I always have something to do on any number of characters, and the game is still a lot of fun for me. I log in every day and play for hours, crafting, exploring, questing, doing events.

Gaming friends? I have some IRL friends who play, but like me, they're not social in game at all. Only one of us bothers with guilds, and she's down to just a couple due to too much drama in the others.

gear collection lol

im hovering around 85-86% complete for all set gear collected, but i also like to take things easy too with helping run dungeons, antiquity leads, and tribute games against npcs

and pvp, still working on reaching rank 50 (currently about 800k ap from rank 43)

So many things. Lately, I've been in a completionist mode, so I've been focusing on stickerbook and cleaning up the few quest lines I haven't done yet on my main. I have a few main-alts that are getting some love, trying out new play styles, and actually trying to slow down and enjoy the game. I have my gripes - mostly around how skills seem to require several pushes to activate - but I'm enjoying the game. The game's my comfort food, so to speak.

The problem with playing a game for a long time is that you can get sucked into a routine, and you can't snap out of it. What I do when that happens is basically not play for a few days and do something completely else(tv, another game, etc). Or when I do feel like playing, but am bored with playing, I do things I wouldn't do otherwise: Housing, outfitting, armory specs, cleaning up inventory, etc. But this usually only happen to me during events, as they are time-limited and ZOS keeps making them more grindy.

But I play in a toally different way than other players. I relaxingly ease through content and complete zones for 100% while farming all nodes in sight while doing so. Meaning completing a zone takes quite a bit of time. Combine that with 18 characters of which most have hardly completed one full alliance, and I have plenty on my to-do list.
Besides all that I also have other things I want to do on every character to 'complete' them: Starting ToT, unlocking thieves guild skillline for quicker bounty drops, level excavating/scrying to 10, unlock blade of woe, unlock being able to see psijjic portals, etc.
Then there are also more things I want to do but can't at the moment, as I already have 18 characters: Ideas for new specs, ideas for new outfits, ideas for using different mounts, ideas for new looks on characters(cool names). But I do not want to delete or change any of my existing characters, and making another account means I wouldn't have access to everything I own.

Other days I want to do something, log in, and don't feel like doing that anymore. That is when I simply don't do anything, or sometimes I wander around in already completed zones, or sometimes I start excavating on a fresh excavate character. Or do something else I feel like doing.

There is so much I still want/can do, but I don't force myself to do it. Yet at other times when there is new content, I do force myself to do some things, like for example unlocking all the new companions on all my 18 characters. But those are only small things, and usually only for a few days.

The big thing to prevent gaming burn-out, is to not force yourself to do things, and not to streamline everything. As that will make the game feel like work, instead of playing for fun. In my head I often compare how I am playing the game versus how other players play the game. Other players want random dungeons done in 10 mins each, and will stress themselves out to complete it in 10 mins. While I complete the same dungeon relaxingly in 15 mins. Other players often use max movement speed + farming add-ons + the most optimal farming route, which allows them to harvest Xk resources in an hour. While I on the other hand, slowly play through a zone while I farm everything in sight, and farming those Xk resources may take me a week. You get the point, but the kicker is: They burn themselves out in that 10 mins or that hour and then log off, while I slowly play on in my own way. Yes it takes longer, but I can also keep going much much longer. Causing me to eventually do more, with less stress. See it as me running a marathon while they run a sprint. And MMO's are basically marathons!

PS: I'm not in a guild, joining a guild is on my to-do list for after I complete everything I mentioned here.

The subscription... I log in to get my rewards, do dailies, and then promptly leave.

However, the rare chance I actually force myself to go do something... it can be kinda fun. Recently did Graven Deep and that druid dungeon the other day after neglecting them when they first came out because I was sooooo not interested.

Turns out they were fun to do, and of course me being me I jumped in head first completely blind as a healer on veteran mode! Of course I did because I'm crazy and always looking for a challenge lol.

I guess that's what this game needs more of, challenges. I've completed most everything, lost my drive, and think I log in every day in hopes I'll rekindle that fire and go tackle something else.

I have had a hard time to keep playing it lately. I just wanna play other games. All the character's I wanna build don't work in ESO and classes have changed quite bit

For me, it's telling stories.

Each of my characters has their own story, which may or may not be what they do in game. Sure, I've done most of the content on my main, but canonically he only does the EP line, Orsinium, and Elsweyr. I have another character who's the lead character in the DC and Greymoor lines, then another for the AD and High Isle, another doing the Mages guild and the Daedric war, another for Thieves and Blackwood... etc.

I actually have a lot of fun playing with figuring out their stories, getting their costumes set up just right, taking hundreds of screenshots during their quests.

I also have a bunch of friends who still play, so I can go into "group content" mode and play with them. Sure, the block bug is a thing, but that didn't stop me from tanking a nodeath RPB last night. Most of my friends are high-level players who can adapt to balance changes and bugs that we know are going to get fixed, so while it's an inconvenience, we don't treat it as a gamebreaker. And oddly enough, if we don't sit there and complain, it tends to go just fine. Yes, we're not in twice-a-day-trifecta progs which will have issues, but it's not like the game is literally unplayable.

Honestly, there is so much to do that if one thing is buggy and annoying, there are still about three other things I could do instead.

I think any game can become stale if you play it too much and have done everything that you're interested in doing.

With most games, once you reach that point you either move on to other games or start replaying with a new character.

If you've already used up all of your character slots in ESO but want to try playing with a new character, you can either buy the game again on a different account, or delete an existing character so you've got a free slot, or do a major respec and regear on an existing character to the extent that it's different enough to present challenges or possibilities you haven't explored yet on any of your other characters.

If you feel like you'd rather move on to other games, then you can still come back to ESO whenever there's another update that offers new content to play.

As far as what I personally do to keep the game interesting, I play other TES games on a more or less daily basis in addition to playing ESO daily, so I'm not playing ESO too much.

I also play ESO and other TES games in a leisurely fashion, rather than trying to complete everything as rapidly as possible-- although I've certainly played that way in the past.

I don't grind anything, except on infrequent occasions when I might briefly do some grinding to level up a skill, or acquire a piece of gear, or complete something that must be finished before a certain date and time.

I also try to vary my activities in the game from day to day, so I'm not spending too much time on any one thing to the extent that I'm in danger of getting tired of it.

For me, it's Tamriel -- I started when Arena first came out (yes, I am old)
Now, I am sharing it with my significant other... and we are enjoying the lore, together.
I do wish it was more like Arena and Daggerfall .... but then again, I am an old school style player..... so there is that.

Auldwulfe

I'm not playing as much since update 35 when my prog group took an indefinite break, so when I log in I mostly do a couple of daily tasks, or go into Cyrodiil. I wasn't a fan of my dps rotation in the last patch, but I still love ESO combat, and that's my main motivator for playing. I do think endgame has taken a hit, at least for the groups/servers I'm familiar with, which has affected my play time for sure. I also love the world setting, lore, and quests, though I can only do questing in small doses. I still haven't done the High Isle main quest, so there's a lot of content to cover. Another activity I love is housing, but I haven't had ESO+ for a while now, and it's difficult to do a build justice with half the slot limit. Nevertheless, housing definitely draws me back to the game, I find it endlessly creative and fun. Last but not least, though it may sound weird, I like to log in and play for a bit, even aimlessly, just for my characters, whom I'm really fond of. I might just adjust their builds, do some fashion scrolls online, and so on.

After the last 2 patches, If I didnt run a guild that helped others learn, i know me and my longest friend in the game would be gone. I just cant do it to all the people i have met and love playing with.

My gaming community/guild.

Atm my friends in my guild who are trying for emp. Without my gaming community I would def be on a break right now.

Avoranti wrote: »

What does one do when they have more than enough crafting resources, have done all the quest and explored all zones?

Housing.