I don't think you can manage addiction. Best advice I could give you is:

It's not an addiction. I just feel I'm wasting too much time overplaying certain content, to the point where it has diminishing returns in terms of gear, money and XP gained. For example I run the pledges every days. I was thinking about having some sort of a weekly schedule for example:
- Mondays: Solo questing
- Tuesday: Undaunted Pledges
- Wednesday: PvP day
- Thursday: flexible day
- Friday: trials
- Saturday: gather surveys and treasure maps
- Sunday: log off day
The only content I want to do every day is the writs, because they are time effective. Is such a schedule workable?

Asardes wrote: »

It's not an addiction. I just feel I'm wasting too much time overplaying certain content

Sounds like an addiction.
psychguides.com/guides/video-game-addiction-symptoms-causes-and-effects/
video-game-addiction.org/

Kinda feel the same to be honest. After all there isn't that much stuff to do apart the occasional trials or a few hours of PvP. I think that by making an actual schedule you're only going to make the game feel more like a chore though. Just log on see what other people are doing, do your writs, do a pledge here and there, run around collecting mats/fishing (with some nice music to relax), see if there's a trial going on, do the occasional vMA run, go into Cyrodiil, farm some Tel Vars, etc. There's a lot of stuff to do, just as long as you aren't just sitting on that rock in Rawl'kha casting AoEs for like 30 min straight, cause that's a real waste of time lol.

Go outside.

No, but really. I do this too but only for a few weeks before I get burnt out. I did nMA for the first time and after beating it I didnt even want to play this game anymore for a long time. Only reason I log on is for dailies and to keep trait researching. Once they're at 27 days apiece Im taking a break.

Just look at it this way. Like a single player game. What are you truly gaining from this? You beat it and it's game over and it's fun but eventually there isn't anything left to do and it's time to move on. Happened to me with Skyrim. Hence why I wont rebuy it or ever play it again. All games end and ESO is no exception

Yeah that is possible. But it dépend on what you prefer in game ie PvE pvp trial dungeon....because you won t be able to do it all.

So the first thing is to set up your priority regarding those different aspect of the game. Then stick to it.

Then you need to think of ways to get the maximum out of your gaming time.
Exemples:

you want to farm flower? Get up before 7 am and farm flower. The 20 mn morning coffee picking flower at this time will equal to an hour at any other moment of the day.

You want to run vma do it late when poeple aren t availlable anymore for group activity.

You want to run pledge , be good, found a good guild run then all 3 in under an hour.( setting up the hour and the group before help).

Take your non gaming free time in the day for theory crafting, setting your priority of gaming of the week to maximise efficiency.

Last but not least... It s the part that is really hard prepare yourself to become what i call casual hardcore^^ Your good , your efficient but you ll be always à bit late compared to poeple that have more time.

I for instance have an around 2 h gaming time average on eso...kinda casual ( comparé to 4-6 H).
Have 3 of my 4 max lvl character( stam dk, stamblade and magdk) that proudly wear the flawless conqueror tittle...kinda hardcore i suppose.
Yet i m still a pvp noob and have run really just a few trial because....there at the bottom line of the priority list.

Hope it give you some idea^^

I work a full time job and I'm pretty tired by the time I get home. I play from 8 p.m. to about 2 a.m. But some days are a lot more tiresome than others. For example yesterday was simply awful. I found only very bad groups to run pledges with. Severely restricting the number of people I'm considering for running pledges to just close acquaintances and guild mates will probably improve my time allocation a lot. Time wasted with scrubs is one of the primary reasons I want to change my gaming strategy. And I'm not even convinced that the continuation of pledge activity is necessary. I have used up all 215 keys earned since One Tamriel went live on Sunday, and I've gotten about 20 usable shoulders. So it's basically 2 full days or running pledges for a good shoulder, and in time the probability increases that's one you already have. It's an example of the diminishing returns the game tends to have.

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I find scheduling necessary for efficient time allocation, because most guilds run various activities on a schedule. For example one of my guilds runs trials on Friday. Also I've noticed that there's a weekly rhythm to the game. In some days there are fewer people online, and those who are are usually very bad. So I will probably avoid doing group activities during those days.

Yes it's doable. I cut my playtime in half since last year, from ~40 hours per week to ~20 hours per week.

I came to the same conclusion as you. I was working 40 hours a week (a stressful job) AND playing 40 hours a week, so I felt tired ALL the time.

On weekdays (~2 hours per day), I will usually do the following:
- Upgrade horse
- Collect hirelings materials
- Consumable crafting writs on all my characters
- Equipment crafting writs (cp90-140 mats) on one of my characters
- Non-DLC veteran pledges on one character OR guild event

On weekends (~5 hours per day), I will add these things:
- Veteran pledges on one or two characters
- Leveling & gearing up new characters

Also I almost never farm or grind because it's boring. I play the game for fun, not for a second job. The corollary of this is that I can't use BOP sets, I have to use only crafted or BOE sets.

Asardes wrote: »

At the moment I'm playing for 5-6 hours a day on average every day, and as much as 10 during the week end. I've kept playing like this almost daily for the last year. I feel I need to reduce my play time because it's very tiring and feels more like a job. I need advice on how to reduce my play time to around 1.5-2H a day, while I keep playing in the most effective way, XP and money wise. Has anyone taken this step?

Get a job. Easiest way to reduce your playtime and gives you something to feed into the expeditious crown items

Junipus wrote: »

Asardes wrote: »

At the moment I'm playing for 5-6 hours a day on average every day, and as much as 10 during the week end. I've kept playing like this almost daily for the last year. I feel I need to reduce my play time because it's very tiring and feels more like a job. I need advice on how to reduce my play time to around 1.5-2H a day, while I keep playing in the most effective way, XP and money wise. Has anyone taken this step?

Get a job. Easiest way to reduce your playtime and gives you something to feed into the expeditious crown items

As I have mentioned above I already have a full time job. I start playing as soon as I arrive home, and only stop late at night, when I go straight to sleep. I sleep ~5 hours a night, but that's a lifetime habit