sans-culottes wrote: »
That is, of course, the purpose of this thread. The OP has documented their own experience, which—combined with similar posts across platforms—speaks to a broader sentiment worth acknowledging. If you’re asking for internal retention metrics, then we both know those aren’t made public. Dismissing lived player experience until ZOS hands us a pie chart is a convenient way to ignore feedback without ever having to engage with it.
sans-culottes wrote: »
That is, of course, the purpose of this thread. The OP has documented their own experience, which—combined with similar posts across platforms—speaks to a broader sentiment worth acknowledging. If you’re asking for internal retention metrics, then we both know those aren’t made public. Dismissing lived player experience until ZOS hands us a pie chart is a convenient way to ignore feedback without ever having to engage with it.
I fully agree with the OP on cross-play. It would be lovely. Where I disagree is the misconception that the game's dying. Here's where opinions differ.
Even that has died down. It was just packed for the first two days, but now it's pretty empty in comparison.moderatelyfatman wrote: »Yes, the subclassing quest giver is being swamped as everyone is checking out the new system.
LukosCreyden wrote: »@moderatelyfatman I can weigh in here and give my experience on PSEU. On that server, I find that rare furnishing plans (specifically the new Ayleid ones) sell rather quickly for a large sum, along with the furnishings crafted from them. So, for us, it seems the housing community is still very lively and also, apparently, very wealthy.
As for other areas, the group finder was dead on arrival for some reason, but capital cities and craglorn seem to be populated quite well. Gold Road content was also fairly active, past I checked.
Yes, the subclassing quest giver is being swamped as everyone is checking out the new system.
JiubLeRepenti wrote: »Yes, the subclassing quest giver is being swamped as everyone is checking out the new system.
Also, if I correctly understand how the servers system is working, it allocates a min/max number of players in each zone of the game? So you shouldn't be able to notice the difference in a very active zone (like Solstice atm)?
(made a small drawing to explain it)
Is this correct?
JiubLeRepenti wrote: »Yes, the subclassing quest giver is being swamped as everyone is checking out the new system.
Also, if I correctly understand how the servers system is working, it allocates a min/max number of players in each zone of the game? So you shouldn't be able to notice the difference in a very active zone (like Solstice atm)?
(made a small drawing to explain it)
Is this correct?
Crossplay is great and all, but people need to want to play the game still. Crossplay would just be a temporary bandaid for the population issue.
People are quitting for a reason, whether it’s bad performance, homogenization, lack of content, you name it. If these big underlying issues don’t get addressed, or if polarizing changes like subclassing keep getting released the game will still bleed players. The game might even still feel empty with crossplay if ZOS continues on their current path.
Some youtuber called UR_ALL_SHOOK_UP made a poll about this with 251 votes yet.
I can´t really understand why a community currently so heavily emphasizing that they play mostly solo care so much about crossplay. You´ll mostly get the same solo minded players who regard ESO as just another ES RPG.
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en-gb/discussion/678081/how-often-do-you-play-solo/p1
47% play 100% solo - only 18% engage in non-solo content. So there is plenty of players on each plattform, you just don´t see them in Cyro, BG and Dungeons and trials because they don´t access it.
Where it currently hurts is not so much the sheer player number but the avoidance of group content for most of them.
I can´t really understand why a community currently so heavily emphasizing that they play mostly solo care so much about crossplay. You´ll mostly get the same solo minded players who regard ESO as just another ES RPG.
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en-gb/discussion/678081/how-often-do-you-play-solo/p1
47% play 100% solo - only 18% engage in non-solo content. So there is plenty of players on each plattform, you just don´t see them in Cyro, BG and Dungeons and trials because they don´t access it.
Where it currently hurts is not so much the sheer player number but the avoidance of group content for most of them.
moderatelyfatman wrote: »Yes, the subclassing quest giver is being swamped as everyone is checking out the new system.
But on all other fronts the game is very quiet. In every other year where there has been a major release that included a new Trial, all three of my guilds would be running trials nearly every night for the first two weeks. It didn't matter if the trial had been a strong one for farming item sets such as High Isle or one that wasn't so great for meta gear such as Sanity's Edge; we always had the numbers.
A highly desirable activity was blind trials on the night after the patch where experienced players would try to work out the mechanics without reading up.
A horde of old players would come back out of the woodwork to renew old friendships and clear off the rust in older trials like Craglorn before taking a crack at the latest challenge. The active register during primetime would swell and for a few short weeks it would feel almost like the old days again when we would have 70-80 members online at the same time.
In Australia, Friday night primetime has just passed and there were roughly 20-30 players on in each of my three guilds. Maybe only 3-5 of those players were in the new zone or content with the rest in older areas. None of the guilds have scheduled any trial runs this weekend and certainly not in the new trial.
I think a big part of this is the price being charged for the new expansion which is a slap in the face of the players. When you think of some of the great games that have come in recent years (e.g. Baldur's Gate 3, Space Marine 2) that have spent years in development; I don't know who at ZOS seriously thought players were going to be happy paying the same amount for half a zone, a new trial and an overpowered mythic that will definitely get nerfed once the FOMO can no longer get milked.
MISTFORMBZZZ wrote: »I can´t really understand why a community currently so heavily emphasizing that they play mostly solo care so much about crossplay. You´ll mostly get the same solo minded players who regard ESO as just another ES RPG.
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en-gb/discussion/678081/how-often-do-you-play-solo/p1
47% play 100% solo - only 18% engage in non-solo content. So there is plenty of players on each plattform, you just don´t see them in Cyro, BG and Dungeons and trials because they don´t access it.
Where it currently hurts is not so much the sheer player number but the avoidance of group content for most of them.
I don’t agree with this take at all lol.
While solo play is surely a part of ESO—and an important one—the claim that the majority of the player base engages exclusively in solo content isn’t an accurate reflection of how the game is actually played by most.
a little breakdown
1. Game Design: ESO is Built Around Group Content
ESO is an MMORPG at its core, not just a single-player Elder Scrolls spinoff. Major systems are designed around group interactions:
- Dungeons and Trials are explicitly group-based, with mechanics that require coordinated roles and teamwork.
- Pvp zones like Cyrodiil and Battlegrounds are fundamentally multiplayer environments.
- Daily activities, such as pledges, world bosses, and dolmens, are group-friendly and often encourage spontaneous cooperation.
- The game’s Guild system (e.g. Fighters, Mages, Undaunted) rewards group engagement, particularly the Undaunted which is directly tied to dungeon content.
2. Activity Metrics From ZOS and Community Data
ZeniMax hasn’t released a full internal activity breakdown recently, but some key info has been shared over time:
- In past ESO Live streams, ZOS devs have stated that dungeons and PvP are among the most frequently used systems !!!!
-The Undaunted Celebration and Whitestrake’s Mayhem events consistently show the highest in-game participation rates, as seen in achievement tracking and community events.
-Look at sites like ESO-Hub or ESO Logs: thousands of players upload Trial completion logs, PvP builds, and parse results. This level of external community infrastructure doesn’t exist around solo questing alone.
3. Steam Player Achievement Data
Steam achievements offer a snapshot of player behavior:
-A large percentage of Steam players have achievements for group dungeons and Trials, which require group coordination. For instance:
-“Dungeon Savior” (complete veteran dungeons) has been earned by a significant portion of players.
-“Alliance War Recruit” (enter PvP) also appears in a broad share of accounts.
That doesn’t go along with the idea that nearly half of players never touch group content, AT ALL.
4. MMO Player Psychology
Even players who identify as solo players often still engage in group activities:
- They join guilds for trading, use group finders for dailies, and team up for events even if they don’t use voice chat or play in static teams.
- Many solo-leaning players still value social connection, and crossplay directly supports this by expanding access to friends and guildies across platforms.
So yes, some people do treat ESO like a single-player game, and that’s perfectly valid—ZOS has made that style viable. But it’s simply not the full picture. The reality is that ESO’s most engaged and socially active base participates in a mix of solo and group content, and many players would love to do more if crossplay removed the barrier of platform-lock.
Crossplay isn’t just about grouping for dungeons—it’s about being in the same guilds, sharing the economy, being able to chat, run events, and just inhabit the same version of ESO/ Tamriel together.
Also about the poll about solo playing, the way that question is set up is completely misleading.
It's so evidently a leading question to make it look like everyone who answers it plays a lot of solo play.
And aswell someone could play 100% of the time solo in cyro or bgs.
Still requires other players and doesn't exclusively mean solo questing.
MISTFORMBZZZ wrote: »There is a reddit poll up now aswell, feel free to interact
https://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/s/gfUhjF5oScMISTFORMBZZZ wrote: »I can´t really understand why a community currently so heavily emphasizing that they play mostly solo care so much about crossplay. You´ll mostly get the same solo minded players who regard ESO as just another ES RPG.
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en-gb/discussion/678081/how-often-do-you-play-solo/p1
47% play 100% solo - only 18% engage in non-solo content. So there is plenty of players on each plattform, you just don´t see them in Cyro, BG and Dungeons and trials because they don´t access it.
Where it currently hurts is not so much the sheer player number but the avoidance of group content for most of them.
I don’t agree with this take at all lol.
While solo play is surely a part of ESO—and an important one—the claim that the majority of the player base engages exclusively in solo content isn’t an accurate reflection of how the game is actually played by most.
a little breakdown
1. Game Design: ESO is Built Around Group Content
ESO is an MMORPG at its core, not just a single-player Elder Scrolls spinoff. Major systems are designed around group interactions:
- Dungeons and Trials are explicitly group-based, with mechanics that require coordinated roles and teamwork.
- Pvp zones like Cyrodiil and Battlegrounds are fundamentally multiplayer environments.
- Daily activities, such as pledges, world bosses, and dolmens, are group-friendly and often encourage spontaneous cooperation.
- The game’s Guild system (e.g. Fighters, Mages, Undaunted) rewards group engagement, particularly the Undaunted which is directly tied to dungeon content.
2. Activity Metrics From ZOS and Community Data
ZeniMax hasn’t released a full internal activity breakdown recently, but some key info has been shared over time:
- In past ESO Live streams, ZOS devs have stated that dungeons and PvP are among the most frequently used systems !!!!
-The Undaunted Celebration and Whitestrake’s Mayhem events consistently show the highest in-game participation rates, as seen in achievement tracking and community events.
-Look at sites like ESO-Hub or ESO Logs: thousands of players upload Trial completion logs, PvP builds, and parse results. This level of external community infrastructure doesn’t exist around solo questing alone.
3. Steam Player Achievement Data
Steam achievements offer a snapshot of player behavior:
-A large percentage of Steam players have achievements for group dungeons and Trials, which require group coordination. For instance:
-“Dungeon Savior” (complete veteran dungeons) has been earned by a significant portion of players.
-“Alliance War Recruit” (enter PvP) also appears in a broad share of accounts.
That doesn’t go along with the idea that nearly half of players never touch group content, AT ALL.
4. MMO Player Psychology
Even players who identify as solo players often still engage in group activities:
- They join guilds for trading, use group finders for dailies, and team up for events even if they don’t use voice chat or play in static teams.
- Many solo-leaning players still value social connection, and crossplay directly supports this by expanding access to friends and guildies across platforms.
So yes, some people do treat ESO like a single-player game, and that’s perfectly valid—ZOS has made that style viable. But it’s simply not the full picture. The reality is that ESO’s most engaged and socially active base participates in a mix of solo and group content, and many players would love to do more if crossplay removed the barrier of platform-lock.
Crossplay isn’t just about grouping for dungeons—it’s about being in the same guilds, sharing the economy, being able to chat, run events, and just inhabit the same version of ESO/ Tamriel together.
Also about the poll about solo playing, the way that question is set up is completely misleading.
It's so evidently a leading question to make it look like everyone who answers it plays a lot of solo play.
And aswell someone could play 100% of the time solo in cyro or bgs.
Still requires other players and doesn't exclusively mean solo questing.
Made a reprsentive poll about crossplay on reddit.
Feel free to use it too.
https://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/s/zavUV8vfkm