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Why is ESO Unpopular?
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Alphawolf01A✭✭✭✭✭ESO_CenturionPlayer wrote: »The only streamers I enjoyed have vacated for greener pastures and no new quality streamers took their place.
You kind of answered your own question here. Most streamers will jump around to whatever is the current hot/new thing in order to stay relevant and keep viewer numbers. Streaming is almost like a game unto itself. It's not necessarily a bad thing, just how it's played. That and pretty much what everyone else here has said.
Doesn't help much though that the twitch crate drops are lack luster.
When many games do a 3-4 day weekend Twitch event, it's a different reward each day.
Or they do
15 min. gets X reward,
30 min. gets Y reward,
1 hour gets Z reward.
ESO tends to do a 3-4 day weekend event with a SINGLE reward for the WHOLE weekend for a 1 hour watch.
From a watch time VS. reward perspective, as a viewer, it's almost not worth it. Especially for the 4-6 gems that the junk in the crates breaks down to. Now if it were something like a "crate an hour" for the duration of the event, then maybe. Or if the crate were from the current season, instead of a generic Twitch Crate. Different story.
Lastly, lack of viewership on Twitch is not an accurate measure of popularity of a game. Especially for a game that is in it's 10th year.1 -
Dojohoda✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭Speaking for myself, sometimes I will watch Cyrodiil streams when I am too tired to go into Cyrodiil myself. If I am in Cyrodiil, I'm not watching streams.Fan of playing magblade since 2015. (PC NA)
Might be joking in comments.
-->(((Cyrodiil)))<--0 -
Amottica✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭NettleCarrier wrote: »ESO is a story driven game, it's meant to be experienced not watched...
True. I never understood why some watch streams of people playing a game unless they cannot play for some reason. As someone else noted, ESO streams are boring and I can say it is the same with streamers from other games.
I choose to not live my gaming life vicariously through the gaming other players do.
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colossalvoids✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭PvP was carrying the section's fun pretty hard but ultimately you can have so much of ESO performance issues and mindless changes before calling it a day. Now I don't see a reason to check ESO category anymore as most prominent and entertaining ones are long gone into different corners of twitch.6 -
Tyrant_Tim✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭colossalvoids wrote: »PvP was carrying the section's fun pretty hard but ultimately you can have so much of ESO performance issues and mindless changes before calling it a day. Now I don't see a reason to check ESO category anymore as most prominent and entertaining ones are long gone into different corners of twitch.
Right, year one and two there used to be so much creativity with Cyrodiil and Imperial City that streamers could have fun with.
I still remember watching SypherPK do crazy things outnumbered, and there were so many funny personalities to tune into.
PvP has always been the main appeal for viewership of games, and through the near abandonment of the system, most streamers ran out of content and were forced to move on.
If we received new PvP game modes and arenas every expansion, I could only imagine how well the game would have continued to do as far as viewership.6 -
Rowjoh✭✭✭✭✭
✭'doing' is way better than watching.
there is only one exception to that, and it definitely isn't eso!0 -
vibeborn✭✭✭✭✭I don't really watch gameplay streams in general, only exception is if it's a game I've already completed and I just want to see the streamer's reaction
As for ESO, all I've really seen streamers play are either PvP or Trials, none of which I have any interest in.
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Redguards_Revenge✭✭✭✭ESO is simply not an ESport. People watching streams just for games is on the downward trend. ESports is on a downward trend.
An esport, everyone should be fair. All weapons should be about the same. Nothing should be different except for the person.
The problem is shooters, mmos, etc. are giving out digital steroids for competition. Nobody wants to watch a game to which they know the outcome. It's why close games are liked more than blowouts.
Would you watch football if the other team had a ball that could fly and be controlled after thrown? If a guy could jump on a motorcycle during kick off and drive down the field? Deflating a football so that the catch grip on it is better than the other teams ball?
I never liked baseball. Until I learned about it in 2017. I had to know why the sign stealing was so controversial even though it probably only gave them 1% more of a chance. I learned in baseball that 1% matters! TBH baseball is more intriguing than football. Could be horrible all up until the 9th inning and turn it around. That's why people watch baseball.1 -
Roztlin45✭✭✭✭✭No offense to any streamer, most I watch do a good job. But I don’t think it is a matter of eso popularity, age of the player base, or pvp. It is just simply personality and entertainment value of the streamer. Informative videos aside like builds is not my meaning. I have subbed to streamers and give “tips”. Half the time on games I would not play. The only reason to watch is the streamer. Take sawmanuk, and kevduit. No matter if you agreed with them or not , they were funny so the entertainment value was high. Made me watch just to see what wild things they said. ESO , just needs less dry toast and more wet noodles..lol0 -
Darcwolf✭✭✭NettleCarrier wrote: »ESO is a story driven game, it's meant to be experienced not watched...
Yes, but it's also an MMO. FF14 is also a story-driven game and yet it consistently gets 3x or more average viewers than ESO on twitch. Aside from the obvious answer of there simply being fewer people playing ESO, it's probably a demographic thing. ESO having an older playerbase, FF14 being more popular in Asia, etc.
Story driven if you like to read endless dialogue. Just came back to ESO after 1 year off playing FFXIV. I don't understand why people like it for story. If I want to read a book I will, I don't want to read the story in a game, give me voice acting. I legit HATED the story in FFXIV.1 -
kaushad✭✭✭✭
Exactly, I do watch people play video games, but those are usually games beyond my computer’s spec. Or some games that appear to have a good story, but look boring as games.True. I never understood why some watch streams of people playing a game unless they cannot play for some reason. As someone else noted, ESO streams are boring and I can say it is the same with streamers from other games.
I choose to not live my gaming life vicariously through the gaming other players do.Redguards_Revenge wrote: »Would you watch football if the other team had a ball that could fly and be controlled after thrown? If a guy could jump on a motorcycle during kick off and drive down the field? Deflating a football so that the catch grip on it is better than the other teams ball?
That sounds better.
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essi2✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭I think it's because the eso community would rather play themselves than watch others run round endless maps doing very little , while other games are just more viewable as a watcher due to the narrative of the quests being so linear
Not so sure about that, WoW is if anything less narratively engaging and mostly revolves around grinding mobs to travel from 1 mute NPC to another, yet FAR more people watch casual WoW.
Now if you compare it is a narrative singleplayer game like Alan Wake, then sure that might apply.
But even Diablo 4, which arguably has no narrative and literally only revolves around mindlessly grinding still has more viewers than ESO.would rather play themselves than watch others
I don't agree with this sentiment, they are entirely different activities and in no way mutually exclusive.
But I see people in the ESO community say this often enough that I think it may very well be one of the reasons why the ESO community doesn't watch ESO streams as much."The Heritance are racists yes? Idiots. But dangerous, destabilizing racist idiots." - Razum-dar
"Wood Elves aren't made of wood, Sea Elves aren't made of water. M'aiq still wonders about High Elves" - M'aiq the Liar
** Leyawiin Layabouts (PC-EU) - Leyawiin Layabouts (PC-NA) **
*** https://www.youtube.com/@essi2 - https://www.twitch.tv/essi2 ***2 -
Danikat✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭I don't think the popularity of streamers who happen to play ESO is an accurate representation of the popularity of the game itself. It's a different format and often targets a different audience. It's like saying live music doesn't seem very popular because cinemas don't show as many concerts as they do movies. There will be some cross-over but mostly it's a different format for a different audience.
Most the people I know who watch streamers do it for the streamer, whatever game they're playing is largely irrelevant, they find the person entertaining and want to listen to them. (A lot of them don't actually watch the stream either, they have it on while doing other things so they're listening to what the streamer is saying but not looking at the gameplay most of the time.)
I know people will scrabble around for any way to estimate ESO's popularity because we don't have accurate numbers and ZOS are never going to give them to us, but I don't think the popularity of a loosely related alternate form of entertainment is a good way of doing it.PC EU player | She/her/hers | PAWS (Positively Against Wrip-off Stuff) - Say No to Crown Crates!
"Remember in this game we call life that no one said it's fair"3 -
Bobargus✭✭✭✭spartaxoxo wrote: »ESO seems to skew towards older players. ESO is less sexy and less competitive.
So, it draws neither the crowds there for the personalities nor the ones there for the competition. It's a casual game.
ESO is not casual enough.
The game wants its players to use and even rely on gear set pieces, in order for them to be able to do the veteran/endgame contents.
To be honest, i would have loved to have a "difficulty slider" option that is independent from all the other factors in the game that make it easier to play the game.
Think about it: Even when the Endless Archive content was being released, the devs basically told us not to use glass cannon gear sets, and to use a balanced build instead. And that's not "casual".0 -
LalMirchi✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭Somehow I think this is connected to the rewards. I have spent some time watching ESO streamers in the past. However the rewards, Ouroboros Crown Crates, are rather underwhelming so my personal time is better used elsewhere.4 -
svendf✭✭✭✭NettleCarrier wrote: »ESO is a story driven game, it's meant to be experienced not watched...
Yes, but it's also an MMO. FF14 is also a story-driven game and yet it consistently gets 3x or more average viewers than ESO on twitch. Aside from the obvious answer of there simply being fewer people playing ESO, it's probably a demographic thing. ESO having an older playerbase, FF14 being more popular in Asia, etc.
Story driven if you like to read endless dialogue. Just came back to ESO after 1 year off playing FFXIV. I don't understand why people like it for story. If I want to read a book I will, I don't want to read the story in a game, give me voice acting. I legit HATED the story in FFXIV.
I love the story in FF14, and the bigger the community the more people will stream and watch. FF14 is known for it´s story and 14 player´s like to watch new player´s progress through the MSQ, and sort of relive everything again.
Eso and FF14 have two different communities, because of how the two games are setup. That doesn´t mean you can´t play both.
Some mention that player´s are older in Eso. I have met people in their 60´s and 70´s in 14. The average player age in 14 is between 35 and 40 - I will say the same apply to Eso.
FF14 is simply a bigger Mmo.4 -
Tieberion✭✭✭The ESO community for whatever their reasons don't watch ESO on Twitch, and judging by this forums apathy towards streamers, twitch and streaming generally, it might be safe to even say that a large part of the ESO community might not even have Twitch accounts.
And nobody watches streams on YT so... :P
This Twitch thing, is it anything like when I get up in the morning that my muscles, joints, etc do before I take my medication?2 -
Hoghorn✭✭✭i think twitch game streams is a social experience for most viewers, liking the streamer's personality, banter and chatting with other people watching. my perception is that eso players are just not as outgoing and socially engaged in video games as people who play the big mmos (and watch their streamers). idk the cause of that reticence, is it higher average age or coming from single player games or some other factor? not enjoying the company of other players probably reduces the likelihood of wanting to watch someone play the game and socialize.2
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wilykcat✭✭✭✭✭
✭I looked up how popular eso is.
I found a result that eso currently has around 5 million active players. WoW has around 8 million active players. The comparison is very close in popularity. The top 5 most popular mmorpgs are Gw2, Blackdesert, runescape, WoW, and ESO. The most popular online game is roblox but thats not an mmorpg.
Certain games are more designed for live streaming such as esports games, moba games, and other pvp games that are very competitive. Other online games are more designed for storytelling, role-playing, exploring/creating new worlds, creating a character, for casual fun and enjoyment.0 -
Warhawke_80✭✭✭✭✭
✭ESO_CenturionPlayer wrote: »Why don’t more people watch ESO on Twitch? Unless there is a drop, typically only a few hundred viewers across all the streams.
Other competing MMORPG category games easily get 50-100 times more viewers on a daily basis. Why?
Watching a MMO on Twitch usually involves Hyper competitive PVP or Raiding...thank god ESO isn't laser focused on that like other MMO's... it's why I play personally.
It doesn't make the game unpopular..it just doesn't travel in those circles and to me that's a good thing.
Edited by Warhawke_80 on October 31, 2023 12:26PM““Elric knew. The sword told him, without words of any sort. Stormbringer needed to fight, for that was its reason for existence...”― Michael Moorcock, Elric of Melniboné2 -
IZZEFlameLash✭✭✭✭✭
✭Because this game is kept as a zombie because of necromancy called 'the Elder Scrolls'.Imperials, the one and true masters of all mortal races of Tamriel3 -
INM✭✭✭✭People are drawn to:
1) High-class gameplay
2) Emotions
Frankly speaking, only PvP and, maybe, endgame content is worthwhile to watch in this game, as it shows something that not everyone is capable to do. But many players interested in PvP left the game already, and general sentiment towards the endgame in this community isn't great.
If a player is actively playing the game, he won't be watching someone doing quests, writs or collecting flowers, as his own experience would be absolutely the same if he did it himself. It's just straight up boring to watch, unless a streamer has an absolutely charming personality, but it's extremely rare.
Also, I feel like the ESO community is absolutely disjointed and people give absolutely zero care about something outside their small circle.5 -
Izanagi.Xiiib16_ESO✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭Lack of support for competitive gameplay is generally the biggest blocker. At this point it's kind of too late already.
Back in 2014-2018 we were crying out for competition realms, support for custom campaigns and battlegrounds etc. If you look at many of the streamers from those times they have gone on to be huge on other games so it wasn't the quality of the streamer more so the lack of features and excitement generated by the game.
On Launch there were hundreds of huge community groups trying to see if this could turn into some competitive environment but the gradual lack of support, fixes and features has driven 98% of them away.
Then there was the influx of the 'ESO Fam' stuff which whilst great for fostering a different type of community also ended up pushing more away too because it was supported to the exclusion of all others not involved (giveaways/stream team etc were all not really open to 'non participators'). It brought a lot of toxic positivity with it where helpful criticism was frowned upon.
Trials also are not really an enjoyable competitive format for PVE. They are spam content which is more boring than the super hard nightmare mode type content that you see from the Race to World first stuff in WoW or FFXIV etc which is more 'one and done' progression pushing. (in combination with the PTS cycle this also doesn't help) Most of the content has already been farmed so much on PTS that by release it's cleared within the first couple of hours.
The only time there was actual interest in World first was when Sanctum Ophidia trial came out and it took guilds a really long time to get past Mantikora. Also a smaller amount around MoL HM.Edited by Izanagi.Xiiib16_ESO on October 31, 2023 12:51PM@Solar_Breeze
NA ~ Izanerys: Dracarys (Videos | Dracast)
EU ~ Izanagi: Banana Squad (AOE Rats/ Zerg Squad / Roleplay Circle)4 -
Freilauftomate✭✭✭✭We don't know how many people are playing ESO. We don't know how often they play. We don't know what they are playing. We don't know who is playing. We don't know how many days/months/years people are playing before they walk away from ESO. We don't know how happy ESO players are with the game...
All we are allowed to know is how many accounts were created (including chat bots, farm bots, multiboxers, people with 10+ mule accounts for their own guildbanks, people who only played the game for 2 minutes, free trials...). Everything else people are trying to tell you about numbers and demographics is just based on hearsay, personal opinions and feelings rather than on facts.3
