it is outdated but not soulless
if you're after quests and atmosphere - its fine
if you're after pvp and hard pve - no, its too late
pvp and pve were always unbalanced (especially pvp), and in last 3 years devs made pve way more easier than before to satisfy casuals who cant press more than 3 buttons, in short:
increased dot duration that made all rotations easy
1 bar build that is tanky, does high dps and have huge heals for 2 targets
crazy sets for all roles
arcanist that destroys everything (still)
subclassing that came out recently which basically did fatality on pvp and pve balancing

and honestly many other problems i.e high prices, greedy crown store, snowflake community and etc.

Originally posted by Mr. Alf:

it is outdated but not soulless
if you're after quests and atmosphere - its fine
if you're after pvp and hard pve - no, its too late
pvp and pve were always unbalanced (especially pvp), and in last 3 years devs made pve way more easier than before to satisfy casuals who cant press more than 3 buttons, in short:
increased dot duration that made all rotations easy
1 bar build that is tanky, does high dps and have huge heals for 2 targets
crazy sets for all roles
arcanist that destroys everything (still)
subclassing that came out recently which basically did fatality on pvp and pve balancing

and honestly many other problems i.e high prices, greedy crown store, snowflake community and etc.

i understand that the game became noob friendly during the time to give the casual or newcomers the pleasure to the game meanwhile it gone through majors shift that veteran players felt it a huge turn off for them as if they put overwhelmed pricey time to master certain skills and stuff related to comptitive , isn't the case !?

Originally posted by 󠀡󠀡:

Originally posted by Mr. Alf:

it is outdated but not soulless
if you're after quests and atmosphere - its fine
if you're after pvp and hard pve - no, its too late
pvp and pve were always unbalanced (especially pvp), and in last 3 years devs made pve way more easier than before to satisfy casuals who cant press more than 3 buttons, in short:
increased dot duration that made all rotations easy
1 bar build that is tanky, does high dps and have huge heals for 2 targets
crazy sets for all roles
arcanist that destroys everything (still)
subclassing that came out recently which basically did fatality on pvp and pve balancing

and honestly many other problems i.e high prices, greedy crown store, snowflake community and etc.

i understand that the game became noob friendly during the time to give the casual or newcomers the pleasure to the game meanwhile it gone through majors shift that veteran players felt it a huge turn off for them as if they put overwhelmed pricey time to master certain skills and stuff related to comptitive , isn't the case !?

its just weird that 3button builds can finish almost entire hardmode content in the game (maybe not hardest trials)
game was kinda hard, you need to do your rotation which was harder, stack with teammates and do all mechs + dodge aoes + etc. Now you just do way more dps and can skip mechs or just finish way faster than before. Tanks were tanky af with good builds and with subclassing you just pick up meta skill lines and idk you're literally invincible now i guess. I could tank many hardmodes / some veteran trials without getting healed by healers while using useful sets/skills for debuffing mobs and buffing my group

as i said, if you wanna do quests then its probably fine, but you will need to buy all expansions which is kinda pricey and you might want eso+ which gives access to all dlcs and QoL craft bag. I dont know anything about story cuz i "never" did quests in this game (i only did quests that gave me access to something, i.e skill line like psijics or antiquity stuff, skill points from dungeons or quest in trial for a reward), but iirc dlc locations also have some story, but probably less important

I don't know if my hours in-game are displayed, have played 'several' tho....
Have a lot of fun exploring and running main quests on solo, mostly.
There are thousands of hours of content, is a huge world.
The learning curve is pretty steep as is so much to know, can be frustrating and a grind.
But that will get way better as you gain understanding and progress.
Don't get pulled into setting up for meta gear grinding and hard content right out of the box, you'll end up missing what the game is about if you spend all your time underground in dungeons.
That will still be there but can wait until you are ready to make the jump.
Give it a test drive while it's free and decide for yourself if the world is for you is best advice.
Cheers

Originally posted by 󠀡󠀡:

So we are in Q3 of 2025 and this game released intially in 2014 , i know it's not the same at all ; i don't know what's this game is even about , i have no idea about MMO games and never played one also never played elder game , and here is my question , is it really worth it to play the game or it's outdated soulless; i'd be glad to hear honest answers fom players that put hundred or thousands of hours on the game

Its to much of a mess in my opinion casual play is something like marvel heroes tahiti server its all free but wipe in a year.

For me, once ZoS implemented subclassing - game dead