Is Elder Scrolls Online worth looking forward to?

[CreativeXtent]

Notice: all ideas and perceptions of any article written here is expressed by CreativeXtent only and not an expression of Ownedcore.com and therefore cannot make Ownedcore.com Liable for anything mentioned in the article.

Is Elder Scrolls Online worth looking forward to?




For months on end a lot of people, Gamers and lovers of the Elder Scrolls games have been excited about their favorite game becoming an MMO.
This past weekend, Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) did a very large beta test. Many hundreds of people, including my self-received their own beta keys.
I my self was excited when I receive the key a week before the test started. I planned my weekend around playing the game. Little did I know the horrors that awaited?

The first thing I experienced was server issue. Yes, most games have issues like this when people are first trying to login during a launch. But most of the first day trying to log in to a game in a CONTROLLED environment was just riddled with failure.
Eventually, they restarted all servers and I could log in. I made it through the 10 minute starting area, rescued the prophet and then was tossed on an island with hundreds of people.
During this time I tried following the quest expectations of me and do what it said, but sadly I could not. Trying to talk to one NPC would take 10 to 15 minutes or more. Let alone trying to chat to others.
Eventually, I was kicked from the server and had a temporary ban placed on me for trying to speak to NPCs to often.
Around 15 minutes after the ban, I was allowed back in. I logged in and the lag was still present. But I made my way to a random NPC with a quest. I grabbed the quest but I could do nothing due to lag.
So I told myself, well I will try tomorrow, so I logged off and went to sleep.
The next day came and I logged in, the crowed seemed less and so did the lag, probably due to this. But I decided to do the quest I picked up. I went to where the quest giver was, but the NPC was gone and weird box in her place so I figured let me check the quest information.
But I had no idea how to view my quest at the time, and after a while of smashing buttons like a Mage player in WoW, I found my quest next to my map. They had dots labeling the quest so I figured it would help. But the only real way to see where to go is to open your map and try to follow yourself to the dots.
Yes I know there is a top navigation, BUT it is horrible, it has no labels to what the hell you are going towards. So the map was the real best option.
I traveled around doing a few quest at a time. Learning what I could as I saw it happen in the game. 45 minutes or less in to this game I was extremely bored.
The quest were very liner and seemed to be just some plain Jain quest the devs tossed in. I wanted to get in to the world, fight beast. But I was stuck talking about lore with an NPC.
I would find a monster here and there, but when I fought them, it was extremely hard to keep track of my life and energy. Yes you can see a small bar, but I like numbers. Numbers are calculable and make it easier to survive.
Eventually my boredom did get worse and I just signed off for good.

I am sure at this moment most of you are saying, "Well... you must have never played Elder Scrolls before!!" But I assure you I have, since the first and have owned every version since then. I love the game!

So my experience with the game is as such. (Some listed above some items are not)

1. The story and quest are to Liner.
2. The game is way to instance based
3. Not a true open world.
4. Graphics are not up to par.
5. Not easy to get in to for beginners.
6. Game play seemed slow and boring.
7. All zones are level-dependent and will not allow skipping of zones for exploration.
8. Horrible Attribute and skill layout. Almost as bad as PoE's layout.
9. Community status is not easily attainable. This is important to belong in a community!
10. No visible titles, even when you have them.
11. A re-do of all starter areas. Make them more interesting and exciting to play.
12. Too much PVP emphases in a story based game. It is the games strong point, but it can take away from the game itself.

This game will either go the Star wars path becoming a Free-to-play nightmare or they will cut 1/2 of their servers down (yes I know it is a mega-server, but that consist of multiple servers.) and eventually be almost dead.

Thank you and please discuss any topic mentioned or any topic you feel needs to be addressed pertaining to the article above

[Smitten]

I've played a few of the beta waves.

In my opinion, it's trying too hard to be both an MMO as well as replicating Skyrim, and it's not doing terribly well at doing either.

I've never really been an Elder Scrolls fan either, though, so I may be biased.

[Disphotic]

Haven't played it yet, but after seeing they use Hero Engine (same as SWTOR), I'm not really interested. Hero Engine seems to be so crappy for MMOs and results in super clunky movement, non fluid combat etc etc.

[yamashi12]

It sounds to me that you had more technical issues than game issues...

Also remember that you played alone and with a low leveled character, I don't think low levels are very representative of the actual gameplay (say from lvl 10 or 20).

As for the comment saying the game is using HeroEngine, this is not the case, you have misunderstood what they did.

[CreativeXtent]

I've played a few of the beta waves.

In my opinion, it's trying too hard to be both an MMO as well as replicating Skyrim, and it's not doing terribly well at doing either.

I've never really been an Elder Scrolls fan either, though, so I may be biased.

I agree with this a lot.
It needs to take its own stride towards something new.

[CreativeXtent]

It sounds to me that you had more technical issues than game issues...

Also remember that you played alone and with a low leveled character, I don't think low levels are very representative of the actual gameplay (say from lvl 10 or 20).

As for the comment saying the game is using HeroEngine, this is not the case, you have misunderstood what they did.

low levels are the top impression of game play. If it is horrible when you start most people will quit before even hitting 10 or 20.

[Disphotic]

It sounds to me that you had more technical issues than game issues...

Also remember that you played alone and with a low leveled character, I don't think low levels are very representative of the actual gameplay (say from lvl 10 or 20).

As for the comment saying the game is using HeroEngine, this is not the case, you have misunderstood what they did.

Oh, my mistake I read a bit mroe about it now. Apparantly they used HeroEngine in the early developement stages as a whiteboard while developing their own engine. Is that correct?

[CreativeXtent]

Oh, my mistake I read a bit mroe about it now. Apparantly they used HeroEngine in the early developement stages as a whiteboard while developing their own engine. Is that correct?

some sites online do say this, but no one will know how true it is till later

[JuJuBoSc]

They don't use HeroEngine, at least there is nothing related to it in all the binaries I reversed.

[AdamZZ]

low levels are the top impression of game play. If it is horrible when you start most people will quit before even hitting 10 or 20.

No game has great low level gameplay.. Take WoW for example, the most successful MMO atm, low level are boring and you don't get interesting stuff until much later.
Are you going to argue that spamming lightning bolt as a shaman for like 30 levels are fun?

[wystyx]

Been playing mmos since ultima, been finding myself trolling mmo websites for years nothing hits the fancy anymore, played eso few weeks ago been trolling private server developmentation, currently installing everquest Project 1999 - Classic Everquest until a new eso beta or live comes out.
p.s. wow is for kiddie rpg'ers
-2 cents.

[Boscy]

The linear storyline is a part of Skyrim and Oblivion as well. It's the "main" story line. As you progress out of the starter areas, it will open up and you will get more of a ESO open worldy feeling.

[CreativeXtent]

No game has great low level gameplay.. Take WoW for example, the most successful MMO atm, low level are boring and you don't get interesting stuff until much later.
Are you going to argue that spamming lightning bolt as a shaman for like 30 levels are fun?

That is truly a personal perspective. I love being a low level in WoW and starting fresh.

[wowsc4p3]

That is truly a personal perspective. I love being a low level in WoW and starting fresh.

Well, I find that the skill involved in ESO combat is far better than in WoW, where you press a key and it casts it on your target. In ESO, you need to aim, etc. That is what I like.
What I disliked, however, is that the linear storyline was straying way too far from the elder scrolls series style. In Skyrim, after the short introductory sequence of fleeing to Riverwood, you're free to do whatever the hell you like. I felt that I was following a fixed path in ESO, and the side quests were really not that nice. Also, it lacked the ability to track multiple quests at once. I suspect people will make addons for that, however.
With regards to population, they have announced that there will be a system of phasing, whereby you specify what your playstyle is (pvp, pve, rp etc + hardcore gamer, casual etc), age range etc and then you will only be able to see a certain group of players, based on those criteria. This will fix the over population issue massively.
Overall, I do wish they'd make it more elder scrolls, and less MMO in certain areas (I am, of course, talking about the direct quest line, where it's hard to escape it).
In Skyrim, you can go anywhere, just speak to a carriage driver and go to a new city. In ESO, I feel like the only way to get to other places is to continue doing the tedious quest line, and even then the new quests and areas aren't exciting at all.

[dodoman]

I think the gameplay isnt that bad, and it have alot of possibilities.
But i really think it's too expensive for today's gamers. The most of them don't want to pay 50$ and a monthly rate by 13. They are missing the f2p part, which would fit perfect for the game.