Is the player population really dead?

starkerealm · August 2018

SlippyCheeze wrote: »

neverwalk wrote: »

STEAM version of ESO SUCKS. ESO is awesome game but not with steam.

The Steam version is literally identical to the non-Steam version, save for one thing: it uses the Steam authentication servers to log in, rather than a username and password.

So, yes, that means a steam outage would block logins, but once that hurdle is passed there are no identifiable differences between the two.

Reportedly, there's also a performance loss due to the Steam overlay hooking into the game. Now, I run ESO with the steam overlay, and I've never noticed a performance issue, but it could be an issue for some systems.

Beyond that, the Steam outage blocking loggins isn't just a potential situation, it popped up repeatedly after the Summerset launch. So, that is a real issue, and the reason why a lot of people in the community, myself included, won't recommend the game on Steam if the non-Steam version is an option.

leepalmer95 · August 2018

Ps4 eu you can 100% notice how dead the game has become.

The pvp pop is very dead, down to 1 campaign vivec and even then prime time blues only have 2 bars.

Every other campaign is dead apart from shor which has 1 bar red who constantly pvDoor and zerg the entire map in 1 big emp group full of 30k healbots.

Even in the pve the big cities are quite dead until prime time and you can notice the population loss. Most people are just afk standing there as well.

DuskMarine · August 2018

geekboy09 wrote: »

I just saw a YouTube video there was only 2000 players on steam

steam is awful for eso players though so its no wonder they stay that low. there were alot more but since the last outage id imagine theyd fall from graces to be used as an in between when eso players through zenimax have no issues at all with outage. so yea i imagine soon steam will be zero. but theres millions of players in this game.

starkerealm · August 2018

leepalmer95 wrote: »

Ps4 eu you can 100% notice how dead the game has become.

The pvp pop is very dead, down to 1 campaign vivec and even then prime time blues only have 2 bars.

Every other campaign is dead apart from shor which has 1 bar red who constantly pvDoor and zerg the entire map in 1 big emp group full of 30k healbots.

Even in the pve the big cities are quite dead until prime time and you can notice the population loss. Most people are just afk standing there as well.

The problem with assessing PvE population counts is that the game never tells you how many instances exist for that zone. So, you could just have phenomenally bad luck about getting placed into near empty zones, or it's possible there's some other unusual behavior on PS4EU, such as players actually out there questing, rather than standing around in town waiting for the end times or their DPS queue to pop.

Not sure about PvP on the PS4. So I can't really comment on that behavior.

leepalmer95 · August 2018

starkerealm wrote: »

leepalmer95 wrote: »

Ps4 eu you can 100% notice how dead the game has become.

The pvp pop is very dead, down to 1 campaign vivec and even then prime time blues only have 2 bars.

Every other campaign is dead apart from shor which has 1 bar red who constantly pvDoor and zerg the entire map in 1 big emp group full of 30k healbots.

Even in the pve the big cities are quite dead until prime time and you can notice the population loss. Most people are just afk standing there as well.

The problem with assessing PvE population counts is that the game never tells you how many instances exist for that zone. So, you could just have phenomenally bad luck about getting placed into near empty zones, or it's possible there's some other unusual behavior on PS4EU, such as players actually out there questing, rather than standing around in town waiting for the end times or their DPS queue to pop.

Not sure about PvP on the PS4. So I can't really comment on that behavior.

You can sort of just have a feel for it, it's not just the population you can see, even things like traders are quite dead. There are traders in the main cities and crag lorn who sell like 4 things and got the spot because theres no real competition.

The pvp is definitely dying here. When a faction can't even get 3 bars across all campaigns something is wrong.

Dc have 2 bars across all campaigns.
AD have 3
EP are pop locked in 1 and have 1 bar in the other.

Considering the game used to have 3 campaigns pop locked constantly.

I ran around the other day looking for an item in stores and anything but the main cities are ghost towns. If its not prime time 6/7 pm than there is no one around them either.

Could just be bad luck i suppose, there is a lot less high cp players though and a lot more 100/200 cp players standing around.

Kazyn_Shadowpaw · August 2018

As a returning player who played at launch and now i have actually seen a pretty consistent population now with what I saw in the months following release.

Wifeaggro13 · August 2018

Kazyn_Shadowpaw wrote: »

As a returning player who played at launch and now i have actually seen a pretty consistent population now with what I saw in the months following release.

there were for more active players at launch by 6 omnth mark it had declined to about 700k , that was due to Zenimax putting their eggs in the basket of console launch insteadof fixing their game and producing content.

Urvoth · August 2018

geekboy09 wrote: »

I just saw a YouTube video there was only 2000 players on steam

I haven't ever seen numbers that low on Steam, so it must either have been straight after a maintenance, during login issues, or around when the game first released. ESO has been consistently in Steam's top 30 for awhile now, with 15k-20k daily peaks.

DirkRavenclaw · August 2018

You download 80 plus GB to be able to play this Game. Why so much? Well, every single Country is instanced. It has more then one Layer. For example, lets say you run throught Fells run in Rivenspire. You may think you are the only player there, but you do the Townquest, and afterwards, in another Instance, you see a 100 players or so around you. They where there before. I think on the weekend, to peak times, over all platforms, there are playing 2 million around this game at any one time

Urvoth · August 2018

idk wrote: »

Tasear wrote: »

I think there was a recent news letter. Let alone 10,000 we have had 10 million players. If you have any doubts just think about how stressed poor servers got with midyear madness. There needed to be extra campaigns to support players. So no ESO is far from dead.

ESO does not truly have 10 million players. 10 Million copies were sold and that is what MattF stated. Very unlikely most of them are actually active players by any stretch.

I am not saying ESO is dying. It certainly is far from dying. Also Steam stats, as I stated earlier, are meaningless as to how ESO is doing. It is such a small portion of the playerbase on PC/Mac servers.

The Steam numbers have actually been steadily increasing.

ZOS_JesC · August 2018

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ValkynSketha · August 2018

Wow is dead, gw2 is dead, eso is dead, that game is dead and this game is dead, why even ask, go and try and see for yourself, play and have fun before death claim us all.

Even with a 500 playerbase the game will be alive, just have fun, does the game must have 1billion players to satisfy you?, you can bring some friends or make friends in a game with 100 playerbase and have fun, while playing another with 1m players solo without having fun.

These reviewers are the doom to gaming, stop listening to them.

Davor · August 2018

Tasear wrote: »

I think there was a recent news letter. Let alone 10,000 we have had 10 million players. If you have any doubts just think about how stressed poor servers got with midyear madness. There needed to be extra campaigns to support players. So no ESO is far from dead.

I can't remember, did Zenimax say 10 million players or 10 million characters or accounts? If it's 10 million players, that is a HUGE drop even if 100 000 people are playing on all platforms. So that could show how much ESO dropped. I wouldn't be using those numbers. They are really not that good to use no matter which way we try and spin those numbers.

Doctordarkspawn · August 2018

oddavi wrote: »

MajesticHaruki wrote: »

Population is fine for a game that focuses entirely on milking cows.

Eh, Its still a lot better than Neverwinter.

Honestly, if we had to pick between the two, I'd rather play Neverwinters combat right now.

Davor · August 2018

*edit*

Opps off topic.

Thunderknuckles · August 2018

Well, I play late night on PC/NA and I can tell you that at even 3AM central standard any zone you go into is busy (with the exception of Imperial City, I suppose). If Steam has lost a ton of players it's no wonder, what with all the routine connection problems they have to deal with.

Gbnicholson1 · August 2018

The 10 million are split across all platforms and servers, I think the concurrent numbers for pc na were 2-3 million.

Gbnicholson1 · August 2018

Battlegrounds is more popular than Cyrodiil Rn that’s for sure

ArchMikem · August 2018

If you're gonna use the word 'dead', then I'm going to envision you standing in the middle of Rawl'kha without a single other player logged in during peak hours. And that couldn't be further from the case.

Tons of people still play the game, it's nowhere near "dead".

starkerealm · August 2018

leepalmer95 wrote: »

starkerealm wrote: »

leepalmer95 wrote: »

Ps4 eu you can 100% notice how dead the game has become.

The pvp pop is very dead, down to 1 campaign vivec and even then prime time blues only have 2 bars.

Every other campaign is dead apart from shor which has 1 bar red who constantly pvDoor and zerg the entire map in 1 big emp group full of 30k healbots.

Even in the pve the big cities are quite dead until prime time and you can notice the population loss. Most people are just afk standing there as well.

The problem with assessing PvE population counts is that the game never tells you how many instances exist for that zone. So, you could just have phenomenally bad luck about getting placed into near empty zones, or it's possible there's some other unusual behavior on PS4EU, such as players actually out there questing, rather than standing around in town waiting for the end times or their DPS queue to pop.

Not sure about PvP on the PS4. So I can't really comment on that behavior.

You can sort of just have a feel for it, it's not just the population you can see, even things like traders are quite dead. There are traders in the main cities and crag lorn who sell like 4 things and got the spot because theres no real competition.

The pvp is definitely dying here. When a faction can't even get 3 bars across all campaigns something is wrong.

Dc have 2 bars across all campaigns.
AD have 3
EP are pop locked in 1 and have 1 bar in the other.

Considering the game used to have 3 campaigns pop locked constantly.

I ran around the other day looking for an item in stores and anything but the main cities are ghost towns. If its not prime time 6/7 pm than there is no one around them either.

Could just be bad luck i suppose, there is a lot less high cp players though and a lot more 100/200 cp players standing around.

This is one of those things where I don't know, because I don't play on PS4 (either server), but I keep hearing people complaining about "ghost guilds," that will bid out a trader, then ransom the location back to the original guild. I'm not sure how much credence to give these stories, as I see some of the same claims on PCNA, and there's no real sign of that here.

PvP on PCNA is pretty active overall. Though, of course, we're coming out of midyear mayhem, so I haven't even looked at the campaign population since Thursday.

mb10 · August 2018

TheUndeadAmulet wrote: »

Don't forget consoles, it isn't hard to imagine that they make up a sizable population.

Zos clearly forget them when it comes to twitch drops, events, PTS and getting them involved

Kaartinen · August 2018

It definitely seems a lot more populated then when I started playing years ago. Maybe it's just an Xbox NA thing.

Mayrael · August 2018

Leogon wrote: »

10,684 current players and the peak today was 17,002 players. Btw, I don't play on Steam, my bro doesn't play on Steam and most people I know who play ESO don't play on Steam. I'm just saying.

Less than 10% of my guild plays on Steam. It's a really bad indicator of ESO population

Mayrael · August 2018

geekboy09 wrote: »

I made a mistake the video said 200000 instead of 3000 but still

LOL. First 2000, then 3000 finaly it should be 200k? xD Pretty much dead yeah... That's why we have overloaded servers

perolord · August 2018

Well i must say i do not feel the game is dead EU/pc... there are people everywhere.. sure on some old zones, there are not so much ppl. But in every medium-high village there are players.. PVP is full (not queues), battlegrounds you get in 5 seconds...

Dungeon queue takes you 2-4 minutes... depending of time you want to join.

Anyhow, i enjoy game like i never did before... when you get into some reading about classes - dps,... you are starting really to like the game.

I did dungeons a lot - got some (really 2-3) trials... but for last month i started to pvp a lot... along with doing quests (still champion points on 400 atm). I really enjoy pvp, so i hope that PVPers will get some love from devs...

Other than that... game is dead when you can not join any activity anymore and you rarely see player... but in this case ESO is one of top 4 populated mmos at this time...

Jeremy · August 2018

geekboy09 wrote: »

I just saw a YouTube video there was only 2000 players on steam

Haven't noticed a lull in players here. Game seems populated as usual.

TheeBradshaw · August 2018

I play both PS4 NA and PC NA...and i can tell you i never seen this game more full of life than it is right now. I can literally go ANYWHERE and find a fellow player. This game is so full of life, guild traders are always full, PvP is constant, and dungeons (well they still take 30 min for dps to que).

RedTalon · August 2018

I have been playing ESO long before it was sold on steam It took them awhile to put it up on steam

MaleAmazon · August 2018

Playing on PC/EU, I´d say I wouldn´t be surprised if there were more players now than ever. People run around, chat is busy, pretty easy to get a PUG trial going... dead game? ESO is one of the most popular MMOs...

Merlin13KAGL · August 2018

Agalloch wrote: »

I am a member of 5 guilds (PC-EU) , probably not the most populated ones . Each one has over 80 people logged in at peak hours. That's more than 400 people . And there are hundreds , maybe thousands of guilds.
And the numbers increase every week.

So ESO is growing not dying .

I'm sure that more than 90% of the player base don't use Steam. Even if you look at steam charts see ESO is growing.

From many sources compiled I can estimate that ESO has 2 million active ( not counting casual) players..maybe more.

English is not my native language.

@Agalloch the last part amuses me, because most people that put this disclaimer are often more eloquent than many for whom it is their native language. (That's intended as a complement.)

Your English is just fine.

This game will keep going as long as they opt to pay the electric bill. There will always be enough influx of new players that there's no reason they couldn't leave it as is and still continue to earn income for years to come.

The better it is, the more they'll make, and it may not keep the same quantity and tier of players the entire duration, but dying game is far from dead.

Hint: We're dying too. Have been since (before) the day we were born. The trick is growing faster than dying, which is why we (and this game) get to enjoy a nice long lifespan.