Hope you weren't too excited about that Elder Scrolls MMO

[Eri]

The issue of Game Informer packed with info on the newly-announced Elder Scrolls MMO is already in some people's hands and, well, if you were hoping for a game that was basically Skyrim only with real people, you're in for one hell of a disappointment.

From everything contained in the article, it sounds like "Elder Scrolls Online" is basically "Just Another MMO".

Things start going wrong on the very first page of the story, as ZeniMax Online's Paul Sage says "it needs to be comfortable for people who are coming from a typical massively multiplayer game that has the same control mechanisms, but it also has to appeal to Skyrim players".

A page later? You're playing the game in third-person, and its combat centres around hotbars activating skills. Your attacks have cooldowns. In clear terms, that means no real-time combat. It is literally explained as using "World of Warcraft mechanics".

You can't do something or go some places in the game unless you're appropriately levelled up, just like a regular MMO. ZeniMax is "keeping large areas inaccessible to save them for use as expansion content". Only "some fraction" of the caves and other landmarks in the game are waiting completely unmarked and unexplored. You can't own a house because it's "too hard to implement in an MMO". NPC characters don't run on the same schedules they do in the main games.

Oh dear.

http://kotaku.com/5907598/first-elder-scrolls-online--details-make-it-sound-like-just-another-fantasy-mmo

I wasn't all that excited because my faith in new MMOs is quite weak, and this, this right here is why. Don't expect much and you can't get too disappointed.

 

[GiantRaven]

At first I was intrigued because I was curious about the idea of making a First-person, real-time combat game into an MMO.

Now though? Interest level: 0.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

I was never excited about it to begin with and had no intention of buying it. This is mostly why. MMOs suck, they all suck, and always will suck. The main mechanic of an MMO is sucking. This is just from my perspective from what I look for from a game, obviously and not everyone will agree but I've played enough MMOs to know that they ALWAYS suck, no matter what claims they make to the contrary.

 

[Kae]

Well since the last Elder Scrolls game I played was Daggerfall I wasn't really exited, but this does leave me wondering, What is the point of making an MMO out of it, if it is nothing like it?
This is actually pretty stupid.

 

[Cowabungaa]

At first I was intrigued because I was curious about the idea of making a First-person, real-time combat game into an MMO.

Have you heard of Darkfall? Because they tried it there. Suffice to say that I'd rather forget about that game.

Still, I'd much rather see another attempt at it than copying WoW. For the record, I love WoW and I played it for a long time and look back at it fondly. But I don't want to play it again. Such a shame that they won't try something new with TES.

 

[distortedreality]

I was intrigued at first, my interest level just went to zero however.

I meant the world and the lore have the basis of making a great mmo, but if the gameplay isn't there, I don't think the audience will be either.

 

[Korten12]

Well... That sucks. What's the point of being a TES game if it plays nothing like a TES game? Why didn't they just make an expansion to Skyrim with co-op? That would have been better by the sounds of this imo.

 

[pilouuuu]

I stopped being excited when I read the words MMO. What's the deal with developers? Not everything needs to be on-line and/or multiplayer.

 

[Sixcess]

A TES MMO that at least tried to deliver some of the sandbox feel of the main games could have been something new and different and not been in direct competition with WoW, but this sounds like they're working from the same "How to be WoW" handbook that Bioware used for SWTOR.

Except worse, because the fantasy MMO market is beyond saturated. If I want to run around with a sword and spells I've got Tera, Aion, Warhammer, Rift, Dark Age of Camelot, Lord of the Rings Online, Guild Wars 2 (soon) and of course World of Warcraft. And that's just ones I can think of off the top of my head.

But they have a really popular IP! Among gamers! Among single player gamers...

Guess I need to revert back to my original analysis - this is going to SWTOR all over again, only worse. Say what you like about Bioware (god knows I do) but at least they tried to cater to their core fanbase.

 

[WoW Killer]

Disappointed? No, it simply confirmed all my suspicions. Nothing about TES combat translates into online play. A WoW-esque hotkey system set in TES universe was all it was ever going to be. What were you expecting? Real time combat? In an MMO?

Guessing we'll see set classes and talent trees replacing the skill system too.

 

[Rawne1980]

I'm not jumping on anything until I see some video's and get more information about it.

I'll make up my own mind then.

 

[Rai^3]

Elder Scrolls has always been about ultimately becoming a god that walks like a man. An MMO wouldn't be able to incorporate that to begin with. Still, the idea of a real-time first-person MMO was pleasing.

Color me uninterested.

 

[Zhukov]

Honestly, I'm kind of relieved that I can now completely stop caring about TES on any level whatsoever.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

I want to meet the kind of person who makes these retarded decisions. It sounds like it would be amusing to watch a grown man in a business suit smack stuff in his office with a squeaky hammer while drooling and making baby noises.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

It's not too late now, Bethesda. You can still cancel the game!

 

[Black Arrow Officer]

Is there any reason why I should play this over World of Warcraft? Anything? It's not even first person? It's a real shame, since I've been waiting for an MMO to pull me away from World of Warcraft. WoW is still fun, but will anyone try anything different?

How does this appeal to anyone? TES players will be turned off by the WoW gameplay system, and WoW players will just keep playing WoW, or cancel their subscription after 2 months of buggy, unpolished gameplay. You see, WoW has the advantage of surviving for 8 years where other MMO's have fallen. It's been patched, refined, fixed and tweaked to a level of polish that surpasses most other MMO's. If TESMMO is practically a buggy WoW clone, then players will just go back to playing the less buggy, more polished MMO with the same gameplay.