I have a lot to say about the direction Zenimax is heading and none of it is positive, just a fair warning. I know this gets thrown around far too much, "I've played this game since Beta", but I'll get a little more into it, I guess. Just remember this is probably a biased view and you can either agree with me or disagree with me, but this is how I see it, and it's disheartening to see a company you have supported go this direction.

I have seen a lot of stuff Zenimax have added to this game that the community has help build from the ground, back when Aetherian Archive and Hel Ra Citadel came out, it was an absolute nightmare to run, Dawnbreaker and Restoration Staves to increase your damage, stamina being completely destroyed for many patches. Trials having a soul reservoir, where if you used up certain lives you had to reset the trial, just imagine that in a new trial (Sanctum Ophidia). Dynamic ultimate (it really was busted don't lie). But we stuck around and played a game we loved to play with each other, that is one thing ESO is great for, the community. We posted guides for the community, we posted videos for the community, streamed for the community and competition was at a very high point back in 2015, a lot of those players have up and left, but nevertheless their feedback given helped so much.

Raiders have a pretty big impact on the general health of the game whether people want to believe it or not, that the 1% is "elitist" but Zenimax used to engage and read a lot of the feedback we have given, a lot of the suggestions I read are from very high end players, and the amount of feedback that has been added to the game to get it to the point where it is at.

ESO started to have a huge developer to raider connection back with Council of Raiders, ever since that we seen even more feedback being listened to and added into the game, we got Normal Mode of trials added to the game so that players have a learning curve, while it really isn't that fine tuned right now, it's something we never had before. ESO really is a good game, it truly has fast paced action multiple levels of content depending on your play style, the game currently has a really good mix of whatever you want to do.

However, since One Tamriel I have noticed that Zenimax is moving in a direction that focuses more so on the short term player rather than the long term, from a business move that's all fine and all but if I'm being honest, it's such a disrespect for those players who have seen through all the mistakes and have helped Zenimax get to where they are, through either paying their subscription or offering feedback, streaming the game or posting their videos and their guides to help players and the developers understand their game a bit more and to give them insight into what it is like to play the game at a high end level. Whether we are just a number, it can't be ignored how much the players have helped this game grow to where it currently is.

Homestead is a patch that was overlooked, how many times has Zenimax stated in the past that they do not want skills to do the same thing but with different effects? We started to see a lot of skills doing the same thing but with different effects in Homestead in attempts to simplify the game, lower the ceiling and raise the floor. Luckily a lot of feedback was listened to (not a lot) but a lot of it was that helped keep the game in a healthy state that has multiple levels of game play (casual, questing, end game, elite), that's a pretty good direction to have and a good level to have that gives players a choice in what they want to do.

This coming patch Morrowind, in my opinion is going back on a lot of the changes and a lot of the feedback that we are offering or have offered. Raiders in particular are being disregarded of their feedback whether Zenmiax wants to comment on that is up to them, but it's fairly obvious from what I have seen in the past. Zenimax have stated that their content is going to be a seamless transition from PvE to PvP and that we are balancing for all types on content (casual, questing, end game, elite), this patch behind the scenes don't really accomplish this, it's making a transition for players to do all types of content with ease, there is no level to climb, there is no progression to be had. While some players like this, the general feedback on this is that the game is going to get boring and becomes a vertical progression rather than horizontal, and honestly what benefit does this have to your end game community, the PvE guilds, the PvP guilds, the new guys wanting to get into ESO.

We are seeing a move by the company we have never seen before and it really is an ugly side to see, while I understand the benefits of appealing for short term customers, it is unappealing to ignore your long term players like this. This isn't a way of being like "my feedback isn't being listened to", it's more eye opening that a company that the community have helped so much are taking a turn in which direction they are heading for their overall game, and honestly this coming patch Morrowind is horribly disrespectful for raiders feedback, there is a lot of behind the scenes comments being made about this that isn't really seeing the light.

Anyway, that's my rant. I feel like the direction Zenimax is heading, and it's a shame because so much of the community has voiced their opinions on this patch and in the past that a lot of the feedback is being looked past, and I get it we are in the minority so a lot of what we say at this point is going to be looked past, it's just highly disappointing to see this happen. I will personally stick around to see how this goes, but I can't see this heading in a good direction for the End Game if this keeps up. Not only that, but the general health of the game.

Not like it matters or anything but just to give you guys a look at how much we as in the community have changed the game with our feedback over the years. I truly wish I could post a Halls of Fabrication video in here just to give an example, or something else from Morrowind.