Other MMo title releases and the fate of TESO.

Axewaffle · May 2014

TESO is a strong MMo, and provides alot of solid entertainment and fun mechanics, alot of people enjoy playing the game, it has a solid community. However without naming any names, there are some big name competitors set to enter the market soon, and with the current displeased outlook many players have with the game what are your oppinions of TESOs continued success in the second half of 2014? Afterall an MMo needs an active community.

LordEcks · May 2014

"Success" is a very subjective term.

I have every confidence that the game will retain enough of a following to not only break even, but to also make a profit.

I don't however see it being an extremely large profit.

The next couple of months will tell volumes. As people start to lose interest (not necessarily the games fault, people just get bored), how the devs will cope with keeping the game fresh will make or break it I say.

KerinKor · May 2014

As usual, the NEXT BIG THING is going to kill every MMO in existence.

It'll arrive, those who hyped themselves into hysteria over it will rage-quit and then start prattling on about the NEXT BIG THING!

The current hypefest seems to be Wildstar .. I am soooooooo reminded of SW:TOR right now.

Khivas_Carrick · May 2014

Honestly Wildstar resembles WoW in space, it really does.

wrlifeboil · May 2014

Axewaffle wrote: »

TESO is a strong MMo, and provides alot of solid entertainment and fun mechanics, alot of people enjoy playing the game, it has a solid community. However without naming any names, there are some big name competitors set to enter the market soon, and with the current displeased outlook many players have with the game what are your oppinions of TESOs continued success in the second half of 2014? Afterall an MMo needs an active community.

We don't know for certain that eso is a "strong MMo" because there are no public numbers.

I don't think Wildstar will put much pressure on eso. The hardcore raider cohort is probably done with Craglorn already and moving on to ws but they are a tiny minority in an mmo like eso. TES gamers will likely stay with eso until they hit VR. Eso is lucking out with the WoW:WoD expansion behind schedule. Blizzard originally planned to release an expansion every 18-24 months but right now it looks like Blizzard is not going to release WoD before the two year anniversary of Mists (9/25/14).

Catflinger · May 2014

Oh god, another "Wildstar will kill ALL other MMOs! It is just that awesome!" thread, this time lightly veiled.

Metacon · May 2014

Axewaffle wrote: »

TESO is a strong MMo,

Strong in lore, I give you that.. but what else? Any measurable scale?

and provides alot of solid entertainment and fun mechanics,

.... for at least about a month while you level your first char from 1 to 50. To what concerns "solid entertainement" and "fun mechanics" when players hit veteran levels - the opinions about the game start to differ strongly.

However without naming any names, there are some big name competitors set to enter the market soon, and with the current displeased outlook many players have with the game what are your oppinions of TESOs continued success in the second half of 2014? Afterall an MMo needs an active community.

There will always be competition. New games being released or old games on sale. A player can only play one game at a time. And every software company is competing to be the chose one.

I find this to be totally ok - because it keeps companies on their toes.
Monopolists in a market tend to be or become lazy... and/or expensive.

Players are expecting value and entertainement when spending their money. If ZSO cant deliver - the money will be spent somewhere else.

Telling from the threads in this forums (and my own ingame experience) I would say its not all fine and dandy.

Fate of TESO?
Depends on how the devs fix bugs and balance in the next days/weeks (please see that im talking days/weeks NOT months)

Charging premium price and premium monthly fee is a perfect way to make sure customers patience wears thin quick. Noone likes paying for a service he doesnt seem to receive (in expected quality).

wrlifeboil · May 2014

Catflinger wrote: »

Oh god, another "Wildstar will kill ALL other MMOs! It is just that awesome!" thread, this time lightly veiled.

People like you are too obvious. I doubt that Wildstar will be even close to GW2 in terms of numbers.

Catflinger · May 2014

wrlifeboil wrote: »

Catflinger wrote: »

Oh god, another "Wildstar will kill ALL other MMOs! It is just that awesome!" thread, this time lightly veiled.

People like you are too obvious. I doubt that Wildstar will be even close to GW2 in terms of numbers.

Obvious in what way? I'm sorry you're unable to decipher Internet sarcasm.

I actually agree with you on Wildstar's probable eventual popularity. They are aiming for a special type of old-school hardcore player which is, IMO, going to be a tiny niche. Most of the people going on and on about that game will go running back to WoW the day that Warlords of Draenor launches.

Nermy · May 2014

A lot of our gaming community are really looking forward to Wild Star and there has been a lot of buzz about it. I personally don't see why:

Khivas_Carrick wrote: »

Honestly Wildstar resembles WoW in space, it really does.

And this is why...

As has been said, TESO is a different type of MMO which tries to move away from the tried and tested 'WoW mould'... whether is does or doesn't is subjective.

All I know is I think it's a great game with some problems that do need addressing, sooner rather than later. I just hope they do...

Pele · May 2014

I cannot say if ESO will suffer due to upcoming MMOs. However, I can say with absolute certainty that each and every one of those upcoming MMOs will also have unhappy customers.

You can please all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot please all the people all the time.

AlexDougherty · May 2014

Khivas_Carrick wrote: »

Honestly Wildstar resembles WoW in space, it really does.

Yeah, but the next MMO for me will be Elite (well maybe, I always said I would do Bioshock MMO, but never did).

But I will finish this MMO first, or die trying (only to respawn and die again).

isengrimb16_ESO · May 2014

TESO will be more of a niche game; as long as ZOS knew that going in, it should be fine in the long run.

The people who expected WoW with a TESO skin will move on to Wildstar; I'll be one of the bunch staying here.

Actually, it is a great time for both ESO and Wildstar to sort out their own fanbases, since, as mentioned above, Blizz is dragging its behind on WoD (and I can just imagine the forums over there).

We see doom and gloom here all the time. But it's really no different than the WoW forums. Every week, you'll see at least one post of each:

"WoW is dying" - "WoW will be going F2P" - "Hey guys brand new original idea - legacy servers because everything from expansion X on sucks. Why didn't anyone think of this before?" - "General complaints about dead servers and how slow the mergers are going" etc. That doesn't even cover constant complaints about ganking/people flying away from ganking and other "players picking on each other over playstyle" and the usual snobbery between "real raiders" and "LFR bums" and all that other headachy crap.

You'd think Chicken Little spawned clones all over MMO forums.

Bangstin · May 2014

Khivas_Carrick wrote: »

Honestly Wildstar resembles WoW in space, it really does.

I wonder why people say this like it is a bad thing? I have long ago retired from wow but that doesn't mean everything remotely similar to wow is automatically crap.

mutharex · May 2014

AlexDougherty wrote: »

Khivas_Carrick wrote: »

Honestly Wildstar resembles WoW in space, it really does.

Yeah, but the next MMO for me will be Elite (well maybe, I always said I would do Bioshock MMO, but never did).

But I will finish this MMO first, or die trying (only to respawn and die again).

and forget to repair your gear just to go against a World Boss without realising your helm is a 0% and you chest piece at round 20%.....

isengrimb16_ESO · May 2014

Bangstin wrote: »

Khivas_Carrick wrote: »

Honestly Wildstar resembles WoW in space, it really does.

I wonder why people say this like it is a bad thing? I have long ago retired from wow but that doesn't mean everything remotely similar to wow is automatically crap.

Personally, I think Wildstar will do OK, and will probably retain former WoW players who don't like the direction WoD is going, especially if Blizz messes up that garrisons idea, and makes crafting even more irrelevant than it already is, on-rails questing even moreso than Cata and Jade forest, and pointless Timeless Isle crap.

Wildstar will have both housing and flying eventually, right? Those two things might just be a good enough draw (along with more action-oriented combat, and paths maybe actually meaning something. Settler seemed like fun.)

Moiskormoimi · May 2014

I don't get the hype for Wildstar. I tried the beta and it was too gimmicky for me. That's just me, but I don't think it has credible staying power. That said, as others have stated, it will have its own fan base, as any other game does.

I had really hoped to make ESO my home for a long while. I was hyped about it for months, did beta, and pts, and went out bought the game, made some cool friends, and then, the blinders came off and I shed my fan girl coat for a reality check. It still has a lot of potential but let's be honest; the only thing that will 'kill' ESO is going to be ESO itself, and so far, it seems to be doing that fairly well. I do hope they turn it around.

Catflinger · May 2014

isengrimb16_ESO wrote: »

Actually, it is a great time for both ESO and Wildstar to sort out their own fanbases, since, as mentioned above, Blizz is dragging its behind on WoD (and I can just imagine the forums over there).

Completely dead at the moment, a total snorefest.

renaud.moyneb16_ESO · May 2014

isengrimb16_ESO wrote: »

TESO will be more of a niche game; as long as ZOS knew that going in, it should be fine in the long run.

May I ask what niche is targeted ? 'cause it's not really obvious yet...

Axewaffle · May 2014

LordEcks wrote: »

"Success" is a very subjective term.

I have every confidence that the game will retain enough of a following to not only break even, but to also make a profit.

I don't however see it being an extremely large profit.

The next couple of months will tell volumes. As people start to lose interest (not necessarily the games fault, people just get bored), how the devs will cope with keeping the game fresh will make or break it I say.

I think I'm in the same boat as you, the next patch(s) will be a large deciding factor in this games continued profitability.

isengrimb16_ESO · May 2014

What niche? That's hard to describe, isn't it?

I'm one who prefers ESO because it feels like a tabletop RPG, way moreso than WoW ever did (when I played, it was well before anyone came up with any "holy trinity" idea - we played it as communal storytelling. I guess others just did it for the boring-ass dice rolling combat.) I feel like I'm taking part in stories, not just doing a bunch of mindless peon quests that are in my way of getting to 'endgame".

My character is treated like a person, people remember him or have heard of his deeds, and I can see the lasting impact I have on the world (WoW always feel really short on that stuff. The only one who ever remembered me was Nazgrim, and I went and had to kill him.)

I only turned to computer games because it's very hard to get a regular RPG group going and stable in middle-age. Edit - I can think of four games that were pretty good for storytelling and presentation - DarkSun (an AD&D computer game), Monkey Island 2 and Dune 1 (I think those were both LucasArts, and were frame-by-frame story games) and of course Skyrim (the only ES game I've spent any time on so far, but I took 3 or 4 months off of WoW during that boring BattleField Barrens nonsense to play it.) Otherwise, I'm only used to really old school games that either had a weak story tacked onto it, or had no story at all (Oh, I liked Myst, too). However, Skyrim (and now ESO) are the games, for me, that mimick the tabletop experience the closest.

I image there's others who, whether they played tabletop or not, would prefer the feel (never mind the look) of ESO over either WoW or W*

Morbus2 · May 2014

Axewaffle wrote: »

TESO is a strong MMo, and provides alot of solid entertainment and fun mechanics, alot of people enjoy playing the game, it has a solid community. However without naming any names, there are some big name competitors set to enter the market soon, and with the current displeased outlook many players have with the game what are your oppinions of TESOs continued success in the second half of 2014? Afterall an MMo needs an active community.

I left WoW and SWTOR for ESO. However, given the current state of this game I'm probably gonna leave it as soon as the next fotm MMO comes out.

If you've played any other MMO, you have to accept a certain amount of bugs, bots, and problems especially at launch. It's just the nature of the beast. However, the level of incompetence displayed buy ZoS (the problems are far to many to list) makes it almost criminal to charge people $15.00 a month to play this game. Assuming of course that they can at least get the billing right.

The one thing you would think that they would have no problem getting right is billing their customers. If they can't even get that much sorted out, what hope is there truthfully for this company?

renaud.moyneb16_ESO · May 2014

isengrimb16_ESO wrote: »

What niche? That's hard to describe, isn't it?
...
I image there's others who, whether they played tabletop or not, would prefer the feel (never mind the look) of ESO over either WoW or W*

I hear you and I see a lot of myself in what you describe (only difference is that when I did quit tabletop RPG I turned into a hardcore gamer).

I also agree it is a great online rpg... who's also missing the most basical features for RPing...

Anyway, you didn't answer the question

isengrimb16_ESO · May 2014

Catflinger wrote: »

isengrimb16_ESO wrote: »

Actually, it is a great time for both ESO and Wildstar to sort out their own fanbases, since, as mentioned above, Blizz is dragging its behind on WoD (and I can just imagine the forums over there).

Completely dead at the moment, a total snorefest.

You're right, though I see a weekend troll just popped up early. You'll see him.

Catflinger · May 2014

isengrimb16_ESO wrote: »

Catflinger wrote: »

isengrimb16_ESO wrote: »

Actually, it is a great time for both ESO and Wildstar to sort out their own fanbases, since, as mentioned above, Blizz is dragging its behind on WoD (and I can just imagine the forums over there).

Completely dead at the moment, a total snorefest.

You're right, though I see a weekend troll just popped up early. You'll see him.

ROFL!

isengrimb16_ESO · May 2014

renaud.moyneb16_ESO wrote: »

isengrimb16_ESO wrote: »

What niche? That's hard to describe, isn't it?
...
I image there's others who, whether they played tabletop or not, would prefer the feel (never mind the look) of ESO over either WoW or W*

I hear you and I see a lot of myself in what you describe (only difference is that when I did quit tabletop RPG I turned into a hardcore gamer).

I also agree it is a great online rpg... who's also missing the most basical features for RPing...

Anyway, you didn't answer the question

I thought I did, I just didn't slap any labels around. ie - former tabletop story-game players, and people who like feeling like a character in a story as opposed to a toon getting pushed towards some end-goal funnel. I know of no name for that, and it would probably include a rather diverse lot in the end, anyway, that might include both "casual" and "hardcore" people in computer-gamer terms.

I'm the sort who doesn't give a flip about WoW's heroic raids, but I'm playing ESO in first person, specced into bow, with no add-ons (which, from what I'm hearing, is pretty hard-core around here, lol) - yet I'm having much more fun than I even did in dungeons and LFR in WoW, and I'm certainly enjoying the storytelling and quests better.

It's all in the feels, and that's what makes it hard to explain or pigeonhole.

Axewaffle · May 2014

Khivas_Carrick wrote: »

Honestly Wildstar resembles WoW in space, it really does.

A big part of its hype is that it was made by the vanilla WoW crew, so the people who reminisce of the good times that vanilla WoW provided, and how it revolutionized the industry and created a multimillion dollar platform (which it did, despite not being the first of its kind), and hope to live that success again with a team who knows what the community demands from their game. However, I also believe that the community has evolved and developed as much as the games have, and it will be interesting to see the results of past successful teams combating the almost impossible standards they themselves have set, with their new game.

renaud.moyneb16_ESO · May 2014

isengrimb16_ESO wrote: »

It's all in the feels, and that's what makes it hard to explain or pigeonhole.

I got ya.

And I think that's exactly the direction ESO should have focus on. a multiplayer immersive RPG...
Not this rushed hybrid of totally different things (massive PvP, MMOlike PvE, immersive RPG).

zeuseason · May 2014

Wildstar is such a terrible game. Anyone who plays it fell into the crap hype and will fall flat on their faces in a matter of weeks. I played it a lot in beta and the game fails to deliver.

If it were released in the year 2000, it'd be a good game, but this is 2014. 14 years of gaming evolution.....lost.

isengrimb16_ESO · May 2014

Well, considering all the people constantly begging for "Vanilla servers" for WoW, we'll see how many of those actually stick with Wildstar for giving them that "old-school WoW" feeling.

Maybe it will work for them - it seemed like it would have a ton of buttons to bind and could be grindy enough for those who equate grind with difficulty.

Might be interesting to see how things shake out by the time WoD gets released.

Edit - in fact, Blizz might even be a little worried about Wildstar, which is why they're going in such a weird direction with WoD.

Alurria · May 2014

I think ESO will do fine in the long run.