Is the Game Dying already?

Ravinsild

I was in the BETA, and I remember the initial rush of people and I joined a few guilds but it just seems that now the game is dying...

Here are a few of my observations:

Before, people were constantly selling Motifs, rare materials and things of that nature.

Last night I waited for LITERAL HOURS and NO ONE (Aldmeri Dominion, NA server) advertised a single rare motif other than one guy trying to sell a Primal at around Midnight Central US time.

Where did all the sellers go? Why are there no motifs or anything being sold at all? What happened?

This brings me to my next point:
Zone chat used to be so active that in order to follow any conversation in my guild I needed to turn it off otherwise the guild words just got flooded out by the zone chat noise.

Now most zones are quiet, nobody is talking about anything...I can turn zone chat on and in several zones go HOURS without a word....where did everyone go?

Speaking of dying conversations:
Nobody is ever talking in cities, never in say, and they never did....which leaves the world feeling lonely. It's often difficult to distinguish between an NPC and a Player Character because everyone is just standing around not talking, or generally interacting....

Including guilds. I joined AngryJoe's guild and that guild went from having TONS of members on, lots of pvp conversations and continual conversations to crickets...

My vampire RP guild...nobody has wanted a bite for weeks, and conversation is minimal at best...it used to be extremely active and I've noticed certain key members just not logging in anymore.

I just notice a distinct lack of guild conversation, zone conversation, people logging in...

It just feels like the world is rapidly growing emptier. Is this game already dying, or perhaps even dead? Where did everyone go?

This is a common trend I have noticed:
<Name> is online.
"Hey! What's up?"
"Oh nothing much just logging in to feed my horses, won't be on long."
<Name> has gone offline.

Is this just me? Did only my guilds die, and am I the only one seeing ultra quiet zone chat? Am I the only one finding it nearly impossible to buy a motif at all? Am I the only one that finds the world disturbingly quiet and quite lonely these days...?

Khandi

Well, there is a new game that in open beta that may have something to do with it....it's getting over 15000 hits a minute on one of the websites...causing all sorts of issues....

To answer your question though, no, I don't think it's just you unfortunately.

vyndral13preub18_ESO

I haven't actually noticed any of those things. 2 of the 3 guilds i am in are still getting bigger, and i still routinely turn of chat because it spams off guild chat. Although i never try to buy anything in chat so i never pay attention to what people are selling.

But everyone knows DC is much cooler the AD, so that is probably why.

Ravinsild

You think it may be better if I try a new alliance, then?

k9mouse

I have not notice it being quite, some of my guilds that I belong too are very busy talking and few days ago, I spam the zone spam chat to have a certain item made for me and about 15 minutes or so -- I found a crafter.

May be the OP is not online at peek hours thus the server seems more dead then it really is.

Nox_Aeterna

Plenty of reasons:

After the 1 month , many quit mate. I will probably quit myself on this second month , just want vr10 and im almost vr6 atm , not much for a solo player after that.

Now the player base is not cluttered together. From lvl 1 to vr10 there are MANY zones and cities , people are now just divided.

Now it is much harder to get said rare motifs , since zen nerfed it to oblivion.


Quite sure others can come up with other reasons also. Seems to me to quite normal overall.

Csub

Nope.
Betas are always full of people. Haven't noticed much difference myself since the first subs were deducted.

Ravinsild

I play from around 5:45 PM Central US Standard time until 12:00 AM or so.

Ruddertail

No apparent decrease on the EU server that I've noticed, every zone is very active until the off-hours.

Ravinsild

Well, I guess it is just me then, or maybe just Aldmeri Dominion from 6 PM to 12 AM US Central Standard

Gedalya

It must be noted that the Racial Motif and Vamp/WW bites are question of economy; specifically fluctuations in cost and demand are a function of time in this game. Many people now have a higher level character and have access either to the Vamp/WW spawn locations or the areas that drop the highly sought after Motifs.

claudius_Dark

I think the drops on motifs are less now. The first month I found like 5+ motiffs. Haven't played much in the last week, but I think the drop rate is lower; I don't know why I say that.

Chirru

Well...the bots are still there. No,
Some people now need to pay a subscription and find the game not good enough to do so.
Some burned out rushing to the Veteran levels
some find the game to difficult, especially veteran level and solo-bosses
some found it to easy and boring
some do not like the pvp aspects of the game.
Some do not like the pve aspects of the game
Some don't like questing and there is not enough exp for grinding
Some complain there is no end-game raiding
some are upset at the many bugs
Some are upset about class imbalance
Some are angry Vampires have been brought down
Some will be even more angry if this happens to the sorc bolt-escape
Some do not like the Bots
some do not like all the above
some do not like themselves
and some invent reasons to leave.

Okay..this was just 16 reasons why it is so quiet....forgot some...it is not weekend and there is no public holiday and people are waiting for the big Nerf-hammer to drop that must come. It will hit hard as always...

anyhow...there are hundreds more reason why it is so quiet. One might be that it is just your perception... just saying... but no, it has gone quiet, especially at US off times. all then left are Bots running bravely in circles and keeping up the appearance the game is alive.

lecarcajou_ESO

Ravinsild wrote: »

Nobody is ever talking in cities, never in say, and they never did....which leaves the world feeling lonely. It's often difficult to distinguish between an NPC and a Player Character because everyone is just standing around not talking, or generally interacting....

True enough—but then why use /say when it's so likely to be overlooked, because many people hide zone chat, and even if they don't a person standing right next to you might be looking at something else but the chat window and never notice that you said something. I know speech bubbles would clash with ESO's philosophy of immersive design with a minimum of interface distractions, but how about an option to turn on speech bubbles for those who wouldn't mind a bit of conversational clutter now and then? To say nothing of group chat—it's tough to keep an eye on the chat while interacting with the environment.

Ravinsild

Well then this must be the literally shortest lived MMO in history.

SG_Celerrimus

Hopefully Craglorn brings people back, but I have also noticed a bit of a drop in people on the US server.

grizzbi

I've yet to find any real interest in this kind of post. It just happen in any social activity: some people leave, new ones arrive. When a game start, many people join at the same time. Then things settle down a little. People are just spread around zones, levels, activities...

jimbomobo

nope /thread

Gedalya

Also, if your looking to group message me.

forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/96460/second-imperial-legion-is-recruiting-casual-mature-pve-pvp-rp-all-factions-na-megaserver#latest

mutharex

As punctual as clockwork

Ravinsild

grizzbi wrote: »

I've yet to find any real interest in this kind of post. It just happen in any social activity: some people leave, new ones arrive. When a game start, many people join at the same time. Then things settle down a little. People are just spread around zones, levels, activities...

While your premise has a degree of merit: People being spread out may indeed account for quieter zone chats, perhaps...

It does not explain less and less people signing into guilds, only logging in to "feed their horses" and the general quietness of guilds and guild activity.

Is people not signing in, presumably having left the game, a sign of settling down? Is this a positive or good thing? Isn't it a bit soon to be "settling down"? Ordinarily shouldn't the first few months be of constant growth, more busy than ever before, busier than the month prior as new people join and the game retains old players due to its value and quality?

RianaTheBosmer

I don't see it on Daggerfall at all, very busy, but I do agree that AD is quieter and it's damned nice and I, for one, never have zone chat on and I'm sure there are a lot of players like me.

Willow

I have not noticed any decrease. There is a open beta going on in another game but really have not noticed any difference here.

This is a good reminder why I don't join guilds though...lol.

Ravinsild

It appears from the small sample of evidence in this thread that only AD appears to be inflicted, other alliances are thriving.

Nox_Aeterna

Ravinsild wrote: »

Well then this must be the literally shortest lived MMO in history.

Well , it probably will be the one i played for the shortest time of all. Think i never played a MMO for less than 6 months, if i leave this at 2 , it will be quite faster than usual.

Still , i dont expect this game to die that fast.

They actually have a good base here , but i do think they need to build upon it for a few months before one can say this game is actually rdy and great.

For example , im vr5 , reason? Im stuck , the quest i need to progress is bugged , and i cant make the NPC spam so i can kill it, and no , if i add yesterday + today i can add safely another 10/20 people i saw running there , note that is just in the time i was there lols , and also not being able to do the quest , neither relog nor closing the game works also. Yey!

vyndral13preub18_ESO

Ravinsild wrote: »

grizzbi wrote: »

I've yet to find any real interest in this kind of post. It just happen in any social activity: some people leave, new ones arrive. When a game start, many people join at the same time. Then things settle down a little. People are just spread around zones, levels, activities...

While your premise has a degree of merit: People being spread out may indeed account for quieter zone chats, perhaps...

It does not explain less and less people signing into guilds, only logging in to "feed their horses" and the general quietness of guilds and guild activity.

Is people not signing in, presumably having left the game, a sign of settling down? Is this a positive or good thing? Isn't it a bit soon to be "settling down"? Ordinarily shouldn't the first few months be of constant growth, more busy than ever before, busier than the month prior as new people join and the game retains old players due to its value and quality?

You say ordinarily like you know what you are talking about, yet you dont sound like you have played any subscription based mmo in recent years.

The trend has always been once the free time is up numbers go down. It is what happens from there that is the issue. Do they hold? Do they spiral down? Do they go up?

Audigy

The game does not die, there are just a lot of people who cant post at the forum anymore due being banned or not having an active account. Its always like that at a new MMO, many people come over because they are bored from their last MMO, but in the end they only join to see something new, but not because of the actual idea behind the game.

They now hopped to Wildstar or straight back to WoW, GW2 etc.

I am not a die hard fan of Elder Scrolls and only played a few of these games casually, so I am pretty neutral on the whole matter, but I really like how they try to focus on a more traditional layout. I grew up with UO and I definitely see a future community for ESO.

The game can grow a community over time if the Dev´s don't cave in and stick to their plan. ZO has great idea´s and doesn't has to battle with "dungeon dweller MMO´s" that pretty much all fail because of WoW´s strength on the market.
ESO could have a similar status like EvE, UO a tight community with loyal gamers and I believe this is what ZO is going for.

They don't need the average Joe, but a more for depth looking gamer and I am sure those are the ones that will stay with ESO in the long run.

nerevarine1138

Ravinsild wrote: »

It appears from the small sample of evidence in this thread that only AD appears to be inflicted, other alliances are thriving.

I'm in the AD, progressing through VR content with my main and leveling nice and slowly with an alt. I have zero problems getting people together for dolmens, world bosses, dungeons, etc. I have literally no idea what you're talking about, and the entire thread title is so inflammatory that you pretty much lost all hope of making a viable point before you started writing.

NordJitsu

Never ever join the Angry Army.

They are game jumpers. They play a game for a month or less and desert it.

I had the same problem with GW2. I made the mistake of joining them, was disappointed to learn that they were nothing but a mindless zerg, and got ditched on an empty server when they quit.

And no, this game isn't dead. In fact its still warming up. Most people aren't even Vet Rank yet.

Aeradon

In DC.

Went to Wayrest, and it was so empty I almost cried. People come people go, I still see fresh players, though the guilds I joined are as OP said, not much activity or even logins for the past 2 weeks.

The higher level zones are still very active though, perhaps people moved up ranks. Coldharbor in particular is crowded. And bots are in Coldharbor mostly, flying around, doing non combat quests, hogging grind spots. I noticed the difference between all the zones cause I had to do the main quest from the start to get VR1.

Also, best part is that there are rarely arguments on /zone, haters and trolls left I guess. Though some still run around killing WW spawns.

Ravinsild

vyndral13preub18_ESO wrote: »

You say ordinarily like you know what you are talking about, yet you dont sound like you have played any subscription based mmo in recent years.

The trend has always been once the free time is up numbers go down. It is what happens from there that is the issue. Do they hold? Do they spiral down? Do they go up?

I have been playing the same single MMO for the past 7 years...I had no real interest in any of the new games that came out for a variety of reasons.

Now I AM interested, so that is why my questions were speculations, so no I don't know what I am talking about. I'm just guessing on how it's "Supposed to work".