Why is ESO Unpopular?

Blade_07 · November 2023

❝𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝑬𝑺𝑶 𝑼𝒏𝒑𝒐𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓?❞

Did you play ESO when it released? I was a beta tester, so I was around well before its release, and there were many problems with the game. In fact, things got so bad that I ended up leaving the game, and I'm just now coming back to see IF it's FINALLY gotten any better. I'm hoping for the best but expecting the worst.
ZeniMax's failures with ESO are well known in the gaming community, so I'm thinking that's why it tends to be unpopular. But, I'm logging into the game now for the first time in many years to find out for myself IF the game has been improved, or does it still suck like it did. Heck, who knows, maybe it's worse.

It was ZeniMax that taught me the harsh but important lesson of never having high expectations for a game and to 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 pre-order a game again, and because of that I've done very well with games ever since!!! 😉👍👍

NeuroticPixels · November 2023

Priyasekarssk wrote: »

am not sure why gaming company spends so much on voice acting rather than on gameplay development. Pages and pages of menu driven voice acting rather than real interesting crisp cutscenes and dialog.

You know, I've never thought about it that way until now. I've always hyped and said the fact that there's so much voiced dialogue was a "pro" for the game, rather than a "con". But you're right. If they did away with the majority of voice acting in the future, I think they could really do something special instead.

rpa · November 2023

If I feel like spending time with ESO, I play it myself instead of watching others to play.

I tried ESO first time when it dropped the sub and it still sucked. I have played 2 mmos from launch and both sucked because unfinished, buggy, lacking content and gameplay issues. One got better in few years and was the game for me but it never recovered from the disastrous launch and eventually got shut down. (I only gave ESO 2nd try by then.) Other I played while on long break from ESO but eventually it was not a game for me and 90+% of launch population.

I usually buy games years after release when on sale with heavy discount. In my experience it's the best way.

Idinuse · November 2023

Well in regards to live streamed PvP - you can only maintain an interest in someone trying to mount in Cyrodiil while being out of combat for 5 minutes but keep getting YOU CAN NOT MOUNT WHILE IN COMBAT for so long....like five minutes tops?

Pepegrillos · November 2023

It's a boring game to watch. There is nothing surprising that can happen, nothing funny, and there is nothing ever at stake.

Also, ESO streamers aren't particularly interesting either.

And finally, ESO's population is 35+ (as stated by Rich on one of his streams, back when he used to do so). I suspect people in that age range are, on average, less likely to watch streams.

fizzylu · November 2023

ESO_CenturionPlayer wrote: »

What I am reading from your comments:

1. ESO PvE content, unlike other MMO’s, is mostly story based. Story based play style doesn’t stream well.
2. ESO PvP content is much more interesting to watch, but isn’t enjoyable to play and won’t be given the attention it needs.
3. ESO players are old and old folks don’t like streaming. Kids these days are always on their computers and phones! Who has time for that?!

ESO endgame PvE, like trials and vet dungeons, probably don't translate well to stream either. MMOs like WoW really build up their "current" content and they have a progression system built into that very content. ESO has nothing like that. If you do a trial or vet dungeon, it's simply because maybe there's an achievement or gear set you want.... but that's about it.

ESO PvP being more interesting to watch is also debatable. The most competitive PvP ESO has is Cyrodiil.... and personally I can't imagine anyone enjoying ridiculous amounts of players just popping AOEs and smart heals at each other, creating a big VFX lag fest with the audio constantly cutting out for little to no reward.

Also, can't say I've actually encountered many players that are "too old for streaming". And I know plenty of 35+ year olds that do like to watch streamers even in real life.

wilykcat · November 2023

Pepegrillos wrote: »

It's a boring game to watch. There is nothing surprising that can happen, nothing funny, and there is nothing ever at stake.

Also, ESO streamers aren't particularly interesting either.

And finally, ESO's population is 35+ (as stated by Rich on one of his streams, back when he used to do so). I suspect people in that age range are, on average, less likely to watch streams.

That's the average age of the playerbase from (a few years ago)? I'm newer here also in my young 20's and I love playing eso. I'm sure there are many others under the age of 35 who also play eso too.

I also know stuff like livestreaming games, discord, and twitch are more appealing to those who are under 18 years of age than to those who are over the age of 25. In some cases livestreaming a game for a marketing strategy may not work based on the target audience. There are many other ways to market online games to make them more popular.

Danikat · November 2023

Blade_07 wrote: »

❝𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝑬𝑺𝑶 𝑼𝒏𝒑𝒐𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓?❞

Did you play ESO when it released? I was a beta tester, so I was around well before its release, and there were many problems with the game. In fact, things got so bad that I ended up leaving the game, and I'm just now coming back to see IF it's FINALLY gotten any better. I'm hoping for the best but expecting the worst.
ZeniMax's failures with ESO are well known in the gaming community, so I'm thinking that's why it tends to be unpopular. But, I'm logging into the game now for the first time in many years to find out for myself IF the game has been improved, or does it still suck like it did. Heck, who knows, maybe it's worse.

It was ZeniMax that taught me the harsh but important lesson of never having high expectations for a game and to 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 pre-order a game again, and because of that I've done very well with games ever since!!! 😉👍👍

Bear in mind this topic is about why ESO is unpopular to watch other people playing, not to play yourself. Bugs can actually make a game more entertaining to watch, a lot of popular Youtube videos are about funny or weird bugs in games. (Oblivion has an entire sub-genre of those to itself thanks to the overly ambitious AI systems.)

Although my experience with the game was kind of the opposite of yours. I played the betas and thought it was ok, but not worth buying at launch, partially because of the bugs. (I went from saying "of course there's bugs, it's a beta test" to "I hope they just haven't had time to update the servers with their latest build" to "no, it's a stress test, they won't be fixing anything now" to "it's a shame they didn't use any of that feedback, all this could have been fixed before launch".)

But then I kept checking news about the game, waiting for something to make it worth getting and ended up buying the game in 2015 when they switched to buy-to-play. That meant I didn't need to worry about if it's worth the subscription price because I didn't need to subscribe if I didn't want to. I've been playing most of the time since then (and have occasionally bought ESO+ as well.)

Elsonso · November 2023

ESO_CenturionPlayer wrote: »

gronoxvx wrote: »

Majority of the big content creators who would stream regularly have quit the game along with a large chunk of the community after u35 and constant bs from zos as a company (both pve and pvp).

Interesting!

Also something I have seen a lot regarding this post.

What made U35 so game ending for most of the ESO players? Why did most of the player base leave other than those committed to the IP of Tamriel?

How can it be corrected?

It many parts of the game in a negative manner, so there isn't one thing. As someone else said, it was just the latest in a series of well meaning, but ultimately controversial, decisions. A lot of people said they just got fed up with it.

At the time, I ran across the opinion that ESO might thrive better if the development team went off and did something else.

Not an opinion I share, but it sort of framed the whole thing in context.

I don't think "most people" left, though.

SerafinaWaterstar · November 2023

In all of my guilds, I am not aware of anyone who regularly watches any streamers.

It may be as they are generally ‘older’ players, but that also means that they have less time, and so if have free time, would rather be actually playing.

I personally have no idea why streaming is a thing. Informative posts on Youtube I can understand, but watching someone else play? Why?

ESO_CenturionPlayer · November 2023

To be clear, they are constantly trying to get people to watch ESO on Twitch. It’s just incredibly unpopular without some drop or reward. (https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/64975)

I’ve seen LuckyGhost (who I love) videos on YouTube where he was paid by Bethesda to tell folks the game is awesome… but he never even plays it anymore. You can read who sponsors videos in descriptions.

They are paying for good exposure rather than attracting people who want to watch/learn about a fun game. That is a huge red flag. Quality content creators have left.

Lumsdenml · November 2023

I do occasionally watch a stream, or should I say listen to a stream, when I am working or doing things when I could not play. I agree with what most people have said, that the player base is older (I fall into that category) and it is more story based which doesn't make for good watching.

What does make for good watching is pvp, however, those streams have dwindled over the years.

Elsonso · November 2023

ESO_CenturionPlayer wrote: »

They are paying for good exposure rather than attracting people who want to watch/learn about a fun game. That is a huge red flag. Quality content creators have left.

Looks like they are paying a whole bunch of streamers to play Endless Archives. I did not look to see how many junk crates they are giving out, or how long one has to watch, but I expect it is 1 Crate and 1 Hour.

Edit: 2 hours for the junk crate... two... for the junk crate... and 1 hour for an XP scroll (100%)

Alphawolf01A · November 2023

Elsonso wrote: »

ESO_CenturionPlayer wrote: »

They are paying for good exposure rather than attracting people who want to watch/learn about a fun game. That is a huge red flag. Quality content creators have left.

Looks like they are paying a whole bunch of streamers to play Endless Archives. I did not look to see how many junk crates they are giving out, or how long one has to watch, but I expect it is 1 Crate and 1 Hour.

Edit: 2 hours for the junk crate... two... for the junk crate... and 1 hour for an XP scroll (100%)

Yup! Keeps getting better doesn't it? Not even worth the time to watch. Plus it's a 4 day "event". Can't even get a crate per day! Gotta love it!

You want people to watch Twitch? Make it worth their time!!

gronoxvx · November 2023

ESO_CenturionPlayer wrote: »

To be clear, they are constantly trying to get people to watch ESO on Twitch. It’s just incredibly unpopular without some drop or reward. (https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/64975)

I’ve seen LuckyGhost (who I love) videos on YouTube where he was paid by Bethesda to tell folks the game is awesome… but he never even plays it anymore. You can read who sponsors videos in descriptions.

They are paying for good exposure rather than attracting people who want to watch/learn about a fun game. That is a huge red flag. Quality content creators have left.

This. Its like when necrom dropped and they paid SypherPK and a few old players to stream the game for a few hours to try and gain some of their followers to try the game. None of those streamers have touched it since and their chat was full of old and current players roasting the game lol

Shows theyre concentrating on new players more than trying to balance drawing in new players and maintaining the current population.

maboleth · November 2023

There's one streamer that doesn't have himself visible, do mostly housings and all. I used to watch him, we matched in our interests within the game. He has a great voice - until he laughs. When he does and he does it often... it's like a chalk on a board. I simply cannot stand it. I stopped, like every hair on my body gets electrified in a horror.

There's actually 2 streamers that I find fun, 3 if we add the elvish girl one. One is an exceptional guy from the land that is overlooking the ocean from the European side and likes wolves. And the other one is a diehard Harley Davidson fan.

So +1 that there are not many streamers for ESO that are good or entertaining.