ESO
I have a sordid history with MMOs.
15 years ago my then significant other (now spouse) built me a PC. Yes, he built me a PC early into our relationship. I knew it was destined then.
I had played World of Warcraft back in the vanilla days. But he had bought me Guild Wars: Factions. I. Fucking. Loved. It. It is to this day some of my favorite MMO memories. The strangest part is, I often played alone. I didn't have a guild or friends around me who played as well. But, it didn't matter. Anything I needed to accomplish, I could do on my own.
I eventually went on to buy all the expansions and play through those campaigns as well. I was so immersed in the world and story. If I ever needed to feel connected to the community all I needed to do was park myself in a city hub and just watch the chat scroll. It was a good time to game.
Eventually WoW drew me back in like the heroin that it is. I did go on to play other MMO's as well throughout their heyday. Secret World, Aion, Allods, Requiem: Memento Mori, Tera, Rift, GW2.. This experience is probably a story for another time. I missed a lot of things around me because of MMOs. Frankly I'm lucky I'm still married.
These days I don't game with anyone but my husband when I do any multi-player. In 2017 we both purchased ESO and it's where we comfortably game together today.
We have both been equal parts in love/hate with the game. The world is indeed vast and character options are impressive. There are plenty of cons that I in particular have been forgiving of, despite the non-fixes that have been going on with it for years. Massively long loading screens, incomprehensible crashes, subscription service that locks you out of crafting banking features, etc...
I stepped back from it recently with no idea of when I'll go back to it as my version of the game seems to become unplayable. For a period of time stretching back to November 2021, I could not maintain connectivity to the game. I would crash without rhyme or reason. Logging in, I could crash 10 times within ten minutes, or manage to go an hour and then crash and not be able to get back on. My husband and I live in the same household and he does not experience these connectivity problems. Therefore ISP is not the issue (we've checked). I tried everything to troubleshoot the game. I uninstalled and reinstalled. I ran the repair tool available through the game launcher. Updated video drivers. The works. I did research. I wasn't the only one. And Zenimax, the company behind the game, didn't have answers for those of us experiencing this either. I'd like to say this is the first time this has happened to me with this particular game, but it isn't.
Now ESO releases a lot of content in a year. In 2019 alone they released one complete expansion and 3 DLCs. The expansion will typically include a new zone, with a new class feature of some kind, be it crafting or class related. You have 0 access to this without paying the expac cost of approximately $35 USD. The subsequent DLCs that year will be cheaper but if you are a monthly subscriber ($15 USD) you maintain unlimited access to those DLC's as long as you fork out money. This has consistently been their model since 2017. Amazing that they find a way to make you pay again for a game you already own on a yearly basis. I haven't bought an expansion in years. There's no time to enjoy one before the next one gets released. I simply don't have that kind of time.
Now, all of these expacs/DLCs require game updates. The updates come regardless of whether or not you paid for the content. And I can tell you from personal experience, it breaks major game features every single time. So, I wasn't surprised that I suddenly couldn't play with my friends. It's happened before. Disappointed, sure. All I can do at this point is walk away from it until it somehow fixes itself in a future patch. Others who have stated the same problems on forums have not received suitable responses from devs. There is no solution I've found aside from one person said they solved it by rolling back their Windows updates.
Ugh.
That's not gonna be happening for me.
So, I continue my journey through my bloated backlog. xD
I started Cineris Somnia last week, and I hope to finish it this week so I can move on to another title.
Time to go feed my geckos.