the group finder is not really broken ... really truly ....

... I have been in a total of 3 groups whilst waiting for about 23 hours in total over about a week of gaming, once even for a dungeon I actually did not queue for

AuldWolf wrote: »

I'd just play the side stories, the main quest, and then I'd stop. If you can stop playing the story in a single player game, why is this different at all? I think games like WoW have contaminated your headspace. The game doesn't have a subscription, so what you can do is set it aside until some story DLC comes along that you actually want to play. You can then buy that for a fair price and run your character through it.

If you find you enjoy any of the other factions, you could also level a new character with a new class through that. You'd experience new gameplay and new storylines. Once you've played all the characters you like to their respective exit points (after the ending of the story), you stop. It's not hard. It's not that abstract of a concept. It's not strange. I mean, yes, most MMOs tend to rip out the last few pages of a book and dangle them over your head tantalisingly. They tell you that if you reread the last few chapters again a few hundred times, the ending will magically become better. And the more you do this, the better the ending you'll finally receive. The trick, though? They don't have an ending, it's just a trick to addict small-minded people who don't have self awareness enough to understand what's going on.

ESO has exit points! Appreciate this. It has an ending. You reach the end of the story and then you stop. You might play another faction, and then you stop. What do you do then? I don't know! Write a bloody book, maybe? There's so much more that you can do than just playing the same game for the rest of your life, I never want ESO to become that to people. That's a cancer that ruins lives. No, I'm not joking. One mother went to prison because of her WoW addiction, she neglected her kids to the point that they died all in favour of WoW, O Glorious WoW.

That's horrible.

So, if you've finished the factions you want... stop playing. Take it off your Steam favourites for now and just keep an eye on the news for DLCs you want to play. In the interim, look at all the other games you might want to play. Treat it like a single player or co-op game, because they give you every opportunity to do so. As I keep saying -- ESO, like good single player games, comes with loads of exit points. Points where you can stop playing for now, or stop playing for a long while. In fact, every time ESO wraps up a story or chapter, it's giving you the chance to take a short break, a long break, or to simply be done with it. Value this.

I think it's a good thing that the game isn't pulling skinner box nonsense to try and addict you to the point where it ruins your life. If you're not done for now, play another faction. If you've done that and you are done for now, you're done; Play another game, there are plenty of others out there.

It's your life. Don't let a game publisher run it for you, please? Thank you.

Thank you for this! Really damn good point and I think it is something that is lost with a lot of people.

It would be awesome if the main story was tied to thee max level but...diff ideas by the devs on game design.

It'd be cool if after killing Molag B that the VR stuff was tied to the main story vs playing alternate factions for a while.

BUT for me, I do enjoy the world, the artwork the scenery, meeting new people (real people) crafting, finding goodies, and then you get to Craglorn which is a new adventure.

While I'm not a big fan of the 45 - VR10 portion all the rest is great.

@booker21 There's no mandatory subscription or any need to feel chained to this game. Heck, even though I'm subscribed, I don't let that affect whether I play the game or not--I took about 1/2 year off from this game because I had other games I wanted to play and other things to do with my life.

The way that ZeniMax approached development of ESO from the outset was to make it a game where you did have that freedom of choice and flexibility with your playtime. It is a game that does appeal to multiple playstyles.

A lot of the people who play ESO and other modern-day MMOs have families, jobs, college, or other obligations they need to attend to daily, so they look at gaming as their quick fix of entertainment and joy away from the real world. Conversate with people, join social guilds, and you'd be surprised that sometimes you might just spend an hour or two in-game talking with friends and guildmates and just having fun.

This isn't your same crowd of MMO fans from a decade ago that were mostly composed of addicts that allowed games like EQ or WoW to take control of their lives. This is why a lot of the quality of life changes that come to ESOTU now are to appeal to modern-day ideals in the gaming industry where developers recognize that we have our own lives, obligations, and even other games we like to play.

It's also equally the reason why people get frustrated by things like Veteran Ranks and any sort of intense amount of grinding. Of course, the people who do like that sort of content have their own option of doing so as well.

No one is forcing anyone here to play this game and nothing else.

If you have my same type of mindset where you like to be methodical, think of ESO as a game that is no different than another game like Diablo 3, Heroes of the Storm, Splatoon, or Animal Crossing (I know...they're all WILDLY different from each other). In other words, these are all games you can go into, play for a little bit, then just come back to them when you feel like it. I actually upkeep a list of games that are like these in a spreadsheet because I tend to play them on the 'side' while I play other games I've been meaning to 'complete' as they are actually 100% of the way able to be completed (and I am a completionist). But I'm also a nitpicky gamer and I have a very small library of games because of it outside of games that I play for fun on the side.

I was in your same position last year when I didn't think in this mindset, actually, which was part of the reason for the hiatus.

Those five games I mentioned above can't be completed. However, games like Halo, Metroid, Mario, and Zelda 'can' be fully completed. There is no "end-game" to them; any extra modes are there as content that can also be played for fun, which is when you may be able to add these games in your head to the likes of those previous five.

Maybe that would help loosen any tensions you have? I know it did for me very much.

You don't have to quit ESO. You can just simply take a hiatus and come back into the game fresh to complete the next set of zones, take another hiatus, do that again. Rinse and repeat. Trust me, this game isn't going anywhere. It'll always be there for you to come back to for YEARS, and these types of games last longer than a decade. Just look at EQ: it's still going strong decades down the road. So, don't worry about it! Relax and enjoy your life.

OzJohnD wrote: »

if you have a gaming addiction seek help

Agreed.

Join a guild that does weekly events. Maybe even make friends with some people.

So it's an excuse to play the other zones I guess.
Doesn't make much sense from the story perspective. But I can deal with that.

Any way I can see which are story quest from the alliance and which are side quest? I'm not sure if I will do all quest available as I did on my alliance.

I have played so many MMOs ever since they started coming out UO, WoW, Rift, SWTOR, Tera just to name a few. Some where in my years of MMOs i have just learned that a MMO game doesnt really start for me until i reach level cap. I play for the endgame in MMOs.

For me, raiding in a big team, or grouping up and having some serious PvP sessions is where the fun is for me. This may change slightly between games, but the end result is always the same... the pursuit of all BiS gear. Once the slight chance I actually make that happen, then I usually let the game run its course, start and alt, or move on to a new challenge.

I had more fun with the rest of the content than I did with the main story. Last week I went through the achievement menu and was amazed at all the stuff I missed. So I went back zone by zone to pick up the rest of it (still working on it). Its sort of embarrassing though to say when I was finished going back through 4 zones, I ended up with 18 more skill points to use. I wonder how I missed all those.

Not really sure if they have already done the other two faction quests/zones with alts like most people do.

Not too many other good game are out at the moment and this game is free to play?

Mitchblue wrote: »

PVP and Dungeon's.

This.

And join guilds get social. Don't be that person playing with themselves all day. What if your parents walked in?