Thank you for all of your kindness - discord.gg/nefas To clarify: - Yes we had permission to stream with my name being explicitly mentioned by PainInTheAxe for San Diego. - Yes there are more things / incidents not disclosed in this video. - It was Creative Director Rich Lambert who tapped a CM to talk to me. - Websites not being used will be taken down. esouni.com has the deadline.
I hate that something that should bring joy to your life brought you to shingles. That's nuts. Not just to take someone who was so giving to a game essentially for free to that kind of stress, but to make them actually feel abandoned... I've been playing since one tam and my wife and I used this game as a means to spend quality time when separated by the army. We may have to think about finding another MMO. Again, it's sad to see this happen to you as you have done nothing but bring us - the consumer - to love this game more than we already did. We wish you all the success in your future endeavors and we will be watching.
Thank you for your effort, but corporate shit is always corporate shit, they will make censorship and use any tool in their hands to make profits, soon we will see positive bots atacks to make people think that everything that was done and will be done by company is absolytely right.
Congratulations Nefas! You’ve done so much for the community and game itself. Look forward to seeing your continued variety content. ESO doesn’t deserve a lot of its creators, but I hope it gets better for everyone in the future that continues to play. Here’s to 2025 🥂 Edit- 28:49 WTF WAS THAT!?! never mind. This is done 😂
whats crazy is that they probably dont even understand why thats awful. like many of the things they do both in and outside of the game. yet 99% of the people watching this understand it. its like all the top people at zos are self absorbed and socially awkward.
@@Eso_lags This is something autistic people frequently worry about (how they come across because they aren't good at reading moods/rooms/atmosphere). I'm not autistic myself but my little brother is. What she did screams undiagnosed autism. I cannot fathom that someone like that could act like that and think its normal human social interaction. The diction, the tone, everything was just so *off.* The normal professional thing is "sorry for not announcing it before the event, but we are prohibiting livestreaming. If you received permission from someone on the ESO community team before, that unfortunately has been revoked at this time. Again, we know we should have said something sooner but this decision came about suddenly due to unforeseeable circumstances. Thank you for your understanding. If you have a question about this, please come see me after I get off the stage." I came up with that in 5 seconds before I started writing. That is normal human interaction as an MC at an event.
This game is dead anyways for content creators it's been dead for about 6 years, which makes this so much worse, the ones that stuck to ESO did it out of passion and to watch them get shit on time after time is disgusting. Can stream Roblox and get at least 7x the views.
Man, that San Diego clip was a rough one to watch for sure - I got anxious just from watching it, and I wasn't even there, so I can only imagine how you must have felt at that moment :/ Thanks for all that you've done for the ESO community and for keeping so many valuable resources up and running for everyone all this time. Your many initiatives have massively contributed to the good health and betterment of the ESO community. Though you may feel unappreciated (to put it lightly) by the developers, I do hope you recognize how incredibly helpful your work has been, and that you can find some peace and solace by reflecting on the success of your efforts. I hope that you have a much better time in the future with your new projects and content ideas, and I'm looking forward to continuing to tune in to see what you've cooked up for us. Take it easy 🙏
Keep in mind the actual devs at the bottom don't have much say in what they make. It's mostly the corporate side that's killing the game. They're to money hungry and don't give a damn about there players, content creators or streamers. Zennimax and zos are just little Activision wannabes. Just without the huge player base.
@@limpbriscut6516 true, it was noted by someone on the community team, that it would be the on the ground developers, who acknowledge that difficulty was a constant complaint and brought the topic to studio discussion. Meanwhile the higher-ups ignored that feedback for several years
And how did they destroy a good game? Dude why don’t y’all go play like dnd or something why you guys always bitching about the big boy games go play the kids games and leave the real games to the adults it’s getting old
@ no bc there isn’t anything wrong with it lol 😂 I been playing eso for 11yrs. How about you? 3 yrs?? you people are living in delulu land I love Bethesdas/zenimax games Skyrim is a masterpiece so is Starfield and so is eso. it’s really not my problem if you guys have no taste and is offended by everything they do maybe for ppl who didn’t grow up playing elder scrolls it’s hard for you to understand
Its such a shame because you were always someone who put all their effort into making this game/community great. I remember the early days when we were both just starting to break out in the content space, you reacting to my Vet maelstrom streams when I was trying to get the no death clear, encouraging(and trolling a bit LOL)me to keep going with your community. No matter what you go for and choose to pursue I'm here for you dude. You're like a brother to me and the way they have treated you is unacceptable, you never deserved any of that.
ZOS really does not respect its players/content creators. It's amazing how poorly they treat y'all. And yet there's still people in that community (particularly the Stream Team) who will continue to defend and support it. Where's the integrity from these people?
@@twocatsyelling723 I've known people that I really vibed with and looked at the game with a realistic viewpoint. And then once they got on the stream team, I watched these friends change overnight to become ZOS yes men.
Man, I stepped away from this game a long time ago. But, two names stuck with me that still kept at it. Pain and Nefas. Seeing both not play as much stings a bit. Much love, I hope you both success in your future endeavors, and Nefas don't let their behavior be an example of what the industry is like - its not, many CMs love content creators and would never try to "manipulate" them to control the content, nor call someone out individually in a big group.
Nefas, you’ve been an unwavering pillar of the community for as long as I can remember. You've done more community management than several community managers and have built up this game's community more than any content creator I can think of. It's been several years since I left ESO, largely due to many of the same issues you’ve mentioned in this video. You’re an incredibly strong person for remaining professional through so many negative events. I have no doubt that whatever you choose to do next, you’ll find even greater success.
To me it feels like the only thing those community managers do is, write those patch notes and attend some events. The players and content creators deserve way more love.
11:30 Yeah the zenimax team doesn't care about constructive criticism. I mean, they do. They just don't want to hear it. They want to be told how great their content is, and anyone that doesn't praise them is going to be warned or ousted completely. I got banned from the official forums for constructive criticism. A hard permanent ban, which they called "bait." I reread it several times, and even got people from the community that were active in the forums to give me feedback on my post, and it was not bait. They were just silencing me for being vocal about what I'm passionate about, because they were tired of me being critical of the game. In my opinion, unless much of the team behind the game changes, it's going to continue to stagnate and eventually die. This game is being mismanaged, it's becoming more and more apparent. I would normally never say this, but it's about time to look at the game critically and state what's wrong with it. What's wrong with the game? The management isn't taking the community seriously, doesn't take feedback, and makes changes their community doesn't like then blames the community for not liking what they did. That's toxic. I wish them the best. But they should not be running this game. Because they're running it into the ground.
Absolutely. I haven’t been on the forums for a couple years. The thing they hate the most is not being able to control what is said. On the forums and now clearly the stream team they like to play god and when they can’t they ban you and delete your account. Totalitarians if you will. It’s sad.
Its the toxic positivity which is kinda spread in the industry right now. Another good example is Bislobo. Rich Lambert aka SlashLurk used to drop by in his chat pretty often. As some people know Bis may be one of the most positive streamers out there. No matter how bad the game gets, he always smiles and finds at least one positive thing. However one time he had the audacity to make a slight complain about the game while Rich was in his chat. No insults, no disrespect, no misleading comments. Just a normal disagreement between two men. Rich never came back to his stream and its been year(s) now. That already told me everything I need to know about the kind of devs they have.
I also really don't understand how they don't get it that a freaking MMO lives from people playing it. If you have unsatisfied customers, they will just leave. They won't make any money with ESO in the future if they do it like this. What we need is to listen to players to make ESO into the great game that it could be (or technically already is). If people hear about the bad PR, they won't join ESO. But if they hear that they're listening to their community and their feedback, people will value this game, they will be intrigued and they will play the game. Aaaand, they will pay for the game. It's a shame nowadays that nobody cares for customer's satisfaction anymore, just pressing every penny out of everyone. It's so short-sighted.
It's because they got greedy it's because they got arrogance because it got stupid just because they created one or two great things doesn't mean everything they make is great when you spoil them with the first s*** ton of compliments and praise you f****** destroyed them as a company
If an ESO CM is threatening you about how the "gaming community is small" and threatening that you won't be able to get a streaming deal with some other studio if you don't play ball with her wishes, that's a really good sign that this is how they deal with their own employees internally. Gaslighting and threats. No wonder the game is waning.
@@itssnoopy333 I'm a normal human adult so I actually can't see how the way this guy acts warrants threats against his livelyhood from a Community Manager. If you can't seperate your feeling for someone from your profession maybe you should change your profession?
This community is in shambles since update 35. It was the beginning of the end. Even though most of the people that took issue with it, and left, were raiders it has caused a ripple effect through every aspect of the community. Guild leaders, community leaders, addon creators, people testing things, people wanting to make events, all leaving. Which in turn causes less people to stick around, because an mmo without community is an mmo that does not feel like an mmo. All that combined with zenimaxs hyper focus on a revolving door of super casual/solo focused players, putting vet/long term players on the back burner, and their complete disregard of the pvp community for many years, has created what we have now. I thought the goal was not supposed to be skyrim online, but it seems like over the last few years they've switched their focus to making it just that. And if things done change, which they probably wont, they will have their way. An mmo where most of the players are just the people who come to quest through their yearly storyline is not an mmo at all. All that being said, none of this surprises me about zos. I think most of us who have been here for the last 10 years know how they are. They dont listen, they dont care about the players, the community, or our opinions. They only want "eso fam" type creators/players that bootlick and fall in line. I always thought your criticism of zos was super light, and i figured that was because you didnt want to burn bridges, so its hilarious to hear that they were upset behind the scenes. I've heard from other content creators that they wish they didnt burn their bridge with zos by being critical of them, but the sad thing is none of them were critical enough. Its a rock and a hard place. The biggest take away for me is something ive always known. This companies biggest problem is, and always had been, that they cannot look inward, ever admit they are wrong, listen to the criticism of the players who care so much about eso, and change. That list at the end of the video should be horrifying to zenimax, but they wont care. Its just such a massive L for the community. GG
TLDR: Long story short, ZOS has been this way pre-2020 and hasn't changed. Described is why @ResidentContrarian is never returning to the game's forums, most of my posts have been scrubbed by ZOS but you can still find some nuggets because they can't erase it all. Also my "message" on the wall still stands, I have been told 🤣 I'd say it was in shambles when Zenimax was looking for a buyer. They increased forum moderation to the max with turds like ZOS_ConnorG. After Summerset, the game really went downhill in every aspect: quality, communication, monetization, etc. We went from Summerset where actual devs commented on the forums when you spoke of bugs and gave data about them, like the reflection bug that lowered the performance of the game at any instance a reflection was Z transformed in PTS (like it would cut your frames to 20 from 140). That was also patched before live since the developers actually were ACTIVE in the game's development and bug tracking. After that, no developers spoke anymore. Elsweyr was released with 0 PTS input taken, and then the pendulum balancing that no one really liked. Skyrim released with mythics that were obviously an attempt to test the waters for more P2W mechanics in the future. No one can tell me that they thought Sload's Call was balanced on release and that wasn't P2W. Please. Around that time, my brother asked if ZOS was looking for a buyer because they ramped up forum moderation so much that if you even mentioned that the game had something you didn't like (or gave negative feedback in the PTS section) it was considered "baiting." I stated that mythics shouldn't exist because they were bad for the game since: [1] They were coming out with more power than 5 piece sets, [2] they had more power than a monster helm, [3] with arena weapons and monster helms there were too many variables to balance that would lead to either the mythics that people PAID for being nerfed (and subsequent blowback), or a nerf to everyone's stats to compensate. And that nerf would ruin the game (said it in 2020 and this did come to pass after Oakensoul lmao) The response was a ban for "trolling / baiting - bashing" for even suggesting that ZOS should rethink such a stupid addition to the game that ruined the power balance between players, but even more exposed how unbalanced classes were and ultimately trivialized content even more. When Oakensoul released, I literally quit the game. I saw that one item piece had the power of 5 sets, and 12 bar slots, and even the rarest buffs in the game: major force, major berserk. ZOS said it was for "accessibility" and you can search my final comments on the forums as @ResidentContrarian before being PERMABANNED and threatened with an account ban for opposing ZOS. Or maybe you already know since you are on the forums. Quite frankly, I said that ZOS would have to nerf the mythic, nerf all the buffs in the game, and even nerf crit if they released that set in it's state (that it released on live) and that there was nothing "accessible" about putting an item behind a paywall to compensate for bad design choices in places like Lair of Maarselok and other dungeons with hard DPS checks. The solution, I said , was to actually adjust the dungeons instead of requiring certain gear to make it "accessible" for the masses. Know what ZOS did? ZOS simply banned me with no explanation and didn't even have a comment to post as a reason for the ban. They just said "you know what? silence them". I don't even know who banned me, but when I appealed the ban, these guys literally took my 459th comment made two years prior, that a developer responded to (and wasn't considered bashing-baiting then), and then said that I was bashing-baiting. Wait, it was more sever than that an email an hour later decided, it was "CONSPIRACY." Oh and they took over two weeks to "find a comment" to ban me over. Literally find the fing votes. I just looked at it and laughed. Really that butthurt that someone continuously opposed a change in their game, that they couldn't defend, that they needed the ban hammer? So I posted it on REDDIT on the ESO one and of course, I was attacked by "loyal players" and then banned from the subreddit by a mod that told me to "stop crying" about being banned and my ban was deserved. At that point, ZOS sent me a 7 day ingame suspension and said "this is your final warning, any action that we determine to be in violation on ANY platform will result in permanent termination of your account". So I sent them a message and told them to go screw themselves and that I will speak however I want, whenever I want. That they had no power over me and that I am the one paying them, they are not paying me. I told them that I was actually laughing over the situation because it was so pathetic, and there was nothing they could do because I would keep on laughing. I then told them that in the end, I would be proven right and there was no universe that I would be wrong when the issue was apparent to everyone in the PTS section except others just kept quiet about it or didn't fuss as much. Then I ended it thanking whoever read my message and asked that it be forwarded to someone above Lambert and his ilk. Surprisingly it eventually did make its way there and I was unbanned from the game, but permabanned on the forum and placed on a "FINAL" final warning. At that point I had no desire to play the game, and if I log in it's to bash-bait and earn my final warning properly. EDIT: The comments here by @ResidentContrarian triggered someone enough to "find" the ban 🤣 Who was right tho? forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/605171/oakensoul-is-op-again
@@attinger117 yes it has caused a rippled effect, and the game has been on a downward spiral ever since. mmos need community. u35 stuck a dagger in the back of the community. and zenimax are too self absorbed to understand their failings.
We've always felt and speculated about the toxicity that comes from ZoS towards its playerbase. Seeing it displayed out like this in such a raw and factual way for people to see is so great to see. We've been gaslit for so long about what we have seen with our own eyes for so long.
Good luck with everything you do going forward. Sorry to hear about everything you had to put up with, you handled things much more professionaly than I ever would have especially with the AXE stream scenario. I hope the developers might finally be held accountable for driving away yet another core member of the community and that some changes within Zenimax are made.
Leaving any MMO you've spent years playing is tremendously hard. It's not 'just a game' when you've poured years of your time and efforts into it. It's a piece of you. It's imprinted in your brain. It's engrained in your soul. Now magnify that when you've been more than just a player, but also a conduit between the game, itself, and other players. Now it's more than just having fun, but it becomes a labor of love; with a very heavy emphasis on the "labor" part. Leaving something like that almost feels like crawling away after a bear trap took off one of your legs. I've played many MMOs for decades. I've invested time, money, and a portion of myself into each of them; and I'll continue to do that over and over till I'm no longer here. We, the players, are the ones that breathe life into those worlds. We are the ones that make them 'real' and thriving. The heart, the soul, and the blood that pumps through the circuits. Developers make games but we make those games living and breathing worlds. It's our lives and experiences that make them valuable. Sadly, many developers just view us as paychecks and potential whales for their microtransactions. Even sadder is that it doesn't have to be that way. All it takes is a modicum of effort on their part to make us feel like they 'actually' care about us. I'm not talking about market-speak, or half-hearted elbow rubbing. I mean forming genuine connections and a real sense of back-and-forth with the community. Do all of that, and you'll have a player base that will stay with you till the end. Sorry you had to leave ESO. I feel your pain; although I doubt I'll be able to adequately feel the full weight of what you're experiencing. As I say in the game, "Be well and safe travels."
Sad to see you have gone thru all this, your efforts for the game will not be forgotten and may the future look bright for you! Thanks for everything uve given the community for so many years!
Here’s to 2025, Nefas! I’m so grateful to have been the final guest on the ESOU podcast and to have gotten a foot in the door with your incredible community. This whole TH-cam thing is still very new to me, but without your generosity in giving me a place to call home within the 7E Discord and advice on content creation, I’m certain I would not be in the position I am today. After watching this video it's amazing you stuck with it for so long; but I'm excited to see what's on your menu for 2025!
28:49 is absolutely egregious. I came up with this in 5 seconds while typing it out: "Sorry for not announcing it before the event, but we are prohibiting ALL livestreaming in this space. If you received permission from someone on the ESO community team before, that unfortunately has been revoked at this time. Again, we know we should have said something sooner but this decision came about suddenly due to an unpredictable circumstance. Thank you for your understanding. If you have a question about this, please come see me after I get off the stage." That's literally all she had to say. Her tone instead was derisive and condescending to everyone there, but especially people who assumed (rightly) that they had permission.
THAT SCENE AT THE DJ EVENT IS INSANE - What a poor way to handle that. What on earth is their issue? I hate that i just found this channel. I had no idea there was a content creator for ESO that was not a total shill ignoring the insanity of the devs - i'm here for the future for sure. I've experienced the same stuff from this weird community in small ways too.
I got second hand embarrassment watching that video. Incredible work by Gina and the ESO team. It's quite unbelievable how brazen these people were, to ask him to mind himself because the gaming industry is small after calling him specifically out. They can get bent. Nefas is a better man than I, as I would have absolutely name called and blasted everyone involved if they publicly shamed me like that.
The part where Nefas was called out for IRL streaming is just so intense and wrong. That could have been avoided in so many ways if they just clarify whether or not streaming is allowed on the premises. I can relate to that since I was called out at work too before so I know the feeling, the tension, and for whatever reason my brain will keep replaying that particular scene in my head whenever I couldn't fall asleep… All the best to you moving onwards. You deserve better. We all do.
I’ll have to say that he handled that a lot better than I would’ve in that live broadcast from Gina because I would have some words for her so he’s definitely a better person than me
That’s a power play. Gina could’ve said something to Nefas before getting on stage. It’s obvious she was aware he was streaming ahead of time. She waited to get on the mic before making the public display. At some point she decided, “I’m gonna make an example of him. I’m gonna let everyone know who is in charge.” It’s a bitch move, made by someone trying to flex for whatever reason. Maybe it had something to do with behind the scene stuff. Or maybe she just didn’t like the fact that Nefas is more respected, and listened to, by the ESO community than she is.
@ the thing I don’t get is is he wasn’t even there for ESL so and I know I’m assuming here that he came there on his own dime so when she asked me to turn it off, I would’ve told her no because wasn’t he there on his own in a public place I don’t know I could be wrong. I am assuming some parts here butyou know he wasn’t even there for them.
Its a double edged sword when he did that the way they handled it was very bad but also he signed up for that event and they said beforehand no IRL streaming but ironically enough nefas wasnt the only 1 who did that i remember a few other streamers being sneaky and doing streaming as well only difference was nefas was the only 1 caught
I’d have just sat and said “no, I’m not going to stop, so looks like we’ll be waiting a while.” The di who he was streaming for ought to have stepped in and said “he’s streaming for me, i asked him to as I was told it was fine for me to stream my set. If I can’t stream, I don’t perform.” And walked out.
I have no idea why watching this video was the proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back" for me, but it was. I've spent over $1,000 of my hard earned money on this game over multiple years, and quite possibly substantially more than that. But I'm not spending one more cent on this game, nor will I be spending my money on any future project put out by this terrible team of developers. They're so toxic, they disregard all of our feedback and go with their own terrible vision of the game, and then when we try to reason with them, they gaslight us like we're the ones who are toxic. I'm done with it.
hmm I'm average casual, ESO isn't even my 'main' MMO and I easily spent more than 1k over the yrs. This game is not cheap by any measure. Maybe we should just think for a minute how much money we spent on this game and got the 'ZOS treatment' in return. It's the reason I quit paying for this game in 2024. And my biggest issue is game-breaking bugs that ZOS refused to fix and just want me to deal with it.
28:49 I'm not surprised that Gina Bruno acted the way she did. This seems like a common behavior with ZOS. Rich Lambert never suffered consequences when he allowed his wife to bearded frustrated pvp players on live stream. remember this? th-cam.com/video/oSDxjJ15YII/w-d-xo.htmlsi=XKhzNVkgTM1ow9xL
Wow man…Gina and the rest of the Zenimax team are so cringe and they really don’t understand the player base and it really shows. Sorry for the way you were treated. Thanks for all you have done for the community and looking forward to what you do next!
Gina and the rest of Zenimax was ALWAYS cringe af. I don't know how people didn't notice it before. Zenimax have HUGE problems when it comes to communicating with people, they're very lacklustre in this regard. People not noticing the signs shows that the vast majority of the playerbase have no social skills whatsoever
Honestly, I used to love ESO, but the constant balance changes got ridiculous. As someone who's main was a Sorcerer it got to the point that just about every update I had to redo my build, to the point they made it impossible to play my Sorc at all. At that point I decided to just quit the game. I have since tried getting back into the game, but just as I was starting to get my characters up and running, guess what, they did yet another rebalance, at that point I removed the game and have no intentions anymore of trying again.
We lost a main pillar people. The end is nigh. This is coming from someone who’s been with elder scrolls since childhood. The only thing that will save this game is a total replacement of the teams overseeing eso. They’ve had years to get it right and time and time again they have chosen to ignore the very things they asked of us.
@@simendadaniel8469 regardless he is 100% wrong when he tells others that there is no meta as a statement. Just because there aren’t players telling you what the meta is, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t one.
😂😂😂bro I’m sticking with you forever you’re the 🐐 I can thank eso for one thing and it was finding you. You’re making all the right choices and you’re a good person never doubt yourself man. I’ll be tuning in more often you’re the best.
For those who don't have the addon, as of now: 2k likes, 62 dislikes. We support content creators and frown upon corporate gaming companies acting like snowflakes and mistreating them.
@@Shin0bi_ Yes we would. Back in my childhood we read gaming magazines and watched gaming channels that reviewed games or we watched E3 to see what games came out or we went to our "local" Gamestop and looked at what was there or saw the big posters and preorder deal advertisements positioned around the store. The idea that "content creators" are a necessary part of the gaming "community" is just absolutely untrue unless we want to claim that the majority of gaming's history was a failure or never happened.
@@wowomah6194 "We read gaming magazines and watched gaming channels or we watched E3". Bro, you literally just described watching content creators. All that shit happened when I was a kid too, what exactly are you trying to say?
Around 10:00 when you talk about that phone call, that is a great example of ZoS's community management team(s). When I go to their forums I am constantly walking on eggshells. Their moderation is unreal. I have been suspended for several times, and now I have a ban warning (next strike I'm out) - all for very innocuous and tame stuff that I have reread several times scratching my head trying to figure out how what I typed was in any way offensive or "baiting" or "trolling" or whatever. I hate to use the word "snowflakes" because it feels like such an older internet boomer word at this point and is overused. But it's the perfect word to encapsulate their entire community. They are all delicate snowflakes that you REALLY have to be careful not to offend, even with the slightest negative comment. Their moderation is extreme.
@@naplzt4k - There are a bunch of names on the official forums that stand out as full on ZOS simps but there's always a part of you that thinks "is it just me thinking this ?". From your comment I guess it isn't just me and other people have picked up on those same names as well.
It’s typical zos. They get the community to do the bulk of their work for them, such as play testing (it’s pretty obvious they do little to none of that), advertising, streaming, content creation, etc. Always thought they were, at least, grateful to the community giving basically free labor. But I guess, as is human nature, people start taking things for granted. See the problem is, we care more about the game than they do, which allows them to take advantage, and treat people like shit.
Zenimax/Bethesda infamously do not play test. They have a bot trained to run the first ~1hr or so of their games during development so they test for game crash and that's it
You are so right about zero QA from ZOS. When I was in IT as a project manager with 7 programmers and 14 systems, my team each tested their work, then I tested their work, then it was turned over to the USERS QA with built testing instaructions teams before it was installed. Their only testing appears to be the ESO community testing. I am shocked at the crap that gets installed and has to be fixed. Their retrofit of code FIXES off schedule would disappear in the next release and then it would be fixed again....TRASH progamming integrity.
Thank you for making this video Nefas. Absolutely despicable behavior from Zenimax on numerous accounts, and some really valuable insights for the community here. Best of luck with your future endeavors.
Thank you, Nefas, for all your amazing work over the years! Best of luck on your next adventure. We left the game 2-3 years ago, and it’s disheartening (though not surprising) to see that it has only gotten worse since then.
If you watched at least 5 mins of this video, your attention span is better than that of an ESO employee. Man, the actions of ZOS towards Nefas made me lose a lot of respect in their team.
8:59 I was one of those many raid leads that left your program. Still feel guilty about it. But my god did that update kill any desire to play that shell of a game for me.
Nefas, Zenimax does not deserve you as a representative of their community. You have been nothing but professional and pulling a full time job managing everything. Coming from one day one player to another, thank you for everything you have done for the ESO community.
They are right, people don't talk shit behind their back like they would do in their LoS. The one thing Zeni gets wrong here is: They think people would be more polite when they can hear them.
Holy crap, WTF was that! I actually can't believe what I saw at that meetup, that's fucked up. There's so many better ways they could of handled that. GG for speaking up! You've been a rock for this community over the years and an inspiration for myself and so many others. It's bitter sweet that it happened this way but I'm so glad your moving on to other things that make you happy and enjoy what you love. GG man I'm excited to watch the next things wherever you take us! 🍻
Nice to see Gina doing just as well in her new "senior content creator manager" role as she did the last few years as "community manager" where all she literally did was re-post patch notes and host streams.........
Reading the comments this sentiment seems pretty common but I am finding myself more and more burned out on ESO, and it's not the game itself that's the problem (mostly) I deleted my 9,000 word essay about my gripes with the game. Nobody wants to read all that But while we're here, anyone remember the Anniversary Jubilee to "celebrate the community" with style drops, rewarding players for playing the game? Anyone remember seeing lamentations in zone chat like, "100 world events, no drop"? Just over here feeling like ZOS really respects my time isn't just farming me for my wallet
@@wowomah6194 I'm glad that you didn't struggle with the RNG. I just Googled it to see if I was misremembering and there are posts on Reddit and the ESO forum both saying many people ran 100+ events with no drops I get that the RNG has a role in driving engagement and inflating play time, but that kind of grind doesn't sound like "celebrating the community" through rewards and it doesn't sound like it was very rewarding for those people's time (since the drops weren't guaranteed and drop rates were low)
I feel like a straight up fool for sticking with this game for so long. Devs obviously do not care about players or even making a functional game, it's purely to milk people out of money. Yes, a company is supposed to make money, but most do that by making a good product. These people don't even pretend to care. Thank you for the years of service Nefas, and really proud of you (as much as a stranger can be proud) for standing up for yourself and having self respect. Too bad others in this God awful situation cannot follow your lead. Best of luck to you.
😅😅😅lol sucker 😂😂😂 u should of left in 2020 lol... There were too many videos, too many top players leaving all of y'all was warned for yrs!! ESO was holding a carrot in front of y'all 😂😂😂
DudeI feel you on that all the times that All The Times I've quit and said this game was gonna die. Just to stick around, I finally gave up when I saw what the big player versus player update was this year
They showed their true colors.Good for you on realizing how neglectful and crappy they are to people.I know it took awhile but honestly they have never deserved to have people like you showcase their game or give it any exposure.
They still don't understand their long time player base...of course we're gonna call them out and get upset with poor changes when it's something we've spent 10 years playing. They really need to take our constructive criticism into consideration and accept tbe fact that many of us know the live game better than their combat team will ever understand it
Thank you for all the years of wonderful content and community support. Update 35 put this game on life support and their disregard for the PvP community has finally done it in for me. I’ve easily spent $1000’s and countless hours but no more. Time to move on.
I learned to tank thanks to one of your guides. At first I had no idea what to do in that game and your videos helped me. I also quit the game recently and it's fine. everything has an end. Thank you for everything and I wish you the best.
I remember project Vitality and I was all for that on PS4/PS5. Sad that it died but it did inspire me to build a team for my wife and a bunch of players who were not very experienced in trials. I developed some very amazing friendships because of this movement. They accomplished alot of things including a trifecta. Some went on to other teams in which I'm very proud of them.
"The gaming industry is small" has to be the most disgusting, underhanded crybully excuse/threat I've heard in a while. What a way to guilt trip somebody while simultaneously feeling sorry for themselves. Shame on those CMs, go get your bag in a better space
Welcome to the club buddy. Each year after 2020 was exponential downhill. Pethesda and Zeni wasted so much my trust that ill not looking for new IP or MMO/RPG where those companies are involved. Enough is enough. Enjoy your holidays
jesus the way you were called out was super unprofessional. plus the whole "the gaming industry is small ya know" thinly veiled blackmail, absolutely absurd. good for you to get out of that horrible environment.
It's rough to see such a big name get treated this way. You were one of the first ESO content creators I found what feels like forever ago. Cheers to you taking a path that you think is best for you, that's what we all gotta do at some point in our lives!
I moved on last year when I felt it coming. The moderators and hardcore players were shutting down critical feedback on the forums and you had to bend over backwards to get posts approved. Moved to a newer MMO and refound my love for the genre that I thought I had lost. You really don't realise what you're missing until you move to a new community.
So sad to hear everything you've been through. Really hurts to hear that such an influential figure in the ESO community has been forced to leave and pursue different things. I wish you the best and I will continue to follow you.
หลายเดือนก่อน +82
wise decision. their ai censorship autobanning people for private banter was the last straw for me. wish you the best, Caspar!
@@maggbern And here I am about to uninstall GW2, because the devs have done everything they can to ruin to PvP and WvW gamemodes. Then they do nothing to ban hackers and people that use racial slurs or tell you to harm yourself. You will usually see them still around after a year from reporting them. Then there was the time they made us install spyware with a patch unaware and it had a lot of false positives to ban people. One of my friends was affected and the devs finally apologized after 6 months for the error, so he couldn't play during that time. In other words, it isn't paradise either.
After 8 years they made me change my guild and main toon name and gave me a ban, I was there for the beta and had only positive interactions within the game, it had to have been an AI algorithm update that did that to me. Also the pvp as it was, It was a rare day I could enjoy the gameplay.
This is heartbreaking, this game could've been so good. You were a pillar, and losing you is a huge L. Still, I am not surprised to seeing Zeni still fucking stuff up.
ESO has been going downhill for so long that, sadly, I'm not surprised they treated you like this. Personally, I stopped playing a month ago due to the obvious performance issues and ZOS's lack of communication and willingness to fix things. This is such a bad look for them. As for Gina, I would have gone absolutely insane. Not only did you handle that situation well, but you should have 100% gone for her job. That was absolutely the most unprofessional and spiteful thing I have ever seen. I can't wait for the copy-pasta from the PR team about this.
Do you really think going for her job really would've worked? They are all in this together. I'm pretty sure Gina didn’t do that by her own decision. They all banded up together and Gina was the one to blow the horn.
Downhill?!?! In which ways? All I see are improvements. WTF. Sounds like you just need to move on because you aren't enjoying the game. Not sure where you expectations are coming from but they don't sound on something solid, they sound like you're just burned out. Go do something you enjoy.
@wowomah6194 I left over a month ago. Honestly seeing so many people choke on zos D Even after seeing countless pieces of evidence they are a shitty company (pretty sure the trans employee vid is still out there) is hilarious. Keep holding onto dead content and spending money on reskinned fake furniture :)
Thanks for everything you've done for the community, Nefas. It's good to see everyone is feeling the same about ZOS and ESO-- I gave up on ESO when the identity that I had cultivated over years was wiped out by an automated system, permanently banning me for having the UserID of @Cloudrest, and my character named after the various sets from the Cloudrest trial. I'm still thankful for the videos that you, Malcom, Sawman, etc made bringing attention to the situation. Even after being unbanned, I couldn't get rid of a bad taste in my mouth. The enjoyment wasn't there, anymore. Pile that ontop of the abuse from the CS team, U35, the fact that every single patch seems to make balance worse-- not better, and it's impossible to keep supporting the game. I couldn't even enjoy my favorite class anymore after the rather unpopular changes to Templar they pushed through despite community feedback, and Cyrodiil is as worse as ever. The "PvP content" they've released and are releasing is a joke. I seriously doubt they even play their own game-- the lead combat designer doesn't even understand how combat works. I don't know if there's a bigger case for mismanagement in an MMO than there is with ESO, but the fact that the game is hemorrhaging players & support platforms is extremely telling. Much happier after having gotten over my sunk cost fallacy and moved to other games.
Elder Scrolls Online was set to sunset in early 2020, but COVID actually saved the game. After the COVID spike it was still set to sunset, until Microsoft bought them. Which - btw, ESO was the reason the acquisition was held up. Their predatory microtransactions had to change. Including their lootbox system. This was actually a job posting to help them resolve the issues to finish the merge. (Def: Sunset = skeleton crew the game - downsizing the content to come out, moving the team to another in production game. NOT SHUTTING DOWN) I'm glad you're opening up, and being honest about it. While the industry is small, I've burned bridges and moved to bigger companies before, many have. ZOS is a small company in an industry, while Bethesda is a little larger. Bethesda was my dream company however, many others including myself have been ghosted mid-interview processes by this company. Leaving a sour taste in our mouths. It was extremely unprofessional of them. Many ex-devs I personally know and have worked with have all said the same thing. Everything they talked about fell on deaf years, and the leadership hated any constructive criticism. The industry is small, but a CM saying what they said is extremely unprofessional. They had no write to try and manipulate you to "control" what content you could and could not post. Much love, man. Many of quit the game after putting in a lot of hours into trying to convince ZOS that a change was bad, and we were very professional about our approach, being constructive and not attacking - but that always fell on deaf years, it felt like they couldn't admit a mistake. Many key programmers for the game (even a key combat programmer) quit due this and the team structure. Keep doing what you want to do, and make content for what you want to do. Its your channel, your life. Don't let this bump stop you.
You helped me when I was at one of my lowest points… I want you to know that you and Becka will always be in my heart for ALL you have done. Your authenticity, stories, and laughs. You know where to find me! Also, yes, will deffo come visit!
Thanks for sharing nefas! I’ve also stepped away from eso but more due to the lack of enjoyment in the game rather than the people in the company. I’m sorry this was your reality but I’m glad you’re able to share this now Also, It was super fun meeting you at twitchcon!
It was a pleasure meeting you in Vegas for the ESO meetup. As a former raid lead in Vitality project you always handled yourself very professionally both in game and in person. Thanks for everything and good luck in future endeavors.
Can we all agree that ESO just needs to go away and be that old friend that we watched make bad decisions after trying so hard to help them through their rough spots but they always seemed to turn around and just throw it back in our face? I hope you the absolute best Nefas. This breakdown of everything you’ve went through made me feel overwhelmed. I can’t imagine how emotionally exhausted you must feel after all this time. Super happy for you. ZOS has lost their privilege of having loyal streamers.
After listening to this video I can’t blame you for not having anything more to do with ESO content and the Devs , so sorry you had to go through this, but a big thank you for all you have done for us as a ESO community . I wish you all the very best for the future. Health ,wealth and happiness for the new year
I've played ESO for like...7 years. Even tried to stick around after Update 35. But as I actually started to pay attention I just went wow, ZOS, the community managers, devs, etc. they just don't care. After the bulk of my gameplay was doing raids, and then I started to not care about events, I knew that I was done with it. Now I've been playing FF14 for less than a year and hoping it's (in terms of community managers, devs and etc) not like ESO. Also about those Vtubers... I'm a Vtuber (not on this account lol) but if I went to a place that had a load of cameras everywhere then I would expect that someone somewhere was going to catch me on camera and if I didn't want that then I...wouldn't have gone to the event lmao or paid someone else to carry me around. They're the insufferable ones that give Vtubing a bad name.
I stopped playing about 6 months ago, and that was only a short stint after previously taking about a year break from the game. As a former guild/raid lead for multiple guilds, and someone with thousands of hours spent in ESO across multiple platforms I can honestly say that by seeing the way you were treated by ZoS makes permanently leaving this game a much easier decision. Let's be real, the game is dying, and has been for awhile now. It's been broken promise after broken promise by the devs for years now. Let them push more content creators away so their ship can sink even faster. I've always enjoyed your ESO content over the years, and look forward to whatever your primary focus is moving forward. If anything, this is a blessing for you as a content creator. Keep your head up; this was the right move in my opinion!
33:56 As a wise man said once : "I've given thee courtesy enough" I look forward to your next adventure, and wishing you the best for the times to come!
Saddened by how you were treated. I wish you all the very best in your future endevours. Your time, energy and hard work you have dedicated to a game I've exclusively played since 2014 has been valued. Thank you...cheers! Chilly.
Hey Nefas, I used to play back in the day (2018-2022) and raided with Sempiternal as my main guild. You guys helped me get my HM clears and I met people that I'm still friends with today. Dropped the game in '22, but still tune in every now and then to your channel. Sad to see what's happened since then, but I wanted to say thanks for all you've offered to the game and its community. You were truly a pillar in the game, I truly wish you the best on your future content man.
I'm sorry you had to go through all that. My blood was boiling as you were talking about your experience, but you stayed very professional throughout this whole thing. Best of luck on the new chapter
lol zenimax cm calling you on the phone to lecture you about how to be a good content creator if you want to keep working with them 😆😆 what a joke this company has become
I'm sorry you've gone through all of that, Nefas. No content creator deserves that level of disrespect and I don't blame you for needing to step away entirely from doing ESO content. It's just sad any of that stuff even happened. I wish you well in whatever you decide to do next and thank you so much for all your years of hard work!!
I remember meeting you at the community event in Vegas and then later at the arcade for Necrom. You were so incredibly friendly and I really wanted to hang out and talk with you, but I didn’t want to come across as a weirdo ! 🤣💜 But, I remember leaving the arcade and telling my partner that something felt off at the event (he agreed) and that one could cut the tension in the air with a knife. I sensed something was going on. I hate it for you and for all the other content creators I have respected over the years. Wishing you all the best, Nefas! We’re going to continue to follow you on your channel and support you in the gaming community! Much love and respect from Virginia! 🫂💜 And Happy New Year!!! - Ferm
Congratulations for recognizing when it's time to move on. Gaming today makes it very difficult to do that, typically. Especially when someone has invested so many different "resources" (and not just money, but time and creativity) over a significant period of time. I look forward to seeing what direction you decide to go from here!
oh dang, I had no idea about how heavy your situation was. I think your best times as being a content creator are still ahead of you. Your powerful voice sounds like a million bucks!
Absolute GOAT for enduring as much as you have, remaining professional, and taking the high road time and time again. Truly wish the best for this man. Good luck in 2025!
Nefas you have been a fantastic ambassador for the ESO community for a decade and I appreciate all the work and effort you put into such a passion project! You have no obligation to conform your platform and compromise your personal integrity for a game that has been on the downhill slope for a few years, a ton of the hardcore fans left a couple years ago anyways or a bunch of self important egomaniacal game lead, Devs, and CMs that engineer discord with their community on a nearly daily basis. You will do great in whatever direction you choose to go in the future. ❤
Wow, sounds like I quit ESO at the right time. I never knew all this stuff was going on, but it seemed like the ESO/ ZOS weren't listening to us as a whole. The game will die a slow death and I can't believe how Gina attacked you personally in front of everyone there. I will never play ESO again and I stand with you on this, this was disrespectful plain and simple
23:00 this is infuriating to hear tbh. This type of management sounds so annoying and cliquish. Videos like this make me feel glad that I still play Skyrim
This sounds like you're taking steps away from a very toxic management team. Great. What sucks is that while I had fun with the Xbox version, now I hold no hopes for any meaningful change, unless Bethesda makes ZOS go through a complete management restructure(which is improbable imo). Also at 29:00 they were blatantly targeting you at that point, even after at 29:34 "We're not streaming from anywhere." is total bull. The social manipulation also was bad on their end. Basically the management team all acting like that Acting Agent character from the 2008 Disney movie Bolt. All those pins, now removed. Cheers man, have fun doing what you want to do.
Thank you for all of your kindness - discord.gg/nefas
To clarify:
- Yes we had permission to stream with my name being explicitly mentioned by PainInTheAxe for San Diego.
- Yes there are more things / incidents not disclosed in this video.
- It was Creative Director Rich Lambert who tapped a CM to talk to me.
- Websites not being used will be taken down. esouni.com has the deadline.
I hate that something that should bring joy to your life brought you to shingles. That's nuts. Not just to take someone who was so giving to a game essentially for free to that kind of stress, but to make them actually feel abandoned... I've been playing since one tam and my wife and I used this game as a means to spend quality time when separated by the army. We may have to think about finding another MMO. Again, it's sad to see this happen to you as you have done nothing but bring us - the consumer - to love this game more than we already did. We wish you all the success in your future endeavors and we will be watching.
If you hate eso why did you play it? lol it’s like living with someone who smacks you around
It was literally a job for him
Thank you for your effort, but corporate shit is always corporate shit, they will make censorship and use any tool in their hands to make profits, soon we will see positive bots atacks to make people think that everything that was done and will be done by company is absolytely right.
But can I have your stuff?
One Richard lambert called my content “shock jock” content… I also went on to work with a bunch of other game studios 🤷♂️
I miss you Sawman
Getting criticised by Dick Lambert probably helped you career.
Lambert is a guy that has no business being a game dev. Total incompetence and 100% ego. I wouldn't hire him as a janitor.
Your memes of lambert's wife was objectively internet gold!
Confirmed, Sawman is best in slot European.
We get it. Even the best tanks can't stand in red, toxic, DOT, for long. Time to roll dodge out and reposition.
Looking forward to the next step of your journey Nefas. What you did for the community was tremendous and you'll be an asset wherever you go next.
100%
Here here
100% agreed
👍
Yeah but don't AoC ( narc vid is an eye opener)
Congratulations Nefas! You’ve done so much for the community and game itself. Look forward to seeing your continued variety content. ESO doesn’t deserve a lot of its creators, but I hope it gets better for everyone in the future that continues to play. Here’s to 2025 🥂
Edit- 28:49 WTF WAS THAT!?! never mind. This is done 😂
whats crazy is that they probably dont even understand why thats awful. like many of the things they do both in and outside of the game. yet 99% of the people watching this understand it. its like all the top people at zos are self absorbed and socially awkward.
@@Eso_lags This is something autistic people frequently worry about (how they come across because they aren't good at reading moods/rooms/atmosphere). I'm not autistic myself but my little brother is.
What she did screams undiagnosed autism. I cannot fathom that someone like that could act like that and think its normal human social interaction. The diction, the tone, everything was just so *off.*
The normal professional thing is "sorry for not announcing it before the event, but we are prohibiting livestreaming. If you received permission from someone on the ESO community team before, that unfortunately has been revoked at this time. Again, we know we should have said something sooner but this decision came about suddenly due to unforeseeable circumstances. Thank you for your understanding. If you have a question about this, please come see me after I get off the stage."
I came up with that in 5 seconds before I started writing. That is normal human interaction as an MC at an event.
If this is how they treat *HIM* just imagine how they would treat you or me there🥺!?
This game is dead anyways for content creators it's been dead for about 6 years, which makes this so much worse, the ones that stuck to ESO did it out of passion and to watch them get shit on time after time is disgusting. Can stream Roblox and get at least 7x the views.
@@Eso_lags That's how people in upper positions are. Sociopathic weirdos.
Man, that San Diego clip was a rough one to watch for sure - I got anxious just from watching it, and I wasn't even there, so I can only imagine how you must have felt at that moment :/
Thanks for all that you've done for the ESO community and for keeping so many valuable resources up and running for everyone all this time. Your many initiatives have massively contributed to the good health and betterment of the ESO community. Though you may feel unappreciated (to put it lightly) by the developers, I do hope you recognize how incredibly helpful your work has been, and that you can find some peace and solace by reflecting on the success of your efforts. I hope that you have a much better time in the future with your new projects and content ideas, and I'm looking forward to continuing to tune in to see what you've cooked up for us. Take it easy 🙏
Which clip was this?
@@OJimenez It's at the very start of the "Public Humiliation in San Diego" chapter (28:50)
yeah you guys only start spilling the beans on the company when you stop receiving the money from the company, creators can never be trusted
@@espeo2345 o kiddo mad lol
@@espeo2345 Do you have any TRUSTWORTHY evidence to support your claim? How about it, can we trust you???
In all fairness, those devs should probably be fired for how they destroyed a winning formula for a game
Keep in mind the actual devs at the bottom don't have much say in what they make. It's mostly the corporate side that's killing the game. They're to money hungry and don't give a damn about there players, content creators or streamers. Zennimax and zos are just little Activision wannabes. Just without the huge player base.
@@limpbriscut6516 true, it was noted by someone on the community team, that it would be the on the ground developers, who acknowledge that difficulty was a constant complaint and brought the topic to studio discussion.
Meanwhile the higher-ups ignored that feedback for several years
And how did they destroy a good game? Dude why don’t y’all go play like dnd or something why you guys always bitching about the big boy games go play the kids games and leave the real games to the adults it’s getting old
@@DovahHouseBe quiet you don't know what it's like to see a game you enjoy change and become a shell of its former self
@ no bc there isn’t anything wrong with it lol 😂 I been playing eso for 11yrs. How about you? 3 yrs?? you people are living in delulu land I love Bethesdas/zenimax games Skyrim is a masterpiece so is Starfield and so is eso. it’s really not my problem if you guys have no taste and is offended by everything they do maybe for ppl who didn’t grow up playing elder scrolls it’s hard for you to understand
Its such a shame because you were always someone who put all their effort into making this game/community great. I remember the early days when we were both just starting to break out in the content space, you reacting to my Vet maelstrom streams when I was trying to get the no death clear, encouraging(and trolling a bit LOL)me to keep going with your community. No matter what you go for and choose to pursue I'm here for you dude. You're like a brother to me and the way they have treated you is unacceptable, you never deserved any of that.
ZOS really does not respect its players/content creators. It's amazing how poorly they treat y'all. And yet there's still people in that community (particularly the Stream Team) who will continue to defend and support it. Where's the integrity from these people?
@@twocatsyelling723 I've known people that I really vibed with and looked at the game with a realistic viewpoint. And then once they got on the stream team, I watched these friends change overnight to become ZOS yes men.
Man, I stepped away from this game a long time ago. But, two names stuck with me that still kept at it. Pain and Nefas. Seeing both not play as much stings a bit. Much love, I hope you both success in your future endeavors, and Nefas don't let their behavior be an example of what the industry is like - its not, many CMs love content creators and would never try to "manipulate" them to control the content, nor call someone out individually in a big group.
@casterial cheers dude hope you’re doing well too bud, I might have some breakthroughs into the Club scene here soon 🙏
@PainInTheAxe oooh helllll yeah!
Nefas, you’ve been an unwavering pillar of the community for as long as I can remember. You've done more community management than several community managers and have built up this game's community more than any content creator I can think of.
It's been several years since I left ESO, largely due to many of the same issues you’ve mentioned in this video. You’re an incredibly strong person for remaining professional through so many negative events. I have no doubt that whatever you choose to do next, you’ll find even greater success.
To me it feels like the only thing those community managers do is, write those patch notes and attend some events. The players and content creators deserve way more love.
good too see u nirn
Hey Nirn good to see you brother been a bit. Hope your well.
I miss Nirn / Rue. Hope you're well.
Hey nirn😢
11:30 Yeah the zenimax team doesn't care about constructive criticism. I mean, they do. They just don't want to hear it. They want to be told how great their content is, and anyone that doesn't praise them is going to be warned or ousted completely. I got banned from the official forums for constructive criticism. A hard permanent ban, which they called "bait." I reread it several times, and even got people from the community that were active in the forums to give me feedback on my post, and it was not bait. They were just silencing me for being vocal about what I'm passionate about, because they were tired of me being critical of the game.
In my opinion, unless much of the team behind the game changes, it's going to continue to stagnate and eventually die. This game is being mismanaged, it's becoming more and more apparent. I would normally never say this, but it's about time to look at the game critically and state what's wrong with it. What's wrong with the game? The management isn't taking the community seriously, doesn't take feedback, and makes changes their community doesn't like then blames the community for not liking what they did. That's toxic.
I wish them the best. But they should not be running this game. Because they're running it into the ground.
Absolutely. I haven’t been on the forums for a couple years. The thing they hate the most is not being able to control what is said. On the forums and now clearly the stream team they like to play god and when they can’t they ban you and delete your account. Totalitarians if you will. It’s sad.
Its the toxic positivity which is kinda spread in the industry right now. Another good example is Bislobo. Rich Lambert aka SlashLurk used to drop by in his chat pretty often. As some people know Bis may be one of the most positive streamers out there. No matter how bad the game gets, he always smiles and finds at least one positive thing. However one time he had the audacity to make a slight complain about the game while Rich was in his chat. No insults, no disrespect, no misleading comments. Just a normal disagreement between two men. Rich never came back to his stream and its been year(s) now. That already told me everything I need to know about the kind of devs they have.
That forum sensorship is like North Korea.. flaming and baiting when you point out that they keep on with lies -> perma ban.
I also really don't understand how they don't get it that a freaking MMO lives from people playing it. If you have unsatisfied customers, they will just leave. They won't make any money with ESO in the future if they do it like this. What we need is to listen to players to make ESO into the great game that it could be (or technically already is). If people hear about the bad PR, they won't join ESO. But if they hear that they're listening to their community and their feedback, people will value this game, they will be intrigued and they will play the game. Aaaand, they will pay for the game. It's a shame nowadays that nobody cares for customer's satisfaction anymore, just pressing every penny out of everyone. It's so short-sighted.
It's because they got greedy it's because they got arrogance because it got stupid just because they created one or two great things doesn't mean everything they make is great when you spoil them with the first s*** ton of compliments and praise you f****** destroyed them as a company
If an ESO CM is threatening you about how the "gaming community is small" and threatening that you won't be able to get a streaming deal with some other studio if you don't play ball with her wishes, that's a really good sign that this is how they deal with their own employees internally. Gaslighting and threats. No wonder the game is waning.
its literal black balling. "ill tell my friends no to work with you for ever and ever!" type shit.
so petty.
@@SirSquashtrue but I can see how nefas pompous attitude can rub people the wrong way
@@itssnoopy333 I'm a normal human adult so I actually can't see how the way this guy acts warrants threats against his livelyhood from a Community Manager. If you can't seperate your feeling for someone from your profession maybe you should change your profession?
@@itssnoopy333 he's not pompous.
hes standing up for himself.
Control of the media is a huge red flag wherever you see it
This community is in shambles since update 35. It was the beginning of the end. Even though most of the people that took issue with it, and left, were raiders it has caused a ripple effect through every aspect of the community. Guild leaders, community leaders, addon creators, people testing things, people wanting to make events, all leaving. Which in turn causes less people to stick around, because an mmo without community is an mmo that does not feel like an mmo. All that combined with zenimaxs hyper focus on a revolving door of super casual/solo focused players, putting vet/long term players on the back burner, and their complete disregard of the pvp community for many years, has created what we have now.
I thought the goal was not supposed to be skyrim online, but it seems like over the last few years they've switched their focus to making it just that. And if things done change, which they probably wont, they will have their way. An mmo where most of the players are just the people who come to quest through their yearly storyline is not an mmo at all.
All that being said, none of this surprises me about zos. I think most of us who have been here for the last 10 years know how they are. They dont listen, they dont care about the players, the community, or our opinions. They only want "eso fam" type creators/players that bootlick and fall in line.
I always thought your criticism of zos was super light, and i figured that was because you didnt want to burn bridges, so its hilarious to hear that they were upset behind the scenes. I've heard from other content creators that they wish they didnt burn their bridge with zos by being critical of them, but the sad thing is none of them were critical enough. Its a rock and a hard place.
The biggest take away for me is something ive always known. This companies biggest problem is, and always had been, that they cannot look inward, ever admit they are wrong, listen to the criticism of the players who care so much about eso, and change. That list at the end of the video should be horrifying to zenimax, but they wont care. Its just such a massive L for the community. GG
U35 is when I quit.
I would argue U34...
U35 was a major blow to the game. Worst patch I can think of
TLDR: Long story short, ZOS has been this way pre-2020 and hasn't changed. Described is why @ResidentContrarian is never returning to the game's forums, most of my posts have been scrubbed by ZOS but you can still find some nuggets because they can't erase it all. Also my "message" on the wall still stands, I have been told 🤣
I'd say it was in shambles when Zenimax was looking for a buyer. They increased forum moderation to the max with turds like ZOS_ConnorG. After Summerset, the game really went downhill in every aspect: quality, communication, monetization, etc.
We went from Summerset where actual devs commented on the forums when you spoke of bugs and gave data about them, like the reflection bug that lowered the performance of the game at any instance a reflection was Z transformed in PTS (like it would cut your frames to 20 from 140). That was also patched before live since the developers actually were ACTIVE in the game's development and bug tracking.
After that, no developers spoke anymore. Elsweyr was released with 0 PTS input taken, and then the pendulum balancing that no one really liked. Skyrim released with mythics that were obviously an attempt to test the waters for more P2W mechanics in the future. No one can tell me that they thought Sload's Call was balanced on release and that wasn't P2W. Please.
Around that time, my brother asked if ZOS was looking for a buyer because they ramped up forum moderation so much that if you even mentioned that the game had something you didn't like (or gave negative feedback in the PTS section) it was considered "baiting."
I stated that mythics shouldn't exist because they were bad for the game since:
[1] They were coming out with more power than 5 piece sets,
[2] they had more power than a monster helm,
[3] with arena weapons and monster helms there were too many variables to balance that would lead to either the mythics that people PAID for being nerfed (and subsequent blowback), or a nerf to everyone's stats to compensate. And that nerf would ruin the game (said it in 2020 and this did come to pass after Oakensoul lmao)
The response was a ban for "trolling / baiting - bashing" for even suggesting that ZOS should rethink such a stupid addition to the game that ruined the power balance between players, but even more exposed how unbalanced classes were and ultimately trivialized content even more.
When Oakensoul released, I literally quit the game. I saw that one item piece had the power of 5 sets, and 12 bar slots, and even the rarest buffs in the game: major force, major berserk.
ZOS said it was for "accessibility" and you can search my final comments on the forums as @ResidentContrarian before being PERMABANNED and threatened with an account ban for opposing ZOS. Or maybe you already know since you are on the forums.
Quite frankly, I said that ZOS would have to nerf the mythic, nerf all the buffs in the game, and even nerf crit if they released that set in it's state (that it released on live) and that there was nothing "accessible" about putting an item behind a paywall to compensate for bad design choices in places like Lair of Maarselok and other dungeons with hard DPS checks. The solution, I said , was to actually adjust the dungeons instead of requiring certain gear to make it "accessible" for the masses.
Know what ZOS did? ZOS simply banned me with no explanation and didn't even have a comment to post as a reason for the ban. They just said "you know what? silence them". I don't even know who banned me, but when I appealed the ban, these guys literally took my 459th comment made two years prior, that a developer responded to (and wasn't considered bashing-baiting then), and then said that I was bashing-baiting. Wait, it was more sever than that an email an hour later decided, it was "CONSPIRACY." Oh and they took over two weeks to "find a comment" to ban me over.
Literally find the fing votes.
I just looked at it and laughed. Really that butthurt that someone continuously opposed a change in their game, that they couldn't defend, that they needed the ban hammer?
So I posted it on REDDIT on the ESO one and of course, I was attacked by "loyal players" and then banned from the subreddit by a mod that told me to "stop crying" about being banned and my ban was deserved.
At that point, ZOS sent me a 7 day ingame suspension and said "this is your final warning, any action that we determine to be in violation on ANY platform will result in permanent termination of your account".
So I sent them a message and told them to go screw themselves and that I will speak however I want, whenever I want. That they had no power over me and that I am the one paying them, they are not paying me. I told them that I was actually laughing over the situation because it was so pathetic, and there was nothing they could do because I would keep on laughing. I then told them that in the end, I would be proven right and there was no universe that I would be wrong when the issue was apparent to everyone in the PTS section except others just kept quiet about it or didn't fuss as much. Then I ended it thanking whoever read my message and asked that it be forwarded to someone above Lambert and his ilk.
Surprisingly it eventually did make its way there and I was unbanned from the game, but permabanned on the forum and placed on a "FINAL" final warning.
At that point I had no desire to play the game, and if I log in it's to bash-bait and earn my final warning properly.
EDIT: The comments here by @ResidentContrarian triggered someone enough to "find" the ban 🤣 Who was right tho?
forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/605171/oakensoul-is-op-again
@@attinger117 yes it has caused a rippled effect, and the game has been on a downward spiral ever since. mmos need community. u35 stuck a dagger in the back of the community. and zenimax are too self absorbed to understand their failings.
We've always felt and speculated about the toxicity that comes from ZoS towards its playerbase. Seeing it displayed out like this in such a raw and factual way for people to see is so great to see. We've been gaslit for so long about what we have seen with our own eyes for so long.
Good luck with everything you do going forward. Sorry to hear about everything you had to put up with, you handled things much more professionaly than I ever would have especially with the AXE stream scenario. I hope the developers might finally be held accountable for driving away yet another core member of the community and that some changes within Zenimax are made.
29:10 Jesus man, my first time seeing this... What a joke. Sorry Nefas you did not deserve that.
Second hand embarrassment is real
Fr 🤦🏾♀️
That was extremely awkward. Like everyone was in on humiliating him wth?
Leaving any MMO you've spent years playing is tremendously hard. It's not 'just a game' when you've poured years of your time and efforts into it. It's a piece of you. It's imprinted in your brain. It's engrained in your soul. Now magnify that when you've been more than just a player, but also a conduit between the game, itself, and other players. Now it's more than just having fun, but it becomes a labor of love; with a very heavy emphasis on the "labor" part. Leaving something like that almost feels like crawling away after a bear trap took off one of your legs.
I've played many MMOs for decades. I've invested time, money, and a portion of myself into each of them; and I'll continue to do that over and over till I'm no longer here. We, the players, are the ones that breathe life into those worlds. We are the ones that make them 'real' and thriving. The heart, the soul, and the blood that pumps through the circuits. Developers make games but we make those games living and breathing worlds. It's our lives and experiences that make them valuable.
Sadly, many developers just view us as paychecks and potential whales for their microtransactions. Even sadder is that it doesn't have to be that way. All it takes is a modicum of effort on their part to make us feel like they 'actually' care about us. I'm not talking about market-speak, or half-hearted elbow rubbing. I mean forming genuine connections and a real sense of back-and-forth with the community. Do all of that, and you'll have a player base that will stay with you till the end.
Sorry you had to leave ESO. I feel your pain; although I doubt I'll be able to adequately feel the full weight of what you're experiencing. As I say in the game, "Be well and safe travels."
As a 60yr old gamer, it gets easier everytime. Iv played them all.
it is easy, once you make the choice.
Thank the devs that made it easier for him
This was said perfectly wow
money hungry bastards is what they are, not just zenimax but also other companies like EA especially
Sad to see you have gone thru all this, your efforts for the game will not be forgotten and may the future look bright for you! Thanks for everything uve given the community for so many years!
Here’s to 2025, Nefas! I’m so grateful to have been the final guest on the ESOU podcast and to have gotten a foot in the door with your incredible community. This whole TH-cam thing is still very new to me, but without your generosity in giving me a place to call home within the 7E Discord and advice on content creation, I’m certain I would not be in the position I am today. After watching this video it's amazing you stuck with it for so long; but I'm excited to see what's on your menu for 2025!
28:49 is honestly so hard to watch, im sorry that happened 😢
Dude worse than school. What a c u next Tuesday
Guess another idea for your "state of eso content". Good stuff keep it up!!!
Yeah, that was a BS move on Gina's part, just lack of respect from her.
28:49 is absolutely egregious.
I came up with this in 5 seconds while typing it out:
"Sorry for not announcing it before the event, but we are prohibiting ALL livestreaming in this space. If you received permission from someone on the ESO community team before, that unfortunately has been revoked at this time. Again, we know we should have said something sooner but this decision came about suddenly due to an unpredictable circumstance. Thank you for your understanding. If you have a question about this, please come see me after I get off the stage."
That's literally all she had to say. Her tone instead was derisive and condescending to everyone there, but especially people who assumed (rightly) that they had permission.
THAT SCENE AT THE DJ EVENT IS INSANE - What a poor way to handle that. What on earth is their issue? I hate that i just found this channel. I had no idea there was a content creator for ESO that was not a total shill ignoring the insanity of the devs - i'm here for the future for sure. I've experienced the same stuff from this weird community in small ways too.
I got second hand embarrassment watching that video. Incredible work by Gina and the ESO team. It's quite unbelievable how brazen these people were, to ask him to mind himself because the gaming industry is small after calling him specifically out. They can get bent. Nefas is a better man than I, as I would have absolutely name called and blasted everyone involved if they publicly shamed me like that.
@@Jay-zg2yn You are so right
The part where Nefas was called out for IRL streaming is just so intense and wrong. That could have been avoided in so many ways if they just clarify whether or not streaming is allowed on the premises. I can relate to that since I was called out at work too before so I know the feeling, the tension, and for whatever reason my brain will keep replaying that particular scene in my head whenever I couldn't fall asleep…
All the best to you moving onwards. You deserve better. We all do.
I’ll have to say that he handled that a lot better than I would’ve in that live broadcast from Gina because I would have some words for her so he’s definitely a better person than me
That’s a power play. Gina could’ve said something to Nefas before getting on stage. It’s obvious she was aware he was streaming ahead of time. She waited to get on the mic before making the public display. At some point she decided, “I’m gonna make an example of him. I’m gonna let everyone know who is in charge.” It’s a bitch move, made by someone trying to flex for whatever reason. Maybe it had something to do with behind the scene stuff. Or maybe she just didn’t like the fact that Nefas is more respected, and listened to, by the ESO community than she is.
@ the thing I don’t get is is he wasn’t even there for ESL so and I know I’m assuming here that he came there on his own dime so when she asked me to turn it off, I would’ve told her no because wasn’t he there on his own in a public place I don’t know I could be wrong. I am assuming some parts here butyou know he wasn’t even there for them.
Its a double edged sword when he did that the way they handled it was very bad but also he signed up for that event and they said beforehand no IRL streaming but ironically enough nefas wasnt the only 1 who did that i remember a few other streamers being sneaky and doing streaming as well only difference was nefas was the only 1 caught
I’d have just sat and said “no, I’m not going to stop, so looks like we’ll be waiting a while.”
The di who he was streaming for ought to have stepped in and said “he’s streaming for me, i asked him to as I was told it was fine for me to stream my set. If I can’t stream, I don’t perform.” And walked out.
I have no idea why watching this video was the proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back" for me, but it was. I've spent over $1,000 of my hard earned money on this game over multiple years, and quite possibly substantially more than that. But I'm not spending one more cent on this game, nor will I be spending my money on any future project put out by this terrible team of developers. They're so toxic, they disregard all of our feedback and go with their own terrible vision of the game, and then when we try to reason with them, they gaslight us like we're the ones who are toxic. I'm done with it.
absolutely agree
The community is the same, bunch of trolls and casual bots in veteran content demanding to be carried and if you dont, you're toxic
True probably put in $2,500 in the game last 8 years.
There doing the same thing on fallout 76, Eso still has 10x the content
hmm I'm average casual, ESO isn't even my 'main' MMO and I easily spent more than 1k over the yrs.
This game is not cheap by any measure. Maybe we should just think for a minute how much money we spent on this game and got the 'ZOS treatment' in return. It's the reason I quit paying for this game in 2024.
And my biggest issue is game-breaking bugs that ZOS refused to fix and just want me to deal with it.
Say it with me folks:
FUCK that.
The Sand Diego clip is horrendous.
I'm glad you are choosing yourself over this crap.
Sand... Diego....sand... diego... oof
28:49 I'm not surprised that Gina Bruno acted the way she did. This seems like a common behavior with ZOS. Rich Lambert never suffered consequences when he allowed his wife to bearded frustrated pvp players on live stream. remember this? th-cam.com/video/oSDxjJ15YII/w-d-xo.htmlsi=XKhzNVkgTM1ow9xL
I def remember that. Total disrespect for us.
Wow man…Gina and the rest of the Zenimax team are so cringe and they really don’t understand the player base and it really shows. Sorry for the way you were treated. Thanks for all you have done for the community and looking forward to what you do next!
So shocked by Gina. They really fooled us for so long.
It’s just a free paycheck. These people don’t actually do anything & will always be hostile towards individuals that try to hold them accountable.
@@Hakagure elaborate?
Gina and the rest of Zenimax was ALWAYS cringe af. I don't know how people didn't notice it before. Zenimax have HUGE problems when it comes to communicating with people, they're very lacklustre in this regard. People not noticing the signs shows that the vast majority of the playerbase have no social skills whatsoever
Me and my buddy have been joking about her being a lizard person for a few years now. The crown money is to keep her fed and quiet
welp, what a ride.
Bro…Gina did you dirty. Definitely public humiliation. And without warning.
Atleast she revealed her true colors in doing what she did
Yeah that was absolutely shocking and disgusting of her.
my god wtf
Gina the Hagraven
@@kullinaama Gina The Hagraven and Jess The Sponge, the so called insufferable duo🤣
Rich Lambert has done damage to the Elder Scrolls brand.
Honestly, I used to love ESO, but the constant balance changes got ridiculous. As someone who's main was a Sorcerer it got to the point that just about every update I had to redo my build, to the point they made it impossible to play my Sorc at all. At that point I decided to just quit the game. I have since tried getting back into the game, but just as I was starting to get my characters up and running, guess what, they did yet another rebalance, at that point I removed the game and have no intentions anymore of trying again.
We lost a main pillar people. The end is nigh. This is coming from someone who’s been with elder scrolls since childhood. The only thing that will save this game is a total replacement of the teams overseeing eso. They’ve had years to get it right and time and time again they have chosen to ignore the very things they asked of us.
The Dev team are militant woke ‘Marxists’ they ask of us what they then hit us back with as ‘Struggle Session - Study Session’ situation with ESO.
Looks like Xynode is the forever yes man of eso. He’s going to keep telling players that there is no meta for another 10 years. XD
LOL 100% my thoughts
with endgame and pvp almost dead he is kinda right, not enough good players to keep meta or discover it
@@simendadaniel8469 regardless he is 100% wrong when he tells others that there is no meta as a statement. Just because there aren’t players telling you what the meta is, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t one.
I once commented on one of his PvP builds on facebook and he went off on me. Sorry your PvP builds are shit xynode.
@@simendadaniel8469 THANK YOU!
😂😂😂bro I’m sticking with you forever you’re the 🐐 I can thank eso for one thing and it was finding you. You’re making all the right choices and you’re a good person never doubt yourself man. I’ll be tuning in more often you’re the best.
Thanks, I appreciate that. 😊
For those who don't have the addon, as of now:
2k likes, 62 dislikes.
We support content creators and frown upon corporate gaming companies acting like snowflakes and mistreating them.
Content creators are everything that's wrong with gaming
@@ExecutionDbl9 Without them, you wouldn't know half the games you played existed.
@@Shin0bi_ Facts 👍💯
@@Shin0bi_ Yes we would. Back in my childhood we read gaming magazines and watched gaming channels that reviewed games or we watched E3 to see what games came out or we went to our "local" Gamestop and looked at what was there or saw the big posters and preorder deal advertisements positioned around the store. The idea that "content creators" are a necessary part of the gaming "community" is just absolutely untrue unless we want to claim that the majority of gaming's history was a failure or never happened.
@@wowomah6194 "We read gaming magazines and watched gaming channels or we watched E3". Bro, you literally just described watching content creators. All that shit happened when I was a kid too, what exactly are you trying to say?
thank you for making this video 🙏 people need to know all this!
Around 10:00 when you talk about that phone call, that is a great example of ZoS's community management team(s). When I go to their forums I am constantly walking on eggshells. Their moderation is unreal. I have been suspended for several times, and now I have a ban warning (next strike I'm out) - all for very innocuous and tame stuff that I have reread several times scratching my head trying to figure out how what I typed was in any way offensive or "baiting" or "trolling" or whatever.
I hate to use the word "snowflakes" because it feels like such an older internet boomer word at this point and is overused. But it's the perfect word to encapsulate their entire community. They are all delicate snowflakes that you REALLY have to be careful not to offend, even with the slightest negative comment. Their moderation is extreme.
Absolutely agree
pro tip- never communicate with silver bride...she has been the source of many bans
Toxic casuals is the right word to describe ZoS
'bashing' is the one that amazes me. say anything critical (and true) and it gets 'snipped' for 'bashing.'
@@naplzt4k - There are a bunch of names on the official forums that stand out as full on ZOS simps but there's always a part of you that thinks "is it just me thinking this ?". From your comment I guess it isn't just me and other people have picked up on those same names as well.
It’s typical zos. They get the community to do the bulk of their work for them, such as play testing (it’s pretty obvious they do little to none of that), advertising, streaming, content creation, etc. Always thought they were, at least, grateful to the community giving basically free labor. But I guess, as is human nature, people start taking things for granted. See the problem is, we care more about the game than they do, which allows them to take advantage, and treat people like shit.
Zenimax/Bethesda infamously do not play test. They have a bot trained to run the first ~1hr or so of their games during development so they test for game crash and that's it
@@Azerkeux source?
@eVuLeX that would be a quote taken from a Todd Howard interview, and it's being used out of context.
You are so right about zero QA from ZOS. When I was in IT as a project manager with 7 programmers and 14 systems, my team each tested their work, then I tested their work, then it was turned over to the USERS QA with built testing instaructions teams before it was installed. Their only testing appears to be the ESO community testing. I am shocked at the crap that gets installed and has to be fixed. Their retrofit of code FIXES off schedule would disappear in the next release and then it would be fixed again....TRASH progamming integrity.
Thank you for making this video Nefas. Absolutely despicable behavior from Zenimax on numerous accounts, and some really valuable insights for the community here. Best of luck with your future endeavors.
Thank you, Nefas, for all your amazing work over the years! Best of luck on your next adventure. We left the game 2-3 years ago, and it’s disheartening (though not surprising) to see that it has only gotten worse since then.
The fact that you held some info back and it was still this wild is fucking crazy…..
If you watched at least 5 mins of this video, your attention span is better than that of an ESO employee. Man, the actions of ZOS towards Nefas made me lose a lot of respect in their team.
They have lost mine long time ago
Rich is a big reason why ESO is about to burn like a big dumster fire, that man should have been fired long time ago.
8:59 I was one of those many raid leads that left your program. Still feel guilty about it. But my god did that update kill any desire to play that shell of a game for me.
i hope zos knows how much a blow this is, best of luck to you
they dont unfortunately. they should be horrified at all the vet players and content creators running from this game.
They are too busy sniffing their own farts and getting glazed by Xynode, Artea, and Jake Clips to notice
I fucking love this guy
Nefas, Zenimax does not deserve you as a representative of their community. You have been nothing but professional and pulling a full time job managing everything. Coming from one day one player to another, thank you for everything you have done for the ESO community.
I was aware that ZOS developers weren't the brightest bulbs, but this amount of unprofessionalism was truly unexpected.
10:42 "You shouldn't say things you would say to developers face"
What makes them believe that no one would say to their face how shit the are?
They are right, people don't talk shit behind their back like they would do in their LoS.
The one thing Zeni gets wrong here is: They think people would be more polite when they can hear them.
@@salvasaren329 when they do hear the truth they're quick to shut it down and call it bashing or baiting.
Where that at? I'll look into their soul while I tell them that they fucked their game over.
Holy crap, WTF was that! I actually can't believe what I saw at that meetup, that's fucked up. There's so many better ways they could of handled that. GG for speaking up! You've been a rock for this community over the years and an inspiration for myself and so many others. It's bitter sweet that it happened this way but I'm so glad your moving on to other things that make you happy and enjoy what you love. GG man I'm excited to watch the next things wherever you take us! 🍻
Nice to see Gina doing just as well in her new "senior content creator manager" role as she did the last few years as "community manager" where all she literally did was re-post patch notes and host streams.........
Reading the comments this sentiment seems pretty common but I am finding myself more and more burned out on ESO, and it's not the game itself that's the problem (mostly)
I deleted my 9,000 word essay about my gripes with the game. Nobody wants to read all that
But while we're here, anyone remember the Anniversary Jubilee to "celebrate the community" with style drops, rewarding players for playing the game? Anyone remember seeing lamentations in zone chat like, "100 world events, no drop"?
Just over here feeling like ZOS really respects my time isn't just farming me for my wallet
Nope. I don't remember seeing zone chat like that at all. I found getting those drops really fucking easy actually. Maybe they had bad luck, IDK.
i totally agree
@@wowomah6194 I'm glad that you didn't struggle with the RNG. I just Googled it to see if I was misremembering and there are posts on Reddit and the ESO forum both saying many people ran 100+ events with no drops
I get that the RNG has a role in driving engagement and inflating play time, but that kind of grind doesn't sound like "celebrating the community" through rewards and it doesn't sound like it was very rewarding for those people's time (since the drops weren't guaranteed and drop rates were low)
I feel like a straight up fool for sticking with this game for so long.
Devs obviously do not care about players or even making a functional game, it's purely to milk people out of money. Yes, a company is supposed to make money, but most do that by making a good product. These people don't even pretend to care.
Thank you for the years of service Nefas, and really proud of you (as much as a stranger can be proud) for standing up for yourself and having self respect. Too bad others in this God awful situation cannot follow your lead. Best of luck to you.
😅😅😅lol sucker 😂😂😂 u should of left in 2020 lol...
There were too many videos, too many top players leaving all of y'all was warned for yrs!!
ESO was holding a carrot in front of y'all 😂😂😂
If you’re having fun. Then why would you feel foolish?
DudeI feel you on that all the times that
All The Times I've quit and said this game was gonna die. Just to stick around, I finally gave up when I saw what the big player versus player update was this year
You are not a fool
It is(probably soon to be "was") a good game with plenty of things to offer
They showed their true colors.Good for you on realizing how neglectful and crappy they are to people.I know it took awhile but honestly they have never deserved to have people like you showcase their game or give it any exposure.
They still don't understand their long time player base...of course we're gonna call them out and get upset with poor changes when it's something we've spent 10 years playing. They really need to take our constructive criticism into consideration and accept tbe fact that many of us know the live game better than their combat team will ever understand it
You better than me, I would have called out *EVERY* bootlicker.
lol don't we wish he could!
Thank you for all the years of wonderful content and community support. Update 35 put this game on life support and their disregard for the PvP community has finally done it in for me. I’ve easily spent $1000’s and countless hours but no more. Time to move on.
I learned to tank thanks to one of your guides. At first I had no idea what to do in that game and your videos helped me. I also quit the game recently and it's fine. everything has an end. Thank you for everything and I wish you the best.
Saying you are a shock jock like howard stern is a wild take from zenimax
Literally lol'ed at that. Like...what?
Glad you don't have to deal with this shit anymore.
I remember project Vitality and I was all for that on PS4/PS5. Sad that it died but it did inspire me to build a team for my wife and a bunch of players who were not very experienced in trials. I developed some very amazing friendships because of this movement. They accomplished alot of things including a trifecta. Some went on to other teams in which I'm very proud of them.
"The gaming industry is small" has to be the most disgusting, underhanded crybully excuse/threat I've heard in a while. What a way to guilt trip somebody while simultaneously feeling sorry for themselves. Shame on those CMs, go get your bag in a better space
Welcome to the club buddy. Each year after 2020 was exponential downhill. Pethesda and Zeni wasted so much my trust that ill not looking for new IP or MMO/RPG where those companies are involved. Enough is enough. Enjoy your holidays
jesus the way you were called out was super unprofessional. plus the whole "the gaming industry is small ya know" thinly veiled blackmail, absolutely absurd. good for you to get out of that horrible environment.
It's rough to see such a big name get treated this way. You were one of the first ESO content creators I found what feels like forever ago. Cheers to you taking a path that you think is best for you, that's what we all gotta do at some point in our lives!
That clip of that cm subjecting you to public humiliation was insane. I need to consider not playing this game.
Rough to hear how you were treated. You did not deserve that. Thank you for the years of content & support Nefas. Wishing you well for the future !
Jesus its really over isn't it
I mean i knew it was but i feel really bad for the folks still in denial...
I moved on last year when I felt it coming. The moderators and hardcore players were shutting down critical feedback on the forums and you had to bend over backwards to get posts approved.
Moved to a newer MMO and refound my love for the genre that I thought I had lost. You really don't realise what you're missing until you move to a new community.
So sad to hear everything you've been through. Really hurts to hear that such an influential figure in the ESO community has been forced to leave and pursue different things. I wish you the best and I will continue to follow you.
wise decision. their ai censorship autobanning people for private banter was the last straw for me. wish you the best, Caspar!
IKR time for gw2
@@maggbern I heard a lot about that game looks fun i wanna start playing it 👍🏾
Yeah 💯
@@maggbern And here I am about to uninstall GW2, because the devs have done everything they can to ruin to PvP and WvW gamemodes. Then they do nothing to ban hackers and people that use racial slurs or tell you to harm yourself. You will usually see them still around after a year from reporting them. Then there was the time they made us install spyware with a patch unaware and it had a lot of false positives to ban people. One of my friends was affected and the devs finally apologized after 6 months for the error, so he couldn't play during that time. In other words, it isn't paradise either.
After 8 years they made me change my guild and main toon name and gave me a ban, I was there for the beta and had only positive interactions within the game, it had to have been an AI algorithm update that did that to me. Also the pvp as it was, It was a rare day I could enjoy the gameplay.
This is heartbreaking, this game could've been so good.
You were a pillar, and losing you is a huge L. Still, I am not surprised to seeing Zeni still fucking stuff up.
Thanks!
thanks for the journey, nefas. all the best
I was considering going back and playing some ESO, but you know what. I'll pass.
ESO has been going downhill for so long that, sadly, I'm not surprised they treated you like this. Personally, I stopped playing a month ago due to the obvious performance issues and ZOS's lack of communication and willingness to fix things. This is such a bad look for them. As for Gina, I would have gone absolutely insane. Not only did you handle that situation well, but you should have 100% gone for her job. That was absolutely the most unprofessional and spiteful thing I have ever seen. I can't wait for the copy-pasta from the PR team about this.
Do you really think going for her job really would've worked? They are all in this together. I'm pretty sure Gina didn’t do that by her own decision. They all banded up together and Gina was the one to blow the horn.
@ShuhanDeath obviously she wouldn't get fired 😂 the fact she is in charge of content creators is kinda worrying.
Gina looks like a Hagraven
Downhill?!?! In which ways? All I see are improvements. WTF. Sounds like you just need to move on because you aren't enjoying the game. Not sure where you expectations are coming from but they don't sound on something solid, they sound like you're just burned out. Go do something you enjoy.
@wowomah6194 I left over a month ago. Honestly seeing so many people choke on zos D Even after seeing countless pieces of evidence they are a shitty company (pretty sure the trans employee vid is still out there) is hilarious. Keep holding onto dead content and spending money on reskinned fake furniture :)
Thanks for everything you've done for the community, Nefas. It's good to see everyone is feeling the same about ZOS and ESO-- I gave up on ESO when the identity that I had cultivated over years was wiped out by an automated system, permanently banning me for having the UserID of @Cloudrest, and my character named after the various sets from the Cloudrest trial. I'm still thankful for the videos that you, Malcom, Sawman, etc made bringing attention to the situation. Even after being unbanned, I couldn't get rid of a bad taste in my mouth. The enjoyment wasn't there, anymore.
Pile that ontop of the abuse from the CS team, U35, the fact that every single patch seems to make balance worse-- not better, and it's impossible to keep supporting the game. I couldn't even enjoy my favorite class anymore after the rather unpopular changes to Templar they pushed through despite community feedback, and Cyrodiil is as worse as ever. The "PvP content" they've released and are releasing is a joke. I seriously doubt they even play their own game-- the lead combat designer doesn't even understand how combat works.
I don't know if there's a bigger case for mismanagement in an MMO than there is with ESO, but the fact that the game is hemorrhaging players & support platforms is extremely telling. Much happier after having gotten over my sunk cost fallacy and moved to other games.
Elder Scrolls Online was set to sunset in early 2020, but COVID actually saved the game. After the COVID spike it was still set to sunset, until Microsoft bought them. Which - btw, ESO was the reason the acquisition was held up. Their predatory microtransactions had to change. Including their lootbox system. This was actually a job posting to help them resolve the issues to finish the merge.
(Def: Sunset = skeleton crew the game - downsizing the content to come out, moving the team to another in production game. NOT SHUTTING DOWN)
I'm glad you're opening up, and being honest about it. While the industry is small, I've burned bridges and moved to bigger companies before, many have.
ZOS is a small company in an industry, while Bethesda is a little larger. Bethesda was my dream company however, many others including myself have been ghosted mid-interview processes by this company. Leaving a sour taste in our mouths. It was extremely unprofessional of them. Many ex-devs I personally know and have worked with have all said the same thing. Everything they talked about fell on deaf years, and the leadership hated any constructive criticism.
The industry is small, but a CM saying what they said is extremely unprofessional. They had no write to try and manipulate you to "control" what content you could and could not post. Much love, man. Many of quit the game after putting in a lot of hours into trying to convince ZOS that a change was bad, and we were very professional about our approach, being constructive and not attacking - but that always fell on deaf years, it felt like they couldn't admit a mistake. Many key programmers for the game (even a key combat programmer) quit due this and the team structure.
Keep doing what you want to do, and make content for what you want to do. Its your channel, your life. Don't let this bump stop you.
You helped me when I was at one of my lowest points… I want you to know that you and Becka will always be in my heart for ALL you have done. Your authenticity, stories, and laughs.
You know where to find me! Also, yes, will deffo come visit!
Thanks for sharing nefas! I’ve also stepped away from eso but more due to the lack of enjoyment in the game rather than the people in the company. I’m sorry this was your reality but I’m glad you’re able to share this now
Also, It was super fun meeting you at twitchcon!
It was a pleasure meeting you in Vegas for the ESO meetup. As a former raid lead in Vitality project you always handled yourself very professionally both in game and in person. Thanks for everything and good luck in future endeavors.
Sawman, Kevduit, and Lucky have gotten much better viewership ever since leaving that game and catering to much more general video game audience.
gina is terrible person ikr
Can we all agree that ESO just needs to go away and be that old friend that we watched make bad decisions after trying so hard to help them through their rough spots but they always seemed to turn around and just throw it back in our face? I hope you the absolute best Nefas. This breakdown of everything you’ve went through made me feel overwhelmed. I can’t imagine how emotionally exhausted you must feel after all this time. Super happy for you. ZOS has lost their privilege of having loyal streamers.
After listening to this video I can’t blame you for not having anything more to do with ESO content and the Devs , so sorry you had to go through this, but a big thank you for all you have done for us as a ESO community . I wish you all the very best for the future. Health ,wealth and happiness for the new year
I've played ESO for like...7 years. Even tried to stick around after Update 35. But as I actually started to pay attention I just went wow, ZOS, the community managers, devs, etc. they just don't care. After the bulk of my gameplay was doing raids, and then I started to not care about events, I knew that I was done with it.
Now I've been playing FF14 for less than a year and hoping it's (in terms of community managers, devs and etc) not like ESO.
Also about those Vtubers... I'm a Vtuber (not on this account lol) but if I went to a place that had a load of cameras everywhere then I would expect that someone somewhere was going to catch me on camera and if I didn't want that then I...wouldn't have gone to the event lmao or paid someone else to carry me around. They're the insufferable ones that give Vtubing a bad name.
I stopped playing about 6 months ago, and that was only a short stint after previously taking about a year break from the game. As a former guild/raid lead for multiple guilds, and someone with thousands of hours spent in ESO across multiple platforms I can honestly say that by seeing the way you were treated by ZoS makes permanently leaving this game a much easier decision. Let's be real, the game is dying, and has been for awhile now. It's been broken promise after broken promise by the devs for years now. Let them push more content creators away so their ship can sink even faster. I've always enjoyed your ESO content over the years, and look forward to whatever your primary focus is moving forward. If anything, this is a blessing for you as a content creator. Keep your head up; this was the right move in my opinion!
You should take legal action against G.B.
Those people.. those so called managers are disgusting.
33:56 As a wise man said once : "I've given thee courtesy enough"
I look forward to your next adventure, and wishing you the best for the times to come!
Saddened by how you were treated. I wish you all the very best in your future endevours. Your time, energy and hard work you have dedicated to a game I've exclusively played since 2014 has been valued. Thank you...cheers! Chilly.
Hey Nefas, I used to play back in the day (2018-2022) and raided with Sempiternal as my main guild. You guys helped me get my HM clears and I met people that I'm still friends with today. Dropped the game in '22, but still tune in every now and then to your channel. Sad to see what's happened since then, but I wanted to say thanks for all you've offered to the game and its community. You were truly a pillar in the game, I truly wish you the best on your future content man.
It's crazy how people call you toxic just for criticizing this game. Be done with it, your talents are needed elsewhere.
I'm sorry you had to go through all that. My blood was boiling as you were talking about your experience, but you stayed very professional throughout this whole thing. Best of luck on the new chapter
lol zenimax cm calling you on the phone to lecture you about how to be a good content creator if you want to keep working with them 😆😆 what a joke this company has become
I would have told them to pound sand
That shit made my stomach squirm
I'm sorry you've gone through all of that, Nefas. No content creator deserves that level of disrespect and I don't blame you for needing to step away entirely from doing ESO content. It's just sad any of that stuff even happened. I wish you well in whatever you decide to do next and thank you so much for all your years of hard work!!
I remember meeting you at the community event in Vegas and then later at the arcade for Necrom. You were so incredibly friendly and I really wanted to hang out and talk with you, but I didn’t want to come across as a weirdo ! 🤣💜 But, I remember leaving the arcade and telling my partner that something felt off at the event (he agreed) and that one could cut the tension in the air with a knife. I sensed something was going on. I hate it for you and for all the other content creators I have respected over the years. Wishing you all the best, Nefas! We’re going to continue to follow you on your channel and support you in the gaming community!
Much love and respect from Virginia! 🫂💜 And Happy New Year!!!
- Ferm
Congratulations for recognizing when it's time to move on. Gaming today makes it very difficult to do that, typically. Especially when someone has invested so many different "resources" (and not just money, but time and creativity) over a significant period of time. I look forward to seeing what direction you decide to go from here!
oh dang, I had no idea about how heavy your situation was. I think your best times as being a content creator are still ahead of you. Your powerful voice sounds like a million bucks!
Absolute GOAT for enduring as much as you have, remaining professional, and taking the high road time and time again. Truly wish the best for this man. Good luck in 2025!
Nefas you have been a fantastic ambassador for the ESO community for a decade and I appreciate all the work and effort you put into such a passion project! You have no obligation to conform your platform and compromise your personal integrity for a game that has been on the downhill slope for a few years, a ton of the hardcore fans left a couple years ago anyways or a bunch of self important egomaniacal game lead, Devs, and CMs that engineer discord with their community on a nearly daily basis. You will do great in whatever direction you choose to go in the future. ❤
Wow, sounds like I quit ESO at the right time. I never knew all this stuff was going on, but it seemed like the ESO/ ZOS weren't listening to us as a whole. The game will die a slow death and I can't believe how Gina attacked you personally in front of everyone there. I will never play ESO again and I stand with you on this, this was disrespectful plain and simple
23:00 this is infuriating to hear tbh. This type of management sounds so annoying and cliquish.
Videos like this make me feel glad that I still play Skyrim
This sounds like you're taking steps away from a very toxic management team. Great. What sucks is that while I had fun with the Xbox version, now I hold no hopes for any meaningful change, unless Bethesda makes ZOS go through a complete management restructure(which is improbable imo). Also at 29:00 they were blatantly targeting you at that point, even after at 29:34 "We're not streaming from anywhere." is total bull. The social manipulation also was bad on their end.
Basically the management team all acting like that Acting Agent character from the 2008 Disney movie Bolt. All those pins, now removed.
Cheers man, have fun doing what you want to do.