Elder scroll online advice...to buy or not to buy

[Dango]

Snippity

What this person said is basically what I've heard; Very lackluster, made solely for profit, kind of bland, not successful enough to stay pay to play.

The only game that's survived free2pocalypse is FF14, which I'm currently playing through and really enjoying, so if you really want an MMO it's a pretty safe bet.

 

[elvor0]

I beta tested that shit and it is not worth it .. the masses of players just totally breaks the immersion... also stealing stuff is no longer a option

if you like the feel of skyrim don't bother you will be dissaponted

While I'll agree it's not worth it, it's not really fair to call the game out for those reasons, for one it's an MMO, so tons of players are to be expected, especially in the launch month. And stealing would be completely unfeasible to implement with the aformentioned tons of players.

 

[likalaruku]

I get my MMO info from MMOGrindder. The reviewer; ChaosD1, takes a nonbiased approach to reviewing, addresses the music, group vs solo play, crafting, rates communities, & covers the cash shops. He did a review as a Sidequest, because it was still in open beta at the time, & brought in 2 other reviewers for their opinions.

I also watched Angry Joe's review, which he posted mere days ago. The collective opinion between the 4 seems to be:

The 2 reviews combined would take almost an hour to watch, so I summarized it to save time. Or just watch them if you've got time to kill.

The bad:
*Retcons story elements from previous ES games.
*Crafting systems is beyond soul crushing & needs a lot of tweaking.
*Starter area sucks.
*Rush through to end game for eternal PvP.
*$60 purchase AND subscription AND a cash shop? Tisk tisk tisk....
*Not open world sandbox, like an ES game should be.
*Can't steal or become a wanted criminal with a bounty, like an ES game.
*Feels like it's still in beta; falling through the map, long loading times, broken quests, frequent server crashes.
*Pay real money or stay broke; everything drops 1 gold, bosses drop 2 gold. Mounts costs 17,000 - 42,700 gold.
*Group PvE is a mess, might as well just solo when you're not in a dungeon.
*If you encounter a puzzle, each group member has to take their turn doing the puzzle.
*Auctions aren't global.
*Broken economy due to duplication exploit.
*Dungeons aren't instanced. Expect to encounter dungeon campers farming the bosses over & over & over.
*World of Elder Scrolls Craft.
*Simply not good enough to merit a subscription. Can name a dozen better FTP MMOs.

The good:
*Decent story, multiple choice answers.
*Graphics are at least better than Skyrim.
*Has a better community that Neverwinter Online.
*Good voice acting.
*You can add mods, like any other ES game.
*No cool down time for skills.
*No class restrictions on weapons & armor.
*Great PvP (If you're not the type that shuns PvP altogether).
*Dynamic combat (I'm the only person in the world who hates this type of combat).
*Great for antisocial gamers; you're more likely to get punished for grouping than refusing to join a group.
*20 hours of content per zone. Hope you don't bore of familiar environments quickly.
*Unemployed? Don't trust banks? This game probably won't last a year before dropping the subscription model & going FTP.

Unfortunately, nothing was said about the cash shop in the review, so I looked it up myself, & it seems that the cash shop hasn't actually opened yet?

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well you will be paying $240 per year for something that is neither a TES experience nor among the top MMO's, personally I would say wait until they go free to play.

 

[duwenbasden]

*Graphics are at least better than Skyrim.
*No class restrictions on weapons & armor.

Since we're talking about the PC version of TESV, Skyrim modded > ESO > Vanilla Skyrim. There is no way on Earth ESO have better graphics than a Skyrim session with HD textures and an ENB running.

There's still a level lock on armor, so level grind for fashion (grinding in a TES game?)

Here's another one for you:
- No guilds for rogues.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

The bad:
*Retcons story elements from previous ES games.

Not lore savvy enough to know whether or not this is true. It does a great job getting that Elder Scrolls *feel* into the game though.

*Crafting systems is beyond soul crushing & needs a lot of tweaking.

Not true. The crafting is generally excellent, and tends to be one of the few almost universally praised elements. What a bizarre thing for someone to single out to criticize.

*Starter area sucks.

The tutorial is terrible. The starter islands, which are skippable (so is the tutorial) are actually quite decent.

*Rush through to end game for eternal PvP.

Rushing through anything is a player choice, not a game design element. The game actually rewards slowpokes more than rushers. This is naturally a boon for slowpokes, and an irritation for rushers.

*$60 purchase AND subscription AND a cash shop? Tisk tisk tisk....

There's no "cash shop". There's a $20 upgrade to the deluxe version if you decide after the fact you wish you'd bought it (community asked for it) and ONE horse, equivalent to the worst horse in the game (community asked for it).

*Not open world sandbox, like an ES game should be.

No, it's not a sandbox.

*Can't steal or become a wanted criminal with a bounty, like an ES game.

True, you can't do this.

*Feels like it's still in beta; falling through the map, long loading times, broken quests, frequent server crashes.

Through 30 hours played I've encountered very few bugs, but that is not to say it's not a buggy game. It launched with some absolute showstoppers.

*Pay real money or stay broke; everything drops 1 gold, bosses drop 2 gold. Mounts costs 17,000 - 42,700 gold.

Absolute horseshit. Again, you can buy ONE thing...a shit mount...and your primary source of gold comes through items found and sold, not looting gold off mobs. I'm barely over level 10 and I've already made over 15,000 gold.

*Group PvE is a mess, might as well just solo when you're not in a dungeon.

It is indeed my understanding this is the case.

*Auctions aren't global.

No, they're not, but due to the mega-server there was a reason for that. This really isn't the worst decision ever, and there are still plenty of opportunities to sell goods.

*Broken economy due to duplication exploit.

The duping exploit was an atrocity and a sign of a rookie developer, but the economy is not "broken".

*Dungeons aren't instanced. Expect to encounter dungeon campers farming the bosses over & over & over.

Some are, but the public dungeons do have a camper/farmer issue.

*World of Elder Scrolls Craft.

I have no idea what this is even supposed to mean. Is comparing games to the juggernaut MMO that re-defined the genre supposed to be an insult? It's not at all like WoW, btw. Which is unfortunate, because if any of these so called "WoW clones" had actually succeeded in cloning WoW we'd have another 10+ million sub pop culture sensation to play.

*Simply not good enough to merit a subscription. Can name a dozen better FTP MMOs.

"Good" is subjective, and I'm not sure you could. TESO is an unusual game. It doesn't have very many direct comparables in the MMO space.

*Decent story, multiple choice answers.

These are rare.

*Graphics are at least better than Skyrim.

Character graphics are. Everything else is worse than Skyrim.

*Has a better community that Neverwinter Online.

It has a better everything else than Neverwinter too. Garbage game.

*Good voice acting.

For the most part, yes.

*No cool down time for skills.

I don't know why this is a positive. The game could've benefitted from another 5-10 slots and active abilities on cooldown. Add depth to the combat.

*20 hours of content per zone. Hope you don't bore of familiar environments quickly.

Are you actually trying to turn a huge positive into a back handed negative? The enormous zone sizes and content depth are an OVERWHELMING POSITIVE, as they would and should be in any game.

*Unemployed? Don't trust banks? This game probably won't last a year before dropping the subscription model & going FTP.

Going FTP has long been a wise business decision after the 6mo to 1 year mark. Why? Profits go UP, subscribers go UP. SWTOR is making money hand over fist as a FTP title, as did LOTRO before it. I'm not sure what "won't last a year" means in this sense, as a transition from one business model to another does not make the game disappear. The level of ignorance in the general gaming community surrounding MMOs, FTP models, and what it means when one makes that transition in terms of the game's profitability and population is staggering to me.

Unfortunately, nothing was said about the cash shop in the review, so I looked it up myself, & it seems that the cash shop hasn't actually opened yet?

Because there isn't one. There's one horse. Oooo, cash shop.

TESO is an unusual MMO. It does tremendous fan service in the form of an enormous Tamriel, with good (for the genre) graphics, sweeping vistas, and lore jammed into every nook and cranny. Like with the single player games, if you can suspend disbelief and spend your time poking around and inhabiting a virtual space instead of power-gaming the systems, you can have a grand time. UNLIKE the single player games, that immersion and suspension of disbelief is at constant risk from other players. A lot of the time, say, in towns, they can add to the feel...creating a bustling metropolis around you. Other times, on quests or in dungeons, they can be jarring and distracting. Systems wise, it's not an amazing MMO, and it's not made to be rewarding to achievers or content locusts. If you're the type to spam click through dialogue to maximize questing/XP gain, and who likes to grind through mobs for profit, this game will come off as borderline BROKEN. It's a niche title. It's not trying to be all things to all men, like every MMO post-WoW has tried (and failed) to be.

And since it's a niche title that broke from formula a bit and delivered a non-standard theme park, MMO players don't really know what to make of it. And they ***** and whine and castigate it for not being industry standard, all the while bitching and whining about the state of the genre and wondering aloud why we keep seeing so many "clones". It's astonishing, really.

That's not to say the game doesn't have issues. It's a flawed MMO that does some things VERY well, other things not so well, and launched with some puzzling design decisions and some rookie mistakes. I'm not surprised Angry Joe snapped at it...if I'd been trying to co-op and leveling hard during launch week, I'd have snapped at it too. Anyone who played the game in beta could've seen that coming. That's not to excuse the title for a rocky launch, but rocky launches have never been good signals as to whether or not an MMO was good, or had potential. WoW, Everquest, Ultima Online...some of the rockiest launches of all time. Steaming turds like Neverwinter and Defiance had silky smooth launches. These are games meant to be played for hundreds if not thousands of hours. They'll be around for years. You're looking for world design, systems design, quality of foundation, longevity and popularity, etc, etc, etc. Not "How many bugs did I encounter in launch week".

DO BUY, IF....

* You are willing/capable of "taking it slow"
* You're familiar with the "suspension of disbelief" that is generally required to enjoy Elder Scrolls titles
* You're not horrified at the idea of sharing your gaming space with others
* You intend to play solo
* Your PC can run the game at high settings (does not scale well)
* You are not expecting a bog standard MMO and are not planning on power leveling or meta-gaming aggressively

DO NOT BUY IF...

* You want a traditional loot/level quick advancement MMO, or are one of the "Game begins at 50!" crowd.
* You want a "hardcore" MMO or game with crippling difficulty
* You are impatient with spoken dialogue and want to skip through to get to the action
* You want to play co-op or with a group of friends, that's still busted to fuck right now
* You're impatient with bugs or social game warts

PS - If Ya'll think TESO has issues, wait until fucking Wildstar ships. =\

 

[jetriot]

I don't even think the graphics are as good as base Skyrim. As for the horse thing. It seems like there is no way to make money because mobs drop so little gold but I easily got the best horse in the game at level 30 by simply vendoring junk and through quest reward gold so that problem isn't that real.

My real problem with the game is that they missed a lot of what makes TESO so great. Exploration and loot. Loot in this game is horribly underwhelming and the only two real guilds to join are the fighters and mages guild, arguably the dullest guilds in the series. It gives the illusion of exploration but the reality is it is just a narrow path with lots of side quests along that you can choose to do along the way. Without the sense of awe and reward there is nothing to separate this MMO from any other.

The entire core design of this game is flawed and it will never be a real Elder Scroll experience. It is an above average MMO experience but I am not sure if that is enough to keep the attention of anyone that has already experienced all that WOW/GW2 has to offer.

 

[Cette]

snip

That's a really good overview. The only thing I'd really disagree with is that even the characters are better put together than Skyrim visually.

That and some real praise needs to go into just how open the class and leveling system is. You can throw together some pretty wild builds and they generally work.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

That's a really good overview. The only thing I'd really disagree with is that even the characters are better put together than Skyrim visually.

That and some real praise needs to go into just how open the class and leveling system is. You can throw together some pretty wild builds and they generally work.

It's a good class system. I wish there were fewer paths of obvious efficiency, but it's better than a lot of recent efforts in the MMO space, and it's nice to see a departure from talent trees.

My real problem with the game is that they missed a lot of what makes TESO so great. Exploration and loot. Loot in this game is horribly underwhelming and the only two real guilds to join are the fighters and mages guild, arguably the dullest guilds in the series. It gives the illusion of exploration but the reality is it is just a narrow path with lots of side quests along that you can choose to do along the way. Without the sense of awe and reward there is nothing to separate this MMO from any other.

Loot is in a shabby state, but the developers appear to have prioritized crafting to an unusual degree. Reminiscent of Ultima Online in that respect. Still, the optics on boss mobs dropping 4 gold is just awful.

The game obviously does not have the freedom of its single player kin, but it prioritizes and rewards exploration better than 90% of the MMOs it shares a genre with. It's an uncomfortable hybrid...not Elder Scrolls enough for some Elder Scrolls fans, and not MMO enough for some MMO fans.

The entire core design of this game is flawed and it will never be a real Elder Scroll experience. It is an above average MMO experience but I am not sure if that is enough to keep the attention of anyone that has already experienced all that WOW/GW2 has to offer.

The game should not be in competition with WoW or GW2. It's closest comparables in the MMO space are TSW and SWTOR. It's weighted heavily towards exploration and story, not group play, gear, and combat.

Thanks guys.

I'd stick around the thread and prioritize posts from people who have actually, y'know... played the game. Zenimax chose a greedy price point, so that inflamed public opinion from the get go. And this forum has always loathed MMOs, along with taking a militant stance on DRM or games that requires subs, so you're going to have a lot of people who have never and will never play it telling you it sucks balls.

 

[DikkieDik]

Unfortunately, nothing was said about the cash shop in the review, so I looked it up myself, & it seems that the cash shop hasn't actually opened yet?

DO BUY, IF....

* You are willing/capable of "taking it slow"
* You're familiar with the "suspension of disbelief" that is generally required to enjoy Elder Scrolls titles
* You're not horrified at the idea of sharing your gaming space with others
* You intend to play solo
* Your PC can run the game at high settings (does not scale well)
* You are not expecting a bog standard MMO and are not planning on power leveling or meta-gaming aggressively

DO NOT BUY IF...

* You want a traditional loot/level quick advancement MMO, or are one of the "Game begins at 50!" crowd.
* You want a "hardcore" MMO or game with crippling difficulty
* You are impatient with spoken dialogue and want to skip through to get to the action
* You want to play co-op or with a group of friends, that's still busted to fuck right now
* You're impatient with bugs or social game warts

PS - If Ya'll think TESO has issues, wait until fucking Wildstar ships. =\[/quote]

Totally agree, just buy this as a single player u can play for a month. u will have lots of fun.

 

[INVALIDUSERNAME]

It's a woefully generic entry into an MMO space that's already packed with games that really didn't need to fucking exist.

The biggest gripe I have with a lot of MMOs coming out these days it they depend on one big gimmick to push their games. In TERA it was "Action Combat", in TOR it was "Fully Voiced, Immersive Story", in TSW it was "No Classes, Play However", RIFT was pretty much the same shit. ESO just tries to push the "It's Elder Scrolls" gimmick without being very much like Elder Scrolls.

They all push one aspect of their game but, once you get past it, you end up with the same generic mess of game you've had for a while.

I don't own ESO so take what I say with a grain of salt but I did invest a bit of time into the BETAs and the general feeling I got was mediocrity. The game just screams it. The graphics are ugly, the animations are bad, the combat is floaty and a lot of the game feels like it's unconnected. There's no overarching sense of playing in a world. It just feels like maps stapled together with names from the SP ES games.

Angry Joe gave it a 5. I agree that it's basically worth a 5-6. If you take it slow, have some friends to play with, and don't mind watching the game grow for years to come then yeah, you can't go wrong.

If you want a game that's likely to grow in size, become a huge sensation in the MMO space, and absolutely dominate other games with the quality of its content, the pace at which it pushes out said content, and a growing sense of identity from playing the game then no, I wouldn't recommend it at all. It just screams SWTOR again: Free to Play within the year, a sudden massive influx of players without retaining dick for subs, and Zenimax coming out and saying Subs are dead, all hail microtransactions.

TL;DR: If you don't mind a game that is, in many respects, just average, but still want an Elder Scrollsish experience (which is debatable) then go ahead and pick up the game.

If you want a game that will grow and become a huge sensation, move on and wait for WoWStar or ArcheAge or whatever the hell else the next WoW killer is.

Personally, I'd wait for it to, inevitably, go free to play.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I don't own ESO

I agree that it's basically worth a 5-6

Sigh.

If you want a game that's likely to grow in size, become a huge sensation in the MMO space

As someone who thinks the genre is already "packed with games that didn't need to exist", I'm certain you are aware exactly ONE game in the last 15 years has "become a huge sensation in MMO space" and "dominated other games with the quality of its content".

If OP wants to wait for another WoW to come along, he's going to be waiting forever.

 

[INVALIDUSERNAME]

I don't own ESO

I agree that it's basically worth a 5-6

Sigh.

If you want a game that's likely to grow in size, become a huge sensation in the MMO space

As someone who thinks the genre is already "packed with games that didn't need to exist", I'm certain you are aware exactly ONE game in the last 15 years has "become a huge sensation in MMO space" and "dominated other games with the quality of its content".

If OP wants to wait for another WoW to come along, he's going to be waiting forever.

Sigh all you want. The game looked and played EXACTLY like SWTOR and look where that got it. And God knows I invested enough time into fuckin' SWTOR to know when an MMO's gonna be dick off premonition alone at this point. Shitty animations, a lackluster art style and an overemphasis on voice acting that jacked up the budget are three pretty big indicators right from the get go.

Besides, I invested something like 100 hours across multiple betas so that's why I said, having watched what Joe said, I agree. The game's a 5, maybe a 6. Nothing special, mediocre in appearance and play with nothing to really push the envelope besides being "Elder Scrolls Online."

It does nothing novel outside of maybe an increased emphasis on exploration which GW2 already did 2 years ago anyways, and I felt did even better. The game felt nothing like Elder Scrolls outside of mentioning key moments in the lore and obviously being set in the era but, just like SWTOR, it lacked any of the charm or appeal that makes you think, "Yes, I am definitely playing the logical MMO equivalent of X game." Instead it plays exactly like EQ/WoW but with a shoehorned floaty combat system and rancid animations.

So, if he wants to take my suggestion with a grain of salt, he's entitled. Like I said, I don't own it but played enough of the BETA to know it's nothing special outside of a few interesting quests and a pretty robust crafting system. A crafting system which, as a result, has lead to mobs dropping horrendous loot. Nothing like doing dungeons for nothing and having all the loot be stuck in chests that aren't even party wide.

Ultimately, I don't know what he wants in an MMO. A LOT of people are waiting for the next big thing. Why do you think they keep jumping ship? If he has friends or at least can join a decent guild then I'd say he's fine, but if he's wanting to buy the game and is getting DCUO vibes which, isn't a horrendous game but obviously isn't huge, then I'd imagine he doesn't want a niche game catering to a small fanbase that will likely go free to play anyways.

5/6 for the game. It's an Elder Scrolls game that fails at being a good Elder Scrolls game. If I wanted generic fantasy MMO Online I could find a thousand of those.

 

[bluepotatosack]

My advice, try to get hold of a Wildstar open beta key, being given away like crazy now from lots of websites. ESO isn't worth it in my opinion.

This right here. I've played a bit of ESO in beta, and it has it's high points. The voice acting is actually very good. It can be atmospheric, the combat is fun enough. But... it just feels like a slog far too quickly.

Wildstar was just designed from the start to be fun. The combat is great, the environments are beautiful. I actually made a small gasp when I went underwater and saw some nice coral. The setting/aesthetics are like a space western by way of Pixar. Which I'm all about, but your mileage may vary.

 

[Cette]

It's a woefully generic entry into an MMO space that's already packed with games that really didn't need to fucking exist.

The biggest gripe I have with a lot of MMOs coming out these days it they depend on one big gimmick to push their games. In TERA it was "Action Combat", in TOR it was "Fully Voiced, Immersive Story", in TSW it was "No Classes, Play However", RIFT was pretty much the same shit. ESO just tries to push the "It's Elder Scrolls" gimmick without being very much like Elder Scrolls.

They all push one aspect of their game but, once you get past it, you end up with the same generic mess of game you've had for a while.

I don't own ESO so take what I say with a grain of salt but I did invest a bit of time into the BETAs and the general feeling I got was mediocrity. The game just screams it. The graphics are ugly, the animations are bad, the combat is floaty and a lot of the game feels like it's unconnected. There's no overarching sense of playing in a world. It just feels like maps stapled together with names from the SP ES games.

Angry Joe gave it a 5. I agree that it's basically worth a 5-6. If you take it slow, have some friends to play with, and don't mind watching the game grow for years to come then yeah, you can't go wrong.

If you want a game that's likely to grow in size, become a huge sensation in the MMO space, and absolutely dominate other games with the quality of its content, the pace at which it pushes out said content, and a growing sense of identity from playing the game then no, I wouldn't recommend it at all. It just screams SWTOR again: Free to Play within the year, a sudden massive influx of players without retaining dick for subs, and Zenimax coming out and saying Subs are dead, all hail microtransactions.

TL;DR: If you don't mind a game that is, in many respects, just average, but still want an Elder Scrollsish experience (which is debatable) then go ahead and pick up the game.

If you want a game that will grow and become a huge sensation, move on and wait for WoWStar or ArcheAge or whatever the hell else the next WoW killer is.

Personally, I'd wait for it to, inevitably, go free to play.

In a lot of ways ESO reminds me of of TSW except with a somewhat less interesting world and worse writing. To my mind that's still a complement as bad as it sounds.

Woefully generic is not something I'd describe either of those as. Odd ducks that almost certainly been better games if they were single player? That I would entertain.

Still it deserves at least a 7 for doing it's own thing as well as it has. And that's more than high enough if it's the sort of game who's style strikes you the right way. Perhaps not everyone's cup of tea though. And especially not the cup of tea of the "standard" MMO player who death marches to end game so they can keeping farming items with slightly higher numbers without stopping to smell the flowers along the way.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Sigh all you want. The game looked and played EXACTLY like SWTOR and look where that got it. And God knows I invested enough time into fuckin' SWTOR to know when an MMO's gonna be dick off premonition alone at this point. Shitty animations, a lackluster art style and an overemphasis on voice acting that jacked up the budget are three pretty big indicators right from the get go.

1. It didn't and doesn't play ANYTHING like SWTOR, either in a good or a bad way. That's like saying Peggle plays EXACTLY like Need For Speed 2.

2. You played a beta. Even the games most ardent detractors have stated the game was in a much better state at release than in beta. My initial impression of beta was almost identical to yours.

Besides, I invested something like 100 hours across multiple betas so that's why I said, having watched what Joe said, I agree. The game's a 5, maybe a 6. Nothing special, mediocre in appearance and play with nothing to really push the envelope besides being "Elder Scrolls Online."

100 Hours! HAHAHAHAHA. I'm guessing it was closer to 15 minutes. You evidently hated it from the get go and you played it for ONE HUNDRED HOURS? Come on dude. Just be honest. The beta was a train wreck. It would've been hard to play for 100 minutes.

It does nothing novel outside of maybe an increased emphasis on exploration which GW2 already did 2 years ago anyways, and I felt did even better.

Arguable, but GW2 did turn exploration into an XP reward mini-game.

The game felt nothing like Elder Scrolls outside of mentioning key moments in the lore and obviously being set in the era but, just like SWTOR, it lacked any of the charm or appeal that makes you think, "Yes, I am definitely playing the logical MMO equivalent of X game." Instead it plays exactly like EQ/WoW but with a shoehorned floaty combat system and rancid animations.

It doesn't play EVEN REMOTELY like either of those games. This is where I know you've either A) not played TESO, or B) not played EQ or WoW, or C) just hate the genre so intensely you're willing to talk WILD SHIT about it at the drop of a hat. The fact it DOESN'T play like a "WoW clone" is where at least 50% of the bitching is coming from. There's a lot of MMO fans who are trying to play it like Ye Olde MMO and finding it an ill fit.

 

[INVALIDUSERNAME]

Sigh all you want. The game looked and played EXACTLY like SWTOR and look where that got it. And God knows I invested enough time into fuckin' SWTOR to know when an MMO's gonna be dick off premonition alone at this point. Shitty animations, a lackluster art style and an overemphasis on voice acting that jacked up the budget are three pretty big indicators right from the get go.

1. It didn't and doesn't play ANYTHING like SWTOR, either in a good or a bad way. That's like saying Peggle plays EXACTLY like Need For Speed 2.

2. You played a beta. Even the games most ardent detractors have stated the game was in a much better state at release than in beta. My initial impression of beta was almost identical to yours.

Besides, I invested something like 100 hours across multiple betas so that's why I said, having watched what Joe said, I agree. The game's a 5, maybe a 6. Nothing special, mediocre in appearance and play with nothing to really push the envelope besides being "Elder Scrolls Online."

100 Hours! HAHAHAHAHA. I'm guessing it was closer to 15 minutes. You evidently hated it from the get go and you played it for ONE HUNDRED HOURS? Come on dude. Just be honest. The beta was a train wreck. It would've been hard to play for 100 minutes.

It does nothing novel outside of maybe an increased emphasis on exploration which GW2 already did 2 years ago anyways, and I felt did even better.

Arguable, but GW2 did turn exploration into an XP reward mini-game.

The game felt nothing like Elder Scrolls outside of mentioning key moments in the lore and obviously being set in the era but, just like SWTOR, it lacked any of the charm or appeal that makes you think, "Yes, I am definitely playing the logical MMO equivalent of X game." Instead it plays exactly like EQ/WoW but with a shoehorned floaty combat system and rancid animations.

It doesn't play EVEN REMOTELY like either of those games. This is where I know you've either A) not played TESO, or B) not played EQ or WoW, or C) just hate the genre so intensely you're willing to talk WILD SHIT about it at the drop of a hat. The fact it DOESN'T play like a "WoW clone" is where at least 50% of the bitching is coming from. There's a lot of MMO fans who are trying to play it like Ye Olde MMO and finding it an ill fit.

I'm not going to keep this up after this post because it'll detract into a flame fest so we'll agree to disagree, but I still stand by what I said.

It plays like TOR in the sense that it's just boxed canyons with generic quests and pitiful rewards, and is a game that was so focused on it's story that it has mediocre content, but a whole hell of a lot of it.

It doesn't have to play like WoW/EQ/TOR to be a generic game. Just because they use the dodge roll/block system doesn't mean it's not still bad combat. Even then, if you want nothing but left click spam and like 6 hot keys then go for it, but it's still boring combat.

Lastly, I stopped playing WoW years ago and would agree that we need something to push the genre forward. ESO? Doesn't do anything to push it forward, and I decided to get my time's worth in BETA because I didn't want to drop $60 on the game to get a legit try. I figure the five beta weekends from within a window 2 months before launch were more than enough to get my impressions down.

And no, I didn't hate it from the get-go. And you don't have to tell me to not play the game like 'Ye Olde MMO' because I quit WoW for that reason, and the fact that they took the lore, bent it over a table and had their way with it. I wanted to give it a fair shake but when you're literally reliving 90% of SWTOR and TERA and RIFT and TSW's beta experiences both in-game and through map chat, oh Jesus that's not a good start.

But, boy oh boy I sure did start to hate it on my own about 3 hours in. I like to imagine every gamer has their quirks with games. With me, I associate colors with games because games generally have a color palette and, what's more, the color can often reflect positively or negatively. ESO was a dismal grey, the tutorial area sucked, Elsweyr looked about as much like a tropical beach as the Alaskan Tundra does, the combat was literally left clicking for the first few levels, and the skill trees are already devolving into FOTM meta shit where 90% of the skill trees are useless because there's the old D2 style method of leveling: rigidly follow this guide or else you're inferior forever.

I'm sorry if you disagree, but it's not a very good game as is evidenced by the resounding "meh" that's brewing around the game.

Like I told the OP before: It's a bad game to play alone, mediocre at best with some friends, and it will definitely go free to play or, if their stubborn, stagnate like Warhammer did and die off in huge ceremony of, "Oh, Jesus, that game's still around?"

I don't hate the damn game, but he was asking if he should buy it. No, he shouldn't: It's not worth the money.

And that's it, take it or leave it. Feel free to disagree but, KNOWING it wouldn't be the next-big-thing and trying to play it like Elder Scrolls and genuinely trying to squeeze every ounce of fun out've it across five weekends worth of BETA, it still sucks.

 

[Lilikins]

Ive been fiddling around with it recently when I have the time and I do admit, all the blasting its getting almost seems to be for the sake of blasting something. You can take any game and blast it for many reasons and inferior pieces. Before it gets spoken out, no Im not some fanboy whos going to be torching everything in sight at the slightest mention whatsoever. I have enough points of the game I disagree with, for instance the combat is a bit..wonky for me at times, the inventory, some things being dragged out too long etc etc. Yet nevertheless, from an mmo experience and gamewise, its definetely not bad.

And by all thats high and mighty it is most definetely not a WoW or EQ clone haha. Thatd be like comparing Call of Duty to Doom 3 in my opinion. Yep, they are all set in a fantasy universe, have 'somewhat' the same controls..but if we are putting it into that perspective, every third person fantasy rpg released in the last 4 years is a 'WoW clone'. Theres a tremendous difference between ESO and WoW, and I agree with BloatedGuppy up there saying that if someone says they are the 'same' basically, they havent played them both. As spoken, thats my own opinion, dont take it rudely from me seeing as its not meant that way.

But to the OP to get to the general question that was asked in the first place, Im sure you have a friend that has it, or a roomate..or wtv. Just ask if you can make a char and fiddle around with it till your level 10, takes a bit but you'll get a rough outlook on what the content of the game is. (in my opinion the game gets alot better after the first zone, atleast for Ebonheart Pact..but once again, tis my own opinion.) If you enjoy the gameplay of Skyrim 'unmodded', I do believe you'd enjoy the gameplay of this. If you want a general outlook if what your getting into and no one you know has it, go play skyrim unmodded and voila, you will have a better comparison then anything you'll read online in my opinion.

 

[INVALIDUSERNAME]

It's a woefully generic entry into an MMO space that's already packed with games that really didn't need to fucking exist.

The biggest gripe I have with a lot of MMOs coming out these days it they depend on one big gimmick to push their games. In TERA it was "Action Combat", in TOR it was "Fully Voiced, Immersive Story", in TSW it was "No Classes, Play However", RIFT was pretty much the same shit. ESO just tries to push the "It's Elder Scrolls" gimmick without being very much like Elder Scrolls.

They all push one aspect of their game but, once you get past it, you end up with the same generic mess of game you've had for a while.

I don't own ESO so take what I say with a grain of salt but I did invest a bit of time into the BETAs and the general feeling I got was mediocrity. The game just screams it. The graphics are ugly, the animations are bad, the combat is floaty and a lot of the game feels like it's unconnected. There's no overarching sense of playing in a world. It just feels like maps stapled together with names from the SP ES games.

Angry Joe gave it a 5. I agree that it's basically worth a 5-6. If you take it slow, have some friends to play with, and don't mind watching the game grow for years to come then yeah, you can't go wrong.

If you want a game that's likely to grow in size, become a huge sensation in the MMO space, and absolutely dominate other games with the quality of its content, the pace at which it pushes out said content, and a growing sense of identity from playing the game then no, I wouldn't recommend it at all. It just screams SWTOR again: Free to Play within the year, a sudden massive influx of players without retaining dick for subs, and Zenimax coming out and saying Subs are dead, all hail microtransactions.

TL;DR: If you don't mind a game that is, in many respects, just average, but still want an Elder Scrollsish experience (which is debatable) then go ahead and pick up the game.

If you want a game that will grow and become a huge sensation, move on and wait for WoWStar or ArcheAge or whatever the hell else the next WoW killer is.

Personally, I'd wait for it to, inevitably, go free to play.

In a lot of ways ESO reminds me of of TSW except with a somewhat less interesting world and worse writing. To my mind that's still a complement as bad as it sounds.

Woefully generic is not something I'd describe either of those as. Odd ducks that almost certainly been better games if they were single player? That I would entertain.

Still it deserves at least a 7 for doing it's own thing as well as it has. And that's more than high enough if it's the sort of game who's style strikes you the right way. Perhaps not everyone's cup of tea though. And especially not the cup of tea of the "standard" MMO player who death marches to end game so they can keeping farming items with slightly higher numbers without stopping to smell the flowers along the way.

I'd give the AvA a 7 or 8. It was really fun but the map was wayyy too big. It's just going to encourage stacking up in zergs like in GW2 to guarantee you don't die, because nobody wants to run havoc if they know that at any minute a 40 man blob can run them over and they've got one hell of a run back.

PvE wise though, I liked TSW better. It at least tried to be what it wanted and, I mean, it didn't do a very good job, but ESO plays like the kid in high school going through phases to try and fit in, trying to please everyone. It's got a bit of everything but nothing of substance, outside of the AvA.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I'm not going to keep this up after this post because it'll detract into a flame fest so we'll agree to disagree, but I still stand by what I said.

Why would it be a flame fest? Neither one of us has flamed yet. I suggested you were fibbing. That's not a flame.

It plays like TOR in the sense that it's just boxed canyons with generic quests and pitiful rewards, and is a game that was so focused on it's story that it has mediocre content, but a whole hell of a lot of it.

It's not boxed in at all...it has some of the largest/most open zones in MMOs. Content quality is a completely subjective assessment so I can't argue that with you one way or another.

It doesn't have to play like WoW/EQ/TOR to be a generic game.

I think it does need to play like them to earn direct comparisons to them. That is the point of comparisons, is it not? I see we have now raised the bar for comparisons to "generic game", which is a decidedly wide envelope that could hypothetically encompass almost anything.

Lastly, I stopped playing WoW years ago and would agree that we need something to push the genre forward. ESO? Doesn't do anything to push it forward, and I decided to get my time's worth in BETA because I didn't want to drop $60 on the game to get a legit try. I figure the five beta weekends from within a window 2 months before launch were more than enough to get my impressions down.

Beta is not and has never been a "try before you buy" model. Betas tend to be buggy, feature-light, and in a constant state of flux. The fact people keep trying to use them as extended trials is part of the reason these fucking games aren't getting properly tested, but I digress.

I wanted to give it a fair shake but when you're literally reliving 90% of SWTOR and TERA and RIFT and TSW's beta experiences both in-game and through map chat, oh Jesus that's not a good start.

How is it like any of those games, other than sharing a genre? Are we still using "generic game" as a benchmark? Can you come up with specific connection points? Beyond things like "Both games used voice acting" or "Both games used hotbar combat".

But, boy oh boy I sure did start to hate it on my own about 3 hours in.

And yet you continued to play for 97 more hours? That was a bold undertaking.

I like to imagine every gamer has their quirks with games. With me, I associate colors with games because games generally have a color palette and, what's more, the color can often reflect positively or negatively. ESO was a dismal grey, the tutorial area sucked, Elsweyr looked about as much like a tropical beach as the Alaskan Tundra does, the combat was literally left clicking for the first few levels, and the skill trees are already devolving into FOTM meta shit where 90% of the skill trees are useless because there's the old D2 style method of leveling: rigidly follow this guide or else you're inferior forever.

The tutorial level did suck. One of the worst tutorials I've ever had the misfortune to encounter. It still sucks. The rest of the game has quite a lively color palette, that differentiates dramatically in different zones. I honestly have no idea what you're talking about.

The game is not mechanically designed to be a FOTM level/loot buff your spec game, no. That is one of the many ways in which it differentiates substantially from most theme park MMOs.

I'm sorry if you disagree, but it's not a very good game as is evidenced by the resounding "meh" that's brewing around the game.

Well, 1) response to the game has been polarized, and the majority of the negativity has (rightly) focused on bugs, and 2) Appeal to Popularity.

Like I told the OP before: It's a bad game to play alone, mediocre at best with some friends, and it will definitely go free to play or, if their stubborn, stagnate like Warhammer did and die off in huge ceremony of, "Oh, Jesus, that game's still around?"

1. It plays much better solo than in group play, even the extremely angry Angry Joe confirms this. Are you sure you played for 100 hours?

2. Almost every MMO ever made eventually goes FTP. Of course it will go FTP. As I stated in a reply to someone else above, the mythos that "going FTP" is some sort of indication of failure or low quality gives me a headache. It demonstrates staggering ignorance as to how MMO business models work and the profitability of FTP models.

I don't hate the damn game, but he was asking if he should buy it. No, he shouldn't: It's not worth the money.

It's overpriced, I can't disagree with you there. You very evidently do hate the game though. The reason we are having this conversation is not because you hate the game. Everyone is entitled to hate whatever you want. It's that there's a lot of uninformed nonsense being tossed around in this thread, almost always by people who haven't played it, or played it briefly in beta, or who hate the genre, and who are basing their opinions off "community buzz" and confirmation bias. It's frustrating to read. I could write a SCATHING review of TESO right now from the perspective of someone who has actually played the fucking thing at release, because it's flawed and it's NOT FOR EVERYONE. But hand-waving its merits based on what was very likely a couple of hours played of a distant beta build is not particularly informative or helpful to anyone.