Haven't played in two years - how's the game?

  • Cadbury
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    Its no FFXIV: ARR, but then again what is?

    ESO is what it is. Warts and all.
    "If a person is truly desirous of something, perhaps being set on fire does not seem so bad."
  • Seraphayel
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    ESO could be great if Zenimax would start delivering content they announced 2.5 years ago.
    PS5
    EU
    Aldmeri Dominion
    - Khajiit Arcanist -
  • JD2013
    JD2013
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    Translation of a large part of these forums;

    "The game isn't what I want it to be, so I'm going to shout loudly and stop anyone else from enjoying this game!"

    The game is in the best shape it's been in since launch. It's certainly not perfect but I've been here for 3 years and been able to play every single time I've wanted. Play and form your own judgement. :smile:
    Sweetrolls for all!

    Christophe Mottierre - Breton Templar with his own whole darn estate! Templar Houses are so 2015. EU DC

    PC Beta Tester January 2014

    Elder of The Black
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    Crafting bag OP! ZOS nerf pls!
  • Dev
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    Mashille wrote: »
    People who say the game is in a terrible state and it sucks are just PvPers who are bored of being screwed over time and time again, which is justified as lag is horrendous and balance isn't great.

    Not always true, i am a PVE player, and i think that the game has gone to new levels of suck.

    The game is in a completely horked state because of:
    1. PVP is complete and utter crap. It was launched as broken crap, and every update since then just tries to cover the fact that it is broken.
    2. PVE is often made the victim for the PVP nerfs. Whether it is U13 or any of the updates prior, the one constant rule is that everything gets weaker, it never fixes what was wrong in PVP, and almost always will break your build.
    3. the game is starting to get that WoW second job effect with the increase of 'daily' tasks. While i think this is great for some, the new master writs are just going to break everything. Daily 'kill' mob quests are not as bad, but the inclusion of daily type quests to consume gold tempers are going to gauge the prices.
    4. the management has basically has their own agenda, which is: Get new players, milk them while you can then nerf them or just ignore the real issues until they quit.
    5. in addition, the level of professionalism from the company is mediocre at best: it can take a day to get the patch notes posted, and in every other mmo i played, it was available within an hour of the servers going offline for the patch. They also seem to be hand written the day of the patch because it is quite clear that it is not a prepared post.
    6. and the best part, they have no idea on what to do on some of the biggest parts of the game, especially end game: Proof: Veteran ranks, cadwell's silver/gold, introducing CP, power creep, lack of content, the U13 in entirety.

    MMOs are no where near as good as they use to be or could have been. Too many companies are trying to copy WoW, but without the multi-million dollar budget that goes with 15mil customers, they all have fallen short.

    So as a PVE player, i think ESO sucks, but still slightly better then ffxiv and WoW. Hell, i even debated going back to ffxi, but those graphics were just too bad...

  • Mojmir
    Mojmir
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    JD2013 wrote: »
    Translation of a large part of these forums;

    "The game isn't what I want it to be, so I'm going to shout loudly and stop anyone else from enjoying this game!"

    The game is in the best shape it's been in since launch. It's certainly not perfect but I've been here for 3 years and been able to play every single time I've wanted. Play and form your own judgement. :smile:

    You must be the easiest person to please.
  • olsborg
    olsborg
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    TBH If I hadnt played this game in 2 years, I would not bother coming back into it. Game is laggy, cheaty and grindy.

    PC EU
    PvP only
  • Path
    Path
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    a beautiful open world....

    enjoy.

    The only reason I play.
    Fairy Tales Really Do Come True...Kinda.
  • yodased
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    Depends on your wants/needs, if its worth it, but a lot has changed since launch.

    Pve in no particular order:

    The game offers thousands of hours of content, from fishing to veteran trials. The restrictions have for the most part been lifted and content has been reworked a few times over.

    The lowercase b delve maps are all but gone, with quest and delve rewards actually being useful.

    You can play with any alliance member of any level and all xontent magically scales to everyone's level.

    Undaunted added monster helms and shoulders that you get from killing bosses in dungeons and doing daily quests for treasure chest keys.

    Wrothgar is a large and fun area added which has a interesting and fun story.

    The thieves guild added the justice system, which incorporates theft and consequence to pve and offers sneaky characters a fun little mainquest and daily quests with achievements.

    The dark brotherhood added assassin's missions and the blade of woe, which is a fun way to 1 shot kill npc.

    Shadows of the hist added two end game dungeons, which give new "skins" to wear from completing objectives.. all dungeon now have 2 versions as well.

    There are now 4 12 man trials, each with a normal and veteran option.. one of which gives you another skin like the soth dungeons.

    Crafting has been overhauled and you get a bag with unlimited slots for all materials if you subscribe to eso+ and there are 9 traits now. You also have daily crafting quests that give you special rewards based on your level.

    Craglorn has been doubled in size and reworked for single and group play.

    Fishing has been incorporated into crafting and objectives

    Pvp:

    Imperial city was added, which is a large pve/pvp mixture giving a new currency called telvar, which can buy uou gear and crafting materials. There is an underground section which is quite large and a circular part with capturable districts above. Roving monsters are below with a central location to kill molag bals minions for a chance at another skin. Above ground has flags to capture, mobs and bosses to kill for gear, keys to special treasure chests and telvar. This is the most mixture of pve and pvp in the game.

    Overland pvp has capturable towns which give a rez point and special gear vendors that can be bought with Alliance points.

    You can also rez out outkeeps and forward camps have been brought back into the game.

    Now my personal opinion:

    Pvp is a mess if you enjoy anything outside of large scale zerginess. If you are a member of a big pvp group that can run the map, maybe you will have fun, but if you want to run 4-5 man geoups, you will have to wear some very suspect, overpowered gear to be able to be efficent. You will face 40-50 players running you over at every turn all using high perfoming combinations of gear sets and skills. The days of being able to fi d fights in delves and towns and opeb world are done, its zerg the emporer keeps, zerg the scrolls and repeat. That veing said, a lot of people do it every day.

    Try it out, there is a lot of changes and a lot of fun to be had
    Tl;dr really weigh the fun you have in game vs the business practices you are supporting.
  • Tannus15
    Tannus15
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    Seraphayel wrote: »
    The game is a complete mess. Don't bother.

    It can't be that bad... can it? I gotta see it with my own eyes, for scientific purposes.

    It is. Been unbalanced since launch. Nothing EVER gets fixed. If it does they prioritize *** that makes 0 sense first. We haven't had any new CONTENT for over a year.

    That's not entirely true.

    Okay, we had two dungeons, a new trial and a tiny new zone.

    this gives you a great idea of how blind people are.

    in 2016 we had thieves guild, dark brotherhood, shadows of the hist and one tamriel.

    That's 2 new zones, 2 4 man dungeons and a 12 person trial. Not only that but all the dungeons got scaled to end game and had drops added to make them all rewarding. All content is now available at max level so you don't skip content due to out levelling.

    Basically massive, mostly awesome changes which make the game much more sandbox like, allowing you to play any zone in any order with any race or faction.

    The game is in a far better place than it's ever been with more viable content than ever, less unnecessary grind than ever with fantastic difficulty scaling with super easy dungeons like normal fungal grotto 1 to very difficult dungeons like vet imperial city prison.

    Orsinium is still the best update to my mind, with maelstrom arena and the best overland zone in the game.

    The only area which has been "neglected" is PVP. Most of the complaints about ESO are from the PVP community (and always will be in my opinion)

    I don't PvP so as far as I'm concerned the game is awesome and 1000% better since launch.
  • Calandrae
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    Seraphayel wrote: »
    I think players that are playing since launch or for one or two years tend to be rather negative because ZOS doesn't add content to the game that's worth being labeled as content.

    I've been playing on and at times off since the launch. The game has gotten a lot better over time. There is more freedom, the horrible vet level grind is gone etc. A lot of content has become too easy, that's one my personal main complaints.

    However, because I have never had that much playtime, I still haven't ran out of things to do. I also kind of think that things don't always have to be "new" to be enjoyable. One can find different ways to do stuff, have different goals. One of the things I've personally enjoyed has been teaching new players.

    The lack of fresh content is beginning to show though, overall, in people's attitudes and opinions.
  • PS4_ZeColmeia
    PS4_ZeColmeia
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    Seraphayel wrote: »
    The thing is: when you played the last time two years ago you will find an amazing game with lots of content.

    If you did all the endgame content back then you won't find anything new besides two trials and four dungeons. That's really not much endgame content added in the last 2 years.

    I think players that are playing since launch or for one or two years tend to be rather negative because ZOS doesn't add content to the game that's worth being labeled as content.

    Probably the most constructive post. I've been playing solidly since PS4 launch. I find if you approach the game from a completionist/guild standpoint this game is simply amazing. That said, PvP is still AFU'ed. There are some new issues popping up that I hope don't spell issues in 2017.

    Their communication and feedback is starting to get a lot better, and I think the biggest annoyances from launch were largely solved in One Tam. Read those patch notes and if it doesn't give you a feel for how much the game changed and peak your interest then you shouldn't bother.
    PSN: ***___Chan (3 _s)
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  • Sigma957
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    Don't listen to the doomsayers the game is good fun, while there are still some bugs and the lag at times, it has come a long way from launch and this year we can expect more content,, just enjoy it at your own pace.
  • vyndral13preub18_ESO
    vyndral13preub18_ESO
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    Honestly if you haven't played for 2 years you should probably count yourself lucky. There is a whole ton of pve content in this game. If you haven't done it, it is still out there waiting for you. And easier then ever. Some fun little things have been added as well. Like DB and TG. And if you are into dungeons the ones added are some of the harder in the game. But pve is the strongest part of the game, so take it slow. Might even want to drag your feet since large meaningful new things are slow to come. And really levels are mostly meaningless right now in open world pve land.except for the skill points I guess.

    Edited by vyndral13preub18_ESO on January 23, 2017 5:24AM
  • Sovaso
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    ESO still good as always
  • azoriangaming
    azoriangaming
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    short answer pvp is terrible pve is in a great position.
  • Rev Rielle
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    Remag_Div wrote: »
    Rev Rielle wrote: »
    Yes they are, and with the changes soon coming to Cyrodiil, it should be a much more enjoyable, and busy, place to hunt them.

    What's changing?

    @Remag_Div. Proc sets will no long able to critically hit (PvP and PvE), so survivability will increase somewhat, and the Alliance Point rewards for capturing objectives, completing missions and the like are getting a significant boost. Those two changes will bring more players back to Cyrodiil.
    If you can be anything, be kind.
  • Nuntjako
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    I have been playing since console launch and I still find the game pretty awesome. Looking forward to new content though.

    If you're mostly in to PVE you'll have loads of content and a lot of improvements since you played last. If you are into pvp then not so much. Some changes, but overall performance is really bad.
  • probablyafk
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    I think it's a fun game to level up your classes in. It's got interesting stories, although it's a little less simple now with One Tamriel because you don't feel the same level of immersion with your faction.

    But I think the end game is extremely dissappointing right now. Once you get there it feels extremely lack luster to me:
    1. The quests involved don't provide rewards really worth having and, while they're somewhat interesting, you run out of them quickly.
    2. Dungeons are either too easy (normal mode) and provide equipment you don't need, or their hard ... but there's an extremely toxic environment surrounding them so you'll be kicked if your too low level often without a word. But those are the only ones you need to get equipment so basically you'll grind out the vet level equivilents in order to get in them, then you grind out the dungeons just for the final item that drops from the boss. Once you've got that you don't need that dungeon anymore. Strange game design there I think.
    3. Because of the One Tamriel 'everything is your level' the end game doesn't feel special. It's just ... more of the same? You can go to the starting area of another zone and it's just like being in an end game zone. It takes some of the fun out of things.
    4. The best equipment from solo challenges is super RNG madness. You literally can get any weapon dropping - there's no linking or restriction based on your build for example - so you'll have to do these over and over again. Each time it takes an hour or more. It's fun learning these but boring to grind them. You can read about people with over a hundred runs who haven't got the one thing they need yet, very dissappointing.
    5. I don't know much about the guild game because guilds always feel very non-personal to me in this game. I've played hundreds of hours and made very few actual friends ... and usually I'm someone who's good at that. Perhaps it's the odd hours or something. Anyway, it's a different environment so end-game guild stuff to me has been dissappointing.
    6. New Content - I love that lots of new content comes out for this game, it was great while I was leveling. But as pointed out above it has basically zero impact on end game. It won't make your characters much stronger, it won't give you amazing extra things to do every month. When the last content patch came out for new dungeons I didn't even notice - the game is set up so you are best randomizing and doing the dailies. So it was business as usual until you get a small random surprise at doing something else. If you're coming back now it'll just feel like there's a boggling huge array of dungeons and they mostly start to feel the same. Because everyones done them 1000 times you'll rush through them without a concern of the story, if you don't you'll likely be kicked. That might be a little cynical but I don't think it's inaccurate.

    I've basically quite the game since Halloween event. I was really enjoying it before then but around that time I hit end game with the last toon ... so only end game left. And, well, it was intimidating, toxic and lacking in variety. Kind of sucks because I spent an easy $150/month on crowns.

    Great during leveling. Poor afterwards.
    Edited by probablyafk on January 23, 2017 9:03AM
  • TX12001rwb17_ESO
    TX12001rwb17_ESO
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    The game is a complete mess. Don't bother.

    It can't be that bad... can it? I gotta see it with my own eyes, for scientific purposes.
    Ignore the Troll

  • kyle.wilson
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    I've played since launch.
    I can say my desire to play is reaching an end.
    The lag in pvp is insane during peak hours and the meta makes for boring gameplay.

    But, if you pve or rp. the game is still great.
  • STEVIL
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    So I'm currently downloading the game again after an over two year long "break" and in the meantime I'm absorbing as much info about the game's current state as possible. I vaguely remember that a level 4 mudcrab could tear you a new one back then, and Doshia was still challenging to fight. Anyway, I have/had (do characters get deleted over long periods of not playing?) a magic-based Sorcerer and stamina Nightblade back then, though I'm guessing the old builds back then don't work as well nowadays - so I'm going with a fresh restart. I have some questions, however, about some stuff I read.

    - Is magic still dominant or viable in PvE-related content? I like playing Sorcerer... or Templar. Anything that's got sparkly magic effects.
    - I read that there is an offline "mode?" in a thread. Is it just an offline status so people don't bother you with messages?
    - Are those shard thingies and books still in Cyrodiil as well? (I got a great story about one of my shard hunting expeditions in Cyrodiil)
    - Lusty Argonian Maid books yet?

    I'm (more) PvE-oriented, but I will go to Cyrodiil to get those shards for some quick skill points, standing stone and play around there: See if latency and lag will still fool me the enemy is on a fort wall.

    Going to restart and try to make a solo PvE build. Thinking about Sorcerer or Templar. Any tips which to choose?

    there is a wide spectrum of opinions on this forum as on any game forum and like any game forum and beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

    IMO the game is at its best state since launch. been here the whole time and the game right now is much superior to what it has been - to my point of view, especially for PVE.

    To answer youe questions from yonw perspective

    magica is viable in PVE and its strength depends on the content you wish to run.
    For most of the PVE game, stamina or magica of any class can be played and run well and fine.
    For some of the end game content, specifically group and trials, there seems to be a bias towards magica builds if one looks at some of the leaderboards.
    However, you will find plenty talking about the sustain DPS of stamina outpacing magica etc, burst this vs sustain that, so particularly for group content you are not soloing, theres a bit for you to catch up on. Basically, seems almost like old PC vs MAC "debates".


    No idea what an offline mode is.

    Shards and books still in cyrodil. You can easily get two skill points and access to likely two shards just during cyrodil training.

    Still lusty argonians.

    Hope that helps.
    Proudly skooma free while talks-when-drunk is in mandatory public housing.
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  • greylox
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    It's a fun game and there's plenty to do. I had a year break and have been back for a year and it's definitely worth playing. 99% of pve content is face roll easy tho, doshia is a joke, mudcrabs aren't terminators anymore etc. But then you have maelstrom arena and a couple dungeons which are challenging.
    PC EU

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    {Rantoul} (Dark Elf Magknight, likes an ale between boss fights, has been known to offer daedric princes out in a fist fight)
    {Red, The Wanderer} (Bosmer stam sorc and hunter extraordinaire)
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    *{Jinny the spark }* (Sassy Imperial Stamplar)
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    {*}Mains
    { CP 900+ }

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  • Arthg
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    Great game, but plagued by never-addressed cheats and exploits.
    PC/EU. NoCP PvP. sDK Orc IRL. Flawless tamperor. Pro scrub.
  • Jitterbug
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    I am in a similar situation to the OP and was contemplating making this exact thread... but then I had a vision of how the replies would go. Sometimes visions come true.
  • Jurand80
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    how about you play some and come back to us with your fresh findings?
  • Brrrofski
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    PvE is great. There's a LOT to do.

    PvP is meh. Proc sets and lack of balance ruins it. And lag. A lot of lag.
    Edited by Brrrofski on January 23, 2017 10:01AM
  • Nathano
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    Until a few days ago I hadn't played the game for a long while as well. From the few days that I've been back the changes are on the whole positive. Removing veteran levels is great as it makes having alts viable since we don't have the long grind to V16. If you are looking to pug any pve content then that is where the game has gone downhill for me. With dps meters and Champion Points being used by the elitist players to regularly kick people out of the group finder. I've only joined a handful of groups so far and although I haven't been kicked (healers tend to be on safe ground) I would say in over half of the groups someone has been kicked based on one of these two factors. The community used to be what kept me in this game, now it's likely to be the thing that pushes me away.
  • ralvdlindenpeb18_ESO
    I think that if your a diehard mmo player that is will be boring pretty fast

    Im not that kind of player i take my time and somedays all i do is 1 dungeon and talk with my guild mates so how i see the game is that it is alot of fun and there are alot of things to do
  • Seraphayel
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    Tannus15 wrote: »
    in 2016 we had thieves guild, dark brotherhood, shadows of the hist and one tamriel.

    That's 2 new zones, 2 4 man dungeons and a 12 person trial. Not only that but all the dungeons got scaled to end game and had drops added to make them all rewarding. All content is now available at max level so you don't skip content due to out levelling.

    Basically massive, mostly awesome changes which make the game much more sandbox like, allowing you to play any zone in any order with any race or faction.

    The game is in a far better place than it's ever been with more viable content than ever, less unnecessary grind than ever with fantastic difficulty scaling with super easy dungeons like normal fungal grotto 1 to very difficult dungeons like vet imperial city prison.

    Orsinium is still the best update to my mind, with maelstrom arena and the best overland zone in the game.

    The only area which has been "neglected" is PVP. Most of the complaints about ESO are from the PVP community (and always will be in my opinion)

    I don't PvP so as far as I'm concerned the game is awesome and 1000% better since launch.

    No. The content added in 2016 was not massive. It was "okay" for the fact that ESO has content issues since launch.

    Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood brought us two small zones, two rather useless passive skill lines and a great trial. SotH brought us two new dungeons. One Tamriel did not add new content. It's the same content we had for 2 years back then they just opened the content to everybody. I don't see how scaled up content should be "new" content at all. It's not. It's scaled up old content. If this would be considered new content ZOS could scale up content every quarter and sell it as new content, right?

    Yes, the game is in a better place, no doubt about that. One Tamriel should have been the launch version of the game.

    Orsinium is great, it really is. Imperial City as well. And the two small zones for DB and TG are nice as well but for over 2.5 years that's really not much content that's been added to the game. And that's what I said. When OP already played ESO at launch he won't find that much new because he knows most parts of the game.

    TL;DR:

    If you already finished questing in the faction zones before you left: you won't find that much new in ESO (for end game).

    If you did not finish the faction zones before you left: you will find a nice game with massive PvE content for you to enjoy.
    Edited by Seraphayel on January 23, 2017 11:55AM
    PS5
    EU
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