@azarhal
I prefer a simpler explanation, that doesn't require some sort of group think mindfuck. Some people who played it didn't like it, and for good reasons. Is that so hard to accept?
The group think mindfuck is called "banking on confirmation bias".
Also, I've seen way more negative comments in the beta forums in the last 6 months than what popped online in the last two weeks. At least I know these people have played the game and what they had access to.
Lets take some comment fro the PCGamer article, because I'm bored.
Mako482: His comment shows me he didn't like the tutorial section of the game and probably never made it past level 5.
Atoxx : He wants Mount&Blade as a MMO.
TheTrueObelus, coppernaut and a few others: They claims the game is a standard MMO. ESO have quest, a chat window, character progression with levels and a story. I wonder what they expected...
3lfk1ng: Watered bland version of Skyrim because the game is missing features he likes but doesn't mention them (the only one I can think of is housing and shouts). He also complains that the game might as well be a single player game something I only see hardcore MMO players say (about every MMOs released since 2004). I'm suspicious of his Skyrim comment based on the MMO comparison. I'm wondering if he is a "people who want to solo in MMO should play single player games" guy...
stoopidhead: troll.
BlackCompany: Says he haven't played the game.
There are also a bunch of people not liking the game because it's sub-based.
All and all, these comments are rather tame compared to what I've read on the beta forums...