The Elder Scrolls Online Preview - Mud Crabs & Joe DiMaggio

[Andrew_C]

It doesn't look as awful as the original previews did, but its still looks far too generic. A TES game should aim for the amazing visual design of Morrowind, not the bland genericness of Oblivion.

They should make an optional system that replaces PC names with procedural lore-accurate names. You know, for people who don't want to see Billy1234 passing by on the quiet provincial streets.

Good idea.

This always annoys me the very rare times I did play mmorpgs.

You are trying to immerse yourself in a different world and 'humerous' names of others avatars just break that immersion.

I totally support this idea.

So something along the lines of the option LOTRO has? That game has a lot of good ideas buried under the dross, like seperating character appearance from gear.

 

[Childe]

I have a couple of friends with their eyes on TESO, and the thing that's keeping them on the fence is whether or not there's a subscription fee, or if it opts for the Guild Wars 2 business model, i.e., pay for the game at a base price rather than a monthly subscription fee.
I don't suppose they've let slip what they're planning on doing in that regard, have they?

This. So far the game is looking good for me. I know it won't be just like the others but if they can mix the best parts of TES and mmos then this will be a great game. The only thing thats bugging my right now is if its subscription

 

[Compatriot Block]

Thank god I had the highest possible chance of getting into the closed beta. My WoW guild has been around long enough to have its own website and forums, which boosts your chances.

I'm very excited, because I've outgrown any sense of satisfaction from correctly predicting something to be terrible. I want it to succeed, and I'm going into this with the most positive attitude possible.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

I guess the beast races are going to have the same skeletons as the regular races once again.

 

[Compatriot Block]

I guess the beast races are going to have the same skeletons as the regular races once again.

While it would be cool, I guess it's practical considering they'd have to make animations separately for those races otherwise, especially considering they'll almost definitely be the least played races.

 

[piinyouri]

Eeeeeehhhhit looks....cool?


This article did quell a few worries I had, but I'm still cautious.

I want it to do well, I want this thing to be fantastic, but I know it could so easily be just another MMO.

Even if the combat was like WoW or GW, just having something else to do aside from combat is something I've yearned for in all the MMO's I've played.

 

[Ayay]

I just hope when this thing blows up in their face , it wont take the company with it. I would really miss the games they produce. But the Eldar scrolls will most likely end with this mess and that is to bad , but maybe they can make a new world.

 

[Voulan]

Oh man, I'm getting really excited for this. I've heard really good things from the people that have played some of it - most especially about the AI's performance in group battles. I can't help it, I'm getting hyped!

But if it is subscription based, I will have to pass on it.

 

[Soviet Steve]

it's probably a bad sign for gaming journalism that this left me expecting a 2D platformer one variant of Stephen Hawking voice for VAs. Or is it game companies? Either way I'll take a look at it three expansion in if it's on offer at some point.

 

[Sehnsucht Engel]

Trebuchets are fun. The description of PVP makes me wonder how similar it'll be to WvW. The game does sound slightly more interesting now, than before, but if it has a monthly subscription fee I'm not going anywhere near it.

 

[KeyMaster45]

I have a couple of friends with their eyes on TESO, and the thing that's keeping them on the fence is whether or not there's a subscription fee, or if it opts for the Guild Wars 2 business model, i.e., pay for the game at a base price rather than a monthly subscription fee.
I don't suppose they've let slip what they're planning on doing in that regard, have they?

Oh, very much not. I've rarely seen a "We're not talking about that" come out of a dev's mouth faster than when the ESO guys were asked that question.

I'm going to be that crazy person and say that I kind of hope it has a subscription. I think F2P sucks because when I'm playing the game I feel like I'm constantly being followed by a passive aggressive salesman. It usually means I spend an awful lot of time feeling like I'm playing a gimped product because they gate things such as bank space behind micro-transactions. It's not something vital to your gameplay experience, but it is damned annoying to be told every time you open up your pitifully small storage space and are reminded it could be bigger if you just gave them some money.

It's little things like that, little things that aren't restricted to players when they're already paying a monthly fee. The game is there but it's encapsulated in an infuriating bubble of sales pitches. Hell, it's why I eventually find myself back at Blizzard's doorstep; I fork over $15, I get to play, and then they never bother me again. If I want more bank space I just make larger bags on one of my characters or buy some from the auction house. They don't try to sell me on extraneous BS in game because I've already paid for a month's access for less money than it takes to go to the movies.

The other side effect is that the developers running the game have access to a steady flow of income to create more content. Sorry, but content updates in F2P games tend to suck and they tend to suck because the content updates are only adding more more crap for them to pitch to you to buy in micro-transactions. Even if the game has a subscriber option it's usually not worth the money because you're still playing a game that's designed around micro-transactions.

I forget where I heard it but it is the absolute truth about F2P games. They aren't designed around what the devs think players will find fun enough to keep them coming back. They're designed around how they can funnel players into paying for the micro-transactions. As unlikely as it is in the current environment where WoW is the only surviving subscription MMO, I really hope that Bethesda goes with and sticks with a subscription model. Otherwise TES: Online is going to be a miserable experience that I don't really want to spend my money on.

 

[Cowabungaa]

I basically have but one question at this point:

Is the first-person viewpoint the default, or at least a perfectly viable, viewpoint for this game? In PvE and PvP.

Because for some reason I really want my TES games first-person.

 

[theultimateend]

The Elder Scrolls Online Preview - Mud Crabs & Joe DiMaggio

Feels like The Elder Scrolls, right down to the mud crabs and nirnroot.

Read Full Article

I hope it runs on the same graphics engine as Skyrim so that someone can port the entire map to that .

 

[SajuukKhar]

I just hope when this thing blows up in their face , it wont take the company with it. I would really miss the games they produce. But the Eldar scrolls will most likely end with this mess and that is to bad , but maybe they can make a new world.

Considering that the MMO is being made by an entirely separate company then the company that makes single player TES games, there is literally a zero % chance of that happening.

Zenimax online, the people who are making the MMO, was created specifically as to not interfere with Bethesda's game development.

 

[tmande2nd]

No matter how many times people say it is not Bethesda but a sister-studio creating it people still go "ARGH BETHESDA MAKE MMO ARGH!"

I reserve judgement on TESO until I get to play it.
I REALLY want this to work, especially after TORtanic.

Besides I want to play an Orc in an MMO that does not sound like a soccer hooligan.

 

[likalaruku]

My broke ass is hoping it's FTP like LotRO with purchasable areas I can get access to with gift cards on christmas.

Ah modding...I'd almost forgotten how hideous the Elves looked without mods.

 

[KeyMaster45]

As unlikely as it is in the current environment where WoW is the only surviving subscription MMO, I really hope that Bethesda goes with and sticks with a subscription model. Otherwise TES: Online is going to be a miserable experience that I don't really want to spend my money on.

The irony, of course, being that if the game is Free-To-Play, you wouldn't have to spend any money on it anyways.

Actually I would as I highly doubt that Bethesda won't require you buy a game key to play initially; be it with install discs or digitally. There may be no subscription afterwards, but there is still an initial investment that I won't want to make.

 

[KeyMaster45]

As unlikely as it is in the current environment where WoW is the only surviving subscription MMO, I really hope that Bethesda goes with and sticks with a subscription model. Otherwise TES: Online is going to be a miserable experience that I don't really want to spend my money on.

The irony, of course, being that if the game is Free-To-Play, you wouldn't have to spend any money on it anyways.

Actually I would as I highly doubt that Bethesda won't require you buy a game key to play initially; be it with install discs or digitally. There may be no subscription afterwards, but there is still an initial investment that I won't want to make.

Which would make it a Buy-To-Play game, not a Free-To-Play game.

Really? I've never heard Guild Wars or GW2 referred to as such. Matter of fact I've never heard any games referred to as that. You're either the F2P business model or the subscription model. Regardless, the model of GW2 still has the company relentlessly trying to sell you shit after you've given them money to play; which is exactly the model TES: Online is most likely going to have.

I still won't be giving Bethesda any money for it if that's the business model they plan to use.

 

[SajuukKhar]

Really? I've never heard Guild Wars or GW2 referred to as such. Matter of fact I've never heard any games referred to as that. You're either the F2P business model or the subscription model. Regardless, the model of GW2 still has the company relentlessly trying to sell you shit after you've given them money to play; which is exactly the model TES: Online is most likely going to have.

I still won't be giving Bethesda any money for it if that's the business model they plan to use.

Having been a long-time player of the guild wars series, I cannot think of anyone who has ever said that the game is free-to-play, without having someone who actually plays the game correct them by saying it is buy-to-play.

Hell, it became a running joke of sorts in guild wars to correct people who called the game free-to-play, when it was in-fact, buy-to-play.

And having played Guild Wars 2 since it came out, i really cant say I ever felt like the company was trying to pressure me into buying shit, ever.

 

[Colt47]

The only thing I'm thinking looking at this article is "Hey look, it's the next SWTOR." Why do people keep wasting their careers on making MMOs? And more specifically, who thought that having hundreds of other people running around doing random stuff is going to make the Elder Scrolls so much better?

The only MMOs I've seen that actually understand how to make the multiplayer aspect a key part of the gameplay include the old Star Wars Galaxies, Ultima Online, and Eve Online. Every other MMO release has been this happy go lucky theme park ride that just has group activities thrown in.