So I decided tonight I am gonna stop playing ESO. I have vented my frustrations before and said I would probably wind down play to a stop but tonight it hit me like a steam train in the face why I am not returning and I thought I would share. Before I go on, I am not criticizing the game developers who I think did an amazing job, nor the people who are having a ball with this game, many of whom are part of a great community. I completely understand that you love it and great. I am just saying what I think and frankly its fine if you agree or not. Nonetheless it explains why I will not return to the world of ESO and my experience might be useful, or not.

So what killed the experience for me. Well lets look at the short term, Grahtwood. Oh how I hate Grahtwood. I have realised with growing concern that my attacks (and that's ALL my attacks) are equivalent to hitting a Dremona in the face with a limp sausage. But in Grahtwood I realised that my defence (that's some 20K physical and 15K spell resistance) is also worthless. I knew Grahtwood would be a pain as soon as a group of suspiciously cute white beetles handed my **s to me on a plate as soon as I jumped (is there another way?) off the ship to Grahtwood. The power of things. Unbelievable. I have ranted about the power levels before. In summary I noted that my character Lvl50 and 57 CP takes 21 light attacks to kill a wolf with a destro staff. But I dont take damage. Well until Grahtwood. I think if I slit my own throat whilst drinking liquid arsenic I would hemorrhage less health than I do walking 5 metres in Grahtwood.

So as it took me 50 minutes to complete Luck of the Albatross today with far too many deaths I realised I am bored. Deeply bored. I hack again, and again and again (add in another 'and again' 20 or so times to replicate my experience and that's per person/bat). The combat when it takes this long is boring, repetitive and no fun. I die at the hands of low level characters that have a criticial hit skills somewhat north of Russia's entire Nuclear Arsenal, and bats, yes thats bat not the super hero, that hang grinning from the ceiling as my solar flares bounce off them. So when the quest (and if any Zenimax are employees are reading this can I ask if you are masons? All the quests seem to require me to the do the same thing 3 times, if this in 'omage to the Creator I wonder) sends me into the thick not just of overpowered enemies all the time (i.e. I have not finished killing one mob before I see the next), but rewards me for killing them by re-spawning more, faster than a Viagra soaked cockroach on heat only to let me kill them all over again, I am not having fun. But at least I get loot, except somehow I actually just get nothing.

And boy howdy does Grahtwood excel at nothing. I have hacked and kersplatted my way all over Grahtwood (imagine how long that took) and what do I have to show for it. Well lots of white armour and some green. But NO purple or Blue anything and no sets. I am using armour that's so old I think it was last used in the 100 years war.

And nothing will change. As I level up I grow weaker. I guess ESO is passing some sort of social commentary on how as we age are bodies weaken but expressed in CP. I dont know but frankly it takes some reward to drag me out of bed and into the ESO world. A reward like a higher level or a a weaker enemy. Instead each time I get a champion point something I had breezed past before starts using my severed head as bongos. I cant even pass a daisy without knowing in a couple of CP's time it too will be able to kill me with a critical strike.

And then finally there are the other bugs, swarms of them that attack in droves. Oh yes siree. Bugs that render NPCs immune to attacks and then kills them for the heck of it. Please let the superhuman respawning and power levels be a bug though I expect it is not. Quest points that dont play out and freeze quest lines. Objectives that I have to face away from before they register and so on. I know this is a new and major upgrade, I am cutting you some slack but still it factors into my absolute lack of fun in ESO now.

Let me contrast this by casting my mind back to happier times, definable as pre One Tamriel patch. Oh heady days. I spent my days running through the start islands and Glenumbria using my aedric spear to fly from one hit kill to one hit kill until I got bored when I would go to a high level to challenge myself against things that were far far stronger than me, where skill and cunning were actually useful. It was great. In those days a wolf was a wolf and not a Teflon wrapped homicidal killing machine with the destructive power of the US 7th fleet. I was conversely a god and a runt in the same great world ESO. Now I am a meh and everything I fight is also a meh. Oh for the days when I could pick my own difficulty.

So im off to play FPS again. I am actually smiling at the thought as I type. They are fun, they dont require me to study anything to play (and some of them have an instruction manual in case I do wont to find something out), and they actually reward me with improvements when I do well and also give me challenges. I can drop in, kill or be killed, drop out. They do not require an hour of hard grind for what, nothing.

As I said at the outset I am not criticising anyone, I am just relating (based on playing ESO for many hours a day pre and post patch) why I am done with ESO and wont be returning. Tis my opinion and it does not matter if you agree or not I am just saying why I cant continue to play. I know many people are happy with the patch and I am very glad for you. the ESO world is a fantastic creation and I wish I could continue to be a part of it, I just cant. As ever this post probably wont bring any comments or it will get criticized to Hades. So let me preempt any potential critics. Ahem... This EC he is a noob (wrong), he is low level (kinda true) he does not know how to play the game and is just complaining sob sob NOT (well probably), dude you suck like your build must be trash (yup it is true I did not spend hours on youtube and forums reading up on this as its a game), dude your spelling and grammar sucks (yes sorry) try this [insert idea] and you will be unstoppable (no I wont but thanks for the advice), the game is so easy for me you must suck (I probably do suck but understand your experience is different to other people its like perspective some cows are close and some cows are far away - ahh Father Ted how we miss thee), dude you just gotta put in like another 1000 hours and you will be brilliant (1000 hours? Thats like, er more than a day on a game, no thanks).

So in summary I really hope that at some point I return to ESO but I dont think given the direction it is going that will happen. Again I am not criticising the direction, just saying it is not for my style of gameplay. I am a casual player it is true, but if you don't appeal to such players (same as if you dont appeal to your core fans) any bottom line will suffer. I really hope that does not happen to ESO as it was a grand endevour, but I am a casual player and one Tamriel killed the game for me so much that I dont play ESO anymore. I wonder if I am alone, I suspect I am not.