Senaste recensioner av Wodwo

I've played this game since launch, and have around 3,000 hours on it (about half not on Steam).

The combat can seem clunky when you first begin, but by the time you're at endgame, animation cancelling and weaving to get to the higher tiers of DPS, it is incredibly addicting. The skill ceiling is high and encourages replay-ability to master. Combine that with encounter design that more often relies more on you recognising boss mechanics than pressing a series of buttons in the right order, both the content and combat synergise well to produce engaging gameplay. Many gear sets from years past are still relevant in the "meta" game currently, meaning you don't have to re-grind for new sets every time more content releases.

One of the main things I love about this game is the grind, or lack thereof. To get gear decent enough to do the higher level content is relatively easy, the "sticker book" system ensures that you always get a piece of gear you didn't have before - meaning every run of a dungeon or raid is rewarding. Because the game relies on your knowledge of your class and the encounter, achievements like "hard modes" or "no death runs" are skill-based rather than gear-based. The game becomes less how much time you spend on it grinding various gear or experience levels, and more about simply how good you are at it. As we have gone along, the dungeons and trials they have added to the game have doubled down on the complex mechanics and need for better teamwork - this is the absolute core of the game for me and when I have the most fun, overcoming a shared obstacle with pals.

Since launch, a concerted effort has been made to broaden the number of things you can do in a play session. Dungeons, raiding, large-scale and small-scale PvP, overworld daily quests, a Tales of Tribute card game match and more, if you get bored of one aspect of the game, there are a multitude of others to experience meaning no play session is ever the same. Couple this with solid grouping and guild mechanics, playing with friends is very easy. I have been angling for a crossplay or cross-save feature for some years, and I hope this will come soon. The housing is also expansive, with achievements in gameplay netting you exclusive furnishing items that can turn some houses into museums of their owners.

The story, whilst lauded in many other reviews, I find to be a bit trite. There is rarely room for expression outside of a single dialogue option, making most "speaking encounters" feel like you are clicking through narrated PowerPoint slides. You do have to be choosy about the story quests you accept, I think the main zone quests are never a bad shout, with some notable exceptions. As a TES lore nerd, I still find enjoyment in every storyline, whilst being fully aware of the story "template's" shortcomings. Whilst the story content is generally very easy, there is other solo content such as arenas that are highly challenging and provide excellent rewards, including some best-in-slot weapons. This is another highlight of the game of me - it is not just the fact that you can play by yourself, but also that it is rewarding to do so.

The game receives regular content updates, the dungeon ones being a highlight for me with their intricate and challenging mechanics, although the pace of "game changing" updates, particularly to combat, needs to slow down. As an endgame player, we seem to be in a frustrating cycle of redoing our builds every three months as ZOS endlessly tweaks the game. Yes, this does it keep it fresh, and yes, this is also exhausting. We need an end to such sweeping changes in quick succession.

The store isn't great - I agree with many of the reviews here - however I have been able to ignore for it 3,000 hours and I don't feel it has a significant impact on gameplay (if at all). ESO Plus is basically required for the crafting material storage, and I dislike that the expansion is a separate purchase every year. I have reconciled myself to spend about ~£100 on the game to stay up to date content wise, which gives me a lot of in-game currency to purchase cosmetics, and compared with other hobbies seems not all that expensive in the grand scheme of things. I should also say that I feel that the game does a relatively good job in rewarding you with cosmetics for particularly challenging content. Everyone knows what the "hard to get" mounts are, and when you see someone riding them, you know they have achieved something rather than simply handed their wallet over.

PvP seems to have been fixed on PC NA (finally), however I believe EU is still waiting for their server upgrade. Cyrodiil is epic and basically unique in the genre for the large scale, siege warfare it provides. Battlegrounds are 10-minute or so "quick hits" that are fun in their own way. The Imperial City is a high stakes PvPvE where the currency you earn is given to another player if they defeat you. Certain modes (IC) and classes (Nightblades) can be extremely frustrating to fight against, however overall it's good fun. Playing with a group is pretty much essential unless you are very good.

If I was to recommend a way to start the game, I would buy the base edition and then sub for a month. A sub is only £8.99 GBP, and you'll be getting all the content excluding the present expansion (High Isle). If you don't like it after a month, you're haven't spent too much, but if you're enjoying it you can always upgrade to the latest expansion at a later point.

TL;DR - This is an incredibly vast game with excellent combat and progression mechanics. The store is not as big of an issue as might be suggested on here, and the variety of activities on offer means that you will rarely get bored, particularly if you have a solid group of friends. Try it - it's pretty good.

The story this game tries to tell is interesting, but it is marred by bad combat and even worse general gameplay. The combat is a mash-button-and-pray type set up, that becomes very frustrating when more than one enemy is attacking you; the general gameplay itself is a mix of walking and solving some questionable puzzles that never really seem to fit the theme of the story. I was eager to give this game a try having been drawn in by the story and excellent reviews, but given that the "game" part of this game is substandard at best, cannot give it a positive review.