I have spent a lot of time trying to enjoy this game post patch and I must say I hate it. This is not a criticism of anyone. The game is an amazing creation, and I can see the love and time that has gone into it. I can also see how this patch will work great for some types of player. But for me, a casual player who wants an hour or two of relaxing fun each night rather than grinding and wading through stats, this patch is a disaster and has killed the ESO experience for me totally.

For me there is no point in saying well the game forces players to be social when playing when you turn up on a pledge or dungeon raid or whatever and everyone expects you to be a complete pro and kicks, criticises or otherwise ruins the gaming experience if you should not obsess about builds to the enth degree. I should add I have had some great dungeon raiding experiences before the patch but they don’t come close to the range of negative experiences I have had. I am not a pro, I care nothing for planning builds and calculating champion points and armour sets. I don’t know what half the ESO abbreviations mean and nor do I care. I have no idea how chat works and cant read it because it is so small anyway. I want to have fun, not dedicate my life to the arcane art of trying to understand the rules and stats of a game. I am not criticising those who do all of the above, in fact good luck to you. Its just not for me. So a patch that forces the casual player to be social for me is a fail for this reason.

As I say I am a casual player and for me I like the Godlike experience. I always have. Insert as much criticism as you want, oh well you want things to be simple, yes. Your life must be empty, well yes or I probably would not be playing a hero in a fantasy computer world… Etc etc. All duly noted. But as I say I play for this experience, if others don’t, that’s great for you. I like one kill strikes in Glenumbria, it is enjoyable. It is also enjoyable to wander the realm seeking really epic battles with characters that are far far stronger than me and often loosing. I want that diversity. I do not want to walk 5 steps and be attacked by a wolf that takes 10 or 12 attacks to kill over and over. What is the point. How is this immersive? In what world can a wolf fight off a lvl 94 character (btw I have never understood the leveling system so that’s 50 + 44 champion points). To me the loss of this sort of experience means now I have to grind all the time. In the past the reward for grinding was simply that I would get stronger and not have to grind so much, i.e. become godlike. Now I notice the more I grind the more my powers as it were diminish. My spell critical rating actually goes down the more experience I gain. Thanks, very rewarding. So there is no point in playing for me. Yes I am sure if I invested lots and lots of time in the game I could mitigate this issue but frankly as I say I have a life already and I use the game to relax. I don’t want to invest lots of non game time and don’t see why I should.
So then what is the reward. Open Tamriel. That’s great I can go anywhere hurrah. Oh wait no I cant. I have been trying to get to the rift from day one. As a Daggerfall covenant member this is rather hard but with the latest patch the whole world opens. Except it does not. I can get to Stonefalls and no further until I finish all the quests to open access the Rift so far as I can tell. So how exactly can I go wherever I want? And how is this is a trade off.

Anyway this is my opinion. I am sure either 1) this post will be ignored or 2) this post will attract a ton of criticism. Well to the latter I say this. I am not wrong as this is truly what I think, it is my opinion. To you I say you also are not wrong, as what you say is your opinion. What I am saying is that for me and I suspect for a lot of other casual gamers (most of whom like myself are not invested enough in the game to normally bother using the forum – this is what I mean by casual, pick up and play gamers) these reasons are why the latest patch are not welcomed. The long of the short of it, this game is no longer fun for me and as time goes on I will play ESO less and less and then eventually just stop.

Cously wrote: »

difficult now but after being stuck in on region (Wrothgar) for almost a year, it is such a brand new game to revisit the regions.

I do think it is too difficult, but the more important point for me is that it is boring. Lets say I see some runes in the distance. Between me and those runes are 4 wolves. Each wolf takes me (a level 94 character) 11 attacks. So that is 44 attacks I need to do when all I wanted to do in the first place was pick up some runes. In the past 4 strikes wolves gone and runes collected. The time and hassle of doing this again and again is pure grind. If this is the brand new game then its not one I want to play.

Cously wrote: »

I can understand the struggle new and low level players are going through but in the grand scheme of things this update was the best. Surely you complain about difficult now but after being stuck in on region (Wrothgar) for almost a year, it is such a brand new game to revisit the regions and get loot and xp from it. Not to mean the socialization the game requires now.

I totally feel the same way. I love wrothgar difficulty everywhere, it's given me a reason to visit zones I haven't been to in almost 2 years Yesterday I died soloing a dolmen, although my food buffs had just run out and my armour was broke, it was a novel experience all the same.

I quite like the idea that lower level players are having to think about build/combat more than they did, as harsh as that sounds. It strikes me as more similar to the game I started playing pre-doshia nerf, and that was fun tbh. The days when you had to ask for help with a WB in zone

I'm especially enjoying the revamped World Bosses. My timezone means there's usually not as many people on when I'm playing late afternoon, so I've been able to successfully solo many of them. It's been a rewarding challenge for me, as well as helping me improve my tanking skills.

FriedEggSandwich wrote: »

Think of those wolves as extra nodes that give a small amount of gold and leather scraps

True but they were extra gold and scraps when they took 1 strike to kill too. 11 strikes for that reward is disproportionate. If combat was fun or engaging then maybe (though probably not) but to be frank I just look out the window during most combat mashing the buttons until I hear something die.

Taternater wrote: »

Also if you have the dlc, the blade of woe can help you avoid fights as well.

Thats the Dark Brotherhood DLC isn't it? Is that a skill or a weapon? And yes wolves are dangerous things, but surely a level 94 vestige should be far more dangerous and that is what I feel the difficulty does not reflect.

While I'm seeing lots of players in game, I'm not seeing the mass crowds others are. Maybe it's an Australian thing.

Some world bosses I'm solo'ing ok, especially on a heal tank. Takes forever, but it's certainly do-able.
Other world bosses are much harder. All world bosses are at least a challenge though so I'm happy.

Dolmens are only slightly more difficult than before in my opinion. I've solo'd a few and it's been fine.

Normal dungeons are the same as before.

Vet dungeons have increased their difficulty enough that you can't just ignore the mechanics of the boss fight. I'd say this is a key point. I think it's good that bosses can 1-shot people who are not paying attention and don't die so fast that they never get a chance to use their abilities.

I didn't even realise that the last boss on city of ash 1 put a flame dot on you that increased over time which you put out by going in the water! I didn't even know this was a thing because it simply didn't do enough damage before and the boss would die so fast it wasn't an issue.

All up I would say this is a very positive update in regards to increasing the difficulty ceiling, without changing the difficulty floor for most content.

The only real exceptions are world bosses which were a joke before and are now serious Don't Mess With encounters.

Phica_Lovic wrote: »

So, these forum posts are either: It's WAY too easy (by an exp player) or It's WAY too hard (by a lvl 12 or solo-ers). Asking this question to gauge what people really thing about it, and am open to adding more poll-options (serious poll options, trolls).

So my question is: How do you feel about One Tamriel and the new difficulty?

Its actually the opossite. Its easier if you're lower lvl, and its harder if you're higher lvl.
Look at this video this guy made, compares lvl4 with lvl49 -> https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/296619/my-character-is-leveling-down-instead-of-up#latest

emperorCAVEMAN wrote: »

Cously wrote: »

difficult now but after being stuck in on region (Wrothgar) for almost a year, it is such a brand new game to revisit the regions.

I do think it is too difficult, but the more important point for me is that it is boring. Lets say I see some runes in the distance. Between me and those runes are 4 wolves. Each wolf takes me (a level 94 character) 11 attacks. So that is 44 attacks I need to do when all I wanted to do in the first place was pick up some runes. In the past 4 strikes wolves gone and runes collected. The time and hassle of doing this again and again is pure grind. If this is the brand new game then its not one I want to play.

Even doing just light attacks with bow it doesn't take more than 4 hits to kill a wolf. They are about the weakest mob there. Maybe you are out of range and 90% attacks actually miss the target

I'm really big on not using cp indicators in places so cool, that's gone in a lot of places however, in my opinion, the gear and stuff still use it so it's weird.

I mean I thought we were removing VR but it's still a VR to CP vs just removing VR.
I realize some see Cp as progression but that's not really a good way to look at it as well as part of my reason to change things.
I do like the cp passive tho but I don't comprehend the point system as logical

If instead of thousands of possible points, there were unlocked passives based on certain progression that makes better sense
Also, instead of these being static, they could better apply based on the character stat placement. Meaning either make it a way to further balance and offset stat adjustments by having maybe the exact same amount of CPs as there are skill quest points
Or
Unlocking portions based on quest and achievements that align with content

I feel all of the above play greater into anyone's consideration of difficulty so until these are addressed and drastically changed, it's going to be splitting of hairs as each person will see it differently.
This also helps to remove a silly grind which does little to make players adequate rather than forcing content participation as progression.

emperorCAVEMAN wrote: »

Tannus15 wrote: »

All up I would say this is a very positive update in regards to increasing the difficulty ceiling, without changing the difficulty floor for most content.

wow this is absolutely not my experience at all. Can I ask what lvl class you are?

CP530+
Can't remember exactly

I've mostly been playing a Templar heal/tank, Stam sorc, StamBlade and magi-sorc.

Phica_Lovic wrote: »

It become anecdotal evidence about a low CP group or some noob, or that kids don't know how to play.

And well why should noobs or people who dont know how to play not be listened to? Why is that silly? Its not just the hardcore gamer base that keeps ESO running . If you kill the gaming experience for noobs then they will not buy DLC and not recommend the game to their friends and will go to other MMO's and money for ESO will reduce, the service will reduce, affecting the experience for everyone including the hardcore gamers. Elitist attitudes though understandable are a dangerous thing for the community as a whole if translated into action in my opinion. I realise many people on the forum disagree with this and thats fair enough but I thought I should offer the counter as many players dont want to use the forum and so never get heard.

At last ....an end to wooden spoon wielding naked Nords trash talking world bosses