I want to preface this by saying that I've played ESO from the very start all the way back in 2014 and have been a subscriber (as well as an avid Crowns enthusiast) for the vast majority of that time even when not actively playing the game. I remember the launch very clearly because it was right around my birthday at the beginning of April that year and cherish all the fond memories I've made playing the game since. I've affectionately called ESO my "comfort MMO" for years and I am genuinely disconcerted following the events of this week. That said I don't mean to get sentimental or for this post to be long or drawn out and instead I want to focus on two main points: (1) why I have canceled my subscription to the game; and (2) what it would take for me to subscribe again.

First and foremost, why I canceled and why now. Without beating around the bush let me flatly state that it was as a direct result of the mass firings that rocked the team developing this game. The reason I have continued to maintain a subscription over the years is not because I felt that all the various perks are worth the money, it was because I wanted to support the game and the people behind it. Like most people playing MMOs these days I am no longer a child but instead an adult approaching the middle of his life. As such I have long since lost the naiveté of youth and can fully appreciate that one has to invest in their hobbies if they are to grow and develop into something better which is why I have supported the game all this time even when not actively playing it. However, I can no longer do that after the decision was made to eliminate half of the staff working on the game. The moral indignation at the layoffs in this particularly difficult economic time aside, I fully realize that everything I expected to come down the pipeline for this game will now be dramatically delayed and may not arrive at all or if it eventually does it will likely not be as polished as it would have been otherwise. I can't in all good conscience support a company that is willing to pull the rug out from under not only its employees but also its customers in such a callous way. This mass firing also coming on the heels of years of neglect and the denial of adequate resources needed to properly update the game which led to the disaster that was the Season of the Worm also factored into my decision. As I said before, you need to invest into something in order for it to grow and I see no reason to invest in a game when the company behind it isn't willing to do its part and make the proper investment into it's own product.

Second, what it would take for me to get back onboard. Most important by far would be proof that there is a singular focus on the continued revitalizing of the game by updating and modernizing it, particularly when it comes to the class refresh effort. The fact that virtually the entire VFX team got laid off was an immediate red flag for me because it virtually guarantees that the one thing I was looking forward to the most, the visual update to the game's woefully outdated player spells and abilities, would be put on hold indefinitely. That in itself is a major deal breaker for me and something I am not willing to compromise on. The shift in focus to these so called "Seasons" which are just a foil for the new battle passes is another red flag for me. That type of model which has long been used in the A-RPG space has no place in an MMO and, at least as far as I am concerned, signals a transition to a state of life support for the game where the absolute bare minimum of effort is put into the game for the sole purpose of milking more money from the "whale" class on meaningless cosmetic rewards without anything of substance being added to the game. Again, this is something which I categorically cannot support and if that's where the future of the game lies, then it's simply no longer for me. For me, the golden age of ESO was Summerset so that would be my benchmark for deciding whether the game is headed in the right direction or not. Above and beyond all of that, the sheer extend of the reduction in workforce is deeply troubling in of itself, not only because of the massive hit to the morale of those left, but also because without a critical mass of workers there can be no productivity. I am far from convinced that advances in AI would be able to replace human creativity when it comes to gaming or any other artistic endeavor. All AI has proven capable of doing effectively is to copy the work of human beings to dubious effect and the last thing MMOs need is more of the same because the genre has already been stale and devoid of creativity and original thought for far too long. So those are another two metrics that I will be looking for when deciding whether to come back or not.

Lastly, because I have seen the discourse recently both here and elsewhere online, I want to emphasize that it is not my intention to tell others how they should approach this situation. If you want to keep supporting the game, more power to you, I simply can no longer do it and I've tried to articulate why. I also wanted this to serve as a guide to anyone in a position to improve the game and with a desire to win me back as a long time loyal customer. Let me end on a more positive note and say that ESO holds a special place in my heart, it was the game that introduced me to the Elder Scrolls extended universe and a game I would gladly return to one day if I begin to see encouraging signs along the lines of what I described above.

Here's to hoping brighter days are yet in store for Tamriel and that these darker times will soon pass.