I often take a break from the game anything from a few weeks to a few months. I've recently been going through zones I haven't totally completed, finishing off achievements etc..

Things that have annoyed me and have made me feel like playing less;

Subclassing - I feel like this was a totally unnecessary change, it was overly complicated and could have been implemented a lot better. It was put into the game to change things up and allow people more freedom to play how they wanted to, however Pre-subclassing there was a lot of frustration for the people following builds because pretty much every build was the same sets/mythic/HA etc.. subclassing didn't change any of that, now its the same sets/mythic and the same sub-classes for the majority of builds. Players still can't play how they want to because for "end game content" there is an expectation of certain gear and classes to be used and a minimum amount of damage output. So we have pretty much gone round in a circle. Yes it was fun to begin with, messing around with different combinations but I definitely feel the novelty has worn off and to be totally honest I have more fun playing on my non-subclass characters. I think new classes instead of subclassing would have been much much better, or structuring character creation (for experienced players) so you could choose your base class then the subclasses while making your new character would have been an improvement.

Writhing Wall / Content pass / Solstice - What an absolutely boring dragged out mess, trying to get new players/players to come back by adding an "event" that requires repeatedly doing the same stuff everyday, all day with rubbish rewards that becomes so monotonous and boring that devs had to fudge the scores so it could end.
Content pass that despite it being explained over and over again on forums and socials people didn't understand it or what version to buy and that is now apparently changing again to a Season pass in the future...? The old system of chapters were a recognisable part of ESO and didn't need to be changed. Solstice in general was okay I guess, after the WW debacle I haven't even bothered with the new part of Solstice.

Companions / scribing - So I loved the addition of companions, for newbies and those of us that pretty much play solo most of the time it was nice to have a "friend" to help along the way that has their own story line, skills and can be unlocked as a houseguest, but.. for every character that you have you have to re-do the companion quests to gain access to them....why...? Really frustrating and wasting time having to repeat the same quests over and over again especially when you have 19 characters. Scribing, again loved this idea and still like it but why do we have to re-do part of the quest on every character that wants to access scribing, I feel that these quests should have been completed on one character and then this would unlock the companions/scribing account wide.

Cyrodiil Vengeance This isn't a big thing for me as I dip in and out of PvP and only have a few dedicated characters, but I just didn't get it, it felt wrong and I only played for about 20 minutes and got bored (obviously if the hardcore PvP'ers enjoyed and wanted it then fair enough)

DUNGEON QUES !! So no matter what they seem to implement, being a DPS in a random dungeon que can honestly be the most ridiculous and pointless thing to do in ESO, even when it does pop half the time someone declines and then you have to wait again. The group finder addition was nice but its literally only used for Trials, the rest of the options are pretty much redundant, plus when people don't set the roles or levels correctly you end up with the wrong ratio of roles or people under 160cp and then you are hanging around waiting for it to be sorted and more players to join.

and Esoteric Environment Greaves leads....sigh... I gave up ages ago but it still bugs me...Farmed Graven Deep Side bosses soooo maaannnyyyy times and no lead! Sload secret Boss in Coral Aerie....no one does this dungeon, no one wants to do this dungeon, even when you find a group...they don't want to do secret bosses, when you do find a group that want to do the Sload and do multiple runs...no drop.

The main reason I play any MMO these days is to enjoy the uniqueness of class and spec design. I like making a roleplay character and the setting up their in-game build to match, then seeing how far I can get across different types of content. You'd think with subcassing and scribing that there would be plenty of options, but my experience has been that these additions to the game have diminished the differences between classes and specs.

At this point, so many skills are effectively the exact same thing but with a different animation and minor differences in effects (one applies this minor debuff, the other applies that minor debuff) with no real variance in actual gameplay mechanics. It just comes down to X skill being objectively better in every way compared to Y skill because they're basically the same, but one or the other is some % stronger.

This is compounded by a focus on proc sets in both PvE and PvP. This can be an interesting way to make building out a character more interesting, but ZOS does not seem to be willing to invest the effort to implement numerically and mechanically balanced proc sets.

These two issues combine to make the entire game just stale, in my opinion. There are plenty of skill and armor set combinations, but only a single digit number of them have any sort of actual use or not-insignificant difference, resulting in bland, repetitive gameplay. The massive difference between the mathematically superior options and everything also is also very noticeable, making it difficult to enjoy using anything but what's considered the 'best' whenever doing content that involves even one other player.

Last'One wrote: »

"What has caused you to quit the game or barely play anymore? What would bring you back?"

I haven’t quit ESO. Not yet. I still subscribe to ESO+, and I still buy every DLC, chapter, and release from ZOS. That hasn’t changed.
But do I still love the game the way I once did? No.

I keep playing ESO for one simple reason: Only because I can’t find another game I truly enjoy. After almost 40 years of PC gaming, only two franchises ever really held me, The Elder Scrolls Series and Diablo. And Diablo 4… is terrible. Blizzard made the same mistake ZOS is making now: they focused on monetization and numbers first, and love for the game became a long-term afterthought.

If I ever find another game that can take the same amount of time, dedication, and passion that ESO once demanded from me, I’ll leave immediately. And when I do, I’ll be done with The Elder Scrolls forever, just like I was done with Blizzard.


What I hate about ESO today: This is not ESO anymore. It simply isn’t.

• There is no meaningful lore for solo players.
• There is no real class identity anymore.
• There is no challenge in overland content.

Everything that once made ESO feel like an Elder Scrolls game has been diluted or removed. In my opinion, the game today is nothing like what it used to be, and not in a good way.

PvE multiplayer are no better. PvE multiplayer has lost its soul.

• We can fake roles.
• We can ignore mechanics.
• All that matters now is beam and raw DPS.

This is not what ESO was supposed to be. I don’t believe this was ZOS’s vision at launch.

Today, only one thing matters: DPS. Show high numbers, or go home.

1. You can’t play the class you enjoy, others won’t allow it.
2. You can’t use the sets you like or feel comfortable with, others won’t allow it.
3. You can’t even use Oakensoul to join vSS, or other trial, through the group finder to learn mechanics, because others won’t allow it. Mechanics don’t matter anymore. Learning doesn’t matter anymore. All that matters now are numbers.

Why? Because ESO has turned into nothing but DPS checks.

So where is the fun?
Where is the passion?
Where is The Elder Scrolls in all of this?

What would keep me playing? I still play, as I said before. But I would enjoy the game so much more if I could:

• Play any class I like
• Use any sets I enjoy
• Focus on gameplay, mechanics, and immersion
• Stop being judged purely by numbers, logs, and parses

To make that possible, ZOS would need to remove, the importance of DPS sharing, log culture, and number-driven gatekeeping, so players could actually enjoy the game again.

But we all know that will never happen.
It seems there are more important things than fun now.
And that, more than anything else, is why ESO no longer feels like ESO.


I still play ESO, and I still pay ZOS. Not because I love the game anymore, and certainly not because they deserve my support, but because there is nothing else on the market that truly replaces ESO. And that is the real problem: ZOS knows this and they take full advantage of it.

Oh I so agree with this. It’s so dull when you get towards endgame and its all about your damn dps. No real skill, just dps. No fun, just dps.

If I was a trial designer, I’d be very evil about making the mechs unskippable. And if you do too much damage too quickly, catastrophic things happen. Stuff you can’t hit to stop.

(And no, this is not because I can’t do decent dps - I do fine & have done vet hm content. Just find the focus on dos tedious and boring.)

nerf ball groups remove subclassing

Honestly, after today's stream, it seems like they're even taking away the things that keep me around as is.

My biggest fear of Overland Difficulty was that it would replace the Dungeons because the Encounters team was too busy making more complex mechanics for story fights and therefore weren't able to make the Dungeons anymore. And, while there's no guarantee that those were related, that is what we're getting.

In fact, the only "new content" we're getting is a Trial (which have been unfun because of the balance catastrophe that was Subclassing combined with the fact that most mid-tier raid-leads left) and a few new stories in existing zones (and the writing has been on a continual downtrend since Summerset and one of those stories features the most insufferable character in the entire Elder Scrolls franchise).

I'd say I have some hope for 2027, but quite honestly they're stretching this Class rework all the way out through then, so it looks like the first time we'd get any combat-related stuff is 2028 at the earliest. I guess all I can say is that I hope they have some incredible cosmetics coming out, because there is nothing else they're doing in the next two years that looks interesting.

New ways to engage with the core gameplay system; combat.
This year we are getting no new class, no new skill lines, no new scribing skills (abandoned system?)
So, if I were to play this year, I would be doing the same old song and dance yet again, with nothing new or exciting. I don't need new gear, I don't need yet more mounts. I want something to freshen up the gameplay.

I left and maybe log in once a month, or not even.

I really loved hunting down gear and skill points and using the subclass system to create synergies. But what was the point of it all. I was getting stronger in ways, but it was not to be able to take on more dangerous things. The only challenging content was stuff that already dropped it's own pool of gear that was more suited to it.

Syldras wrote: »

Lack of new content.

Agreed. It will ultimately take me out too. I'm sticking around this year for the new story content, to see how the warden turns out, and to try the solo dungeons. But let's face it, the story content in season one isn't going to take weeks to do. If there's nothing substantially new in 2027 for story/exploration folks, there won't be anything left for me to do in ESO.

Veinblood1965 wrote: »

I was just reading about the change to IC in Update 49 that is upcoming.

Removal of Fast Porting: A major change in U49 is that players can no longer use the campaign menu to instantly teleport out of the Imperial City to Cyrodiil. This "fixes" a long-standing behavior, forcing players to use the physical exit in their alliance's sewer base.

Whats this BS? Who whinged loudly and made someone think this is a good thing? Just NO