"Too much questing" - is the reason I hear when guildmembers stop.

GreySix

This describes what we see in ESO pretty well:

That said, there’s not much new to see for Elder Scrolls fans beyond arcane lore. The game plays like a tour of greatest hits without introducing any new concepts, which each single-player entry has done. It’s beautiful, but it doesn’t have the cultural depth or variety the franchise is known for.

This is most evident in the quest writing. The same tropes are recycled over and over again. It usually goes like this: A ghost appears to you as you walk by a ruined town, and asks you to avenge his or a family member’s death. Dig a little deeper and you discover it’s all because someone tapped into some forbidden demonic power and doomed the village with his or her hubris. Now repeat that story hundreds of times over hundreds of hours.
...

The most damning thing I can say about The Elder Scrolls Online is that when I played Skyrim, I couldn't put it down for weeks. I was so engaged by its spontaneous and malleable world, I impulsively played it every day for nearly a year. When I played The Elder Scrolls Online, it took willpower to keep going through the rigid, monotonous grind of identical, pre-canned quests.

silent88b14_ESO

IMO the problem is really that so many outspoken players evidently know how to play an MMO one way, and one way only.

It leads them to VR10 in just a few days of 'play', as if they were skimming the content to glean only what they think they want rather that engaging with the story and taking their time. Where the only thing they apparently can imagine doing is 'level'. Where the only game mechanic they are really using as their challenge are the obstacles.

And then, when their character is fully 'optimized' and the group is 'perfected' the complaint is that there isn't a challenge any more.

All you have to do to increase challenge is to de-optimize your gear. Force yourself to use an unusual mix of skills. You could even go to the extreme of accepting non-DK, non-Sorc, nonstave and non-cloth wearing builds. Maybe even let a nightblade wearing medium armor, using Dual Weild and Bow, or a 1-hand/shield templar, shocking though that might be in the face of the standardized meta.

The biggest tragedy here is that Zenimax is catering to that single type of completely unimaginative player. The company is an enabler.

Were it otherwise, what madness led them to invest any time or effort making it possible to go to Cyrodiil at level 10, when even the Skeevers and Mudcrabs there have been reset to VR5? That whole mechanic is irrational now.

A magnificent game is being completely ruined. And I think they don't sell smelling salts on Amazon that I could send overnight.

The developer isn't finished and what has been changed in order to cater to that one single type of player (as opposed to the 'play it your way' meme that was once a feature) is fait accomplis. It is already done and you know they aren't going to backpedal on those tragic decisions they made to throw up some content for the locusts by recycling the other two alliance content (50+ and ++).

Tragic heroism: a flaw with consequence.

Sakiri

My way of making a challenge: Will of the Council severely underleveled.

31 Templar

http://youtu.be/iAUK3svp3ms

kaosodin

I love the questing.