The loot for different build concepts, the daily pledges, the friends who need certain dungeons, the fun of it, and because I'm a healer so doing group content in pve is my thing.

I am here for the veteran trials - that's what I like about PVE. The harder the trial, the more fun it is. I get a lot of enjoyment out of working with my team to overcome these kinds of challenges, and then working together to help each other improve individually and as a team.

Questing, to me, is just a means to an end. I quest for leveling, for skill points, and for learning my character - with the ultimate goal being to get that character ready for end game. Gear/CP/whatever - is also just a means to an end.

I did enjoy the main story on my first time through it, and read all the dialog, but on my subsequent runs I simply got through it as fast as I could.

I enjoy dungeons as well, though not nearly as much as raids. Running dungeons still gives you a chance to work with a team, and it gives you an opportunity to improve your play.

So basically, I like challenging group content.

Exploring, scenery, stories. The "adventuring" aspect. Crafting. Feeling more powerful as you level.

The friendly people in chat... playing around with different builds and sets and not caring if it's BiS, just enjoying it.

Wandering around and NOT getting ganked.

Having fun with combat and non combat pets. Naming them. Asking other folks what name their pet has, or what motif that bit is.

Riggsy wrote: »

PVP = we all hate each other
PVE = we come together to a fight common enemy

Exactly, pvp always gets me fired up, either the enemy or my alliance if keeps losing.

Because monsters don't whisper when you kill them .

SaRuZ wrote: »

I play both. I switch it up when I get bored with one or the other.

This.

Chatting with people in /zone, exploring the world (Get all the exploration achievements! Do ALL the quests!) and following the storyline. On some days I just wanna bash some heads in and do PvP or group content instead, but otherwise I enjoy listening to all the dialogues etc.

Veteran trial progression -- the strategy, group coordination, and execution based on each player's strengths pushed to the extreme to maximize damage/team support/survivability. Teaching less experienced players so they may also improve and be the best that they can be. And the graphics are beautiful.

If I'm being honest, I feel that -- strictly speaking -- GW2 has more PvE content than appeals to me. There's more in the exploration -- puzzles, interactive environment doodads, jumping puzzles, vistas, and so on. The problem with GW2 is that the writing is oh so painfully bad. It's really so bad. And you can always see the politicking between two very narcissistic lead writers (those responsible for the asura and the sylvari), resulting in the other races being left in the dirt. The constant Mary/Villain Sue-ism of the sylvari is incredibly wearisome as well, more than I can bear.

To even begin to be able to enjoy GW2, I literally have to turn spoken dialogue volume down to zero and skip through every cutscene and dialogue in the game. I take what's there in the world and try to use it to come up with a story that's better fitting. Instead of Trahearne (which was ridiculous, since they chose him because they couldn't pick one, sole leader), the Pact is now lead by a council of representatives from each of the races, and each of those representatives has an entourage of attachés and advisers. As such, Trahearne isn't the leader, but just a specialist they trust. This constant need to write the entire game's script as I go is exhausting at best. And genuinely intimidating, sometimes.

Whereas ESO actually has fairly decent writers. I've never complained about, say, the writing of the Aldmeri Dominion. I've always seen it as classily handled, as it deals with mature topics in a nuanced way. Instead of just slaying some poor dragon because dragon (which I find more patronising than I can bear), the journey of my AD character revolves around xenophobia, politics, narcissism, harmful traditionalism, and so on. And though I may be burnt at the stake for even daring to have an opinion, I'd say that ESO's AD writers handle these topics better than any Dragon Age or Witcher game I've played. And that's really compelling to me, I want to know what's going to happen next.

Each zone in ESO tells an engaging, exciting story. Each zone is a chapter of a story. And they all link back into greater stories. For the most part, it's actually well written. The closest thing I've seen to GW2 levels of writing is what happens toward the very end of Orisinium's main quest. That was dangerously GW2-ish and had me cringe a lot. Poor orcs, they deserved better than that. Not that I didn't see it coming from a mile away since the NPCs of Orsinium kept congratulating me for the completion of the main quest before I'd actually finished it. Orsinium can be.. It can be very GW2-ish, and without the good parts. I tend to stay away from there. And I feel similarly about a lot of Covenant stuff.

Pact writing can be pretty decent... If overwrought, grimdark, and a bit 'emo teen' at times for me. It's not bad though (like GW2's writing objectively is), it's just not to my taste. The AD has amazing writers, however, and I'm driven by the plot to push through the content. Plus, every once in a while ESO can be really clever with instancing and choice & consequence. I do wish that the PvE was more like GW2 and The Secret World. I really do. It could use more puzzles, thinking, and exploration. These are areas that ESO sorely lacks. Even without them, though, I still want my character to see these stories through.

And I guess the combat can be fun, on a good day, when ZOS aren't balancing for hyper-competitive people and you can actually have a build that doesn't need to be cookie-cutter. That's getting more rare, admittedly, and I suspect the next patch will limit that further. For a while, though, especially early on in the game's life I quite enjoyed having more crazy builds. Especially werewolf-focused builds. Not so fun to do werewolves these days, sadly. I do find myself pining for early ESO for that reason, they've botched the balance a lot, completely misunderstanding their demographic. So I know my time with ESO draws to a close, as I imagine is true for a lot of people.

It was fun while it lasted, though. And I suspect a lot of people feel that way.

Playing with others and hunting for loot

End game Trials, getting better scores, improving the team.

Can't wait for next Trial!