Elder Scrolls MMO confirmed, Details also, no screens

[Ragsnstitches]

First off, gameinformer are doing a cover story on it in their next issue, so here's their page:
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2012/05/03/june-cover-revealed-the-elder-scrolls-online.aspx

Now, few thing to note:

*It's not being made by the same team who worked on Skyrim.

*It's 1000 years before Skyrim

*Story focuses around the "daedric prince Molag Bal (as he) tries to pull all of Tamriel into his demonic realm". Link to his lore page on the wiki:http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Molag_Bal

*The director of the game worked with Mythic before and directed Dark Age of Camelot. (Metacritic score: 88... user score 95).

*Now, I see it mentioned that it takes place in the province of Cyrodill. Some folk won't like that I'm sure. But this might be a mistake on the author of the articles part.

*3 separate factions are there for the choosing.

*It's open world... though I'm not sure if that excludes it from the hub system of every other MMO.

Anyway, that's all there is to it. More info later I guess.
What's the general opinion on this?

 

[SajuukKhar]

-Bethesda Game Studios isn't making it
-It wont slow down the making of single player ES games
-I expect it to get some players for curiosity reasons, then tank and fail.
-The number of fucks I give is 0, and I am a large ES fan.

 

[spartandude]

-Bethesda Game Studios isn't making it
-It wont slow down the making of single player ES games

this is all that concerns me

 

[Ragsnstitches]

-Bethesda Game Studios isn't making it
-It wont slow down the making of single player ES games
-I expect it to get some players for curiosity reason, then tank and fail.
-The number of fucks I give is 0, and I am a large ES fan.

I think curiosity is what they are hoping for at this point. I'm not an MMO person in the slightest but I'm a fan of TES. I'll keep my ears and eyes open, but I'm not putting aside any kind of budget at this point.

I'm more interested in the use of Molag Bal as a central villain. He's one of the darkest Daedric princes in the lore, holding the title of "prince of rape". I find MMOs tend to soften the edges of their dark sides to appeal to wider audiences... so my "interest" is more concern.

 

[OSHarlequin]

Not really interested personally. As long as it doesn't affect the single player games in any way, more power to them.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

There's lots of other threads on this, but I'm going to post in this one, since you actually provided information, and you didn't pen up a ludicrously sensationalist title.

I'm of mixed feelings. The Elder Scrolls was always vaguely MMO like anyway with the scope of the world and the lack of a strong central narrative, so in some ways this feels a little redundant. And I'm completely unfamiliar with Zenimax Online in terms of pedigree, so I don't know if I should be expecting wonders or garbage. The fact I've heard nothing about the game before now and it's apparently due out next year leads me to believe the latter.

On the other hands, Elder Scrolls has a huge continent, a smattering of charismatic races, and a wealth of lore, which makes it a good MMO candidate. DAoC is a fine game to emulate (if you're into PvP), and they've apparently learned the 3 faction lesson, which is a breath of fresh air.

So...completely on the fence. This could go either way. I'd want to see a LOT more information, screens, and game play concepts before even tentatively voting yea or nay.

 

[Jynthor]

Wasn't Cyrodiil a jungle 1000 years ago?

 

[Ragsnstitches]

Wasn't Cyrodiil a jungle 1000 years ago?

I'm not sure... but a part of me thinks it's a mistake on the authors part.

Not really interested personally. As long as it doesn't affect the single player games in any way, more power to them.

Nope. Different team. It's "Zenimax Online Studio", not bethesda softworks... though I imagine todd and other figures will be pulled in every so often for advice on retaining the feel of TES games.

There's lots of other threads on this, but I'm going to post in this one, since you actually provided information, and you didn't pen up a ludicrously sensationalist title.

I'm of mixed feelings. The Elder Scrolls was always vaguely MMO like anyway with the scope of the world and the lack of a strong central narrative, so in some ways this feels a little redundant. And I'm completely unfamiliar with Zenimax Online in terms of pedigree, so I don't know if I should be expecting wonders or garbage. The fact I've heard nothing about the game before now and it's apparently due out next year leads me to believe the latter.

On the other hands, Elder Scrolls has a huge continent, a smattering of charismatic races, and a wealth of lore, which makes it a good MMO candidate. DAoC is a fine game to emulate (if you're into PvP), and they've apparently learned the 3 faction lesson, which is a breath of fresh air.

So...completely on the fence. This could go either way. I'd want to see a LOT more information, screens, and game play concepts before even tentatively voting yea or nay.

That's the smart way of looking at it. As I said to a guy above, I'm not putting money anywhere near this until substantial info comes out, and preferably actual gameplay, not the scripted demos bethesda is notorious for.

It's still intriguing. The lore, as you said, is rich and ripe for an MMO game and they are aware of the issues of too many factions and the binary choice of other MMOs.

So whether it's concern, genuine interest, or morbid curiosity, this game will get plenty of attention.

 

[Thoric485]

Considering Cyrodiil's central position, both geographically and as seat of the Empire, i'm guessing most PvP will revolve around it.

They say in the article the game will span through the whole of Tamriel - from Elsweyr to Skyrim.

 

[SajuukKhar]

Wasn't Cyrodiil a jungle 1000 years ago?

Yes it was.

Tiber Septim CHIMed it away when he took the throne at the beginning of the Third Era.

 

[Jynthor]

Wasn't Cyrodiil a jungle 1000 years ago?

Yes it was.

Tiber Septim CHIMed it away when he took the throne at the beginning of the Third Era.

But I thought it was still a jungle during the events of Morrowind, or did they retcon that as well?

 

[bobmus]

That's okay, Bethseda aren't wasting their time developing this. It can just be a game I have no interest in playing, that doesn't mess with the creation of anything else.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

Considering Cyrodiil's central position, both geographically and as seat of the Empire, i'm guessing most PvP will revolve around it.

They say in the article the game will span through the whole of Tamriel - from Elsweyr to Skyrim.

You're right, but that seems like just another grandeur intro. He say's later that "(we'll get a) peek at the player-driven PvP conflict that pits the three player factions against each other in open-world warfare over the province of Cyrodiil and the Emperor's throne itself."

So again, I think the author muddled information in an attempt to add flourish, but I just don't know where :/

 

[SajuukKhar]

But I thought it was still a jungle during the events of Morrowind, or did they retcon that as well?

Nope it wasn't.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

If it's hub based I don't care about it. It has to have the entire free roaming Tamriel for me to be interested, since I don't play MMO's.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

snip

Just wanted to add that the author mentions "player-driven PvP conflict that pits the three player factions against each other in open-world warfare over the province of Cyrodiil and the Emperor's throne itself."

I would imagine PvP is a massive part to this MMO, not just a diversion from the grinding. Which again also draws my attention... an MMO with TES style leveling? Colour me intrigued.

 

[toomuchnothing]

Unless its willing to move away from so many current MMO conventions such as tank/healer/dps and quests like kill 10 X and collect 5 Y then I see no reason to play this. I've played WoW for so long that most other games just seem like palette swaps because the gameplay is relatively the same.

Currently bored as hell with WoW with literally zero interest in MoP despite having beta access so I'm open to other and newer MMOs but they'll really need to stand out from the pack before I even think about it regardless of what IP they use to prop it up.

From the article in question it mentions a brief teaser being released tomorrow for it. I can only hope for more than the dawnguard tease.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

\Just wanted to add that the author mentions "player-driven PvP conflict that pits the three player factions against each other in open-world warfare over the province of Cyrodiil and the Emperor's throne itself."

I would imagine PvP is a massive part to this MMO, not just a diversion from the grinding. Which again also draws my attention... an MMO with TES style leveling? Colour me intrigued.

Any 'three faction PvP' system is going to get at least cursory interest from me. DAoC is still far and away the best PvP MMO in history, and when you consider what a badly balanced mess it was it's hard not to give 90% of the credit to the simple existence of a third faction. It's an elegant solution to population disparity, and creates a stronger sense of tribalism than the more basic 2 factions.

 

[SajuukKhar]

Any 'three faction PvP' system is going to get at least cursory interest from me. DAoC is still far and away the best PvP MMO in history, and when you consider what a badly balanced mess it was it's hard not to give 90% of the credit to the simple existence of a third faction. It's an elegant solution to population disparity, and creates a stronger sense of tribalism than the more basic 2 factions.

guild Wars 2 is doing it, and probably better.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

Unless its willing to move away from so many current MMO conventions such as tank/healer/dps and quests like kill 10 X and collect 5 Y then I see no reason to play this. I've played WoW for so long that most other games just seem like palette swaps because the gameplay is relatively the same.

Currently bored as hell with WoW with literally zero interest in MoP despite having beta access so I'm open to other and newer MMOs but they'll really need to stand out from the pack before I even think about it regardless of what IP they use to prop it up.

From the article in question it mentions a brief teaser being released tomorrow for it. I can only hope for more than the dawnguard tease.

Well, if they follow the TES formula you'll have:
*Natural skill progression rather then arbitrary point allocation.
*Potential for guilds to add a practical function to the world, not just clan gatherings and quest dispensers.
*High emphasis on independent exploration, not just party raids and grinding.
and most importantly, plenty of lore for the Players to etch out their own story within the world. TES is a very good framework for this.