What do you believe is the fate of ESO?

Runefang · February 2018

Games never change drastically post-release, at least from technological point of view.

ESO will continue to evolve but there is no revolution coming.

Lysette · February 2018

ESO will evolve alongside the gaming industry, experiencing massive overhauls in the future

...but ... this does not necessarily mean, that it will get better for us players - I expect it to get worse. Even more greed and shady methods - this is what it will be like, if it evolves along the gaming industry, because that industry is not on a consumer friendly path at all. ESO will be fine though, people get slowly used to being abused or do not even recognize, when they are tricked into shady traps (like those gambling boxes) ... and even worse, they might even be proud of being pulled into these traps, the longer it lasts, the more fanboys - and those will praise the developers for everything they do, absolutely everything.

Elsonso · February 2018

Runefang wrote: »

Games never change drastically post-release, at least from technological point of view.

ESO will continue to evolve but there is no revolution coming.

The revolution comes with the next game. My money is on that game being in production, already.

Lynx7386 · February 2018

ESO will continue to add a litany of content but cease evolution, slogging forward and paving the way for a new Elder Scrolls MMO which embraces future tech (100% seperate from ESO, apart from maybe the developer)

They'll probably keep regular dlc/expansions coming, and you know they'll sure as hell keep more useless crown crap and clown crates coming, but they've already expressed zero interest in actually upgrading the engine, servers, or anything else needed to actually resolve the issues we experience on a daily basis.

Grimm13 · February 2018

Other.....

Lynx7386 wrote: »

They'll probably keep regular dlc/expansions coming, and you know they'll sure as hell keep more useless crown crap and clown crates coming, but they've already expressed zero interest in actually upgrading the engine, servers, or anything else needed to actually resolve the issues we experience on a daily basis.

I do not completely agree.

One without having the specs of the servers at launch and now, we have no idea if upgrades have not taken place or not. If the information was released I don't know if the community would accept it.

I hold a glimmer of hope, a glimmer, that the recent move to a 64 bit only version is the step needed to be able to upgrade the engine. They stated by doing so allows them more memory to play with, sorry I paraphrased as I do not have perfect memory.

It would be good for the community that if this is the case then they make an announcement. I suspect that it is more than a year away and making an announcement now would just get the community riled up because it's not an instant fix.

Jade1986 · February 2018

ESO will continue.... litany of content.... cease evolution.... no future for Elder Scrolls in the world of MMO

I really dont have any faith that the game will evolve. Lets be honest.

No datacenter upgrades
No meaningful performance tweaks
Lack of any balance
Lack of any interest shown by the devs to do something "new"
Too much focus on the crown store, not enough on the actual player / customer.
Lack of meaningful QoL changes
Cyrodiil, I dont need to say more there

I would love for the game to evolve, change for the better, come out with interesting and new things, but the devs seem keen not to do that.

Darkonflare15 · February 2018

Jade1986 wrote: »

I really dont have any faith that the game will evolve. Lets be honest.
No datacenter upgrades

No meaningful performance tweaks

Lack of any balance

Lack of any interest shown by the devs to do something "new"

Too much focus on the crown store, not enough on the actual player / customer.

Lack of meaningful QoL changes

Cyrodiil, I dont need to say more there

I would love for the game to evolve, change for the better, come out with interesting and new things, but the devs seem keen not to do that.

Let's be honest

They have upgraded the data centers before
This is opinion and depends on person
Balance does not equal good but it does mean devoid of uniqueness which just makes gameplay boring
Define "new" There is no such thing as new. Most of Kickstarter MMOs coming out in the future that players claimed new and different. Are really just repurpose ideas from MMOs of the past.
Also opinion and depends on the person
I give you that one

ESO already has elements in it that already confuses most mmo players who are use to the same things. Examples, no Auction house , level scaling throughout the the whole game, and none new zone content that level gates players. Also the combat.
I do not think people want "new". They just want things that the other games have in this game.

MajesticHaruki · February 2018

Other.....

ESO will serve its purpose until the next chapter of single player Elder Scrolls and eventually will be overshadowed by newer MMORPGs, which can deliver better optimization in regards to massive pvp and pve.

vyndral13preub18_ESO · February 2018

ESO will continue.... litany of content.... cease evolution.... no future for Elder Scrolls in the world of MMO

MajesticHaruki wrote: »

ESO will serve its purpose until the next chapter of single player Elder Scrolls and eventually will be overshadowed by newer MMORPGs, which can deliver better optimization in regards to massive pvp and pve.

Hopefully a pretty mmo doesn’t drop the same time as the next Elder Scrolls game. This place could be a ghost town overnight.

Doctordarkspawn · February 2018

Other.....

Slow decline.

Considering ESO has shown absolutely sheer bloody minded resistance to our feedback and our attempts to make the content better, it's only going to be a matter of time before the game enters slow decline, if it hasn't allready. We have no accurate guage, given we cannot see decent numbers as far as players go.

What I do think is this: It's only going to take one too many things to *** the players off for things to deteriorate. The current way they have designed the combat system, continually trying to strike a balance between PVP and PVE, with a half baked system which, once resembled dark age of camelot, and has now been mangled by people who simply didn't understand why certain measures, like soft caps, existed. The result, is we have a system that pleases neither audience, retains neither hardcore audience, and simply cannot sustain itself on it's current model. Repeat buisness is abandoned in favor of monthly chapters, which increase churn and thus monthly sales.

The game will try to sustain itself on bursts of short term profit as a substitute for admitting fault and working with the people playing the game. And that will eventually run out, to a point where they cant sustain.

But I have faith that the game will rise again from the ashes of the old. The liscence has managed to run for years. If there was any doubt that it will get renewed, it has been extinguished going into 2018. I just hope that people with some buisness making games get ahold of it. And I do not think most of the staff itself has no buisness making that game. Just...some very vocal exceptions.

SmellyUnlimited · February 2018

ESO will continue.... litany of content.... cease evolution.... no future for Elder Scrolls in the world of MMO

jedtb16_ESO wrote: »

it will be the same future as any other product. if it continues to make money it will continue. if it makes sufficient money to cover the costs there will be further development. it ain't rocket science.

And yet, nobody disputed this very obvious statement. Ever.

fastolfv_ESO wrote: »

it will continue to follow the WoW way of marketing, constant new unecessary pve content aimed at casuals and more crown store junk at crazy high prices

ZOS and Bethesda are no Blizzard. Blizzard has been making incredible games since its inception. Prior to WoW, few MMO’s could pull in 1million customers (ESO hasn’t yet done this, not even if you add PC + PS4 + XBOX). WoW drew 7 million. The immediate predecessor to WoW, Everquest (which I personally loved), was up until then the most successful MMO, and it had maybe 400,000 players. Blizzard being Blizzard, with the level of polish on their games unequalled save for a VERY few video game companies, blew it completely out of the water.

This isn’t an attack on ESO, but it is a coming to terms with the fact that every MMO has ended up in the discount game section save for one. ESO suffers from what Destiny suffers from; they didn’t have a long term plan. Yes Bungie claimed a 10 year plan for Destiny, but developer comments have largely proved that to be false. ESO isn’t a bad game at all. But it just doesn’t have it in the cards to have true longevity. This year will test it the most; Anthem and a number of others MMO’s could be the straw.

As someone said earlier, ESO will be played mostly by the hardcore endgamers or the brand new casuals. The middle class will move on to bigger and better things.

jao0199 · February 2018

Other.....

Eso has a great content. One of the best mmos that ive ever played. BUT if the performance issues stay and they focus only with new content and crown crates eventually players will leave. A LOT of my friends left the game because of the pvp frustrations and trials(of fps drops and lag with too many people around).
Yeah, they are doing a pretty good job, but if the company at least focus on getting the game in better shape at the end game content, this will be the best mmo around.

Anotherone773 · February 2018

Other.....

They will peak, if they havent already and then the player base will dwindle even though new content is added because bugs are not being fixed. Eventually they will not be turning a profit so they will shut the servers down. The console servers will be the first to go.

They might make an attempt at ESO 2 with new tech but its highly unlikely. They arent using even close to top tech now and probably never will.

A game thrives and dies on its player base. And ZOS has a lot of complaints against them. There are reasons why games like WOW and Eve are still going after 15 years and ESO has not learned what makes a game thrive for years. Player retention is key and I dont think ESO is there but the game is not old enough to really tell accurately but it doesnt look real promising. I should see far more 720s running around than i do.

Unless they really screw up, it should be around for at least another 2 or 3 years though.I dont expect them to be around more than 5 or 6 though unless its with a ghost base( see "Dragon's Prophet") just logging in hoping that the devs who have not made the game better for the last 3 years, will suddenly decide to make it better.

I think if their is an ESO2 it will be some sort of slimmed down mobile version.

Edziu · February 2018

ESO will continue.... litany of content.... cease evolution.... no future for Elder Scrolls in the world of MMO

this game with time is jsut getting worse and worse since hmm, over 2 years?
if not The Elder Scrolls title in this this could be died even after 1 year after release when ZOS dropped must have supscription to play

only title is keeping this game alive as how ZOS is going for this game with many to many unecessary changes with ofc putting the most effor for cash shop instead of fixing just stupid lag in pvp which is also getting worse every next patch since those 3 years if not just since release lol

Tasear · February 2018

ESO will evolve alongside the gaming industry, experiencing massive overhauls in the future

It's why we have chapters.

LadyAstrum · February 2018

Other.....

Sotha Sil will invent a way to shatter the bounds of reality, transport Clockwork City to Earth, and turn us all into Apostles.

We will become the Elder Scrolls.

Mayrael · February 2018

Other.....

ESO will became one of many store based MMOs where you will have to pay $$ to stay competetive and then it wil die. There are limitations of current hardware, this limitations are reflected on API - new hardware = new API = costs. Why spent money on old product that is sinking?

Ragnarock41 · February 2018

Other.....

ESO will die only when a better alternative comes out, That is the fate of MMOs.

Its just sad to see this game trying to please casuals sooo much that it hurts the actual game.

They keep trying to give casual players ways to be just as good as veteran players(usually broken sets or mechanics), which makes zero sense to me, because those veteran players will always abuse those tools to be even more powerful.

Aebaradath · February 2018

Other.....

ESO no future in the world of MMOs?

joaaocaampos · February 2018

ESO will evolve alongside the gaming industry, experiencing massive overhauls in the future

ESO has a very strong base game. If they want, they can create new systems and rewards for current systems. They can bring new rewards to Undaunted Pledges, for example. Just look at the Transmute Crystals.

They can create new places in existing zones. Just look at Fang Lair or Ruins of Mazzatun.

Androconium · February 2018

joaaocaampos wrote: »

ESO has a very strong base game. If they want, they can create new systems and rewards for current systems. They can bring new rewards to Undaunted Pledges, for example. Just look at the Transmute Crystals.

They can create new places in existing zones. Just look at Fang Lair or Ruins of Mazzatun.

***cheers wildly***

They can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

Gprime31 · February 2018

ESO will continue.... litany of content.... cease evolution.... no future for Elder Scrolls in the world of MMO

ESO will continue.... litany of content.... cease evolution.... no future for Elder Scrolls in the world of MMO

unless..someone other than zos takes over that knows how to make an MMO playable, lag free and 150+ FPS

ArchMikem · February 2018

ESO will continue to add a litany of content but cease evolution, slogging forward and paving the way for a new Elder Scrolls MMO which embraces future tech (100% seperate from ESO, apart from maybe the developer)

ZOS has discovered that ESO has found a crazy devoted fanbase, and each new Chapter brings in a butt load of new players which equals new revenue. It plays on the Franchise name as well which helps drawing in all these players wanting another nostalgia trip, as well as the dedicated MMO players that want something different than WOW or other things.

ZOS will continue to develop new DLC content and new Chapters, steadily filling out the playable world map along their yearly schedule they created until one day they deem it necessary to shed the aging game engine and move on to a true Elder Scrolls MMO sequel built using all the lessons they learned with this one.

This game is just way too big now, and I'd be even more devastated than I was about Mass Effect Andromeda, if ESO goes down the can forever.

MinarasLaure · February 2018

ESO will continue.... litany of content.... cease evolution.... no future for Elder Scrolls in the world of MMO

I don't know.
I really doubt there will be a eso2, it wouldn't make any sense.
Keep adding chapters etc would make sense, but they're servers are collapsing already and it seems they're not going to do anything about it.
I believe they'll reach the point in which either they work on their servers or they can kiss goodbye to their customer base

morrowjen · February 2018

Other.....

ESO will be kept alive by TES players as has every other Elder Scrolls game since Morrowind - and yes, it's still being modded and played.

Datthaw · February 2018

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

Datthaw wrote: »

WhiteCoatSyndrome wrote: »

ESO will be slowly microtransactioned to death, as will the next single player ES game.

The pessimistic part of me agrees too much with this. It's like how I really really want warcraft 4 but idk if I want blizzard to make it.

Remastered Warcraft 3 is coming! 24 player maps... I'm trying it with computers, it bogs down my PC like hell. 10 vs 10 is fine though, I think that's the sweet spot.

Huh? Where do I find this. Wc3 has been broken for me since they moved it into the whole battle net launcher deal.

Sevalaricgirl · February 2018

ESO will evolve alongside the gaming industry, experiencing massive overhauls in the future

ESO constantly puts out new content and it's really good. They will continue to evolve and the chances of there being a new Elder Scrolls game is rare. I'm happy with what the ESO devs have done. I also play SWTOR and the difference in the two games is growing farther and farther apart. It is just that, as my son says, SWTOR is my drug. I keep going back to my addiction and will until they take it away. I don't see ESO going away for a long while. The difference is that ESO's free plan is so much better than SWTORs (mind you, I sub to both). SWTOR should make good content and sell it as DLC or expansions and allow free players to play everything except for what they don't pay for.

But anyway, ESO will evolve with the gaming industry.

Jade1986 · February 2018

ESO will continue.... litany of content.... cease evolution.... no future for Elder Scrolls in the world of MMO

Darkonflare15 wrote: »

Jade1986 wrote: »

I really dont have any faith that the game will evolve. Lets be honest.
No datacenter upgrades

No meaningful performance tweaks

Lack of any balance

Lack of any interest shown by the devs to do something "new"

Too much focus on the crown store, not enough on the actual player / customer.

Lack of meaningful QoL changes

Cyrodiil, I dont need to say more there

I would love for the game to evolve, change for the better, come out with interesting and new things, but the devs seem keen not to do that.

Let's be honest
They have upgraded the data centers before - They might have, but I live right next to the them and have a gig connection and still lag -hard-

This is opinion and depends on person - The performance issues are pretty widely accepted to be for the majority of players, you have very very few that say they have no issues, hence the overwhelming support on this forum and in zone chat for zos to do something meaningful

Balance does not equal good but it does mean devoid of uniqueness which just makes gameplay boring - Balance does not mean everything has to be exactly the same. Balance usually applies to counter play v counter play, all classes should have some sort of counter play, as it stands, certain builds have no counter play what so ever, so, by definition, not balanced

Define "new" There is no such thing as new. Most of Kickstarter MMOs coming out in the future that players claimed new and different. Are really just repurpose ideas from MMOs of the past. - New means new. Mini games are the best example I can give, and new events, ZoS seems to be going down the path of " We put in some events, now we will never put any more in again ", and lets be honest, some of those events are not creative in the least.

Also opinion and depends on the person - I dont see how that is opinion, over the years they have added things to please subs, but then they take those things away, best example atm, dyes. WHY THE SMURF do subs have to pay to dye their gear again!? That was supposed to be a perk of subbing, and then that HUGE middle finger subs got with morrowind. " All new dlcs and content will be available to subscribers with no extra fee. Then they changed the name of what morrowind was to a " Chapter Expansion " So by a technicality they were able to charge us. That is not a good business practice.

I give you that one

ESO already has elements in it that already confuses most mmo players who are use to the same things. Examples, no Auction house , level scaling throughout the the whole game, and none new zone content that level gates players. Also the combat.
I do not think people want "new". They just want things that the other games have in this game.

Answers to your quote are in the quote itself in bold, because i didnt want to make this unnecessary listy, lol.

Bam_Bam · February 2018

It will keep going. Whether people want it to or not. For all its many flaws, there is still a LOT of love for this game - the vitriol on the forum is usually just frustrated players (like me). But I love the world and the friends I've made here. I'm amazed at the amount of content there is now, compared to when the game was in Beta.

So for myself, I'll keep ranting when I feel its deserved even if it means more forum bans. But ESO dying? Not a chance and certainly not for another 5 years at least. On of the things that guarantees ESO will continue to go on, even if it means a brand new game, is the fact that it is an Elder Scrolls game whether people like it or not. The importance of that cannot simply be overlooked. If this incarnation of of ESO was to die, it would only be if there was a replacement ready - a digital phoenix. Because it is a money-making machine, too.

Elsonso · February 2018

SmellyUnlimited wrote: »

ZOS and Bethesda are no Blizzard. Blizzard has been making incredible games since its inception. Prior to WoW, few MMO’s could pull in 1million customers (ESO hasn’t yet done this, not even if you add PC + PS4 + XBOX). WoW drew 7 million. The immediate predecessor to WoW, Everquest (which I personally loved), was up until then the most successful MMO, and it had maybe 400,000 players. Blizzard being Blizzard, with the level of polish on their games unequalled save for a VERY few video game companies, blew it completely out of the water.

Lots of companies make incredible games, but I am not really interested in seeing ZOS and Bethesda clone them. Blizzard's sin is that they started to take their success for granted and they got sloppy. They stopped making World of Warcraft incredible. In the end, they let their game get dated, and took too long to recover from that.

ZOS needs to be different from that Blizzard. They are already a company that has made a corporate slogan out of "Good Enough". That is not a good long term sign. ZOS needs to be in there bringing old zones, quests, graphics, sound, or whatever, up to date as they change things. That costs money, though, and it means that they either have to sacrifice new content, or hire more people so they can have both.

ZOS needs to go back into the base zones and places where no dev has been for 4 or more years and update them. They need to go into the base game systems and bring them up to date and fix old problems. They need to go back and replace the temporary-looking band-aid that was applied when they fragmented the main story by adding the Morrowind start. Ideally, this is something that is done for each Update. Not all at once, but just a steady pace. Edit: and they need to start sooner than Blizzard did.

To me, when ZOS says that they are committed to the game for the long term, it does not just mean that they are going to be rolling out a few DLC, maybe one or two new systems, and a Chapter every year. It means that they are going to be paying attention to the whole game, including the parts they already charged us for. I expect them to maintain their game and keep up with it as they add new stuff.

What do I think the fate is? One possible path extends the public image that they project. They will continue to focus their attention on new paid content to add to the game, including Crown Crates. This will drive them to some rather outlandish places, as good ideas become harder to find or more expensive to bring to market. They will let existing stuff sit on the shelf past the expiration date, as updating these things will have limited revenue potential. Eventually, ESO will be a dated game and will coast until they turn off the servers. If they have planned correctly, they will already have a new game that is less dated. That game will follow the same path as ESO.

As a final thought, ESO likely has more than 1 million active (monthly) players across all platforms and geographies. They could even have more than 1 million ESO Plus subscribers. They don't release numbers, but what we can puzzle out puts them over the 1 million mark for at least one of those.