The Elder Scrolls "Perfectly Suited" for MMOs

[Colt47]

I do agree with the basic premise proposed: The Elder Scrolls IP intrinsically makes for good MMOing.

There are some issues, though.

1 - It is a game of freedom. It actually shuns players who want a directed experience (yes, even Skyrim). Putting restrictions on top of it without a VERY good explanation will alienate fans like me.

2 - The soul of TES is the modding community. It is a Frankenstein-like relationship: Bethesda is the Doctor, since it created the body, piecing it together (haphazardly). But the electricity that moves the corpse is the modding community. It transforms the TES experience into an engrossing, creative and thorough world.

3 - They can hit the nail on the head, but they can, for the first time, actually destroy the IP. There are huge swaths of land that are yet unexplored (no, Arena and Daggerfall don't count =P). We do not have an accurate, extensive mapping of, say, Elseweyr, or Black Marsh. We know their map, cities, some PoIs, but we do not have the Morrowind/Oblivion/Skyrim treatment of them. Will these landscapes be as elaborate as their already-explored brethren? I do have some serious doubts about that.

4 - One hero, no more. Now, we'll have thousands of Nerevars and Dovahkiins (used as examples, only) roaming around Tamriel. This will strain the storytelling of a world that gravitates around the single players, single hero experience. It can be done correctly (and they started that by choosing an adequate time frame for the game, kudos for that), but it can be a big problem for the narrative.

And narrative, internal or external, is what makes TES so alluring.

That's sort of a downfall of the MMO genre, though. It has built in DRM due to the nature of the game and the need to keep the experience level with everyone. I'm totally with you on the modding community: TES is just one of the most modding friendly game series that has existed out there, and they need to at least try to keep the MMO version open for modding in the UI, textures, and skins department. Any mod that requires it's own models and physics is going to be dead in the water though. =(

 

[DataSnake]

Yeah, I don't see this going well. First off, since every player would need to be running the same version of the game, you can kiss mod support goodbye. Second, with a lot of other players making the rounds, you can't really have an equivalent to the Nerevarine or the Dovahkiin; it's hard to have a "chosen one" with more than one player. Third, actions have consequences in single-player that they can't online. Take the Stormcloak rebellion from Skyrim. In a MMO, there are two ways you could handle this:
1. The war goes on indefinitely. This robs the sideplot of any real payoff, and the players of any feeling that their choices actually mattered.
2. The war eventually ends. No matter which side gets the victory, about half your player base is going to be pissed about it, and any players who join after the event is over will have missed the whole thing.

 

[Frostbyte666]

I really don't see the appeal of an Elder Scrolls MMO. I mean what? everyone running around will be a dovahkin or nerevarine. I found the appeal being that I was special, ok oblivion I wasn't the chosen one, but I was the one doing all the important legwork and hacky/slashy/fisty stuff.

This didn't work with TOR and I doubt it will work with Elder Scrolls. When will these people learn to NOT try to make everything an MMO and try to improve the single player experience.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

What, an already-large franchise is perfect for an MMO thanks to name recognition? Hold the damn phones.

It's not like the fact that it's a fantasy-themed open world RPG would make it any easier.

 

[DugMachine]

Staying optimistic. Good chance it'll fail but from some of the beta testers reviews I've read it seems interesting.

Still playing WoW at the moment and waiting for Blizzard to announce Titan.

 

[Blindrooster]

I havent been into an MMO since galaxies got canned. Ive tried WoW, TOR, and Guild Wars 2, since though. Each for less than a month, and TOR flopped a bit and GW2 wasn't as engrossing as the first. I dont understand how that meeting went down where they decided to make an MMO... "Hey guys, WoW STILL has most the mmo market, TOR and GW2 didn't topple it at all which is crazy since both those games had a deep fanbase and rich lore to pull from. Hey! we have a great fanbase and rich lore, lets make an MMO too!"


I just want my next non-mmo elder scrolls game after skyrim has run its course......

 

[piinyouri]

I'm certainly going to check this out when it releases and eventually goes free to play.
No expectations, so it can't disappoint me.

Side note: Christ you guys are depressing. : p

 

[TWEWYFan]

Look Mr. Firor I'm glad Elder Scrolls has reached a new level of notoriety and I applaud your enthusiasm. You're right, the strength of the brand has probably done a lot for the visibility of this game. One question does come to mind though. Did you learn nothing from The Old Republic!?
Name recognition alone isn't enough and no offense but Star Wars is bigger than The Elder Scrolls will ever be. The Old Republic was no match for World of Warcraft and neither are you.

 

[Oneah]

"Everything it brings with it intrinsically is almost perfectly suited for an MMO," = Everything it brings with it intrinsically is almost perfectly suited for potentially making lots of money

 

[Paragon Fury]

Seriously developers, unless your NCSoft do not bother attempting to make an MMO of any kind.

Arenanet would like to have a word.

Arenanet is wholly owned by NCSoft, who are the only other publisher/developer that puts out/funds MMOs that aren't completely annihilated by Blizzard and WoW.

And even if another Dev did make a successful MMO that threatened WoW, all Blizzard would do is release WoW 2 (we all know they're just sitting on it until this occurs or WoW is no longer profitable) and the countries of the world would have to print money just to pay Blizzard the money its citizens owe them.

 

[jamesdenning]

I'm a BIG Elder Scrolls fan, and Bethesda fan in general. My only concern about an ES MMO is that the MMO comunity is far less tolerant of glitches and bugs than the single-player comunity.
The reason is simple. If you have bought a game and it turns out to be buggy, you will more likely wait it out for a patch to fix the bugs because you have already shelled out your hard earned cash. However if you are paying a monthly fee for a buggy game you are far more likely to loose patience, cancel your account and go back to playing WoW.

With Bethesda's track records of glitchy games the future of this MMO looks bleak. Just because there is also another studio involved does not fill me with confidence.

 

[CManator]

Game is doomed to fail as the "internet troll brigade of hate" is already targeting it and unless it shits gold bricks and gives happy endings it has no chance.

It's apparently already destroying lives and childhoods according to the above posts. Even though it hasn't stated it is a WOW killer it's being touted as one by the pre-release hating masses who haven't put their hands on it yet.... Because you can only have ONE MMORPG in the market at anyone time.

/slowclap

Good game internet gamer community.... Good game.

Not really the point. It doesn't matter how many mmorpgs are in the market, most will only play one at a time due to time/money/friend constraints. It ESO wants to succeed, it has to be a WoW killer, and to do that it needs to offer more than WoW can. Otherwise it will be another niche mmo that's dead in two months.

While I agree ES is about as mmo as single player games can get, but the bar is set awfully high here. They have to be able to keep their ES fans while drawing in the WoW crowd. It can be done I think, but it won't be easy.

CAPTCHA: easy as cake

I... er... stand corrected?

 

[Corain]

I'm a BIG Elder Scrolls fan, and Bethesda fan in general. My only concern about an ES MMO is that the MMO comunity is far less tolerant of glitches and bugs than the single-player comunity.
The reason is simple. If you have bought a game and it turns out to be buggy, you will more likely wait it out for a patch to fix the bugs because you have already shelled out your hard earned cash. However if you are paying a monthly fee for a buggy game you are far more likely to loose patience, cancel your account and go back to playing WoW.

With Bethesda's track records of glitchy games the future of this MMO looks bleak. Just because there is also another studio involved does not fill me with confidence.

Likewise. I'm cautiously optimistic though, seeing as at least with the MMO they will have a bug hunting beta squad,
which is more than you can say for the single player games as far as I know,
so hopefully they will be able to sort out the worst before launch.


Also something related to the general topic. Not so much to bugs though. >.>

Spoiler