i tried getting into ESO like 4 years ago but i got bored, but ive been playing it every day (a lot of the time just logging in for the daily login reward) for like 2 months. i normally hate MMOs but the elders scrolls universe and combat mechanics make me really like it. also the economy is surprisingly not broken after over 10 years of this game existing.
ive been getting into trading to make gold. there are a limited number of traders and each trader can only support one guild which helps limit the number of merchant players. also, every transaction sends 3.5% of the proceeds to the guild and 3.5% goes poof, and this helps prevent inflation. but there are some mats that are crazy expensive. ive been doing alchemy to make money and reagents are normally 100-500 gold each, but columbine is on average 2000-2500 each bc they are a necessary ingredient in a lot of popular pots. anyways, i just spent 1M gold on 600 columbine bc it was a good deal, but i only had 1.2M so im kinda broke until i sell these. it should take less than a week tho and my revenue will be almost 2M (profit is only 350K, but i have most of the reagents already, so ill end the week with 1.7M)
its a fun game! if ur into elder scrolls, get it! there's a bundle for $60 that gets you the base game plus every single expansion. DLC is separate from expansions tho, but if you want to get into trading you have to get ESO+ for the unlimited mat storage. ESO+ comes with all the DLC, so you can buy the $60 base game + expansion packs, then spend at most $15/month on ESO+. i did 3 months so it was $14/month, but when it lapses i might drop $130 for the year (<$11/month) bc i got a bunch of steam gift cards several months back and havent used them all.
I've been playing it for around 2-3 years going through all the quests in chronological order, and the dungeons too in non-vet mode (though recently hit 1 boss I can't beat in a DLC dungeon), I'm at Northern Elsweyr right now so maybe 70% of the way done? the quest writing is ok, sometimes good, the latest expansion added new skills that can be used by all classes which is something a lot of people have been asking for, I generally use my main character for everything so it's been nice to experiment a bit with new skills, it's an MMO but it's basically been a single player elder scrolls game for me, except for world bosses or events
about the in-game economy.. over the last few months I sold off a lot of motifs and materials I had collected to fund some purple companion gear I was missing, I know prices went down recently on NA (apparently due to the banning of gold-for-crown sellers) and some whales are complaining but I think it's good to give everyone access to cheaper stuff, it was way overinflated, I never had ESO+ and never really got into trading overall though, only farm when it's for a weekly endeavor, running around the coast in Khenarthi's Roost is pretty relaxing
it has to be said that they entice gambling for cosmetics which sucks.. and I sort of feel like they've been adding less and less each year because I think they diverted part of the team to work on some other project and are hoping people don't notice, also they seem to not care about the PvP crowd and improving hardware infrastructure to support them, but I don't PvP, I buy crowns when they go on sale, and the DLCs and other store things go on sale too once in a while in the crown store
im also mostly single player. trading is my only exception. ill prob eventually do some world bosses, group dungeons, and trials, but im not ready yet
i cant stand scribing. idk maybe there are good skills in it, but its too much for me rn
i did notice the decrease in prices. prices of tri-pots have gone from ~1k to ~700
i've just gotten into trials lately, they're fun but they can get stressful so fast especially when i'm learning the mechanics on the fly ;w; but i do my best either way and people are nice enough to explain stuff most of the time!