Elder Scrolls Online

[Berserker]

I pre-ordered this. Excited! =)

[hypo]

Looks like fun, I have always been hesitant on downloading monthly subscription based games. This one is played in first person and I like that. When it comes out and there is a price break I might ask you how you like it and give it a shot.

[Fritz]

What doug said. As much as I loved Skyrim, I've learned the 'wait an see' approach to MMOs is often the best way to go.

*edit*
Read some reviews. While not bad, the general con census is a big giant "meh". Rock Paper Shotgun actually used the word "boring" to describe the first couple hours of play time and questing. I am intrigued by the world PvP in it though. Only two games have ever done 3 faction PvP in an MMO setting (planetside does it in a FPS setting): Dark Age of Camelot and Guild Wars 2. DAOC is considered the gold standard of open world PvP in an MMO. GW2 I have other issues with (the world environment in general made me want to slam my head on yhr desktop), but it's 3 faction realm vs realm was quite fun for a while. GW2, however was free to play after you bought the game.

New MMOs today need something to make them really stand out. While skyrim's play style is great, they need much more than that to make things work. I would be curious to see if they make PvP their "thing". Bethesda is a great company, so I imagine they'll figure things out sooner rather than later.

[Berserker]

I played in beta for a bit, but I'm not supposed to say anything as the NDA is till in effect. But i can say I enjoyed my time in beta.

[Fritz]

Alright Serban, ESO is about to come out. Bethesda is a good company, Skyrim ruled, and I'm very intrigued by the 3 faction PvP, but the reviews are mixed. Sell me.

[hypo]

I played the beta. It was still buggy with the vendor screen locking the game up. I am not sure if they have fixed this yet. The story and game play were good and if it wasn't for the price tag with a monthly fee I would say I was going to buy it.

[Gregor]

I did not like the Beta. While the elder scroll is one of the best if not THE best single player games... I do not think what makes it so great translates to MMO's

[Berserker]

Thus far I am really enjoying this game (been playing since sunday). I love the quest system. I have yet to find a "kill x boars and bring their beating heart back and I'll give you a cup" type quests. All quests seem important and part of a story (e.g. Go save the villagers before the invasion. Or don't. Your choice). And your choices change the land around you which I really like. And each quest so far has been voiced over which is awesome!

I like the leveling system. You can fight with any weapon, any armor, Skyrim type. The only unique skill trees come from the original choice of class (e.g. a sorcerer gets its own special trees for sorcery). But those are only a small fraction of the available skills. You get more from joining various groups and guilds, etc.

I also love the world. It's large and immersive and pretty. I haven't done pvp yet, but the reviews talk highly of it. We'll see when i get to that point.

[Berserker]

Ok, so now that I've played for a bit, here's how I feel.

I really like the single player quests. The story is fun and the quests are interesting and different. However, I really wished this was a single player game. If they released this game by itself in its current stage it would have been awesome.

My problem comes in the fact that because there's multiplayer, almost any boss for any quest I do becomes trivial. There are always people there, either camping the boss so they can farm him for items, or simply trying to do their quest. As such, I find I just have to get a swing in to get credit and move on. That makes the game too easy, and without challenge, I get bored.

So that's where I stand now. But again, beautiful game, great graphics, outstanding game play, great immersion into the game and fantastic combat system. If only there were no other people in that game......

[Gregor]

Yea I figured this would be an issue, and the early beta I played confirmed that. I love these games as single player, but the things I love about them make it impossible for a MMO. I like to stealth and take my time on a quest etc... MMO does not work like that. Now they could have done all sorts on instances so your alone most of the time, or able to bring a group. Then make that scalable, but I bet that is much more costly and difficult to code and build the infrastructure for. Damm corp machine always wanting more and more $$