Where is everyone?

Stafford197 · October 4

I was a very active player but now I barely log. This game is beyond stale and has gone way downhill.

It makes more sense when you understand how ZOS works. They’re currently more focused on using their limited resources to permaban normal players by way of a new automated private chat monitoring system. That system doesn’t care about gold sellers in zone chat or bot accounts though. Still no shortage of those!

ComboBreaker88 · October 4

FelisCatus wrote: »

Sad that this game is losing players. Zones are just deader and the "peak hours" become smaller and smaller. Probably doesn't help ESO that new MMOs are coming out such as Throne and Liberty. On top of that, you should check the steam forums. A lot of people have been posting about how they're leaving, and it does make you wonder why...

[snip]

If they wanted to make an echo chamber, I doubt it. But anytime you repeatedly silence voices you don't like and punish those who criticized you, they'll eventually leave.

[edited for discussing disciplinary actions]

Parasaurolophus · October 4

It's a surprisingly quiet Friday night. I tried to find parties for different trials with gf and 3 groups were disbanded due to lack of players.

LadyLavina · October 4

PC seems to have become more populated over the years so if OP is on console , I'm not entirely surprised, but at the same time there is unfortunately a downtick of player pop at the moment. Having played PC since launch, the difference is staggering , but it has its ups and downs throughout the year.

JiubLeRepenti · October 5

Made this screenshot a few weeks ago on week-end at 8PM on PC/EU (which is one of the most active megaservs):

The guild merchants spot in West Weald is empty. How can it be?

And I went there a few times at the same day (was buying some stuff) and it was always like that.

Sad.

OsUfi · October 5

JiubLeRepenti wrote: »

Made this screenshot a few weeks ago on week-end at 8PM on PC/EU (which is one of the most active megaservs):

The guild merchants spot in West Weald is empty. How can it be?

Didn't even know where they were until you posted.

I say that, I still don't know where they are... Skingrad, somewhere...

EU is absolutely bumping with people. Not sad times.

JiubLeRepenti · October 5

OsUfi wrote: »

JiubLeRepenti wrote: »

Made this screenshot a few weeks ago on week-end at 8PM on PC/EU (which is one of the most active megaservs):

The guild merchants spot in West Weald is empty. How can it be?

Didn't even know where they were until you posted.

I say that, I still don't know where they are... Skingrad, somewhere...

EU is absolutely bumping with people. Not sad times.

The game is statistically loosing players:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf-muQh4hOU

This video compares several available stats like Google Trends (to see how much ESO is pushed through Google), and Steam stats.

And I preshot: I'm not saying the game is dead. I'm just saying the game has less players and has been less attractive for a few time.

So yea, basically, these are sad times for ESO.

Diebesgut · October 5

Many players were already in Westweald before the event, during the event the area is almost overcrowded, all hell is breaking loose on the Mirror Moor things and you can hardly see the enemies anymore... I also meet a lot of players in almost every area (no one wants to go to the deathlands but I never wanted to go there too 💀)

I'm never alone in Tamriel, even in the middle of nowhere a player suddenly comes out from behind some bush or tree 👻...

Playstation/ EU, everything is fine

Elsonso · October 5

ComboBreaker88 wrote: »

Oh yeah, you cant post ANYTHING negative on the official forums, they'll ban your account. What they've done here is taken moderation too far on the official forums. They've essentially created an echo chamber. So they will never get any truly well informed feedback. I myself have received several froum temporary bans for stating what I had assumed was obvious to all players.

There is definitely an echo chamber here in the forum, as is not uncommon in internet communities. It has been this way for years. It tends to have a strong observable negative echo, meaning against what ZOS is doing, and has for quite some time. I see it get worse any time ZOS rocks the boat with controversial game changes or has some corporate behavior that is annoying. It used obvious around when PTS was active. That has changed over time to be more of a constant.

When participating in an echo, it has to be remembered that everything that is said here needs to be measured. It does not matter whether it is positive for the game or negative against it. People who post things and are not nice about it are far more likely to run into trouble than those who say what is on their mind nicely. The first thing to remember here, and in game, is that no one has "freedom of speech" at any time, in any place. Choice of words matters.

JiubLeRepenti wrote: »

The guild merchants spot in West Weald is empty. How can it be?

And I went there a few times at the same day (was buying some stuff) and it was always like that.

Sad.

ZOS made West Weald bosses annoying (you can't hit me, nah nah nah), the main story had more potential than they took advantage of, the side stories are not memorable, and Scribing is not even close to being broadly impactful. I bought the deluxe upgrade for US$25 during the sale and that is much closer to what the full price pre-order should have been.

I have a character standing in the vineyards outside of Skingrad on XBox NA, but I mainly play XBox EU and that character has never been to the West Weald. On PC, where I foolishly paid full price for Gold Road, I did the main quests, saw that the Achievements were not worth the efforts, and retreated to somewhere else. West Weald is good for in game virtual photography, but after that, it can easily be ignored.

If people are not in Skingrad during a Skingrad event, that is even more indication that ZOS really made mistakes in 2024.

Going forward, if ZOS intends to continue down this path, I think that US$25 is about right for the full price of the 2025 chapter, and $12 when it is on sale in the fall for the chapter event.

OsUfi · October 5

Elsonso wrote: »

If people are not in Skingrad during a Skingrad event, that is even more indication that ZOS really made mistakes in 2024.

Skingrad's been teeming with people every time I've passed through. It's been teeming with people since release. I've been doing the dailies there since launch. User experience may vary and all that, but, and this does go both ways, one users experience is not certain proof that an expansion is dead or alive.

TaSheen · October 5

Not playing right now, family commitments until Sunday. Don't play after 2 pm US MDT anyway.

ArchMikem · October 5

JiubLeRepenti wrote: »

Made this screenshot a few weeks ago on week-end at 8PM on PC/EU (which is one of the most active megaservs):

The guild merchants spot in West Weald is empty. How can it be?

And I went there a few times at the same day (was buying some stuff) and it was always like that.

Sad.

Well of course it's empty, it's night time in that image, everyone's sleeping!

What are you doing out so late in the Merchant district? Should I call the Guards?

Elsonso · October 5

OsUfi wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

If people are not in Skingrad during a Skingrad event, that is even more indication that ZOS really made mistakes in 2024.

Skingrad's been teeming with people every time I've passed through. It's been teeming with people since release. I've been doing the dailies there since launch. User experience may vary and all that, but, and this does go both ways, one users experience is not certain proof that an expansion is dead or alive.

That is why I said, "if"... I keep hearing mixed reports about how no one is in West Weald. That is sort of the premise of this thread, though.

My main character is elsewhere. Going there to look sort of taints the whole experiment. If everyone did that, West Weald would look very busy, but everyone there would just be there to see if anyone else was there. Sort of like people going to the dance just to see how many people are going to the dance.

I do have one currently inactive character standing in a barn outside of Skingrad that is active just long enough to get the daily reward. Since I can't see much outside of the barn, I have no idea how many people are around. I don't see them. They don't see me.

I am also well aware that pictures can be perfectly arranged to support a particular agenda. I could probably go there and create the impression everyone was there, and no one was there, in the same visit.

Shara_Wynn · October 5

FelisCatus wrote: »

I log on around 13:15 and gold road (despite the event is dead) it never used to be this way. A lot of other zones were dead too. Where is everyone? Can't be an MMO without the MM. Where is everyone?! Can't find many players until late evening. Rest of the day/night is dead.

Game has been out for ten years. Perhaps in those ten years, folks got married, had kids and now do family stuff during the day on a weekend?

Syldras · October 5

Shara_Wynn wrote: »

Game has been out for ten years. Perhaps in those ten years, folks got married, had kids and now do family stuff during the day on a weekend?

I think the average age of ESO players had always been a bit higher than with other games?

Anyway, OP was posting about 1 pm on a Friday. At that time, many people are usually busy working or studying.

Coo_PnT · October 5

Syldras wrote: »

Shara_Wynn wrote: »

Game has been out for ten years. Perhaps in those ten years, folks got married, had kids and now do family stuff during the day on a weekend?

I think the average age of ESO players had always been a bit higher than with other games?

Anyway, OP was posting about 1 pm on a Friday. At that time, many people are usually busy working or studying.

You may have various breaks in various occupations. For agriculture, it might be an extended lunch break, and for fishing, it might be at dawn before going to the beach to sleep. There are also those who are absent due to illness or injury, and there are those who work the night shift.

Bradyfjord · October 5

FelisCatus wrote: »

LadyGP wrote: »

Server performance is causing most people to leave ESO and go to Thrones & Liberty.

My friend list used to have about 30-40ish people online anytime I was on - that is down to 4 during "prime time".

ZoS didn't prioritize complaints regarding lag/rubber banding for many many months and it's catching up with them now.

Technical Debt will do that to ya.

Why can every other mmo have functioning servers but ESO can't?

At this point, I think it's not just the servers. I think it's also the hero engine. It's always had problems, but as more systems got layered on the game over time it's really struggled.

Syldras · October 5

Coo_PnT wrote: »

You may have various breaks in various occupations. For agriculture, it might be an extended lunch break, and for fishing, it might be at dawn before going to the beach to sleep. There are also those who are absent due to illness or injury, and there are those who work the night shift.

And there are some freelancers who can choose their work times freely (except for a meeting every now and then) and only have to only follow deadlines, and there are people who are retired. I know. But I think the majority are still the typical 9 to 5 jobs, so I'm not surprised that the servers are more empty by day than they are in the evening.

Dojohoda · October 5

We had an error and can't get back up.

abkam · October 5

This game is getting worse in every way. You join a trial, and when the leader sees your DPS, you’re immediately kicked out. Then someone else joins, only to find that the healer is a necromancer using Winter’s Respite. Next, the tank leaves, followed by the second healer! Eventually, another tank joins, but they can’t taunt more than one mob at a time, causing two DPS players to drop out. This group finder system is a complete disaster!

Sure, we have Discord to try and avoid this mess. You join, share your parses and achievements, and after 2 days, you realize you've just joined the most toxic community in ESO.
Then you and 10 other players from your Discord guild ask a random person to join for a vLC run, only to shame them because they can’t switch one mirror. The whole situation is a complete mess!

Players are leaving the game because it’s a disaster. You’re only valued if you can pull 140k DPS, you are toxic in Discord, or you are a troll. Eventually, you'll realize you've completed all veteran trials and dungeons, but it's still not enough, as the focus shifts to HM'S. Even if you're skilled, pulling 70k DPS might not cut it in the eyes of others, and that will be your downfall. Before long, they’ll shame, troll, and mock you and your “amazing” DPS if you try to join something like vKA HM!

You ask, "Where is everyone?"
I say, "It's a real shame that ZOS hasn't done anything about DPS sharing.

Rowjoh · October 5

If the proposed nonsensical change to Nightblade Cloak goes ahead this month, then I'm gonna take a damn good look at Throne and Liberty.

I've had enough of investing time and money in my characters only for ZoS to go OTT with a nerf far too often, and I suspect I'm not the only one..

Bradyfjord · October 6

Rowjoh wrote: »

If the proposed nonsensical change to Nightblade Cloak goes ahead this month, then I'm gonna take a damn good look at Throne and Liberty.

I've had enough of investing time and money in my characters only for ZoS to go OTT with a nerf far too often, and I suspect I'm not the only one..

I think it's from ncsoft. If so, it's pay to win. Their cash shops ruin many games for me.

quinancia · October 6

I probably won't use the correct terms, so take it easy.

It is my understanding that on each megaserver there are multiple instances of each zone. So, I might be playing in one instance of West Weald, and my friend in another. So, if there were fewer people playing, ZOS would reduce the number of instances and it would still seem like there were a lot of people playing.

My point is, anecdotal observations that there are fewer people playing are probably not supported by any evidence.

Rkindaleft · October 6

quinancia wrote: »

I probably won't use the correct terms, so take it easy.

It is my understanding that on each megaserver there are multiple instances of each zone. So, I might be playing in one instance of West Weald, and my friend in another. So, if there were fewer people playing, ZOS would reduce the number of instances and it would still seem like there were a lot of people playing.

My point is, anecdotal observations that there are fewer people playing are probably not supported by any evidence.

You would be correct, there are multiple instances of the same zone. If you went to somewhere like Craglorn during prime time (not as many people there these days though...) it was common to have for example some guild mates in one Belkarth and other guild mates in another.

I agree one instance of many might not tell the whole picture, but unless you are an overland quester who plays the game solo or a housing player for which population doesn't matter, a person would have to be intentionally ignoring everything around them in order to say that the population of the game hasn't decreased noticeably even in just the past 3 months. Pretty much anyone who does grouped content knows it. It's plain as day for them. They see it in group finder being emptier, how active the zones are outside of the cities comparative to how they used to be, how many people are signing up for rostered runs, PvP groups, guild events...

If you just want hard evidence just look at the steam charts (INB4 someone comes along and says its not relevant.)

Lag and performance issues for months, event burnout and FOMO, no content since Gold Road (which to many people was a lacking expansion but that has already been discussed at length) and no new content until next year outside of a battlegrounds change, unfixed bugs galore, random see-saw balancing and nerfs that are tiring, etc, etc, etc.

MISTFORMBZZZ · October 6

Diebesgut wrote: »

Many players were already in Westweald before the event, during the event the area is almost overcrowded, all hell is breaking loose on the Mirror Moor things and you can hardly see the enemies anymore... I also meet a lot of players in almost every area (no one wants to go to the deathlands but I never wanted to go there too 💀)

I'm never alone in Tamriel, even in the middle of nowhere a player suddenly comes out from behind some bush or tree 👻...

Playstation/ EU, everything is fine

Are you on a different PS EU?

The server is absolutely empty.

The zones are empty, most of my trading guilds have like 30/500 people online in prime time, group finder not use able because empty, craglorn empty, cyrodiil empty.

Please dont do that kind of defending posts just because you see a player here and there, the population in that game is on a critical level.

Im guessing youre some kind of solo quester and thats fine but the most group activities are not useable no more.
Im not speaking about the events wich are pulling the last 100 player together on the same instance.

Rowjoh · October 6

Bradyfjord wrote: »

Rowjoh wrote: »

If the proposed nonsensical change to Nightblade Cloak goes ahead this month, then I'm gonna take a damn good look at Throne and Liberty.

I've had enough of investing time and money in my characters only for ZoS to go OTT with a nerf far too often, and I suspect I'm not the only one..

I think it's from ncsoft. If so, it's pay to win. Their cash shops ruin many games for me.

yes, but apparently its not P2W - been reading some in-depth reviews, and they counter this perception.

Rowjoh · October 6

one worrying sign to support the dwindling player population theory, is that last few months nodes are mostly up en mass in most areas, which I haven't seen to this extent before...

so that narrows it down to either most of the population are no longer interested in farming mats, or the population has dropped significantly, or a bit of both.

Only time will tell if this is just a blip or a trend.

AnduinTryggva · October 6

I think there is a sort of event fatigue. One event chases the others. After a while people realize that they basically have grabbed the majority of goodies available in the boxes and with the community rewards all completed see less incentive to grind.

I grind the event much less than I did two days ago...

barney2525 · October 6

Obviously, they are at the Waffle House

Aurielle · October 6

Rowjoh wrote: »

Bradyfjord wrote: »

Rowjoh wrote: »

If the proposed nonsensical change to Nightblade Cloak goes ahead this month, then I'm gonna take a damn good look at Throne and Liberty.

I've had enough of investing time and money in my characters only for ZoS to go OTT with a nerf far too often, and I suspect I'm not the only one..

I think it's from ncsoft. If so, it's pay to win. Their cash shops ruin many games for me.

yes, but apparently its not P2W - been reading some in-depth reviews, and they counter this perception.

@Rowjoh , I tried the game out for a few days, and it is absolutely P2W. The grind required to bypass the game’s P2W elements is oppressive and unrealistic for most gamers. Anyone claiming the game is not P2W is either coping big time to justify their interest in their shiny new game, or they’re a streamer literally being paid to hype up the game.

Also, given that Nightblade cloak balancing is the reason why you want to try T&L, please note the following:

https://imgur.com/a/N7rPLcU

Taking damage or getting CC’ed pulls you out of stealth, and you can’t use the skill again for a full minute. It’s almost like being able to stealth at will is an incredibly powerful ability that needs to be balanced to prevent abuse of all that power…