[Megathread] Elder Scrolls Online

[wombinator04]

who is "them"?

100% of the people who have seen/played the alpha have NOT written an article or made a vid

they talked to 3 people who DID make a video
one of those videos is on this page

we know exactly what the combat system is like. skyrim's system + soft/hard locking + hotbar
why locking? well you gimp ranged in an mmo without it. you can't balance ranged and melee classes/specs/whatever without some type of locked targeting. it is 100% necessary for any type of long term success. if you have a solution they'd love to hear it, but i KNOW you don't. every solution so far involves locked targeting or a HUGE skill gap between ranged and melee

the hotbar is necessary because who the fuck is gonna stop and let you swap spells via the default TES system? if you're competent right now and have skyrim on the PC, you're usking hotkey addons anyway. they do what the hotbar is going to do except it's not visibly on the screen. at this point they're not 100% sure they're gonna force it to be visible because you don't have to watch the bars for cooldowns like most other MMOs. personally i'd prefer it ON the screen so you can drag/drop spells/items/weps as you please but either way, the way i play skyrim (because it's the most efficient way to play it) is VERY similar to how TESO is at this moment. it may change, it may not

but a melee character in skyrim right now is gonna be VERY similar to TESO. the difference is ranged. without target locking ranged wouldn't be viable for ANYONE. ranged would get dominated by any half-decent melee in the game in a pvp setting.

there's a reason games don't do well mixing melee and ranged without targeting systems

---------- Post added 2012-12-24 at 09:21 AM ----------



well area separation equates to an area you CAN explore that's about the size of skyrim/morrowind/oblivion combined

so while people keep focusing on what they can't do, they DO have more to explore than vanilla wow gives them, which is a ton

i personally like this because the ability to go anywhere means you're not at war. there is nothing that says war like wide open borders. the only way they could screw this up is with invisible walls and they very well could use those, which would suck, but games have used them forever. i guess we'll live

factions need to feel unfriendly to the other factions. people are tired of the bad guys and good guys working together for a common cause. it's cliche

---------- Post added 2012-12-24 at 09:23 AM ----------



it's been in development nearly 6 years now
it's the least rushed MMO in history at this point.
the word "polish" was thrown around in regards to the pre-alpha so that's a good sign. folks said it felt like a finished product then. if they do this right they'll profit for years. just hope they're smart enough to know that.

Good then. Glad to see they Zenimax actually gives a shit about the game*cough*EA*cough*.

[Edge-]

it's been in development nearly 6 years now
it's the least rushed MMO in history at this point.
the word "polish" was thrown around in regards to the pre-alpha so that's a good sign. folks said it felt like a finished product then. if they do this right they'll profit for years. just hope they're smart enough to know that.

Most MMO's are in development for 5+ years (WoW, SWTOR, GW2 ect.), and that's not necessarily the best thing that they cook for that long. While it does potentially let them put in more content and make sure it's better developed, the same question of "What's taking them so long?" comes up. There's a happy medium between "rushed" and "in development-hell", and longer doesn't mean necessarily better.

What "pre-alpha" are we talking about? If it's builds that media ect. played, I should hope they're polished. The pre-alpha builds (all of them) of SWTOR and GW2 were very polished as well. That's more a sign that they are trying to impress the media than a sign of the overall quality of the game. They spend a good chunk of time working on that specific demo, when the work on that demo doesn't necessarily make it into the actual game.

I'm still hopeful as hell for the game, but I'm holding off judgement until we see more of it. We still don't know that much, but it does seem like they're doing a pretty good job of taking feedback and improving the game already.

[Badpaladin]

"What's taking them so long?" comes up.

Building the systems to support a modern MMO from the ground up is an extremely long, detailed and difficult process. That isn't to say other types of games aren't either, but an MMO has to be the most complex out there by a long shot. I wouldn't be surprised if the code base rivals that of some modern operating systems in size and complexity.

[Edge-]

Building the systems to support a modern MMO from the ground up is an extremely long, detailed and difficult process. That isn't to say other types of games aren't either, but an MMO has to be the most complex out there by a long shot. I wouldn't be surprised if the code base rivals that of some modern operating systems in size and complexity.

Oh, I'm very well aware of this. I'm simply commenting on the fact that more time doesn't necessarily mean better.

Example: Vanguard was in development for 5 years before being released. Granted, it was a very early, unplanned release, but it was still 5 years into development. The game was one of the buggiest games at launch I've ever played. Its scope and the amount of content was (and still is) mind-blowing, but it was barely in an alpha stage at launch despite the amount of time it was in development for. This was because of a series of terrible internal decisions which dragged the development process on forever (from what we know from rumors). It absolutely needed more time, but with the funding and time they had already, that's not a very good thing, especially considering how much more time it would have likely needed.

Also, Duke Nukem Forever : P

[Axehandle]

Anyone else get the feel this is another cash grab from a popular ip that will be same old same old.

I'd love to be wrong, I'd hope to be wrong.

[Tabbycat]

Why? Bethesda sold over 10 million copies of Skyrim (that doesn't include the expansions, etc).

Bethesda has made a fortune off of single player RPG games which will likely continue with TES: VI.

MMO's, on the other hand, are uncharted territories for them. This is more of a risky undertaking rather than a sure bet.

Edited for clarification:
Both Bethesda Game Studios (makers of the TES single player games) and ZeniMax Online Studios (makers of Elder Scrolls Online) are owned by ZeniMax Media Corp. and published by Bethesda Softworks.

[mcbeaty]

Im so desperate for more infomation on this game, im just starved! I wanna more about the "classes" i want to know more about the questing, i want to know if the quest actually have some depth and rich lore. I want another morrowind/oblivion i just loved doing the "Brotherhood, thieve's guild, Fighter's guild, Mage's Guild, Imperial Legion" I can only imagine what other guilds that the elves have to offer. I don't the standard go to quest giver and kill 10 minions. I missed how morrowind actually made you explore the world with all the quests they had. Idea i was thinking was that all the guilds offer some kind of gear and the only way for you to buy the gear is by climbing the ranks of that guild. Kind of like reputation in wow but just like 75 quests to get a high rank in that guild. Think it would be really awesome if they did this

[Luko]

Why? Bethesda sold over 10 million copies of Skyrim (that doesn't include the expansions, etc).

Bethesda has made a fortune off of single player RPG games which will likely continue with TES: VI.

MMO's, on the other hand, are uncharted territories for them. This is more of a risky undertaking rather than a sure bet.

Edited for clarification:
Both Bethesda Game Studios (makers of the TES single player games) and ZeniMax Online Studios (makers of Elder Scrolls Online) are owned by ZeniMax Media Corp. and published by Bethesda Softworks.

Probably why Bethesda isn't making an MMO.

[Tabbycat]

Probably why Bethesda isn't making an MMO.

Clarification: the MMO Is more of a risky undertaking for ZeniMax Media Corp to be funding a new developer (ZOS) as opposed to just sticking with Bethesda's single player games.

[Northy]

So with left and mouse buttons attacking do they want us to keyboard turn?

[Buckwald]

So with left and mouse buttons attacking do they want us to keyboard turn?

If its like any of the TES games, you'll turn just by moving the mouse.

[Edge-]

So with left and mouse buttons attacking do they want us to keyboard turn?

I would imagine it will be like Tera/Vindictus/RaiderZ combat. Your mouse disappears and becomes your target controller (a la third person shooters), controlling where you're looking/attacking. You will likely have to hit a button like control or escape to bring up the pointer so you can click on things.

[Deleted]

So with left and mouse buttons attacking do they want us to keyboard turn?

Skyrim (and Oblivion and Morrowind GOTYs) is on sale on steam at the very moment. You may want to give it a try

It's more like a FPS

[Jainzar]

Yes please. Us PvPers just want ONE MMO! ONE! that actually gives a shit about PvP. Guild Wars 2 has failed with Anet's pathetic attempt at balance. so I'm out of options here.

I think ESO will deliver on that part. The RvR system sounds amazing, and it will be similar to the system DAoC used: 3 opposing realms, 1 big RvR (realm vs realm) zone and keepfights etc. Also you'll be able to progress your character through RvR and there will be rankings, so theres enough motivation to do PvP.

I hope PvP will be the "real" endgame of ESO, which doesn't mean that PvE should be neglected, though. I think PvE will also be nice, but it's time an mmo actually delivers real pvp. pvp in wow, for example, is no real pvp, it's just some instanced bullshit and simulated and staged arena fights.

Real pvp is what we had in Dark age of camelot, not this battleground bullshit system of wow and the likes.

[Northy]

I don't think ESO has small-scale instanced competitive PvP. Big no for me.

[Deleted]

It's really sad hearing about the faction locks and exploration limitation -_-

Exploration is like the number 1 selling point of Elder Scrolls games...

[vizzle]

Still pissed off about that exploration/faction BS.

It's like drowning a 5 star steak in ketchup. Assuming this game is any good at least.

[Tekkommo]

Still pissed off about that exploration/faction BS.

It's like drowning a 5 star steak in ketchup. Assuming this game is any good at least.

I'm going to be very lazy here, what's up with the exploration and faction?

[vizzle]

I'm going to be very lazy here, what's up with the exploration and faction?

You can't explore more than half of the entire world. You can only explore your faction's corner and the all-PvP zone.

[Deleted]

maybe they are planning ahead for expansions? that might explain why exploration is kinda limited...