Just hit a moment on a new roll and started in Summerset and the story had 2 choices for my level 50, and one choice for the new roll. Then the character pointed to a parallel time line of events that "have not happened".
Seems the Devs are concious of story archs and are trying to path the way forward with a multiverse type formula which to me is really cool.
What I am hoping is that someday they will decide to add the option to play through content in story order
Why would you need an option when you can simply play from the starting zone and move through. When you are dealing with multiverse, like this game does as Oblivion is a completely different verse then the main game world, it even more redundant to think "things are in order" when the game first came out...
I guess I'm blessed with a huge Imagination were I can fill in my own blanks and enjoy one of the greatest mmos ever made. imho:)
The only other mmo that surpasses content wise is BDO.
For me, the level scaling just absolutely ruined the game...I never felt any sense of accomplishment whatsoever.
Same for me.
Level scaling made the game playable to the whales, who are the main source of income for the game - a bunch of "gamers", whose first game is the POS Skyrim,
This made the game brain-dead easy and the noobs love it, because they no longer feel like the incompetent imbeciles they really are.
Also ESO's community is very toxic with a herd mentality. ESO for me is dead.
ESO is on life support at this point, on the indoctrinated fanboys don't see it.
Think someone got offended at "talented Engineers" because this post is so generic and not even remotely close to what ESO is ... xD
This just shows you haven't played ESO. Or you dumped so much money into it that you lie to yourself every day how great the game is, because you don't want to face the reality you wasted money on a garbage game on life support with a toxic community of elitist noobs and staff members that cater to them every step of the way.
ESO became trash and sealed its fate as trash when they released the level scaling update. Before that the game zones had some kind of order, now people who don't know about that play them in random order and wonder why the story is a mess. It's because the development of the game is a mess and the game is at this point without direction.
It will be milked for as long as there are whales to buy mounts and pets and houses, that's the only source of income the game has right now.
Amazing how often people think because they don't like a game anymore it must be crap and no one else could possibly be enjoying it.
Amazing how often people read, but their reading comprehension fails them and they start imagining things that were never said.
I never said nobody can enjoy the game - I said I can't enjoy it for the reasons I listed and this makes it trash since I can no longer play it.
There are still toxic and stupid noob whales who enjoy the game, because it's made so easy that a brick can play it and excel at it.
I'm curious how you read books or study? If you read a Lord of the Rings book and instead of hobbits and rings, you understood something about Detective Noire drama? Or you study about calculus and learn something about blood vessels and tendons instead?
.... on life support with a toxic community of elitist noobs and staff members that cater to them every step of the way.
I just had to laugh at that one. First time I've ever heard noobs being called elitist.
Also, level scaling does not have a single solitary fucking thing to do with the game being easy.
If you were paying attention when you played you would have seen that the own-level difficulty had been nerfed steadily since they did away with veteran ranks and switched to the champion points system. It was already a much, much easier game compared to 2014, long before level scaling.
All that level scaling means is that you always fight own-level mons since below CP 160 you're boosted to that mob level cap.
Games can have own-level difficulty tuned up or tuned down. ESO just chose to make overland and quest content easy in order to make it more accessible. And in that, it's hardly different than any other major theme park MMO - they are all easy for the content everyone does and you have to seek out hard content in mythic mode or whatever others call it.
Hard mode is still there in ESO if you know where to go find it in vet dungeons, arenas, and trials.
As to your "on life support" theme... what drugs are you on?
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
I enjoy the game quite a bit but doubt most will agree with your declaration. I think it more likely that FFXIV would instead be seen so in comparison.
FFXIV imho is way more linear then ESO. ESO you can go anywhere and do the content, FFXIV sticks to the old tradition level based content, which imho is not very Kingly
The freedom of ESO comes with a cost. Yes, you can go anywhere, anywhen. Good luck having a story that makes much in the way of sense without consulting out of game guides as to the proper order of content to have a coherent story.
The majority of theme park MMORPGs are linear and that hasn't been an issue generally. Rather, many players coming to ESO find the lack of structure impairs their enjoyment instead of enhancing it.
This. 100%.
The story makes no sense now, and I don't understand why they refuse to fix it. As a new player who has tried multiple times to get into ESO, it's practically impossible without following an outsourced guide to make sense of the story.
So it boils down to it being an RPG without the Roleplaying. The only thing it is, is an MMO at this point. A time sink. I have no attachment to any character, it just feels like going through the normal MMO motions and that's just a part time job I have no dedication to.
FF14 does this well. So well, in fact, that people just sub to go through the new story bits from time to time.
For something to be fixed it must first be broken. They ability to play where you want in the game when you want regardless of story order is their intended design.
What I am hoping is that someday they will decide to add the option to play through content in story order, selected during character creation. Then both those that want the freedom and those that want story fluidity will both be satisfied without the latter having to bother with external guides to enjoy content in the manner they prefer.
Role-playing is not a MMORPG function. It is entirely player based and driven, whether with others or on your own. If you want that and the character attachment that comes along with you'll have to do it yourself by either finding others to role-play with or playing your character in line with what you feel they would do even if you as the player know that choice is sub-optimal.
Can't you just play the game in the order that makes sense storywise? Why would you need an external system for that?
TLDR: just because someone personally doesn't like how a game is designed or for other made up reasons in their head or personal perceptions doesn't mean many others share any of their concerns.
Complaints about the story order being out of wack are valid, though as it's quite easy to work around I see it as an excuse for those seeking any reason not to play, sort of on par with the "no reverse mouse lock" or similarly minor quibble.
People often make erroneous assumptions about who plays ESO, why they enjoy ESO, what their MMO pedigree is, what others spending habits are, and what type of games they must have enjoyed in the past.
They directly attack people in anger for disagreeing with them, yet seem surprised they might get a response in kind. This often gets them banned from official forums or in game chats which points out to the fact they aren't very good at communicating effectively, or just suck at forum PVP.
In fact, most of the complaints I've read so far I can't relate to in any way as I never experienced them or if I did, they didn't bother me enough to prevent me enjoying the game.
About the combat animation cancelling and weaving mechanics, now there's an issue I can relate to and does probably keep me from returning to ESO, but again, it's me, not the game as other seem to like it and are masters using it.
Is OK, I can accept that I'm made of a bit sterner "stuff" than most and that few others can match me in this regard.
Just don't take away my in game compass, total non starter for me.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Cool, man; nice post and beautiful screens. Sincerely glad you've found a game you love and are enjoying it.
I tried ESO for a hot minute close to launch: I remember the combat system being fairly unique, otherwise it struck me as vanilla for the time. Morrowind is one of my favorite games of all time, so this no doubt colored my experience.
One thing I appreciate about the Elder Scrolls is the voluminous body of lore, and I still enjoy playing ESL.
"The simple is the seal of the true and beauty is the splendor of truth" -Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Authored 139 missions in VendettaOnline and 6 tracks in Distance
TLDR: just because someone personally doesn't like how a game is designed or for other made up reasons in their head or personal perceptions doesn't mean many others share any of their concerns.
Complaints about the story order being out of wack are valid, though as it's quite easy to work around I see it as an excuse for those seeking any reason not to play, sort of on par with the "no reverse mouse lock" or similarly minor quibble.
People often make erroneous assumptions about who plays ESO, why they enjoy ESO, what their MMO pedigree is, what others spending habits are, and what type of games they must have enjoyed in the past.
They directly attack people in anger for disagreeing with them, yet seem surprised they might get a response in kind. This often gets them banned from official forums or in game chats which points out to the fact they aren't very good at communicating effectively, or just suck at forum PVP.
In fact, most of the complaints I've read so far I can't relate to in any way as I never experienced them or if I did, they didn't bother me enough to prevent me enjoying the game.
About the combat animation cancelling and weaving mechanics, now there's an issue I can relate to and does probably keep me from returning to ESO, but again, it's me, not the game as other seem to like it and are masters using it.
Is OK, I can accept that I'm made of a bit sterner "stuff" than most and that few others can match me in this regard.
Just don't take away my in game compass, total non starter for me.
And I can't quite put my finger why I don't like it. Been thinkin about that for some time. But it's 100% a "me thing" and can't be anything else. I do enjoy finding out what that might be though.
100% agree with the OP. They really have a good amount of everything in ESO and they execute it well.
-Open World content -Instancing -Relevant crafting -Tons of dungeons with easy & challenging content -Raids -Personal arenas that can really test your skill -Outfit systems and an insane amount of cosmetic choices -A collection system that can support all of your characters -Unique skill sets that allow you to customize your builds -The ability to save different builds and switch to them quickly -The Antiquities system. I feel like this needed its own category. Very cool. -Both Battlegrounds & Large Scale Wars for PvP.
Probably quite a bit more I haven't mentioned. It's not a perfect game, but they're doing things the right way imo.
100% agree with the OP. They really have a good amount of everything in ESO and they execute it well.
-Open World content -Instancing -Relevant crafting -Tons of dungeons with easy & challenging content -Raids -Personal arenas that can really test your skill -Outfit systems and an insane amount of cosmetic choices -A collection system that can support all of your characters -Unique skill sets that allow you to customize your builds -The ability to save different builds and switch to them quickly -The Antiquities system. I feel like this needed its own category. Very cool. -Both Battlegrounds & Large Scale Wars for PvP.
Probably quite a bit more I haven't mentioned. It's not a perfect game, but they're doing things the right way imo.
What I am hoping is that someday they will decide to add the option to play through content in story order
Why would you need an option when you can simply play from the starting zone and move through. When you are dealing with multiverse, like this game does as Oblivion is a completely different verse then the main game world, it even more redundant to think "things are in order" when the game first came out...
I guess I'm blessed with a huge Imagination were I can fill in my own blanks and enjoy one of the greatest mmos ever made. imho:)
The only other mmo that surpasses content wise is BDO.
Utility.
As things are one must consult a resource outside the game to even know what and when things must be done to play through the content in order. For that to even happen the person must be aware of that this atypical need exists.
Providing an explained selectable option to advance through the story in order allows those that prefer that to do so without that bother. It could also be made in such a way that NPCs aren't constantly trying to get you to pick up quests out of story order.
It doesn't take an especially huge imagination to not care about playing content in order when the game allows you to do otherwise. It's simply not caring. For those that do care the game currently serves them inadequately.
I enjoy the game quite a bit but doubt most will agree with your declaration. I think it more likely that FFXIV would instead be seen so in comparison.
FFXIV imho is way more linear then ESO. ESO you can go anywhere and do the content, FFXIV sticks to the old tradition level based content, which imho is not very Kingly
The freedom of ESO comes with a cost. Yes, you can go anywhere, anywhen. Good luck having a story that makes much in the way of sense without consulting out of game guides as to the proper order of content to have a coherent story.
The majority of theme park MMORPGs are linear and that hasn't been an issue generally. Rather, many players coming to ESO find the lack of structure impairs their enjoyment instead of enhancing it.
This. 100%.
The story makes no sense now, and I don't understand why they refuse to fix it. As a new player who has tried multiple times to get into ESO, it's practically impossible without following an outsourced guide to make sense of the story.
So it boils down to it being an RPG without the Roleplaying. The only thing it is, is an MMO at this point. A time sink. I have no attachment to any character, it just feels like going through the normal MMO motions and that's just a part time job I have no dedication to.
FF14 does this well. So well, in fact, that people just sub to go through the new story bits from time to time.
For something to be fixed it must first be broken. They ability to play where you want in the game when you want regardless of story order is their intended design.
What I am hoping is that someday they will decide to add the option to play through content in story order, selected during character creation. Then both those that want the freedom and those that want story fluidity will both be satisfied without the latter having to bother with external guides to enjoy content in the manner they prefer.
Role-playing is not a MMORPG function. It is entirely player based and driven, whether with others or on your own. If you want that and the character attachment that comes along with you'll have to do it yourself by either finding others to role-play with or playing your character in line with what you feel they would do even if you as the player know that choice is sub-optimal.
Can't you just play the game in the order that makes sense storywise? Why would you need an external system for that?
You can, if you know the proper order so that you can take pains to follow it. The game doesn't present content to you in that order nor is there any in game resource to consult as to what the order should be.
When playing through the tutorial at the conclusion of it you are presented with a chamber full of gates that allow you to start play anywhere along the story including the latest released expansion. Once outside the tutorial the game aggressively presents quests that if taken cause the player to go through content out of story order.
Essentially if you haven't researched what you must do to play content in order and stick to it religiously it's not going to happen as the game actively lures you away from it on a regular basis.
For me, the level scaling just absolutely ruined the game...I never felt any sense of accomplishment whatsoever.
Same for me.
Level scaling made the game playable to the whales, who are the main source of income for the game - a bunch of "gamers", whose first game is the POS Skyrim,
This made the game brain-dead easy and the noobs love it, because they no longer feel like the incompetent imbeciles they really are.
Also ESO's community is very toxic with a herd mentality. ESO for me is dead.
ESO is on life support at this point, on the indoctrinated fanboys don't see it.
Think someone got offended at "talented Engineers" because this post is so generic and not even remotely close to what ESO is ... xD
This just shows you haven't played ESO. Or you dumped so much money into it that you lie to yourself every day how great the game is, because you don't want to face the reality you wasted money on a garbage game on life support with a toxic community of elitist noobs and staff members that cater to them every step of the way.
ESO became trash and sealed its fate as trash when they released the level scaling update. Before that the game zones had some kind of order, now people who don't know about that play them in random order and wonder why the story is a mess. It's because the development of the game is a mess and the game is at this point without direction.
It will be milked for as long as there are whales to buy mounts and pets and houses, that's the only source of income the game has right now.
That ESO doesn't match your preferences doesn't make it a garbage game. There are numerous advantages to not requiring players to go through content in a rigid order that while not ideal from a story perspective are from a game one.
The game has many sources of revenue aside from the cash shop including regular expansion sales and an optional subscription especially beneficial to crafters.
I enjoy the game quite a bit but doubt most will agree with your declaration. I think it more likely that FFXIV would instead be seen so in comparison.
FFXIV imho is way more linear then ESO. ESO you can go anywhere and do the content, FFXIV sticks to the old tradition level based content, which imho is not very Kingly
The freedom of ESO comes with a cost. Yes, you can go anywhere, anywhen. Good luck having a story that makes much in the way of sense without consulting out of game guides as to the proper order of content to have a coherent story.
The majority of theme park MMORPGs are linear and that hasn't been an issue generally. Rather, many players coming to ESO find the lack of structure impairs their enjoyment instead of enhancing it.
This. 100%.
The story makes no sense now, and I don't understand why they refuse to fix it. As a new player who has tried multiple times to get into ESO, it's practically impossible without following an outsourced guide to make sense of the story.
So it boils down to it being an RPG without the Roleplaying. The only thing it is, is an MMO at this point. A time sink. I have no attachment to any character, it just feels like going through the normal MMO motions and that's just a part time job I have no dedication to.
FF14 does this well. So well, in fact, that people just sub to go through the new story bits from time to time.
For something to be fixed it must first be broken. They ability to play where you want in the game when you want regardless of story order is their intended design.
What I am hoping is that someday they will decide to add the option to play through content in story order, selected during character creation. Then both those that want the freedom and those that want story fluidity will both be satisfied without the latter having to bother with external guides to enjoy content in the manner they prefer.
Role-playing is not a MMORPG function. It is entirely player based and driven, whether with others or on your own. If you want that and the character attachment that comes along with you'll have to do it yourself by either finding others to role-play with or playing your character in line with what you feel they would do even if you as the player know that choice is sub-optimal.
Can't you just play the game in the order that makes sense storywise? Why would you need an external system for that?
You can, if you know the proper order so that you can take pains to follow it. The game doesn't present content to you in that order nor is there any in game resource to consult as to what the order should be.
When playing through the tutorial at the conclusion of it you are presented with a chamber full of gates that allow you to start play anywhere along the story including the latest released expansion. Once outside the tutorial the game aggressively presents quests that if taken cause the player to go through content out of story order.
Essentially if you haven't researched what you must do to play content in order and stick to it religiously it's not going to happen as the game actively lures you away from it on a regular basis.
Ok, but you do know this now, go out and play a new alt in the correct order.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Ok, but you do know this now, go out and play a new alt in the correct order.
1st World issue which is easily solved.
Next!
Exactly. And the opposite would be criticized even louder... "the game is on rails!" "I can't play with my friends until I do 1 year's worth of content!"
But I do agree about what @KnightFalz calls aggressive NPCs trying to make you go somewhere else, like Stuka the Stalker and Orsinium... she needs to die.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
All I know is every time I get a character to 50 I make it maybe a week before I'm bored and move on. They just reuse too many of the same basic quest designs for it to be interesting to do new zones just for the sake of completion or story. Once you've seen one zone you've pretty much seen they all. It's like madlibs where you fill in the blank with new names, new places, but mechanically you're doing the exact same stuff as the last zone.
What I am hoping is that someday they will decide to add the option to play through content in story order
Why would you need an option when you can simply play from the starting zone and move through. When you are dealing with multiverse, like this game does as Oblivion is a completely different verse then the main game world, it even more redundant to think "things are in order" when the game first came out...
I guess I'm blessed with a huge Imagination were I can fill in my own blanks and enjoy one of the greatest mmos ever made. imho:)
The only other mmo that surpasses content wise is BDO.
Utility.
As things are one must consult a resource outside the game to even know what and when things must be done to play through the content in order. For that to even happen the person must be aware of that this atypical need exists.
Providing an explained selectable option to advance through the story in order allows those that prefer that to do so without that bother. It could also be made in such a way that NPCs aren't constantly trying to get you to pick up quests out of story order.
It doesn't take an especially huge imagination to not care about playing content in order when the game allows you to do otherwise. It's simply not caring. For those that do care the game currently serves them inadequately.
If you don't know what the order is, how do you know it's out of order ? If the order is not known why does order even matter ?
kind of weird concept to pick "order" as a something that must be. How many times have mmorpg players played anything in order lol, not a lot of times.
In the last 18 years I can't even remember how many time some said in a chat "how do I.." and the reply is "you got to go back and..." xD
I enjoy the game quite a bit but doubt most will agree with your declaration. I think it more likely that FFXIV would instead be seen so in comparison.
FFXIV imho is way more linear then ESO. ESO you can go anywhere and do the content, FFXIV sticks to the old tradition level based content, which imho is not very Kingly
The freedom of ESO comes with a cost. Yes, you can go anywhere, anywhen. Good luck having a story that makes much in the way of sense without consulting out of game guides as to the proper order of content to have a coherent story.
The majority of theme park MMORPGs are linear and that hasn't been an issue generally. Rather, many players coming to ESO find the lack of structure impairs their enjoyment instead of enhancing it.
This. 100%.
The story makes no sense now, and I don't understand why they refuse to fix it. As a new player who has tried multiple times to get into ESO, it's practically impossible without following an outsourced guide to make sense of the story.
So it boils down to it being an RPG without the Roleplaying. The only thing it is, is an MMO at this point. A time sink. I have no attachment to any character, it just feels like going through the normal MMO motions and that's just a part time job I have no dedication to.
FF14 does this well. So well, in fact, that people just sub to go through the new story bits from time to time.
For something to be fixed it must first be broken. They ability to play where you want in the game when you want regardless of story order is their intended design.
What I am hoping is that someday they will decide to add the option to play through content in story order, selected during character creation. Then both those that want the freedom and those that want story fluidity will both be satisfied without the latter having to bother with external guides to enjoy content in the manner they prefer.
Role-playing is not a MMORPG function. It is entirely player based and driven, whether with others or on your own. If you want that and the character attachment that comes along with you'll have to do it yourself by either finding others to role-play with or playing your character in line with what you feel they would do even if you as the player know that choice is sub-optimal.
Can't you just play the game in the order that makes sense storywise? Why would you need an external system for that?
You can, if you know the proper order so that you can take pains to follow it. The game doesn't present content to you in that order nor is there any in game resource to consult as to what the order should be.
When playing through the tutorial at the conclusion of it you are presented with a chamber full of gates that allow you to start play anywhere along the story including the latest released expansion. Once outside the tutorial the game aggressively presents quests that if taken cause the player to go through content out of story order.
Essentially if you haven't researched what you must do to play content in order and stick to it religiously it's not going to happen as the game actively lures you away from it on a regular basis.
Ok, but you do know this now, go out and play a new alt in the correct order.
1st World issue which is easily solved.
Next!
It's not my problem. It's mostly the problem of players newly coming to the game that are used to and expecting linear progression that almost certainly won't know of the process needed to play ESO in a way that provides that.
It then becomes ESO's problem when some of those players quickly drop the game due to what can be a confusing and disconnecting experience without that direction.
Ok, but you do know this now, go out and play a new alt in the correct order.
1st World issue which is easily solved.
Next!
Exactly. And the opposite would be criticized even louder... "the game is on rails!" "I can't play with my friends until I do 1 year's worth of content!"
But I do agree about what @KnightFalz calls aggressive NPCs trying to make you go somewhere else, like Stuka the Stalker and Orsinium... she needs to die.
It doesn't have to be one or the other. It would be optional on a per character basis. There is no need for anyone to criticize what they don't need to do.
What I am hoping is that someday they will decide to add the option to play through content in story order
Why would you need an option when you can simply play from the starting zone and move through. When you are dealing with multiverse, like this game does as Oblivion is a completely different verse then the main game world, it even more redundant to think "things are in order" when the game first came out...
I guess I'm blessed with a huge Imagination were I can fill in my own blanks and enjoy one of the greatest mmos ever made. imho:)
The only other mmo that surpasses content wise is BDO.
Utility.
As things are one must consult a resource outside the game to even know what and when things must be done to play through the content in order. For that to even happen the person must be aware of that this atypical need exists.
Providing an explained selectable option to advance through the story in order allows those that prefer that to do so without that bother. It could also be made in such a way that NPCs aren't constantly trying to get you to pick up quests out of story order.
It doesn't take an especially huge imagination to not care about playing content in order when the game allows you to do otherwise. It's simply not caring. For those that do care the game currently serves them inadequately.
If you don't know what the order is, how do you know it's out of order ? If the order is not known why does order even matter ?
kind of weird concept to pick "order" as a something that must be. How many times have mmorpg players played anything in order lol, not a lot of times.
In the last 18 years I can't even remember how many time some said in a chat "how do I.." and the reply is "you got to go back and..." xD
You'll know when your interaction with NPCs no longer make sense based on the content you've played to up to then which can happen early on.
It's not a weird concept at all. Major story elements are meant to happen in order as earlier events with NPCs provide context for later ones. What's weird is being able to play main events out of sequence in the story and thus out of context.
Weird from a story perspective, that is. If one doesn't care about story, which is the case for some that play MMORPGs, it's not an issue at all. For them it's far better to be free of such ordinal constraints. It still remains an issue for those that do.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I enjoy the game quite a bit but doubt most will agree with your declaration. I think it more likely that FFXIV would instead be seen so in comparison.
FFXIV imho is way more linear then ESO. ESO you can go anywhere and do the content, FFXIV sticks to the old tradition level based content, which imho is not very Kingly
The freedom of ESO comes with a cost. Yes, you can go anywhere, anywhen. Good luck having a story that makes much in the way of sense without consulting out of game guides as to the proper order of content to have a coherent story.
The majority of theme park MMORPGs are linear and that hasn't been an issue generally. Rather, many players coming to ESO find the lack of structure impairs their enjoyment instead of enhancing it.
This. 100%.
The story makes no sense now, and I don't understand why they refuse to fix it. As a new player who has tried multiple times to get into ESO, it's practically impossible without following an outsourced guide to make sense of the story.
So it boils down to it being an RPG without the Roleplaying. The only thing it is, is an MMO at this point. A time sink. I have no attachment to any character, it just feels like going through the normal MMO motions and that's just a part time job I have no dedication to.
FF14 does this well. So well, in fact, that people just sub to go through the new story bits from time to time.
For something to be fixed it must first be broken. They ability to play where you want in the game when you want regardless of story order is their intended design.
What I am hoping is that someday they will decide to add the option to play through content in story order, selected during character creation. Then both those that want the freedom and those that want story fluidity will both be satisfied without the latter having to bother with external guides to enjoy content in the manner they prefer.
Role-playing is not a MMORPG function. It is entirely player based and driven, whether with others or on your own. If you want that and the character attachment that comes along with you'll have to do it yourself by either finding others to role-play with or playing your character in line with what you feel they would do even if you as the player know that choice is sub-optimal.
Can't you just play the game in the order that makes sense storywise? Why would you need an external system for that?
You can, if you know the proper order so that you can take pains to follow it. The game doesn't present content to you in that order nor is there any in game resource to consult as to what the order should be.
When playing through the tutorial at the conclusion of it you are presented with a chamber full of gates that allow you to start play anywhere along the story including the latest released expansion. Once outside the tutorial the game aggressively presents quests that if taken cause the player to go through content out of story order.
Essentially if you haven't researched what you must do to play content in order and stick to it religiously it's not going to happen as the game actively lures you away from it on a regular basis.
They must've changed something. Because back when I tried it(some 3 years ago or so), you could finish Coldharbor and then were put in your racial starter zone and quests made sense as they unfolded. You could also skip Coldharbor part. There weren't any gates or what have you. But it was also either prior to Morrowind DLC or parallel to it.
If they changed anything about this formula, now THAT doesn't make any sense. Because it just confuses new players and why do that? What do they possibly stand to gain from such a thing?
With the introduction of Summerset there's a new starting zone experience. The new starting zone allows you to jump to any of the "Chapters" you own. Think people feel like the Prophet Quest lines is the beginning, The Prophet Quest line now with the leveling as it it is, can be done in less then a day.
Also noticed "Diamond" shaped quest markers are main lines of story per region. It's pretty easy to navigate imho . Triangle are dailies and or filler. Just look for the diamonds
Comments
ESO became trash and sealed its fate as trash when they released the level scaling update. Before that the game zones had some kind of order, now people who don't know about that play them in random order and wonder why the story is a mess. It's because the development of the game is a mess and the game is at this point without direction.
It will be milked for as long as there are whales to buy mounts and pets and houses, that's the only source of income the game has right now.
I never said nobody can enjoy the game - I said I can't enjoy it for the reasons I listed and this makes it trash since I can no longer play it.
There are still toxic and stupid noob whales who enjoy the game, because it's made so easy that a brick can play it and excel at it.
I'm curious how you read books or study? If you read a Lord of the Rings book and instead of hobbits and rings, you understood something about Detective Noire drama? Or you study about calculus and learn something about blood vessels and tendons instead?
Also, level scaling does not have a single solitary fucking thing to do with the game being easy.
If you were paying attention when you played you would have seen that the own-level difficulty had been nerfed steadily since they did away with veteran ranks and switched to the champion points system. It was already a much, much easier game compared to 2014, long before level scaling.
All that level scaling means is that you always fight own-level mons since below CP 160 you're boosted to that mob level cap.
Games can have own-level difficulty tuned up or tuned down. ESO just chose to make overland and quest content easy in order to make it more accessible. And in that, it's hardly different than any other major theme park MMO - they are all easy for the content everyone does and you have to seek out hard content in mythic mode or whatever others call it.
Hard mode is still there in ESO if you know where to go find it in vet dungeons, arenas, and trials.
As to your "on life support" theme... what drugs are you on?
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Complaints about the story order being out of wack are valid, though as it's quite easy to work around I see it as an excuse for those seeking any reason not to play, sort of on par with the "no reverse mouse lock" or similarly minor quibble.
In fact, most of the complaints I've read so far I can't relate to in any way as I never experienced them or if I did, they didn't bother me enough to prevent me enjoying the game.
About the combat animation cancelling and weaving mechanics, now there's an issue I can relate to and does probably keep me from returning to ESO, but again, it's me, not the game as other seem to like it and are masters using it.
Is OK, I can accept that I'm made of a bit sterner "stuff" than most and that few others can match me in this regard.
Just don't take away my in game compass, total non starter for me.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
"The simple is the seal of the true and beauty is the splendor of truth" -Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Authored 139 missions in Vendetta Online and 6 tracks in Distance
-Open World content
-Instancing
-Relevant crafting
-Tons of dungeons with easy & challenging content
-Raids
-Personal arenas that can really test your skill
-Outfit systems and an insane amount of cosmetic choices
-A collection system that can support all of your characters
-Unique skill sets that allow you to customize your builds
-The ability to save different builds and switch to them quickly
-The Antiquities system. I feel like this needed its own category. Very cool.
-Both Battlegrounds & Large Scale Wars for PvP.
Probably quite a bit more I haven't mentioned. It's not a perfect game, but they're doing things the right way imo.
They do have a good many dungeons !
Utility.
As things are one must consult a resource outside the game to even know what and when things must be done to play through the content in order. For that to even happen the person must be aware of that this atypical need exists.
Providing an explained selectable option to advance through the story in order allows those that prefer that to do so without that bother. It could also be made in such a way that NPCs aren't constantly trying to get you to pick up quests out of story order.
It doesn't take an especially huge imagination to not care about playing content in order when the game allows you to do otherwise. It's simply not caring. For those that do care the game currently serves them inadequately.
You can, if you know the proper order so that you can take pains to follow it. The game doesn't present content to you in that order nor is there any in game resource to consult as to what the order should be.
When playing through the tutorial at the conclusion of it you are presented with a chamber full of gates that allow you to start play anywhere along the story including the latest released expansion. Once outside the tutorial the game aggressively presents quests that if taken cause the player to go through content out of story order.
Essentially if you haven't researched what you must do to play content in order and stick to it religiously it's not going to happen as the game actively lures you away from it on a regular basis.
That ESO doesn't match your preferences doesn't make it a garbage game. There are numerous advantages to not requiring players to go through content in a rigid order that while not ideal from a story perspective are from a game one.
The game has many sources of revenue aside from the cash shop including regular expansion sales and an optional subscription especially beneficial to crafters.
1st World issue which is easily solved.
Next!
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
But I do agree about what @KnightFalz calls aggressive NPCs trying to make you go somewhere else, like Stuka the Stalker and Orsinium... she needs to die.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
It then becomes ESO's problem when some of those players quickly drop the game due to what can be a confusing and disconnecting experience without that direction.
It doesn't have to be one or the other. It would be optional on a per character basis. There is no need for anyone to criticize what they don't need to do.
You'll know when your interaction with NPCs no longer make sense based on the content you've played to up to then which can happen early on.
It's not a weird concept at all. Major story elements are meant to happen in order as earlier events with NPCs provide context for later ones. What's weird is being able to play main events out of sequence in the story and thus out of context.
Weird from a story perspective, that is. If one doesn't care about story, which is the case for some that play MMORPGs, it's not an issue at all. For them it's far better to be free of such ordinal constraints. It still remains an issue for those that do.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon