Player population comments

Defilted · September 2017

I really find the comments about players not being in certain areas interesting. I see several comments on these forums frequently about no players in this or that area. "Where have all the players gone" comments. "This game is dying, no players anywhere". "Server populations are very low and ESO is done".

I find that on the XBOX NA server that everywhere I go is full of people. Even remote areas that you do not need to travel too unless for side quests have at least 1 to 5 people in them. IC on XBOX NA always has people in it during prime time hours and later. More than enough people to battle. Also enough to where I am not seeing the same players over and over again in short spans. I mention IC becasue this is a area where I see that players comment no one is ever there.

The below is my perspective from my little corner of ESO.

I do not see where at least on the XBOX NA side of things that there is a population issue anywhere.

Outside of prime time hours. Basically 0100 to 1500 EST. I do see areas that will contain a smaller population. I still rarely encounter areas where there is no one playing even in those times. On days I am not working during the weekdays (Which is rare) I start to see a significant increase in populations after 1200 EST.

I would think that if it was true that ESO is dying and people are leaving the game in mass for whatever reason that I would personally see some of the evidence that it is happening. I of course do know people (Not in real life) but from playing the game that have left the game and no longer play. This is a small amount of people overall. I would assume that some people have experienced a larger number of players they know leaving the game than myself or another, but it would vary greatly from one person to the next.

Destiny 2 dropped on 9/6. I PVP'ed on XBOX NA Shor from 1900 to 2345 last night. I expected to see way less people on last night becasue of D2. I saw no decrease in overall players from my perspective. Shor is the less populated server compared to Vivec(Never pop locked). Vivec is always pop locked in prime time. Last night we battled large groups of reds outside of the emp circle for several hours. Once we moved to the emp circle we battled blues and reds. Where people not playing ESO and playing D2? I am sure they were, but this is just another observation I made that goes against the ESO population is smaller and smaller every day.

I of course have no numbers of players so there is no hard data to go off of. Could I be in a very populated instance all the time so I am not seeing what is really going on? Sure. I would think though if ESO players base was dying I would even start to see instances of areas I am in that contained low player pop and I just do not see it.

jlboozer · September 2017

I think it's more likely people in Australia and such, which are on during a time that isn't peak for NA or EU server. I know on ps4 NA people are everywhere, and alot of them are new players. The game is far from dying, its actually picking up momentum. This game has so much depth I could never quit playing. No other game gives me an entire in game economy to become legend in like ESO. I've always liked trading and not many games do that on ps4...ESO is thriving on console, we have no other real MMO on the system.

KingJ · September 2017

What IC are you in its usually empty on the main servers.Where for the past 2-3 weekends only 1 campaign has been full all pop.

Like you said you have no numbers to back up anything you are saying.

Look at it like this seeing the zone you in full of people doesn't mean the game is healthy. Each zone have a differnt instance with a cap we don't know the cap it could be 200 people all we know.Your instance is full ok but we don't know how many instances there are for each zone.Reapers merch has the best traders and always alot of people there.If the zone can only hold 200 people but there only 10 instances that's not a great population.If the most popular zone during prime time only have a few instances what does that tell you about the other zones and the general population of the game.

Also your D2 and ESO pvp population doesn't make sense at all just because ESO had people Pvping has nothing to do with D2.There gonna be players there no matter D2 wouldn't take the entire Pvp population especially on a Wednesday,Most people get paid on Fridays or don't like to preorder.Which means they would have waited until Friday to get the game so no way to judge eso population off of that

OC_Justice · September 2017

Platform: PCNA
I first started playing on a Free 2 play for 10 day or 7 day trial. Since then i have noticed areas that were full during that time have now become empty. The main hubs are full, but out of the way areas like Shadowfen are now just bot roaming areas.
Just my observation i could be completely off though.

Nestor · September 2017

Speaking for the PvE areas, one thing that has has an impact on the perceived population for the cities is housing. If we have a banker or merchant, and crafting stations, there is no reason to ever go to a city other than for Guild Trading or Guild Banking.

I too notice people in out of the way places and areas as the OP does. I also notice that items I list in the guild kiosks sell if I price them right, just as they always have.

Does the population ebb and flow? Yes. Will the population be higher during an event or a free weekend? Yes. Will the population drop after? Yes. Is the game dead or dying? No

I was hanging out in Stros Makai the other day and I saw at least 10 brand new players to the game there. This was last Friday Morning before the Labor Day holiday weekend, so for sure not prime time. Obviously they did not have Morrowind or they would been somewhere else. But these were people who had not played the game before. I can tell as they are running around practicing controls and not really sure where to go. They also turned down a free set of training gear, which anyone who has played the game would have snatched up in a second.

DeadlyRecluse · September 2017

Steam charts shows slight growth on last year when comparing date-to-date, and immense growth from the year before that. It's hardly perfect/complete data, but it's the only hard info we have.

One thing I've noticed in terms of player behavior, is once people have their "group" (be that a guild or just friends), when parts of that group move on, some players tend to point to that as a sign of the end times, rather than just find new/more friends. People drifting in and out of a game is a normal thing, but often people will turn "3 of my 5 friends left" to mean "nobody plays anymore."

This even hits guilds who stop actively bringing in new, active players once they hit a size they are happy with--they end up with a calcified base of inactive players when there's really no call for that.

kargen27 · September 2017

I'm leveling up another character by hitting all the delves and public dungeons. So far I have only been in one where I didn't see at least one other player. That one was about 3:00am Eastern time. A couple of the public dungeons looked like a mall on Black Friday with players trampling each other (okay running though each other but how fun would trampling be) to try and get to a boss that was actually up.

If someone asks a question in Glenumbra it takes only a few seconds before three people tell them to google it one calls them a noob two others give really bad information and finally someone ruins the fun with an actual helpful answer. Game seems fine to me at least in the matter of how many are playing.

Some of my friends who have been around since release have moved on but that is to be expected.

zaria · September 2017

https://steamspy.com/app/306130
Audience 2 week give good data, both number of players over two weeks and average play time.
CCU daily and hourly might be more relevant, this is players online at once.

Note that this is not steam users or 1/3 of pc sales, but steam users who run the ESO trough the steam client who it appear most on this forum does not as its two launchers on top of each others.
It however combine pc eu and us servers.

Shadeaux · September 2017

It's pretty easy to see just simply by the reduction in number of pvp campaigns.

I, for one, find it harder and harder to login to an RPG that keeps making my character and items weaker because of nerfs.

Simply tired of it.

CaffeinatedMayhem · September 2017

This week has particularly seemed empty on PC NA, plus my sales are way down... oh wait, we have disasters which many people are evacuated from in TX, FL, WA, OR, MT, and school has started up again.

It happens.

Stridig · September 2017

thatlaurachick wrote: »

This week has particularly seemed empty on PC NA, plus my sales are way down... oh wait, we have disasters which many people are evacuated from in TX, FL, WA, OR, MT, and school has started up again.

It happens.

Very true. There has been very little news coverage of the West coast forrest fires but i can tell you that it has impacted many of us. I have been fortunate with just very poor air quality but these fires are big and they are many.

NewBlacksmurf · September 2017

No one would know as instancing places a min and max of folks in "zones" or "sessions" so all of those comments are just opinions.

There are however literal ways to look at things on xbox, ps4 or Steam to better quantify achievements or certain indicators so its not all fluff but its still mostly opinion backed with real info.

erliesc · September 2017

Don't worry about global warming. Try to enjoy the beatiful fires, winds, and floods. Make America active again.

LadyNalcarya · September 2017

DeadlyRecluse wrote: »

Steam charts shows slight growth on last year when comparing date-to-date, and immense growth from the year before that. It's hardly perfect/complete data, but it's the only hard info we have.

One thing I've noticed in terms of player behavior, is once people have their "group" (be that a guild or just friends), when parts of that group move on, some players tend to point to that as a sign of the end times, rather than just find new/more friends. People drifting in and out of a game is a normal thing, but often people will turn "3 of my 5 friends left" to mean "nobody plays anymore."

This even hits guilds who stop actively bringing in new, active players once they hit a size they are happy with--they end up with a calcified base of inactive players when there's really no call for that.

This.
I'm in a similar situation, my raid guild died shortly after we finished vHoF. Some players quit, some dont play pve anymore... Etc.
But at the same time I see new players looking for trials, dlc dungeons etc, and trading/crafting/undaunted hubs are crowded so it doesnt seem like the game is really dying.

kichwas · September 2017

People often say is the sky is falling when all that has really happened is their own clique of "friends" abandoned them on the field.

I see more activity of "other players" here than in almost any other MMO I visit.

If there are only 5 people left playing this game they sure have a lot of alts and are seriously stalking me...

This might be the one good side effect of being somewhat new and having no "ESO buddies". Since I'm not looking for where my friends went, instead I notice all these people all up in my business...

Runefang · September 2017

ESO is quite heavily populated compared to other MMOs I've played recently (SWTOR especially), maybe thats just my point of view from hanging out in Alk'ir too long. There is sometimes 50+ people farming the dolmens there.

Tannus15 · September 2017

Runefang wrote: »

ESO is quite heavily populated compared to other MMOs I've played recently (SWTOR especially), maybe thats just my point of view from hanging out in Alk'ir too long. There is sometimes 50+ people farming the dolmens there.

Yeah, anyone who thinks the game is dying should just hang out at rivenspire, auridon or alk'ir dolmens. Players swoop upon those poor daedra like a flock of seagulls on unguarded chips.

Defilted · September 2017

Generally it seems at least the few people here seem to think there is not a population issue.

Interesting stuff.