I know it's important for one's favorite MMOs to look good in community spotlights, but there is no perfect game. Everyone loves something different when it comes to MMOs and will defend whichever MMO pleases them most as the ultimate MMO ever made. I've done it and I'm sure 99% of you have all done it and we will continue to do it until we either stop playing MMOs or we die.
With that being said, I do enjoy ESO more than I enjoy most other MMOs, but it isn't the most fun I've ever had in an MMO. As a few of you have pointed out in this thread. you don't like the combat and I can agree, it's definitely not the best MMO when it comes to that. ESO however does shine in other areas such as openly available content from level 1 and there is a lot of content to be had.
My all time favorite MMO for many years was EQ. That ended after playing SWG and DAoC. Not long after that, I found a new love in LOTRO, which to this day has somehow provided a community unparalleled in the online gaming genre. Then it was ArcheAge which offered a game with so many features outside of combat, that I could login almost every day and do something different than the day before for over 2-3 weeks, BDO being a close second.
Unfortunately, both games suffered from some forms of P2W and were heavily focused in open world PvP that went unchecked when it came to griefing. ArcheAge tried with their Justice system, but it ended up being a circus show mini-game with no real anti griefing measures. BDO's karma system was even more of a joke.
Some of us love cool, cutting edge graphics and animations. Some of us enjoy story rich adventures and questing. Some of us love dungeons, boss mechanics and the gear rewards associated with that. Others may enjoy crafting, gathering, farming, fishing, cooking or mount taming / training.
As for these articles boasting about numbers, I find it brash and distasteful. Not from the writers perspective because most of these articles are supplied from the game company's PR team. I've always said, if your game is good, it's good. When I see a company start boasting numbers like this or like Eve Online's constant focus on so called real world value battles, I can only question the actual "value" of the game and this is what is wrong with the gaming industry.
Technically, ESO should be my kind of game. It has nice graphics, beautiful artstyle, nice stories, interesting combat and a very open character system that's just closed enough I might wish to create alts(hate the entire "you can be everything on one character" design). Oh and I quite like the IP.
What's the problem then? The presence of uncanny valley. There is something off(not ani cancel, that's fine) about combat, quest dialogues aren't instanced(...really?) and the lack of any mention of Molag Bal's invasions in 2E alongside to, personally, weird itemization and guild system just makes it very weird and unenjoyable to play. Concerning guilds, I am utilitarian like that when it comes to relationships, but the game almost forces you into these systems, don't like that. I prefer playing around in the AH.
It's also too open world + always online, but I'm willing to let those slide as long as the game is enjoyable. Which ESO kinda is? Idk, it's so polarizing to me.
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What's the problem then? The presence of uncanny valley. There is something off(not ani cancel, that's fine) about combat, quest dialogues aren't instanced(...really?) and the lack of any mention of Molag Bal's invasions in 2E alongside to, personally, weird itemization and guild system just makes it very weird and unenjoyable to play. Concerning guilds, I am utilitarian like that when it comes to relationships, but the game almost forces you into these systems, don't like that. I prefer playing around in the AH.
It's also too open world + always online, but I'm willing to let those slide as long as the game is enjoyable. Which ESO kinda is? Idk, it's so polarizing to me.
It's not positive for the genre to praise a polished turd because it's not an ordinary turd.