Where will ESO be in 3 years?

Radiance · September 2018

IDK about y'all but I play this game so I don't have to think that far ahead...
I'm not entirely sure the world will even be hospitable in 3 years so, for now I'm just a casual ESO player when I need to find my happy place lol

Cadbury · September 2018

Life is nothing but uncertainty. So I don't even know if I'll be around in 3 years, much less trying to guess the lifecycle of ESO...

Jeremy · September 2018

MLGProPlayer wrote: »

Depends on what the competition is like.

If all we're getting is more Korean P2W shovelware, ESO will still be there. If we get another good, non-grindy, non-sandbox (story-driven) action MMO, ESO might see a decline in population.

I know the PUBG team and Amazon are working on MMOs. Those are probably the only titles that have a chance of not sucking, so things are looking good for ESO.

Agreed.

Depends more on the competition and doesn't have anything to do with how many years down the road it is. Just look at WoW (one of the first MMORPGs ever released) and it's still said to be the most popular MMO on the market today.

So unless companies start pushing out better online RPG games (and there is really no indication that they are going to) ESO should be still be doing fine 3 years from now.

I've lost count how many new MMORPGs coming out that were suppose to dominate the competition but ended up being gigantic duds. I suspect that trend will continue.

RedTalon · September 2018

I have been around since beta, my guess will be around in one forum or another. MMOS don't rarely die out fully, there are a lot of mmos that are older and still actie.

It depends on how quickly the map fills out with how things are going to be in 3 years.

Etienne_et_Isabeau · September 2018

In three years, ESO will be in the Third Era.

jainiadral · September 2018

There will be more stories, more maps, more beautiful scenery, and a lot more to explore. And another sixty-billion grindy guild skill lines I'll never finish leveling.

NeroBad · September 2018

I think ESO has a decent amount of dedicated player base who will support it financially, so definietly not dead.

Many (main) PVPers will leave, in proportion they will be smaller as today.

The graphic difference will be so visible between new zones and base zones they will consider a basezone remaster.

There will be so many quests, that dialogue audio file will be bigger then 2 AAA games.

Ilithyania · September 2018

STEAM charts is the only indicator of the playerbase state.
Keep increasing every year. ZOS must be doing something right.

Bam_Bam · September 2018

JackDaniell wrote: »

I personaly think it will be interesting to see how eso holds up against games like ashes of creation and camelot unchained (to name two). In the past i felt thier was no game that was on par with eso but these new games could give it some serious competition. If the lag isnt fixed by the time these other games go live i think that could be a serious problem for eso.

I would love to see Zenimax continue to add new skill lines and classes so the best part of eso (buildcraft) continues to be built on. I would also love to see huge performance fixes accross the board, especialy pvp. And maybe to see zenimax focus less on constant crown store advestisment and promotion.

Sorry for double post...

Pretty much agree with everything.

However,

Because of the server performance issues, in particular, I'd like to see 2 new games: ESO2 and ESO: Cyrodiil.

The current state of the game, to me, feels very disjointed. By that I mean the graphical differences between the original starter zones and places like Vvardenfell and Summerset are staggering - there have been ZERO attempts to update the graphics/textures of the old zones and they feel horribly dated. But of course, there are far worse issues...

Server performance is the biggest. Sure, a few issues were kinda fixed with the multi-core functionality update, but there was absolutely nothing of note that resolved the issues that were created with the ham-handed attempt at fixing the botting issues years ago. If that had of been addressed correctly, we'd have had a server that ran as smoothly as it did when the game started and Cyrodiil was completely rammed. Instead, a swathe of performance bugs and issues were introduced and instead gave the population (the PvP crowd in particular) an absolute kidney punch from which it has never recovered.

How the hell did that happen? Did they (ZOS) not have staff capable of rectifying the issues they had created? Maybe they hadn't researched the issues (bots etc) that had plagued other games - if they had done so, they could have invested time/money into preventing the issue. And if people say it's not that simple, well I'm sorry but if a company worth millions can't afford to hire people capable of fixing problems they create (to the point where they are left unaddressed for years, with excuse after excuse being rolled out (or not)), then they shouldn't have taken on the project in the first place.

The Elder Scrolls series is an institution. To make the online version should have been a jewel of reverence. Instead, it has been a money vehicle for the marketing people with us customers being cash cows and leaving the creative team seemingly with their hands tied. There should have been much more interaction with the community and I don't mean picking a few community members to act as "yes" men - people given roles that have no impact.

It is very sad and that is why, if they can learn from the mistakes of the current game, I'd like them to remake the game with 2 separate entities: one for PvE and one for PvP.

To give credit where it's due, I'm positive the team HAS learned TONS from making this game. That's obvious when you compare the newer zones to the original. Summerset, for example - the detail that has gone into it is breathtaking. It's a joy to explore and to quest (*cough* maybe not the Psijic questline, though, hehe). And you can see on ESO live that most of the team love the game and what they do. And they've gotten better.

But those performance issues are killing the game for many people and I've seen a lot of friends leave for that reason alone.

Fix the performance issues (not even completely, but just so the game is at least stable for most people) and you'll have addressed about 75% of the game

I'm sure it can be done, if not - start over.

//Apologies for the wall of text.

Lumenn · September 2018

Really depends on the competition, and ZOS, especially on consoles. EQ lost a lot of people when WOW came out simply because it seemed WOW actually took what EQ players griped about and did things differently(more casual friendly, melee characters could actually solo etc) and WOW advertised much more often. Many of us stayed, many left and came back, but by the time developers started making changes it was too late. New players went to WOW, EQ was known as Ever Camp if known at all, and populated by hard core fans that loved the lore. ESO has better marketing, has ftp so as long as they don't start getting a rep as pay to win I can still see new blood coming to the game. Even EQ is still going in some form I believe(haven't played in 9 years or so) so unless ZOS just gives up and completely cash cows eso it'll still be here.

RD065 · September 2018

Imo, I came back here (6 weeks ago) because it seems any new MMO that has come out stinks. I have no hope for the on the horizon games. Weather I'll be here or not remains to be seen.

Haenk · September 2018

My very first MMO is currently considering pulling the plug. After 20+ years.
So TESO still has some time to die, at least I hope so.

Vapirko · September 2018

I think they have enough time left to wring as much money out of ESO as they can. People will continue playing the PvE aspect of ESO because the performance is more or less fine. They may lose those of us who come for the PvP but as we know that’s not gonna be a huge hit for them. And there will likely be zergs filling the main CP campaigns for quite some time to come. By the time any game provides any real competition across the board in both PvE and PvP, ESO will be long gone. Even AoC can’t compete in terms of lore and legacy. If ZOS has continued to ignore some long standing bugs and performance issues because they don’t feel pressured from other games then it’s likely to stay that way. They’ve dug themselves a deep but secure hole and I don’t see them making any effort to come out. When you make an effort to take time off from ESO you start to see, at least from a PvP point of view, what a giant waste of time it is and the amount of frustration it generates. Following the forums and watching streams from time to time makes it really hard to justify logging in again. Day after day it’s just the same old bs.

Tandor · September 2018

Bam_Bam wrote: »

JackDaniell wrote: »

I personaly think it will be interesting to see how eso holds up against games like ashes of creation and camelot unchained (to name two). In the past i felt thier was no game that was on par with eso but these new games could give it some serious competition. If the lag isnt fixed by the time these other games go live i think that could be a serious problem for eso.

I would love to see Zenimax continue to add new skill lines and classes so the best part of eso (buildcraft) continues to be built on. I would also love to see huge performance fixes accross the board, especialy pvp. And maybe to see zenimax focus less on constant crown store advestisment and promotion.

Sorry for double post...

Pretty much agree with everything.

However,

Because of the server performance issues, in particular, I'd like to see 2 new games: ESO2 and ESO: Cyrodiil.

The current state of the game, to me, feels very disjointed. By that I mean the graphical differences between the original starter zones and places like Vvardenfell and Summerset are staggering - there have been ZERO attempts to update the graphics/textures of the old zones and they feel horribly dated. But of course, there are far worse issues...

Server performance is the biggest. Sure, a few issues were kinda fixed with the multi-core functionality update, but there was absolutely nothing of note that resolved the issues that were created with the ham-handed attempt at fixing the botting issues years ago. If that had of been addressed correctly, we'd have had a server that ran as smoothly as it did when the game started and Cyrodiil was completely rammed. Instead, a swathe of performance bugs and issues were introduced and instead gave the population (the PvP crowd in particular) an absolute kidney punch from which it has never recovered.

How the hell did that happen? Did they (ZOS) not have staff capable of rectifying the issues they had created? Maybe they hadn't researched the issues (bots etc) that had plagued other games - if they had done so, they could have invested time/money into preventing the issue. And if people say it's not that simple, well I'm sorry but if a company worth millions can't afford to hire people capable of fixing problems they create (to the point where they are left unaddressed for years, with excuse after excuse being rolled out (or not)), then they shouldn't have taken on the project in the first place.

The Elder Scrolls series is an institution. To make the online version should have been a jewel of reverence. Instead, it has been a money vehicle for the marketing people with us customers being cash cows and leaving the creative team seemingly with their hands tied. There should have been much more interaction with the community and I don't mean picking a few community members to act as "yes" men - people given roles that have no impact.

It is very sad and that is why, if they can learn from the mistakes of the current game, I'd like them to remake the game with 2 separate entities: one for PvE and one for PvP.

To give credit where it's due, I'm positive the team HAS learned TONS from making this game. That's obvious when you compare the newer zones to the original. Summerset, for example - the detail that has gone into it is breathtaking. It's a joy to explore and to quest (*cough* maybe not the Psijic questline, though, hehe). And you can see on ESO live that most of the team love the game and what they do. And they've gotten better.

But those performance issues are killing the game for many people and I've seen a lot of friends leave for that reason alone.

Fix the performance issues (not even completely, but just so the game is at least stable for most people) and you'll have addressed about 75% of the game I'm sure it can be done, if not - start over.

//Apologies for the wall of text.

Aren't you confusing the changes that were introduced to counter botting and gold-selling in PvE zones (and which have had no impact on performance in those zones) with the anti-cheat measures that were introduced in Cyrodiil (and which would appear to have impacted on performance in that zone)?

Given that most people don't go to Cyrodiil, and given the number of people playing the game versus the number complaining here about the servers, I'd say the game is already stable for most people. It wouldn't be as popular as it is today if everyone was struggling to log in and stay connected for more than a few minutes at a time with constant lag inbetween disconnections. That's the picture some like to paint, but it isn't remotely a typical one.

drkfrontiers · September 2018

"Wherever it will be, there you will find yourself. This one thinks its someplace just north of Elsweyr."
~ M'aiq the Liar

FloppyTouch · September 2018

I see NBs and sorcs fighting about who should get nerf bc both are OP and dont want to admit to it, while templars and dks get nerfed for no reason.

Reverb · September 2018

The game will be back-burnered by Zeni while they move all marketing and development effort to their new game. ESO will fall into “keep the lights on” mode, while continuing to recycle crown store content.

shiningforce · September 2018

Eso will have to catch up to other MMO's I am sure in the future. People have given so many suggestions that are do-able, such as more interactions with objects, More Npcs for housing etc. That will need to keep up with demand, More battlegrounds to keep up with different types of pVpers, it will happen, unfortunately at this moment it seems to be a crawl with Zos

Azariiel_Lunataris · September 2018

Jeremy wrote: »

Just look at WoW (one of the first MMORPGs ever released) and it's still said to be the most popular MMO on the market today.

If by "one of the first", you mean "one of the first 60 or so", then mentioning WoW in that context is correct. Otherwise, you're showing your age or lack of knowledge on the topic.

RedTalon · September 2018

Ilithyania wrote: »

STEAM charts is the only indicator of the playerbase state.
Keep increasing every year. ZOS must be doing something right.

And steam charts don't account for every player on pc and mac either.

RedTalon · September 2018

Azariiel_Lunataris wrote: »

Jeremy wrote: »

Just look at WoW (one of the first MMORPGs ever released) and it's still said to be the most popular MMO on the market today.

If by "one of the first", you mean "one of the first 60 or so", then mentioning WoW in that context is correct. Otherwise, you're showing your age or lack of knowledge on the topic.

Think there has been more then that, mmorpgs have been around since late 1990s and a few are still running from that era

Finviuswe · September 2018

RedTalon wrote: »

Azariiel_Lunataris wrote: »

Jeremy wrote: »

Just look at WoW (one of the first MMORPGs ever released) and it's still said to be the most popular MMO on the market today.

If by "one of the first", you mean "one of the first 60 or so", then mentioning WoW in that context is correct. Otherwise, you're showing your age or lack of knowledge on the topic.

Think there has been more then that, mmorpgs have been around since late 1990s and a few are still running from that era

Yeah, these kinds of games just tend to drag on continuously, even if the pop reaches low numbers.

As long as there is a profit to be made, the game will continue to operate

Skander · September 2018

Dead

Azariiel_Lunataris · September 2018

RedTalon wrote: »

Azariiel_Lunataris wrote: »

Jeremy wrote: »

Just look at WoW (one of the first MMORPGs ever released) and it's still said to be the most popular MMO on the market today.

If by "one of the first", you mean "one of the first 60 or so", then mentioning WoW in that context is correct. Otherwise, you're showing your age or lack of knowledge on the topic.

Think there has been more then that, mmorpgs have been around since late 1990s and a few are still running from that era

Discounting MUDs and counting Meridian 59 as the first MMORPG, you're looking at around 60 or so until WoW was released. This list is probably focusing mostly on Western MMOs and may be lacking, but it does include all the ones I remember playing back then

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_massively_multiplayer_online_role-playing_games#List_of_MMORPGs

yiasemi · September 2018

Sylvermynx wrote: »

Ugh. Nope. Not me. I don't DO the FOs. I grew up in the era when teachers in school were expecting annihilation at any moment, and we all had to do the "duck and cover" drills, while being told (by the adults, and the movies we watched) that we weren't going to live over it anyway. The FOs can take a MAJOR hike. I don't find that premise any sort of "fun".

At school in Yorkshire, UK we had Threads.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x121ctu
What would happen to Sheffield, a city not far from where I lived in and after nuclear war. The usual annihilation of some of the population through fire, the agonising death of most of the rest through fallout and then the agony of the survivors, a decade later young teen raiders are losing their ability to use language properly while *** and breeding with settlers they catch. Settlers are medieval in appearance, the few old people in their 30's crying at what they've lost while trying to make clothes to keep warm in the nuclear winter. It was shown on prime-time national TV. There was a very interesting debate after the broadcast. When TV talked to you. Listen to how some speakers would have been at home in the world of 2076.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0VcT-XWb7M

We never needed The Road.
I reckon none of us slept properly for a while. I still get nightmares when N Korea starts playing games. I currently live in missile range.
Having said all that, I love the Fallout series. Go figure. I don't have any love for Survivalism. I have never been to the US, only South America. FO4 made it all too jolly, but I loved rebuilding the world in that game. That was serious business.

ChefZero · September 2018

Did you notice that Wildstar is being shot down? I remember how entire guilds left ESO with the release of WS ... Wonder what they are doing today?

ghwaite · September 2018

Still with broken PvP, promises of Spellcrafting and bugs which have been here since day 1?

ghwaite · September 2018

Will probably still be here tho

Merlin13KAGL · September 2018

WeaselGod wrote: »

Definitely, ZOS has a good handle on things and they've planned everything for the next 2 years I don't see why they wouldn't keep up their planning for years to come.

If you haven't noticed marketing attempts changing numerous times in the last four years, you're either relatively new or not paying attention.

Plans and the reality bringing those plans to fruition are two very different things.

Shraar wrote: »

Merlin13KAGL wrote: »

It will still have a place, but even the greatest kings eventually get dethroned.

Elder Scrolls Online: One Tamriel is a woman.
The only thing that can kill a queen is a younger more beautiful prince and he'll come in 2021 and his name will be Elder Scrolls VI: Hammers&Daggers.

@Shraar, That's all well and good.

Kings have the luxury of being executed, at least.

Queens tend to get tossed in dungeons, left to rot in denial.

Sometimes only the stones are left. The Ayleids and the Dwemer thought they would reign forever, too.

TL;DR; It won't die entirely, but it will not remain the semi-thriving entity that it is today.

zaria · September 2018

Reverb wrote: »

The game will be back-burnered by Zeni while they move all marketing and development effort to their new game. ESO will fall into “keep the lights on” mode, while continuing to recycle crown store content.

Who new game? if they want to create an new ESO class game (say fallout online) they will need to significantly increase their staff or it will take decades even if they stop all development on ESO. Compare the new stuff we get each year then see how long it would take to fill out the base game, now add that new stuff reuse lots of stuff from the base game.