Over the last few updates, ESO finally felt like it was regaining momentum.

The Dragonknight rework was, in my opinion, a big success. While there's some discrepancies when it comes to power level relative to other classes, the spec feels smooth, strong and fun to play. It demonstrated that the team was capable of delivering content that the community enjoys. The Warden rework had the opportunity to reinforce that confidence and show that the DK update wasn't just a one-time success, but the beginning of a new standard for class design, as well as balancing when compared to the DK rework. After all, reworked classes have to be slightly stronger than the previous version, otherwise no one would be excited about it.

Instead, the discussion has immediately shifted from excitement about the game's direction to concerns about whether the team will even have the capacity to maintain that level of quality and pace going forward.

ESO had a massive streak of luck recently. While New World pulled a considerable amount of players away from ESO, a decent chunk of those came back in light of the latest news regarding New World's future. Additionally, Ashes of Creation being cancelled also worked in ESO's favor. By sheer luck, this gave ESO valuable breathing room to improve the game, win players back, and rebuild trust within the community. And that momentum should have been accelerated — not put at risk.

The next year or two will likely be one of the most competitive periods ESO has faced in a long time. Guild Wars 3 is expected to enter beta in Fall 2027, and regardless of whether players stay there permanently, every major MMO launch attracts a huge portion of the genre's audience. Many ESO players will inevitably want to see what the next big MMO has to offer.

On top of that, GTA VI will be one of the biggest game launches in history. When its online mode arrives, millions of players across every genre—not just MMO players—are going to spend weeks or even months there. It will compete for everyone's time, including ESO's.

ESO needed to reach the point where every class feels modernized, where we have clear update roadmap, and a community that had confidence in where the game was heading. If players knew they could expect another excellent class update, meaningful combat improvements, or exciting new features every few months, they'd have a reason to come back after trying other games.

Instead, these layoffs have created uncertainty at exactly the wrong time. There simply isn't enough time to tick all these objectives with half the resources. Rather than looking forward to what's next, I'm just left wondering if my time is worth investing anymore.