The Elder Scrolls Online Review - Levels 1-20

[Chinchy]

A pretty fair review. Nevertheless, some people have experienced worse bugs, although few as bad as what we saw in the last beta. Relogging often does the trick.

I have to agree about the crafting system: it's rather deep, but even at level 34 I'm not using it much beyond researching things for endgame. There's a scarcity of certain ingredients, and the general loot drops are also good, meaning anything you do craft at early levels is likely to be outclassed soon. By endgame, though, people how have invested in crafting should find it rewarding.

One other thing that may be worth pointing out: Zenimax have not been doing a fantastic job of doing maintenance at times appropriate for European players. While the situation has improved, we've had a couple of peak or nearly peak periods of downtime. Hopefully that will be solved when the European server finally moves to Europe, but at the moment it is kind of frustrating.

Us US players are not faring much better, they take it down around 8am EST and continue on till about 5pm EST every tuesday.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

- The World: can you really explore all of Tamriel? This is something Elder Scrolls players have been dreaming about for ever. What is it like to travel the land? Are there loading times between areas/continents, or is it seamless on the main map, like in the previous ES games? What do the continents look like? Does Skyrim look like Skyrim, Morrowind like Morrowind? Can you go to these places known from previous games and recognize them, see known landmarks, meet known NPCs? What do the new continents and places look like that have not been featured in any previous ES game? Do they fit the lore, are they awesome or do they suck?

Yes and no. There are huge portions of the continent that you cannot explore but every province is represented extensively. So you can go to Daggerfall or Cyrodil or the Black Marsh or what have you but the even the world map admits you don't see the whole place. If you want to assume the world map is accurate, the player explorable space is probably about 1/2 of the total land area of Tamriel.

- Items and Inventory: do you have this standard progression of weapons and armor from Iron/Leather to Ebony/Glass and Daedric? Is it something entirely different? Do you have these other elements from ES Lore, like Soul Gems, Amulets of Divines, Daedric Artifacts? How does crafting, alchemy, enchanting compare to previous ES titles?

You absolutely have this progression. Indeed, the basic crafting system is basically what it was in Skyrim. Iron makes the lowest tier of heavy armor but if you invest lots of iron into a set you get much better armor out of the deal. From there the armor can further be improved using rare crafting items that further boost it's innate stats. Crafting a "green" item is fairly trivial but getting all the way to a legendary item requires a staggering commitment of resources. Once you hit certain level caps you can wear the next higher tier or armor (Steel for heavy armor for example) and if you have progressed far enough in blacksmithing you can create such items as well.

- Lore: does the lore add up to the previous games or can this be considered something new/unrelated/a variation? Do we also have Divines with shrines that can be prayed at? Are there Daedric shrines with quests? Does the plot make any sense at all?

There are absolutely shrines to the divines in the game through the ones I've encountered have specific mechanical functions. The shrine to Mara lets you bind yourself to another player (provided you have an item that allows it - something that as far as I know is currently only available if you get the 80 dollar version) giving you more experience for everything you do as long as you are grouped with them.

- NPCs: do NPC's feel and behave like in the previous Elder Scrolls games? Do they have schedules and go about their daily business like in Skyrim/Oblivion or are they stucked into position as in Morrowind? How does the conversation system compare? Can you have followers? Can you interact with NPC's or are they simply quest-givers and merchants?

Not exactly. NPCs are far more active than most MMOs. You will often get quests delivered by a runner (for example) and you are regularly issued temporary minions (who in my experience are basically as effective as the monsters in the area they are expected to help you out in). There are also merchants who wander along certain roads and NPCS that exist just to fill out the world sprinkled all over the place. The conversation system is much more limited than it was in past games generally just in the form of a simple tree. If you opt to invest in the persuade and intimidate skills, you occasionally get special dialog options but for the most part trees are fairly limited. Skyrim is probably the closest example that comes to mind.

- Gameplay: is there crime-tracking like in previous ES games? Are there factions like Mages Guild and the Dark Brotherhood? Can you cast spells and drink potions and do the mechanics work like in previous ES games or has it all been MMO'ified? Does combat feel as physical and interactive as in the single-player games, or does it feel "floaty" like is typical for MMO's?

You can't really commit crimes. You can't harm NPCs unless they're hostile for example. Also any item that can be looted is free for the player to loot. There are absolutely factions though currently they are Fighters Guild, Mages Guild and the Undaunted. Combat is broadly similar to other elder scrolls games but not identical at all. You can do a standard attack or power attack with any weapon, blocking is performed by pressing the right mouse button and you can bash with shield or weapon to interrupt an attack. Additionally, each class of weapons has it's own skill tree that offers special attacks - Sword and Shield (For example) gives you an attack that both taunts and weakens enemies but costs stamina to use. Further complicating things your class has three different skill trees that offer new other attacks you can perform that generally draw upon Magicka. You can only slot five basic abilities and a single ultimate ability (after level 15 you get the ability to swap to a different set of weapons and abilities in combat - my Templar wields sword and shield most of the time but if our healer runs into trouble in a dungeon I can swap to a healing staff in an emergency). From a mechanical perspective the game could probably best be described as Guild Wars meets Skyrim.

All told, my impression to date is that if you like the Elder Scrolls, you will likely enjoy ESO. It feels very different from the usual MMO while still being very much an MMO if that makes sense. You often get light puzzle based quests - treasure maps with vague clues leading you to loot, casting powerful incantations to save a town that require multiple steps, etc. Also, while it is also a minor annoyance, in ESO the world actually changes as a result of your actions. Saving a town being ravaged by werewolves results, at the conclusion of that quest chain, in a town that is now free of the werewolf menace. The annoyance is if you try and group with a friend to help out on that same quest chain you can't because your version of the town is different from theirs. This basic nod to making what the player does matter (something WoW never really bothered with) thus comes at the cost of undermining basic group play.

As one other note, the only other game worth comparing it to is the recently released F2P Neverwinter. Both games have the same 5 skill slots with an ultimate and both games focus very heavily on the single player experience to the extent that group play is undermined greatly. It is a rare quest that actually requires a second person so long as you play well. But, thankfully, unlike Neverwinter, ESOs dungeons require people play fairly well. Keeping everyone alive as a healer is a challenge even if everyone is playing properly and holding aggro as a tank is taxing enough that tanks end up doing little damage just because they are having to spend all their time managing aggro.

The one odd thing worth noting is that "class" means relatively little in this game. Nightblades might be the most proficient at quickly dealing damage but any class can load up on gear and skills that let them put out serious hurt. Every class has skills that let them crowd control well enough even if the sorcerer is basically built for the task. Any class can heal others with a healing staff but the Templar is the only one that can heal others with a sword in their hands. Likewise any class can load up on health and heavy armor and tank even if the Dragon Knight is better in an emergency. I don't know how ultra specialization will matter in the end game of course because there are obviously optional builds for any particular role. For example, if you want to build the ultimate tank you will probably want to play as an Imperial given they get bonuses to sword and shield and get substantial bonus health and stamina.

I honestly was fairly pessimistic about the game but after a friend insisted I give it a try (he insisted by purchasing the game and telling me if I didn't like it, I wouldn't have to pay him back) I begrudgingly installed it. As a person who has tried many MMOs but has never found one that I really like I can say that ESO has happily surprised me. The story and lore and quest design make the game feel more like a single player RPG than most and the stuff that actually requires groups, thus far at least, does so in a very smart way.

 

[Lykosia_v1legacy]

We need more good sandbox MMORPGs.

"sandbox mmos" don't get good numbers on account of the fact most people get actually get bored and lose motivation when left largely to their own devices.

even the grand doyen of the genre EVE, often spoke of in hushed tones as if it was some gaming nirvana, only has about about 500k of a playerbase....if that now...

Aion, Runescape, SWTOR, STO, Lineage I & II and ofc WoW all roflstomping over those numbers even on a purely regional basis and those are just the ones you might have heard of (cause its a whole other world over where they write in pictures)...

for most people following a path is simply more compelling than wandering around a field.

sandbox MMORPGs are there, its not like good ones haven't been made , but the truth is they're not in a very healthy state at all compared with their "theme park" neighbours...and at the end of the day...dem bills, oy...

But what's the difference between EVE and WoW at the moment? EVE Online is constantly getting more players when WoW is losing them. And which one is older game? EVE. Granted, EVE is nowhere near the numbers of WoW or some other theme park MMOs, but you don't need to be if you're smart and don't expect to "kill WoW." It's much easier to get bored in a themepark MMO, because the pretty much only "endgame" you've is raids, dungeons and Pvp. When in EVE or in other sandbox MMOs the players have much more freedom to do what they want with just trading, crafting, mining, wars etc. And it's all player driven.

Btw, RuneScape is a sandbox MMO though more limited than EVE.

What I like about ESO is that it at least encourages exploration.

 

[Deadcyde]

Paying full price for the game then have a subscription ontop of that is why I will not touch it. So you pay full price to rent the game for 30 days? No thank you. Then have to pay rent every month to continue? Even worse.

If it was pay full price and you can continue playing it until they shut the servers off never to be turned back on again I would be OK with that. If the game was free to download but required a subscription then that would be OK as well. If it was buy the game and be able to play forever then a cash shop to buy things with real money is acceptable, but if there is a subscription then I cannot accept a cash shop. The subscription pays for the servers and for development of new content. Making players pay for new content they pay for in the subscription should not be acceptable by players.

TesO will not be getting my money because of the blatant money grab of buy the game at full price, subscription, and a cash shop.

You must be new to MMOs.

Thing is the whole 'F2P' model is fairly, well, NEW.

It's not a 'money grab'.

That would be the yearly Cod/Madden games, or most of the mobile F2P market.

You know what they say about assumptions? Also yours is incorrect.

[Note: I generally had to pay a deposit on an apartment then monthly rent... so I don't think that is an apt comparison]

Less of a money grab than a lot of those 'F2P' games, many of which can be considered Pay2Win. Doesn't ESO just offer a horse? And there is no in-game ads telling you to go buy something, you have to manually go to their website. WoW (considered the most successful MMO of all time) also has a sub fee and sells mounts and pets.

Having to pay for a game and then a subscription was standard practice around 2009ish and back. I think the purpose of having an upfront price is to initially offset the development costs, which can be significant. And I thought that ESO is

Having a subscription fee gives the devs incentive to make a quality product. May F2P games have to balance between addicting and frustrating to convince players to pay for some type of bonus. You can find information about what these developers call 'whales'(same term used by casinos for suckers) by looking at various talks and workshops at last month's Game Dev Conference. Another thing to note is that companies are hiring people who specialize in 'consumer psychology'. The DSM-V has even added game addiction to a list of possible disorders for future study.

It's gotten to the point that the EU is determine whether or not to add restrictions on companies for using the 'free to play' terminology.

Not saying that all F2Ps are bad, they do still need to make a profit after all. A game like Path of Exile is the perfect example of what I would consider an effective cash shop model. Something like SWTOR switched to an awful model. They severely limited the end-game content, prevented access to your bank for storage, and blocked non-subscribers from using certain items. Not sure if these have been addressed yet, but this was a critical success that lost all credibility by switching to a 'free' model.

I think the main point here is that I would rather companies not attempt to manipulate me into having what is basically an addiction

But, who knows, maybe if ESO becomes F2P it will be done in a consumer friendly way.

I agree with you, and I have never understood people's fear of subscriptions. That's how MMOs started, that's what makes them different. It may not be for everyone, but I think it's still a good option. And your big AAA titles will start that way, EQ, WIldstar, WOW, etc. And yes it is a way for them to make more money maybe, well I guess that's silly for a company to want to make money.

well for starters, you get your deposit back with housing and secondly, are you getting your monies worth? Are the constantly updating the game as you pay them? Do you get guarantees of quality and features? (like a tenants agreement if you want to continue the analogy) What is in place if you are unsatisfied?

Games you buy have this. Subscription games do not.