Regarding the Elder Scrolls: Online...

[Sεraphim]

Warning, long post imminent.  :lol:

 

 

I'm thinking I should start this off with a brief description of my fan-hood and loyalty to the Elder Scrolls games. I started the saga with Oblivion on PC (two years after it had originally came out), while most people seemed to have started with Morrowind or games dating even further back. My point is, I am not a die-hard fan of the series like other people, and I don't tend to get too excited for mostly any Bethesda game. This might be because of how unfinished every release tends to feel for me, or because the plethora of bugs that take dozens of updates to fix, or because of the monumental improvement the game takes on with modifications (which should have been, in my opinion, already implemented beforehand by the developers; refer to point one!). Alas, this topic isn't about my minuscule disappointments. Despite all of this, I'm going to attempt give my honest-to-God reaction to the Elder Scrolls: Online trailer(s), in a manner that isn't ridden with bias and meets somewhere in the middle of the "fan-hater" scale.

 

As you could imagine, I had little to no reaction to the first trailer with the iconic sigil of the three dragons. What was there to react to? I had no idea if that had any weight in lore, because I knew no lore! But as more and more trailers began to release, I had begun warmed up to the game, though was still incredibly skeptical of it. Could Bethesda really pull off an online game? It's an MMO, how would there be mods? Would there even be mods? How quickly with the fans get bored without players being able to mod the game? These thoughts rushed through my head as I recalled all of the tiny, tiny mods that I've downloaded for Oblivion and Skyrim which made the game that much more enjoyable. Anything from character animations, sound effects, and skeleton modifications to texture enhancements, environmental overhauls, etc. have all been rather integral in my enjoyment of the games. That's how every Elder Scroll game I've played has been; a canvas with an outline, ready to be filled with color by the community. That's not necessarily a bad thing, I liked that Bethesda encouraged game modifications... but one cannot disagree that Bethesda games seem a bit empty, or less than what the game could be without them.

 

For a time, I had forgotten about the game. That is until tonight when I had stumbled upon the ES:O cinematic trailer (here), and had gained interest towards the MMO. In the back of my mind, I kept thinking to myself it's just a cinematic -- the game will probably be disappointing. Consequently, I had searched up videos of TES:O gameplay. I was surprisingly okay with what I had seen. The animations, though not exquisite, were very well done and fluid for an MMO (and for Bethesda). The gameplay seemed to retain that feel of exploration and adventure that previous titles had stressed. The art and environmental design seemed to be a mix of Skyrim and Fable III by introducing a slightly cartoonish, yet resemblant view of Adam Adamowicz original design. This is by no means a bad thing, in my opinion. I love cartoonish graphics in MMOs, like World of Warcraft and Wildstar. Too many times have I seen eastern MMOs constantly over-do their games with attempts at "realistic-anime" graphics. Something about it just seems off. It's like watching a television program from the 70s; it is obvious that it is from the 70s for some reason, but you can't put a finger on it (for the most part). But most importantly, it appears in some subtle way, Bethesda understands that mods won't be available in the game. So much so that I actually think they're doing their damndest to propagate a game which doesn't require modifications!

 

In spite of all this, there is still the worry of how good the game will be in terms of it's roots. By this, I mean how it will stand as an MMO alone? Of course the lore is rich and wonderful, but how long will that carry the game for? Will it just be another repetitive game that appears alive, but is really just a shell of what it once was (WoW)? Although the gameplay looked great, that's all it really was, gameplay of a corporate-picked sequence in order to better advertise. There are other superficial things that worry me as well... like Brazilian players and if they will get their own servers, gold farmers and how they will be taken care of, so on and so forth. But what do you all think? What are you excited for most in the Elder Scrolls: Online? What are your standpoints of the payment plan?

 

TL:DR: I'm excited yet skeptical.   

[Koko.Hekmatyar]

Seeing as it is set up as a subscription service I doubt it will last more then a year or two before going quasi Free to Play like SWTOR. Honestly Sub service style MMOs are going the way of the Dinosaurs, now a days Buy to play with a cash shop or Free to play with a cash shop is the way to go as it pulls in more money per month.

[Shininku]

I started my journey into Bethesda with Fallout 3, and I loved the game at the time. There was so much to do, then to top it all off; there were so many mods. Now, because I wasn't there at FO3's launch, I dodged the issues, same with Oblivion which a friend later told me about as "Fallout with swords and magic". I literally bought it for PC perhaps a day after being told about it. Just like FO3, I loved it and actually loved it even more because well, I've always favored a sword thing to a gun thing.

 

I said that because to be perfectly honest, I'm not a lore person. I know some basic things, but I'm not one who cares to protect the lore. After all, truth be told, what I love most is the ability to craft the games into whatever I desire. It's interesting to see a PC player's FO3, Oblivion, Skyrim, etc, because you never know what mods they might or might not have. And again, that's what I love most.

 

I figured I'd say that to explain why I voted that I'm not excited for it. It's an online MMO, I won't be able to do what I can in Skyrim on ESO. I can't have MY Tamriel, I have to have THEIR Tamriel; and that takes a large portion of joy out it for me. If I want to run around imitating my favorite anime, then that's what I want to do. If I get bored and want to spawn dragons on whiterun, then that's what I want to do. And when I want to play serious, whereas even the environment itself can kill me, then that's what I want to do. But to remove those things, just to essentially talk to other people (which I'm not that social in MMO's to begin with), is a major loss overall TO ME.

 

Now, my brother, who's only played said games (minus New Vegas) on a console, is very excited for ESO; but it doesn't surprise me. He's never known the joy of mods, hell he's not even a PC player, aside from LoL. But I mean, I'm also the kind of person who still plays Medieval 2 Total War, because of how much you can mod it (Third age Total War, Hyrule Total War just to name some of my favorite). So, when I heard about Shogun 2, I pre-ordered, only to feel like I GREATLY wasted my money, because ultimately I still preferred M2; so much so, that I didn't and still have no plans to get Rome 2.

 

So, to end with, I haven't been following ESO anymore, so TBH, I don't know that much about it anymore. I'd expect it to be sub-based, because that'd be the best way to ensure that certain concerns of the OP, (server latency, spam bots, etc) are not present. It's just that from my observation p2p has better services than f2p. Perhaps lore-followers would enjoy it more, I support them and I hope they enjoy it. As long as Elder Scrolls VI and Fallout 4 come out, I don't mind an MMO.

 

Bleh, I don't usually post on the forums, and I didn't intend to type this much.

 

TL;DR MMO means less mods = I'm not excited. It's not MY Tamriel.

[Sεraphim]

Seeing as it is set up as a subscription service I doubt it will last more then a year or two before going quasi Free to Play like SWTOR. Honestly Sub service style MMOs are going the way of the Dinosaurs, now a days Buy to play with a cash shop or Free to play with a cash shop is the way to go as it pulls in more money per month.

 

That's what I tend to dislike about MMO games. Every F2P game I've encountered always had a problem with a deteriorating community. The veterans had quit, and in came the hordes of children (or otherwise immature players) who ruined the experience for everyone else. It's really like a psuedo-popularity move.

[Koko.Hekmatyar]

That's why I find a guild that only lets in Mature individuals so I don't have to deal with the immature brats who need a sharp severe kick in the ass.  

[Sεraphim]

In reply to Shininku.

 

 

I started my journey into Bethesda with Fallout 3, and I loved the game at the time. There was so much to do, then to top it all off; there were so many mods. Now, because I wasn't there at FO3's launch, I dodged the issues, same with Oblivion which a friend later told me about as "Fallout with swords and magic". I literally bought it for PC perhaps a day after being told about it. Just like FO3, I loved it and actually loved it even more because well, I've always favored a sword thing to a gun thing.

 

I said that because to be perfectly honest, I'm not a lore person. I know some basic things, but I'm not one who cares to protect the lore. After all, truth be told, what I love most is the ability to craft the games into whatever I desire. It's interesting to see a PC player's FO3, Oblivion, Skyrim, etc, because you never know what mods they might or might not have. And again, that's what I love most.

 

I figured I'd say that to explain why I voted that I'm not excited for it. It's an online MMO, I won't be able to do what I can in Skyrim on ESO. I can't have MY Tamriel, I have to have THEIR Tamriel; and that takes a large portion of joy out it for me. If I want to run around imitating my favorite anime, then that's what I want to do. If I get bored and want to spawn dragons on whiterun, then that's what I want to do. And when I want to play serious, whereas even the environment itself can kill me, then that's what I want to do. But to remove those things, just to essentially talk to other people (which I'm not that social in MMO's to begin with), is a major loss overall TO ME.

 

Now, my brother, who's only played said games (minus New Vegas) on a console, is very excited for ESO; but it doesn't surprise me. He's never known the joy of mods, hell he's not even a PC player, aside from LoL. But I mean, I'm also the kind of person who still plays Medieval 2 Total War, because of how much you can mod it (Third age Total War, Hyrule Total War just to name some of my favorite). So, when I heard about Shogun 2, I pre-ordered, only to feel like I GREATLY wasted my money, because ultimately I still preferred M2; so much so, that I didn't and still have no plans to get Rome 2.

 

So, to end with, I haven't been following ESO anymore, so TBH, I don't know that much about it anymore. I'd expect it to be sub-based, because that'd be the best way to ensure that certain concerns of the OP, (server latency, spam bots, etc) are not present. It's just that from my observation p2p has better services than f2p. Perhaps lore-followers would enjoy it more, I support them and I hope they enjoy it. As long as Elder Scrolls VI and Fallout 4 come out, I don't mind an MMO.

 

Bleh, I don't usually post on the forums, and I didn't intend to type this much.

 

TL;DR MMO means less mods = I'm not excited. It's not MY Tamriel.

 

 

 

I can relate to what you were saying, that's what I've been thinking in the back of my mind for some time.

 

That's why I find a guild that only lets in Mature individuals so I don't have to deal with the immature brats who need a sharp severe kick in the ass. 

 

Haha fair enough! They should add an ignore system with a special never-let-me-see-this-person-again-):< feature!1!11 (kidding, of course)

[Koko.Hekmatyar]

Actually I'd like that option, AAAAAAAND if they don't allow open world PK in ESO even amung allies I think I'd be getting a lot of use out of such an option.

[Sensual Nautilus]

I think it will have the knacks of becoming a memorable game for me and a lot of othger people for better or worse. My main concerns for the game are simple ones:

1. Obviously you cannot mod this title, but it's quite alright actually.

2. Immersion won't be as deep as a single-based adventure would be. As there are a bullion other chumps, cats and argonians fleeting about, your sense of impact will probably be reduced to your generic sense that you can achieve in your typical mmo.

3. I believe in paying for the game once in order to play it permanently, and dishing out the additional cash for other things. I think I'll stick to gw2 for a longer while.  I have spent a couple of hundred dollars in their gem store already, and I simply get to keep playing when those long financial droughts hit me and I don't get to spend any cash on any games, gw2 still being there to snuggle me and say its alright,  just keep gaming on.

 

Beside those, I'm terribly excited for the action element in this mmo. I hate traditional static mmo battle mechanics, and TESO seems like and advancement into the dynamic movement. (I personally wanna see old mmo PAC mechanics reduced to those shadey titles that you usually see produced by small companies looking to grab a quick buck from you and then pull the plug on the game)

 

Verdict from me, game will be good for a little while, but as things get too dominantly repitive like in a typical mmo scenario, I'll vaguely linger, and once the subsciption fee begins a'calling while im under that state when I am either low on cash and/or who's interest in the game has been waning, good-bye TESO forevs.

[cornbreadtm]

Well, it's not being directly made by Bethesda, so at least we have a chance of getting a finished game at release instead of an alpha.

 

A Bethesda MMO would literally be Final Fantasy 14 1.0; with shittier character designs.

 

Cash shop horse armor please, $9.99 each.

[Sεraphim]

I think it will have the knacks of becoming a memorable game for me and a lot of othger people for better or worse. My main concerns for the game are simple ones:

1. Obviously you cannot mod this title, but it's quite alright actually.

2. Immersion won't be as deep as a single-based adventure would be. As there are a bullion other chumps, cats and argonians fleeting about, your sense of impact will probably be reduced to your generic sense that you can achieve in your typical mmo.

3. I believe in paying for the game once in order to play it permanently, and dishing out the additional cash for other things. I think I'll stick to gw2 for a longer while.  I have spent a couple of hundred dollars in their gem store already, and I simply get to keep playing when those long financial droughts hit me and I don't get to spend any cash on any games, gw2 still being there to snuggle me and say its alright,  just keep gaming on.

 

Beside those, I'm terribly excited for the action element in this mmo. I hate traditional static mmo battle mechanics, and TESO seems like and advancement into the dynamic movement. (I personally wanna see old mmo PAC mechanics reduced to those shadey titles that you usually see produced by small companies looking to grab a quick buck from you and then pull the plug on the game)

 

Verdict from me, game will be good for a little while, but as things get too dominantly repitive like in a typical mmo scenario, I'll vaguely linger, and once the subsciption fee begins a'calling while im under that state when I am either low on cash and/or who's interest in the game has been waning, good-bye TESO forevs.

 

Love your signature. Also, love your post count... DON'T REPLY OR POST ANYMORE!

 

Haha, and yeah, I totally agree with your payment point. I think any payment plan (I don't have a preference which) should be required for big titles like this. I'm really not a fan of F2P after seeing what happened to TERA, SWtoR, and countless other games.

[Koko.Hekmatyar]

Tera and SWTOR kind of screwed themselves with how they implemented their F2P services. They highly restricted what f2p people got content wise (especially SWTOR) and people who go f2p who are adults tend to drop A LOT of money on cash shops but if you piss them off from the get go they won't want to give the company money.

[Jexsam]

I don't think it'll be great, but I am attracted by the novelty and frankly I've played games that looked worse out of the gate (I am a long-tine Star Trek Online player and that game was almost asunfinished and broken as FFXIV when it came out. It got a lot better tho, especially post-F2P).

 

I'll probably buy the game and take the free month it comes with to see how it goes. Assuming it sells boxes in stores, anyway - STO did that but in this day and age I can't be sure.

 

I'm not expecting a WoW-killer or even anything terribly memorable but I'm a sucker for the franchise so it'll get at least some of my money eventually.

[Koko.Hekmatyar]

TESO isn't being directly made by Bes but it is being made by a Subsidiary company so odds are this is going to be placed on Steam for purchase then they will have either a way to pay your monthly fee via Steam or have a separate website for it.

[Koko.Hekmatyar]

I don't recall anyone actually "flaming" the game because it uses a subscription plan set up all anyone said is that it won't last as a solely Sub game they will eventually be forced to go to f2p to some degree just like Aion, Tera, SWTOR etc. etc.

[Vulon]

From everything I've seen, read, and heard, I have fairly high hopes. I'm not much of an MMO player, but I've dabbled here and there. The online aspect appeals to me if only for the opportunities for roleplaying and immersion it allows. I'm definitely looking forward to the chance to play with friends, too. I'm not crazy about it being subscription-based, but I'm too enamored with TES to let that stop me from getting it at launch. 

[Captain Cobra]

Lore raping wowclone PoS

[deathparade]

Not really excited

Here is why:
No mods except for textures etc
On launch it's gonna be full of bugs and only 1/5th of the players can probably play because of shitty servers and bugs
After some patches we will probably be left with it and Bethesda moves on to the next game not looking back

The only good thing would be the server emulators which are always fun to set up (to me)
And i hope we can get some sort of mod support out of that

[...0...]

Not only is TESO not moddable its also forced gameplay no open world its traditional mmo game and no freedom as we all know from TES games.

 

Its still DX9 game so it can run on every pc from last 8 years, released in 2013 common WTF?

 

TESO is just a money grab and im 100% sure they try same as so  many have tried be a popular mmo for the avarage joe out there, who prolly never have played any real elder scroll game.

 

ZENIMAX desparade attemp to lure the die hard fans into TESO(on succes of oblivion and now SKyrim for launch they prolly succeed indeed) is poor attemp when i see them promoting game that way i always have the feeling they lie by suddenly say its all solo and so on its pathetic, they still not convince me at all.

 

Ive seen few movies and read up on game its not even close to solo elder scroll games.

 

Im 0% procent excited for TESO its a CONSOLE game for the mmo gaming community its not targeted at all for the Elder scroll fans(Im indeed a from time daggerfall came and later my most favorite morrowind).

 

Mark my words, it will not be a elder scrolls game as we know and it will try and make same mistakes as so many have done before copy much from WoW and many others to please the mmo fans out there.

 

But to each his own its matter of taste, many will like some like me stay away its not realy importend as long you enjoy yourselfs which is most importend go for it:)

 

Future will tell whats fate of TESO.

 

Oh and i dunno if TESO will have cashshops?.. but thats one of reasons why i also don't play mmo's anymore i still see it as cheating.

 

Solo games FOREVER!!!

 

Im way more excited for The Witcher 3!!!

[junkacc]

They're going to butcher the lore and hope that console kids will lap it up by being the first MMO launched on nexgen consoles. And this picture is worth a thousand words.

 

[Sεraphim]

I see where you're coming from, but I'm going to have to disagree with some points you've made.

 

Its still DX9 game so it can run on every pc from last 8 years, released in 2013 common WTF?

 

Like I've said in the original post, I'm not one of those die-hard fans of the Elder Scrolls (or Bethesda), but I don't think that having specifications that allow people who are less fortunate to play the game is a bad thing.

 

TESO is just a money grab

 

I'm fairly certain all video games are made with at least a substantial priority to grab money. To single out TES:O for that reason is slightly unfair.

 

Oh and i dunno if TESO will have cashshops?.. but thats one of reasons why i also don't play mmo's anymore i still see it as cheating.

 

Generally, gaming companies only implement cash shops when they've gone free to play (which is why I'm glad the game is P2P). Though I can expect some cash shop purchases including cosmetic armors, or dyes -- superficial stuff like that. I would be sorely disappointed if Bethesda actually added advantageous content to a cash shop, and that is only if they even made a cash shop.

 

 

Im way more excited for The Witcher 3!!!

 

 

Hell yes! xD

 

[Sεraphim]

They're going to butcher the lore and hope that console kids will lap it up by being the first MMO launched on nexgen consoles. And this picture is worth a thousand words.

 

That guy looks like a typical Disney villain... HE CANNOT BE TRUSTED!

[Rayblue]

MMOs are great if you're with that game from the beginning, but then as time moves on, you have the first gen move out and sell their accounts, and then newbies arrive, mostly the kiddies... the loud 10-year-old entitled types. Soon there is inflation, bug exploits, grinding, and morass of offenses that could even tax the most determined of GMs.

 

The first MMO I was with was also the last, and after six years I left because of the mounting costs of gameplay and the toxic manchildren who ask for everything on the silver plate.

 

Surprisingly I found Skyrim more addicting than any MMO.

[Guest]

I hate MMOs. You run around with friends and level up then you explore all the places and next month you are in the highest level area. And everyone else is cluster fucked in the same place. This happened to GW2 where the entire world is empty and everyone is all in one place. And AION, don't even get me started on AION. I like the type of MMO RPGs with a more social aspect because that's what makes the game last longer. Also I can't see bounty and theft being part of the game anymore. And why does the combat suck? I look forward to Witcher 3 and the next Dragon's Dogma but screw TESO. 

[Mumin]

It might have been interesting if they had played to the strength of their franchise and created something mod-friendly where players can create and host their own adventures (think Neverwinter nights). 

 

Apart from the awesome modability, Bethesda's games have been quite mediocre in my opinion, so this does not look too promising.

[Koko.Hekmatyar]

I'm still not holding my breath even after seeing the char gen video and I can't say 100% that I will even give it a try seeing as the last MMO I tried with a sub service was and still is the most expensive MMO ever made yet it didn't impress me enough to keep paying the monthly fees.