UESP Forums

It seems there's plenty of issues with Steam ESO and server outages/login issues- I was just wondering if Steam servers still currently have those problems and if there's any advantage besides Steam integration. I'll probably end up playing without Steam if there's service problems but having it connected to Steam seems nice and convenient.

I’d recommend buying it through the official site:

- The login issues with Steam are more infrequent than they used to be, but they still happen more than issues with the game as a whole.
- According to our wiki page, purchasing the Morrowind version (and presumably Summerset too) through Steam requires you to always launch the game through Steam. Also not sure if, after buying on Steam, you can ONLY buy expansions/Crowns through Steam. There is a two-week cooldown on buying Crowns through Steam.
- The Steam version isn’t up-to-date with game patches, so you should never have Steam verify the integrity of the game cache ‘cause it’ll revert it to an unplayable older version.

About the only advantages I can think of with Steam are that you can use the Steam overlay, and that Steam has its “trading cards”.

I bought ESO through Steam and play it on Steam. I haven't had any problems in a long time, and whenever there were problems I'm not sure if they were related to Steam or something else. On at least some of those occasions there were supposedly non-Steam users who were also having problems, which would suggest that it wasn't a Steam-related issue at all. And whenever there are problems, a bunch of non-ESO+ users always start accusing ZOS of giving priority to ESO+ subscribers and giving everyone else the shaft. Frankly, I think there will always be a group of very vocal users who are going to complain loudly about anything and everything. Just look at all the noise they generated over the Summerfall event-- if it wasn't "ZOS has no intention of giving us the free housing" then it was "Oh great now everyone is going to have the special housing which means that no one's housing will be special." Some people just aren't happy unless they're unhappy.

Website, 100%.

It's been a long while since I've run Steam, but don't forget, you can also add non-Steam games to your library to show friends that you are playing them, if that's your thing. But non-Steam ESO is the way to go, as echoed above.

Alright, I think I'll just buy through the website and I'll probably use Avron's suggestion of adding it to Steam (totally forgot about that!). Thanks, everyone, for the advice.

Get it through Steam on sale