We all have our favorite games and why we play them varies even more.
From reading forums and getting a general idea of what the average (meaning the majority) MMORPGs wants, I can tell I am both within the group, but also in one aspect standing with a leg outside it.
When it comes to ESO, I actually dont play the game for same reasons I have played WoW forexample.
Some say ESO is somewhat a singleplayer game, this I would have to say, that compared to WoW, it does in fact feel very soloplayer minded, while it actually does not have to be.
I have raided a bit in ESO, do PvP ever so often, lvled some alts in the company with people at the Dolmens, done worldboss raids, done Imperial city raiding, do dungeons on regular basis, so the dynamic groupplay actually is there.
Yet it still feels very much like a soloplayer game, which I dont mind at all, because its ESO.
What I like about ESO is that players always have a choice, we can do what we want and there is not a wall of "You have to go this path, because we want it so" (Which WoW pretty much has turned into, was not always like that, but now it is. Imo.)
If you want group play its right there, but you have to reach out for it and guilds making group events will have to reach out to you.
The people running guilds in ESO really have to work hard and a lot of them do, so cudos to the personal engagement and initiatives people add to this game. Because for better or worse, the players experience, if they aim for group content, very much rely on them self and the community in the game.
And that is ESO in a nutshell really.
Some of their best features can also be considered some of their worst features.
Like the huge world. The world is so huge and diverse and there is always something new around the next corner. Now I find this an amazing thing, but if I wanted ESO to bring people closer to each other in the open world, Id maybe have chosen smaller maps. But to me the huge maps are amazing, I can understand why some people might be overwhelmed though and find them self very alone, when travelling from one end to the other.
Vanity items, man I love their webstore and viewing all the nice things in there. Best made store ever imo and even though I cant afford half of the stuff in there, just looking at the things is like windowshopping without having to spend money at all.
I love the attention to functionality and display they have done with that one.
Good feature, though I will admit I would not have minded if there were also ingame ways to get some of the same items.
I could name many more things that has this duplicity, like guild vendors versus central AH, I like both, but in ESO the guild vendors really fits in and they work well, of course again imo, because depending on how you travel and treasure hunt from store to store, if people dont like that gameplay, it can easily be considered the worst feature also.
The world is calm to travel in, peacefull, I like that, but after a couple of hours I switch back to WoW, because WoW at least used to have a huge crowd of visible and talkative people everywhere (again not so much these days, but it used to. Among other things phasing destroyed that and well, I guess people just do not log on in same numbers, cause during a day there can be very long quiet sessions) But for many years thats what WoW brought along, a sense of having people around everywhere.
But I really do like the peaceful nature of ESO also.
ESO is more of a living picture, a talented painters creation and we can move our characters in it.
And everything fits together, gear, costumes, weapons, mounts, buildings, landscapes, nothing sticks out as not in place.
So I guess I dont really play ESO for the full fleshed out high populated MMORPG experience that WoW used to be, but rather I play ESO to watch and travel in an amazing piece of art.
And I dont need ESO to be something different, it is its own uniqe piece of work, that I doubt will ever be recreated in any other MMORPG.
Combining it with a more traditionalistic MMORPG, as WoW though, works really well or it used to, cause I lost my place in WoW, Blizz dont want my kind there anymore.
So I am ready for a new MMORPG that is as lively as WoW once was, but Id still combine it with the peaceful world that ESO is.
Anyway, that was a few of my reason to play ESO.
I guess the tltr. would be, I play ESO for the beautiful and uniqe calm experience, not for the buzzing lively noisy MMORPG experience that Id love in a different kind of MMORPG.
But why do you play ESO? Likely you have different reasons.
Comments
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My Review Manifesto
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I can pick a direction and find something to do. I can randomly decide "Meh, bored of the forest, I'll move to another zone". And then I can click on any zone on the map and progress.
The game is very easy and casual friendly and I don't have to theorycraft a build to have fun. Unless I want to do Hard Modes and veteran trials, in which case I do.
If I want to I can be pink-skirt-wearing heavy armour argonian nightbalde who tanks using a restoration staff. I probably won't tank anything more than a Normal dungeon, but I can as long as I equip the Undaunted Inner Fire. And in most other themeparks I can't.
My advice to others who might return----keep your old characters-----start a new one in another realm(to make the game fresh again).
I have found the player base on the NA server to generally be populated with some nice and very helpful people.
PERSONALLY....I'm waiting for Camelot Unchained to begin beta.
Combat on the other hand leaves much to be desired =/ While much alike CW2 or Terra it feels clunky and unresponsive in comparison. And some design decisions unnecessarily limit variety of play stiles like tying active resourse regeneration to weapon type.
Life is Short, Read a Book.
Don't take me wrong, I love the "world" of the Elder Scrolls series like many, played from the first E.S games, Dagger Fall, Arena, Morrowind, Oblivion(had heck of fun on this one.) Skyrim.
But ESO, don't take me wrong, I can look past the Graphics(Fuck me if I didn't with Oblivion...) ESO disapointed me in a lot of aspects, it could have been much more then it is(even after being fixed in a lot of aspects and made better in a lot of others)
To me at this day an age, there's no Excuse the Character models and Armors look horrible as they do(and this is personal opinion, some people love them, others don't, I'm on the side of the group that dislike the graphics of the game.)
UI elements with each patch(addons wise) break constantly, the Addons developers cannot hold a version for more then 2 patches that Zeni/Bethesda break them constantly.
The world doesn't grab me like the other E.S tittles, yes, its amazing in terms of graphics(THE WORLD!) but for some reason it doesn't grab me like Oblivion/Skyrim did.
T:L:D:R - Version for those that don't want to read
ESO needs to improve for me in some aspects for me to return to it.
There are many other features that are awesome in ESO so it is just personal taste choice.
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Joined 2004 - I can't believe I've been a MMORPG.com member for 20 years! Get off my lawn!
Aloha Mr Hand !
My tldr version is that it is a World now.
Content scaling literally saved this game. The freedom to go anywhere is so uplifting instead of the the theme-park rails of most mmo's, pick a direction... GO! I once was lobbing for an AH but i take that back as having them in different locations is brilliant to me now in the immersion factor of exploring.
The freedom within character building, the crafting, the exploring, the voice acting, the shear size of the world and content is staggering thanks to update 12. You can't really classify it as a themepark anymore after update 12 either.
The combat is engaging and different for different builds, my Nightblade a Sword and Board - Archer is very engaging as in having to dodge and move allot very active combat, where my new Sorc Destruction staff is stationary controlling the battle more less with the combat pets but on her Restoration staff with dark magic and healing is more strategic, and again my Templar Dual Wield (not 15 yet) damage dealer, is a toe curling kill or be killed combat, not really played much of my DK yet.
Then i find i do different things with each character as in my NB feels it fits the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild so well that's what i do with that char, then on my Sorc i like to pick a zone and get into the lore for that zone and my original character Nightblade i did the main story and now literally just explore with that one, taking the odd side quest here and there, almost like my scout for what is out there.
Guilds are meaningless and the only reason people join them is so they can do some trading but due to how THAT works its too expensive for most to do it. Also allowing people to join 5 guilds makes it even worse. And also adds to the issues.
Housing DLC was a chance for them to change this and allow people to sell their personal goods from their homes or a trader within the city or area. Even if it were in a localized 'market' it would still give everyone a chance to sell their wares and excess without havign to spam one of the chat channels in places that gets done.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
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Huge world to explore
Very good sandbox-ish character development
Character customization (vanity)
Cyrodil
Housing!!!
And to those below:
Were the eight words in the title too difficult for you to understand? If you're confused between the words "do" and "don't" then...less gaming...more dictionary.
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