Is it worth coming back to ESO in 2024?

TaSheen · August 9

I have never got enough loot out of kills to make a difference. 7 years in, I have about 9M gold on PC NA, and 12M on PC EU. I buy an occasional house for gold. That's about it. I'm otherwise self-sufficient.

If I never had to kill another mob, it would be just fine.

FlopsyPrince · August 9

TaSheen wrote: »

I have never got enough loot out of kills to make a difference. 7 years in, I have about 9M gold on PC NA, and 12M on PC EU. I buy an occasional house for gold. That's about it. I'm otherwise self-sufficient.

If I never had to kill another mob, it would be just fine.

Why do you play then? Role Play? Housing?

Not sure what else of interest would not involve killing something, so I am curious what keeps you here.

TaSheen · August 9

Quoting part of another of my posts here:

TaSheen wrote: »

I love exploring, crafting, housing (not very good at that though), scribing, antiquities, fishing - and I would love to see more non-combat questing, along the lines of diplomacy or sneaking around to figure out what's going on with some antagonists. And I love just walking around looking at the countryside, and harvesting everything I run across.

AG2590 · August 10

SaffronCitrusflower wrote: »

Given how totally unresponsive ZOS is to their customer base in these days, combined with how many deleterious changes to the game in and since U35, I'd say no. Don't come back to ESO. There are other options out there from companies that show a great deal more respect for their customer base. Try one of those instead.

I came from World of Warcraft and ZOS is worlds better than Blizzard.

@ OP: If your choices are ESO, World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy - I'd definitely choose ESO.

TaSheen · August 10

Pelanora wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

Stafford197 wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

pklemming wrote: »

I actually need to revisit Skyrim. My system is a lot better now, so I can put on a lot of the 4k stuff and lose myself for a couple of weeks I swear I will not be a stealth archer this time... Really!

I will always be a stealth archer in Skyrim. Because I just do not want to mess with combat. OP bow mod lets me kill everything from very long range, and get on with my own fun.

Combat is NOT fun. In any game.

What are your thoughts on Companions in ESO’s combat? They can sort of let us “afk complete” Overland fights especially when combined with pets, so I wonder if this is enjoyable for you.

Vanilla Skyrim on console was so much fun at launch! And the modding community / creations for the game have been extraordinary. Right now I’m just eagerly waiting TES6 lol

I hate sidekicks.... so I have no use for companions at all. Never picked up even one. At this stage in my gameplay life (played my first CRPG in ~1986), I just despise the whole combat thing. I love exploring, crafting, housing (not very good at that though), scribing, antiquities, fishing - and I would love to see more non-combat questing, along the lines of diplomacy or sneaking around to figure out what's going on with some antagonists. And I love just walking around looking at the countryside, and harvesting everything I run across.

I don't even pull out the bear or the matriarch on those classes any more, unless it's going to be something where I expect to have to get through a dozen mobs for whatever reason....

I hope TES VI releases before I'm too old to play it!

[snip]

Eww. Gross. I'm perfectly happy with ESO except for combat. There's a lot else for me to do. I wouldn't touch a sim with a 1000 foot pole.

[edited to remove quote]

Pelanora · August 10

TaSheen wrote: »

Pelanora wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

Stafford197 wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

pklemming wrote: »

I actually need to revisit Skyrim. My system is a lot better now, so I can put on a lot of the 4k stuff and lose myself for a couple of weeks I swear I will not be a stealth archer this time... Really!

I will always be a stealth archer in Skyrim. Because I just do not want to mess with combat. OP bow mod lets me kill everything from very long range, and get on with my own fun.

Combat is NOT fun. In any game.

What are your thoughts on Companions in ESO’s combat? They can sort of let us “afk complete” Overland fights especially when combined with pets, so I wonder if this is enjoyable for you.

Vanilla Skyrim on console was so much fun at launch! And the modding community / creations for the game have been extraordinary. Right now I’m just eagerly waiting TES6 lol

I hate sidekicks.... so I have no use for companions at all. Never picked up even one. At this stage in my gameplay life (played my first CRPG in ~1986), I just despise the whole combat thing. I love exploring, crafting, housing (not very good at that though), scribing, antiquities, fishing - and I would love to see more non-combat questing, along the lines of diplomacy or sneaking around to figure out what's going on with some antagonists. And I love just walking around looking at the countryside, and harvesting everything I run across.

I don't even pull out the bear or the matriarch on those classes any more, unless it's going to be something where I expect to have to get through a dozen mobs for whatever reason....

I hope TES VI releases before I'm too old to play it!

[snip]

Eww. Gross. I'm perfectly happy with ESO except for combat. There's a lot else for me to do. I wouldn't touch a sim with a 1000 foot pole.

[edited to remove quote]

Lol Sims are not- to- be- mentioned it seems. Not gross, house building, crafting fishing... wandering around...everything you do. And has no combat.

TaSheen · August 10

Pelanora wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

Pelanora wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

Stafford197 wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

pklemming wrote: »

I actually need to revisit Skyrim. My system is a lot better now, so I can put on a lot of the 4k stuff and lose myself for a couple of weeks I swear I will not be a stealth archer this time... Really!

I will always be a stealth archer in Skyrim. Because I just do not want to mess with combat. OP bow mod lets me kill everything from very long range, and get on with my own fun.

Combat is NOT fun. In any game.

What are your thoughts on Companions in ESO’s combat? They can sort of let us “afk complete” Overland fights especially when combined with pets, so I wonder if this is enjoyable for you.

Vanilla Skyrim on console was so much fun at launch! And the modding community / creations for the game have been extraordinary. Right now I’m just eagerly waiting TES6 lol

I hate sidekicks.... so I have no use for companions at all. Never picked up even one. At this stage in my gameplay life (played my first CRPG in ~1986), I just despise the whole combat thing. I love exploring, crafting, housing (not very good at that though), scribing, antiquities, fishing - and I would love to see more non-combat questing, along the lines of diplomacy or sneaking around to figure out what's going on with some antagonists. And I love just walking around looking at the countryside, and harvesting everything I run across.

I don't even pull out the bear or the matriarch on those classes any more, unless it's going to be something where I expect to have to get through a dozen mobs for whatever reason....

I hope TES VI releases before I'm too old to play it!

[snip]

Eww. Gross. I'm perfectly happy with ESO except for combat. There's a lot else for me to do. I wouldn't touch a sim with a 1000 foot pole.

[edited to remove quote]

Lol Sims are not- to- be- mentioned it seems. Not gross, house building, crafting fishing... wandering around...everything you do. And has no combat.

But they aren't TES. TES is the only franchise I play, and that does include ESO of course.

Cyndërielle · August 12

AG2590 wrote: »

SaffronCitrusflower wrote: »

Given how totally unresponsive ZOS is to their customer base in these days, combined with how many deleterious changes to the game in and since U35, I'd say no. Don't come back to ESO. There are other options out there from companies that show a great deal more respect for their customer base. Try one of those instead.

I came from World of Warcraft and ZOS is worlds better than Blizzard.

@ OP: If your choices are ESO, World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy - I'd definitely choose ESO.

I'm curious as to why you think eso is a better choice than ff14 or maybe it's just a matter of personnal taste (because of the art style?)?

TaSheen · August 12

I've never had any interest in anime-style games. My daughter loves FF, so does my younger granddaughter. I wouldn't touch it ever.

I outgrew WoW over a decade ago.

Zastrix · August 12

If you want to be super casual then sure.

If you want to actually invest time into the combat of the game, then no.

Einar_Hrafnarsson · August 12

No i would not recommend coming back until they work on many of those long standing bugs and issues they did not fix the past Years. Combat Bug is still a thing and even the Dungeon tool is still broken. PvP is getting 0 love and the most "content" we get currently is new Crates.

Haenk · August 12

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.

Unfortunately, I have to agree.

In the past, when I got bored, I left for a couple of month and then returned. This time I might leave forever, it seems the creators intentionally trying to drive people away with their latest decisions.
Tank the economy (and with the economy gone, the guilds are leaving left and right), create events with trophies that require hundreds of hours to randomly drop, or not, dumb down the content - this now really is only a faint shadow of the former game.
Guess I need to dive into my 4-digit Steam library again.

h9dlb · August 12

ESO in 2024 is The Sims - Mail Expired DLC

DreamyLu · August 13

You should give it a go. Even if there are things you don't like (and there will certainly be), ESO has enough content to ensure good fun. I'm a living proof of it. There is much I don't like in this game, though, I'm enjoying chilling around every day a bit.

fedouva · August 13

OWLTHEMAD wrote: »

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.

Pvp in the game has always been in last place, do not expect that there will be a grand balance, because in this game in the first place crown boxes, pve content, and the addition of cosmetics and dls for money. No one thinks how to add something cool for players, and most importantly - for free

divnyi · August 13

OWLTHEMAD wrote: »

Have they improved. . . anything? Is cyrodill playable or a laggy mess? Have nightblades received some legitimate love with out completely demolishing their playstyle?

No.

I think it's lagging way less because they reduced population cap to very low numbers. But I rarely cyro as I'm BG player, it didn't lag and it doesn't lag.

NBs are on the top of the food chain right now, alongside with the sorcs.

JustLovely · August 13

I wouldn't recommend ESO to anyone with all the disconnecting issues and other issues now days, most notably PvP being in such a poor state.

Einar_Hrafnarsson · August 14

I sometimes log back in in the evening cause i miss the Game or rather i miss how it used to be.
It usually doesn't take more than 5 minutes in Cyro to remind me why i only log in for the daily rewards currently. The Combatbug is making me more angry than anything else in this Game.

Wuduwasa13 · August 15

Whilst there are things to do, once you are caught up the rate of substantial new content is quite low & the content we have got in recent times is, in my honest opinion, not worth the cost & falls short of my expectations, as someone who has remained up to date on content, the following 2 updates (43 & 44) seem completely worthless to me and more along the lines of minor tweaks to existing gameplay content, not what I expect from an actual quarterly update.

Couple this with dwindling population & a general sense of needless grinding designed to fudge player engagement time metrics, and honestly I’d just have to say…no.

The majority of people I’ve played with for years have jumped ship to competing MMOs such as FF or are on Diablo etc.

Murdoc · August 16

I don't think it is. The only thing that kept me playing was trading and now my trading guild which I have been a part of for 7 years has shut down due to the market being what it is today. Gold Road seems lackluster compared to the previous chapters of the game. I saw in another big thread asking if the game is dying and I think it is. I farm dailies quests every day and notice fewer people around in old high-traffic zones.

Photosniper89 · August 16

No.

Photosniper89 · August 16

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.

OMG so much this.

malistorr · August 16

If farming IA for a month or 2 to get 1-item (Torc Ayleid King) sounds fun to you then jump back in the game. I've earned 100K of the IA currency and probably spent 30-hours in there and not had a single lead drop. Horrible decisions by clueless developers and decision makers is ruining this game.

Shadowbinder7 · September 11

Haenk wrote: »

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.

Unfortunately, I have to agree.

In the past, when I got bored, I left for a couple of month and then returned. This time I might leave forever, it seems the creators intentionally trying to drive people away with their latest decisions.
Tank the economy (and with the economy gone, the guilds are leaving left and right), create events with trophies that require hundreds of hours to randomly drop, or not, dumb down the content - this now really is only a faint shadow of the former game.
Guess I need to dive into my 4-digit Steam library again.

I hope ZOS reads, but this actually kills me, because this is how I feel. I loved and dedicated 5 years to this, and honestly, I know exactly when and how they have been focused on the economy and when they truly cared for the lore and gameplay being as great as possible.

It does feel more and more like anyone who has played up to a veteran level, or has played through all the quests are just being pushed to leave, while the economy is focused off milking newcomers and people who have just begun what I just see as “the grinding journey” to veteran/endgame level.

You could honestly argue the highlights are just doing the main quests of the first few years, some of the zone stories, doing your first go of a dung and trial, and entering each style of pvp for the first few times.

Beyond that… it’s just become a grind fest to the extreme. Truthfully the only reason I stayed on was to do the gold road story, and try and absorb any interesting aspects but the game now is too focused for years on crown store, cosmetics, and grinding to unlock something, wondering where you will actually enjoy using all those cosmetics

They should be focusing on fixing gameplay bugs, balancing all classes pve AND pvp (separately tbh), and more lore and quest depth and focus. Im sure many players agree these are central to ESO. Its hurts so much, and im not sure I will have the energy to write stuff like this again… so I guess good luck to the devs with whatever plans they have going forward.

There is definitely sunk cost fallacy in eso, what with say me, building honing, cosmetically perfecting 14 alts (2 for each class, mag/stam), and feeling so sad that I cannot repeat storylines on different races/classes without admitting the quests have become so shallow, meanwhile the content is imbalanced in favouring certain playstyles (stam arcanists pve, ballgroups pvp).

I don't want to let those chars just stay as data waiting to be deleted but at this point… ZOS developers are way too focused on the economic value of ESO to see the damage plethora of bugs and lack of balance/lore depth is doing to the game and series. This is barely opinion, and not meant to insult, this is just the observations of a person who devoted embarrassingly too many hours to this game.

So if you are reading, devs at ZOS. I hope you consider my words and know they’re likely silently echoed with most of the long term eso community. We just want the game to be fixed and rejuvenated. Revisit old zones with deeper quests maybe! More development in cyrodil pvp gameplay. More class balance so almost all playstyles are competitive and closer, in pve and pvp.