A Trip Down Memory Lane

DestroyerPewnack

I started playing ESO right around the time they replaced the veteran levels with champion points. I always complain about the state of the game today, but I'm starting to wonder if I'm suffering from rosy retrospection.

I mean sure, the game was better when new PvP content was coming out, and was playable. Classes still had identities. The game was massive on release, and there were loads of things to do, new systems to familiarize yourself with, a learning curve to climb, etc.

But at the same time, you couldn't reconstruct gear. No stickerbook. Farming perfect gear took forever. You couldn't group up for PvE with your friends if they were from a different alliance. Enemy levels didn't scale with your character. And (this might be just my experience,) but the playerbase today seems far more sensitive than it was back then.

Am I crazy in thinking the game was much more fun 8 to 10 years ago than it is today?
How do you remember the game from back in the day, if you're a veteran player?
And how do you feel about the game if you've just picked it up? Are you excited? A little lost?

Would love to hear everyone's thoughts. 12 hour maintenance... we have time to kill. 😂

spartaxoxo

I feel like the game is better now than it was then, but I never much got into PvP.

LadyLethalla

I started in console release week, and got my main to VR16 just before CP were introduced.

Definite lowlights of play, back in those early years:

° Levelled zones that had to be played in order. So whichever faction you picked, you had to follow the zone quests to level up, in order to be strong enough to be able to enter the next zone. I remember one idiot taking me to Malabal Tor well before I'd completed Grahtwood and he was wondering why I kept dying to stronger mobs in Velyn Harbour that he couldn't even see because he'd already completed that zone. One Tamriel changed this.

°Separate faction instances. To play with a friend you had to be the same faction. One Tamriel also changed this.

°Craglorn was too dangerous to travel, offroad, alone. Swarming Wasps killed you. Craglorn surveys still dropped, though.

°No Housing.

°Not that I experienced it personally, but I believe Maelstrom Arena had no Save, so if you died you had to start again from the beginning.

° I didn't experience this either but I believe mount training was by mount and not by character.

°No Outfits.

NoOneSpecial

I came in before Vvardenfell. I remember getting totally wrecked by Doshia and the spirit in the Wyrd tree.

As Jakarn would say … “Good times”

(Note: I was on PlayStation back then, and lost all of my progress when the PS5 didn’t come out properly and I had to switch to Xbox)

barney2525

DestroyerPewnack wrote: »

I started playing ESO right around the time they replaced the veteran levels with champion points. I always complain about the state of the game today, but I'm starting to wonder if I'm suffering from rosy retrospection.

I mean sure, the game was better when new PvP content was coming out, and was playable. Classes still had identities. The game was massive on release, and there were loads of things to do, new systems to familiarize yourself with, a learning curve to climb, etc.

But at the same time, you couldn't reconstruct gear. No stickerbook. Farming perfect gear took forever. You couldn't group up for PvE with your friends if they were from a different alliance. Enemy levels didn't scale with your character. And (this might be just my experience,) but the playerbase today seems far more sensitive than it was back then.

Am I crazy in thinking the game was much more fun 8 to 10 years ago than it is today?
How do you remember the game from back in the day, if you're a veteran player?
And how do you feel about the game if you've just picked it up? Are you excited? A little lost?

Would love to hear everyone's thoughts. 12 hour maintenance... we have time to kill. 😂

To answer your question - Yes.

When I started there was no level balancing. Start the Main questline, do a few quests, the STOP. Not allowed to proceed further until 10th level. You were not allowed to complete the main questline until close to level 50. All the while you go explore and suddenly you get absolutely slaughtered by a random mob 10 or 15 levels higher than your character.

After getting fed up getting my teeth kicked in I quit. Came back when I heard about the change in the rules.

I would never want to have to deal with that nonsense again. Today's game IMHO is vastly better.

MaleAmazon

I was here from the get-go, didn´t play beta but was here from day 1, basically, otherwise.

The game is for me infinitely better now. The only thing I miss is that the overland difficulty back then was... actually existing. Doshia was hard. Nowadays I only struggle when soloing world bosses. Also, the game was new then so it had that going for it. I remember being excited about finding blue gear, being excited about sneaking up on someone when trying out PvP for the first time and unleashing my might combo...

Which of course took away 3% of the guy´s health, and then he instakilled me.

A decade later, I´ve been emperor, done so much content, got into 12-man raids for a while using discord (I´ve never done that stuff before, ESO is my first MMO)... things have changed so much over the years, in ESO and in my own life. I´ve gone through jobs, got over a serious alcohol addiction, moved a few times...

And today... no more farming for gear over and over again to get the right trait (not that I really did that). Much more content, much higher quality content, werewolf update making them much more fun, QoL updates, and I have to say ZOS have generally listened to players and continually improved the game. The Champion system actually allows for some character customization now.

Both the game and I are a decade older. Feels weird. But still...

Both of us are much better than we were a decade ago.

SkaiFaith

I started in January 2017 and in June we got Morrowind. Thinking about it now, the game before and after Morrowind... Doesn't feel the same game.
At the time I was no expert at all and didn't even read patch notes. I remember my first character was a Templar and before Morrowind it healed a lot but struggled with sustain. After Morrowind better sustain but basically no heal in comparison.
I "felt forced" to jump on the Warden which felt much more fun.
What I miss about that time is that you could go at any region Dolmens and you would find people farming them. Now DLC Dolmens are kinda desert and base game ones... Even Alik'r is empty at times. I miss that huge crowd participating in events.
I think we still have a lot of players but they play differently today.

RebornV3x

ESO today is much better in almost every way and in a much better state than release except for PVP I have fond memories from 2015 to 2017 of Cyrodill it was definitely the best years for PVP remember how packed Imperial City was and the great times I had in 2016 and now its just a ghost town. Yeah we had cheesy builds, its own garbage meta and lag back then but its was infinity better that the PvP meta nowadays.

Delimber

I remember the "good ol' days".
Doing Cadwell's Gold and having those zones scaling up with your Vet Rank. As a solo player, I liked it.
The VR16 (now CP160) zones were nearly empty as most players had yet to reach that level. Dolmen's were not the walk in the park they are now. Granted, I didn't know then, what I know now about making a solo build.

PVP was not laggy...my favourite battle back then was a 3 way fight we had over a Keep. I have no idea how many players were there, but Alessia was in shambles by the time EP took the Keep an hour later lol. (No camps back then either).

There was no normal and vet dungeons. They were all challenging if you didn't have a proper team. You had to learn your role. If you didn't have a real tank in Spindle Clutch 2, you weren't getting through SC2 lol. Now most of use can solo it and some can solo it on vet, but we also have a lot of different sets to make that possible these days.

Lots of good and bad memories from the Vet Rank days.

Soraka

I struggled hard on release. I was trying to main a healer and I had a really hard time fighting bosses for the main story quests because I was playing with my husband and in the world we balanced each other out OK, but in the quest instances I was all alone on the struggle bus. I have some fond memories because I was playing with him and things went quite a bit slower then so it felt more like a journey. However, we both quit when we hit vet rank. I came back after the changes, but he never did. So probably most of my fondness is because we played together and not because of how the game was then.

Xarc

On one hand the game is better than before, in many ways. First, with all the extra content, the extra mechanics, the improved performance and the stability of the game and servers.
But on the other hand the game has changed a lot, in the way players interact with each other.
And some expectations that have now lasted for 10 years are still not met for part of the community, creating a feeling of frustration and weariness.

And, I don't know, I feel like everyone is playing for themselves and the community aspect is disappearing (but it's not just ESO)

When in the early years, there was a craze where we discovered the game all together, we had the feeling of creating something with the developers, we were creating the community of a future great MMO.
But years later, all this has somehow stabilized and everyone has taken habits, the players who arrived after joined a community that had already made its nest, and it was no longer the same.

The developers have always wanted to meet the expectations of a part of the community that demanded balance because some older players mastered techniques that made the fights disproportionate. Sometimes, this was done to the detriment of a part of the community of older players who preferred to leave the game because they had the feeling that the game was no longer based on the skills of the player but on "easy" mechanics where any new player could find their place.

This is why, from year to year, there is a kind of gap that is slowly but surely widening between players.
This is perhaps what creates imbalances, communication problems and this feeling that everyone is playing on their own side while we are all together in Tamriel.

I rely on my own experience of the game but also on the Threads that can be read on the forum, where players ask for some recognition for the time spent, the knowledge acquired, some do not admit to playing with players less good than them because the game imposes it on them to win. We feel that work has been started on this subject, but the developers must continue in order to try to satisfy everyone, the new ones, the old ones, those who invest time and money...

Destai

So I started the game in beta on PC and remember thinking how cool lorebooks were. I played PC until like level 22 and moved over to consoles. It's fun having a new world, getting gear as it comes, and trying your darnedest to live out whatever RP idea you have. All before the pressure of "this character must be endgame ready!".

But, I would say that my enjoyment has been pretty constant. There's been a few periods where I didn't like the game, mostly burn out here and there.

I've got some fondness for different eras:
1. Summerset first coming out. I'm an Altmer main, so this was my most anticipated release.
2. Playing with friends over the covid lockdowns.
3. The breadcrumb trail of the Longhouse emperors and Oblivion nostalgia.
4. High Isle and Galen exploration.
5. Seeing Warden healing for the first time.

Treeshka

Game is just better now. Look all the systems we have now and quality of life things. More can be done maybe but still i would not want to go back.

smallhammer

I don't like the level scaling. It means there is nothing much to look forward to. Exploring other areas with more challenging content. Most will say the overland and delves are far too easy. Many dungeons as well.

Level scaling doesn't realy do leveling much interesting. You can do everything in overland and in delves at level 1.

And starting a new char; you can give them all the CP points your main has aquired. So, are you then realy level 1 if you do that?

Starting an alt, and having the main quest hanging in the quest section... you should at least have the chioce to hide it. Or is there one, and I haven't noticed it.

cyclonus11

I remember struggling hard with overland quest NPCs and needing help, lol. Specifically the Maulborn Alchemist in Deshaan who would kill me repeatedly until I was able to group with someone to fight him.

Also any harvesters. There was the quest in Bangkorai with a harvester in a crypt hallway - I couldn't get past it so I just died and ran through it as a ghost.

TaSheen

smallhammer wrote: »

Starting an alt, and having the main quest hanging in the quest section... you should at least have the chioce to hide it. Or is there one, and I haven't noticed it.

Unfortunately, no. I just leave "Talk to the Prophet"/"Talk to the Hooded Figure" (depending on which account/when alt got created) in there forever. Did the MQ twice, was totally underwhelmed by it, not doing it ever again....

DestroyerPewnack

smallhammer wrote: »

I don't like the level scaling. It means there is nothing much to look forward to. Exploring other areas with more challenging content. Most will say the overland and delves are far too easy. Many dungeons as well.

Level scaling doesn't realy do leveling much interesting. You can do everything in overland and in delves at level 1.

And starting a new char; you can give them all the CP points your main has aquired. So, are you then realy level 1 if you do that?

Starting an alt, and having the main quest hanging in the quest section... you should at least have the chioce to hide it. Or is there one, and I haven't noticed it.

I sort of agree with you. If I were playing solo, it would be nice to have more and more challenging zones to discover as I progressed through the game. But when you're playing with friends, and there's a big gap in your levels, level scaling is helpful to make sure everyone is getting something for their time, regardless of the content.

Stamicka

I would say that quality of life has improved and many grinds have been significantly reduced. I think that the game is worse overall though. If old ESO had today’s quality of life features it would be far better than the ESO of today in my eyes.

Today, classes are much less unique, combat is watered down, there’s a lot of broken sets in the game, balance is in a bad spot, the power creep is ridiculous, there’s fewer viable playstyles, Cyrodiil is a husk of it’s former self, the crown store has a bigger presence in the game, and the list goes on.

I miss good PvP, being challenged, and being well rewarded.

Smitch_59

I'll always remember my first character, EP level 10-ish. I went from northwestern Stonefalls into the Rift, where I promptly got destroyed by level 40 skeletons. Good times.

DestroyerPewnack

Smitch_59 wrote: »

I'll always remember my first character, EP level 10-ish. I went from northwestern Stonefalls into the Rift, where I promptly got destroyed by level 40 skeletons. Good times.

I have an exact copy of that memory in my head! 😂 That's so funny haha!

Lokey0024

They took away my Undaunted infiltrator/Molten Armament heavy attack BBQ build. Would love to have it back again.

smallhammer

Smitch_59 wrote: »

I'll always remember my first character, EP level 10-ish. I went from northwestern Stonefalls into the Rift, where I promptly got destroyed by level 40 skeletons. Good times.

Yes, this is how it should be. A challange, and the feeling of mastering as you level up. (And getting destryed lol)

katanagirl1

I didn’t play when there were Vet ranks but I must have joined shortly after. I know it was Tamriel Unlimited, some time during Morrowind chapter. I would not have liked anything better then except for the PvP in Cyrodiil.

Hypertionb14_ESO

LadyLethalla wrote: »

I started in console release week, and got my main to VR16 just before CP were introduced.

Definite lowlights of play, back in those early years:

° Levelled zones that had to be played in order. So whichever faction you picked, you had to follow the zone quests to level up, in order to be strong enough to be able to enter the next zone. I remember one idiot taking me to Malabal Tor well before I'd completed Grahtwood and he was wondering why I kept dying to stronger mobs in Velyn Harbour that he couldn't even see because he'd already completed that zone. One Tamriel changed this.

°Separate faction instances. To play with a friend you had to be the same faction. One Tamriel also changed this.

°Craglorn was too dangerous to travel, offroad, alone. Swarming Wasps killed you. Craglorn surveys still dropped, though.

°No Housing.

°Not that I experienced it personally, but I believe Maelstrom Arena had no Save, so if you died you had to start again from the beginning.

° I didn't experience this either but I believe mount training was by mount and not by character.

°No Outfits.

CP was introduced after upper craglorn, before VR16 was added with imperial city. i know this because i had over 400cp but my gear was still vr14 when i came back from my break. It was almost half a year after the CP system was implemented that they added VR15-16. it was around the period between CP and VR16 that i initally stopped playing.

Smitch_59

Another one: Before writ recipes could be purchased from chefs and brewers, the Fishy Stick recipe was rare enough that folks bought and sold cooked Fishy Sticks in the guild traders.

LadyLethalla

Delimber wrote: »

Dolmens were not the walk in the park they are now.

Oh I forgot about them. I actually quit for a while because no one else was doing Grahtwood dolmens and I was tired of getting slaughtered.

SilverBride

It's way better now because I can actually play without dying repeatedly when doing overland quests, and I don't need to group for everything.

NoOneSpecial

Smitch_59 wrote: »

Another one: Before writ recipes could be purchased from chefs and brewers, the Fishy Stick recipe was rare enough that folks bought and sold cooked Fishy Sticks in the guild traders.

I forgot all about that. It was years before I tried to do provisioning writs again.

zaria

DestroyerPewnack wrote: »

I started playing ESO right around the time they replaced the veteran levels with champion points. I always complain about the state of the game today, but I'm starting to wonder if I'm suffering from rosy retrospection.

I mean sure, the game was better when new PvP content was coming out, and was playable. Classes still had identities. The game was massive on release, and there were loads of things to do, new systems to familiarize yourself with, a learning curve to climb, etc.

But at the same time, you couldn't reconstruct gear. No stickerbook. Farming perfect gear took forever. You couldn't group up for PvE with your friends if they were from a different alliance. Enemy levels didn't scale with your character. And (this might be just my experience,) but the playerbase today seems far more sensitive than it was back then.

Am I crazy in thinking the game was much more fun 8 to 10 years ago than it is today?
How do you remember the game from back in the day, if you're a veteran player?
And how do you feel about the game if you've just picked it up? Are you excited? A little lost?

Would love to hear everyone's thoughts. 12 hour maintenance... we have time to kill. 😂

I say PvP was more fun but just as unbalanced, vampires played by good players was like having an baby hammer.
Now days is mostly troll tanks.
Main reason PvP was more fun was the huge battles it was wild chaos.

And yes games tend to be more fun the first time you play them, than on later run.
Now I glad I played the game before one Tamriel, but I would not want it back.
Its a bit how you loved your first junk of an car dearly but you would not replace it with your current car you don't care much about.

For quests, an toggle legacy / story mode could be an idea, you have to finish the zone main quest to get to the next and no dlc quest pointers unless you travel to the dlc zone. Think this would help new players

AzuraFan

For me, overall the game is better than when I started playing.

I came in when Morrowind was released. The only change since then that really irked me was AwA. Otherwise I've been okay with most of the changes, especially the QoL ones.

Combat is worse. Too many sets. Lots of skills but most people use the same ones. Overused mechanics like immunity phases. I'm not a fan of removing any real distinction between magicka and stamina. To me, combat and builds were bland to begin with and have only become blander. But because I don't care all that much about builds and such, the changes haven't annoyed me as much as AwA did.

I appreciate how much is soloable in this game. If that wasn't true, I would have left years ago. I've gotten into dungeons recently, and I appreciate the queueing mechanism for those (even when I get a speedrunner. With pugs, you get what you get. When I want to do the story or secret bosses and stuff like that, I group with guildies).

AcadianPaladin

I monitored the reviews when ESO first came out and wisely avoided the game. Once it seems the game sorted out it initial growing pains, I started playing. That was right after the game went to T1. In my opinion the game has improved in all areas but one.

Fashion, companions, convenience are all big wins.

The only thing that has not improved is combat. Lots of combat changes that simply seem to be neverending and frustrating cycle of nerfs and buffs as classes change position in a circular manner. The game's balance is no better nor worse than it was when I began playing. By clinging to the failed model of balancing PvE and PvP together, I don't think the circular unproductive results will change as we continue to build characters on shifting foundations of everchanging sand. That's okay I suppose since my endgame is more fashion than combat. I don't even know how to spell tryal or vette for example.

Again, overall though I think the game has improved from good to better and hope it continues to do so.