Cyanure wrote: »

A- if I "start" now, is it still possible to find guilds who accept newcomers ? In my experience, MMO guilds are either super casual and fall apart quickly, or limited to a close group of friends who never really let you in.
B- What do you think about "end game" / current PvE content ? Is it fun, approachable ? Is progession satisfying, regarding optimisation of gear, skills, etc ?
C- Is PvP still a thing ?
D- I never see people interacting in capitals or the overworld ; are some places more active than others ?
/quote]

A
Absolutely! You can still find guilds that suit your needs. Ofc its easier to find an English speaking guild than other languages.

B
Endgame is an issue by definition. If you mean hardmode dungeons and trifectas, well, it comes down to personal taste und your expectations. There is always a best build and an easiest tactic. To find like-minded people helps tremendously to enjoy pve endgame.

C
Depends who you ask. Or if it is still fun. I would say yes, but I am an intermediate pvp-player. Neither beginner nor expert pvp-player and I enjoy it.

D
Hm, to be honest, there is not much visible interaction. Literally.

if you have the game its definitely worth it to do all the solo content and dungeons. There is alot of content in the game but wait for a deep sale to pick it up. I got like 4 expansions for like $25 last year. No need to waste your money. The game is at a turning point and it can either change and improve or go the way of new world and nobody really knows which way it will go.

i think the game could be revived with some long needed strategic changes but most here would resist those and well any well any changes as they always have and the game has stagnated because of that and poor investment.

Cyanure wrote: »

Hello,

I played a little bit of ESO back in 2020 and I loved the first zones of each faction. I had to stop because of my job, but now, I can (and I would like to) come back.
However, even if I plan to play mostly solo through all the quests and zones, I am worried about the current state of the game and its community.
I know that MMO players tend to be excessively negative about their own game (I come from WoW...), but a lot of concerns seemed to rise after the Microsoft buying and the core direction of ESO.
My questions are :

- if I "start" now, is it still possible to find guilds who accept newcomers ? In my experience, MMO guilds are either super casual and fall apart quickly, or limited to a close group of friends who never really let you in.
- What do you think about "end game" / current PvE content ? Is it fun, approachable ? Is progession satisfying, regarding optimisation of gear, skills, etc ?
- Is PvP still a thing ?
- I never see people interacting in capitals or the overworld ; are some places more active than others ?


Thank you for reading

PS : I am sorry if some parts of my post are unclear or confused, english is not my mothertongue.

Welcome back to the game.

Yes it's possible to find guilds which accept newcomers, and long-running casual guilds, they usually call themselves social guilds, and they often aren't exclusively casual (for example both of mine have trial groups) but they won't require you to join in with anything you don't want to do.

I have no idea on 'end game' PvE, it's not something I've got any interest in, but I know other people really enjoy it (like I said, two of my guilds have trial groups). PvE content generally is the same as always - there's a lot to do either solo or in groups and you can focus on whichever parts interest you. Obviously for harder stuff you need good gear, but unless you're right at the very top end there's a lot of options that can work so if the best set for your build comes from something you really don't want to do you can almost certainly find a workable alternative (and that's another thing guilds can help with).

PvP is still a thing. ZOS have been messing around with it recently, reducing battlegrounds to two teams instead of 3 and trying different changes to Cyrodiil, but both are still active. Both are most active during peak times, so it helps if you can be online then, but you can find groups at other times too.

It depends on what you mean by 'interacting'. At least on PC EU there's people active in chat in any city or zone, but if you want to find people using emotes and mementos at each other it's more erratic, I'm not sure the game has a dedicated 'hang out' spot for stuff like that. Actual role-players tend to avoid cities and other busy areas because otherwise they inevitably attract idiots who seem desperate to disrupt them for attention.

You'll find some negativity as you dig into every game community, ESO is in a weird spot right now due to several factors, but as contrary to some people might say, this doesn't change much of the content that already exists within the game.

The community is still strong, you can still get into guilds and make your way to endgame, I can assure you that 90% of the main problems the game have right now and you see others complain about aren't things you'd concern with as a new player, you can definitely enjoy the game immensely especially if you're an Elder Scrolls fan.

It used to be good back in 2018 up to 2020. Now everyone of the five guild I was part of, have left the game. Even their Discords are ghost houses at this day and time.

I did everything PVE wise basically alone except for TRIALS and Dungeons which I did when I had guilds. Today you may try using the Finder.

Quality of expansions and quests have been declining since after Elsweyr (it was the last good expansion).

As for community, I don't know. Sometimes I feel like everyone around me is either like me (as in, just want to play solo, unbothered) or look like bots.

My advice, you should probably take it slow and learn as much as possible first before over-extending into anything, especially PvP and to a lesser extent PvE.

Since you mentioned often playing solo, it depends on what you enjoy.

If you enjoy lore, world exploring, and questing, ESO has a ton of that. 1000s of hours of just quests at this point. All voice acted as you know. The gameplay itself though for this content is mostly bad, as you will find little challenge in most of it. That said I enjoy listening to stories and there are some good ones to be found, so if this is you - I'd return to ESO.

With multiclassing and hybridization you have a lot of freedom to just pick skills you think or cool or fit who you view your character as. So that can be fun to play around with as opposed to set classes other MMOs have.

There are many guilds who welcome new players, in more populated zones people tend to recruit a lot so you can look out for those.

I no longer really PvP or do any "end game" content so I will let others comment on that.

I do get small interactions on the map here and there. Roleplayers can still sometimes be found in certain areas as well if you are into that.

No

Cyanure wrote: »

My questions are :

- if I "start" now, is it still possible to find guilds who accept newcomers ? In my experience, MMO guilds are either super casual and fall apart quickly, or limited to a close group of friends who never really let you in.
- What do you think about "end game" / current PvE content ? Is it fun, approachable ? Is progession satisfying, regarding optimisation of gear, skills, etc ?
- Is PvP still a thing ?
- I never see people interacting in capitals or the overworld ; are some places more active than others ?


PS : I am sorry if some parts of my post are unclear or confused, english is not my mothertongue.

1) So, this is a deceptively complicated question. For the most part, yes, but this is with the caveat that guilds in ESO are a lot more specialised than in other games. Since you can join up to five at a time, no guild is obligated to be everything to everyone, doing all kinds of content for all kinds of players. You might have a dedicated housing guild, a dedicated trial guild, a dedicated PVP guild, and two different trading guilds, for example, all offering different perks with different strengths and weaknesses. I'll be honest, the multi-guild nature of ESO is one of the best parts.

Now, due to the way guild mechanics work, many guilds are vicious about trimming inactive members. The max member limit isn't very high, and multiple systems (trading, to a lesser degree Cyrodiil PVP) are integrated into the guild system in a way that doesn't allow for a lot of leeway. That means most guilds are always recruiting to replace said inactive members. Plus, larger, more active, more visible guilds seem to be able to get more of Zenimax's attention in less visible areas like discord, or Zenimax will collaborate with them more on guild events like sponsoring housing contests or other competitions.

Honestly, it's a high pressure system. I think you have to be insane to operate a big guild in ESO.

But, there's a fairly serious caveat here, which leads into your second question...

2) End game PVE content is a mess right now. A number of trial guilds have fallen apart or are falling apart after the advent of multiclassing (or, as Zenimax mistakenly calls it, subclassing.) The meta now consists of about 3 identical builds, where 10/12 people in a trial group will be DPS hitting the same buttons, casting the same abilities, doing the same things at the same time. End game PVE players don't love that kind of thing. It's also not the first Zenimax-induced end game exodus. In update 35, broad spectrum nerfs made a significant amount of content harder to the point that clear times doubled or worse. Many guilds and premades discovered they were unable to do content they had previously mastered. Those nerfs in service of standardising abilities across the game were never really walked back. You wouldn't be paranoid if you wonder when Zenimax will trigger another exodus.

Perhaps the worst part is that the multiclassing exodus was so much reminiscent of the update 35 one. End game players might have accepted that the "beam meta" over-performed all other options by doubling or tripling the old meta, but with the multiclassing update came a significant number of nerfs made without regard for actual class performance. If you tried to play as you had before multiclassing, you weren't just worse than the new meta. You were worse than yourself before the update. I used to be able to tank vet fang lair on my DK, but after the crippling nerfs to DK, I don't have the sustain for it anymore. And DK sustain was never good in the first place. Zenimax continues to nerf skill lines based on their potential power for subclassing, but still cap overall class performance based on the assumption you'll just be using your class package. Which is mostly having the impact that anything vaguely off meta, pure class or multiclassed, is getting far weaker every balance pass than whatever losses the meta suffers.

As a new player, how does that matter to you? Well, it half depends on if you care about build variety. If you do, it's bad. If you don't, it's pretty decent. Most of the game's gameplay failings are avoided or totally negated by the singular meta build. Light attack weaving and animation cancelling is at a minimum with the beam, because it is a channeled ability. I personally hate both LA weaving and animation cancelling. The beam meta also features a passive source of major brutality/sorcery, so if you hate having to spend a good chunk of combat applying self buffs like I do, that's also an upside. It's about as accessible as the game has ever been.

The other half depends on if you care about off-meta performance. If you don't care, great, just run the meta and win. If you do, it's pretty dire. A lot of multiclassing combinations are just not viable even for overworld content, and there's not really any guidance about what choices are bad and what are good in game. What do I mean by not viable? You could accidentally pick a combination of skill lines that don't even give you attacks. Most multiclass combinations, strictly speaking, will still be worse than a pure class, and a pure class even built well still under performs compared to the meta on the scale of 100-200%, depending on the class and the skill of the player. There are just so many skill lines in the game that are... bad. Very bad. Traps, almost.

But, if you're a casual, it is *very* good to join a pug trial and practically get carried by everyone choosing to run the meta. It's a good time to pug.

3) A lot of what I said about PVE is true for PVP. Mostly the downsides with none of the upsides. There's maybe two viable builds. They're godly and self sufficient. They're a nightmare to fight against, and also everyone is running them, because anything off meta is so significantly worse it's not even worth trying to do PVP. Cyrodiil is ruled by "ball groups," small teams of highly optimised players that are functionally immune to damage while annihilating any opposition. They can be as few as four people at this point with the sheer power increase that came with the update. There's no real counterplay. Cyrodiil's activity metrics have dropped very sharply. I know I've sworn off it, when it used to be a regular part of my playtime. Battlegrounds are doing slightly better, in my experience. But across the board, PVP is in a pretty dire place. There are people who love where PVE is because of the aforementioned accessibility gains, but I've yet to hear someone defend the state of PVP. Mostly, I've heard a lot of people like me -- people who either quit, or are doing it a lot less.

4) The active capitals include all three base game capitals (Mournhold, Wayrest, Elden Root,) whatever capital came with the most recent zone (Sunport,) and whatever is the most convenient for crafting writs (Skingrad, Leyawiin.) No, generally people don't interact in the overworld or cities unless they're roleplayers. If people want to socialise, they're generally doing it in one of their five guild chats.

5) This wasn't a question, but since you mentioned English isn't your native language, I want to warn you that the game does not actually localise in all advertised languages. For some reason, Zenimax has stopped offering French localisation, although they're still advertising otherwise. The same could happen to any other language, so if that's something that matters to you, be careful.

---

I know my overall post might sound negative, but I still feel ESO is one of the strongest MMOs in the industry right now in terms of player experience. You mention that you mainly intend to solo quest, and that's still something ESO does far better than other MMOs. Thankfully, you don't need to care about meta to do solo questing. You barely need to care about wearing gear. If that's the main thing you care about in an MMO, you're insulated from just about every decision and change short of Zenimax shutting the servers down.

Cyanure wrote: »

Hello,

I played a little bit of ESO back in 2020 and I loved the first zones of each faction. I had to stop because of my job, but now, I can (and I would like to) come back.
However, even if I plan to play mostly solo through all the quests and zones, I am worried about the current state of the game and its community.
I know that MMO players tend to be excessively negative about their own game (I come from WoW...), but a lot of concerns seemed to rise after the Microsoft buying and the core direction of ESO.
My questions are :

- if I "start" now, is it still possible to find guilds who accept newcomers ? In my experience, MMO guilds are either super casual and fall apart quickly, or limited to a close group of friends who never really let you in.
- What do you think about "end game" / current PvE content ? Is it fun, approachable ? Is progession satisfying, regarding optimisation of gear, skills, etc ?
- Is PvP still a thing ?
- I never see people interacting in capitals or the overworld ; are some places more active than others ?


Thank you for reading

PS : I am sorry if some parts of my post are unclear or confused, english is not my mothertongue.

Yes, it's worth coming back, especially if you're primarily a solo quester.

There's been loads of content added since those base game faction quests that you've done. It's hit or miss like any game but the quests remain something people want more of.

1) Yes, you can find guilds.


2) It depends on the level of endgame PvE that you're interested in.

3) It depends on the PvP types that you're interested in

4) New zones are generally much more active than older ones. Also, overland becomes much more active during events as well.


Overall, I would definitely recommend a new player give this game a shot.

edit: Added small summaries and edited the formatting to make the post more readable.

as someone who has played for years and run out of things to do, i'm not terribly happy here and cancelled my sub a few months back. you have 5 years of content to catch up on? go for it! as others have mentioned, it's probably not best to invest a ton of money into it right now. but there's a lot you can do for free. and when you run out of free stuff to do, you can pay a month (or a few) subscription and do everything up until solstice. personally, i feel like the sub is a better option than buying the deluxe edition because you aren't going to get all the dlc zones (like southern elsweyr, the reach, etc.) that come free with the sub. and you can pick it up and drop it again at any time.

i have noticed that the capital cities seem more empty since the writing wall event started. if i had to guess, that probably has something to do with it and we should see the population creeping back up now that it is not new and fresh (and a lot of ppl are tired of it)

And I forgot to talk about quests. You need Skill Points to unlock your skills and Passives, and at level 10 you’re allowed to complete dungeons. If you finish the dungeon quest, you get one Skill Point and as I said, you need those points to unlock your skills and passives.

The problem is: you can only do the quest if other players allow it.

Imagine that... a new player, playing a damn The Elder Scrolls game, but unable to do a simple quest, a quest other players don’t allow you to complete. So, you have to redo the same dungeon and the same quest again, and again, and again, and again... until someone finally lets you finish the damn quest in this damn mess of a game.

Stay away from ESO. This game is a damn mess. Completely useless if you’re looking for fun.

What I’m saying is 100% true, and you’ll see it for yourself soon enough.

There’s another problem in ESO, one even bigger than any other game I know: the community itself. They always find ways to hide or blur the truth about the game. But if you stick around, you’ll discover it on your own.

And if you think I’m lying about the quest issues, just wait until you try joining Trials through the group finder. You’ll get kicked, excluded, ignored, and more just because you’re not an Arcanist, because you use Oakensoul (which is actually one of the best items for new players), because you don’t hit 100k DPS on a dummy... etc...

Like I said, you’ll find very few good things in this game. What you’ll find instead is a lot of toxicity, gatekeeping, and anti-fun behavior, from both players and ZOS.
Yes, even ZOS doesn’t let you truly enjoy the Necromancer class, the same class they sell to you. You have to pay for the Necromancer, and then you’re forced to sneak around guards just for using some of its skills because they’re considered "criminal acts."
Meanwhile, being a Vampire or Werewolf anywhere in the game is totally fine.

Just stay away.

Last'One wrote: »

What I’m saying is 100% true, and you’ll see it for yourself soon enough.

There’s another problem in ESO, one even bigger than any other game I know: the community itself. They always find ways to hide or blur the truth about the game. But if you stick around, you’ll discover it on your own.

And if you think I’m lying about the quest issues, just wait until you try joining Trials through the group finder. You’ll get kicked, excluded, ignored, and more just because you’re not an Arcanist, because you use Oakensoul (which is actually one of the best items for new players), because you don’t hit 100k DPS on a dummy... etc...

Groupfinder is not the best option for trials, especially if you are trying to do complicated trials, and most definitely if you are trying to do veteran trials. This content requires communication and coordination, as well as learning mechanics/processes in the trial itself, and are difficult/challenging by design. There are -many- guilds that perform trials at all levels of difficulty that are very welcoming to new folks who want to learn and participate as a member of a team.

Last'One wrote: »

Yes, even ZOS doesn’t let you truly enjoy the Necromancer class, the same class they sell to you. You have to pay for the Necromancer, and then you’re forced to sneak around guards just for using some of its skills because they’re considered "criminal acts."
Meanwhile, being a Vampire or Werewolf anywhere in the game is totally fine.

That is not true. Both vampire and werewolf skills are also considered criminal acts and if they are performed near guards or npcs will also get you a bounty.

Last'One wrote: »

Just stay away.

Perhaps you should consider taking your own advice. Seems you are not enjoying yourself, and you should only play games that bring you enjoyment. Khajiit would never like to see someone leave ESO, but if someone is hating the experience, they should stop playing, by all means. Life is too short.


EDIT : If, on the other hand, you wish to play, but are disgruntled because you have had bad experiences that have soured you to things, then Khajiit would love to play with you. If you are on PCNA, please send @Karthrag_inak an email or whisper and this one will add you to his friends list and help you find more folks to do fun things with.