Exploring the polarizing and troubled MMORPG journey of The Elder Scrolls Online. Please drop the video a like if you enjoyed it and don't forget to to subscribe so you don't miss the next episode.
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Intro music kindly provided by @Riftley Check them out here: • The Elder Scrolls | Th...
Many thanks to MissFortune11 and Ravensilver for allowing me to show some footage of their epic player houses
Timestamps:
00:00 - 02:28 Intro
02:28 - 13:18 The New Player Experience
13:18 - 19:20 PVP
19:20 - 22:31 A Casual MMO?
22:31 - 28:00 Monetization
28:00 - 30:46 An MMO For You?
30:46 - 31:39 Conclusion
31:39 - 32:43 Outro
#elderscrolls #mmorpg #elderscrollsonline #theelderscrolls
I can't express well enough how much I hate it when a studio puts up a paywall for my bag space.
It is not really the bag space. It is the damn craft bag that is so hard to do without.
@@pklemming its easy to do without craftingbag. You can use bank as craftingbag
@@reigo141 nahhhhhhhh I have around 10k hours in eso. The crafting bag is basically a must have. Bank space only goes up to 200 if I recall correctly. Its probably the scummiest part of the whole game. I'm not saying its impossible, but its definitely not "easy"
@@peggymoexd 240, the only way to get around it is doing sketchy things ZOS don't like. Like guild banks (which I use), extra 500 slots -1 guild slot, I know some people with 2 guild banks for that.
@@kevino.rivera2556 oh true I forgot about guild banks too. I haven’t played since 2019 that’s why I wasn’t sure.
The Monetization is why I left. The Monetization is why I wont come back. Loot Boxes are CANCER.
this game is one of the most greed-filled i've played. i had a 6-month subscription for eso plus, then cancelled it when i was finished playing. they then charged me again, and when i proved to the steam support that i already cancelled it, they refunded me. i was then banned completely from the game, and every support ticket has the same thing copy pasted saying i need to revert the refund or they won't unban me. even after proof they still copy paste the exact same thing, the greed is crazy
The game is trash and geared towards lobotomized consumers
I think the endeavors were put in to get them around certain gaming/gambling laws in certain countries.
An alternate means of getting those items was required by MS when they were bought out.
@@pklemming One thing I love and hate about xb they don't like locking people out. All pre order bonuses on games are also required to be able to be purchased at some point for all games on xbox
We need the adventures of swtor back. This time it will be the apprentice of the powerful Galacticchad
They just added a wooden stick weapon. I can see Mitch having some absurd fun with that
@@andrewtaylor940 Galacticchad had trained him well
The point of this series is to review MMOs he doesn't need to review that MMO again it has not done anything significant and really hasn't done Jack shit in a long time and to be honest it's a shallow piece of crap. Way better games to spend your time on.
It's not a case of if he will return, but when......
@@MitchManix The Galaxy needs him...
Technically the Coldharbour quest is, afaIk, the true start of the game which then sends you to Stros M'Kai. Something I want to mention is that this game is very rewarding if you take your time to do all the zone quests in chronological order. Old characters return for DLC zones and you will be given exclusive dialgoue options if you''ve completed the old quests in the base game. I absolutely love this as it feels incredibly rewarding to have an exclusive quest experience based on your previous adventuring. Reading the lore books in each zone is also great as that gives you more info about the world. My first ES game was Skyrim and I didn't know any lore and was overall confused, but I always wondered what was beyond the borders of Skyrim. Playing ESO made me fall in love with the franchise and gave me an in-depth look and appreciation for the lore. The base game and dlc zones do a great job of immersing you in the lore for the various races and the world, which is great IMO.
You're right about Coldharbour being the true start of the game, Stros M'kai is only the starter zone for the Daggerfall faction though, Khenarthi's Roost the one for Aldmeri players and Ebonheart folks are sent to Bleakrock Isle.
Even doing quests as different races gives you different dialogs sometimes. I wish they'd do this more, like where you can use the Persuade or Intimidate skills, you could be rewarded with a different option (or not) by being a specfic race.
@@whackronomicon That would be cool! I really loved that they added the crafting skill lines in Necrom for dialogue options, IIRC there was some quest where poison was involved, and if you had alchemy at 10 you were given an additional dialogue option.
Yes the lore of Elder Scrolls is definitely one of the best in video game history..
Monetization like this ultimately means the size of the playerbase can only head downward.
You say that, when they still have 26k active on steam alone. and it's way more popular on console. It's not dying anytime soon, especially after 10 years.
@@jayson9999ful They didn't say the game was dying. They said that it has a downward trend. There's a distinct difference there.
@@jayson9999ful I also think that the eso launcher is actually more popular. I see far more people using that one over steam.
@@Pheobus3309thats every game
@@Pheobus3309it’s like saying the sun will set. 🥸 Yes everything goes down overtime nothing is forever it’s the most general time of comment to make ppl feel smart.
Elder Scrolls theme song never gets old
it's the Skyrim theme, to be exact.
@@Kaves253 the same motif has been used in the themes of Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim and ESO.
@@Kaves253 It's the theme from Oblivion and Morrowind too, "to be exact".
Dovakihn Dovakihn Dohohohovakihn!
Sounds like pirates of the Caribbean in the beginning 🤷
The intro to this was amazing! I really love ESO (3000+ hours now) but have to agree the monetisation can be a bit much sometimes. Great video, and very fair review!
didnt they make it so you can earn loot boxes in game?
What only around 3k pfft 😏 Jokes aside this is a great game I have a large investment of time as well and usually use this game as a way to decompress and have fun with the wife when she gets on 😄 Do wish they would stop trying to grab my wallet so much though
@@KaisersGB Oh same! I agree its a great game to play with the other half too though ^^ so much fun!
@@Botix330 No, you earn currency through weekly / daily quests that lets you save up and buy the items in the crate itself. Takes I think about 6 months to get the really really rare mounts in the crates, but then you have to wait for a good mount to be back in the current running crates, so targeting a specific one from a specific crate can take a long time
Yeah, I wanted to buy a really cool house... which was 14k crowns, basically almost 100$, and no ingame gold option... no thanks.
The fact that the game limits your bag space just to buy the sub for infinite space kills me
That's honestly the main reason I don't play it.
Not to mention that 5 professions gives you a bunch of mats each day, trying to push you for the sub.
gringo mentiroso da porra, pode comprar espaço por ouro
@@Kaves253cmon you know you wanna 😂
My first mmorpg is gw2. so not having an option to one click and send all of my materials to materials bank make me appreciate gw2 systems more. Gw 2 also has an auction system where you can list your items wherever you are from. Unlike eso, where i can't sell my materials because no one accepted new players like me into their trader guild. Other than that, eso questing is fun.
If you want a comprehensive, fair and honest review of any game, Mitch is your guy! Love your honesty, and how you thread humour into your analysis. This is a brilliant series, already curious to know which one is next. Also love that you put the time into playing the game, so many don't but feel they can comment after a couple of hours. Just love your channel, you are such a professional, and what really shines through is that you do this because you love producing quality material, rather than chasing the dollar. Awesome content, and you seem like an awesome guy!
100% this :)
It should also be noted that the Guild traders (ESO answer to Auction House) is horrendous! If you want to sell anything you need to be in a guild that owns spots where people might actually buy your stuff and those guilds usually have quotas that mean you aren't going to be using this feature casually. And the fact the AH is basically split up across vendors spread all over the world, you'll be fine if you want to buy readily available crafting mats and the like but if you want something more specific you can end up travelling the length and breadth of Tamriel desperately trying to find someone selling the item that you would have found in minutes with a proper AH system.
I don't understand why they don't do what gw2 did. In gw2, I can easily buy the gear or materials I want, go to black lion trader and collect them. In eso, I apply for multiple trader guilds, I mention I am new who wants to sell materials to free up my bank space and inventory, but none accepted me.
its annoying but they need gold sinks in the game. they charge a lot of gold so a guild can hold a trader. if they added a global guild trader, they would have to add more gold sinks and guild traders wouldnt really matter. the economy and competitive side of trading would be flipped upside down. also i am in 5 guilds, its not hard to join multiple with traders to maximize your profits
@@salinaember9527 I'd take more gold sinks if it meant having a properly useable AH.
Trader location sales are only relevant to some stuff. I only sell high value items. My trading guild has passable locations, but not prime ones. I only sell things for 50k or higher, and they usually go within an hour or two of posting. Pots and the likes, I'd imagine, are super dependent on passing foot traffic, but I sell things mostly through people searching through EU TTC.
@@pklemming That's another part of the problem. People are actually having to go to an outside website to actually find where to buy stuff, which is pretty awful.
when it comes to difficulty, I wish there was something in between. something that is isn't ball-crushingly difficult like Veterans are, but something that still offers more of a challenge than normal dungeons and open world do
Veterans are not hard you suck 😂
Having a hard time really getting into it as a MMO. Mostly been playing it like a single player game, but it did let me be a buff tiger man. I have always wanted to be a buff tiger man.
Dragon's Dogma 2 let's you be a buff tiger man
Join a good guild, type in popular zones that you want to join a guild for new player help, that’s how I really got into eso, mostly the PvP aspect of it
My huge gripe with this MMO are the cool weapon sets (flashy, glowing effects) are all in the crown store. There's no sense of achievement other than slaving hours away for Endeavours to buy some from the store 😭 The one rare event where ZOS gave this a little effort was with the Opal weapon sets associated with the Undaunted event.
as someone who has played games for most of their life i've come to dislike items in games that have tons of glittery particle effects and flashing rgb lights. it is a sign of being easy to milk money out of and having a bad taste.
You can always search how to make gold and trade gold with other players for crowns, it usually goes like 100 gold per crown. So if you want 2000 crowns you’d need to trade someone 200k gold, which is fairly easy to get
@@angrybrit9355For PC players, this ratio can be quite interesting, such as 5000 gold per 1 crown. PC EU player here.
I’m also a British guy and an avid ESO enjoyer, predominantly pvp but I play on the PC NA server. This piece of content you’ve made is excellent and is very true.
Can’t imagine how bad the lag is for you the EU server is in Germany but it still can get bad can’t imagine NA from Europe 🤣
@@kravez16 No lag, but the ping is 160. Which doesn’t mean much, still managed to get my sorc to #1 on greyhost recently, it’s just a gentlemanly handicap 😁
@@dom5975 oh wow fair enough good for you 😂
You know what my biggest problem with this game is? the fact that there is no aus/nz/sea server so anyone from those regions is stuck with 200 ping
God I need a friend like Mitch in my life lol. Thank you for making videos sir. Always brings a smile to my face when I need it most.
To explain why all the portals after the tutorial were locked off, it's not actually all down to not buying expansions. For a first time character you're locked to just your alliance's starting zone, to put you on a more direct starting path. Any future characters will have at least 4 portals enabled with just the base game: all 3 alliance starting zones and Vvardenfell (which is part of the game's first chapter that they added to the base game).
Dude, Im SO glad you used the saga anthem as your intro music!! I loved that so much hearing it.
I am waiting for Galactichad vs the Emperor saga :*
I appreciate the honesty here as someone who has played the game and fallen out with it. The community seems blind to the fact that expansions are extremely barebones compared to the other mmorpg on the market. Compare endwalker to necrom the difference in content is staggering
Just wow , i really trying to convince myself that with so many top free to play MMo's , to buy elder scroll but now thx to you i'll not do such an stupid mistake , their monetisation method is just crazy !! I never even heard any MMo that combime all metods together !!
I played Many MMO, Lineage 2 for 12 years, STO for 8 years, SWTOR for 5 years, WOW just until I get to level 20 so I can get a freebie for Hearthstone then I deleted WOW. and many more but so Far Elder Scrolls is the only one I still play.
Try guild wars 2, maybe you like it.
Played the game to max level got bored because all the base content is to easy except some of the group content when you not carried through that is. Also animation canceling is not a skill it a bug that devs don't fix because all the resources are put to cash shop and expansions. Waste you time on the single player games instead with the AI chat mode mod.
0:09 Bro i love your laugh xD i think your laugh in Exanima with the ladder over the head section is the reason i subscribed , the content is secondary lol
The thing is, you don't need to buy every DLC. Not every DLC offers the gear or experience every player wants. So you can use plus to buy the DLC you want/like/need, ignore the ones you don't, and cancel/resub when new content comes out for it. You don't have to pay concurrently and 100% all of the DLC. It's honestly one of the more friendly systems if you aren't mindless about it
Tamriel is home. But this home is corrupted. You forgot to mention that 20k crowns is 140 usd and 90 usd ON SALE and houses are like almost 80 dollars. I quit 2 years ago after update 36. By that point, I spent thousands on the game (im a huge whale for games I like) it just didn't seem like anything was changing for the better. I might return for gold road but idk
A veteran mode for the Main Story has been asked by players for years - ZOS doesn't seem to have any interest in adding it. They’re focus on just adding content primarily aimed to casuals and adding to the cash shop. You made a mistake though, they dropped adding two separate zones a year. Now it’s just one big zone a year added by the Chapter. Edit: could be another sign of this game is basically on maintenance mode.
probably the best eso review I have ever seen. Presented in a funny and informative way. love it. BTW I also need godslayer...
i had played it for a bit but theinv space and payment stuff chased me away, went back to skyrim and made a khajeet named ya'yeet
As someone who has around 10k hours in ESO, I want to add my thoughts: (2014-2016 were hard years don't judge me 😅) When the game launched, it was a mandatory subscription. Once it went Buy to Play, I kept paying for the sub until I stopped playing actively in 2019. Numerous other MMO's demand a subscription, so I just bit the bullet and looked at it that way. The crafting bag is definitely the scummiest part about the game. If you can deal with paying like $15 a month, you have access to everything in the game (with the exception of the most recent expansion I believe?) plus monthly crowns and other rewards. I am not sticking up for the monetization, I'm just saying that in my opinion the best way to fully enjoy the game is to just pay the monthly sub. Although 90% of my time was spent in cyrodiil, I did all endgame content (that was available until 2019 at least) including the vet dungeons and 12 man trials. All the PvE content is super fun, easy or challenging (and REALLY BEAUTIFUL). You could honestly spend thousands of hours just questing. And it totally has that bethesda "vibe" where you can just run in any direction and find random crazy stuff happening or solving mysteries for npc's in the wilderness. The combat was what kept me around that long as well. I'm 32 and been gaming since I was 7, and some of my best gaming memories ever were made in cyrodiil pvp with my guildies. I've played other mmo's but ESO is the one that kept me around. Yes, the monetization is pretty atrocious, but again, I think the best way to enjoy the game is just pay that sub the same way you would if you played FFXIV, because the amount of content available is insane, and the community is made up of some of the nicest people I've met online, who I'm still friends with to this day!
Good to see your channel blowing up, it was inevitable;D
Relatively new player here (Only just got my first 50, CP 56 currently) and around 100 hours total play time. It took me a LONG time to get used to the combat and I hated it at first. But once I got to my first DLC dungeon and had to get SWEATY to perform and not die.... I had one of those It's Always Sunny Frank meme moments... I get it now. It clicked for me, and now I LOVE it.
As much as I wanted to get into this game, the constant paywalls just didn't allow me to. The moment you start having fun you're bound to hit one.
eh its like ad blockers. once you get in a groove and start fine tuning your filter settings, you dont even pay attention to it
What paywalls? All you need is the game and ESO +
@@anacronrealzexactly! FF14 has a very similar monetization system: you need to purchase the game, you also need to buy newly released expansions, and you MUST have a subscription. I’ve played both games, and I love them both. They are completely different experiences and are both very worth your time and money. I’ve played pretty much every big MMO there has been, and I’m just grateful that ESO’s monetization is waaay better than Black Desert‘s 😅
It's hard to ignore them when almost all set pieces you're farming for drop in base game zone, while one or two are in dlc, all the cool mounts are in cash shop only, can't get the master crafter achievement unless you pay(jewelry crafting), super limited house furnishing, having 100+gb game on your disc while only 50gb is accessible, etc... As IndigoFeather said it, you MUST have ESO+ otherwise it won't be a very chill and enjoyable experience. And that's my main problem with it. The base game feels like a glorified demo in a way. If it was f2p or had WoWs entry model (play to certain lvl for free and then decide if you want to sub) I wouldn't mind the dlcs nor the sub benefits (cash shop on the other hand is still arguable). When I purchased ESO+ some time back it didn't feel right, I did it cause I was forced to and not out of my pleasure. And that's why I can't and won't support this monetisation model.
@@davidg5077 I understand your point of view and it’s valid. However, I probably didn’t explain mine correctly. All major MMOs (WoW, FF14) require you to buy the game, expansion packs, and a subscription. I treat ESO just like any other MMO that requires a subscription. But in this case, I also get free crowns to spend. I save them up and buy something cool, feels quite rewarding, but maybe that’s just me. Again, I totally understand your point of view. There are different players, and we all enjoy different things. I just think that ESO’s monetization model is comparable with other games in the genre, which should not deter players from trying it out, because it’s an amazing game and quite a unique experience. I say, if you’re not sure, wait until it’s on sale and try it out.
FYI the tutorial is designed so that you can get a full suit of light, medium, and heavy armor, as well as all the weapon types, along with all the associated skills lines for weapons and armor. Skipping that and leaving empty slots means you're not leveling up those other skill lines.
🤓
The monetisation of this game is absolutely vile.... and people actually defend it! So wild.
Well tbh, I prefer it mostly because I don't feel like I am forced to sub unlike in FFXIV. I played without sub for ESO just fine for 1 year so I know I will be capable of doing it again. ESO does have issues with crown pricings on store. It's all over the place, biggest nonsense are customized actions prices. And don't get me on 2k crowns for costumes.
@@cracmar03 If you don't feel like you're forced to sub then you're probably not a core player. Anyone who takes the game remotely seriously knows how much of a disadvantage not having ESO+ is to the point where it really IS practically a must have, they've just fooled you into thinking it's optional. And any new player HAS to sub for the dlc at some point in their player life cycle OR pay a ridiculous amount of money to access it anyway. ZOS are extremely good (or not) at disguising their greedy practices as player friendly. EVERYTHING they do has money behind it and before you say 'well they're a company'..... the other optional strategy to increase gains is by making an incredible game that MAKES people WANT to play, but instead their milking hands spend more time shoving crown items in your face than actually improving the game.
as someone who plays almost every MMO known to man, youre wrong. not that ZMO shouldnt do better, they should. but it is completely possible to buy the collection (base game plus all expacs) for a whopping 15 dollars and pick up some crowns on discount during one of MANY sales they do. then buy the DLC when the DLC goes on sale, so that you end up paying 75% less when all is said and done. I know this is possible, because thats what I did. if you are pissed that you cant play ESO like a FT MMO without a sub, then thats on you and your expectations.
@@fu102 And here we are everyone! Another defender of the vile corporate greed that I originally posted about. Thank you for being such a perfect stereotype. Get help.
@@fu102 P.s you think DLC access is the only benefit of eso+?? Are you dumb? That's one of MANY benefits of the subscription that make the game more inconvenient if you don't buy it.
Yeesh that monetization... Makes me want to go buy an outfit or something in gw2 just to reward them for not being quite THAT greedy (not that they're perfect, but definitely the best I've experienced on the monetization front)
Yeah, GW2 is mostly cosmetic stuff, ESO just makes some gameplay aspects worse to sell you the solution, when he's showing the ESO Plus benefits, the last line says "Costume Dyeing" like, for real? unless i'm misinterpreting, just dyeing a costume is a premium feature?? It's so dumb. I feel like the closest thing GW2 has to "trash monetization" is the whole build template system, even then that's only going to nag you when you reach end game, and only if you want to specialize in all classes and things like that, so not that big of a deal for a lot of people.
@@brandonuzumaki yeah i agree... Most of the build template, equipment template, etc stuff isn't overly necessary either... More of just a convenience, one which lots of players won't ever really need. I'd say probably the only one that bugs me to some degree is inventory space and buying bag slots being by character... But even that they've drastically improved over the years. Can't complain much when they move in the direction of improvement instead of heavier monetization like competitors.
@@brandonuzumaki To clarify on the costume dyeing front; you can fully dye and customise your outfits which are sets of different armour types that you can mix and match to really make it your own but aside from that there are costumes which are equippable from the collections menu and are entire outfits unto themselves like a jester costume, a fancy dress or the outfit worn by mannimarco. These costumes can still be dyed by using dye sets which are consumables containing 3 colours that it applies to your equipped costume. The plus benefit allows you to dye each element of a costume individually like you would an outfit, it's dumb that it's behind a paywall but frankly it's such a minor thing.
@@Ilzhain Oh i see, minor cosmetic stuff then, now that you said how it works it does look like they just wanted an "extra" perk for the sub and just slapped this one there lol.
@@brandonuzumaki GW2 is WAY closer to ESO monetization than GW2 apologists like to admit....
I Stopped playing ESO about 5-6 years ago, i was Quite Addicted to it. Fun video, but i don't need This time Vampire in my life again XD
Well said that's all of these big MMOs are city of heroes homecoming is free though and no micros way more worth playing.
Love the way that you put all the elements together. As someone that has played TES games since Arena and ESO since launch, off and on ( I didn't really like the game pre-One Tamriel ) I appreciate that you've played the game. It erks me to no end to have someone come in and rate a game off of less than 20 hrs played. Monitization... I'm always of two minds about it. In all the years I've played I've bought exactly two, four packs of crates and both were pretty much for the same reason.. I needed the gems to get something I wanted, from the crown store. All but one of my *fancy* mounts was bought with Endeavors, or Gems from 'free' crates ( I can *not* watch a stream with the best of them), the other mount is an Apex from crates I won in a housing contest. Meaning, I can't / don't understand people saying that it's abusive, there is nothing in the Crown Store that is *NEEDED* to play the game at low or high levels. Buy the bright shiny mount or don't, your choice. Buy the Motif in the Crown Store or don't, most can be earned in game . To me the crappiest thing about the Crown Store is the way that things that CAN be earned in game doesn't have a tag saying that it can be earned IN GAME! So new players might not realize that that really cool motif IS earnable in game and spend IRL money on it... THAT I find shitty in the extreme. There is a lot more I could say.. but I won't.
I do agree with the cash shop having questionable items such as, Crown potions/repair kits/food/Soul gems and they should atleast add a disclaimer to those items like. This item or similar item is obtainable through in game vendors. I do disagree with eso+ being not pro consumer. (The only thing not pro consumer is keeping the craftbag behind to that subscription) You get access to all dlc dungeons and zones for 17 bucks for a month and you get the crowns needed to buy 1 of the dlc which you get play as much as you want for the whole month instead of having to pay before playing it. I've been playing this game for 9 years I do not have an active eso+ subscription, but I do get one every time a new dlc dungeon set comes out so I can buy it and stock up the craft bag.
this is a fantastic review, coming from a veteran endgame player of eso. you've done your research and covered and reviewed things many people don't know about.
Bro you're Khajiit voice is on fucking point!
this was an amazingly done dive! all i would've included is the comprehensive housing and outfit system.
Perfectly delivered yet again sir! Absolutely love your videos
The only reason this game is not my main MMO is the combat. I fucking hate swinging wet noodles.
Try the new Arcanist class, they made its attacks feel impactful, way more than any other class. Prob best PVE class in game atm.
I bought the collector's edition of this game at release. It was blatantly obvious this game was created from the ground up with a free-to-play store in mind. You could see it how everything worked out, with the upgrade materials, to the way you fed your pet, that this game was going to get a store at some point. I quit shortly after maxing out my first character and never went back
"I feel all woozy when you're around. I'll ask for your bounty so we can spend more time together." "Hold on, what."
Finally get a chance to watch it 😂😂. Let's go!!!!! Cracking video again man!!!
Great video! I've played this game for around 9.5k hours. I love it to pieces, and I think your points about it are pretty fair. I wish it would take more of a Warframe style approach to monetization, and not lock so much content away behind paywalls. The game would do just as well in sales if they did, as they'd bring in enough people who might actually stick around longer and pay for subscriptions or cosmetics. The open world stuff being easy doesn't bother me too much, as there's just so much of it and so much focus on story that having overwhelmingly difficult overland mobs would just be annoying. With the scaling, there's a weird inverse thing going on where you kind of feel more powerful with time, but the moment you hit CP 160, you're suddenly getting destroyed by everything because you're no longer being scaled and don't have the benefit of max level gear yet. Its a strange experience for sure.
Oh god no, if ESO took the Warframe route, crafting an item would take 12 or 36 hours, and they would entice you to buy a currency to rush the process.
A great video! You missed one part of the monetization system: the intentional inconveniences. Things like becoming a vampire or leveling up mounts are intentionally made much, MUCH harder than they need to be, pushing players even more toward the cash shop. I've been playing ESO for two years and definitely thinking of trying something else for the points you mentioned.
Out of interest which alternatives have you been looking into?
This is nonsense, you can easily become vampire or werewolf by asking other players and you can upgrade mounts every day for half a year to upgrade it fully for very cheap amounts of gold. This guy is a noob.
@@DmitrySabFo Ah yes, the old "log in every day for half a year to be able to play with the big boys" I know the mount isn't required by any stretch but the fact that the mount progress is not at least shared across all your characters has always been bullshit
@@DmitrySabFo "Everyday for half a year" that's asking for A LOT just to get rid of some monetization. In other games that's about 2 full "seasons" of content, all just to get some inventory space and mount speed, it's absurd commitment to something that should've been available from the start.
@@JouleZeath there are others faster alternatives.
And again a very good video. Keep up the great work :)
I've played on and off since beta, fought through pvp, trials, arenas, and a number of the dungeon trifectas. This is a truly fair review.
Bravo Mitch! You pretty much captured how I feel about the game. The biggest pain point to me is the laughable difficulty in open world and questing content.
8:48 - 9:28 This part had me in tears. 😂 Comedy gold.
I have over 1000 hours in ESO, I love the game but my primary #1 issue is that the game has 2 difficulty modes: Extremely easy, or extremely hard. They definitely need more scaling in-between those 2 difficulties. Look at World Of Warcraft for example, ALOT more options in terms of going normal, heroic, mythic, mythic+ etc. Also as you mentioned the open world content definitely needs to be at least slightly more difficult, it's laughably easy right now and very off putting tbh.
I think there's a difference between hardcore challenge modes, like ESO's veteran mode, and natural difficulty in games. Challenging modes are called challenges for a reason. Difficulty is a huge part of that, but there's another layer of mastery that these modes also demand from a player, which is why they're usually played by experienced players. If someone new to the game doesn't like ESO because it's too easy, challenge modes do nothing for them because they're new. If the game isn't any fun to learn to play at all because it's too easy, the whole point of adding challenges for experienced players is kinda moot.
I've ESO back in 2014-2016 and enjoyed my time with the game back in the day. I've also tried to get back into the game a lot of time throughout the years but everytime I log back in, i'm overwhelmed with the new systems they have in the game that it turns me off from trying to play it. Maybe one day i'll try to play the game again but for now, maybe not.
Crown crates are purely cosmetic, and you can get all get all chapter dlc for less than £10 To keep a game alive for a decade, it makes sense to charge for new content, and is a better system than most other MMOs But the craft bag should be free or freely purchasable separate to ESO+
I've been a subscriber since my start, roughly 3 years ago. I would plan my year according to my univeristy schedule, canceling / pausing subscription when I feel like the daily life is getting messier, like midterms or projects. When I return to the game after these breaks, just reactivate subscription. Also, ESO+ members can go to all DLC zones and dungeons, except Chapter zones, without being forced to buy them. This has been a huge plus for me. I would not say that, monetization is p2w in this game. It just takes longer to achieve something. Non subscribed players already have mentioned in the comments, the game is still playable without the crafting bag. Don't let such concepts scare you.
Only reason i quit playing was the end game. It was a struggle staying meta every patch since they nerfed and changed things every patch. I never felt like i made any progress because of this. The gameplay was amazing thought and one of the main reasons i kept playing.
Great video and painful as well since I share a lot of your frustration with the monetization.
The "how many lights" joke was so good I had to rewind twice.
As someone who only recently got into MMOs in the past three years or so I’ve been playing ESO without a subscription for months. I finally caved so I could try out the DLCs but before that I didn’t have much issue with monetization but I think that’s vastly because I tend to ignore the store and just focus on completing quests because I’m used to playing (casually) solo rpgs and just play ESO like one. I don’t think I’ve ever focused much on crafting or professions etc. or fancy gear. Mostly because it all seems a bit overwhelming.So I didn’t mind the base game. But I understand my experience is not most people’s. Especially for people who are far more familiar with MMOs.
Come on man I JUST STARTED making videos on this game man I think personally, as a Skyrim player, you just gotta play ESO in a specific way to really capture the magic. I know people say Zenimax is super greedy, I know people say it's combat is horrible... but as a new player I think it's pretty magical still to experience for the first time in 2024. Maybe the "MMO" part of this "MMORPG" isn't up to snuff (which totally makes sense why people may dislike it) but the "RPG" part I think is one of the best of any MMO I've picked up.
Oh yeah the RPG bit is great ^^
i've been super enjoying your videos on ESO ☺
@@TheSteadyeddieShow Hey thanks :D
Honestly a very fair video :) I love eso for the story , combat is ok if a tad repetitive , and if you buy expansions and keep the sub running (like wow for example) you'll eventually have enough crowns to buy all the dlc's OR the mounts / houses etc from the cash shop (unlike wow) so I personally don't really have a problem with it. Anyway enjoyed the video , and I wonder how the ffxiv video will go (nice little hint at the end xD )
That's the first time I see an ESO review made by someone who played more than 100h. It's crazy how many youtubers just say the game is uninteresting, while you see them spamming light attacks at bosses
I Just waited for this for so long - and i was Not dissapointed. Thanks for delivering this awesome vid!!
as someone with like 25k+ hours across all aspects of the game, i have to say its a pretty solid review. Simple but in depth enough and the criticism is solid. Performance has always, and still is, a struggle. Ever since one tamriel things have been far too easy when it comes specifically to overland content. And zos are terribly, pathetically, shamefully, greedy. They have been doing better, i will give them that, but its not enough. The new chapters have better rewards, more mounts skins etc, but they need to go back and do that across the whole game. Simple things help, like there is no reason a player shouldnt be able to go certain zones and buy a basic mount that is different from the basic horse. And a lot of the harder, or more time consuming, achievements in game have little to no reward. Some have a title which is nice, but they should have more. Zos has this idea that mementos and face paint are good rewards, but most people just dont care about those things. Zos has so many ways to make money. People buy the game, people buy chapters, DLCs, crown crates are a toxic addictive money pit, the crown store itself is a money pit, the furnishing purchase tab in your housing menu is a black hole of money, and on top of that most people who play this game daily buy eso plus. If you're going to spend any money on crowns you might as well just get eso plus. Its the basically the same price as 1500 crowns and you get 1650 crowns with it, on top of everything else. So ya, a lot of people buy it. and even with all that they still find it hard to add in better rewards. If the game wasnt so vast, with such a crazy amount of content, things to do, and stuff to get, people would not overlook this.
Strangely, I really like ESO’s graphical style. It’s got more color than Skyrim and it’s really pretty while not drifting too much into realism. There are also some pretty cool armors that I wouldn’t mind wearing.
Oh may goodness the monetization bit is so spot on! I absolutely adore this game and have spent over 9k hours on it both from my time on the console and PC combined but man does it like to try to keep on taking! I felt the weight of losing well over $400 when I shifted to PC as I have to regrind and build back what I lost. I will not be spending actual money this time and am opting to use a crown dealer to get crown items if I am desperate. Great video as always my friend loved the clever editing and very wholesome ending 😄🍻
Really good video Man, Love it ! I also play ESO really on and off, and well forgot that i have ESO+ so just checked the Crowns i got dusting in the bank and its like 20k :D Woops :D again Thanks for the Great video Mitch :)
Played ESO for 7 years. What made me mad the most are the lack of innovation when it came to mounts. We have 10 types of the same bear model just different colors. Each mount they release is the same model with different colors. Exotic mounts are few and far between and too expensive to even think of aquiring as the most badass mounts can only be brought with crown gems, gems you get from dismantling items you get in lootboxes or from duplicates. If you're lucky you paid 20$ for crown crates and get a meager 20-30 gems. Apex mounds are around 1000 gems. Yea... go figure.
In my old guild the Founder met her husband through it. This Spanish boy joine done day and they hit it off really well. They never spoke to us again, Wherever they are now I hope they found there happiness. We miss you Vixen and Meit.
Yes ! The guards who clearly mistook their job describe for courting ! "I know I am amazing and all, but please pay your bounty, so then we can maybe go on a dinner." My dunmer woman just laughed at that nord and run away. And then there were scaredy guards literally crying "Oh gods no !!! I don't want to die !!!!" while chasing me. And ofc the most nicest redguard guard in Evermore, which made me even feel guilty after I chose to flee.
24:50 I don't think I deserve respect for being poor but thank you, it does make me feel a smidge better
Ahh the questing having a date with an old man in a cave 100 times (with a loading screen making you think your downloading the game again)
Loving this series Mitch!
Honestly, anyone picking up this game for the first time, if you can afford it get eso plus, considering how much content you get, and the freebies every month you are well in “profit” for the cost every month.
I don't hate this game, but I don't especially love it. The movement and combat are mainly what put me off... I'm not sure if there's a mod that would allow for more fluid movement or what, but I feel like it's really janky compared to gw2. The monetization and locking players out of trading posts (unless in a guild that owns the post) is very frustrating too. As a non-sub player, I ended up just camping a character in a quest area that could be easily looted. Then I spent, like, a month where I'd log in, loot a few times, and sell to the Thieves' Guild up to the upper limit, buy a mount upgrade, then log off for the day. Once I maxed the mount space and saved up enough gold to add a few bag and bank upgrades, I finally finished the quest. It was so cheesy, but it felt necessary to be able to play like the cheapskate packrat I am. That said, I do love the quests and environments. So I guess I wouldn't not recommend it.
Spot on. What keeps me from coming back to ESO these days is how stupidly easy 90% of the content is, no risk, no reward. I probably will try the next "Chapter" because of the spellscribing though....
The only purchase option that is cheap for ESO, is buying all the expansions all at once if you're new. If you're a veteran they really don't make it anywhere near as cheap to buy the upgrades. AND they're trade system, once again, is very bad. Even worse than Warframe's with how strange it is to not use a normal MMO Exchange (like Guild Wars 2)
Another Mitch Manix W
On a subject of DLCs and ESO+ - as of now, considering the bundles and collection edition of the game, getting all DLCs in the game is actually cheaper than whole year of ESO+. Just to put "insane amount of money" into perspective :)
If you have a subscription, you get access to all of the DLCs (not including chapters) without needing to purchase them.
You don't have to replace gear very often, but one thing between good and better players is keeping and collecting different sets for different options. Relequens is not the top end set, it's the top end single target set and is doo doo if you have to add switch. Pillar of Nirn is good! There's about 7 single target sets you can use that are all viable depending on how you want to play (One of them you have to keep your Stam below 33% to get the best effect). Then, single target sets are not good for AoE, so you want to get updated AoE sets depending on your content. Then, most group buffs don't stack which is a big deal for healers. You can't both use Spell Power Cure, for instance. So you end up wanting SPC for dungeons and have a variety for trials to make sure you both don't double dip group buffs. Most everything is right, though. I just wanted to point this one out because it's far more complicated than one might thing. If you just get one armor set for everything you really end up hurting yourself over all.
BTW what made me quit for good was archaeology. Awesome in theory, but an iiiinnsaaaaaanneeee chore in practice because they made 90% of it running around looking for sparkling piles of dirt. And then they expect you to do it hours daily for months to get one of those items that are actually worth it.
A fully comprehensive vid as always. ESO looks like it could be fun, but the issues it does have would drive me nuts before long.
the starting area is locked for a new charachter if you make a new one all the portals in halls are open where you can choose where you want to go
My main issue with ESO was the weapon skill lines made most of the classes very samey after a while.
I'm a big WoW player but I tried ESO and really enjoyed it on release. Then I found out they had no end game raids at that point so I quit. Now I will NEVER go back to it because of the disgusting monetisation..what a shame
Oblivion is a fun memory my daughter told me of today. When she was little she played it at first like Barbie dress up. She would wander her character around to the stores and chat with them like she would two dolls "talking" to each other. When she wanted a cool outfit if it was from a scary dungeon she'd ask me to get it, so I'd suit her toon up (she used drawers and closets all over the world to hold things) and plunder the place to get the item. Eventually as she grew she'd adventure herself and of course she'd attack guards and race them out of the town. She's tempted to join me in ESO but between her University studies and intern work her plate is full.
What I particularly despise about the Clown Store are the noob traps like respec scrolls, pots and food - things you can easily get in game. ESO+ is indeed pretty much mandatory, if you want the full experience. The video went into the inventory problem at length already, but access to all DLCs is also a massive factor, especially for advanced players. The base game is usually pretty cheap nowadays, sometimes even free. That is already a lot of game and you can get a good first impression of the systems. My recommendation is: See it as a subscription game, use the Crowns that come with the subscription wisely, i.e. for assistants first and then for other things you really want and can not get in game. Older content usually stays relevant for a long time and many groups are running older raids regularly, so you don't really have to pay for the new chapter each year. However, you might feel a bit left out, if you don't have all the cool new toys, so that is another expense you might want to budget for. ESO is not a cheap game, but the costs are predictable, if you can keep your hands out of the cosmetics cookie jar of the Crown Store.
ESO is a game I always enjoy coming back to from time to time, after having a break. Just to do daily endeavours, steal a lot, or a massive killing spree on my favourite part to do that in the game, while getting rich doing it 🤣
Love the combat/questing/ and exploration. I would play this offline if i could. Not a big fan of their monetization
I promise not to type anything negative. I have thousands of hours in ESO and a few thoughts on your conclusions. First off, and I believe I read a comment saying this: The Coldharbor quest should be done before anything else, and I really wish ZOS would either turn it back into the starting zone (maybe only for new players) or have the hooded woman show up in whatever zone you travel to, not just the first "main" city. The combat system is what it is. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it. It can be an immense amount of fun when you are kiting a world boss, trying to keep your healing up, all the while getting shots in when you can. I do wish you could have some form of a lock on an enemy, though. Zone scaling is another hit or miss. Or, perhaps it's better to call it a double-edged sword. Elder Scrolls has always been about exploration. Exploration is not fun if you can insta-die by a mob you encounter after crossing a bridge. I will agree it makes combat easy, especially on a class like Arcanist which is over-powered to begin with. Monetization you hit pretty spot on. I hate loot boxes, and I hate that all the mounts are locked behind loot crates (except for the coolest months, the Indriks.) Locking the crafting bag behind a 15 dollar a month fee is also annoying. I'd be fine with... let's say a five-dollar a year purchase to have the bag. That said: if you are never going to craft, you can just sell off all the crafting materials you pick up. PVP I won't touch on as I don't do a lot of it. I find more adrenaline in taking on a world boss solo, or delving into a public dungeon to smack around the bosses then I do running around a battleground. Edit: Why did you have to go show Gorne? God, talk about anxiety inducing dungeons.
A Veteran openworld setting would be fun for sure... or why not go even higher and put a new difficulty level on everything, dungeons and openworld... "insane".
I am completely new to the game and to mmorpg in general because I play on Playstation. What I am trying to do is to play the game as a "singleplayer". Doing missions and trying to understand things but I don't want to play pvp. The thing that I have also noticed is that everything on the Store is way to expensive. I thought Fortnite or Call of Duty were expensive on skins but this game is something else.
I just started eso a few days ago the paywall for bag space is a pain but its really not so bad when you buy the base game for 5-15 bucks and try 1 month of eso + it gives you everything to try out :) also the community really is nice and im still not used to it 😅
Also on 230 ping 😂 and somehow still enjoy PvP
I really enjoyed what relatively little of ESO I played but the subscription feeling almost mandatory to really enjoy the game turned me off. Sure the base game is huge, but the craft bag is such a massive help that once you have it, it's hard to get rid of it