PS5, PS4 MMO The Elder Scrolls Online Reaches Landmark 10th Anniversary

Coincidentally I tried it again last week, saw a tempting sale price. My level 50 character from the launch days was still there, but I had no idea what was going on, so I've started a new one. Feeling a little underwhelmed so far to be honest, maybe it's best not to go back sometimes.

@Balosi In my experience, going back to MMOs or live games in general can be really difficult, especially if you've spent a long time away.

You usually want to start from the beginning again, but the base game content has become so outdated that it doesn't grab you anymore. It's the kind of problem that must be a nightmare for developers.

@ShogunRok I don't play MMOs, but I've seen this sort of problem addressed in Monster Hunter World. When Iceborne released the developers added the Defender/Guardian gear to the start of the base game. They're overpowered and much maligned by fans when new players use them, but theoretically they're supposed to be used to bring returning players up to speed. Interested to hear your thoughts.

@Melee_Ace it's definitely not the difficulty as far as ESO is concerned. If anything I think it may be too easy, although that seems to be a very hot topic among the ESO fanbase judging by forums. They seem to like it that way, apparently the dungeons are where the challenge is.

I started on console played a good chunk. Then eventually spent some time on PC playing it. The harders part of jumping back in and out was there was no way to follow the story from the very start. You could accidentally stumble upon content that was introduced later and characters would talk about events that you hadn't experienced yet in the story.

Similar issue jumping back into The Division 2. The seasonal story content cant be experienced natural since your locked out of all but the last major mission of a given season. I ended up watching a video to catch me up to speed. That eases things a bit but would have loved to experience it through game play rather than a youtube video.

@Balosi I didn't mean the difficulty per se, more so the idea that when you get back into a game that's been expanded you're inclined to play the new stuff right away without having to play catch up. Iceborne's starting level in terms of equipment is much higher than base, so the Defender gear is used to blitz through the main game and avoid having to grind out the "less exciting" main campaign.

I was a day one player and don’t think I’ve missed a day in the past 7 years. I once called this the most boring game I’ve ever played. Now it’s the one constant in my daily gaming routine. Loving every minute! Congrats ESO!

@AldusRavencorn you’re talking ESO and Division 2?! Seems we have a very similar taste in gaming. Sadly, I left Division when they decided to not upgrade to a PS5 version.

@Melee_Ace Stuff like that can definitely help, but especially in MHW's case, the base game's gameplay was still brilliant — Iceborne just added to it.

In something like ESO, the base game's quest design can feel like a real step back compared to what you find in the expansions — and that's just because the base release was developed so long ago.

So I don't think it's quite the same, but I do think you can look at games like MHW and try to apply that kind of logic to MMOs, etc. I know FF14 has tried loads of different ways to ease new players in and get them to the latest expansions, for example. Not sure how effective it is, though!

Given all the blank areas of the world map still to explore, I hope they keep it going for a long time.
Shame that the PS5 version doesn't seem to support proper rumble when picking locks, etc. as it just buzzes and vibrates constantly, but thankfully the PS4 and DS4 combo work absolutely fine.

I played quite a considerable amount of time in this game but the combat is so achingly boring I can't keep going