Is the Game Dying already?

AreoHotah

I am not experiencing any of this so far. excepr for rare motifs. drops got ninja nerfed hard so it hard to find them. but thats it.

mutharex

I was in AD last night, on the NA server (Skywatch) around 17:30 to 19:00 and didn't see any less chat or people than usual. My guilds are more or less the same in size. EU server (where I usually play) seems normal too.

Reading the follow ups from OP this seem a flame bait or some wrathbaby rant

zaria

Krovax wrote: »

In all the releases I participated in and it have been basically all the mayor ones since 2000, you will always see that. People are excited, still on their free month and invest all the spare time they can. Even though they still might like to play, once you dumped a 100h into a game, at least for me, real life starts to be quite funny too again, so you tend to play less, but still keep playing.

You also have to keep in mind that most players ride the initial wave to endgame and it always seems crowded as long as you stay in the wave. Not in VR, said wave has flattened a lot, I get to do dungeons by myself again, etc.

In my guild, a lot of people are trying the Wildstar open beta, but that closes on the 19th and I expect to see some return to ESO with more online time.

The player wave to endgame also thins out as people play at different speed and different number of hour / day.

And yes its far fewer people during night, people play less and the people who play a lot is on higher level areas.

Megaserver an phasing is also an factor and can fool you, most players are in the phase after the quest to stop the invasion of an city, at peak hour an area often have multiple shards.

infraction2008b16_ESO

I only started playing yesterday, while the game is not dead it does feel like I've missed the party.

I have no doubt this game will end up as F2P soon.

grizzbi

infraction2008b16_ESO wrote: »

I only started playing yesterday, while the game is not dead it does feel like I've missed the party.

I have no doubt this game will end up as F2P soon.

If you just started yesterday, maybe you can take at least a few hours to make your own opinion about the game. You don't need thousands of players at your side to do that.

And this damn F2P thing is just boring. It has nothing to do with the game itself. It's just a business model. It just changes the way they earn money. Not the way YOU play.

JD2013

Nope. I see plenty of people around selling, grouping, playing etcetera.

Nice try though.

Cogo

Lots of people are playing. Just not as many as in the first week/weeks where a part of the player base was here just for the "free" month, then to get their money back. Mostly those who complained that zenimax was evil and watched a creditcard...LIKE ALL OTHER MMOs with a subscription.

The reason you see less people now is simply cause most of the "wow" type people, who wanted everything all the time. Hated that every mob didnt drop what they needed etc, have gone back to wow....or worse, wildstar (lol, those who expect wow in there will be.....)

The game is actually growing, and as someone stated, there is a community forming. Both on these forums and in game. I am in a "circle" with only guildleaders who exchange info, chat and simply communicate. If you have to ask why, then you have not played a game that requires some sort of player interaction.

JJDrakken

Try the Ebonheart Pact side, I wish they would shut up...

KerinKor

infraction2008b16_ESO wrote: »

I only started playing yesterday, while the game is not dead it does feel like I've missed the party.

I have no doubt this game will end up as F2P soon.

LOL, you were in the beta tests, you claim to have only started playing yesterday and proclaim you're already behind and predict doom and gloom.

Okay, if you say so.

per.t.pettersenb16_ESO

I like that it is getting more quite.

First weeks was a mess. Now i can consider turning zone chat on again. I can do quests without lot's of other people rushing trough and disturbing npc's and objects.
You don't have to stand in a line to do the objectives. (realy bad game design, even old games like lotro and gw2 do this so much better)
Not so much camping on bosses.
I hope it get's more quiet. So i can play it att my pace as with a few friends to chat with if i want.

mutharex

KerinKor wrote: »

infraction2008b16_ESO wrote: »

I only started playing yesterday, while the game is not dead it does feel like I've missed the party.

I have no doubt this game will end up as F2P soon.

LOL, you were in the beta tests, you claim to have only started playing yesterday and proclaim you're already behind and predict doom and gloom.

Okay, if you say so.

Ok I was wrong, looks like we still have some of them with us.....

Vuron

nerevarine1138 wrote: »

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.

Everyone from AD is in Stonefalls hanging out in Davon's Watch. I'm not joking, there must be hundreds of players hanging out in that city. Zone chat is a constant spamming of items for sale, rare motifs, crafting mats, etc. The city is so popular because of it's layout with the Wayshrine, stables, all crafting stations, vendors, and bank all in one area. Players range from VR1 - VR10 so you can buy almost anything. I always zone back here to sell/repair/craft/bank.

OP must be in the wrong zone.

scave

Our guild has 500 members and for the first month we generally had 200-250 members on at any one time. Currently it's around 50-70 and dropping steadily.
Yes, people always play more for the first month of any new mmo, but a lot of these players just aren't coming back.

I guess the only real population indicator we have is the Alliance Battle Campaign screens, which are constantly low pop for 70% of the campaigns. Sure, this might only be an indicator of how many players like pvp (or even an indicator of just how bad ESO pvp is!).

The general feeling I'm getting though from other player's chat is that many are cancelling their subs and returning to their previous games, or looking forward to games like Archeage and Wildstar instead, but that's purely from my perspective and is, of course, anecdotal.

Ravinsild

I'm really uncertain what I did to attract comments such as "Troll" and "Nice try" and "Wrathbaby", these personal attacks seem uncalled for as I didn't even criticize the game. I relayed an experience I was having and asked if anyone else felt the same way. Some have felt the same, some don't seem to notice a difference at all.

However, now I will criticize the game. Not in hopes if it failing, though. My biggest fear is that this game will go free to play. Allow me to explain.

What I do not want: A WoW clone. I played WoW since February of 2007 when Burning Crusade was still pretty new, back when the 40% ground mount was bought at level 40, couldn't go in water (even super shallow water) without disappearing and cost around 150g or more, not to mention training. Back when the game was still mostly Vanilla with a few Blood Elves and Draenei like elements...it hadn't transitioned into more casual friendly yet as I remember the lowering of the mount requirement to level 30...then level 20 and also the massive cost reduction.

I'm done with that game. It's over. I don't want to spend any more time with it. I do not want ESO to be anything like WoW, and thankfully, for the most part it is not. I logged into WoW this week and literally could barely move my character. I'm used to the fluid way ESO looks around. Turn the mouse turns your head and point of view. You don't have to mash the mouse buttons to manually mouse turn, it just happens quick as lightning. Fast, smooth, good. I love this about ESO.

I waited in Orgrimmar doing nothing for around 20 minutes and go into a battleground. I was used to the 6 button, that's all you need layout from ESO. Needless to say...playing a 30 button hotkey game with no automatic mouse turning your point of view to keep up with people...when you're used to just 6 is a strange experience. Luckily Warriors are so easy to play I ended up with 3 killing blows and only 1 death. However I just like the simplicity of the Elder Scrolls Online layout. I like 1,2,3,4,5 and R. That's it. Could weapon swapping be a bit snappier and more response? Objectively speaking, yes, it could be as smooth and natural as when you turn your mouse to look around. Sometimes the sluggishness of this particular ability has gotten me killed....but I'll take that over 30 buttons any day

I AM tired, as someone said, of the cartoonish graphics of WoW. I also love the pure fantasy setting. It's perfect. It's Lord of the Rings and classic Dungeons and Dragons. 99.9% Fantasy with the slightest, tiniest dash of "Steampunk" with the Dwemer artifacts (Think Eberron Warforged) and Ayleid ruins....which are more mystical than science anyway. That's the perfect amount.

I'm sick of the tanks, planes, helicoptors, cannons, ATOMIC BOMBS and all the modern crap disguised as "Medival" because "lol it's made of wood..." in Warcraft. I don't want that. I don't want Goblin flying shredding zipping around and rocket powered Chimeras. I LOVE Elder Scrolls Online's just pure, basic fantasy setting. It's a breath of fresh air.

I don't want this game to fail. I don't want it to go free to play where you can access 90% of the game, but if you want the last little bit you need to pay more. I don't want a micro-transaction shop. I don't want to feel the dread of "Will they start implementing pay to win items in the shop?" I don't want that. I want the old WoW model.

No pay to win shop, no shop at all. 15$ a month for ALL CONTENT, NO content held on the side for extra. Reliable expansions of massive proportion that bring a lot of amazing new content with really strong patches in between that bring out new activities. Stable, reliable and worth it. None of this pay a little here for some extra stuff, pay a little there, I don't want a mobile phone game business model. I don't want a free to play store. I want a stable subscription model and I WANT this game to succeed to sustain this model.

I don't need 8,000,000 players, but I need enough people to make sure the old WoW model subscription will work. None of this pay for level 90 crap, or extra mounts of the store crap, none of this extra content but give us money now! Just all of it for 15$. Plain, pure, simple, stable, reliable.

Unfortunately for some reason I'm just bored. Maybe I'm too picky, maybe I'm not imaginative enough...I don't know what the issue is, per-say but I just can't think up any more good builds. I want to be inspired...but for some reason I just get the feeling that a lot of the skill trees are too shallow. You can't REALLY build a pain inducing, on your knees crippling, damage over time dark caster...the Sorcerer only has one Damage over Time spell, and the Nightblade has a lot, but they also just don't even work right now. Perhaps this will be viable once they fix the Nightblade's spells. Cripple doesn't even work at all, but imagine casting that and the person coming to a hobbling halt, even showing them have some crazy visual aging/decay for a second or something.

Or if any of you have played League of Legends and are familiar with Olaf, what about a melee berserker. Crazy attack speed, life steal and just those massive heavy hits that chunk opponents life (His E, forget that name of it). Dual Wield doesn't really have any burst attack style moves...One move doesn't even do damage. It just blind enemies unless you morph it.

The stamina based builds feel lackluster and like you can't build an entire character for just wailing on opponents with a SUPPLEMENT of class skills...and no class really encompases that Fury Warrior, Raging Berserker, Reckless Barbarian feel of just wading into the fray and going insane, live or die.

If you want to build a fire mage...the Sorcerer doesn't have a single fire attack. You have to go Dragon Knight for that, which is a little weird but alright. However since the Dragon Knight is not primarily a spell caster...most of their attacks are in the melee/close range.

I dunno, I find that with as much flexibility this game has, it is missing on some key tropes that are staple the genre...and while it has a lot of width it does not have a lot of depth....

Perhaps you guys should post some of your crazy build ideas and I'll take some notes.

grizzbi

scave wrote: »

Our guild has 500 members and for the first month we generally had 200-250 members on at any one time. Currently it's around 50-70 and dropping steadily.
Yes, people always play more for the first month of any new mmo, but a lot of these players just aren't coming back.

I guess the only real population indicator we have is the Alliance Battle Campaign screens, which are constantly low pop for 70% of the campaigns. Sure, this might only be an indicator of how many players like pvp (or even an indicator of just how bad ESO pvp is!).

The general feeling I'm getting though from other player's chat is that many are cancelling their subs and returning to their previous games, or looking forward to games like Archeage and Wildstar instead, but that's purely from my perspective and is, of course, anecdotal.

I'm in 5 trade guilds. And they behave very differently.

3 of them are very healthy because people are invited when other people have left or are inactive for too long.

2 are slowly dying because the guild leaders don't care. When a guild knows a bad trend, then people just notice it and leave or get more involved elsewhere..

For PvP:
- People still level and learn the game.
- Many of them don't want to PvP before they meet specific requirements (gear, level, guild)
- PvP is often laggy and discourage people in its current state. Things will hopefully improve.
- PvP players need a better computer to handle zerg situations.
- Some people just don't like PvP

But many people think it's the best PvP since a long time and enjoy it everyday.

coryevans_3b14_ESO

infraction2008b16_ESO wrote: »

I only started playing yesterday, while the game is not dead it does feel like I've missed the party.

I have no doubt this game will end up as F2P soon.[/quote/]

I am going to use you as my signature to show how moronic you sound in a year when it's still a sub game. I don't have the patience to explain how these types of launches work and ebbs and flows and population and such. You probably wouldn't understand any of it anyway.

coryevans_3b14_ESO

Ugh why did I even look at this thread. Mindless speculation and half-witted opinion.

mutharex

OP if you are bored, as you just stated, it's better to give it a break instead of starting threads like this. For us of course

Kililin

We begin to die the moment we are born.
It is just a question of time.

PBpsy

As we can all clearly see the NA servers have been shut down therefore the game is dead. Goodbye ESO. See you on the other side.

SwampRaider

DC chat still active. There is also more chat in low level zones, because VR10's are trying to sell VR epics to lowbies for double the price( 6-10k rather than 3-5 k)

Tarwin

PBpsy wrote: »

gamebouncerb16_ESO wrote: »

Yes in fact it has already been cancelled. I'm actually quite surprised we can still post here

Thanks for the very insightful post.

Anytime! my "very" sarcastic response to a face palming discussion

infraction2008b16_ESO

KerinKor wrote: »

infraction2008b16_ESO wrote: »

I only started playing yesterday, while the game is not dead it does feel like I've missed the party.

I have no doubt this game will end up as F2P soon.

LOL, you were in the beta tests, you claim to have only started playing yesterday and proclaim you're already behind and predict doom and gloom.

Okay, if you say so.

"Playing" as actually playing on live and not the beta. During the beta I actually planned not to preorder and wait for the launch chaos (i.e. bug fixes/stability) to subside a little.

As for the rest of my comment calm your overwhelming white knight defender comments for the just a moment everyone my points weren't focusing on totally negative ones in fact I was actually disagreeing with the op on whether this game is "DEAD". It's still alive just "calmer" than I was expecting a month on from launch.

However we have to be realistic here, for a game that has just been out the door a month it doesn't seem awfully busy in game at least my experience up to deshaan vs the beta. Maybe that's a good thing as dungeons aren't swamped unless a few bots are doing the rounds in them however for a new MMO to calm down this quickly is scary, either zenimax are the masters of phasing/instancing and this game is actually packed to the brim or a lot of people have jumped ship already on to the next big thing that gets hyped up.

mutharex

Any mods around?? Hellllloooooooooooooo? Anybody out there?

seankstaffordb16_ESO

IMO it seems like players rush to the end game and then quit but only after a week or so of complaining about the devs not fixing bots, balance, bugs etcetera

kasain

FFXI and FFXIV have released massive updates in pass few months. And the bots did the same thing in ffxiv, flying in sky, walking underground and warping, but that company fixed most of that. It does take three to six months though. So I could deal with that.

Except!

They nerfed our dungeon drops. Wow, I killed XYZ boss and got five gold from a public dungeon or a end boss in quest line. Did some quest last night with the harvester as a boss inside a church as a VR5. Extreme hard with three or four other people, and five gold. So sad that in the end you get a useless armor item from long, long quest and exp. Drops where.

The bots are taking ALL mats. I got like 60+ slots of enhancing magic, but I am lvl nine. I can't go back to starter zones to get lvl 1-9 square items. Ore and such is all gone to. This hinders a new player.

They nerfed the book drop, and all chest drops when searching all to empower bots! Not the player experience of wow I found cool things.

Now they nerf a coldharber quest and probably an eastmarsh quest. Again this hurts the player. As its a quest we cant do over if we need something like armor repairs.

They have us report players but don't ban any. So we can't even play the game as we have to report players. we can't have name tags due to emersion, but we can click to report bots!

Every action this company has taken has hurt the player, and their experience. They have done absolutely nothing when nerfing to make up for the player losing out on things they should be allowed to do.

Their are many other ways they nerfed the player while empowering the bots.

This game is 95% quest driven. For love love of god if our berfing everything make a quest for crafting books, a horse, and add a repair skill line. Add quest for bag and bank upgrades. If they got rid of gold completely it would truly be a unique MMO. They wanted guilde trading, gulde trading would rock if it was item trades vs gold only.

But they won't come to that, only think money should be needed for or maybe a mass amount of materials or crafters like ffxiv did is for housing. Let guilde mates build a house together and such.

I am playing the game to get all out of the three faction quest. After that I don't know. I loved Skyrim graphics, and how mobs leveled with you and the up close death scenes and many skill tress not introduced. But right now I feel I playing a game to make bots money and ESO recover gold on a product they given up on but are trying to get all the cash they can before they shut down server.

Think of it would you refer this game to a friend in its current state?

Bhakura

TBh finding myself playing way less since the first few weeks as well.
Now i just log on, get my hireling mails, check on the researches, give the trusted steed some munchies, bash a few skulls ... and am bored again and log out.
The game doesnt have something to look forward too, just another heap of quests, if itsnt a town overrun by those or other bandits its a bunch of idiots fiddling with magic they shouldnt be fiddling with.
Has no replayability since you have to do all alliances to get maxed out. Roll a new toon with a totally different setup? Sure, if you wanna compete with hordes and hordes of bots meanwhile getting spammed to death by their goldsellers. So rather not.

Amsel_McKay

Bhakura wrote: »

TBh finding myself playing way less since the first few weeks as well.
Now i just log on, get my hireling mails, check on the researches, give the trusted steed some munchies, bash a few skulls ... and am bored again and log out.
The game doesnt have something to look forward too, just another heap of quests, if itsnt a town overrun by those or other bandits its a bunch of idiots fiddling with magic they shouldnt be fiddling with.
Has no replayability since you have to do all alliances to get maxed out. Roll a new toon with a totally different setup? Sure, if you wanna compete with hordes and hordes of bots meanwhile getting spammed to death by their goldsellers. So rather not.

Sounds like your play is like my current play time... something is missing... something important I just cant put my finger on what the IT thing is... WOW and EQ1 had it... I mean why would I play them for so long when the game was a huge grind?

mutharex

Amsel_McKay wrote: »

Bhakura wrote: »

TBh finding myself playing way less since the first few weeks as well.
Now i just log on, get my hireling mails, check on the researches, give the trusted steed some munchies, bash a few skulls ... and am bored again and log out.
The game doesnt have something to look forward too, just another heap of quests, if itsnt a town overrun by those or other bandits its a bunch of idiots fiddling with magic they shouldnt be fiddling with.
Has no replayability since you have to do all alliances to get maxed out. Roll a new toon with a totally different setup? Sure, if you wanna compete with hordes and hordes of bots meanwhile getting spammed to death by their goldsellers. So rather not.

Sounds like your play is like my current play time... something is missing... something important I just cant put my finger on what the IT thing is... WOW and EQ1 had it... I mean why would I play them for so long when the game was a huge grind?

Coz you were younger, the genre was newer and there was nothing else around (or almost)

MMO burnout

Amsel_McKay

mutharex wrote: »

Amsel_McKay wrote: »

Bhakura wrote: »

TBh finding myself playing way less since the first few weeks as well.
Now i just log on, get my hireling mails, check on the researches, give the trusted steed some munchies, bash a few skulls ... and am bored again and log out.
The game doesnt have something to look forward too, just another heap of quests, if itsnt a town overrun by those or other bandits its a bunch of idiots fiddling with magic they shouldnt be fiddling with.
Has no replayability since you have to do all alliances to get maxed out. Roll a new toon with a totally different setup? Sure, if you wanna compete with hordes and hordes of bots meanwhile getting spammed to death by their goldsellers. So rather not.

Sounds like your play is like my current play time... something is missing... something important I just cant put my finger on what the IT thing is... WOW and EQ1 had it... I mean why would I play them for so long when the game was a huge grind?

Coz you were younger, the genre was newer and there was nothing else around (or almost)

MMO burnout

MMO Burnout..... Noooooooooooooooooooooooo life is no longer worth living....