they will be obtainable in base-game zones rather than chapter zones because of that. All companions are useful for different playstyles and are more aimed at solo players. In terms of personality, I'm going to rank them as Mirri (Blackwood Nightblade), Ember (High Isle Sorcerer), and Azandar (Necrom Arcanist) being both the most useful and the most agreeable. Bastian (Blackwood Dragonknight) is the least agreeable (in an annoying way - you'll find more than a few discussion threads on ways to RP torturing him). Isobel (High Isle Templar) is voiced by Laura Baily (Serana's voice actress from Skyrim) and is also fun, but way too law-and-order for my sticky-fingered murder hobos. Sharp-as-Night (Necrom Warden) holds a special place (Garrussss!) and has a very good story, but is otherwise unremarkable for me. You'll like having him if you like to fish, though.

Greymoor added the Antiquities system, which is the only way to get Mythic gear and most mythics can only be dug up expansion zones. You'll find more than a few meta builds relying on having a mythic equipped. High Isle added the Tales of Tribute card game. It's something I find completely ignorable, but lots of players like it. Gold Road added the skill scribing system. The quest to unlock everything is very long and much more grindy than it needed to be (I'm not aware of anyone who has claimed that the length and grind were either too short or just-right, but I think too long and too grindy) and the rarity of the ink drops needed to scribe those skills is a major area of complaint. It is much more alt-friendly than other systems, although the major part of that claim is that you can exchange gold for reduced alt-grind for most of it. I think it's an interesting system and some of the skills are kind of fun, but it hasn't been a game-changer in terms of how my characters play.

If ESO had been on my gaming back burner for a few years (it hasn't been, but we'll pretend) and if I were switching platforms (basically starting from scratch), I don't know how thrilled I'd be about jumping back in. But for the cheap cost of the base-game portion (which includes Morrowind now, and the Warden, too, I think), I'd probably give it a try. I'd be a lot less enthusiastic about sinking the cost of a new-release AAA title into getting the collection, but for the base-game? "I'd buy that for a dollar."

LPapirius

No. I wouldn't come back to ESO right now.

What you are missing is gone for good. You'd still miss it even if you came back to the game. And the things you listed that bothered you are still around and in greater numbers. For instance, the pop cap in Cyrodiil is now clear down to about 60 players/faction. NB's are one shotting from range and stealth due to new OP sets and buffed skills. ESO's economy is currently the worst it's ever been and guild stores are disbanding faster than they are being replaced. If you want to come back for housing you might be happy, but if you want to come back for anything else you'll be disappointed.

Izanagi.Xiiib16_ESO

If you just play PVP the performance is about the same as when you left now, it got way worse, way better and now just mid-poor again.

In terms of gameplay, balance, pvp population everything is worse.
There is supposed to be pvp content in Q4 but I wouldn't base your decision on that.

Nharimlur_Finor

edited

BenTSG

Honestly, if PvP was your holding factor before, it's far from going to hold up now. Pop caps are the lowest it's ever been, and balance and performance is horrendous. There's supposidly a Q4 'Tentpole' PvP system coming, but they have said it is *not* going to be anything to do with Cyro, and even if it was I highly doubt the capabilites of what they'll deliever. If questing was your thing, it'd depend on what you're goal out of it would be, since questing and Overland in general (potentially minus a few World Bosses, I don't know since I stopped supporting during Necrom), is mindnumblingly easy, and getting decreasingly smaller total quests per zone too.

Overall, if it's PvP that holds you, don't waste your time or money at all. If it's PvE you want, it can be alright if you just want something to mindlessly turn off and play while watching Youtube or to just kill time.

old_scopie1945

ESO is my game of choice, full stop. As for yourself, well you are the only one that can answer that question. Is it worth the effort and cost to start again, for me yes but for yourself, well again it is a question that only you can answer. There is plenty on YouTube showing the pros and cons that may help you to decide.

ThoraxtheDark

No it's not. The game is barren especially if you play on any EU servers. Don't play on console. Pvp event is on going and it's completely dead. The latest expansion was terrible

Dragonnord

Yes, totally worth it. I'm really enjoying TESO. There is more content, new features and new everything than ever.

Don't let haters and all-time hall of fame complainers tell you different.
 

Cyndërielle

I can't speak for pvp but when it comes to questing and the story, yes the game did peak at Summerset. It's only going down from there and i'm not exaggerating. I came back about a month ago and i can't think of any improvement they did. It's been years since the story was any better than "meh", so don't get your hopes up.

You can try it out and see for yourself, but don't waste your money the last expension isn't worth it.

CatoUnchained

ESO used to be the best MMO ever created. Neglect has taken it's toll in so many ways though, especially in PvP, that most of us are just waiting for the next game that has decent PvP to come along so we can leave ESO behind. Check out some of the customer service related threads on this forum and you'll get a pretty good idea of the state of things these days.

Sluggy

OWLTHEMAD wrote: »

Okay, so for added context guys. . . I no longer have an xbox, so my old xbox version of the game may as well not be a thing.

I need opinions, because If i get back into the game that means reinvesting in it on pc. A pricy thing.

Right now I'm trying to see if I get a really good response, or a really bad response. IF I get even a maybe response overall. . . I might buy the game. Just trying to see how the overall committed player base feels. The vets you might say.

Buy a PC because you want a PC and everything that it comes with. Not because you want to play this one game. It's absolutely not worth the cost of admission if that's literally all you want.

Side Note: What the hell is wrong with the forums today? Half the buttons don't work or don't exist...

Nharimlur_Finor

edited

tincanman

Apparently if you're a trader leaving seems to be the currently preferred direction of traffic.

PVP still suffers from serious performance issues, very tiny population caps and battlegrounds match-making remains seemingly predicated on bg's played so you can end up in very long queues on the same character very quickly facing the same, few opponents.

There's a new group finder so those into pug trials don't have to live in Craglorn to find groups.

After quite a break, I'd think that replaying the pve content - quests etc might be interesting or novel enough to sustain interest.

To paraphrase others: you won't know the answer to your question until you try it.

Good luck.

colossalvoids

I'm feeling you with the specific questions asked and my answer would be no, it won't ever be the game we've loved back then. It's good enough if you're hyper focused on some specific combat oriented thing be it PvP, dungeons, arenas etc. AND have your old time pals to play with, either way it would be frustrating dance with past fun you had here when it was different time, balance was different, writing was way different etc.

SeaGtGruff

If you want to try playing on PC but lack the drive space, you might want to look into GeForce NOW. There's a thread about it:

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/663326/eso-is-now-available-to-play-on-iphone-with-geforce-now

Note: Although the thread mentions playing ESO on an iPhone or iPad, that certainly isn't required. I'm not very familiar with GeForce NOW, but I believe a free account would let you play for short periods at a time, perhaps long enough to determine if you'd like to come back.

pklemming

Honestly, no.

The game still suffers from devs who don't listen to players and put in changes that no one actually wants. Weird changes to endeavours forcing people to do things they do not especially enjoy in order to get a higher number of seals.

'Balancing' is beyond a joke at this point, with upcoming patch seeing them nerf their flagship class that the majority of people play. Strange changes to nightblade and more beating the dead warden over the head.They seem more focused on making us play a particular way, than letting us play the way we enjoy.

Buggy new content, with the new scribing system being extremely niche.

The latest expansion felt more like a slog than anything actually fun. The ink system was kind of hideous(although, that is apparently being improved).

We asked for a save system for IA, and they addressed this in the upcoming patch by making is a very 'finite' archive, with incoming damage meaning there will be a hard cap on the arcs able to be done due to incoming damage levels not being survivable. We wanted a save function!

New sets are mostly unimaginative, with most being instantly consigned to the 'absolutely no use' pile.

Still can't believe they are taking the Arcanist execute ability next patch. Highly popular class, with a different playstyle... We can't have that....

I loved the game and was a beta player. Been here for a long time, but I pretty much only log in for daily rewards now, then go play something actually fun. I have zero faith they have the player's interest at heart, and recent feedback(or lack of it, from them) and changes seem to back this up.

*edit* I completely forgot about the 15 day expiry on guild trader items now. Way to destroy an economy. I don't even bother putting up items in the 100s of K now.

Overall, it seems that critical reasoning during the implementation of changes, does not exist anymore.

CrazyKitty

ZOS has made so many questionable changes in 2024 and since U35 I could never recommend ESO to anyone any longer.

You're almost certainly better off trying out some other games and investing your time elsewhere. Plus, the way ZOS is dealing with their customer base now days is in many ways flat out disrespectful.

xylena_lazarow

If you enjoy PvP, they nerfed Undeath in half, so the meta will shift, looks promising.

BlackRaidho

CrazyKitty wrote: »

ZOS has made so many questionable changes in 2024 and since U35 I could never recommend ESO to anyone any longer.

You're almost certainly better off trying out some other games and investing your time elsewhere. Plus, the way ZOS is dealing with their customer base now days is in many ways flat out disrespectful.

This.

sunshineflame

Everything is better now...it's all fixed and perfect

reazea

I wouldn't recommend ESO to anyone since U35, and things have gotten a lot worse since then.