[Akopian Atrebates]

Edit: Funny I did not notice I posted essentially the same thing twice, but I guess I added a little more information the second time. I suspect I forgot I posted the first time as I have a brain injury and fix things. Caught my eye twice though! Anyway, here is what I said the second time:

I quit ESO a long time ago when they stopped the subscription mode and came back about a year and half ago. As you can see from the post above, I have been playing these games since Ultima Online came out. I have had to deal with bugs and stuff in every single mmorpg, so I guess I expect it. For some reason, some of them are hard to stomp out.

I think that ESO does about as good a job as any other game out there. I am often astonished at the detail and intricacy that I have a feeling that a lot of players do not really appreciate as they race to level, max this or that, etc. I fear they do not ever really enjoy the full experience. Compared to most other games I have played, and I have played most of the them, DAOC, Warhammer, Rift, WoW, EVE, etc. they do alright. Steady stream of new content, an attempt to keep up with emerging imbalances (in all these games as player become wise to the systems they create new and sometimes unforeseen imbalance), decent policing for cheating and serious harassment (not perfect but I have seen them respond many times).

I suspect that it is actually pretty hard to get the combination of programmers and designers who have great skill and have not been enticed by more profitable opportunities than maintaining a game. I also suspect when they are putting these game together, the uncertainty of its initial success and the pressure to produce revenue makes it hard to maintain perfect discipline in documentation, patching, etc. And then there are those who think that a little obscurity in their programming makes them a little more indispensable. An uncertain gaming venture may not have the type of oversight to really prevent that kind of mischief.

To be honest, when I came back to ESO, I was astonished that it was still going as strong as it was. Compared to other games out there, I feel like they are a bit better than most. Since I was looking for a more modern DAOC, this seems to be about as good as it gets at the current time. I am content to enjoy what I have and try my best to overlook dumb things like the occasional person running atop a horse. I have been doing that for years in every single game I ever played.