Why do fans of the original Elder Scrolls title, such as Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim don’t like the Elder Scrolls Online?

First off, ESO isn’t even made by the same studio that made Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim. The mainline Elder Scrolls series were made by Bethesda Softworks, but ESO was made by Zenimax Online Studios. 

These two are different studios with different strengths. Now, Bethesda Softworks specializes in open world single player RPGs while Zenimax Online specializes in MMO.

Secondly, ESO is not in the same genre as Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim. Now, ESO is an MMO game, and it is designed with an entirely different set of principles and it is just focused on keeping you grinding for levels and cosmetics. So, you can participate in raids to show off your funky little skins to other players.

The Elder Scrolls games in generals are more focused on immersive adventuring, dealing with NPCs and homemaking, which means creating a field of cabbages and swimming around naked. 

But the Elder Scrolls Lifeline is like gazillions of mods, which add tons of cosmetics, houses, adventures and limitless potential, which all of our illegal and online play. But in the end, the Elder Scrolls by nature are heroic epic adventures where you play a hero and the world ripples around you and your adventure. In ESO, you are quite literally just one nameless grunt among millions and there is nothing special about you and the world just does not revolve around you. Even if you managed to defeat a lot of bosses or you farmed a lot of ESO Gold.

The experience in both games is absolutely incomparable and frankly are nothing alike the games themselves have nothing to do with each other aside from a nominal similarity. The mechanics are different. The progression is different. The experience is different and the two are like oil and water. They really have nothing in common and really don’t mix. 

In Morrowind you will just start off as a Nobody. But by the end, you’re a legendary Nerevarine and fabled hero of the Dunmber. 

And in Oblivion, you will start out as just a prisoner in a dungeon, but by the end you are the Hero of Kovach, Champion of Cyrodiil and you ultimately become the Daedrick Prince of Sheogorath. 

In Skyrim, you will start out as a prisoner again on the way to your own execution. By the end of it, you’re a legendary Dragonborn or potentially the leader of the companions, arcmate to Skyrim listener for the Dark Brotherhood and head of the Thieves Guild. Guards will sometimes look upon you in awe for the fairy tales of your Mighty Deeds. 

Now, in all of these games, which are all single players, you are the most important, powerful person of the land even at these stupid abandons insist on suicidally attacking you. 

But in ESO, you just started out as a nobody. After hundreds of hours, you become nobody to some random adventurer treated no differently than any other random adventurer and it just there is nothing really keeping you in the game.