A bit of advice for new players...

gunplummer · April 2014

While I don't claim to be an "expert" in video games, I have been playing since I was a wee lad. My first experience with a video game was playing colleco vision and atari with chips without a game case when my parents worked for intelvision. I have played just about every type of game system on the market and after 7 years with xbox because of the huge disappointment with the xbox 1 I just recently went back to PC gaming so I've been around the gaming block.

So on to my advice...

Since early access on March 30, 2014, I have lost bank slots, gold, skill points, had loggin issues, encountered broken quests, ran out of bank space, road for 20 min in Cyrodiil to get to a battle, died within 5 sec and re-road to battle just to die again, had my character died 2362 x's, lost sleep, fell asleep waiting to load, had my mouse run out of batteries, had my keyboard run out of batteries, kicked out of the server, had to go to work, had to work late, had to fix dinner, do laundry, pick up the kids, travel for work, had a drunk driver run into a pole and knock the internet/power out, etc...

Welcome to Life.

Having played all TES games as a player I come to expect a certain level of quality
from Zenimax so I can tell you honestly I am just as frustrated with all of the hiccups, bugs, glitches, spammers, bots, and every other problem I have either encountered or heard about. Please remember that this is the first time Zenimax has attempted something of this scale. Now I realize that yes there are plenty of large MMOs out there who have been doing this for years, but once again this is The Elder Scrolls so I don't expect them to be like all the others. I expect them to produce a high quality game that I will play for years. There are 1500 quests in ESO so even if 500 are bugged there is still plenty to do to occupy your time. So have a little faith and patience they will fix it. In the mean time feel free to whine, grip, complain, praise, or ask questions all you want to on the boards that's why they have forums in the first place. Even if people are critical just ignore them its not like you will meet them face to face... It's just a game.

Any and all criticism is acceptable and encouraged.

Thoughts?

crush83 · April 2014

This isn't an advice column. It's actually a forum for New Player Questions.

But yes, I agree. People get too caught up in being overly harsh and critical. Yes, Zenimax needs to fix the bugs. They either will or they won't. If they don't they will lose subscribers and eventually fail. In the mean time, it's not worth me getting too worked up about it.

That said, I did get worked up with their customer support team over a ticket I had submitted and got an awful response to (I was stuck in the sky, couldn't get out, and the CSR didn't help me at all). However, they completely redeemed themselves when next I sent in a ticket, so I'm over that.

Reflecting on that experience, I should've realized it wasn't worth getting worked up about either.

Just enjoy the game as best as I can, and when I can't enjoy it anymore, I'll move on quietly.

Hawke · April 2014

I am not really sure what is going on in this thread...

cthulhucometh · April 2014

Personally, the BIGGEST issue I have is with "gold sellers" I report every one of them that send me mail. But due to the mass amount in chat I don't report those because I don't want to be accused of "abusing the report system" even though they'd all be legit reports. Even with all the bugs and stuff I don't plan on leaving. Soon enough it'll all get worked out.

Azzuria · April 2014

I agree with the OP. This is still a new game with all the inherent bugs and flaws that come with something so vast and open.

A little perspective. This game cannot be all things to all people. It ain't Skyrim II but it sure as hell isn't a WoW clone. Enjoy it ( and life ) for what it is.

7788b14_ESO · April 2014

For me, I'll wait and see how ESO treats the loyal players who have played through all the bugs.

drakuel1ub17_ESO · April 2014

I like what the OP is saying and agree.. Long as he is labeling whines and complaints that are valid.. Negative feedback with good constructed discussion is not the same thing.. I have provided feedback positive and negative with evidence of issues and overall game design that either 1. Need to be changed to make the product better or 2. Need to be changed so what I do in game actually works as designed...

Far as support is concerned I subscribed for a year.. For me that is the bake time any new MMO needs to really get a feel for the world and team who runs it.. 6 months will just be nothing but fixes and tweaks and balancing. Another 6 months for changes to design and added content, things they wanted to do but did not have the time to do due to publisher deadlines.

No matter what after May 1st I am in for a year and happy to do it.. The base foundation of this game is great. I will not leave or give up on any MMO for the first year. After that I will review all aspects of it and determine if I stay or not..

gunplummer · April 2014

I think for new players who ask "Should I buy/play this game?" The boards are where anyone considering a new game begins their search. With ESO there is a ton of both good and bad reviews. Zenimax has IHO have always put out a solid game and this one will be no different the're just having a lot of growing pains right now. It's only been out for 2 weeks, but they did spend over a year in betas which is more than most publishers do. I don't think 2 weeks is enough time to make a valid assessment good or bad of any game especially with Zenimax's track record.

As to whining and complaining my advice is don't sweat the small stuff. Yeah, I have rage quit a lot of games including ESO (Doshira) until I found a positive solution in the forums. I lost 6 skill points, 40k gold, and 4 bank upgrades w/some inventory that I fought tooth and nail with bots to save up (Scuddle Pit), but oh well what can I really do come here a complain maybe I get my stuff, maybe not. I would be more irritated if customer service was aware of the problem and did nothing then if they acknowledge the problem and said we're working on it. I think some complaining is good without it many who were to afraid to come to the forum because of some criticism would simply stop playing then everyone suffers because the customer base drops, profits are down which equals less new content. At the end of the day this is still a business and profits come first. Of course loyalty runs both ways.