Is ESO in your top five preferred MMOs to date?

Rex-Umbra · October 2016

Best Game I have ever played. Generally MMOs would last a few months rhe most for me but here i am 15+ months on. Second was SWG it's first year.

idk · October 2016

UltimaJoe777 wrote: »

jedtb16_ESO wrote: »

been playing games online since the early '80's

this has it all....

a bit more polish needed, sure.

I don't think the internet was around back then... In fact, computers were in their more primitive form back then lol

@UltimaJoe777

I would hold off on that lol without understanding the history of computers more and, more importantly, the history of online games.

First, you are probably thinking about 286 CPU type PCs. The chip was invented in 1982 and IBM started using them in PCs in 1984. By the early 1990s they were in heavy use. However, This chip was merely the begining of a new family of chips, certainly not the beginning of computers in the home. Even the Comodore 64 has a modem and as long as a PC had a modem they could connect to gaming sites. Before the internet was in use by us common folk there was a fairly robust number of sites people could connect to.

Without even getting into online gaming itself, but sticking to MMOs. The first MMO was arguably Mazewar. While it's initial design permitted players to play with each other by connecting computers via serial cable it became a game hosted on a site in the mid 1970s. Additionally, it was a PvP game which also means PvP gave birth to MMO gaming.

Furthermore, the first major commercial MMO was on CompuServe in the mid 80s.

I have not read this entire thread, stopped at yours, but I would not be surprised if someone else had provided a good history lesson.

jedtb16_ESO · October 2016

Baranthus wrote: »

jedtb16_ESO wrote: »

UltimaJoe777 wrote: »

jedtb16_ESO wrote: »

been playing games online since the early '80's

this has it all....

a bit more polish needed, sure.

I don't think the internet was around back then... In fact, computers were in their more primitive form back then lol

troll?

the net started around '69

Yeah but it wasn't available to the general public. I'd love to see someone try and hook a Spectrum 48k and a tape player to the net...good luck with that :P

you couldn't get a spectrum in '69, it arrived in '82. but janet has been around a long time... and academics and students used it to access online games. i was one of them.

EleonoraCrendraven · October 2016

kongkim wrote: »

Its my favorit mmo to date. But will say that EVE Online come close

Fly safe, pilot

So EVE is the other (first) one, yes.
Tried some others before and had a good time but things change.
MMOs evolve and sometimes they don't get better.

UltimaJoe777 · October 2016

Tabbycat wrote: »

WoW's last two expacs ruined their game.

GW2 is okay but I dislike the diminishing returns.

ESO feels much more rewarding when I play it now. It will be perfect for me with OneTamriel.

The only thing missing is Spellcrafting.

Which is coming soon! No ETA though.

Moonscythe wrote: »

Technically speaking, ESO was the third MMO I ever played. I played LOTRO thinking I was going to take a Coursera class but it made me so crazy with its controls that I quit. I tried Neverwinter while waiting for ESO to release on the Xbox but I didn't like the crowds in the hub city and I'm really a first person kind of player so I never got very far. Thtat pretty much confirmed that I don't like MMOs and yet I'm still here.

I signed up for LOTRO beta and gave it a try, but I just could not get into it on PC. Maybe if it had been on console when I tried it, assuming it is now, I MIGHT'VE stuck with it some.

And to those posting about the short conversation regarding the origin of the internet, that horse is dead so let's not beat it ok? Let's stay on topic so this thread does not get locked.

Aelmuil · October 2016

2 months in ESO, CP 300 and this is what I've gathered;

1. The game has numerous dailies that keep that in hope to entertain us and to prolong the lifespan of players in game. But at the same time this model chains us to the same routine. Dungeons, writs, farming. It made me wonder, why do we farm? So we can run the same dungeon at a faster rate when we get better gear? It's like a big loop really, well that's how I feel. A never ending loop, an illusion of progression. You get burnt out pretty fast.

2. The PVP here in ESO is really fun, I love it! But like someone mentioned, whats the point? I mean yea the PVP itself is the point but there is no end goal. There isn't any penalty getting killed by another. I mean it'd be good if you get to steal your opponent's AP like how you can steal Telvars in IC. And at the end of a campaign, we're back at square one. Another loop. Because of this mechanic, most players don't really care about the campaign score really. It's all about the AP. The PVP doesn't make a difference to your faction or the game. And in One Tamriel we can sing Kumbaya with other factions too. Reminds me of GW2. Same mechanic no?

3. The game has been released for bout what, 4 years? And it has too many glitches and bugs! Never ending loading screen has been around since release i heard. Exploitation in PVP. Exploiters openly stream it too and no actions taken against them. Unstable server, disconnections, crashes, lags. (I'm unable to connect to the game for the past 3 days now because of that. That's 6 pledge keys and 3 days ESO plus burnt)

4. ESO has the worst support team compared to other MMOs from my opinion. Example 1: Usually no ETA on maintenance. 2. GMs don't involve much in game. 3. Try dropping them a ticket or complain, see how long they'll take to reply you. 4. Most complains on forums are left unanswered by the staff.

So yea, based on all of the above, ESO isn't in my top 5 list but yet I am here. I love Elder Scrolls lore! And I guess at the moment i don't have any other MMO to play. And ESO is pretty casual compared to other MMOs. Carebear mode ON! I might go back to my previous MMO though.

Morimizo · October 2016

Was my second fave until Crown Crates and everywhere dueling. Never even close to first though, due to horrid guild store system, exorbitantly-priced appearance/name change system, and thin class variety.

Davor · October 2016

Majic wrote: »

ESO: Number Two Never Looked Better

In the modern MMO genre (i.e., not counting MUDs, MUSHes, multiplayer FPSs, etc.), aside from ESO, I've played Asheron's Call 2, Star Wars Galaxies, Lord of the Rings Online, EVE and Guild Wars 2.

When the Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend Events came out in the summer of 2012, I was still plugging away in LotRO after getting bored of EVE (PVE to PVP, yo). I was interested in GW2 because it focuses on bringing players together without forcing them to group or punishing them for playing solo if they prefer. It was during that very first BWE that I realized I had finally found the best MMO for me, and it has remained my favorite game ever since.

ESO has a newer engine, first-rate art and sound, great writing, beautiful maps, Elder Scrolls lore (I've played Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim and loved them) and a combat system without autoattacks that rewards players for approaching warfare as an art form. It is, in my opinion, the very best Elder Scrolls game so far.

Unfortunately, it suffers from a single-player zero-sum design mentality which dictates that players must compete for everything in the open world: kills, resource nodes, even quest items. The result is an open world which is most enjoyable when no other players are around, and where the most logical thing to do upon seeing another player is to run the other way.

On The Turning Away

In ESO, as you add more players what you end up with is a barren, farmed-out wasteland offering nothing to do but wait around a ridiculously long time for respawns or move on to the next farmed-out wasteland. It's as exciting as chasing the fleeting banner of the Ante-Inferno -- but with standing around instead of chasing. And no banner.

ESO is a game in which friendliness is punished. Not a good design.

Contrast that to Guild Wars 2, where spawn rates and difficulty scale to the number of players present, and you never have to fight other players for resources or quest objectives. In GW2, the more players, the better it gets.

GW2 is a game in which friendliness is rewarded. Best. Design. Ever.

GW2 has also had level scaling from the start, meaning you were never consigned to an "End-Game Ghetto" when you leveled up. You could always go back to any zone, even starter zones, play there if you wanted, still get good loot and still enjoy the camaraderie of playing alongside others without having to race them to nodes or objectives.

ESO is now adding this with One Tamriel, which scales everyone up to allow essentially the same thing, but goes a step farther to allow lower-level players to play higher-level content, which is something GW2's level scaling doesn't do (it's just downscaling). This is a brilliant move and in one stroke eliminates a lot of the problems that came with the unimaginative, crusty old MMO mechanics ESO launched with.

Meanwhile, GW2 has been suffering from a long content drought which itself is a lingering effect of an ill-fated "living world" model that generated an entire year of one-shot events that can no longer be played, leaving nothing more to show than some now-unobtainable swag, events you can only see on YouTube and a bunch of smoking craters. Not a good design.

So for now, ESO is at an advantage, and it's where I'm spending my MMO time these days.

The Road Ahead

However, in the long-term, ESO lacks repeatable content in the open world. Once you finish all the quests, bosses and dolmens in a zone, that zone is "done" and doesn't offer any reasons to return. Thus the end result still becomes an end-game ghetto, just one with softer edges. Due to its repeatable dynamic event structure in every zone, GW2 has the advantage in the long-term. Even if repeatable content becomes boring, it can at least be replayed, whereas one-shot content doesn't even have that going for it.

One Tamriel is a huge step forward for ESO and creates a strong foundation for future content. When I heard it was coming, it gave me much-needed hope for the game's direction. But ESO (the game, not the players) is still unfriendly and needs to shed its single-player skin if it is to truly succeed as an MMO.

Do These Things...

1. Eliminate unfriendly PVE mechanics like competitive resource nodes and quest objectives, and scale spawn rates so it's not possible to walk through empty delves or other areas just because a single player walked through them ahead of you. The game does appear to scale spawn rates to some extent already, but it clearly needs adjustment. Overall, redesign ESO to be more enjoyable, not less, when more players are present. Reward spontaneous cooperation. Please the crowds.

2. Convert existing one-shot content to repeatable content and add more repeatable content to open world zones. Add dynamic events that change based on what players do. Give players a reason to go back and use existing maps more efficiently. Breathe life into a lifeless world. Keep us coming back for more.

...and ESO may finally become my favorite MMO.

If not, hey, Number Two still isn't shabby, but I know ESO has the potential to be Number One.

I would love to see that happen.

After reading this I want to play GW2. Now only if it was on the Xbox One.

NeKryXe · October 2016

i don't remember to get so addicted with any other MMO before. i never played other MMO for more than 250 hours, and on ESO i'm over 1500 hours now. so, i can easily put it in my first choice.

milesrodneymcneely2_ESO · October 2016

For all of its flaws, this game is hands-down my favorite.

Sure, there are things that need attention. The lag is out of control, balance needs some work, and they should have included a Hand-to-Hand and Polearm skill line a LONG time ago.

However, this game gets a LOT more right than it does wrong. I LOVE the skill system, the crafting system is beyond polished, and the questing system has kept me engaged since launch. Not to mention that end-game content here is more accessible than what I've seen in any other MMORPG that I've played.

I look at MMOs as less of a fling and more of a marriage. Part of what makes a successful relationship is recognizing your mate's faults, acknowledging those faults, and then pretending those faults don't exist.

All in all, I'm having a good time here and I can't see myself going anywhere any time soon.

P.S.: Yes, I WILL be bitching about things from time to time, ZOS. But it's only because I love you.

Magic_Doogies · October 2016

Only MMO I've ever touched and I quite liked it.

Its about 20% less glitchy than your average Bethesda game and unlike the latter Zenimax at least goes back and tries to fix it. Whereas, as far as consoles are concerned Bethesda will never even bother to make their games playable on there and why bother fixing it on PC when you can wait for modders and free working code monkeys to do the job for you?

greylox · October 2016

Aion, Age of Conan and Elder scrolls are the only mmo's i've played for years instead of months and eso is the only one I'm still playing

raglau · October 2016

Easily my favourite MMO. I just wished they'd:

A) train the support team
B ) deal with the performance issues
C) Invest in some resiliciency so the game didn't have to be taken down for 8 hours for every single patch

Father_X_Zombie · October 2016

The only MMOs I've played is this and DCUO. So I guess this would be the better of the two in most cases lol.

UltimaJoe777 · October 2016

You know, it's funny... ESO is probably the only MMO I've ever played that did not have rampant Real Money Trading issues. I'm playing FF14 when I'm not playing ESO and there is SO much RMT advertising but in ESO... barely any. Not sure if that means Zenimax is doing something right or the RMTers feel this game is not worth the time investment lol

JamieAubrey · October 2016

Its the only MMO I've played

Acharnor · October 2016

1st and only!

Sigtric · October 2016

To some extent or another (anywhere in between a weekend trial to years) I've tried nearly every major AAA (and many smaller or foreign) MMO's to date, starting back during Asheron's Call during it's peak.

For years, LOTRO was my #1 simply due to the IP, but ESO has taken the crown.

gard · October 2016

ProbablePaul wrote: »

I loved asherons call and dark age of camelot, and I am not sure that will ever change. If either of those games returned in force, I would move to them. Oh yeah, I forgot ultima online, that too!

My biggest issue with ESO is that they don't have enough pvp content; add the justice system, or make an open world pvp server. That's all I want.

Some other feelings about ESO in relation to other games:
I love adventuring in eso; my first playthrough was awesome, just roaming anywhere I want and trying to kill things, and dying, then trying again.

I like that races have their own special traits.

DAOC RvR (like AvA in eso) had a much larger map than cyrodiil, and scroll bonuses in pvp affected the rest of the realm, so there was an incentive for everyone to get involved.

darkness falls (like imperial city) entry was determined by who owned a certain number of keeps.

FPS players excel at pvp: Everyone is terrible when aiming with joysticks, so a lot of pvp is determined by how well you aim your crosshairs; its cool that its true to elder scrolls, but it makes the learning curve for pvp too great for everyone to feel ok participating. Tab targeting is a good handicap for other players who avoid pvp because they can't aim well.

There's way too much homogeneity in playstyles from class to class; don't let everyone have access to everything on one build, make people choose more carefully what they want to fight with. As it stands, everyone runs shields, heals, CC, teleport/charge, high damage, and defensive. No matter what class I play, it all starts to feel like im using the same strategy to win. I'm not really fulfilling a role, in a role playing game

Almost makes you think that some of the folks that worked on DAoC are on teh ZOS team, doesn't it?

gard · October 2016

KochDerDamonen wrote: »

I've played Runescape, GW2 and ESO. I've spent the most time on eso seconded by runescape.

The fact that Runescape is your no 2 does not exactly speak well for ESO.

treytrey12 · October 2016

Being 23 I haven't had a lot of exposure to MMOs before being burned out, but I've played many.

Among my list of MMOs I would say Warhammer Age of Reckoning for forever and always be my #1 MMO, gone too soon.

I played WoW heavily throughout my high school years, but I have a gag reflex just thinking of it.

Honestly ESO is currently the only MMO, other than World of tanks, that I play currently. But even so it feels like its missing something.

Thoric · October 2016

Played WoW, EVE Online, GW2, Everquest2, Aion, Age of Conan, The Secret World, Defiance, Rift, LoTRO, this is by far the best game. Every quest is a story, graphics are fantastic. I just wish that they would bring back Pacrooti and Gavin Gavone

DannyLV702 · October 2016

This is my first and the addiction is real

freespirit · October 2016

Tried many mmo's, rarely found one that grabbed me......

Started ESO Jan 2014(beta), whilst still playing the only other mmo I actually invested time in.

Immediately from the first weekend I played, which btw was so horribly full of bugs it was funny, I knew I was going to have to make a decision.

Who remembers many,many people standing on a hilltop waiting for Foulwing to spawn?? Infact so many people the feedback we got was something along the lines of "Too many people, no room for her to spawn".

Anyway by release date the decision had been made and I have to admit it was helped by some stuff that had happened in the other one, ESO was the one for me.

So nearly 3yrs on I have not regretted my choice, I have nostalgic days when I'm a bit bored and I think about the "other" one, however although I played for years, I always found it to be in some ways unnecessarily complicated.

What appeals to me about ESO is I understand it, I understand crafting, I understand Racial passives, I almost understand how damage is calculated........

There's a whole list of stuff I understand, whether I put it into practice or not, well that is my decision to make because I actually do know how too, I just choose not to.

Therefore I only have a first and second place as far as mmo's go, I'm not sure ESO is my number one all time game of any sort BUT it would make the shortlist!

Khaos_Bane · October 2016

TESO is still evolving in a very good way, so my opinion may change over time. After playing many many MMO's my favorite was the original Everquest. That game was given the term Evercrack for a reason, it was absolutely incredible for it's time. My memories of that game are very very good ones, though I'm not sure I would even play another MMO like it today. I just remember how unforgiving it was, but my/guilds accomplishments were even memorable because it was so difficult.

txtorpedo · October 2016

WoW was the first MMO I played back in 08 and is still my favorite. I've played about 6 different MMOs since I started, ESO is easily number 2.
Currently I find myself playing this more than anything recently.

NewBlacksmurf · October 2016

There are other MMO games that I like and some that I'm playing now over ESO TU so...

Keep in mind all of those aren't a typical MMO like WoW but neither is this even tho they're trying to be different, changes are making it more and more like an MMO which is why it's began to drop lower and lower for me.

UltimaJoe777 · October 2016

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

There are other MMO games that I like and some that I'm playing now over ESO TU so...

Keep in mind all of those aren't a typical MMO like WoW but neither is this even tho they're trying to be different, changes are making it more and more like an MMO which is why it's began to drop lower and lower for me.

One Tamriel will be the remedy to your concern then, as it will put ESO further from being an MMO than ever before.

NewBlacksmurf · October 2016

UltimaJoe777 wrote: »

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

There are other MMO games that I like and some that I'm playing now over ESO TU so...

Keep in mind all of those aren't a typical MMO like WoW but neither is this even tho they're trying to be different, changes are making it more and more like an MMO which is why it's began to drop lower and lower for me.

One Tamriel will be the remedy to your concern then, as it will put ESO further from being an MMO than ever before.

I completely disagree.
The entire update is further introducing and forcing endless grinds.
It's adding more, normal, hard, very hard modes
It's adding more F2P concepts
It's adding more subscribe to play requirements and locked behind features
It's adding more seasonal content which later is inaccessible
Its continuing solo only content and has added more
-they continue to use less and less beautiful character gear and artwork
-they continue to add more and more bugs and ignore major long term issues
-they continue to make unnecessary skill changes due to PvP issues
-they have added text chat to consoles but in no way does it actually address the issues ppl asked for it for...like group finder problems
-They have more grouping issues than initially

I consider this taking more steps closer to an MMO

Artis · October 2016

The only comparable MMO is WOW. If I had enough time and money, I'd just play these two. But I have to choose and I chose eso mostly because it's new and looks better + I love the universe and lore. I still like WoW, too. They both have something they are awesome at. Other MMOs - not so much. Just didn't hook me like these two.