The Elder Scrolls Online Relaunches on PC/Mac Today

[Dark Wraith]

I play ESO. The game did not have a stellar launch. There were a number of problems with it back then, but I feel that since the launch, Zenimax has done just about everything right. The development pace has been pretty impressive. Aside from adding some pretty engaging content to the game, they've fixed nearly every gripe I've had about the game. The one remaining complaint is that VR levels are pretty slow and grindy, but those are on the way out too.

On going buy-to-play, I don't think it actually has to do with the subscription numbers, which were pretty healthy any time we got a peek at them. I have heard no confirmation, but I'd bet it has more to do with the console launch coming soon. They really can't charge console players a subscription fee on top of the PSN/XBox Live fees, and they can't give console players a free subscription while still charging PC players - either of these things are sure to cause tons of outrage and cost them sales/subs. So instead, they just went B2P across the board.

 

[Setch Dreskar]

Can we seriously stop saying Bethesda had anything to do with this game? I mean I feel bad for them more then anything, Zenimax did everything with this game and Bethesda takes all the blame.

The game was not made by Bethesda Game Studio. But it is published by Bethesda Softworks, who presumably had/have a large say in changing the payment model.

No they literally had no say, it was put under the head of Bethesda to steer criticism towards it, Bethesda had nothing to do with the game nor did they want to publish it. Zenimax, the lawfirm that owns Bethesda, pushed for it and created Zenimax Online Studios to make the game itself. Bethesda could raise a stink, but Zenimax is the parent company and can do whatever they want, that is why we legit almost had an exact WoW clone on our hands until the community backlash during development.

 

[Caffiene]

No they literally had no say, it was put under the head of Bethesda to steer criticism towards it, Bethesda had nothing to do with the game nor did they want to publish it. Zenimax, the lawfirm that owns Bethesda, pushed for it and created Zenimax Online Studios to make the game itself. Bethesda could raise a stink, but Zenimax is the parent company and can do whatever they want, that is why we legit almost had an exact WoW clone on our hands until the community backlash during development.

That makes no sense.

Youre claiming that Zenimax deliberately wanted it under the Bethesda name, and have the power to have been overriding every publishing decision of their subsidiaries, and yet they created a Zenimax branded studio to make the game instead of creating a Bethesda branded studio because... reasons?

Bethesda Softworks is the publisher. They make publisher decisions. I agree that BethGames probably wanted nothing to do with it, but to claim that the publisher had nothing to do with the revenue decisions is just a conspiracy theory.

 

[Wuvlycuddles]

I played for one of the beta weekends and it soured me to the game hardcore, while the environments looked nice the character models looked barely any better than Oblivions. The combat was total arse, slow, plodding and lacking in any engagement or any impact. And perhaps the most egregious error was ruining the wonder and excitement of exploring you have in other Elder Scrolls games, it didn't seem like there was much to find beside some shitty standard mmo quests and if you did manage to find something cool it was often ruined by seeing some other schmuck dancing in his underwear.

 

[Kanova]

Watched some gameplay and combat videos. Looks kinda garbage. If the combat was interesting and the movements didn't look so crummy, I would probably get it.

 

[templar1138a]

Uh-huh. Sure. Good for them. Let me know when they make Elder Scrolls 6.

 

[Sarge034]

Not sure how I feel about this actually. I was all up in arms about having to buy the game multiple times (the game AND the sub in addition to XBL/PSN if you were on console) so I'm happy about the sub "dying". I'm not pleased they're trying to sell it for $60 again. It's not a new game just because you're trying to rebrand it, so that pisses me off. But I'm confused about the new sub, I mean "ESO Plus membership". This reeks of shenanigans. If it's B2P then a sub is ridiculous, especially if it adds game changing stuff like XP boosts. Why not just sell DLC packs or sell a season pass? I am still wary of this whole thing.

 

[snekadid]

As to the gold- the first 1-2 zones for each faction is the (optional) tutorial zone, meant to be played from levels 1-5. Once you leave those zones the drop quality increases significantly. To say otherwise is blatantly untrue. For example, in the Ebonheart Pact, Bleak Rock is for levels 1-4, and Bal Foyen is for 4-5. These are smaller zones with only 3 skyshards each and are designed to be easy to help newbies get the feel for the game. The first "real" zone is Stonefalls which is balanced for levels 1-15 and has 16 skyshards (mentioning to give an impression of the size of the zone.) This is where the proper "loot treadmill" (for lack of a better word) starts.

I understand if you disagree with me, but I haven't lied about anything that I said, and I'd be happy to talk to you if you want to discuss it maturely rather than dismissing me as a liar. I have played this game a lot, I know what I'm talking about most of the time.

You've proven your dishonesty in your attempt to hide it. Extending the concept of "tutorial island" past the jail break section is flat out misleading in a poor attempt to make your point through misdirection. Once you re-enter the world the map becomes open world and quests and events happen as they would anywhere else in the game. You're trying to lessen guilt by smudging real facts. It's like saying that the tutorial zones in WoW extend beyond the small enclaves the players start in. Once you enter the real world you are no longer being led around by the nose being taught basic cornerstones of the game and thus are no longer in the tutorial zone.

Stating game time to evade that the things you say are patently untrue is low.

 

[snekadid]

Not sure how I feel about this actually. I was all up in arms about having to buy the game multiple times (the game AND the sub in addition to XBL/PSN if you were on console) so I'm happy about the sub "dying". I'm not pleased they're trying to sell it for $60 again. It's not a new game just because you're trying to rebrand it, so that pisses me off. But I'm confused about the new sub, I mean "ESO Plus membership". This reeks of shenanigans. If it's B2P then a sub is ridiculous, especially if it adds game changing stuff like XP boosts. Why not just sell DLC packs or sell a season pass? I am still wary of this whole thing.

Thats how B2P generally works in my experience. You can buy what content you want and leave the rest and subbing could either be a good value or a poor one depending on what they plan to offer.

Its very close to The secret Worlds model and I feel that theirs is the best in the industry. The only thing they're lacking in that in TSW each month you're a subscriber you also got something for free. Almost always cosmetic, it was usually a piece of clothing(Armor doesn't show in that game so your character being completely customizable was a huge thing) or a minipet or something else along those lines. Not having that, the sub's value all comes down to if you think the stuff in the store is worth your money. I honestly don't see how they will do that considering how ESO is set up considering your gear is something that needs to be shown since its PVP heavy and they probably want to avoid selling power since they are trying to not slip and fall again.

On the price hike, yea.... fuck them. TSW went on sale when they went B2P and even after the sale they kept the price low because they realized that the point of going B2P is to get people back and get more people to start playing and nothing does that like making it more accessible. Too bad Zenimax don't understand basic concepts like that.

 

[BoogieManFL]

Check it out guys, it's a solid game that did not deserve most of the bad press that it got. It's now subscription free and now is a really good time to get into this game.

I HIGHLY recommend this game to anyone who is a big fan of the Elder Scrolls who doesn't mind a bit of MMO bullshit added to the mix. This is definitely MUCH more Elder Scrolls than WoW.

EDIT: Question to the Escapist staff if youre reading this- Will you be doing another review or revisiting your coverage of this game? Because a lot of things have changed since its initial launch and it is now a MUCH MUCH better and more polished game than it was. I think it's in your reader's best interests to do a revisit review if you weren't already planning to. Thanks!

I dunno. I played it at launch I think it easily deserved most of what it got. Broken quests in large number, abhorrently poor class and ability balancing, broken group questing, bot dungeon boss farming, teleporting resource nodes bots, latency, bad quest linkages(miss a few and it was hard to quest in the next zone), excessive respec fees, and the lack of an auction house was a stupid idea.


It had promise, sure. But the game should have been delayed at least 8 months to a year.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Uh-huh. Sure. Good for them. Let me know when they make Elder Scrolls 6.

and when all the bugs for that have been worked out ...

I might have liked Skyrim but I'm not about to buy anything from Bethesda month 1.

as for this MMO thing, sorry, can't hear you over FF14 ARR and the up coming Heavensward expansion (Yay for Dark Knights )

 

[persephone]

If it has controller support (which I don't think it does), I *might* check it out now. But honestly I'm going to wait to read a review or three. And if there's been so little change that no one re-reviews it, then I'm definitely saving my sixty bucks!

 

[Sight Unseen]

As to the gold- the first 1-2 zones for each faction is the (optional) tutorial zone, meant to be played from levels 1-5. Once you leave those zones the drop quality increases significantly. To say otherwise is blatantly untrue. For example, in the Ebonheart Pact, Bleak Rock is for levels 1-4, and Bal Foyen is for 4-5. These are smaller zones with only 3 skyshards each and are designed to be easy to help newbies get the feel for the game. The first "real" zone is Stonefalls which is balanced for levels 1-15 and has 16 skyshards (mentioning to give an impression of the size of the zone.) This is where the proper "loot treadmill" (for lack of a better word) starts.

I understand if you disagree with me, but I haven't lied about anything that I said, and I'd be happy to talk to you if you want to discuss it maturely rather than dismissing me as a liar. I have played this game a lot, I know what I'm talking about most of the time.

You've proven your dishonesty in your attempt to hide it. Extending the concept of "tutorial island" past the jail break section is flat out misleading in a poor attempt to make your point through misdirection. Once you re-enter the world the map becomes open world and quests and events happen as they would anywhere else in the game. You're trying to lessen guilt by smudging real facts. It's like saying that the tutorial zones in WoW extend beyond the small enclaves the players start in. Once you enter the real world you are no longer being led around by the nose being taught basic cornerstones of the game and thus are no longer in the tutorial zone.

Stating game time to evade that the things you say are patently untrue is low.

Wow... what the hell did I do to get you so pissed at me?

I'm not hiding anything... Those zones which I mentioned, ARE OPTIONAL! The game strongly encourages you to visit them, and you'll miss out on 6 skyshards if you do, but you're under absolutely no obligation to ever visit them. You can start off in (for instance) Stonefalls and never visit Bleakrock or Bal Foyen. They are there deliberately to be easy zones (every quest and monster in the first zone is level 2 or 3 even though you'd easily pass that level if you do all the quests), to kickstart the story, and to give new players a place to get comfortable with the game. As such, the drop rate is reduced in those areas (whereas the number of crafting nodes is increased for the base raw materials) In the beta, these zones were the mandatory tutorial island, but a lot of testers complained that they wanted to get straight to the action, so they were made optional. If you want to start right in the main zones, you can! And the drop rates are not in any way fudged in those areas!

I have not been "hiding" anything and everything that I have said is true to the best of my knowledge. I have given a good faith effort to engage you in discussion and you have responded with nothing but hostility and claims that I'm lying to your face. If you still disagree with me then that's your prerogative, but I have been up front with you about everything I've said and I do not appreciate being called a liar by someone who has clearly not played the game.

If it has controller support (which I don't think it does), I *might* check it out now. But honestly I'm going to wait to read a review or three. And if there's been so little change that no one re-reviews it, then I'm definitely saving my sixty bucks!

I'm pretty sure that it doesn't have controller support yet, though I think they've mentioned adding it in future, maybe. You can map the game to a controller though with programs like XPadder. I've never done that though so I can't really comment.

 

[snekadid]

Wow... what the hell did I do to get you so pissed at me?

I'm not hiding anything... Those zones which I mentioned, ARE OPTIONAL! The game strongly encourages you to visit them, and you'll miss out on 6 skyshards if you do, but you're under absolutely no obligation to ever visit them. You can start off in (for instance) Stonefalls and never visit Bleakrock or Bal Foyen. They are there deliberately to be easy zones (every quest and monster in the first zone is level 2 or 3 even though you'd easily pass that level if you do all the quests), to kickstart the story, and to give new players a place to get comfortable with the game. As such, the drop rate is reduced in those areas (whereas the number of crafting nodes is increased for the base raw materials) In the beta, these zones were the mandatory tutorial island, but a lot of testers complained that they wanted to get straight to the action, so they were made optional. If you want to start right in the main zones, you can! And the drop rates are not in any way fudged in those areas!

I have not been "hiding" anything and everything that I have said is true to the best of my knowledge. I have given a good faith effort to engage you in discussion and you have responded with nothing but hostility and claims that I'm lying to your face. If you still disagree with me then that's your prerogative, but I have been up front with you about everything I've said and I do not appreciate being called a liar by someone who has clearly not played the game.

You use intentionally misleading/fraudulent wording to make your points, relabeling areas with terms that don't have the meaning you attribute to them. I don't have a problem with subjective opinion, but you state objectively false things as fact and that is a problem as misinformation is worse than someone just not knowing.

I did play, I played for the first month, which was the subject of the post you were quoting and attempting to misrepresent the state of the game at the time that caused its wretched reputation. You are not allowed to rewrite history.

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

I have a few questions for players of the game:
1. Is there a cash/premium shop? What is in it? Be detailed please.
2. It mentions DLC, this makes me skeptical. What do these "DLCs" contain.
3. Is there a free trial?

 

[Grape_Bullion]

It's TORtanic all over again. Cannot stop laughing.

 

[Remus]

Wow... what the hell did I do to get you so pissed at me?

I'm not hiding anything... Those zones which I mentioned, ARE OPTIONAL! The game strongly encourages you to visit them, and you'll miss out on 6 skyshards if you do, but you're under absolutely no obligation to ever visit them. You can start off in (for instance) Stonefalls and never visit Bleakrock or Bal Foyen. They are there deliberately to be easy zones (every quest and monster in the first zone is level 2 or 3 even though you'd easily pass that level if you do all the quests), to kickstart the story, and to give new players a place to get comfortable with the game. As such, the drop rate is reduced in those areas (whereas the number of crafting nodes is increased for the base raw materials) In the beta, these zones were the mandatory tutorial island, but a lot of testers complained that they wanted to get straight to the action, so they were made optional. If you want to start right in the main zones, you can! And the drop rates are not in any way fudged in those areas!

I have not been "hiding" anything and everything that I have said is true to the best of my knowledge. I have given a good faith effort to engage you in discussion and you have responded with nothing but hostility and claims that I'm lying to your face. If you still disagree with me then that's your prerogative, but I have been up front with you about everything I've said and I do not appreciate being called a liar by someone who has clearly not played the game.

You use intentionally misleading/fraudulent wording to make your points, relabeling areas with terms that don't have the meaning you attribute to them. I don't have a problem with subjective opinion, but you state objectively false things as fact and that is a problem as misinformation is worse than someone just not knowing.

I did play, I played for the first month, which was the subject of the post you were quoting and attempting to misrepresent the state of the game at the time that caused its wretched reputation. You are not allowed to rewrite history.

Still playing, still subbing, only now I get crowns, so hey, I get cool new mounts with my game! Also, the game's already getting an envious flood of new and returning players. Ahhh what it is to be in their shoes, and seeing the game for the first time. Currently I have a V7 templar (now a walking, talking Star Trek Enterprise complete with shields, torpedoes, and phasers - thank you Dawn's Wrath skill line), a V5 sorcerer, and since I can steal stuff now, a newly minted nightblade, speccing heavily in stealth and invisibility, with damage bonuses for using each. Still loving the game, still have a ridiculous backlog of games I'd like to get back to, but my templar needs armor and my nightblade needs out of glenumbra, and I gotta pvp sometime too. Like my Nightmare Courser? I think he's hot!

Spoiler

Captcha "be my friend?" At exactly 9:52 March 18th 2015, the posting app known as "Captcha" became self-aware and immediately attempted to "friend" its users. No fate but what we make.

 

[Grabehn]

Meanwhile, I'll be waiting for that Elder Scrolls Co-op I wanted, which I'm probably totally not going to get... EVER.

 

[ryukage_sama]

I wish I had picked up a retail copy when the price had been down to $25. I was in the beta, but I couldn't justify $60+$15/month, that's basically my gaming budget anytime other than Black Friday.

 

[walrusaurus]

Sometimes I wonder why more companies don't go with a buy-to-play model for online games. I mean, I get that they must have their reasons, but this model is bafflingly rare next to free-to-play and traditional subscriptions.

P.S. Thanks

For most MMO-like games they're based around constant content updates in order to keep players playing. Unfortunately for the customers, the content is also expensive enough to produce that they need to pay a decent amount for it, usually by subscription fee or selling the individual content. Plenty of online games don't really worry much about constant content, either because the content is easy enough to produce or rare enough to not matter much. D3 works as an online game because the content is so cheap, with the occasional expansion to sell, for example.

One price paid at the beginning for constant content always makes me look askance at it, as it means that the content is either cheap and thus not really worth buying anyway, or I've effectively paid for the equivalent of an early access game, where they sell me an incomplete game with promises of making the full bit of content later. Neither of those are outcomes I particularly enjoy.

I would refer you to guild wars 2. Games been going strong for 2 and a half years and i know people who have played the entire time without spending anything beyond the initial 60 bucks. I personally have spent quite a bit on it, just because i want to support the game. But b/c you can exchange in game currency for the real money currency its entirely possible to get everything that i've bought off the cash shop without spending a dime. Granted you'd have to play a lot more than i do, i only play on average 5-10 hours a month.

To say nothing of the fact that for the longest time they were releasing new large content updates every 2 weeks, with new fully voice acted quests, rewards sometimes new pvp battlegrounds and even whole new zones for PvE. Major content updates are on hiatus right now while they work on the expansion but the games still a ridiculous value. The industry could learn a lot from Anet.