Elder Scrolls Online: My MMO Dream Come True!

I've been playing the beta almost non-stop this past weekend and I don't know if its my extreme fanboy-ism for The Elder Scrolls but I absolutely LOVE what they've done with this.

The Quest system has voice actors which for some reason is always a big deal for me, random encounters that spawn quests are also a really cool thing that I *myself* haven't seen in an MMO before. I think the combat system, while it could use some tweaks is great. It isn't a clone of what Elder Scrolls is (and it shouldn't be). It is what its supposed to be, a crossover between what were used to in an ES game and what we are used to and what we need (and also a lot of things we haven't seen) in an MMO.

I could go on and on, but I just wanted to make this topic to tell anybody that isn't decided yet. You need to try this at least ONCE before you make a decision. Do not condemn this game before playing it. As a matter of fact, you should not condemn any game before experience it for yourself. I hope to God they have some sort of free trial for the people that are still angry over the price (My opinion on that isn't so popular, if you don't have the money to pay for your gaming habit...well, I hear Tiddly Winks is cheap).

Try it for yourself people.

I want to be clear here, I don't have the time right now to write about everything I have been enjoying about this game. Like I said I just made this topic to try and get people to at least try it before they decide to hate it. I just can't believe the hate this game is getting that's all.

Im also having high hopes for this game and will certainly give it a chance but I get why it gets so much hate, It tries to please both the Skyrim fans and MMO fans at the same time yet it doesnt feel like it delivers on iether front (based on beta experience ofc).

What's different in the combat system? Isn't in real time?

I'm also looking forward to it. People seem threatened by it being an MMO, but I think it looks good.

you're also still under an NDA and technically not supposed to even say that you're in the beta.

personally, the NDA still being in place is irritating because I see the EA and Activision trolls who come out at every major MMO launch (some of whom are paid to do what they're doing) and I see people who've never played an MMO or, even worse, the beta version of an MMO offering criticisms that amount to little more than "it's an MMO!" and I want to see the other side. But most people that actually are enjoying themselves are respecting the NDA, so for the most part we're stuck with the people who don't care if their accounts get banned for impressions.

I believe the press NDA is up, so we might see more impressions/videos from the larger websites in the coming weeks.

Angry Joe made a big video where he explains pretty much everything

I have multiple e-mails and Beta accounts, so..yeah. If they have a problem with me praising their game then oh well.

Too bad its not an RPG, it's an MMORPG. There IS a difference.

I think the hate's more related to the fact that Elder Scrolls fans probably didn't want anything multiplayer related. So I guess the hate is just fans being disappointed at the next iteration of the Elder Scrolls franchise, it'd be like turning Fallout into a Call of Duty clone (lets hope that never happens). Personally I wasn't going to pick this game up at launch but maybe 6-9 months after it came out to see how it is before passing any judgement.

That said the pricing for the game is pretty standard for MMO's given that almost all decent ones start with a full price and a sub and stay that way on average at least a year or two after release.

he gets to level 6. He's not explaining much of anything. No morphs, no swapping, no synergies, no quickslotting, no guild effects/skills, interrupts or knockdowns...i'm not even sure I saw a dodge in there. You can barely fill up your hotbar at 6 let alone having enough skills to change stuff in and out. This is little better than reading a random post on an internet forum, when it comes to trying to inform yourself about the game.

I stand corrected: he explains everything anyone in their right mind would care about ;)

:(

I thought swapping was fun in GW2, as it allowed you to completely shift your assault mid-combo. ESO doesn't even have a cooldown on the swap like GW does, so it seems like it will be even more versatile.

and morphing is a great idea that is used too seldom. I loved morphing skills in Sacred 2 to tailor them to my build.

and the justice system sounds really cool - where thieves and murderers (assassin's guild) will be answerable to other players for their actions. Rising ranks in guilds grant guild specific skills and also the ability to influence NPCs in dialogue.

synergies seem like GW2 brand field effects (e.g., if somebody sets an area on fire and you shoot an arrow through it, instant fire arrow!), but I would like to hear more about them. Most MMOs don't even bother with group mechanics.

But in this video I see a guy playing a starter area, bitching about the number of mobs. Really? Bethesda gives you 15 minutes to compile a weekend's worth of experience and you spend it bitching about neck graphics? Totally useless.

You want to know what my dream fantasy MMORPG would be:

1) SOMETHING NOT INFLUENCED BY TOLKIEN IN ANY WAY.

If I have to play another elf, dwarf, hobbit, orc I'm going to puke. Be fucking original for once!!!!!!

How about a planet with several species of intelligent insects, magic, and a medieval level of tech? I'm just spinning this shit out of my ass.

I'm sorry, those terms are greek to me, I can only vaguely infer their meaning without looking them up (I'm allergic to MMOs, I'm afraid).

I get your complaint though: I guess MMO aficionados could have done with a little more specific data, I guess he had to pick and chose to address Elder Scrolls players by pointing out how the game resembles Skyrim despite being online and how that is fairly impressive considering the average technical aspect of MMORPGs.

#@Boddicker: 1) SOMETHING NOT INFLUENCED BY TOLKIEN IN ANY WAY.

Impossible!

Was kinda what I liked about the original GW, that there were no elves or orcs. And they had a great base for races going into GW2 with centaur, tengu, charr and mursaat all well developed non-human cultures in the original setting.

They kept the charr, and then proceeded to introduce goblins (Asura) and their own version of Tolkien-esque elves in the sylvari. I'll never understand that. They had a completely original world in the original and took a cookie-cutter to it for the sequel.

@Black_Knight_00: I guess he had to pick and chose to address Elder Scrolls players

I've put over 600 hours into Skyrim, not including time spent in the CK, 3DSmax, Nifskope, etc messing around with mods. Useless Joe failed to address any of my concerns as a fan of the TES franchise, either. Wasn't like I was sitting there "I hope they don't **** up the neck graphics!"

I haven't heard that neck complaint: I was skipping forward in the video.

I like it ... that's all I'm going to say.

@Black_Knight_00 thanks for the video

Even I'm not a big fan of MMOs this one really hypes me.

Skyrim sold around 20 million copies and many new fans to The Elder Scrolls were introduced to the series. These people and long term TES fans have high expectations for The Elder Scrolls Online that are far beyond it's concept. If you're coming into ESO expecting a game just like TESV but with online gameplay you might become disappointed. In my opinion ESO is a fun experience but it's not a traditional Elder Scrolls game. Not to mention it's a MMORPG. At the same time there are going to be fans of massive multiplayer online role playing games who dislike some of ESO's eccentric design.

In my opinion ESO has a good combination of 1st and 2nd generation MMORPG design with a few elements from the TES series thrown in that make it stand out from others. As far as the media reacting to the partial NDA, I think many of them make some valid points.

I've spent hours with The Elder Scrolls Online and enjoy it! Even though I might disagree with AngryJoe(simply because of his lack of time with the game) he still makes some very interesting points that many people besides himself have addressed. In fact, our own Kevin VanOrd at Gamespot expressed his own negativity while also showing some optimism(same thing with IGN's first impression). I found MMORPG.com had a more position experience with ESO among others.

But if you want a VERY GOOD first impression of The Elder Scrolls Online than take a look at ScrewAttacks video. Two different gamers, one an Elder Scrolls fan and other more into traditional MMORPGs. You really get to see the perspective from both sides, the negative, and the positive things of ESO.

The mix reaction to The Elder Scrolls Online is really due to Skyrim's success and the transition we are in with MMORPGs. One thing you have to understand is that games like ESO(and even Wildstar) began development years ago during the peak of it's generation with massive multiplayer online roleplaying games. Therefore the design is very familiar and might not necessarily be groundbreaking.

@NeoGen85: But if you want a VERY GOOD first impression of The Elder Scrolls Online than take a look at ScrewAttacks video. Two different gamers, one an Elder Scrolls fan and other more into traditional MMORPGs. You really get to see the perspective from both sides, the negative, and the positive things of ESO.

Pretty well done and informative, if disorganized at times (saying there are 6 skillslots and then 10 minutes later correcting themselves later to 12 slots plus your basic abilities for a total of 15 skills usable at any one time).

One thing is that they don't realize that the thieves and assassin's guild are coming post launch with something called a justice system that has bounties and such that can be taken on other players for their criminalistics ways. They're complaining about thievery missing without realizing that Bethesda has every intent to put it in there, it just won't be ready at launch. Maybe they could have perused the ESO website a little before they made the video.

But they are right about stamina and running. The game needs a separate run bar aside from stamina (like they have for the mounts). Melee skill lines tend to come with some sort of dash, but you still need to be able to move around quickly without dipping into the same pool you need to perform skills. Obviously mages don't have this problem, and so it presents a potential balance issue.

They talk about a phasing issue, and to clarify that, there are quests in the game that have an actual effect on the game environment. And unbeknownst to beginning players, these areas are public phases within the larger game world, but there's no clear boundary line like in most games to tell you that you've entered a phase (and like I said, it's public, so there will be other players there). So let's say you encounter this town that's been overrun by this opposing group - there will be a collection of quests in the area relating to taking the town back and this will culminate in your typical boss showdown, after which the town will be retaken and for all the world appear nice and serene. But if you haven't completed this quest line and your friend has and you enter one of these public phases, you'll suddenly "become invisible" to your friend, like they say. I like that the world changes in response to what you're achieving, I don't want to lose that feature, and the public aspect to it is also very nice...maybe they could fix this by setting all phasing by the progress of the group leader.

@Ish_basic: I don't want to talk about specific game features in depth because of the NDA. I think to some degree the technology supporting the way phasing works in ESO has it's pros and cons. Phasing or instancing in other MMORPGs has been very clear to the player. Not here.

I also think that ZoS does a poor job at explaining how things work to a community that wants to know more. In fact, much of the press still has no idea how The Elder Scrolls Online really plays. This "NDA" may help them maintain anticipation amongst gamers, but Zenimax Online Studios will not be doing a traditional open beta before launch. So, just like any other game you'll have to play it or wait for a review.

Even though I have higher anticipation for ESO than Wildstar, I feel Carbine Studios has more confidence in their game since they love to share their work. Or maybe ZoS has so much confidence, they don't have to show The Elder Scrolls Online until the game releases. :P

@NeoGen85: Even though I have higher anticipation for ESO than Wildstar, I feel Carbine Studios has more confidence in their game since they love to share their work. Or maybe ZoS has so much confidence, they don't have to show The Elder Scrolls Online until the game releases.

The last MMo launch of this caliber was GW2 and we were talking about that game freely in April, some five months before launch. We've got less than 2 before ESO launches and the only people that are really talking are the haters because they don't care if their account gets banned. Keeping the NDA up this late is just letting the trolls run around unchecked. I know for a fact there are people out there reading what they're writing and wanting to just say "you're wrong because of this, this and this," but they can't because they want to abide by the contract they signed. Granted people tend to break these things all the time, but a lot of people still don't want to take the chance.

I thought the video you posted was helpful, because it actually does talk about the game in some depth and in a careful manner, but there ain't a whole lot of that around the net right now. Zenimax should be a little more concerned that the only people the NDA is keeping quiet are their fans.

@Boddicker: I'd hire you.

As long as you look at it as a spinoff (A game entirely different from Bethesda's Morro/Obli/Sky but based on the same lore ) then it can stand on its own as a decent MMORPG. What is wrong is calling it the "next installment" in the series; it's made by a different developer within a different genre with completely different gameplay design. It's not ESVI.

@k41m How much adventuring and exploration does this MMORPG have? Can you wander around the world freely, enjoying the panoramic views in the distance and knowing you can simply walk over there? Are the in-game graphics a step up or down from Skyrim? From the screens and videos they look worse than Skyrim, and in some aspects even worse than Oblivion ( constant distance cutoff fog ).

@Majd_Abdulqadir: The exploration is just like any Elder Scrolls game, theres even quite a few random encounter quests from what I have seen so far which is awesome. As far as the graphics, if you can run them on max like I can.. it's almost as good looking as Skyrim.. maybe a small step down. People have to realize though with MMO's the graphics are almost always going to be a step down from SP games, not really sure why but I've seen it time and time again. The graphics are in no way bad though, they actually look awesome and the character models and customization kicks ass.

That sounds nice. I know the NDA prevents non-official screenshots, but can you describe a view you encountered while playing? For example when you stood on a cliff and looked down on the land below you stretching to the distance. Do you see things like in the screenshots below in ESO?

Notice how the horizon is actually a playable area; you can actually walk over to that mountain in the distance.

Played a couple of hours, and felt only pity for those who pre-ordered. What a waste of resources that could have been allocated for TES6 !

I have kinda mixed feelings about ESO mostly because I've never really played an MMO before(not my thing) so it's a new experience I need to get used to though being a huge fan of Elder Scrolls makes things even. Overall the game seems to me like a crossover of Oblivion and Skyrim in terms of pure Elder Scrolls which is great on its own. If I had to find a drawback it'd be the combat system which kind of lacks the feeling of impact when you attack(I mean this in an aesthetic way, not actual damage on enemies) but overall it can't be considered "bad" I guess.

I'm looking to forward to get involved in this game more in the future. Being an Elder Scrolls game is enough for me to hop on the bandwagon. To be honest, if it weren't an ES game I doubt I'd be really interested in this.

I'm glad you liked the video. I agree with you about ZoS shooting themselves in the foot with the NDA and not allowing the actual players who are enjoying it to promote the material they've played. It's very important for a MMORPG to grasp players within the first 5 or 10 levels that they play. Statistics say that subscription-based games tend to loose their first bit of subscribers within those levels. There are a few things about this game early on that aren't traditional practices of the TES series. One concern I had is the restriction of exploration in the early levels of the game. Josh from the ShoddyCast nailed this topic today in their recent beta video review for ESO. The introduction with escaping from Molag Bal's realm is fine, but once you're done with that "tutorial" you're brought to another restricted zone. You want to get to the mainland of Tamriel but there's only one way out of those areas. Going back to my first point, you spend much of your early levels(your first couple of hours) in these "restricted zones". Once you reach the mainland the areas you encounters are huge and the quests are much more engaging.

With that said, that is one of the reasons why I feel the press is still misinformed. At the same time you can't blame them for thinking that those early game experiences feel less Elder Scrollzy.

@johnd13: . If I had to find a drawback it'd be the combat system which kind of lacks the feeling of impact when you attack(I mean this in an aesthetic way, not actual damage on enemies) but overall it can't be considered "bad" I guess.

This is true for pretty much all MMOs. It's part of the reduced technical qualities of these kinds of games. Don't expect cutting edge physics, animations or graphics from an MMO. It just doesn't happen because the available tech doesn't allow for it. Just imagine if you have Skyrim quality physics, and then multiply your player count by 50 and add a room full of goblets and baskets. After the lag settled, you'd have a room full of dead people, killed by ricocheting silverware. So you tend to get combat where it feels like your weapon is just passing through the enemy and they react with canned animations that simulate physics. GW2, ToR, Tera, Rift...they all feel like that.

I enjoyed what I played of the beta, but I must say, I don't see myself playing all the while it has a subscription fee. If ESO went subscription free like Guild Wars 2, then I'd be back on in a flash.

I'm really looking forward to play this game, nice to see a topic not about how it sucks, and I don't see a problem with TC saying he is in beta and loves it, there's been plenty of beta-testers sayin' they hate it with a list of reasons, for some reason that is ok. Have you tried archery TC? If so, how does the bow work in comparison to Oblivion/Skyrim?

Bethesda actually released a video of what you can and can't say, and they said specifically you can't even mention you're in the beta. And yeah, it's kinda foolish of them because the only people abiding by the specific terms of the NDA are the people that like their game. People who don't like the game know Bethesda isn't going to do anything more than ban their account if they even bother to try to figure who these people are in the first place (which is doubtful), which is something they're hardly concerned about.

The bow works like the staffs which work like pretty much all ranged weapons in an MMO - auto-aim. Can't really miss outside of a timed dodge. When you run your reticule over the target, it pretty much locks on that target for every bow shot...so even if you point it at the ground, you'll still hit the guy. People are understandably disappointed. I wouldn't ask for an FPS style of aiming, but something in between is definitely workable, like how they manage ranged in Tera - Fairly generous hitbox but you still have to aim.

played for 15 minutes before i got bored.the melee system especially is horrible.ill try it again when it turns f2p.But reall bad so fary

Ok, thanks, that's not how I pictured it, kind of disappointing really.

here's a nice video on public dungeons (as opposed to instanced dungeons, which the game also features):

The press is so funny about The Elder Scrolls Online. So the PvP impressions have come out today and the media has a lot of good things to say. What also makes me laugh is AngryJoe's impression which is almost the complete opposite of what he said before. In fact, before he starts his video(and at the end) he comments on having to re-evaluate what he was talking about. A lot of that has to do with the Aldmeri Dominion faction.

It seems that people are just going have to wait and see what ESO is all about once it releases.

Also a good article on paying for MMORPGs.

At the end of the day it's Elder Scrolls. It has to be amazing, I've loved every single one that's came out to date.

Just read in an article that the game has *no stealing* whatsoever. Can a beta player confirm this??

No raiding, people not wanting to party up to quest, phasing which ruins the ability to get people to help you with things ...

All of this will ruin the experience in ESO and some of this is even true in other mmorpgs.

Despite me loving and playing WOW for years even it had it's flaws and I await the perfect mmorpg and that will have the following things:

1. Raiding for sure ... ESO wth r u doing?
2. some unnerfed content servers for people who want a challenge
3. more questing that requires a party of people to get things done and encourages people to play in the world that was created instead of doing everything in an instance
4. slower release of raid content so people do go and see the world created and quest with people

Seriously I wait on more patient mmorpg communities than the ones we have now and also await for ones that want to be challenged while following a story through questing.

I noticed in gameplay videos theres no enemy collision. I wish they'd add that to give enemies a real weight and substance in combat... thats one great thing about Tera is the enemies all have weight and collision to them and you can't just run right through them like their invisible.

Yeah, I agree about being able to run through enemies. That needs to change. I imagine it's really disorienting in 1st person. They have slowly added more effects (like armor shrapnel shredding off an enemy when hit), so I noticed there was a greater sense of impact in the latest beta build than the previous. which means they're at least paying attention (or seem to be) to some of the criticism in this regard.