Elder Scrolls Online - 11 Things You Need to Know

Couchpotato

Part-Time News-bot
Joined
October 1, 2010
Messages
36,178
Location
Spudlandia
OXM posted a new editorial for The Elder Scrolls Online explaining things that we need to know about the game.

The game has more in common with a traditional RPG than an MMO

So said creative director Paul Sage whilst chatting with Gamespot at E3. He remarked that the game is designed more for RPG fans who want to experience the Elder Scrolls universe together than for hardcore MMO players.

You can wander around, explore and interact with things much as you did in Skyrim, and the game features a minimal HUD rather than reams of the busy-looking cooldown bars and tooltips typical of an MMO title. For the most part, rather than trying to cram the Elder Scrolls universe into an MMO format, developers Zenimax Online Studios has stuck with the winning Skyrim gameplay formula and adapted it up to suit multiple players adventuring together.

Therefore, there won't be raids. Or Auction Houses. Or end-game gear

According to an article on Just Push Start, The Elder Scrolls Online won't offer massive raid scenarios. There won't be gigantic bosses that require dozens of players to fell, but there will be instances that allow up to four players to explore together. Public dungeons will allow more than four players, of course, but they'll just be regular dungeons - so you may have to share the space with players outside your party. Which, as anyone with MMO experience will tell you, is a pain when there are large queues waiting to have their turn with enemy respawns.

The same JPS article also claims there won't be end-game gear grinding, so when you reach level 50, the best gear is obtained only through top-tier crafting. This doesn't sound very promising for end-game content, but developers insist that TESO will "most certainly" receive some expansions. A final blow for MMO-ers: there will be no Auction Houses. Players can trade with one another, but you'll have to find someone to trade with via the game's chat box rather than bartering in public.
More information.
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
36,178
Location
Spudlandia
I made a thread on their forums asking what the point of TESO is.

It's going to be a watered down version of Skyrim that's online. That's about it.

They're emphasizing PvP which makes ZERO sense from a franchise that has done some of the best PvE ever and has had nothing to do with PvP. W.T.F.

They're not giving people a reason to be online or for it to be an MMORPG. What makes MMORPGs the most amazing games is the co-op PvE - the enduring friendships - the tackling of (group) content you cannot do in any other game. And they're not doing any of that?

The thought of taking Skyrim to another level by having incredible PvE that you can do with friends is pretty amazing - and they're not doing anything like that.

What IS the point of them making this game? A weak skyrim ripoff with almost no immersion due to having dozens of pinheads with stupid names running around and spamming chat is not my idea of a good game. Any wannabe MMO that says that their idea of group content is PvP deserves to fail miserably.

I would expect a company like Bethesda to do better than this. This is beyond amateur failing, this is just inexcusably pathetic.
 
Joined
Apr 22, 2013
Messages
633
Location
Arizona
What IS the point of them making this game? A weak skyrim ripoff with almost no immersion due to having dozens of pinheads with stupid names running around and spamming chat is not my idea of a good game. Any wannabe MMO that says that their idea of group content is PvP deserves to fail miserably.

I would expect a company like Bethesda to do better than this. This is beyond amateur failing, this is just inexcusably pathetic.

The easy answer money.:greedy: There was always a segment of players wanting co-op or a mmo. Now they got one.
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
36,178
Location
Spudlandia
We'll have to wait and see, of course, but for me Skyrim and Oblivion didn't really hit the mark in many areas, except for much of the open world exploration aspect, which is superb - The flawed progression (scaling dungeons etc.), combat (except for bows) and consolised UI in Skyrim were all dismal; I can seriously imagine not buying Bethesda's next effort, unless they really up their game.

At best, for PvE, TESO could take the good features of Elder Scrolls: lore, exploration etc. and combine that with the best features of Guild Wars, without making the same mistake GW2 does of trying to make a full scale MMO with no endgame and over fast levelling. The more personal orientation of TESO, lack of an auction house, ability to restrict the other players you see and interact with, etc. may be a *good* sign, in my opinion.

Whether the open world PvP will work is hard to say - noone has so far been able to avoid zerg and keep/territory swapping problems, or to adjust well to players not defending 24 hours, which makes any progress made on PvP maps transitory & meaningless. No indication yet as to whether TESO has some revolutionary solution…

tl;dr First and foremost Zenimax just need to make TESO a fun game - it doesn't have to precisely replicate either Skyrim, World Of Warcraft or some misbegotten marriage of the two.
 
Last edited:
Joined
May 18, 2012
Messages
1,501
Location
Somerset/London UK
The other day I was listening to a guy on a talk radio program who made an interesting point about one sign in particular that indicated a company was about to enter a phase of decline. I don't want to get into it to much here because the whole thing is very debatable and I also can't rearticulate all of the facts that he used. Anyway, the one sign he pointed out was when companies get very big and have lots of money, they will build a skyscraper or some kind of massive structure. He pointed out a good number of real world examples where this has happened. Two I remember off the top of my head are the Sears Towers and Enron (but he must have cited at least 10 examples over the last 50 years).

Accepting this theory as truth for a moment, it makes me wonder if a trend like this will hold true for game companies who try to make MMOs after years of making single player games. MMOs are so costly and very risky and most of them fail big time. MMOs really are the 'super structures' of game developers.

Just throwing out wild speculation but I do worry that the cost of making TESO could bring an end to the single player TES games by becoming a huge loss and a big money drain on the entire company.

After years of playing WoW I am totally done with MMOs. I won't be playing TESO but I do hope it will be at least somewhat successful just so that it doesn't become a money drain and threaten the single player IPs Bethesda cranks out.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
2,897
Location
Oregon
Anyway, the one sign he pointed out was when companies get very big and have lots of money, they will build a skyscraper or some kind of massive structure. He pointed out a good number of real world examples where this has happened. Two I remember off the top of my head are the Sears Towers and Enron (but he must have cited at least 10 examples over the last 50 years).

"Correlation doesn't imply causation, but it does waggle its eyebrows suggestively and gesture furtively while mouthing 'look over there'" - xkcd
 
Joined
Oct 24, 2006
Messages
1,769
Location
Minnesota, USA
After years of playing WoW I am totally done with MMOs. I won't be playing TESO but I do hope it will be at least somewhat successful just so that it doesn't become a money drain and threaten the single player IPs Bethesda cranks out.
Probably doesn't matter anyway since it's not being made by the same company. But if your goal is to get more single-player games, I'd think your best bet would be for the MMO to fail miserably, not succeed. When was the last time you saw a new Ultima, Warcraft, or KotOR single-player game?
 
Joined
Sep 26, 2007
Messages
3,444
Probably doesn't matter anyway since it's not being made by the same company. But if your goal is to get more single-player games, I'd think your best bet would be for the MMO to fail miserably, not succeed. When was the last time you saw a new Ultima, Warcraft, or KotOR single-player game?

I agree completely - let them see the the single-player game is where the money's at, and hopefully they'll stick to that and refine the bits that are currently broken/poorly implemented there. I should add that PvP is really not my cup of tea, and as for PvE...I simple can't be bothered: I have several excellent tabletop campaigns on the go (PF, Wahammer ...) which satisfy my group play need far better than any constrained computer approximation.
 
Joined
Aug 23, 2007
Messages
2,137
Location
Cape Town, South Africa
I don't wish failure on anyone but I have to agree - I would rather see some companies who get this big just work on making better SP games then branch off into the MMO pool. Way to big of a glut on those anyhow.

Just look how good Skyrim is - hell coming up on 2 years and Skyrim Nexus is still going so strong there servers can't handle the traffic. There is obvious demand for SRPG PC games that are also of high quality.

I would much rather see another TES game that is SRPG that is even richer and better developed because they invested more money into.

Yea I know different companies but I believe they have the same parent. Anyhow my point is more that I also dislike seeing the SP IPs being moved into the MMO world.
 
Joined
Jun 4, 2008
Messages
3,959
Location
NH
Probably doesn't matter anyway since it's not being made by the same company.

From what I understand Zenimax is a parent company to Bethesda. So they are tethered together. If you need an example of how companies who own companies can sink the entire fleet, look no further than Big Huge Games.

I actually saw this happen a few times in the 25 years I ran my own machine shop. Some shops would grow and start acquiring other companies to vertically and/or horizontally integrate. Quite a few of those efforts crashed and burned bringing down all companies involved.

But if your goal is to get more single-player games, I'd think your best bet would be for the MMO to fail miserably, not succeed. When was the last time you saw a new Ultima, Warcraft, or KotOR single-player game?

Maybe. It depends on how a company reacts to a failing MMO. If they cancel a failing MMO early on then perhaps. But if they keep trying to keep it alive it's certainly possible to drain themselves financially and then everything goes away, including single player efforts. It depends on a number of things so either of our outcomes is possible.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
2,897
Location
Oregon
From what I understand Zenimax is a parent company to Bethesda. So they are tethered together. If you need an example of how companies who own companies can sink the entire fleet, look no further than Big Huge Games.

Don't think it works quite like this. If I understand it corrrectly Zenimax Media is the parent company of both Bethesda & Zenimax Online Studios. And Zenimax Media was founded by the head honcho of Bethesda, Christopher Weaver. So if anything ZOS, which is headed up by Mat Firor is the junior subsidiary.

Oh and lets not write off the game, before it even comes out :). Could be sweet.
 
Last edited:
Joined
May 18, 2012
Messages
1,501
Location
Somerset/London UK
If I understand it corrrectly Zenimax Media is the parent company of both Bethesda & Zenimax Online Studios. And Zenimax Media was founded by the head honcho of Bethesda, Christopher Weaver. So if anything ZOS, which is headed up by Mat Firor is the junior subsidiary.

Clearing up the structure doesn't negate my point. But thanks for clearing it up.

Oh and lets not write of the game, before it even comes out :). Could be sweet.

I didn't. I already said I hope it succeeds…
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
2,897
Location
Oregon
Back
Top Bottom