I’m confused by the eso community. RANT.

Okay so I’m not new to gaming but I am fairly new to eso, relatively speaking. I have many hours in eso, about 1200, and for the most part it’s been a very positive experience. I do fairly well in overworld content, pve and pvp. I’ve min maxed some classes/builds in both solo, pve and pvp. Over all one of the most enjoyable games I’ve played so far, and that’s saying something because I have a few under my belt, I’m 28.

As enjoyable as the game has been, I am genuinely appalled by the general toxicity of endgame content. I’ve played 3 mmo games so far to what I would consider “endgame” so to speak. Meaning all dgs, arenas, pve, solo and group, pvp, pubgs and grp queues, normal/hard mode, you get the picture.

I started playing in early 2023-ish, maybe late 2022. Can’t remember exactly. In that time I’ve put in 1200 hours, so it goes to show how much I’ve been enjoying this game. In my experience the devs are clearly more interested in pve content; ie, balancing endgame, classes, skills, sets, etc. I noticed the pvp community is generally left out of exciting new patches, updates, etc. and I’m not going to lie, in most mmos that I’ve played, that’s par for the course. Unless we’re talking about PvP/PvPvE games in particular, that tends to be the substantially smaller demographic/playbase.

Here’s where my confusion comes into play. Why is the endgame community so hateful? I understand being angry at lazy players, “bots” so to speak, and willfully ignorant players; people who just refuse to learn certain mechanics or carry their weight in areas that they KNOW will not succeed without their contribution. Content that requires them to pitch in their fair share. But EVERYONE?!

I’ve been a part of about 8-10 guilds in eso. I’ve done pve/pvp content with them, randoms and players through the group finder and, my goodness, I’ve never been part of a more short tempered, decisive, and spiteful community at endgame. I know this doesn’t include everyone; veteran players, every endgame/high tier player, but for the most part, these are the areas where out of a game that I’ve put 1200 hours into, most of which was positive, these are the areas that are overwhelmingly negative. Especially in the trials, vet trials in particular, and higher tiers of PvP.

It seems to me that the consensus at endgame is that there is not diversity in player base and/or overall player count in these activities. But the COMMUNITY is what drives this away. I spent the longest time avoiding these activities, and when I did finally join in, I found them to be overall decently balanced, enjoyable, and welcoming. It’s only when I get to the higher percentages that it’s really not worth the time, effort and the mental stress to contribute. Some players are just straight up hateful and rude because you are running one skill, are 5k dps beneath what they dream is acceptable, miss one revive, lose one b/g, run one set they deem to be unacceptable for your class setup, etc.

Why? Why is everyone so angry they lose 1 out of the 10 bgs they play for the night. Why are people so angry a vet trial takes 55 mins to run instead of 45? It seems to me that if you are so pressed about the diminishing community, you would be more welcome and tolerant to newer/learning players.

I realize I may sound naive, I understand I have not put as much time and effort into competitive games or otherwise as many other individuals, but for me games are a reprieve from the everyday monotony, grind, struggle, whatever you may call it. It’s an escape. I don’t want to come home and experience everything I hate from the everyday slog in a fantasy world. All of my friends, everyone that I have invited to play with me has left this game for the most part. They’ll group up with me occasionally to run some low PvP content, normal dgs, trials etc, but when it comes to competitive PvP, I use “competitive” loosely in eso, they won’t touch it because of how much hate or anger they get.

I’m frustrated because this is a game I enjoy so much. Am I just naive? Am I rolling with the wrong groups? Have I just been lucky to not experience this in my other mmos yet? What am I doing wrong?

(P.s. I apologize for the bad grammar/spelling and or misuse of certain words or phrases. I’m first generation American in my family and do not have a complete grasp of the English language/structure.)