Poll: The Elder Scrolls Online and the Imperial Edition

[Hagi]

Its a 100 bucks.... jut a 100 bucks and youre complaining??? Thats the price for standard PS3 games in my country...
I would be more than pleased to buy this thing for 100 bucks, but before i would ask Zenimax to assure me that they are taking the EVE Online business model; you have access to everything with a monthly fee.
Of course, in my country the Imperial Edition is probably going to cost 200 bucks....

I'm not complaining about the price. I'm complaining about promises made:

"We don't want players to hit monetisation fees when they're in the world.

"It's like, I go into a dungeon, if I don't have access to the dungeon it pops up a window: you don't have access to this, go buy 50 credits. We didn't want that experience. That's not an Elder Scrolls experience.

"We wanted to do monetisation outside of the game. So, if I pay for a month at a time, I have 100 per cent of the game. I don't have to worry about paying one more cent. I'll never run into a pay gate and I'll be in the world."

Yet now it seems that at character creation it pops up a window: you don't have access to this, go buy the Imperial Edition.

As far as I'm concerned my subscription fee is plenty, if I pay monthly I expect to get everything. And in a game like the Elder Scrolls, that's always put a focus on races and roleplaying that everything most definitely includes races. If I'm not getting a subscription fee worth of content then why would I pay one?

 

[EXos]

I was very happy when they announced a new TES game... Then I noticed it was going to be an MMO and I went "F*ck NO!."

Elder scroll games have always been a nice immersive Single Player series. Why do publishers want to try their luck at an MMO...? I mean even The Old Republic crashed and burned as nobody wants to play Knights of the old Republic where what ever you do doesn't seem to matter.

And don't get me started on these monetisation fees...

 

[Yopaz]

Personally I don't play games with the dedication it takes to put up with a subscription fee, but I'm not strictly against it if it's there to avoid micro transactions. It's when those are combined I let out a loud exasperated sigh. There are games out there that survive just fine with just one of those.

Now because I have no interest in MMORPGs I shouldn't have voted here, I also don't have any interest in The Elder Scrolls or subscription games so my answer isn't tied to the fact they they announce a new edition. It's simply not my kind of game.

 

[Jynthor]

The beta was just dull and boring. The artstyle was okay, the world felt boring and flat, the quests were boring, the combat was unresponsive, the loot was boring and after my first hour I had literallly no desire to come back at all.

To add to this the models and animations were some of the worst I've seen in years.
The quests were little more than "Go kill people". "Go talk to people." or "Kill more people, also fetch me an item."
The combat was floaty, and as mentioned above unresponsive, it felt weak. The abilities you got were boring and not satisfying to use.

Everything I want from an Elder Scrolls game, the single player games do better.
Everything I want from an MMO, other MMO's like WoW do better.
I see no reason to play this.

 

[Exterminas]

It's easy. They know that MMOs have the most players in the beginning and intend to make as much money as possible before the thing inevitably floats belly-up and drifts towards a free to play model.

I am surprised that after all the corpses that litter the MMO-Field there is still a company willing to shell out that much money on a subscription-based MMO.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think TES won't find it's nice. But sure as hell they won't be able to keep up that payment model for long. It is just there to grab some money in the early months. You want to know how I know? Because it was like that with every other subscription MMO in the post-WoW-world.

 

[Bailos]

Well... What a negative tone this thread has, huh?

Personally, I'm still ecstatic for ESO. I'm looking to preorder my Imperial edition for the PS4, and I can't freaking wait. I would throw down $100 for the art and lore book, but the rest of the goodies seem fun too, especially the rings of Mara since my girlfriend wants to play with me. I don't know why people are so up in arms about this.

 

[Tom_green_day]

The main buzzkill for me was the price before any of the trailers, but watching them now I think I made the right choice. They seem to have gone for a generic MMO fantasy-war kinda deal with different races all fighting in huge battles and stuff. That wasn't what the Elder Scrolls is about for me. It's about your personal journey of exploration and discovery, not huge wars. Maybe when it gets quieter in a few years I'll play it to see if it's any good.

 

[PPB]

I personally think that the preorder bonus of "playing any race in any alliance" is more unnerving, but ultimately I don't think it would hamper my enjoyment of the game in any way. I don't know if it's just cynicism or added wisdom from passing years, but I find that I've stopped caring about things like cash shops or other "inequalities". I don't really like the practice, and I do see WoW's increasingly encroaching shop with a bit of sadness, but down the road these things don't really affect me in a meaningful way.

I will or will not buy TESO based on what the game can actually offer me in terms of enjoyment. Having been in the beta, the answer isn't really clear cut. There's a lot that needs to be said about this game, both good and bad, and I hope the NDA will be removed sooner than later.

Bottom line, I think that no longer considering a game that you initially found interesting just because of this Imperial Edition is a bit silly.

 

[Blunderboy]

I liked the idea.
Got beta testing access.
'Awesome I can lose myself in all of Tamriel.'
'Let me just turn around a second...oh, hundreds of people bunnny hopping about and dancing?'
'I'm out.'

 

[elvor0]

They're just milking TES fans for this game.

I was in the beta - it sucked btw, and I wasn't going to buy it anyway, P2P is outdated when there's so many good F2P and B2P MMOs but it seems there's just going to microtranscations and limited content on top of that so I see the entire game as a joke right now.

You didn't even mention the pre order bonus which allows you to play any race in any faction. Which you will also have to pay for after release.

When this game got announced I was extremely sceptical, then after many months I got interested. However when I got my beta key and actually played the game... let's just say the game fucking sucks.
Take comfort in knowing this game will crash and burn like every MMO before it. It looks like they're trying to get as much money as possible before that happens.

What didn't you like about it? Because I thought it was pretty good for the point it was at, not fantastic, but remember, it was quite clearly in BETA, so there were quite a few elements missing or not functioning properly.

The beta was just dull and boring. The artstyle was okay, the world felt boring and flat, the quests were boring, the combat was unresponsive, the loot was boring and after my first hour I had literallly no desire to come back at all.

But most of it wasn't properly implemented. It's not exactly fair to say the game "sucked", when you're dealing with an early beta version of the game. Granted that raises implications about it being ready for 4/4/14,(which unless they have everyone hopped up on crack for the next 3 months is unlikely and I feel so sorry for the programmers) but the things you're complaining about were quite clearly not in a proper working state designed to put out to the public. You were restricted to certain zones because they wanted you to make sure specific things worked properly as things are implemented, hence why it was a heavily closed Beta and Stress TEST subject to a beefy NDA.

Also it's an MMO, /most/ of the quests are going to be collect 10 bear asses because it's just a necessary evil. I mean lets be honest here, most of the quests in Skyrim were "go here, kill a dude, take his shit and come back here". Even the final boss was fucking awful. If you're moaning about that sort of stuff, beta testing isn't for you. Which is fine, bug testing games is /not/ for everyone, it's tedious and fucking irritating, but don't act like that's what they sticking out for people to buy.

As an aside, it's nice to see that it actually /was/ a beta, not a 2 week early access code for what is essentially the finished product like most devs did for fucking ages.

However, it is no where NEAR ready to go live in three months. It has potential to be good, but it needs to be held back until october at the least for it to be ready to purchased.

 

[Cybylt]

I'm kinda bugged by this game beyond the whole milking bit. More, I'm bothered that they can't even be assed to get basic things like the racial bonuses down right.

This is one I keep going back to on the subject but feel it's always worth repeating. There's a quest where you deliver an antidote to a poisoned argonian.

And that's before the whole "HEY LOOK I'M A BROTHERHOOD MEMBER" opening line where they praise the god of death and nothingness for a chance to live.

And the Aldmeri Dominion? With its extensive use of glass metal to craft intricate, gleaming towers? NOPE, copy pasted elven WoW designs.

 

[SajuukKhar]

I'm kinda bugged by this game beyond the whole milking bit. More, I'm bothered that they can't even be assed to get basic things like the racial bonuses down right.

This is one I keep going back to on the subject but feel it's always worth repeating. There's a quest where you deliver an antidote to a poisoned argonian.

And that's before the whole "HEY LOOK I'M A BROTHERHOOD MEMBER" opening line where they praise the god of death and nothingness for a chance to live.

You are aware that

A. Argonians lack any poison resistance in Skyrim: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Argonian
B. Argonians poison and disease resistance in lore only really applies to stuff from Black Marsh. they are resistant to outside toxins, but they are only immune to stuff from Black Marsh.
C. She is lying and the entire thing its a trap/ambush.
D. Every race worships Sithis as the original creator.
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:The_Monomyth
"In most cultures, Anuiel is honored for his part of the interplay that creates the world, but Sithis is held in highest esteem because he's the one that causes the reaction. Sithis is thus the Original Creator, an entity who intrinsically causes change without design. Even the hist acknowledge this being."

Also, Sithis isn't the god of death, he isn't the "god" of anything, he is just the representation of the primal force of chaos and change.
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Sithis

And the Aldmeri Dominion? With its extensive use of glass metal to craft intricate, gleaming towers? NOPE, copy pasted elven WoW designs.

Actually, only the city of Alinor, the home of the Altmeri elite, has ever been described that way.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Loreocket_Guide_to_the_Empire,_1st_Edition/Aldmeri_Dominion
"A forbidden city for nearly fifty years, Alinor is both capital of the Summerset Isles and the heart of the Aldmeri Dominion. Human traders were only allowed at its ports, and they described the city as "made from glass or insect wings." Less fantastic accounts come from the Imperial emissaries of the Reman Dynasty, which describe the city as straight and glimmering, "a hypnotic swirl of ramparts and impossibly high towers, designed to catch the light of the sun and break it to its component colors, which lies draped across its stones until you are thankful for nightfall."

buildings on the Summerset Isle are known to range from everything from coral
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Loreocket_Guide_to_the_Empire,_3rd_Edition/Summerset
"The oldest of all the ruins there, and in a few isolated spots throughout the island, are made of coral, which must have been carried many, many miles away from the sea."

All the way to basic stone, as seen in the ironically named Crystal Tower of Summerset.
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Crystal_Tower

.
.
.
Don't believe everything you read on 4chan, those guys couldn't TES lore thier way out of a paper bag.

 

[kingthrall]

Sorry MMO needs to die, I hope this game plummets like an anvil. Nobody wants an MMO, people want the single player again.
Anyway never buying this sodomite of a game.

 

[HorrendusOne]

True TES fans would never defend this abomination of a game, along with anyone with decent taste (as in seeks depth, complexity, and a good story.) This game game's design is unoriginal and just a cheap shot at being a money vacuum. The small minority here disappoints me for not being smaller, but hey I guess the minority of people willing to throw money at this IS the target audience in the first place..

 

[SajuukKhar]

True TES fans would never defend this abomination of a game,

Micheal Kirkbride, the guy who wrote Morrowind, and his girlfriend Lady Nerevar, the unofficial queen of TES lore, and The Imperial Library, the main hub of TES lore, pre-orderd the Imperial Edition because they both think its not that bad.

Game is still going to be crap though.

 

[Kotaro]

I wasn't going to buy it anyway, and the Imperial Edition bullshit just confirmed that I made the right decision there.
It wouldn't be a problem if it was just a minor thing that's not too important. Neverwinter wasn't too terrible when they did this with the drow, because A. Neverwinter is free to play, and B. The drow aren't exactly a "core" race of the setting.
As for ESO, the Imperials are a core race of the setting, and have been since Morrowind. So locking them, the most populous race of the capital region of the whole freaking Empire, behind a collector's edition? That is scummy beyond belief. My mind is seriously boggling at how this could be considered acceptable.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Whilst any upcoming single-player TES game will have my undivided attention, I don't have even a flicker of interest for this MMO adaptation. I'll just let this one pass me by and wait patiently for the next single-player installment.

 

[Alarien]

Personally, I would rather play a good subscription MMO (preferably with no in-game microtransaction crap) than almost any F2P model MMO. Frankly, I haven't found a single F2P MMO at all engaging (GW2 was horrid ) and I've tried a few. Most of my best MMO memories are from Everquest, Dark Age of Camelot, and EVE Online.

F2P can be done well when it's all cosmetic. I think games like DOTA 2 do a good job of that. However, a lot like to make you pay for actual in-game content and, a lot of the time, I find that devs who work on F2P model MMOs are just really looking for a cash vending machine, rather than a truly compelling game. Neverwinter was duller than dirt.

Anyway, I wasn't planning on playing TESO primarily because it looks like TES in name only. It doesn't seem to share anything but words/names with the franchise games.

 

[4ged]

To be honest? I think you were fooling yourself to expect any better.

It was clear from the onset that TESO was built to capitalize on what's popular, and was designed to milk its audience for all it's worth.

They lifted several ideas from their direct competitors (GW2, for instance) and even advertised like their competitors (they released a video explaining their gameplay philosophy that sounds an awful lot like GW2's Manifesto, for example) to try and attract a crowd that's sick of the "traditional" MMO.

They designed the game's combat to function like Skyrim, since that game made the franchise have a broader appeal, and opted for a Diablo II-esque looking skill tree system because of how massively popular that game was. They also opted for 3-faction PvP because of how people enjoyed it in DAoC, and because of how GW2 was touting it in their game as well.

They knew that the established lore of the game would become problematic to introduce to new players, and that established players would call them on any flaws in the world they created, so they basically stated that they tossed out established lore and that this was the 'real' lore of Tamriel this time.

And then the reviews of the beta came rolling in, and they were almost universally negative and commenting on how the game wasn't ready to go live, and that feedback was generally ignored by the devs, who pushed forward with an early 2014 release date anyways.

The fact that it took you until now, the release of the Collector's Edition, to figure out that they're just trying to milk you for your cash....

Yes, this new reveal is certainly very sad and only makes it more obvious that they're in it for the dough, but really. If you're just catching onto the fact that maybe the game was built for money first, rather than designed to respect the franchise and its fans, then you're way behind the rest of the gaming community on this one. This game only exists for one reason: because MMOs make money hand-over-fist in today's market, and Zenimax/Bethesda wanted as much of yours as they could get.

Any fan who would still choose willingly to participate in this farce of a game after all of these warning signs telling them to stay away kind of deserves what they get, honestly. I will not feel sorry for people, months and months from now, who feel ripped off by TESO, because seriously....all the signs were there. Shy of a large, flashing neon panel saying "We just want your money" attached to the webpage of TESO, I'm not sure how much more obvious it gets.

this is all successful multi-billion dollar game companies in a nutshell, if not standard business practice in general, if you believe that these people who invest money respected you to begin with your mistaken, fans of a franchise, any franchise is a wallet with a human component attached, the whole goal of any business is to make money and do anything they can to do it, you as an individual don't matter, your one number in a demographic and the goal is to have the largest demographic possible. so if you buy anything your a sad, pandered to sucker convinced to buy something frivolous, games are not a right, or a privilege, they are a luxury, and you pay for luxury hand and foot.

 

[HorrendusOne]

True TES fans would never defend this abomination of a game,

Micheal Kirkbride, the guy who wrote Morrowind, and his girlfriend Lady Nerevar, the unofficial queen of TES lore, and The Imperial Library, the main hub of TES lore, pre-orderd the Imperial Edition because they both think its not that bad.

Game is still going to be crap though.

I can say through years of experience that, other people can love or hate your own work more so than you. So I find this rather irrelevant. An artist can despise a piece of his work that others adore and love since it's seen from a different perspective. Not really agreeing or disagreeing with you but simply find it meaningless to me.