Bethesda and Zenimax Announce The Elder Scrolls Online Release Date

[Kyber]

Oh boy, so the loss of another great single player franchise has a date? Great

I hope you realize that this is being made by a whole different team, and has nothing to do with the single player games, that are being worked on by said other team. Releasing this won't divert power from the team that's doing the single player games.

On an different note, has the price been revealed and confirmed yet?

 

[funksobeefy]

Oh boy, so the loss of another great single player franchise has a date? Great

I hope you realize that this is being made by a whole different team, and has nothing to do with the single player games, that are being worked on by said other team. Releasing this won't divert power from the team that's doing the single player games.

On an different note, has the price been revealed and confirmed yet?

yes however Obsidian made Kotor 2 and we will never see another one of those after TOR

 

[Darmy647]

Im just not excited anymore. Im just really not. Skyrim already dissapointed me on so many levels with how much less customization and content there was. I'm glad theres still fallout New vegas.

 

[JPArbiter]

Awesome, now they can get to Fallout 4!

 

[Kieve]

Played the betas, was not impressed. The graphics were nice but graphics are secondary or tertiary concerns when it comes to MMOs. My impression is that it is overly ambitious for a company that is taking its first steps into MMOs and it has all of the classic flaws of an MMO. It might be fun as a F2P like Guild Wars 2 where you purchase the game but have no ongoing subscription required to play, but I am not about to pay a subscription for the game as it is now. And, as previous posters have said, I would much rather play a small group co-op Elder Scrolls game with my friends, than an MMO with hundreds or thousands of players competing against each other.

When I play MMOs I tend to be soloing my way through everything that is not gated away and helping others where I can. I could not care less about guilds, raiding, and most world events as I don't have the free time to invest that deeply into a game. Two of the greatest innovations I liked about GW2 that I wish more games would do is letting everyone who participates in a fight or event benefit according to their contribution rather than making and gather points that only go away for the player that just harvested them instead of everyone on the server.

Maybe if ESO was innovative instead of looking like just another MMO with a coat of Elder Scrolls brand makeup thrown on top... Maybe then it would be worth it in my eyes, but not as it stands now.

Was right there with you for the last Beta (11/22-24). While I'm not certain what level of "generality" I can speak on, thanks to the NDA, I can say with certainty that April is way too soon for this game, and if Zenimax holds to that release date, they will learn first-hand why SWTOR went F2P in such a hurry. Not that I believe the move will save them.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

It's funny that the more I've seen of this game, the less I've felt any desire to play it. Just saying.

 

[fix-the-spade]

PC/Mac getting a jump on console is surprising.

My housemate was considering getting a PS4 just for ESO, but if it comes to PC first, he may just get a new desktop instead.

I'm surprised it's getting a console release at all, have any western MMO's had success on any console in the last decade?

I can't think of any, yet now a decade after the golden age of subscription MMOs Bethesda is about to try it's luck. I really can't see either console version lasting very long at all, or the PC version for that matter, fifteen bucks is too much per month against WoW and Bethesda's own back catalogue. Having said that PC players are largely more tolerant of bugs and messy launches (generally), so I see the logic of launching their first, then the console a couple of months later, the player numbers on console will be lower too (unless every PS4/Bone owner buy ESO all at once).

If they swallow some pride and drop it to $5 a month then it's on, MMO for the price of one full price game a year is attractive, $180 a year and the market at large has switched off before they've even opened an account.

 

[Nocturnus]

All of these people posting about how much they can't stand the experience they had in beta...

... um.. aren't you guys in a beta test? As in, a beta test that is under NDA? As in... you're violating the NDA that you agreed to by coming to these boards and preaching doom and gloom about a product that isn't even launched yet?

Yeesh. Some people. Guess beta is now synonymous with "early glimpse".

In MMO Land, 5 months is a long time to iron out bugs. If there are problems, they still have plenty of time to get them fixed. Fact of the matter is, the game isn't out yet, and judging its polish based on what is indeed a beta test with a release date that is half a year away is assinine.

 

[Arkham]

In MMO Land, 5 months is a long time to iron out bugs. If there are problems, they still have plenty of time to get them fixed. Fact of the matter is, the game isn't out yet, and judging its polish based on what is indeed a beta test with a release date that is half a year away is assinine.

I agree that judging overall quality of a game based on an unfinished version is silly. However, most of the mechanics and quest design are unlikely to undergo significant redesign before release. I'm sure NPCs currently voiced by Microsoft Sam will have proper voice overs later on.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Release date for the F2P version is 05-05-15.

being a bit generous aren't you. I wouldn't give it a year optimistically (no the joke did not escape me)

 

[Kieve]

All of these people posting about how much they can't stand the experience they had in beta...

... um.. aren't you guys in a beta test? As in, a beta test that is under NDA? As in... you're violating the NDA that you agreed to by coming to these boards and preaching doom and gloom about a product that isn't even launched yet?

Yeesh. Some people. Guess beta is now synonymous with "early glimpse".

In MMO Land, 5 months is a long time to iron out bugs. If there are problems, they still have plenty of time to get them fixed. Fact of the matter is, the game isn't out yet, and judging its polish based on what is indeed a beta test with a release date that is half a year away is assinine.

This is why I am expressly not stating any details of the experience, and speaking only in the most broad sense possible. Despite my misgivings currently, I would like to receive another invite and see in what ways the game has progressed since the previous build. I still have hope that the final product can deliver on the experiences it promises, though I'm extremely wary given the short release window they've provided.
Consider that the majority of the remaining time will be devoted to bug-fixes, polishing, and balance issues; that leaves relatively little for any of the broader changes suggested since the last test, some of which are sorely needed.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Oh boy, so the loss of another great single player franchise has a date? Great

I hope you realize that this is being made by a whole different team, and has nothing to do with the single player games, that are being worked on by said other team. Releasing this won't divert power from the team that's doing the single player games.

On an different note, has the price been revealed and confirmed yet?

yes however Obsidian made Kotor 2 and we will never see another one of those after TOR

May I remind you that the KOTOR SP series was 2 total games, whereas Elder Scrolls has had 5 total iterations prior to releasing an MMO, and as you said KOTOR 2 was done by Obsidian whereas TOR was done by BIOWARE, the same dev studio that made KOTOR 1. I direct you to the "apples are not oranges" discussion for further information, thank you come again.

 

[ron1n]

People reallllly need to stop approaching this game as literally 'The Elder Scrolls Online' and instead take it for what it is: Dark Age of Camelot 2 with an Elder Scrolls theme.

I think tons of people are going to have built up this romanticized idea of what it will be like and will be very disappointed for this reason.

Developers aren't helping either by trying to showcase the 1st person viewpoint and RPG elements as if it's Skyrim or something.

Exact same thing happened with SWTOR. People went into it thinking it would essentially be the 'KOTOR Experience'. And look how that turned out -_-

 

[Remus]

Wow an awesome game coming out right on my Birthday!

Ok I really need to get into the franchise (haven't played Skyrim yet eventhough my pc should be able to handle it) so should I hope right into the online game since I am into fantasy MMORPG?

Mine too! April 3rd will be "Cancel WoW Day". I shall burn an effigy of my orc rogue. April 4th will be my first day frollicking through undead ruins, dragon shrines, and daedric temples.

 

[SamTheNewb]

Release date for the F2P version is 05-05-15.

Building a release around a date, instead of around the game's readiness is certainly troubling...

 

[Glaice]

Why would I want to play an ES game that you can't mod? Also why set it during the 1st or 2nd era?

 

[Adeptus Aspartem]

Am I really the only person who plays Elder Scrolls games and doesn't think "You know what this needs? Random assholes I dont know messin with my experience" because it honestly feels that way when I see how excited people are for ESO.

Don't get me wrong. I love me some MMO's. I play WoW constantly. I play Champions sometimes. I'm one of the hundred people that actually plays and enjoys STO. I'm incredibly stoked to play Wildstar.

I just can't get into the idea of these sprawling single player games turnin into gigantic clusterfucks of other people.

I always thought: This could really be awesome in Coop.

You know, Borderlands style. Not even an extra multiplayer campaign. Just being able to run around with someone and do stuff.

 

[Mark B]

Am I really the only person who plays Elder Scrolls games and doesn't think "You know what this needs? Random assholes I dont know messin with my experience" because it honestly feels that way when I see how excited people are for ESO.

Don't get me wrong. I love me some MMO's. I play WoW constantly. I play Champions sometimes. I'm one of the hundred people that actually plays and enjoys STO. I'm incredibly stoked to play Wildstar.

I just can't get into the idea of these sprawling single player games turnin into gigantic clusterfucks of other people.

No it seems to have most of the MMO standards in there which takes it away from a TES game.
I was quite excited to see what they were going to do unfortunately what they have done is make it homogeneous and bland.

 

[Kahani]

I'm surprised it's getting a console release at all, have any western MMO's had success on any console in the last decade?

Same here. And let's not forget that by far the biggest problem with Skyrim was that it had the shittest interface anyone has made since the '80s (I've been playing various old games off GoG recently and dear god UIs used to suck), which was entirely due to the UI being a straight port of a totally inappropriate console UI to the PC version. At least with Skyrim that was easily fixed by mods, but that won't be an option here. So we have a game that's unlikely to be particularly popular on consoles, but which is quite likely to spoil the PC version in order to cater to consoles. Not really a recipe for success.

 

[AdrianCeltigar]

Well, I at least am looking forward to it. My favourite MMOs are the ones that let you build weird and wonderful characters. I'm quite eager to see just how bizarre I can be while still having an effective build. I think the last MMO I was able to do that in was Ragnarok Online... I made an archer that rained down a veritable torrent of spells that archers couldn't even learn. Based on how the skill system works and their 'classes' I should be able to come up with something interesting once I've got some experience under my belt.

All I want from ES:O is an MMO that gives me a gratuitous quantity of options, and it looks like it'll deliver on that.