the game is incredibly dead, PC-NA

Playboy_Shrek · May 21

I started playing when the game boomed during COVID, and man did it boom. it was huge, I met a lot of players that I played with over that period. and most of them were long time players well before me, and every single person that I played with aside from 1 (probably 40 or so people) has quit the game between 2022-2025. at this point there is nobody, you go to any zone, there is hardly anyone, steam charts show all time low player count. the game is far too large for the numbers it has right now. even if 2/3rds of players are on ESO launcher, which I doubt, most people use steam. that's 30K players active on average per day worldwide in multiple servers and instances.

I used to go into craglorn and lag from the sheet number of people pugging in belkarth actual 100+ standing around in belkarth, at literally any time of the day that isn't too early or too late. now you can show up at noon on a weekend and you might see a dozen of people there at most if any at all.

even the starter zones for each factions are empty as hell. forget it if you go to a DLC zone, you won't be able to do all of those harder world bosses. it wasn't always good but it's totally dead now.

I applaud ZOS for keeping the servers alive and supporting this game to a degree, but it's legitimately very dead, and for the type of game this is, for the size of zones, and for the number of zones. the game has about half the number of players it should at minimum have, I thought when playercount was about double what it was now, it was a noticeable dropoff in encountering players in a random delve or public dungeon or finding the right pugs for dungeons and trials. but now the game is legitimately very dead and it's practically a single player game. pretty sad

Playboy_Shrek · May 21

I can think of one or two things that might revive it, or maybe not

making craftbag free (I always paid for ESO+ when I played but I haven't played much since 2022, I log in once every 6 months to take a look at the game) but I still want the craft bag to be available for everyone.

fixing combat and removing animation canceling bug/mech and reworking all classes to not rely on it for their balance.

but I think the ship has sailed on that

Nemesis7884 · May 21

The game is by far one of the most played and most successful mmorpgs globally by every estimate and metric i can find and imo was revitalized by the move to seasons... cant speak for pc na specifically but your statement just doesnt seem factual...

https://mmo-population.com/

https://steamdb.info/charts/?tagid=1754

https://mein-mmo.de/en/the-15-mmorpgs-with-the-most-players-according-to-official-numbers-from-the-developers-and-a-new-number-10,1236616/16/

Renato90085 · May 21

craglorn dead since zos add group finder in game,because it do same work

but yes,some content like pveendgame dead in last year

Thoriorz · May 21

PC/EU, I play on Steam, and because of work my workouts etc etc, I often play during "off hours"—early in the morning or in the morning. And yeah, when I go do my dailies for example in West Weald (Mirrormoor) or Solstice, I often do it alone, and every now and then I see one or two other people. Yesterday I decided to give the OO trial in NM a shot, and I checked the group finder around 10 a.m.—dead. Not only were there no OO groups, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a group for NM bosses. The problem is that a lot of people like me are adults, often with families and jobs, activities, and can’t afford to play at specific times, and when the game has for example an “event” zone designed for group play, this kind of thing discourages a lot of players from the game as a whole. Or the Solstice dolmen (or whatever it’s actually called). The final boss has several million HP, and fighting it alone is boring and takes a long time, so that kind of player just gives up on the game and doesn’t even bother logging in when they want to play because they know they’ll have to do the things they want to do alone (even though the design is meant for group play)...
And maybe younger players prefer other MMOs (ones that look better?) perhaps? I don't know, I'm not so young anymore... :'(

Treeshka · May 21

Thoriorz wrote: »

And maybe younger players prefer other MMOs (ones that look better?) perhaps? I don't know, I'm not so young anymore... :'(

I think younger generations do not prefer MMOs in general even. Surely some does though.

Playboy_Shrek · May 21

the vast majority of people that I know that tried the game and quit quickly. hated the combat, specifically the animation canceling.

Thoriorz wrote: »

PC/EU, I play on Steam, and because of work my workouts etc etc, I often play during "off hours"—early in the morning or in the morning. And yeah, when I go do my dailies for example in West Weald (Mirrormoor) or Solstice, I often do it alone, and every now and then I see one or two other people. Yesterday I decided to give the OO trial in NM a shot, and I checked the group finder around 10 a.m.—dead. Not only were there no OO groups, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a group for NM bosses. The problem is that a lot of people like me are adults, often with families and jobs, activities, and can’t afford to play at specific times, and when the game has for example an “event” zone designed for group play, this kind of thing discourages a lot of players from the game as a whole. Or the Solstice dolmen (or whatever it’s actually called). The final boss has several million HP, and fighting it alone is boring and takes a long time, so that kind of player just gives up on the game and doesn’t even bother logging in when they want to play because they know they’ll have to do the things they want to do alone (even though the design is meant for group play)...
And maybe younger players prefer other MMOs (ones that look better?) perhaps? I don't know, I'm not so young anymore... :'(

I used to run into players even in the most remote delve in a random unpopular zone. now, you can literally go to a delve in a starter zone near the main wayshrine and you might not see anyone.

I logged in for a couple of hours to pick up nodes in deshaan, I ran into zero people. same thing in craglorn. nobody in any zone chat. I think I saw a total of 10 messages in all zone chats in like 5 hours of playtime

I used to see people argue at like 4 AM.

the game is really, really dead. I mean I personally think it has been dead since like. 2023 because I prefer games to be really active. but it's simply dead for everyone now. like I'm not sure why the servers are up. are they actually recouping the money they put into it with that little players?

BretonMage · May 21

Playboy_Shrek wrote: »

I started playing when the game boomed during COVID, and man did it boom.

During covid, almost anyone who had a computer was stuck at home, I'm not surprised it was booming. I was playing before covid, and while I think the population is slightly down from pre-2020, it's not too bad.

Blood_again · May 21

What? Dead again? But it is only Thursday!
It usually dies every Friday, according to the forum for the last 8 years.

Playboy_Shrek wrote: »

every single person that I played with aside from 1 (probably 40 or so people) has quit the game between 2022-2025.

True. True. If 40 players left the game for 3 years, it is a bad sign. Call the coroner.

Playboy_Shrek wrote: »

I used to go into craglorn and lag from the sheet number of people pugging in belkarth actual 100+ standing around in belkarth, at literally any time of the day that isn't too early or too late.

/s
People used to chill in Craglorn to join the group with zone chat years ago. It is outdated.
Use the Group Finder, so you can mind your business while the group is gathering. Modern solutions.

Playboy_Shrek wrote: »

even the starter zones for each factions are empty as hell. forget it if you go to a DLC zone, you won't be able to do all of those harder world bosses. it wasn't always good but it's totally dead now.

As at any event.
You can also check Stross Mkai at the New Life festival. Not the Betnik please, is would break the legend.

I'm glad you immediately asked for free stuff like crafting bags, though.
It won't work, but you can send me your mats when you leave. Free stuff is cool. Peace, dude.

Soarora · May 21

In bright news, ZOS does seem to largely be turning things around thus far so we just have to wait and see if things get better. Crossplay might help as well. I would certainly like for my guild to be alive again.

Athory · May 21

Treeshka wrote: »

Thoriorz wrote: »

And maybe younger players prefer other MMOs (ones that look better?) perhaps? I don't know, I'm not so young anymore... :'(

I think younger generations do not prefer MMOs in general even. Surely some does though.

I don't know if you're right or not, but in my case, I refuse to let my kid play ESO or any older Elder Scrolls game. I grew up with the Elder Scrolls series, and it was amazing... but ESO? Without question, ESO it's the most toxic online game I've ever played. I really, really don't want my kid involved in that. And of course, I won't allow my kid to play any Elder Scrolls game.

Calastir · May 21

Athory wrote: »

Treeshka wrote: »

Thoriorz wrote: »

And maybe younger players prefer other MMOs (ones that look better?) perhaps? I don't know, I'm not so young anymore... :'(

I think younger generations do not prefer MMOs in general even. Surely some does though.

I don't know if you're right or not, but in my case, I refuse to let my kid play ESO or any older Elder Scrolls game. I grew up with the Elder Scrolls series, and it was amazing... but ESO? Without question, ESO it's the most toxic online game I've ever played. I really, really don't want my kid involved in that. And of course, I won't allow my kid to play any Elder Scrolls game.

No kid should play ESO, since the game is rated M for Mature 17+

Haenk · May 21

Athory wrote: »

Treeshka wrote: »

Thoriorz wrote: »

Without question, ESO it's the most toxic online game I've ever played.

Err, what?
It might be valid for console (I have not played there) or doing PVP (I hardly ever do that) - but in general, the overworld contents is non-toxic. However not designed for young kids, I's say 12 and above would be OK.
Or maybe you confused it with Roblox, which *is* toxic.

Haenk · May 21

(that got the quoting wrong - and I can't edit my own post?!?)

Gabriel_H · May 21

Oh look, it must be that time of the year already. I swear eso-aggedon comes earlier and earlier every year. A few things:

Playboy_Shrek wrote: »

at this point there is nobody, you go to any zone, there is hardly anyone.

More zones, more instances, less density.

Playboy_Shrek wrote: »

steam charts show all time low player count.

Demonstrably false.

Playboy_Shrek wrote: »

I used to go into craglorn and lag from the sheet number of people pugging in belkarth actual 100+ standing around in belkarth, at literally any time of the day that isn't too early or too late. now you can show up at noon on a weekend and you might see a dozen of people there at most if any at all.

even the starter zones for each factions are empty as hell. forget it if you go to a DLC zone, you won't be able to do all of those harder world bosses. it wasn't always good but it's totally dead now.

Again, more instances. It reduces server load and therefore increases performance.

Playboy_Shrek wrote: »

I applaud ZOS for keeping the servers alive and supporting this game to a degree, but it's legitimately very dead, and for the type of game this is, for the size of zones, and for the number of zones. the game has about half the number of players it should at minimum have, I thought when playercount was about double what it was now, it was a noticeable dropoff in encountering players in a random delve or public dungeon or finding the right pugs for dungeons and trials. but now the game is legitimately very dead and it's practically a single player game. pretty sad

The game is just shy of the average concurrent number of players loggin in pre-pandemic. The numbers on steam are not unique logins, they are the average number of players logged in at any given time.

Gabriel_H · May 21

Thoriorz wrote: »

Yesterday I decided to give the OO trial in NM a shot, and I checked the group finder around 10 a.m.—dead. Not only were there no OO groups, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a group for NM bosses.

Just out of interest, did you just look for a group or did you start one?

amiiegee · May 21

There have been numerous threads about the games population dying over the years, some where high discussed and closed later https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/666306/population-shrinking-please-bring-crossplay-quick/p1 , some were ignored.

Fact is we are on a low and it will continue to go lower and since the game feels empty on some plattforms like PS EU for example - even more people stopped playing. I dont even try to use group finder anymore for pve and pvp is dead anyway since months - outside MYM

frogthroat · May 21

Thoriorz wrote: »

PC/EU

Thoriorz wrote: »

Yesterday I decided to give the OO trial in NM a shot, and I checked the group finder around 10 a.m.—dead.

Thoriorz wrote: »

The problem is that a lot of people like me are adults, often with families and jobs,

You pretty much answered this yourself.

PCEU where there is a more defined off-peak time than in PCNA. Yes, a lot of players are adults with jobs. And I would assume you know the majority of jobs are between 8:00 and 18:00. Some may even start earlier.

At 10:00 even those who start late are already working. There's no one playing because everyone is at the workplace or school.

amiiegee · May 21

frogthroat wrote: »

Thoriorz wrote: »

PC/EU

Thoriorz wrote: »

Yesterday I decided to give the OO trial in NM a shot, and I checked the group finder around 10 a.m.—dead.

Thoriorz wrote: »

The problem is that a lot of people like me are adults, often with families and jobs,

You pretty much answered this yourself.

PCEU where there is a more defined off-peak time than in PCNA. Yes, a lot of players are adults with jobs. And I would assume you know the majority of jobs are between 8:00 and 18:00. Some may even start earlier.

At 10:00 even those who start late are already working. There's no one playing because everyone is at the workplace or school.

yes we can find many excuses for the game being empty, but there was a time when you was able to do contend at 10 am too - it would be possible with a higher population, wich is literally just not given anymore.

Gabriel_H · May 21

amiiegee wrote: »

yes we can find many excuses for the game being empty, but there was a time when you was able to do contend at 10 am too - it would be possible with a higher population, wich is literally just not given anymore.

Yes, when nobody was working or at school, and we were all indoors unable to go anywhere for any reasonable length of time.

Nemesis7884 · May 21

Playboy_Shrek wrote: »

the vast majority of people that I know that tried the game and quit quickly. hated the combat, specifically the animation canceling.

Thoriorz wrote: »

PC/EU, I play on Steam, and because of work my workouts etc etc, I often play during "off hours"—early in the morning or in the morning. And yeah, when I go do my dailies for example in West Weald (Mirrormoor) or Solstice, I often do it alone, and every now and then I see one or two other people. Yesterday I decided to give the OO trial in NM a shot, and I checked the group finder around 10 a.m.—dead. Not only were there no OO groups, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a group for NM bosses. The problem is that a lot of people like me are adults, often with families and jobs, activities, and can’t afford to play at specific times, and when the game has for example an “event” zone designed for group play, this kind of thing discourages a lot of players from the game as a whole. Or the Solstice dolmen (or whatever it’s actually called). The final boss has several million HP, and fighting it alone is boring and takes a long time, so that kind of player just gives up on the game and doesn’t even bother logging in when they want to play because they know they’ll have to do the things they want to do alone (even though the design is meant for group play)...
And maybe younger players prefer other MMOs (ones that look better?) perhaps? I don't know, I'm not so young anymore... :'(

I used to run into players even in the most remote delve in a random unpopular zone. now, you can literally go to a delve in a starter zone near the main wayshrine and you might not see anyone.

I logged in for a couple of hours to pick up nodes in deshaan, I ran into zero people. same thing in craglorn. nobody in any zone chat. I think I saw a total of 10 messages in all zone chats in like 5 hours of playtime

I used to see people argue at like 4 AM.

the game is really, really dead. I mean I personally think it has been dead since like. 2023 because I prefer games to be really active. but it's simply dead for everyone now. like I'm not sure why the servers are up. are they actually recouping the money they put into it with that little players?

Maybe time to bring the discussion about animation canceling up again niw with the class and skill refresh

amiiegee · May 21

Gabriel_H wrote: »

amiiegee wrote: »

yes we can find many excuses for the game being empty, but there was a time when you was able to do contend at 10 am too - it would be possible with a higher population, wich is literally just not given anymore.

Yes, when nobody was working or at school, and we were all indoors unable to go anywhere for any reasonable length of time.

So we act now as if the pre covid times didnt exist? The game existed a while before everyone was locked in.

Im not even on a spike and the population was way higher.

SeaGtGruff · May 21

So what I'm reading is...

"The game is dead. How can they afford to keep the servers running? The solution is to give everyone the craft bag for free."

Wait... What?

frogthroat · May 21

amiiegee wrote: »

frogthroat wrote: »

Thoriorz wrote: »

PC/EU

Thoriorz wrote: »

Yesterday I decided to give the OO trial in NM a shot, and I checked the group finder around 10 a.m.—dead.

Thoriorz wrote: »

The problem is that a lot of people like me are adults, often with families and jobs,

You pretty much answered this yourself.

PCEU where there is a more defined off-peak time than in PCNA. Yes, a lot of players are adults with jobs. And I would assume you know the majority of jobs are between 8:00 and 18:00. Some may even start earlier.

At 10:00 even those who start late are already working. There's no one playing because everyone is at the workplace or school.

yes we can find many excuses for the game being empty, but there was a time when you was able to do contend at 10 am too - it would be possible with a higher population, wich is literally just not given anymore.

Wouldn't know. I am working at 10:00.

Playboy_Shrek · May 21

to put this in prespective, the game is so dead, I was in the largest guild in the entire game, and that guild is dead, it is gone

every top tier guild in deshaan and vivec was literally full. maybe 3 spots out of 500 would be open, they all have 100+ openings now. two guilds I'm in, the guild leaders have completely stopped playing. and at most I see 5 people active on 200+ member guilds

Luneca · May 21

Everything can be traced back eventually to the game's overall design and game loop. It's too focused on doing damage, and too focused on grinding.

Time is a valuable resource that you never get back. I mostly play the game when I am rolling on an exercise bike (even though I play in PvP, I'm still going to exercise when I'm firing siege).

The way ZOS set things up is that they introduce grinds that are flat out annoying or time consuming. After the first time, who wants to recollect skyshards or lorebooks again? Oh, you can "pay for the convienience" of skipping the grind, that makes it better right?

Wrong. Because everyone can clearly see that the problem and system is designed to push you to pay.

Imagine someone annoyed by the grind, what options do they have now? Pay to skip the grind, be annoyed and continue the grind (and pay with their time), or simply do without and lose power. These are all suboptimal options that will not make a player happy.

This is only one example, but it illustrates a growing issue with the game. It's not creative to force people to buy things they otherwise would not because they are either annoyed or otherwise lose power due to balance changes or relative to everyone else without it. Everyone can clearly see this and call it out for what it is, maybe not in this space but certainly in other spaces where people ask about the game.

And this is a big problem, because the game only has one real dimension to it: doing damage. Combat can be simplified to doing damage, collecting mats tied to combat and doing damage, PvP, PvE; almost whatever you can think of gets tied back to combat and doing damage one way or another. Even picking columbine is affected by doing damage if it takes too long for you to clear them and someone picks it before you!

When that'st the case, that combat infiltrates every activity in the game, and it's designed in a way where only damage matters AND to get damage we need to do a bunch of grinding with the option of essentially paying for a way to do more damage, then it starts to become clearer that you're basically paying for everything or you're going to have a long grind one way or another. And if you don't do that massive grind, you're losing power.

That kind of system is basically equivalent to those F2P Korean MMOs. And people have compared this game to them and they haven't been able to argue it's really any different.

In fact, less content is getting added to the game than some of these F2P games and there's even less communication from the developer team than some of these F2Ps.

What kind of message do you think that sends to players? It does not send a good one.

And we haven't even started with the controversial decisions like the class rework schedule, which arguably removed fun for a LOT of people. That DK change caused a boom-bust cycle: players appeared for a week, got destroyed or saw that they play DK or Arcanist or fall behind, then decided they were going to do something else instead. <-- that's a summary of over 30/100 of my friends that appeared during the DK refresh.

You know what, I better stop. I'm starting to sweat. I'll stop. I'm just going to go back to Cyro and fire siege.

nightbringer1993 · May 21

The current class balance ( I play Necro) forced me out of the game. And I bet I am not the only one.

That DK patch made people stop PvP, I included, and I saw this through the cyro population and map color.

ZOS should have started refreshing classes that are more in need like necromancer or made multiple class refresh at once.

Right now people who do not play DK just depressed, especially when their class is already weaker that others, and told to wait two years, like they told us necromancers last winter, another insult to those who play this class.

As a result I left and stopped eso+. And during my last days in game, others told me they intended to do the same because that DK patch made them sick as well.

Luneca · May 21

nightbringer1993 wrote: »

The current class balance ( I play Necro) forced me out of the game. And I bet I am not the only one.

That DK patch made people stop PvP, I included, and I saw this through the cyro population and map color.

ZOS should have started refreshing classes that are more in need like necromancer or made multiple class refresh at once.

Right now people who do not play DK just depressed, especially when their class is already weaker that others, and told to wait two years, like they told us necromancers last winter, another insult to those who play this class.

As a result I left and stopped eso+. And during my last days in game, others told me they intended to do the same because that DK patch made them sick as well.

I think ZOS underestimates how many people only have one character or mainly focus on one.

The grind for things like mages guild and undaunted isn't fun and can take a significant amount of time for people that don't have time to play games everyday. I find it especially aggravating when playing a "tank" because you know you're going to be getting the guys that do less damage than you spamming puncture in those Vet Dungeons. It makes a slow and dull grind, if you can even stay connected to the server and get your Undaunted completion -- how nice. [/b]

Maybe others find it fun, but I value my time. Even when exercising, I rather be firing siege than wasting time in a dungeon.

Gabriel_H · May 21

amiiegee wrote: »

Gabriel_H wrote: »

amiiegee wrote: »

yes we can find many excuses for the game being empty, but there was a time when you was able to do contend at 10 am too - it would be possible with a higher population, wich is literally just not given anymore.

Yes, when nobody was working or at school, and we were all indoors unable to go anywhere for any reasonable length of time.

So we act now as if the pre covid times didnt exist? The game existed a while before everyone was locked in.

Im not even on a spike and the population was way higher.

This is the comparable:

Accounting for the change in release schedule on DLC/New Content there is not a huge gap between those numbers

Playboy_Shrek · May 21

Gabriel_H wrote: »

amiiegee wrote: »

Gabriel_H wrote: »

amiiegee wrote: »

yes we can find many excuses for the game being empty, but there was a time when you was able to do contend at 10 am too - it would be possible with a higher population, wich is literally just not given anymore.

Yes, when nobody was working or at school, and we were all indoors unable to go anywhere for any reasonable length of time.

So we act now as if the pre covid times didnt exist? The game existed a while before everyone was locked in.

Im not even on a spike and the population was way higher.

This is the comparable:

Accounting for the change in release schedule on DLC/New Content there is not a huge gap between those numbers

you fail to realize that the number of steam players increases on average because back then much more people used the ESO launcher, because the game launched there first.

BahometZ · May 21

Yes, yes, the game died and we are all ghosts. But most importantly, if you are leaving can I have your stuff?