So it seems the Morrowind balance changes were not very popular afterall

itscompton · July 2017

According to http://steamcharts.com/app/306130 the average number of concurrent players has dropped by over 15% when comparing July to June. April and May also had much stronger numbers. Perhaps when large portions of the player base tell the Developers changes they intend to make will ruin class identity and the overall enjoyability of the game they shouldn't stubbornly put them into practice just to show they're in charge.

Wing · July 2017

the game was flooded with new people that came at the start of the year when morrowind was first announced and when you preordered it gave you a copy of the game.

the numbers have been slightly bloated because of that, its not surprising many leave weeks after DLC comes out (for any game)

you get an influx of players pre and during DLC launch to check out the new stuff, then a downturn as players complete the DLC and move on to something else.

once more content comes out you will again see another peak before players move on again.

repeat this forever.

kargen27 · July 2017

Or the numbers could just be returning to normal after the huge increase in April.

Paulington · July 2017

April and May are showing the effects of the free to play week that happened in April.

Do bear in mind that Steam is a miniscule part of the player base. The majority of players are on console, not PC, and in my experience less than 10% of players are playing via Steam. In my worthless anecdotal evidence, the game is busier than ever (outside of free to play weeks) and I see a lot of stuff going on.

Some of these changes had to be made. It was ridiculous that I could go full damage in a setup and not even worry about magicka, 75% magicka or more all the time in a full spell damage setup, it took away resource management as part of the game. Now you just build around it and barely anything changes.

.

Hopefully some balance changes and the upcoming Horns of the Reach and Clockwork City DLCs will draw players in. A lot of people I know are just getting a bit burnt out and that's fine.

.

klowdy1 · July 2017

Wing wrote: »

the game was flooded with new people that came at the start of the year when morrowind was first announced and when you preordered it gave you a copy of the game.

the numbers have been slightly bloated because of that, its not surprising many leave weeks after DLC comes out (for any game)

you get an influx of players pre and during DLC launch to check out the new stuff, then a downturn as players complete the DLC and move on to something else.

once more content comes out you will again see another peak before players move on again.

repeat this forever.

The copy of the game you got with the preorder was not usable until Morrowind came out, there were a lot of threads asking if that was intended, and a few asking for a refund for being mislead. I do see numbers being larger before July from people trying to prep for Morrowind, and those amped up about the expansion.

itscompton · July 2017

kargen27 wrote: »

Or the numbers could just be returning to normal after the huge increase in April.

April had a free to play week that inflated the numbers but they stayed well above a 9k player average until 1 month after the balance chances. And shouldn't the release of a piece of content so big it's not included in the sub-model DLC agreement keep people interested for more than 1 month?

kevlarto_ESO · July 2017

Games ebb and flow these days I think the days of people that really stick and continually play one game are not what they used to be.

itscompton · July 2017

Paulington wrote: »

April and May are showing the effects of the free to play week that happened in April.

Do bear in mind that Steam is a miniscule part of the player base. The majority of players are on console, not PC, and in my experience less than 10% of players are playing via Steam. In my worthless anecdotal evidence, the game is busier than ever (outside of free to play weeks) and I see a lot of stuff going on.

Some of these changes had to be made. It was ridiculous that I could go full damage in a setup and not even worry about magicka, 75% magicka or more all the time in a full spell damage setup, it took away resource management as part of the game. Now you just build around it and barely anything changes. .

Hopefully some balance changes and the upcoming Horns of the Reach and Clockwork City DLCs will draw players in. A lot of people I know are just getting a bit burnt out and that's fine. .

While steam might be a small portion of the overall playerbase it's certainly a large enough sample that population trends seen there carry statistical significance to the combined population of all platforms.

Betsararie · July 2017

ZOS really dropped the ball with Morrowind. The changes to sustain were absolutely a step in the wrong direction.

kargen27 · July 2017

itscompton wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

Or the numbers could just be returning to normal after the huge increase in April.

April had a free to play week that inflated the numbers but they stayed well above a 9k player average until 1 month after the balance chances. And shouldn't the release of a piece of content so big it's not included in the sub-model DLC agreement keep people interested for more than 1 month?

And it has. Numbers are back to normal. That aside you are assuming a correlation that may not be.

9xa6Jyqf_SpJs6HHLd49kzs0Lq6_L8Maa2b0n7mXnhfFifQGxNg-Gc5XujP81fGYEuBtk9Y46NXj9pdVLkNtfJDGmXpLOQTuKK1E18JneKQSjaYq68Kkscg5_ajWnIMOF-HrIbpz6cTocX8DMiAEMPysU3Q-al9Iz0uBlq8i6StpzgsiXbnq2rGi1_eME1D_VyVIbkkA5ktwBPOSUVPSmtOOmYbSFvbWQkNROfmReCPH6PHkw7vjeEpsdMRavtHivcmCTF9zIbfRoUWic6j7LNNHS5Aa5qf08rlXt13QqQ9ti3-vxdV6L413HDbN2kBj99G3EJH76HadIcOiO6l4efUGWDMAxQk54_UeEHRSA8C9VbDEKSaos9k5wF2gmvf9N7tiSqbA71pLDIvXTxBuNyc162iQiH_ZhD8keoH6In8RgkstHXfhpl_bViJ4Q7bprIDbOFrLipZrLTQAkYLAiFpgS2z9VR7GmQmcz3GZEAzXLQTCD45Cbkz_livhH-hatTFB1ueXxqRg4LQBIEYyPLJKhF_usmOj8oXUCVlqFYJKhyYdRAhBA-NnP7_X9ThtZ-beFpMYFVQauJY4EPH76qpHKhVDSS2eDHZnaleybqK0XX04_C9JqMb7=w1904-h752-no

code65536 · July 2017

Paulington wrote: »

Now you just build around it and barely anything changes.

That's true for you. That's mostly true for me. But I wouldn't presume that's the case for most other players. Trimming away the resource fat disproportionally affects people who use resources inefficiently. I.e., people who make mistakes. And then require resources to correct those mistakes. The resource changes affected the mid-tier far more than the ceiling.

starkerealm · July 2017

itscompton wrote: »

According to http://steamcharts.com/app/306130 the average number of concurrent players has dropped by over 15% when comparing July to June. April and May also had much stronger numbers. Perhaps when large portions of the player base tell the Developers changes they intend to make will ruin class identity and the overall enjoyability of the game they shouldn't stubbornly put them into practice just to show they're in charge.

As someone who's spent a lot of time looking at MMO metrics... wow, that's actually pretty good. I mean, we do have those free weekends messing with the metrics, but the game's overall population (on Steam) has gone up. It's almost 60% higher than it was this time last year. As MMOs go, that's almost unheard of. Usually you bleed numbers and never get them back, but ESO's actually showing some growth.

Elsonso · July 2017

Yes. The sky is falling. Compared to October 2016, things are looking downright grim.

Cheese for everyone. Stay away from bedsheets.

idk · July 2017

While Steam only offers a sliver of a glimpse and unsure of players can unlink their games from Steam, that link also shows a 100% increase in players year for about the same time period

Further, comparing the last 30 days to last month is kinda skewed. Not only does the active player base change dramatically in both directions each month, the first month Morrowind was out, June, saw the same number of players.

Waffennacht · July 2017

kargen27 wrote: »

itscompton wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

Or the numbers could just be returning to normal after the huge increase in April.

April had a free to play week that inflated the numbers but they stayed well above a 9k player average until 1 month after the balance chances. And shouldn't the release of a piece of content so big it's not included in the sub-model DLC agreement keep people interested for more than 1 month?

And it has. Numbers are back to normal. That aside you are assuming a correlation that may not be.

Holy cow, in one year 700+ people died from their sheets....

I dunno if I'm gonna keep my sheets...

JackDaniell · July 2017

Morrowind update was a huge flop for player numbers. Maybe ZOS made a quick buck or two from selling a bunch of copies that will only be played once but the player base as a whole was hurt.

I think the reason it went SO BAD is due to the atrocious server performance since morrowind dropped. Personally I went from playing on high settings at 60 fps to low settings at 30 fps, that's a huge change. And the lag... constant lag to loading screen to server kick.

Finally Zenimax did nothing to address or aknowledge these issues, that have covered the forums and reddit since morrowind has dropped.

Tldr: bad server performance and frame rate with no response from zeni = dead update.

Mojmir · July 2017

wait til ZO$ proudly sports the number of logins during free eso+ as "millions logged in!!"

Tandor · July 2017

If I was concerned to see whether a game's population had changed I wouldn't be looking to assess the situation at the height of the Summer holiday season when game populations traditionally take a big dip. People have better things to do on hot Summer days whether at home or on vacation than sitting at the computer.

In assessing the state of the ESO population at any time of the year I also wouldn't have any particular regard to Steam's numbers which represent a tiny and unrepresentative share of the overall playerbase.

It's certainly possible that the game's population is falling (and for reasons other than seasonally), but I don't see any evidence of that either in the game or on the forum. Both seem extremely active all the time. I wouldn't be surprised, however, if the quarterly content release model meant that the population rose when new content was introduced and fell between the content releases.

Bombashaman · July 2017

Maybe summer and holidays?

Elsonso · July 2017

I think it will be interesting to see how many months it takes for the ESO Morrowind to outsell the TES Morrowind.

Kneighbors · July 2017

Dunno about overall population but the game became much more disappointing.

It's hard to enjoy it. Heavy attacking, sponge HP tanks, constant resource control.

The new trial is stupid. You can't even look at the boss, all you are looking at are AoEs on the floor. I saw before the fight with final boss that theres some beautiful model. Too bad I can't see him in action because all I see is huge amount of aoe effects, some windmills..

All the changes separated even more between strong players and casuals. Each time I enter dungeon and see people below cp 400-500 i immediately leave. Players who don't watch YouTube videos and read about game simply got no chance to become even average players to pass vet dungeon with. You can't take the game intuitively anymore, you must search for game guides only.

Only half a year ago I was telling my friends to buy ESO and join me. Today I'm looking at games they play and thinking to sell my account.

Kneighbors · July 2017

Now the next patch the changes will make the game even more complicated for newbies. I wouldn't recommend anyone who wants a relax gaming to come play ESO today and surely after next patch. Ok if you like to feel working when playing game then it's really a good choice.

sevomd69 · July 2017

Truth be told... I wish less people would play ESO... maybe get rid of the lag... oh THE LAG!!!!

SodanTok · July 2017

Skyrim gained similiar number. Probably some solo players came for Morrowind zone and after it went back to their 300mod Skyrim

Sixsixsix161 · July 2017

Honestly, I almost left (again).

I played in 2015, but returned to WoW, then left WoW, went back to Rift, and then back here about 6-7 months ago.

I really like it, I like the playing, quests, delves, everything.

But my magsorc (clannfear tanking) and warden (bear tanking) took a big hit when Morrowind was released. I won't go into all the details as they're well known (Yeah, mainly the heavy attack issue, among others), but it's a lot less fun than prior to Morrowind release.

If I had another game to go to, I probably would have left (I do play Grim Dawn, but that's a different game all-together), and I'm burned out on D3 (played it since release in 2012), WoW (10 years), and Rift (about 3 years).

What really hurt me is I'm mainly a solo player due to medical issues, so it was nice having a pet tank for me.

Now, last month I did sign up for the monthly payment plan, mainly because of the bigger bag for mats, and the increased experience points.

But, if a halfway decent game comes along like Skyrim II, or a follow-on game to Skyrim, I'll be gone in a heartbeat. But ZOS won't care, too many players are still into the game. BTW, if you need another Skyrim-type fix, get Enderal. Made by a German-led team, it's a new game (about 20-30 hours, or more depending on play speed) using the Skyrim engine. I've actually gone back and played some of my higher level characters in D2 - and that game was released on 29 June 2000, almost 20 years ago lol.

JinMori · July 2017

OOh, what a *** surprise.

The changes that we pointed out to be ***, were actually ***?

Omg i would have never believed it.

This is the about the 4th month that i stopped playing, and i intend to keep it that way as long as i don't see some of this *** reverted.

There was an enormous backlash after the patch notes, zenimax decided to do fuckall, these are the results.

Bonzodog01 · July 2017

My god, wait until Update 15 drops.

Thats when the game gets really complicated, and the confusion will really set in.

When "best-in-slot" can no longer be applied to the greater majority of peoples characters. When everyones builds will most likely be very different.

ZOS are now making a very brave attempt at killing off "meta" altogether by levelling the playing field, so no individual set up is better than any other.

I wonder how things are going to be when you discover that all Traits can be Best in slot? They are completely remodelling the Mundus Stones and buffing all sets, but crafted sets are about to come back into their own.

Its going to be fun watching the theorycrafters put together videos that make any sense.

As the line from "The Incredibles" goes; "When everybody's super....nobody is!!"

olivesforge · July 2017

All the data shows is that One Tamriel has done something extremely rare in an MMO - tripled the average number of players years after release. If you look at the history otherwise - DLC to DLC to Chapter, there's always a 2-month bump and then a return to baseline. That's how expansions work.

If I'm Zeni, and I see people griping about how huge changes kill the game, I'm going back to my October 2016 numbers and then posting an "orly owl" meme.

LadyNalcarya · July 2017

code65536 wrote: »

Paulington wrote: »

Now you just build around it and barely anything changes.

That's true for you. That's mostly true for me. But I wouldn't presume that's the case for most other players. Trimming away the resource fat disproportionally affects people who use resources inefficiently. I.e., people who make mistakes. And then require resources to correct those mistakes. The resource changes affected the mid-tier far more than the ceiling.

Agreed.
The game shouldnt be balanced around perfect teams. There should be difficult content for them, of course, and it shouldnt be nerfed. And I even support the cp changes, but the rest of sustain nerfs were unnessesary.
Infinite sustain used to be a thing for top teams, but in regular pugs one cant even expect ele drain or shards...

Betsararie · July 2017

olivesforge wrote: »

All the data shows is that One Tamriel has done something extremely rare in an MMO - tripled the average number of players years after release. If you look at the history otherwise - DLC to DLC to Chapter, there's always a 2-month bump and then a return to baseline. That's how expansions work.

If I'm Zeni, and I see people griping about how huge changes kill the game, I'm going back to my October 2016 numbers and then posting an "orly owl" meme.

ok, so something to comment on this.

The low end players, won't even notice something like the sustain changes. They don't even know what sustain is. I routinely am grouped with people that don't even know their class!

And we must remember that these players are the vast majority of players in ESO.

It's only the vocal minority on the forums who are going to speak out against the changes. That does not change the fact that the changes are worse, and we should be concerned and voice our dissatisfaction.

STEVIL · July 2017

itscompton wrote: »

According to http://steamcharts.com/app/306130 the average number of concurrent players has dropped by over 15% when comparing July to June. April and May also had much stronger numbers. Perhaps when large portions of the player base tell the Developers changes they intend to make will ruin class identity and the overall enjoyability of the game they shouldn't stubbornly put them into practice just to show they're in charge.

yep that has to be it -

cannopt be that free to play events in april and the rise in play during may and june from the actual release of morrowind inflated the numbers for those months because...

we all know...

free-play and new releases of major content never ever produce temporary surges in numbers of players!!!

i would say the initial analysis showed such a complete and profound understanding of the way mmo play works so that we should all keep this in mind for future posts by this poster.