Do you also feel like ZOS main focus has shifted to another project ?

RupzSkooma · April 2022

For me ESO got so stale that I stopped playing. I stopped at summerset and returned again for Blackwood but played for 2 weeks and quitted.
The game was once an ideal MMO for me and it has now gotten to the point of Pokemon Main-Series level of stale. As an MMORPG it should be evolving as the time goes on and be fresh.
But it is weird when an MMO I never cared about much like WoW's expansion is looking a lot more ambitious and objectively content rich than ESO's.

It feels like manpower in ZOS has spread thin and they don't want to of course abandoned ESO which is generating quite a bit of revenue. But their primary focus is on an upcoming project.
When the main system feature of the expansion is a card-game, it makes me think of other dying MMORPG's DLC.
Which is weird as by the data available to public , ESO is nowhere close to dead or even dying. Also it could mean they have high hopes for whatever else they are working on or they don't see growth in the future of ESO.

I am more into world lore and stories as well but it feels like they are adding those to an outdated game when the fundamental systems of the game is not improving at all and no new core systems are coming.

Not that I mind it that much as EK:II (My most anticipated upcoming TES RPG) is coming relatively soon. At the middle lifespan of EK:II TES VI will come. So overall I think it is a good time to be a TES fan. I am still grateful that ESO came when it did and very much ended content drought for TES fans at that time

phaneub17_ESO · April 2022

I'm going to assume the statement is true that they want accessibility to the game on all platforms its on to be on equal footing this means what is holding the game back is PS4 and Xbox One. Everything needs to work and be compatible on all platforms and the limitations of those two is what determines what they can and can't add more to the game. A new class for example is doable, but that adds 3 skill lines in one go when they could break it down to 3 separate skill lines independent of class or additional slot management. Adding mini-games like Excavation and the Card game isn't too taxing on those systems and something hopefully that many people will enjoy. I don't know, maybe vanity pet battles are coming next year.

Kisakee · April 2022

Yay, tinfoil hat time! Their focus is on getting new hardware first so they can make new software. Too easy?

Elric_665 · April 2022

Deleted.

Must read all first.

CyberOnEso · April 2022

The land mass, number of quests, delves, and world bosses of this chapter is exactly in line with previous chapters.

The trial is more ambitious than any previous trial they have introduced, 3 main bosses with hard modes and 2 side bosses with vast exploration areas, secret buffs that reward exploring the side areas.

Whatever you think of the card game (I think it's great) it is not easy to introduce. It is far more feature rich than any previous systems introduced. It is more technically challenging than adding Jewlry Crafting, Antiquties, or Companions.

Aardappelboom · April 2022

While I think the card game will be fine and is an okay feature for a DLC.

I'm pretty sure that the work they're putting into the backend has something to do with the choice of adding a card game now.

For the last couple of years they've invested in a new client with good fps and performance (at least on xbox it's really noticable), now they're investing in their server architecture and code as stated in the PVP topic.

I was once part of a legacy rewrite project and whenever a new feature would have to be based on older code, we skipped in favor of finishing the rewrite. This is hard but in the end definitely worth it.

We'll have to see what happens in the next couple of months. I don't know for sure, obviously but it could explain a few things.

Cuddlypuff · April 2022

They're clearly still focused on the game and making content for the game. It is just that the corporate metrics are skewed towards new player acquisition rather than player retention. There seems to be a mentality in the MMO industry that players will always come back eventually. I'm not so sure.

bmnoble · April 2022

RupzSkooma wrote: »

For me ESO got so stale that I stopped playing. I stopped at summerset and returned again for Blackwood but played for 2 weeks and quitted.
The game was once an ideal MMO for me and it has now gotten to the point of Pokemon Main-Series level of stale. As an MMORPG it should be evolving as the time goes on and be fresh.
But it is weird when an MMO I never cared about much like WoW's expansion is looking a lot more ambitious and objectively content rich than ESO's.

Just wanted to mention during the time you left and returned to ESO the game has had quite an influx of players from WoW in the last few years.

ADarklore · April 2022

Cuddlypuff wrote: »

They're clearly still focused on the game and making content for the game. It is just that the corporate metrics are skewed towards new player acquisition rather than player retention. There seems to be a mentality in the MMO industry that players will always come back eventually. I'm not so sure.

Until another solo-centric MMO comes out, this is true. I've previously left to play single player games before, but ALWAYS come back to ESO because it's the only solo-focused MMO on the market. This winter when Hogwarts Legacy comes out, I'll be leaving again; when Marvel's Midnight Suns ever comes out, I'll probably jump over to play that for awhile too.

Vaoh · April 2022

Cuddlypuff wrote: »

They're clearly still focused on the game and making content for the game. It is just that the corporate metrics are skewed towards new player acquisition rather than player retention. There seems to be a mentality in the MMO industry that players will always come back eventually. I'm not so sure.

^^^^^

RupzSkooma · April 2022

bmnoble wrote: »

RupzSkooma wrote: »

For me ESO got so stale that I stopped playing. I stopped at summerset and returned again for Blackwood but played for 2 weeks and quitted.
The game was once an ideal MMO for me and it has now gotten to the point of Pokemon Main-Series level of stale. As an MMORPG it should be evolving as the time goes on and be fresh.
But it is weird when an MMO I never cared about much like WoW's expansion is looking a lot more ambitious and objectively content rich than ESO's.

Just wanted to mention during the time you left and returned to ESO the game has had quite an influx of players from WoW in the last few years.

I know, more in FFIV but I was playing other games not MMO.

RupzSkooma · April 2022

bmnoble wrote: »

RupzSkooma wrote: »

For me ESO got so stale that I stopped playing. I stopped at summerset and returned again for Blackwood but played for 2 weeks and quitted.
The game was once an ideal MMO for me and it has now gotten to the point of Pokemon Main-Series level of stale. As an MMORPG it should be evolving as the time goes on and be fresh.
But it is weird when an MMO I never cared about much like WoW's expansion is looking a lot more ambitious and objectively content rich than ESO's.

Just wanted to mention during the time you left and returned to ESO the game has had quite an influx of players from WoW in the last few years.

Yes, but more so in other MMORPGs like FFXIV.
WoW does not interest me and it is for a different audience group. Most people who came from WoW thinking ESO as a replacement probably left again.
A minority of the WoW players left at the end of the downfall probably might stay who were playing WoW for questing in the last 3 years.
I think if the next expansion is what they saying it is and can actually deliver then they will get back players from FFXIV too and get new ones. But I highly doubt it.

CyberOnEso wrote: »

The land mass, number of quests, delves, and world bosses of this chapter is exactly in line with previous chapters.

The trial is more ambitious than any previous trial they have introduced, 3 main bosses with hard modes and 2 side bosses with vast exploration areas, secret buffs that reward exploring the side areas.

Whatever you think of the card game (I think it's great) it is not easy to introduce. It is far more feature rich than any previous systems introduced. It is more technically challenging than adding Jewlry Crafting, Antiquties, or Companions.

It is a card game. Maybe it will be the best and most complex card game or digital card game ever created in the human history. But it is not a core system of the game and unless you started playing ESO for a card game.
It is cool as a free feature of a small patch but card game as the major system feature is really low lol

ADarklore wrote: »

Cuddlypuff wrote: »

They're clearly still focused on the game and making content for the game. It is just that the corporate metrics are skewed towards new player acquisition rather than player retention. There seems to be a mentality in the MMO industry that players will always come back eventually. I'm not so sure.

Until another solo-centric MMO comes out, this is true. I've previously left to play single player games before, but ALWAYS come back to ESO because it's the only solo-focused MMO on the market. This winter when Hogwarts Legacy comes out, I'll be leaving again; when Marvel's Midnight Suns ever comes out, I'll probably jump over to play that for awhile too.

I somewhat agree with you.
It is still the best solo-centric MMORPG but solo-centric games don't need to be a MMORPG.
A solo-centric game can have PVP and optional coop and can receive long term support as well. I think that can be a good alternative for ESO.
I think those games already exists in somewhat separate sub-genre.
I am more into solo RPGs than MMORPG so I am playing those.

RupzSkooma · April 2022

Kisakee wrote: »

Yay, tinfoil hat time! Their focus is on getting new hardware first so they can make new software. Too easy?

I am not up to date with all the news about this game so I didn't know that.

Tyrvarion · April 2022

I disagree. the card game while it is not something most players wanted does appear to be quite complex system in game. Possibly more resource-heavy than adding new class/skilline that already (they have plenty of alredy existing animations and effects that players cant use in comabt alredy in npcs/mobs and even emotes/mementos ) as well as they already did that twice with class and once with guild combative skillline. Defintielly more resource-heavy than antiquities. Direction is different from what some players want but tales of tribute is much more complex undertaking than people give it credit simply because they don't like it.

VaranisArano · April 2022

If by "other project", you mean they are rearchitecting the ESO's code on the backend, yes.

I'm not expecting much until that's done, and even then, recent interviews from Matt Firor and Rich Lambert suggest they have to be very careful with what they add thanks to supporting older consoles.

Interviews for anyone who hasn't seen them:
Matt Firor:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jqU7KjfGNsw&feature=youtu.be
Rich Lambert: https://wccftech.com/the-elder-scrolls-online-high-isle-preview-qa-fsr-1-0-support-card-game-and-much-more/

xgoku1 · April 2022

This isn't all conjecture, we know ZOS is working on another AAA IP. Their Careers page literally says that, they've been hiring for that project for a while.

That project is apparently in Pre-Production. That's all we know for sure. Unlikely that they'd use ESO staff to work on the next thing.

IMO it's more feasible to attribute the last 2 years meh content to getting to grips with working remotely, COVID etc. Remember that work on 2022 content probably started in late 2020.

S0Z0H · April 2022

Ya they even said they are working on a new IP. So , it's clear all the man power is being directed to new project and other games. Hence the hiring spree.

Alinhbo_Tyaka · April 2022

ADarklore wrote: »

Cuddlypuff wrote: »

They're clearly still focused on the game and making content for the game. It is just that the corporate metrics are skewed towards new player acquisition rather than player retention. There seems to be a mentality in the MMO industry that players will always come back eventually. I'm not so sure.

Until another solo-centric MMO comes out, this is true. I've previously left to play single player games before, but ALWAYS come back to ESO because it's the only solo-focused MMO on the market. This winter when Hogwarts Legacy comes out, I'll be leaving again; when Marvel's Midnight Suns ever comes out, I'll probably jump over to play that for awhile too.

Final Fantasy XIV has become more solo oriented with the advent of Trusts and Duty Support where you can run dungeons and some raids with NPCs rather than humans. In fact I would say at this point it is more solo oriented than ESO.

Pepegrillos · April 2022

https://massivelyop.com/2020/10/05/zenimax-online-studios-appears-to-be-ramping-up-development-of-its-speculated-new-mmo/

They seem to be working in a new MMO, for a while now.

RupzSkooma · April 2022

Pepegrillos wrote: »

https://massivelyop.com/2020/10/05/zenimax-online-studios-appears-to-be-ramping-up-development-of-its-speculated-new-mmo/

They seem to be working in a new MMO, for a while now.

Now it makes sense lol
Good luck to them

With ESO they showed how good of a team they are.

Art team is completely off the chart and this game has one of the best art style and visual of any MMORPG.
BDO might have more visual fidelity but even it doesn't hold a candle to how good the art style of this game is.Even tho I know art-style is subjective but the semi-artistic way they took is really good for all types of players.

Going by this thread alone programmers seems to be taking a good hit from the community especially back-end programmer/engineers but I still think this game had some of the coolest mechanics in an MMORPG at it's time. And sure a lot of the implementations were hard and they never could have imagined the huge success/load after Tamriel One. Handling those might have lead to spaghettified code But I think they learnt from their mistakes.

When I used to watch live stream all of them looked very chill people to work with too.

All in all I am onboard for whatever they are working on!

Thanks for the clarification.

EozZoe1989 · April 2022

humans have there own feeling and own thoughts.. on many matter they change there mind on liking something or like it for ever.. its a thing that depends on the person and there will always be more players that are new and try the game..
the main thing here is people like it know matter what do while they also dislike it then there is the trolls.. who moan before anything ever comes out or they they don't like change..
people are complicated.. beingings lol
this game to me is a 8 out 10..
always will be.
i like eso and other games they have made..
they okay some them and others wow cool
this is fact to me but maybe not for others..

Gaeliannas · April 2022

VaranisArano wrote: »

If by "other project", you mean they are rearchitecting the ESO's code on the backend, yes.

He was probably referring to this:
https://www.zenimaxonline.com/joinus

ADarklore · April 2022

In all honesty, I wouldn't be surprised if this Chapter turns out to be dismal in sales, that you'd see some high profile management departing. With Microsoft now in charge, they might not be as lenient as Zenimax was. I think some of those in charge have been here too long and it may be time for some fresher ideas.

EozZoe1989 · April 2022

no they will still be working on eso,, its one of there main games that gets alot of money..more content means more money for any company in world.. and ,means more for the people too.. all people like and dislike stuff if don't like something wait till another one comes out and try that or play other games while you wait.. or watch tv or movie or serries lol..
coolies

Khami · April 2022

RupzSkooma wrote: »

It is a card game. Maybe it will be the best and most complex card game or digital card game ever created in the human history. But it is not a core system of the game and unless you started playing ESO for a card game.
It is cool as a free feature of a small patch but card game as the major system feature is really low lol

Which will add more content than jewelry crafting and companions combined combined, which were two of the last four chapter's main feature. The only other one was antiquities. As far as I'm concerned, if they do with the cards as they are with the antiquities, they'll keep adding new things to collect.

I'm not going to count the two new classes. Those only matter if you're playing as one.

Sylvermynx · April 2022

However, they are still hiring for many positions for ESO as well, according to this tweet:

Ratzkifal · April 2022

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

I'm going to assume the statement is true that they want accessibility to the game on all platforms its on to be on equal footing this means what is holding the game back is PS4 and Xbox One. Everything needs to work and be compatible on all platforms and the limitations of those two is what determines what they can and can't add more to the game. A new class for example is doable, but that adds 3 skill lines in one go when they could break it down to 3 separate skill lines independent of class or additional slot management. Adding mini-games like Excavation and the Card game isn't too taxing on those systems and something hopefully that many people will enjoy. I don't know, maybe vanity pet battles are coming next year.

They have basically confirmed that in interviews by now. Rich also made it clear that "nothing is impossible" so they can still add more things without dropping those older consoles, but it was also made clear that these platforms (and the desire to keep parity between platforms) are holding ESO back, even if he avoided phrasing it like that. Now that doesn't mean older generation consoles are the only thing holding ESO back. PC performance can't be blamed on consoles after all. But it is likely the reason why we got companions, antiquities and now a card game over something that's actually exciting in combat.

Source:

https://wccftech.com/the-elder-scrolls-online-high-isle-preview-qa-fsr-1-0-support-card-game-and-much-more/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Just to see if we can dispel one of the myths running within The Elder Scrolls Online community, is it true that you'd have problems introducing any additional skill trees due to the limited memory of old-generation consoles (PlayStation 4, Xbox One)?

Nothing is impossible. I mean, we do have to be careful. There's only so much memory on those consoles for sure and we have to be smart about what we do. We do have a focus on performance and making the game run really well. So there's a balance.

RupzSkooma · April 2022

Khami wrote: »

RupzSkooma wrote: »

It is a card game. Maybe it will be the best and most complex card game or digital card game ever created in the human history. But it is not a core system of the game and unless you started playing ESO for a card game.
It is cool as a free feature of a small patch but card game as the major system feature is really low lol

Which will add more content than jewelry crafting and companions combined combined, which were two of the last four chapter's main feature. The only other one was antiquities. As far as I'm concerned, if they do with the cards as they are with the antiquities, they'll keep adding new things to collect.

I'm not going to count the two new classes. Those only matter if you're playing as one.

J crafting is enhancing crafting portion of the game and companion was added to add solo combat features.
Crafting and Combat are staple of MMORPGs and are core to almost all MMORPGs but playing card is not not even in the same ball-park.
It is a freaking mini-game lol

ShawnLaRock · April 2022

CyberOnEso wrote: »

It is more technically challenging than adding Jewlry Crafting, Antiquties, or Companions.

Incorrect. It is far more challenging adding something that meshes with the existing infrastructure which has far-reaching systemic consequences on stats; interaction with the environment and other players; or impacts data in-engine.

The card game is a tacked-on U.I. mini game - and if this is the flagship feature of the entire chapter - then it does not bode well for the future of ESO, as all we will perceivably get from now on, are overlay elements that essentially have nothing to do with what happens in the actual game infrastructure.

S.

Gray_howling_parrot · April 2022

Tyrvarion wrote: »

I disagree. the card game while it is not something most players wanted does appear to be quite complex system in game. Possibly more resource-heavy than adding new class/skilline that already (they have plenty of alredy existing animations and effects that players cant use in comabt alredy in npcs/mobs and even emotes/mementos ) as well as they already did that twice with class and once with guild combative skillline. Defintielly more resource-heavy than antiquities. Direction is different from what some players want but tales of tribute is much more complex undertaking than people give it credit simply because they don't like it.

I think what people are annoyed by and surprised by is that ZOS isn’t necessarily not putting energy into this expansion, but they are putting energy into a complex system that nobody asked for. It’s not to say that the card game won’t be fun - it could be great, but for it to be the main feature of an expansion is ridiculous when it could be a side feature added in one of the other 3 DLC packs throughout the year. The last few years have been almost “RP-like” additions and most people thought after a stale release last year that they’d go all out this year. Seems to not be that way and they aren’t even really improving Companions either. So just another annoyingly stale year for ESO and the veteran player base

Cuddlypuff · April 2022

I feel like the card game is just a symptom of their ongoing server failures and shortages. The simple turn and rule based nature of the card game means that their server load can be kept to a minimum, compared to other parts of the game that need to handle real time message broking of millions of states per tick.