5 years into ESO, havent set foot into pvp or trials.
Finished cadwels gold, maxed crafts and traits, collecting motifs, leveling companions, collecting mythics.

Captain_Devildog wrote: »

Zos is saying things like we focus more on new and casual players...
...Zos is telling us they focus more on new players and casual players...

Where did they say this?

Captain_Devildog wrote: »

So they only focus on the smallest amount of players in the whole community, the people who played like less then a month probably and most of them leave before or after that.
Because it's not their cup of thea.

The smallest amount of players are those who do end game veteran trials, etc..

And who is playing less than a month then leaving because it's not their cup of tea?

Captain_Devildog wrote: »

What is a casual player?
What is a new player?

A casual player is one that doesn't constantly chase the latest meta gear and builds, and have multiple builds and gear sets for every possible situation, and spend hours each week running end game veteran trials etc..

A new player is new to the game.

I do dlc dungeons once on normal mode for the skill point and then only as needed. Haven’t done a trial since cloudrest released, never done vMA (been stuck on round six for 4 years) and only vet trial I done was Hel Ra Citadel. Casual means constantly changing gear for cool effects (overwhelming, thunder caller and Stormfist ) aaaaaand FASHION! WEEEE!

I've never done a trial or vet content. I've done some dungeons. Questing and exploring are my main activities in ESO. I occasionally do a battleground if it's an endeavor and I can't complete the day otherwise. I only go into Cyrodiil to fish, quest, and explore.

There was a good video I saw a little while back that worked on defining the difference between casual and hard core players. If you're here on the forums, engaging with the game outside the game, you're not a casual, if you spend hours every day playing the game, you aren't either.

Casuals are the kind of people who engage with the game on a very surface level, they could spend thousands of hours with the game given enough years perhaps, but they're also likely to leave and come back to the game on a whim, not committing to any in game community, not learning the intricacies of the games combat, not keeping up to speed on balance changes, basically investing little into the game attention wise. Basically, if the game were a pool, they'd stick their feet in or sit by the side, maybe come back another day, maybe not, a level of engagement or commitment beyond that, and they wouldn't really be much of a casual anymore.

Captain_Devildog wrote: »

BUT HOLD YOUR HORSES!!!
Litterally every person i met in this game, doesn't matter if they are new or doing questing all day. Or they are casual or whatever.. Litterally all of them did veteran and pvp maybe hm sometimes even when they did questing all day they still played all the other aspects of the game.

Been playing since 2016. I've never done a trial, I've never had a character step a single foot in Cyro or IC, I've run less than 10 dungeons in normal mode, and never done anything vet. Never joined a guild or sold anything to another player or used a target dummy. I quest, zone, craft, house, thief, gather, explore, do holidays that aren't PvP or dungeon. I've got 8 characters.

ZOZ is not saying what you say they're saying. It's just players saying that this is what ZOS is saying.

Also... don't confuse casual with new. Those are two totally different things.

Bouldercleave wrote: »

I've been in game for the entire time it has been live and I have yet to set foot in a trial, or do any significant vet content - it just doesn't interest me. I also ONLY go into Cyrodil to get the training quest done and get the mount boost from the passive.

I harvest all my own materials to be self sufficient and run with gear that I can make on my own or acquire on my own through questing or soloing content.

I have run through Cadwell's gold on all 15 of my characters and STILL read the books, listen to most of the quests, and really try to FEEL the game while I play (if you know what I mean}.

I am hardly alone in playing this way.


I would be what ZoS considers a casual player.

Same here, including playing from launch and with no interest in "veteran content", but excluding in my case Cyrodiil which I have never visited. Vigor is the only PvP skill I'm interested in and I get that on those characters that need it through the daily login rewards. I was only partway through Cadwell's silver on one character when I abandoned my original accounts due to AwA and haven't reached that stage yet on my replacement account.

Here's a good definition to use:

Casual players complete content in a way that is neither regularly scheduled nor rigorously enforced.

That means if a casual player chooses to pvp every friday night, but decides to go out dancing instead one time, nobody is going to be annoyed that the pvp is cancelled nor feel they are letting other people down.

Casual players keep a casual schedule, as opposed to a 'Raider' who spends every chance they get completing the toughest content they can do as practice for being the first to complete the most difficult new content.

As a former Raider, I've raided 5 times a week, 4 hours a time, spent the majority of my gametime devoted to advancement... but now in ESO I don't really feel like doing that. I still do the odd hm and trifecta if someone asks, but ultimately the only hm trial i've done is Mageslayer, because a friend needed people to make up the numbers (I did 65k on my magblade final boss so I did my part ).

Capability versus Desire is often overlooked by a number of people, as well as the confirmation bias of 'well those I hang around with and talk to do the same as me, so everyone must'.

I'm in several guilds with vastly different goals. One focused on trifects and trials, doing as tough a content as they can at the time, while the other hangs about making jokes in chat, doing dolmens once a week and the odd normal trial for a bit of excitement. If you look hard enough, you'll actually see how easy it is to separate both the drive/determination of some players from the rest when it comes to difficult content.

And let's not forget there are unmeasured means for playing the game - those who simply own every house, fully decorated, in the game plus achievement hunters who only do trials by paying gold or 'suffering' to get the achievement points. Not to mention those who play the game to stream themselves jumping up and down a lot with a resto staff wishing they were AD and not one of those awful factions.

So, in conclusion, let's suggest that 'Casual' means someone not looking to prove themselves better than others through content-based scoreboards regardless of their ability to complete said content. And by using that definition, you'll open up a more wholesome outlook as to why the person who used to hold multiple world number 1 ranking spots in various games considers themselves... 'Casual'.

dmnqwk wrote: »

Here's a good definition to use:

Casual players complete content in a way that is neither regularly scheduled nor rigorously enforced'.

Oh dear, does that disqualify me as a casual, because of our monthly guild meetings? Or are we saved, because a lot of the members don’t turn up? I suspect a lot of players wanted “Skyrim with friends” when they signed up, and that is still something the game does well. You can play solo, or with just a companion’s help, or you can run a dungeon with a friend and two companions, or …

There is content for every play style, and I don’t blame ZOS for making the mixture of content match the mixture of players. Now if they could just keep the people who annoy me out of PUGs …

I was told by someone on here that if you ever do pvp or any vet dungeon you aren't casual. Meanwhile I run into casuals constantly in vet dungeons for event drops and tons of casuals to pvp for whitestrike as well to the point that it is basically a meme. I know casuals that exclusively rp but did the grind on one vet dungeon for a personality and then never again. It's such a spectrum. I was also told if you have EVER tested your dps on a dummy or run any difficulty of a solo arena you aren't casual as well which is wierd because plenty of folks actually tested on the dummy for the first time post update because they noticed a dps loss after having trouble soloing overland bosses and wanted to figure it out. Solo arenas are also basically marketed as the dungeon experience for exclusively solo players. I tend to qualify casuals as player who mostly do overland and solo content that spend a few hrs on the game a week. People will also say if you hit 50k or more you arent casual but the thing to remember is that you have players who have played casually for years 3hrs a week and hit about 50k. 3hrs for a week for 4yrs for example is still over 600hrs of play time so to play that much you are going to pick up a few things without dummy humping.

Point is trying to put it in a neat little box and say "this is a casual player" is damn near impossible.

Been playing ESO since 2016 and have 2055CP. Solo PvE. My 'end game' is soloing most alliance zone WBs and soloing about a dozen of the easiest non-DLC dungeons on normal. My dps on an actual easy WB was about 25k but down to about 15k after U35. I weave quite well, read the forums here regularly to understand how things work. I wear very appropriate fully golded out gear but not from DLC dungeons or trials. Thanks to the golden vendor, I can choose from among most monster sets. No interest at all in vet, DLC dungeons, trials, arenas, battlegrounds. Cyrodiil only to get any alliance skills I want. I've had ESO+ since my first week in the game.

I play every day but by the generally accepted definition, am a casual player. I consider U35 to be a dumpster fire. If I ever had any interest in vet or DLC dungeons and such, I certainly would not now.

Captain_Devildog wrote: »

Zos is saying things like we focus more on new and casual players. But what are those kind of people?

When i started the game i was new but after 2 months i was doing vet content.
Am i still a new player if i do that?
(When i do veteran content the patches effect me alot, offcourse like everybody else and it is clearly to see the gap becames bigger.)

I can understand that someone who plays casual does alot of zone content and questing because they like the lore.
BUT HOLD YOUR HORSES!!!
Litterally every person i met in this game, doesn't matter if they are new or doing questing all day. Or they are casual or whatever.. Litterally all of them did veteran and pvp maybe hm sometimes even when they did questing all day they still played all the other aspects of the game.

My conclusion what i get from this is. Zos is telling us they focus more on new players and casual players.
So they only focus on the smallest amount of players in the whole community, the people who played like less then a month probably and most of them leave before or after that.
Because it's not their cup of thea.
These last updates are meant for new players and casual players, and i heard something about accesability a few hundred times.
What about the community ?
Do we get attention,, does the team of Zenimax see their actual community?

Change my mind.

It makes me feel that they are not seeing us at all the players who play this game.
What is a casual player?
What is a new player?

I've been playing since beta/early release.

I have never done a vet dungeon. I have no interest in doing trials. I am not competitive at all, so avoid pvp like it is weaponized plague. I will help guildmates with pledges if absolutely needed, but it isn't my favorite thing to do.

I do questing, solo pve, crafting, and storyline stuff. I want to think I'm part of the community.

If the new content isn't worth playing for old/experienced/veteran players, leaving feedback with ZOS and finding new games might be the best course of action. When the game stops being fun/enjoyable is the time to stop playing.