Elder Scrolls Online Beta

[Erock25]

Since now the nda is lifted and everyone can talk about the game, I have one question from the people who have played the beta or know much about it:

If I hated Skyrim, is their any chance I'll like this game?

Short answer ... Yes.

Long answer... it gets a bit more complicated than that. It depends on why you disliked skyrim and it depends on what you're looking for in ESO. Personally, I enjoy the elder scrolls lore and setting, but honestly I don't give a crap about that kind of stuff in an MMO as long as it isn't so bad it is distracting. The only thing that I feel transfers from Elder Scrolls single player to ESO is the lore and the nature in which you discover things to do. In Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim, I would set off from a town to do one specific thing that was let's say about 4km away. As I was heading towards that objective I would pass by a cave needed exploring, nirnroots that needed picking, a bandit camp that needed cleansing, a unicorn protected by trolls that needed killing, or a brand new quest giver that needed saving. Next thing I knew, it would be 6 hours later and I still hadn't even made it to my original objective. That is ESO and that is why I think the single player PVE in this game is going to be so much better than the traditional HUB city quest giver scenario that most MMOs use. You can set off in any direction in ESO without an idea of what you are trying to accomplish and you will run into a lot of things to do.

Aside from the nature of exploration and quests, I do not think ESO shares many similarities with the single player experience. Combat is different besides the quick attack, power attack, and block mechanics. You have two weapon sets with 6 active abilities you can mix and match per weapon. Add to that a quick slot item that can be changed on the fly which may include potions, food, siege weapons, and probably a few others I am unaware of. It doesn't sound like a lot (especially before lvl 15 when you only have one weapon set) but the fact that you are aiming your attacks with the mouse (basically like right click was permanently held down in AoC) and using mouse clicks to attack and block completely changes the standard MMO formula for me.

I find I can't really express the exact reason why having a left click quick attack, left click hold power attack, right click block, left and right click at the same time interrup bash, and double tap dodge changes the experience for me but it makes it feel like you are in more control of your character. It feels like your attacks are more of an actual extension of what you are controlling instead of in AoC's case where you're basically picking an ability and pressing some direction keys to complete it. For some reason pressing a single key or a series of keys to attack someone is no where near as engaging as running up behind someone in PVP and mashing the left click down to perform a power attack that drops them to the ground and kills them.

Outside of the combat mechanics, I feel the PVP can be very engaging. I logged into the realm vs realm vs realm zone with my faction being crushed. We had about 3 keeps and were getting destroyed. I don't think I made the difference but all a sudden things started to turn. Yes there was a zerg but I followed them to the enemy keep and we deployed our ballistas and tore down an enemy faction keep wall. The enemies retreated to the central keep itself and I set up my ballista taking them out up on their walls while they fired down on us with ranged attacks. Someone in our zerg had a battering ram so we were attacking their keep door trying to keep the battering ram guy alive with heals while there was massive chaos all around with enemies trying desperately to stop us. A few minutes later we wiped them out and had a keep as most people started quickly repairing walls and doors while the zerg moved on to another keep. A couple of hours later and we had 2/3 of the total keeps to ourselves and were fighting frantically to hold on to it while the enemy was doing crazy back line attacks which would cut us off from quick travel across the map. Add to that the fact that you can run endless PVP single player missions to scout out an area, or bring a group and take smaller towns and I think the PVP will stay fresh no matter how many people you roll with.

The only unknown for me right now is what end game PVE will be like. From what I have seen so far, I am willing to shell out 60 bucks +15 a month for however months to find out.

[Mellaus]

I can't help but feel like an elitist asshat when I read after only a few line :

"I consider myself a fan of both The Elder Scrolls games [...]
My Elder Scrolls experience has been limited to the two most recent entrants into the franchise, Oblivion and Skyrim."

It's not being elitist, it's just a fact, he knows only the 2 last boring and unoriginal TES, he hasn't even played Morrowind.
Irrelevant.

[Texan615]

It's not being elitist, it's just a fact, he knows only the 2 last boring and unoriginal TES, he hasn't even played Morrowind.
Irrelevant.

That's total BS. I've never played Morrowind or Oblivion, and if I posted a 10 page essay on what I thought of the game, would you discount everything I said just because I hadn't played every game in the series? So I wouldn't have any street cred with people cuz I only played Skyrim? You guys are bringing up games that are old, Morrowind (2002) and Oblivion (2006). Those are very old games btw, don't discard someone's opinion just because they did not play a game that is ancient by any common sense of the term.

[oletoss]

The pve so far in EsO is meh. But the PvP is big and fun. PvP is gonna be where its at in the game, imo.

If you can, do yourself a favor and try out the pvp before you decide yes or no.

Just my thoughts.

[ViolentLeonidas]

Here is a hands on preview from PC Gamer
http://www.pcgamer.com/uk/previews/t...line-hands-on/

Quote from preview
"It's with the standard attacks that everything falls apart. While abilities live on your hotbar, everything else - blocks, dodges and attacks - are done through WASD and mouse clicks. It's a direct attack system, like any other Elder Scrolls game, except here the combat sorely lacks impact. My dual wielding lizard would swipe away at enemies, with nothing to show for it except a slowly draining health bar."

"Everything you fight is incorporeal. Walk into any enemy, and you'll happily clip through them. That's pretty standard in MMOs, but most are better at hiding the fact that their monsters have no substance. Purely hotbar-based online games give feedback through raw numbers, and the explosive flashiness of their effects. Even direct-attack MMOs like TERA over exaggerate the the sound of weapon hits, tricking you into a false sense of tactile feedback. In TESO, my dagger swipes offered no such visual or audio trickery, and as a result, combat became a chore."

Combat suxs then?

[kalston]

Melee combat is cheap yes but it sounds like he didn't play the last beta - there are definitely hit sounds now (weren't there before) and a slight feeling of impact.

[Jaedelyia]

That's total BS. I've never played Morrowind or Oblivion, and if I posted a 10 page essay on what I thought of the game, would you discount everything I said just because I hadn't played every game in the series? So I wouldn't have any street cred with people cuz I only played Skyrim? You guys are bringing up games that are old, Morrowind (2002) and Oblivion (2006). Those are very old games btw, don't discard someone's opinion just because they did not play a game that is ancient by any common sense of the term.

That's not the way it goes. I can respect the work you've put in the review, but basically that's just not what I would be more interested to read. Simply because I think a fan of Morrowind will have different expectations from ESO than a guy who never played it (or who just consider Skyrim as representative of the ES serie). It's really that simple. You simply don't look at ESO the same way, by the same approach and with the same expectations according on what game of the serie you've played before. But that doesn't not mean you're wrong or that your review is worthless. It's just not what I'm searching for. Also, if you "only" played Skyrim before, I kinda expect you to get your facts straight and not draw very general conclusions like "Ho, this part is faithful to the spirit of the serie", when you obviously don't really know the serie that well. I don't blame you for not playing all the ES, but I would blame you for pulling assumption out of nowhere.

The fact that Morrowind is old doesn't not mean it's irrelevant in everyway when you make comparison with a game related to the franchise. Morrowind set up some standards in the lore, the atmosphere and exploration, some gameplay mechanics (Alchemy and some kind of craft) that have been improved since. (in fact, it's even dumbed down in Oblivion and merely conserved in Skyrim). So I think it's pretty interresting to observe the ESO through the lens of Morrowind.

PS : (I don't mention Oblivion because I think it's pretty generic and bland, I didn't liked it as much as the other).

"Everything you fight is incorporeal. Walk into any enemy, and you'll happily clip through them. That's pretty standard in MMOs, but most are better at hiding the fact that their monsters have no substance. Purely hotbar-based online games give feedback through raw numbers, and the explosive flashiness of their effects. Even direct-attack MMOs like TERA over exaggerate the the sound of weapon hits, tricking you into a false sense of tactile feedback. In TESO, my dagger swipes offered no such visual or audio trickery, and as a result, combat became a chore."

THIS. 100x time this. The lack of impact sensations during combats is actually make the whole feeling pretty lame. But it might be because some sound are missing, since some spell are pretty well rendered in term of "power feeling". Hurling magically a rock toward a mob is pretty great, you heard the boulder crush on him, you see him stagger of fall on the ground, but for some reason bashing his skull with a hammer barely produce any sound and barely have any visual effect on him (but still kill him pretty quickly). This sux. But it was worst in the first public beta/stress test, so I guess it might just be some effect missing.

[Azmith]

Here is a hands on preview from PC Gamer
http://www.pcgamer.com/uk/previews/t...line-hands-on/

Quote from preview
"It's with the standard attacks that everything falls apart. While abilities live on your hotbar, everything else - blocks, dodges and attacks - are done through WASD and mouse clicks. It's a direct attack system, like any other Elder Scrolls game, except here the combat sorely lacks impact. My dual wielding lizard would swipe away at enemies, with nothing to show for it except a slowly draining health bar."

"Everything you fight is incorporeal. Walk into any enemy, and you'll happily clip through them. That's pretty standard in MMOs, but most are better at hiding the fact that their monsters have no substance. Purely hotbar-based online games give feedback through raw numbers, and the explosive flashiness of their effects. Even direct-attack MMOs like TERA over exaggerate the the sound of weapon hits, tricking you into a false sense of tactile feedback. In TESO, my dagger swipes offered no such visual or audio trickery, and as a result, combat became a chore."

Combat suxs then?

The recent slew of PC Gamer reviews, and not just for TESO, have been contrived dribble imo. I haven't found their reviews relevant in over a decade. No substance? It's apparent, then, that he's not utilizing blocks, interrupts, and power attacks properly. The combat is a lot of fun, and fairly engaging. I'm a combat snob too, so that should say something.

Play it yourself, try out the PVP, and for the love of Mephala, play past level 12 before you make an assessment.

[Azmith]

That's not the way it goes. I can respect the work you've put in the review, but basically that's just not what I would be more interested to read. Simply because I think a fan of Morrowind will have different expectations from ESO than a guy who never played it (or who just consider Skyrim as representative of the ES serie). It's really that simple. You simply don't look at ESO the same way, by the same approach and with the same expectations according on what game of the serie you've played before. But that doesn't not mean you're wrong or that your review is worthless. It's just not what I'm searching for. Also, if you "only" played Skyrim before, I kinda expect you to get your facts straight and not draw very general conclusions like "Ho, this part is faithful to the spirit of the serie", when you obviously don't really know the serie that well. I don't blame you for not playing all the ES, but I would blame you for pulling assumption out of nowhere.

The fact that Morrowind is old doesn't not mean it's irrelevant in everyway when you make comparison with a game related to the franchise. Morrowind set up some standards in the lore, the atmosphere and exploration, some gameplay mechanics (Alchemy and some kind of craft) that have been improved since. (in fact, it's even dumbed down in Oblivion and merely conserved in Skyrim). So I think it's pretty interresting to observe the ESO through the lens of Morrowind.

PS : (I don't mention Oblivion because I think it's pretty generic and bland, I didn't liked it as much as the other).


THIS. 100x time this. The lack of impact sensations during combats is actually make the whole feeling pretty lame. But it might be because some sound are missing, since some spell are pretty well rendered in term of "power feeling". Hurling magically a rock toward a mob is pretty great, you heard the boulder crush on him, you see him stagger of fall on the ground, but for some reason bashing his skull with a hammer barely produce any sound and barely have any visual effect on him (but still kill him pretty quickly). This sux. But it was worst in the first public beta/stress test, so I guess it might just be some effect missing.

See... I am of a similar mind, except my critique begins in Daggerfall, and not Morrowind. I always hear people talk about how TES 4 (Morrowind) was the best ES game from people who never played Daggerfall. Nostalgia comes in different forms I suppose, but honestly, I always thought TES 4 was somewhat linear in comparison to TES 3. The pattern just keeps rolling :P

[camilleboucquill]

game is CRAZY boring