Eso vs WoW comparison (2024)

I play both ESO and WoW (and also played SWTOR, GW2 and GW1, I just like fantasy MMOs in general). Eso vs WoW comparison (1)

- The world: Both.
I'm not disturbed by the more stylized comic-like graphics at all (and ESO doesn't have hyperrealistic graphics either), and some zones is WoW are amazingly designed with iconic landmarks. I love the world of Nirn and Azeroth equally.
Eso vs WoW comparison (2)

- The story: ESO (but SWTOR is better).
I like that ESO has a lot of dialogue and quest choices, that makes replaying quests a bit more exciting. But SWTOR does it a lot better, where almost every single quest has different choices, which also contribute to your character's alignment which then also affects the story (e.g. a Dark Side Jedi Knight has a different story outcome from a Light Side Jedi Knight), and many of their class stories are so good they could be single-player games in their own right.

- Classes and Combat: WoW.
I know this is a controversial opinion to have on an ESO Forum Eso vs WoW comparison (3). 1) But the variety of specs in WoW is truly exceptional. Every single healer plays differently and has unique skills in their toolkit, which can't be said about ESO. 2) WoW's classes have great identity and a lot of theme-appropriate skills instead of having to fill the majority of every character's bar with the same generic skills because they're so much better than class skills. 3) Despite the freedom to choose, almost all of ESO's skills are the same, the only difference is colour. Self-buff, DoT up, spam stuff throughout, repeat. 4) You have to actively block in ESO which is nice, but most others skills are static. There are no cooldowns on skills in ESO, there are nearly no proc-based skills, and almost no interplay between different abilities. This makes the rotation button-mashy and repetitive instead of reactive and rewarding. (Even SWTOR and GW1 had more creative combat than ESO).

- Crafting: ESO (or GW2).
ESO's crafting is great and relevant at higher levels too, but the timegated research times are ridiculous. People don't want to craft 8 months from now, they want to craft now if they put in the effort to level up their skill. Since you can learn all crafting skills in ESO, it also feels a bit single-player-ey than most other MMOs where there is a healthy player-to-player trade going on since you can only learn two professions. The disovery-driven crafting process of GW2 is also a bit more exciting than ESO's.

- Character customization: Both.
ESO's character creation has more options. Their outfit system is also better since you can use dyes whereas in WoW you can't. But ESO has a tons of costumes that are cash shop only. The same goes for mounts and pets, if you want mounts (aside from the basic horses, the Indrik and the occasional free promotion mount) ESO is going to charge you real life money while in WoW you can get 95% of mounts through gameplay. Acquiring collections in WoW is rewarding, in ESO it's an annoying paywall.

- PvE: Both.
ESO's trials are a lot shorter than WoW's and have less mechanics. But it does have a lot of dungeons that are still relevant, and the Undaunted pledge system is more exciting than just daily randoms (which both games have). WoW has better dungeon and raid design, and they also have the advantage of difficulty settings (Mythic+, etc).

- Subscription model: WoW.
ESO is one of the most overcharged games out there. Their 'Chapters' include 1 zone, 1 trial and 1 class for nearly the same price that other MMOs charge for theirs (Wow's BFA had 6 zones, 10 dungeons, 1 raid, 6 new races; FFXIV's Shadowbringers had 2 classes, 2 races, 2 raids, 5 zones, 9 dungeons). Apart from their 'Chapters' they release a measly 1 zone and 4 dungeons per year (which is still less than what other games give you in their expansions alone, let alone with all the new patches in a year). For the price of a sub, in ESO I can still only 8 characters, can still only get the same lame mounts through gameplay and have to pay extra for other mounts and costumes and houses and extra character customizations. The value of ESO DLCs and sub is vastly inferior to other games out there.

Eso vs WoW comparison (4)

I could add a bunch of other stuff but that would be mostly just bonuses instead of a comparison. For example ESO has the housing system and WoW lets you play pet battles with your non-combat pets, or that I like WoW's races more since they're more distinct (this just has to do with Elder Scrolls lore). I can't say much about PvP since I only ever PvP in any game when events or something force me to Eso vs WoW comparison (5) And well, I don't think I even need to mention it, but... - Performance: WoW (obviously); ESO can't go a single patch without introducing some bug and the servers are just generally garbage.

Eso vs WoW comparison (2024)

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